A Genuine Mistake by Ted Tayler (miss read books txt) 📗

“The old guy, Jimmy, he remembered Gerry Hogan. They were at school together. Guess what he said?”

“Honest as the day is long. Didn’t have an enemy in the world,” said Gus.

“Jimmy told me that Gerry Hogan was the quiet, studious type. Not the typical teenager he associated with in the town. The original murder file painted Gerry as someone who avoided trouble. While Jimmy and his pals visited Trowbridge or one of the other local towns looking for trouble on a Saturday night, Gerry would come to the snooker club. Jimmy said he remembered when Nick Barrett and Gerry started going around together.”

“After Nick’s twelfth birthday,” said Gus.

“That was typical of Gerry,” said Neil, “according to my snooker opponent. Nobody in Jimmy’s crowd had the time of day for Nick Barrett. He was a chubby lad who didn’t enjoy the rough and tumble of their sports at school. Nick was always an outsider. Gerry excelled at most sports, but he refused to get drawn into his colleagues' social lives, even though he played for the school teams. Once the matches had ended, he showered, changed, and went home. Nick invited Gerry to his posh birthday parties. Apart from a couple of Nick’s cousins and another loser from the same year at school, that was it. The Barrett family had loads of money, and the parties were far grander than the average Bradford kid enjoyed. Jimmy reckoned Gerry needed someone to tag along with who would always be well-behaved. Someone with a bland personality who would help Gerry stay on track for the career he planned. He invited Nick to his birthday parties, plus a handful of his sporting friends. Jimmy never got an invitation. It was the quieter, more studious type who was good at football or cricket that got the invites.”

“That ties in with everything we learned from the murder file,” said Alex.

“It’s as if Gerry didn’t trust himself not to get into trouble, guv,” said Lydia. “Did he have a short fuse? What about his father, was there any history there?”

“Gerry’s parents are both dead,” said Gus. “We can’t ask them. I can ask Belinda when I speak to her later. Would it be possible for a boy of twelve to understand his potential for violence, Lydia?”

“Violence is a learned behaviour, guv, according to experts. There’s a strong association between exposure to violence and the use of violence by young adolescents. Whether a twelve-year-old Gerry Hogan was aware of a violent gene passed on to him by his father and attempted to control matters is a stretch. He would have encountered pressure situations in those school matches that caused him to lash out or have a temper tantrum. There’s been no mention of that. Quite the opposite. Unless both Nick Barrett and Rachel Cummins are lying, then Gerry was an even-tempered, friendly guy.”

“It won’t hurt to ask,” said Gus. “Neil, did Jimmy offer any instances where Gerry Hogan’s association with Barrett caused a rift with other students? If Jimmy and his mates got into scraps with teenagers from local towns, what of Bradford-on-Avon itself? Did a few tearaways pick a fight with Gerry and Nick as they left the snooker club, for example?”

“Nothing, guv. Jimmy and his mates played snooker and pool in the club from time to time. Gerry and Nick kept to themselves. The club didn’t stand for any troublemaking. Things ended when Gerry and Nick left school and went to university.”

“Jimmy left school and found a job, did he?” asked Gus.

“He went to college in Trowbridge for two years, guv,” said Neil. “Then he worked at a local rubber factory throughout his working life. He retired as a Technical Manager.”

“Did he see much of Gerry when he returned from Clifton to live at Trowle Common?” asked Gus.

“Like most husbands and fathers, guv, Jimmy didn’t use the club much in his twenties and thirties,” said Neil. “When his kids were older, he started dropping in once a week for a few pints and a frame of snooker with a colleague. Jimmy saw Gerry and Nick there often in the early Nineties. He told me they hadn’t changed. Gerry was still quiet, polite, and friendly towards the other members. Nick Barrett was the same pompous oaf he’d been at school. Jimmy couldn’t understand why they continued to spend time together. Gerry was way more successful by that time than the solicitor who inherited the family firm.”

“Perhaps Gerry Hogan wanted something different from the high-powered financial life he had to cope with every day,” said Luke. “The club, and Nick Barrett, kept him grounded. Don’t forget that Gerry took his sons there too as soon as they were old enough.”

“What did Jimmy make of Sean and Byron?” asked Gus.

“Sean is a chip off the old block,” said Neil. “A one-track mind, the same as his father. He went into the Hogan firm straight from university. Sean didn’t barge in and try to take over. Jimmy said that Sean had the sense to let Daniel Braund ease him in gradually and hand over the reins when the time was right. Sean has always had an eye for the ladies, like his father. There were no dramas with any of the girls he went out with while he was at school, Jimmy didn’t know about the university years, but Clare, the current girlfriend, has been with Sean for a couple of years. Sean didn’t follow his father’s example and take a gap year.”

“That’s understandable,” said Alex. “He was sitting his A-Levels when his father died and then went to university in September. Three years ago, when he returned to the firm with his degree, he could already have started seeing Clare. Not so easy to take a year out without taking her with him.”

“What did Jimmy have to say about Byron?” asked Gus.

“He’s brilliant, guv,” said Neil, “There’s