Read Online The Sleep of Reason: The James Bulger Case by David James Smith - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: David James Smith
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the far end of the entry. Jon and Bobby loitered there, and James was close to one of them when a man walked past, and heard a moan or a sob from the child. The boy next to James looked straight at the man and said, ‘I’m fed up having my little brother, he’s always the same.’ He turned to the other boy and said, ‘I’m not bringing him again.’
As he walked on by, the man guessed that the two boys had been looking after the child since coming out of school at four o’clock. It was nothing unusual. Just another little boy crying with his big brother.
Jon and Bobby walked out of the entry and on to Walton Lane, facing the police station, with the railway bridge on their left. A teenager saw James laughing as she walked towards them. One of the boys was pushing James into the road. James was laughing. When the boys saw the teenager, who was with her father, one of them ran up the alleyway, while the other retrieved James from the road and picked him up, arms around his chest. James was still laughing as the boy carried him into the entry.
When they came back to Walton Lane, one of the boys stood at the edge of the pavement, holding James by the hand. It appeared to a woman who was walking past that they were trying to cross the road. The other boy was hanging back, near the entry. When they saw the woman looking at them the boys turned back into the alleyway with James. The woman was five minutes from home, coming back from seeing a friend in the village. She thought fleetingly about the dangers for a small child, being out in the dark with young lads on such a busy road.
When she arrived home the woman looked at her watch. It was 5.30 p.m.
10
1907 by 6796 BO1V-Cover D/I Mr Fitzsimmons bleeped at request of DS Dolan.
It was his first weekend in charge of the divisional CID. Jim Fitzsimmons had started at nine that morning and was due off at eleven that night. Monday had been his first day as a Detective Inspector, and the duty rota had put him on cover for the weekend.
At seven minutes past seven that evening, when the radio pager on his waistband went off, he was sitting at home in Crosby having a cup of tea and a sandwich before continuing his tour of the stations in the division.
As he left Copy Lane police station, he had decided to pop home on his way up to Southport. There was nothing pressing and, on such a long shift, he liked to get back to see the family, if only briefly, when the opportunity arose.
It should have been a short introduction to his new job. He was due on a six-week management course in Preston, starting next Monday. There was just time to familiarise himself with the current crime, the new computer system and the CID staff.
Tonight was typical of all the tours he would make on his future weekend covers. Going from one station to the next, seeing who was on, if there were any problems, what prisoners they had in, anything out of the ordinary, anything he should know about. Walking talking management, as his old boss Albert Kirby would say.
When the bleeper bleeped, Jim picked up the phone and called in to control. There was a child missing, a two-year-old at the Strand. Okay, nothing terribly unusual about that. He asked the questions. Who was the child, where was he from, how long had he been missing? He was James Bulger, from Kirkby, and he had been missing for over three hours.
This was more alarming, a child missing for so long, and so far from home in an unfamiliar environment. What did they have on the disappearance so far? Jim was told of the ponytail man and the other child, who could not be traced, who claimed to have been enticed by a man in a white coat. A search was under way, and detectives were aggressivelypursuing the pony-tail man at known addresses and contacts. Okay, good, I’m on my way. Jim set off for Marsh Lane.
Though he had acted up in the senior post often enough in the past, the promotion, from Sergeant to Inspector, had been a long time coming, mainly
As he walked on by, the man guessed that the two boys had been looking after the child since coming out of school at four o’clock. It was nothing unusual. Just another little boy crying with his big brother.
Jon and Bobby walked out of the entry and on to Walton Lane, facing the police station, with the railway bridge on their left. A teenager saw James laughing as she walked towards them. One of the boys was pushing James into the road. James was laughing. When the boys saw the teenager, who was with her father, one of them ran up the alleyway, while the other retrieved James from the road and picked him up, arms around his chest. James was still laughing as the boy carried him into the entry.
When they came back to Walton Lane, one of the boys stood at the edge of the pavement, holding James by the hand. It appeared to a woman who was walking past that they were trying to cross the road. The other boy was hanging back, near the entry. When they saw the woman looking at them the boys turned back into the alleyway with James. The woman was five minutes from home, coming back from seeing a friend in the village. She thought fleetingly about the dangers for a small child, being out in the dark with young lads on such a busy road.
When she arrived home the woman looked at her watch. It was 5.30 p.m.
10
1907 by 6796 BO1V-Cover D/I Mr Fitzsimmons bleeped at request of DS Dolan.
It was his first weekend in charge of the divisional CID. Jim Fitzsimmons had started at nine that morning and was due off at eleven that night. Monday had been his first day as a Detective Inspector, and the duty rota had put him on cover for the weekend.
At seven minutes past seven that evening, when the radio pager on his waistband went off, he was sitting at home in Crosby having a cup of tea and a sandwich before continuing his tour of the stations in the division.
As he left Copy Lane police station, he had decided to pop home on his way up to Southport. There was nothing pressing and, on such a long shift, he liked to get back to see the family, if only briefly, when the opportunity arose.
It should have been a short introduction to his new job. He was due on a six-week management course in Preston, starting next Monday. There was just time to familiarise himself with the current crime, the new computer system and the CID staff.
Tonight was typical of all the tours he would make on his future weekend covers. Going from one station to the next, seeing who was on, if there were any problems, what prisoners they had in, anything out of the ordinary, anything he should know about. Walking talking management, as his old boss Albert Kirby would say.
When the bleeper bleeped, Jim picked up the phone and called in to control. There was a child missing, a two-year-old at the Strand. Okay, nothing terribly unusual about that. He asked the questions. Who was the child, where was he from, how long had he been missing? He was James Bulger, from Kirkby, and he had been missing for over three hours.
This was more alarming, a child missing for so long, and so far from home in an unfamiliar environment. What did they have on the disappearance so far? Jim was told of the ponytail man and the other child, who could not be traced, who claimed to have been enticed by a man in a white coat. A search was under way, and detectives were aggressivelypursuing the pony-tail man at known addresses and contacts. Okay, good, I’m on my way. Jim set off for Marsh Lane.
Though he had acted up in the senior post often enough in the past, the promotion, from Sergeant to Inspector, had been a long time coming, mainly
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