‘He’s suffered enough, right?’ Bliss said. ‘Andy Price. Lost his wife all those years ago, then his daughter, and now his son. His entire family ripped away from him. You’re thinking he’ll be punished enough because he’ll never escape those demons.’
Still no response.
‘As for you, Walker, I’m willing to bet that whatever happened to Geraldine Price, you were mainly on the periphery – not directly involved, but I’m guessing you helped out in the cover-up afterwards because those men were useful to you. So now you’re looking to give Price the break you think he deserves, knowing his mind will create a prison cell for him anyway. As evil as you are, you have respect for everything the Price family endured, and for Andy in particular. Keeping schtum now is not even any kind of penance on your part, because it costs you so little.’
Bliss gave it a moment, then smiled. ‘You do know they were there to murder you, don’t you? Stephen Price had two penknives in his trouser pockets, each with a four-inch blade. The Prices were never going to allow you to walk out of there last night. I can’t believe you’re going to let that go.’
‘Save your breath,’ Walker said at last. ‘It won’t do you any good.’
Bliss shook his head, energised by having got the man to talk at last. ‘No, I don’t think I will. I’ll have my say. Stop me when I mention anything you know to be untrue. See, I’m guessing Stephen had something on you and applied pressure you couldn’t wriggle out of. Something which, if it became widely known, would scupper all your plans for making a mint with your new business venture, and halt your political ambitions in their tracks. I’m pretty sure he had a decent grasp of the role you played, and how he could make it work in his favour. I’m guessing you agreed partly because of the blackmail, but also because you realised those same men were capable of dropping you in it in exchange for shorter sentences if Price instead went to the police with what he knew.’
Silence hung like a veil across the table. The prisoner glanced around at the walls, seemingly unmoved. Bliss absorbed every tic of his cheek, each flicker of those cold, hard eyes, and the small but telling twitch of his lips. He read Walker and understood this was a story whose ending he would never learn.
‘Come on, Walker,’ he said. ‘It was a win-win for you, surely. After all, yours was the easy part. No getting your hands too dirty. What you did to Tommy Harrison was under orders… But then we come to Freddy Swift, of course. I’m betting he lost his nerve and saw the writing on the wall. He worked out he was next and came to you for help, having no clue he was meeting with the man he should have feared most. With Price’s little game winding down, you saw your opportunity and offed Freddy while you had the chance.’
Something pulsed along Walker’s jawline, but still he kept his mouth closed. The pattern of his breathing altered on several occasions, but he never once showed signs of panic. Bliss accepted this man was never going to tell them anything. He’d said enough back in that field, the meeting recorded by a forensic team videographer brought in by Bliss to film the entire takedown. This would prove invaluable when it came to the prosecution, but from the man himself they would get nothing further. Bliss did not bother to glance at Chandler to see if she had questions of her own. There was no point. Phil Walker had nothing to gain by speaking to them. Bliss finished the interview and they took a ten-minute break before moving on to Price.
As he had done ahead of the previous interview, Bliss entered all relevant details into the digital recording device’s touchscreen keyboard and popped two writeable discs into their respective slots. When it came to using the electronic notepad, however, he gave Chandler the dubious pleasure of interacting with the casefile information. She was a quicker and better typist, and had far more patience with the often glitchy software system than he did.
After offering his condolences, Bliss began the second interview in the same way as the first. He outlined the police case so far, embellishing this time by adding excerpts from the suggestions he had thrown at Walker, making statements of them as if the man himself had given them up.
‘Anything to say before I continue?’ Bliss asked, expecting nothing in return. Price was also unrepresented, though in his case the reason was obvious. A shake of the head was all he offered before Bliss went on. ‘If you refuse to talk to us about your own role in these events, perhaps you’ll be happier discussing precisely how Walker was conscripted. You should tell us about that particular aspect, Mr Price, provided we’re able to think of a way of doing so that doesn’t involve you admitting to your own role. Let’s see if we can work out a way for you to do that.’
This time, Bliss thought he saw interest flicker in the man’s nerveless gaze. ‘Mr Price,’ he said, ‘for the moment, let’s concentrate on how Walker first became involved in this prolonged act of revenge. Our records suggest it happened when your son represented his son in a legal matter, is that correct?’
Bliss watched as the question churned inside the man’s head. Mentally seeking traps and finding none, Price eventually nodded. ‘Yes. Phil Walker’s son was charged with committing an act of fraud. Stephen was asked to represent him.’
‘By Phil Walker himself?’
‘Yes. My son’s speciality was white-collar crime. He was one of the best in the area.’
‘Did your son know who and what Walker was at the time?’
‘He knew Walker was an old-time villain who was out of the game. That was about it.’
‘And it didn’t bother him?’
‘Most of the people we represent are guilty. We tend not to hold it against them.’
Bliss rubbed his forefinger and thumb together. ‘A lucrative business in that part of London.’
‘Yes, it is. I make no apology for the way we earn a living. Everybody is entitled to legal representation.’
‘Speaking of which, I note you don’t have anybody yourself.’
‘I don’t need anyone. Not at this stage. I know how the game is played.’
‘Of course. So, getting back to Stephen. You say he knew of Walker’s background, but he had no clue the man was involved in protecting the gang who murdered your wife?’
‘No, he did not.’
‘And yet I get the impression you did.’
Another pause. Bliss wondered if Price was going to clam up.
He was delighted when the man started nodding. ‘I had an idea, yes. I once represented an ex-cop turned rogue; I won’t give you his name. He worked out of Islington nick around that time, and in part payment for the work I did on his behalf, he gave me the names of the men who were rumoured to have murdered my wife. I should tell you that he had not come by that knowledge as a cop. You know what kind of people lived in the area in those days, Inspector. On the estates themselves, people knew but didn’t know the truth. Rumours spread, and there was plenty of gossip, but according to my source the same names kept cropping up in reference to my wife.’
‘And you never discussed any of this with your son?’
‘I knew how Stephen would react. Plus, I didn’t see what benefit it would bring. You may think it was a constant topic of conversation between us, but that’s not the case; we never spoke of it. It was a taboo subject when my kids were growing up, because of the effect it had on Valerie in particular, and it stayed like that long after she moved out.’
Bliss was not unsympathetic. He tried to think around the subject. He desperately wanted confirmation that Phil Walker had been blackmailed into taking part in the revenge attacks, but he saw no way of compelling Price to admit to any of it, because doing so would implicate either him or his son. Nevertheless, he made one more plea.
‘Mr Price. If I’m reading this right, after your daughter took her own life you saw that Stephen was triggered by her death, and you were afraid he’d choose the same exit door. You thought one way of preventing him from spiralling out of control would be to gain revenge
on the men responsible for Geraldine’s death – or, more accurately, for Stephen to do so. The kind of hands-on revenge that can sometimes pull a man back from the brink. But you also realised he needed help, because he was incapable of dealing with such men on his own. That’s when Walker’s name first came to you, I suspect. You gave it some thought and eventually decided on a way to use what you knew about him. You also realised how easily he’d be able to get close to his old mates, because he knew how they operated. And, of course, you considered the issue of alibis, right?’
‘What do you expect me to say to any of that?’
‘Nothing. You’re not denying it, which is in itself revealing. But tell me this, because in doing so you admit to nothing: why involve Conway? Why carve out the case file number at all?’
‘Seriously, Inspector? Do you really expect me to answer that?’
Bliss snapped his fingers. ‘Tell you what, why don’t you tell me your theory? You’re an intelligent, articulate man. Speculate as to why somebody looking for revenge might also want to do that?’
Price sat back, breathing out heavily as his gaze first rose to the ceiling and then fell back on the two detectives. ‘Hypothetically, if I were involved, I might decide to include Conway in order to prove to the man who’d investigated my wife’s murder that his job was finally being done for him. In my own small way I’d be demonstrating his incompetence; shoving it in his face, knowing he could do absolutely nothing about it but sit back and watch in horror as it all unfolded around him.’
The explanation fed directly into Bliss’s own thoughts on the matter. Involving the police who had failed to convict a single person for Geraldine Price’s murder brought added satisfaction to the act of revenge.
‘Sticking to the purely hypothetical,’ Bliss said. ‘Why do you imagine somebody might go to such lengths as to kill their enemies slowly by slicing pieces of their flesh off? Who would come up with such an idea?’
‘You mean other than the ancient Chinese?’ Price locked eyes with Bliss. ‘Oh, I don’t know. This hypothetical somebody may have been looking for a way to inflict a slow, painful and lingering death. Similar to an ordeal that somebody close to him, perhaps, had been subjected to in the past. Then along comes a man who has an idea based on, say, something he once read in a book…’
Walker.
Walker’s book.
Andy Price was giving it all up, but also telling them absolutely nothing at the same time. Bliss glanced over at Chandler, who was busy tapping away on the notepad’s grimy screen. She looked up and nodded for him to continue.
‘Are you certain you don’t want to unburden yourself, Mr Price?’ Bliss asked. ‘I, for one, can sympathise. I understand why you and your son did what you did.’
‘But it wouldn’t stop you charging me if I admitted to that level of complicity, correct? And neither will it prevent you from telling the full story to the media, allowing them to hang my son out to dry before I’m able to say my final goodbyes to him.’
‘I suspect the media will hear all of that anyway. I don’t doubt they will be given one side of the story: the side we choose to present. You do have the opportunity to provide a different perspective.’
‘Whatever statement you feed to the media, it will contain few facts. It will be mostly conjecture and snatches of overheard conversations. What it won’t be is confirmed. And you will never, ever get that from me. Not even when my case comes to court. I’ll make sure there is always room for doubt.’
‘I think you’re playing it all wrong,’ Bliss told him. He turned to one side and crossed one leg over the other, arm slung over the back of his chair. ‘People have a tendency to side with the underdog. In your son’s case, he reacted against dangerous and violent men in the only language people like that truly understand. He reacted to what they did to his mother. He reacted to them being the reason his sister killed herself. The way I see it, a fine young man snapped, briefly became somebody unrecognisable even to himself while taking revenge on monsters. I’d buy that. And you could sell it, Mr Price. Certainly to the media, and possibly to a jury as well.’
After a moment, Price looked at him with red-rimmed eyes and said, ‘And what good does it do my son now?’
‘It would preserve his reputation to a certain degree, both as a solicitor and as a husband and father. Not to mention a son.’
‘Well, if that’s what you genuinely believe, why don’t you sell him to the media that way, Inspector?’
‘Because it’s not my job.’
‘Then whose job is it?’
Bliss, who had been absently drumming his fingers on the table, stopped and regarded Price with compassion. ‘I’d say it was his father’s.’
Price met his steady gaze for a few seconds, before turning away. ‘You should go about your business,’ he said. ‘We’re done here.’
Bliss rose without argument. About to turn and walk away, he paused. ‘Just tell me this. Was it Phil Walker’s idea to remove his own hand?’
‘Are you asking me to speculate once again, Inspector?’
‘If you like.’
‘In that case, yes, I’d guess it was his idea. I imagine he would consider it useless to him these days, so better to put it to some worthwhile purpose. Perhaps he thought that removing the hand would make you regard him as another victim, which in turn might steer you in a different direction.’
‘He was right about that. And did he remove it, or did your son?’
Price smiled at him and shook his head. ‘Nice try. No, Phil seems to me like the kind of man who would know a different kind of man, able to carry out that type of surgery professionally. I don’t know what you know about him, Inspector, but do you genuinely believe his kind would risk a quick chop and burn?’
Bliss had been speculating as to how Walker had gone about it, assuming the job must have been done with precision and care, and with medication to handle the pain and prevent infection. Part of him admired the man for taking matters to such extremes, and it had nearly worked.
Price’s last response told Bliss he knew the precise fate of each victim. Another facet also seemed clear to him now: Andy Price had largely sat back and cheered his son on from the sidelines. Quite what the two of them had had in mind for Walker was another matter – one Bliss decided to revisit.
‘I have to say, Mr Price, although I do believe you and your son met with Walker to conclude your business with him, I’m not convinced you were planning to let him walk away unscathed.’
Price regarded him with interest. ‘Is that so? Why do you say that?’
‘Because Stephen was armed, for one thing. I’m betting he would have liked to finish the job he started. I don’t see him letting Walker off so lightly.’
‘You think my son intended him harm?’
‘No. I think your son intended to kill him.’
‘You saw the two of them, Inspector. Even with just the one hand, Walker had the drop on my boy physically. If Stephen had a weapon on him like you say, I’m not sure he would ever have had the opportunity to use it.’
Bliss had already thought it through. ‘You’re right. Stephen alone might not have been able to handle Walker. The pair of you could have, though. Even without the knives, there was a lake close by, not to mention the railway tracks he almost made it across.’
Andy Price stared up at Bliss and put a finger to his lips.
The gesture irritated Bliss. ‘What does it matter if you tell us now? We were there. We had you surrounded, remember? We heard every single thing Walker admitted to, and also what he said about your son torturing those men. By the time we’re done piecing those exchanges together, we’ll have everything we need.’
‘If that were true, you wouldn’t still be trying to wring out the last few drops from me.’
‘It’s my job,’ Bliss told him.
Price’s e
yes gleamed and he stuck out his chin. ‘And mine is to protect my son.’
Bliss stared at the man for a moment. ‘Yeah, and what a great job you did of that.’
Bypassing the pain inflicted by Bliss’s words, Price snapped back. ‘You think I had any idea what he was going to do to himself? I admit I failed with Valerie. I saw it coming for years and could do nothing to stop it, no matter how hard I tried. Stephen was a kind and gentle soul, but I didn’t lose him yesterday. I lost him when his mother was murdered by those sick bastards. And again when Val…’ Price whipped his head away, nostrils flaring. ‘Ah, what would you know?’
‘More than you realise,’ Bliss said quietly. ‘But you allowed your son to go on the rampage, Mr Price. More than that, you helped him keep it going. It takes a lot of rage and a twisted mind to pervert yourself the way he did. You didn’t turn your back, but you did turn away. You shut your eyes to it. You knew what he had become, and you did nothing to prevent it. All because you thought he would come back to you once it was out of his system. You never once stopped to consider what might happen if it took him further the other way. That’s not protection in my book.’
‘No? What is it, then?’
Bliss regarded the man with contempt. ‘I would call it abandonment.’
This time, Price turned away and clamped his lips together. Bliss knew they were done.
Forty-Four
In the Major Crimes area, shortly after ending the interview with Price, Bliss immediately noticed a lack of the usual euphoria that resulted from solving a case. Instead, the team were edgy, simmering rather than boiling over. They had most of the answers they’d sought, and those who were not dead were in custody. Despite these wins, Bliss understood the mood; Stephen Price taking his own life had cast an ugly pall over the entire investigation, leaving everyone involved with a sense of unfinished business and deep regret.
He took a few minutes to address his team as a unit, before speaking with each of them individually. He had barely enough focus to keep his own thoughts in order, but it was vital for him to temper the overwhelming feeling of failure by pointing out their group successes. The operation had ended unsatisfactorily – but it had ended. There would be no more body parts, no further killings. Not every investigation wound up with a glossy finish. He made sure his colleagues felt more upbeat by the time he was done with them, before taking his own advice and leaving for home.
Slow Slicing (DI Bliss Book 7) Page 32