Small Mercies

by Small Mercies (epub)

  Annie did so, conscious she was sitting on the edge of the sofa in the manner of a prim maiden aunt. Zoe took a seat beside her. Garfield threw himself into an armchair opposite. Annie guessed he was in his mid-forties. He moved slightly awkwardly, and had the physique of someone who’d once worked out but was gaining weight. ‘So what’s happened to Darren?’

  ‘I’m afraid he’s dead, Mr Garfield.’

  ‘Dead? How?’

  ‘We believe he was murdered.’

  ‘Jesus. I wasn’t expecting that.’ He was shaking his head, his eyes staring blankly into space.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘I mean, I knew Darren as a mate of Jonny’s but that’s all, really. It’s always a shock when something happens to someone that young, isn’t it? Only just out of his teens.’

  She had the sense, as she had with all the afternoon’s interviews, that there was something being left unsaid. ‘Was he still in contact with your son, Mr Garfield?’

  ‘With Jonny?’ She could see he was hesitating now, as if unsure how much to say. ‘You’d have to ask Jonny. I think they were in contact fairly recently. Just from things Jonny said. But I don’t know how recently.’

  ‘Do you have contact details for Jonny?’ Zoe said. ‘It’s probably best if we speak to him directly.’

  ‘Hang on.’ Garfield fumbled a mobile phone out of his pocket and thumbed through the contacts. ‘He’s in Derby.’ He read out the address and number, and Zoe scribbled it down in her notebook.

  ‘When did you last see Darren?’ Annie said.

  The question seemed to take Garfield by surprise. ‘Me? Jesus, I don’t know. I think I saw him with Jonny a while back. A few months ago, maybe.’

  ‘So they were in contact as recently as that?’

  ‘I suppose so. It might be longer ago than I think. You know how it is.’

  ‘Of course. What does your son do? Work-wise, I mean.’

  ‘Jonny? Various things. Can turn his hand to anything. He seems to get by well enough.’

  ‘Not easy for young people, these days,’ Annie said.

  ‘Tell me about it. Lost my own job a couple of years back. Company had been there for forty or fifty years, then got into difficulties and was bought up by some bunch of bloody asset strippers. They weren’t interested in the workforce. They weren’t interested in anything but making a quick buck.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘It’s not like I’m the only one, is it? There’s still plenty of poor buggers round here lost their jobs when the pits closed. Some of them went to their graves without ever working again. And nothing’s really replaced them. Zero-hours fucking contracts. Temporary jobs. All the usual crap.’

  ‘What are you doing now?’

  ‘Me? I drive a minicab. Enough to make ends meet, just about.’

  Annie felt that any response she could offer would simply sound patronising. ‘Thanks for your help, anyway, Mr Garfield. We’re very grateful.’ She pushed herself to her feet. ‘We’ve taken up enough of your time.’

  ‘You’ll be talking to Jonny, then?’

  ‘We’d like to have a word with him. We’re just trying to gather more background information on Darren.’

  ‘I don’t imagine his grandparents were able to tell you much.’

  ‘You know his grandparents?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘Never met them. But I got the impression Darren didn’t exactly get on with them.’

  ‘What about Darren’s mother? Did you ever meet her?’ Annie said.

  She had the impression of another hesitation. ‘His mother? She left years ago.’

  ‘So I understand. Did your son know Darren then?’

  ‘I suppose so. They were at primary school together. But they didn’t really become friends till they were teenagers at the comp. You know how it is.’

  Annie nodded. ‘Well, we won’t take up any more of your time, Mr Garfield. Many thanks for your assistance.’

  Outside the weather was slowly improving, the clouds scudding across a gradually clearing sky. Garfield said, ‘I can’t say I’m the greatest fan of you lot, for one reason or another, but I wish you well with this one. I hope you catch whoever’s responsible.’

  ‘We’ll do our best, Mr Garfield. The more help we get from people like yourself, the easier it’ll be.’

  ‘I hope Jonny can tell you more than I’ve been able to.’ Garfield closed the door. From inside the house, they heard the sound of Rex’s barking resume as the dog was released from the kitchen.

  ‘Christ,’ Zoe said, as they made their way back to the car. ‘What a dump. I’m not sure I could have stayed in there if he hadn’t opened the window.’

  ‘Amazing how people live, isn’t it?’

  ‘And another one who wasn’t telling us everything.’

  ‘You thought that, too, did you? There seem to be plenty of people harbouring secrets round here.’ Annie smiled. It was good to know that Zoe’s instincts were as sound as ever, whatever else might be troubling her. ‘I wonder if they’re all sharing the same secrets or if they all have secrets of their own. And whether any of them are relevant to what we want to know.’

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘You think they were all hiding something?’ Jennings said.

  Jennings was sitting with Annie and Zoe in a corner of the Major Incident Room. Annie and Jennings had just finished their latest briefing with the team. On the surface, Jennings had seemed his usual polished self, but Annie could tell he was under increasing pressure. Intense activity continued around them – officers collating information, making call after call to potential witnesses or sources of information, preparing schedules of interviews. Other staff, here and elsewhere, would be examining and analysing CCTV footage and ANPR camera data. It was the usual endless routine that was essential in progressing an enquiry like this, but Annie was conscious of how little substantive information they had so far.

  ‘It felt like a community with more than its share of secrets,’ Zoe said. ‘Though I suspect most of them have more to do with preserving social niceties than covering up for murder. It felt like that with the grandparents, anyway.’

  ‘I’m not sure that guy Garfield would recognise a social nicety if it popped up in one of his rancid takeaway containers,’ Annie said. ‘But I know what you mean. I suppose you’ve also got to recognise that, for a lot of people in those communities, we’re still the enemy.’

  ‘Not any more, surely?’ Jennings was flicking impatiently through his papers as though already wondering how to draw the meeting to a close.

  ‘Some of those memories die hard,’ Annie said. ‘Still a lot of bad blood in these parts from the eighties. In these parts, there were families split apart by the miners’ strike. Both sides viewed the police with suspicion in those days.’

  ‘No doubt your mother’s given you her perspective,’ Jennings said, with an edge of irony in his tone.

  ‘I don’t think anyone had much doubt which side she’d have been on. But she’s never really said much about it.’

  ‘I’m sure she’s got her stories,’ Jennings said. ‘All the old coppers seem to. And most of them are only too keen to tell you.’

  ‘My mother only tells you about her past when she wants to let you know how much better it is than the present.’

  ‘I think Annie’s right, though,’ Zoe said. ‘There’s stuff that someone like Garfield won’t ever say to us. Not because it’s necessarily incriminating, but just because he wouldn’t trust how we’d use it. He’s the sort who’s always ducking and diving, and that probably means keeping on the good side of some bad people.’

  ‘If so, we need to start winkling it out.’ Jennings said. ‘People up the line are getting twitchy. Two similar cases. The nature of the killing. We’ve kept a reasonable lid on it with the media so far. I don’t think we’ll be able to do that with the second case. Which means we’ll have the media crawling all over us, national and local. And they’ve already got a major presence her
e because of what happened with Sheena Pearson.’ He gestured towards Annie, as if to imply that she carried some responsibility for that particular situation.

  Annie said, ‘That’s going to explode still further after what happened this morning.’

  ‘Exactly. We’ve got an MP being targeted by a gunman, plus a potential multiple killer, all in a few days and all in our own little rural patch. So nobody says a word to the media or allows anything to leak out of here. I mean nobody. Make that bloody clear to your team. If anybody even gets approached, I want to know about it PDQ. Anything that’s said goes through Comms.’

  ‘They can be a devious bunch, though,’ Zoe pointed out. ‘The danger isn’t someone approaching you directly. It’s the sly phone call to some junior member of the team where they pretend to be someone in a position of authority, or they fish for information by sharing what little they already know so you confirm it without realising it. I’ve been there more than once. You’re two minutes into the discussion, trying to be helpful and polite, before it occurs to you to wonder who it is you’re talking to.’

  ‘Then tell your team exactly that. Tell them to be on their guard at all times. Don’t say anything unless you’re absolutely certain who you’re talking to. And no gossiping to their partners or friends or some guy in the pub.’

  ‘Careless talk costs lives,’ Annie said. ‘Or at least careers. We get it, Stuart. I’ll spread the word.’

  He sat back with his eyes closed for second. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Teaching you to suck eggs.’

  ‘I’m not your granny,’ Annie pointed out.

  ‘It’s just that I had the Assistant Chief bending my ear for the best part of an hour this morning about this. He basically had two messages. Don’t say a bloody word to anyone, and get these two enquiries sorted as quickly as you bloody can.’

  ‘Helpful contribution as ever.’ Annie was gathering up her papers. ‘I assume he realises we’re not just all sitting around on our backsides down here.’

  ‘He knows full well what we do,’ Jennings said. ‘And he probably does his best to shield us from the worst of the crap. I can live with him letting off steam from time to time. So what’s the next move? Tracking down this Jonny Garfield?’

  ‘I’d have said so. He’s our best bet for learning more about Darren Parkin. I want to know who visited his grandparents. It sounds like he was wanted by someone. That may be key.’

  ‘He’s clearly got some history, anyway. Okay, I’ll leave you to get on with it. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.’

  ‘More resources would always be good.’

  ‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ Jennings said, ‘and I’ll procure you a couple of spare unicorns while I’m about it. How’s Sheena, by the way?’

  ‘She seems fine. I called her when we got back. She’s a bit shaken still, but she’s focusing on getting the security sorted. She’s been talking to the Speaker’s Office, who look after all this, and she can claim for some extra stuff at home and in the office, apparently. Mind you, Sheena’s always very sensitive about what she claims, so that may be another battle I have to fight with her. My big worry is that she’ll want to jump straight back into the fray. I take it we’ve not succeeded in identifying our gunman yet?’

  ‘I was just talking to Andy Dwyer,’ Jennings said. ‘Whoever fired that shot today seems to have just disappeared into the woodwork. Not on any of the hospital CCTV, and no sightings on any of the surrounding roads. Andy’s got people checking out vehicles entering or leaving the hospital site and in the area generally, but that’s a long slog.’

  ‘Sounds like whoever it was knew what they were doing.’

  ‘Or just had a lot of dumb luck. But something will turn up,’ Jennings said, confidently. ‘Andy reckons they’ve got some leads on the protestors yesterday. If they can get hold of some of those and start turning the screws, I reckon they’ll shop whoever fired that shot quickly enough.’

  ‘Assuming the two shots were fired by the same person,’ Zoe said. ‘We can’t necessarily assume that.’

  ‘You always know how to cheer a person up, Zoe, you know that?’ Jennings emitted a theatrical sigh. ‘But, yes, anything’s possible. We don’t even know if it was the same type of gun. They’ve found the bullet from this morning neatly lodged in an interior wall of the hospital, but yesterday’s hasn’t been found so far.’

  Annie gave a weary sigh. ‘Meanwhile I have to persuade Sheena to keep her head down. Which isn’t a position that comes naturally to her.’

  ‘I can imagine,’ Jennings said. ‘By the way, I assume Dwyer will want to talk to Sheena and you formally. Assume you’re happy with that?’

  ‘I just want to get this bastard behind bars before he does any real damage to Sheena or anyone else. And Sheena’s a tough cookie. She’ll be ready to talk to him now.’

  ‘I’ll let Andy know, then.’ Jennings nodded his usual perfunctory farewell, then turned and headed out back to his office.

  ‘You should get off home,’ Zoe said. ‘Before Sheena slips out of the window and heads back to Parliament.’

  ‘Given half a chance she’d do exactly that.’ Annie looked at her watch. ‘How do you feel about trying to track down Jonny Garfield first, though? If he’s working, this might be just the time to catch him in.’

  ‘Why not? I was planning to stay on for a while anyway. Gary’s playing football this evening so I’ve nothing to rush back for.’

  ‘Everything okay, Zoe? At home, I mean.’ She hadn’t been able to think of a better way of raising her concerns, and tried to ask the question casually.

  ‘Same as usual, pretty much. Why do you ask?’ Zoe was regarding her with suspicion. ‘Has Jennings said something?’

  ‘Jennings?’

  ‘I suppose I was a bit – I don’t know, distracted when we were over at the crime scene.’

  ‘Distracted by what?’

  Zoe had risen to her feet, but now sat down again. ‘Not sure, really. I just felt a bit overwhelmed. I couldn’t bring myself to go and look at the body.’

  ‘You’re not usually the squeamish sort.’

  ‘That’s the thing. It wasn’t about being squeamish. I’ve seen plenty of dead bodies. Admittedly most of them not quite as extreme as this one, but I’ve seen plenty of blood and gore. It wasn’t that.’

  ‘So what was it?’

  ‘I don’t know exactly. I’m just finding the whole thing a bit unnerving. The nature of the killings, I mean.’

  ‘I think we’re all feeling that. I’ve never encountered anything quite like this. Do you think you’re okay with it?’

  ‘I’m sure I will be. Like I told you, I’ve not been sleeping well lately. I’m just a bit tired.’

  ‘If you want to get off home and rest tonight, that’s fine by me.’

  ‘I’m fine, really. I just had a slight wobble. I’m only sorry Jennings was there to witness it.’

  Annie knew what she meant. This was still an environment where some would see any sign of metal or psychological fragility as a sign you weren’t up to the job, especially if you were a woman. ‘He probably didn’t even notice. Not always the most sensitive of souls, our Stuart.’

  ‘You might be right.’ Zoe sounded unconvinced.

  ‘You sure you’re okay, though? If you need to take a bit of time out, just say.’

  ‘In the middle of a case like this? Are you kidding? No, come on, let’s go and track down Jonny Garfield’s flat.’

  Annie nodded, recognising that Zoe had no desire to talk further. ‘Fair enough. Let’s just hope his flat’s a bit more salubrious than his father’s place.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘Tonight?’

  ‘I realise it’s short notice. I mean, if you can’t make it…’

  ‘It’s not that. I’m sure I can juggle things if I need to. It’s just, well – tonight?’

  Clive Bamford sighed. ‘Look. Greg, if I could have given you more notice, I would have. But that’s n
ot how they work.’

  ‘So how do they work?’ Greg Wardle said. ‘They just say “jump” and we ask “how high?”’

  ‘It’s not like that, Greg. At the moment, they don’t know they can trust us. They’re playing everything very close to their chest.’

  ‘They’re not bloody MI5. They’re just a bunch of religious nuts.’

  Clive could feel his patience ebbing away. ‘Greg, if you don’t want to be involved—’

  Greg shook his head. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just that I don’t like being bounced into things.’

  ‘I’m sure that’s not the intention. But you know they’ve been repeatedly misrepresented in the media. We’ve been recommended to them by Rowan Wiseman, but other than that they don’t know us. They don’t know if they’re being set up. My guess is they want to test us out. Do we know our stuff? Are we really prepared to listen to what they have to say?’

  ‘And do we know our stuff?’ Greg said. ‘I’m not sure I do.’

  Clive shrugged. ‘Just keep your mouth shut and follow my lead, then.’

  They were sitting in a corner of the same pub where they’d held the first meeting of their Conspiracy Theory Discussion Group. Clive was still wondering what to do about the group. He’d felt the initial meeting had been hijacked by Charlie and Rowan Wiseman, though that now seemed to have paid dividends of its own. He suspected that the other two attendees had mostly come along out of curiosity. He’d phoned them both after the meeting, and they’d been non-committal about whether they’d be returning. Greg thought it was worth giving it one more go and putting a bit more effort into the promotion, but Clive thought they should maybe cut their losses and move on. After all, if tonight was successful, he might have plenty of other work to be getting on with.

  ‘So where are we supposed to be going?’