Small Mercies
Page 28
‘And we really do think that Wiseman was Parkin’s mother?’
‘Looks like it. She was the one who got him involved in the first place.’
‘Christ. And she had no compunction about him and the others being killed.’
‘Not once they’d tried to rip the operation off. But that’s how it worked. Everyone involved. Everyone implicated. Henley’s confessed to being directly involved in the killings, along with this guy Eric Nolan. But it was an “all for one” deal, he reckons.’
‘Utterly merciless.’
‘Exactly. Even that farmer, Tom Miller. He’d been drawn into Kennedy’s orbit early on but had the sense to get out when he got a glimmer of what Kennedy was up to. No doubt Kennedy was less ruthless in those days. But he still took the opportunity to send Miller the occasional reminder in case he was ever tempted to expose Kennedy. Like dumping a body in his back garden. To encourage the others.’
‘Kennedy had lost the plot somewhere, though, surely. I still can’t believe his grand scheme would have worked,’ Annie said. ‘I mean, trying to pin theirs and Sheena’s killings on this guy Bamford. We’d have seen through it, surely.’
‘Would we?’ Jennings asked. ‘I reckon one of Kennedy’s talents was to tell you what you wanted to hear, give you what you wanted to believe. That’s how his whole scam worked, religion and everything. I mean, some of us would have had an uneasy feeling about it. But if you get the solution handed to you gift-wrapped, it’s very tempting just to accept it. We’ve got more than enough on our plate without opening up cases that have apparently been resolved unless there’s a good reason. No one was ever likely to stand up to plead Bamford’s posthumous case. He doesn’t seem to have anything much in the way of family or friends, and he does appear to be something of an obsessive, albeit a harmless one.’ Jennings shook his head. ‘So who knows? But I do feel as if, professionally, I might have just dodged a bullet.’
‘You and Sheena both, then.’
It took Jennings a moment to realise she was joking. ‘Yes, I suppose so. Sorry.’
She smiled. ‘Stop apologising. I’m not that sensitive. Speaking of professionals, what’s the position on Andy Dwyer?’
‘Suspended pending the investigation. He’s denying everything, and I don’t know if we’ll prove anything either way. But he’s exactly the type Kennedy would have got his claws into, and my guess is there’ll be enough skeletons in Dwyer’s cupboards for something to emerge. We’ll see.’
‘Never neat, any of this, is it? Only straightforward bit of good news is Mo Henley heading for trial. I won’t be sorry to see him behind bars.’
‘Even that’ll be a PR nightmare,’ Jennings said, gloomily. ‘I can just see his supporters trying to present him as a political prisoner.’
‘He was involved in the kidnap and attempted murder of an MP.’
‘Like I say, political. You just wait.’
She pushed herself to her feet. ‘Chin up, Stuart. After all, there is one other piece of good news.’
‘Go on.’
‘My mother. At least with Bulldog Henley out of the picture, they’ve abandoned the idea of her big TV break.’
Jennings laughed. ‘Small mercies, eh?’
‘Exactly, Stuart. Small mercies. Let’s make the most of them.’
First published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Canelo
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
Third Floor, 20 Mortimer Street
London W1T 3JW
United Kingdom
Copyright © Alex Walters, 2020
The moral right of Alex Walters to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788639521
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Look for more great books at www.canelo.co