A Long Way Down

by Ken McCoy

  TWENTY-SIX

  ‘My name’s Winnie O’Toole, do you know who I am?’

  ‘Of course I do. You’re DI Black’s, erm …’

  Detective Superintendent Hawkins paused as she sought the appropriate title, ‘… his lady friend.’

  ‘I’m more than just a friend. I’m someone who cares very much for his welfare.’

  ‘Miss O’Toole. DI Black is a fellow officer and we also care very much for his welfare.’

  ‘I know, but he doesn’t care enough for his own welfare and I think he’s going after Roscoe Briggs on his own.’

  ‘I won’t allow him to do that, Miss O’Toole. He’s too senior to be playing the Lone Ranger, with further seniority heading his way.’

  ‘That’s what I hoped you’d say. Has he told you that we’re engaged to be married?’

  ‘Erm, no he hasn’t. Congratulations. I now understand your concern for him.’

  ‘Thank you. Would it be possible for you to keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble?’

  ‘He’s a police officer, Miss O’Toole and trouble is a large part of our business.’

  ‘I know that, but Sep seems to get more than his fair share of it.’

  ‘I’ll do what I can.’

  ‘Thank you. It would help if you didn’t tell him I rang you.’

  ‘I’m sure it would.’

  As Hawkins rang off, Winnie looked down at her phone and muttered, ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’

  Sep knocked and entered Jane Hawkins’s office without quite knowing why he’d been summoned there. He wasn’t aware of the phone call that his boss had received from Winnie an hour previously.

  ‘Sit down, Sep.’

  Friendly use of his first name put Sep at ease as he sat down.

  ‘You’re still limping a bit, I see.’

  ‘It comes and goes, ma’am. Not too bad on the whole.’

  ‘But you’re still not operating at a hundred per cent.’

  ‘Not quite. Although I’ve swapped the crutches for this stick.’

  ‘Which is why I asked you here. I know you’ll be straining at the leash to track down Roscoe Briggs and I don’t want you doing that.’

  ‘Why not, ma’am?’ asked Sep, as respectfully as he could. ‘Is it because I’m potentially too important to be doing any legwork?’

  ‘You’re certainly not fit enough to be doing any leg work, but that’s not the reason. The reason is that this is the Cold Case Unit and he’s not a cold case. It’s only a question of time before he’s picked up and once we do, the CPS have enough on him to throw the key away.’

  ‘Santiago’s murder’s still a cold case. I could work on that.’

  ‘I want you to take a week’s sick leave.’

  ‘I’m not sick, just a bit slow on my feet.’

  ‘There’s such a thing as coming back too soon, Sep. When you come back full time, I want you to be operating at one hundred per cent. I’ve got another case I want you to take a look at. You can hand over everything you’ve got to DS Burnside, who will report directly to me.’

  ‘And cut out the middleman, eh?’

  ‘Precisely. Do you have anything you want to tell me … anything of, erm … of a personal nature?’

  Hawkins had his engagement in mind. She wanted to tell him it was his duty to keep his head down if he was to become a married man once again. Sep frowned, genuinely puzzled.

  ‘Erm … no, ma’am.’

  ‘OK. I’d like you to go home, put your feet up for a week and come back one hundred per cent fit.’

  Sep sighed. ‘OK, you’re the boss.’

  ‘I am and I will still be your boss, if you ever get your promotion. I don’t want you to forget that.’

  ‘Sep, why the long face?’ said Winnie.

  They were talking over the breakfast table. Winnie had cooked him a full English breakfast: fried eggs, bacon, tomato, sausage and fried bread. It was a breakfast that would set him up for most of the day.

  ‘You’ve been grumpy ever since you got back from seeing Hawkins yesterday. Is everything all right?’

  ‘Not really, she’s put me on bloody sick leave for another week.’

  ‘Good for her,’ said Winnie.

  ‘What the hell am I going to do for a whole week?’

  ‘You could visit your brother, maybe take him fishing.’

  ‘Our Clive’s blind and he’s only got one arm.’

  ‘The fish don’t know that – which is what you told me the last time you took him fishing.’

  ‘Ah, right.’

  His brother was in a nursing home, paid for by the government as scant compensation for his losing his sight and an arm in the Iraq war. Sep always felt guilty for not being able to care for Clive himself but his job prevented that, plus it was a fine nursing home where his brother had made many friends.

  ‘Might just do that.’

  ‘You’re a good brother to him, Septimus.’

  ‘Better than our five sisters who hardly know he was injured. The name’s Sep, by the way.’

  ‘Not Septimus Ruddigore?’ she teased, ‘so named by your dear mother.’

  ‘If you insist on addressing me by my full title, it’s Detective Inspector Septimus Ruddigore Black, MM, MA. My dear mother was expecting me to become prime minister and didn’t want the name Joe Black to stand in my way.’

  ‘Sep, this MA of yours. Why did you take it?’

  ‘I wanted a degree and it’s what I was best at. Then when I got my BA, I thought I’d try for a Masters.’

  ‘For what purpose?’

  ‘I don’t know. To show people that I’m not an idiot and I quite liked university life.’

  ‘I don’t have a degree. Do you think I’m an idiot?’

  ‘Not at all. I think you’re very bright.’

  ‘I’m bright enough to think you’re an idiot, wasting a good degree like that. You could have been a teacher. It would have been a lot safer.’

  ‘I haven’t got the patience to teach, Winnie.’

  ‘It’d have made my life a lot more pleasant, not having to worry about you every minute of the day.’

  ‘Oh, the car insurance claim’s about to be settled,’ he said, ‘so we lose the hire car.’

  Winnie glared at him and gave up on the previous topic of conversation. ‘Will it buy you a replacement Jag?’

  ‘It’ll barely buy a new set of tyres. The other one was in brilliant condition for its age.’

  ‘She’s paid up, has she?’

  ‘She has, but you keep your mouth shut about it, especially to my colleagues in the police.’

  ‘I got the impression that you wouldn’t take her money.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to, but my near-death experience helped me change my mind. That car was a life force in itself.’

  ‘Good for you. I imagine she’ll consider it money well spent.’

  ‘She was very grateful,’ said Sep.

  ‘So you’re taking Clive fishing, then?’

  ‘I am, yes. But there’s one thing I need to do before I pass all my information over to Fiona. I need to talk to Stanley Butterbowl.’

  The name brought a smirk to Winnie’s face. ‘You mean Stan the Strangler?’

  ‘The very man. I reckon he knows where Roscoe will be holed up.’

  ‘Well, if anyone can get that from him it’s you. When are you going?’

  ‘I thought I’d call in today. I’ll drive myself.’

  ‘You sure. All the way to Scarborough?’

  ‘He’s not in Scarborough. He’s been brought over to Jimmy’s in Leeds where we can keep an eye on him. Anyway, driving’s not a problem for me. I’ve driven when I’ve been in a much worse state than this.’

  ‘Remind me again why you took your degree? To prove what to people?’

  Sep was at home, enjoying a rare lie-in when his phone rang.

  ‘Sep? It’s Fiona.’

  ‘DS Burnside. What’s all this Sep, business? You’ll soon
be referring to me as DCI Black.’

  ‘Really? You got your promotion … Detective Chief Inspector, sir?’

  ‘Not quite. I’ve got to go on an improvement course to make me suitable for such a rank. God knows how Wood got there. How can I help you?’

  ‘Are you always going to be this formal with me … sir?’

  ‘I’ll need to get used to my newly elevated rank, sergeant.’

  ‘Right, well, I’ve got something that might just befit your elevated rank, or it might only befit a lowly sergeant.’

  ‘It certainly won’t befit anyone until I know what it is.’

  ‘It’s about Adam Piper, sir.’

  ‘What about him?’

  ‘He’s in custody, sir. Pulled in last night for DUI. He’s sobered up and is due for release, but you might want a word with him, sir.’

  ‘Adam Piper drunk? That must be an out-of-body-experience for him. Have you spoken to him?’

  ‘I have, sir, and I’d like to be there when you speak to him, as you’ve spoken to him before.’

  ‘Why’s that? I’m supposed to be on sick leave.’

  ‘Because I don’t think he has too much of a mental problem, sir. In fact, he’s quite high functioning.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes and he was driving a Porsche 911 which is registered to him at an address we don’t have for him. Didn’t you once tell me he can’t drive?’

  ‘I think I did, yes.’

  ‘And he does drive and doesn’t live in a council high-rise any more. He has a house in Alwoodley – a fairly expensive house I would imagine.’

  ‘I’m on my way down.’

  Adam Piper’s eyes opened wide in alarm when Sep walked into the interview room. He shifted nervously in his seat alongside the court-appointed solicitor.

  ‘Good morning, Adam.’

  ‘Good morning.’

  ‘The court has given you a duty solicitor but you may bring in your own solicitor if you have one. It appears that you can afford one.’

  ‘I’m all right as I am, thank you.’

  ‘Has Sergeant Burnside put you under oath?’

  ‘I have, sir,’ chipped in Fiona, ‘just this minute and the tape is running.’

  ‘Excellent,’ said Sep. ‘So, this interview is being recorded. Present are Adam Piper, duty solicitor Peter Horner, Detective Sergeant Fiona Burnside and Detective Inspector Black.’

  Sep focused his attention on Adam. ‘Nice car.’

  ‘Yes and it’s legally mine.’

  ‘Bought and paid for?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Didn’t you tell me you can’t drive?’

  ‘It was Simeon who told you that. He can’t drive. I can.’

  ‘Brand new Porsche 911 Turbo S, eh? Very impressive. All I’ll be able to afford with my insurance money is another used Jaguar which won’t be anywhere near as good as the one it’s supposed to replace. And you live in a house in Alwoodley that’s worth around half a million. No mortgage on it, so you must have paid cash for that as well.’

  ‘What if I did?’

  ‘Now that’s a very big “what”, Adam. You see, I want to know where you got the money from—well over six hundred grand in available cash. Very few people have that sort of money in liquid asserts. But you do … or you did.’

  Sep sat back in his chair and perused Adam, who was searching his mind for an answer. Sep gave him no time to do this.

  ‘You see, we know about the Snowball scam that Santiago was running and we know that it’s resulted in several murders and attempted murders, including three attempts on my life and here you are, a young man right in the middle of Santiago’s business dealings – a computer expert, no less and you have money to burn. If you’re expecting to be released any time soon, you’re mistaken, Adam. In fact, I’m wondering why we haven’t charged you with murder yet.’

  Sep looked at Fiona as if for an answer.

  ‘We were waiting for you, sir,’ she said, respectfully. ‘I believe we do have enough to charge him and hold him.’

  ‘What am I being charged with?’ Adam asked. ‘I was arrested on a driving charge, or was that just a ruse to get me in here?’

  ‘Adam,’ said Sep, ‘No ruse, you were definitely over the legal alcohol limit and as far as these other charges are concerned, I don’t need to know the specifics, right now. All I need to know is that you fall into the category of very strong suspect for a string of serious crimes. The big mistake you made was throwing all that money around. We’d be failing in our duty if we didn’t find out where it came from. So, tell me where the money came from, or you’ll be formally charged with aiding and abetting in the murder of Charles Santiago and put straight back into the cells and you’ll stay there until you go to magistrates court for them to agree to our request that you be remanded in custody, pending a trial at Crown Court. You will probably be held on remand at Armley Prison.’

  ‘How long for?’

  ‘Not sure. Definitely weeks, probably months and prison’s not the cushy life these bleeding-heart liberals seem to think it is. It’s a depressing place to be – scary as well. It’s a place where you’re well and truly on your own – every man for himself. How long you’re held depends on the Crown Court backlog and how long it takes us to put the case together. If you help us, it might not be too long.’

  Adam looked at his solicitor, who nodded his confirmation of what Sep had just said.

  ‘How am I supposed to help you?’ Adam asked.

  ‘By telling us all about yourself and all about Snowball. What exactly is it and how does it work? And I also want to know all you know about Carl Redman and his gang of thugs.’

  ‘I don’t know anything about Carl Redman.’

  ‘I don’t believe you, Adam, but you can begin by telling me about Snowball and don’t tell me you know nothing about that.’

  Adam spoke quietly into his solicitor’s ear, who said, ‘My client feels he may be able to help with your enquiries provided he and his brother be granted immunity from prosecution and not held in custody.’

  ‘I’m now wondering,’ said Sep, ‘what crime your client thinks he might be prosecuted for.’

  ‘I’m advising my client not to answer any more questions,’ said the solicitor.

  ‘Is your client aware that we have enough circumstantial evidence to hold him in custody until such time as he does agree to answer questions, even if those questions are asked in court?’

  ‘I understand that,’ chipped in Adam, who spoke quietly to his solicitor once more.

  ‘The help I might be able to give you,’ he said, ‘is with the death of Mr Santiago, but the immunity I want is for any prosecution arising from both Snowball and the unfortunate death of Mr Santiago. I would add that I and my brother are completely innocent of his death. What worries me is that you may seek to charge us with anything at all that might strengthen the rather flimsy case you have against us. As far as my house and car are concerned, I bought them with money I made out of legitimate dealings on the stock market.’

  ‘Well,’ said Sep. ‘I think I’ll have to seek permission to give you the immunity you seek.’

  ‘Then I’ll reserve my statement until you receive this permission.’

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  ‘There’s something I need to do,’ Sep said to Winnie. He had got out of bed and was headed for the bathroom when he made a detour downstairs to the kitchen where she was cooking breakfast as a reward for a successful bout of lovemaking.

  ‘I need to speak to Julie Rogerson and her boss at Tyke News.’

  ‘What about the other thing?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Tracking down Roscoe Briggs who wants to kill you.’

  ‘Oh, did I not mention him? He’s number one on the list.’

  ‘I thought he might be.’

  ‘Winnie, I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder all the time watching out for him. I need to be able to think clearly and having a killer on yo
ur tail doesn’t help at all.’

  His head was buzzing with notions of what to do and why. He hadn’t felt this creative for some time and he wondered if his success in bed had triggered something dormant inside him. If so, it was an excellent means of both physical and mental stimulation which he must tell her about.

  ‘You know, none of this makes sense. I know these killings are linked but the link is very tenuous for anyone to take such risks and kill so many people.’

  She turned and looked him up and down, appraisingly. He was wearing a white, towelling bathrobe that was made to fit a much smaller person.

  ‘You know, Sep, I didn’t think anything could ever make you look effeminate but I’ve changed my mind.’

  He turned and headed upstairs for the bathroom, deep in thought and saying ‘I think somehow Roscoe’s played a big part in all this. Someone’s gone to a lot of risk and trouble to spring him. I really need to track him down.’

  He was still deep in thought when she called out to him.

  ‘Sep?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘One egg or two?’

  ‘Oh, er, two please.’

  He wished she wouldn’t disturb his train of thought like this. He’d had a plan in mind that might well trick Adam into giving him the information Sep knew he had. Another word with Julie might not do any harm, or would it? So much was going on inside his head.

  His mobile was ringing from his coat pocket in the bedroom. Jane Hawkins was just about to ring off when he answered.

  ‘You took your time answering.’

  Many subordinates might have apologized, but not Sep. ‘My mobile was in the bedroom and I wasn’t,’ was what he said, albeit politely.

  ‘Oh … anyway, just to tell you that we’ve released Adam Piper. We had no proper grounds to hold him and you should have known that. We have no reason to believe that the money he bought the car and the house with was obtained illegally. He bought them with his dealings on the stock market at which he’s some sort of genius and we can’t lock him up for being a genius.’

  ‘Ma’am, I did know that, but I wanted to hang on to him for as long as possible to get more information. He was playing a game with me yesterday and, given another hour with him this morning, I think I had the beating of him.’