‘I wish you’d told me.’
‘I didn’t realise I had to run everything past you.’
‘Well maybe you do when you promise to do one thing and then go and do another.’
Coupland sucked air through his teeth. ‘Promise? What am I, six?’
Alex shook her head, not in response to his question but to what she had done. ‘The boss called me into his office not long after I thought you’d gone to see him.’ Coupland waited. ‘He said he wanted me to take over the reins on the Cedar Falls fire for a while and I asked him if I’d be allowed to keep you in the loop given the conflict of interest. “Conflict of interest?” he asked, turns out he was meaning so your time would be freed up to bring the hit and run case to a conclusion and prepare your defence for your Professional Standards hearing. He knew nothing about your personal connection to the case.’
‘Which I bet he knows all about now…’
‘What was I supposed to say? “Sorry, just disregard everything I’ve said for the last five minutes, I was having a brain fart?”’
Coupland sucked in a breath. ‘Bollocks.’
Alex clearly hadn’t finished. ‘He wants to see you in his office,’ she added.
Coupland looked up at the ceiling, ‘I bet he bloody does.’
*
Five minutes into Mallender’s tirade and Coupland had compiled a mental list of countries in alphabetical order although O and Q had proved elusive. He’d just made a start on American states but his concentration levels were starting to wear thin. The DCI showed no sign of letting up and his voice had gone up a notch as though he’d sussed Coupland was trying to block him out. ‘All this time you’ve been working on a case that involves a member of your own family. What the hell were you hoping to achieve?’
It was one of those questions that didn’t require an answer, but Coupland searched inside himself anyway in an attempt to rationalise his actions. Had he been trying to gain closure? Or Hell bent on a personal mission to avenge his mother’s death? Coupland thought of his mother and at that moment he wanted to kick in the interview room door and drag the truth out of Johnny Metcalfe, for wasn’t he the reason this woman he would never get to know was dead? And yet he couldn’t summon up the rage. Whether it was because he’d never got to really know her, or he couldn’t see a kid with limited reasoning turn into a killing machine, he couldn’t be sure. ‘Look boss, I promise you that I was on my way to tell you but I got side-tracked. I never had any intention of staying on the case once my mother’s identity had been confirmed. Though to be fair it hasn’t stopped me paying full attention to every aspect of the investigation, although leaving the evidence bag in my drawer was an oversight, a fuck up of the highest order. I just wanted to find out more about her…’
Mallender’s expression changed from cloudy to thunderous.
‘I take it you didn’t know about the evidence bag…’ Coupland muttered.
‘For Christ’s sake, Kevin, you can do without getting on the wrong side of the EMU with everything else that’s going on! You leave yourself open to accusations of tampering if a defence lawyer gets wind of it. I’d expect this from a rookie, not someone with your supposed level of experience. You’ve kept your superiors and your team in the dark over this, which given the complaint from Austin Smith hovering over your head is foolhardy at best, or worst still, professional misconduct.’
‘Yeah but we all know that complaint’s bollocks.’
‘No. It’s not bollocks. You’ve said yourself his allegation is true – your admission is now online thanks to your inability to keep your mouth shut when it comes to handling the press. There’s no doubt he’ll get compensation and that expense has got to come from somewhere…’
Coupland closed his eyes. ‘Once the hearing is out of the way I’ll be on top form again boss. I won’t have the same level of distractions. It’s true this case has knocked me for six but I can still be useful – I can take a back seat, oversee statements, take on a more administrative role, whatever it takes to show I’ve learned the error of my ways.’
‘It’s against regulations.’
‘Regulations! I’ve a good mind to go over to HR and ask them how the hell they’d feel if it was a member of their family lying in the mortuary, how inappropriate would it be then for them to want to be involved.’ Rules were all very well when there was no chance of you ever breaking them. No cop would stand aside, and yet this was what the DCI was expecting him to do.
‘I’ve built up a rapport with Kieran Tunny that we shouldn’t underestimate. He’s pretty much told me that if I leave this investigation he’ll take matters into his own hands.’
Mallender’s face screwed up in confusion. ‘Have you been confiding personal information to a gangster?’
‘Of course I haven’t, I’m not a complete idiot! I told him I was trying to balance caseloads. But it made sense to try and soften the blow that my leaving the case would bring.’
‘You shouldn’t be telling him anything that could compromise an investigation or how the public view us. They’re already twitchy at the number of stations closing down; if they start hearing that we can’t manage our workloads we’ll end up walking through a shit-storm.’
Coupland swiped a hand over his face as he waited for the inevitable.
‘You know I don’t have any choice in this. I’m taking you off the case.’
A sigh. ‘Fine.’
‘Actually it’s not fine, you’ve flouted the rules, Kevin, potentially put this whole investigation at risk.’ Mallender’s expression hardened, ‘You’ve let me down, Kevin. Consider yourself lucky I haven’t put you on a suspension. Now go home and think about what I’ve said.’
Coupland’s head shot up, but there was no fight left in him. He did as he was told.
*
‘How much longer have we got to wait?’
‘How the hell do I know? But you know what he said, ‘There’s no show without Punch.’’
‘Do you even know what that means?’
A shrug. ‘Other than this job isn’t done till we’ve got the lot of ’em.’
‘It’s alright for him telling us to do these things. The stuff we do for him, if we get caught we get sent down.’
‘Yeah, but he looks after our families, make sure they don’t go without.’ A sideways look. ‘You already know that.’
The sound of air being sucked through teeth. ‘Wouldn’t you rather be there to do that yourself though? Looking after your kids I mean, rather than end up inside?’
‘Course. But what else am I good for? Not like there’s anyone else beating the door down to give me a job. Legit work, I mean.’
‘Even so…’ He turned the radio up a couple of notches, didn’t want a lecture on how it was harder these days to find an unskilled job now robots and Eastern Europeans were doing all the menial work. Intimidation was all some men were good for.
His companion screwed up his face. ‘What’s this crap?’
‘Stormzy.’
‘Christ, he drones on a bit. Anyway, you’d better turn it down.’
A sigh. ‘Yeah I know, don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.’
The car they’d been waiting for slowed as it passed them, indicator blinking, before pulling into a parking space a few cars down. ‘That’s him,’ he said, as Coupland climbed out of the driver’s side and bleeped the car locked before striding to his front door.
Sunday
Chapter Twenty
‘I’ve been thinking.’ Lynn said as they stood in the kitchen. It wasn’t often that they got a chance to enjoy breakfast together. Their line of work meant one or other of them would be heading through the door with the dawn chorus but every once in a while their schedules permitted it. For it to happen on a weekend was a bonus. Lynn spread honey on toast while Coupland stood at the open back door blowing smoke into the garden. He took the mug of coffee she handed him, waving away the offer of toast while not trying to spill the tail of ash tha
t had formed on his cigarette.
‘What have you been thinking, my sweet?’ he asked, distracted.
‘We could invite your dad to dinner.’
Coupland tilted his head as he turned to face her, his eyes screwed up in confusion. ‘You know, I could swear there’s something wrong with my hearing, I was sure you just said you wanted to invite that miserable old git round for his tea.’
‘I think it’d be nice, that’s all.’
‘Not for me, and by the time he’s insulted your cooking, your choice in soft furnishings and the fella you’re married to, not for you either.’
‘Don’t you think it’s the right thing to do?’
Coupland took a final drag, stumping the cigarette out on the ashtray Lynn had bought for the patio table the year before. ‘What, like putting down lame horses or sacking bent MPs? Sticking pins in my eyes would be the right thing to do just so I don’t have to see his sarcastic face ever again.’
‘You told me the news had really shaken him.’
‘So?’
‘Look at it as bridge building.’
‘I heard on a quiz show there’s a Bridge to Nowhere, did you know that?’
‘For crying out loud, Kev!’
Coupland swore quietly. If it kept Lynn happy what harm could it do? He closed his eyes and shuddered. ‘Fine, have it your way,’ he said, dialling his father and relaying the invitation. Pulling a disappointed face at her when the old bugger said yes. ‘Just don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ he said as he plugged his phone into the charger on the kitchen worktop.
The radio was on in the background. Lynn turned up the sound when a duet came on, some actor and a singer famous for wearing a dress made of meat to an awards bash. Lynn loved it, had dragged him to the cinema to see the film that it had come from. Hadn’t been nearly as bad as he’d expected, truth be told, though he’d be buggered if he was going to confess that guilty little secret.
His phone made a buzzing sound, signalling an incoming text. He moved over to retrieve it, entered his password to unlock the screen. A number he didn’t recognise had sent him two photos. Frowning, he tapped to open them. The first image made the breath catch in his throat. A photo of him letting himself into his house the night before. A cold hand slithered round his chest as the second image loaded.
Lynn helping Amy lift Tonto’s pram into the hall.
*
Coupland’s face was like thunder as he stormed into the CID office. Alex was already at her desk. She looked up as he hurried towards her. ‘Thought you weren’t in today?’ she asked, eyeing his dark jeans and hooded sweatshirt.
‘Have you got a minute?’ he barked, his expression telling her to make time even if she hadn’t.
She followed him through to the canteen, to a table far away from eavesdroppers. He tapped onto his phone, slid it across to her. She stared down at the image of him at his front door, saw the date and time beneath it. ‘Someone followed you?’
On this Coupland was emphatic. ‘Not last night. I always check who is behind me; never take the same route home twice in a row.’
‘But still.’
‘I know, I know, if someone wants to find out where you live it’s easy enough.’
‘If they know you are married they find out where Lynn works and they follow her.’
‘That’s what I was thinking,’ he said, his jaw tightening. After all, hadn’t Lee Dawson tracked him down the year before through Amy? The consequences of which none of them could have predicted.
‘Any idea who it’s from?’
‘Course I know who it’s bloody from, isn’t it obvious? I pay Tunny a visit, give him the heads up I won’t be involved in the investigation anymore and lo and behold, he lets me know his men are watching my house.’
‘Why, though?’
‘That’s the bit I’m not sure about. If it was to get me off his back he could have done this earlier.’
‘Maybe he knew you wouldn’t listen.’
‘Wouldn’t I? Not like I’m Robocop.’
‘You have to report this, you know that don’t you?’
‘What, and have some overworked plod turn up at his door—’
‘It’ll be treated as priority Kevin, it’s intimidation. They’ll bring him in.’
‘So what? For Christ’s sake, Alex, even if I’d seen him take the photos with my own bloody eyes his lawyer’s that good he’d convince me I was seeing things.’
‘We can put a trace on the phone it’s come from.’
‘What? On a cash-bought pay as you go? Come on, let’s not piss away more time and money than we have to.’
‘You know there’s a protocol to follow when a serving officer has been threatened.’
‘It’s more of a guideline…’
‘Whatever you want to call it, Kevin, we’re withholding information which may have some bearing on this case.’
‘Not my case anymore.’
‘Didn’t realise you’d taken your bat and ball home,’ Alex sighed.
‘Don’t you think I’m up to dealing with this?’ Coupland’s hands shook as he raked them through his hair. His body pulsed with a rage he was trying to subdue. Adrenaline was making it impossible for him to sit still, his legs twitched as though he was attached to the mains supply.
‘You’ve done the right thing by coming to me; I’ll get Tunny locked up for this. But we have to tell the boss.’
Coupland leaned forward and clasped his hands together, elbows resting on splayed legs. He stared at her and nodded. ‘I don’t want you putting your job on the line,’ he said.
Alex clicked her tongue against her teeth. ‘I’d never have guessed.’
They sat in silence, Alex considering her options while Coupland silently considered his. When he’d first opened the images he’d told Lynn to telephone in sick. When she’d refused he’d insisted on driving her to work. Said he’d send a car to pick her up if he was unable to.
‘Come home safe,’ she’d whispered before kissing him goodbye. They’d both agreed Amy needed to know what was happening; he’d gone up to Tonto’s nursery where she was changing him, told her about the photo and her need to be extra vigilant.
‘Is it happening again, Dad?’ she’d asked, her arms circling the infant as she pulled him close. Something cold and heavy formed inside him.
‘So what’s it to be?’ Alex asked eventually. ‘Are you going to see the boss?’
Coupland said nothing.
‘Look, I get it,’ Alex said. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if I found those scumbags had been waiting outside my door one night. But you have to believe that I, and the rest of the team, will deal with this. I know it’s hard to trust others but you’re not the only one who’s good at their job.’
He and Alex usually operated on the same wavelength but on this she was wide of the mark. It wasn’t about having faith in his team or her ability to do her job, it was the need to be involved; about knowing you had done all that you could. It was about something else too.
Something primal.
Coupland picked up his phone, pushed himself to his feet. ‘There’s someone I do need to speak to,’ he said.
A sigh. ‘Don’t tell me. I’ve got a feeling the less I know the better.’ He turned to go. ‘But Kevin,’ she called after him.
‘What?’ he muttered over his shoulder. Now he’d made up his mind what to do he wasn’t stopping for anyone.
‘You’re on dangerous ground.’ Her voice carried over the canteen hum, several heads turned in her direction but she ignored them. ‘Don’t go throwing your weight around or you could end up losing your job.’
Coupland snorted. Like that fucking mattered.
Chapter Twenty-One
The front of the wine bar was in darkness but Coupland wasn’t taken in by the dreary façade. It wasn’t like the main business was actually selling drinks. He did a circuit of the building until he found the door used for deliveries and other less salubrious transactions. It
was locked when he tried the handle, and banging his fist on the door brought no response. He stepped back to take aim at the handle with his foot. Kept on kicking. Each time his foot made contact with the door it felt good, like he was connecting with the bastard that had invaded his space. He glared at the CCTV camera positioned in the doorway. ‘I’m going nowhere, Tunny, I can do this all fucking day if I have to!’
‘Is it happening again, Dad?’
‘It’s just a precaution, love,’ he’d told her.
Kick.
‘Come home safe.’
There were some promises he couldn’t make.
Kick.
‘Don’t go throwing your weight around.’
What if that was all you had?
Kick.
The door was opened by a wiry youth in a thin cotton tracksuit. ‘Mr Tunny wants me to take you through to his office—’
‘—I know the way,’ Coupland grunted, shoving past him. The place was empty apart from a couple of cleaners and a barman doing a stock take. Neither paid any attention to the angry man charging upstairs. Coupland barged into Tunny’s office, didn’t give a toss about the muscle that might be waiting within it. Tunny was on his feet, a smile playing on his lips. Two youths in black trousers and pristine white shirts slouched on a sofa playing on an Xbox. Glitter ball was nowhere to be seen.
Coupland charged towards Tunny, stopping just short of the gangster so his words were understood. Loud and bloody clear. He moved forward so his face was inches away from his. ‘You can do what you damn well want to me,’ he hissed. ‘I don’t give a toss. But you send your trolls to sit outside my house, watching my family? That’s a game changer.’
Tunny grinned.
‘You think this is funny?’ Coupland took a step closer, grabbed the gangster by his jacket lapels. The youths appeared either side of him, Xbox controls discarded.
‘It’s OK boys,’ Tunny told them. ‘Mr Coupland here was just letting off a bit of steam. He doesn’t mean any harm.’ He nodded in turn at both of them when they didn’t move. ‘You can stand down.’
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