by Val McDermid
But that had been yesterday, and the two women had a policy of not dwelling on matters settled. Not for them the chewing over of decisions already reached, the revisiting of resolutions. Sufficient unto the day was good enough for them. Now it was time to move on to that day’s fresh hell.
Paula slumped in her seat, stirring her flat white into submission. ‘We’ve got nothing on this guy. We know it’s him, and all we have is gossamer.’
‘Very poetic,’ Elinor said. ‘Have you been sneaking sonnets when I’m not looking?’
In spite of herself, Paula found a smile. Elinor’s perpetual gift to her. ‘Every spare moment. But I’m really worried about this one. He’s quietly confident. Not cocky, just sure of his ground. Unless we get something solid on victim three, he’s going to walk out with a spring in his step, feeling like he’s king of the world.’ She sighed. ‘And more women will die.’
‘Maybe he’ll take fright. Stop while he’s still free and clear.’
‘His sort never do. They start off tentative but pretty soon they can’t do without it. It’s the ultimate power trip. It’s not love that’s the drug, it’s power. And there’s nothing more powerful than taking somebody’s life and getting away with it.’
‘You’re beginning to sound like Tony.’ Elinor squeezed her hand.
‘I’ve been listening to him for years. It would be surprising if nothing had rubbed off.’
‘You’ve had cases before that stayed on the books. You know you can’t always put the bad guys away.’
‘I know. But those failures came in the context of a lot of success. This is ReMIT’s first official major outing, and we’re under the spotlight. There are a lot of people with vested interests in us failing. You don’t think they’re rubbing their hands with glee right now?’
Elinor sighed. ‘Pitiful. What kind of person puts their own petty ambition ahead of saving lives? Oh no, wait, I’ve met surgeons…’ She grinned. ‘You have to rise above it, Paula. You have to be better than them. You have to go into that room and give it your best shot. And if you fail? What is it they say? “Try again. Fail better.” I know it hurts. I’ve lost enough patients in my time. But it doesn’t diminish you. Now go back in that room and do the best you can. And whatever happens, I will still love you.’
Paula inclined her head in acceptance. ‘I know. And I’m the lucky one. I have you to come home to. No matter how hard Tony tries to make it otherwise, Carol only has the inside of her head.’
Elton and Scott looked as relaxed as a couple of acquaintances waiting for afternoon tea when Carol and Paula returned. The sheet of paper had been annotated in neat block capitals. Scott passed it over to Carol. ‘There you go. As you will see, on almost all of these occasions, my client has no human alibi. He was either at home or in a hotel in another city.’
‘Worthless, then,’ Carol said, lip curling in a sneer.
‘Not exactly,’ Elton said. ‘My car has an onboard computer. It will tell you where the car was on the evenings in question. If need be, I will give your people access to that computer which will show that I didn’t drive off to meet strange women on those evenings.’
‘But since you have no substantive evidence against my client, we’re not going to volunteer that. You’ll need to get a warrant. And good luck with that,’ Scott said.
‘And as you can see, last Sunday, I was in the Sportsman’s Arms watching Bradfield Vic get taken apart by Chelsea. With a group of friends.’ There was nothing defiant about Elton. He spoke conversationally, as if he was telling a mate what he’d been up to at the weekend.
‘Plenty of time to get back to the Dales and murder Eileen Walsh,’ Carol said.
‘Another woman I’ve never heard of,’ Elton said nonchalantly.
‘So if you’ve nothing further, DCI Jordan, my client and I will be leaving now.’ Scott gathered her notepad and her slim silver Tiffany pen and stowed them in her slim leather shoulder bag. ‘This has been a comprehensive waste of time. If you want to speak to my client again, you’d better have something more than a computer-generated image and a Freshco complaint. Otherwise I’ll be the one making a complaint of harassment.’ She glanced at Elton as if to encourage him to leave.
But he remained seated. ‘If I was the person who had done this, I’d be laughing myself sick.’ His voice dripped contempt. ‘You’re so bereft of ideas and evidence that you’re grasping at the slightest coincidence and trying to build a case against an innocent man. While the real killer is out there, probably planning his next murder, not a stain on his character.’ Now he stood up.
‘I thought you lot were supposed to be the elite? I remember the news stories when you were formed. Top guns, they said.’ He scoffed. ‘Top bums, more like. If I was your man, I’d be dancing in the streets. With you lot running the show, anyone could get away with murder.’
66
C
arol sat on the sofa, elbows on her knees, head hanging. ‘He fucking laughed at us.’ She’d been saying the same thing at regular intervals for the past hour. As far as Tony knew, she’d been saying them to herself all the way home in the Land Rover too.
‘Think of it as a spur to action.’ It was a weak response but the only one he could come up with.
‘I don’t need a “spur to action”. I need some bloody evidence. The team have been all over Eileen Walsh’s life this afternoon and so far it’s another big fat zero. A few notes on a wall calendar with a defunct pay-as-you-go phone number. Richard, this time. So far, not even a glimpse on a photo. He’s not becoming careless, Tony. He’s getting better at this.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘What can I do? I’ve ordered up full surveillance on Elton. There’ll be teams on him twenty-four seven. If he’s stupid enough to think he can keep doing this unmolested, he’s very wrong.’
I think he’ll expect surveillance. I think you’ll bust your budget long before he puts a foot wrong. Tony knew better than to voice his thoughts. Which were the thoughts of a clinician as much as a friend. Right now, Carol needed to believe a positive outcome was possible. The alternative wasn’t something he wanted to contemplate.
The moment was broken by the doorbell. ‘What now?’ Carol grumbled, getting to her feet and dragging weary steps to the door. She looked through the spyhole. ‘Bloody Penny Burgess.’ She turned her back and leaned against the door, as if barricading it against an invader.
‘If you don’t talk to her here, she’ll only ambush you somewhere else. Probably in the most public place she can manage.’ Tony sprang up and hurried to the door. ‘Let me do the talking.’ Gently, he pushed her aside and opened the door, his foot behind it to prevent the reporter getting a good look inside. ‘Penny,’ he sighed wearily. Let her know she was a pain in the arse. Albeit an elegant one.
‘Dr Hill. I find you here again. How very cosy. And is Carol here too or are you home alone?’
Carol stepped into her line of sight. ‘I’m here. I live here. What’s your excuse?’
‘I’ve come to do you a favour. We’re running a story and I wanted to give you a heads-up. And to get a quote, obviously.’
‘I’ve got nothing to say to you,’ Carol said. ‘I don’t discuss ongoing cases with the press. You need to talk to the media office.’
‘It’s not about the case. Though three murders does seem a lot to be going on with. And no prospect of an arrest, I hear.’
Tony and Carol remained silent. They were both too experienced to be so easily baited.
Penny grinned. ‘Worth a try. No, what I’m here about – and I’m sorry to keep banging on the same old drum – is the mystery of the drink-driving bust that wasn’t. Since we spoke last, I’ve been making further inquiries. When five people die needlessly, after all, I don’t think we should just forget it and walk away. Do you?’
Again, silence.
‘OK, I’ll cut to the chase. According to what the CPS told Calderdale magistrates, the breathalyser that you and four o
ther motorists blew into that gave you all criminal alcohol breath levels was faulty. Am I right?’
‘That’s what the court was told, yes.’ Carol was cautious but saw no point in disputing a matter of record.
‘I have a problem with that,’ Penny said, pushing a stray strand of hair aside that the wind had blown into her eyes. ‘You see, the breathalyser in question was never withdrawn from use. Never repaired. Not even so much as serviced and recalibrated. Next shift, it was out on the road. Still is. How does one make sense of that?’
Stony-faced, Carol said nothing. But Tony could feel the tremble in the arm that touched his back. ‘Not DCI Jordan’s job,’ he said.
‘But it is mine,’ Penny said. ‘According to my sources, the officers who breathalysed you and arrested you and brought you to Halifax police station – incidentally, walking your lovely dog —’ She glanced down at Flash, whose head was against Carol’s thigh. ‘Those officers are pretty disgruntled about what happened. They are convinced they made a righteous arrest, using equipment that has not subsequently been found fault with.’
Time to go on the front foot. ‘So what?’ Tony said. ‘Coppers spend half their lives being disgruntled for one reason or another. That’s not news.’
‘Maybe not. And we’d all have to swallow it as a strange anomaly but for the fact that I’ve got a witness who says DCI Jordan was drinking wine all evening. That she had at least five glasses of strong red wine followed by a glass of port.’
Silence so absolute they could hear the dog’s breath.
‘It doesn’t sound like a faulty breathalyser to me.’ Penny’s tone was deceptively light. She’d delivered a killer blow and she knew it. ‘Who put the fix in, Carol? It can’t have been James Blake. He may be chief constable of Bradfield but he hasn’t got the clout for that. And anyway, everybody knows he hates you. So who was it, Carol? Did it go all the way up to the Home Office? Your old boss John Brandon’s in their pocket these days, isn’t he?’
‘You’re so wide of the mark, Penny,’ Tony said. ‘Maybe you should be looking at the other people who got off that night. Maybe this isn’t some giant conspiracy to exonerate Carol. Maybe it’s local corruption. A senior copper doing a favour for a friend or a bit on the side, not expecting any blowback. He’ll be shitting it now, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Did you think about that?’
For a moment, she looked disconcerted. Then she laughed. ‘Good try, doc. But no cigar. Even if it did play out the way you suggest, I’ve still got a witness to the fact that Carol was well over the limit when she got behind the wheel that night. And that’s all I need, really. Let the readers join up the dots.’
‘Why are you doing this?’ Tony asked. ‘Why are you so determined to destroy a good detective’s career? You go ahead with this and people will die because you’ve taken the best cop in the region off the streets.’
Penny’s eyebrows rose in a perfect arch. ‘Plenty of people have already died on her watch. There’s a trail of bodies in your wake, the pair of you. But despite that, I’m not pursuing any kind of vendetta. This isn’t personal. This is about who guards the guards. This is about Caesar’s wife having to be above reproach. Once you start playing this kind of game, Carol, where does it stop? Once you become the one who matters, what happens to justice? Where’s the justice for the five people who died when Nicky Barrowclough got pissed and got behind the wheel?’ Her voice rose with passion. Flash gave a low growl deep in her throat.
‘No comment,’ Tony said and closed the door. He turned and wrapped Carol in his arms. She allowed the embrace for as long as it took Penny Burgess to stop leaning on the doorbell and leave. Then she pulled away and smashed the side of her fist against the door.
‘That’s it,’ she shouted. ‘I’m done. Thanks to Penny fucking Burgess, I’m going down in flames.’ She squeezed her eyes shut and jerked her head to one side in an angry gesture. ‘She’s going to ruin me. There’ll be no ReMIT left by the time she’s done. They’ll all be tainted by association.’ She crossed the room and threw herself into an armchair. ‘I’m finished, Tony, I’m finished.’
He stood by the door, uncertain whether to go to her. ‘She’ll never run it. Her editor won’t have the balls to take on the police, the Home Office, whoever.’
‘She’ll take it somewhere else, then. She’s got a cracking story and she won’t walk away from it. She’s got form, you know she has. I am truly fucked.’ Head in hands, she rocked to and fro in her chair. Belly to the floor, Flash crawled to her side. Cautiously, as if he was playing Grandmother’s Footsteps, Tony also approached. When he reached her side, he crouched down and put a hand on her knee.
‘Nobody will believe it,’ he said.
‘They will.’ Her voice muffled by her hands. ‘I’ve been turned into a star by the bosses. My team’s been boosted as the elite. And there’s nothing people like more than seeing the likes of us brought low.’ Carol raised her head. ‘If it was just me, I’d say, fuck it, and walk away.’ A sharp sigh. ‘But it’s not just me. It’s the rest of them. Paula, going for her inspector’s exams. No chance. Kevin, who only came back for me, out in the cold. Alvin, who moved his whole family up to Bradfield because of what ReMIT offered him. Karim, the best and the brightest of his intake. He’ll be stuck at the bottom of the CID pile forever now. Stacey? Without me to protect her, she’ll either end up in jail or she’ll walk away too. And the force loses the best digital analyst in the country. And you. You’ll be tainted too, you and what you do. It’s a bloody disaster.’
She jumped up again and started pacing. ‘And that piece of shit Tom Elton? He’s already laughing at us. Whoever they bring in to replace us, he’ll run rings round them. And he’s going to keep on doing this. OK, on the law of averages, some dumb traffic cop will eventually stop him when he’s got a dead woman in the car. But how many more women will die before that happens? What about Tricia? Who’s going to keep her safe over in Spain? I can’t take it, Tony. I can’t let this happen. No more blood on my hands, I can’t —’ She pounded her fists against her chest.
She was coming apart in front of him. He’d have known what to do if he’d been inside the high walls of Bradfield Moor Secure Hospital. He’d have had her sedated then dealt with her pain when it was less acute. But this was her home. A home she’d opened up to him too. He had to be her friend, not her doctor. So he went to her again and tried to hold her. But she fought free and turned on him, panting, her mouth a snarl, her hands fists.
‘I’m not going to stand for it,’ she growled. ‘I’ve got nothing left to lose, Tony. I’m going to put a stop to him. I’m going to follow him to the next fucking wedding.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I’m going to follow him and then I’m going to kill him.’
67
T
hey argued late into the night. They only broke off so Carol could check in with the surveillance teams she’d set on Elton’s tail. But nothing Tony said could even dent Carol’s conviction that her solution was the only reasonable one. Nothing gave her pause. ‘I’m history, whatever happens now. So I’m going to do one good thing on the way down.’
‘You don’t know for sure that Elton’s guilty,’ Tony tried. ‘You think he is, but —’
‘All the circumstantial points to him. Psychologically, he makes complete sense. You said that yourself after you listened to Paula’s interview with Tricia. And you saw the way he reacted when Paula mentioned her name.’
‘That might be nothing more than shock at hearing you’d managed to contact her when he couldn’t.’
Carol shook her head in exasperation. ‘What about the photographs? It’s him. We’ll bring in expert witnesses who can match up all the micro-measurements.’
‘So do that. Prove it.’
She shook her head. ‘We’ll never get that far. The CPS won’t even consider a prosecution without at least a fifty per cent chance of success, you know that. And juries hate that kind of evidence, it makes them feel like they’re being bli
nded by science.’
Tony paced the floor in front of her. ‘I don’t believe you’ll do it. You couldn’t kill someone in cold blood. You’ve not got it in you.’
She gave him a cold, calculating look. ‘If you say so.’ Her tone denied her words.
His final throw of the dice was, he knew, a high-risk strategy. ‘I’ve tried really hard to be your friend tonight,’ he said, keeping his exasperation at bay with difficulty. ‘But now I need to be the doctor here.’
‘What? I need a doctor? You think I’m sick?’ Her voice was filled with exhaustion and hurt.
‘I think you might be suffering from PTSD. Post-Traumatic Stress —’
‘I know what bloody PTSD is. And I’m not a victim.’
‘There’s no shame in it, Carol. It’s not a comment on your brilliance or your bravery or your commitment. It’s as real as breaking a bone and there’s no shame in it.’
She scoffed. ‘You think? Tell that to all the soldiers invalided out these past few years. You don’t see them walking into top jobs and running the world, do you? Anyway, that’s irrelevant. I’m not suffering from PTSD.’
‘In my professional opinion, you probably are. You should be on sick leave, having treatment.’
‘You think? So what are my symptoms, Doctor?’ she sneered.
‘You told me yourself you’ve been having nightmares. That’s a classic.’
‘If that was the criterion for going on the sick, you’d hardly have a single member of the emergency services in work. We all see appalling things and we all revisit them in the night. Don’t you dare lecture me about bad dreams and not sleeping. By your own admission, you’ve hardly had a proper night’s sleep in years. It was one of the first things you told me when we were working our first case together.’ She jumped to her feet again and started on circuits of the room. Flash looked up momentarily then let her head fall to the rug again. She’d had enough pacing for one evening.