by Alex Clare
With a sense of resignation, Robyn followed Fell into the corridor and along to the conference room. The chairs had been stacked in a corner and a series of stalls set up around the edge with banners and posters proclaiming “Women’s Network”; “Police Parents” and “Benevolent Association”. Fell approached a tall, black officer in uniform who was scanning some notes. ‘Good morning, good morning. Thank you for coming today. We’re all looking forward to your talk.’ The officer looked around the almost-empty hall and Fell seemed to become conscious of the gap. ‘Superintendent Prince, may I introduce DI Bailley? Prince works for the Met.’
They shook hands. ‘I understand you found evidence of a drugs shipment recently.’ Although Prince was shorter than her, he had a sense of solidity.
‘Yes, sir. We were searching an abandoned warehouse and found activity.’ Robyn wondered why the Met was showing an interest in a two month-old find. ‘One of the forensic technicians recognised the type of packing material from a previous shipment he’d examined in another location. When the items were tested there were traces of heroin.’
Prince nodded. ‘We believe this is one drop from a large, well-organised international operation. We’ve found similar packaging along the Kent, Essex and Suffolk coasts, so we’re confident the drugs are coming in by sea for sale in London. By using a range of landing locations, they reduce the risk of detection. We’ve managed to intercept individual shipments and the intention is to work our way up the chain of command.’ From his belt, there was a discreet buzz from a slim phone.
Over his shoulder, Robyn saw Fell look at his watch and glare at the HR manager.
Robyn reached for her phone, turning away as if to look at a stand.
‘DI Bailley’s phone.’
‘Chloe, it’s me.’ Robyn kept her voice low. ‘I’m up in the main conference room. Could you do me a favour: get the team to come up – it’s a bit sparse in here at the moment which will make Fell look bad. And hustle anyone you find on the way, will you? Thanks.’
With a confident smile, she turned to Prince. ‘My team are just on their way. They’re looking forward to your talk.’
Like Fell, Prince didn’t appear to do small-talk. ‘To tackle the smuggling, we are in the process of setting up a cross-border team to share intelligence. Could you nominate an officer to feed in data from Meresbourne? This has a high priority at the Met as recent shipments appear to be purer than before and we are aware of at least two linked deaths.’
‘Yes, sir.’ She thought for a second. ‘My choice would be DC Lorraine Mount.’
There was a tiny movement across Prince’s forehead. ‘Only a DC?’
Fell’s heavy footfall sounded behind her. Robyn made sure she spoke up. ‘It’s my view DC Mount is ready for promotion and a case working with the Met would be ideal experience for her.’ She held her breath. She couldn’t put Fell on the spot as his natural reaction would be to object. The best thing she could do would be to make Fell think it was his idea.
On the other side of the hall, Lorraine and Ravi straggled in and behind them, a couple of civilians. A second later, Chloe arrived, with a pair of officers in Uniform.
‘Ah, here’s DC Mount. I can introduce –’
‘Well, as this is looking a bit more healthy, shall we get started?’ Fell bustled to the microphone. ‘Is this on?’ He looked around. ‘Can you hear me? Good. Without any further ado, I’d like to welcome you to Meresbourne’s first diversity celebration and I’m delighted to welcome Superintendent Prince from the Met Police, who’s going to talk about his experiences.’
With a minimum of movement, Prince stepped up to the microphone. His speech was short and to the point, the stories of discrimination told without emotion. Robyn found herself thinking of Meresbourne’s previous DI, Kenny Prentiss and his ever-so-amusing range of names for various ethnic groups. When Prince finished, the applause was warm.
Robyn turned to Lorraine, planning to introduce her but she had already approached the Superintendent.
‘Hello, sir, you won’t remember me. You came to give a talk to my intake at Henley.’ With her eyes wide, Lorraine looked a little starstruck. ‘You were brilliant, really inspiring.’
‘Thank you.’ Prince reached for his phone.
‘Sir, this is DC Mount who would be my nomination to provide our information to the drugs operation.’ Robyn was hoping Lorraine would follow her lead.
‘Ah.’ His hand stopped on the holster. Prince’s look towards Lorraine became more appraising. ‘Are you aware of what DI Bailley has suggested?’
‘Bailley.’ Fell’s voice cut through the conversation.
‘We have a need for a Meresbourne representative –’
‘DI Bailley.’ Fell’s voice had a growl to it.
Robyn gave Lorraine what she hoped was an encouraging smile and moved across to join Fell and the HR manager.
‘Sir?’
‘Bailley, I think this has been rather a success.’ Fell paused for a second to wipe a small piece of fluff from his lapel. ‘We will be doing this again and thought at the next one you could speak about your experiences.’
‘That’s an interesting idea, sir.’ While trying to keep her face neutral, Robyn racked her brain for good arguments why she shouldn’t be involved. ‘However, given there is a real focus on gender equality at the moment, I wonder whether a senior female officer’s experiences may be of wider interest, to really appeal to the biggest audience?’
The HR manager was pushing her lips together into a thin line.
‘We shall see.’ Fell checked his watch. ‘Something to consider though. I must say goodbye to the Superintendent.’
It seemed a good chance to escape. Robyn nodded to the HR manager and scanned around the room for her team. Lorraine was still in conversation with Prince, Chloe was chatting with the stall holder for the Benevolent Association, Ravi beside her flicking through leaflets. Robyn walked over.
‘– what we should do? We could get a football tournament going. We had a league up in Doncaster across the station with mixed teams. Everyone chips in to play and it all goes to the fund. How about it?’
‘Shall we?’ Robyn smiled down at Chloe. ‘I think your football idea would be popular.’
Together, they walked along the corridor. ‘Oh yes, it’s such a good cause.’ Chloe walked past the lift to the stairs. ‘The Benevolent Association helps a lot of people. When my dad was hurt, I don’t think we would have managed without them.’
‘Your dad is an officer?’
‘Was. He was in the force all his life. He got hurt in a crash, a drunk driver. And, well, he wasn’t so good after. That’s why I always support the Benevolent Association.’
Robyn saw Ravi’s arm brush Chloe’s, which could have just been an accident as they bumped shoulders at the turn of the stairs.
17
When they walked into the incident room, Graham was at his paperstrewn desk. ‘Oh there you all are. It’s past eleven. I thought I was the only one doing any work around here.’
Robyn looked around. The evidence boards were still in the corner, bare.
‘Someone give me a hand here.’ Robyn got one end of a board. Chloe jumped to her feet and manoeuvred the other end over a cable. Between them, they wheeled the board to a position in the centre. ‘Thanks, Chloe.’ She turned to the room. ‘Right, I want all the details of Newman’s death on here. Lots of questions we can be working on while we wait for the post mortem. What was he doing in the Docks estate? Did he run into the feminists again? Let’s get on with it.’
Chloe fetched a scrap of tissue and began wiping the board.
Robyn held up her hand. ‘Not you, Chloe. You’re working on the Lady Ann case.’ She turned. ‘Ravi, Newman’s death is your case. Can you get this board up to date, please?’
At the sound of his name, Ravi lifted his head, blinking as if he had just woken up. He glanced around the room, then met Chloe’s eyes. She gave him a tiny nod. He stood up and took
the tissue from her. ‘Call this clean?’
‘Yes, well, I struggle to reach the top.’ Chloe looked back at him, chin up. ‘You should try being short some time.’
Graham looked around his screen. ‘I don’t think the powers that be knew what they were letting themselves in for when they removed the height restriction.’
Robyn was relieved when Chloe laughed. ‘When I was in Uniform, we had a child trapped in a house when his mother locked herself out. Guess who was able to get inside by climbing through a fanlight? We should be considered a specialist unit.’
‘Are you suggesting Ravi and I only get cases involving giraffes?’ Lorraine dropped into her chair.
‘How many crimes are committed by giraffes anyway?’ Ravi held his hands out.
‘Loads.’ Graham cracked his knuckles. ‘They can’t stop sticking their necks out.’
Amongst the groans, a paper ball flew across the office, missing Graham by several feet. He watched it pass, not even bothering to move. ‘Feeble. Who said girls can’t throw? Oh, just about everyone.’
Lorraine was about to retort when Robyn spoke. ‘OK, settle down.’ She groped for words. ‘That was the whole point of the diversity seminar we just went to, we’ve got to accept differences and think what everyone brings to the team.’ The silence that followed made Robyn wonder if she had just managed to upset everybody.
‘And that’s exactly why I didn’t come. A diversity seminar? What kind of rubbish is this?’ Graham waved his hand around the team. ‘We don’t need a seminar because we’re doing fine. We’re about as diverse as you can get, we’ve got pink people and brown people and even different shades of brown. We’ve got you, Guv.’ He pointed at Chloe. ‘And we’ve even got a northerner for Christ’s sake, what more do they want?’
There was a second’s pause. Robyn knew she should say something: it was a relief when her phone rang. ‘Hello, Sir.’ She mouthed ‘Fell’ to the team.
‘Right.’ It was the news she had expected. ‘Yes, sir.’
She put the phone down, conscious of the team’s interest. ‘The Superintendent has confirmed Professional Standards will be investigating the death of Jake Newman, given he was released from our custody only a few hours before.’ She looked at Graham. ‘As this is your case, I’ll expect you to be the primary liaison with them.’
‘Me?’ Graham raised his eyebrows.
‘Yes.’ Robyn scanned his face. ‘Any reason why not?’
‘None.’ The word came out very quickly. ‘Just I was guessing they’ll send an inspector and they’d want to work with an equivalent rank.’
Robyn had not enjoyed being the focus of Professional Standards’ scrutiny and had no wish to do it again. ‘He will have to interview me as I was the last person in the station to see Newman alive, so it’s better you do the day-to-day handling.’
‘And I thought today was going to be a good day.’ Graham sidled back to his desk.
‘It will be a good day.’ Lorraine looked up. ‘Kelly’s just emailed through the outline pathology report so we’ve got some details for the board. I’ll send it across.’ She scanned her screen. ‘OK, one of the last things in Newman’s stomach was instant porridge.’
‘So he was killed by a Scotsman?’ Ravi gave a weak smile as he stuck a picture to the board.
‘Porridge sounds like a woman’s weapon to me.’ Although Graham was clowning, Robyn heard a brittle note in his voice.
‘No true Scottish person would ever eat instant porridge. This is an attempt to frame northern people.’ Amid the laughter, Robyn thought how quickly Chloe had become one of the team.
‘Hmm, certainly plausible.’ Graham held up a finger. ‘We’re looking for a Sassenach. The real worry is if they are armed with golden syrup.’ He allowed a moment for laughter, then seemed to sober. ‘Right. Let’s get this show on the road. We’ll need to tie down Newman’s movements, Raver. Let’s make a list of everyone in his life, starting with his girlfriend.’
‘Before that, is there anything else we need to ask Kelly at this stage?’ Lorraine stopped typing.
‘You can ask him what those pills in Bartholomew’s bathroom were – always useful to know.’ Robyn saw another email arrive with the subject ‘Budget’.
‘Righto. And just one other thing.’ Lorraine stood up. ‘Everyone had better still be on for the Jazz Jam tonight, seeing as it’s my birthday.’
There was a second of silence: it looked as if everyone had forgotten their planned team evening. Chloe was the first to speak. ‘Oh goodness, I forgot your card.’ She dived into her drawer, pulling out a big, blue envelope. ‘I meant to give it to you when I got here. Happy Birthday! I’m really looking forward to tonight. I can’t wait to hear you play.’
Robyn had a horrible moment of doubt when she wondered whether she had signed the card, then remembered Chloe collaring her the week before.
With Ravi settled, Robyn thought it was time to tackle Graham. ‘Right. We need to talk about a couple of things. It’s nearly lunchtime so a meeting room should be free.’
Graham’s eyes darted left and right looking for an escape until his sagging shoulders showed acceptance. ‘OK then.’
With the people in the lift, Graham’s usual persona seemed to reassert itself and he laughed with someone about the latest roadworks. They found a free meeting room. Graham remained standing, his hands gripping the back of a chair.
Robyn waited for him to sit down, then gave up. ‘I want to talk about how we run these two cases because there are going to be a lot of crossovers but first, tell me what’s going on with you.’
Voices from the next room carried through the wall. Graham was still staring into space.
‘You can’t tell me everything is all right when clearly it isn’t.’ She banged the table with the flat of her hand. ‘Sit down and talk to me.’ She looked into his face until his eyes met hers. ‘At the moment, I have an officer who doesn’t answer his phone over a weekend when he’s on call and appears to be distracted all the time. I don’t think that’s because he’s a bad officer, I think there’s something wrong and I need to know what it is.’
Graham cracked the knuckles of one hand then the other. ‘Had a lot on my mind recently.’
‘What is it?’ She had to lean forward to hear him, a gaggle of HR workers had just occupied the next-door office and were being noisy.
‘My wife is dying.’
‘What?’ Robyn’s first urge was to reach over and put her hand on his: a second thought told her this might not help.
‘Cancer.’ Graham sniffed. ‘She had it before and she’d beaten it, so they told us.’ He slid down into the chair. ‘After her operation, the doctors said they’d cut out all of the tumour and she was clear. She seemed like her old self. Then she started getting these new pains and they ran a test. That’s when they told us there must have been a secondary.’ He shut his eyes. ‘Because they’d missed it, it’s spread. Everywhere, into her lungs and her spine. Now they say it’s gone too far to treat and there’s nothing they can do.’ The last words had come out as a whisper, as if Graham didn’t want to say the words out loud.
‘I’m sorry.’ Robyn tried to meet Graham’s eyes but he was staring at the table. ‘Why didn’t you tell me before?’
There was a shriek from the HR room followed by laughter.
‘Shall we go somewhere else and talk about this?’
Graham stood up. ‘Actually, I don’t want to talk about it at all.’ He headed for the door.
Robyn caught up with him at the lift. ‘I want to help you. I appreciate this isn’t easy so tell me what I can do. What about special leave arrangements? You can’t feel like working.’
The lift was full with people heading to lunch. They walked in silence past DI Pond’s office next to the incident room. ‘Come on, we can talk in here.’ Matthew’s empty office was tidy to the point of sterile. ‘What do you need? Do you want a leave of absence?’
‘Nah.’ Graham shook his head.
‘This is going to be hard.’
‘Don’t worry.’ Graham scratched his nose. ‘I can manage Raver.’
‘Are you sure?’ Robyn jerked backward as the chair back had no resistance. She felt her cheeks warm. ‘Well, we can review this at any time.’ She swallowed. ‘What are they saying about, ah, timescales?’ She hated the way she sounded like Fell trying to avoid a difficult subject.
‘Months?’ Graham shrugged. ‘Weeks? They really don’t know very much for all their white coats.’
‘We can handle things here, it’s not a problem.’ She wondered how he was staying so calm. ‘You take leave, be with her.’
‘No.’ Graham brought his hand down on the desk. ‘You don’t understand. She doesn’t want me around.’ He looked up to the ceiling. ‘Can you imagine, no you probably can’t. The hardest bit is my wife does not want me around because she says if I get upset, it makes her feel worse.’ He looked back at Robyn. ‘Have you ever seen someone you love in so much pain and there’s absolutely nothing you can do to stop it? It makes me so angry.’ He folded his arms. ‘She’s spending what time she can with her friends and our daughters. Our youngest is back from Australia this week, so that’ll make her happy. It’s best I’m out of the way.’
‘OK.’ Robyn struggled to find words. She was thinking of the pain she had caused Becky. ‘You must let me know if you need anything.’
‘The last thing I need is some tosser from Professional Standards breathing down my neck the whole time.’
She knew what this meant. After assigning Lorraine to Prince’s team, there would be no one else so she would have to deal with the investigator herself. ‘OK.’
Graham looked happier than he had done for a while. ‘And don’t tell the others. I really don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Of course.’ Robyn stayed in the empty office for a moment. The smiling faces of Matthew, his wife and their three children gazed at her from the desk photo. It reinforced how solitary she had become and walking into the bustle of the CID office was a relief. Ravi had at least got some semblance of evidence on the board. In the centre was the wedding group shot showing Newman and the other ushers, smart in their suits, raising champagne glasses. Other images showed his friends and family. Robyn picked up a marker pen and added details of the argument between Newman and Trudwick.