Separated at Death (The Lakeland Murders)

by Salkeld, J J

  ‘OK, that’s fine. Use this phone. I’ll keep it after, and we won’t pick up if he calls back.’

  Hall passed Ryan his phone.

  ‘Don’t worry, it’s not my work mobile’ said Hall, sensing Ryan’s reluctance. ‘They won’t be able to trace the number. Just show the message to me before you send it.’

  Ryan tapped in his text, then passed the phone to Hall, who passed it on to Mann, who nodded approval.

  ‘OK Ryan, we’ll send that and see how Wayne responds. Is now a good time?’

  Ryan said it was, so Hall pressed send.

  Jane passed a couple of M&S bags to Mann, who looked inside.

  ‘It’s your lucky night Ryan, there’s some lovely grub in here.’

  ‘Any beers?’

  ‘Dream on. We need to keep you fighting fit, don’t we? Fancy a pizza washed down with a glass of pop?’

  Hall, Mann and Francis left Ryan to turn the TV back on and went into the kitchen together. Hall left the mobile on the worktop.

  ‘Did you get anywhere else on Simon’s finances Jane?’ asked Hall.

  ‘He’s pretty careful. He pays for all the big ticket stuff monthly, so no big cash payments there, but guess how much a month goes through his and his wife’s joint bank account for food, entertainment, holidays and all that each month?’

  ‘A couple of grand maybe? They look like they know how to help reflate the economy.’

  ‘Not a penny. Same for fuel. So they’re using cash everywhere they can. It’s not foolproof, because our forensic accountants will be able to calculate how much cash they’re spending that he won’t be able to account for, but he’s not the worst at it. And before you ask I don’t know how far this goes back yet, but certainly a year or so.’

  ‘He probably thought he’d never come under close scrutiny’ said Mann. ‘What with coming from a good family, and having the big house and everything.’

  ‘Displaying your class prejudices Ian?’ said Hall, laughing.

  ‘I’m just saying. These white collar criminals get away with murder.’

  ‘Not this time’ said Jane. ‘Now, which one of us is going to be responsible for cooking this food.’ Both Jane and Mann looked at Hall.

  ‘All right, but it’s not really cooking is it? More like reheating. It’s just like being at home anyway, with a hungry kid in the sitting room watching the box.’

  ‘He’s not a kid’ said Mann. ‘He actually did a decent job sussing out friend Hamilton’s little plan. I’d actually be impressed if he wasn’t such a scum-bag.’

  ‘You don’t seriously think that Hamilton and Carl Nelson would have killed him?’ asked Jane.

  ‘If Hamilton did kill Amy, and we all know he did, then why not?’ said Hall. ‘I agree with Ian, Ryan’s feral instincts have served him pretty well so far. Mind you, however this turns out he’s going to have to get out of Kendal for a good long while after.’

  ‘That won’t be easy for him’ said Mann. ‘But you’re right, everyone will know that he’s a grass, and the fact that Hamilton killed a teenage girl and was quite happy to do the same to Ryan won’t cut that much ice. A grass is a grass.’

  ‘It’s one of the eternal verities’ said Hall. ‘Very conservative, your criminal classes.’

  ‘It makes me proud that I joined the force’ laughed Jane.

  ‘Why did you?’ said Ian Mann. ‘I’ve often wondered what a nice girl like you is doing with the likes of us.’

  ‘Speak for yourself’ said Hall.

  ‘I just wanted a change after spending fifteen years in the lab. It was all getting to be more about finding new funding streams than the work, and I wanted a change. One of my uncles was a copper, he retired about ten years ago, and I remember the stories he used to tell.’

  ‘What, about ticking off urchins who stole a sixpence, and helping old ladies across the road?’ asked Hall.

  ‘Not quite. He spent most of his career down in the Met, ended up in anti-terrorism.’

  ‘And in the quest for the same kind of excitement you came to Cumbria?’

  ‘You were the only force who’d have me. But I dream of working my way up to the proper badlands. You know, the Cotswolds, places like that.’

  ‘Be careful what you wish for’ said Hall, squinting at the cooking time on the pizza boxes. Didn’t M&S know that while young people ate this stuff it was middle-aged ones who actually cooked it?

  Hall served the food and they all ate together in the sitting room. Mann did the washing up and Jane Francis dried. A text came in on the phone on the worktop. ‘We’re on’ said Hall when he’d read it. ‘That didn’t take them long. Wayne is just asking for a time and a place. So Ryan, just tell him that you’ll text him tomorrow, in the afternoon, and that he’s not to try to contact you again in the meantime.’

  Ryan did as he was told, and afterwards Hall gave the phone to Ian Mann.

  ‘We’re going to leave you with Ian now Ryan’ said Hall. ‘You’re perfectly safe tonight, and we’ll be back tomorrow, OK?’

  Outside the night was clear, and cold. To the north the sky was clear, and Hall looked up at the starry sky. Jane did the same. Hall couldn’t put his finger on why it was, but for the first time in months he suddenly felt optimistic.

  ‘It makes me feel all Christmassy’ said Jane.

  ‘Don’t remind me. I haven’t got most of the kids’ stuff yet.’

  Jane almost asked what Andy had bought for his wife, but something made her stop.

  ‘Is it true that we used to give dinner to an old tramp in the station every Christmas?’

  ‘Yes. I’ve heard that. He was around in my time actually, but he wasn’t a tramp I don’t think. He was a chronic alcoholic of course, called Billy, and when my kids were small he’d come up to them in the street and try to give them money.’

  ‘That must have scared them.’

  ‘Scared us more I think. Kids expect people to give them money. There’s a great story about old Billy’s bank raid actually.’

  ‘Bank raid?’

  ‘Well a heist anyway. Apparently he was watching a guard walking to and from a security van outside one of the banks in town, taking the money in, and even through his alcoholic haze he noticed that whenever the bloke knocked on the back door a bag of money appeared in the slot. So he tried it, and sure enough a bag of cash appeared for him too. So he grabbed it and made his escape.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘When our lads turned up they found him in a yard round the back of the bank, counting the loot. Quickest collar in the history of the force. Anyway, enough of that old nonsense. Come on, let’s get you home.’

  They got into the car and Hall put on some Gillian Welch. They didn’t speak for a while.

  ‘Did you really have an uncle in the Met?’ asked Hall as they drove past the big supermarket on the edge of town, it’s almost empty car park still brightly lit.

  ‘Yes of course, why do you ask?’

  ‘I thought it was true, but these days I find I’m never sure when people are telling the truth, even if they’ve no reason to lie.’

  Jane looked across at him.

  ‘Occupational hazard, or something else?’

  ‘Both, I suppose. The problem with this job is that you have to deal with so many lies’ said Hall. He was glad that they were only a minute of so from Jane’s house, because he had no intention of saying any more. Not to Jane, probably not to anyone.

  When Hall got home he was pleased to see that his wife wasn’t there, and he went straight up to his bedroom. There were a couple of suitcases next to the wardrobe. He picked one up, and it was heavy. He didn’t feel anything like as sad as he’d expected to.

  Hall slept badly. He dreamt that he was in a room with lots of young people who he couldn’t identify, and he was showing them his vinyl records. Then someone came over, and showed an interest, and then they were sitting together talking about music. Hall knew that it was John Peel, and he knew that he was dead. Then Ha
ll woke up.

  He lay awake for the rest of the night, thinking about everything that could go wrong with the Hamilton arrest. What if they came in by a different route? And what about when they reached the house? Hall wouldn’t know how many there were until they were under observation, and Sharples probably wouldn’t know exactly how they were armed until they were right in front of them. So what if they just threw petrol bombs through three or four windows?

  Hall found himself thinking through the possibilities again: had Sharples even mentioned how they’d be prepared for a firebomb attack? One of the advantages of his wife sleeping downstairs, if she was there at all, was that he could turn on the bedside lamp, find his Blackberry, and send himself an email reminding him to get Sharples’ fire precautions checked. After that, he just lay there until he thought he could safely get up without disturbing the kids too badly.

  Saturday, 19th December

  Hall was in at work well before eight, but as usual Jane had beaten him to it. He phoned the front desk, found out who was doing the surveillance on the Hamilton’s place, and sent a text. A minute later he got one back. The couple were both at home, and neither had been out since the previous afternoon.

  Then Hall called Mike Brown, the inspector at GMP who was co-ordinating surveillance on Nelson.

  ‘Matey went out to the industrial unit last night’ Brown told him, ‘and he was there for about an hour. Two other men joined him, and one looks as if he’s injured.’

  ‘Injured?’

  ‘Yes. One of the men was almost doubled over when he was unlocking the gate on the way in, and didn’t look too clever on the way out either. We assume he’s the one who your sergeant had a run in with yesterday.’

  ‘I expect so. But you’ve had no complaint?’

  ‘Don’t worry. My officers said that the bloke didn’t even want the ambulance when it arrived. Your man must be pretty handy, my lads said he didn’t have a scratch on him. I could do with a few like that myself.’

  ‘Ian’s a good copper. I don’t expect you’ll see any movement until later on, but will you let me know if anything happens?’

  ‘Certainly will, and I agree with you that we may have a while to wait. Because you don’t often see the likes of Carl Nelson doing much while the early turn is still on duty.’

  Hall had an appointment with Robinson at ten, and he was there on the dot. It was well known in the station that Robinson was a God-botherer, and perhaps he believed that timeliness was next to Godliness. Hall just thought it was polite.

  ‘This is an excellent example of multi-agency co-operation’ said Robinson, when Hall had updated him, which Hall took to mean that Robinson was pleased that someone else was picking up part of the tab. ‘So you’re working on the assumption that Amy’s death connects to Simon Hamilton’s drug interests.’

  ‘Exactly. There’s nothing to suggest any other credible motive. Sure, he’s tried to put his brother in the frame, but I’m betting he took the phone because he’d called Amy and she’d called him back, and it was only later that he realised that he could try to use it to his advantage. So I think the likeliest explanation is that Amy knew something about his activities, and was maybe going to tell her mum or dad, and that is what motivated him.’

  ‘And you’re sure he’s our man?’

  ‘100%. We’ve been unlucky not to have an eye-witness of him with Amy on Queen’s Road, but I have had a report back on his hand span. It’s not absolutely conclusive obviously, but it’s completely consistent with him being the killer: his span fits the bruising like a glove, if you see what I mean. And as you say our eye-witness on the car being there is as good as they get.’

  ‘Agreed, but how much risk are you willing to take with Ryan? We do have to be careful you know.’

  ‘Of course sir. Tactical are happy to let whoever turns up into the house and then take them, so long as there’s no more than four of them, and there’s no obvious sign of guns. If there are then they’ll be taken in the yard.’

  ‘Do tactical think they’ll be armed?’

  ‘Drugs squad at GMP think it’s possible, but if they did kill that kid out west then they’ll probably try to use those imported high-powered tasers to subdue Ryan, then move him to their car and take him somewhere before giving him a fatal OD. From what I know about Simon I’d say that’s quite likely, and I doubt they’ll view Ryan as that much of a physical threat. I made sure that he gave no indication to them that he’s got anyone with him.’

  ‘And you don’t think we’ve underestimated their resources or intelligence?’

  ‘Not at all, more likely the opposite. I think tactical have been remarkably cautious. We’ll have fifty officers on the ground tonight, all with specialist training, and deploying I don’t know what value of kit. Certainly well into the millions. In the end it’s like war, a simple matter of economics, or at least that’s what I’m banking on.’

  ‘So you’re telling me that you feel fully supported in this operation?’

  Hall knew full well what that meant, that he would carry the can if it all went wrong, but he didn’t hesitate. ‘I do sir. This operation will be a complete success.’

  He smiled as he saw Robinson write it down on his pad. He knew there’d be minutes issued by the time he was back at his desk. And he didn’t care, because Simon Hamilton was about to take a series of actions that could be shown in a clear evidential trail and which, at the very least, would be highly supportive of a murder charge. So long, of course, as Hall was able to demonstrate a clear drugs-related motive for the killing. It was the one thing that still bothered him. If he couldn’t make that connection then Hamilton might still get off on the murder charge. The drugs material might even end up being inadmissible.

  At noon he had a long meeting with Sharples, and Hall raised his concerns about a fire-bomb attack.

  ‘Do you think that’s likely?’ asked Sharples. ‘None of Nelson’s known associates have a record for arson. And it’s so indiscriminate.’

  Hall thought that Sharples still thought like a soldier, and had no insight into the wholly amoral mind, but he didn’t say so.

  ‘We need to cover all the bases. It would take ten minutes to get a fire engine out there, and there’ll be quite a few of us inside.’

  ‘Agreed, it’s a risk. I’ll take advice from the Fire Service after this meeting, and we’ll deploy either our people or theirs to give us cover inside. Shall I ask for a fire appliance to hold station somewhere close by?’

  ‘Just go with whatever the Fire Service suggests. I’m probably worrying about nothing.’

  The atmosphere in the station was tense and quiet. It reminded Hall of the day after Derrick Bird had gone on his rampage in west Cumbria. By the time officers from Kendal had arrived it was all over, but the sense of shock had lasted for days. It just made Hall hate guns more than ever, and made him wonder if he’d done what his colleagues out west had done when they heard. Would he have run out of the station, unarmed and with little or no solid information, looking for an armed killer? He was far from sure that he would.

  Just after 1pm he heard from Mike Brown at GMP. Sharples was still in Hall’s office, so Hall put the call on the speaker.

  ‘We’ve got movement with your targets. Nelson left his home and drove straight to the industrial unit, and he’s just been joined by Johnson, the one your sergeant battered so enthusiastically, and another male who we can’t ID as yet. He’s not local, arrived by taxi and was carrying a large bag. And before you ask, certainly big enough to carry a shotgun, amongst other things.’

  ‘Amongst other things’ repeated Hall thoughtfully. ‘Can you pull the taxi driver and keep him in custody ‘til Nelson and his crew are off your turf, and ideally until this is over?’ asked Hall.

  ‘Already done. He collected the bloke from the station, got him at the rank so no idea where he’d come from, and the fare didn’t say much. Cockney accent our man thinks, but given that he’s Polish I’m not sure how good
he is at spotting regional accents.’

  ‘OK, that’s helpful. We’ll have to work on the assumption that they’re armed, and have hired outside help. Did you get pictures of this other bloke?’

  ‘No, sorry, I didn’t think we’d need a snapper.’

  ‘I’d feel a lot more comfortable if your cabby had picked him up from the airport’ said Hall thoughtfully.

  ‘I know what you mean’ said Brown. ‘But forewarned is forearmed as they say.’

  ‘Why does how he arrived make a difference?’ asked Sharples.

  ‘Airport security’ explained Hall. ‘We’d know that he wasn’t carrying a firearm when he arrived if he’d flown in. But it wouldn’t give that much comfort, because Nelson might have provided one anyway. I hear you can get anything from an Uzi to a flame-thrower in Manchester, isn’t that right Mike?’

  Brown’s laugh was distorted by the speaker-phone.

  ‘You country coppers. But be careful, and remember that Nelson is pretty handy himself.’

  ‘What do you mean? He’s got no record at all as an adult. All we could see was an affray when he was a minor. He sounded pretty harmless.’

  ‘Harmless? Hasn’t anyone told you? Our Mr Nelson is quite the Bruce Lee, and that affray isn’t what it seems. He was sixteen, got into the usual something-and-nothing nightclub brawl, and took exception to the bouncers trying to chuck him out. He knocked one out cold, and the other pulled a stick on him. Shouldn’t have had it on him of course, but you know what they’re like. Anyway, it back-fired, because Nelson got it off him, broke his arm with the first blow, and shattered his knee with the second. The club was so embarrassed that their muscle got done over by a teenage kid that they wouldn’t co-operate with us, hence the affray charge. The bouncer he hit is still knocking about actually. On the social, walks with a stick.’