Love You Dead

by Peter James

  ‘So you don’t have a choice, do you?’

  ‘No, I don’t. But how do I start the conversation with Cleo? I feel responsible for Bruno, he’s my son, we have to bring him up.’

  ‘You just tell her. All the time you’ve been together she’s lived with Sandy as a shadow – a ghost. We’re all prisoners of our past in some way. Cleo’s a kind and caring person. She’ll understand.’

  ‘Understand that she’s got a German stepson, who probably doesn’t speak a word of English?’

  ‘Look, thank God she met Sandy – and she shares this with you. You haven’t cheated on her, she loves you, Roy. How do you feel about the kid, Bruno?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’ve never met him. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.’

  ‘Remember Bette Davis?’

  ‘Bette Davis? I know the name, but couldn’t pick her out of a line-up.’

  ‘Only one of the greatest movie stars ever. I thought with your advancing years you’d be old enough to remember. All About Eve. The Nanny. The Wicked Stepmother. She won two Academy Awards.’

  ‘Never saw them.’

  ‘Yeah, well she once said, “The key to life is accepting challenges. Once someone stops doing this, he’s dead.”’

  ‘True,’ Grace said.

  Branson patted him on the back. ‘I’m sorry about Sandy and about Marlon. Shit, what a day for you.’

  ‘When we should be celebrating.’ He shrugged.

  ‘I meant to ask you – how did you know about the necklace – the locket?’

  Grace smiled. ‘I’ve known for some time that when a person fiddles with their wedding ring, they’re probably guilty about something in their relationship. I could see her fiddling with the necklace during her interview. It made me curious.’

  ‘Nice one, I’ll remember that. Oh, and I do have one bit of positive news,’ Glenn said. ‘Yossarian.’

  ‘Yossarian?’ Grace said blankly.

  ‘The name Tooth kept repeating in hospital, yeah?’

  ‘Yossarian, yes. What news?’

  ‘Tooth apparently had a lucid moment yesterday afternoon. A nurse gleaned from him that he lives in the Turks and Caicos, on Providenciales Island. She called the Enquiry Team. Guy Batchelor remembered that Acting Superintendent Steve Curry is friendly with a guy called Neil Hall – known as Nobby – who joined Sussex Police a couple of years ago, and was formerly Deputy Chief of Police in the Turks and Caicos. Hall apparently remembers a strange character who used to bring his dog, called Yossarian, along to a bar there. Guy’s been in touch with the Governor’s office, who’s just emailed back that Tooth’s housekeeper is going to take care of the dog. And whilst we’re on that subject, Jodie’s cat is in a cattery, and her reptiles are now at London Zoo.’

  ‘Well, it’s great to know that we at least have a few problems solved,’ Grace said, and smiled thinly.

  124

  Tuesday 17 March

  At 7 p.m. that evening, in the dry, chilly night air, under the beam of a torch Cleo held, Roy Grace dug a grave in the soft, damp earth beneath an oak tree in a corner of the garden. He went several feet deep, determined that no sodding fox was going to dig Marlon up.

  He had wound gaffer tape round the sandwich box, sealing it completely, then placed it inside a jiffy bag, and sealed that with tape, also. He held it up in front of him. ‘Funny to think that all those years ago I brought you home in a plastic bag full of water from a funfair! You were never very chatty, were you? But you know what? For many years you were my mate.’

  He stooped down and placed the little package at the bottom of the hole. ‘Goodbye, my friend,’ he said. ‘Maybe you’ll find the happy hunting ground you were searching for all those years of swimming round and round in your tank.’

  Then he stood upright for some moments, leaning on the spade, staring down.

  ‘Goodbye, sweet Marlon,’ Cleo said.

  It was strange, he reflected. In a few days they would be flying to Munich for Sandy’s funeral. But right now he felt more emotional about Marlon than he did about Sandy. Was it wrong to be feeling relief that the rollercoaster nightmare with Sandy was finally now at an end?

  He shovelled the earth back, and they went inside.

  For some reason the words of the previous Chief Constable, Tom Martinson, suddenly came into his head. Martinson had said them to him some years back in his blunt Midlands accent.

  ‘You know what I always tell my officers, Roy. Never try to be a copy of anyone else. Try always to be a better version of yourself.’

  He’d never fully understood, then, what Martinson had meant. But now he did. Cleo had brought that home to him earlier this evening when he had shown her Sandy’s letter.

  ‘Something I’ve always believed in my heart, Roy, is the wagon train circle. That’s what true love is. It’s not about holding hands, or staring into each other’s eyes, or staring in the same direction together. It’s a bond of strength. A wall around you. When you decide to make a life with someone by marrying them or just living with them, you form a circle against the world. It becomes just the two of you, and for the rest of your lives you never let anything or anyone break that circle. From time to time you let certain people inside that circle with you, and they become part of you and part of that wall.’

  She went over to the fridge and took out a bottle of wine. ‘Fancy a drink?’

  He did.

  GLOSSARY

  ANPR – Automatic Number Plate Recognition. Roadside or mobile cameras which automatically capture the registration number of all cars that pass. It can be used to historically track which cars went past a certain camera and can also trigger alerts for cars which are stolen, have no insurance or have an alert attached to them.

  ARV – Armed Response Vehicle.

  CAD – Computer Aided Dispatch. The system where all calls from the public are logged and, if they require police attendance, the record of who attended and what the outcome was.

  CCTV – Closed Circuit Television. Can be either publicly owned and monitored (e.g. by the police), or privately installed in people’s houses or businesses.

  CIA – Central Intelligence Agency. The United States intelligence service.

  CID – Criminal Investigation Department. Usually refers to the divisional detectives rather than the specialist squads.

  CIM – Critical Incident Manager. Usually a Chief Inspector who takes control of critical incidents when they are assessed as being beyond the scope of Ops-1, either due to their seriousness or the complexity of the volume of other demands on Ops-1.

  CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. An international agreement between governments, its aim being to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

  Commanders

  Gold (or strategic) Commander – The gold commander sets the strategy and assumes and retains overall strategic command for the operation or incident.

  Silver (or tactical) Commander – The silver commander commands and coordinates the overall tactical response in compliance with Gold’s strategy, and is the tactical commander of the incident.

  Bronze (or operational) Commander – The bronze commander is responsible for the command of a group of resources, and carries out functional or geographical responsibilities to deliver the requirements set by Silver in their tactical plan.

  CPS – Crown Prosecution Service. The public agency that conducts criminal prosecutions in England and Wales.

  CSA – Command Secretarial Assistant. A secretary to senior officers.

  CSI – was SOCO – Crime Scene Investigators (Scenes of Crime Officers). They are the people who attend crime scenes to search for fingerprints, DNA samples, etc.

  DNA – Deoxyribonucleic Acid. A molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. Used in policing to identify the source of bodily samples
left at crime scenes. Generally provides a 1:1-billion certainty of the source/person.

  DVLA – Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority. The Government agency that registers motor vehicles and issues driving licences. An important source of intelligence in many enquiries.

  Europol – The European Union law enforcement agency. Assists police and other enforcement bodies in EU member states in their fight against serious international organized crime and terrorism.

  FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation. The US national police agency, which has jurisdiction across all states for ‘federal’ offence investigation.

  FLO – Family Liaison Officer. The trained and dedicated officer deployed to work with a bereaved family to provide support, information and to identify lines of enquiry.

  FLUM – Flash Unsolicited Message. A direct short message sent between computer screens, mainly in the control room, to alert other controllers or supervisors to either a significant incident or an important update on an ongoing incident. It flashes up alerting the recipient to its content immediately.

  Gold Group – A senior group of police, local community members, politicians and other stakeholders drawn together to manage the impact of a critical incident.

  Golf 99 – The call sign for the divisional duty inspector who is expected to take ground command of critical incidents, working usually for Ops-1 or the CIM.

  GP – General Practitioner, a medical doctor.

  HOLMES – Home Office Large Major Enquiry System. The national computer database used on all murder enquiries. It provides a repository of all messages, actions, decisions and statements, allowing the analysis of intelligence and the tracking and auditing of the whole enquiry. Can enable enquiries to be linked across force areas when necessary.

  i360 – British Airways i360 will be the world’s first vertical cable car, designed by the architects of the London Eye. It is under construction in Brighton, and due to be completed in 2016.

  Intel Cell – Intelligence cell. A dedicated team of officers and staff who provide the intelligence research and analysis for a major crime or incident.

  Interpol – International law enforcement agency. It has 190 member states and assists in cross-border investigations, especially involving terrorism, cybercrime and organized and emerging crime.

  The Keep – The central records office for Brighton and Hove City and East Sussex County Councils.

  LAMBS – Locals Against Mayfield Building Sprawl. A local action group in Sussex.

  Letter of Request – The formal request sent by one country’s prosecution service to another asking for permission for the police to carry out enquiries and investigations within the other’s territory.

  LST – Local Support Team. The standing unit of officers who provide public order, search and low-level surveillance tactics on a division.

  MIR-1 – Major Incident Room 1. One of the large rooms in the Major Incident Suite where most of the investigation team work and brief.

  Misper – Short for ‘missing person’.

  MO – Modus Operandi (method of operation). The manner by which the offender has committed the offence. Often this can reveal unique features which allow crimes to be linked or suspects to be identified.

  NCA – The National Crime Agency.

  NPAS 15 – The call sign for the helicopter that provides air support to Sussex Police.

  Ops-1 – The call sign of the Force Control Duty Inspector, who has oversight and command of all critical incidents in the initial stages.

  PCSO – Police Community Support Officer. These are uniformed neighbourhood officers who work in communities but do not have police powers such as arrest, search, use of force, etc.

  PO Box – Post Office Box. An alternative address at which to receive mail in the UK. PO Box addresses can be used to keep your address private and post can be delivered to a forwarding address or collected.

  POLSA – Police Search Advisor. A trained and accredited officer who provides advice on where to search for something or someone, and how in any given circumstance. Will often supervise the search teams used in such searches.

  RPU – Roads Policing Unit. The new name for the Traffic Division.

  RTC – Road Traffic Collision (commonly known as an ‘accident’ by the public, but this term is not used as it implies no one is at fault when usually someone is).

  RV Point – Rendezvous Point. The designated location where emergency services meet prior to deploying to the scene of a crime or major incident. Used when it would be too dangerous or unwieldy for everyone to arrive at the scene at the same time in an uncoordinated way.

  SIO – Senior Investigating Officer. Usually a Detective Chief Inspector who is in overall charge of the investigation of a major crime such as murder, kidnap or rape.

  SOCO – see CSI.

  SSU – Specialist Search Unit. The team who provide expert search skills such as searching underwater or in confined places at height, as well as locations where a high degree of search expertise is required, such as large or complex crime scenes.

  TFU – Tactical Firearms Unit. The small, permanently armed department of the police that responds to firearms incidents. They often deploy in ARVs (see above), and also have other specialist capabilities.

  UC – Undercover Officer.

  SLANG AND PHRASES

  ABC – Assume Nothing, Believe No one, Check Everything. The Senior Investigating Officer’s mantra for maintaining an open and enquiring mindset in investigations.

  Bosher – the heavy metal handheld ram used to force open doors, allowing officers to enter a locked premises or room swiftly and with the advantage of surprise.

  Bundle – a fight, or a file of documents prepared and presented at court or to CPS for advice.

  Copper’s Nose – police officer’s instinct. The sixth sense which often guides an officer’s suspicions.

  Golden Hour – the first hour after a crime has been committed or reported when the best chances of seizing evidence and/or identifying witnesses exist.

  PC Rain – so called as a good downpour has a greater chance of clearing people, including drunks and criminals, off the street than any number of police officers can!

  Q Word – short for ‘quiet’. Emergency services personnel never say the word ‘quiet’, as it invariably is a bad omen causing all chaos to reign!

  Shit magnet – slang for a police officer who seems to attract trouble and around whom disaster invariably reigns.

  Shout – slang for an emergency (999) call. All emergency services use this term.

  CHART OF POLICE RANKS1

  Police ranks are consistent across all disciplines and the addition of prefixes such as ‘detective’ (e.g. detective constable) does not affect seniority relative to others of the same rank (e.g. police constable).

  Police Constable

  Police Sergeant

  Inspector

  Chief Inspector

  Superintendent

  Chief Superintendent

  Assistant Chief Constable

  Deputy Chief Constable

  Chief Constable

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  The idea for this book came from a chance meeting with Detective Constable Andy Gibbs, whilst I was spending a day at the Professional Standards Office of the Metropolitan Police back in 2014. He revealed that the two tins of Quality Street on his desk contained not chocolates, but food for his poison dart frogs. And it gave me food for thought. Researching this book has been a fun, fascinating and sometimes downright scary experience – particularly the day I found myself holding a live Arabian flat rock scorpion in the palm of my hand! But I lived to tell the tale and I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. As ever there is a myriad of people to thank starting with many officers, former officers and support staff of Sussex Police, Surrey Police, the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police, Munich Police and the NYPD.

  Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne; Chief Constable Giles York, Q
PM; Deputy Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney, QPM; Chief Superintendent Nev Kemp; Detective Superintendent Nick Sloan; Chief Inspector Jason Tingley; Detective Inspector Mick Richards; Inspector Roy Apps; Sgt Russell Phillips; Sgt Phil Taylor; Sgt Andy Newman; Sgt Chris (Thomo) Thompson; DS Peter Billin; Accredited Financial Investigator Kelly Nicholls; PC Sam Bruce; PC Gavin Crute; PC Damian Hunter.

  Michelle Websdale; Suzanne Heard; Katie Perkins; Jill Pedersen and Tony Case.

  Maria O’Brien; Chris Gee; Lucy Steele; James Stather, Crime Scene Services.

  Commissioner Adrian Leppard of the City of London Police; Commander Christopher Greany, Economics Crime Unit, City of London Police; Superintendent Paula Light, Metropolitan Police; Detective Inspector Richard Haycock, Surrey Police; Juliet Smith JP, High Sheriff of East Sussex; PC Martin Light, Metropolitan Police; Detective Investigator Pat Lanigan, NYPD.

  Former Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett; Former Detective Chief Inspector Trevor Bowles; Former Inspector Andy Kille; Ray Packham, formerly of the High Tech Crime Unit.

  Thank you to those who gave me invaluable medical, scientific or technical help: Iain and Georgie Maclean; Dr Haydn Kelly; Mike Gilson, editor of the Argus; Anette Lippert; Sigrid Daus and Klinikum Munich– Krankenhaus Schwabing; Dave Wooton from DEFRA – the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs; Steven Charman and Danny Yeoman of Pets Corner; Peter Schilperoord (one of the few living survivors of a saw-scale viper bite); Dr Gerhard V. Verdoorn, Griffon Poison Information Centre; Shaun Harris; Phil Homan; Sharon Bolton; Dave Breden and Alison Macqueen; Ross and Ginevra Duncton; Christophe Chmiel; Dr Peter Dean, Coroner for Essex; Richard Mastembroek; Dr Dunecan & Nicky Massey; Paul Williams; Arnie Wilson; Kate Sissons and Brian Dick; Mike Sansom; Jill Hunt, Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Trust; herpetologist Mark O’Shea.