The Death Collector

by Neil White

  Joe was surprised.

  ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ she said, raising her hand. ‘Everyone liked him. He didn’t cause us problems and was always charming. Sometimes you just want to get through the day as smoothly as possible, without someone taking every useless point just to wear you down. But we talk about defence lawyers, ask ourselves the question of who we would go to if we were in trouble.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘If we were guilty, the same names cropped up, those who were good at the tear-jerking speeches, who could be the difference between Christmas at home or a prison breakfast. Hugh could do that. He had that old-school charm. If he said his client wouldn’t do it again, the magistrates would go all doe-eyed and believe him.’

  ‘But?’

  ‘No one would go to him if they wanted a not guilty verdict. We know who fights well and clean. Hugh wasn’t one of them. Not one of us would have used Hugh if we were in trouble.’ Kim grimaced. ‘And there were rumours.’

  Joe was becoming uncomfortable. ‘What kind of rumours?’

  Kim looked at Martin, who nodded.

  ‘That he was too close to the police,’ she said. ‘He entertained them, bought them presents.’

  ‘Everyone did back then.’

  ‘No, it was more than that.’ Kim sighed. ‘Don’t be angry, but I called Gina before. I asked her to look into Hugh, to use her old police contacts, and she didn’t sound surprised.’

  ‘So is Aidan innocent or not? What does it matter about Hugh?’

  ‘Because Hugh might not be involved for the reason you think,’ Kim said. ‘If Aidan Molloy is innocent, I hope you prove it. I’ve never wanted to lock up an innocent man just to say I could. Don’t let Hugh derail that.’

  Martin got to his feet and put his wig on top of some papers in an old leather holdall. He didn’t want to keep his wig clean. A mark of experience was a tatty wig. He was keen on making it look more tatty. ‘He was negligent, in my view, but that isn’t how Aidan or his mother saw it. As far as they were concerned, Hugh made sure their voices were heard.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘You know how it is. Sometimes it’s better to say nothing, but it’s a tough call. Aidan had his case heard, but it was very weak because Hugh didn’t do enough for him.’

  Kim reached out and put her hand on Joe’s. ‘If Aidan is innocent, get him out. Just keep an eye on Hugh.’

  Joe nodded and let go of her hand.

  When he left the courtroom, he wasn’t sure what anything meant any more.

  Forty-nine

  Sam rushed into the restaurant, looking for Alice. She waved when she saw him, although her smile seemed slow in coming.

  It was one of those themed restaurants, American chrome, mock-diner style, with guitars and neon signs on the walls. It was all burgers, shakes and chicken wings, although the servers didn’t quite provide the have a good day cheeriness that the style tried to project.

  It was easy for Alice, though; she could let the girls play on the climbing frames and slides in the large room at the back so that they blew off some of their energy before she had to get them into bed.

  Alice was at a table by the play area and she was eating chicken wings. Sam leaned in to kiss her and ended up with a blob of barbecue sauce on his cheek.

  She tilted her head and smiled, and her eyes got that dreamy look that had first attracted him when they were still teenagers – soft and wistful, it had made him fall for her quickly. Too quickly, his father had said, but his mother liked Alice. She said she was good for him, that all that mattered was that she put a smile on his face.

  ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said.

  ‘You look tired, Sam.’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ he said, reaching across for a chip. ‘How are the girls?’

  ‘They’ve been manic today. When I told them we were coming here, they wouldn’t calm down.’

  ‘It’ll tire them out,’ he said.

  Her smile wavered and was replaced by a look of concern. She put her food down and said, ‘Come home earlier tonight. You can’t keep doing these long shifts.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You know what I mean,’ she said. ‘We had the conversation last night. It seems like every time someone is murdered you drop everything, even us, to try and sort it out. You get blinkers on and stop seeing what is around you, as if we no longer matter.’

  ‘I’m on the Murder Squad,’ he said. ‘It’s what I do. And this morning I dug up a corpse, so I feel a little invested in this one.’

  ‘So how long are you working today?’

  ‘Until I can’t work any more,’ he said. ‘Joe thinks he has got something useful. I need to follow up on what he came up with.’

  Alice frowned and glanced towards the play area. ‘Go and say goodnight to your children, then.’

  ‘Don’t be like that,’ he said, irritation in his voice. ‘This is important.’

  ‘So are they.’

  Sam took a deep breath. He could feel his anger building, but he knew it was partly tiredness, and also because he knew Alice was right. She was always right, but that didn’t stop him from going back to work.

  ‘Okay, I won’t be late, I promise,’ he said.

  Alice didn’t respond.

  ‘I’ve just got a couple of things to look at, then I’ll come home.’ He reached across and took hold of her hand. ‘I promise.’

  She looked at him, tried to maintain her frosty look, but then a smile flickered at the corners of her mouth. ‘Okay, Sam Parker. If you promise.’

  He grinned and kissed her hand, before standing and going into the play area. Erin and Amy ran towards him and wrapped themselves around his legs. He kissed them each on the heads, the scent of their hair mixed in with fast food and drinks, the grubby smells of happiness. They went back to their play and he watched them for a few minutes, showing off as they climbed and played and jumped into ball-pits, enjoying his attention.

  The desire to stay with them was strong as he left the restaurant, but so was the urge to carry on with the case.

  He kissed Alice goodbye and went back to his car, his mind returning to the case. Just a few hours more and he would let his life go back to normal for a while.

  Joe was preoccupied as he walked quickly up the office steps and rushed through reception. Marion tried to pass him some telephone messages but he waved them away and carried on towards his office. He paused when he got to the top. Gina was standing there, her arms folded.

  ‘What have you found out?’ Joe asked, his tone accusatory.

  ‘So you’ve spoken to Kim?’ When Joe nodded, she said, ‘So where is he, your little helper?’

  ‘He’s gone on an errand.’

  ‘Did he say where?’

  ‘A birthday card for his niece.’ Joe frowned. ‘What’s going on, Gina?’

  Gina put her hands on her hips and stared at the floor for a few seconds. When she looked up again, she spoke more softly. ‘Let’s go to your room. We need to talk.’

  Joe followed her along the corridor. When he closed the door to his room, Gina sat down. She swivelled towards the window and stared at the view for a few seconds before saying, ‘I’m surprised that you let Hugh back into the case.’

  ‘I’m starting to think the same.’

  Gina turned back towards him. ‘How well do you know Hugh? And I mean really know him.’

  ‘You know how I got the job. He did it before me and wanted to retire, and I had just left my old firm. I knew him from around the court and I used to enjoy his tales. War stories are fun sometimes.’

  ‘We had a different view of him in the Force.’

  Joe frowned. ‘Tell me,’ he said. ‘I need to know everything. Kim gave me a taste, but I need more.’

  ‘This case is all about DCI Hunter,’ Gina said, leaning forward onto the desk, her hands clasped together. ‘I know what Hunter is like. I was in the same Force as him. He won’t have changed much, although the Force has, and is better for it. The legal system has pro
bably gone the same way.’

  ‘You’re being too cryptic, Gina.’

  ‘Did you know that Hugh was once arrested?’

  Joe was surprised. ‘No, I didn’t.’

  ‘It was about ten years ago. Before your time, I suppose. The top brass had become nervous about how close some of the defence lawyers were to the court clerks and judges. They thought it gave them an unfair advantage and looked into it.’

  ‘The clerks and judges are lawyers, just like me,’ Joe said. ‘There are bound to be friendships. Look at Kim and me, and I’ve even had a drink with judges away from the courtroom.’

  ‘But did you try to bribe them?’

  ‘Bribery?’

  ‘Yes, bribery, or so went the allegation. Undue influence and gifts. Football tickets for judges, court clerks being wined and dined at matches. It was corporate hospitality for those who were supposed to keep their distance.’

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘Nothing, in the end. No one could prove that any case had been affected, but when they looked into Hugh, they found it went even further than court clerks. It went to the police too.’

  ‘The police?’

  ‘Yes,’ Gina said, nodding. ‘Does Hugh still have his apartment in Estepona?’

  ‘Spain? I don’t know.’

  ‘Ask him, and then ask him about his guests, and when they stayed there.’

  ‘No, why don’t you tell me? You seem to know a lot.’

  ‘Hunter has used it.’

  ‘Hang on. Are you saying that Hunter and Hugh are old friends?’ When Gina didn’t respond, he said, ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I know Hunter. He goes for every favour he can, and there were rumours about Hugh.’

  ‘Rumours? What are you talking about?’

  Gina looked down and studied her hands for a while.

  ‘Gina?’

  ‘I’m breaching confidences here, and some of this is top secret, heavy stuff, secret squirrel information.’

  ‘It won’t go further than this room.’

  ‘Hugh was an informant,’ she said, and shrugged.

  Joe was about to speak, but then he stopped himself, shocked, unsure as to what he could say.

  ‘An informant?’ he said eventually. ‘He was a defence lawyer.’

  ‘No, he was a businessman, and he found a way to keep the money coming in.’

  Joe shook his head in disbelief. ‘That can’t be true.’

  ‘Do you think he’s a good lawyer?’

  Joe hung his head. He remembered the conversation with Kim, and from what he remembered of Hugh’s advocacy, it was mostly endearing bumble. Like Kim said though, the magistrates sometimes liked that, and when you’ve been around for long enough, people listen to you.

  ‘He was never the sharpest,’ Joe said, ‘but I’ve known some very average lawyers get fierce loyalty from clients.’

  ‘But you’ve got to get them through the door first, and most of all, you’ve got to get the police to arrest them. So Hugh used to tip off against some of his clients, so that they would be arrested and he’d get the work.’

  Joe shook his head in disbelief. ‘He would have been struck off if it had come out.’

  Gina raised an eyebrow. ‘Do you think that would have been his biggest problem if it had?’

  Joe understood what she meant. Criminal lawyers act for dangerous people but for the most part are not threatened by them. If his clients had found out that Hugh had been briefing the police against them, then nothing would have saved him.

  ‘That was where he went wrong,’ Gina said. ‘He couldn’t think beyond the next pay cheque, but do you think Hunter would care about that? I don’t know if it was just one bad year and he was under pressure to make more money, but once Hugh started selling out his clients, Hunter had him. Nothing explicit, but everyone knew about Hunter’s regular free holidays, and he wasn’t the only detective to enjoy them. And Hugh had to keep the tips coming, as well as more.’

  ‘More?’

  ‘Think about it,’ Gina said. ‘You’ve been involved in this case for a few days and you’ve started to pick it apart. Why couldn’t Hugh?’

  ‘I’ve been speaking to Martin Barlow, one of Aidan’s legal team. He said Hugh did a bad job.’

  ‘Hugh was smart. He did just enough to avoid an investigation from the Law Society, but I bet he could have done more. Hugh got his clients arrested, took the money, and the bargain with the police was that for their silence Hugh wouldn’t fight the cases too hard.’

  ‘He lost them on purpose?’

  ‘I’m just saying he didn’t fight very hard. Once it got round that Hugh was on a case, we used to think it was cut and dried. It didn’t always work out that way, but it often did.’

  Joe paced as he thought about that. There was logic to it. Law firms depend on the police locking up their clients, and it goes in quiet patches sometimes. Joe could understand the temptation to generate extra income if a quiet patch went on too long.

  ‘So where do you think he is now?’ he said.

  Gina dug into her pocket for her phone and tossed it over. Joe caught it, confused.

  ‘I haven’t forgotten how to follow people,’ she said.

  Joe looked at the screen and his anger started to surge through him.

  It was a picture of Hugh, and he was climbing into a car parked on one of the small cobbled streets near to Joe’s apartment. Joe recognised the driver.

  ‘Hunter,’ he said, looking up.

  ‘Straight after leaving your apartment,’ Gina said. ‘I waited for him after getting Kim’s call.’

  Joe was angry. ‘So he offered to help just so he could keep Hunter up to date?’

  ‘He might be worrying about himself more. His panic will have started as soon as you called him, because he’ll know that if his world begins to unravel, so might Hunter’s, and Hunter will take everyone else down with him. It will only take a few words in the right ears to put Hugh’s life in danger, and he knows that.’

  Joe leaned against the wall. ‘Why didn’t I spot what he was doing? I thought I could read people.’

  ‘Because you trusted him. We can all be blinded.’

  Joe stared at Gina’s phone, finding it hard to believe the image. ‘So what do I do?’ he said eventually.

  ‘You use him like Hunter is using him, except you feed Hugh the false stuff.’

  ‘What like?’

  ‘I don’t know, but I’m sure you’ll think of something.’

  ‘So will you help me?’

  ‘I was all along. It’s just that you didn’t realise.’ When Joe held up his hands in apology, she said, ‘So what now?’

  ‘We’re looking for evidence of other murders or missing women. Something must have made David Jex act, and that can only be the realisation that they had got it wrong about Aidan. David had a bout of conscience and it cost him his life.’

  ‘But now the police have found his body, won’t they solve it all?’

  ‘They didn’t get it right with Rebecca Scarfield. I’d rather work this out for myself, just to make sure no one misses it.’ He pointed to the box of files taken from Carl’s house. ‘Take one each and we’ll go through them.’

  He pulled out the first file. It was filled with the statements from Aidan’s case. He had read his own version and, as he flicked through, he saw that the statements were the same. No amendments or deletions. He put the file to one side. Then he went to the list of addresses that he had seen previously, the one with lines through, as if Carl had been checking them off. As Joe went through them again, he frowned. The list seemed shorter. Joe was sure there had been five pages, but now there seemed to be one less. And as he looked at the names in the folder, he saw that there was a gap in the alphabet, where the street names went straight from K to R. The third page was missing.

  ‘Have you been into these files for anything?’ he said.

  Gina frowned. ‘Why would I?’

  ‘I don’t know. C
uriosity?’

  ‘I’m not paid to be curious.’

  ‘There’s a page missing.’

  As Gina looked over, she smiled. ‘That narrows it down, then. You might not have the address, but you know the range of the alphabet.’

  Joe went through the other files but everything else seemed to be there. He was about to step away when he saw a blue cardboard wallet underneath the files. It was at the bottom of the box, half-folded into one of the flaps.