by Menon, David
‘Probably it was all from having just seen his girlfriend being shot dead’ said Tim.
‘And then’ Adrian carried on. ‘Just before he goes through the door, you see he looks round and his face is almost appealing for someone, anyone to help him. But then you clearly see the man behind him gently push him along, just enough to make him do as he’s told but not so that other people around might’ve noticed. I wonder what was going through the poor sod’s mind. If he’d just seen them shoot his girlfriend then he must’ve been terrified about what they might be planning to do to him’.
‘The man behind Jackson looked like he was carrying a hidden firearm from the way his right arm is bent and his hand is in the pocket of his jacket’ Tim pointed out with his hand gesturing towards the laptop screen. ‘These ways of carrying out a disguised abduction may look a little crude to some eyes but even in today’s world of heightened surveillance they still work. I wonder where he is now and what he’s going through’.
‘That’s if he’s still alive, sir’ said Adrian.
‘That’s very true, DS Bradshaw’.
‘Your words send a shiver down the spine of even this seasoned hack, detective’ said Henderson, solemnly.
‘So can we ask you again, Mr. Henderson?’ Adrian pressed. ‘Did you have any contact with Robert Jackson on the day he disappeared? And before you answer, I should let you know that we have Jackson’s mobile phone records’.
‘Then you know I did’ admitted Henderson. ‘And to say I regret not telling you before is to understate the case considerably. Rob Jackson is a close personal friend and I’m desperately worried about what’s happened to him’.
‘Do you know the identity of the English person he met and talked with in Houston?’ asked Tim.
‘I’ve no idea at all’.
‘You’d better be telling the truth, Henderson’.
‘I am, detective, I can assure you of that’.
‘Do you know of any other British journalists who were out there at the time?’
‘No’ said Henderson. ‘And if there were then they were not sent by me’.
‘So why did you lie to us about speaking to Jackson on the day he disappeared?’ Adrian asked.
Henderson took a deep breath. ‘I wanted to protect him’ he insisted. ‘I thought that he might try and get in touch and explain himself. I’m still hoping to God that he will’.
‘What were you trying to protect him from?’ Adrian pursued.
‘Rob loves the bones of Melanie’ Henderson explained. ‘There’s no way he could’ve done something like that to her’.
‘He loved her so much he was cheating on her with another girl when he was in Houston’.
‘Okay, but that doesn’t make him a killer’ Henderson insisted. ‘He’s a good looking bloke and yes he had a bit of a wandering eye. But he’d found his life’s love in Melanie. She was everything to him and once they were married he’d have been a very faithful husband, I know that’.
‘So what did he tell you during these calls?’
‘That he had a scoop so big he didn’t want to risk an email or a phone call. He wanted to get it all typed up and then tell me about it face to face’.
‘And you really don’t know what it could be about?’
‘Well I assume it was something to do with Nicholas Trent and his association with the American senator Cheryl-Ann Bainbridge. That’s what he’d gone out there to investigate’.
‘You can’t be Nicholas Trent’s favourite journalist judging by the editorials you’ve been running about him?’ said Adrian. ‘He’s under a lot of pressure to resign his seat’.
‘I reported what Rob told me’ said Henderson. ‘But you’re right. It has caused a spot of bother for Trent. All I can add to substantiate my belief is that when Jackson got back from Houston on Saturday he was full of it and said that what he had to tell me was politically dynamite and could prove to be our Washington Post moment’.
‘Washington Post?’
‘Watergate, detective, it was two journalists who broke the story?’
‘Oh I see’ said Adrian feeling like he’d just been exposed for being a bit of a thick twat.
‘Well you’ve lied to us before, Mr. Henderson’ said Tim. ‘What’s to say you’re not lying to us now?’
‘Because I’m not’ said Henderson, firmly. ‘And I’ve explained why I lied to you before’.
‘So you don’t think that Jackson thought he was in danger?’ said Tim.
‘There was nothing in our conversations to say that he did’ said Henderson. ‘He sounded chipper, relaxed, happy… excited’.
‘Is there anything else you haven’t told us that we might find out about at a later date?’ asked Adrian, testily.
‘No’ said Henderson. ‘Not as far as I’m concerned. But if Rob Jackson does get in touch then I’ll be sure to let you know’.
As they were leaving Tim, who’d already decided that Henderson was finally telling the truth about Jackson, decided to ask another question.
‘Look’ said Tim. ‘Off the record, all this about Trent and Senator Bainbridge? Is it for real? I mean, seriously?’
‘Detective’ said Henderson. ‘I’m a journalist and conspiracy theories are the bread and butter of my profession. But this time I believe I’m right. Call it Trent’s way of playing the big tough guy to cover his sexuality if you like ... ‘
‘ ... his sexuality?’
‘Detective, it’s been an open secret for years that Trent’s marriage is a convenience and that he really shares his bed with Howard Phelps’.
‘It beats me why in this day and age people still feel the need to hide the truth about themselves’ said Tim.
Adrian remained silent.
‘So do I’ said Henderson. ‘But for all sorts of reasons they do. But with regard to Senator Bainbridge, we’re not just talking about some average American politician using God to get votes and to justify invading other countries whether they like it or not. This is hardcore Christian fundamentalism. She wants to impose it on the world starting with Britain and her network of Tory MP’s led by Nicholas Trent. He doesn’t get on with the Prime Minister and I suspect that part of the plot is to instigate a coup within the Tory party and replace the PM with Trent. Bainbridge must be stopped detective, exposed and stopped, because if she does succeed then its goodnight for all of us’.
*
‘This is not what I had in mind for a first date’ said Sara who was sitting with Jacob Abrahams on a sofa in the middle of a coffee shop just off Mosley street in the centre of town.
‘Think of this as a beginning’ said Jacob who wiped some frothy milk from the corner of Sara’s mouth. It was a gesture that almost made her faint.
‘Thank you’ she said, blushing and wiping her mouth with a tissue. ‘It’s been a difficult few days’.
‘How is your brother coping?’
‘He isn’t yet’ said Sara as her eyes filled with tears. ‘He’s all over the place. The kids are hanging onto him all the time asking where Mummy is. It’s so tragic all round. Rachel’s family, my family ... it’s like a nuclear bomb has been dropped on us’.
‘You’ll make it’ said Jacob who took hold of Sara’s hand. ‘I’ve got friends in Israel who’ve lost sons to this stupid war that’s going on. Families repair and heal themselves but it takes time’.
‘I love my brother so much and yet there’s nothing I can do for him’.
‘Just by being with him and showing him that love is all he needs’.
‘I can’t bring Rachel back’.
‘None of us can do that’ said Jacob. ‘That’s why we’re human. But we can help those left behind to come to terms with their loss and your brother needs way more time to try and get there’.
‘Will you hold me?’
‘It would be my pleasure’.
Jacob opened his arms and Sara fell into them. She felt Jacob wrap his arms round her and it felt so good, so safe. He placed his hand on her
hair and gently began to stroke it. She felt warm. She felt like if she closed her eyes all the pain would go away.
‘I should be asking you about things’ said Sara. ‘How are you dealing with the fact that somebody tried to kill you?’
‘Well they haven’t tried again since’ said Jacob.
‘What are my colleagues saying?’
‘I’m not accepting round the clock body guarding, Sara’ said Jacob. ‘They know where I am and where I’m going to be and they’re guarding the building at the university where I work as well as my house. And that’s enough. I’m not going to be intimidated into changing my life to account for whoever wants to push me off my mortal coil. I’m going to carry on just like it never happened. That’s the only way to challenge the idiot’.
‘Do they have any leads?’
‘They’re still going through everything, my contacts list, everybody who’s ever got angry with me on the radio and what not. They think it was either some lone madman with an insane grudge or someone from my own side. I go with the latter’.
‘Oh God, Jacob’ said Sara. ‘To think that somebody from your own side ... ‘
‘ ... oh I’ve expected it’ said Jacob. ‘Home truths don’t go down well with my people. They’re insecure because as the nation of Israel we’re surrounded by enemies who want to see us wiped off the face of the earth. But you don’t make friends by illegally occupying their land and building settlements on it. And you don’t do it by treating the Palestinians the way we were treated across Europe before world war two. That’s where the hatred from my own side comes from. My people can’t accept that we do anything wrong or that there is injustice on the Palestinian side as well as our own side’.
‘I know. I’ve read your book’.
‘Have you?’
‘I wanted to know about you and what you think’ said Sara. ‘So what would you say were your home truths?’
‘I think it should be ladies first’.
‘I’ve been a bit of a bad girl in my time’.
‘You’ll need to do better than that to put me off’.
Sara smiled. ‘I wasn’t trying to do that. I’ve had many wonderful liaisons in my time, Jacob, but only one serious relationship’.
‘What happened?’
‘He dumped me for another girl’.
‘Well I’m glad’.
‘You are?’
‘Well he cleared the way for me now’.
Sara couldn’t help but see a certain twisted logic in that. ‘Do you mean that?’
‘I don’t waste words, Sara’.
‘No, I noticed that from your book too’ said Sara. ‘Well, after he dumped me I found out I was pregnant and I didn’t tell him. I had the baby adopted and I never told him until a couple of years ago’.
‘Sara, I’ve finished with girls in ways I’m not very proud of’ Jacob admitted. ‘If you live life then it happens. We’re none of us saints’.
‘I had to tell him because I work with him now’ Sara admitted. ‘He’s my DI, Tim Norris’.
‘Again, it happens’.
‘You’re not jealous of that?’
‘I’m a grown up man of forty-two, Sara. I think I can handle you working with your ex’.
‘You are just what I’ve been waiting for’.
‘Then let’s look forward to some happy days’.
Sara didn’t want to waste anymore time so she held his rugged looking face in her hands and kissed him. She wanted him. She wanted everything about him.
‘You need some serious taking care of’ said Jacob.
‘And are you the man for the job?’ Sara asked. Suddenly she didn’t care anymore. She didn’t care about Jacob being part of an investigation she was on. Her heart was breaking over and over every day and this was a chance that had come out of nowhere just when she really needed it. She couldn’t pass it up. It felt too good.
‘Well, I’d like to try’ said Jacob. ‘If the lady will let me?’
They ran through the street holding hands and were breathless by the time they reached Sara’s apartment block. She was five floors up and what they started in the lift they completed as soon as they were through her front door. Then she took him to her bed and they stayed there the rest of the day and all through the night.
EIGHT
Sara felt more than ready to go back to work and on her first day she went straight into a briefing with Superintendent John Hargreaves.
‘I must say it’s good to be back, sir’ she said after sitting down and adjusting her skirt to dissuade his eyes from wandering. He was such a transparent flirt, even in these circumstances. The more pragmatic side of her viewed it as evidence that the world hadn’t stopped spinning after all. The more instinctive side of her wanted to tell him to keep his filthy eyes averted. She was spoken for now anyway.
‘Well it’s good to have you back, Sara, but are you sure you’re ready?’
‘I have been cleared, sir’.
‘I know you have’ said Hargreaves. ‘I’m just asking as a friend’.
Sara’s feet and ankles had needed time to heal after she’d trodden on all the shards of glass whilst running after the man who’d been shot during the Piccadilly station bombing. She’d been in bloody agony for a few days but now she didn’t flinch every time she put weight on her feet. Not that she carried much weight. But she wanted to get back into the thick of it and start getting some results. So much had happened since she’d been off.
‘I’m okay, sir, really’ said Sara. ‘Now, what’s the latest count in terms of fatalities following the bombing?’
‘Sixty-two dead in total’ said Hargreaves. ‘Seventeen are still in hospital with severe and possibly ultimately fatal injuries. Sara, the first bomb was in the London train that was standing at the adjacent platform to your sister-in-law’s train. It went off just as your sister-in-law’s train passed’.
Sara swallowed hard. All she could see was Rachel’s face waving her goodbye.
‘And what’s the latest update on the station, sir?’
‘It’ll be closed for several weeks yet’ said Hargreaves. ‘The second explosion brought down the connecting bridge to the outer platforms that take the majority of services that come through Piccadilly as opposed to terminating there. So you can imagine, it’s caused a hell of a lot of disruption. Replacement buses have been laid on to take passengers to other stations in the city like Oxford Road and a lot of services have been transferred to Victoria station. Network Rail do of course want to get the whole thing cleared as soon as possible so they can get trains running normally again but it will take some time. Much of the actual track is going to have to be replaced’.
‘They knew what they were doing’.
‘They certainly did’.
‘I expect MI5 are all over the place, sir?’
‘And the anti-terrorist unit that’s based here in Manchester’ said Hargreaves. ‘Everybody is on tenterhooks in case of any further attacks in advance of the G20 summit here in Manchester which the government has confirmed will go ahead as planned. They don’t want to be seen to be giving in to the terrorist threat. Our American friends are here too’.
‘The man who was shot in front of me, sir?’ said Sara. ‘Faisal Hussein? I have to say that I don’t appreciate finding out about him in a story in last night’s paper’.
‘MODEL BRITISH CITIZEN TURNED INTO HOMEGROWN TERRORIST’
Faisal Hussein had spent over four years at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On his way back from visiting family in Pakistan he’d been arrested during a stopover in Dubai and separated from his wife and baby son who’d been travelling with him. He was then ‘rendered’ by the CIA to a prison in Morocco where he claimed that not only had he been tortured using the technique of ‘water-boarding’, but that British intelligence officers had been there to witness it. It was believed he was a member of al-Qaeda. Then he was taken to Guantanamo and had vehemently denied any involvement in terrorism throughout those lo
ng years of wrongful internment during which he was never charged with anything. On his release from Guantanamo he was returned to the family home in Rochdale where his wife and now five-year old son had been waiting for him. He was born in Rochdale. He was a British citizen. So was his wife. So was his son. He took the British government to court to claim compensation for his four-year ordeal but the case was thrown out due to lack of evidence. He couldn’t prove anything to do with his claim of rendition. The security services wouldn’t own up to it.
‘He was identified as the man who was shot and his name was then leaked to the press’ Hargreaves explained. ‘I’m sorry but I didn’t realise until it was all over last night’s Chronicle. You should’ve been told, Sara, of course you should, and I apologise’.
‘Thank you, Sir’.
‘The entire press and media are having a field day with it now as you probably know’ said Hargreaves. ‘But on the other hand I think that everybody involved should be congratulated on getting such a swift result under the circumstances’.
‘With all due respect, sir, what the press are having a field day with is how Faisal Hussein was apparently turned into a terrorist by the way he’d been treated by his own country. But if that wasn’t bad enough, how was Hussein able to carry out his plan when he was supposed to have been under surveillance since his return from Guantanamo over a year ago? I mean, sir, he was on the US no fly list. That means they deemed him capable of being able to bring down an aircraft’.
‘Yes, I know what it means, DCI Hoyland’ said Hargreaves who was listening to Sara articulate the same thoughts he’d been having himself. They were law enforcement officers. It was usually left to others to go into why a crime had been committed or how it had been committed. But this was different. This was the kind of crime that did demand answers to those bigger questions. ‘Well of course, there will be the inquiry that’s been set up to look into all aspects of what happened and I’m amazed quite frankly that the government has agreed to such an inquiry so swiftly after all this criticism is being levelled against the security services’.