‘I don’t know where they went,’ she insisted. ‘They dropped in unexpectedly and asked me to look after the kids for a while. I think Clive had been feeling rough for a few days and they just wanted a break.’
She was lying. Or at the very least, knew more than she was letting on. Bliss flashed a smile her way. ‘Any idea how we can get hold of Clive? I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.’
The woman pouted. ‘No. Sorry.’
‘Not even an emergency number? Mobile?’ Chandler asked. ‘I mean, just in case something happened to the children.’
Bliss gave an approving nod. It would have been his next question, but Penny had done well. Brenda Ward moved from foot to foot, uncertain now. She swallowed and said, ‘Of course. There is Clive’s mobile. But… well, I don’t think he’d like me giving the number out. It’s a private phone, nothing to do with work.’
‘We are colleagues,’ Bliss reminded her. ‘I’m sure he won’t mind.’
‘You don’t know Clive very well, do you? I understand you’re police like he is, but I still don’t think he’ll want me handing out his private number.’
‘How about you give him a call for us, then?’ Chandler suggested.
Bliss nodded. ‘Yes. Good idea. Give him a bell and tell him DI Bliss would like a word.’
He would want more than a word if Rhodes had been responsible for drugging the Labs. He would want retribution.
Ward made a show of checking her watch, a cheap Seiko. ‘I was just on my way out.’
‘It’ll only take a minute. Clive will be glad you bothered, believe me.’
Bliss stood his ground, his eyes never leaving Brenda Ward’s face.
The woman let go a sigh to let them know they were putting her out. ‘Fine. What do you want me to tell him?’
‘Ask him if it’s okay if we have his number. Then we can call him ourselves in our own time. Otherwise, a quick word here and now will probably be good enough.’
Shaking her head and muttering to herself, Ward waddled away back into her house, the toddler trailing after her. Bliss rolled his eyes at Chandler. ‘Rhodes has covered his arse, hasn’t he?’
She nodded. ‘Which is a lot tougher for Brenda Ward to do, it would seem.’
Despite himself, Bliss laughed. Moments later, Mrs Ward was back. She handed over a slip of paper torn from a notebook. ‘Here you go. I can’t say he was happy being disturbed while on holiday, but he agreed all the same.’
‘And we’re very grateful,’ Bliss assured her. ‘To you both.’
She said nothing, but her look as she turned away once more spoke volumes.
Back in the car, Bliss took out his phone, entered the number printed on the scrap of paper and made the call. It took several rings, but eventually it was answered.
‘Clive Rhodes.’
Anxious, Bliss thought immediately. Definitely anxious.
‘Clive. It’s DI Bliss from Thorpe Wood. Thanks for speaking with me.’
‘From what my wife’s sister said, I’m not sure I had a choice.’
‘Well, you did, and I thank you for making the right one. I won’t take up too much of your time right now, but something has come up that I think you might be able to help me with. I wonder if you wouldn’t mind sparing me a few minutes face to face.’
‘Oh, what? I’m on holiday. You know, off duty?’
Bliss glanced at Chandler and shook his head. She could hear only his end of the conversation, but he assumed she was getting the gist of it.
‘I know. And I’m sorry to intrude. I wouldn’t be calling you if it weren’t important.’
‘What’s it about? What case are you working on?’
‘I’d rather discuss that with you when I see you. It may be a little sensitive, and would be better aired in relaxed circumstances. Look, if you take the time now I’ll see you get another day off in lieu.’
‘You sure we can’t we do this over the phone?’
‘Not really, Clive. It’s only a few questions, but the interview will appear in the case notes, so it would be best if we met up. You know how it goes. Bureaucracy.’
A sigh. ‘I suppose so.’
Rhodes told Bliss where to find him.
Clive Rhodes slipped quietly through the damp and chilly streets of Hunstanton to his vehicle, a ten-year-old Mitsubishi Shogun. Chloe had nagged at him yet again, complaining about him leaving her. The sound of her voice made him want to reach down her throat and pull out her insides. As he walked away from the caravan with his wife’s shrill words echoing in his ears, Rhodes decided that when this was all over, he and Chloe were going to have a major parting of the ways.
When he reached his four-by-four he opened up the rear door and took out what looked like a fishing rod bag, folded in half and bound with thick elastic bands. Rhodes unwrapped the bag, pulled back the zipper and gave the contents the once over. The sawn-off shotgun was oiled and ready for action. After a long, hard look around him to ensure he wasn’t being observed, Rhodes fed two shells into the weapon. Then he slammed the vehicle’s door shut, gripped the shotgun in one large hand and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Clive Rhodes gunned the engine and pulled away from the kerb, the firearm nestled in the seat beside him. As per instructions, he had allowed DI Bliss to make his last call to anyone this side of purgatory.
Chapter 31
It took almost an hour and a half to reach Hunstanton. At the best of times the seaside resort had a half-hearted air about it, as though it could scarcely be bothered to turn out in all its gaudy finery. Now, in the grip of early winter, the town appeared grim and two-dimensional. The pool car’s wipers batted rain away from the windscreen, providing a crescent window of vision. Bliss squinted through it as darkness gathered over them, heavy black clouds forcing the daylight away. His mind was working overtime now that they had reached their destination, and his thoughts drifted back to the start of the journey.
‘Well, that was easy enough,’ Chandler had said as they drove off, settling back into her seat for the long trip ahead.
‘Maybe a little too easy.’
She looked over at him. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I got the feeling Rhodes had been expecting us to get in touch,’ Bliss told her. ‘Either that or he’s completely innocent, and I don’t buy that at all.’
‘So you think he’s got a story prepared for us? Either his own or he’s been got at.’
‘I would have thought so.’
Chandler shrugged her shoulders. ‘Then we’ll have to be better than he is.’ She took out a packet of gum and offered him one. He popped it into his mouth and chewed hard, his mind unsettled.
The rest of the journey passed by in a blur of mindless conversation, sporadically punctuated by the two detectives setting out their plans for the interview with Rhodes. Only once did the subject of Bonnie and Clyde come up, but after Bliss began to seethe and curse out loud, they agreed it would be better not to discuss the matter again. It was only as they drove past the welcome sign on the edge of town that Bliss wondered if Clive Rhodes might have something in mind other than a well-rehearsed story. Something a little more drastic.
‘Why would he allow us to look at him when he tells us lies?’ Bliss asked Chandler now.
‘Boss?’
‘Well, think about it for a moment, Pen. We’ve spent the past hour or so planning our strategy, thinking of questions to catch Rhodes out, how to play the entire interview. He has been one of us a long time now. He knows as well as you or I that it’s a hell of a lot easier to convince someone of something if they’re at the other end of a phone line. He’s been on our side of the desk many times, he understands the importance of body language, knows to watch the eyes. So why would he let us get this close?’
‘Maybe he just wants to get it over with. Better now than when he’s back from his break.’
Bliss sniffed, feeding the steering wheel through lazy fingers. ‘But it isn’t, though. We’re disturbin
g him. He went away for a reason, and now we’re intruding. If I’m him, I’d want to delay any such meeting for as long as possible. In fact, I’d be looking for ways to avoid it completely.’
Now Chandler was nodding, the thin curve of her eyebrows moving closer in a deep frown. ‘So if he’s not going to lie, and we can bet our last pound coin he’s not about to cough, what does he want with us?’
Bliss turned his head towards her for a moment, then abruptly snapped it back. ‘I’m not sure. But I think we’d better take precautions.’
Chandler was looking at him oddly. He felt her gaze.
‘What?’
She snapped her fingers and nodded to herself. ‘I knew there was something bothering me about you. Have you done something to your neck? Have you got a problem with it?’
Bliss licked his lips, not liking the direction this conversation was taking. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I noticed it before, but though it nagged at me I couldn’t figure it out. But just lately whenever we’ve been either walking together or sitting in the car, you rarely look at me when we’re talking. Just now you looked, but turned away again quickly. What’s up, boss? I know there’s something wrong. You’re not yourself, and I think you should tell me why.’
Bliss said nothing for a moment. His medical condition, the disease, had the potential to be incapacitating. When standing upright he could drop to the floor at any time, vomit suddenly, lose his balance for no good reason, and the fatigue led to a confused mind known as ‘brain fog’. Under normal circumstances, in an ordinary job, Chandler would have no need to know this very personal aspect of his life. But they were a team. They relied on one another. And now, if he was right about Clive Rhodes, that reliance might be tested under severe conditions.
Bliss pulled the Ford off the road and rolled it to a rest in a narrow lay-by. He took a deep breath, turned in his seat and told her. Everything. The onset of the illness, his concerns, the GP’s referral to ENT, the worry of an MRI, his consultant’s diagnosis, the uncertain prognosis. When he was done he shook his head and lowered his gaze, not wanting to see either pity or anger in Penny’s eyes when he spoke again.
‘I should have told you before. I realise that now. You need to know if there’s a problem that might affect what we do out on the streets. You need to know if I might let you down. I’m sorry.’
For a few seconds only the screech of wipers on dry glass broke the silence. Bliss flicked the stalk to switch them off. He peered out through the windscreen, the black clouds now retreating, a glimmer of weak light bleeding through once more. The car rocked suddenly as Chandler snapped off her seatbelt and climbed out, slamming the door behind her. She walked a few steps away and stood with her back to him, gazing out towards the town’s boardwalk and the grey, rolling sea beyond. An elderly couple walked by, arm in arm, beige jackets zipped tight to the neck. Heads down, they smiled and nodded a greeting at Chandler.
Bliss gave it a few moments, allowing her steam to evaporate before joining her. He fastened his coat and stood by Penny’s side, hands buried deep into his pockets, saying nothing as he moved unsteadily from foot to foot. Letting her know he was there for her, waiting until she was ready to confront him.
‘You think that’s what concerns me most?’ Chandler said eventually. She hugged herself, warding off the cold breeze. ‘That you might let me down? For fuck’s sake, Jimmy, we’re friends as well as colleagues. I hope the friendship comes first with you, because it damn well does for me. Yes, I’m concerned that you might not be able to get my back if I’m in the shit. I’d be an idiot not to be. But more than that, I’m concerned for you and what you’re going through.’
He turned to face her. A fine fringe was being mauled by the wind, and Penny’s pale forehead was beaded with a fresh spattering of rain. Her eyes were narrow and intense, chin set firmly.
‘Penny,’ he said softly. ‘You’re not just my friend, you’re my best friend. Well, other than Bonnie and Clyde, of course.’
She coughed up a stifled laugh and shook her head, mouth breaking into a grin despite her best efforts at solemnity. ‘Then why the hell didn’t you tell me about this before?’
Bliss hiked his shoulders, hunched into himself a little more. ‘Believe it or not, Penny, I needed a bit of time with it myself. To work it through on my own before I spilled my guts to anyone else. I haven’t even told my parents.’
‘You haven’t?’
‘No. I needed to wear it for a while, find out how it fits. It’s not every day you get told you have a life-changing illness.’
Chandler looked at him now, her eyes reflective. ‘I can see that. I can. I’m pissed with you, but I’ll get over it. The main focus here is you and this disease. What the hell caused it?’
‘They don’t know. That’s why they find it so difficult to treat. They have plenty of theories, but the fact is that while a lot of people have the disease, few have exactly the same symptoms. I think it’s a bit of a catch-all for anything to do with ear disorders that affect the balance.’
‘It must be awful for you.’
Bliss shook his head. ‘Not really. Not yet. I hear it can get a lot worse, and probably will. On the other hand, long periods of remission are not unheard of.’
‘I suppose you just have to hope for the best.’
‘Of course.’
‘Maybe even pray for it.’
He gave a low chuckle. ‘We both know that’s not going to happen.’
‘I guess not.’
Bliss’s phone rang. It was Tech Support at Thorpe Wood. Shortly after setting off from Peterborough, Chandler had called in the telephone number Rhodes was using, asking for information on it. Bliss hoped they had something worthwhile for him. He listened, asked a couple of questions, nodded at the responses, then killed the line.
‘Well, well,’ he said, processing what he’d been told. ‘The number comes up as bogus. No other calls in or out. Obviously a single use phone. Now, why would a copper with nothing to hide have the need of such an item?’
‘Let’s ask him to explain that, shall we?’
‘We will. I’ll lead us up to it.’
‘Okay. But getting back to you, what are you going to tell them at work?’
‘That,’ Bliss said, ‘is a very good question.’
She smiled. ‘To which the answer is…?’
‘I’m fucked if I know.’
It was the truth. Every time he got around to thinking about the dilemma, Bliss manufactured something else to focus on. He didn’t want to think that far ahead, about the future. It had a habit of taking care of itself.
The plan Rhodes had put forward on the telephone was that he would meet them in the car park of a hotel long since closed down and derelict. Bliss drove by once, scouring the immediate area for signs of shadows where they ought not to be. The only vehicle in the car park was an ancient Escort resting on milk crates where the wheels had once been. Its windscreen had been shattered and, from its open bonnet, cables and hosing overflowed as if a monstrous creature were emerging.
‘What do you think?’ Bliss asked Chandler. He wasn’t convinced that Rhodes would take them on, try and eliminate them both here and now, but he wasn’t prepared to dismiss the notion entirely.
She checked her watch. ‘We’re ten minutes late. He should be here.’
Bliss nodded. ‘We’re not so late that he would’ve got fed up waiting. You’re right. He should be here.’
Bliss turned the car around when he could and crawled back past the empty hotel once more. Its boarded windows, grey stonework and red brick had been tagged by local graffiti artists. Once upon a time it might have been a majestic building, perhaps even a local landmark. Now it merely looked sad and pathetic, like an abandoned puppy waiting for its owner’s return. Tear the wreck down and put something useful in its place, Bliss thought. Like a jail. Better still, a lunatic asylum. Either way, the place would always be full.
‘You not going to park up a
nd wait for him?’ Chandler asked as they drove by the entrance for a second time.
‘There’s only one way in or out. I don’t like the thought of being hemmed in.’
‘Good call.’
They gave it twenty minutes of driving around, slipping by the meeting point every so often. Bliss felt himself growing more and more agitated. The day was slipping away, and this was getting them nowhere. Bliss tried to keep the irritation from his voice when he spoke to Chandler now.
‘Rhodes said he and his wife were staying nearby in a caravan. I saw a signpost for one just up the road from where we keep turning round. I say we take a look. Happy with that?’
Chandler was. Bliss turned the Focus around one last time and headed towards the campsite. As they neared the place, Chandler was the first to point out the blue-and-whites flickering ahead and to the right. As the pool car emerged from behind a clutch of hills and jagged walls of wild vegetation, Bliss began to see the commotion for himself.
Several police cars, an ambulance, and two fire tenders huddled around the smouldering wreck of a burnt-out caravan. Bliss glanced across at Chandler, whose eyes were wide and alert. They both shrugged, silently shook their heads. Bliss didn’t like the thoughts that were rushing through his mind. Didn’t like the conclusions he was already drawing.
He turned in to the site and parked up on a grassy verge, making sure that emergency vehicles could get by. The two of them then stepped out into the unrelenting breeze. They approached the taped off area cautiously, a uniform with a clipboard peering at them as they made their way across the uneven, broken ground. As Bliss reached for his warrant card, Chandler tapped him on the arm and pointed.
Bliss followed her finger. He swallowed once, and knew he’d been right moments earlier. Beyond the emergency vehicles, several yards behind the caravan, stood a Mitsubishi Shogun.
Chapter 32
Bliss and Chandler waited patiently for everyone to do their jobs: fire crews, ambulance service, a DS from the local CID, on-call doctor and, finally, the area pathologist. Smoke lingered in the air long after the inferno had been extinguished, choking lungs and stinging eyes. That the stiff breeze blew ash from dead people around the campsite and beyond was a thought no one needed to dwell upon.
Bad to the Bone Page 28