‘Christ,’ said Lisa. ‘Are you saying I got him killed now? That it was because of me?’
‘It’s not all about you. If it did happen that way, it was about Gavin Miller. What he needed. Besides, all I’m doing is putting things together, making connections, stretching the facts a bit to do it. Half the time we make up stories from what we know, then test them out.’
‘But Mr Miller didn’t say anything about it when we met for coffee earlier this year. We never talked about the past at all, except like, way back, when he was a hippy and all that.’
‘But you didn’t say anything to anyone about it. At least not until tonight, to me. Maybe Gavin Miller did work it out and kept it to himself for reasons of his own. Especially if he intended to harm the boy in revenge for what he’d done to you. Anyway, I’m only giving you a hypothetical example of how some of the things you’ve told me might affect the investigation. It’s only speculation. There are some things I’ll have to share with my boss – crimes have been committed, not by you, but against you – but I promise none of what you told me will go any further than that and I’ll keep what I can to myself. What you told me is … well … it’s …’
‘In confidence?’ suggested Lisa.
‘Yes.’
‘Like between friends?’
Winsome reached for her mug. ‘Yes.’
Lisa smiled. ‘All right, then.’
‘So what brings you here at this time of night?’ Banks asked when he answered the insistent knocking at his door.
‘You know damn well what,’ said Annie, walking in and slamming the door behind her.
‘No, I don’t.’ He hated it when people said that and he didn’t know damn well what. His mother used to say it, without the swearing, if ever he asked what he was supposed to have done wrong: ‘You know quite well.’ It always made him feel like a naughty boy.
‘Come off it, Alan. You’ve been playing us for fools, Winsome and me, running two investigations and sending us out on the dummy one. You’ve been using us as cover. You don’t believe for a moment that Gavin Miller’s death has anything to do with his getting dismissed from Eastvale College. With Beth Gallagher or Kayleigh Vernon or Trevor Lomax or Jim Cooper and that crowd. You think it’s all about what happened forty years ago at the University of Essex. That’s why you’ve had Little Miss Masterson running around doing your private research and God knows what else for you while you send us off to waste our bloody time!’
They were standing in what used to be Banks’s living room and was now a sort of office-cum-den. ‘Stop pacing and sit down,’ Banks said. ‘Catch your breath. Drink? Shall we go through to the back and have a—’
‘No, I don’t want a bloody drink. And I don’t want to go through to the back. I won’t be stopping.’ Annie remained on her feet while Banks sat. ‘Of all the shitty tricks you’ve ever pulled, Alan, this one has to be—’
‘That’s not true,’ Banks argued. ‘Both lines of inquiry are still equally important. Essential. We have no idea why Gavin Miller was killed. We can’t afford to overlook Lomax and Cooper and the rest.’
‘But you lean towards Lady Chalmers, don’t you, even though you’ve been warned off?’
‘So what if I do? It’s not your job on the line. Do I think she killed him? No, I don’t. Do I think she’s closely connected somehow with what happened? Damn right, I do. But it could equally as well have been Trevor Lomax, Jim Cooper or Dayle Snider.’
‘Yet you haven’t let Winsome or me in on any of this. It’s just been you and your pretty little—’
‘That’s not true, and you know it. Hold on a minute, Annie. Are you sure this isn’t just you being jealous? Because there’s nothing to be jealous of. There’s nothing between me and Gerry.’
‘Oh, come off it, Alan. Just look at the sweet simpering little thing. She practically wets her knickers every time she gets near you.’
‘That’s not true, and it’s bloody rude of you to say it,’ came another voice from the hall, shortly followed by Gerry Masterson herself, striding through from the conservatory. Her face was red, and she was breathing hard. ‘If anyone’s jealous, it’s you, you miserable bitch. Jealous that DCI Banks has trusted me with the job and not you.’
‘Don’t be so stupid. And don’t—’
‘I’m not stupid. You march in here and practically call me a tart, accuse me of sleeping with my boss, and you expect me to just stand there and take it. You can’t talk about me like that, even if you do outrank me. Yes, ma’am, no, ma’am. Is that what you expect? Well, I’m doing my job as professionally as I can under difficult circumstances, and I suggest you try and do the same instead of playing the jealous girlfriend. As far as I can see, you’re the only one in this room who has slept with the boss.’
‘Why, you pissy little bitch—’ Annie flew at her.
‘Annie! Gerry!’ cried Banks, getting between them before things went any further. ‘Stop it. Both of you. Let’s all sit down, take a deep breath and have a drink. I don’t know about you two, but I bloody need one.’ He managed to shepherd them both, stiff-shouldered, still bristling with rage, through the connecting door into the entertainment room. It seemed the safest bet, and the closest. There were comfortable chairs, dim, relaxing lighting, and a disc of Chopin’s nocturnes was playing. There was also a cocktail cabinet and a small wine rack beside a row of glasses. Banks reached for a bottle of Layers. Thank God it was screw-top, he thought. His hands were shaking too much to handle a corkscrew. As he poured, he said, ‘Let’s all just try and calm down and get this sorted. There’s no need for fighting.’
‘She can’t talk about me like that just because she’s my boss,’ said Gerry.
‘Gerry, sit down.’ Banks handed her a glass. Her hand was shaking, too, he noticed.
Annie was still breathing fire and stalking the room. ‘Annie.’ Banks held out her glass.
For a moment Annie just glared at him, then she took the glass and flopped down in the nearest armchair, slopping a little wine down her front. Luckily, she was wearing a burgundy top. She ran her free hand through her mass of curly brown hair.
Gerry also sat, about as far away from Annie as she could get, Banks noticed, and took a demure sip of wine.
‘Right,’ said Banks. ‘Let’s all put our ranks aside for the moment. What’s this all about, Annie?’
‘I’ve seen her notes. The phone calls. The research.’
‘You’ve been going through my desk while I was out, haven’t you? Prying into my affairs,’ said Gerry. ‘Poking around my desk. I suppose you’ve been into my computer, too?’
Annie looked away. ‘Oh, don’t get your knickers in a knot.’
Banks took it that she was guilty as charged. ‘That’s not on, Annie,’ he said. ‘You know that.’
‘Why not? I have a right to know what’s going on. She works under me. I’m the deputy investigating officer, or don’t you remember that? I’m her superior officer, and I have a right to know what the people under me are up to.’
‘Superior? That’s a laugh. I do my assigned work, my duty,’ said Gerry. ‘HOLMES 2 is up to date. You find fault with my data handling if you can.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ said Banks, speaking to both of them. ‘None of this. It’s mine. I’ve handled it badly. I should have come clean.’
‘A bit late for that now, isn’t it?’ said Annie.
Banks took a slug of wine. All they needed now was to get drunk and fall into some sort of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? drunken row. But that was two married couples, he remembered. Still, he would keep his intake to a low level. ‘It’s a very delicate situation,’ Banks said, choosing his words carefully. ‘A balancing act. As everyone knows, I got a hell of a bollocking from the AC and the ACC the other day, and I was told in no uncertain terms to lay off the Lady Chalmers angle. But as I’m sure everyone also knows – and you, in particular, Annie – I don’t take kindly to being given orders simply because someone plays golf with th
e chief constable and passes on a complaint. What neither of you know is that Lady Chalmers phoned me the other night and apologised, said it wasn’t down to her that it happened. It was her brother-in-law, Anthony Litton, who was present when you and I talked to her last Thursday, Annie. So you can’t say I didn’t include you in that, can you, in addition to telling you and Winsome my thoughts on Lady Chalmers the other day. And who got the bollocking? It wasn’t you.’
‘Oh, so she’s off the hook now, is she, because she phoned and made up?’ said Annie. ‘I suppose you had a nice old nostalgic chat about how good the sixties were, didn’t you? Fancy her as well, do you?’
‘Cut it out, Annie. What I’m trying to say is that it made me even more suspicious in some ways. What Gerry’s been doing – what I’ve been asking her to do – is vital to any investigation of what role Lady Chalmers may have played in the events. And in case you don’t realise it, Gerry also happens to be the best researcher we have. She’s also the one taking the risks by doing that research. If you were to think about it all clearly, I’ve been protecting you ever since I got the bollocking last Thursday.’
‘Oh, come off it, Alan. You can’t get away with that. It’s me you’re talking to. Annie Cabbot. Remember? Your “partner”.’ She glared at Gerry Masterson. ‘And I mean that in a professional sense. When have I ever made you think I don’t have the stomach to do what it takes to get the job done?’
‘Never. But this is different.’
‘Bollocks, it’s different.’
‘I’m sorry, Annie, but—’
‘Well, at least you’re sorry. That’s a start.’ Annie drank some more wine.
She seemed to be calming down a little, Banks thought, but he would have to play this very carefully if he wanted to pull the team together rather than push them apart.
‘Is it true that I’m so easily expendable?’ Gerry asked quietly. ‘That you’ve been using me as some sort of cover to protect your favourites, DI Cabbot and DS Jackman? Because if that’s true—’
‘Of course it isn’t true,’ said Banks, not used to getting it from both barrels like this. ‘I told you. You’re the best researcher we have. That’s why I asked you to do it.’
‘Anybody could have done what I’ve done. I was a fool, wasn’t I? You never let me in on any of the important interviews. You used me. I’ve never even met Lady Chalmers. You’d either go by yourself, or take DI Cabbot here, while I slaved over the computer and the phone just waiting for AC Gervaise to walk in and catch me.’
‘Don’t be silly, Gerry,’ said Banks. ‘The work you’ve been doing is essential. That’s just my way. If anything happened, I’d take the flak for you. You must know that. Annie? You, too. Tell her.’
Annie glanced from one to the other, obviously considering her options. Finally, she said, ‘He’s right. He might be a stubborn and devious bastard, but he’s there for the team when the chips are down. He’ll always take one for the team. Which is why it pisses me off so much that he didn’t let me and Winsome in on his little game.’ She reached for the bottle and refilled her glass.
‘We were spread too thin, Annie. Someone had to deal with Lomax and the college crowd.’
‘Muggins here.’
‘There’s no muggins about it. It’s still odds-on that one of them did it. We have, however, made quite a bit of progress today.’
Annie raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh? Well, I can hardly say that I have. All I’ve done is hit a brick wall with Lisa Gray. And I’m sick to bloody death of that college and everyone in it.’
‘But Winsome went back to talk to Lisa again,’ Banks said. ‘And before you start flying off the handle about her doing things behind your back, she told me she did it because she felt she had a rapport with Lisa, and she also felt that Lisa was on the verge of opening up. She judged there was a better chance if she went by herself, and she was right.’
Annie snorted. ‘So maybe I was a bit hard on the Gray girl. But you know how Winsome likes to take on lame ducks.’
‘You’re one to talk, with that Polish girl you took home with you a few months ago.’
Annie’s lips tightened to a straight white line but she took a deep breath, another sip of wine and relaxed. ‘OK, so I’m the one behind in this game, the one who’s not coming up with the goods. You’ve made that obvious enough. So go on, bring me up to speed.’
Banks let the sarcasm drip off him. He was used to that. It meant Annie was on the mend. ‘Sometimes we do get involved,’ he said. ‘We know we shouldn’t, but we do. And you know what? Sometimes it helps. Lisa Gray was a victim of rape, a rape that occurred after a boy slipped her a dose of Rohypnol he bought from Kyle McClusky. That’s why she went to Gavin Miller instead of the police. Because she was ashamed and afraid, and because he wouldn’t ask her all kinds of personal and probing questions. We do our best with rape victims, as you both know, but it’s a difficult business, a balancing act at best, soft lights and music or no. These girls have been terribly violated. I can’t begin to know how they feel.’ He looked at Annie who, he was fully aware, knew very well how it felt.
Annie glared back at him. ‘So what happened?’ she asked.
‘When she made the link between Kyle and Beth and Kayleigh, she made up a story about hearing the girls crow over the stunt they’d pulled on Gavin Miller.’
‘So she lied about overhearing them in the toilets?’
‘Yes. She’d seen them at a party. That’s how she knew they were friends.’
‘Dammit, I thought so. I thought it was rather a long time after the events themselves to be talking about them like that. So Winsome got it out of her? Good for her.’
‘Lisa was going through a bad time. Guilt, shame, feeling dirty. She was drinking a lot, trying to block out what she knew had happened, even though her memories of it were fragmentary. She also felt responsible for what the girls did to Miller, when she managed to put it all together in her fogged-up brain. It was the best she could do. At least she tried.’
‘What about the rapist?’ Gerry asked.
‘Lisa said he was just someone she met at a concert and went to the bar with later. She doesn’t remember his name or what he looks like. She said he seemed like a nice bloke. Thinks he came from Bradford.’
‘So he got away with it?’
‘So it would appear. But Kyle McClusky is in jail, admittedly for something else, but he is in jail.’
‘A lot of good that’ll do him,’ Annie said. ‘I could think of a few better punishments for rapists, or for scum like him who facilitate rape. So? Result?’
‘The college crowd is still very much in the picture. They’ve all lied or held things back. Many things could have happened over the four years that passed to bring events to a head at that railway bridge, most of them centring around Gavin Miller finding out about all the behind the scenes stuff nobody told him at the time.’
‘But we’ve no evidence that he did find out.’
‘That’s the problem. And that’s what we’re still digging for. There were plenty of dangerous secrets around, and don’t forget Gavin Miller was desperately short of money. I think it’s possible that blackmail may have been involved somewhere along the line. We know he didn’t get a loan or win it on the lottery. Drugs are still a possibility. Miller might have thought them a way to turn a quick profit, and he could easily have stepped on the wrong toes.’
‘The toes of criminals who throw people from bridges?’ said Annie.
‘Exactly. We’re not ruling it out, so Winsome will liaise again with the drugs squad and see if they can turn anything up.’
Annie topped up her wine. Banks was about to tell her she should slow down, that she was driving, but if push came to shove, she could take his spare room. It had happened before, during her convalescence after the shooting. Gerry was fine, still nursing her first glass, about three-quarters full. Banks didn’t care himself. He wasn’t going anywhere. He took the bottle after Annie and finished it. There was onl
y about a mouthful left.
‘So where do we go now?’ Annie asked.
‘Wherever we go,’ Banks said, ‘we go as a team. The Chalmers line of inquiry is still open and thriving, as far as I’m concerned, and everything any of us gets will be shared with all. As I understand it, Gerry’s got a line on one of the members of the Marxist Society who was around at the same time as Veronica Bellamy. Gerry?’
Gerry still seemed a bit agitated, and still resentful of Annie, but she began a hesitant, though thorough, account of her talk with Judy Sallis that evening, and the lead that it had given her to Dr Mandy Parsons. When she had finished, there was a pause, then Annie said, ‘Good work. The finding and the questioning.’
A ghost of a smile flickered across Gerry’s face at the compliment.
‘But don’t get cocky about it,’ Annie added. She glanced at Banks. ‘And tomorrow?’
‘Business as usual. I’ll be talking to Veronica Chalmers again, first thing, and I don’t care who knows about it. She lied about not knowing Miller at university, and I want to know why.’
‘She was only shagging him,’ Annie said. ‘That’s why.’
‘There has to be more to it than that.’
‘Maybe not. It’s probably something she was ashamed of, if she knew what he’d become. I can think of a few old boyfriends I wouldn’t want to admit to. Besides, Miller’s been murdered. Nobody wants to admit to being involved with a murder victim, even if it was forty years ago.’
Banks gave her an inquiring glance. Annie countered it with an enigmatic smile. ‘It could have even been more recent than that. We don’t know.’
‘Lady Veronica Chalmers and the decrepit Gavin Miller having an affair?’ said Banks. ‘Give us a break.’
‘These things happen.’
‘In your dreams.’
‘And if AC Gervaise finds out what I’ve been digging up about Veronica’s past,’ said Gerry, ‘then we’re all in for it.’
‘Yes,’ said Banks. ‘Then it’ll be time for your “I am Spartacus” impersonations.’
Annie managed a little snigger at that, though the reference seemed lost on Gerry.
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