by Jamie Raven
‘That’s his own fault,’ I said. ‘I shouldn’t have to compromise myself or withhold information to help him out.’
‘You’d be helping yourself too, Beth. And your family. If you leave Danny alone then he’ll leave you alone. No more threats and unpleasant surprises.’
I shook my head. ‘This is blackmail. And I don’t see any reason why I should go along with it.’
‘He’s your half-brother, Beth.’
‘So you say. But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see him that way.’
‘Then do it for me?’
I gave him a disdainful look. ‘Now you’re going from the sublime to the ridiculous. You abandoned me and my mother when I was five years old. Now you want me to do you a favour. Don’t you think that’s a bit much?’
He gnawed at his bottom lip for a few moments and seemed to come to a decision. Leaning forward across the table again, his watery eyes were determined to hold mine.
‘Then look at it this way, Beth,’ he said. ‘You’ll be fulfilling your father’s dying wish. You see, I have bowel cancer and they’ve given me six months to live.’
46
Ethan Cain
After leaving the house in Bermondsey, Cain headed back to the incident room. His mind was racing, buzzing, throbbing. The brawl with Frankie Bishop had shaken him up, as had ‘The Nutter’s threat to get his own back.
He felt like he was caught up in a never-ending nightmare. It had been bad enough worrying about what Beth was going to do with what she had found out about him. Now he had fallen foul of a genuine psychopath. A man he’d seen commit a brutal murder like it was as easy as swatting a fly.
Best-case scenario now would be for Danny to have Bishop killed. Otherwise the guy was a loose cannon. If he was hauled in and questioned about Megan’s murder there’d be nothing to stop him blabbing. And if he was allowed to walk away then he posed a serious threat to everyone.
Cain wished now that he’d refused to tell Danny about Megan’s affair in front of Bishop. But Danny had insisted, and deep down Cain had got a sadistic pleasure from putting Bishop on the spot. It was like payback for all the times Bishop had teased and humiliated him about the drugs and young prossies.
Nevertheless it was a cheap thrill that had been over in the blink of an eye. It would have been much smarter to have told Danny in private so that he could have confronted Bishop and got rid of him at the same time and in the same place.
Now the bastard was out there having been cast adrift by the firm. He was angry and unpredictable, and literally spitting blood.
He would also be plotting his revenge. Of that Cain had no doubt.
As soon as Cain got back to the incident room, DCI Redwood called him into his office.
‘Sit down, Ethan,’ he said. ‘I need to ask you some questions about your ex-wife.’
Cain felt the blood stir in his veins as he folded himself into the chair facing his boss.
‘What do you want to know, guv?’
‘You can start by telling me when you last saw her.’
Cain chose not to mention the meeting he’d had with her before the press conference and he hoped to God that Redwood didn’t know about it.
‘I saw her a few days ago when I picked up my daughter. You know about the access arrangement.’
‘I do. But I take it you’ve spoken to Chambers on the phone since then.’
A sixth sense told Cain to beware of falling into a trap.
‘As a matter of fact she called me last night, guv.’
Redwood nodded and Cain realised that the bastard already knew that. He’d been trying to catch him out.
‘I assume this was after she was mugged near her home in Peckham.’
Cain forced a frown. ‘How did you know?’
‘I saw an overnight report,’ Redwood said. ‘Made some inquiries and discovered that you rang Peckham CID late last night to ask about it.’
‘I see. Well, she was pretty cut up. She wanted to talk to someone about it.’
Redwood pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘She told the officer who dealt with it that she had no idea who attacked her. Is that what she told you?’
‘Pretty much.’
‘But did she also mention that Danny Shapiro had made threats against her earlier?’
Cain’s throat felt dry and constricted, but he tried desperately not to show his nerves by swallowing.
‘She did mention that and I assured her we’d look into it.’
‘So when were you going to tell me, Ethan?’
It sounded more like an accusation than a question.
‘This morning, guv. But I’ve only just got in.’
‘That’s right. Remind me where you’ve been.’
‘I rang in with a message. Woke up with a migraine and couldn’t get out of bed until the tablets kicked in.’
Redwood pursed his lips. ‘I didn’t get the message.’
Cain could feel his armpits getting damp with sweat, and a tight coil of panic was twisting in his gut. The boss was suspicious of him for some reason. He couldn’t have made it more bloody obvious.
‘Anyway, back to Bethany Chambers,’ Redwood said. ‘I want you to tell me if you’ve given her any information off the record about the case.’
‘Of course not, guv. I would never do that. And I gave you my word.’
‘So you didn’t tell her that Tamara Roth was providing Shapiro with an alibi?’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Well, someone did. And you’re the most likely suspect for obvious reasons, Ethan.’
Cain felt his eyes bulge. ‘I resent that, guv. I told you before that I’ve always been careful about what I say to her. I’m not stupid.’
‘Then how come she seems to know more about what’s fucking going on than we do?
‘What makes you say that?’
‘For one thing, she’s got on the wrong side of Danny Shapiro and we can’t discount the possibility that he sent those two men to rough her up as a warning. It’s also bloody obvious that she must have been the anonymous caller who told us about Peter Kline and linked him to Shapiro. That’s how she knew to pose the question at the press conference.’
‘I asked her about that, guv. She said she herself received an anonymous phone call.’
‘Maybe she was lying. Maybe she found something out that she’s not prepared to share with us.’
‘I doubt that, guv. I can’t imagine she’d hold anything back. She’d be well aware of the consequences and she wouldn’t want to risk it.’
‘Perhaps you don’t know her as well as you think, Ethan. There’s something going on that we’re not privy to. Something between Chambers and the Shapiros.’
‘I think you’re probably jumping to conclusions there, guv.’
‘Is that right? Then how do you explain the fact that she’s been to Belmarsh this morning for a cosy chat with Danny Shapiro’s old man, Callum?’
Cain’s stomach did a flip. ‘I can’t explain it, guv,’ he said. ‘I had no idea.’
‘Are you sure about that, Ethan?’ Redwood said. ‘Are you seriously telling me that you didn’t know?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m telling you, guv. It’s news to me. In fact I’m probably the last person she’d confide in about that.’
Redwood didn’t seem convinced. ‘For your information, I took a call from a contact at the prison half an hour ago. Chambers had just left. She was with Shapiro for almost an hour.’
‘Did she interview him for The Post?’
‘Apparently not. He sent her a visiting order out of the blue. Used his contacts to get it fast-tracked. It was authorised as a private visit.’
Cain was confused. Why the bleeding hell had Callum wanted to see Beth? And why hadn’t Danny told him about the visit? Surely he must have known.
‘It’s time we had a word with Bethany Chambers,’ Redwood said. ‘Find out what Callum wanted and what she knows about the Peter Kline business.’
‘Why don’t you let me talk to her, guv?’ Cain said. ‘If we make it official she’s bound to get on her high horse. And it’s odds on she’ll turn up with a lawyer from the paper and we’ll get nothing out of her.’
Redwood mulled this over for a few seconds, his bottom lip caught between his teeth.
Then he shook his head. ‘We’ll do it together, Ethan. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I think I need to be there when we put her on the spot. However, I will leave it to you to arrange for her to come in.’
Cain hurried back to his desk, grabbed his cigarettes and went outside for a smoke. It was a relief to feel the cold, sobering air against his sweat-soaked face.
But there was no relief from the panic that was starting to consume him. He felt like he was in the deep end and drowning. On top of everything else he now had the gaffer on his back, and that wasn’t good.
There was no knowing where it would lead if Redwood questioned Beth. What would she tell him, for Christ’s sake? Would she go so far as to reveal that he had given an envelope to Frankie Bishop and that he worked for Shapiro?
Cain eyed his watch. Saw it was almost twelve. Decided to give her a call. But it rang through to voicemail.
Is she not picking up because she knows it’s me? he wondered.
He tried The Post, got through to the newsroom and was told she was out of the office.
Fuck.
He flicked his half-smoked fag into the road and lit another. Then he phoned the pay-as-you-go number he had for Danny. The call was answered on the second ring.
‘I was about to give you a buzz,’ Danny said.
‘I hope you were going to tell me why Beth has been to Belmarsh to see your old man,’ Cain said.
Awkward silence. Then: ‘I can’t go into that over the phone.’
‘Yeah, well, that’s not good enough, Danny. I’ve been ordered to find out. And my boss also wants to know if Beth’s got other information that she’s not sharing about you and Peter Kline.’
‘Keep calm, Ethan. She may well know the truth but she can’t prove it if Kline stays missing and Tamara sticks to her story.’
‘But you can’t be sure that Tamara will if Redwood puts her under pressure.’
‘Don’t you worry about Tamara,’ Danny said. ‘She’s solid. And I’m hoping that Chambers will be less inclined to land me in it after her chat with my dad.’
‘How’d you mean?’
‘I’ll tell you when I see you. But look, I was about to call you because I’ve found out that Frankie Bishop couldn’t have killed Megan.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘A hundred per cent. I remembered that on Friday night he was covering for me at the opening of our new club in Streatham. I checked with the manager. He says that Frankie was there from nine right through to two in the morning. I even got him to check the security tapes and Frankie is clearly visible around the time she was murdered.’
‘Well, that’s one bit of good news, I suppose. Means I won’t have to cover it up. Have you decided what to do about him?’
‘Let’s just say that by tonight he won’t be a problem for us.’
‘Good.’
‘Meanwhile, let me get back to you about Beth Chambers. I need to speak to my father to see how he got on. I’ll call you later.’
Danny hung up and Cain had a sudden urge to throw his phone against the nearest wall. Instead, he took a long, meaningful puff on his cigarette and tried to take control of his thoughts. There were too many of them and they were messing up his head.
He craved a line of coke and a couple of stiff brandies. Something to relieve the pressure. But he was on duty and under suspicion and he couldn’t risk it. So he brooded for a bit, feeling sorry for himself, then decided that the best way to cope with the stress was to concentrate on the investigation. On finding Megan Fuller’s killer.
He finished his cigarette and went back inside. He was just in time for the midday briefing, where it was clear from the various reports that they were no nearer to solving the crime.
Redwood told the troops about Beth’s visit to Belmarsh and about her being attacked. And he said that they would be speaking to her. He added that there was still no sign of Peter Kline and no forensic evidence at his house to suggest what had happened to him. They were still waiting for his phone records to come in.
Just as the meeting ended, Cain’s phone rang. It was Drew Bellamy, the psychiatrist who’d been treating Megan.
‘I got your message, Inspector,’ he said, and sounded out of breath. ‘I’ve just landed at Heathrow and should be back in my office in just over an hour. Can you meet me there?’
‘That’s very kind of you, Mr Bellamy. But I don’t want to waste your time or mine. So perhaps you could just tell me over the phone if you think it’ll be worth my while talking to you about Megan and her treatment.’
‘In actual fact I do, Inspector,’ Bellamy said. ‘You see, I didn’t know about her death until I read about it on the plane. And it strikes me that you need to know the reason Miss Fuller was such a troubled individual. I think it could have a bearing on the case.’
‘Really? In what way?’
‘Well, I think there’s a strong possibility that it might lead you to the person who killed her.’
47
Beth Chambers
I was still walking aimlessly through the streets of south-east London as I had been for the past two hours since leaving Belmarsh prison.
My eyes were swollen and moist from where I’d been crying hot, silent tears. I’d received calls on my mobile from Grant, Ethan and my mother, but I hadn’t bothered to answer them. To Grant I’d simply replied with a text message saying I wasn’t well and needed to take the rest of the day off. I didn’t want to tell him why I felt so dreadful and I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to.
The conversation with Callum Shapiro had shaken me to the core. I kept playing it in my head, and it made me oblivious to the cold and the traffic and the groaning of my empty stomach.
About twenty-four hours ago I’d discovered that the father of my child was a corrupt cop. Now I was expected to accept that Callum Shapiro was my father and Danny Shapiro was my half-brother? It was a dreadful thought and it was going to impact on every aspect of my life, from my job to my relationship with my mother. And God forbid that Rosie would ever have to know the identity of her grandfather.
I kept shaking my head, telling myself it couldn’t be true. How could I possibly be connected by blood to two such reprehensible characters?
I was reminded of all the terrible things Callum had done. The stuff that had come out at his trial. The murders. The scams. The suffering of his victims.
I’d spent years writing about both the father and the son. I’d investigated their illicit operations in the hope of uncovering evidence that could be splashed across the front page of The Post before being handed over to the police.
Now I had to try and come to terms with the fact that I was part of their blood family.
Jesus!
I felt a strange mixture of emotions, from shock to regret to a profound sadness. But above all I was possessed by an anger that was so intense it gave rise to a pain in my chest.
I felt the need to take it out on someone. To let them know that my life had been twisted violently out of shape through no fault of my own.
And I knew who that someone should be: the person who was ultimately responsible for unleashing these demons from the past.
My mother.
It’s about seven miles from Woolwich to Peckham, but it took me over three hours to get there because I didn’t walk in a straight line. In fact at one point I realised I was heading in entirely the wrong direction.
When I finally got home my mother was relieved to see me because Grant Scott had phoned to check if I was okay. He’d told her I’d sent him a text to say I was unwell.
‘He also told me where you’d been,’ she said, her expression grave.
&n
bsp; I took off my coat and poured myself a large glass of wine. My hands were shaking and it was an effort to control my temper.
‘Where’s Rosie?’ I said through tight lips.
‘She’s upstairs having a nap.’
We both sat at the kitchen table, each of us waiting for the other to say something. For a while the only sound was the tick and creak of the radiator.
‘The man who rang this morning asking for you didn’t tell me what it was about,’ she said. ‘I gather from your boss that he was Callum Shapiro’s lawyer.’
I nodded. ‘That’s right. He sent me a visiting order because he wanted to see me.’
I gulped at my wine, felt my chest heaving up and down. My mother’s eyes were fixed on me, her pupils wide and dark, her face one big question mark.
‘What did he say to you, Beth?’ she asked.
I kept her waiting. Was it a childish form of punishment on my part? Maybe.
Eventually I put the glass down and said, ‘He told me everything, Mum. That he’s my real father and that his son is my half-brother.’
‘And you believed him?’
That was when I let rip.
‘Of course I fucking believed him,’ I screamed at her. ‘He told me about Olly. He remembered that it was the last thing he gave me.’
A small, startled cry flew from her mouth and her face seemed to fold in on itself.
‘I can’t believe you kept it from me for all these years,’ I yelled. ‘How could you have done that? It’s not as if their names never came up. I’ve talked about them to you more times than I can remember. I covered Callum’s trial, for heaven’s sake.’
Her face turned ashen and her eyes dropped.
‘He promised me he would never tell you,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want you to know. I wanted to protect you.’
‘But I’m twenty-nine, Mum. I had a right to know who my real father was.’
‘And what good would it have done, eh? Your life would have been blighted. You would never have been the success that you are.’
‘That’s not the point.’