He's Gone

by Alex Clare

  ‘More of a Jaguar type I thought but once a criminal, always a criminal.’ Graham laughed. ‘Even though Roddy’s getting on a bit, he could still push a pensioner out of the way. Used to be a bit rough when he was younger. One time he was arrested he needed four constables to hold him down …’

  Robyn held up her hands. ‘We’ll need more than that picture to go on before we can talk to him. Any sign of cyclists, Ravi?’ A closing of his eyebrows made her aware this wasn’t helping him feel more relaxed around her.

  ‘Just kids. The pictures are mainly stallholders and shots of acts on the stage.’ There was boredom in Ravi’s voice. He turned his screen to show Robyn, flicking through a series of pictures of people holding the tools of their trade in front of various stalls. He stopped on a shot of a couple in 1960’s dress standing in front of a display of vintage clothes, the effect rather spoilt by the man’s heavily tattooed arms.

  With a soft wumph, the contents of Robyn’s in-tray slid down across the desk. She’d been ignoring paperwork and decided she could leave it no longer. Top of the pile was Graham’s mileage log. After a quick check, she signed at the bottom. Her new signature was her full name, the letters curlier than before. As part of her transition, she’d spent a long time coming up with the new signature because it seemed an important symbol, something representing another step in the change. By the sixth piece of paper, she was already bored and the careful tracing had regressed to the old scrawled initials. Chloe slipped back into the office and went to sit by Graham.

  Somewhere under the paper, her phone rang. She fumbled it into her hands. ‘Hello, Josh.’

  ‘Yeah, hi.’

  ‘Josh, are you OK?’

  ‘Yeah. I’ve been watching the news. He’s everywhere. Does anyone know he’s my son?’

  ‘Not yet.’ Robyn tapped her pen on the desk. ‘I hope you haven’t spoken to any journalists?’

  ‘No and if they speak to me, I’ll tell them where to get off.’

  Robyn raised her voice. ‘Josh, if anyone from the press rings you, pretend it’s a wrong number, then let Khalid Guler, our media guy, know. I’ll text you his number. He’s got this under control.’

  ‘Are they going to say things about me or Mum and Dad?’ There was a hint of fear in Josh’s voice. ‘What are they going to do?’

  ‘Josh. JOSH. Calm down. You need to get back here as soon as possible.’ Robyn realised she was standing up.

  ‘Yeah, there’s a night bus from Newquay getting into Victoria coach station tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Great. I’ll come and pick you up from London. Try not to talk to anyone in the meantime.’

  ‘Why are you picking me up? What’s happened to Mum and Dad?’

  Lance dropped back into Janice’s chair. Robyn lowered her voice. ‘They’re still in custody.’

  There was a mumble from the other end, then the line went dead. Robyn let out a snort of frustration. She couldn’t let Janice know so there would be no one for Josh to talk to, apart from his friends and social media and the story would be certain to come out. She sent Josh a text confirming arrangements and reminding him to keep everything quiet. The best thing she could do was to get on with her job, which meant getting back to the paperwork. She reached for the next sheet and two slid to the desk. Underneath a memo about the decorators was a page printed from an internet site, the story of man who’d picked up a woman for sex, then murdered her when he realised ‘she’ was in fact a ‘he’. Bits were underlined in red, in case the message needed to be any more obvious.

  Covering the page with a form, Robyn swallowed, not wanting to show any concern. If someone had put this into her tray to upset her, then it was someone with access to the CID room. They could be in the room now, waiting for her reaction. Her pulse was high but she was determined she wouldn’t give anyone watching her the satisfaction of knowing she was upset. The insults were childish: chick with a dick, pervert. She screwed up the paper and dropped it into the bin. The only thing that bothered her was wondering whether the person that put it there was the same one that had vandalised her car.

  Graham groaned. He was making some point to Chloe, his finger jabbing the desk. She was slumping in her chair.

  ‘What’s the matter with you two?’ A distraction was welcome.

  ‘Tania had broken her arm six months before she disappeared.’ Graham held up the autopsy report. ‘The doctor doesn’t mention anything about bone injuries in his report. It’s not her.’

  31

  ‘Bugger.’ Robyn tapped on the desk. Since her nails had been longer, they gave a satisfying, crisp noise. ‘So if the body isn’t Tania, either the dates are wrong …’ She caught Chloe’s grimace. ‘Don’t worry Chloe – it’s not a criticism of you. You had a good idea, it just didn’t work out. Most don’t. The other possibility is she’s not on the missing person’s list.’

  Chloe didn’t quite manage a smile. ‘So if the person isn’t on the list, how do we find her, Guv?’

  ‘We start by checking a month or so either side – the shop may have been wrong about the dates the shoes were stocked, or they missed being marked up for the sale. If we get nothing there, we’ll have to do things the old-fashioned way and try to identify her from her dental profile. That’s what being a detective’s like, Chloe – having to visit every dentist in Meresbourne and the villages …’

  ‘Couldn’t we just email them all the scan?’

  Robyn couldn’t stop herself laughing. Chloe looked blank. Graham was also chuckling, his laugh turning into a cough. ‘You young people …’ He adopted a passable imitation of Fell’s conference drone. ‘Statistics show eighty-nine point two percent of recruits to the police force in the last five years don’t know they’re born.’

  Behind his screen, Ravi chortled.

  ‘DC Sharma? You’re next please.’ Lance was standing next to his desk. Ravi froze, then shut his mouth and he followed Lance out of the room.

  ‘Ah, he’s going for those who’ve been in the team the least time.’ Graham’s lips pressed together for a second. ‘So you’ll be next, Guv, then Lorraine and maybe he’ll get to me by Tuesday.’

  Lorraine walked to the door. ‘Guv, there’s a vintage and craft fair in Lower Markham tomorrow, just like the one in Gaddesford. I was thinking of checking it out – what do you think?’

  Robyn nodded, pleased with the thought of action. ‘Good idea. I’ll come along. I’m picking up Josh in the morning from Victoria coach station and will drop him at Janice’s. Meet me by the Air Force memorial at eleven o’clock and make sure you’ve got the full list of the stolen property.’

  Over in the corner, Robyn heard Chloe saying to Graham, ‘But if the body isn’t Tania Shipford, then we need to find her as well …’ Graham’s reply was inaudible. Robyn settled down to the paperwork again.

  When Ravi returned from his interview with Lance, Robyn glanced at her watch. Given it was nearly one thirty, she felt justified in having a break, even though there were still emails to answer. ‘I’m going down to the canteen, would anyone like anything?’

  Chloe declined. Ravi was unwrapping the lavish package he got from home each day, the smell of spices confirming lunch was overdue. Graham stood up. ‘I’ll come with you.’

  As they stepped out, Graham scanned up and down the corridor. ‘Guv, it’s about these interviews …’

  Lance appeared from the stairwell. ‘DI Bailley, I’d like to speak to you now.’

  Graham was already halfway through the incident room door.

  She and Lance took the lift to the basement. Neither spoke. They sat facing each other in the interview room. Robyn shifted on the hard seat. Lance hadn’t switched on the recorder.

  ‘Fell needs–’ ‘The investigation is–’

  They both stopped and looked at each other. After you.’ Robyn sat back.

  ‘I need to give a conclusion to Fell in the next hour. The facts of the case aren’t up for debate – DC Warrener took the child.’ Lance paused,
waiting for a reaction. ‘The two questions are whether she planned to take him and whether the investigation was flawed.’ Lance tapped the table. ‘I need to give Fell my assessment of whether something stopped you seeing what was going on under your nose.’

  The wrong response here could ruin her career as well as Janice’s. It would help no one if she allowed herself to be provoked. Robyn smiled, hoped the expression didn’t seem too forced. ‘I’ve been asking myself the same question.’ She had to keep calm. ‘I’ve been a detective a long time. I don’t believe I’ve treated this case differently from any other. Ms Chivers is a lady whose controversial views polarise opinions. Janice’s concerns didn’t stand out because they were shared by other members of the team. Ms Chivers’ complaint about me was not relating to the investigation but because, well, she thinks I’m …’ She coughed, started again. ‘Ms Chivers does not believe gender realignment should be allowed.’ Lance marked his pad.

  Robyn found herself flicking a pen and made a conscious effort to stop. ‘As soon as I had a suspicion, I acted. I could have warned Janice to hide Ben before I went to her house. But I didn’t.’

  ‘That would be more believable if you had told someone where you were going and hadn’t waited almost an hour before reporting it.’ Lance was watching her without blinking.

  ‘Janice and Martin were trying to get in touch with their son.’

  ‘We’ll see.’ In the corridor, someone was yelling. ‘Is their son coming back?’

  Robyn nodded. ‘I’m picking him up tomorrow morning.’

  ‘OK. Well, we can grant bail for the husband by then. He won’t go anywhere.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  The yelling sounded again from further down the corridor. Footsteps pounded past.

  ‘You admitted you lacked focus.’ Lance shuffled in his seat.

  ‘Do you think …?’ Robyn shook her head. ‘Do you really think I’m not aware of the comments and criticism about me?’

  Lance stood up, now towering over her.

  ‘Do you know what I got today?’ Robyn stood and stepped in front of Lance. ‘Someone put a note in my in-tray suggesting I’ll get beaten up. To be clear, the in-tray on my desk in the incident room. Earlier this week, someone trashed my car in the car park downstairs. So it’s someone in this station. I think I’m focusing pretty well, considering.’

  Lance folded his arms across his chest. ‘I have to see Fell.’

  ‘Do you want me to come with you?’

  ‘No. I believe you have other cases.’ Lance stepped around her and let himself out.

  Robyn kicked the table leg once, twice. The second time hurt. She’d forgotten women’s shoes weren’t as sturdy as men’s.

  Her phone rang. ‘Hello, Graham.’

  Graham’s voice was taut. ‘Guv, Janice has been named on TV.’

  She kicked the table again. ‘Bugger. How?’ A beep on the line. ‘Graham, Khalid’s trying to get hold of me. Must be the same thing.’ She switched lines. ‘Khalid.’

  ‘The media know it’s Janice.’

  ‘Graham just told me.’

  There was a hard edge to Khalid’s voice she hadn’t heard before. ‘Can you come up? We’ll need to see Fell.’

  Robyn limped to the lift. On the fifth floor, the new paint was bright in the sunshine, the smell still strong. Khalid was watching something on his tablet. He saw Robyn and turned the screen to her. A dark-haired woman was talking into the camera, in front of Janice’s house.

  ‘That’s Janice’s neighbour. I spoke to her yesterday when she came to fetch the dog. Either she spotted Ben at some point, or recognised me from the TV and put two and two together.’

  Khalid silenced the tablet. ‘Now everyone’ll be trying to find out where Janice is.’

  ‘Didn’t Phil tell you there was a journalist outside Gaddesford police house yesterday when I was there with DI Farnham?’

  Khalid rolled his eyes. ‘No. Better and better. OK, we need to get a statement out sharpish. Has matey-boy made his decision yet?’

  ‘DI Farnham’s with Fell at the moment.’

  Khalid stood up. ‘OK, let’s go and give them the good news.’

  Tracey scanned their faces as they walked in. Without asking what they wanted, she stood and knocked on the inner door. Fell held his hands steepled in front of him. Lance sat folded in the guest chair. Khalid cleared his throat. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, superintendent. We have a problem: the media have got hold of Janice’s name.’

  ‘How did this get out?’ Fell tugged his moustache.

  ‘Janice’s neighbour identified her.’ Khalid paused. ‘There was no leak from anyone within the police station.’

  ‘We are in a position to action the second part of the media strategy.’ Fell cleared his throat. ‘Farnham, would you summarise your findings?’

  Lance gathered himself. ‘DC Warrener will be charged with parental abduction and dereliction of duty. Mr Warrener will be charged with concealing evidence.’

  Robyn tried not to appear pleased. It was better than she’d dared hope but would still mean a prison sentence. Her mouth was dry.

  ‘And on the other matter?’ There was no change in Fell’s tone.

  Lance coughed, crossing then uncrossing his legs. ‘I’ve concluded DI Bailley’s personal situation didn’t have a material effect on the investigation. In relation to the additional allegation of bringing the force into disrepute, although the approaches adopted can be unconventional, I see no evidence to support it.’

  Someone in the station had made a formal complaint about her. The room was hot but Robyn now found it overwhelming. Lights flashed in front of her eyes; maybe it was just the flickering sunshine through the blinds. She had to bend her knees to stabilise herself. Beside her, Khalid mouthed something, concern in his eyes. Robyn nodded to him and concentrated on staying upright. Neither Fell nor Lance seemed to have noticed.

  ‘So, Guler, prepare details for me to meet the media. Do we need a press briefing?’

  Khalid pulled a sheet of paper from his folder. ‘I’ve prepared a draft statement already and I think speed is important here.’ He glanced at his phone. ‘If you’re happy with this, we could give people an hour to get here and organise a briefing for three o’clock.’

  Fell brushed his moustache with the tip of a finger. ‘That seems reasonable. Bailley, you had better let Ms Chivers know. I want you to be there when I give the statement.’ He turned to Lance. ‘Thank you for your input, DI Farnham. I shall await your formal report.’

  Robyn walked as far as the lift with Lance. ‘Do you want help with any of your equipment?’

  ‘No, thank you, DI Bailley.’ Lance pushed the button for the basement.

  Robyn got out at the second floor. In the CID office, the team relaxed when they realised it was her. Robyn remained standing. ‘DI Farnham has made his decision. It’s the minimum charge we could expect. Because the news has leaked, there’s going to be a press briefing in an hour. I suggest you all go home before then, because the media will be chasing everyone for stories.’

  ‘Will DI Farnham be leaving?’ Graham was trying too hard to sound casual.

  ‘I don’t know. He was reporting on an internal complaint about me.’ Graham gasped. ‘Fell seemed satisfied so I’ve got to meet the media with him.’ Robyn sat down trying to catch her breath in the stuffy room. The earlier wooziness was returning and she wanted to be alone.

  ‘Someone complained about you? From here, in the station?’

  ‘Yes. Bringing the police force into disrepute.’

  Graham laughed, a full belly-laugh. ‘Sorry, Guv. You disreputable? A bit like charging Snow White with scrumping apples.’

  Ravi stuck his head around his screen. ‘Guv, I’ve been doing a bit of digging on the woman who shopped Janice …’

  ‘No, Ravi. Whatever it is, no.’ She sighed. ‘We’ve got the best we could hope for. Good work everyone, now bugger off. Have a good weekend.’

  She kept her
head down, signing more forms, until everyone had gone. Lorraine stopped at her desk on the way out. ‘I’ve got the list of stolen property for tomorrow. I’ll see you in Lower Markham for the fair at eleven.’

  Ten minutes before the press briefing and she needed to find a mirror. ‘Thanks, Lorraine. See you there.’

  In the lobby, Matthew stood with six of his officers.

  Khalid looked up at the CCTV screen. ‘There’s more of a crowd than I thought.’ He scanned the officers. ‘Was no one else available?’ His quick steps were unlike his usual measured paces.

  With the officers clearing a path, they walked out to face the media. Robyn was closer than she’d like to be to Fell, pressed in by camera lenses and microphones. Questions were being screamed out from all directions.

  ‘What part did Janice play in the investigation?’ ‘Is anyone going to be sacked?’ ‘Were any other officers involved?’

  Khalid had to call for calm three times before it was quiet enough for Fell to read the prepared statement. There were continuous interruptions: Liz Trew from the Journal was leaning over someone’s shoulder to see. ‘Are you going to bring in some proper coppers now?’

  The shouts started up again the second Fell finished the statement.

  ‘Are you going to resign?’ ‘Has Ben taken part in church rituals?’

  ‘Ladies and Gentlemen.’ Khalid’s call was drowned in the clamour.

  ‘QUIET.’ Matthew’s roar flattened the hubbub.

  Khalid took advantage of the second’s lull. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, a full, independent investigation is underway and, until that is concluded, it is not appropriate for us to answer any questions. Thank you for your time.’

  They turned to leave, with officers linking arms against the scrum as it tried to move with them. Fell led them across the lobby until they were out of sight of the front doors. ‘What now, Guler?’

  Khalid sighed. ‘Now we let the story die down because there’s nothing more to say. I’ve issued Janice’s record including the commendations. Fell sighed. ‘Has Ms Chivers got a liaison officer with her?’