The Hero's Fall (DCI Cook Thriller Series Book 14)

by Phillip Strang

  ‘It was soon after I found that I could walk again. My mental state was confused after so long, with no movement. How would you feel?’

  ‘I imagine I would be confused,’ Isaac said, ‘although revenge would have been the last thing on my mind, more a need to tell those nearest and dearest, to tell the world.’

  ‘What you would do is not relevant,’ Harders said. ‘My client couldn’t have committed the first murder, not up those stairs. How could he?’

  ‘I agree,’ Isaac said.

  ‘It was me; I killed him,’ Hampton said. ‘I’ve told you the make of gun, and I had the anger. McAlister’s proved that.’

  ‘Has he? He’s got a recording of the two of you arguing, and he was the first one to say you could walk, but that’s it. And are you telling us that with your life returning, revenge was all you could think of?’

  ‘It was.’

  ‘Mr Harders, Mr Hampton is either lying or confused,’ Isaac said. ‘I just walked up three floors to the chief superintendent’s office. I’m relatively fit, but I had to catch my breath at the top. Yet Mr Hampton can climb over twenty floors of a high-rise under construction, clambering over builders’ rubble on the way, negotiating rebar and concrete.’

  ‘He couldn’t,’ Harders said.

  ‘I did,’ Hampton remained adamant.

  ‘I suggest that we wrap up the interview for now,’ Isaac said. ‘It’s clear that Mr Hampton could not have shot Angus Simmons and that either he is delusional, or he’s protecting someone. This will require further investigation by Homicide.’

  ‘Mr Hampton’s status?’ Harders asked.

  ‘Mr Hampton will remain in custody. He will receive the appropriate medical care.’

  ***

  Larry and Wendy met with Jim Breslaw to see if he remembered anything untoward at the second murder and if he had further recollections of the first.

  There was a look of decay in the man's garden, the lawn too long, flowers wilting, a pile of rubbish next to a bin.

  ‘Gone off gardening?’ Larry said.

  ‘Life in general,’ Breslaw, unshaven, unkempt and slovenly dressed, responded.

  ‘You must be used to it by now,’ Wendy said.

  ‘If you mean receiving the sharp end of Jerome Jaden’s boot, then I am.’

  ‘Do you blame him?’

  ‘Not really. He’ll come out of it smelling of roses.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘I’ve known the man a long time, know what makes him tick, what drives him.’

  ‘Are you suggesting that he’s come out on top?’

  ‘No need to prove it; I just know he has.’

  ‘Is that because you believe it?’

  ‘In the early days, Jerome would stake his house to get the money, constantly take a risk, always keeping an eye on the bigger picture. Whatever’s happened, whether he was responsible or not, he will have been weighing up the angles, looking for maximum effect, the chance to fill his pockets, to let others take the loss.’

  ‘You, for instance,’ Larry asked.

  ‘Not me. I’m only a small fish, but he used Simmons’s death to deride me publicly, and now, with Tricia, he’ll do the same if it’s to his advantage.’

  ‘Do you think he feels sorry for the two deaths?’

  ‘Not Jerome. A charming man to those he likes or wants to influence, but he’s devious, as slithery as a snake, twice as dangerous.’

  ‘Mr Breslaw,’ Larry said, ‘you were there when Tricia Warburton died.’

  ‘I was, but not on the bridge. I had stood back, ensuring that everything was in place, looking at a monitor, interested in camera angles, making sure the focus was on Tricia, as nervous as she was.’

  ‘She wasn’t happy to be there?’

  ‘Happy to be in the limelight, but not the jump. It was Jerome who had persuaded her and McAlister who had guaranteed her safety.’

  ‘In which McAlister had failed. Did you see the other man, this Ivor Putreski?’

  ‘I would have seen him, not that I would have taken too much notice; after all, it was Tricia that the viewers were interested in. We thought it would look better if we got a few paying customers up there on the bridge with her, make out it was a regular jump.’

  ‘Wasn’t it?’

  ‘It was, but if it were her on her own, then the public would have thought she was getting privileged treatment.’

  ‘Not in the overalls she was wearing,’ Wendy said.

  ‘Even so, she still looked glamourous. The two other women who were to jump later didn’t look as good as her, but that we had agreed. We couldn’t have Tricia overshadowed by one of the paying customers.’

  ‘Coming back to Putreski, and allowing for the fact that he wasn’t the primary focus, you must have spoken to him, asked him to sign a video consent form.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have, but one of the production crew would. Nothing untoward in that, just ask the man’s permission, get him to sign a form: name, address, phone number, email address. No need for a person to prove their identity. No one ever refuses.’

  ‘If we look at the video you took, we can’t see when Putreski cut the cord,’ Larry said.

  ‘Focus was on Tricia and McAlister, nobody else. Most of the time, those in the background wouldn’t have been in focus, so it’s not surprising if nothing was seen. How he did it, I’ve no idea, and McAlister checked everything twice, made a nuisance of himself.’

  ‘You didn’t approve?’

  ‘I did, but we were running to a tight schedule, and the cutovers to us were scheduled down to the second, no room for error, no possibility of telling them to hang on for a few minutes while we get sorted out.’

  ‘McAlister jumped to the second?’

  ‘He did. After that, he’s pulled up and a cutaway to a commercial break. Long enough for McAlister to adjust the cord length for her weight, and then there’s Tricia in place, one of the bungee team instructing her, tying the cord to her legs, telling her to splay her arms and to scream on the way down.’

  ‘The radio mic?’

  ‘She had one; it was working, but we removed her earpiece, didn’t want it falling out, or getting jammed in her ear.’

  ‘Was that likely?’

  ‘The jamming? Not really, but we didn’t need it, and besides, once she’s completed the jump and she’s dangling there, she could speak, tell the viewers about her excitement, what was coming up in the new programme.’

  ‘Even if her voice was shaky, her nerves were on edge?’

  ‘All the better. We weren’t worried about Tricia, and, as I’ve already said, McAlister was thorough.’

  ‘Could Putreski, or someone else, in your opinion, cut that cord without anyone seeing?’

  ‘I’m not sure. We had more than one camera. One focussed on Tricia, another on McAlister, and another off to one side of the bridge,’ Breslaw said. ‘We should have picked up anything out of the ordinary, and as you’ve seen the footage and not found anything, there’s no more I can say or do.’

  ‘The first death?’ Wendy said.

  ‘I wasn’t there.’

  ‘But you approved the climb?’

  ‘I did, so did Jerome, not that he’ll admit to it now.’

  ‘Does that annoy you?’

  ‘I never expected any more. Nor did I expect Angus to fall. After all, it’s not as difficult as it looks, and if you check the building close up, there are plenty of places to hold on to. Easy for a man of Angus’s abilities.’

  ‘Even so, Jerome Jaden knew that the station’s revenue is going down and that there was a cost-cutting exercise in place.’

  ‘He would have had a contingency plan. I’m glad I got out when I did, not my choice at the time, but those remaining better hope they get a full payout.’

  ‘He’ll cheat them?’

  ‘He won’t see it that way.’

  ‘You appear to have given up,’ Wendy said.

  ‘I’ve embraced retirement. I am no lo
nger chasing after work or pandering to Jerome Jaden. It used to be fun, but now, too many deaths, others thrown on the scrapheap. I’ve no intention of becoming one of them. The house is paid for, my needs are few, and here, I don’t need to worry unduly. I’ll slowly wither on the vine, as it should be.’

  Outside in the street, Larry lit up a cigarette and blew the smoke up into the air.

  ‘Any wiser?’ Larry said to Wendy.

  ‘He’s right about Tricia Warburton’s death. Someone must have seen something.’

  ‘Hampton’s confession?’

  ‘He could have killed the woman by accident.’

  ‘But not Angus Simmons.’

  ‘Are we certain McAlister was the intended target?’

  ‘We have to be. Who would have wanted Tricia dead? And if they did, where does she fit into the saga?’

  Chapter 26

  Isaac and Wendy made the trip down to Deb Hampton’s farm in Dorset. ‘You’ve arrested Mike?’ she said after opening the door at the farmhouse.

  ‘You’ve not visited him?’ Wendy asked.

  ‘No reason to, and besides, I’ve got a wedding to organise, and Mike will never see the inside of a prison.’

  ‘He’s in a cell,’ Isaac said.

  ‘You know he’ll spend his days in an institution for the criminally insane.’

  ‘It seems as if you’re pleased,’ Wendy said.

  ‘Our mother was unstable, not that she ever killed anyone. Madness runs in the family. What do you want me to say or do?’

  ‘Compassion wouldn’t be a bad place to start,’ Isaac said. ‘We need to talk.’

  ‘Five minutes while I find Jock, tell him what needs doing.’

  Inside the farmhouse, after Deb Hampton had removed her overalls, washed her hands, rubbed a flannel over her face, the three sat down close to an open fire, the dog in between them and the flames.

  ‘He’ll not stay long, prefers the cold outside most of the time,’ she said.

  ‘Jock?’

  ‘He’s good for me, and he’ll not let me down, not like others.’

  ‘Your father? Your brother?’ Isaac said.

  ‘Our parents ensured we had food in our bellies, a decent education, but children want more than that. They want love, to be told they’re wanted.’

  ‘You weren’t?’

  ‘Rarely, and then it was begrudgingly. At Christmas, a hug. Apart from that, never. It stuffed me up for a while, the reason for the bikers’ gang, and Mike, well, you know about him.’

  ‘What do we know?’

  ‘His depressive nature, his single-mindedness.’

  ‘His ability to walk.’

  ‘I didn’t know, honestly. I know what the doctor had said, but Mike said there was no reason to try. I can’t blame Kate for running out on him, but that Skinner, what a choice.’

  ‘If she had chosen Simmons?’

  ‘I would have understood.’

  ‘And yet, you hated Angus,’ Isaac said. ‘Is it because of your childhood, forged in adversity, that you and Mike remained connected as adults, a unique closeness?’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  Wendy didn’t either. She looked at her chief inspector, a perplexed look. ‘Nor do I,’ she said.

  ‘The inseparable bond, brother and sister, finding solace in each other, and Kate in the middle, but she was an inconvenience. And there’s Deb, patronised by Angus, treated as a sister, wanting more.’

  ‘I did love him, you’re correct there, but as a brother,’ Deb said.

  ‘It was more than that. Your brother, you couldn’t have, but his greatest friend you could. Did you make a play for him, get a knockback? Is that why you were unpleasant to Maddox Timberley, the woman who had what you couldn’t?’

  ‘I was unpleasant because she was using him for her benefit.’

  ‘She loved him,’ Wendy said. ‘With him, she felt safe.’

  ‘I’ve seen her on the media, a new man, making out in public.’

  ‘I can’t say I approve of her behaviour, but she’s back with her mother now.’

  ‘Did Angus reject you?’ Isaac asked. ‘Did you love him, not as a brother, but as something more?’

  ‘Always, from the first time I met him. Every time I brought up the subject, Angus would say that I was his sister, the sister he never had. Laughed at me, that last time, when I told him about my feelings for him, that I still cared,’ Deb said.

  ‘When? Just before the accident?’

  ‘Two months before. I was up there for a few days, the two of them planning the trip.’

  ‘And then, after your brother accused Angus of letting him fall, the pieces fell into place. The rejection, the accident, the hatred your brother had for Angus, the anger you couldn’t help, reciprocating emotions with your brother.’

  ‘Alright, I did hate him. Not at first when Mike came back in an air ambulance, not when he was in that hospital, but in time, I could see it. Angus, charming, loved by everyone, an optimistic outlook on life, and my brother, sullen, unloved, loved by me, fleetingly by Kate. I understood my brother; you wouldn’t.’

  ‘It was you, wasn’t it? It was you that took that shot?’

  ‘DCI!’ Wendy exclaimed. She was shocked by his accusation.

  ‘How dare you?’ Deb said.

  ‘You knew of the unresolved issues with your brother, remembered that last rejection. You decided to act,’ Isaac said. ‘You had spent time with a bikers’ gang. You would have witnessed violence, received it more than once. No doubt the occasional ritual, the slaying of other gangs’ members. Death didn’t concern you.’

  ‘You can’t prove that.’

  ‘Wendy, phone for a couple of uniforms from the local police station, cordon this place off.’

  ‘Gordon Windsor?’ Wendy said.

  ‘They can come down as soon as possible. For now, take hold of that rifle leaning up against the wall in the other room, put it into an evidence bag. We found the bullet, didn’t we?’

  ‘They did at the Shard. Are you saying…?’

  ‘That rifle fired the shot at Angus Simmons. That’s what I’m saying. Deborah Hampton, what about you?’

  ‘Mike wasn’t responsible for that woman’s death; you do know that? He never killed anyone.’

  ‘I do now.’

  Wendy went out to the car, took an evidence bag from the boot. In the house, on her return, Deb looked at Wendy. ‘I did it for Mike, don’t you see?’

  ‘The uniforms?’ Isaac said.

  ‘Five minutes. I’m not pleased with this,’ Wendy said.

  ‘Nor am I.’

  After another two hours, with Deb Hampton locked in a cell in Dorset and with Gordon Windsor and his team on their way down to check the house, Isaac and Wendy drove back to London. The arrested woman would be transferred to London the next day.

  Jock, unable to comprehend the situation, returned to his farm, promising to come over the next day and check on the place.

  ***

  Jerome Jaden did not appreciate the chief inspector’s attitude, and he wasn’t slow to let him know.

  ‘What are you accusing me of, Cook?’

  ‘I’m accusing you of duplicity. Of letting Tricia Warburton believe she was to be the star of a new show, even going so far as to present her with a contract, knowing full well that you had no intention of honouring the agreement.’

  ‘I didn’t kill her, did I?’

  ‘Indirectly, you did. Not that you’ll let your conscience get in the way. How much did you gain from her death? How much from Simmons’s?’

  ‘Nothing. They both hurt ratings.’

  ‘But now you’re running documentaries on the two of them, making out that your station stands for law and order, new programmes focussed on crime and the breakdown of society. Are more people watching your station? Is the advertising revenue up?’ Isaac asked.

  ‘I admit that I took the opportunity to bolster the revenue, lift the stock price in this company, and cover fur
ther losses. That’s not deceitful or malicious; that’s good business practice.’

  ‘When were you going to tell her that the programme wasn’t going to happen?’

  ‘She would still have had a programme, but it would be based in this country, and she’d have to do her bit. No more every man’s fancy, but someone who’d be willing to get dirty, to take a risk.’

  ‘To jump off a bridge,’ Larry said.

  ‘As you say. How was I to know that the cord was going to break?’

  ‘You weren’t. What had you told McAlister? Offered him her job? No doubt he was a lot cheaper than her, and you only needed to fill the time slot. You’ve just admitted that financially you’re covered.’

  ‘It’s still the company I set up. I don’t want it to fold.’

  ‘No doubt you don’t, but you’re a pragmatist, not an ideological fool. If it’s over, then you’ll walk away with your money and your reputation intact.’

  ‘You’re right, Chief Inspector. How did you figure this out?’

  ‘It was obvious. Once I had proved that Hampton’s sister shot Angus Simmons, the pieces fell into place, and as Breslaw had said, with the number of cameras focussed on the bridge, there was no way that Mike Hampton could have cut that cord.’

  ‘And now?’ Jaden said.

  ‘Are you about to tell your people that you’re financially secure, but they’re not?’

  ‘That’s for me to decide, not for me to answer. I’ve broken no law.’

  ‘Breslaw reckoned he got out at the right time. It seems that man knows you better than anyone else.’

  ‘He should. We set this station up together. He is, regardless of what he may say about me, the only person I owe any allegiance to. As to you, Chief Inspector, I would appreciate it if you and your inspector leave my office.’

  ‘With pleasure,’ Isaac said.

  ***

  Otto McAlister sat in the interview room. He listened to the facts as they were laid out. He was told that Deb Hampton had taken the shot at Angus Simmons and subsequently confessed. And that he had been right, in that Mike Hampton was capable of walking, and there was the possibility of a full recovery.