The Devil's Interval

by J. J. Salkeld

  Dixon paused, and looked as if he was struggling manfully to remember something very important.

  ‘I just had to, love. I couldn’t face the thought of a bent copper getting away with it, that’s all.’

  Pepper laughed. It was a nice laugh, Dixon thought, and Copeland thought much the same. He just wished he heard it a bit more often, and only when things were actually funny.

  ‘All right, get the tape set up please, DC Copeland. But just one other thing, before we start, Pat. What would you say if I told you that you were doing this for no good reason? What if I told you that DC Robson is going down anyway? Would that make any difference?’

  ‘No, ‘course not.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Well, no offence, love, but you can’t trust what a copper says, can you? Look at Mike Robson for a bloody start, like.’

  Pepper nodded, and smiled across at Copeland. ‘You make a surprisingly perceptive point, Pat, I have to give you that.’

  ‘And there is one other thing I wanted to tell you and all, Pepper. I think you’ll be interested.’

  ‘I doubt that, Pat, but go on.’

  ‘It wasn’t just DC Robson who I was paying. Another one of your lot was on the payroll, like.’

  ‘And you met this other officer, did you?’

  ‘Oh, aye. He’s a DS from Barrow nick, name of Charlie Adams. You know him?’

  ‘I’ve met him, aye. I hope you’ve got proof of all this, Pat.’

  ‘’Course I have, love. Places, dates, account numbers, amounts, I’ve got the bloody lot, I have. Here.’ Nixon put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a USB stick. In his huge hand it looked like a scale model. ‘It’s all on this widget, like.’

  Pepper held out a plastic evidence bag, and Dixon dropped it in.

  ‘Christ, Pat, I would never have you down as a computer whizz.’

  ‘I never said I put the stuff on there, did I? I just said I had the evidence, that’s all.’

  ‘And what were these payments made for?’

  ‘Information, looking the other way, all that.’

  ‘But this wasn’t your money. You were working for someone else, weren’t you? Mr. Porter, right?’

  ‘Look, love, you know how it is. I’ve got a code, see, an unbreakable code. I’m not saying I did this on my own, but I’m not saying who I worked for. Not to you, not to anyone. I’ll do my time, don’t you worry about that. You just check out what I’ve given you, love. It’s dynamite, is that. It’ll blow your little blue socks right off, honest it will.’

  It was another hour before Copeland returned to the CID office, while Pepper went off to brief the CPS and to discuss tactics on the corruption case. She’d told him to keep his mouth firmly shut before they’d parted, and when she’d come back she told him again. ‘They’re picking Adams up now’ she said. ‘Those fuck-wits in professional standards had no bloody clue that he was at it. It’s an absolute bloody shambles, is this. We’ll never hear the end of it from the cons, let alone the bloody press and the politicians.’

  ‘I’d better start getting it written up, Pepper.’

  ‘Aye, you do that. And watch your spelling, all right? I’ll go and pick up Mike Robson for interview, when I get the word from the CPS. They’re going to offer him a deal. And I’m not looking forward to doing it, I can tell you.’

  Copeland had barely started on the initial paperwork when Henry Armstrong got up, put on his coat, and walked round to the side of Copeland’s desk. ‘Yes, Henry.’

  ‘Look, I know you’re on with something top secret and all, but I’ve got my old man’s car.’

  ‘That was quick. Are you absolutely sure this is the right thing to do? Leaving it where any low-life can get hold of it?’

  ‘Aye, I think so. I’ve had the ACC’s assistant’s PA on to me twice today, asking what’s happening. And I’ve got the tracker, look.’ He produced a small, cylindrical device from his pocket. ‘It’s magnetic, see. The latest thing, absolutely brand new. It’ll stick to anything.’

  ‘Impressive. How many have you got?’

  ‘Just one. That’s all they had in tech support. I can even track it from my mobile.’

  ‘Nice one. Well, good luck with it.’

  ‘I wondered if you’d be able to spare five minutes. Have a look at where I’ve left the car, that’s all. Make sure there’s nothing I’ve missed. I don’t want to cock this up, Rex.’

  ‘How far away it?’

  ‘Five minutes. Quite near where two of the other motors were pinched from.’

  ‘All right, so long as we’re quick. I’m up to my ears here.’

  The MG was parked in a quiet side street. There was a local resident’s permit on the windscreen.

  ‘Nice touch, Henry.’

  ‘It’d get bloody covered in parking tickets otherwise. Where should I put the tracker?’

  ‘In a wheel arch is favourite. But you know they’ll find it straight away if they start to strip the car, don’t you, mate?’

  ‘We’ll know exactly where it is by then though, won’t we? We’ll be on them before they can get the hub caps off.’

  ‘Maybe. You know it took uniform two hours to turn up to a domestic on Saturday night, don’t you? By the time they rocked up the happy couple were both fast asleep. Well, I say asleep, but unconscious would be more accurate. He was off his head, and had passed out, while she’d been knocked out by one of his punches. Apparently all our lads had to do was sweep up the broken glass, and then nick him in the ambo.’

  ‘Don’t you worry about that, Rex. As soon as this thing moves so much as an inch, I’ll be following it myself.’

  ‘What if it gets taken out of area?’

  ‘It won’t. Traffic know that they’re to stop it, or the vehicle its on, before it leaves the force area. I don’t want my old man’s pride and joy ending up stuck in some grotty police yard in Yorkshire for twelve months before the case comes to court.’

  Copeland walked round the car, and then looked up and down the street.

  ‘No CCTV, I take it?’

  ‘No, nowt. Our boys can take their time, can’t they? I don’t want them smashing their way in, like.’

  ‘How do you know they’ll spot it?’

  ‘One of the cars was nicked two streets that way, and another from about quarter of a mile in the other direction. One of the cons lives round here somewhere, I reckon. Or maybe they come this way regularly.’

  Copeland nodded, and patted the MG’s rear wing.

  ‘It’s a nice old car, I’ll say that. But listen, mate, I’ve got to get back. Pepper’s dumped about a year’s paperwork on me.’

  ‘I said you were the bloody golden boy, didn’t I?’

  Copeland laughed. ‘She loves me, no doubt about that. That’s why she gives me so much bloody work to do.’

  When they got back to the office Pepper had left, and no-one was saying where she’d gone.

  ‘Just leave it, mate’, said Copeland, when Armstrong had asked him what was going on for the third or fourth time, ‘you really don’t want to know.’

  ‘Meaning that you do know, I suppose.’

  ‘No, ‘course not. I was just saying that it’s none of our business, that’s all.’

  ‘You’re a terrible liar, Rex.’

  ‘I’m not lying. And I’m a good copper, ain’t I? I lie all the time, in the line of duty. So you’d never bloody know whether I was or not. Now, for Christ’s sake just get on with watching your mobile phone, and see if you old man’s motor starts moving.’

  ‘Give it a chance, mate.’

  ‘Up to you, Henry. But if it was my old man’s prized possession I’d be keeping a good eye on it as of right about now, I can tell you.’

  As Pepper was parking outside Mike Robson’s house she was thinking about the last time that she’d been there. How long ago was it? Six, seven years? She could have worked it out exactly if she’d wanted to, but she didn’t. She hadn’t been involved in any
of the interviews after his arrest on five corruption charges, three of which had since been dropped, and strictly speaking she was only there this time to act as a glorified taxi driver. He was coming in voluntarily, and his solicitor would be waiting at the station. They didn’t even need to talk on the way.

  ‘Pepper’ he said, when he answered the door. ‘I’m glad it’s you, love. Come in for a minute.’

  ‘No, Mike. We have to go.’

  ‘Come on, just for a minute. Doesn’t the condemned man get a last request?’

  ‘Don’t piss me about, Mike. Your choices, your responsibility.’

  ‘Christ, you’re a hard-faced bitch these days.’

  ‘You wouldn’t say that to a bloke.’

  ‘Fair enough, Germaine bloody Greer. Look, just a quick coffee, then.’

  ‘I told you, no. Now let’s go.’

  ‘I have information, Pepper.’

  ‘Save it for the interview.’

  ‘No, don’t be daft. This is just from me to you. From one copper to another, like.’

  ‘Forget it, Mike.’

  ‘Dai Young. It’s about Dai.’

  Pepper glanced up and down the street, then pushed past Robson into the house.

  ‘Make it quick, mind’ she said, heading for the kitchen ahead of him.

  The coffee he made tasted cheap, and it was weak. They sat on opposite sides of the pale pine table. There was no sign that his kids had been there recently.

  ‘So what’s this about Dai?’

  ‘He’s behind all this. Making certain that I go down, and that Charlie Adams goes away too.’

  ‘Not impossible, I suppose. How does he know, though? You weren’t working for him, were you?’

  ‘No, of course not. Don’t talk bloody daft, love. I haven’t seen the bloke since I last nicked him, and he was only about fifteen then. So you’re talking about the better part of twenty years. All I’m saying is that I have it on good authority that it’s him who’s made sure that we both go down. It had looked like Charlie would get away with it, but now that I’m going guilty he’s buggered too. He’s not playing at this, isn’t Dai, as Peter Roberts would surely tell you, if his windpipe wasn’t blocked up with old tea bags and soiled nappies.’

  ‘Well, that’s not how Jane Francis sees it. She doesn’t reckon Young for that at all.’

  ‘No? What would she bloody know? The nearest she gets to street policing is looking at CCTV footage. She’s got no feel for the game. None of them have, these university coppers. But we both know better, don’t we, love? You have to come from the streets to have a feel for what’s what. It’s obvious, is that.’

  Pepper took another sip of her coffee, and regretted it immediately. If it had been any weaker it would have needed to be on a drip.

  ‘She’s not doing too badly on it though, is she? Anyway, Mike, I still think you’re wrong, for what it’s worth. Because if Dai did know about Charlie Adams then why not just take him over as a source? It would be a piece of piss, and Charlie would have had to go along with it. Dai wouldn’t even have had to pay him, would he? Charlie would be a perfect blackmail target.’

  ‘Maybe Charlie said no.’

  Pepper laughed. ‘Come on, street cop, we both know that’s not very likely, is it?’

  ‘Maybe not. And if that’s the case then I do have one other explanation. It’s not comfortable, but it’s a possibility, I suppose.’

  ‘You’re thinking that Dai doesn’t need Adams because he’s got someone else lined up already? A bent copper, I mean.’

  ‘It’s got to be a possibility, hasn’t it? And let’s face it, love, it has been known.’

  Robson smiled, and Pepper thought how much older he was looking. She wondered, just for a moment, if he was thinking the same about her.

  ‘You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last, Mike. And you always were a bit too flash for your own good, weren’t you, love?’

  ‘Aye, maybe I was. But you can’t tell me that you haven’t sat opposite one of the clever cons, the ones that always walk away smelling of money, and thought how much better they’re doing than we are.’

  ‘Honestly? No, I haven’t. Not once. For a start there are precious few of them, especially in this neck of the woods. But the main thing is that it never lasts, does it? There’s no cushy pension at the end of their thirty years. They always get nicked, or grassed up by one of their mates, long before that. So they must be looking over their shoulders all the time, even the right nasty bastards, waiting for someone bigger and badder to come along and take it all away. It’s just a bit of bravado we see, when they’re in the nick. They’re mostly shitting themselves.’

  ‘Aye, maybe.’

  Pepper put her mug down, and let its contents cool in peace. ‘So why did you go over, Mike?’

  He shrugged. ‘Does it matter? Come on, lass, let’s go. Unless you’re really interested, that is.’

  ‘No, I’m not interested. I’ve sat in enough interview rooms listening to cons giving me their stupid reasons for what they’ve done, like they expect me to understand, or even care. And, to tell you the truth, I don’t think that my reasons for making the various stupid decisions I’ve made in my life would stand up to much scrutiny, either.’

  ‘They seemed like a good idea at the time, though?’

  ‘Some of them, aye. Come on. Have you got your bag packed? You know you won’t be back here for a good while, don’t you?’

  ‘Never, you mean.’

  ‘Come on, don’t be melodramatic. It doesn’t suit a tough guy like you. You’ll make it through your sentence, no problem. Especially if you go guilty and grass up a mate.’

  ‘I didn’t mean that. This place will be repossessed, Pepper. It’ll be bloody long gone, by the time I get out. All the kids’ stuff, everything will be gone. My whole life will be swept away. I’ll never see them again, I know that. Penny has shacked up with that bloke from the social who looks like a bloody walrus, and they’ve all moved away. Not that I blame her. Not really, like.’

  Pepper was tempted to reach across the table, but she didn’t. What would be the point? Mike was totally on his own, just like she was. She got up, rinsed out her coffee cup, and left it upside down on the draining board. He just left his on the table. She had to resist the urge to wash it out.

  ‘You’re sure about Dai, then?’ she asked, as he picked up his bag.

  ‘A hundred percent, aye. And when I get out I’ll bloody find him, and I’ll kill him, Pepper.’

  ‘No, you won’t.’

  ‘What makes you so sure?’

  ‘Because he’d kill you first, Mike. You talk like that inside, and it just might happen while you’re still there.’

  ‘Bollocks. Porter will have him, no problem. I’ll probably still be on remand when that happens.’

  ‘No, you’re wrong. He’s a survivor, is Dai, and he’s more than a match for the likes of you. So don’t bloody kid yourself on, love. It could get you into some really serious trouble.’

  When Pepper got home she started on tea, then sat with her son on the sofa. He was trying to watch a cartoon, but she still asked him about school, and football club. He looked up at her, just for a second.

  ‘I didn’t score.’

  ‘Never mind.’

  ‘I wanted to score.’

  ‘I bet you will next time, love.’

  ‘No, I won’t.’ He spoke patiently, as if it was obvious. ‘You don’t know, mum, you’re never there.’

  ‘I have to work, you know that.’

  ‘That’s all right. But I won’t score next time, either. I never do.’

  It was almost nine o’clock when Copeland rang, and Pepper was tempted not to answer. But she knew that if she let him leave a message she’d just end up calling straight back anyway.

  ‘Who am I bloody kidding?’, she said, picking her phone up off the coffee table.

  ‘All right, boss?’

  ‘I was, Rex. What is it?’
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br />   ‘Our friend Farmer wants a meet, and he wants you there this time, and all.’

  ‘When? Tonight?’

  ‘Yeah. He said in an hour, to give you time to get a sitter.’

  ‘He said that?’

  ‘Something like it, yeah.’

  ‘What did he say then, exactly?’

  ‘He said he’d give us an hour, so you could get one of your boyfriends round.’

  ‘Cheeky bugger. And why does he want me there, all of a sudden?’

  ‘I asked him that. He says it’s so he can convince you that his information is straight. He seems to have got it into his pretty little head that you might not quite believe him, what with him being a working villain and all that.’

  ‘All right. Where and when?’

  ‘That club on West Walls. He said you’d know it.’

  ‘I do, worse luck. We won’t be able to hear a bloody word in that place. Christ, I sound like I’m about fifty.’

  ‘Can you be there?’

  ‘Have to be, won’t I? I’ll meet you outside, OK?’

  When she’d rung off Pepper thought about what Copeland had relayed from Farmer, grimaced, and dialled Justin’s number. It went to voicemail. Of course, he was away. Then she tried Adam.

  ‘Sorry, love, but I’m up to my ears in work.’

  ‘You could do it round here.’

  There was a pause, and Pepper was sure that he was as good as on her sofa, his marking in his lap.

  ‘Sorry, love, but no. I just can’t.’

  ‘Can’t be arsed, you mean.’

  ‘If you like, aye. I’m sorry, Pepper, but I spend all day with kids, you know.’

  ‘Aye, all right. See you soon, yeah?’

  ‘Aye, sure.’

  She looked at the phone for a moment, after she’d rung off. ‘So much for my bloody boyfriends’ she said, and went looking for her shoes. Young Tracy from two doors down would sit for an hour for her, if the price was right. Tracy’s mum was forever saying that the cash was for the kid’s university fund, and Pepper was forever not believing her.