by Helen Cox
‘What’s going on?’ Halloran’s voice said down the line.
‘Are you still with Holt?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you have a photograph of Chief Superintendent Percival handy?’
‘What is this, Banks? We don’t have time to put together anything for the retirement party.’
Charley put a hand over her face in exasperation. ‘No, sir, I need you to show a photograph of Chief Superintendent Percival to Holt and ask him if he recognizes him.’
‘Why?’
‘When he answers your question, sir, I suspect you’ll understand why. Can you keep us on the line?’
‘All right.’
There was some shuffling and a few moments later Charley and Evie heard Halloran speak again. ‘Mr Holt, can you tell me if you recognize this man?’
There was a pause, and then Holt’s voice came down the line. ‘Yes, of course I can. That’s a client of mine. Miles Redmond.’
‘Oh my God,’ two voices said in synchrony in the background. Evie would know them anywhere. It was Kitt and Grace.
‘You owe me dinner,’ Evie hissed.
Charley rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
‘Banks?’ came Halloran’s voice. ‘Does this mean what I think it means?’
‘Sir, the account with Redmond’s name next to it suffered a £100,000 loss on the investment made with Holt. Our murderer isn’t Redmond sir, it’s Chief Superintendent Percival. His photograph is on Holt’s client records next to Redmond’s name. I don’t know how, but somehow he’s behind all of this.’
‘His retirement party will be starting around now,’ said Halloran. ‘I’ll motor back from Helmsley as fast as I can but there’s no doubt that you’re going to be first on the scene. Banks, you’re going to have to apprehend Percival.’
Thirty-Six
The second Halloran hung up the phone, Charley and Evie made a dash for the police motorbike Charley had parked in Parliament Square earlier that afternoon. The bike wasn’t really designed for two but by placing Hamilton the Third in a deathly-looking head lock so he hung by her side, the pair of them were just able to squeeze on for the ten-minute journey. Charley insisted on giving Evie the helmet, making good on her promise to look after her. Evie relished the opportunity to wrap her arms tight around Banks’s waist and held on tight to Hamilton the Third, whose blue fur ruffled in the breeze as they sped onwards through the city in the thickening dusk.
Chief Superintendent Percival’s retirement party was being held on the top floor of the Ryedale Hotel, a swish new-build that overlooked the river. Given that they had driven there on a motorbike rather than in a car, there was nowhere to stash Hamilton the Third and thus Evie was forced to walk through the polished marble entrance hall, decorated with tall, gold vases filled with white lilies, clutching a large blue teddy bear.
It was only natural then, that people were staring at her. This was the first time since the incident by the river that she had attributed the less than kindly looks she received to something other than the scars on her face. That truth made her breathe a little easier.
Now that she really thought about it, she hadn’t fixated on her scars at all since last night, right before she and Charley engaged in – what had Kitt called it? A public sex act. Perhaps that wouldn’t seem like such a long time to some but for the past six weeks Evie had barely had a moment’s rest from the torturous, repetitive thoughts surrounding her injury. Maybe if she could develop a habit of focusing on other things, she had a chance of getting past everything she had been through, and the scars it had left behind.
Charley pressed the button for the lift, and watched the digital display above as it counted down the floors.
‘How are we going to go about this?’ asked Evie, trying not to let her nerves sound in her voice. It might not have been so bad if Kitt, Halloran and Grace were here. But it was just the two of them, and if Percival tried to put up any kind of fight Evie didn’t know for sure how it would turn out. Charley was strong; she worked out and trained hard as part of her job. But men had a brute strength about them that could be hard to match. Evie could only hope that when it came down to it, Percival would come peacefully.
‘I don’t know yet. I’ve got to get a grip on myself,’ said Charley, tapping the wall with the palm of her hand.
‘Is there anything I can do?’
Charley looked at Evie and her frown dissolved. ‘You’re here, with that bloody stupid bear, that’s enough.’
Evie covered her mouth in mock shock and then put her hands over Hamilton the Third’s ears. ‘He can hear you, you know.’
Charley broke into a grudging smile and shook her head as the lift, at last, dinged to the ground floor. The pair hopped in. Charley hit the button for the twelfth floor at least three times and the doors thudded shut.
‘Whatever happens up there, I’m here,’ said Evie. ‘Don’t forget that.’
‘I won’t,’ said Charley. ‘But I can’t promise you this is going to be pretty. I have no idea how Percival is going to react to being confronted. I can’t believe all that he’s done.’
‘Neither can I,’ said Evie.
‘You do realize that he must have framed Ricci? All the stories he’s told about her, I doubt we can believe a word of them. He made sure he stayed out of Holt’s way at the station too so he wouldn’t be made. He’s manipulated every last one of us.’
‘I know it’s hard to believe. But there’s a chance we can still handle it quietly. He probably won’t want to make a big scene in front of everyone at the party.’
‘Maybe,’ said Banks, her mouth tightening as the lift pinged to a stop and the doors slowly opened. Stepping out into the party, Evie looked around at the dozens of people of all ages, here to celebrate the career of a man who had betrayed everything he stood for. They were all turned towards a small platform where Chief Superintendent Percival stood elevated above the crowd, dressed in a fine grey suit and red tie, delivering his retirement speech.
Charley started walking towards the crowd when Evie caught something out of the corner of her eye. Something black and shadowy in her peripheral vision. She turned to see a side room off to her left. Inside, a broad figure dressed in black was hunched over the champagne glasses sitting on the table. There was something familiar about the figure, about the way they stood and moved.
Evie grabbed Charley’s arm and whispered, ‘Amira Buruk is here.’
‘Where?’ said Charley, her eyes widening.
Evie indicated the room where Amira was standing. Her back was turned to them so it was difficult to tell, but it looked as though she might be writing something.
Charley walked towards where she was standing. ‘Mrs Buruk, stop what you’re doing and turn around.’
Evie gulped as the woman turned. The hard lines of that square face took her aback as much as it did the first time. Mrs Buruk didn’t look ruffled. She stood as though she had as much right as anyone else to be celebrating Percival’s retirement, with a glass of champagne and a card in her hands.
‘Can I help you, officer . . . Banks, isn’t it?’
‘What are you doing here, Mrs Buruk? This event is police and family members only. As far as I’m aware, you aren’t related to an officer?’
‘I just wanted to give your chief superintendent this card.’
‘I can give that to him for you,’ said Charley, ‘and I recommend you leave these premises immediately.’
‘I’m going to give it to him myself,’ said Mrs Buruk, her civility evaporating. ‘After all he did for my son.’
Charley looked Mrs Buruk up and down. ‘I couldn’t let you near our superintendent without searching you.’
‘You don’t have the right to search me.’
‘Yes, I do. Hold your hands up, Mrs Buruk.’
‘My hands are going nowhere,’
she spat.
‘They’ll be going in my handcuffs for resisting an officer unless you do what I’ve asked.’
Mrs Buruk tried to stare Charley down but the officer held her gaze. First placing the champagne and the card on the table, Amira Buruk raised her hands and sighed.
Charley quickly patted the woman down, but stopped when she reached the inside pocket of the black jacket she was wearing. Evie covered her mouth as she watched Charley pull out a long, sharp kitchen knife.
‘Can you explain what you’re doing with this?’
‘It’s just a knife from the charity bake sale I was at this afternoon,’ said Mrs Buruk, a smirk forming on her lips. ‘We needed it to cut the cake.’
Banks stared at Mrs Buruk. ‘What have you heard and more importantly, who from?’ Mrs Buruk offered only a thin, bitter smile in return.
Charley turned to Evie. ‘Quick as you can, tell one of the security guards who are supposedly on duty that DS Banks needs their assistance.’
Dropping Hamilton the Third down on the table, Evie half-ran to fetch the security guard standing by the lift.
‘The force has been my whole life,’ Evie heard Percival say over the microphone. He was still giving his retirement speech. He still had everyone under the impression that he was a model officer. Everyone except Amira Buruk, apparently, who must have learned that Percival was behind her son’s death. From the unknown source that she mentioned back at the hospital? Evie shuddered at the idea that there was an officer loyal to Mrs Buruk feeding her whatever information she asked for.
By the time Evie returned with the security guard, Banks had handcuffed Mrs Buruk.
‘She was carrying a knife. I’ve cautioned her but we need to keep this quiet until I can get someone down from the station to take her away. Don’t want to ruin the chief superintendent’s big moment.’ Charley somehow managed to sell this, despite what she was going to have to do.
‘We’ve got a secure room on the first floor of the hotel,’ said the guard. ‘I’ll escort her down there and hold her until she can be transported to the station.’
The guard held Mrs Buruk’s arm and guided her out of the room. She didn’t resist, or speak. She didn’t look in the least bit scared either. Evie had a sinking feeling that somehow she wasn’t going to answer for her part in all this.
‘C’mon,’ said Charley. ‘Let’s do what we came here to do.’
Evie looked at Hamilton the Third sitting on the table. He was conspicuous but if she left him here she might not see him again. She snatched him up and held him in both hands behind her back as she followed the officer into the main hall. Hopefully, anyone behind her would think Hamilton was some kind of prank present for Percival.
‘Without the important graft that I’ve dedicated my working life to,’ Percival said to the crowd, ‘I’ve got a terrible feeling that I’m going to become one of those people who takes up bowls. Though if my wife has her way, I think it’ll be ballroom dancing, God help me.’
The room laughed and a few people let out cheers and whistles.
‘No,’ Percival continued. ‘Joking apart, though, I know this is one of the hardest jobs out there. I’ve lived that truth for thirty years.’
Charley started to work her way around the back of the crowd, navigating her way slowly to the side of the stage. Evie followed, barely daring to breathe in case Percival got wind of their presence before Charley was ready. Exactly what she was going to do when she was ready, Evie couldn’t say.
Banks settled on a spot to the left of the stage. She planted her feet, straightened her posture so that somehow she looked broader than Evie thought she was usually, and stared at Percival while he continued his speech.
‘I have undying respect for you all as you continue this line of work – it takes a great deal of integrity to keep the public’s trust.’ At this point, Percival scanned the audience at the side of the podium and did a double-take as his eyes rested on Charley. Her dark eyes fixed on his; she didn’t smile, she didn’t blink, she didn’t move.
Evie looked back at Percival to see him floundering. His mouth was open, but no sound came out. He looked over at Banks a second time and a pained expression crossed his face.
He knew.
A few members of the audience looked in Banks’s direction to see what had distracted their speaker.
‘Well.’ Percival let out a short, nervous chuckle. ‘I think I’ve rattled on long enough and we’d all like a drink. So,’ he raised a glass of champagne he was holding in his hand, ‘cheers to you.’
‘Cheers,’ the room echoed. Glasses clinked, people whooped and clapped and a quiet murmur of conversation gradually rose to a roar that filled the hall.
Evie was watching Percival almost as closely as Charley was. His hands were shaking. He downed what was left of his drink before turning towards where Charley was standing and stepping down off the podium.
Percival cleared his throat. ‘DS Banks, what can I do for you?’
‘I think you know, sir,’ Charley replied. Her tone was unexpectedly gentle. Evie had expected Banks to take no prisoners but it seemed she had decided on a different tack. ‘It’s over.’
With an obvious effort he managed to meet her eye. ‘Why don’t we go out on the balcony?’
‘After you, sir.’ Charley gestured for Percival to walk ahead. She might be willing to keep this quiet but she wasn’t going to let Percival out of her sight either.
Percival smiled and waved to several people who greeted him on the way to the balcony door. They were just about to slip outside when a woman in a black sequinned dress, with long grey hair plaited around the crown of her head, approached the superintendent. ‘Noah, where are you going?’
‘Marion,’ Noah said, with a catch in his throat. ‘I – I’ve just got a bit of last minute business to sort out with DS Banks here.’
Marion put a hand on her hip. ‘You’re a rotten liar, Noah Percival. You said your policing days were over as of this afternoon.’
This must be Percival’s wife. A lump formed in Evie’s throat as she thought how Marion would feel when she learned the truth about her husband. That all this time, she had been living with a murderer. Evie couldn’t imagine what that would feel like. She wished there was a way of sparing the woman from that pain, but it was the awful truth. No matter how lovely his wife was, the truth could not be denied. Percival had impersonated another officer, framed two more members of his own police force, tried to extort money from Holt and killed two people along the way. Evie didn’t know the why, but she knew the what and the who, and she also knew there was no way Charley would let Percival walk away from this.
‘They are, pet,’ said Percival. He drew Marion into his arms, squeezed her and kissed her forehead. ‘It’ll be over soon, I promise. You know I love you, don’t you?’
‘Well of course I do, you daft thing,’ Marion said, frowning into her husband’s eyes.
With that Percival let go of his wife and gave her a bitter smile before pushing open the balcony door. Charley and Evie followed.
At this height, it was even colder than it had been at ground level. A biting wind whipped around the corner of the building.
Percival made his way out to the edge of the balcony, resting his arms on the ledge, and stared out over the city.
‘Noah Percival, you are under arrest on suspicion of the murders of Alim Buruk and Donald Oakes . . .’ Charley started reading Percival his rights. He remained silent until she had finished and then turned to face her.
‘I want you to know, I didn’t ask for any of this.’ There were tears in his eyes.
‘I should hope you didn’t,’ said Charley, her voice low and dangerous.
‘I was just trying to make sure Marion and I had a good retirement. She’s been a patient wife all these years. She’s only ever had what was left when the job was do
ne with me. I wanted her to have more than that. And when I lost that money with the investment I made with Holt, I couldn’t believe it. It was everything we had. And he didn’t care. He didn’t care what he’d cost us.’
‘I think you should save this for when you get down to the station, sir.’ Charley took a step towards Percival.
Quicker than either Evie or Charley could have expected, Percival manoeuvred himself up onto the ledge. ‘Don’t come any closer.’ He swung his legs so they were dangling over the edge of a twelve-storey drop.
‘Sir, there’s no need for this,’ said Charley.
‘I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.’
‘If you didn’t expect any of this to happen, sir,’ said Charley, ‘then why did you use DS Redmond’s identity to make the investment with Holt?’
‘Given the rate of return Holt promised, I guessed that there must be something about it that wasn’t completely above board. So I used Redmond’s name just in case. A fake ID and I was able to set up a bank account. It was just a precaution. Nobody was supposed to get hurt. All I intended to do was ensure my version of Miles Redmond made a very generous transfer into our savings account when I retired. Then I was going to close the account and that would be the end of it. Nobody would ever know. But Holt scammed me. I lost everything.’
‘Sir, come down from the ledge, you can put all this in an official statement,’ Charley tried again, but Percival wasn’t hearing her or anything else, so it seemed, except the voices of his own demons.
‘I didn’t want to kill Buruk,’ said Percival. ‘I knew Holt would have to do something underhand to get the money and was relieved when he chose to burgle the bookshop. It seemed a relatively harmless crime compared with some of the other things he was probably capable of cooking up. But Holt forced my hand when he arranged for Alim to be beaten. When he tried to frame you. Alim was going to give Holt up, and it was only a matter of time before that led back to me. Even with the care I’d taken to make Ricci look responsible, I knew you’d find me.’
‘Why did you try and frame Ricci?’ asked Charley. ‘Why not Redmond, given that you’d already involved him?’
