Dead Blind

by Rebecca Bradley

  But how this kindness contrasted with the niggling feeling she was harbouring about him.

  Ray lifted his head. Caught her watching, raised his hand to her. She removed her coat, slung it on the back of her chair and walked over to speak to him.

  ‘Get you a coffee, guv?’

  He looked at her. Studied her intently. Did he suspect her of knowing something? ‘That’d be great, Elaine. Thank you. Good day with Paul and the kids yesterday?’

  If he did suspect her of something, why would he bring her family up? She shook her head. This was ridiculous. She wasn’t in the middle of some crazy movie. Ray might be hiding something, but she was letting her imagination run away with her.

  ‘It was blissful, if I’m honest. It was needed.’

  Ray smiled.

  ‘You?’

  His eyebrows lifted. A pause. ‘Yes, actually. Also a necessary day.’

  With coffees made and emails checked, the incident room had filled up. There was chatter about how well everyone felt after a day off. The room wasn’t quite as busy, as yesterday’s skeleton staff were now taking their day off. But there was an energetic hum which, Elaine realised, was what Ray wanted after the results of the day before. Everyone back, refreshed and raring to go. He more than anyone needed to get his equilibrium back.

  Didn’t he?

  He stood at the front of the room. Coffee, which would now be nearly cold, she imagined, in his hand.

  He talked about how events hadn’t gone their way but how they needed to collect themselves and continue to work the case. That it wasn’t the end, that there were still lines of inquiry to make and that they would work it like any other. Just because they didn’t have an ID didn’t mean they didn’t have a case. They’d put away plenty of killers with evidence alone, without identification evidence, and that’s what they would do with this one. This killer.

  The speech was rousing and passionate. She had to give him that. She felt renewed enthusiasm for her work as he spoke. Unsure how she could have doubted him, she drained the last of her own cold coffee.

  ‘The ballistic results came back on the bullet that killed Billy.’ His face had dropped. She could see it was painful for him. ‘It was a Glock and it comes back as having been used in an offence in Moldova, and there’s intelligence linking it back to Russia.’

  ‘So the link to Russia that was mentioned in the interviews appears to be true,’ commented Paula.

  ‘Looks that way. But just because we have this information, don’t let it send you running down any rabbit holes. This still occurred on London soil. Our offender is here and we need to catch him. If we find him and we find the gun, it can be matched to the bullet and casing and then the intelligence. But we want him for the murder of Billy.’

  Elaine made a note in her incident workbook.

  ‘Isn’t Rusnac from Romania?’ asked Paula.

  ‘Yes, but Borta is from Moldova and they’re neighbours, and we know how weapons can move about.’

  Paula gave a quick nod.

  Ray continued: ‘Those of you making inquiries on the medical side of the investigation, keep on with those and keep me up to date with them.’ He paused. Put his mug down on the table to one side of him. Paced a few steps out, then moved back again before speaking. His voice with a slight edge to it.

  ‘Okay, going back to the ID issue.’ He looked around the room.

  Elaine dropped her head, not wanting to catch his eye.

  ‘I didn’t pick Vova Rusnac out because I didn’t get a real look at the person who killed Billy. That is not to say that Rusnac is not that person. We had enough grounds to bring him in and I think we need to take a proper look at him. So we look at him and we look at him hard. Find out everything you can about him. Turn over every stone. Find out what he does – really. Where he spends his days, and nights. Who his associates are, what vehicles he has access to, what properties he’s associated with and what he brushes his bloody teeth with.’

  She didn’t expect that. Elaine closed her mouth when she realised it was hanging open. What was happening with him? She’d found a link that made her question him: the guy at the memorial, the failed ID; and now he was targeting the ID suspect and targeting him hard. This had thrown her. It was the last thing she expected him to do. The only move she had left was to ask him outright.

  What would he say? Was she about to risk their friendship and her career?

  57

  It hadn’t been easy for Ray to admit his failure to identify Rusnac. But the team had seemed to take it in their stride. He’d made the right decision when he gave them a day off. Not to make them forget what he’d done or to bribe his way back into their good books, but so that they would come back with the renewed enthusiasm that they clearly had done.

  He felt jittery when he told the team that he wanted them to go after Rusnac on the back of his failed ID. To his own ears it had sounded like a sensible argument: he hadn’t seen the killer, therefore he wouldn’t be able to identify him, but evidence had pointed to Rusnac so it was worth pursuing.

  It was good.

  ‘Guv?’

  Ray looked up. Squinted into the face. No curls. Not a Scottish accent, none of the other markers he had for the other female staff in the incident room. He hated to have to look for the scar. It was so damned personal. A sharp reminder.

  ‘Guv?’

  ‘Yes, Elaine, come on in. Grab a seat.’

  She tugged at a chair until it was where she wanted to be. Her eyes looking anywhere but in his direction. If he didn’t know any different he would say that something was wrong, but he’d spoken to her not an hour ago and she was fine then. He hoped all was okay at home. It was difficult, the demands of bringing up a family and this job, and he was the male in the relationship; he’d been lucky in that Helen had done most of the heavy lifting where their children were concerned, but he knew that Elaine’s husband was a teacher and she had to do as much as any mother, whereas he could focus on his job.

  A fact that had broken his marriage.

  Once Elaine was settled in the chair Ray lifted his chin for her to go ahead and let him know why she was here.

  She rubbed her face.

  Then sat on her hands.

  This didn’t bode well.

  ‘Everything okay?’ he asked.

  ‘How long have we worked together, sir?’

  That was unexpected.

  ‘Well, erm, let’s see.’ Ray tipped his head back, looked at the ceiling as he tried to work it out. ‘I came to this job …’ His head bobbed as he counted back the years in his head. Then counted again to clarify by assessing his previous role.

  Elaine waited.

  ‘… from the Sapphire team a little over six years ago and you were already here.’ He looked back at Elaine. ‘Wow, has it been that long already? It only feels like a couple of years.’

  Elaine was thoughtful. Where was this headed? ‘Are you considering applying for another department, Elaine?’ It was the only thing that made any sense.

  She dragged her hand from under a leg and scrubbed it through her hair causing strands to stick out at unruly angles, for it to move away from her scar, for it to stand out more. ‘No. No, it’s not that.’ The sliver of pink glowed under the fluorescent strip-light in the ceiling. Ray pulled his eyes away. Down to the paperwork on his desk. Damn. Why could he not look her in the eyes?

  ‘What, then?’ He pulled his attention back up. Forced himself to appear normal. His stomach clawing in frustration at his ineptitude.

  Elaine looked behind her at the incident room beyond the door. ‘Can I close the door?’

  He furrowed his brows. ‘Of course.’

  She stood, closed the door, then paced a couple of steps before she returned to her seat, and then jumped back up again. ‘Sir, you’ll have to forgive me, but I’m a little confused about some things and I need you to clear them up, and the reason I ask you how long we’ve known each other is because I believe we trust each other
and that you know I would never be malicious and …’ She was speaking at speed, not pausing for breath, with no coherent sentence structure, and now starting to stumble over her words.

  ‘Slow down, Elaine. What is it?’ Ray kept his tone even, calm, although he was starting to feel the way Elaine was behaving. She was rubbing off on him. He didn’t like the way this conversation was going.

  At that she sat back in the chair and put her head in her hands.

  ‘I’m worried you’re hiding things from the investigation team, sir,’ she mumbled.

  58

  ‘Hiding things from the investigation team?’ Ray looked out of the window at the team in the incident room. His voice no higher than a whisper. How had she got here? She was a bloody good copper. He was about to lose his entire career. He had to be very careful.

  ‘I’m sorry, guv.’ Her voice wasn’t much louder than his own now. There seemed to be a heaviness blanketing them that their voices had to fight through.

  ‘Don’t be sorry. Explain it to me. Let me clear it up for you … if I can.’ How could he?

  She lifted her head. Eyes full of hope.

  She talked about the memorial service. About how she had been suspicious of the male who had run away from him and how he hadn’t seemed too fazed, but she had taken the partial VRM she could manage to get, and done the checks, followed them up, including through ANPR and it had come through with an ANPR hit, even if she hadn’t got the registered keeper – it didn’t have one right now, but the ANPR hit had been close to the garage that was burnt down and on the day it was burnt down. Then – and this was where there was a lengthy pause – she struggled to get through this bit, but she was a strong detective and she was adamant she wanted to talk it through, this was what she had come in for: then, the guy, Vova Rusnac, his back and semi-side profile, what she had seen of him, which, she had to admit, wasn’t much – and Ray breathed a silent sigh of relief at this – looked like those of the guy at the memorial service, and yet he, Ray, her guv, hadn’t identified him. Was it possible it wasn’t the same person? She needed to know.

  She stopped her pacing, her breathless monologue, and looked at him. Waited for an answer, or an axe to fall maybe.

  But on whose head did she expect it to fall? he wondered.

  Did she expect him to yell at her, to tell her that she had it all wrong and that instead of these flights of fancy and side inquiries she should have done the job he had told her to do?

  Or was she suspicious enough of him to think the axe might be hovering over his own head, waiting to drop? Both of them holding their breath as the head of the axe hovered motionless, waiting for the moment to drop and shed blood.

  Ray’s head started to pound. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples, playing for time.

  What did she have exactly? She had what the inquiry team had – but she had the extra information of the vehicle from the memorial service. Which could be coincidence if he wanted to swing it that way. And she hadn’t seen the male at the memorial herself. Not properly. She’d admitted that.

  ‘Why didn’t you come to me with the registration from the memorial service?’ he asked, playing for time as he worked out his options in his head.

  This was the only other piece of information she had that was different to everyone else. But she was querying him. Her trust in him, questioned. He wanted to own up, to tell her she was right, but he couldn’t put her in the position where she had to keep his secret. Because right now he was not prepared to walk away from the job before they had locked up Billy’s killer.

  Maybe afterwards.

  But not before.

  Elaine looked sheepish. ‘I don’t know, sir. You’d said it was nothing but my hackles were raised by the whole situation and I couldn’t ignore it.’

  She was tenacious. He admired her for that. Always had.

  ‘I can’t answer why his vehicle came up near our scene, Elaine. I really can’t. Maybe he’s linked. But for the life of me I can’t remember his name. Like I said, he was involved in an old job of mine years ago and didn’t like the fact that he’d seen me there, so legged it. He was already talking to Billy’s friends when I walked over to them. If what you say is true, then we need to link up that vehicle on HOLMES and make it a part of our inquiry.’

  Elaine finally sat down on her chair in front of him again.

  ‘You think he went to the memorial on purpose rather than it being a coincidence, then? And maybe this is the friend that Rusnac mentioned? After all, we do know that it’s an organisation that we were originally after, rather than one individual.’

  He’d done it, but he didn’t feel good. He felt far from good. He knew that Rusnac must be the person who burnt the garage down, who killed Billy, and who he had been face to face with at the memorial service.

  59

  Elaine pushed the door to the police station open and walked out into the busy street. It was cool and her breath floated up in front of her face as she breathed. ‘Thanks for coming, Tamsin. I know it’s a bit early for lunch but I needed a breather.’

  ‘Hey, any time. I love this market, and as you’re buying, I’m in.’

  Elaine smiled and shoved her hands into her pockets. Stoke Newington farmers’ market was right across the road from the station and was a great place to grab a bite to eat if you were in at the weekend, which they often were.

  After a couple of minutes waiting for the traffic to thin they both trotted across the road, Tamsin eager to see what delight she could eat and Elaine anxious to put some distance between her and the office for ten minutes.

  The market was fringed by a black metal fence. They walked through, into the bustling space. People wrapped in coats, strolling around the stalls. Stopping and chatting with familiar faces. It was a community. A place where people gathered once a week.

  Elaine and Tamsin walked further in past the fish stall, the smell of fresh fish clinging to them as they walked.

  ‘I know it’s early but I love the organic burgers.’ Tamsin knew where she was going.

  Elaine followed. Soon Tamsin slowed, turned and looked at her friend. ‘What is it that pulled you out here, Elaine?’

  Elaine was about to shake her head that it didn’t matter, but wasn’t the reason she’d asked Tamsin out here to talk to her about it? Or was it simply to give herself some room to think? If that was the reason, she could have come alone. ‘Remember that night in the White Hart?’ she asked.

  Tamsin came to a stop in front of the stall she wanted. There was a young couple in front of her getting served. ‘Yes, it was a great night. Poor Will had the piss ripped out of him big time. He really does leave himself open for it though. After you left he approached those women, did I tell you?’

  Elaine laughed, she couldn’t help herself. ‘No, no, you didn’t. Did he get blown off?’

  ‘Would you believe he came away with a phone number?’

  Elaine shook her head. ‘He really does have the gift of the gab, that one.’

  ‘I don’t know how he gets away with it.’

  The couple paid and moved away. Tamsin looked at Elaine. ‘You having one?’

  ‘Okay, get me the same as you.’

  Tamsin ordered two organic burgers with beetroot. ‘So – what about that night?’

  Elaine handed her the money from her pocket.

  ‘Oh. Shit. The guv? Something else?’ Tamsin handed the cash over.

  Elaine waited for her to finish before she answered, giving only a silent nod. ‘Let’s sit, shall we.’ Indicating with her head the wooden tables and benches, taking the burger that Tamsin proffered. The smoky scent of the griddle wafted up her nose. She was hungrier than she realised. The burger was warm in her hand. They moved to the bench and sat.

  ‘So what is it?’ Tamsin asked again.

  ‘Shit.’ Elaine shook her head.

  ‘What?’ Tamsin took a bite of the burger and wiped her chin, unable now to utter another word.

  ‘I do
n’t think I can.’

  Tamsin raised her eyebrows in question as she chewed.

  ‘I don’t think I can tell you what’s worrying me.’

  Tamsin’s brow furrowed. She chewed harder, then swallowed. ‘You can’t pull me out here and then say you won’t tell me what’s going on. Is it something I need to be aware of?’

  Elaine let out a long sigh. What was she doing? She didn’t know. She was concerned. She had wanted to discuss it with someone but now she was out here she was worried about inciting problems that maybe she had imagined. He’d provided an explanation. She needed to consider it more.

  ‘I think I need to mull it over a bit more. I’m sorry, but until I’m sure of what I’m saying I shouldn’t really pull you into it.’

  Tamsin wolfed down more of the burger. ‘Are you sure about that, Elaine? You know I’m here if you need to talk. And that you can trust me.’

  ‘I know. I’m sorry. Getting out of the office for five minutes has helped.’ They shared a look. ‘Honestly. If I need to, I’ll come to you and we’ll sort it out.’

  Tamsin shoved the last piece of burger into her mouth. Wiped away any visible signs that she’d eaten. ‘If you’re sure?’

  ‘Yes. I’m sorry I dragged you out on a cold day like today.’

  ‘Don’t be. It was a perfect excuse to have one of those.’ She nodded at the uneaten burger in Elaine’s hands.

  60

  ‘I’m not staying,’ Celeste said as she stood on Ray’s front steps.

  ‘Why did you knock, not come straight in?’ Ray turned and walked back into the apartment expecting her to follow him. When he didn’t hear footsteps behind him, he paused, turned and saw her looking at him, framed by the doorway. Light from the streetlamps bouncing a halo around her head. He couldn’t decipher whatever it was she was attempting to say to him with her expression. He furrowed his brows.

  Celeste stepped into the warmth and closed the door with a click. Ray continued into the kitchen, pulled two long-stemmed glasses down from the cupboard and the wine bottle from the fridge and half-filled each glass. Handing Celeste hers when she reached him.