A Half Remembered Life (The Lakeland Murders Book 9)

by J. J. Salkeld

  But Mann was on the business side of the desk now, and had pulled Green into a half-standing position. He looked extremely uncomfortable, and utterly terrified.

  ‘You’ve got no bottle, mate’, Mann said, his face a foot from Green’s. ‘That’s your problem. All you needed to do today was play it cool, say nowt, and keep your head down. Like you said, we had no proof. But now you’re fucked. You’re the weak link, see. Now we know it, and your mate Battersby, he’ll already be very well aware of it, I reckon. So whichever way it plays out from here, and however many favours you try to call in, you’re going to pay for Cam Donald. You, mate, you’re the one who’s going to pay.’

  DS Ian Mann (suspended) dropped Green back into his chair, then turned, bent and moved one of the men, who was stirring and moaning quietly, into the recovery position. After that he didn’t say another word until the barrier opened, well before they reached it, and Hall swung his car back out onto the road.

  ‘Bloody hell, Ian. Was that really necessary?’

  ‘That fat bastard laid hands on you, Andy, and on Grace. He’s lucky he’s just going to wake up with a headache, I’m telling you. Five years ago all bets would have been off, like.’

  ‘That’s good to know, I suppose. But I didn’t mean you belting those blokes, because you used reasonable force, didn’t you? No, I meant you getting in Green’s face like that afterwards. I’m not sure that was wise, really. Who knows how he’ll react?’

  ‘Oh, that. Aye, I just thought I’d shake the bastard up a bit. Let him know that we’re on to him, like. We may not have a shred of evidence, but we know he was in on it now, don’t we? I wanted him to understand that fact.’

  Hall smiled. ‘Well, it’s mission accomplished then, I reckon. When you put those two lads on the deck Green looked like he was about to shit himself.’

  ‘Talking of which…’

  ‘Eh? Oh, bugger, it’s Grace again, is it?’

  ‘I hope so, mate. I sincerely hope so.’

  Hall had plenty of time to think, in the six hours between him dropping Ian off at his father’s house and the time that Jane arrived home from work. Supper was ready, and Jane soon picked up that Hall was in a hurry. It was something about the way that he drew her to the table by holding out a glass of white wine.

  ‘I have to nip out for an hour, if that’s OK’, he said, after his fourth quick forkful of food.

  ‘Of course, love’ said Jane, after her sixth.

  She was hungry, and eating fast, because of the no snacking, strictly no biscuit diet that she was on at work. It was abnegation, and it was all Grace’s fault. But Jane could forgive that child anything, and knew that she always would.

  ‘How did it go today?’ she asked, safe in the knowledge that Andy wouldn’t launch into some lengthy exposition. Not tonight, he wouldn’t, anyway.

  ‘Fine’, Hall replied cautiously. He didn’t want to cross any previously agreed lines of demarcation, but he also wanted Jane to know exactly what had been going on, if anything should happen to him. And in the past few hours he’d come to the conclusion that there was a 5% chance that it might.

  ‘I’ve made detailed notes, love. They’re on the computer.’

  Jane’s fork stopped in flight, and hovered, two inches from her mouth. She knew exactly what Hall meant by that apparently innocuous remark, and it was enough to kill her hunger, at least for the present.

  ‘Shit, love. You’ve got something solid, then? Come on, out with it. I’ll not tell the ACC that we’ve talked about this again, I promise.’

  ‘Are you sure, Jane? I thought we agreed…’

  ‘Fuck that, Andy. Are we really talking about a murder here? You’re sure now, are you?’

  ‘Yes, I am. It’s fair to say that the security boss who made a lot of dough during the protest, Eric Green, didn’t react all that well when I suggested that he and Battersby had conspired together to extend and expand the protest, and that Cam Donald was murdered when he found out.’

  ‘Did you tell him that Donald and Spedding were undercover cops?’

  ‘Absolutely not, no. He probably doesn’t know, actually, and I wasn’t going to take a chance. But we ended up having a bit of a barney anyway, shall we say.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘Green over-reacted, went to have us escorted off the premises, and one of his lads made the mistake of grabbing my arm just as I was picking up Grace.’

  ‘Ian took exception?’

  Hall smiled. ‘Why couldn’t it have been me who came over all macho, just for once? Why does it always have to be Ian?’

  ‘Because it’s not in your nature, love. Plus the fact that you were, quite literally, holding the baby at the time. But good on Ian. The drinks are on me, next time we see him. But you didn’t get yourselves nicked, did you?’

  ‘No, the police weren’t called. I suggested it, obviously.’

  ‘What was the body count?’

  ‘Two unconscious, although you could probably call it three if you counted them by weight.’

  ‘Timber’, said Jane laughing.

  ‘Exactly. You’d certainly have been able to hear those particular trees falling in the forest.’

  Jane took another couple of forkfuls, her hunger revivified, then looked across at Hall. He looked younger somehow today, she thought, and she felt older. Give it another year or two and the entire bloody age gap between them would have vanished completely, at this rate.

  ‘Have you got any kind of case against this Green, or Vinny Battersby, love? I need to know, if you have.’

  Hall shook his head firmly, and held up his hand to emphasise the point.

  ‘Absolutely not, I’m afraid. There’s still not a shred of admissible evidence, and no real prospect of finding any now, is there? The actual killer conveniently took a dive off St. Bees head, and all Battersby has to do now is to get Green to calm down and stay in line. Say nothing, other than confirming that he invested in Battersby’s business, and they’re home free. Because there’s absolutely nothing illegal about any of that, is there?’

  ‘OK, but you let me know the moment that anything changes, Andy. As Ian proved, once again, you’re really not the Lone Ranger type.’

  ‘Maybe not. And I will be careful, don’t worry. But listen, love, I’d better be going.’

  Hall started to get up, but Jane pointed back at his chair with her fork. He sat.

  ‘So how much do our lot know about all this? Are they actually complicit with Battersby? In other words, Andy, did we know about the murder, or is the ACC just trying to cover up the fact that we lost an undercover cop in the line of duty, and never even nicked anyone for it? I need to know which you think it is, love.’

  ‘The latter, I’m sure.’

  ‘Certain?’

  ‘Not absolutely, no, but when am I completely certain of anything? The truth’s forever hiding amongst the doubts, isn’t it? But, realistically, I can’t see any senior copper, especially a recent appointment like Winter, ever even thinking about risking his freedom to conspire with a cop-killer. And he can’t have been personally involved in any conspiracy, years ago, can he? He was probably still at school, for a start. Plus, he’d be leaving himself totally open to blackmail if he got involved now, quite apart from anything else.’

  Jane nodded, a little sceptically, and kept on eating. This had all the makings of a shit storm, however it played out, and it seemed to DI Francis that she had inadvertently have left home without either her brolly or her wellies.

  Hall was quite alone when he knocked on the Pete Spedding’s front door, but Ian Mann wasn’t far away. Hall couldn’t see him, but he was there all right. And since a text hadn’t come in from Mann, as Hall had strolled to the house from his car, he could be sure that Ian was the only one with the place under observation, at least for now.

  It was Pete who opened the door, and he joined Hall on the front step.

  ‘She’s feeling pretty fragile, mate. All the implica
tions of what we told her, they’re starting to sink in. Not just about Cam being murdered, but about me and him not being who she thought we were. All those lies we told, she’s playing them all back in her head, one by one. I just can’t be trusted any more. That’s the way she sees it, anyway.’

  Hall nodded. When he couldn’t think of anything useful to say, he usually didn’t speak.

  ‘Come in, anyway, Andy. But don’t be surprised if she kicks off at me, or maybe you, too. She’s a bit up and down, to say the least.’

  Alice Spedding was red-eyed and unsmiling, and made it clear that she expected to ask the questions, and Hall said that he’d do his best to answer them.

  ‘Have you ever been undercover, Andy?’

  ‘No, I haven’t. But colleagues have, several times. It’s not uncommon.’

  ‘So why didn’t you ever do it?’

  Hall thought of the diplomatic answer first, something about the opportunity never having arisen, but gave the honest one anyway.

  ‘I’m no good at playing a role, I suppose.’

  ‘So someone who goes undercover needs to be what, a good liar?’

  ‘No, not at all. But they do need to be able to resemble the person that they’re supposed to be, that’s all. Age, ethnicity, even things like accent. They all matter. So I’d only have been any use to anyone if we’d been investigating a militant cell of accountants, I’m afraid.’

  Alice didn’t smile, but Hall hadn’t expected her to.

  ‘And have you ever known anyone do what Pete, or should I say John’s done? Keep it all a secret, even from the mother of his child, for nearly twenty years?’

  ‘No, but the circumstances were different in this instance, Alice. Pete was trying to protect you, that’s all. You do see that, don’t you?’

  ‘Protect me by lying? By pretending to be something that he never was, to pretend to care about things that he didn’t really give a shit about, not really? What sort of love is that, eh? His whole bloody life is a lie, Andy, which means that mine is too, now doesn’t it? Well, doesn’t it?’

  Alice ran across to Spedding, and Hall expected her to throw her arms round him, but instead she banged on his chest with closed fists. He didn’t look surprised, so Hall surmised that it wasn’t the first time that it had happened.

  So Hall waited, standing uncomfortably in the middle of the living room.

  ‘Sit down, Andy’, said Spedding, catching his wife’s fists.

  ‘Thanks.’ After a minute or two the couple sat on the sofa opposite Hall, although Alice pushed Spedding’s hand away. Hall told them both exactly where he was at. It didn’t take long.

  ‘So we’re pretty confident, based on the way that Green reacted when we met, that there was some sort of conspiracy between him, or his dad, and Vinny Battersby. And it all makes sense, really. The area was pretty economically depressed at the time, Sellafield apart, and Battersby was a local boy, with no real history of environmental activism, so I guess he just played a role.’

  ‘Not just him, the bastard’ said Alice, not looking at her husband, but glaring, red-rimmed, at Hall.

  Hall gave it a moment, but neither of them spoke, so he continued.

  ‘But unfortunately that takes us nowhere, not really. We’ve still got no real proof. And as soon as Green is briefed by Battersby he’ll just stick rigidly to the story he gave us, about how their relationship developed, and about why, when and how money was invested in Battersby’s business. I have to say that it was a simply brilliant way of taking a pay-off, doing it all in plain sight like that. Very smart, really.’

  ‘I keep telling you, Vinny’s a clever bloke, Andy’, said Spedding.

  ‘So it seems. But to be so careful, to cover his tracks so effectively, and to do it at such a young age. Well, that’s remarkable, really.’

  ‘So did he have my husband killed? You’re certain, I mean.’

  ‘I’m sure he did. But we’ll never prove that either, I’m afraid. The one man who could probably have convicted Vinny is also dead, which suggests to me that Battersby also chooses his collaborators extremely carefully. Killing a man is incredibly difficult, for a person who’s even reasonably well-adjusted, and the memory alone must be a colossal cross to bear, quite apart from the prospect of discovery, disgrace, conviction and imprisonment. You see, I believe that Battersby guessed how things would play out with Stan Greig, that he’d struggle to cope, and I have no doubt that Battersby was in his ear as well after the killing, making sure that Greig couldn’t escape the guilt. It was a manipulative, risky, and clever strategy, but I’m certain that it was just that: a carefully thought through plan. But, having said all that, Battersby has been lucky too, we must remember that.’

  ‘Lucky, how?’ asked Alice.

  ‘Lucky that Cam, or Mike, was an undercover cop. I’m pretty much convinced that Battersby didn’t know it at the time, although he may have worked it out eventually. Either way I suspect that, now he’s a pillar of the community, the ACC or some other senior police or law officer has told him all about Mike. Because they’ll have had no idea that Vinny was any more than an interested party, and certainly not a person of interest, in what they still believe was an accidental death. An embarrassing one, but an accident nonetheless. And, if Battersby found out in the recent past, then that could explain why he’s taking such an interest in you both now, couldn’t it?’

  ‘So where does all that leave us?’ said Alice, and Hall could hear the anger crackling in her voice. ‘This has all been for nothing then, has it? I could have told you all about Vinny and Eric Green, if only you’d bloody asked me. In fact, I told Cam, I mean Mike, a few weeks before he died.’

  The silence was short, but plenty long enough for Alice to bring her hand to her mouth.

  ‘Oh, Jesus Christ. I got him killed, didn’t I? This is all my fault.’

  ‘No, no,’ said Hall. ‘You are all victims here, Alice. You have done absolutely wrong, I promise you that. But you’re quite sure, are you? You definitely told Mike about Vinny and Eric Green?’

  ‘Aye, I did.’

  ‘And how did he react?’

  ‘I don’t remember, Andy. It’s years ago. He didn’t start jumping up and down, or dancing, or owt like that.’

  ‘Understood. Take your time. You’ve got a good memory, Alice, so just give it a minute. Anything that you can tell me now would be a huge help.’

  ‘Well, I think he just laughed it off, at the time, like. Said that Vinny was probably just winding Green up, because the bloke’s never been the brightest bulb in B&Q, like. Something like that, anyhow. But he asked me about it again, a day or so later. Aye, I’m sure he did.’

  ‘What did he ask?’

  ‘Where I saw them? When it was? Whether there was anyone else with them at the time? All that sort of thing.’

  ‘OK, good. And do you remember what you told him?’

  ‘Aye, more or less. I saw them down by the beach, on the prom, right at the far end. My lad wouldn’t get off to sleep, he was just a baby then, so I’d taken him down to the prom from where we were camping. To see if I could get him settled, like.’

  Hall took his time. ‘OK, good. Now, Alice, did Mike talk to Vinny about what you told him, to your knowledge?’

  ‘No, I don’t think he did. He didn’t mention that to me, anyway,if he did.’

  ‘And Pete, how about you? Did Mike say anything to you, anything at all?’

  ‘No, he didn’t. And surely he would have, if he’d had his suspicions? We talked about the group pretty often, especially if one of us spotted something that we thought might have been important. It was procedure, obviously.’

  Hall shrugged. ‘OK. So where does this take us? You’d have thought Mike would have come to you, Pete, but it’s not impossible that he’d keep it to himself. Maybe he was trying to avoid starting any hares running, something like that, until he knew more. I’m not sure. But of course one thing does make much more sense now. This could explain wh
y Battersby has been having Alice watched, couldn’t it? Because when you saw him that night, Alice, he saw you too, must have done. He knows that you can connect him to Green, during the time of the protest. You can prove that connection, even now.’

  The three of them sat, the silence broken by their daughter’s sudden wailing from upstairs, so loud that the baby monitor seemed as efficacious as a chocolate fireguard, and just about as useful.

  ‘Is my family safe?’, asked Spedding. ‘That’s the real question here, Andy.’

  ‘I think so, yes. You’re certainly not under observation at present.’

  ‘How do you know? Ian Mann’s here, is he?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Would he like to come in?’ asked Alice, jumping up and walking to the window. ‘Where is he, then? I can’t see him outside.’

  ‘Buggered if I know’, said Hall, and Alice laughed, briefly. ‘So you two just sit tight, and don’t worry. The only significant mistake that Battersby has made is over-estimating the importance of what you know, Alice. Because it’s not actually enough to convict anyone of anything, is it? Battersby could say they were talking about anything, and we certainly couldn’t prove any different.’

  Jane was on the sofa with her work laptop when Hall got home, but she put it on the coffee table and listened to him talk. He told her about Alice seeing Battersby and Green together, and she reacted as he expected her to, and as he would have done, when he was still a working detective, and still had the CPS to satisfy.

  ‘Come on, Andy, that’s so bloody thin you could see your hand through it. If Mike Spence had his suspicions about Battersby it’s a pound to a pinch of snuff that he’d have talked to Spedding immediately. That’s why there were two undercover officers on the same job, after all. So they could share the workload, all the information, and for each to make sure that other one didn’t go totally native. It’s all just a house of cards you’ve built here, love.’