A Half Remembered Life (The Lakeland Murders Book 9)

by J. J. Salkeld

  ‘I know, and I’m not convinced either. But the more I think about it the more sure I am that Eric Green is the key to all this. He’s our one and only chance now. He was definitely complicit, even if he wasn’t directly involved in DC Spence’s death, I’m certain of that. He’s the weak link here, Jane, the only hope of bring Battersby to book.’

  They headed upstairs after the news and stood together, as they usually did, at Grace’s door and listened. The room was quiet, so they crept in and stood looking at the sleeping child. Neither said anything, but neither of them needed to.

  An hour and a half later Hall was still awake, worrying. He’d actually reached his decision twenty minutes before, and now he was just wasting time. That was unusual for him. So he got up, dressed quietly, went downstairs and phoned Ian Mann. It was just after midnight.

  ‘Andy’, said Mann, sounding wide awake.

  ‘Sorry. Hope I didn’t wake you.’

  ‘Don’t worry. What’s the crack, like?’

  ‘We need to talk to Eric Green again, Ian.’

  ‘Now? You know we won’t get to Whitehaven in less than an hour and a half, even at this time. The bloke could have us nicked straight off, for a start, just for knocking on his door in the middle of the night. You’re not a DCS now, mate.’

  ‘I know, of course. I was wondering about phoning first.’

  ‘Go on, then. And I’ll be round for you in ten minutes, if you don’t stand me down first.’

  ‘No, Ian, I’ll drive.’

  ‘No offence, mate, but I don’t want to be broken down on the 66 somewhere in the middle of the night. Plus, it’ll take even longer if you’re at the wheel. No, I’ll drive.’

  Hall wrote a quick note to Jane, left it on the kitchen table, and then dialled Green’s mobile number. There was no reply. He thought about calling his office, but decided against. There was always the possibility that Green’s lads would want to form a welcoming committee if he did that, and he certainly didn’t want Ian Mann denting any more egos. So Hall called Mann, and told him that they were definitely on.

  ‘He’s probably on a mini-break in Bruges’, said Mann, as they drove.

  ‘Why Bruges?’

  ‘Beirut, then.’

  ‘Now you’re being daft, Ian. Look, I’m sorry to get you up, but I’ve just got a feeling about this.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it, Andy. I’d only be sleeping otherwise, wouldn’t I? And we can’t have you rocking up at Green’s place on your own, can we? You might end up beating the bloke up, or Christ knows what.’

  Hall smiled. ‘I might still surprise you, one of these days.’

  ‘I bloody hope not. I’d be out of a job if you turned into some sort of ninja. No, you stick to the brainiac stuff, and I’ll provide the muscle.’

  ‘Fair enough, but I don’t think this is really a job, strictly speaking, is it?’

  The sat nav directed Mann to a pitch-black lane above St. Bees, and it took him a few minutes to find the house. But when they were close it was easy to spot because lots of lights were on, upstairs and down.

  ‘Someone’s up, anyway’, said Mann, as he drove slowly up the drive from the road. ‘Tell you what, Andy. I’ll stop here, and take a walk. You drive up on your own.’

  ‘You think that’s really necessary?’

  ‘It’s the middle of the night, mate, and we had a bit of a disagreement with Green, didn’t we? I want to be able to react if he comes out waving a shotgun.’

  Hall smiled. He was tired. ‘Fair point. Tell you what then, Ian. You drive up to the front door, and I’ll just go and hide. How’s that?’

  But that was never how it was going to be, and when Mann stopped Hall climbed into the driving seat, and drove the last fifty yards to the house. He was worried about ringing the bell, but the door opened before he could even reach it.

  ‘Police? Thank God’, said the middle aged woman, ‘but I thought you said you weren’t coming? Anyway, you’re here now, and you’ve got to find him.’

  ‘I’m not police. Is it Eric? Is he missing?’

  ‘Aye. We went to bed at about eleven, but when I woke up he’d gone.’

  ‘And you’re Mrs. Green?’

  ‘Aye, who do you bloody think I am?’

  ‘When was this? When did you realise that he’d gone?’

  ‘About one.’

  ‘Only around an hour ago. That’s really not long. Maybe he’s just gone for a late night stroll. Is that something he does?’

  ‘No, never.’

  ‘Is his car still here?’

  ‘I don’t know. We haven’t checked.’

  ‘We’ll do it. You keep the cars in that big barn, right? If you’d get me the keys, and tell me what should be there, then we’ll take a look.’

  ‘You’re police, right?’

  ‘No, I told you. But we’ll help if we can.’ Hall looked around, and waved his arms at the blackness behind him. ‘Ian, Ian. Over here, mate.’

  Five minutes later Hall had established that the police had been notified, twice, and had expressed no interest in Green’s whereabouts on either occasion. He’d also confirmed that no vehicles were missing, and that Green didn’t have a firearms licence. Mann had checked the house and found no signs of forced entry. Green’s smartphone was still sitting on the dresser in the huge, granite-clad kitchen, and that fact seemed to be the thing that worried Mrs. Green the most.

  ‘He’s never without that bloody thing. Literally never. He puts it under the pillow at night, honestly, he really does. I’ve seen it. What’s happened to him, Mr Hall?’

  ‘How did he seem last night?’

  ‘Much the same as usual. He’s a bit of a miserable bugger anyway, most of the time. We had an argument, but we’d both had a few drinks. And that’s not like him, really. The drinks, I mean.’

  ‘Did the drinks come before or after the argument?’

  ‘Before and after.’

  ‘And how did your husband seem when you went to bed?’

  ‘Angry, I suppose, and quiet. But not that much worse than usual.’

  ‘And he didn’t mention that he might go out anywhere? His office, perhaps?’

  ‘That’s the first place I tried. He’s not been there.’

  ‘Would you try again for me now, please?’

  Ian Mann didn’t need to borrow a torch, because he had a big waterproof one, and a fully charged back-up, in the car. He also had a pair of walking boots, which he was lacing up when Hall met him at the car.

  ‘Well, Andy?’

  ‘No idea, mate. Local law’s not interested, and I can’t say I blame them. But the woman’s genuinely worried, and I am too. It’s completely out of character by the sounds of it, Green vanishing like this.’

  ‘Was he picked up by someone, do you think? Battersby, maybe?’

  ‘Got to be a possibility, hasn’t it? But why not take his phone, if so? I got Julie, that’s his wife, to check and his wallet and keys are gone, but that’s about it. All his tech, like his laptop, is still there. And as far as she can make out a waterproof jacket that he used for walking is gone. She’s not sure what kind of shoes he was wearing, unfortunately.’

  ‘A waterproof? It doesn’t look like rain, does it?’ Mann pointed upwards, and now that they were away from the house Hall could see the band of the Milky Way snaking above them. ‘Have they got a dog, by any chance?’

  ‘No, I asked that. Apparently his favourite walk from here is out to the lighthouse. There’s a path, it goes right alongside their boundary apparently, then out along the cliffs.’

  ‘Oh, shit. What are we waiting for, then? Christ, mate, I just hope this isn’t all down to me, if he has topped himself. I as good as told him that it was game over, like, didn’t I?’

  The two men walked quickly, and after fifteen minutes Hall was struggling to keep up.

  ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, Ian?’ he panted, eventually.

  Mann didn’t reply, and Hall got the mes
sage. They both needed to stay in receive mode. He was getting too short of breath to say much more, anyway. It was still pitch dark, and the moon was down, so Hall kept his torch beam trained on the ground between his feet and Mann’s. They were walking uphill now, across an open field, and Hall could make out the footpath easily enough. It was red, dry and dusty, and looked well-walked.

  The path levelled out about thirty seconds before Hall was going to have to ask Mann to slow down, and when his breathing settled back Hall could hear the sea against the cliffs, hushed but nearby now. And when Mann held up his left hand Hall didn’t notice, and walked straight into his back.

  ‘Sorry, mate.’

  ‘Shhh. Turn off the torch, Andy.’

  Hall did as he was told, after a couple of attempts, and waited for his eyes to adjust. Mann was pointing, and Hall could just see the figure, twenty yards further along the path, but on the far side of the fence. He didn’t seem to be aware of them.

  ‘You or me?’ asked Mann, quietly.

  ‘Me. Since you nearly chucked him through a window it has to be me. But I’m terrified of heights, Ian, so hold on to my coat or something.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that. You’re staying firmly on this side of that fence, Andy, and I’ll be right behind you.’

  ‘OK. Let’s swap torches. Is there anything we could do to stop him, from jumping I mean?’

  ‘If he’s serious, and he’s close to the edge as he looks, then no. If he jumps, he’s gone.’

  Hall didn’t reply, and he was already walking forwards, the torch flicked back on.

  ‘Mr. Green, Eric, it’s me, Andy Hall. Your wife and daughters are worried about you. Really worried. You don’t want them to be hurt, do you? I know that I’d do anything not to hurt my family, anyway.’

  Hall was letting the beam flick onto the figure’s legs, just feet from the cliff edge, and he watched as Green took a step forwards. One or two more and he’d be gone.

  ‘Let’s talk, OK? Why not, eh? What harm could it do?’

  Hall had been on a course, half a lifetime ago, and he tried to remember what you were supposed to do, in situations like this. His normally reliable memory let him down, and he could feel his pulse pounding, and adrenaline flooding his body. He just hoped that Green would speak next, and at least give him some kind of opening.

  ‘How did you know I was here?’

  ‘Just a guess. Look, why not hop back onto this side of the fence so we can chat? That cliff edge could collapse, couldn’t it?’

  ‘Who cares?’

  ‘I care, for one. You don’t deserve this Eric, I promise you. And what about your wife, your family, and all your friends? How would they feel? Do you want your kids to live their lives believing that they’d failed you? That this was all their fault, somehow? Because they would, they really would. And there’d be nothing that you could do about it, would there?’

  ‘I killed a copper.’

  Hall was almost at the fence now, and still inching forward, close enough to see Green’s face, turned towards him. He turned off the torch.

  ‘So you know that Cam Donald was a police officer?’

  ‘Aye, Vinny told me, yesterday.’

  ‘I see. Well that’s right, Cam was a policeman. But have you thought about why Battersby told you that? What we expected you to do next, what he wanted you to do, Eric? He’s the killer, not you. So tell me, did Vinny make the arrangements with Stan Greig direct? I bet that’s what happened, isn’t it? Then he blackmailed you afterwards, I expect. It’s all completely understandable, honestly. The courts will take it all into account, I promise you.’

  There was a silence, and Hall could hear the sea above the gathering breeze.

  ‘No, that’s bollocks. I’ll go down for this on my own. You’re just trying to nick me, so you’ll be proved right.’ Green sounded urgent now, panicky. ‘Vinny says he’ll deny it all, and there’s nothing I could do. Everyone would believe him, it’s obvious, is that. He’s like some sort of local saint now, isn’t he? He says he can produce twenty people who’ll swear that he was never anything but a genuine protestor, and who’ll say that it was me who had Cam Donald killed.’

  ‘But we’ve got a witness who will say otherwise, Eric. How about that? And I’ll stand up in court as well, and I’ll tell the truth too, I promise.’

  ‘Even though it was a copper who died?’

  ‘Especially because of that. Listen, things are never as bad as they seem, are they? Don’t let yourself become another victim here, because that’s what Vinny wants. Listen to me, Eric’, Hall said, raising his voice for the first time as the man turned his face away from him, ‘we can sort this out. Don’t let Battersby get away with this. Think of your…’

  Green took two short steps, and the third was out, into the dark. He didn’t make a sound, and Hall didn’t hear a splash. Mann was next to Hall, grabbing his arm, before he’d even moved.

  ‘You get help, Andy. Call the Coastguard first. I’m going to try to get down there.’

  ‘No, you are not, Ian, and that’s an order.’

  ‘You can’t give me orders, mate. Not any more. But don’t worry, I’m not going to just take a dive over the edge. I’ve got to have a try, that’s all.’

  By the time the body had been recovered it was fully light, Hall was dozing in a police car parked near the lighthouse, and Mann was eating a Coastguard officer’s biscuits, drinking his tea, and talking to the Duty Sergeant from Whitehaven nick.

  ‘Bloody hell, Ian, what did this bloke actually do? I’ve heard they’re bringing the ACC over in the chopper. He’ll be here in twenty minutes.’

  ‘Damage limitation, Charlie, that’s what it’ll be.’

  ‘So the bloke confessed to killing this Cam Donald lad, before he went over, did he?’

  ‘Pretty much, aye. I couldn’t hear everything, because Andy needed a bit of space.’

  ‘I’ve got Hall’s statement here. He never got a proper confession, Ian, not really. All he did was lead the bloke, whose mind was obviously all over the bloody place.’

  Ian Mann nodded. ‘He’s a right persuasive bloke, is Vinny Battersby.’

  ‘Come on, mate. Two suicides, plus a murder? And all down to Vinny? And him the big I-am round here these days, too. The bosses’ll take some persuading of that lot, mate.’

  ‘I’m sure they will, Sarge. But that’s Sleeping Beauty’s job, not mine. I’m just the bloody torch-carrier, me.’

  ‘Really, Ian? There was a little rumour going round our nick last back shift that the two lads who were taken to casualty in the back of one of Green’s vans yesterday had made the mistake of underestimating you, like.’

  ‘Oh, aye?’

  ‘Aye, that’s what I heard, like. Still, I took no notice. Not very likely, was it, a suspended copper from Kendal getting into a bit of a barney way out west. And as to you being out on a bloody cliff top in the middle of the night, fifty miles from where you live, and just bumping into those same lads’ boss? Well, that’s just a total co-incidence too, I expect.’

  Mann smiled. ‘They do happen, mate. You just ask Andy Hall. I expect he’ll even be able to work out a probability, if you give him long enough.’

  Sleeping Beauty was awake well before the police helicopter touched down, and alert too, but napping had become a bit of a hobby since Grace was born. He’d phoned Jane, but by then she already knew what had happened. He couldn’t talk for long, and judging by her tone of voice that was probably a good thing.

  The ACC didn’t seem to be in any hurry to talk either, so Hall and Mann sat on the grass on their own, looking out to the wide, shipless sea. They could see Snaefell, and Hall was sure that he could just see the Northern Irish cost too, although Mann said that it was just clouds.

  As soon as the boss had arrived all the other officers, who’d been more than happy to talk before, suddenly gave both men a wide berth, and neither took it personally. Eventually the ACC’s bag-carrier, a uniformed Inspec
tor who Mann knew slightly, marched over and summoned Hall to the presence. The ACC was sitting in the back of a marked Range Rover, and Hall joined him.

  Hall had expected no niceties, and he wasn’t disappointed.

  ‘This is all you fault, Hall. The inquest verdict will be suicide, of course, but we both know that this is down to you, and your meddling. If you hadn’t harassed the man…’

  ‘It wasn’t me who pushed him, sir, it was Vinny Battersby. Green said as much, before he jumped.’

  ‘Did he? That’s not the way it reads to me, judging from yours and Mann’s statements. And the poor man’s mind was unbalanced anyway, so he might have said anything. There’s not a single word here that would stand up in court.’

  ‘No, sir, with respect that’s not correct. Eric Green told me, in terms, that Battersby was planning to say that it was Green who had Donald killed. And one other thing, sir, while we’re having this little chat. Green also told me that Battersby already knew that Cam Donald was a cop. Now I wonder how he knew that?’

  ‘Just guesswork, I expect. And Donald’s death has nothing at all to do with this, Hall, so don’t bother trying to establish a connection, because it just won’t wash. This was a suicide, pure and simple. The widow has been spoken to already, and she’s very clear about that. Her husband hadn’t been himself for some considerable time. Business worries, mostly, apparently.’

  When he replied Hall raised his voice minutely above his conversational norm. If the ACC had known him better he would have realised that it was Hall’s version of screaming in his face, and leaving a dribble of spittle on the ACC’s nose.

  ‘No, sir, you won’t get away with that. No way. For a start I’ve made a statement, and so has Ian Mann. And he’s serving police officer.’