by Jack Probyn
CHAPTER 9
MAKING PROMISES
The air conditioning was on full blast inside the interview room, chilling Jake’s arms and the back of his neck, desiccating his throat. Opposite him, on the other side of the table, was Hannah Bryant, the second witness. They each had a glass of water, courtesy of one of the DCs in the team. Jake took a long sip of his before pressing the record button on the tape machine beside him. A buzzer sounded. It was a deep monotonous sound that lasted five seconds – although it felt considerably longer.
As soon as it finished, Jake completed the formalities and began.
‘Wait,’ Hannah said. She looked down at her lap and played with her hands. ‘I… There’s something I…’
‘Go on,’ Jake said as politely as he could.
‘I didn’t have nothing to do with this murder. Richard was tha one who called me over soon as he found it. I told him to call you guys, but when he din’t, I was the one who made tha call.’
Hannah hesitated. Her face told him there was more she wanted to say, so Jake remained quiet and let her continue. ‘But… but there’s summin’ else too.’
Jake’s ears perked up. Maybe he could add this case to the growing list in his portfolio that he’d been responsible for solving.
‘I… I…’ Hannah continued to struggle.
‘Please take your time. Perhaps a sip of water will help?’
Hannah did as Jake advised, and as she set the cup on the table, she lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with the onset of tears, and lines like whiskers crawled out from the sides of them.
‘Your name’s Detective Constable Jake Tanner, in’t it?’
Jake’s eyebrow rose. ‘It is…’
‘And your colleague – the one who was with you at the construction site – is called Detective Sergeant Drew Richmond, in’t he?’
Jake nodded.
‘Well, I… erm… I’d like to…’ She swallowed before she delivered the final blow. ‘I’d like ta make a complaint ’bout DS Richmond.’
Jake waited for the tension and the initial shock of the statement to dissipate – both in the room and in his mind. His pulse had risen, and he was beginning to sweat himself. Now he was grateful for the air conditioning.
‘May I understand why?’ he said, trying hard to keep his composure in front her.
‘He raped me.’
Jake blinked several times as he repeated the words in his head.
‘He what?’
She stammered as she spoke. ‘It was a long time ago, when I was seven’een. It was… it was fifteen years ago, I guess… I think he was just a constable then. And he looked different, but as soon as he said his name I reco’nised him.’
Jake’s mind was blank. He only knew to ask the first question that came into his mind while the rest of it processed what Hannah was telling him.
‘Did you report it at the time?’
Hannah hung her head low. ‘Not at first. I wanted ta, but I couldn’t. I mean, who’d believe me? Who was gonna listen to me? I didn’t have no evidence. I cleaned myself as soon as I got ’ome. And then I cried tha ’ole night. My mum found me in the morning and she made me tell her what’d ’appened.’
‘She convinced you to go to the police?’
Hannah nodded.
‘What happened then?’
‘I spoke to someone ’bout it—’
‘Who?’ Jake asked, cutting her off.
‘I can’t remember his name that well. I think it was… I think it was DC Harrison. Or… no, Garrison! Garrison. It was DC Garrison – I reported it to ’im.’
Jake’s body went cold. Comprehension escaped him. He’d known there was something suspicious between Drew and Pete. They were separated by twenty-five years yet were always with one another, joined at the hip. And then there was the banter. The jokes they shared with one another. As if it were a disguise to mask their secret. There was a bond – a mutual experience – that bound them together.
‘What action did DC Garrison take?’ Jake asked after a long moment of silence.
‘Nothin’. He did nothin’. He put the case on the pile on his desk and left it there. When we tried ta follow up, he came back and said there was no evidence, or that it had been misplaced, and that the case wouldn’t stand up in court anyway because I was a untrustworthy little girl. It was Richmond’s word against mine.’
Hannah sniffled away the tears and spoke vehemently; Jake admired her courage. ‘We even got a different solicitor involved who said there was no evidence to support the claim, and that I was just supposed to let him go.’
‘Can you remember the solicitor’s name?’
‘Haversham. Rupert Haversham. I’ll never forget ’im. He was a sweaty old man. Overweight and he stank of grease. Gave me the fucking creeps.’
Jake nodded understandingly, logging a mental note of the name. He couldn’t begin to comprehend what Hannah had been through. It was inhuman, abominable and unjust.
‘Would you mind…?’ There was no easy way for him to approach the subject. ‘Would you mind explaining to me what happened?’
Hannah rubbed the underside of her eyes with the back of her sleeve. ‘What do you wanna know first?’
‘Everything. What were the circumstances? And… what he did?’
Hannah took a sip of water before beginning. ‘I was seven’een. I’d just left school. I din’t know whatta do with myself, so I went ta college. I hated it. So I started to mess ’bout a bit. I had a few minor ASBO-related offences, but nothing major. Petty stuff like nicking sweets from a shop, or keying someone’s car. I even got caught with a bag of weed on me. I got warnings a couple of times, but nothing serious. DS Richmond made sure of that.’
‘Made sure of it how?’
Another sip. ‘He told me he’d be able to keep the criminal record away if I did what he wanted me to. At first it was little things, like buying ’im alcohol and drugs and stuff like that – stuff he couldn’t be bothered to buy himself, or knew he couldn’t be seen with. But then the demands grew, until… until…’
‘It’s OK,’ Jake said. ‘Take your time. If you don’t want to do this here, then I can organise for it to take place somewhere else.’
Hannah shook her head again. ‘The night it ’appened, he told me to come over to his place. I din’t think a lot would ’appen… I just thought he’d wanna chill.’
She sucked in cold air through her teeth. ‘When I got there, he invited me in and led me to the kitchen. He had a coupla glasses of wine on the table. He gave me one and we sat down on the sofa. We got talking for a bit and then he made a move on me.
‘When I tried to push him away, he grabbed me and held me down. I tried to shove him off and get out of his house, but he wouldn’t let me. He held me down harder and undressed me.’ Tears formed in her eyes. ‘He pulled my trousers down and then he raped me until I bled. I passed out from the pain and embarrassment of it afterwards, and he just left me there. After I woke up, I grabbed my things and got out. I went home, showered, and well… you know the rest.’
Jake licked his lips. His mouth was so dry it pained him to swallow, but it was insignificant compared to the pain and torture that Hannah had suffered.
‘I… I don’t know what to say,’ Jake said slowly, struggling to meet her eyes.
‘Promise me that you’ll do something about it.’
Jake nodded. ‘You have my word. I can’t promise it’ll be a quick investigation, but it will be carried out, I can assure you. There are also leaflets about making complaints against the police in the entrance to the station. Take those and call the numbers – speak to someone. I’ll escalate the situation through my channels, and together we can get this sorted, OK?’
Hannah smiled.
Jake was used to making promises – mostly to Elizabeth and the girls about silly, childish things like never forgetting about them, never letting anyone hurt them, or never loving one of them over the other.
But this was one
promise he’d never thought he’d have to make.
CHAPTER 10
LOYALTY
An hour later, and Drew was in the middle of setting up the Major Investigation Room – the hub of their investigation – when Jake stormed in and slammed the door behind him.
‘I think you need to sit down,’ Jake said, his mind still struggling to process what he’d been told. He’d spent the past thirty minutes running it over and over in his head in disbelief. Thinking of all the reasons why she might be making it up, why she might be throwing him off the scent. At the end of it all, there were none.
‘You all right, fella?’ Drew asked, spinning to face him.
Jake nodded to the chair nearest to Drew. ‘We need to talk.’
Drew did as he was told. Jake pulled out a chair on the other side of the table for himself. He exhaled deeply, thinking of the right words to say and the best way to say them.
He drew blanks on all accounts.
‘What’s this all about, Jake?’ Drew asked, scratching the back of his head. ‘What did that Hannah woman want?’
‘She made a worrying accusation, Drew.’
‘Go on…’
‘I shouldn’t be telling you this, not in the slightest, but I can’t get my head around it.’ Jake paused, and his eyes fell on the desk – on the mountain of paperwork and folders sitting in front of him. ‘She says she knows you from somewhere. Long time ago. You and her go way back.’
‘Right…’
His mind was set. He needed to tell Drew.
Jake swallowed and licked his lips, but his mouth, devoid of saliva, gave no relief. ‘She’s accusing you of raping her.’
‘What? How? When? Where? Jesus!’
Drew leapt out of the chair and threw it across the room. It bounced on the floor and ricocheted against the whiteboard. Jake glanced at the rest of the office behind the glass partitions; members of the team were up on their feet, peering round the door and pillars, attempting to catch a better look at the commotion.
Jake dismissed them with a wave of his hand and returned his focus to Drew.
‘I don’t believe this. I don’t fucking believe this.’ Droplets of phlegm propelled from his mouth like the spray from a bottle of bleach; his words were almost as good as poisonous. He paced from side to side, one hand massaging the back of his neck while the other rubbed the underside of his nose. ‘I don’t… Wait. What did you say? D’you believe her? D’you believe it?’
Jake hesitated before answering. The situation’s development – and Drew’s temper – was dependent on his response.
‘I don’t know what to believe,’ Jake lied. ‘But what I do know is that I can’t ignore it.’
‘Of course you fucking can. It’s simple. There’re ways around this sort of thing. There always have been, always will be—’ Drew stopped suddenly, his chest heaving, his eyes wild.
‘What are you saying?’ Jake asked.
Drew froze a moment longer, and then he raced across the room and pounced on Jake. Inches separated their faces. Drew’s thick, steamy, coffee-stained breath assaulted Jake’s senses, sending his hangover into minor disarray.
‘You still don’t get it, do you?’ Drew began, spittle colliding with Jake’s cheek and chin. ‘About us. About how we work. About how we do things here? There’s a loyalty between all of us. Loyalty. We’ve got each other’s backs, no matter what – no matter what sort of shit comes our way,’ Drew snarled. ‘If you wanna have an affair with some bint from the office, nobody’s gonna say anything to your wife. If you wanna take some drugs, nobody’s gonna find out – and we’ll make sure there’s a way around the random testing too. Why? ’Cause we look out for each other. We can pay her off. But if it’s money you want, then I can sort that out. Ten grand? I can give you ten grand. I don’t have it now but I can give it to you. No problem. You just have to give me some time. As soon as I have it, I can show you where the rest of it comes from – where it comes from for the rest of us as well. Once you see that, you ain’t ever gonna change your mind.’
Ten thousand pounds was a lot of money. Life-changing, in his instance. Enough to settle all his bills and outstanding debts, and leave some remaining. Perhaps he could use it to buy something nice for the girls. A new television. Some toys. New car. Holiday—
Wait, what was he thinking? Taking the money was wrong, illegal. It would cross the line into territory he’d sworn never to get into. Drew had broken the law and ruined someone’s life. There was no amount of money that could make up for that.
Unless… unless… An idea popped into his head. A good one. One of his best yet. It just needed fleshing out.
‘Jake? Jake?’ Drew insisted.
Before he could respond, Drew placed his hands on Jake’s chest, scrunching his tie and collar. ‘You’ll help me with this, won’t you, Jake? You’ll help me get out of this, yeah? Remember what I said, yeah? Loyalty. We rate loyalty pretty fucking highly in this team, and it is always rewarded, like I said.’ Drew prodded Jake’s chest. ‘Listen, you can pay off all your debts with that ten grand. In this team, one person’s problem becomes everyone’s problem. So this is yours as much as it is mine. Remember that. Because if I go down, then I’m taking you with me. Remember that.’
Drew patted Jake on the shoulder, ironing out a crease on the seam, and then left.
Jake grunted to himself then paced, collecting his thoughts. There wasn’t much to think about. Drew had backed him into a corner. He didn’t know how his colleague knew about his financial struggles, but he did. And Jake was going to have to make sure that it didn’t spread to the rest of the team.
By the time he left the MIR a few minutes later, he’d made his decision.
And it went against everything he believed in.
CHAPTER 11
KINGDOM OF EMPIRES
The game was called Kingdom of Empires. It was an online game where users were tasked with building a settlement and, through means of agriculture, civilisation, industrialisation and development of arms, were responsible for turning it into an empire.
Garrison had spent too many hours indulging himself in the mechanics and algorithms the game offered – sometimes losing a good chunk of sleep his aged body lambasted him for the following morning. But the biggest kick he got from the game was raiding other people’s settlements and watching their hard work crumble to rubble in front of his eyes. It was a lesson for those who tried to take him on – and, by his own estimations, it was a lesson in life too.
Being ill-prepared is ill-advised, read his empire’s motto.
His username was McVitreason.
He thought it was apt.
In the past few weeks, Garrison had found that his motives for using the game had changed. And that was all down to one person.
The Cabal.
Randomly, one day while he was at home pretending to watch a repeat of The Great British Bake Off with his wife – when, in reality, neither of them had been watching it; it had been a source of background noise – Garrison had received a message from the username LG540 introducing themselves as The Cabal. Up until that point, Garrison’s only interaction with the mysterious employer had been through Liam.
Now that was all about to change.
Garrison was sitting in his car with the window rolled down in the middle of Bow Green car park. He’d been instructed to head straight to the station with news of Liam’s imminent return. But he couldn’t bring himself to go in. He couldn’t be bothered to do anything. With the scourge of a few added years on Liam, Drew, Jake and the rest of the youngsters in the office, he was the one who suffered the most whenever they went out on the lash. It was always his own fault for drinking too much – no one else to blame – but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
Old habits really did die hard.
His phone chimed as a gentle breeze whistled through his ears.
A message from LG540.
Garrison knew from experience that he had a thirty-second wind
ow to respond before The Cabal signed off – and then there was no knowing when he might get a response.
LG540: L called.
McVitreason: And?
LG540: Pissed. Talk with Farmer – body discovered too soon.
McVitreason: OK.
LG540: LOCOG aware. Applying pressure. TTT.
Garrison considered the last part of the message. He was well aware of what it meant, but its intentions confused him. He replied.
McVitreason: Consider it done.
LG540: Once complete, move on to phase two.
CHAPTER 12
IDENTIFICATION
The team were in the briefing room, waiting for Liam to return. He was a few minutes away, with a major update. It could have been that the case was solved and closed, or that the DCI’s cancer had disappeared, or that there was another body down there and that they hadn’t even scratched the surface. But all Jake was able to think about was the impact Drew had made on Hannah Bryant’s life. How he’d committed a heinous crime and evaded justice for it. And how he had been blackmailed into keeping a vindictive and malevolent secret from the very people who trusted him to pursue it.
Patience, he told himself. Patience. The time would come.
Before he was able to dedicate any more thought to it, the briefing room doors opened. Liam burst into the room and smashed the door into the adjacent wall, shuddering the blinds on the windows that looked out onto the rest of the office.
‘Everything all right, guv?’ Drew asked, considerably chirpy despite everything that had happened in the past half an hour. He kept his focus on Liam, who moved to the front of the room.
‘Far from it,’ Liam replied with his hands on his hips. His breathing was heavy and he looked as though he’d just sprinted back from the Olympic Stadium. ‘But it’s nothing we can’t handle. By some miracle, in the past two hours, forensics have expedited the exhumation process against all instruction and procedure, and now our Nominal One is lying on the pathologist’s table, whiter than the sheet that’s covering him.’
