‘You’ve gone the wrong way. Sir.’
Phil looked across at Sperring, who, having spoken, had composed his features as impassively as possible. Phil felt anger rise within him.
‘Yeah, I know I’ve gone the wrong way, thanks. If you didn’t build every fucking square inch of this city out of concrete and make it look exactly the same as every other fucking square inch and put a fucking flyover and roundabout in the middle of every fucking road then I wouldn’t go the wrong way, would I?’
Sperring said nothing. His head was angled away from Phil, looking out of the window. In the reflection Phil caught the look of surprise on his DS’s face, along with wry amusement. He knew his outburst would be straight round the office.
Phil sighed. ‘I’m sorry. You didn’t need that.’
‘No problem, sir.’ Still not looking at him.
Band of Horses was playing. Phil was sure Sperring wouldn’t like it. He didn’t care.
Phil sighed again. Gwilym had rattled him. Making veiled but lewd comments about Marina, saying things that didn’t tally with Marina’s version of the events of a couple of nights before. And Phil had risen to it. Bitten back, even. Unprofessional, especially in front of Sperring. But he hadn’t been able to stop himself.
‘So where am I now, then?’ he asked.
‘Ladywood.’
‘Right. And I can get back to the office from here?’
‘Course you can. Just follow the road round. I’ll direct you. If you get lost.’
I’m sure you will, thought Phil. And love doing it.
He looked out of the window. Edgbaston, at the other side of Five Ways roundabout, had been a vast stretch of well-maintained houses sitting behind high brick walls on streets lined with mature trees. Gwilym’s house had been one of them. But the other side of the roundabout, the area they were now travelling through, couldn’t have been more different. On both sides of the road were stunted, warren-like estates of tiny red-brick boxes, managing to look simultaneously spread out and cramped together, separated by patches of bare, sparse ground. The whole place looked sullen, desolate.
‘What did you think of Gwilym?’ asked Phil.
Sperring turned, coming out of his reverie. ‘Gwilym? An odd one. But these academic types often are.’
‘Hiding something? Cagey?’
‘Could be,’ said Sperring. ‘Worth looking into a bit more.’
‘Yeah, I think you’re right. Something about what he said wasn’t adding up.’
Sperring frowned, as if deciding whether to speak. He did so. ‘Can I ask you something, sir?’
Phil knew what he was about to say.
‘Go on.’
‘Cheers. What was all that he was saying about your wife? Sir. Gwilym. If you don’t mind me asking.’
Phil hesitated. He did mind. And if it wasn’t something that had a bearing on the investigation, he wouldn’t talk about it. Certainly not with Sperring, a man he couldn’t trust. But he had to. If Marina had lied to him and was close to Gwilym, and if Gwilym became more interesting to them, then that would become a conflict of interest and he would have to declare it and step down from leading the investigation.
And if I do talk to Sperring, it might bring us to a better understanding of each other. He shook his head. He sounded like a teenager.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Honestly. I asked her about him and she said she barely had anything to do with him. She’d seen him around in the department but never really spoken to him, spent any kind of time with him. Always at a distance.’
‘That wasn’t what he was implying.’
‘No,’ said Phil, looking at the depressing landscape around him and wondering where he was. ‘I didn’t think so either.’
Sperring leaned in closer, as if the two of them were sitting in a pub and he wanted to keep what he was about to say private. ‘She been different lately? Your missus?’
Phil didn’t answer. His hands gripped the steering wheel harder; he pushed the accelerator down further.
‘Bit off? You know what I mean. In my experience there’s only one reason a woman – a married one, I mean – would play down knowing someone… You know what I’m saying? Happened to me. That’s how I found out. Then it was bye bye, Mrs Sperring, don’t think you’ll get a penny out of me, you cheating bitch. And she bloody didn’t. I made sure of that all right.’ His lips curled into a cruel smile at the memory.
Phil slammed on the brakes. A roundabout had appeared before him. He smacked the steering wheel in frustration. ‘Where the fuck do I go now?’
‘Turn right. Heading into the city centre. You’ll get the hang of it. If you’re staying around here.’
Phil didn’t reply. Just drove where he was told to drive. Office blocks and towers appeared. Concrete loomed high on both sides of the road. Cars came at him, seemingly from all directions, knowing where they wanted to go better than him. Negotiating the underpasses and dual carriageways of Birmingham city centre made Phil feel like he was taking part in some futuristic, post-apocalyptic gladiatorial combat. Autogeddon.
‘You know you’ll have to step aside,’ said Sperring. ‘If it turns out Gwilym was telling the truth.’
‘I’m well aware of that,’ said Phil, turning the steering wheel sharply to avoid a Fiat that had decided to change lanes, seemingly on a whim.
‘Can I say something else?’ said Sperring. ‘Since we’re, you know, speaking freely and all that.’
‘Go on then.’
‘The boy Khan. Nadish. He’s a good lad. Got a lot of potential. I know you maybe haven’t seen eye to eye and he’s probably not the sort you get on with, but don’t ride him so hard. Sir. He’s not had an easy start but he’s got all the makings of a good copper.’
‘Your protégé, is he?’ said Phil, feeling the anger well up once again. ‘That it? You’re moulding him, grooming him for greater things?’
‘He’s a good lad, like I said. The kind of copper we need on the force. Here. In our city.’
‘Right.’ The traffic was backing up in front of Phil. He wanted to pull away, drive as fast as he could to match his quickening heart rate. Instead he slowed down, joined the queue. Kept his foot off the accelerator, but poised. ‘What do you mean? He didn’t have an easy start?’
‘His old man was a copper,’ said Sperring, weighing his words. ‘Back in the day. He put up with all manner of shit. Not just from the kids on the street, but from other officers. Paki. Wog. The lot. And he worked through it. Twice as hard as anyone else. He was hard, tough. He won respect.’
‘What happened to him?’
Sperring paused before answering. ‘The job claimed him. But he was a good man, before that. I was proud to know him then. And now I’m proud to know his son.’
‘Very touching,’ said Phil, still staring ahead.
Sperring turned to him. ‘You know, you’ve come here with a lot of attitude. Plenty to say about how we do things wrong and how you’d do them different. How we don’t respond in the same way as your team would respond. How we’re not as good. All of that. We’ve put up with a lot from you. I’ve put up with a lot from you. You think I’m an old reactionary. A dinosaur. Don’t you?’
Honesty time, thought Phil. Good. About time the air was cleared. ‘Truth? Yeah. I think you are. But also, like I said, you’re pissed off because I got the job you wanted. And you can’t bear it. Every time I say something or give an order, you think it should be you. Isn’t that right?’
Sperring glared at him. ‘The traffic’s moving. Turn right at the next roundabout.’
‘I know,’ said Phil. ‘I know where I am now.’
The traffic eased. The car moved forward. Band of Horses sang about the slow cruel hands of time.
They reached the station in silence.