Thank God for grandparents, thought Jo as she walked back from the Royal Sussex County Hospital, still in full uniform. Four days in, there was no news from Darren but of equal concern was how she was neglecting Ciaran and Liam, who needed her more than ever.
The night at Scotty’s bedside had been as long as it was traumatic. More than once an alarm had wailed and an army of doctors and nurses had sprinted to his convulsing body, twisted some dials, shone torches then left him wheezing and puffing again. Once the consultant’s round started, she decided to amble back to the police station and consume what passed for fresh air in central Brighton.
Fifteen minutes later she opened her office door to see Bob and Gary deep in conversation. They stopped the second they saw her and she knew she’d interrupted something.
‘Sorry, don’t mind me,’ she said as she waved Bob out of her chair and rested her weary legs.
‘Well? How is he?’ said Gary.
‘“Time will tell” was the best I could get out of anyone,’ she said.
Gary looked her up and down. ‘Tell me you didn’t go out in public like that?’ 265
She followed his gaze and for the first time noticed the smear of blood on her sleeves and the grit and gravel marks on her knees. She shrugged. ‘He’s in a terrible state. Christ, I’m surprised he’s still with us.’ She paused and stared into the middle distance.
‘Want me to take you home?’ said Bob, now sitting on one of the guests’ chairs.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I need to be here. There’s going to be a lot of upset people when they find out and they need me.’ Bob and Gary exchanged a look. ‘What?’
Gary seemed to be clutching for the right words. ‘Jo, best you hear it from me. I’ve spoken to the nights and the early shift, such as they are, and well, you’re not flavour of the month with them.’
In her weariness, Jo thought she’d misheard him. ‘Come again?’
‘They were quite direct to be frank. They blame all this on you.’ Jo went to interrupt but Gary put up his hand. ‘Let me finish. They’re joining the dots and see everything that’s happened as coming from your’ – he air-quoted – ‘“obsession with smackheads”.’
‘How bloody dare they,’ said Jo. ‘Smackheads?’
‘Jo, it’s not what they call drug users that’s the issue here; they think you’re doing more harm than good and putting them in danger. You’re losing their faith and that’s not a great place to be.’
‘They’re also questioning why you’re not suspended, what with Darren being on remand,’ said Bob.
Jo was struggling to take it all in. She loved this job and had always enjoyed the respect of her troops. Like last night, she was there in the line of fire if needed. How could they think this about her? She just wanted to do what was right. Too many divisional commanders had papered over the cracks insofar as the drugs problem was concerned, but her idea was both radical and long term. Couldn’t they see that?
‘I need to talk to them.’ Weary as she was, she stood up and headed for the door.
‘No, Jo,’ said Gary. ‘Not now. If you stand any hope of winning them 266back, you need to look and feel the part. Go home, have a shower, get some kip and come back refreshed.’
She sat back down. How could she sleep in this state? But Gary was right. ‘OK, but first bring me up to speed on Spanners.’
Bob picked up his notebook. ‘Well, he’s been very talkative.’
‘Great. Give me the headlines.’
‘Well, he’s confirmed everything he told Scotty about the ex-inmates being paid to come to the city and wait to be called, but there’s more. They’re from all over so we’d never have spotted it otherwise. He’s heard the lorry crash which stopped me getting to court was all part of the same set-up. They didn’t mean the driver to die – just to halt the trial, so that part worked.’
‘That it?’ said Jo, still bruised by Gary’s feedback.
‘No. He’s given a lot more on the night he made the deliveries, especially about the bloke who told him what to do and the car he spoke to him in. First the car. It was a cab. Brighthelm. Could have been one of thousands but Spanners remembered both the registration and the hackney licence numbers.’
‘Are they genuine?’ said Jo.
‘We’re working on that. The driver said nothing but the guy who was in charge was a squat, bald bloke with what Spanners described as a “Gorbachev birthmark” over his left ear. The handlers were too young to know what that was but, as we are of a certain age, it’s something to go with.’
‘And the people he delivered to?’
‘As he told Scotty, he said they were all the acquitted defendants from the trial. My guess is that dealing in the drugs was their pay-off for walking from court.’
‘Excellent, so plenty to go on then,’ said Jo, rubbing her eyes.
‘It’s still very circumstantial. We’ve had to bail him by the way,’ said Bob. Jo nodded. She understood.
‘Will he be safe?’ 267
‘Should be. No one knows we spoke to him. Anyway, the good news is we’re certain who the bloke in the car was,’ Bob continued. He tapped his phone into life and flicked through some apps. ‘Here you go.’
It was a press photograph of a charity event the previous year, which all of Brighton’s great and not so good had attended. Something about white-collar boxing and an auction brought out all the city’s dubiously wealthy and, while they usually preferred to stay under the radar, in this case they seemed more than happy to parade in front of the camera to show off how philanthropic they were. And Tony Evans was no exception.
‘This is him,’ said Bob. ‘Anthony Evans. No previous but a stake in just about every cash-based business in the city. He has the taxis, the door staff and the fast-food deliveries all sewn up.’
‘But what’s he got to gain from killing, maiming or terrifying half the police force? Things must be going well for him so why upset the status quo?’
‘That’s what we need to work out, but it’s not necessarily him behind everything. The fact is he has access to a never-ending stream of muscle, so maybe he’s working for someone even more powerful than him.’
Jo’s addled brain couldn’t work out how that fitted, but it seemed to. Gary was right – she needed sleep and she needed to speak to Darren. Until she achieved both of those, she was no good to anyone.
‘Crack on finding out more, Bob. Gary, can you keep in touch with the hospital re Scotty? I’m off to freshen up.’ They both nodded and she stood up.
As she got to the door, ACC Leon Mills and his staff officer appeared. Without acknowledging Jo, he looked over her shoulder and said, ‘Gentlemen, could you give Mrs Howe and I a moment please?’
Jo tried to look him in the eye but, for once, he avoided her gaze and watched as Gary and Bob scurried out. ‘Your phone please, Jo.’
‘What?’
‘Your phone,’ he said again, this time with the tone of a parent reaching the end of his tether. 268
She picked up the handset and held it out. On taking it, he handed it back. ‘Unlock it.’ She looked again in disgust and disbelief and snatched the phone, prodding in the four-digit code. Thrusting it back, she said, ‘Care to explain?’
He scrolled through the phone then showed the screen to his staff officer, who jotted something down.
He looked up at Jo, his face a visage of disappointment. ‘Sit down, Jo. This is serious.’