Jo had told PC Saira Bannerjee to meet her on the opposite side of the square, where she’d found a spot vacated by a BT Openreach van. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. If she leant back in her seat she could just about see the squat’s front door, and hopefully the bushes in the way would act as a half-decent shield.
Saira appeared as if from nowhere at the passenger window, opened the door and slid in.
‘Did you walk?’ asked Jo.
‘Jogged.’
‘Christ, haven’t you got an off button?’
Saira laughed. ‘I’ve got a regional judo tournament at the weekend and I need to make the weight.’
Jo compared their midriffs. ‘You look fine to me. Did anyone ask where you were going?’
‘No. I’d just been visiting Scotty up the hospital.’
‘You didn’t run all the way from there, did you?’
Saira pinched her waist. ‘There’s a few pounds to go.’ 302
‘How is Scotty? He wasn’t responsive this morning.’
‘No change. I went more for me than him. He’s still in an induced coma. The doctors won’t tell me much but it seems they are taking it hour by hour. It’s a good job he was an ugly bugger to start with, as his modelling career is over.’
Jo smiled. ‘Thanks for coming. I need your help but first I’ll bring you up to speed.’ Jo explained everything that had happened that afternoon, reminding Saira of the previous attacks on police officers to explain why she was so convinced the boys had been poisoned.
The PC took in her boss’s every word. ‘Right. That’s the blue door across there we’re talking about, yes?’
‘That’s the one.’
‘Grubby place, even by the usual standards. I reckon there are three flats on each of the three floors but to be honest, there are no more than a couple of doors in the whole building so it’s just an open-plan hovel.’ Surely O’Leary would have looked and smelt like he’d slept in a hedge when he had his rudimentary interview.
‘When you raided it, did you record everyone’s name who was in there?’
‘As ever,’ said Saira.
‘Sorry. Was anyone by the name of Dominic O’Leary there?’
‘Hold on, I’ll look.’ Saira tapped away on her work mobile phone, which served as her pocketbook. ‘No, no one gave that name.’
Jo opened her own phone and showed Saira the snap she’d taken at the school earlier. ‘Recognise him?’
‘Oh, er. He’s a bit of all right,’ said the PC.
‘Not you too.’
‘My bad. Can I have a better look?’ Jo handed her the phone and waited while Saira enlarged the image, then tilted it to catch the light. ‘I can’t be sure but, other than him having scrubbed up a bit, I reckon it’s this bloke.’ Saira returned to her own phone and pulled up a picture of a man called Terry Murphy, who seemed to have collected convictions like stamps. Immediately, Jo saw the likeness. The same rugged good looks 303set off by a roguish crooked nose. The only differences were, in the photo Saira had, that Murphy’s nose appeared freshly broken and he still wore the washed-out complexion that defined most drug addicts.
‘How long has he been around here?’
Saira thought about it. ‘Scotty would know for sure but he’s usually in the background. Doesn’t give us any bother really, just one of the crowd.’ She was still flicking through Murphy’s record. ‘Hold on, here we are. He was released to no fixed address from Dartmoor Prison four months ago.’
Jo’s thoughts went to how anyone could be so alone in the world that they had nowhere to call home. She’d never allow her boys to be in that situation. That catapulted her back to why she was doing this and how she had no time to lose. ‘Can we get in there to see if Murphy’s in?’
‘Not without a warrant and a dozen or so others to help,’ said Saira. ‘We’d have no chance. But I know someone who might.’
Jo saw the grin beam across Saira’s face. ‘Not Spanners?’
‘Want me to try? Off the record of course.’
‘You know he’s on bail and supposed to be lying low?’
‘Yep, but I can get hold of him.’
‘Go on then, and if any shit comes your way, I ordered you. Got it?’
Saira nodded. ‘As Scotty would say, rules are just guidelines. They never survive contact with the streets.’
‘He says that?’
‘Yep, tosser isn’t he?’
‘I’d be less polite. You get Spanners over here while I phone the hospital.’
Sir Ben had no sooner opened the door than he dragged the doctor in.
‘No more pissing about Trevor. If we don’t get Mum the help she needs now, she’s going to die, and if that happens you’ll be next.’
Sir Ben let go of his jacket and before the doctor could protest, said, ‘Follow me.’ He took the stairs two at a time and sensed Trevor and Tony Evans following him. ‘You don’t have to see this Tony.’
‘It’s OK. You might need me.’ 304
The three men walked into the room to find Audrey Parsons sitting up in bed. ‘Boys, I hope you’ve been playing nicely. Now go and wash your hands and you can have some of the Chelsea buns I’ve been baking.’
‘It’s OK, Mum, we’re not hungry. Dr Blaketon’s here. He’s come to check you’re OK.’
‘Oh how kind. Is he going to carry out a pregnancy test?’
‘Not today, Mum.’
Dr Blaketon flicked his head to Sir Ben and both men stepped into the en suite, leaving Tony hovering in the bedroom.
‘What do you want me to do? She seems fine, in the circumstances.’
‘She’s far from fucking fine,’ hissed Sir Ben. ‘I thought she was going to die during her seizure earlier. She needs medical help and she needs it now.’
‘I’m afraid with her condition, she is dying and these ups and downs are how it’s likely to be for her. Can I suggest—’
‘No you fucking can’t suggest anything, unless it’s certifying her fit to fly to the States and getting her ready for the air ambulance.’
Dr Blaketon looked over Sir Ben’s shoulder back into the room, then said, ‘That would go against just about every ethical principle I’m sworn to uphold. I have to act in the patient’s best interest and do no harm. She’s in no state to travel in a car let alone an aeroplane. It’ll kill her.’
‘I don’t think you are grasping the situation – your situation – here. You’re mistaking what I said as a question. They evacuate soldiers from battlefields with half their limbs hanging off. All I’m telling you to do is stabilise her so she can be taken to Gatwick Airport and loaded onto a private air ambulance.’ At that moment, Tony stepped into Sir Ben’s eyeline. The man only had to be in a room to fill it with menace, and Sir Ben could tell from the doctor’s expression that he was having the desired effect. Even he was shocked though when Tony pulled an automatic pistol from a concealed holster under his jacket. It took all he could to retain his poker face as if it were part of the plan.
‘What the hell is going on?’ said Dr Blaketon, as a dark wet patch ballooned across the front of his trousers. 305
‘I’m just trying to help you understand what your job here is. Sir Ben has made a couple of simple requests and it seems you need some encouragement grasping that.’ Tony thrust the gun into Dr Blaketon’s right kidney.
Sir Ben needed to get this back under his control, while keeping up the illusion that he and Tony were working in consort. ‘It’s really simple, Trevor. My mum is going to fly to the US today. You’re going to sign the necessary papers and prepare her. In the meantime, I’m going to free up the funds, book the air ambulance and confirm the procedure with the doctors at the other end, then we give my mum her life back.’
‘But …’
The gunshot silenced the doctor and Sir Ben was sure he’d lost his hearing for ever.