whole kit and caboodle cost thousands of pounds.’
‘And we paid for that?’
‘No. He went private.’
‘This beggars belief,’ Tony said. ‘He’s a convicted killer and he gets to have private medical care?’
‘He was legitimately a multi-millionaire. He could afford it and the courts said he had the right to the best treatment available. I know it sounds insane, but that’s the law for you.’
‘You’re right. It does sound insane.’ Tony reached the far wall again and slapped his hand hard against it. ‘I thought the families of his victims sued him? How come he’s still awash with cash?’
‘Because he was clever with it.’ At last, a tinge of anger had crept into Lambert’s voice. ‘As soon as he was arrested, Vance made arrangements to take his money offshore. It’s all tied up in trusts abroad, the kind of jurisdictions where we have no way of discovering who the trustees are or who the beneficiaries of the trusts are. The civil court judgements against Vance can’t be enforced against an offshore trust. But when he needed funds for surgery, the money was made available. It’s hugely offensive, but there’s nothing we can legally do to prevent it.’
‘Unbelievable.’ Tony shook his head. ‘But even if the arm wasn’t obvious, how did he manage to fool everybody?’
Lambert groaned. ‘God knows. What I’m hearing is that the prisoner in question has a shaved head, glasses and distinctive tattoos on his arms and neck. All of which Vance had copied. Someone obviously brought in custom-made tattoo sleeves or transfers with the appropriate designs. The person most likely to realise it was the wrong man was the social worker, and she wasn’t in work today.’
Tony gave a sarcastic laugh. ‘Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Something completely unpredictable happened to her. Her boyfriend was kidnapped or her house blew up or something.’
‘I have no idea, Tony. All I know is that she wasn’t there, so in their infinite wisdom the officers sent him off in a taxi to his work placement. I’m told it’s standard operating procedure in cases like this. Don’t forget, the prisoners who get sent on these placements are on a trajectory towards release. It’s in their interests not to mess up.’
‘This is the most terrifying news I’ve heard in a long time, you know that? There’s going to be bodies, Piers.’ An involuntary shudder rippled across Tony’s shoulders. ‘How’s the taxi driver? Is he still alive?’
‘He has head injuries, but I’m told they’re not life-threatening.’ Lambert sounded dismissive. ‘What concerns me most is that we recapture Vance as swiftly as possible. And that’s where you come in.’
‘Me? I haven’t spoken to Vance since before his first trial. I’ve no idea where his head’s at these days. You’ve got a prison psych who apparently knew him well enough to put him in a Therapeutic Community – talk to her.’ Tony let out a sharp breath of exasperation.
‘We will, of course. But I have huge respect for your abilities, Tony. I was very much on the sidelines when you put a stop to Vance all those years ago, but I remember the impact your work had on the Home Office attitude towards profiling. I want to send you the files on Vance and I want you to provide us with as detailed an assessment as possible of what he’s likely to do and where he’s likely to go.’ Lambert had recovered his poise. His request had all the force of insistence without being obvious.
‘It’d be guesswork at best.’ When it came to the big beasts of officialdom, Tony knew better than to offer any shred of hope that could be used later as a stick to beat him with.
‘Your guesswork is better by far than the considered opinion of most of your colleagues.’
When all else fails, Tony thought, wheel out the flattery. ‘One thing I will say, even without the benefit of the files … ’
‘What’s that?’
‘I don’t know where Micky Morgan is these days, but you need to track her down and tell her Vance is on the loose. In Vance’s world view, she’ll still be his wife. It doesn’t matter that it was never a marriage in the first place, or that she had it annulled. As far as he’s concerned, she let him down. He doesn’t like being thwarted.’ Tony stopped pacing and leaned his forehead against the door. ‘As we all found out to our cost the last time. He’s a killer, Piers. Anyone who’s ever crossed him is at serious risk.’
There was a moment’s silence. When Lambert spoke again, there was a gentleness in his voice that Tony had never heard before. ‘Doesn’t that apply to you too, Tony? You and DCI Jordan? You’re the ones who brought him down. You and your team of baby profilers. If you think he’s going after the people he blames for his incarceration, surely you’re at the top of the list?’
It was a measure of Tony’s lack of narcissism that Lambert’s concern had genuinely not occurred to him. Years of clinical practice had taught him to bury his own vulnerability so deep he’d almost lost sight of it himself. And although he knew plenty about the chinks in Carol Jordan’s armour, he was so accustomed to thinking of her as her own worst enemy that he’d all but forgotten there were other threats out there, threats that could undermine her far more comprehensively than her own weaknesses. ‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ he said now, shaking his head, not wanting to believe himself a possible target. Because once he admitted that, everything he did would be tainted and skewed by the fear of who Vance might destroy next.
‘I think you ought to be aware of the possibility,’ Lambert said. ‘I’ll have the files uploaded and send you the codes to access them. As soon as we hear anything from the police in North Yorkshire, I’ll be in touch.’
‘I never said—’
‘But you will, Tony. You know you will. We’ll talk soon.’
And he was gone. For a split second, Tony thought about phoning Carol. But news like this was always better delivered face-to-face. He grabbed his car keys and jacket and headed for the door. He was halfway to Bradfield Police HQ when he remembered he’d had his own reasons for talking to Piers Lambert. But even though he thought he truly believed that no individual life was worth more than another, he had to acknowledge that, when it came to it, saving Carol Jordan was always going to trump anything else.
It wasn’t an entirely comfortable conclusion, but it was inescapable.
11
Tony advanced into the room, his eyes fixed on Carol. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘But I have to speak to you now. In private.’ Seeing how serious he was, Carol’s expression shifted from annoyed to perplexed. Tony had never cried
