‘Yeah?’ The girl became excited.
‘Yeah,’ Meadows replied, ‘and these gentlemen are from New Scotland Yard. They want to know about the assault you witnessed the other night.’
‘We want details,’ Swannell growled. ‘Hold anything back about either investigation and you’re going inside.’
‘So do some thinking between now and Kilburn nick,’ Ainsclough added. ‘You know, nice crystal-clear thinking.’
Harry Vicary stood and smiled as Garrick Forbes entered his office. The two men shook hands warmly.
‘A-Ten never gets this kind of greeting.’ Forbes returned the smile. ‘So refreshing.’
‘Yes, but you and I go back. I did wonder if it might be you when they told me that A-Ten was here. Do take a pew. Coffee? Tea?’
‘Tea for me, please.’ Garrick Forbes, large and occasionally jovial, but always serious-minded when he needed to be, sat in one of the vacant chairs in front of Vicary’s desk. ‘Never was much of a coffee wallah. . and speaking of liquid refreshment, we never did have that beer we promised ourselves. It’s not often you look down the barrel of a gun, even as a copper.’
‘It isn’t, is it?’ Vicary turned to the table in the corner of his office, on which stood a kettle and a bag of tea bags, powdered milk and an assortment of half-pint mugs. He checked that the kettle had sufficient water and then switched it on. ‘Have you been back there?’
‘Twice. . last autumn.’
‘Me too, also twice. I’ll go again, not now though — ’ he pointed to the window — ‘hardly the weather for it, but I understand that what we are doing is called “trauma bonding”.’
‘Really?’
‘If you have been traumatized at a specific location you are bonded to that location, and by visiting it, you begin to aid the process of adjustment. So, the people who escaped the King’s Cross fire all those years ago still visit the underground railway station. . they are drawn to it, but with decreasing frequency as the adjustment progresses, and in the States, folk who escaped the Twin Towers in 2001 visit Ground Zero, but similarly with decreasing frequency as the years pass.’
‘Trauma bonding.’ Forbes pursed his lips. ‘I’ll remember that.’
‘We should visit together, then have that beer — there’s a couple of good interesting pubs in and around Northaw village.’
‘Yes, we’ll do that, it would be cathartic.’ He took the mug from Vicary’s hand and mumbled his thanks. ‘Doing some heavy reading, I see.’ He indicated the files on Vicary’s desk.
‘Yes. . yes. . and in more ways than one.’ Vicary slid behind his desk and resumed his seat. ‘Heavy in the sense that it is a thick file — a lot to get through — but also heavy in the sense of its content. It’s the file on a felon called Curtis Yates. . apparently he kept a tiger.’
‘A tiger!’
‘So it is alleged, but they are not easy to acquire, so I don’t know how much credence to give to that story. . allegedly used the beast as an “enforcer”.’
‘Oh. . but you say allegedly.’
‘Yes, I don’t know what to believe — some of the things in here are quite extreme but are only allegations.’ He tapped the file with his palm. ‘But the accumulation of unsupported reports does begin to sway one after a while.’
‘Yes, I know what you mean; it’s like that in A-Ten, building a case against corrupt coppers is like walking in thick smoke looking for flames.’
‘I can imagine, but this geezer is one slippery customer. We are interested in the murder of three people known to have some association with him, and he might have driven another to take his own life, and, reading his file, two previous lovers and his wife disappeared. The geezer just does not keep his friends for very long.’
‘Blimey, I see the reason for your suspicions. See them clearly. Has he done time?’
‘Yes, he pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter, and the CPS accepted the plea. He was out in five years, so we have his dabs and DNA on file, and sufficient evidence for him to do his rite of passage number to gain the street cred he needed. . but nailing him will be a struggle — he uses gofers for all his dirty work and he holds a terror for some people.’
‘Any visible means of support?’
‘A property company in Kilburn renovating run down properties and renting them to high-end tenants.’
‘Very useful if you want someone to disappear. . all those cellars. . all that concrete.’
‘Yes, that observation has been made. He also has an import/export business in the East End. Those are two that we know of, and go to provide him with a house in Virginia Water.’
‘Not bad.’
‘Indeed. I do wonder what naughties the import/export business conceals.’
‘Drugs. . illegal immigrants?’
‘Yes, my thinking also — not expressed yet — but those are the lines I am thinking along. So, you have had a chat with Frankie Brunnie?’
‘Yes, and the upshot is that we won’t be instigating disciplinary action against him.’
‘Good. I am relieved.’
‘He is consumed with guilt over the death of the office manager.’
‘J.J. Dunwoodie?’
‘Yes, that’s the man, but that is not the reason we are not proceeding against him. What clears him is that the office manager permitted him to remove the watering can, even though Brunnie might well have coerced him into doing so without the ability to foresee the consequences. The fact remains that the watering can was nevertheless removed with the consent of the office manager. We have taken a statement from him but we still have to take a corroborative statement from a. . DC Yewdall.’
‘Penny Yewdall, yes.’
‘The practice of obtaining fingerprints like that is widespread anyway — did it myself once or twice. Can’t use prints obtained like that to prosecute, but it’s very useful to know who you’re dealing with.’
‘Yes. . yes. . and Brunnie has helped this case enormously, and I understand the guilt you mention. Frankie Brunnie is a very ethical, steadfast human being. I have always found him to be a gentleman.’
‘Good. Well, just the interview with DC Yewdall and we’ll wrap it up.’ Garrick Forbes stood.
‘Oh. . I visited Archie Dew’s widow.’ Vicary also stood.
‘How is she?’
‘Bearing up but feeling the loss, and her daughter is still in residential psychiatric care.’
‘Wretched woman, must be difficult for her. . He was so near retirement and that little toerag who shot him will be on the outside soon.’
The two men shook hands. ‘I’ll phone you in the spring; we’ll take that trip out to Northaw Great Wood, then have that beer.’
‘Yes, please do,’ Forbes turned to go. ‘I’ll look forward to that.’
‘Mr Vicary?’ The woman opened the door of her house on Oakhampton Road, Mill Hill. She had short hair and a ready smile, and had worn well with age; even though she was in her early middle years, Frankie Brunnie thought she still looked fetching in tee shirt, jeans and sports shoes.
‘No.’ Brunnie held up his ID. ‘I am DC Brunnie, this lady is my colleague, DC Yewdall, we are calling on behalf of Mr Vicary. He is our senior officer.’
‘Ah, I see. Pleased to meet you anyway. Do please come in.’
The two officers stepped over the threshold into a warm house — too warm, Penny Yewdall thought, and she did not envy Mrs South her quarterly heating bills — but the warmth within explained why she wore a tee shirt. The house was a neatly kept, 1930s semi-detached property, which smelled strongly of furniture polish. Mrs South invited the officers into the rear room of the house, which looked out on to a long, narrow garden and to a cemetery beyond that.
‘We are very lucky to be here,’ Mrs South announced, ‘privileged. . the cemetery beyond the garden and the golf club at the end of the road; lots of open space; fairly clean air considering that this is the middle of north London. Do sit down.’ Mrs South indicated the vacant chairs and settee with a very, Brunnie thought, French-style
