‘Do you want to help with this?’
‘I think that’s what I was supposed to do when the call came through to me. I was out of line responding as I did.’ She shrugged. ‘My first cold case. Sure. As if I haven’t enough else on my plate.’
There was a tension between us and we both knew why. We’d enjoyed our night together all those months ago. And not just the sex. We’d enjoyed talking, joking. It had been hard to leave it at that one night. For both of us, I suspected.
And now, here she’d been, hiding in my bedroom. We were alone and my circumstances had changed. Except that I was hoping Molly and I could find a way to get back together.
I suddenly got embarrassed, wondering if I’d left dirty clothes lying around. I put the box on my desk and turned back to her. She’d resumed her seat on the sofa.
‘But what about Finch?’ I said. ‘If he has been murdered, then he must have been involved in some kind of set-up. What do you know about him?’
‘Only that he was an asshole.’
‘Did he have a girlfriend? A close friend we should talk to?’
Gilchrist shrugged.
‘I don’t know and we can’t talk to them anyway. I’m not on this case.’
‘I need to talk to Munro, see where he’s got to in his investigation.’
‘I wasn’t impressed by his officers when they interviewed me.’
‘He’s a good man,’ I said.
She looked at the floor.
‘I thought at first that night in Milldean was shades of Operation Rambo.’
I must have looked puzzled.
‘Before your time, sir… Bob. It was part of a high-profile drugs operation. Seven officers smashed their way into a listed cottage and ransacked it. Overturned furniture, emptied cupboards, poured the contents of bathroom and kitchen cabinets into sinks and baths.’
‘Looking for drugs.’
‘Yes, but unfortunately we’d got the wrong house.’
I groaned.
‘We’ve done it before?’
‘Dozens of times, I’m sure. On that occasion we should have been battering our way into the house next door. ACC Macklin handled the house-owner’s claim for compensation. He decided the man was taking the piss, the amount of compensation he was asking for. Ten grand, I think. Replacement front door in a listed building, damage to antique furniture in the house. The distress caused: the raid had taken place in broad daylight in full view of passers-by and neighbours. The local press described it as a successful drug raid. The man lost his job.
‘Macklin offered two grand. The man went to court. He spent ten grand on legal fees then came up against an unsympathetic judge. He warned him to settle or risk paying police costs as well. Macklin reduced his offer to five hundred pounds.’
I shook my head.
‘No wonder we get a bad press for being arrogant and out of touch.’
Sarah spread her hands.
‘Look, there’s something I’m not happy about,’ she said. ‘That night in Milldean.’
‘The thing in the man’s hand?’
‘Nobody is interested. Command has gone to shit since you resigned. All the senior people are desperately trying to cover their backs, so nobody is doing any proper managing or policing. The crime rate is rising…’
She was getting heated.
‘What was in his hand? A weapon?’
‘I thought it might be when I first saw him. But I don’t think so.’
‘What, then?’
‘I think it was a mobile phone.’
‘And it never made it to the evidence box?’
‘I think either Finch or one of those blokes from Haywards Heath took it. Which was odd, but I thought it would be entered into evidence. It wasn’t.’
‘Did you ask them about it?’
‘Yes. Except for Finch. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. The Haywards Heath men denied removing anything.’
‘But you’re sure it was a phone.’ I sat back. ‘And you’re thinking that the man was in communication with someone outside.’
‘Not just anyone outside. A policeman, perhaps.’
‘Why would you think that?’
‘Just a feeling. And, if nothing else, there was a trigger-happy colleague on the outside.’
‘Why couldn’t he be in touch with whoever sounded that car horn?’
‘Yes – what was that about? An associate of the people in the house?’
‘Could it have been random?’
She shook her head and crossed her legs. I couldn’t help glancing. She noticed but continued:
‘The timing was too neat. It was a warning.’ She paused and tilted her head. ‘But I wonder who the warning was intended for? There’s no one I can talk to about it. If it was a set-up, I don’t know who I can trust. I’ve been waiting for the investigation but, as you know, it hasn’t really happened. I need to get more information.’
I walked behind the desk then looked back at her.
‘Are you saying that we didn’t raid the wrong house by mistake? That some person or persons unknown made sure we raided that particular house and that those people were the intended victims?’
‘Whoever was behind it wanted those people dead and he used the police to do it.’
‘I don’t buy it. Everyone in the armed response unit was in on it?’
‘Not everybody – just a couple – including Finch.’
‘But Foster was running the show – if what you suggest is true, he must have been in on it too. Why the suicide?’
‘If it was.’
‘You think someone has been going round knocking off the people who know exactly what happened that night?’
She nodded.
‘You think Edwards is dead, too?’
‘Or in hiding. And the same goes for the nark.’
‘He’s not been found yet?’
She shook her head.
‘Where can we take this?’ I said, coming round the desk. I moved over to her. I sensed her shrink back.
‘We need to talk to the Haywards Heath men but I don’t see how we can.’
‘I’ve got this friend – Jimmy Tingley. He can do it. He’s very good.’
‘You’ve mentioned him before.’
She looked at her watch and abruptly stood.
‘OK, then. I’d better go.’
‘I’ll call you when he’s got back to me,’ I said.
‘I’ll call you if I can find out anything more at work,’ she said, her hand already on the door knob.
‘Do,’ I said, before she fled from me.
Gilchrist felt like a teenager leaving like that. Watts confused her. She was determined there wouldn’t be a repeat of their one-night stand but she was drawn to him.
On a whim she decided to drive back into Brighton via the Milldean estate. She parked outside the pub and looked down the street to the house that had been the scene of the massacre. It seemed both an age ago and a matter of hours since she’d been crouching in the back garden.
She locked her car and went into the pub. A few heads turned as she entered but she ignored them. She approached the bar at the same time as a slender, unassuming man of middle height. He gestured for her to go
