“So he says.”
“Any idea where he is?”
“London, I think.”
“Still? So he hasn’t got as far as Devon or Cornwall yet?”
“Apparently not.”
“But he does have his mobile with him?”
Annie shrugged.
“Funny, that, because I can’t seem to get hold of him at all.”
“I don’t suppose he has it turned on all the time. He
“Ah, that must be it. Anyway, did I hear a mention of some sort of Wyman-Hardcastle connection?”
“You might have done, yes. Just a bit of harmless theorizing, you know . . . as one does . . .”
Gervaise put on a puzzled expression. “But that can’t be, surely?
According to my files, there
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I told you. Skip the formalities. It
It felt odd, but Annie wasn’t going to argue at the moment. She needed to find out where Gervaise was going, and you could never tell from her opening gambits. “Of course,” she said.
“Look here, Annie,” Gervaise went on. “I like you. You’re a good copper. You appear to have your head screwed on the right way, and at a guess I’d say you’re fairly ambitious, am I right?”
“I like to do a good job and be recognized for it,” said Annie.
“Exactly. Now nobody can fault you on that last business you were involved in on detachment to Eastern Area. One might argue that you acted rather hastily at the end, went off half-cocked, but there was no way you could predict the way things were going to turn out. As it happened, you acquitted yourself very well. It’s always a pity when blood is shed, but it could have been worse, a lot worse, if you hadn’t kept your head and your wits about you.”
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P E T E R R O B I N S O N
Annie didn’t feel that she had kept her head at all, but you didn’t throw such praise back in the face of the person who gave it to you.
Especially Superintendent Gervaise. “Thank you,” she said. “It was a difficult time.”
“I can well imagine. Anyway, that’s behind us now. As, I thought, was the Hardcastle and Silbert business.”
“It’s just a few loose ends,” Annie said. “You know, dotting
“I see. And just what, once you’ve done all that, does it spell out?”
“Murder-suicide?”
“Exactly. Now the chief constable himself has taken a personal interest in this whole business, and he thinks it’s in the best interests of all concerned—his very words—that we toss the file in the solved cabinet—he really thinks we have such a thing, you know—and put it out of our minds, deal with the situation on the East Side Estate before it escalates. This
“And let’s not forget the traffic cones,” said Annie.
Gervaise gave her a disappointed look. “Yes, well. My point is that if you were doing your job, if you were following instructions, if you were—”
“I
“I know you’re working on it, Annie, but I’m not convinced you’re giving it your full attention. Now I catch the tail end of a telephone conversation you’re having with DCI Banks, who’s supposed to be on holiday, about a business that not only I, but also our chief constable, want to forget about. What am I to think? You tell me.”
“Think what you like,” said Annie. “He just wants to tidy up a few loose ends, that’s all.”
“But there
“And who told him?”
Gervaise paused and regarded Annie coolly for a moment before replying, “Someone even higher up the tree than he is, no doubt.”
“But don’t you feel used when the intelligence services start muscling in on our territory?” Annie asked.
“Tut-tut,” said Gervaise. “That’s not the way to think of it. Not the way at all. This is cooperation. We’re all fighting a common battle A L L T H E C O L O R S O F D A R K N E S S
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here, a united front against the forces of evil. They’re not ‘muscling in,’ they’re offering us their expertise and helping us find our direction, and in this case they’ve directed us to a brick wall.”
“Like my satnav usually does,” said Annie.
