“You’ll have to take my word for it. I’m not crass, I don’t go in for stealing knickers as a trophy.”
Banks nodded towards the superintendent’s swollen, purplish cheek. “I see you’ve got a trophy of a kind.”
“That bloody husband of hers. Mistrustful swine.” He fingered the bruise. “But that was later. He’s lucky I didn’t pull him in for assaulting a police officer.
Still, I suppose he deserved a swing at me, so I let him. All nice and quiet.”
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“Very magnanimous of you.” Banks pulled a five-pound note from his wallet and dropped it on the desk.
“What’s wrong with you today, Banks? Sore loser?” Burgess picked up the money and held it out. “Fuck it, you don’t have to pay if you’re that hard up.”
Banks sat down and lit a cigarette. “Ever heard of a fellow called Barney Merritt?” he asked.
“No. Should I?”
“He’s an old friend of mine, still on the Met. He’s heard of you. He’s also heard of DC Cranby. Keith J. Cranby.”
“So?” The muscles around Burgess’s jaw tightened and his eyes seemed to turn brighter and sharper.
Banks tapped a folder on his desk. “Cranby and a mate of his-possible DC
Stickley-rented a blue Escort in York a couple of days ago. They drove up to Eastvale and checked into the Castle Hotel-the same place as you. I’m surprised you didn’t pass each other in the lobby, it’s not that big a place.”
“Do you realize what you’re saying? Maybe you should reconsider and stop while the going’s good.”
Banks shook his head and went on.
“The other day they broke into Dennis Osmond’s flat. They didn’t find what they were looking for, but they took one of his political books to put the wind up him. He thought he had every security force in the world after him. Yesterday evening they broke into Tim and Abha’s apartment and took away a number of folders. That was after I told you where the information they’d collected on the demo was kept.”
Burgess tapped a ruler on the desk. “You have proof of all this, I suppose?”
“If I need it, yes.”
“What on earth made you think of such a thing?”
“I know your methods. And when I mentioned the Osmond breakin you didn’t seem surprised. You didn’t even seem to care very much. That was odd, because my first thought was that it might have had a bearing on the Gill case. But, of course, you already knew all about it.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“I just don’t understand you,” Banks said. “What the 305
bloody hell did you hope to achieve? You used the same vigilante tactics they did in Manchester after the Leon Brittan demo.”
“They worked, though, didn’t they?”
“If you call hounding a couple of students out of the country and drawing national attention to the worst elements of policing good, then yes, they worked.”
“Don’t be so bloody naive, Banks. These people are all connected.”
“You’re paranoid, do you know that? What do you think they are? Terrorists?”
“They’re connected. Union leaders, Bolshy students, banthebombers. They’re all connected. You can call them misguided idealists if you want, but to me they’re a bloody menace.”
“To who? To what?”
Burgess leaned forward and gripped the desk. “To the peace and stability of the nation, that’s what. Whose side are you on, anyway?”
“I’m not on anyone’s side. I’ve been investigating a murder, remember? A policeman was killed. He wasn’t a very good one, but I don’t think he deserved to end up dead in the street. And what do I find? You bring your personal bloody goon squad from London and they start breaking and entering.”
“There’s no point arguing ethics with you, Banks-“
“I know-because you don’t have a leg to stand on.”
“But let me remind you that I’m in charge of this case.”
“That still doesn’t give you the right to do what you did. Can’t you bloody understand? You with all your talk about police image. This vigilante stuff only makes us end up looking like the bad guys, and bloody stupid ones at that.”
Burgess sat back and lit a cigar. “Only if people find out. Which brings us back to my question. What are you going to do?”
“Nothing. But you’re going to make sure those files are returned and that the people involved are left alone from now on.”
“Am I? What makes you so sure?”
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“Because if you don’t, I’ll pass on what I know to Superintendent Gristhorpe.
