Crew, injured and incoherent from the hours she had spent on the moor. Ben Cooper wondered if Yvonne had guessed what had happened that night.
After that, Warren Leach had lived for the best part of two months with the fear and expectation that an injured woman’s memories would return. He had tried to live a life under those circumstances, seeing every visitor as an enemy, recognizing the potential for betrayal even in his own wife. Perhaps especially in his own wife. Cooper knew that no one could live with that kind of uncertainty. No wonder Leach could see no point in carrying on.
Maggie Crew had been a serious threat to Leach, that was obvious. Yet there had been someone who had seen Jenny Weston as the main target. Had that been Leach? Or had that been Maggie herself?
‘Teasdale will be charged with manslaughter and a few other things,’ said DCI Tailby. ‘They all admit the assault on Calvin Lawrence and Simon Bevington at the quarry. They made a good job of drawing our attention there. And, of course, there’s the dogfighting pit.’
‘There must be more,’ said Chief Superintendent Jepson.
‘We’re quite sure there are others involved. But these people have their own sense of loyalty, too. They won’t implicate anyone else.’
‘I don’t mean more people. I mean Jenny Weston.
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Please tell me we can connect somebody to Jenny Weston, after all this…’
But Tailby shook his head.
‘Yes, I lay in wait for Jenny that day,’ Maggie had said. ‘I waited at the tower, because she always came that way. I had met her before, two days earlier, and we had argued. I was angry with her - I didn’t believe her when she said she had no idea where Ros had gone. She was my main hope, because I suspected then that there was more to their relationship. But of course I did it all wrong. I antagonized her.’
‘We don’t believe there was any relationship between them, other than a loose connection through the animal rights group. No sexual relationship. Jenny Weston and your daughter were not lovers.’
‘That’s what Jenny told me, too. As far as she was concerned, Ros was just a silly, hot-headed girl who had passed through her life and was soon forgotten.’
‘But you didn’t believe her.’
And Maggie hesitated. ‘Actually, I suppose I did.’
‘So why did you attack her? Why did you use the knife?’ ‘Did I do that? But yesterday, it felt as though I’d never held a knife in my life before. No, I don’t believe I saw Jenny Weston. Either she never came to the tower, or I was too late. I didn’t see her. Not that day.’
‘You expect us to believe that?’
‘You’ll have to,’ she said. ‘I think it’s true.’
Chief Superintendent Jepson scowled angrily at his officers, his blue eyes glittering.
‘Yes, I’m afraid it is true,’ said DCI Tailby.
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T ‘Are we sure?’ ‘The shoe print over the bloodstain is much too big to be Maggie Crew’s. Or Simon Bevington’s either, for that matter.’ ‘Damn.’ ‘Also, some strength was needed to drag the victim into the stone circle,’ said DI Hitchens. ‘We doubt that either of them would be capable of it, or would even attempt it. Besides, there’s the missing camera.’ Jepson frowned. ‘The camera?’ ‘Well, Jenny Weston had reported the dogfights to the RSPCA,’ said Hitchens. ‘We believe she’d taken some photographs, too. She carried an autofocus camera with her when she was on the moor. Most likely, it was in her pouch.’ ‘Which was missing when the body was found.’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Suggesting that whoever killed her knew what was likely to be on the film. So it has to have been one of the dogfighters.’ ‘Teasdale has told us that she took photographs of him and Warren Leach burying a pitbull terrier that had to be put down because of its injuries. They had taken it well away from the farm - close to the stone circle, in fact, in the trees there. But Jenny saw them. Teasdale says they stood no chance of catching her, because she was on a bike. But she knew they’d seen her.’ ‘And Leach was in a good position to spot Jenny when she came back to the moor again.’ ‘That’s pretty much what we think. And we found
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a whole range of knives and other implements in his workshop. Not the knife, though.’ Jepson considered the evidence. ‘So Warren Leach’s associates plan on him taking the blame for Jenny Weston’s murder. How convenient for them.’ ‘And clever. They’ve all got their story straight.’ ‘Well, let’s face it,’ said Hitchens. ‘It’s convenient all round.’ They all looked at Ben Cooper. But Cooper sat very still, his lips pressed together, saying nothing. Now was the time for saying nothing, if ever it had been the time. They were expecting a comment from him that would never come. Soon, there would be another police funeral for him to attend, when Todd Weenink was buried with all the honours befitting an officer who had died in the course of duty. But for now there was nothing to be said. Nothing that Cooper could possibly hope to put into words. Next day, there was a new notice pinned to the board in the corridor. Officers were gathered round to read it. ‘Mr Tailby’s being posted to Ripley,’ one said. ‘And the new DCI’s been named.’ ‘Oh? Is it DI Hitchens?’ Ben Cooper elbowed his way closer to the noticeboard. He was aware of an odd mood among the officers around him. A dark, cynical mood. ‘No, mate,’ said someone. ‘We’re getting a new Detective Superintendent from South Yorkshire, and a DCI is transferring from B Division. More foreigners on our patch.’
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I
7
Cooper read through the praise of Tailby and some indecipherable details of his new headquarters role, then skimmed through the new appointments before reaching the final pay-off line: ‘Detective Inspector K. Armstrong has been appointed Detective Chief Inspector, B Division, to succeed DCI Maddison.’ ‘Armstrong’s done well for herself,’ said someone. ‘Right.’ ‘Her paedophile operation got a good press. Lots of arrests.’ ‘Well, what can you say?’ They looked over their shoulders, watchful for unfriendly ears, afraid of uttering a politically incorrect word. ‘It’s good news for some,’ said Cooper. ‘Yes, if you’re one of the sisters.’ ‘Who do you mean?’ It was DC Gardner, trying to force herself into the group. ‘Acting DS Fry is it? Her and Armstrong? There’s more to it than that, from what I’ve heard. Sisters is right.’ ‘You listen to the sound of your own voice too much, then,’ said Cooper. Then he turned and saw Diane Fry herself, standing at the corner of the corridor. He wasn’t sure how much she had heard. She was pale and drawn. The wound on her cheekbone was red and angry, the stitches stretching the flesh tight below her eye. Before anyone else noticed her, she had slipped away, disappearing back into the shadows as if she hadn’t been there at all.
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Half an hour later, Diane Fry emerged from DI Armstrong’s office knowing that she had burned her boats. It was a curiously satisfying feeling. Armstrong had not been pleased at her decision not to take the job with her team. But Fry knew it hadn’t been right for her. Not now.
