13
I t was late in the small hours by the time they returned, separately, to Kathy’s flat and fell exhausted into bed, and by morning Kathy had forgotten the conversation in the car. The wind had dropped, and from the bedroom window the city was bathed in a silvery light from low luminescent cloud. The sense of stillness matched Kathy’s mood. She had slept deeply and felt detached from the events of the previous day, as if they had unfolded too rapidly and needed time and distance to absorb.
She made a pot of tea and took it back to bed, and they made love. They were good at it now, with a developed understanding of each other, and when it was over she felt completely at peace.
‘We should get away this weekend,’ Leon said. ‘Get some time together after all the hours we’ve put in this week.’
‘Mmm. That sounds good. Do you think we can? Will we wind things up today?’
‘Depends on the preliminary PM results, I suppose. But I reckon there’ll be a lull, if not an end to it.’
‘Nice word,’ she murmured, curling into the crook of his arm. ‘Lull… lull… lull.’
*
By midday the evacuation of unit 184 was well in hand. Phil had finally been dislodged from his post at the door, and men with hand trolleys were moving boxes of computers and files out into the rear access corridor to the service lift, and down to a truck in the basement. Gavin Lowry came over to speak to Kathy.
‘Nice meeting you,’ he said. ‘Hope we get to work together again, next time I need a new car.’
‘Yes. Sorry about that, Gavin. And I’m sorry I won’t be able to see how your campaign against the grey crust works out.’
‘Read about it in Th e Job.’ He grinned.
‘Maybe Forbes can go for Harry Jackson’s job. I hear he’s resigning.’
‘He offered his resignation, but Bo Seager wouldn’t accept it. Reckoned he wasn’t culpable.’
‘Do you think that’s right? You’d have thought he should have picked up a few warning signals about Speedy. He was his appointment, wasn’t he? Knew him from the old days before his accident?’
‘Yes. I guess Harry’s fault, if he has one, is that he tends to be too loyal towards his team.’
Kathy smiled at him. ‘That’s not a mistake you intend to make, eh Gavin?’
He looked hurt. ‘This from the woman who trashes my car.’
They shook hands and Lowry left to accompany the truck back to Hornchurch Street. Kathy went through to the rear office, where Brock was sorting through papers, pushing most of them through the slot of a locked bin for shredding.
‘Well, Kathy.’ He stretched and straightened his back, and walked over to the door to check on progress with clearing the place. ‘I asked for twenty-four hours, but I honestly didn’t think we’d crack it in the time.’
He seemed relieved but hardly elated, she thought. ‘You’re sure we have?’
He glanced at her. ‘Certainly looks that way. Lowry and the others didn’t come up with anything suspicious in the shop units, and they did a pretty solid job this time. Bo Seager’s just been on to me about a deputation from the small traders led by our friend Bruno Verdi complaining about how thorough we were. Everyone seems very relieved to have us leave Silvermeadow. Our SIO especially. Can’t wait to have us off his patch. We’ll let his people wrap it all up.’
‘While we concentrate on North.’
‘Exactly. We’ve got plenty of leads on Keith Nolan to follow up. However, I was talking to Bren this morning…’ He turned back from the door and came and sat on a box next to the chair Kathy had taken, lowering his voice as he went on. ‘An idea occurred to me. I thought it might be worth us making one last little effort here tomorrow, unofficially.’
‘Saturday?’
‘Yes. It was last Saturday that North, if it really was him, was spotted. If he has some particular interest in the place, he might make a repeat visit. I’ve asked Bren and a few of the lads to spend the day with me here, on the off-chance.’
‘You’ll be lucky to spot him in the Saturday crowd. It’s the last Saturday before Christmas.’
‘So they tell me. We’ll be in a couple of emergency road assistance vans, parked at the two main entrances onto the site, watching car drivers as they come in and out. Another lad’ll watch the bus station and taxi rank.’
‘And there’s the WPC in the shop,’ Kathy said, thinking.
‘No. Forbes has pulled her out.’
Kathy felt him looking keenly at her.
‘I did wonder if you would be interested in a new career for a day.’
She had seen it coming, and had already begun to resign herself to it. The weekend with Leon would have to wait.
‘It’s a long shot, Kathy, no doubt of that.’
She nodded. ‘What about putting somebody in the control room to watch for him on the screens?’
‘Yes, Jackson would probably be delighted, what with half his staff ill. But I’d rather not tell him what’s going on. His own security isn’t looking too good at the moment. Let’s keep this to ourselves.’
As she was leaving, Kathy met Sharon in the mall. She was giving directions to an elderly couple, confused and lost, and when she caught sight of Kathy she waved to her to wait. When she’d finished with the shoppers she came over and said, ‘I hear you’re going.’
‘Yes. Looks like we’re all finished here, Sharon. You’re back on patrol, I see.’
‘We’re very short-handed at the moment.’ She looked uneasily at Kathy. ‘You’re quite satisfied, then? About Speedy? That he killed those poor kids?’
‘It looks that way.’
‘Oh…’ Sharon lowered her eyes.
‘Yes, it’s a bit of a shock, isn’t it?’
‘I’d never have believed it, to be honest.’
‘What, because of the wheelchair?’
‘Oh no, I think he could have done it, physically I mean. I’ve seen him down the gym. He was very strong in his shoulders and arms. No, I just wouldn’t have believed he would. And especially not Wiff.’
‘Did you know the boy?’
‘Yeah. Speedy had him down the security centre once, showing him the computers and stuff. He was really fond of him, I thought. You know, protective. He felt sorry for him, homeless and that.’
‘Did the other security people know about Wiff?’
‘Probably not. Speedy didn’t want Harry to know. Didn’t think he’d approve.’ She stared down at her toecaps, polished shiny black, immaculate like the rest of her uniform, the way Harry would like it.
‘Something bothering you, Sharon?’
‘Yeah… It may sound stupid, but it isn’t possible somebody else could have killed Speedy, is it, and made it look like Speedy did it?’
‘What makes you say that?’
She shrugged, uncomfortable. ‘I suppose I just can’t believe it really.’
‘That’s often the way. People can’t believe that the nice man they worked with for years could really be a killer.’
‘Yeah, only… Speedy had this way of annoying people. He’d do things to get under their skin.’
‘Yes,’ Kathy agreed.
‘I think he did it because he couldn’t stand them feeling sorry for him, so he’d do something to piss them off. I said to him once that he should be careful or someone would belt him one, wheelchair or not. And he said he didn’t worry, cos he knew too much.’
‘What did he mean by that?’
‘I don’t know, and he wouldn’t tell me. He just said he saw more of what went on stuck in front of his screens than the rest of us did on our two legs. Well, I wondered if he’d pissed someone off good and proper this time. Someone who didn’t care what he knew.’
‘Or cared too much. Nothing else? What about his drugs? You must have known about them.’
Sharon looked unconvincingly defiant. ‘What drugs?’
