‘I’ve had words with the Assistant Commissioner on the way in,’ Sharpe said. ‘He agrees that we have little option. There will be a change of personnel. Superintendent Chivers will assume command of the investigations into the deaths of Haynes and Moszynski and all related inquiries. You’ll make this your number-one priority, Dick. We need rapid progress.
‘DI Gurney, you and your people will brief the new team and then be allocated to other commands.’
Bren looked stunned. ‘Other commands, sir?’
‘Yes. We’ll work out where later. There’s no shortage of opportunities.’
‘As a short-term measure?’ Bren asked.
Sharpe gave him a barbed look of impatience. ‘Permanently, Inspector. The unit is no longer viable.’ He hurried on, ‘DI Kolla, you have twenty-three days of accrued leave entitlement. You will take this beginning noon tomorrow, after you’ve finished briefing Dick’s team. I would strongly recommend, for your own convenience and ours, that you spend that time outside of London. In particular-and this is an order-I don’t want you within a mile of Cunningham Place.’
Marilyn was eyeing Kathy over the top of her large glasses, watching her reaction.
Kathy felt detached, as if seeing all this from a distance.
‘Sir,’ she said, ‘I have prepared a detailed rebuttal of Sir Nigel’s statements. I don’t believe we need to overreact to-’
‘ Overreact! ’ Sharpe exploded, then thrust out his jaw and said, ‘Give your paper to Superintendent Chivers, Inspector. What I said stands.’ He took a breath, then continued, ‘We will announce a press conference at nine tomorrow morning, at which I shall make a statement. Marilyn?’
She handed out sheets, and they read. The MPS views with grave concern the claims made by Sir Nigel Hadden-Vane on BBC television last night. We deny absolutely any attempt to embarrass or incriminate him. As in any murder inquiry, those people closely associated with the victim or present at the scene have been investigated in a vigorous but scrupulous manner by our officers, who have acted throughout with diligence and fairness. Our investigation has been hampered by elements of secrecy surrounding some of Mr Moszynski’s affairs, but the investigating team has made significant progress, including establishing the identity of the murderer. The team has also been hampered by the sudden critical illness of its leader, DCI Brock. As a result we have decided to appoint Superintendent Richard Chivers to overall command of the inquiry.
‘That’s all I propose to say to the press,’ Sharpe said.
‘They’ll ask about Kathy,’ Marilyn objected.
‘That’s all I shall say,’ Sharpe repeated, and got to his feet. ‘Now you and I should go to New Scotland Yard.’
With a rueful look at Kathy, Marilyn stood up and followed him.
‘Well,’ Chivers said finally, ‘sorry about that. Didn’t know he was going to kick you lot out.’ His eye roved around the room as if working out where to hang his framed commendation certificates. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m going home to get some shut-eye. See you both here tomorrow, eh? Eight o’clock sharp.’
When he’d gone Bren said softly, ‘Bastard.’
Kathy blinked and sat up. ‘I feel sorry for him, stuck in the middle.’
‘No, Sharpe. He looked like he felt defiled just being here, like what he really wanted to do was raze the place to the ground and spread salt over the rubble. You were dead right, Kathy, they’re overreacting, badly.’
Kathy couldn’t frame a response to that.
Bren looked at her with concern and said, ‘Come back and stay at our place tonight, Kathy. After a good kip and one of Deanne’s hot breakfasts things will look brighter.’
‘Thanks, Bren, I appreciate it, but I’ll head off home to lick my wounds. See you tomorrow.’
She didn’t go home to face the press mob. There was a change of shirt and underwear in her locker and a bed in the staffroom, and she just wanted to be alone to confront the reality of it all, to come face to face at last with something that had haunted her from the beginning: the possibility of stuffing things up so badly that her career would be over. No longer viable. Only it was worse than that, because along with her, Brock’s whole outfit was going down. She had destroyed it, all of Brock’s patiently nurtured team broken up, scattered across London. And she had to go and tell him what she’d done. A sudden wave of nausea rose up in her gullet and she got quickly to her feet, went out to the women’s toilets down the corridor, and was sick.
She rose at five the following morning from the unfamiliar bunk, moist from a couple of hours of sweaty dream-filled sleep, had a shower and got dressed. Then she went to her computer and downloaded all the case files she could access onto a flash drive, and typed out the letter of resignation that she had been composing during the night.
She could hardly bring herself to look at them during Chivers’ team meeting-Dot, Pip, Mickey, Zack, Phil and the others-as they gasped with disbelief at the news that they were to be moved on. When Chivers called upon her to speak she did force herself to meet their eyes as she accepted full responsibility for the way things had turned out, and commended them on their dedication. She told them the hopeful news of Brock’s recovery and said she would be seeing him later that day to tell him what had happened, if he was well enough. Then she asked them to give Superintendent Chivers and his team every assistance to complete their work.
Chivers introduced his team, looking subdued, and explained how the debriefing would be organised.
At lunchtime, when it was all over, Chivers gave Brock’s team the rest of the day off, saying they would receive text messages later as to where to report the following day. Bren suggested they adjourn to the Two Chairmen, and they all filed out, carrying bulging bags and backpacks. Kathy stood the first round, and waited until the moans became repetitive, then said she would have to leave them to go and see Brock.
When she got to the hospital and caught a first glimpse of him, sitting up against the pillows, sucking juice through a straw, her courage gave out. But he looked up suddenly as if he’d sensed her presence, and smiled and waved her in. That gaunt smile was the worst thing of all, she decided, but she choked back the sick feeling and fixed a smile on her own face and stepped forward.
‘You look better today,’ she said brightly. ‘There’s colour in your face.’
‘I am feeling a bit more myself. Sorry if I was dozy yesterday. Suzanne’s just popped out to do some shopping. How are you?’
‘Umm…’ She wasn’t sure whether she should say anything, but then his eyes probed her and she launched into it. ‘It’s been a bad twenty-four hours, actually.’
He nodded. ‘Panic stations, eh?’ He indicated the TV on the wall facing the bed. ‘I saw Hadden-Vane’s performance, and Sharpe’s press statement. But we’ve seen it all before.’
She heard his reassuring, steadying voice, and wondered how she could tell him that it was worse, much worse.
‘Sharpe has decided to put Chivers in charge,’ she said.
He frowned. ‘Well, can’t be helped. In terms of his own accountability, Sharpe probably should have done it a week ago. You’ll get on with old Cheery all right. Just play it by the book. That’s what he likes.’
‘I won’t get that chance, Brock. None of us will. He’s brought his own team in. We spent this morning briefing them. We’re being
… dispersed.’
‘Dispersed?’
‘Assigned to other commands.’
A low growl rumbled in Brock’s throat.
‘And Chivers has taken over Queen Anne’s Gate.’
He looked startled, then slowly shook his head.
She waited, giving him a chance to say something before she broached the final thing. At last, when he said nothing, his expression unreadable, she took the envelope out of her pocket and said, ‘I’ve written my letter of resignation. I’ll post it downstairs when I leave.’
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ he said quietly. ‘A building’s just a building and the team could benefit from a change for a while, but you’re not going to sacrifice your career for that corrupt windbag. What on earth are you thinking of?’
‘The team’s being broken up permanently. Sharpe says it’s no longer viable, and it’s my fault entirely. I’m sorry, I was impatient. I showed my hand before I was ready. I deserved to be crushed. But you and the team don’t. I’ve ruined everything you’ve worked for.’ She took a breath and shook her head. ‘I just feel so bloody stupid
