‘One beer, Colin. If it makes you feel better I’ll have one too.’
‘You bastard.’
Nightingale grinned and waved at the nearest waiter. ‘Two beers,’ he mouthed. ‘Coronas.’
‘I don’t want that Mexican shit,’ said Duggan. ‘I’ll have a Tsingtao. Chinese restaurant, Chinese beer.’ The waiter scribbled in his notepad and hurried away. ‘So what can I do for you?’ Duggan asked. ‘I’m assuming that the “do you trust me” question means it’s something heavy.’
‘You made a crack about the banker. Underwood.’
‘Yeah, that bastard deserved what he got. That day, when the little girl died.?.?.’ Duggan shuddered. ‘You never said anything, after you came down. If you had, if you’d told me what that bastard had done to her, I’d have gone with you, Jack. No question. I’d have thrown him through that window myself.’
‘Allegedly,’ said Nightingale. ‘You remember the doll she had with her when she fell?’
Duggan nodded. ‘The Barbie doll.’
Nightingale took a deep breath. ‘Can you get it for me?’
‘The doll?’
‘Yeah. The doll.’
‘What the hell are you playing at?’
The waiter returned with two bottles of beer and two glasses. He put them down on the table and walked away.
‘Jack?’
‘I just need to borrow the doll for a day or two. Then I’ll return it.’
‘There’s no live case, so what’s your interest?’
Nightingale sighed. ‘It’s just a thing I’ve got to do.’
‘Someone’s paying you?’
Nightingale shook his head. ‘It’s personal. Look, her death was a suicide, no doubt about that. Her father died that day, and her mother killed herself two weeks after they buried the little girl. So I’m pretty sure that her belongings are still going to be in the evidence room.’
‘That’s what you want me to do? Get into the evidence room and steal the doll?’
‘Borrow. You’ll get it back.’
‘And you want me to do this without telling me why?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You really are full of yourself, aren’t you?’
‘I know I’m asking a lot. And I’ll owe you one.’
‘Since when did a cop need a favour from a private eye? Shit always rolls downhill, remember?’
‘You never know what’s going to happen down the line,’ said Nightingale. ‘I need this, Colin. I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t important.’
A waiter brought over two bowls of noodles. Duggan waited until he’d walked away before speaking but even then he kept his voice low. ‘Just promise that this won’t come back and bite me in the arse,’ he said.
Nightingale made the sign of the cross on his chest. ‘Cross my heart and hope to die,’ he said. He was joking but the second the words had passed his lips he shuddered.
‘What?’ said Duggan.
Nightingale waved away the question. ‘Just someone walking over my grave,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry, mate, I won’t let you down.’ He picked up a fork and grinned. ‘Go on, dig in.’
They ate in silence for a while. ‘What’s the story with you and Dwayne Robinson?’ asked Duggan eventually.
‘What have you heard?’
‘That you shot him in the head and he made a deathbed statement naming you.’
Nightingale swore and put down the fork ‘That’s not what happened,’ he said. ‘Who told you that?’
‘Word on the grapevine,’ said Duggan.
‘Specifically?’
The detective shook his head. ‘Like all the best chefs I’m reluctant to identify my source,’ he said.
‘Yeah, well, Jamie Oliver you’re not. Was it Dan Evans?’
‘Haven’t seen him for months,’ said Duggan. ‘Chalmers is using him as his runner these days, I heard.’
‘I thought everyone understood that I wasn’t involved in the Robinson thing. I was nowhere near Brixton when it happened.’
‘Well, on the street your name’s very much in the frame, Jack.’
Nightingale swore again.
‘Problem?’ asked Duggan.
‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ said Nightingale, wishing that he felt as confident as he sounded.
They finished their noodles and Nightingale paid the bill, then they shook hands outside the restaurant and Duggan climbed into a black cab.
Nightingale phoned Evans on his mobile as soon as he got home. ‘What the hell’s going on, Dan?’ asked Nightingale the moment that the detective answered the call.
‘Yeah, and good evening to you too, Nightingale.’
‘Don’t screw me around, Dan. You said you’d put the word out that the Robinson shooting was nothing to do with me.’
‘I said I’d see what I could do.’
‘Yeah, well it looks now like every man and his dog believes that I pulled the trigger.’
‘Shit,’ said Evans.
‘Yeah, shit,’ said Nightingale. ‘Why have I just been told that the cops think I’m the one who shot Dwayne Robinson?’
‘That’s down to Chalmers. He’s still got your name in the frame.’
‘So you didn’t let Robinson’s gang know that it wasn’t me who shot their boss? That’s what we agreed, right? You were going to get them off my back.’
‘Jack, how could I do that? Chalmers watches me like a hawk. And if he found out that I was sabotaging his investigation he’d have my guts for garters.’
‘Sabotage? Since when has telling the truth been sabotage?’
‘Jack, don’t get on your high horse with me. I did you a favour giving you the details of the Range Rover, and there’s the matter of you not reporting a major crime.’
Nightingale bit down on his lower lip. He wanted to shout and swear at Evans but he knew that wouldn’t get him anywhere. Evans was a cog in the machine, and a small cog at that.
‘I’m sorry, Jack. Really. But my hands were tied,’ said Evans.
Nightingale took a deep breath, calming himself down. ‘Dan, I am in so much shit. You can see that, right? They’ve already tried to shoot me once; if they think I killed Robinson then what’s to stop them trying again?’
‘They know we’re on the case. I don’t think they’ll be stupid enough to have another go.’
‘They’re drug dealers, Dan, that’s not generally a sign of a high IQ.’ He took another deep breath. ‘You checked the Range Rover, right?’
‘Yes, and there were no guns.’
‘And Reggie Gayle’s house?’
‘No guns there either.’
‘And Perry Smith? The face I recognised?’
‘That I don’t know.’
‘What do you mean, you don’t know? He’s one of the guys who shot at me.’
‘Yeah, well, I couldn’t tell Chalmers that without dropping you in it, could I? If I’d told him that Smith was one of the shooters he’d want to know how I knew. It was hard enough getting him to give Gayle a pull. But it’s not all bad news; we interviewed Gayle about the shootings in Queensway so he knows he’s on our radar and he’ll tell Smith.’
‘CCTV footage?’
‘There’s plenty of the car but we can’t ID the driver or any of the passengers. Gayle’s saying it was his missus out shopping. There were no cameras covering the area where the shooters got out of the car, which was
