'For God's sake, Alice. Carpenter knows where they go to school.'
'So their education is put on hold? For how long?'
Roper felt a surge of anger towards his wife. He wanted to shout at her, scream at her, shake her until she saw sense, but he fought to control himself. He knew it wasn't really Alice he was angry with. She hadn't let the family down. She hadn't put their lives on the line. Sandy Roper was angry with himself.
Two men in anoraks came out of the house with black bin-liners filled with clothing and threw them into the van. 'We've put boxes in the kitchen, Mrs Roper,' said one. 'Can you fill them with any kitchen stuff you want?' he said.
'What about the stuff in the freezer?' asked Alice.
'I'd leave it,' said the man. 'I'm not sure if there's a freezer at the new place.' Roper didn't know his name but Mackie had sworn on his mother's grave that the only personnel involved in the transfer to the safe-house were men he knew personally and that he would trust with his own life.
'What about the children's bikes?' asked Alice.
'I wouldn't recommend that the children be outside, frankly,' said the man.
Alice turned to her husband. 'See? They're going to be prisoners. We're all going to be prisoners.'
The Customs men went back into the house. Roper put his arms round his wife. She was trembling. 'I'll make this up to you, Alice. I promise.'
'Damn this Carpenter,' hissed Alice. 'How dare he ruin our lives like this? How dare he?'
Roper stroked the back of his wife's head. The photographs had been a warning, but Carpenter must have known there was a good chance that Roper would report the contact immediately and that the Church's reaction would be to close ranks and protect him and his family. Roper knew Carpenter better than almost anybody: the man was meticulous in his planning. The photographs had been Carpenter's first attempt to stop him giving evidence in court, and Roper was sure it wouldn't be his last. 'It'll be okay,' Roper whispered, as he stroked his wife's hair. 'Once the case is over and he's behind bars for good, it'll all be back the way it was, I promise.'
A man in a grey suit was standing at the front of the car. He hadn't offered to help carry any of their belongings out of the house and had acknowledged Roper with nothing more than a curt nod as he'd climbed out of one of the Church cars. He stood at the gate with his hands at his sides and his eyes never left the road outside the house. A gust of wind tugged at his jacket and Roper saw the butt of a semi-automatic in a shoulder holster. He hugged his wife closer so that she wouldn't spot it. Roper was beginning to wonder if things ever would be back to the way they were before he'd helped bring down Gerald Carpenter. For the first time he realised he was scared of what Carpenter could do to him and his family. And for the first time he was doubting that the Church would be able to protect them.
Shepherd was mopping the ones when Hamilton came up to tell him that his lawyer was there to see him. The officer escorted him to the visitors' centre and showed him into the soundproof room, where Hargrove was waiting.
They shook hands as Hamilton closed the door. Shepherd could see from Hargrove's expression that something was wrong. He sat down and waited for the bad news.
Hargrove wasted no time. 'We've lost the tapes that Elliott and Roper made,' he said, sitting down opposite Shepherd. 'They've been wiped.'
'What?'
'Someone got into the evidence room and ran a high-powered electromagnet over them.'
'How the hell could that have happened?' said Shepherd.
'If we knew that, we'd have the guy in custody,' said Hargrove.
'I thought anyone who went into an evidence room was logged.'
'They are. But we don't know when it happened.'
'For God's sake,' said Shepherd, exasperated, 'what's the point of me putting my head in the lion's den if you lot can't even take care of the evidence you've got?' He pushed himself out of his chair and paced the room. Hamilton was watching through one of the windows. 'This is fucking unbelievable, it really is. He's killing off agents, threatening witnesses and destroying evidence, and you lot are sitting around with your thumbs up your arses.'
'That's not quite the position, Spider.'
'It looks to me like it's exactly the position,' said Shepherd. 'How the hell could someone get into a locked evidence room and destroy tapes?'
'We only found out yesterday because the CPS wanted to check part of Roper's transcript. The tape was blank so we checked the rest. All blank.'
'And you don't know when it happened?'
'The last time they were used was when Gary Nelson had them for his authenticity check. That was four weeks ago. There have been hundreds of officers in and out of there since. We're on the case, Spider. The room was covered by CCTV so we're going through every minute of tape. Plus we're interviewing every officer who logged into the room. We'll find out who did it, but it's going to take time.'
'Nelson's the forensics guy who was threatened, right?'
'That's him. He's now in the Algarve with his wife and says he isn't coming back until Carpenter's behind bars.'
'Sounds like he's the only one with any sense,' said Shepherd. He rubbed his face. 'So where does that leave us?'
'Elliott's evidence is now useless. The transcripts alone aren't worth anything. Losing Roper's tapes isn't the end of the world because we have the transcripts and Roper can back them up.'
'Unless Carpenter gets to Roper.'
'That's not going to happen,' said Hargrove.
'You know, I'd have a lot more faith in that if Elliott wasn't dead and the tapes hadn't been wiped.' Hamilton was still watching through the window so Shepherd sat down with his back to him.
'I've got something I want you to think about,' said Hargrove. 'Totally up to you but it might make things a bit easier, case-wise.' Shepherd looked at Hargrove expectantly but didn't say anything. 'You could wear a wire,' said the superintendent quietly.
Shepherd's jaw dropped. It was the last thing he'd expected to hear Hargrove say. 'You are joking, right?'
Hargrove shook his head. 'If you could nail Carpenter on conspiracy, we'd have him on your evidence alone.'
'You know where I am, right?'
'Yes, Spider,' said Hargrove patiently. 'I know.'
'The guys in here are Cat A. They're professional criminals, most of them. They'd spot a wire a mile off.'
'Not necessarily,' said Hargrove. 'We could get something special from the technical boys. A recording device that looks like a CD player or a Walkman, maybe.'
'And if someone finds out what I'm doing?'
'Then we pull you out.'
'If I got caught in here with a wire you wouldn't have time.'
'Just give it some thought,' said Hargrove. 'I'm not forcing you to do anything you don't want to.'
'What's the state of play on Carpenter's case?'
'He's got another court appearance next week, but his case won't be heard for another two months, and that's without his lawyers playing silly buggers. Could be four months.'
'So he's got four months to get to Roper.'
'That's one way of looking at it. The other way is that you've got four months to nail him.'
'I'm not going to be in here for four months!' said Shepherd.
'As soon as you've had enough, all you've got to do is say.'
Shepherd sat back and folded his arms. He knew that the superintendent was right. He was in Shelton by choice, and it was his decision how long he stayed there. But that didn't make him feel any more comfortable. 'I think you should have a closer look at Tony Stafford,' he said.
'Because?'
'Because that five hundred quid you gave to Digger's sister bought me a place on the spur's cleaning
