‘You’ll need to move your car over.’
‘What?’
The guard jerked a thumb over his shoulder. ‘Ambulance is on its way out. You’re blocking the way.’
Sharp swore under his breath, shoved the car into reverse and swung his arm over the back of Kay’s seat as he manoeuvred the vehicle back onto the narrow street that ran in a parallel line to the prison walls. Terraced houses faced the prison, and parked cars lined the road.
‘Can’t see a bloody thing,’ he muttered as he craned his neck.
Kay twisted in her seat. ‘Clear.’
Sharp reversed the car into the road, and then sat quietly fuming while he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
Kay straightened as an ambulance shot through the gates and tore down the street beyond their position, its siren blaring and lights ablaze.
‘That doesn’t look good,’ she said.
Sharp cranked the car into first gear. ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this, too.’
Once through the gates, the guard now pacified that the ambulance had been able to leave swiftly, Sharp swung the car into a space and they made their way to the entrance to the prison.
A small crowd had convened at the next set of gates, and Kay recognised a mid-set man amongst them as the governor.
He didn’t look like he was having a good day.
He raised his eyes from the man he’d been deep in conversation with – a guard with blood down the front of his shirt – and waved them over.
‘Go and get cleaned up, Perkins. A job well done, by the way. You did all you could.’
Kay watched the prison guard disappear into a building off to the left, then turned her attention back to the governor.
‘Mr Bagley,’ she said, shaking his hand after Sharp.
‘Detectives.’ He ran a hand over his tie and smoothed it down, an almost unconscious movement as his eyes tracked the forecourt.
‘What happened?’ said Sharp.
‘Rogers was set upon by a man armed with a screwdriver. Stab wounds to the chest and abdomen.’ He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. ‘Perkins was first on scene with a colleague of his. They restrained the attacker, and then Perkins did his best to stabilise Rogers while we waited for the ambulance.’
‘How bad is it?’
The governor’s eyes looked troubled. ‘Bad, I’m afraid. The ambulance took over twenty minutes to get here – school traffic, you see. By the time they arrived, Rogers had already lost a lot of blood.’
‘What about his attacker?’ said Kay.
The man shook his head. ‘He’s refusing to talk. There’ll be a full investigation, obviously.’
Sharp pursed his lips. ‘A shame we couldn’t get an appointment to speak with him sooner.’
Bagley’s brow furrowed. ‘Detective Inspector, my team’s first priority is the wellbeing of our prisoners. We can’t upset the whole prison routine simply because you decide you want to speak to one of them. Arrangements have to be made, and the prisoner informed of your wishes.’
Sharp held up his hands. ‘Sorry. Frustrating, that’s all.’
Bagley nodded. ‘Understood.’
‘Who else knew we were planning to speak to Rogers?’ said Kay.
‘Myself and half a dozen members of staff,’ said Bagley. ‘Plus Rogers, of course, and whoever he might’ve told.’
Kay glanced down as her bag started to vibrate, a moment before her phone began to ring.
‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘I need to take this.’
She took a few paces away from Sharp and Bagley, then answered. ‘What’s up, Barnes?’
‘We just received a call from the hospital,’ said the older detective, his voice resigned. ‘Bob Rogers didn’t make it. Dead on arrival.’
‘Shit,’ Kay murmured, then, ‘thanks.’
Ending the call, she made her way back to the two men and passed on the news.
‘I can’t say I’m surprised,’ said Bagley. ‘He wasn’t in a good way when he left here.’
Sharp sighed, and held out his hand to the governor. ‘Let us know what you manage to find out. I’ll keep in touch, and if our investigation throws any light on why this happened, I’ll let you know.’
‘Likewise,’ said Bagley.
Kay followed Sharp back to the car, both of them lost in thought until they reached the vehicle.
‘Demiri found out, didn’t he?’ she said.
‘Or, he pre-empted us.’
‘Tidying up loose ends, you think?’
Sharp placed his hands on the top of the car and turned his head to the prison entrance behind them. ‘That’s what worries me, Hunter. What if he takes this boatload of people and runs? Sets up somewhere else? We’ll have lost every advantage we had.’
Kay grimaced. She didn’t say it out loud, but right now she couldn’t recall one single advantage they’d had in the first place.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kay adjusted the volume on her headphones before hitting the “play” button on the video once more.
On her computer screen the recorded video of Paul Robinson, the last council worker to visit the smallholding at Thurnham, was playing; Gavin and Carys sat opposite the man in an interview room as he told them about his last visit.
‘It was nothing, really,’ he said, his voice sounding reedy over the recording equipment. ‘One of the property owners further up the lane made a complaint about the number of rubbish bags left outside the property – worried about rats, she said.’
‘What happened when you got there?’ said Carys.
‘There was no-one in, so I made arrangements for the bags to be picked up on the next rubbish collection the following Monday, and issued a notice to the tenant to be sure to keep the place tidy and free from vermin.’
‘Isn’t it unusual to have properties like this on your books?’
The man shrugged. ‘Not really. Some of the buildings like this used to belong to different departments for different reasons over the years. That house used to belong to the environmental department, for instance. As the council has had to reduce its budgets in different areas over the years, the buildings have been rented out. Brings in an income, you see.’
‘What about references for the tenants of this one, or forwarding addresses?’ said Gavin.
Robinson leaned back in his chair, and held up his hands. ‘For
