‘Or maybe you wanted Ainsworth out for another reason,’ Ferreira suggested.
Hammond dragged his hands off the desk into his lap, the small movements through his shoulders giving away how nervously he was twisting his fingers together.
‘Fine,’ he said bitterly. ‘He’s dead now so I don’t suppose it matters. Frankly, I thought there may have been some merit to the accusation. We had very little evidence either way. It was simply her word against his, but Josh had been such a vocal accuser of other people over the preceding years that I began to wonder if he wasn’t doing that to cover for his own bad behaviour.’
Ferreira nodded, more to herself than him. She heard the pretence drop out of his voice, replaced by a slightly ragged and exasperated edge.
‘It isn’t the most fair or rigorous way of dealing with an accusation,’ he admitted. ‘And if it had ever come out, we’d have probably been in trouble. But my gut told me to listen to this particular young woman.’
His gaze drifted into middle distance for a moment.
‘We need to speak to the woman,’ Zigic told him.
Hammond’s attention snapped back onto him, his face shutting down, going back into professional mode. ‘I’m not sure that’s possible.’
‘Is she still in the facility?’
‘I’m afraid I can’t give you that information.’
‘You must understand how important it is that we speak to her,’ Zigic said, frustrated. ‘She’s one of the few people who can give us a direct insight into Ainsworth’s behaviour.’
‘You can’t seriously be suggesting she’s a suspect.’
‘I’m not suggesting that,’ Zigic said. ‘It’s very hard to consider what her position might be until we know if she’s still in here or not.’
Hammond reiterated his position, speaking slowly, and Ferreira half listened to his explanation of data protection and human rights, managed not to jump on him at that last one. She heard the stirring of fear under the arrogance in his voice, as if he realised he’d given too much away now for them to simply back down and forget about it.
Zigic went into politician mode, promising discretion and tact, that nothing he told them would be leaked to the press or used in official briefing statements. It was what Hammond wanted to hear but Ferreira doubted it was enough to assuage him.
Hammond was running a fiefdom here, backed by a board of directors who had likely not set foot in the place since the groundbreaking ceremony held for the trade papers. People whose main interest was the bottom line and secondary to that, what needed to be done to keep things running smoothly and their company’s name out of the headlines.
He’d made a unilateral decision on Joshua Ainsworth’s guilt. Just the same as he had with all the abusers and enablers he’d sacked when he started at Long Fleet.
She knew it was wrong but she couldn’t help but feel envious of the power he had.
He saw guilt, he took action. And for all they knew, as long as he refused to hand over his files, there was ample evidence of that guilt.
The more defensive he became about Ainsworth the more convinced she was that the evidence on him must exist. Because how bad would it look if it came out now via a murder investigation?
Especially since he’d made Ainsworth’s testimony the backbone of the wave of firings he had initiated. It threw all of that into question. Opened them up to wrongful dismissal suits and civil action. Gave fuel to Long Fleet’s critics, the ones who had consistently questioned the lack of transparency and oversight.
‘You have to understand, Mr Hammond,’ Zigic said blandly. ‘We now have a former member of your staff making insinuations about Josh Ainsworth on social media. This is a man who was sacked as a result of Ainsworth’s testimony against him.’
Hammond blanched.
‘The sooner we close this case, the less damage you’ll see done to your reputation here.’
‘Ainsworth being murdered by a disgruntled ex-employee is way less embarrassing than a former inmate who you allowed to be abused by him seeking her revenge,’ Ferreira suggested. ‘But until we can investigate those former employees – the ones Ainsworth informed on – well, we have to assume this woman might be responsible.’
Hammond was stony-faced. ‘I categorically cannot give you a list of former employees.’
‘We’ll find out who they are sooner or later,’ Zigic warned him. ‘And it’s going to cause a lot more noise us digging around and making public appeals.’
Ferreira turned towards him. ‘We could use that hidden camera footage – pick out all their faces, have it shown on the local news.’
‘And the national,’ Zigic agreed. ‘Those men could be working anywhere, we’d need national coverage.’
Hammond’s head was hanging now, the inevitability of it so clear that he couldn’t deny it to himself any longer.
‘We would rather do this discreetly,’ Zigic said. ‘Believe me, we’re aware of how important the work you do here is.’
Ferreira just managed to stop herself scoffing at that.
‘Nobody wants this to get ugly,’ Zigic went on. ‘If you can give us what we need, I promise to you we’ll make every effort to do our job as quietly as possible.’
‘Alright, Inspector,’ Hammond said, the merest hint of ire in his tone. ‘I’ll get you the records. And, the other matter … that’s a little more complicated, but leave it with me.’
Zigic stood, held his hand out. ‘Very much appreciated, Mr Hammond.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
‘So Ainsworth attacked someone?’ Keri Bloom asked, shocked and perplexed by the sudden revelation, just as Zigic had been when Hammond unburdened himself in his office. ‘What does this mean for us?’
‘It means we have a potential suspect if the woman’s been released from Long Fleet,’ Zigic told her. ‘But we still don’t know if she has been, so for now we’re going to be concentrating on the former guards who were sacked as a result of Ainsworth informing on them.’
‘How do we know he wasn’t lying about all
