‘Who?’
‘His wife, Susi. She works from home. A failing business, according to her company accounts. It certainly doesn’t pay for a place like this.’
Amy crept along the side wall as Paddy rang the doorbell. After several delicate chimes Bicks’s wife answered the door. ‘Sorry to trouble you,’ Paddy’s voice boomed out as he introduced himself. ‘Can I speak to Sergeant Bickerstaff? He left in a bit of a hurry and there’s a couple of things I need to run through with him.’
An uncomfortable silence followed.
‘I’m afraid he’s not in.’
‘But his car’s here . . .’ Paddy’s words faded as Amy unhooked the side gate and crept out to the back. For the second time, she crashed into Bicks as he turned the corner to make his escape.
The colour drained from his face as Amy called to Paddy to come around the back.
‘Sergeant Bickerstaff, I’m arresting you on suspicion of perverting the course of justice – you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
She watched as he dropped his suitcase, his face frozen in disbelief. But not one word was uttered as Amy took him by the arm. She did not need handcuffs. She knew Bicks’s type and he would have rehearsed for this day. Once Bicks was processed in custody, officers would follow up with a house search. A high-pitched cry followed them as Susi screamed at them to let her husband go.
‘It’s OK,’ Bicks said with cold calmness. ‘They’ve made a mistake. I’ll be home by teatime.’
Susi’s sobs echoed down the drive as Amy led him to the car. He was perfectly compliant. Too compliant. The search team would have their work cut out for them. She only hoped that DCI Donovan would support her arrest.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
‘Is it true?’ Donovan’s voice blared in Amy’s earpiece. ‘Have you gone Code 32 with Bicks?’
He was asking her if she had made the arrest. Numerous point-to-point calls had come in on her police radio, which were private as long as the call didn’t drop out. It was an old prank in her probationary days; start with a private call, speak to them about something evocative, then drop the call so their response was played on the main airways. But Amy was far from probation now, and Donovan sounded deadly serious.
‘Yes, boss,’ she said, conscious Paddy was sitting with their suspect in the back seat of the car. Bicks had not said a word since his arrest. Amy activated the car indicator as she turned left from the Frinton gates towards Clacton-on-Sea. She had suspected Bicks of something underhand since their supper date in his home. A gnawing sensation that would not go away. He was a peacock, showing off his wealth that evening. The chip on his shoulder had no doubt grown from spite, as Donovan’s commendations grew. No wonder Carla’s investigations had disappeared from the police system. She wasn’t the one deleting her emails – he was. He had logged in under her username, and the time stamp of her emails’ deletion was after she died. But Amy couldn’t tell Donovan of her suspicions, not until she had something to back them up. There were no commendations on the wall of Bicks’s home. But there had been an interesting photograph of times gone by.
‘Winter? What time will you be here?’ Donovan’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
‘Five, maybe ten minutes, boss,’ Amy replied. She was building a case against Bicks in her mind. But without hard evidence, it might go nowhere. Right now, all she had was a spooked detective and some CCTV of him visiting the property office and switching the iPad. He hadn’t known about the camera that had been recently installed. But she did.
The team had been subdued since she had brought Bicks in. Nobody, least of all Bicks’s colleagues, wanted to believe that there was a bent copper working alongside them. After their lukewarm reception, she had only just won them around. But Amy was steadfast, and their team deserved to know the truth. Bicks had been the rotten apple in the barrel all along.
Amy prepared for a telling-off as she met Donovan in a spare office where they could build a case against Bicks, but he could barely look her in the eye.
‘You should have told me sooner. We could have handled this differently.’ His words were tinged with anger, the shock of Bicks’s betrayal etched on his face.
But Amy was ready with an answer. ‘I wanted to do it without fanfare.’
Bicks was to be taken to Chelmsford police station and provided with a police federation representative as per protocol when officers were arrested. There was too much conflict of interest for his own team to deal with this.
So far, the search had produced very little, but Amy had expected as much.
‘Why would Bicks kill Carla?’ Donovan asked. ‘What would he possibly have to gain?’
But Amy suspected him of more than that. ‘That day I spoke to Mama Danielle, she was terrified. The last person she could talk to about it was me.’ She stared at Donovan, but all she could see was disbelief. ‘Then, when Tina spoke to Molly, she said it was too dangerous for her to come into the station. So did Matty. Bicks is at the heart of this.’
Donovan exhaled a weary sigh. ‘I thought I knew him.’ Finally, he met Amy’s gaze, his expression resolute. ‘We need proof. And we need to get those kids in.’
CHAPTER FIFTY
Friday 30 July
Sipping her morning coffee, Amy battled her way through her thoughts as she dissected the case. The shadows beneath Donovan’s eyes relayed that sleep had not come to him either. She prayed that today would bring answers – that she could bring Matty and the
