‘And the undercover guy?’
‘He was there. That’s how we know what happened.’
‘And he just stood back and watched?’ That made him as guilty as the other two, in her eyes. He’d let them kill Andy rather than put the operation in jeopardy.
Hammond held her gaze. ‘Andy put himself in the way of an ongoing operation because he didn’t follow orders. The undercover guy did his best to keep Andy out of it but Andy put himself in there anyway. The Traynor woman decided to get rid of him so the undercover guy went with them to get Andy out of there safely. But Andy had his own plans for getting away, and the first thing he did was kick our guy’s knee in, left him helpless. After that, it was just the Traynor woman and Sharman. As it was, Andy almost got away.’
Dinah felt her stomach knot. Andy, fighting for his life and putting the one person who could protect him out of action. ‘Do we know for sure what happened to her? To Traynor?’
‘She fell into the water. No way she’ll survive that. She’ll probably wash up in a day or two, somewhere along the coast.’
‘And the kid?’
‘He’s been hooked-in to the drugs gangs for a while, and now he’s old enough to prosecute.’
‘Will they?’
A huge plate of food arrived in front of Hammond. Dinah had managed to pass all the plates on and just had toast and coffee. Hammond looked across at Dinah as he picked up his knife and fork. ‘Depends. He could get out of it if he talks to them. I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t care.’
‘So we’ve got Sharman for the murder, and a kid for the drugs?’ Dave Sykes sounded disgusted. Put that way, it didn’t sound like much to weigh against Andy’s death.
‘Wrong, Dave. Traynor killed Andy. She’s dead. The NCA have a load of people for the drugs. Traynor was the importer, but she had plenty of people working for her, and they’re bringing them in – the people at the charity who cooperated, the people at the massage parlour, the people who worked for Lavery. Sharman’s talking, so we’ve got the driver, the woman who drove the car down to Sunk Island, the night they killed Andy.’
‘Who was that? One of Lavery’s people?’
‘No. One of the users. A young woman called Poppy Brooke.’
Chapter 50
Hull
Poppy was sitting in a chair by her hospital bed. Kay pulled her own chair close and listened as the two detectives began their questions. Her first reaction, when she heard that Poppy had been arrested for murder, was shocked disbelief, but as she heard the story, she realised it was all too credible. Poppy was still a bit slow in her responses, prone to get tired and querulous, but she had agreed to be interviewed, waiving her right to legal representation.
Kay had gone straight to Dev, who was suddenly revealing himself to be much better at his job than she had realised, and finally prepared to see that Kay, too, knew what she was doing. ‘She can’t be on her own. What about her parents?’
‘Poppy doesn’t want them there and she’s old enough to be interviewed on her own. She’s waived her right to legal representation. I’ve talked to the doctors. They insist she’s well enough to be questioned. It’s a serious charge – accessory after the fact to murder. Joint enterprise. I’ve talked to the legal team. We can’t force her to have legal representation. What we can do is ask for an appropriate adult.’
Appropriate adults existed to safeguard the rights of children and vulnerable people in police custody. ‘Is Poppy eligible?’
‘Given her mental health issues, and the effects of her recent overdose, yes. The police want to question her as soon as possible. I think they’ll agree rather than hold things up. Kay, can you do it?’
Kay had done the training – the kinds of kids she and Matt fostered had their share of trouble with the police, so she’d sat in on several interviews over the years. ‘Of course.’
Now, as she studied Poppy’s pale face and listened to her stumbling words, she wondered if they could have fought harder to stop this from happening. ‘Take your time,’ she said to Poppy now as she struggled to respond to a question. ‘Poppy’s willing to talk to you,’ she reminded the detectives who were here to question her, ‘but she’s still recovering.’
The cocktail of drugs Alicia Traynor had given Poppy could easily have been fatal. The woman had tried to kill Becca and made a good attempt on Poppy’s life. Kay wasn’t sure if she was glad or sorry that Leesha had drowned in the estuary, rather than being brought to account for what she had done. ‘It was Xanthe,’ Poppy was trying to explain. ‘She got me this job. With Alicia.’ She said it the same way the detective had. Not Leesha, but Aleesha. Kay had misheard all along. ‘It’s like… I didn’t know,’ she said suddenly, gripping Kay’s arm.
‘We understand, Poppy.’ The woman leading the questioning radiated sympathy and understanding – but Kay knew that her aim was to get enough information to charge Poppy, and to get evidence to support charging other people. She probably was quite sympathetic to Poppy, but that wasn’t what she was here for.
‘Poppy, just try and tell us what happened. You can have a lawyer any time you want,’ Kay reminded her.
‘I don’t! I want it to stop!’
Kay said, for the benefit of the tape, ‘I’m not sure that Poppy’s being fully rational here,’ and saw the detectives share a quick glance, but Poppy said, ‘I’m fine.’
Slowly, the story came out. Xanthe had found Poppy the job with
