Chandler sighed. ‘Perhaps we’ll get to ask her sometime.’
‘What a pleasant thought that is.’
‘What d’you reckon will happen with her boy?’
He fired off a look of disgust. ‘Who the fuck calls their son Troy these days? I don’t know, Pen. He might be as gullible as he’s being made out to be. I’m not sure if we have anything on him – not yet, at any rate. Still plenty of time for all that over the coming months while we’re putting our case together.’
‘What a family, eh?’
‘Yeah,’ Bliss said, turning away. ‘And the real kick in the balls is they might all be innocent this time.’
He caught Bishop’s eye and indicated towards the door leading back into the passage. Outside the incident room, Bliss told his colleague he was stepping aside as Phoenix neared the end of its first phase. ‘You spoke well earlier, Bish. Now you need to do so again. Pull it all together. Savchuk is going to cough. Gul and I are waiting to hear back from her brief, but she’ll go.’
Bishop’s face creased into a frown. ‘But you were as much a part of this as anyone, Jimmy; more so, if the truth be told. Why won’t you be part of the celebration?’
‘Because this is your team. You led them. If I’m in the room they’ll have one eye on me and may not know how to respond.’
‘If this is my team, you’re one of my team members. You deserve to be in the room, and you deserve the pint I want to buy you afterwards.’
‘I’m still part of your team, Bish. And you can buy me a drink tomorrow night. You get out there and tell them what they need to hear. Besides, I’ve got something else I need to take care of.’
‘One of these days you’ll have to tell me what you’ve been up to on the QT recently.’
Bliss smiled. ‘Yeah. One of these days. Probably best kept for when you’re not my boss.’
‘Acting boss,’ Bishop reminded him.
‘Perhaps. Anyhow, embrace the victory. Enjoy it. They don’t all turn out like this.’
‘I’ll take the win, but in terms of a victory, it feels quite hollow. Perhaps the list Glen has for us will change that.’
‘Then keep them at it. He and Gul worked well together. She understands the language. Between the pair of them I think they can help us track down the men responsible. We find them, we take covert photographs of them, and then we have Knowles confirm ID on them. He’ll be as helpful as he can be because he doesn’t want any of the actual murders coming back to him.’
Bishop heaved a long sigh. ‘Where do these people keep coming from, Jimmy?’
‘I have no idea. I think I’d rather we were dealing with a single serial killer than multiple murderers. One sick mind as opposed to five.’
‘Yeah. And these were just the men who eventually went too far. The names Knowles gave us during his interview runs into more than a dozen of these fucking perverts. And how about the ones we know nothing about or weren’t a match for our purposes?’
Bliss nodded and turned to leave. ‘Try not to think about them, Bish. Spend too long considering the numbers and you’ll never do the job again. Let’s savour the moment before we knuckle down to pull in these other sick fucks.’
‘Are you sure you won’t stay?’ Bishop asked, pleading one last time.
Bliss was certain. Earlier, he had taken a call from DI Nicholls, whose team were set to effect the arrest of Neil Watson. Nicholls had wanted to know if Bliss fancied being there. As if the wildest of horses could keep him away.
‘Cheers, but no,’ he said to his friend, colleague, and reluctant boss. ‘I have one last job to attend to today.’
Fifty
Having worked closely with George Moss, DI Nicholls believed the plan he had pieced together ought to work beautifully. Moss would ask Watson to meet him for a drink, dropping a few hints that he was starting to feel the burden of the secret he’d been keeping. The pub in which they met would be filmed and recorded, with everyone in it a member of the team, including the woman behind the bar. Moss’s job was to put Watson on the defensive, getting him to talk and to admit to arranging the alibi. They had the man’s blood-drenched clothes, but a confession would be a nice addition.
At the appointed time, Moss called Watson to encourage him out for a pint. When he sensed reluctance, he suggested they meet in order to discuss some misgivings Moss had about the alibi he had provided. Watson eventually agreed, and a time was set.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got.
Bliss was already on his way over to rendezvous with the Hinchingbrooke team when he took a call from an anxious Moss, who was almost gibbering with fear.
‘It’s blown,’ he said. ‘Neil is onto me! Now what the fuck am I going to do?’
Bliss spotted a place to pull over so that he could focus on the phone call. ‘Hold on, George. Calm down, pal. Explain yourself. What do you mean, it’s blown? Why do you say he’s onto you?’
‘Because he fucking called me back, that’s why! He told me something didn’t feel right about me asking for a meet-up the way I did. Then he said he wasn’t coming, and if he found out I was working with you lot he’d put me in the ground.’
‘Shit!’ Bliss emptied his lungs, cerebral wheels spinning all the while. ‘But it sounds to me as if he only suspects something might be up at the moment, George – there’s no way he can know for sure. I’ll call DI Nicholls and have him and his people step down so Watson has no way of knowing they were ever there.’
‘Oh, terrific. I can’t tell you how safe that makes
