‘I’m sure he does. But my question was to the deputy governor, not you, Mrs Murray.’
Simon Price had been DG for five years. That was all Bliss knew about the man, but he hoped he would be honest as opposed to being an arse-coverer. ‘I understand what you’re getting at, Detective Sergeant,’ Price said, ‘and under normal circumstances I don’t think I could speak with any genuine conviction. However, as Mrs Murray is well aware, her client was in a state of frenzy following the interview yesterday morning. So much so that when he demanded to make a phone call and was denied immediate access, he became unhinged. As such, Mr Drake has been in isolation ever since.’
Bliss took a breath. He knew what the follow-up question had to be, though he hated having to ask it. ‘That only means he’s had no contact with fellow prisoners, sir. How about prison officers?’
‘I’m way ahead of you. First of all, let me say that in this secure unit, Mr Drake only ever comes into contact with our most experienced, most trusted officers. Even so, I’ve personally spoken to the two who have communicated with him since his isolation. They insist there is no possibility of Drake having made a call himself. Nor has he had the opportunity to pass along a message for somebody else to make a call on his behalf. He’s had no external access of any kind.’
‘You can guarantee that?’ Bliss prompted.
‘Insofar as I am able to guarantee anything. I trust my staff, DS Bliss.’
Almost before the DG had finished speaking, Geraldine Murray pounced. ‘Now that we’ve established my client’s situation, Detective Sergeant Bliss, would you please inform me as to why this is so important to you at this time?’
He gave a wide smile of satisfaction. ‘You know, I don’t believe I will, Mrs Murray.’
‘I beg your pardon? Is this the way you choose to behave after you’ve received our full cooperation?’
‘Your cooperation came at your own insistence. My job here was to establish whether Lewis Drake had communicated with anybody on the outside since my colleague and I spoke with him. Any cooperation you speak of has come from Mr Price and the staff at HMP Belmarsh rather than yourself.’
‘In which case, I demand to know why.’
‘You can demand all you like. It changes nothing.’
‘Then I demand to speak to a superior officer. Immediately.’
‘You’ll find quite a few of those in the armed forces, Mrs Murray. If you’d like to speak with a senior officer, however, please do call Thorpe Wood police station. I’m sure they’ll be delighted to avoid – sorry – take your call.’
Bliss thanked the DG for taking part, was solicitous in saying his goodbyes, but by the end was glad to be off the phone. He looked around for DS Bishop, but he was nowhere to be seen.
‘Gul!’ he called out. ‘Do you know where the boss is?’
Ansari looked up from her computer keyboard, smiled and raised her eyebrows. ‘Which one?’
‘Bish.’
‘He’s meeting with the DCI. What’s up, Jimmy?’
Bliss walked over and leaned on one of the new Perspex screens that separated the work pods. He relayed the content of the call he’d taken. ‘What do you think it means?’ he asked. ‘Perhaps Drake didn’t put out this hit on Nicola Parkinson after all.’
‘Maybe. But from what you say, we’ve still got to at least consider the possibility.’
Gratton was sitting close by and had been listening in. ‘Who else would?’ he asked. ‘And why? Lewis Drake had good reason. Who else is losing out by Parkinson and her kids making a killing from this website?’
Bliss frowned. It was a good question. If Drake wasn’t in the frame, it wasn’t immediately obvious to him who else fitted. He put a couple of fingertips to his forehead, an ache having formed above his left eye. When he looked up again, his gaze fell upon Ansari once more. ‘Have you seen Glen? Is he with the boss and the DCI?’
She shook her head. ‘No. He said he was stepping out to make a couple of calls. We were working on the location of the Dark Desires server. I have to say I wasn’t at my most enthusiastic at the time. We were all agreed it was for evidentiary reasons only, not something that was going to break the case wide open. But now I think about it, Glen was much the same for a good thirty minutes or so, muttering to himself in that disgruntled way of his. Then he went silent on me, for which I was thankful. Moments later he said something beneath his breath, got up and walked away. I’ve only just noticed he’s not come back.’
‘He’s probably pissed off at having all his hard work being shifted down our list of priorities,’ Hunt said. ‘Maybe he’s moaning to the DI over at Cambridge about how he’s being given all the shitty work.’
‘I hope that’s all it is.’
‘What do you mean by that, Gul?’ Bliss asked.
‘I’m just reminding you all that Glen is NCA. If he found something, came across a piece of information that might be useful, do we know for sure he wouldn’t take it to them first and leave us to find out about it later?’
Gratton was already on his feet and heading for the door. ‘I’ll check the stairway and the canteen,’ he said. ‘If he’s on the blower to someone, I’ll see what I can pick up.’
‘You think he’d do the dirty on us?’ Bliss asked Hunt and Ansari.
The pair of them looked on as their colleague left the room. Hunt thought about the question, and gave a slow nod. ‘I think he might. And to be honest, I don’t know that I’d blame him.’
Forty-One
Warburton and Bishop entered the room just as a tense situation had begun to escalate. DCs Hunt and Ansari stood virtually toe to toe, their faces flushed and eyes
