‘Bloody Territorial Support Group, kicked the shit out of some student on the last anti-capitalist march. Turns out the kid’s parents are connected, so now we’re all going to be issued with foam truncheons. Wankers.’ Featherstone looked to the heavens and walked from the office heading for the exit.
Sally appeared at Sean’s door. ‘Problems?’
‘No,’ Sean told her. ‘Not yet.’
Donnelly ate his sausage sandwich. It was the best Sunday-morning breakfast he could hope for under the circumstances. He stood close to the small wooden hut in the middle of Blackheath where he’d bought his sandwich. It was a well-known spot, used mainly by hungry taxi drivers and police looking for a place to talk without being overheard.
He enjoyed the gentle cooling breeze that whipped off the flat, wide heath. In winter, it was the coldest place in London. He spotted the dark blue Mondeo pull up opposite. Detective Sergeants Jimmy Dawson and Raj Samra stepped from the car. They could only have been police.
The detective sergeants worked on the other two murder teams in South London. They carried out the same roles on their teams as Donnelly did on his. Meeting regularly helped maintain the strong bond between detective sergeants and engendered a feeling that they were the ones really running the police.
Donnelly smiled to himself and stuffed the remains of the sandwich into his mouth. He waited for the men to cross the road. ‘For Christ’s sake, Raj. You’re the only Indian in the Met who looks more like a copper than Jimmy here.’
‘I like looking like a copper. You should try it some time. Instead of looking like a bag of shit,’ Raj replied.
The trading of insults was routine. Jimmy joined the conversation. ‘What you doing in the middle of Blackheath on a Sunday morning, Dave? Exposing yourself to students again? If it isn’t that, then I’ll assume you want a favour.’
‘Jimmy, Jimmy.’ Donnelly sounded insulted. ‘Are the best sausage sandwiches in London not a good enough reason for you?’ Dawson didn’t reply. ‘And you, Raj. Thinking I would ask for favours. Me. Dave Donnelly.’
‘Well, I don’t eat pork, so it better be something other than the sandwich.’
‘I didn’t know you were a Muslim,’ Donnelly said.
‘I’m not. I’m a Sikh.’
‘You should wear a turban − you’d be a commander by now.’
‘I’m not interested in playing that game,’ said Samra.
Donnelly gave a short stunted laugh, before his face turned serious. ‘Okay, gentlemen, I’ll assume you know what sort of case my team’s working on. I want to know if anything similar comes up. If one of your teams gets it first, I want to be called to the scene immediately. Understand?’
‘If it looks linked, it’ll be passed to your team anyway. What’s the rush?’ Dawson asked.
‘No,’ Donnelly snapped. ‘I didn’t say I want my team informed immediately. I said I wanted to be informed immediately, before anyone else. Including DI Corrigan.’
Donnelly watched them exchange glances. He knew they would be happy to help, but not if it meant being dragged into a dangerous situation. Dangerous for their careers. He understood their concerns.
‘Don’t look so worried, boys.’ He tried to sound less serious. ‘I just want first crack at any new scenes. I’m getting a taste for this case. I need a wee glance at an uncorrupted scene. You know, before the circus arrives and takes the feel out the place. That’s all.’ His fellow detective sergeants stared at him blankly, their way of letting him know they didn’t believe a word he was saying. ‘Okay, for fuck’s sake. You boys drive a hard bargain. Listen, our prime suspect is a clever, slippery bastard. Any forensic evidence we find at the next scene may require a little helping hand, if you catch my drift. But it has to appear genuine. The forensic boys have to find it, not one of my team, so I’ll need to be in and out of there before anyone’s the wiser. Clear?’
‘Well why didn’t you just say so?’ Samra mocked. ‘We’d be happy to help,’ he added, and meant it, knowing that one day he or Dawson might require a similar favour from Donnelly.
‘I thought your job was shaping up to be a blackmail?’ Dawson asked.
‘I know Corrigan better than he thinks,’ Donnelly told them. ‘He thinks there’s more to our prime suspect than he’s saying. Forget the blackmail element. You get anything a bit nastier than usual, then I want to know.’
‘Okay,’ Samra said with a shrug. ‘I’ll make sure you’re called straight off.’
‘Good, but keep it quiet. Tell your teams to call you, then you call me. Keep it nicely between the three of us.’
‘If you want to take jobs off my hands, that’s fine and dandy with me,’ Dawson said. ‘But if anyone asks, we never had this conversation.’
Donnelly spread his arms to show his good intentions. ‘Boys, please,’ he pleaded. ‘I promise. Nothing dodgy. Trying to solve a murder here, that’s all.’
The two detectives were already crossing the road. Samra called back to Donnelly: ‘Drag me into anything naughty and you’ll be solving your own fucking murder.’
You just do as you’re told, Raj my boy, Donnelly thought to himself. Just do as you’re told.
It was mid-morning by the time Sean walked from his office into the briefing room where his team were assembled. He wasn’t in the mood to let the room settle naturally. Time to push along. ‘All right, all right. Listen up. I haven’t got all day. The quicker you listen, the quicker we can get on with it.’ The room settled into silence. ‘So far we have three possible suspects: Steven Paramore, Jonnie Dempsey the missing barman and James Hellier. The reasons why Paramore and Dempsey are suspects are obvious, so they need to be found and spoken to. Hellier’s more complicated,’ Sean told them. ‘My best guess is still that our victim was attempting to blackmail him. No other motives have come to light and we’ve pretty much spoken to all his friends and family. Any last lingering possibility that this could be a domestic hangs on whether the victim was having a relationship with Jonnie Dempsey, and so far no one’s been able to confirm whether he was or wasn’t. Dempsey is only a suspect in so far as he worked at Utopia, knew the victim and now he’s missing and can’t be found, so all other suggestions are welcome.’
‘Maybe we should consider a stranger attack,’ Donnelly spoke up. ‘A random killer.’
‘No forced entry, remember?’ Sean reminded him.
‘Maybe the killer posed as a client?’ Donnelly suggested. ‘Talked his way into the flat.’
Sean was beginning to suspect Donnelly knew his blackmail theory was little more than a smokescreen. A screen that allowed Sean time to think. Time to walk in the killer’s shoes – to feel him. To understand him. ‘From what we’re being told of our victim, he was too careful for that.’ Sean tried to steer Donnelly away from the possibility for a while longer, until he had things straight in his own mind.
‘But it has to be a possibility?’ Donnelly insisted.
He had to give Donnelly something. ‘Possibly,’ Sean answered. There was a ripple of noise around the room.
‘If it’s a possibility, then what are we doing about it?’ Sally asked.
‘We’ve released a national memorandum, police eyes only, checking for recent similar cases,’ Sean reminded them.
‘Maybe we should go further back?’ Sally suggested.
‘As it happens, I’ve already asked General Registry to send me a number of old files.’ He sensed Donnelly’s discontent. ‘I’ve asked them for anything involving vulnerable victims where an excessive use of violence was involved, going back over the last five years.