Elizabeth George: With No One As Witness

Seeing this last feature, Barbara understood: why there had been no front-page newspaper coverage, why no television, and worst of all, why no whispers round New Scotland Yard. She raised her head. “Institutionalised racism. That’s what they’re going to claim, isn’t it? No one across London-in any of the stations involved, right?-even twigged there’s a serial killer at work. No one got round to comparing notes. This kid-” here she raised the photograph of the black youth-“might’ve been reported missing in Peckham. Maybe in Kilburn. Or Lewisham. Or anywhere. But his body wasn’t dumped where he lived and disappeared from, was it, so the rozzers on his home patch called him a runaway, left it at that, and never matched him up to a murder that got reported in another station’s patch. Is that what happened?”

“You can see the need for both delicacy and immediate action,” Hillier said.

“Cheap murders, hardly worth investigating, all because of their race. That’s what they’re going to call the first three when the story gets out. The tabloids, television and radio news, the whole flaming lot.”

“We intend to get the jump on what they call anything. If the truth be told, the tabloids, the broadsheets, the radio, and the television news-had they been attuned to what’s going on and not intent on pursuing scandals among celebrities, the government, and the bloody royal family-might have broken this story themselves and crucified us on their front pages. As it is, they can hardly claim institutionalised racism for our failure to see what they themselves could have seen and did not. Rest assured that when each station’s press officer released the news of a body being found, the story was judged a nonstarter by the media because of the victim: just another dead black boy. Cheap news. Not worth reporting. Ho-hum.”

“With respect, sir,” Barbara pointed out, “that’s hardly going to stop them braying now.”

“We’ll see about that. Ah.” Hillier smiled expansively as his office door swung open again. “Here’s the gentleman we’ve been waiting for. Have they sorted out your paperwork, Winston? May we call you Sergeant Nkata officially?”

Barbara felt the question come at her like an unexpected blow. She looked at Lynley, but he was standing to greet Winston Nkata, who’d paused just inside the door. Unlike her, Nkata was dressed with the care he habitually employed: Everything about him was crisp and clean. In his presence-in the presence of all of them, come to that-Barbara felt like Cinderella in advance of the fairy godmother’s visit.

She got to her feet. She was about to do the very worst thing for her career, but she didn’t see any other way out…except the way out, which she decided to take. She said to her colleague, “Winnie. Brilliant. Cheers. I didn’t know.” And then to the other two ranking officers, “I’ve just remembered a phone call I’m meant to return.”

Then she left the room.

ACTING SUPERINTENDENT Thomas Lynley felt the distinct need to follow Havers. At the same time, he recognised the wisdom of staying put. Ultimately, he knew, he’d probably be better able to do her service if at least one of them managed to remain in AC Hillier’s good graces.

That, unfortunately, was never easy. The assistant commissioner’s style of command generally existed on the border between Machiavellian and despotic, and rational individuals gave the man a very wide berth if they could. Lynley’s own immediate superior-Malcolm Webberly, who’d been on medical leave for some time-had been running interference for both Lynley and Havers since the day he’d assigned them to their first case together. Without Webberly at New Scotland Yard, it fell to Lynley to recognise which side of the bread bore the butter.

The present situation was trying Lynley’s determination to remain a disinterested party in his every interaction with Hillier. There’d been a moment early on when the AC could have easily told him about Winston Nkata’s promotion: the very same moment when the man had refused to restore Barbara Havers to her rank.

What Hillier had said with little enough grace was, “I want you heading up this investigation, Lynley. Acting superintendent… I can hardly give it to anyone else. Malcolm would have wanted you on it anyway, so put together the team you need.”

Lynley had mistakenly put the AC’s laconism down to distress. Superintendent Malcolm Webberly was Hillier’s brother-in-law, after all, and the victim of an attempted homicide. Hillier doubtless worried about his recovery from the hit-and-run that had nearly killed him. So he said, “How’s the superintendent’s progress, sir?”

“This isn’t the time to talk about the superintendent’s progress,” was Hillier’s reply. “Are you heading this investigation or am I handing it over to one of your colleagues?”

“I’d like to have Barbara Havers back as sergeant to be part of the team.”

“Would you. Well, this isn’t a bargaining session. It’s a Yes, I’ll get to work directly, sir, or a Sorry, I’m going on an extended holiday.”

So Lynley had been left with the Yes, I’ll get to work directly, and no room to manoeuvre for Havers. He made a quick plan, though, which involved assigning his colleague to certain aspects of the investigation that would be guaranteed to highlight her strengths. Certainly, within the next few months he’d be able to right the wrongs that had been done to Barbara since the previous June.

Then, of course, he’d been blindsided by Hillier. Winston Nkata arrived, newly minted as sergeant, blocking Havers from promotion in the near future, and unaware of what his role was likely to be in the ensuing drama.

Lynley burned at all this, but he kept his features neutral. He was curious to see how Hillier was going to dance round the obvious when he assigned Nkata to be his right-hand man. Because there was no doubt in Lynley’s mind that this was what AC Hillier intended to do. With one parent from Jamaica and the other from the Ivory Coast, Nkata was decidedly, handsomely, and suitably black. And once the news broke of a string of racial killings that had not been connected to one another when they damn well should have been, the black community was going to ignite. Not one Stephen Lawrence but three. With no excuse to be had but the most obvious, which Barbara Havers herself had stated in her usual, politically unastute manner: institutionalised racism that resulted in the police not actively pursuing the killers of young mixed-race boys and blacks. Just because.

Hillier was carefully oiling the skids in preparation. He seated Nkata at the conference table and brought him into the picture. He made no mention of the race of the first three victims, but Winston Nkata was nobody’s fool.

“So you got trouble,” was his cool observation at the end of Hillier’s comments.

Hillier replied with studied calm. “The situation being what it is, we’re trying to avoid trouble.”

“Which’s where I come in, right?”

“In a manner of speaking.”

“What manner of speaking is that?” Nkata inquired. “How’re you planning to keep this under the carpet? Not the fact of the killings, mind you, but the fact of nothing being done ’bout the killings.”

Lynley controlled his need to smile. Ah, Winston, he thought. No one’s dancing, blue-eyed boy.

“Investigations have been mounted on all the relevant patches,” was Hillier’s reply. “Admittedly, connections should have been made between the murders, and they weren’t. Because of that, we at the Yard have taken over. I’ve instructed Acting Superintendent Lynley to put together a team. I want you playing a prominent role on it.”

“You mean a token role,” Nkata said.