Stephen Booth - The kill call

‘It makes no difference. His roots are here.’

‘I suppose you’re right.’

‘I am right,’ said Fry.

Cooper knew she was right, but it was interesting to hear her argue the significance of someone’s roots. Fry had always seemed to him to be a totally rootless person. She’d been taken away from her parents when she was very young, moved from foster home to foster home, separated from her sister, then finally washed up here in the Peak District, a hundred miles from anywhere that she knew.

‘Some connections might emerge from the family history,’ he said. ‘Did you happen to ask Pauline Outram about the jewellery box?’

‘Yes. She said it was her mother’s. The only thing Pauline inherited from her.’

‘And her uncle’s briefcase?’

‘She has no idea.’

‘So how do you fit the Eden Valley Hunt into this picture?’ asked Cooper.

‘Patrick Rawson was staying at the Birch Hall Country Hotel, and had arranged to meet someone near Birchlow. During that encounter, he was killed, and the hunt were right in the middle of it. Given Michael Clay’s origins in Birchlow, you can’t tell me that’s a coincidence.’

‘No. So, what? Some kind of old family feud that Rawson stumbled into by accident? Could Clay have been the real target?’

‘That,’ said Fry, ‘is what we should be trying to find out.’

Hesitantly, Cooper continued to hang around Fry’s desk until there was no one within earshot. After a moment, Fry looked up at him again. She seemed uneasy, probably because she wasn’t sure what Cooper wanted, or what he was going to say. Silence unsettled her, he’d noticed.

But Fry had no reason to be uneasy. As soon as he’d seen her enter the room, Cooper had been overwhelmed by an impression that she was going through a difficult time. She’d looked so alone and vulnerable.

‘Was there something else you wanted to say, Ben?’ she asked.

Cooper took a deep breath. ‘Just that… I’m concerned about you, Diane. I know it’s difficult going through a stressful time without any support…’

She stared at him. ‘Is that it? Is that what you felt you had to say?’

‘You can feel very isolated. If it were me, I’d be glad of all the support I could get.’

Fry was lost for words for a few moments. ‘Support? From you? What kind of support do you think you can give me?’

Cooper was deterred only for a second. He glanced around the room, made sure there was no one near, moved in front of Fry as she seemed to be about to get up and walk away. There were times for walking away, and this wasn’t one of them.

‘Just talk to me, Diane.’

‘Talk to you?’ she said. ‘Ben, we’re different people, you and me. You have support from your family, you’ve been surrounded by it all your life. I’m sure that’s lovely and warm and fuzzy, and all that. But some of us have grown up without the need for support. We’re strong enough to look after ourselves. So your concern isn’t necessary.’

‘You know, if we’re going to get a forced shake-up in this department, we should stick together.’

‘Are you the shop steward all of a sudden, Ben? I didn’t even know we’d got a trade union.’

‘I’m not suggesting we work to rule or anything. Just — you know, support each other.’

Fry hissed, a sound low enough that no one else in the office would hear it, but piercing enough for Cooper to get the message loud and clear.

‘Ben, I don’t need your support, OK? I’ll be just fine. Go and give your support to someone else.’

‘Think you’ll get support from Superintendent Branagh? It would be like Dracula becoming a vegetarian.’

Fry stood up and began to stack the files back together.

‘I’ll do that, if you like,’ said Cooper.

‘I can do it myself.’

She grabbed her phone off the desk, flicking it open as if to check whether she had any messages, though they both knew it would have rung if she had. He was perfectly familiar with her ring tone. No downloaded pop tunes for Fry, just a few unobtrusive electronic notes like something from the opening of The X Files. Nothing to upset a bereaved relative.

In fact, a strange silence had descended on the CID room. Cooper turned, and saw Detective Superintendent Branagh standing in the doorway. She said nothing, but looked at Fry and raised one eyebrow.

‘Coming, ma’am,’ said Fry.

She went almost eagerly, and Cooper began to wonder whether he was completely wrong, and everyone else was wrong too, about Fry going through a bad time. Maybe it was something else entirely. Perhaps it was quite the opposite.

Before they left, Cooper looked at Superintendent Branagh again. Who would want to hitch their wagon to that kind of horse?

‘So,’ said Branagh when Fry had settled in a chair in her office. ‘DS Fry, do you think you have the full support of your team?’

Fry felt herself grow tense. She’d tried to prepare herself before she came into the superintendent’s office, but this wasn’t the question she’d been expecting. Branagh might look like a bruiser, but this was surely fighting dirty.

‘Has someone said — ’

Branagh shook her head. ‘Whatever discussions might have gone on with other members of staff, they’re confidential. Just as our discussion is this afternoon.’

‘Of course.’

‘DS Fry, I know you came here after a distressing incident in Birmingham, when you were with the West Midlands force.’

Fry swallowed. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘The management team here were impressed with you. Hence the quick promotion. But since then…’

‘I’ve worked very hard for this division,’ said Fry. ‘I hope my work has been appreciated.’

‘Indeed. But to go back a few steps… After the incident, you began the standard counselling process. But there’s a note here that you abandoned the counselling sessions before they were complete. A personal matter.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Yet the earliest reports on you said that you were suffering no ill effects from the incident. Your supervisor even suggested that the experience might have made you a stronger person. “Baptism of fire” was a phrase used. He described you as “solid as a rock”.’

‘Yes.’

‘Of course, that report was written by a man,’ said Branagh.

‘I’m sorry, ma’am. I don’t understand.’

‘My own view,’ said Branagh, ‘is that no one is strengthened by an experience like the one you went through.’

And then the superintendent did something even worse. She leaned forward and smiled. A friendly, understanding smile that made Fry’s heart sink.

‘Diane, I do appreciate that it must have been very traumatic. Impossible just to put it behind you and forget all about it.’

And suddenly it was first-name terms. Fry steeled herself. There was no doubt about it now. Something horrible was about to happen.

Liz Petty phoned Cooper on his mobile in the office. He glanced around, but there was no one near enough to overhear.

‘How did it go with Diane Fry?’

‘Not good. In fact, she told me to keep my nose out of her business and stop trying to interfere in her life.’

‘She was a bit cool on the idea, then?’

‘You might say that.’

‘Mmm,’ said Liz doubtfully.

Cooper wondered what that sound meant. ‘She doesn’t really have a private life, you know. She talks about work all the time.’

‘Does she really never talk about anything properly? Anything that matters?’

‘No. Well, not to me.’

‘What happened to that sister?’

‘Angie? She was here for a few months, then she disappeared again. Besides, Angie was always bad news.’