James Craig - Never Apologise, Never Explain

‘What happened to him?’ Kylie asked.

‘That’s what we need to find out. If you can think of anything else that might be relevant, let us know straight away.’ Turning away from the girl before she could start crying again, he stepped over to the pathologist and smiled. ‘Nice to see you, Susan.’

‘You, too, John. You’ve got an interesting one here.’

Based ten minutes up the road, at Holborn police station, Susan Phillips had been a staff pathologist with the Met for more than fifteen years. Slim and blonde, with a healthy glow and a cheery smile, she brought a smidgen of much-needed glamour to The Job. More to the point, she was quick, no-nonsense and dependable — just what Carlyle liked in a colleague. They had worked together many times before and he was always pleased to see her at a crime scene.

‘What can you tell me?’ Carlyle asked.

‘Not a lot,’ Phillips grinned, pushing a pair of oversized sunglasses back up her nose.

‘Foul play?’ he asked casually.

‘No signs of it that I can see, first off.’

‘Heart attack, then? The girl says he just kind of keeled over.’

‘Maybe,’ she shrugged. ‘He’s still young, but it can happen. I’m sorry, but I can’t speculate at this stage. It’s not immediately apparent what killed him. We’re going to take him away now. I’ll get him on to the slab and let you know what I find out.’

‘Okay,’ Carlyle nodded. ‘Thanks for coming.’

‘No problem,’ Phillips said. ‘Let’s speak later.’

The body was carefully loaded into the ambulance by a couple of paramedics. Carlyle watched as it slowly edged its way into the traffic on Bow Street before heading away from the piazza.

‘What shall we do with the bongos?’ Prentice asked.

Carlyle looked at the pair of forlorn-looking drums standing on the cobbles alongside Felix’s other bits and pieces. ‘Take them back to the station with the rest of the guy’s stuff. They’re evidence.’

‘Okay,’ said Prentice, happy to be getting back to his desk.

As Prentice trudged off, Carlyle glanced back across the police tape. With the show over, the crowd had largely dispersed, heading off in search of other diversions. It was hard work being a tourist, Carlyle thought.

Finally, there were only a handful of people still standing by the tape. One man caught Carlyle’s eye and grinned. ‘Well, fuck me!’ the inspector mumbled under his breath. Instinctively, he felt for his handcuffs, cursing when he remembered that — not for the first time — he had left them at the station or at home or God knows where. He looked around for some support, moral or otherwise. In the distance, he could see Prentice already on the far side of the piazza, heading back to the station with a bongo drum under each arm. Everyone else had left.

Taking a deep breath, Carlyle stepped towards the tape.

‘Inspector.’ Michael Hagger doffed an imaginary cap and let the grin spread even wider across his face.

Just short of six feet, Hagger was taller and heavier than Carlyle, not to mention at least fifteen years younger. They both knew that the policeman could not take him down, one on one.

More to the point, there was no sign of the child.

‘Michael, nice to see you.’

‘I hear you’ve been looking for me.’

‘Quite a few people have.’

‘Well, here I am.’

‘Yeah, but people are also looking for the boy. Where’s Jake?’

Hagger did a little half-step dance on the cobbles. ‘The kid’s okay.’

‘That’s good.’

Hagger sniggered. ‘You know that if you lay a finger on me now, well… that might change.’

‘Yes,’ said Carlyle, holding his hands up in supplication. ‘I do.’

Hagger put on an expression of mock hurt. ‘It’s a shame that a father isn’t allowed to have some quality time with his son these days.’

Carlyle bit his tongue.

‘It’s not like his mother — that useless bitch — is doing much of a job anyway.’

At least that’s something we can agree on, Carlyle reflected.

Hagger gave him a sly look. ‘I’m guessing that when you do get Jake back, Social Services will take over, anyway.’

When. Carlyle liked the sound of that. On the other hand, Hagger talked shit most of the time; gibberish the rest. ‘Where is he, Michael?’

Hagger raised a fist, but only for emphasis. ‘He’s safe. And he’s well. I only need him for a few more days, and then you’ll get him back. In the meantime, tell your people to back off.’

My people? Carlyle wondered what he meant. Maybe Inspector Cutler was outperforming any expectations. ‘Okay.’

‘If Jake gets hurt,’ Hagger continued, sounding more agitated, ‘it will be your fault.’

‘No one wants Jake to get hurt,’ Carlyle said, as soothingly as he could manage.

‘Well, tell your chum Silver to behave himself, then.’

Silver? Carlyle frowned. ‘What’s he got to do with all this?’

Thrusting his hands into his trouser pockets, Hagger turned on his heel and began walking briskly away. ‘Just bloody tell him,’ he shouted over his shoulder.

Carlyle watched him go, while replaying in his head what had just been said. As Hagger disappeared round a corner, he reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out his private and untraceable (he hoped) mobile, and called Dominic Silver’s number. Almost immediately, it went to voicemail. Gripping the handset tighter in frustration, he spat out a message: Dominic, it’s me. Call me back asap. I am waiting for your call, so I will definitely pick up.

For a few moments, he stared at his phone, willing it to ring, while wondering whether he had time to pop up to Il Buffone for lunch. But the phone didn’t ring and he decided, regretfully, that he didn’t have time for a proper lunch. Plan B was a cheese sandwich and an orange juice, which he bought from a cheerful girl working in Kylie’s trailer to take back to the station.

Five minutes later, aware of the rumbling in his stomach, Carlyle stepped out of the lift and headed towards his desk. As he approached, he wasn’t best pleased to find someone sitting in his chair.

‘John Carlyle?’

‘Yes.’

The tall Asian-looking bloke lifted his spotless Nike trainers off Carlyle’s desk and planted them on the floor. ‘I’m Inspector Nick Chan.’ He nodded at another man hovering nearby. ‘That is Sergeant Greg Brown.’

Both men wore a smug look that said We know something you don’t.

Chan and Brown? After a few seconds’ thought, Carlyle came to the conclusion that he didn’t know anything about this duo. That made it doubly certain that now was a good time for caution.

‘What can I do for you gentlemen?’ Carlyle asked. He couldn’t wait any longer for some food, so he flopped into a nearby chair and began unwrapping his sandwich.

Chan took that as his cue to stand up. ‘Let’s go into one of the conference rooms.’

‘Fine.’ Carlyle took a large bite out of his sandwich and chewed it vigorously, getting back to his feet and following his two colleagues towards the row of empty rooms situated at the rear of that floor.

Conference room number seven was filled by a long rectangular table, surrounded by a dozen chairs. Carlyle quickly took a seat at the far end of the table, by the window. Someone had left a copy of the Mirror on the table. The newspaper was folded in half and Carlyle could only see part of the front-page headline: television presenter.. Resisting the temptation to open it out, he polished off the last of his sandwich and took a long swig of juice.

Behind him, Brown entered the room, followed by Chan, who closed the door and then removed his jacket, dropping it over the back of a chair. Both policemen remained standing. ‘Do you know Sandra Groves?’ Chan asked.