Reginald Hill - Death

'Pete, that you?' said Wield's voice.

'Yes.'

'Pete, I'm at Estotiland. We've got a bad situation here.'

Pascoe listened. After a while his legs gave way and he sat down heavily. Questions crowded his mind but he couldn't find the words for them.

He said, 'I'm coming.'

With difficulty he stood up.

Roote looked with alarm at his colourless face and said, 'Mr Pascoe, are you ill?'

'I've got to go.'

'Go where? Please, sit down, I'll call a doctor.'

'I've got to go to Estotiland. My daughter…'

He began to move to the door like a man walking on Saturn.

'You can't drive,' said Roote. 'Not without your car keys anyway.'

He picked up Pascoe's discarded jacket, felt in the pockets, produced the keys.

'Give them here,' snarled Pascoe.

'No way,' said Roote. 'You'll kill yourself. Tell you what, though, I'll drive you. Deal? Come on, Mr Pascoe. You know I'm right.'

'You always are, Franny, that's your problem,' said Pascoe, not resisting. 'You always fucking are.'

Roote drove as Pascoe, if he'd been in a state to notice, would have expected him to drive. Smoothly, efficiently, never taking obvious risks, but always first away at lights, slipping into the narrowest of gaps at intersections, overtaking slower vehicles at the earliest opportunity, so that they were out of town and hurtling down the road to Estotiland in the shortest time possible.

As he drove he asked questions. Pascoe, using all his will to hold himself together mentally and physically, had none left over to resist interrogation and answered automatically. The whole story unfolded. Only once did Roote make any attempt at conventional reassurance and that was when Polchard was mentioned.

'Mate?' he said. 'Then there's nothing to worry about. Necessary violence only. He'll know there's no benefit in hurting your daughter.'

'Where was the benefit in drowning Lee Lubanski?' replied Pascoe dully. 'He did it all the same.'

As they approached the Complex, Roote said, 'Looks like wall-to-wall fuzz ahead. You got one of those noddy lights? Else we're going to take forever getting through.' Pascoe reached in the back and found the lamp. He hadn't used it since that morning he'd raced along the bus lane to get Rosie to her clarinet lesson on time, the same morning he'd had his apparent vision of Roote.

Even with the lamp flashing, a couple of cops seemed inclined to check their progress but rapidly hopped aside as Roote wove his way through the scatter of cars with undiminished speed.

'We've got to find out where to go’ said Pascoe, reaching for his phone.

'It's all right. I'm following Mr Dalziel.'

Pascoe had been aware of a car ahead of them, but now for the first time he realized who was in it.

As he watched, it skidded to a stop by a side door in the structure holding the main shopping mall. The Fat Man got out and headed inside. Pascoe reached over and leaned on the horn. Dalziel paused, looked round, then waited for them to get out and join him. His gaze touched curiously on Roote but his main concern was for Pascoe.

'Pete, you look like shit. But I'm glad you're here for Ellie's sake. No change as far as I can make out. Let's get inside and check.'

They went inside. A few steps behind, Roote followed.

They climbed a flight of stairs till they reached a door marked security – no admittance without pass. A uniformed constable stood outside. For a moment he looked inclined to hinder their progress, but one look at Dalziel's face changed his mind.

Inside they passed through a large office into an even larger control room with TV monitors banked up an entire wall. There were several people here, including Wield and DI Rose. And Ellie.

She saw her husband and came to him in a rush. They embraced like lovers on a sinking ship, each other's last hope in a disintegrating world.

Dalziel said, 'Situation?'

He spoke to Wield, not to Rose.

The sergeant said, 'There's four of them. They're on the top floor, back of the building, lingerie department.'

'Lingerie!'

'No significance. Just happens to be the section you arrive at if you keep heading up towards the roof, which was what they were after, I reckon. It's a flat roof with several fire escapes. By the time they showed there, we'd got the escapes covered, though. DI Rose's quick thinking saw to that.'

For the first time Dalziel looked at the South Yorkshire DI.

'Stan, isn't it?' he said. 'Stan the Serpent. How do you see things, Hissing Stan?'

Poor sod, thought Wield. He's tracked dirt on to Andy Dalziel's carpet and he's going to have his nose rubbed in it.

Rose said, 'We've got an Armed Response Unit in position, all exits covered, Inspector Curtis in charge, he's out there doing a recce at the moment.'

Pascoe and Ellie had broken apart now.

Pascoe said, 'What about contact? Have they made any demands?'

He was still looking like shit, thought Dalziel, but not such bad shit. Nothing like being at the front to stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.

'Not yet. There's a phone up there. We keep on ringing but no one's picked it up yet.'

'Can we see anything on the closed circuit?' asked Pascoe, staring desperately at the wall of screens.

'Sorry. Those two there, B3 and 4, cover that area of the top floor.'

'Shot them out, did they?'

'Don't think so’ said a man in a black suit. 'I'm Kilroy, Head of Security for Estotiland. I think they've got someone who knows his electronics. I think they simply disconnected them.'

Ellie said to Pascoe, 'But they saw them arrive before the monitors went. Rosie was with them, she looked OK, isn't that right?'

She was asking for a repeat reassurance for herself as much as for her husband.

One of the security men monitoring the screens turned round and nodded reassuringly.

'Yeah, she was walking with one of them, he was holding her hand, but she didn't look distressed or owt. In fact she seemed to be talking away ten to the dozen.'

'That's my girl,' said Dalziel. 'She'll be grand.'

Ignoring him, Pascoe said, 'Any other hostages? The place must have been packed with people.'

'We sounded the fire alarm,' said Wield. 'Got everyone out double quick. We'd no idea where they were headed and it seemed best just to clear the whole complex.'

'Drills worked a treat,' said Kilroy. 'Everyone safely out in eight and a half minutes.'

'Nice to know your fire drills work so well,' grated Dalziel. 'Likely you'll get a bonus.'

'Sir, one of Mr Kilroy's men's in hospital, critical,' said Wield warningly.

'Is that right? I'm sorry for it, Mr Kilroy.'

The radio Wield was holding crackled into life.

'Control to Serpent 5.'

Dalziel seized it and said, 'Fuck serpents. Dalziel here. What?'

'We've got all four now, sir. You know we picked up the first two when they dumped the security van

'Don't waste my time telling me things I bloody well know!' roared Dalziel.

'Sorry, sir. The pair in the transit spotted the arrest and took off. Pursued them for fifty miles, then crashed on the Al, no serious injuries.'

'More's the pity. That it?'

'Just hearing from Sergeant Bowman and the team that went round to interview Mr Belchamber. Bit odd.'

'I like odd’ said Dalziel. 'Patch me through. Bowman, Dalziel here. What's the situation?'

'We're outside Belchamber's house. His car's here, open. There's a bag in it with a bunch of money and a plane ticket for Malaga. OK to break the front door down, sir?'

'With a bulldozer if you like,' growled Dalziel.

He looked at the others. He could see on the Pascoes' faces the thought that this was an unnecessary diversion. He wasn't about to tell them it was necessary for him, to give himself time to work out what the hell to do next.