Steven Dunne - The Disciple

‘One other thing, Inspector Brook — why have you put a man on that house over there?’ asked Grant, pointing at the officer examining his nails in front of the dilapidated Wallis house.

‘That’s where Jason Wallis’s family were butchered two years ago, Sergeant,’ said Noble.

‘I’m surprised Wallis could come within half a mile of the place,’ she observed. ‘That doesn’t answer my question though.’

Brook smiled suddenly and Grant was taken aback momentarily. ‘She’s very good, Joshua,’ he said to Hudson. ‘Glad to see you’re not being allowed to soft pedal before you retire.’

‘She keeps me on my toes,’ answered Hudson.

Brook smiled again. ‘I see she does.’ She knew. She’d spoken to Duffy and Parker, assuming they were first on the scene. But they weren’t. And a detective of Grant’s ability wouldn’t accept the lie about Brook picking up the call on his radio as easily as Duffy and Parker had. And the fact that Brook didn’t have an in-car radio would soon nail that lie. ‘It’s part of our crime scene, Laura. The Reaper — sorry, the killer — was there last night before he came here.’

‘How do you know that?’ she said back at him.

‘Because so was I.’

A half hour later Charlton, Brook, Noble, Hudson and Grant had gathered in a small conference room back at St Mary’s Wharf for a meeting to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet before the initial inquiry briefing at four p.m. and the media briefing after that.

Charlton ordered coffees before kicking off. ‘This is very difficult for me, having no background in CID, but I’m determined to get a positive result, and we must start out with that in mind. I’m very aware that nearly two years ago my predecessor lost her job on account of mistakes made on the Wallis Inquiry, mistakes that she didn’t necessarily make herself, but for which she had to bear responsibility.’

Brook was impressed that Charlton didn’t look over at him at that point.

‘We have to get the direction of this investigation right, from the start,’ Charlton continued. ‘I fully intend to be involved in all aspects of decision making and personnel, like it or not. Now, some might think that’s just me covering my back, and they wouldn’t be totally wrong, but my aim is to structure this inquiry for maximum efficiency. Comments, anyone?

‘No? Okay. The first thing we need to decide is who directs the investigation.’ Charlton looked around to see if either Brook or Noble were prepared to take offence, but as neither seemed to be reacting, he pressed on. ‘I know, Damen, that you’re nominally the Senior Investigating Officer on this inquiry but I don’t think I need to tell you what problems that throws up. Firstly, the publicity surrounding this journalist’s book…’

‘Sir. May I say something?’ asked Noble.

‘John!’ warned Brook. ‘You don’t know the full…’

‘No, I think it needs to be said, sir.’ Chief Superintendent Charlton invited Noble’s contribution with a wave of his hand. ‘I was on the Wallis Inquiry with both DI Brook and DI Greatorix and I’ve read Brian Burton’s book. As far as I’m concerned there was nothing more that DI Brook could’ve done to hunt down The Reaper. Most of Brian Burton’s book is complete nonsense. It’s full of unsubstantiated rumours and half-truths that have been twisted to fit Burton’s own prejudices…’

‘The content’s irrelevant, John,’ put in Brook. ‘It still puts the inquiry and my involvement under more of a spotlight than normal. It muddies the waters in which we have to swim.’

‘Which puts the investigation at an immediate disadvantage,’ added Hudson.

‘What about the advantage of having an SIO who’s uniquely qualified to catch The Reaper, sir?’ said Noble.

‘Not helped so far, has it?’ observed Laura Grant with a humourless smile.

‘Take it easy, Laura,’ said Hudson. ‘We’re all friends here.’

At that moment, Charlton’s secretary brought in the tray of coffees to shortcut potential bad feeling. After she’d left, Charlton removed a contemplative forefinger from in front of his mouth. ‘Sergeant, I won’t be basing any judgement I make on the contents of that book. But, as DI Brook has pointed out, its existence will impact on the amount of scrutiny we come under.’

‘We’re talking about The Reaper here, sir. How much more scrutiny can we attract?’ asked Noble.

‘A good point, Sergeant, but Burton’s book is not the only impediment here,’ added Charlton. He looked over at Hudson, who nodded and turned to Noble.

‘I don’t know if you’ve been brought up to speed by your DI, Sergeant, but let me do that now. The reason DS Grant and myself came to Derby is to question DI Brook about a murder that took place in Brighton ten days ago.’

‘While Inspector Brook was on leave,’ chipped in Grant.

‘The victim was the husband of DI Brook’s ex-wife. Tony Harvey-Ellis was his name. I’m not comfortable going into detail about why DI Brook and Mr Harvey-Ellis might be, shall we say, enemies — for want of a better word — but suffice to say that two years ago, at the height of the Wallis Inquiry, DI Brook turned up in Brighton and assaulted Mr Harvey-Ellis.’

Noble turned to Brook. ‘Is that true?’ Brook looked squarely back at Noble and gave an imperceptible nod. ‘And now he’s dead and you’re a suspect?’

‘So it seems, John,’ conceded Brook.

‘A strong suspect,’ added Grant.

‘It’s purely circumstantial at this juncture,’ noted Charlton.

‘But added to last night’s events…’ continued Grant.

‘Last night’s events?’ exclaimed Noble. ‘You can’t possibly think Inspector Brook…’

‘That’s enough, John,’ said Brook. ‘We’re all grown-ups here. I can see why I’m a suspect. As for last night, that’s an unfortunate circumstance…’

‘Unfortunate for the Inghams,’ noted Grant.

‘…an unfortunate circumstance which I can explain.’

‘We’re listening,’ smiled Grant.

Brook paused to choose his words with care. ‘I was first on the scene but I arrived too late. I was in the Wallis house before I realised what was happening. I got to the Ingham house a few minutes before PC Duffy and PC Parker. I surveyed the situation and secured the scene. When Duffy and Parker arrived, we called for back-up.’

‘But you were there first, Inspector, and we’ve only your word for how long you were there.’

‘That’s true, Sergeant. But I have no motive to kill the victims. And it won’t be hard to prove that I didn’t make that emergency call, which puts someone else at the scene before me. Also, you were alert enough to check my clothing this morning when you arrived at the crime scene. I would have been covered in blood if I’d killed the Inghams.’

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Damen,’ interjected DCI Hudson.

‘You were at the crime scene alone,’ insisted Grant. ‘You could have changed, dumped the evidence before the responding officers arrived.’

‘Let me know when you find the clothes.’

‘That’s just it. With you as SIO we never will.’

‘That’s enough, you two,’ soothed Charlton. ‘DCI Hudson’s right. We’re losing sight of the main objective.’

‘Sorry, sir,’ said Grant. ‘But if we’re going to entertain the notion that DI Brook should be involved in this inquiry, let alone run it, then I think we’ve a right to know what the hell he was doing at the Wallis house at that time of night.’

Charlton thought for a moment then nodded, looked over at DCI Hudson, who shrugged his agreement, and turned to look at Brook.

Brook put his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. ‘I received this email yesterday.’ He unfolded it and slid it across the table towards the Chief Superintendent. Charlton read the brief document aloud, then passed the paper round the table for examination.