Peter Lovesey - The Headhunters

‘Any chance you can put us down?’ Hen asked the pilot.

‘Do my best.’

From the air it seemed an unequal contest, the helicopter capable of ten times the speed. But they needed a landing area reasonably close to where the inflatable would put ashore. Jake knew the ground better than Hen or Gary, and might easily make a run for it and get away.

She asked Gary if he’d still got his personal radio. He wasn’t wearing it on his lapel or anything so obvious.

‘Fixed to my belt.’

‘Good.’ She spoke to the pilot. ‘If you track him from the air after you put us down, we can keep in radio contact.’

‘Can you run a bit?’

‘Gary can.’

‘I noticed a car park near the chapel. It’s small, and there are trees around, but I think I can put you down there.’

‘We know it.’

‘Your suspect might have a good start.’

‘Gary can do it,’ Hen said with confidence.

‘Gary and whose army?’ Gary said. ‘He’s six foot six.’

‘You’ve got the law on your side. And I won’t be far behind.’

Gary looked at the others in the aircraft for offers of help. The paramedic shook his head. The police observer lifted his trouser-leg a few inches to reveal an artificial limb. ‘It’s why I was given the job.’

The pilot said, ‘The Eye in the Sky will watch over you, son.’

‘Thanks a bunch,’ Gary said.

Below, the inflatable dinghy continued steadily towards the Church Norton shore. Probably it would take another minute.

‘We’ll go for it,’ the pilot said, veering left, inland, and over the roof of St Wilfrid’s Chapel. ‘Want me to call up ground reinforcements?’

‘You bet I do,’ Hen said. ‘You’re carrying cuffs, are you, Gary?’

Gary nodded. He was looking pale.

They touched down in the car park and jumped out, Gary first. ‘Don’t wait for me,’ Hen yelled, on her knees. ‘Get weaving.’

The helicopter soared again and away over the trees, to keep tabs on Jake.

Hen pulled herself upright and jogged along the footpath some way behind Gary, taking shallow breaths and regretting the years of smoking. Her mouth was dry and her chest hurt, but she made the best speed she could. For all the tough talk she didn’t want Gary tackling Jake unaided.

The Eye in the Sky was hovering only about a hundred yards ahead, an encouraging sign. Hen redoubled her efforts, climbed up a small rise and saw that Gary had already reached the inflatable. But to her amazement, he wasn’t struggling with Jake. He hadn’t made the arrest or taken out the handcuffs. He was helping to beach the dinghy.

Chest heaving now, she had to walk the last stretch. She could see as she approached that the hooded boatman wasn’t tall enough to be Jake. Not a boatman at all, she now discovered, but a boatwoman whose face was familiar.

‘Lady, you’ve got some explaining to do,’ Hen shouted, in competition with the helicopter overhead. She was breathless from running.

This time Jo wasn’t going to be unstrung by this assertive little officer. She’d had time to think about what she would say. ‘I can’t see why. It’s not unlawful to be out in a boat.’

‘Come on, it’s obvious what you were doing. You look ridiculous in the big man’s coat. Now where is he?’

‘I haven’t the foggiest.’

‘You don’t seem to appreciate how serious this is.’ Hen turned and spoke to the young detective beside her. ‘Send the chopper on its way, for God’s sake, Gary. I’m losing my voice.’

‘Don’t we need it any more?’ he asked.

‘Not if the backup are coming. Tell them it’s mission accomplished and ta-ra, thanks very much.’

Gary took out his personal radio.

The arrival of the helicopter had alarmed Jo at first and then angered her. She’d couldn’t stay floating serenely in the middle of the harbour when the rotor action was churning the water, threatening to sink her. Ideally she would have have sat longer in the boat wearing Jake’s hooded jacket. She just hoped she’d bought him enough time. In this vast nature reserve there ought to be hiding places, but she hadn’t expected the search from the air and neither had he.

Gary told Hen, ‘They’ve seen she’s a woman and they want to stay and find Jake.’

‘What else can they do from up there? All right. Ask them to fly over the farmland area and see if he’s there. I can’t hear myself think.’

Presently the helicopter rose higher, swung about, and crossed the water towards the north. The clatter overhead became less.

‘Jake put you up to this, obviously,’ Hen said to Jo. ‘He’s left you deep in shit for helping him to evade arrest. You’d better give straight answers if you don’t want to face a serious charge. Where is he?’

‘I can’t tell you,’ Jo said, speaking the truth.

‘Do you have any idea what you’ve got yourself into? I’m investigating two murders and he’s the prime suspect.’

‘You couldn’t be more wrong,’ Jo said. ‘Jake is a really good guy.’

‘How often have I heard that from some crook’s besotted woman? Listen. If he was that good he wouldn’t need you to cover for him.’

‘He had unfair treatment in the past.’

‘I know all about his record, dear, and you’re coming across as naive and gullible.’

‘He wasn’t the man I saw on Selsey beach, and that’s the truth.’

Hen’s tolerance was under severe strain. ‘Interesting, however, that you and he should turn out to be friends. You’ll be facing questions about that ID parade he was on. Now tell me precisely what he said when he handed you his coat.’

‘He didn’t say much at all.’

‘His words, Miss Stevens. What were his words?’

‘He told me to take care.’

‘Was it his bright idea for you to take the boat out?’

Jo shook her head. ‘I volunteered.’

‘And did he say where he was going next?’

‘No.’

‘Take off the coat and give it to me. I see you’re still wearing your own underneath.’

Jo obeyed. She guessed it would be taken for forensic examination. They really believed Jake was the killer.

From somewhere across the harbour came the two-tone note of a police siren. Then another, chiming in with the first. Hen turned to her assistant. ‘Book this woman and stick her in your car, Gary. She’s obstructing a murder enquiry.’

Handcuffed and locked in the back seat of the Nissan, Jo watched as two police minibuses drew up and disgorged men and women in uniform. All this activity following the helicopter search showed the high priority being given to Jake’s arrest. Yet she refused to believe he had killed anyone. His decency shone through in everything he did. He’d dedicated himself to an ethical life. If she could see that, why couldn’t the police? She remembered his words, ‘You serve your time, but your record is always there.’ How true it was proving.

She hoped he’d found somewhere safe to hide. Those policemen were certain to look in all the obvious places like the bird hides and the chapel and the reed-beds. Thank God he’d said nothing to her about what he planned next. They could question her all day and all night and she’d give nothing away. She doubted if he was right to evade arrest, but she would support him even though she feared he was making things worse for himself. She hadn’t experienced the trauma of prison herself, so she had no right to criticise his actions.

She was horrified by what she saw next-the police emerging from the second minibus in black body armour and armed with submachine guns they checked and gripped in a way that left no doubt they meant to use them. Her heart battered her ribcage like a trapped bird. How often she’d heard of innocent men being gunned down in error. Dreadful if Jake fell in a hail of bullets simply because he had a phobia about being arrested.