Peter Guttridge - City of Dreadful Night

‘His snitch?’

Munro shook his head again then took a long gulp of his beer. I waited for more. Munro hid a belch.

‘The word that Grimes was on his own came via Edwards from his snitch, so that’s our starting point. But since we can’t locate either of them, we can’t actually start.’

‘What’s the deal with Bernard Grimes – is he one of the victims?’

‘No.’

‘Was he ever in Brighton or was the whole story cock and bull?’

‘No, he was here but not in that house. The tip from London was firm. The confusion comes with what happened to it at this end.’

‘So did Grimes get to Provence?’

‘We’re still checking. We don’t exactly know where he has his place in France and, of course, he’s living under another name. There’s an arrest warrant out for him. The French police are on the job.’

I raised an eyebrow.

‘Now, now – your lot have got nothing to boast about here.’

‘Do you think it odd that Edwards and Grimes are both in France?’

He shook his head again.

‘I don’t think Grimes is involved in this in any way at all. He was a beard. Just a way to get the guns out.’

‘But what’s the thinking? Everybody in the task force was complicit in this?’

‘Well, they’re certainly being complicit now.’

I rubbed my chin.

‘Can you not start with the victims?’

‘When we find out who they are, most certainly. They are not on any of our databases, nor, as far as we know at this stage, on any continental European databases. We’re going down the DNA route, of course, but that takes time.

‘According to the pathologist, the woman’s dentition suggests she’s from Eastern Europe. Something to do with the composition of her fillings.’

‘The others are Eastern European, then?’

He shrugged.

‘How much longer are you going to spend on this?’

He looked at me for a long moment.

‘You know how these things go, Bob. Your team isn’t denying people got shot, they’re just saying they don’t know who shot them. Unless someone comes forward, there’s nothing we can do except discipline them – and you know how that will pan out.’

A young couple, heavily tattooed, came to sit at the next table. Munro leant forward – not easy with his belly.

‘Thing is, there’s a significant amount of pressure from higher up to let this one slide.’

I leant in close and hissed:

‘How high up and how in hell can you let such a massive thing slide? The press will go bananas.’

He sat back.

‘We’ll see. You know that in a couple of weeks’ time, before they can be disciplined, the shooters will resign on health grounds and then it’s over.’

Retiring on health grounds is the standard get-out for coppers wanting to avoid disciplinary procedures. They do a deal – if they agree to go, the force doesn’t have to face public disgrace. It’s the police looking after their own.

‘What about a private prosecution?’

‘By who? Since nobody knows who the victims are, there is nobody to yell for justice.’

Munro looked at the empty crisp packets and his empty glass.

‘Another?’

‘My shout,’ I said.

I squeezed past the tattooed couple, who were hunched over their table, rolling cigarettes in readiness for a fag break. I didn’t know why I was so surprised or angry at what Munro was telling me. I knew how the system worked and I knew that the police, like any established profession, closed ranks to protect its own.

When I got back to the table, Munro wanted to talk to me about my situation. His concern, I guess, was the reason he’d taken the trouble to see me.

He rubbed his cheek, leaving a red weal.

‘You’ve been a bloody fool in more than one way but you’ve also had a raw deal.’

‘I’ve been set up.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t go that far-’

‘I would.’

He sighed and tilted his glass. The tattooed couple went outside to light up.

‘Sorry about you and Molly. Do you think you’ll get back together?’

‘Eventually, maybe. To be honest, I’m focusing on sorting this out first.’

He put his glass back on the table.

‘I didn’t give you an update so you could start messing, Bob. I felt I owed you. But there’s nothing you can do, however unfair it might be. Family comes first – you focus on getting back home. You hear?’

‘I hear, Bill. Thanks – for all this.’

We stayed another ten minutes, talking about anything but my situation. The tattooed couple came back in, bringing with them a group of boisterous friends. We finished our drinks and went down the narrow stairs out into the sunshine. Munro gestured at the pebble beach.

‘I’ve always been fond of that Acker Bilk tune Strangers on the Shore. Heard it on Wogan’s radio show years ago.’ He shook his head. ‘Funny, Foster being a trad jazz man – you don’t hear that much these days.’

We looked up and down the boardwalk at the throng of young people going by. He held out his hand.

‘Good luck to you, Bob. And mind what I said – focus on sorting your marriage out. The most important thing.’ He grinned. ‘Though we don’t always recognize it when they’re giving us grief.’

I watched him make his careful way through the holidaymakers. He was a decent man, a contented man. I liked to think I was the former. I’d never be the latter.

On the day after Charlie Foster’s funeral, Sarah Gilchrist almost begged Sheena Hewitt to be taken off suspension. She didn’t care: inactivity was driving her mad. She had sat in her flat and suffered, waiting for a phone call that didn’t come. Once, she’d driven out to Haywards Heath and parked opposite the police station. It was stupid. Connolly and White were suspended too, so weren’t even there. Then she’d driven aimlessly round the town thinking she might see them but having no clue what to do if she did.

Inactivity engendered a familiar feeling, one she tried to keep away from. Old stuff welling up. Stuff she hoped she’d dealt with long ago.

Finch’s disappearance had made her paranoid. She roamed the streets of Brighton and Hove, keeping her head down. Once she saw Philippa Franks in a restaurant she’d been intending to eat in. Philippa was in heated discussion at the back of the restaurant with an older man. It looked like relationship stuff so Sarah walked briskly away.

She phoned the Acting Chief Constable and on the sixth attempt was put through.

‘What do you want, Sarah?’ Hewitt said sharply.

‘I want to get back to work, ma’am.’

‘Do you indeed?’

‘You must have seen all the statements from that night in Milldean. You know I wasn’t anywhere near all the bad things going on.’

‘I don’t know because I don’t believe anyone is telling the truth.’

‘I am.’

‘You say.’ Hewitt sighed. ‘You know you’ll never be a firearms officer again?’

‘I know that when the enquiry apportions blame it will probably tar everybody with the same brush.’

Hewitt was silent for a moment, then:

‘I’ll see what I can do.’

Ronnie, the community policeman, came round the afternoon after I’d hit the deer. I was having lunch when I looked out of the window and saw him standing in the gravel outside the bungalow.

‘Sorry – the bell’s kaput,’ I said when I opened the door. I stood to one side. ‘Come in.’

‘It’s about the body in the car, sir.’

Ronnie seemed to duck his head as he walked past me. He hesitated at the end of the corridor.

‘Door on the left.’

He was a tall, broad-shouldered man and the ceilings weren’t high. When I entered the room as well, also stooping, it suddenly seemed very crowded. He glanced around. I guessed he was thinking it was a bit of a rabbit hutch for an ex-Chief Constable but he made no comment. I gestured to the sofa under the window.