David Belbin - Bone & Cane

‘What made you leave?’ Sarah asked him.

‘I’d done my twenty years. Thatcher looked after us pretty well but I saw how I could be a lot better off if I took my pension. Forty-one then – young enough to start all over again. Which I have.’

Sarah glanced around the knocked-through living and dining room. The furniture was IKEA and the ready-made dark blinds didn’t quite fit the large windows, but Sarah could see how Jack might consider this luxury. It was too spartan for her. There would be a wife and kids somewhere else, Sarah expected. There usually were, with policemen his age, who were top of the divorce league tables.

‘Why did you leave?’ Jack asked her. ‘Didn’t last long, from what I heard.’

‘Wrong career,’ Sarah said. ‘I had some cock and bull idea that the police were about justice, when they’re really about crowd control. I wanted to go where the power was.’

‘And have you found it?’

‘Maybe I will on Thursday. I want to talk to you about Ed Clark.’

‘Bit late now, isn’t it? You got him out.’

‘And since I did, I’ve been discovering things I didn’t know about him. Like how you and Terry Shanks bugged Terry’s sister’s bedroom to get the information that put Ed away.’

‘If an illegal bug had led to the conviction it wouldn’t have stood up in court,’ Slater said.

‘Except it wasn’t needed in court. Whose idea was it?’

‘Terry’s.’

‘But CID knew about it?’

‘Only when we took them the tapes. CID weren’t interested in a small-time thug like Clark.’

‘But Terry was, and it got him murdered.’

‘He liked his brother-in-law, Phil Bolton. Terry hated his sister cheating on him with a shit like Clark.’

‘And it got him killed.’

‘Not according to the appeal court.’

Sarah ignored this. ‘Ed Clark had been out of prison less than a week when Terry was murdered. What I don’t understand is why he killed the wife, too.’

‘I heard you thought he was innocent of that. Changed your tune?’

‘Humour me,’ Sarah said. ‘I know Ed. He’s a sharp guy. He doesn’t take unnecessary risks. His killing Liv makes no sense.’

‘Made no sense to me either,’ Jack said. ‘Not when I found out that she died up to an hour later. The way her body was left, we figured he’d raped the wife and made Terry watch. But the timing was wrong and there was no proof of sexual assault.’

‘Doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. She’d had sex earlier.’

‘Her husband had had sex recently too. The condom we found contained his sperm. Ed could be pervy enough to get off on raping the wife of a man he’s just killed in front of the dead body. Doesn’t sit right with me, though.’

‘Me neither,’ Sarah admitted.

They both thought for a few moments, found nothing new to say. Sarah changed tack.

‘Did Ed see Polly Shanks after he got out of prison but before he murdered her brother? Were they still lovers?’

‘Not according to her,’ Jack said. ‘When we spoke to her, she said she regretted ever seeing Clark, as it had cost her her marriage. Said she’d had nothing to do with him since he was sent down the first time.’

‘Did you believe her?’

‘I believed she felt guilty about bringing Clark into her brother’s life, causing so much mayhem. She wanted him put away. As to whether she saw Clark the week he got out, I don’t know if she was telling the truth. It made no difference to the case against him.’

‘Would have shown how strongly she felt about him,’ Sarah said.

‘Women’s real feelings,’ Jack said, glancing around his neat bachelor home, ‘closed book to me. Been to see her?’

‘Yes, but I think I need to go again,’ Sarah said.

Nick got to the cab office at four and waited for Bob to finish. On Friday, he’d told Joe that he would only drive for another week, taking him up to election day. Now he was, potentially at least, back with Sarah, five days was too big a risk.

‘Bob’s on an airport run,’ Nas told Nick. ‘He’ll be a while.’

She made a personal call. Nick tried to settle in to the News of the World , not taking in the stories, trying not to listen to Nas’s call. He was very curious about what was going on with her, her brothers and Joe. Maybe he should go home. He’d told Sarah he was working today, but she might be happy to see him later. The latest polls showed Labour comfortably ahead, but not enough to give Sarah a fighting chance of holding on to her seat. Nick could see how much she loved the job, how frustrated she’d be when she was forced to leave office as Labour took power. There was nothing he could do to help except pick up the pieces. A depressing way to start a relationship. He could take her on holiday. He still had most of the money from Andrew Saint. He could afford to treat her.

Where to go? He had no idea where she’d been abroad. Their one foreign holiday had been two weeks island-hopping around Greece. Did people still do that? He’d heard Caroline go on about the time she and Joe went to the Seychelles. Nick didn’t know where the Seychelles were, though they sounded like they were outside his price range. They shouldn’t go on a holiday where Sarah would have lots of time to brood. They should be on the move, keeping occupied. Maybe Eastern Europe.

Joe came in. He usually showed his face on Sundays.

‘Could you mind the switch for a few minutes? I need a word with Nas.’

Nick frowned at his brother. ‘Bob could be here any minute, Joe.’

‘This really won’t take long.’

Joe and Nas went outside. Nick wondered if Joe was giving her the push. Then he heard Joe’s car drive off.

Nas returned twenty minutes later, her long hair down and clothes crumpled.

‘Thanks,’ she said to Nick. ‘I appreciate it.’

‘S’alright. Joe gone?’

‘Back to his very pregnant wife, yes.’

‘The other day, when I found you crying, what happened? Did your husband find out what was going on with you and Joe?’

Nas shook her head. ‘Satnam wouldn’t mind. He’s been giving it to my fifteen-year-old nephew, Prakesh. My sister’s husband caught them at it.’

‘Ouch. You knew he was gay?’

‘I’d worked out he wasn’t straight, after three years of marriage and not much chance of getting pregnant.’

‘What did your brother-in-law do?’

‘Took Prakesh to Pakistan, but only after putting Satnam in the Queen’s with three broken ribs and a severely bruised groin. I’m visiting him when I finish my shift.’

‘Getting a divorce?’

‘If Satnam lives long enough.’ She gave Nick a cheerful smile, the smile of a woman who’d just had sex and didn’t mind him knowing it. ‘Is it true you’re seeing Sarah Bone, the MP?’

‘We’re just good friends,’ Nick said, winking.

‘Old friends?’

‘We lived together at uni, yeah.’

‘You’re a dark horse,’ she said, and grinned. He wondered what on earth she saw in his younger brother, the lucky sod.

‘Does Joe know that I know?’

‘Sure. Why do you think I rang and asked him to come over?’

That was how Joe worked, sharing a secret with Nick but not actually acknowledging it. Nick couldn’t understand why women stuck with Joe after they found out that he was feckless and unfaithful. Even Caroline, who was cleverer than Joe’s other girlfriends. Caroline, with whom Nick shared the one secret that Joe knew nothing about.

Their mother was still alive when Joe met Caroline. He brought her home to Sunday dinner and, for the first time, Nick envied his brother for one of his girlfriends. She was a teacher, like Nick, and a couple of years older than Joe. A beauty, too. Back then, Joe was still playing. Caroline was a County supporter, but a far cry from the groupies he used to see. Even so, he treated her like shit, and they soon parted.