Tim Weaver - Vanished

‘I’m sorry I was late –’

‘I’m not looking for apologies, Healy. Where were you?’

‘I called you and left a message on your –’

‘I got the message. You said you were going via Julia Wren’s.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Why?’

‘I wanted to ask her a couple of questions.’

She pursed her lips, her eyes still fixed on him. She’d seen right through it. ‘Do you know where we’re going, Healy?’

‘Ma’am?’

‘Do you know where we’re going?’

‘Now?’

She nodded. ‘Now.’

‘You said it was an address in Highgate.’

‘I know what I said. But do you know where we’re going?’

He frowned. ‘I’m not sure I understand, ma’am.’

‘Let me paint you a picture, okay?’ She paused, looking at him. ‘I invited you back on to this task force because I thought I saw something in you. A hunger. Some sort of contrition. I saw the hint of something worthwhile, so I wrote off all the politics and bullshit, I put up with having my arse handed to me by Bartholomew in weekly meetings, and having him make me look like an idiot in the press, because I thought to myself, “If Healy does one good thing, if he gives me one worthwhile lead, the risk will have paid off.” Because, let’s face it, this case, beginning to end, has been one giant clusterfuck.’

He continued staring ahead, barely able to look at her.

‘But, you know, I look at you, Healy, and all I see are secrets. And if I don’t know what those secrets are, if I don’t know what makes you tick and you won’t tell me what makes you tick, how am I supposed to work with you? How am I supposed to defend you in front of Bartholomew? In front of everyone else? Everyone is against you, Healy – you know that, right? And your only friend, throughout all of this, has been me.’

He looked at her. ‘I appreciate that, ma’am.’

‘Do you?’

‘I do.’

‘Then tell me where we’re going today.’

He studied her. They were headed to Highgate. That had been where Raker had said Duncan Pell lived. Except he couldn’t tell her about Raker, couldn’t tell her about knowing Pell, until he figured out how much she knew and whether she had the photos.

‘I don’t know, ma’am,’ he said finally.

‘Are you sure?’

He looked at her. ‘One hundred per cent.’

She nodded and then turned away from him, looking out into the rain as it drifted across the windscreen. ‘Early yesterday morning a man reported seeing something suspicious up in Highgate, close to Fell Wood. It’s an old railway line.’

‘Suspicious?’

‘Said he thought someone was trying to break into a house there.’

‘Whose house?’

‘It belongs to a Duncan Pell.’ She glanced at him but he didn’t react. ‘Ever heard of him?’

‘No, ma’am.’

She eyed him for a second and there was a fleeting hint of disappointment in her face. Then she moved on. ‘Couple of uniforms go and have a look and they find the front door open. No one’s inside, but they call it in. Anyway, the investigating team enter Pell into the system and find he’s already in there, along with our friend Samuel Wren. Both of them seem to have been involved in the same altercation at Gloucester Road Tube station in October 2010. So there’s a link, however small. Both were originally arrested, but neither of them were charged. There was no indication they knew each other, but something’s up with Pell.’

They found the knives. They found Spane’s jacket .

‘He’s got a set of knives in there with blood all over them. Bartholomew barks some orders and we get them rushed through forensics last night, and when you walked in on us I was reading out the results. The DNA from the blood on the knives matches up with DNA taken from the flats of every single Snatcher victim. Wilky. Erion. Symons. Drake. All four of them. Their DNA is all over the knives. And you know what else?’

Healy looked at her. No. But I can guess .

‘Leon Spane’s blood was on the blades too.’ She glanced at him. ‘We all knew he was one of the Snatcher’s victims the minute Wren used his name for the message he left on Drake’s mobile. But you saw it before that. Way before that. You believed Spane was a victim, even when everyone else doubted.’ She nodded once: an acknowledgement she should have listened to Healy. ‘Pell even had Spane’s jacket and his holdall.’

‘Who made the anonymous call about the break-in?’

‘Didn’t leave a name.’

‘Where did he call from?’

‘A payphone on Muswell Hill.’

Which meant it was basically untraceable unless Craw signed off on CCTV footage being requisitioned from the street. Even then, there were no guarantees it would get them a face. First Wellis, now Pell. It was Wren. Had to be. He’s trying to close down anyone who he had any sort of contact with as the Snatcher because he’s knows we’re on to him. He’s trying to insulate himself. This is the end game.

‘So what about Wren?’

‘What about him?’

‘Was his DNA on the knives?’

‘His prints were on the knife grips.’

‘Shit. So Wren looks good for this?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘You tell me.’

‘Ma’am?’

‘You were at his house this morning, right?’

He nodded. ‘Right. Yes, I was.’

‘So what did you find out?’

He couldn’t think of a single thing to say. There are no lies left to tell . He glanced at her. ‘I didn’t manage to find out anything new.’

But even to his ears it was weak.

She shrugged. ‘Then I guess we head to Pell’s house.’

The conversation died away and they sat in silence for a while as the traffic eased, Healy inching the car forward, rain getting heavier and spitting up off the road as mist.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed,’ Craw said finally.

‘Disappointed, ma’am?’

She shifted in her seat, all the way around, and just stared at him. He looked ahead, not turning himself, trying to act normally even as a slow wave of dread washed through his system. Then eventually, as the silence became unbearable, he turned and looked at her.

‘You were right about Spane. You have good instincts, Healy. I knew it, right from the off. That’s why I tried to get you involved. But the trouble is, you don’t know how to curb them, you don’t know how to control your instincts.’ She paused; seemed to deflate. ‘Davidson handed me some photos this morning of you and David Raker. I don’t know what you were doing with him, and frankly I don’t care. What I care about is that you looked me in the eye when I sat there and handed you a second chance, and you told me – you promised me – you wouldn’t make me look like an arsehole. You promised me.’

‘Ma’am, I can explain.’

‘It’s too late for explanations, Healy,’ she said, steely but quiet. She was angry but mostly she was defeated and, in a way, that was worse. ‘ No one wanted you here, you do get that, don’t you? Not one single person. Even cops who you go back years with, they can’t afford to get too close to you, because you drag people down. This …’ She waved a hand, her voice gradually starting to rise. ‘This agenda you’ve got. This is the one time you had to suck it up, you had to swallow your pride and you had to keep your head down. But you couldn’t even do that.’

‘I didn’t feel I could –’

‘I don’t want to hear any more,’ she said, and turned away from him, looking out through the windscreen. ‘When we get back to the station, you’re going to walk into my office and you’re going to hand in your resignation. You’re going to tell me you can’t handle the pressure any more, or you feel it’s time to go, or whatever the hell excuse you want to make up. You’re good at lying, Healy, so I’m sure you can come up with something inventive.’ She paused, glancing at him. ‘I like you, Colm. I’ve always liked you. But I can’t trust you. And if I can’t trust you to protect your own career, I can’t trust you to protect mine. So now it’s time to fall on your sword. And once you’ve done that, you walk away from the police and you never come back again.’