Death on Account (The Lakeland Murders) (6 page)

The investigation was in full swing too, and Hall was called upon to make dozens of small decisions about where to expend effort, and which aspects of the investigation to prioritise. Many of the choices that Hall made seemed almost insignificant, but as he considered each one he was acutely aware that it might be the decision that led to Williams’ killer getting away with murder.

Despite the high profile nature of the case, and Robinson’s public statements about the Constabulary’s commitment to it, the truth was that Hall was already short of resources. The most recent redundancies, combined with persistently high level of sickness absence, meant that Charlie Coward was especially short of uniforms to do the door-knocking. But even Hall was feeling the pinch.

‘I tell you what, Andy, I’ve got a couple of bright Specials who might be able to help you with some of the computer stuff’ said Coward when he phoned in, and Hall told him how stretched his team was. ‘And I think you already know Gill, don’t you?’

Hall could hear the smile in Coward’s voice on the phone, and he did his best to ignore it.

‘Yes, that would be helpful. If you’ve got any with computer or data analysis skills we could certainly use them.’

‘How about an accountant then?’

‘Ideal. We’ll take whatever time they can give us. If you’d just let Jane Francis know who she can have, and for how long, that would be great. I’ve got to get on my way to Liverpool to have an audience with Billy Cafferty.’

‘That should be fun.’

‘I’ve been looking forward to it all day.’

When he was in the car Hall started to think about the interview that lay ahead, and when he was on the M6 he called Ian Mann.

‘Should you be calling me? I’m a suspect you know.’

‘Says who?’

‘If you’re still SIO then you do. It’ll be your people who are going through my online history, my phone records, my bank account and all that.’

‘So where were you when I phoned yesterday? Before I went to the meeting with Williams.’

‘At a pub in town.’

‘On your own?’

‘Aye. What of it?’

‘Nothing. It would just have saved everyone a lot of trouble if you’d been miles away from Kendal when Williams got killed.’

‘That wouldn’t have helped. Robinson and Gorham reckon I grassed up Williams to Billy Cafferty, so it wouldn’t make any difference where I was. Even they know I didn’t actually do it.’

‘I suppose so. But what they’re doing has got nothing to do with my investigation you know, Ian. My first priority is to find out who killed Williams, and then to find out how our killer knew who he was. There could be a thousand explanations. He might just have been unlucky, and someone connected to Cafferty spotted him somewhere. It really could be that simple, and probably is. And even if it was a leak from inside the judicial system you’re far from the only person who knew who Trevor Royal really was.’

‘So why are they going after me so hard?’

‘I expect it’s to try to rattle you, get you to resign. They’re keeping me out of the loop with the CPS on whether they’re going to charge you over the deaths at the Abbey, but I think we can assume they’re not. Which means that they’d rather you jumped than were pushed.’ Mann laughed. ‘No pun intended by the way. So in an odd way all this might be good news for you. They’re clutching at straws a bit, that’s what I’m saying.’

‘I could certainly do with a bit of good news.’ Hall had never heard Mann sound beaten before, or anywhere even close to it, but somehow he did now.

‘Come on, Ian’ said Hall. ‘With a bit of luck and a following wind you’ll be back on duty in no time. And we could certainly use you. I’ve had to take Charlie Coward up on the offer of a loan of a couple of his Specials, I’m that desperate.’

‘Is one of them called Gill McGrath by any chance?’

It was Hall’s turn to laugh. ‘Don’t you start. But yes, she is. And while we’re on the subject of unsuitable company for a copper, what’s this about you seeing Ben Brockbank?’

‘Why shouldn’t I see him? He’s a mate.’

‘He a villain, Ian, that’s what he is. Come on, if it wasn’t for the fact that they don’t want you on the stand he’d be looking at five years for rustling those cows and nicking that farm machinery. More if the judge is some Farmer Giles type.’

‘Is that rhyming slang? I never know with you southerners. But Ben’s learnt his lesson, he won’t do it again. Not now he’s running the farm.’

‘Come on, Ian. Do you really believe that?’

‘I do. I’m a hundred percent sure I’m right.’

It wasn’t the first time that Hall had heard that level of confidence expressed by one person in another, so he let it pass and changed the subject. Maybe Mann was right.

‘I’m off to see Billy Cafferty. Driving down now in fact.’

‘I bet you wish I was going with you. You always need a bit of help with the hard men.’

‘Too right. But that DI from Merseyside, Tony Sheridan, is coming with me.’

‘He’ll look after you I’m sure. Of course, Sheridan knew who Royal really was.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Nothing really. Just that plenty of folk knew, and DI Sheridan is a lot closer to the Caffertys than we are.’

‘Point taken. I’ll give Tony your best regards then, shall I?’

Mann laughed. ‘I was just saying. I’m hardly prime suspect material.’

‘I know. In my book you’re a person of absolutely no interest to this investigation whatsoever, and that’s the truth. Look Ian, you do me a favour and keep your head down. No D&Ds, no punch-ups, no flare-ups with Robinson or Gorham. Do what the Federation says, and we’ll have you back in harness in no time.’

‘You make me sound like a shire horse or something.’

Hall laughed. ‘Now that’s what you remind me of. I could never quite place it.’

He rang off, and spent the rest of the drive with the radio turned off. He’d read the notes that Sheridan had sent him about Tom Cafferty’s conviction for a double murder, but they raised more questions than they answered. Why would a lad who had been to a good school and was at university kill two mid-level drug dealers during his summer vacation? And why do it in front of witnesses, and with the knowledge of the late Neil Williams, amongst others? Because even if Tom did intend to enter the family firm, or was even already involved, he must have known that he had absolutely no need to carry out the killings himself. It had been stupidly reckless, and the Caffertys hadn’t done so well for themselves by being either. Because in Hall’s limited experience of organised crime it was a kind of Darwinian meritocracy, and the weak, the slow and the foolish tended to be consumed by the younger, hungrier animals.

Hall really didn’t get it, but that didn’t worry him too much. Because he’d long-since stopped trying to impose his own values and morality on the actions of offenders. Within a few months of joining the job he’d realised that a copper isn’t there to change people, or to help them, he’s there to nick them. But he also had arranged to get a background briefing from DI Sheridan before they interviewed Billy Cafferty, and based on their phone conversations he had the impression that Sheridan was the kind of bloke who’d be much more helpful when nothing was being written down. So he reckoned that Sheridan might be able to fill in at least a few of the many gaps in the written file.

Hall’s sat-nav tried to take him down a one-way street near Sheridan’s station, which was just south of the city centre, but eventually Hall managed to park a couple of minutes walk away. Sheridan came down and met Hall at the front desk, didn’t mention that he was late, and suggested that they go out for a coffee. ‘The stuff in here tastes like those beans that some monkey has shat out, except ours is made with the shit, not the coffee beans.’

They seemed to know Sheridan in the coffee shop near the station, although Hall thought that Sheridan, a wiry man about ten years younger than himself, seemed plenty wired enough, even before he started on his double expresso. And he certainly talked fast enough. So Hall sat back, sipped his latte, and listened.

‘You’re wondering why a kid like Tom Cafferty would take out a couple of low-lifes like that himself?’ said Sheridan, and Hall didn’t even have time to nod before he went on. ‘He’s a bright lad, and he could easily have lived for life on the straight money that the Caffertys have. They’ve been opening those cheap shops all round town lately, which we hear was his idea. He was doing business studies at uni apparently. Anyway, as far as we can tell he wanted to prove himself in the family business, and Billy made some comment about the two jokers that Tom shot needing to be dealt with, and the lad decided to do it himself. So the word is that Billy feels guilty about the whole thing, and he’s been moving heaven and earth to find Williams and have him taken out. They say that there was a huge price on his head. It may be wild talk, but I’ve heard a million quid mentioned. Yeah, really, a million. So your garotte killer could be from Christ-knows-where. They could have flown him in from anywhere where life is cheap. So parts of Liverpool would certainly be in the frame.’ Sheridan allowed himself a truncated laugh. ‘But is Billy behind this? You can bet your pension on it. Will we get anything out of him today? Not a flicker. He’ll dead-bat us like the pro that he is. But I expect that’s exactly what you expect? Well, you won’t be disappointed.’

Sheridan reached for his coffee cup, and Hall grabbed the opportunity to ask a question.

‘We’ve been looking at any cases where a garotte has been used in Britain, going back ten years, and there are hardly any. Is that why you mentioned the possibility that our killer might be from overseas?’

‘That kind of close-quarters, hands-on killing feels like British ex-military, all that special forces stuff, or it was done by a professional killer, either local or from overseas somewhere. Down here the diet and the ciggies are the most likely thing to kill you, but after that it’s knives and guns every time. Most of our cons couldn’t even spell garotte, let alone use one. I’ve been in the job here for nearly twenty years, and I’ve never known one be used.’

‘How about the kid? How’s he held up in prison?’

‘Billy must be proud. He’s kept his mouth shut from the minute we nicked him. I was starting to think that the silver spoon in his mouth had blocked his windpipe, he was that quiet. When he was inside he was treated like royalty, as you’d expect. And of course he’ll be out in a few days anyway.’

‘You don’t seem too concerned about it.’

Sheridan shrugged. ‘What can you do? If Williams had taken our advice and gone abroad we’d have had every chance at the re-trial, but without him we’re buggered. And the two low-lifes who Tom took out won’t be missed. Not by us anyway.’

‘You said that Tom wanted to prove himself to his brother. But surely the Cafferty brothers don’t actually get their own hands dirty, do they?’

Sheridan smiled, and fine lines radiated from the corners of his eyes. For the first time he took a breath before replying.

‘You don’t get a lot of gangland bosses up in sheep-shagger country I suppose, so you maybe don’t know how it works. You see Billy Cafferty isn’t like the MD of some company, who gets to be in charge because the shareholders or some shit say he is. If Billy wasn’t hard some ambitious underling would kill him, because that’s how you get promoted in that world. They’re not playing at it, Andy. When you meet Billy ignore the smart suit and the manicure, because that bastard has got blood under his fingernails. We just don’t know whose it is, that’s all.’

‘So Billy has gone out and done killings himself?’

‘You can be sure of it, Sherlock. We hear whispers, but you can bet that every one of his soldiers knows exactly what he’s capable of. And the boy was just trying to follow in his brother’s footsteps, and his old man’s too.’

‘His old man?’

‘Billy Senior. Died of natural causes about five years ago. Built the whole empire up from nothing. He came over from the old country in the late fifties with ten bob in his pocket, and now they’re worth millions, and that’s just the legitimate business. So young Tom has got plenty to come back out to.’

‘You’re certain he will get out?’

‘Yep. The CPS would throw in two towels if it had more than one. We’re buggered, and Billy knows it. So he’ll be as smug as fuck when we talk to him. So come on, we don’t want to be late for the great man.’

It was getting windy, and Sheridan ducked into the doorway of a boarded-up shop when his mobile rang. Hall thought he must be getting old, because he hadn’t even heard it. Sheridan held up his hand, and beckoned Hall into the doorway. He held a hand over the mouthpiece.

‘We’ve found your Beemer. Burned out on waste ground out near the airport. Sounds like a proper Toxteth barbie. SOCO is on the way anyway.’

Sheridan hung up, and they walked quickly back to the station. Hall was getting slightly out of breath by the time they got there, but he noticed that Sheridan wasn’t.

‘So an overseas hit just got more likely’ said Hall, looking at Sheridan. ‘Good guess, Tony.’

‘I have my moments. Might be what someone wants us to think of course, but we’ll get a check done on all the boarding records from 2.30pm yesterday until this morning. But a pro would be travelling on a nicked passport for sure anyway. But we can but try, can’t we?’