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Authors: Jo Bannister

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‘You think he was on it?’

Donovan looked at her as if she was mad. ‘Of course I don’t think he was on it! I think he blew it up.’

‘With Siddiq on board? The man he was working for?’ It was unclear whether Liz was outraged more by the commission of another murder or the poor after-sales service.

‘The man who embarrassed his own government once too often. Siddiq paid for Maddie, someone back home paid for Siddiq.’

‘They knew before they freed him.’ A note of wonder crept into Liz’s voice. ‘If Dodgson knew when he was talking to you, the people who arranged Siddiq’s release
knew
he wasn’t going home. They didn’t mean for him to get away with what he’d done, just to avoid the scandal of a trial. A tragic accident was tidier. When Siddiq asked for
help with the mess he’d made, they gave Dodgson two contracts. To stop Siddiq being charged; and then to stop him ever putting them in that position again.’

Even after all that had happened Donovan was shocked. Violent death was something he knew about. Expedient death was different, and altogether more chilling. ‘Maddie died to keep Siddiq’s name out of the papers?’

‘It isn’t much of a reason, is it?’ Liz stood up. ‘Donovan, get some rest. It’s over. We have Kendall - though Lord knows what we’ll charge him with if we’ve lost the Saudi connection. Maybe he’ll make a deal with the CPS and plead to a lesser charge. I don’t know. Right now I’m not even sure I care.

‘This world they inhabit, where you can do anything and kill anyone as long as ripples don’t appear on the surface - it’s like an alien planet. Armed robbery, cashing other people’s giros, assault with a deadly shovel - these I understand. I’ve even come across men whose idea of fun is beating some girl to a pulp. But I don’t understand a government that thinks its credibility is enhanced by covering up a crime. I don’t understand Siddiq’s government, and I sure as hell don’t understand ours. The only comfort is that Siddiq will never do anything like it again.’

‘Dodgson will,’ said Donovan grimly. ‘Maybe not here, maybe we’ll never know where, but he’ll do it again. And again.’

‘There is no answer to people like Dodgson,’ admitted Liz. ‘He exists by being better at his job than we are at ours. Maybe one day he’ll make a mistake and go up against someone more ruthless
than himself. Not a policeman - another mechanic. I can’t see anyone else getting the better of him.’

It sounded a counsel of despair, but she was only being realistic. You can’t stop a volcano erupting, you can’t stop a tidal wave, and it’s not much easier to stop someone who’s good enough from reaching his target. The best advice to anyone anxious to avoid assassination is only to make poor enemies.

Donovan glanced up at the drip stand. ‘I don’t know how long I’m going to be here. Will somebody feed my dog?’

Liz nodded. ‘I’ll see to it.’ She didn’t say, ‘I’ll do it,’ because she had a sentimental attachment to all her limbs. ‘Don’t rush back. Tomorrow the reaction will hit you like a train. Get over that before you come back to work.’

‘You’ll be short-handed.’

She looked surprised. ‘Will I?’

‘Hilton’s going at the end of the week. He thinks you’re perfectly capable of running CID in normal circumstances.’ He watched slyly for her reaction.

Liz considered. ‘Generous of him.’

‘What about the chief? When do we get him back?
Do
we get him back?’

‘Oh, I think so. It might take time to get everything back in full working order, but I can’t see him lying around at home any longer than he has to. Already he’s wiggling his toes as if they’d just been invented. By the end of a week he’ll be climbing the walls.’

‘His wife’s back,’ volunteered Donovan. ‘Maybe she’ll stay till he’s right.’

‘Maybe she will.’ He seemed to be getting at something, but Liz didn’t know what.

Donovan spelled it out. ‘Maybe they’ll give the marriage another chance. And since it was the job that split them up, maybe this’ll seem a good time for him to retire.’

Liz would have liked to dismiss the idea. But whatever he finally decided, if he had a choice, Shapiro must have considered it. Some time in the next four years he was going to hang up his truncheon: just when was something he must have thought about, even before this. Maybe Donovan was right: for a chance to mend his marriage it would seem a small enough price.

‘God, I hope not,’ she said fervently. ‘No, I don’t mean that. If it’s what he wants, of course he should go for it. But it’ll be a wrench to have him leave.’

‘It’ll be even more of a wrench to break in someone else,’ growled Donovan. He was still watching her, and she still wasn’t sure why.

‘Maybe Mr Hilton’ll come back.’

‘Then you’d best think up a couple of years’ worth of reasons to keep me out of the office. Or …’

She cocked a quizzical eyebrow at him. ‘Or?’

‘Or you could do the job yourself.’

So that was it. Liz stared incredulously at him. ‘As a Detective Inspector?’

‘As a Detective Superintendent, Range One. That’s what the chief was until last year, and you’ve been due a promotion at least that long. Find out what’s holding it up. Let head office know you’re still
interested, you’re not content to stay the best DI on the force.’

He’d succeeded in knocking the wind out of her. But it made sense. Before long Castlemere was going to need a new senior detective. Why not her?

‘I’ll have to give that a bit of thought,’ she said, a touch shakily.

‘Fine,’ said Donovan. ‘Do it while there’s time.’

‘If there is.’

He shook his head impatiently. ‘The chief’d come back if he thought you only needed a year to get organized. He cares about Queen’s Street and he cares about Castlemere, and there’s nothing he’d sooner do for them than leave you in charge. Go for it, boss! Or we could get someone who’ll make Hilton look like the Laughing Policeman.’

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said again, firmly. And she did: all the way to the car park. By then she knew it was what she wanted.

Also by Jo Bannister

The Matrix
The Winter Plain
A Cactus Garden
Striving with Gods
Mosaic
The Mason Codex
Gilgamesh
The Going Down of the Sun
Shards
Death and Other Lovers
A Bleeding of Innocents
Sins of the Heart
Burning Desires
The Lazarus Hotel
No Birds Sing
The Primrose Convention
Broken Lines

THE HIRELING’S TALE. Copyright © 1999 by Jo Bannister. All rights reserved. . No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

eISBN 9781466808294

First eBook Edition : January 2012

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bannister, Jo.

The hireling’s tale / Jo Bannister.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-312-24400-2

I. Title.

PR6052.A497H57 1999b

823’.914—dc21

99-47638

CIP