the second. The sliding doors opened and in walked that cheeky bitch who’d come into his house yesterday and all but accused him of murder. If that got out, he’d be finished; it didn’t matter if it wasn’t true. He stared at her and the much older man next to her. She smiled at him and he couldn’t stop himself.
‘I want to make a formal complaint about you.’ He stepped too close to her. He knew he was out of order, but the tight ball of anger inside his chest didn’t care.
The woman stepped away from him, still smiling. In a polite but firm voice she answered him. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Barker; if you take a seat I’ll speak to you.’
‘Take a seat? Are you having a laugh? I’ve been here fifteen minutes already, waiting for someone. I’m a very busy man.’
The older man stepped in front of him. ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Ben Matthews, I’ll take your complaint. Just let me get in and you can come into that interview room over there.’
Greg nodded. ‘Don’t be long, I’m not waiting.’
He watched as they buzzed themselves through the double doors leading into the station. Christ, he was furious. He’d lain awake all night thinking about her accusations, then got up with the worst indigestion he’d ever had.
The door opened and he stepped in. The woman wasn’t anywhere in sight, thank God.
‘Please, have a seat and tell me what this is about?’
‘Ms Brookes.’
‘Officer Brookes?’
‘Whatever. She came to my house to ask me questions about the murders yesterday afternoon. I didn’t like the tone of her voice or the way she spoke to me. You do know who I am, right? I have friends in high places.’
‘What’s your name again? I missed it the first time.’
Greg knew his game; well, two could play that.
‘Mayor Gregory Barker.’
‘Date of birth, Mayor?’
‘Mayor is my title not my name, and what has my date of birth got to do with anything?’
‘Whenever we, and by we, I mean the entire police force, have to speak to someone and take their details we have to make sure they’re correct, to put on our system.’
‘Why are you putting me on your system?’ His voice was incredulous.
‘If you want to log a complaint it will have to be submitted on our system, and I need your full details, sir: name, date of birth, address. It’s standard procedure.’
Greg felt his chest tighten. ‘Twenty-second of May 1950. Look, I want her spoken to; she had no right turning up at my house like that.’
‘I’m afraid Detective Brookes had every right, sir. This is a serious murder investigation; your name has come up in our enquiries, therefore we are duty bound by the law to ask you questions in relation to the case. It wouldn’t matter if you were my boss, the rules apply to everyone. How else would we solve crimes?’
Greg pushed back his chair and stood up, leaning over the desk, waving his fist. ‘You’re all in this together. You lot are a pack of wankers and I’ll see you pay for this.’
He watched in slow motion as the man in front of him slammed his hand against a red button on the wall. The door behind him burst open and in rushed three coppers. Before he knew it he was pushed face first against the wall and in handcuffs.
‘What are you doing? Get off me, you morons. I’ll sue you all.’
‘Mr Barker, you are under arrest for an offence under Section Four of the Public Order Act. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence…’
Barker let out a roar as he began to grapple with the two officers holding him. He didn’t hear the rest of the caution the copper was reading out because he was too busy trying to throw them off.
There was a hiss and he heard a shout of ‘PAVA deployed’. The next thing his eyes were watering and stinging so much he buckled to his knees, screaming. He felt himself being dragged out of the small room. His legs were dragging along the carpet, but he didn’t care because his eyeballs were burning out of his skull and he couldn’t see for the tears pouring down his cheeks.
Forty-Four
Morgan watched, open-mouthed, as Gregory Barker was dragged screaming and in handcuffs down to the custody suite. Ben came out of the interview room, his eyes watering.
‘Christ that stuff goes everywhere in a small space.’
‘What happened?’
‘Our esteemed mayor lost his shit, so I arrested him.’