Behind Dead Eyes (DC Ian Bradshaw #2) - Howard Linskey Page 0,158
what I said.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘ “We’re all guilty of something.” ’
Bradshaw rejoined them and his face was white.
‘You okay?’ asked Helen.
‘Not really. I’ve just been given some news and you’re not going to like it.’
Tom couldn’t recall the last time he’d received good news. ‘Go on.’
‘It’s Councillor Jarvis,’ said Bradshaw. ‘There’s no pleasant way to tell you this so I’m just going to say it.’ And he took a breath. ‘He’s dead.’
‘Dead?’ said Helen. ‘How?’
‘Found hanged in his cell.’
‘He killed himself?’ she asked the detective.
‘Doubt it somehow,’ said Bradshaw.
‘That was no suicide,’ snapped Tom. ‘He was killed to shut him up, just like your editor.’
‘Guards found him,’ said Bradshaw, ‘with sheets knotted round his neck and the other end tied to the metal bar in the window.’
‘Does anybody really believe it was suicide?’ asked Helen.
‘There’s plenty that want to believe it,’ admitted the detective. ‘It would be a lot more convenient.’
‘So who did it?’ asked Helen. ‘McCree?’
‘Who else has the contacts on the inside?’ Tom asked. ‘Where does this leave your case against Jimmy McCree?’
‘In tatters,’ admitted Bradshaw. ‘The only evidence we have linking Jimmy McCree directly to the murder of Diane Turner is from Frank Jarvis, who is no longer in a position to testify against him. McCree’s lawyers are already petitioning for his release from remand. They said all along Jarvis’s claims were a ludicrous attempt to avoid taking the full blame for his daughter’s murder and their client knows nothing about the other girl. The CPS won’t be able to pursue it now.’
‘So he gets away with it?’ said Helen.
‘Not quite,’ said Bradshaw. ‘We’ve been assembling quite the dossier on Jimmy over the years and his recent arrest on suspicion of murder gave us new warrants to search his home and a number of places associated with him.’
‘What did you find?’ she asked.
‘There’s enough to bring charges for money laundering and possession of illegal firearms at the very least plus tax evasion and possession of a small amount of class A drugs but not enough to do him on supplying. He’s probably looking at a couple of years inside if he pleads guilty.’
‘He’ll do that with a smile on his face now he’s avoided life,’ commented Tom.
‘But it will be his first actual criminal conviction. That’ll cost his new security business a lot of money. Alan Camfield has already slammed the door shut on him and pulled out of the Riverside tender, which has been ripped up so they can start it all over again without him. Joe Lynch is vulnerable too. He may have to stand down as leader of the council because everyone is openly talking about how corrupt he is. This is all very far from over. Every police officer in the north-east is in full agreement that Jimmy McCree is now our number one priority and he’ll slip up again one day. We’ll be waiting when he does.’
‘In the meantime, he gets away with murder,’ said Helen.
‘Believe me I am as pissed off about that as you are, Helen, but there’s nothing we can do about it.’
‘There is one thing I can do,’ Tom told them both. ‘I’m going to write about it. I’m going to put all of this down in a way no one can bloody ignore. I’ll tell the story of the man who’s rotting away in jail even though it was his wife that really murdered his lover. I’m going to tell the world about the politician who abused his position to prey on young girls nobody would ever believe. I’ll write about his murdered daughter, how he was forced to end his political career and who gained because of that, then I’ll say how bloody convenient it was for everyone when he was found dead in his cell.’
‘You don’t mind who you upset, do you?’ said Bradshaw but he was smiling now.
‘I’ve still got contacts who love stories like these. There’ll be banner headlines on the front pages of some very big newspapers and some people won’t like that,’ agreed Tom, ‘but by the time I’m done there’ll be dozens of other reporters queueing up with some very awkward questions for Alan Camfield, Joe Lynch and Jimmy McCree.’
When Tom was finished, Bradshaw regarded him closely. ‘I quite like the sound of that.’
‘The power of the press,’ said Tom, ‘and no, I don’t expect to change the world, not even a small corner of it, but it’s a start.’
‘I’d like to help you,’ Helen told him, ‘but I may need a change of address,’ and she handed him the note that had been pinned to her door.
He read it then gave the note to Bradshaw. ‘You sure about that?’ Tom asked. ‘They are already gunning for you.’
‘So I may as well fight back. Are you still looking for that lodger?’
‘Not anymore. The room’s yours.’
‘So it’s print and be damned?’ Helen asked him.
‘Print and be damned,’ he said emphatically and Helen smiled. She knew this time they both meant it.