Behind Dead Eyes (DC Ian Bradshaw #2) - Howard Linskey Page 0,46
to keep his home, but even working on the case part time would rob him of the hours he needed to finish the seemingly never-ending project. If the police were willing to pay him too Tom could hire someone to finish all of the jobs in the house. Then he could sell it and go back to what he was really good at. He couldn’t do that while he was embroiled in an ongoing feud with Durham Constabulary though.
Finally, there was the girl to think of. Tom knew a favourable outcome was unlikely at this stage but whatever had happened to Sandra, her family deserved to learn the truth, however painful that might be; rather than see out the rest of their lives in a terrible limbo, not knowing if their daughter was alive or dead.
Tom sat up then, pulled back the covers and climbed out of bed. ‘What’s the bloody point?’ he asked himself, as he gave up on sleep and trudged downstairs. He made a cup of tea then picked up the photograph of Sandra Jarvis that was next to the file Bradshaw had left him. The girl’s unsmiling face gave her an enigmatic appearance, as if she was deliberately harbouring a secret.
‘What happened to you?’ he asked Sandra’s picture. ‘Where did you go?’
Chapter Sixteen
The Rosewood café had one of those bells that rang when the front door opened. Ian Bradshaw glanced over at the door’s steamed-up window every time the bell made a sound.
On the sixth time it rang, his vigilance was rewarded. ‘I didn’t expect you to turn up.’ Bradshaw looked into a tired face with dark marks under the eyes.
‘I’m always happy to take a breakfast from Northumbria Police,’ Tom told him.
‘I wouldn’t want you to think of it as a bribe.’
‘Right now, for a double bacon butty I’d sell my soul, along with all of my journalistic principles.’
‘What principles?’ scoffed Bradshaw then he grinned. ‘We can throw in a fried egg if you like and a pot of tea.’
‘Coffee,’ Tom insisted and he sat down opposite the detective. A moment later a young girl appeared and Tom waited till she had taken their order.
‘Okay,’ he said, ‘I’ll help you with your case,’ but before Bradshaw could enjoy his small moment of triumph he added, ‘but there’s one condition.’
‘What?’
‘You have to help me with mine.’
Kane did not invite Bradshaw to sit down and the younger man was glad of it. He wanted to get out of the DCI’s office before Katie Tennant got the hump with him again.
‘Did you tell him we’d put him on the payroll?’ asked Kane.
‘Yes,’ said Bradshaw.
‘And?’
‘It wasn’t enough.’
‘The greedy bastard!’ the DCI flared.
‘I don’t mean the money,’ Bradshaw said quickly, ‘it’s not about that.’
‘What then?’
‘He’s working on something else,’ said Bradshaw, ‘and you’re not going to like it.’ He explained Tom Carney’s interest in the Rebecca Holt case then.
‘You’re joking,’ was Kane’s response and Bradshaw wondered why people always said that, even when it was patently obvious no one was joking.
‘I’m afraid not.’
‘Why does he want to open up that can of worms? Richard Bell was tried and convicted.’
‘But the evidence was largely circumstantial,’ said Bradshaw, adding hurriedly, ‘according to Carney.’
‘I’m familiar with the case, I was SIO on it,’ Kane reminded Bradshaw, ‘and there was enough there to satisfy us and the CPS that there was a reasonable chance of a conviction in a murder trial. The jury agreed with us and Bell got life … but he’s convinced Tom Carney he’s innocent?’
‘Carney is not saying he’s innocent, just that there is some doubt about his guilt. He thinks the jury might have been influenced by Bell’s personality.’
‘Quite possibly,’ admitted Kane, ‘the man shagged everything that moved.’
‘Bell’s family are hiring him to take another look at the case. They want him to discover new evidence that might exonerate Bell.’
‘I’m thinking of the shortest verse in the Bible right now,’ admitted Kane.
‘Sir?’
‘Jesus wept,’ Kane sighed. ‘He won’t find anything, we went over it all endlessly.’
‘Then it probably won’t do any harm,’ offered Bradshaw. ‘He’s promised he’ll keep an open mind and if he uncovers anything that Richard Bell won’t want to hear, he’ll tell him anyway.’
‘Including proof that he did it?’
‘Including that.’
‘So he’s too busy to help us?’
Bradshaw hesitated. ‘Well he did make one suggestion, but I strongly suspect you are not going to like it.’ Bradshaw wasn’t sure he liked the suggestion either.