Buried (DC Jack Warr #1) - Lynda La Plante Page 0,53
the train, than a bunch of women setting up a children’s home, even if they were ex-cons. Once Ridley had got his head around everything, he stepped back out into the squad room with his instructions.
‘Anik, go back and speak to Susan Withey. I want a detailed timeline of every move her husband made, from the moment he left the force to the day she reported him missing. And I want to know how much they paid for their house and how much Audrey got from the sale of the villa. Jack, find out everything you can about Mike’s family ‒ Audrey, Shirley, and there’s a younger brother, Greg. And find those missing women from The Grange.’
The pace of this investigation had now increased – from this moment forward, Ridley knew that every little detail would have to be nailed down before he went to the Super accusing a possibly dead ex-copper of committing the biggest train robbery in UK history.
CHAPTER 13
Jack and Maggie sat unnaturally close on their sofa, champagne glasses in hand, fixed grins on their faces, staring at the open laptop on the coffee table in front of them. It was eleven o’clock. Jack wore a nicely ironed shirt, Maggie wore a smart blouse, as though they were going out to a smart dinner party – and both wore pyjama bottoms. Their image in the top right-hand corner of the screen deliberately showed them from the waist up. Eventually the word ‘connecting’ disappeared from the centre of the screen.
‘Hello, darling!’
Penny’s overly excited voice crackled through the laptop speakers and Jack’s head sank in momentary despair as Penny launched into her obviously rehearsed chatter.
‘Mum! Mum, click the camera! Dad! We can hear you, but we can’t see you. Click on the little icon thing that looks like a video camera!’ Jack and Maggie could hear Penny and Charlie having a mumbled conversation, before their faces finally appeared on screen. ‘We can see you now!’
All four of them raised their glasses and said, ‘Cheers.’
Maggie and Charlie looked like typical Brits abroad – they had bright, shiny pink faces and looked half-cut. Charlie’s shirt was open down to his belly button, showing off his abundance of grey hairs that looked ten times greyer against his pink chest. Penny wore a halter-neck dress but had clearly been wearing a spaghetti strap vest-top throughout the day, so now her shoulders were an array of pink and white stripes. Jack couldn’t stop grinning as she went on and on about what they’d been up to.
‘Madeira has the most wonderful food, Jack, Maggie would love it. We’ve seen whales and dolphins, haven’t we, love? And it’s ever so green considering the heat. We’re in Funchal ‒ have you been to Funchal? It’s Europe’s most picturesque and cleanest capital, according to the guide books. It’s famous for pirates. And do you know who was born here? Guess, Jack. Go on.’
‘No idea, Mum,’ Jack lied.
‘Cristiano Ronaldo!’
Jack and Maggie stifled a giggle and sipped their champagne as Penny continued with her various tales of beautiful gardens, long beach walks, the thrill of eating at eleven o’clock each night and drinking cocktails with fruit perched on the rim of the glass. And all the while, Charlie watched every move that she made, listened to every word and laughed at every single terrible attempt at a joke. He was exactly where he wanted to be and Jack knew it. He almost cried because his parents looked so incredibly happy. His relief was palpable.
*
At ten o’clock the next morning, Jack was being frisked by prison guards on his way into Pentonville to see Tony Fisher. Tony and all of the other inmates wore yellow tabards to distinguish them from the visitors ‒ not that that was really required. The cons in this wing were the kind of men you’d cross the road to avoid just because of how they looked.
Tony walked towards Jack with a scowl on his face that said, You’d better be worth getting out of bed for, boy.
When he sat down, he didn’t bother pulling in his chair and getting comfortable, suggesting that he had no intention of staying. He had a natural sneer and, for 75 years old, he was still a frightening man. He had a split lip, a cut just beneath his left eye and a small wound to his neck, which Jack assumed was where his young assailant had tried to cut his throat. Tony was bigger than Jack, stockier and far more