A Narrow Trajectory Read online

  ‘So I started looking for a weak link in his chain,’ Jake swept on, unaware of the Acting DCS’s angst. ‘And that’s why I met Darren Chivnor.’

  Steven now felt his blood running a little cold. ‘There’s nothing weak about Chivnor, Jake,’ he interrupted harshly. ‘The man’s very handy with a knife, and is one of Medcalfe’s main boys. He runs the girls, and enforces the rule on anyone who gets out of hand.’

  ‘Yes, I know all that,’ Jake said, a shade too casually for Hillary’s liking. ‘But he’s also a man with ambitions beyond working for Medcalfe for the rest of his life. He’s got a girl he wants to marry, and a lifestyle away from Oxford that he dreams about. So I approached him with an offer – forged documents for himself and his girlfriend, a cash-bribe for a sweetener, plus the promise of enough money to start abroad somewhere, well out of Medcalfe’s reach.’

  ‘All in exchange for information about Jasmine?’ Hillary put in sceptically. ‘Jake, you know he won’t grass on his boss.’

  ‘No, I know that,’ Jake said a shade impatiently now. ‘I’m not that stupid. I told him outright that I wasn’t interested in bringing his boss down. The thing is, I thought that the negotiations were going well with him, but something went wrong.’

  Hillary grunted. ‘I’ll say. You ran out of that gent’s lav like the hounds of hell were after you.’

  Jake’s eyes widened. ‘You saw that as well?’

  Hillary smiled. ‘Jimmy and I were following you. So you arranged to meet him at night in the gent’s loo in the park. What happened? Why did he pull a knife on you and chase you out?’

  ‘I don’t know!’ Jake said, sounding almost comically aggrieved now. ‘I had the bribe money on me, and the forged documents, and I showed them to him. I swear he was genuinely excited and up for it. Everything seemed to be going OK. We had just started – I hadn’t even mentioned Jasmine’s name and what I wanted him to do to earn the real money, when every­thing suddenly changed.’

  ‘Perhaps he was just playing you,’ Steven put in reasonably. ‘He kept the documents and the cash, right?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘So perhaps he decided just to take that, and forget about the rest,’ Steven hypothesized. ‘He never intended to risk upsetting Medcalfe by talking to you anymore. Perhaps he even planned to cut you in order to prove his loyalty.’

  ‘Don’t think I haven’t been wondering about that,’ Jake said wryly. ‘Believe me, I have. But I really don’t think so. Chivnor was really interested in hearing more, I could tell. About how much exactly I was willing to give him. And, yes, I could see he was also nervous and on edge, but if he’d already decided just to take the money and run, he wouldn’t have been so jittery, would he?’

  Steven shrugged at this bit of logic.

  Jake sighed. ‘Look, I still maintain that he was hooked enough to want to find out exactly what it was that I was proposing. But then, in a flash, everything just seemed to change.’ He was clearly frustrated by the memory of that night, and Hillary shot Steven a back-off look.

  He nodded.

  ‘Exactly what happened?’ Hillary asked, turning back to Jake. ‘Tell me every little detail that you can remember.’

  ‘Well, we were alone in the loos. He’d seen the £20,000 in cash and the documents. And then I heard someone come in.’

  ‘Did you see who?’ Hillary asked.

  ‘Just a bloke. He had ginger hair, I think.’

  ‘Did you know him?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Was he a member of Medcalfe’s gang?’ Hillary pressed. ‘Your PI firm gave you photos of them, right?’

  ‘Yeah. No, he wasn’t another of Medcalfe’s people. I’m sure of it. In fact, I’m sure he only came in to use the facilities. He looked surprised for a moment.’ Jake laughed grimly. ‘Which probably wasn’t all that surprising, seeing as Darren had a fistful of money in his hand at that point. And then suddenly Darren pulled a knife.’

  ‘Perhaps Darren thought the newcomer might try and take the money from him,’ Hillary mused.

  Jake shrugged. ‘It would take someone with nerves of steel to try to mug Darren! Anyway, I just ran as fast as I could,’ he admitted, looking a little ashamed. ‘I just panicked, I suppose.’

  ‘You had an attack of common sense more like,’ Hillary said bluntly. ‘If someone like Chivnor pulls a knife, anyone with two brain cells to rub together would run. You did the right thing,’ she assured him. No doubt he felt as if he’d acted cowardly, and she needed to knock that idea right on the head.

  ‘It sounds as if it was definitely the visitor who startled him,’ Steven contributed. ‘Chivnor was bound to be nervous in the first place, meeting you behind Medcalfe’s back. He would have been hyper-alert to danger. Did the man who came in after you stay?’ he asked Jake sharply, but it was Hillary who answered him.

  ‘No, he didn’t. He legged it, the same as Jake,’ she said shortly. ‘I agree with Jake. I think he was just an innocent caught up in it. Let’s hope so anyway.’

  Steven nodded. ‘And this all happened three nights ago?’

  ‘Right,’ both Jake and Hillary confirmed together.

  ‘Then I think we’re safe in assuming that Medcalfe doesn’t suspect anything yet. And he certainly can’t have any idea that Jake and Darren are in contact.’

  ‘Why do you think that?’ Jake asked curiously.

  ‘Because Chivnor’s corpse hasn’t shown up somewhere yet,’ Steven said succinctly. ‘And neither has yours.’

  Jake gulped, then forced a smile. ‘It’s as I told you. I’m sure Darren is still thinking things over. He knows I can offer him an out, and I still think he’s willing to play along, if I can convince him that the risks are worth it.’

  ‘So Jake still has, potentially at least, a source in Medcalfe’s camp,’ Hillary said almost to herself, and with a growing sense of excitement that she could clearly see echoed in Steven’s eyes.

  And who could blame him? At the end of the week, he’d be taking up his new job, trying to bring down the sexual predators on his patch. And it would be one hell of a bonus if, on his very first day in the job, he could pull a top-class informant out of his hat. Maybe one who even brought with him a chance to bring down Medcalfe himself.

  ‘So you’re going to help me then?’ Jake said hopefully. ‘You’re going to look for Jasmine?’

  Hillary looked across at Steven, then at Jake.

  ‘Is she officially listed as a missing person? Because if she is, then we can make an argument that hers is a cold case. And that her disappearance falls under our mandate.’

  ‘I made Mum register her as a MisPer when I got the job here,’ Jake said eagerly. All along, and especially after learning how good Hillary Greene was at her job, it had always been Jake’s hope that he could somehow persuade Hillary and the team to take on Jasmine’s case.

  Hillary’s lips twitched. ‘That was very far-sighted of you,’ she said drolly.

  Jake had the grace to blush. ‘So are you going to arrest me?’

  ‘Probably not. Not right now, anyway,’ Hillary said deadpan.

  Jake grinned. ‘So I can stay?’

  ‘We need to tell Superintendent Sale everything,’ Steven warned him. ‘Since he’s taking over, it’ll be up to him whether he lets you keep on working with us or not. You’ll have to do your best to reassure him you’re not a loose cannon.’

  Jake nodded tensely.

  ‘I’ll talk to him first,’ Steven said. ‘No promises, but I think we can probably work something out. He won’t want to make waves any more than the top brass will.’

  ‘And while you and Rollo are talking about what to do with the boy wonder here,’ she said, nodding to Jake, ‘I’d better bite the bullet and go and have a word with Commander Donleavy. Explain how things are, and that he needs to give us a little leeway here.’

  Steven shot her a wry look. ‘Yes. You do that,’ he said neutrally.

  Everyone at HQ knew that Hillary Greene and Comma
nder Marcus Donleavy had always been tight. And that if there was anyone who could handle the Commander, whilst ensuring that she got her own way, it was Hillary.

  CHAPTER TWO

  It was mid-afternoon before all the explanations had been given, and all parties had approved a plan of action.

  Marcus Donleavy, although busy, had agreed to see Hillary at once, since his secretary had long-standing orders that she should be slotted in to even his most hectic of work schedules.

  A tall lean man, with grey hair, grey eyes, and dressed in his trademark silver grey suit, he’d greeted her with his customary wariness. They both knew that she wouldn’t be in his office unless something unpleasant needed sorting out.

  Naturally he had not been pleased to hear of Jake’s extra-curricular activities, but had merely raised an eyebrow when it became clear that Hillary had been keeping it under her hat for some time. He didn’t bother to reprimand her for it. For a start, he knew that it wouldn’t have done much good anyway. Hillary was now a civilian, and as such, didn’t have as much to fear from the top brass. Besides, what could he do about it? Sack her? That was never going to happen and they both knew it. He’d had to connive, threaten and cajole her into coming back to work in the first place. No, they both knew her place was here, solving cases.

  But mostly, Commander Marcus Donleavy had always approved of her tactics anyway. Plausible deniability was one of his favourite phrases, and he knew that Hillary Greene had always been very good at watching both of their backs. So he was always willing to let her head off trouble before it landed in his lap. So he listened with growing interest, and with gradually less and less alarm, as she related that morning’s events.

  And after thinking it over in silence for all of a minute, he sighed softly. ‘And I suppose you already have some idea of how you want to deal with all this?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Hillary said promptly. ‘But I’d like your input and I’ll need you to run some interference, should anybody start questioning what we’re up to down in CRT. Not that I expect they will. If we’re lucky, I think there’s a way that we can keep this from blowing up in our faces and turn it to our advantage. Things could get tricky, but this is what I had in mind.’

  An hour later, Rollo Sale looked up from his desk as Hillary Greene tapped on the door and walked in. Since Steven was in the act of moving out at the same time as he was moving in, the two men were temporarily being forced to share the same office. At that moment, though, it was going to be more of a convenience than a problem, since it meant that they could liaise more easily.

  He smiled briefly and somewhat sardonically as Hillary shot Steven a questioning look. ‘Come in, Hillary, and take a seat. It’s all right. Steven’s explained everything.’

  Roland ‘Rollo’ Sale was fifty-eight, and whilst not exactly looking forward to retiring with his pension just yet, he was well aware that this posting would be his last. And he was content with that. Of medium height, with light brown hair that was going grey rapidly, he was uneasily aware that he was just beginning to get a bit of a belly on him. He’d been happily married for over thirty years, and had three grown boys, none of them having joined him in the police force. Living and working all his life in Aylesbury, he’d had a varied career, but not too much experience of murder cases, so when the opening for a new head of the Crime Review Team had come up at HQ, he had had no hesitation in applying.

  And he’d quickly learned that Steven Crayle had done an excellent job of getting the whole scheme up and running, but it came as no surprise that the ambitious Superintendent – now Acting Chief Superintendent – was heading on to higher things.

  Rollo was no tyro when it came to office politics, and he’d always understood that all that was needed, post-Crayle, was for a safe and steady pair of hands to keep the CRT on course. And he fitted that description perfectly. He had no illusions about himself, or how others saw him, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to do things his way. And make a damned good job of it.

  So he’d spent the last month learning the ropes from Steven, a man he’d quickly come to like and admire and now Rollo felt confident that he could handle the job. He’d also become aware that in Hillary Greene he had an excellent criminal investigator who could be left, more or less unsupervised, to manage the cold murder cases, leaving him free to deal with the admin side that constituted the rest of their remit. This was, in fact, mostly computer and forensics based. Following recent advances in both DNA profiling and IT, the CRT’s work focussed on matching DNA samples from old cases to those found in new cases. The vast databases they now had at their disposal were useful in finding these links between crimes stretching back for years; robberies and rapes that were years old and which had previously been regarded as beyond conclusion, could now be re-visited with more modern eyes. And more often than not, closed.

  Rollo had to admit ruefully that he hadn’t expected the blinder which the Jake Barnes scenario represented, and this even before he’d officially taken over as the new head. He felt deeply uneasy about what the fall-out might be. And just who would be in line to take the flack.

  ‘How did Donleavy take it?’ asked Steven, typically getting right to the heart of the matter.

  Hillary smiled slightly and gave a somewhat weary shrug. ‘You know the Commander,’ she said, somewhat cryptically.

  Roland Sale, who didn’t, shot Steven a quick look. Steven smiled crookedly in response. ‘I’ll fill you in later,’ he promised, before turning back to Hillary. ‘So, what’s the official line then?’

  ‘OK.’ Hillary settled down at Rollo’s desk and Steven pulled up a chair as they began their council of war.

  ‘Tomorrow morning,’ Hillary began, ‘the PR department is going to announce that the CRT is doing a review of all MisPer cases from the last twenty years of women between the ages of sixteen and forty. As you know, the vast majority of missing persons turn up again eventually.’

  Rollo nodded, as did Steven.

  ‘They either simply went off on holiday and didn’t tell anyone, or shacked up with a man their family didn’t approve of, until the relationship hit the buffers and then they come back home with their tails between their legs. Some are found in morgues, others in hospital or abroad.’ Hillary paused and glanced at her new boss. ‘But of course, hardly anyone ever thinks of telling the police about it when they turn up again. So officially they’re still listed as missing.’

  ‘Right. Which plays havoc with our crime statistics,’ Rollo grumbled.

  Hillary nodded. ‘Exactly. So the PR department are going to call a press conference and explain all this, and to put out an appeal for anyone who’s reported a missing relative or friend, but who now knows that that missing person has turned up. Such friends or relatives will be encouraged to contact us.’

  ‘Well, that should close umpteen cold cases right then and there,’ Rollo said happily. ‘But I take it that’s not the point?’

  ‘Hardly,’ Hillary agreed. ‘But what it will do is give us a plausible reason to start looking into MisPer cases of young women whom we know, or suspect, ran foul of our friend Dale Medcalfe. Which would include, of course, Jasmine Sudbury.’

  ‘Ah,’ Rollo said. ‘So young Jake is going to get his way after all? We are going to take on his sister’s case?’

  ‘Yes. Donleavy insisted on this, since it’ll keep Jake quiet and happy. And a happy Jake is less likely to spill his guts to the media about what he’s been doing, and thus prevent us all from looking like a right load of wallies,’ Hillary said wryly.

  ‘Which is all the top brass cares about,’ Steven put in.

  ‘Yes. But it’ll also play right into our hands. Well, your hands more than ours,’ Hillary pointed out reasonably. ‘Your new job has bringing Medcalfe down at the top of its list of priorities, right?’

  ‘Him and others,’ Steven confirmed grimly.

  ‘Right. Well, let’s consider this.’ Hillary settled more comfortably into her chair. ‘Imagin
e for a moment that you’re Dale Medcalfe, and you hear on the news that the Thames Valley Police are doing a review of MisPer cases of women. Now, he knows that some of those missing women are going to be down to him. And that the police will soon be poking around, asking questions about them. So, what’s the first thing that you do?’

  Steven blinked, then slowly began to smile. ‘You know, I always suspected it. But now I know. You’re a genius.’

  ‘True,’ Hillary agreed deadpan. ‘But please answer the question.’

  ‘I would summon my cronies, thugs, and assorted enforcers and tell them to get out and about, and start reminding any witnesses that they need to keep their mouths shut if they know what’s good for them,’ Steven said.

  ‘Which helps us how?’ Rollo asked bluntly. He could see how well these two got on together, both in their private and personal lives, from the way that they seemed able to read each other’s mind. And he could only hope that, given time, he would be able to follow Hillary Greene’s thought processes as easily as his predecessor.

  ‘Well, this is where Jake comes in, and starts to earn some brownie points to compensate for the mess he’s got us into,’ Hillary explained. ‘We’re going to have to brief him thoroughly, but basically it goes like this. He gets in touch with Darren again, and Chivnor learns what it is that Jake wants in exchange for all that money he’s been promising. News about his sister, Jasmine Sudbury – is she alive? And if she’s dead, where’s her body? And, providing Medcalfe wasn’t personally responsible for it, the name of whoever it was in his gang who killed her.’