Audrey’s hatred for Dolly had taken her way off track, so Ridley endeavoured to pull her back to the here and now.
‘Mrs Withey, please calm down. We’re not here to pin anything on Mike, nor do we think he’s running. Please sit down.’ Audrey didn’t sit, but she did calm sufficiently for Ridley to continue. ‘We simply need to know if you and he spoke about the ’95 train robbery.’
‘He said one thing worth remembering in ’95. He said, “She’s dead, Mum.” Now I’d like you to leave.’
Ridley ignored the request. He asked Audrey if Mike had ever mentioned a police officer called Norma Walker, and if she knew where his Range Rover was. All the while, Jack remained silent because this wasn’t a normal notification of death. This was also a tactical interview and, with Ridley about to play the heartless bad guy, it would be useful for Jack to remain neutral in Audrey’s eyes. So, for now, he played the silent, unobtrusive young DC in the corner. Audrey hardly noticed he was even there.
Ridley asked Audrey once more to sit down and, once more, she didn’t. He took a step closer to her and spoke with all of the respect and kindness he could muster for such an objectionable woman.
‘Mrs Withey, I regret to inform you that, several days ago, we found the body of a man, which, via DNA evidence, we’re now able to identify as your son, Mike.’
He had very purposefully taken a step closer to Audrey so that, when her legs crumpled beneath her, he could catch her and sit her back in her chair. Audrey collapsed like a rag doll and howled in agony at the loss of yet another child. Jack poured her a brandy, but she didn’t even notice. In the end, sheer exhaustion made her stop crying and become almost catatonic.
‘Mrs Withey.’ Ridley’s words were met by a blank stare, but he hoped she could still hear him. ‘Someone took your son’s life and I want to arrest that person. Mike was mixed up in something, accidentally or knowingly, I don’t know yet. What I do know is that he was found in the home of Norma Walker, which was located next door to a house owned by Dolly Rawlins. And he was surrounded by evidence from a 24-year-old train robbery.’
Audrey’s eyes unglazed and she glared at Ridley.
‘Get out,’ she breathed, almost inaudibly.
‘Is there anyone we can call for you?’
Audrey dipped her eyes and she was gone again. Ridley moved away; Jack put the brandy down on the nest of coffee tables by her side and both men left, pulling the front door to behind them.
In the hallway of Audrey’s block of flats, Ridley briefed Jack.
‘Give it ten, then go back in. Apologise for me upsetting her — you be her friend. We need to know how much the villa in Spain sold for. Mike was the only one earning, so we need to know where that money came from. And see what she knows about Barry Cooper.’
When Jack entered Audrey’s lounge, she was seated in exactly the same position as when he left. He sat on the edge of the sofa, his body turned towards her, leaning forward into her eyeline — whether she acknowledged him or not, he wanted to be sure that she could actually see him.
‘I wanted to make sure you’re OK,’ he lied. ‘I don’t like the idea of you being on your own. Mrs Withey, I came back because, well, I wanted to assure you that this is a murder investigation and all we want is to find out who took your son from you. Of course we need to delve into his past, but not to discredit him in any way. We just need to track his associates, his friends... Barry Cooper?’
Without looking up, Audrey spoke.
‘How did he die?’
‘Mike suffered a blow on the head. He would have died instantly, before the fire started, and wouldn’t have suffered.’
‘Barry wouldn’t do that to Mike. Brothers in arms, they were.’
Audrey looked like a wrung-out rag, used up and ready to be thrown away. She was a sorry sight, but Jack knew that this new vulnerability would make her more likely to talk to him. He continued to play it as though he was on her side, by handing her the brandy he’d poured earlier on. This time, Audrey took the drink and downed it in one.
‘He felt so guilty for being abroad when Shirl got killed. By the time he got home, Greg was back inside an’ all. How come the wrong people always get away with it, eh? And decent people are left to suffer.’ She handed him the empty glass and he got up to refill it. ‘Dolly said she’d “do ten” for me. When she got out after blowing her husband to smithereens, she come round to my home and threatened to kill me too. That’s the sort of animal she was.’
‘Why on earth would Dolly want to kill you?’ Jack asked.
‘I dunno... People like Dolly don’t need an excuse to threaten and terrorise. It was just power games to keep people in their place.’
Audrey spluttered nervously. There was clearly more to this slip of the tongue, as Jack knew that Dolly was wily enough not to make idle threats. He left it alone for now and changed the subject.
‘Do you know where Barry is? Only he may have been the last person to see Mike, so we’d like to speak to him.’
‘I take it you know where he lives?’
Even now, amid so much grief, Audrey maintained her ingrained instinct to answer coppers’ questions with another question, to make sure she wasn’t giving away any secrets.
‘He’s not there. Barry’s not in any trouble as far as we can make out — he may be able to help us, that’s all.’
Audrey necked the second glass of brandy as quickly as the first and said that she had no clue where Barry was. She also denied knowing Norma Walker, claimed to have never been to The Grange and to have only learnt about the train robbery from the newspapers. When Jack took the conversation back a decade further, to 1984, her demeanour changed — she become nervous, evasive and she developed that very familiar look of a criminal desperately trying to accurately recall an old lie. Jack asked about the Strand underpass robberies, one and two. He asked about the diamond robbery — and he mentioned the names Terry Miller, Joe Pirelli, Jimmy Nunn and Harry Rawlins. Audrey leapt on to the defensive, saying that Mike was in the army when all of that went down, so why was Jack asking about them in relation to her boy’s murder?
‘You’re going to find his killer, aren’t you? He was one of yours, you owe him that much.’
‘I promise you, Mrs Withey, that the moment we find out who killed Mike, I’ll come back here and tell you personally.’
When Rob got home from finishing the repairs to the coach, Angela was sitting in the dark, holding a glass of wine in one hand and the small, worn teddy bear in the other. He moved round the back of her and wrapped his big, warm forearms around her shoulders. The thick black hairs on his arms tickled her chin — something that normally made her smile and scratch her face — but, this time, it went unnoticed.
‘The police have been round,’ she said calmly. Rob pushed his lips against her cheek in a long kiss to show her she had nothing to worry about. ‘He asked about the train robbery.’
‘We knew they would,’ Rob reasoned. ‘We’re in good shape. Everybody knows what they have to do.’ He held Angela’s hand, as she held the teddy bear. ‘I wish she could see you, Ange. Dolly would be so proud.’
Chapter 17
DI Prescott watched a young PC stepping from foot to foot and clapping his hands together in an attempt to stay warm. Prescott smirked — the poor kid looked like he was doing a Greek dance. Prescott, on the other hand, stood statue-still by the side of the muddy Range Rover. This was a big find and would allow him to legitimately get bang up to speed on the case.
Mike’s Range Rover sat in a field, tucked in close behind a tall hedgerow, about a quarter of a mile back from Rose Cottage. The fuel cap was missing and the tank had been siphoned almost dry; a sample of the fuel had been taken for analysis and Prescott was confident that this was where the accelerant for the fire had come from. Police tape protected the vehicle and the messy array of footprints that surrounded it. Rain had taken most of the evidence, but between the vehicle and the hedge the ground was sheltered, and SOCOs were getting some good casts from the footprints they found right next to the open fuel cap. With no keys in the ignition and no sign of hot-wiring, the immediate area was being searched — the keys could have vital fingerprints on them.