‘I see him most nights,’ she said, placing his coffee down on the table in front of him.
‘Word is he’s not doing so well,’ Lewis said, avoiding looking at her.
‘It’s going to take time.’
‘Yeah, I guess so — that was what I was told.’
‘Has Barolli been to see him?’
‘I dunno, I’ve not spoken to him in a while. He’s on another case. Life goes on!’ Lewis paused. ‘He’s not going to get back to work, is he?’
Anna drew up a chair and smiled. ‘Well, that’s what they say, but you know him better than anyone. I don’t think he’s going to give up that easily.’
‘It’s not a question of giving up though, is it? If he’s still unable to walk, then there’s no hope of him coming back. I know he wouldn’t take on any kind of pen-pushing job. Maybe that’s why I can’t face it, you know; I hate to see him this way.’
There was a long pause. Anna waited. Lewis suddenly bowed his head.
‘I keep on thinking about that night — you know, when it happened. I’ve been put on sleeping tablets by my doc. I just keep on seeing the look on his face when that bastard slashed him and thinking, could I have done something to stop it happening? It all happened so quickly. I thought he would bleed to death. Barolli’s the same; he was off for a few weeks, you know. Having worked with the old bastard for so long, we really felt bad. He was always so…’ Lewis shook his head. ‘I’m sorry.’ He took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes.
Anna picked up the file. ‘I found these newspaper cuttings in his flat. Can you have a look at them for me?’
‘Sure.’
She handed him the file and walked out to get some fresh coffee and to leave him alone for a few moments. When she returned, Lewis had them laid out on the coffee-table in front of him.
‘More coffee?’
‘No — no, thank you.’ He leaned back, and then gestured to the cuttings. ‘The case we were on: that girl was raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant, Idris Krasiniqe. He was supposed to have been deported, but slipped through the net.’
‘I’ve read the case file.’
‘I think all these are just the Gov’s fury at what happened.’
‘But all these cuttings are dated before that.’
‘I suspect the Gov was going to really make a loud noise about it. As you can see, all this press, all these bastards walking around, but suddenly it’s all gone quiet. Home Office have put their hands up and admitted they have screwed up, probation department ditto. Nobody is taking the flak for what has gone on — what is still going on — and the prison service is helpless to deal with the overcrowding.’ He sighed. ‘Which leaves us, the police, in a pretty pitiful state. We catch them; they are released or, as you can see from this article…’ He picked it up. ‘Bloke is put into a hostel, cuts off his tag, goes out and kills a thirteen-year-old girl! Beggars belief. Jimmy was getting fed up to the back teeth with it all.’
Anna nodded. ‘I’m on a case with a guy let out early on parole who killed a woman; her twelve-year-old daughter found her.’
‘There you go. I can tell you, there’s an awful lot of us that are about to throw the towel in. If I was the Gov, I’d walk away, get my pension and live the rest of my life out of this bloody city. It’s all out of control; without the money and the manpower, we’re flailing around like idiots. What he ever thought he could do about it, only he can tell you.’
‘Has he called you again? Last time you mentioned that he kept in touch.’
‘Yes, he calls me, at work, at home. Yes, he bloody won’t let up — but, like I said the last time I was here, there’s not a lot I can do.’
‘It’s hard to believe they haven’t arrested the man who attacked him.’
‘No, they never found him. In reality, we should have had an armed operation, but the Gov was impatient.’ Lewis drained his coffee and stood up. ‘I’ve got to go.’
‘But what about the attack on Langton?’
‘You tell me, case left open…’ Lewis rubbed his eyes wearily. ‘I can’t start hunting them down in my free time, for Chrissakes; besides, we don’t even know where to start looking. We think the bastard is already out of the country — I told you that. The murder enquiry was over when we caught the killer and he got sent down for life.’
‘But what if Langton’s life sentence is him stuck in a fucking wheelchair?’ she snapped.
‘Look, don’t do this. It’s out of our hands. He’s alive.’
‘You mean there would be a bigger enquiry if he was dead — if he’d died from his wounds? Is that what you are saying?’
‘No!’
‘Then what is happening about tracking down the men who did this to him?’
Lewis sighed. ‘There is a new division set up to deal with all the problems surrounding immigration, illegal immigrants, parole jumpers, et cetera. The Home Office are backing them, and—’
‘That sounds like a big whitewash load of crap,’ she said furiously.
‘Maybe it is, but it’s ongoing, and maybe you need to talk to them. But…’ He hesitated.
‘But what?’
‘Well, word of warning. You are part of the murder squad; they are a different department, so you don’t want to muddy the waters.’
‘Muddy the waters?’
‘Yeah. If you start making moves on them, they won’t like it. As it is, they’re keeping their heads down because of all the bad press.’
‘Oh, I see. That’s all Langton is — bad press? I don’t believe what I am hearing, Mike. He almost died!’
Lewis turned angrily towards her. ‘I know that, for Chrissakes — I was there, all right? But at the same time, I have my career to think about. I’ve got a toddler and a baby on the way and I can’t afford to lose out by switching divisions. I’ve worked hard enough to get to where I am now.’
‘You got there because of Langton and you know it.’
Lewis had to clench his fists, she was making him so angry; beneath it was his guilt, because he knew she was right.
‘Listen, Anna, back off me. I’m keeping up to date with any new developments, but I am not going to become a vigilante trying to track down this bastard. We’ve already been told he is more than likely back in Somalia. They use fake passports; he could have switched his name a dozen times by now!’
‘What about the others? There were other suspects, weren’t there?’
‘Yes,’ he sighed again, looking unutterably weary.
‘What about them?’
‘We’re trying to find them, but Krasiniqe, the guy we arrested for Carly Ann’s murder, is in prison, terrified because he named them in the first place. He keeps on about voodoo and they had to place him in a segregation wing because he’s so scared he’s going to be killed. Don’t think I just walked away from this, because I didn’t. I tried; Barolli tried. Now we just have to get on with our lives.’
Anna closed the door behind him. She could hardly bring herself to be pleasant, or thank him for coming to see her. She found it so hard to believe that after what had happened to Langton, no one seemed to be mounting a full-scale operation to nail down his attacker.
She looked at all the cuttings Lewis had spread out over the coffee-table. No wonder Langton was depressed. Having almost died from his injuries, he was now trapped in a wheelchair with little hope of ever returning to work. He also must know that there appeared to be equally little hope of ever bringing to justice the man who had put him there.
Anna checked the time: it was now nearly four, so she decided she would buy some grapes and smoked salmon and bagels to take to Glebe House. She placed all the cuttings back into the folder and then picked up the case file Lewis had left on his previous visit.
The mortuary shots of Carly Ann North were horrific; she had suffered appalling injuries at the hands of her killer. Anna read and reread the way he had been arrested. A police officer on patrol had radioed in for assistance, after seeing the men with the body. He had arrested Idris Krasiniqe, who had really put up a fight, but the other two men had run for it as soon as the patrol car was visible. During Langton’s interrogation, Idris admitted that he had killed Carly Ann but insisted that the other two men were also there when she was killed, holding her down. He also admitted that they had gang-raped her. They had DNA evidence to verify this. Idris’s lawyers hoped to get a more lenient sentence for him, for helping the police by naming his friends. He had to give an address. Accompanied by Lewis and Barolli, Langton went to question them. The attack on Langton had taken place in the hallway of the residence. Both men escaped.