‘But—’ Collingwood started to protest.
‘No fucking “buts”,’ Morrison cut him off. ‘I’m telling you, the two-faced bastard will go down for this.’
Chapter 33
Seventy-year-old Henry Montgomery, art critic and collector, was being interviewed on the Channel Five news, and the story he had to tell was a sensational one. In a quietly authoritative tone, he described being behind a group of other guests when Neilson began showing his artworks. He then described the unveiling of the final painting, the crowd’s shocked reaction and the moment Neilson pulled out a gun, before a young man literally hurled himself through the air to disarm him.
‘Whoever that young man was, he was a hero. God knows how many lives he saved with his act of bravery.’ That last quote soon went viral, but it was the mobile footage that went with it that really caused a sensation, clearly showing the ghastly painting and then, like a scene from an action movie, Jack recklessly throwing himself at the deranged artist.
When Jack arrived home, he had no idea that speculation about the gallery hero’s identity was now spreading like wildfire on the internet. Maggie was not due home until seven, and Penny had collected Hannah at three with Charlie. Jack assumed they were up in the nursery, so made himself a coffee and was about to go and check on them when he heard a commotion upstairs. Penny rushed out of the nursery shouting for Hannah. Seeing Jack, she stopped in her tracks.
‘Oh, Jack! You’re on TV! I want Hannah to see you. Go in, hurry up!’
‘What on earth are you...?’ Jack was about to follow her when his mobile rang and, at the same time, the doorbell went. He took his phone out of his pocket and he went back down the stairs to open the front door. Collingwood and a uniformed officer were on his doorstep and a patrol car with its blue light flashing was in the driveway.
‘Sorry about this, Jack... I’ve been instructed to bring you to the station.’
‘Am I under arrest? What the hell is going on?’
Collingwood stepped forward, motioning the officer to wait. ‘Morrison is after you like a mad bull,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Mobile footage from the gallery has gone viral, and you’re in loads of it. The media is going mental.’ He leaned closer. ‘Morrison will ask you if it was you who gave me the tip-off, but I’ve said nothing.’
The blue light on the patrol car had now drawn Penny to the stairs, and seeing Jack with Collingwood, she began to run down.
‘What’s happened? Is it Maggie?’
Jack turned to her with a calming gesture. ‘It’s nothing, Mum, I have to go into the station, something’s come up. Tell Maggie I’ll call her.’
Hannah came running down the stairs calling out ‘Daddy! Daddy!’ and hurled herself into his arms. ‘I saw you on TV!’
‘Daddy has to leave, you be a good girl and go with Nana.’ Penny had to pull Hannah free from him, and held onto her as Jack grabbed his jacket from the hall stand and walked out with Collingwood.
Once they were in the car, Jack tuned to Collingwood. ‘I’ve been caught up with a case all afternoon, what the hell is going on?’
Collingwood leaned back, closing his eyes. ‘You haven’t seen any TV news or the papers?’
‘For Christ’s sake, I’ve been at work all day... what’s so urgent that you have to come to my home and take me out in front of my daughter?’
Collingwood kept his voice low. ‘There’s footage of you tackling Kurt Neilson to the floor all over the media. Everybody wants to know who the big hero is. You better get your story straight, Jack, or withholding information is going to be the least you get done for.’
At the station, the DS was hardly able to contain his fury. ‘This bloody Montgomery interview has made our press release look like nonsense.’ He jabbed his finger at Morrison. ‘Are you telling me that this bloody “hero” was questioned by you previously and you had no knowledge of his presence at the gallery? And yet here he is, manhandling your killer and risking his own life, and you now tell me he’s a Met police officer? And if that wasn’t bad enough, Channel Five is showing the crucifixion painting which I categorically said must not be made public. I tell you right now, Scotland Yard is being humiliated.’
Morrison turned as there was a knock on the door and Ralph was standing in the doorway. ‘Sir, Collingwood is bringing him in now. Just checking where you want him.’
‘In the cells until I’m ready to interview him.’
The superintendent frowned. ‘Is that strictly necessary? There may be an innocent explanation, so couldn’t he be interviewed in your office initially?’
Morrison stood his ground. ‘He needs to be interviewed under caution and on video. By withholding vital evidence, he’s obstructed my investigation and perverted the course of justice. As to my previous interview with him, I had DI Armani from Warr’s station confirming the reason he was in the ICU was not connected to the murder and, at that time, we still hadn’t identified the victim as Detmar Steinburg.’
As the officer who had unwittingly encouraged Jack to join the team in the ICU sector, Ralph was eager to leave. ‘Anything else, Sir?’ he said, backing out of the room. Morrison turned to dismiss him when Ralph remembered that he had received a message earlier in the afternoon.
‘You had an officer checking out dumpsters that could have been used recently at the gallery. We have information that a company was hired twice this last week and...’
Morrison held up his hand dismissively. ‘Thank you, I will deal with that later.’
‘Hang on a minute, what’s this about dumpsters?’ the superintendent asked.
Ralph looked nervously towards Morrison, who was stacking files on his desk, pointedly ignoring the question. ‘I’m not certain, Sir,’ Ralph said. ‘It appears some items may have been taken from the gallery, Sir.’ He paused for a moment before sliding out and closing the door.
‘Dear God, did you not have officers remain at the gallery?’ the DS asked incredulously.
‘Yes, I did, Sir,’ Morrison said. ‘And I did a thorough search with two officers, but due to the fire damage on the fourth floor we could only estimate which items had been removed, especially since we didn’t have an inventory of the contents. We’ve also been hampered by Steinburg’s legal team. We asked them to produce the deceased’s will and details of the gallery’s transactions, but they have so far not complied. And a lot of documents were destroyed in the fire, which doesn’t help.’
‘Then get a bloody warrant as soon as possible. I would also bring in Miss Langton. She could be holding documents back to line her own pockets.’
‘I think she has been very cooperative,’ Morrison said, trying to defend his handling of the investigation. ‘She made the formal identification of Mr Steinburg.’
Their meeting was interrupted as Collingwood knocked and entered. ‘DS Jack Warr is now in custody, Sir. As instructed, I’ve put him in the cells.’
‘Did he kick up about it?’ Morrison asked.
‘No, Sir. He’s confused but very calm, not argumentative in any way. He has not asked for a lawyer but would like to make a phone call.’
‘Fine. He can make a call. I’ll need some time to get ready, thank you.’
‘Sir.’ Collingwood closed the door behind him, then stood for a minute in the corridor. He could hear the DS loudly tearing a strip off Morrison, accusing him of mishandling the entire case.
‘Now we’ve a detective sergeant being hailed as a hero who you didn’t even know was there...’ The irate superintendent clenched his fists. ‘You didn’t manage to identify the killer before he tried to shoot Christ knows how many people at the gallery, and you wouldn’t have made an arrest if it wasn’t for this DS Warr. Tread carefully, DCI Morrison. I am watching every fucking move you make from now on.’