‘That’s Detective Brennan to you.’
‘Well, for a detective, you’re a pretty shitty one.’
‘You watch your mouth, son,’ he barked.
I’d gotten to him where it hurt. He boiled underneath, but he kept his rage contained. I shouldn’t be pushing the likes of Brennan. He held the reins to my future. But at this point, I had nothing to lose. I’d lost already. I couldn’t make it any worse for myself.
‘You keep protecting Derek Deacon — why? He’s a killer and you know it.’
‘I told you already. Mr Deacon is no killer.’
‘Yeah, stupid me for forgetting. He’s a law-abiding citizen.’
‘He is, unlike you. And I don’t see what Mr Deacon has to do with the property you broke into. It doesn’t belong to him.’
Brennan was baiting me. He was after what I knew. If I hadn’t been on my guard, I would have told him about seeing Derek delivering the cars.
‘It looks like I made a mistake then.’
‘Not your first.’
I didn’t like Brennan’s smug look, so I removed it for him.
‘What’s it like being Derek Deacon’s bent copper? And does anyone here know? I’m sure they’d be interested.’
Brennan lunged for me with both hands and yanked me across the desk, sending my possessions and my chair flying. I bounced off the floor on my back, my legs slamming into the wall. He kept me pinned to the floor with his foot on my chest.
‘You really do need to watch your mouth.’
The door burst open and the duty officer stood in the doorway, stunned by the sight before him.
‘Get him in a cell,’ Brennan barked.
The play-acting ended there. The duty officer marched me down to the cells. There were no idiotic jokes or jibes, not even any conversation. It was all business. They put me in a cell, locked the door and presumably threw away the key.
The cell was a depressing box consisting of a stainless steel toilet and thin mattress covering a concrete slab jutting from the wall for a bed. I was alone. Dylan was in his own cell somewhere.
I didn’t know what came next. A solicitor? A courtroom? A judge? It was a new and different world. I guessed nothing would happen tonight.
I dropped onto the rock hard bed. I should have tried sleeping, but I was too wired. Tonight’s work was all for nothing. I had no proof and worse still, Brennan would feed it all back to Derek. Worst of all, I was looking at a jail term. Probation at best. I leaned back and resigned myself to whatever came next.
The head of steam I’d worked up dissipated and engaged the gears in my head. I hadn’t been cautioned. I hadn’t been charged. I wasn’t positive, but I thought that Brennan was supposed to have had a second officer in the interview room and he should have recorded the interrogation, for his protection as well as mine. Why did he bring us here to this police station and not his assigned station in Chippenham? The answer was simple. He couldn’t get away with this in front of his own people. Too many questions would be asked.
Without my watch, I didn’t know what time it was, but just as the first signs of dawn were showing through the narrow window, the cell door opened and a disapproving officer filled the doorway.
‘C’mon, let’s go.’
‘Where?’
‘I don’t care. To whatever rock you crawled out from under. You’re free to go.’
I sat there in stunned silence for a moment.
‘C’mon, I don’t have all day.’
I stepped out of the cell. Dylan stood in the hallway. We shared a sheepish smile.
They led us back to the booking area. All our possessions were returned to us. I was glad to see nothing had gone curiously missing other than my digital photos. No charges were being filed and we were free to go.
Brennan was nowhere to be seen.
The duty officer took us out to the waiting room. It wasn’t a joke. We were free. This time, our smiles weren’t so sheepish.
‘Don’t look too pleased with yourself. You should count yourself lucky that the detective decided to show you some leniency.’
‘Where is the detective?’
The duty officer slammed the security door shut in our faces. I wasn’t about to argue and we walked out.
Brennan stood outside waiting for us with a cigarette in his hand. ‘I thought I’d cut you some slack. Let it be a reminder of how close you came to being on the wrong side of the law.’
We said nothing.
‘Don’t thank me all at once.’
‘I won’t,’ I said.
Brennan laughed. ‘Ah, the stupidity of youth. You don’t know when you’re being given a break. Seriously, don’t squander this gift I’m giving you. I don’t want you in my business or Derek Deacon’s. Is that understood?’
‘Why do you keep protecting him?’
The detective took a long drag on his cigarette then exhaled. ‘I’ve got some advice for you and I want you to take it. Leave Derek Deacon alone. Forget all about him. You’re interfering in things you don’t understand and I can’t protect you from getting yourselves hurt.’
‘You’re protecting us? That’s a joke.’
‘You look a little older and smarter than our friend here,’ he said to Dylan. ‘Maybe you can explain the facts of life to him.’
As Brennan walked over to his car, I asked, ‘Are you going to give us a ride back?’
He laughed. ‘You like to push, don’t you, son?’
Lap Twenty
A cab returned Dylan and me to the scene of our botched crime. The Subaru sat parked in the same place, untouched and still intact. Brennan had had plenty of time to put a call into Derek’s boys and I half expected to find a smoking husk as our punishment for poking our noses where they weren’t welcome.
We looked across the street at the workshop. No one watched us from inside. The place had remained just as intact as the Subaru. Our little night-time escapade had failed to provoke a reaction. There’d been no dawn raid to clear the place out and cover their tracks. We hadn’t caused them to lose a moment’s sleep. I didn’t know whether or not to be insulted.
‘That proved to be a less than successful night,’ Dylan said.
It was hard to disagree. We had nothing physical to show for our efforts, but a little more of the puzzle had been revealed. Derek was showing exactly how far his influence stretched. Maybe the stories about his links to organized crime were true. He did seem to have friends everywhere.
‘Could have been worse,’ I said and tossed the keys to Dylan. ‘We could still be in jail.’
He snatched them from the air. ‘Don’t remind me. Let’s get out of here before someone changes their mind.’
Dylan’s bitterness was hard to miss. I was pushing our friendship to the limit. There was no point in apologizing. It would only be pouring petrol on a fire.
We got into the car and headed home.
I checked my mobile. Steve had left six messages. I woke him up with my call and filled him in.
‘Jesus, I was worried sick.’
‘I know. I’m sorry. If we could have called you, we would have.’
‘I’m just glad you’re OK. Now get your arses back here. You’re meant to be testing today, if you’d forgotten.’
I didn’t argue.
By the time we got back to Archway, it was time to leave for Brands Hatch. Steve had the van packed and ready, including my race gear. All we needed to do was load the car onto the trailer and connect it to the van.
I hadn’t slept during the night and I was in no condition to even think about driving on a track, but I had little choice. The Festival was nine days away and I needed track time in the new car. Despite Vic Hancock’s connection with Derek, I had an obligation to him as my sponsor to do well. I wasn’t in a position to back out on him. It was pretty obvious after our sponsorship meeting he was suspicious of what I knew about his relationship with Alex. Pulling out on the Festival would only validate his suspicions.