She didn’t answer. She played with the lid of her coffee cup.
‘Eb, listen to me – I think sometimes you worry too much about your past – about your mum. She isn’t part of who you are. She is mentally ill. You’re not. You seem to date nerdy normal guys as if you’re saying: “Look, this is me – normal!” But you don’t realize there is no such thing. You should use what you have to bring to the table. Don’t fight it. Nothing will make you “normal”, thank God! Now take a chance on life and stop being so scared.’
They reached the car and Carter rested his cup on the roof as he found the keys. He looked across at her. He could see she was mulling it over. She always got that sad expression that he understood was just a look that meant she was in thinking mode. Carter unlocked the car, picked up his coffee.
‘He’s one of the good guys,’ he said as he got inside and opened the cup holder, placed his coffee in it to cool down.
‘He told me how you helped him.’ Willis looked across at him.
‘Yeah – I tried, maybe not enough.’
‘He thinks he was a scapegoat. Is that true?’
‘Yeah, definitely. We worked for a year solid on it. We were really getting somewhere. That was the trouble. We came across so many “no-go” areas that we were shut down.’
‘It sounds bad.’
‘It was. We weren’t allowed to investigate some avenues so we could do our job. We came out with more questions than we went in with.’
‘He said people incriminated went right to the top.’
‘Yes, they did. We weren’t allowed to haul them in – national security and all that bullshit. The top brass pulled rank over us and that was that.’
‘Were some senior policemen involved?’
‘Yes. Sometimes not directly, but they were best buddies with ones who were. They included politicians and judges. We couldn’t touch them so the whole thing became a mockery. Nobody came out of it satisfied but most people accepted that. I didn’t and neither did Scott. Difference was that I was Scott’s boss and a sergeant. I would have stuck with him through it all but he decided to take what they offered in the end – get out or go away. He went back to Devon. I don’t blame him.’
‘No. Neither do I.’
‘You risked your own career to help him, even though it didn’t work out?’
He nodded. ‘I did it willingly. It held me back, of course, let’s be honest. I was labelled as a trouble-maker, a maverick – definitely not a team player. I was posted out as a woody to the other end of Hertfordshire for a few years and I had to fight to work my way back. It’s worth it. You have to be in the system to change it. You know, Eb, my dad taught me the ethics of hard work and doing right by people. He has respect for folks. He listens to people in his cab and he knows about humanity. He taught me some invaluable lessons. But maybe the biggest lesson I learnt was not one he ever meant to teach me – never settle for less than you set your dreams on. Never let life grind you down, there’s no such thing as bad luck – even when you’re dealt a shit hand, come back smiling. That’s what Scott did in the end – he just has to practise the smile a bit more.’
‘I’m not sure he should have stayed in the police force,’ said Willis. ‘He’s never going to get promoted.’
Carter glanced over at her. ‘Is that all it’s about for you, Eb?’
‘No, of course it’s not, but my career is massive to me and I expect that in someone… in someone… I think is worthy of more.’
‘Someone you fancy? Say it!’ he teased. ‘Say that you might like to have his babies.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ They finished their coffee and Carter began driving.
‘What’s ridiculous?’ He laughed as they drove past the petrol station and rejoined the motorway. ‘Cabrina said it would happen one day and so did Jeanie. I didn’t believe it until I saw you with Scott – perfect match.’ He glanced over and smiled as he accelerated into the fast lane.
‘No, we’re not,’ she said indignantly.
‘In what way aren’t you?’
‘In every way – I will never leave the Met. I know where I belong and it’s not in Devon and he doesn’t belong anywhere else.’
‘One of those long-distance relationships then,’ Carter teased.
‘No, because in the end, one of us would have to give up something really important and it would have to be me because he’s never coming back to London and he’s never making it higher than a DS.’
‘For someone who’s adamant she doesn’t fancy Scott, you’ve really thought this through.’
She didn’t answer; she looked out of the window and watched the scenery change. Carter rang Robbo.
‘Can you also run a check on all the owners of Aston Martins in the UK, Robbo? One was seen regularly outside Gillian Forth’s house,’ Carter said.
‘Okay, will get on it. Did she definitely die in the fire? She wasn’t killed first?’
‘No. She had no chance of escape. She was in an attic room when the fire started. It went straight from the front door up the stairs – chimney effect. She fried, basically.’
Carter came off the phone to Robbo.
‘Eb – ring Ellerman for me. I want to talk to him.’
He could hear rock music in the background as Ellerman answered the call.
Jump… Jump for your love…
‘Mr Ellerman? Detective Inspector Carter here.’
‘Yes?’
The music disappeared.
‘Sorry if this is a difficult time to call. You seem to be always working away somewhere.’
‘What can I help you with, Inspector?’
‘Have you heard of the name Gillian Forth?’
‘Who? Sorry?’
‘Gillian Forth?’
‘No… I don’t think so. Should I?’
‘You might have seen something about her on the news. She lived in Exeter. She was killed in an arson attack on her home a week last Tuesday.’
‘No, I didn’t see it, sorry. How awful.’
‘She worked for a company called Dreamcars – you’re one of its clients.’
‘Oh, really? Never heard of them. I can’t help you then, sorry. I have no idea who she was.’
‘You sound distracted.’
‘I’m driving, that’s all.’
‘Hands-free phone?’
‘Yes. Of course.’
‘You seem strangely connected to the death of two women. I need to know where you were on that Tuesday evening.’
‘I was with a friend.’
‘I need the friend’s address and I need to talk to her or him to confirm it… and, Mr Ellerman… just to let you know – we will be applying for Gillian Forth’s phone records and we will be analysing all her computer data. If I find that your name crops up, I’m going to request your phone records and I am going to go through your life with a fine-tooth comb.’ Carter hung up. ‘Slippery fuck – that’s what he’s been called and that’s what he is.
‘I need to write up my report on today, guv,’ Willis said as they drove past the road to Fletcher House.
‘Yeah, but it’s ten o’clock and I want to make sure we get in early tomorrow for a meeting at eight.’
‘I’ll be there, no problem.’
‘I know, but I need you to come in two hours before that. We’ll check things through then and write up today.’
‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly.
‘What do you think about Harding getting involved?’ Carter asked.
‘I think she needs reining in. She’ll be surfing all the dating sites and she’ll have joined half a dozen looking for Ellerman to hook in further. Dr Harding strikes me as unpredictable in her emotional affairs.’
‘Bunny boiler, you mean?’
‘Yeah, I do. She’s tough on men even in the workplace. Let alone ones that cross her in bedroom affairs.’