Hard Evidence

The barge seemed to rock deeper in the water and she heard the sound of heavy work boots walking across the wooden floor. She looked up at the scarred face of her father and seemed to shrink back a little into the cracked and faded leather of the bench she was sitting on.

Howard Morgan's face creased in a smile, but his worried darting eyes held no humour in them, and Jenny was not reassured. She was confused, and she was frightened.

'Where are we going?'

'I told you that when you were old enough I'd take you away, didn't I?'

Jenny nodded her head. 'Yes.'

'Well you're old enough now.'

'Am I?'

'You're a big girl now. So I'm going to take you away like I promised.'

He laid his hand over Jenny's small, fragile fingers and she tightened them into a curl, the hot, sweaty feel of her father's hand making her uncomfortable.

'What about Aunty Candy?'

Morgan drew his hand away, the anger flashing across his face like the turn of a fast tide. 'Don't talk about her.'

'Can't she come with us?'

'No.'

'Why?'

Morgan slammed his meaty fist on the table. 'Because I said so.' As Jenny flinched, Morgan caught himself and smiled at his daughter. 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted, sweetheart. I was angry. But not at you. At her.'

'Why are you angry with her?'

'Because she took you away from us. Without asking. She took you away and you could have been hurt.'

'But I wasn't hurt. She said she was going to protect me.'

'Protect you against what?'

Jenny huddled up against the window again. 'She just said she'd look after me.'

'Well I'm here now. And Daddy looks after you the best, doesn't he?'

Jenny didn't reply for a moment, and then nodded as she saw the darkness gathering in the corners of her father's eyes.

'Good girl.'

Delaney pulled a piece of paper loose from a pile of bulldog-clipped receipts and waved it at Sally Cartwright.

'What have you got?'

He pulled out his mobile and hit a speed-dial button as he flashed a small grin at her. 'It's a bill. Mooring charges.'

'Way to go, boss.'

'Unless we've already missed him.' Delaney turned his attention back to his phone. 'Bonner. It's Delaney.'

Downriver, where the large houses on the banks were home to the rich, the famous and the criminally wealthy, the tide swelled, sending eddies and currents that lifted silt from the river bed and gently tugged at the reeds and weeds that lined the banks. Reeds and weeds that held all kinds of wildlife. Fishes that had been sheltering from the hard, relentless beat of the summer sun came closer to the surface, drawn by the insects that crawled and danced and darted in the air. And below, his hair snaking loose in greasy tendrils and his eyes as milky as a dead cod's, the head of Billy Martin was tangled in the deep roots of the bulrushes and clinging weed that held him close. As the surging rise of the tidal water tried to suck him from their tight embrace, the weeds pulled him back as though his bloated body was a treasure that they were loath to lose, and the fish and the crawling things feasted on the rotting parts of his exposed flesh.

Delaney got out of his car, Candy and Sally beside him as he walked down the riverside path to where Bonner and a horde of uniformed police were gathered.

Bonner nodded to him. 'Guv.'

'What's happening?'

Bonner nodded at the barge, which was rising higher in the water as the tide poured water back from the North Sea and into the Thames estuary. 'Still here. Another twenty minutes he'd have had the tide and been gone.'

'We'd have got him on the water.'

'Maybe. Just as well you found that mooring receipt.'

Delaney waved a dismissive hand. 'That's all down to DC Cartwright here. She managed to get Jake to speak where we failed.'

Bonner flashed a smile at Sally. 'The gentle touch. Is that what they call it?'

Sally wasn't amused. 'The human touch, I believe, Sergeant.'

Delaney looked across at the barge, his hand on his brow shielding his eyes from the low glare of the sun as it flashed off the silver water of the Thames. 'Why haven't we moved on him?'

'Making sure he's not armed first. We didn't want to risk anything with the girl in there.'

'So where are SO19?'

'On their way. And the coast guard and river patrol.'

Delaney could see movement on the barge and took Bonner's binoculars from him.

'It's Morgan.'

Through the lenses he could see Morgan clearly. Could see the tension written in his face like a clenched fist and saw what he was doing. He cursed under his breath and gave the binoculars back to Bonner.

'He's pouring petrol all over the boat.'

'Shit.'

Candy took Delaney's arm and swung him round. 'You've got to let me go and get her.'

Delaney shook his head. 'That's not going to happen, Candy.'

'You can't leave her in there.'

'I don't intend to.'

Bonner stepped in front of her. 'What are we going to do, Jack?'

Delaney looked back at the boat, Morgan was still swinging the petrol can. 'I guess someone has to go and talk to him.'

Sally shook her head. 'We should wait here, boss. Wait for SO19 and the hostage negotiating team.'

'Haven't got time for that. I'm going over.' Delaney kept his eyes fixed on Morgan as he moved about the boat.

'He killed his father, probably killed his mother and God knows who else. You should wait for armed response.'

Delaney looked back at Sally. 'And what about the girl if he torches the boat?'

'He's not going to do that, is he? Not with him on board too.'

'From what we've heard, we know he's capable of pretty much anything.'

Candy stood in front of Delaney. 'If you don't go and get her, then I will.'

Delaney moved her firmly out of the way. 'You stay here. I'm going.' He looked back at Sally. 'When SO19 arrive, you tell them to take no shot unless I signal it.' He looked back at the sergeant. 'We clear on that, Eddie?'

Bonner nodded his head.

Sally stepped forward. 'I'm coming with you.'

'Absolutely no way.'

'Think about it. Someone needs to be there for the girl.'

'That's why I'm going.'

'If you have to deal with Morgan, then someone has to get her safe. You can see that, can't you?'

Delaney considered for a moment. She was right. If Morgan lost it, then someone had to get the girl off.

Candy stepped up. 'Then it should be me.'

Delaney dismissed the idea. 'Absolutely not. He's unbalanced as it is; seeing you might tip him over the edge.' Delaney gestured at Sally. 'Come on then. You concentrate on the girl and follow my lead on everything, okay?'

'Sir.'

'I mean it, Constable. This is no time for heroics.'

They walked slowly over to the path and moved towards the boat.

Inside the barge, Morgan shook the last drops of the gasoline from the container and looked through the window at Delaney and Sally approaching. 'Stay away!'

'It's Inspector Delaney and Detective Constable Cartwright. We're coming in.'

As they came down the steps into the cabin, Morgan took a lighter from his pocket and held it up in his left hand.

'I'll use it.'

Jenny, huddled in the corner of bench and table, screamed as Delaney stepped quickly on to the small deck on the front of the boat and held his hands up.

'We're not armed, Howard. How about you put down the lighter?'

'You've seen what I've done with the petrol. You try and follow us, I'll torch it.'

Delaney stepped forward, down a couple of steps into the cabin. He cast his eyes quickly around the room. A narrow living space with a galley kitchen and a wood-burning stove, the wraparound bench and table that Jenny was sitting at. A small TV on a built-in sideboard. A DVD player with some films. Delaney recognised one of the titles from somewhere but put the thought aside. He slid his eyes back to Morgan as Sally came slowly down the steps behind him. 'This isn't what you want, Howard.'