‘I couldn’t work, I’m still red raw from where he sliced me, an’ I wanted to get something out of it. I had to get my mother-in-law over from Jamaica to look after my son, I was broke, Nick.’
He sighed. ‘Is it true you have evidence, I mean apart from being able to identify him?’
She took another mouthful of brandy.
‘Tell me, I am looking out for you, for Chrissakes, and I always have, but this is you pushing the limit… was it a lie?’
She hesitated and then slowly got to her feet. ‘It might mean nothin’, but when those coppers found me, I stuffed it into me bag along with you know what.’
Janet went to a cabinet and opened a drawer. She took out something wrapped in newspaper. ‘You can smell him on it, and I know he raped that young girl because he thought she was me, and I know you used that blonde copper in my fur coat because it was me he was always after.’
Moran frowned as she slowly placed the newspaper-wrapped parcel on the coffee table. As he reached over to open it she put her hand over it.
‘It’s all been my fault, Nick, cos I stole his money out of his cab and I know you was protecting me and couldn’t use me as a witness, and to be honest you have always been about the only person I could trust.’
‘You’ve certainly screwed me over, so what is it?’
Janet slowly opened the newspaper. It contained Peter Allard’s balaclava that she had ripped from his head. He didn’t touch it but rewrapped the newspaper around it. He knew it could not be used as evidence as it was too long after Allard’s arrest.
‘Will you still look after me, Nick?’
He got up and smiled, saying he would make sure she was taken care of. He had no idea what she had meant by the double-decker bus but he would find out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
DS Gibbs drove Jane back to the section house and as she attempted to get out of the car he had touched her arm.
‘Listen, I need to apologize to you, I behaved like an arsehole, and I just want to clear the air between us. To be honest when I did that run into that estate I had a few seconds when I didn’t think I would be able to deal with stuff, you know, the tension and all that crap. I’ve had these recurring sweats and panicky feelings, but when I saw you with that bastard I never felt for a minute I couldn’t cope. Maybe it’s over, you know, I’ve come through it.’ Jane was taken aback when he leaned towards her and kissed her cheek, before he gave an embarrassed wave of his hand for her to get out of the car.
Jane was back on duty on the Monday morning. DCI Shepherd had been informed of the arrest of Allard, and told her that she was to be at Hackney Station to make a formal report. He didn’t appear interested in discussing what had occurred, having already had a lengthy conversation with DI Gibbs.
Jane was not disappointed. In fact, she was partly relieved as she had been very traumatized, and had hardly slept after she had left Gibbs. However, like Spence, she had been somewhat comforted by the fact that she had remained in control and had not suffered from nerves.
Peter Allard had been charged with assault and battery and held in the cells at Hackney. On his arrival at the station, Moran had received a call from Maidstone. The stones from the patio had been lifted, and using arc lights, as the soil beneath was being carefully sifted, they had partly uncovered a roll of carpet.
The body was inside the carpet, covered with plastic, and thick duct tape bound her from head to toe. As a result of the tight bindings there was little decomposition. It was without doubt Susie Luna, as in the pocket of her overall was a name tag from the Majestic Hotel where she had worked.
After clearing her absence with DCI Shepherd, Jane arrived at Hackney Station and went into the incident room where DC Edwards gave her the update on the discovery of the body. Moran was waiting for the formal identification but it was pretty conclusive. ‘He wants to see you, and he’s had DCI Shepherd on the phone, so he’ll no doubt fill you in.’
Jane felt nervous, wondering if this was going to be a severe reprimand over her suspicions about Moran. She was not that eager to go and see him, but she had no option. She checked her appearance in the ladies’ locker room and then went to his office, which she still thought of as Bradfield’s. She knocked on the door, and it was a moment before she heard Moran say ‘come in’. He gave almost a curt nod of his head, to indicate for her to sit in the chair opposite his desk.
‘We need to discuss a few things just to clear the air a bit. I have given DCI Shepherd a rundown. He started off being a bit tetchy about your professional conduct, saying that you were not a team player – he already seems to think you were acting without backup on the Shirley Dawson case.’ Jane chewed her lips.
‘Shepherd said he had discussed this with you previously, about some unethical procedure. Apparently, despite the coroner’s report that it was a non-suspicious death, you and DS Lawrence continued to investigate. You went without authority to question Katrina Harcourt and introduced evidence of the black patent leather shoes but-’
Jane interrupted. ‘It was a good job we did.’
‘Hang on, Tennison. Although he disapproved of what he described as unethical procedure, he did express his admiration for the way you triggered the investigation into the murder of Shirley Dawson. What was it that made you suspect foul play?’
Jane hesitated before answering. ‘I found it very distressing because I was alone in the flat with the victim, her eyes were open, and I had to lift her out of the bath to be taken to the mortuary. Something just didn’t feel right. She was the same age as me, and she had a small child, and it was seeing the baby food, her bottle ready to feed her.’
‘As a detective, you’re going to find an awful lot of cases of non-suspicious death and of victims as young or even younger than you. What was it that made you believe Shirley Dawson’s death was suspicious?’ he asked her again.
‘It was an intuitive feeling that something didn’t add up. I think the position that her body was found in, in the bath, was not quite right. That was all really.’
‘But at that point you didn’t have the evidence. Would you have ever considered the need to find something that would implicate them?’
Jane knew he was testing her with regard to the fact she knew he had planted the knife. She looked at him directly. ‘There was no need to uncover evidence that wasn’t there because my finding of the photographs was enough.’
‘What did you feel when you were proved right?’ Moran asked quietly.
She turned away, unable to answer.
‘It made you feel good, didn’t it?’ he asked, and she nodded.
‘And how did you feel about the two suspects being charged with murder?’
‘Good, they deserve to be given life sentences.’
‘How would you feel if they had got away with it?’
‘That I had failed.’
‘I suppose you know why Allard was given bail and was let out of prison?’ Moran stood up and put his hands in his trouser pockets, and moved from behind the desk.
Jane was becoming more uneasy, suspecting he was going to bring up the fact she had been suspicious of him doctoring the confession and planting evidence of the flick knife, which she now knew had been given to him by Janet Brown.
‘Allard will be put away for the rest of his life. He hid the murder of Susie Luna for five years, hid his disgusting perverted sexual urges and appeared on the surface to be a decent honest husband and father. The current trial will go ahead because the other criminal offences, the assault on the owner of the adult bookshop, the kid Ginger, the attack against you and Janet Brown, and even the murder of Susie Luna, are not what he is on trial for, they will be a completely separate arrest. Do you understand? The law let him loose, and we got him back, and we won’t let him out of our sight, but it’s all down to the legal boffins’ correct procedure in the courts, understand?’