It was Rebus’s turn to lean back in his chair.
‘You’ve got about twenty minutes to decide,’ Sutherland said with renewed vigour.
‘No he hasn’t,’ Rebus corrected him. ‘Because when I leave this room, if we’ve not got a deal, I’m straight on to Cafferty.’ He buttoned his suit jacket and rose to his feet. ‘Oh, and DCI Sutherland? Bring in Clarke rather than Reid when I’ve gone — she’s every bit as good as you think she is.’
‘Wait a sec,’ Hazard said. He was rubbing at his forehead, as if that would help him come to a decision.
‘Time for games is over,’ Rebus told him, making for the door. He paused to remove his phone from a pocket, then placed his hand around the door handle.
‘Please,’ Hazard said, half out of his chair. ‘I need one fucking minute.’
Which was exactly how long Rebus gave him, his eyes on his wristwatch.
‘Okay,’ Hazard said as Rebus pushed the door open. Rebus pulled it closed again and turned to face the room.
‘Okay?’ he echoed, receiving a nod in reply. ‘In which case, I only have one more question for you.’ He approached the table and folded his arms. ‘Who gave you the handcuffs? Was it Brian Steele? Word was, he used to do a bit of coke back then.’
‘I knew him,’ Hazard conceded.
‘You also knew Ness needed handcuffs for his film and you wanted to keep in his good books, so you went to Steele...’
But Hazard was shaking his head. ‘Not Steele,’ he said.
Rebus tried not to let his dismay show. ‘Who then?’
‘His partner.’
Rebus’s eyes narrowed. ‘Grant Edwards?’ He watched Hazard start to nod. ‘Another of your clients?’ Hazard kept nodding. Sutherland was looking at Rebus, but Rebus could only shrug. He pushed open the door again. Francis Dean was waiting across the corridor.
‘He’s all yours,’ Rebus said.
Clarke and Fox were standing in the MIT doorway. Rebus kept his face impassive as he headed for the stairs. As he descended, he heard Sutherland’s voice summoning Clarke to the interview room.
Laura Smith was waiting in the Saab, catching up on emails on her phone.
‘You don’t even have a USB port,’ she complained.
‘Told you vintage cars lack a few amenities.’
‘It’s not vintage, it’s just old. How did it go in there?’
‘Let’s give it half an hour.’
‘They’ll have had to release him by then.’
‘Wait and see,’ Rebus said, turning on the Brian Eno CD. ‘No more talking for a while,’ he told Smith. ‘I need to do a bit of thinking.’
‘Time’s up,’ Smith commented, checking her phone.
‘So it is,’ Rebus agreed.
‘And he’s still in there — meaning he’s talking?’
‘Looks like.’ Rebus allowed himself a small smile.
‘So when do I get the story.’
‘After I get the call. Speaking of which...’ Rebus picked up his vibrating phone and answered it.
‘There were things I heard in there,’ Graham Sutherland said in an undertone, ‘that I probably shouldn’t have.’
‘Which is why I didn’t want you in the room.’
‘Yes, I can see that now.’
‘He’s talking?’
‘Fairly freely, despite the best efforts of his increasingly flustered solicitor.’
‘Has he said why he did it?’
‘We’ve not quite got to that yet, though if I were to guess, I’d say you weren’t far off the mark. I’ve taken a break so Siobhan and Callum can have a go at him. Dean’s furious that you were allowed in; says it taints whatever story his client spins us.’
‘I doubt that’ll sway a jury.’
‘The fiscal, meantime, is highly delighted. I might owe you a drink, John.’
‘Not while I’m on duty, sir.’ A weak enough joke, but Sutherland laughed anyway.
‘I sort of wish you were still on the force.’
‘Aye, me too,’ Rebus confessed.
‘Do you really have any sway with this Christie character?’
Rebus pondered for a moment. ‘Maybe,’ he eventually concluded. ‘Though I’m hardly likely to waste it on a turd like Glenn Hazard.’
‘So he’s on his own then?’ Sutherland paused. ‘And Cafferty?’
‘Will know about it sooner or later.’
‘I really wish I hadn’t stayed in that bloody room...’
‘You going to report me?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Tell Siobhan to call me at end of play.’
‘I will. And thanks again.’
The line went dead. Smith had leaned across so far in her seat that her head was practically in Rebus’s lap.
‘Catch any of that?’ Rebus asked.
‘No.’
‘Just as well.’
‘But he’s confessing to the murder?’
‘Seems like.’
‘Bloody hell, John — what did you say to him?’
‘Whatever was said stays in the confessional.’
‘You’re hardly anyone’s idea of a priest.’
‘I used to drink with one, though, a long time back — maybe he taught me a few tricks.’
58
Mid evening at the Oxford Bar. Rebus, Clarke and Fox had requisitioned the back room. The three of them sat around the table nearest the fire as Clarke filled in the blanks.
‘Hazard’s story is he didn’t know Bloom was dead. He hit him with the corner of his mobile phone. Just wanted him unconscious. The plan was to take him to the farm, tie him up in the byre and persuade him not to go ahead with his plan.’
‘His plan being?’ Fox asked.
‘Bloom had spotted Hazard on the film set. Knew who he was and why he’d suddenly stopped being a presence on the clubbing scene.’
‘The ODs?’
Clarke nodded. ‘Hazard thought he was selling ketamine sourced from China, but the batch was a mix of ketamine and MDMA — in too strong a dose.’ She took a sip from her glass. ‘If Hazard didn’t do what Bloom wanted, he was going to start talking — either to us or to Cafferty.’
Rebus watched her from above the rim of his own glass. ‘And what did Bloom want?’
‘He’d already broken into Brand’s office. He reckoned that if you could take something, it would be just as easy to leave something.’
‘He was going to plant drugs there?’
‘Either in the office or more likely the house. Then he’d tip off the police or the press and Brand would no longer be a threat to Jackie Ness’s ambitions.’
‘Why the handcuffs?’
‘As I say, Hazard swears he thought Bloom was knocked out. They were to stop him trying to run off when he woke up — much more effective than round the wrists.’
‘And they stayed on because...?’
Clarke gave a faint smile. ‘Guess.’
‘He’d lost the key?’
‘He’d lost the key,’ she confirmed. ‘When he gets to the farm, he opens the boot and starts to get a bad feeling.’
‘Where’s Andrew Carlton in all of this?’
‘I think Hazard thought he might help put the frighteners on Bloom, but once he saw Bloom was dead, Hazard panicked. Went and got Carlton and told him he just had a car that needed stashing somewhere.’
‘You buy that?’
Clarke considered for a moment, then shrugged. ‘I’m not sure it greatly matters. Carlton’s an accomplice at best. Hazard isn’t saying he was there when he met with Bloom and smacked him.’