Grace hesitated, uncertain what to do. Was this it? Clearly, Pewe had been arrested, he thought to his immense relief. Hadn’t he? It certainly looked like it.
He wondered if the crew of the second Audi were searching his office.
He turned and headed back towards the Major Crime building, unsure whether to be elated or worried. Then his phone rang.
It was Alison Vosper.
‘Roy? How are you?’
‘Well, ma’am, I’m not entirely sure.’
‘I just wanted to let you know, before you heard it from anyone else, that we are arresting ACC Pewe — the evidence you gave us checked out. He has been suspended with immediate effect.’
For a few seconds, Grace was speechless. ‘Thank you for telling me, ma’am.’
‘I know this may not change anything, Roy — other than perhaps doing myself no favours. But my offer to you of a job in the Met remains open.’
‘I appreciate that, ma’am. I really do.’
‘One day, perhaps? Call me any time, you know where to reach me.’
‘I really appreciate your faith in me.’
‘Until then, stay safe.’
‘And you, ma’am.’
Moments after he ended the call, his phone rang again. It was Cleo. He answered and she sounded surprised.
‘Sorry, darling,’ she said. ‘I was just going to leave a message. Have you had your meeting with Pewe?’
‘No, he’s otherwise engaged.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning he’s just been driven off in the back of a car, under arrest.’
‘No way!’
‘Yessss!’
‘Oh my God! You’ve done it!’
‘Here’s hoping.’
‘You have, you’ve done it!!!’
‘With luck!’
‘I was just calling to say that when you collect Reggie — or before — could you swing by Tesco Lewes and pick up some cat litter?’
‘Yes, sure. Shall I get some cat food as well and some treats?’
‘Treats for you or Reggie?’
‘Haha!’
‘Just don’t vanish, eh?’
Glossary
ANPR — Automatic Number Plate Recognition. Roadside or mobile cameras that automatically capture the registration number of all cars that pass. It can be used to historically track which cars went past a certain camera, and can also create a signal for cars which are stolen, have no insurance or have an alert attached to them.
CID — Criminal Investigation Department. Usually refers to the divisional detectives rather than the specialist squads.
CPS — Crown Prosecution Service.
CSI — Was SOCO. Crime Scene Investigators (Scenes of Crime Officers). They are the people who attend crime scenes to search for fingerprints, DNA samples etc.
DIGITAL FORENSICS — The unit which examines and investigates computers and other digital devices.
FLO — Family Liaison Officer.
HOLMES — Home Office Large Major Enquiry System. The national computer database used on all murders. It provides a repository of all messages, actions, decisions and statements, allowing the analysis of intelligence and the tracking and auditing of the whole enquiry. Can enable enquiries to be linked across force areas where necessary.
IOPC — Independent Office for Police Conduct.
PM — Postmortem.
POLSA — Police Search Adviser.
SIO — Senior Investigating Officer. Usually a Detective Chief Inspector who is in overall charge of the investigation of a major crime such as murder, kidnap or rape.
Chart of Police Ranks
Police ranks are consistent across all disciplines and the addition of prefixes such as ‘detective’ (e.g. detective constable) does not affect seniority relative to others of the same rank (e.g. police constable).
Acknowledgements
Writing during a pandemic has not been without its challenges, but there have been positives as welclass="underline" fewer distractions and travel, and being able to spend more time with our ever-expanding menagerie.
As ever I owe thanks to so many people in so many fields, especially Sussex Police, the medical world and, for this book, the world of the car salesman! I always find it heartening that so many people are willing to take the time to share their knowledge, and even industry secrets and tricks of the trade in some cases, to help me get my novels to feel as authentic as possible.
My most heartfelt thanks start with Sussex Police. To Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne OBE, Chief Constable Jo Shiner, and to so many officers and support staff actively serving under them, as well as retirees from Sussex and other forces. I’ve listed them in alphabetical order and beg forgiveness for any omissions.
Inspector James Biggs, PC Matt Colburn, Financial Investigator Emily Denyer, DC Jenny Dunn, PC Philip Edwards, Inspector Mark Evans, CSI James Gartrell, CSI Chris Gee, Aiden Gilbert in Digital Forensics, DCI Rich Haycock, Inspector Dan Hiles, Chief Digital and Information Officer Joseph Langford, Chief Superintendent Nick May, Sergeant Russell Philips, Chief Constable of Kent Alan Pughsley QPM, Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police Robin Smith, James Stather in Forensic Services, PC Richard Trundle, and Police Chaplain Fr Richard Tuset. Also Beth Durham, Suzanne Heard, Jill Pedersen and Katie Perkins of Sussex Police Corporate Communications.
And retired officers: Chief Superintendent Graham Bartlett, Detective Superintendent Nick Sloan, DC Pauline Sweeney, DS Mark Taylor and Detective Superintendent Jason Tingley.
A big thank you also to Theresa Adams, Julian Blazeby, Mike Canas, Neil Chapman, Jeanie Civil, Sean Didcott, Tim Griffiths, Victoria Grogan, Anna-Lisa Hancock, Phil Homan, Haydn Kelly, Rob Kempson, Dr James Mair, Dr Adrian Noon, Ray Packham, Richard Parsons, Graham Ramsden, Judith Richards, Julia Richardson of Galen Myotherapy, Kit Robinson (role model for Noah Grace!), Alan Setterington, Helen Shenston, Lucy Sibun, Carolyn Smith, Sam Smith, Steve Soper, Orlando Trujillo, Derek Warwick and Mark Willmett.
A very special thank you also to my mentor Geoff Duffield, my amazing editor Wayne Brookes, and the team at Pan Macmillan — to name just a few: Sarah Arratoon, Jonathan Atkins, Lara Borlenghi, Emily Bromfield, Stuart Dwyer, Claire Evans, Samantha Fletcher, Anthony Forbes Watson, Elle Gibbons, Hollie Iglesias, Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Kellaway, Neil Lang, Rebecca Lloyd, Sara Lloyd, James Long, James Luscombe, Holly Martin, Rory O’Brien, Guy Raphael, Alex Saunders, Jade Tolley, Jeremy Trevathan, Toby Watson, Charlotte Williams and Leanne Williams. And my brilliant structural editor Susan Opie.
Thanks also to everyone at my fabulous UK literary agency, Blake Friedmann: Lizzy Attree, Isobel Dixon, Sian Ellis-Martin, Julian Friedmann, Hana Murrell, James Pusey, Daisy Way and Conrad Williams. My US agent, Mitch Hoffman, at the Aaron M. Priest Literary Agency. And a big shout-out to my fabulously gifted UK PR team at Riot Communications: Caitlin Allen, Preena Gadher and Emily Souders.
While writing is a lonely job, I have an amazing support team around me. I’m blessed with two incredibly hardworking people — my wife Lara and former Detective Chief Superintendent David Gaylor — who head up Team James. The other invaluable members of the team are: Sue Ansell, Kate Blazeby, Dani Brown, Erin Brown, Chris Diplock, Jane Diplock, Martin Diplock, Lyn Gaylor, James Hodge, Sarah Middle, Amy Robinson, Mark Tuckwell and Chris Webb.
David Gaylor not only has the patience of a saint, in answering my queries about policing and other aspects of my stories at any time of the day or night; he also has an incredibly creative mind, and contributes so much to every aspect of my novels, and now to the Grace TV series also. I owe him enormous thanks. I’m extremely excited about this series: the scripts by Russell Lewis, based on the novels, are brilliant and the cast, headed by John Simm as Roy Grace and Richie Campbell as Glenn Branson, are more than I could ever have wished for.