‘I’m nearly fifty,’ says Mitch.
How dearly he would love to give all this up. When he finds the heroin, that’s it. He’s quitting.
‘Have you ever been to prison?’ asks Ibrahim.
‘No,’ says Mitch.
‘Have you ever been arrested?’ asks Joyce.
‘Many times,’ says Mitch.
‘Have you ever killed anyone?’ asks Ron.
‘If I went around admitting to killing people, I would have been to prison, wouldn’t I?’ reasons Mitch.
‘Is your hip all right, Ron?’ Joyce asks.
‘My hip is fine,’ says Ron.
‘And the biggest question of all,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Who killed Kuldesh Sharma? You?’
Mitch smiles. ‘You’ll have to try harder than that.’
‘More whisky?’ asks Ibrahim.
Mitch declines. He’s got to drive back to Hertfordshire in a bit, and he has a semi-automatic weapon in his boot, so he wouldn’t want to get pulled over for drunk driving.
‘A simpler question, then,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Who else knew about the box with the heroin?’
‘A few Afghans,’ says Mitch. ‘But no one who’d need to steal it. A middleman who saw the drugs into Moldova – but he’s one of my guys.’
‘His name?’ asks Ibrahim, making notes.
‘Lenny,’ says Mitch.
‘Someone here has just had a great-grandson called Lenny,’ says Joyce. ‘Names come back around, don’t they?’
‘Where might we find him?’ asks Ibrahim.
‘Dom will have his number,’ says Mitch.
‘Ah, our friend Dom,’ says Elizabeth. ‘He also knows everything of course? You must have asked yourself whether he stole the heroin himself? Whether he set Kuldesh up as the fall guy?’
Mitch shakes his head. ‘He knows everything, but I trust him with my life.’
‘But he knew what was in the box. He delivered the box. He met Kuldesh?’
‘And it’s a lot of money,’ says Joyce.
‘Not in the grand scheme of things,’ says Mitch.
‘You make more money than him though,’ says Ron. ‘A hundred grand’s still a lot for Dom.’
‘Is it tax free?’ Ibrahim asks. ‘Yes, it must be. I’m answering my own question. Do you know when you win money on quiz shows, that’s all tax free too? Something quiz shows and heroin smuggling have in common.’
Everyone waits until they are absolutely sure that Ibrahim has finished.
‘Everyone’s loyal until they’re not,’ says Ron.
‘I don’t see it,’ says Mitch. ‘Sorry.’
‘Anyone else you might steer us in the direction of?’ asks Elizabeth. ‘You were selling the heroin, but who was buying it?’
‘Nope,’ says Mitch. ‘You’ve got all you’re going to get from me.’
‘For now,’ says Ibrahim.
‘Can I ask a couple of questions?’ says Mitch. ‘Before I go?’
They all seem happy with this prospect. So he turns, first, to Ibrahim.
‘Do you really work for Connie Johnson?’
‘I do,’ confirms Ibrahim.
‘What do you do for her?’
‘I can’t tell you,’ says Ibrahim.
‘That bad, eh?’ says Mitch. He then addresses Elizabeth. ‘And you. Why do you have a gun?’
Elizabeth gives a quizzical smile. ‘Why do I have a gun? To shoot people with.’
Jesus. Mitch turns to Ron. ‘Did I really hurt your hip?’
Ron nods. ‘Course you did. I’m an old man, you idiot.’
‘Sorry,’ says Mitch. ‘I thought you stole my gear.’
‘We didn’t,’ says Joyce.
‘And to all of you, seriously,’ says Mitch. ‘You don’t really think Dom would steal from me? Even for a hundred grand, that makes no sense. Why would he think he could get away with it?’
‘Well,’ says Joyce, who has been fairly quiet up to now. Mitch had almost forgotten she was there. ‘You said you’d trust him with your life. He probably knows that, doesn’t he? So who better to steal from?’
She says it with such kindness that Mitch recognizes instantly that she might just be right.
26
Early morning and the Portakabin is cold, so Donna is still wearing her puffa jacket. Chris has both hands around a cup of vending-machine tea.
‘The more I ask around about Dom Holt and Mitch Maxwell, the worse it gets,’ says Chris. ‘Kuldesh had no idea who he was dealing with.’
‘Dom Holt wouldn’t steal his own heroin though, would he?’ says Donna.
‘Perhaps he had a falling-out with his boss?’ suggests Chris.
He screws up a ball of paper and throws it in a high arc towards a bin in the corner of the room. It hits the rim and bounces out.
‘Yeah, bosses are the worst,’ says Donna. ‘Anyway, we could take a look at him without alerting SIO Regan and her merry men? Anyone we could talk to?’
‘Jason Ritchie?’
‘Ron’s son?’ says Donna. ‘He moves in interesting circles.’
Chris is now blowing on his hands. ‘We could see what he knows. I’ll talk to Ron.’
A blast of January air cannons into the Portakabin as SIO Jill Regan opens the door.
‘You forgot to knock,’ says Chris.
‘Is that how you dress on duty?’ Jill asks Donna.
‘Some idiot put us in a Portakabin,’ replies Donna, doing up her zip still further. ‘Ma’am.’
Jill takes a seat. ‘In the habit of calling superior officers idiots, are you, constable?’
‘She is,’ says Chris. ‘I’ve got used to it. How can we help you?’
‘Something struck me as strange,’ says Jill.
‘You work for the National Crime Agency,’ says Chris. ‘That must happen a lot?’
‘Where’s his phone?’ says Jill. ‘That’s what’s bothering me.’
‘Whose phone?’ asks Donna.
‘Kuldesh Sharma’s,’ says Jill. ‘Where’s his phone, I wonder?’
‘Not our case,’ says Chris.
‘Yeah,’ says Jill. ‘That’s what I thought too. Out chasing horses, aren’t you?’
‘Doing our best,’ says Chris. ‘They’re very fast.’
‘Only … Donna was making a request for phone records yesterday,’ says Jill. She rubs her hands together. ‘Cold in here, isn’t it?’
‘Routine enquiry,’ says Donna.
‘So I looked back,’ says Jill Regan. ‘And you requested some other phone records previously? I haven’t seen the results of that request anywhere?’
‘We’re police officers,’ says Chris. ‘We request a lot of phone records. I don’t suppose you’ve got a spare heater up in the Incident Room?’
‘If you have his phone,’ says Jill, ‘you’ll be off the force, you know that?’
‘Lucky we don’t, then,’ says Donna.
Donna, Chris and Jill stare at each other for a while. Chris tries to do a gentle spin on his chair, and one of the wheels falls off. In Donna’s view he styles it out fairly well.
‘Stay away from this case,’ says Jill.
‘Of course,’ says Chris. ‘It’s in the safe hands of the National Crime Agency. If you need us, we’ll be leaning on a gate, chewing on some straw.’
Jill gets up. ‘If you happen to stumble across that phone?’
‘Then we know where you are,’ says Chris.
‘Colleague to colleague,’ says Jill, ‘don’t get mixed up in this.’
‘Noted,’ says Chris. ‘Make sure you shut the door on the way out.’
Jill exits, leaving the door wide open.
As Chris gets up to close it, he makes sure she has gone. ‘Anything from Elizabeth’s phone?’
Donna checks her watch. ‘Should get something any time now.’
27
As it is a Thursday, the gang are in the Jigsaw Room. There is a half-demolished Victoria sponge on the jigsaw table.