‘Great, you check them out, and I’ll check out your TikToks. Off you go, champ.’
Garth ruffles the boy’s hair and watches him run out. He turns back to Nina.
‘Nice kid. Where’s the lock-up garage, Nina?’
‘You terrified him, Garth,’ says Nina. ‘A child.’
‘I don’t care,’ says Garth. ‘Again, not like “I don’t care what film we see,” I literally do not care, I can’t over-emphasize that. Where’s the lock-up?’
‘I don’t know,’ says Nina.
‘Come on,’ says Garth. ‘We going to do this quickly or slowly? I promise quickly is best.’
Nina has to think fast. She has one primary concern. They want to figure out who killed Kuldesh – so how to play this situation? Is this man going to help or hinder them? This is exactly what Elizabeth had wanted. To set the whole lot of them on a false trail. See what dust was kicked up. She makes up her mind.
‘Let’s say I tell you?’ she begins.
‘Let’s say that,’ agrees Garth.
‘What’s in it for me?’
Garth laughs. ‘That’s pretty obvious. I don’t throw you out that window.’
‘Garth, you keep threatening to throw people out of windows,’ says Nina. ‘I’m guessing you’ve never done that in real life.’
‘Guess again, miss,’ says Garth. ‘Where’s the lock-up?’
‘I want 10 per cent, if you find it,’ says Nina.
‘You want 10 per cent of the heroin?’
‘I don’t want to go anywhere near heroin,’ says Nina. ‘But I want 10 per cent of the profits when you sell it.’
‘Huh,’ says Garth, thinking about this. ‘But you already searched the lock-up, I bet. I’m guessing it’s not there?’
‘I didn’t know what I was looking for,’ says Nina. ‘You might have more luck.’
‘Ain’t no luck involved,’ says Garth. ‘You just gotta keep grinding.’
‘And they trust me, Elizabeth and the gang. Whatever they tell me, I can tell you.’
‘Why don’t you do this deal with them?’
‘They’re not going to sell the heroin, are they?’ says Nina. ‘There’s no profit.’
‘Yeah, those cutie-pies would give it straight to the cops. OK, deal,’ says Garth. ‘Where’s the lock-up? Then I’m going to pay a visit to the Yak House. Why’d you think they didn’t call it “The Yak Shack”?’
It is apparent that Garth is actually looking for an answer. She stops writing for a moment.
‘I don’t know, I’m afraid. You’d have to ask them.’
‘I will,’ says Garth. ‘You’d better believe I will.’
Nina hands him the address. Is this a very good idea, or a very bad idea? She is sure it will turn out to be one or the other.
57
Donna sips her coffee and reads out the text.
Not urgent, but if you were ever to get married, do you think it would be a big wedding? What sort of numbers would you be thinking about? I saw a police officer in a film yesterday shoot someone in a car park, and I thought of you.
‘From Joyce?’ Chris asks.
Donna nods. Elizabeth has asked them to keep an eye on the lock-up after a lunch they’d had yesterday. ‘See what you can see,’ she had asked.
‘What did you say?’
‘I said I’m not getting married, and they still don’t let me have a gun,’ says Donna. ‘And she said that’s a shame, you’d suit both.’
Chris holds binoculars up to his eyes for a moment, then puts them down. ‘False alarm. So you wouldn’t get married?’
‘Things to do first,’ says Donna. ‘Never been to India, never jumped out of a plane. Never really punched anyone.’
‘Yeah, get those out of the way,’ says Chris. ‘Wouldn’t want to get married with those hanging over you.’
‘You must have a bucket list?’ says Donna.
Chris thinks. ‘Well, I’ve never watched Titanic. And I’d like to go to Bruges. But I could probably do both of those with your mum.’
‘She’s a lucky woman,’ says Donna. She takes the binoculars now and does a quick scan.
‘Nothing,’ she says. ‘You reckon this is a waste of time? Sitting on a hill waiting for heroin dealers?’
‘Elizabeth says they’ll be here,’ says Chris. ‘So they’ll be here.’
‘She really has you under her spell, doesn’t she?’
‘Yes,’ says Chris. ‘I choose to embrace it.’
Donna and Chris are parked high on a hill above the row of lock-up garages by Fairhaven seafront. They have been in this exact spot before, carrying out surveillance on Connie Johnson’s office. Connie now has her office in a cell at Darwell Prison, though word on the street says she’s as busy as ever.
In their absence the Benenden horse-theft case is ongoing, and thefts have recently spread as far afield as Peasmarsh. No horse is safe, and people are up in arms.
Chris and Donna already have a fairly good idea who is carrying out the thefts, however: a man named Angus Gooch who runs a livery stable near Battle, and has a string of previous convictions to his name. He is stealing horses to order, and then transporting them across the country. He has an Audi TT, so presumably it’s good business.
It took them about a day to solve, and they certainly have enough evidence to arrest him. But they are biding their time in order to look busy while they’re working on finding the heroin with the Thursday Murder Club. He’s not killing the horses, so they can afford to let him nick a few more, safe in the knowledge that they’ll be back with their rightful owners soon enough.
If SIO Regan knew what they were up to, there would be immediate disciplinary action, but Chris and Donna are now being as good as gold around the station, giving her plenty of space, and no trouble. So she, in turn, is leaving them alone. Whatever SIO Regan’s problem is, it is now not Chris and Donna. Which gives them a certain freedom.
If she were ever to ask why they are staking out this particular lock-up, which she won’t, as she is very incurious for a police officer, they will say they are investigating a tip-off about a Fairhaven local who has suddenly come into possession of a number of saddles.
‘Here we go,’ says Donna, binoculars up again. She hands them to Chris, so he can see what she has just seen.
Mitch Maxwell, glancing this way and that, is walking between the garages, holding a piece of paper in his hand. He reaches Number 1772 and tries the door. It doesn’t budge. He takes a piece of metal from his coat, jams it in the lock and pushes. The faint clang carries up the hillside. But the door doesn’t open. He tries again.
‘There’s a knack,’ says Donna.
On the fifth attempt the lock springs, and Mitch opens the garage door.
‘So we tick Mitch Maxwell off the list,’ says Chris. ‘If he knew where the heroin was, he wouldn’t be searching here. I’ll text the boss.’
‘The boss?’ says Donna.
‘Elizabeth,’ says Chris.
‘Silly me,’ says Donna. ‘How’s the sea-swimming going?’
‘I went once,’ says Chris. ‘It was freezing. I mean, I figured it would be cold, but come on. So I’m going to learn the trumpet instead.’
Mitch is clearly busy in the lock-up garage. Searching for the heroin, which Chris and Donna could already tell him isn’t there.
‘Have you found out anything about Samantha Barnes?’ Donna asks.
‘I put in a call to Chichester CID,’ says Chris. ‘Told them we were looking into the horse thefts and her name came up. They said she’s very polite, and never puts a foot wrong.’
‘Any previous connection to drugs?’
‘Connections to everything, they said. Though the DI said that horse theft was a new one to add to the list.’
Chris looks through the binoculars again. ‘Poor Mitch, no one to trust.’