Little Boy Blue - [23]

‘I got held up,’ Charlie responded tersely. ‘Anyway, what are we waiting for, we should be down there -’

‘It’s under control,’ Edwards replied crisply.

Charlie was already scanning the office. She had a nasty feeling where this was going and wasn’t surprised in the least when Edwards concluded:

‘DS Sanderson has just gone to pick him up.’

35

He knew it was coming, but still it was much more brutal than he’d expected.

He was in the middle of a divisional meeting – the heads of all the local branches gathered together for tea and biscuits. These sessions always ran over time, the various managers positioning themselves for promotion, while sharing tales from the coalface, but he still enjoyed them. In this environment, he was king. He liked the deference, the banter and, if he was honest, the power.

The meeting room was glass-walled, so everybody saw them coming. His PA – the redoubtable Mrs Allen – was trying hard to look professional – but in reality just looked shit scared, saying nothing as she opened the meeting room door and ushered the tall, serious-looking woman inside. He didn’t recognize her – she wasn’t the one who’d come yesterday – but he could tell by the way she carried herself that she was a police officer. A fact she now confirmed by presenting her warrant card to him.

‘DS Sanderson. I wonder if I could have a word, Mr Jackson,’ she said, her voice quiet, but clear.

‘Of course. My office is just -’

‘I think it would be best if you accompany me to the station.’

The walk of shame through the office was quick, but felt interminable – the eyes of every staff member glued to him. Colleagues shuffled out of the way in silence and moments later he found himself striding down the brightly lit corridor towards the exit.

Before long, he was in the back of a saloon car, moving fast down the road. As he pulled away from the bank that had been a happy home for many years now, he caught sight of his managerial colleagues staring out of the meeting room window at him.

This was it then. The end of his old life. And the beginning of something new.

36

‘What do we say to the press?’

There was more than a hint of excitement in Gardam’s voice, but Helen knew he was experienced enough not to get carried away.

‘There’s massive media interest in this case already and I don’t want to whip them up any more,’ he continued. ‘I take it you’ve seen the early edition of the Evening News?’

Helen confirmed that she had, trying to put Emilia Garanita’s lurid four-page spread from her mind. It was written as if in sympathy with the dead, but in reality was a hatchet job on Jake and everyone ‘like’ him. She could tell that Emilia was hoping that this story would be a long runner and felt a small sense of satisfaction that she might be about to cut her enjoyment short.

‘I think we play it straight,’ Helen carried on. ‘We say that an individual is helping us with our enquiries and leave it at that.’

‘They’ll know he’s in custody. DS Sanderson has made sure of that. What details are we prepared to release?’

‘Gender, age if you want, but leave it at that,’ she replied, making a mental note to talk to Sanderson. ‘We don’t want a witch hunt.’

‘I think we’re probably going to get one, come what may, but I’m sure you’re right. I’ll give them enough and no more. If you want to come along to say a few words to start us off -’

‘I think I’m better used in the interview suite, sir.’

‘As you wish. I understand he’s already downstairs, so don’t let me keep you. I’ll field the hacks and leave you to do what you do best. The sooner we nip this one in the bud, the better.’

Helen thanked him and headed for the lift bank. Paul Jackson was an unlikely suspect in some ways, but he had history with Jake, a taste for the exotic, as well as access to people’s credit card details. Killers came in all shapes and sizes and Paul Jackson had a lot of explaining to do. Would he be able to tell her why her good friend had been so brutally killed? As she descended to the custody area, Helen felt a surge of excitement, a sense that they were finally getting somewhere. And unless her eyes deceived her, Gardam was feeling it too.

37

Charlie waited until Paul Jackson had been handed over to the desk sergeant before making her move. Having brought him in and cautioned him, Sanderson had ten minutes to gather herself, while he made his obligatory phone call. Ten minutes would be plenty for what Charlie had to say.

‘I didn’t think you’d stoop this low.’

Sanderson turned, surprised by Charlie’s sudden approach. Something – was it embarrassment? – stole across Sanderson’s face before she recovered her composure.

‘Come on, Charlie, you know the drill. We had a lead, I was the senior officer on duty -’

‘Jackson was my lead. I spent half the night watching his house…’

‘So I hear,’ Sanderson replied knowingly.

‘Don’t you dare take the piss out of me,’ Charlie spat back, anger suddenly flaring within her. ‘I questioned him, wrote the follow-up report. I got his bloody DNA, for God’s sake -’

‘No one’s denying that. It was good work. But you know what the boss has been like on this. She wants everything done yesterday -’