Hot Seat

Lap Thirty-Five

I was having breakfast at home the following morning when Dylan called.

‘You’re not going to believe this.’ He was boiling with excitement.

‘What?’

‘Rags just sent the whole team home until further notice.’

‘Did he say why?’

‘He just said he needed time to follow up on things after the Dutch cops stopped us.’

The wheels were coming off Rags’ world and he was heading for a crash. I wanted to be there when it happened. The best time to hit him was at his weakest.

‘Where is he?’

‘He’s still at the workshop.’

‘OK. I’m coming up.’

‘Wait. I’ve got more. I know who doesn’t have their keys. It’s Nevin.’

Haulk had said that Nevin had taken Jason under his wing. Naturally, Jason would go to him. I wondered how Nevin featured in all this now.

‘Where is he?’

‘I’m following him.’

‘Get him alone. I want to speak to him.’

‘I’ll call you.’

I grabbed my car keys and blew out the door. I got as far as the Honda when Sergeant Lucas pulled up.

‘Is your grandfather around?’

‘No, he’s at work.’

‘OK. Could you let him know we found his van?’

‘Sure. Where’d you find it?’

‘Over by Thorpe Park. Someone stripped it and torched it. It’s a real mess.’

I didn’t like the casual tone Lucas was using. He hadn’t liked that his key piece of evidence had been stolen and to find it obliterated wasn’t going to leave him in a jovial mood. He was gearing up for something.

‘Could I have a word, Aidy?’

‘I have an appointment and I can’t miss it.’

He parked himself at the end of the driveway. The only way out was through him. ‘I wasn’t really asking.’

I circled the car and leaned against the boot. ‘I suppose I have a few minutes.’

Lucas didn’t reach for his handcuffs, so I guessed I was safe for the moment.

‘Thank you, Aidy. I appreciate that.’

I hated police smugness.

‘I’m troubled by this case. I feel that I’m the only one who doesn’t understand what’s going on.’

I really didn’t have time for this. I could see Nevin slipping away. But at least Lucas was finally seeing the cracks in the case.

‘You’re not alone. I’m just as lost.’

Lucas’ mistrustful look said otherwise. ‘I’ll tell you what doesn’t make sense to me. I have a crash site that doesn’t support the statement. I have a piece of critical evidence in the form of your grandfather’s van that goes missing before I can examine it. Care to explain?’

I could, but I had the feeling Lucas didn’t need my help. He seemed to be on the right track.

My mobile burst into life. It was Dylan. I bet he had Nevin. ‘I can’t explain what I don’t know myself. Really, I do have to go.’

I went to leave, but Lucas stepped in front of me to block my path.

‘There’s something going on,’ he said, ‘and I suggest you tell me before I find out.’

My phone rang again. I couldn’t lose Nevin. Not now.

‘Sergeant, I suggest you ask the victim why she was in Egham when she lived all the way over in Harrow.’

Shock spread across Lucas’ face. ‘How do you know that? Have you been in contact with her?’

Oh, crap. I’d screwed up. I could kick myself for my stupidity.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Nothing. Now, you will have to excuse me.’

I pushed by Lucas and got into the car. He kept barking questions at me, but I reversed out before the questions changed into an arrest.

As soon as I was on the road, I called Dylan. He’d caught up with Nevin at an ASDA. Somehow, he was now riding in Dylan’s car. I didn’t ask Dylan how he’d convinced Nevin to ride with him, but Dylan was a foot taller than Nevin and twice as strong. I was nervous now. My friends and I were really sailing close to the wind. I hoped we didn’t end up shipwrecked.

I caught up with them in a field outside of Banbury. I stopped my car behind Dylan’s Subaru. Nevin burst from the car the second I appeared. Dylan climbed out, looking tired. I could only imagine the conversations they’d had.

‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ Nevin demanded. ‘Why did you have this idiot drag me over here?’

‘You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?’ I said to Dylan.

Dylan held up his hands. ‘Do you see any bruises?’

‘Hey, I’m talking to you!’ Nevin barked at me.

‘I’m sorry for all this. I just wanted to give you these.’

I fished out Nevin’s keys and tossed them at him. He caught them and the colour drained from his face as his indignation turned to fear. He failed to take ownership of his keys. He didn’t pocket them or clutch them in his fist. He just cradled them in both hands.

‘They are yours, aren’t they?’

‘I don’t know what you’re playing at, Aidy, but I don’t like it. How did you get these?’ Nevin’s voice had dropped to a whisper.

‘From Jason. He had them on him when he died.’

The keys fell through Nevin’s hands into the mud at his feet. He stared down at them but made no attempt to retrieve them.

I liked Nevin and I hated squeezing him like this, but I didn’t have a choice. I needed the truth from him. ‘I still need an answer, Barry. Are they your keys?’

‘Answer him, Barry,’ Dylan said. He stood a respectful distance from Nevin, but if he bolted, the two of us had the angles covered.

‘Yes, they are.’

‘Why did Jason have them?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I don’t have time for this, Barry. Seriously, I don’t,’ I said. ‘Know when you’re caught. I have the detective in charge of Jason’s murder crawling all over me. If I tell her who those keys belong to, she’ll leave me alone and come after you. Do you want that?’

Nevin said nothing. I reached for the keys and he stamped a foot over them.

‘Don’t.’

I straightened. ‘Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.’

‘I can’t.’

‘You can and you will, because I’m not leaving without an explanation. As I see it, you’re a guilty man. Was that guilt the reason you attended Jason’s funeral when no one else from Ragged did?’

‘Call her, Aidy,’ Dylan said. ‘Throw him to the wolves.’

‘No, don’t. Please. Let me explain.’

Nevin ran his hands through his hair. He removed his foot from the keys, picked them up and slipped them into his pocket without wiping the mud off.

‘OK. I stayed in touch with Jason after he left. I liked him. We’d go for a pint from time to time. The last few times he kept asking about the team and the operation. I thought Russell Townsend had put him up to it, but at Earls Court he asked me to help him. He said Rags was up to his neck in something shady and he wanted to check out the car and transporter. I told him I didn’t want any part of his bullshit. There’s no way Rags would cross that line.’

‘But you had second thoughts?’

Nevin nodded.

‘Because Rags has coloured outside of the lines from time to time, like when he played with loan sharks?’

‘You know about that?’

‘Nothing stays a secret forever.’

‘Yeah, well. In those dark days, when Rags got behind with his payments, the heavies weren’t shy about dropping by. That got me wondering if he was in trouble again, but I believe in Rags and I wouldn’t go behind his back. I told Jason I wouldn’t help him directly, but he could check things out himself, so I slipped him my keys at the end of the day. I said if he found anything, he was to come to me first.’

‘And did he?’

‘I don’t know. Someone killed him before he got back to me.’

I opened my mouth to ask another question when I picked up on something Nevin had said. He said that he believed in Rags and wouldn’t go behind his back. A frightening conclusion presented itself that left me nauseous.

‘Barry, don’t tell me you told Rags.’

Nevin swallowed.

‘Barry?’

‘I had to. I couldn’t go behind the man’s back. He’s my friend. I told him what I’d done. He told me not to worry about it and that he’d take care of it. Christ, do you think he killed Jason?’

I couldn’t believe Nevin’s naivety. I retreated back to my car.

‘Where are you going?’ Nevin asked.

‘Don’t let him go and don’t let him call anyone,’ I told Dylan.

‘No worries. Where you going?’

‘To talk to Rags, of course.’