Need You Dead

89 Friday 29 April

The ACC sat behind his desk, studiously sharpening a yellow pencil with a tiny silver sharpener, in his elegant office just along the corridor from the Chief Constable. His fair hair was coiffed in neat waves, not a single strand out of place, his shirt was pressed to crisp perfection, the epaulettes bearing his ACC crescent looking, as ever, freshly minted, and his uniform looked like it had been pressed five minutes ago. Mr Immaculate. So perfect in every way, Grace thought, irreverently, that Cassian Pewe’s turds probably came out in the shape of smileys.

‘Take a seat, Roy,’ he said without looking up from his task.

Grace selected one of the two leather chairs in front of the desk.

‘I understand DS Exton is being kept in hospital overnight for observation. He has two broken ribs, concussion and a bruised spleen. The doctors, concerned about internal bleeding, will make a decision in the morning about when he could be discharged. Am I correct?’

‘Yes, sir.’

Pewe held the pencil up, peered at the tip, then tested it with his finger, before placing it among an assortment in a black pen-holder on his desk. ‘Unlike our friend, Mr Tooth, whose condition has not changed, I think there is value to keeping a round-the-clock guard on Exton. Do you have that in hand?’

‘I do, sir. I’m arranging for DIs Glenn Branson and Kevin Hall to formally arrest Exton as soon as he is in a fit state, and at that time he will be suspended.’

Pewe stared hard at him. ‘All right, can you see your way clear to doing that?’ he said, sarcastically.

Holding his anger in, just, Grace replied through clenched teeth, ‘Yes, sir.’

‘To avoid any embarrassment with his colleagues, and ensure neutral treatment, he needs to be interviewed in a police station outside of Sussex. I’ve spoken to the former Deputy Chief Constable of Sussex, Olivia Pinkney, who as you know is now Chief Constable of Hampshire, and she has kindly offered us Portsmouth police station.’

‘I think that is very sensible,’ Grace said. ‘And in fact I’ve already been in touch with Hampshire police. In the interim, before Exton is discharged from hospital, I’m having his fingerprints on the database compared with the lifts taken at the crime scene.’

‘And a media strategy?’ Pewe asked.

‘I’ve got Comms working on that.’

‘Excellent.’ He raised his hands in the air. ‘You may go. Unless you have anything else for me?’

Grace contemplated pressing him further about his conversations with Bruno in German, yesterday. But decided to hold that for another day.

‘Yes, sir,’ he said. ‘Actually, I do. There is some CCTV footage that has been obtained from a GoPro camera in a car opposite the side entrance to Vallance Mansions. It apparently shows a man, his face partially obscured by a baseball cap, acting suspiciously in the vicinity around the time we believe Lorna Belling died. Maria O’Brien’s team are currently enhancing it and I’m intending asking the Super Recognizer team at Scotland Yard to take a look at it.’

‘For what reason, Roy?’

Patiently, he explained. ‘My hope is a Super Recognizer will be able to positively identify the offender from the facial features visible.’

‘And your expectation is that will be DS Exton?’

‘If it turns out to be DS Exton, it will strengthen our case against him.’

‘Good, you’ll keep me posted?’

‘Yes, sir.’

Posted, yes. I’d like to stuff you, screaming in pain, through a narrow letterbox, Roy Grace thought.

Momentarily relishing the image, he left the room.