The Dead Tracks

Chapter Eighteen

In the business, this was called a Voluntary attendance'. I wasn't under arrest, so I didn't need a solicitor, and I could get up and leave whenever I wanted. But even here there were rules. Number one was covering your ass. The first thing Phillips did was pass a form across the table towards me that confirmed I was here voluntarily. I read it over and signed it. Davidson slouched in his chair, resting his coffee cup on his belly.

'Okay,' Phillips said, both hands flat to the table. 'Let's establish a few ground rules here, so there are no grey areas. You're not under arrest and we haven't charged you with anything. You're helping us with our enquiries. We have no legal responsibility to inform a lawyer you're here, but if you want a lawyer, you can make that call.'

They both looked at me. Phillips genuinely didn't seem to care whether I called anyone or not, as if it made no difference to the opinion he'd already formed of me. Davidson looked like he'd take it personally. If I called a lawyer, it would immediately cement his view that I was involved in something.

'Do you want to call a lawyer, Mr Raker?'

I shook my head. 'No. I'm good.'

'Great.' Phillips wrapped his hands around the coffee. Steam rose from the oily surface. 'Well, let's start at the beginning then. What were you doing at the house?'

'I'm on a case.'

Davidson snorted. 'Case?'

I looked at him and then back to Phillips. 'I work missing persons, including kids who have disappeared. Charlie Bryant was linked to the case I'm currently on.'

'Linked how?'

'He knew the girl I'm trying to find.'

Phillips nodded. He started turning his wedding band. A flash of that same steel in his eyes, as if he knew what was coming. 'Who are you trying to find?'

I paused, looked between them and then leaned for-, ward. 'Megan Carver.'

Davidson snorted again. 'You gotta be fucking kidding me.' Next to him, Phillips didn't move. Davidson sat forward, placing his coffee cup down in front of him. 'Since when?'

'Since five days ago.'

'Why did they come to you?'

I shrugged. 'I guess her parents felt like the police investigation had hit a wall. You guys would probably know better than me if that's true.'

Davidson's eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean by that?'

'I mean, DCI Hart's in the next room,' I said, staring at him. Why don't you ask him?'

A short pause.

Then, Phillips again: You made any headway?'

'Some. Not much. mostly I've been going back over ground Hart and his team were covering six months ago.'

'Like what?'

'Like everything. Family, friends, her school.'

'So you turned up at the Bryant house because…?'

'Because, as you know, Charlie Bryant used to go out with Megan.'

And because he knew she was pregnant.

Phillips was staring at me, his expression fixed, his body still. He didn't seem surprised by any of this. Next to him, his partner was twitchy and aggressive, his fingers tapping the plastic coffee cup, his body shifting in the chair.

'Things must have been getting a bit desperate,' Davidson said eventually. I glanced at him, frowning. 'I mean, you don't break into someone's house if a case hasn't already started going south.'

'You sound like you're speaking from experience.'

Davidson's skin started to redden. I could see a corner of Phillips's mouth turn up in a smile.

'Nothing was going south,' I said.

'So why did you break into their house?'

'There's no sign of a break-in anywhere in that house. You know the back door was unlocked. The only thing I did was scale the gate.'

'Trespass, you mean?'

'Which would you prefer? Me jump over that gate, or those two bodies lie in that house for another two weeks? Or a month? Or a year?'

'Still doesn’t make it legal.'

'Yeah, you're right. Better that they stayed like that until the room filled with blowflies.' I picked up my coffee cup. 'Better that the police never get to find out why someone would want to murder a seventeen-year-old.'

Davidson's face reddened again.

'So why would someone want to murder a seventeen- year-old?' Phillips asked.

'I've no idea.'

He eyed me. 'Really?'

'Really. I told you: I've been on this case for less than a week.'

'You been sitting on your hands for a week, then?'

Davidson again. The colour had started to fade from his cheeks, but he still looked pissed off. I watched him. Eventually he sighed, as if my silence somehow confirmed what he'd said, and turned his attention back to the coffee cup resting on his belly.

'Charlie didn't seem a prime candidate for a murder victim,' Phillips said.

'I agree.'

'So why would someone do that to him?'

'I don't know.'

'And his father.'

I shrugged. I don't know.

'Do you think this is related to Megan Carver?'

It was obvious he'd already decided the answer for himself, and I realized that a red flag had just gone up again on the Carver investigation. I could have lied to them both from the start and pretended I hadn't been led to the Bryant house through Megan's disappearance, but none of us would have believed it. What was definitely obvious was that they'd be pulling Jamie Hart into a meeting room as soon as I left the building.

'I don't know if it's related to Megan,' I said eventually.

Davidson snorted again. 'Of course you don't.'

'Shall I make something up?'

'All right,' Phillips said softly, and placed a hand on his partner's arm. 'DS Davidson, why don't you take five minutes?'

Davidson's eyes lingered on me before getting up and leaving the room. Phillips waited for the door to click shut, then turned back to me.

'You were a journalist, is that right?'

I stared at him. So that was why you took so long to get the coffees. He'd spent some time going through my history. After my last case, I'd had to sit in a police station giving interviews for two days. Everything I'd told them over those forty-eight hours would be logged in their database for him to find. He'd know about me, about my background, about my cases.

'Why the career change?'

I shrugged. Why not?'

'You didn't enjoy journalism?'

'I enjoyed it up until my wife got cancer.'

'Is she still around?'

I shook my head.

'I'm sorry to hear that,' he said gently. He waited for a moment, once again laying both hands flat to the table. You know the Carver disappearance is an ongoing investigation, right? Her parents told you that, I expect.'

'I'm not sure it makes much difference to them.' 'Oh?'

'Megan hasn't been found. That's all they care about.'

He didn't reply.

'Look, I don't know what game you're playing here — but it's not me against you. It's not me against anyone. I'm trying to find Megan Carver, just like DCI Hart was trying to find her.'

'But you can see how your presence complicates things?'

'How Does it complicate things? Hart stopped calling the Carvers when the case hit a wall. You should be talking to him, not me.'

He rubbed a couple of fingers against his forehead, as if he were trying to reason with a child. 'Truth is, David, you've — whether unwittingly or not — stepped into a situation here — and I need you to step back out again.'

'What are you talking about?'

'I need you to drop the Carver case.'

'Why would I do that?'

He sighed. 'I'm asking you as a favour.'

'A favour?' I sat back in my seat and studied him. His eyes were dark, focused, looking right at me. 'Have you got a lead?'

'I can't talk to you about that.'

'I'm not dropping the case as a favour to someone I met for the first time an hour ago. Has anyone here even talked to the Carvers in the past two months?'

'Of course we have.'

'I don't mean calling to tell them there's nothing new to report. You might want to go around to their house some time and see what sort of state they're in. They spent four months waiting for Hart to bring their daughter home, and another two months waiting for the phone to ring. If you have a lead, then you need to act on it.'

'Are you telling us how to do our job?'

'No, I'm telling you you're messing with people's emotions here. You need to give them something to hang on to. The reason they came to me is because they need to see the case moving forward. They need to believe they're getting closer to finding their daughter, even if they're not. You need to share whatever you have with them.'

He smiled. 'It's not that simple.'

'Nothing's simple,' I said. 'What's the lead?'

'It's an ongoing investigation.'

'Maybe I can help.'

'I don't think so.'

'How do you know?'

'Because I know,' he said, his voice simmering for the first time. 'I'm going to level with you here, David. I need you to step back from the case. The only reason I can give you is that, by you sticking your nose in here, you're jeopardizing a parallel investigation.'

'You've got another case linked to Megan's disappearance?'

He leaned forward. 'I can see your mind ticking over there, David. But whatever you think is going on here, it isn't.'

'You've got another disappearance?'

'No.'

'Then what?' He didn't reply, and this time I sighed myself. You might want to take a refresher course where negotiation is concerned, DCI Phillips. We've all got to make a living.'

'This is going to turn out bad for you, David.'

'Is that a threat?'

'No,' Phillips said, giving me his best innocent look. 'We're not in the business of threats here. We're the police.

We respond to threats. But I'm telling you now: if you get in the way, we won't hesitate to push you aside.'

Thanks for the heads-up.'

He got to his feet. 'I'm going to make this easy for you, okay? Charles Bryant and his father are part of a murder investigation now. You can throw the dog in there too, for all I care. The one thing I want to make absolutely crystal clear for you is this: you don't even think about looking into the Bryant murder, and you don't come near us on anything to do with the Carver disappearance if it overlaps with lines of enquiry we're following with Bryant. Understood?'

I didn't move. Just stared back at him.

Your case….' He shook his head. We worked all the angles you're working. We worked them better, with more manpower and more experience. We found nothing. But that doesn’t mean the case is finished. It just means we're coming at it from another angle. And, like I said, if you get in the way…'

I smiled at him. 'So you do have another lead?'

He shrugged. You mull it over. I can't tell you anything else, but I can assure you that this DIY detective shite is going to come back and bite you on the arse.'

His eyes lingered on me as I tried to figure out exactly what it was he was hiding. Then he turned and left the room.