The Hawk Is Dead

43

Thursday 23 November 2023

As they left the cottage, Grace asked Potting to drive, so he could focus on making a series of urgent phone calls. As the DS started the car, he said, ‘Chief, whoever this was who rang Mrs Stratten, has police knowledge. Cognitive witness interview?’

‘My thoughts exactly, Norman.’

For a good two minutes Grace had a frustratingly poor signal, then finally he got his phone to connect. As soon as one of the Incident Room team answered, Grace asked to be put through to Luke Stanstead.

He instructed the researcher to speak to the two London detectives on the Op Asset team and see if they could establish from the profiles that they had on the individual Not-My-King protestors, a number of key facts. The first was the names of any Geordies or people from the Newcastle region. Second, to check with the DVLA — the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency — for any who had a motorcycle licence. And, third, to check if any were former — or even serving — police officers. He wanted as much information as he could gather about this protest group to rule them in or out of his investigation. This was an important line of enquiry.

Next, Grace checked his watch. It was 12.15 p.m. He knew from what Sir Tommy Magellan-Lacey had told him that his daily audience with The King was normally between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. He dialled Sir Tommy’s mobile number. After a few rings he heard his familiar, upbeat voice.

‘Roy, good morning — sorry — good afternoon! Are you calling with good news? You’ve arrested the killer?’

‘I wish I could tell you that, Sir Tommy.’

‘Well you certainly worked your charm on Their Majesties yesterday!’

‘I did?’

‘You impressed The Queen. She thought you were very different from the stereotypical detectives in crime fiction novels — and on the screen.’

Grace was fleetingly lost for words. ‘I’m very happy to hear that, sir.’

‘And The King, too, was very taken with you.’

‘Really? I wasn’t sure how that went.’

‘It went well. He called me in later yesterday and told me he has complete confidence in you. So, no pressure, eh?’ He gave one of his characteristic bursts of laughter.

‘No pressure,’ Grace echoed.

‘HMTK is a very astute man, Roy. If you have his approval, I can tell you that is very significant.’

‘So now I have to live up to it,’ Grace said.

‘What I learned in the military, which may give you something to think about: We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training. My opinion, in the short time I’ve known you, is that you have damned good training. I don’t think you are going to let us down.’

‘I appreciate your confidence, Sir Tommy. And I appreciate what you’ve told me about Their Majesties. Perhaps you could relay to them that being the SIO on this case is a great honour. And I will do whatever it takes to find the man who shot Sir Peregrine and any accomplices he may have had.’

‘Absolutely will do!’

‘Something I need your help on,’ Grace said, ‘is one of my lines of enquiry. Do you know how many officers there are on the Royal Protection team?’

‘Yes, about six hundred.’

‘All of them carry firearms. Quite a number come from Armed Response backgrounds in the police and many have military service?’

‘Yes, absolutely, Roy.’

‘There are two things I need to know, Sir Tommy. Firstly, the names of every Royal Protection Officer who has a motorcycle licence, and secondly if any of those have a northern accent — especially a Geordie one.’

‘Are you saying you think this might be an inside job, so to speak, Roy? This is very deeply alarming if that’s the case.’

‘I’m not ruling anything out at this stage,’ Grace replied.

‘But what could be the motive?’

‘You told me there are a lot of undercurrents within the Royal Household staff — is there something more serious we don’t know about yet?’

‘That’s possible — but there is also a great deal of respect and loyalty to both the bosses. I’ll find out what I can.’

Grace sat in silence a few minutes after he ended the call. Never in his entire career, up until now, had he felt so out of his depth. The enormity of what he was dealing with was sinking in and seemed immense. Perhaps it would have been easier if Sir Tommy had told him that Their Majesties had thought he was a lightweight and wanted someone from the Met, who really knew what they were doing, to take over the case.

He felt deeply honoured that he had the trust of both The King and The Queen. But what if he was wrong in his hypothesis and it actually was The Queen who had been the target?

He was scared as hell.