The Wood Beyond

ix

'Before you switch that thing on, I thought we had a deal,' said Jimmy Howard.

'That was before we found this,' said Wield holding up the plastic bag containing the envelope from Howard's car. 'Press the switch, Shirley.'

Detective Constable Shirley Novello started the recorder and Wield recited the litany of date, time and those present.

'Do you recognize this envelope, Jimmy?' asked Wield.

'Well, I can see it's an envelope, but one envelope looks much like another, doesn't it?'

'Take a closer look,' said Wield.

'No, doesn't ring any bells.'

'We found it in your car, Jimmy.'

'Nothing to do with me. Where'd you find it?'

'Under the rubber matting by the driver's seat.'

'There you are then. Could have been there ever since I got the heap.'

'Don't give it a good clean every Sunday then?'

'Not really.'

'So, if it's nothing to do with you, there's no chance it'll have your prints on it?'

'Well, it might do now, seeing as I've just had a good look at it.'

'Don't get clever, Jimmy. For the tape, the envelope is in a tamper-proof evidence bag, sealed, with the time and date certified. There's something in the envelope, Jimmy. Some tablets. We've taken one out and sent it to the lab for analysis. Any idea what we'll find?'

'Aspirin?' said Howard. 'Look, I don't know what's in that envelope and I don't know how it got in my car, if that was where you found it. And I can't see how my fingerprints can be on it, unless they were on it before whoever planted it in my car planted it there. I mean, it looks like an ordinary white envelope like we've got lying around the office. I could handle any number of those each day.'

'And who do you think might have planted it?' asked Wield.

'Any number of people. When you've been a cop you make enemies, you must know that. Might even be you, Sergeant Wield.'

DC Novello looked at Wield anxiously. This was the first time she'd sat in on one of his interviews, in fact it was her first formal interview since her transfer to plain clothes. Everyone had told her she was mad to put her future in Fat Andy's gift. She'd appeared on her first day, face scrubbed, hair bound tightly back, wearing jeans and a baggy sweater. Dalziel had looked her up and down and said, 'You got no skirts or lipstick? Place is full of scruffy buggers already.' The others had laughed and settled down to treating her with varying degrees of caution and condescension till they saw what she was made of. Only Wield, so far as she could judge, simply accepted her as one of the team, no tags attached. This, plus his reputation as an implacable interviewer of suspects, gave her two good reasons for feeling anxious about the way things were going.

'Why do you say that, Jimmy?' asked Wield.

'Well you came to see me the other day, didn't you? Trying to pressure me to say bad things about my employers. When I wouldn't, you warned me to watch out, ex-cop with a drink-driving charge against his name should know better than to turn his back on his old mates. I told you to get stuffed and leave me alone.'

It was good, Wield had to admit. He'd underestimated Howard, forgetting that the guy had been a cop for a long time, and the kind of cop who knew how everything worked. The second he saw the envelope he knew that all deals were off. And, knowing that taped interviews could work both ways as evidence, he was busy getting his retaliation in first.

What he didn't know was that Wield had witnessed the envelope being handed over by Jane Ambler. The Drug Squad were organizing simultaneous searches of her flat and Howard's house. This involved their total manpower, leaving Wield to have first bite at the ex-policeman.

Now he surprised both Howard and DC Novello by saying, 'I think that's enough for now. Interview terminated at 18.43.'

Reaching across the table he flicked off the tape switch, stood up, yawned and said, 'Long day, Jimmy. For you too. I'll see you back to your cell.'

As they walked along the corridor he said, 'Jimmy, you should have had your solicitor there. Could have saved you a lot of grief. Stopped you digging yourself in deeper.'

'What's that mean? Getting worried, Wieldy? You should be. There's going to be so much shit flying around, some of it's bound to stick.'

'About me pressurizing you, you mean? No way. Not when Jane Ambler coughs the lot.'

He paused to see the effect of the name on Howard. The man looked like he'd unexpectedly bitten into a chilli.

'All you've done, lad, is put a load of crap on tape. I mean, it'll be no good now saying you didn't know what were in the envelope she gave you, not when you've lied your socks off claiming you never saw it. Nay, Jimmy, a good brief would have advised you to say nowt till you knew what it was you were up against. Didn't your time in the Force teach you anything?'

They had reached the cell. He opened the door and pushed Howard ahead of him. The man turned and put his hand against the door to prevent it being closed.

He said urgently, 'Look, sarge, is there nowt we can do?'

'Not my case now, Jimmy. That were just for the record. Drug Squad takes over now.'

'Shit. Look, suppose I'd been going to tell you about Janey Ambler, as part of our deal, only I didn't have time to get round to it?'

Wield laughed like a coffee grinder.

'You're own mam 'ud find that one hard to credit, Jimmy.'

'Yeah, but look, sarge, anything you could say about me cooperating, sort of working under cover for you, would help. I mean, at least it would sow a doubt about the drugs, wouldn't it? You wouldn't have to say you believe me or not, just stay neutral, long as you could say I was cooperating fully on the other business.'

'What other business is that, Jimmy?'

Howard hesitated. Whatever he knows, thought Wield, he knows that once it's out, the bargaining's over.

He said, 'Jimmy, I'd like to help you, but you see my problem. I've got to chat up them hard bastards in the Drug Squad to get them to go easy. And to do that I'd need to be waving something at them a lot bigger than a little drugs bust. But I don't know what it is I'd be waving, do I? In other words, I can't do a deal till I know what we're dealing with.'

'Yeah, and the minute I tell you, where's the need for you to do any deal anyway?' snarled Howard.

It was an old circle and Wield had had long practice in breaking out of it. But before he could urge his arguments, he heard footsteps down the corridor and the custody sergeant's voice saying, 'Here he is, Mr Beasley. And this is Detective Sergeant Wield who's just been interviewing him.'

Into the cell came a fresh-faced young man in an elegantly cut grey suit.

He said, 'I hope the interview isn't continuing outside of the properly designated room, sergeant? You know how the courts frown on such breaches of PACE.'

'Who are you?' said Wield.

'Mr Beasley's Mr Howard's solicitor,' said Charley Slocum.

'That right, Jimmy?' said Wield looking at the prisoner whose face gave little sign of recognition.

'I'm employed by TecSec actually,' said Beasley. 'Mrs Howard rang the office as soon as she heard about Mr Howard's spot of bother and Captain Sanderson, having a good old military sense of responsibility for his chaps, instructed me to come along and offer my services. On the firm, of course, Mr Howard.'

Wield said, 'That's big on him. Jimmy, it's up to you.'

Howard hesitated then said, 'You did say I ought to have spoke with a solicitor, sarge. Never too late, eh?'

Wield shrugged and stepped out into the corridor.

Over his shoulder he said, 'I'll see you in court, Jimmy. For some folk it's always too late. From the very day they're born.'