you want to take jobs off my hands, that’s fine and dandy with me,’ Dawson said. ‘But if anyone asks, we never had this conversation.’
Donnelly spread his arms to show his good intentions. ‘Boys, please,’ he pleaded. ‘I promise. Nothing dodgy. Trying to solve a murder here, that’s all.’
The two detectives were already crossing the road. Samra called back to Donnelly: ‘Drag me into anything naughty and you’ll be solving your own fucking murder.’
You just do as you’re told, Raj my boy, Donnelly thought to himself. Just do as you’re told.
It was mid-morning by the time Sean walked from his office into the briefing room where his team were assembled. He wasn’t in the mood to let the room settle naturally. Time to push along. ‘All right, all right. Listen up. I haven’t got all day. The quicker you listen, the quicker we can get on with it.’ The room settled into silence. ‘So far we have three possible suspects: Steven Paramore, Jonnie Dempsey the missing barman and James Hellier. The reasons why Paramore and Dempsey are suspects are obvious, so they need to be found and spoken to. Hellier’s more complicated,’ Sean told them. ‘My best guess is still that our victim was attempting to blackmail him. No other motives have come to light and we’ve pretty much spoken to all his friends and family. Any last lingering possibility that this could be a domestic hangs on whether the victim was having a relationship with Jonnie Dempsey, and so far no one’s been able to confirm whether he was or wasn’t. Dempsey is only a suspect in so far as he worked at Utopia, knew the victim and now he’s missing and can’t be found, so all other suggestions are welcome.’
‘Maybe we should consider a stranger attack,’ Donnelly spoke up. ‘A random killer.’
‘No forced entry, remember?’ Sean reminded him.
‘Maybe the killer posed as a client?’ Donnelly suggested. ‘Talked his way into the flat.’
Sean was beginning to suspect Donnelly knew his blackmail theory was little more than a smokescreen. A screen that allowed Sean time to think. Time to walk in the killer’s shoes – to feel him. To understand him. ‘From what we’re being told of our victim, he was too careful for that.’ Sean tried to steer Donnelly away from the possibility for a while longer, until he had things straight in his own mind.
‘But it has to be a possibility?’ Donnelly insisted.
He had to give Donnelly something. ‘Possibly,’ Sean answered. There was a ripple of noise around the room.
‘If it’s a possibility, then what are we doing about it?’ Sally asked.
‘We’ve released a national memorandum, police eyes only, checking for recent similar cases,’ Sean reminded them.
‘Maybe we should go further back?’ Sally suggested.
‘As it happens, I’ve already asked General Registry to send me a number of old files.’ He sensed Donnelly’s discontent. ‘I’ve asked them for anything involving vulnerable victims where an excessive use of violence was involved, going back over the last five years. But don’t get too excited, we’re doing these checks as a matter of protocol, not because I think we have a madman on our hands.’
‘That’ll be a lot of files,’ said Donnelly. ‘You’ll need some help going over them.’
‘No,’ Sean snapped. ‘I’ll read them myself.’
‘What about Method Index?’ Sally asked. ‘They may have data the General Registry doesn’t. Something older or something that never made it to court.’
‘Good,’ Sean said. ‘Look into it, Sally. Take some help if you think you’ll need it.’
‘And Hellier?’ Donnelly asked. ‘What about Hellier?’
‘Surveillance started on him this morning,’ Sean told them. ‘Link up with them as soon as you can and keep them on the right track.’ Donnelly nodded without speaking. He didn’t seem too happy. Sean raised his voice slightly. ‘Don’t lose focus, people. Hellier is still our prime suspect and blackmail our prime motive. We’ll look into other possibilities because we have to, but I don’t want anyone going off on a wild-goose chase when we have an obvious suspect right in front of us. As for Paramore and Dempsey, let’s get hold of Customs and Immigration – see if either have left or tried to leave the country. Paulo.’ DC Zukov raised his head. ‘You take care of it, okay?’ Zukov nodded once. ‘We’ve all got work to do, so let’s get on with it.’ The meeting broke up.
Sean reached his office just as Donnelly caught up with him. He knew Donnelly would want an explanation.
‘Are you going to tell me what’s really going through your mind?’ Donnelly asked.
‘Let’s not make a drama out of it, Dave.’
‘How long have you known this wasn’t about Hellier being blackmailed?’
Sean closed the door to his office. ‘I don’t.’
‘Come on, guv’nor. Protocol, my arse. If you’ve requested old files from General Registry then you’re looking for something else.’
Sean sighed. He could see no sense in keeping anything from Donnelly any more. ‘All right. Hellier wasn’t being blackmailed, but I still think he could be our man. The second time I met him I really began to believe it could be him.’
‘Can I ask why?’
‘Graydon wouldn’t have tried to blackmail him. From what we’ve learned about him, he was too passive to attempt blackmail. Especially someone like Hellier. He’s too intimidating. Too threatening.’
‘Then why have you got the team chasing the blackmail theory, not to mention Paramore and Dempsey?’
‘I need to make things appear straightforward, just for a while longer. It’ll buy me time to think the way I need to think. Once I show my hand, things will get a lot more complicated around here. I can’t see clearly when I’m crowded, and besides, Paramore and Dempsey must be found and spoken to. I could turn out to be wrong about Hellier.’
‘So you don’t think Hellier was being blackmailed, but you do think he could have killed Graydon.’
‘I do.’
‘Care to share?’
‘Because I don’t believe in coincidences. Hellier’s bad to the core. It’s simply in his nature. You know the type of animal I’m talking about. We’ve both dealt with them before. And now someone Hellier was connected to is dead.
‘If I’m right about him, then his motive for killing is the killing itself. He’s a very rare breed; the chances that Graydon crossed two such people are extremely remote, although not impossible.’
Donnelly slumped in a chair, exasperated. ‘Bloody hell, guv, this is all a bit loose. You wouldn’t want to take it to court.’
‘Agreed, but there’s another way to go after Hellier. He has no anxiety about this case. When I speak to him about it I can’t feel anything. No panic, concerns, doubt, nothing. He’s absolutely sure he’s got away with it.’
‘If
