‘You think it was Sickert who dropped them at the nursery school?’
‘I guess, I dunno. It was a pretty poor description, but it could have been him.’
Anna sighed. ‘Well, they’re in good hands now, and the counsellors will help. They’ll stay with them at the unit.’
‘Good hands? Their mother’s dead, and their little sister — and Christ only knows what’s been done to them. Those units are pretty sterile. You know what, Anna? I wanted to pick them both up and take them home. Tore my heart out, the little girl especially. She clung onto her brother…’ He turned to Anna. ‘I bent down to talk to her, you know, trying to get on her level, and she shrank away from me with such a look of terror on her face, and the boy, Christ, as young as he is, he put his fists up as if he wanted to protect her.’
‘Well, don’t think about it,’ she said gently.
He shook his head. ‘One day, you might have kids, and let me tell you, your whole perspective changes. They become the most important part of you. If anything happened to mine, I’d bloody kill for them.’
‘Have they contacted their grandmother — Beryl Dunn?’
Harry shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t leave a stray cat with that woman, but yes, I guess they will speak to her. In the meantime, they’re just gonna try and see if they can get the kids to talk; neither one’s said a word. They’re like mutes.’
Mike Lewis joined them, looking depressed. Like everyone else in the incident room, he’d been told about the children. With one toddler and a new baby, he had also been upset.
Langton decided they should call it quits for the night. Tomorrow, they would have more details from the forensic department and, by then, he would also have a safe house and round-the-clock protection arranged for the doctor and his wife.
Negotiations with the prison service were proving tough. Langton wanted both brothers removed from their prisons. They would require a secure room at a hospital, with officers guarding both of them. Eamon Krasiniqe would be lifted by emergency helicopter from Parkhurst. This would also require medical staff on board, and staff waiting to take him into the allocated hospital wing. The planned removal of Idris Krasiniqe from Wakefield also entailed numerous officers and vehicles. The prison authorities had kicked up about removing Idris, but Langton had talked himself hoarse in explaining the importance of his presence at the hospital. After much discussion, it had been decided the safest place would be the Contagious Disease Unit at Farmworth. The cost was breaking the back of his already depleted budget, and the hours of calls and discussions had taken its toll. He looked exhausted; they all did.
Langton gave a look around the incident room and clapped his hands. ‘Tomorrow is going to be a big day, so get a good night’s sleep and let’s hope to Christ it’ll all be worth it.’
Anna was packing up her desk when Langton passed; he gave her a small half-smile. ‘You think this is all going to play out?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Terrific,’ he muttered. ‘You don’t know, I don’t fucking know, but I’m pulling out all the stops. Those two voodoo experts could be quacks, but they’re all we’ve got. You instigated the Krasiniqe situation.’
‘Well, I just reported what Idris said to me. He could be bullshitting,’ she said defensively.
‘Now you tell me!’
‘I am not telling you anything! I just reported back to you what he said to me, but if you want me to take the responsibility for the set-up tomorrow, then fine.’
He snapped back at her, ‘That’s my job. No way would I want you or anyone else to take responsibility for my decisions; it’s just taken me bloody hours to arrange.’ He gave a hands-up gesture. ‘Maybe I just needed some assurance, I obviously came to the wrong person.’
‘Please don’t. You know that I — in fact, everyone on the team — we’re behind you one hundred per cent. You don’t need any of our assurance, because whatever you are doing is for one reason, to get this case closed.’
He cocked his head to one side and leaned close. ‘No. It’s to get Camorra. That’s who I want.’ He walked away before she could answer.
She watched as he invited everyone to the pub for a drink. His mood changed so fast; he laughed and bellowed as he shrugged into his overcoat. ‘I dunno about anyone else but I need a drink; I’m in the chair.’ She watched Grace hurry to his side, saw him rest his arm around her shoulders. Lewis, Brandon and Harry all trooped around him as they left the incident room.
Anna continued clearing her desk. She felt paranoid, certain that Langton had deliberately not included her. She was sometimes at a loss how to even talk to him. At least she no longer felt like having a good cry over his behaviour; she was, if anything, becoming more adroit in dealing with him. Picking up her coat, she looked around the depleted incident room and hesitated: should she go to the pub? Langton had told her in no uncertain terms about being a team player; and here she was, dithering about whether or not she should join the team for a drink. Getting into her Mini, Anna drove to the local pub that they had commandeered as their drinking hole.
The Anchor was a large, modern, rather tacky place, with a lot of bingo machines and piped music, but the landlord was a very open and friendly man who joked that having the cops in every night had lost him some of his customers, but not the ones he missed!
Anna felt very self-conscious as she joined everyone at the bar.
Langton turned, a surprised expression on his face. ‘Ah, Travis! Well, come and sit down. This is a first. What’ll you have?’
‘White wine, please.’
Langton ordered, as Brandon drew up one of the high stools. She perched next to him as a rather sweet and tepid white wine was placed in front of her. She lifted the glass to Langton to thank him, but he was listening to one of Harry’s shaggy dog stories. It felt as if he was pointedly ignoring her; she drew a bowl of peanuts closer.
‘I was thinking of grabbing some fish and chips,’ Brandon said, as he dug into the bowl. ‘You fancy coming along?’
‘No, I’ll just have this one and then hit the road.’
‘There’s an Italian joint, if you’d prefer it,’ Brandon continued. ‘They do a reasonable spaghetti meatballs.’
Anna smiled. ‘Thanks, but I’m not that hungry.’
Harry finished his shaggy dog story; Langton laughed and launched into one himself, at the same time gesturing to the landlord for another round. Anna noticed he was drinking beer with whisky chasers; empty packets of crisps were crumpled in front of him.
She had to apologize to Brandon, as she realized that he’d been talking to her and she hadn’t heard. ‘Sorry, what was that?’
‘I said, there’s also a Chinese takeaway.’
‘Frank, I’m not hungry, really.’
‘I suppose a fuck’s out of the question?’
‘What?!’
‘Joke! Just a joke. By the look of the Gov he’ll be here all night. He is here most nights, but then he’s only a few yards down the road; the rest of us have to schlep back to London.’
Anna sipped the tepid wine, another glass already placed down beside it.
‘What about going out one evening in Town? I know some really good restaurants.’
‘Yes, maybe — that would be nice.’
‘When?’
‘What?’
‘I said, when do you want to come out?’
She suddenly realized Brandon was asking for a dinner date, and she flushed. ‘Well, it depends on when I’m free. Right now, it doesn’t look as if any of us will get time off.’
He put his arm around her waist, leaning in too close for comfort.
‘Let’s take a rain check,’ she said, uneasy at his hand pressing into her back.