‘ It’s very easy to get forged passports,’ Henry said patiently. ‘Your Honour, I know for a fact that the defendant Gilbert has connections with the underworld in the United States. He was recently arrested for indecent acts with a child whilst in Miami, but was released without charge. The person he was arrested with is an active member of the Florida underworld — a gangster in other words. The forgery of passports is common to such people. I believe we would never see either defendant again.’
‘ Is it true you have little evidence against them for the murder charge?’ the Judge asked.
Henry wondered how to flower it up. He decided to go straight for the jugular — and sod it. ‘It’s true our evidence, at this moment, relies substantially on a statement taken from a witness who is now dead. I do not believe it is a coincidence that this young girl was murdered as a result of giving the police a statement. I firmly believe Gilbert ordered her murder.’
It was the first time Henry had openly voiced such an opinion. He watched Stanway’s non-verbals and thought he saw the whole of his body wobble.
‘ This is an outlandish suggestion,’ Stanway retorted. His face was red. ‘My client has absolutely no connection whatsoever with this incident and to suggest it is so is preposterous and, were we not in a court of law, scandalous.’
‘ Quiet!’ Mrs Ellison snapped.
Stanway drew in his neck, like a tortoise into a shell.
‘ We believe,’ Henry went on, ‘that if released, Gilbert will continue, in whatever way he can, to pervert the course of justice. He’s a powerful man who rides roughshod over people to get what he wants. I am also sure he is involved in a paedophile network which may be international in its scope. Several items the police have seized point to this as being much more than supposition. There is no doubt he is heavily involved in child sex-abuse and his release will only allow him to continue his activities.
‘ Finally, there is the murder of another young girl. Her body was discovered recently in a shallow grave near Darwen. We suspect Gilbert to be involved in this.’
‘ Evidence?’ Mrs Ellison asked.
Henry coughed. He glanced at Stanway, then back at the Judge. ‘Could I speak to you privately, Your Honour?’
‘ This had better be good, Mr Christie. The fortunate thing for me is that I have the power to administer appeals as I see fit. Mr Stanway is not impressed at being ejected from the chamber.’
‘ I understand — but it is good.’ Henry went on to detail the story of the disappearing witness in America and the fact that if this witness could be found, Gilbert would definitely be facing another murder charge. Henry concluded the story by saying, ‘I have just received a phone call to say the witness has turned up again and is willing to give evidence.’
‘ So what are you saying?’
‘ I’m saying that if Gilbert gets bail, we have a good chance of never seeing him again. If he stays in custody — on remand — and we bring this witness back from America, we can arrest him and deal with him without any problems. From what I can gather, this witness is very jittery indeed. We need to act with due speed.’
Mrs Ellison nodded thoughtfully. ‘I’ll give you until Thursday to get this witness back into Britain and accordingly I shall remand both defendants until that day… then it’s back to the Magistrates’ Court. If you haven’t got a witness by then, you will have to appeal to the lower court again… and there is a very good case for releasing Gilbert on bail.’
‘ That doesn’t give us much time,’ Danny observed bleakly. ‘Two days. How are we going to manage it?’
‘ It’s better than nothing.’
They were on the M6, Henry driving south towards Preston. The CID Mondeo was touching a hundred and beginning to reek of burning oil.
‘ You’re such a pessimist, aren’t you?’ he said.
‘ Just answer me this — how the hell are we going to manage it? A reluctant witness, one who’ll only speak to me… come on, how?’ Danny’s hands made a gripping gesture.
‘ That’s what we’re going to sort out now when we see FB at Headquarters. I’m going to put to him that we send you on a plane to Miami today and you can bring her back and at the same time take a statement off her in mid-Atlantic. We’ll get her into protective custody as soon as she lands and then slap Gilbert with a-’
‘ Hang on, hang on!’ The implications of what Henry had just said struck her. ‘So you want me to go to America? Drop everything — just like that! Henry… hold your horses!’
He swerved into the fast lane to avoid a lorry which pulled out unexpectedly.
‘ Henry, all I plan to do this week is crash out. I am absolutely knackered and the last thing I want to do is fly to Miami and back in a day. It’s an eight-hour flight each way!’
‘ Would you rather see Gilbert walk?’
‘ You know I wouldn’t. That’s not the point.’
‘ I’ll arrange first-class seats. You can stretch out and sleep all the way over. You might even get to do some sightseeing. It won’t be that bad.’
She shook her head, unimpressed. ‘I’m not going. Why don’t you just get her dumped on a plane at that end and we’ll meet her over here. That would make more sense and it would be cheaper.’
Henry fell silent. ‘You’ve got a point, I suppose,’ he said eventually. ‘We can’t make you go.’
‘ But I want to go.’
‘ What?’
‘ I really, really want to go and bring her back and charge Gilbert with another murder… part of me, a big part of me wants to do that. But I’m just exhausted. I’m probably on the edge of a nervous breakdown too and I don’t want to have it three thousand miles from home.’
‘ Tell you what,’ Henry began persuasively, ‘you go, bring her back, then leave her with me. Then take a few weeks’ leave from Friday. Go away — out of the country for a while. Crash out in Spain or the Bahamas.’
‘ But you’re short-staffed. Other people are on leave.’
‘ We’ll manage. Just do this last thing for me. I know you’re completely shell-shocked and I know you’ll be even more knackered with two long flights under your belt in quick succession, but do it and then take as much time off as you need. I’ll square it with FB. I would really appreciate it.’
‘ Shit! You could talk the knickers off a nun. I’ll do it.’
‘ Brilliant! Now all I have to do is convince FB to send you. As you said, it won’t be cheap.’
‘ You mean this conversation could have been for nothing? You don’t even know if he’ll pay for me to go?’
‘ Well, I certainly don’t have the authority to spend probably well over five grand in air fares, do I?’
‘ Henry, you are a real bastard.’ She punched him on the arm. Hard.
He came off the M6 at junction 29, and cut across south of Preston to Police Headquarters at Hutton.
He did not notice the grey Jaguar which shot past him, motoring south, driven by Maurice Stanway who was carefully rehearsing the words he would be saying to his clients down at Risley Remand Centre, near Warrington. He knew Charlie Gilbert would not be a happy man.
‘ That is one hell of a lot of money.’ FB read the figures again and again and did some calculations in his brain, subtracting the amount from some budget or other. ‘Anything cheaper?’
‘ Yeah.’ Henry’s lips were pursed like a cat’s bottom, his annoyance beginning to show with FB’s penny-pinching ways. ‘There’s no doubt a three-hundred-quid return on a charter flight, cramped up like a sardine, no legroom, no space to sleep, shit food, swollen ankles.’
‘ And there’s something wrong with that?’
‘ With respect, sir — yes, there is. This is, after all, a business trip, not a holiday flight.’
‘ But the price! We could buy another helicopter for this.’
Henry shook his head impatiently. ‘It’s either that — Business Class — or she won’t go. Will you, Danny?’ He turned unexpectedly to her, bringing her into the conversation.
Up to that point Danny had simply been a spectator. She was thrown for a few seconds. ‘No,’ she said finally.