‘Probably just as well,’ said a voice from the far corner of the room. DCI Milton was speaking for the first time. ‘SOCA are getting ready to make a move against Stanley’s criminal empire. It’s going to be a devastating blow. You wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him when that goes down.’
Barker, Willis and Milton watched Collins and her Fed rep walk out, shutting the door of the interview room behind them.
‘So, what do you think?’ asked Willis.
Barker sat back down and placed the tips of his index fingers at the base of his nose. ‘She’s hiding something. I’d put money on it. Covered it up well at the beginning, but it showed through when she lost her temper. Tell you what, Karen, you’ve got that annoying sceptical tone down to a tee.’
Willis giggled like a schoolgirl. ‘There’s nothing like a good wind-up for loosening the tongue. I’m not convinced she’s passing information, though. She’s way too savvy for anything like that. I’m inclined to believe her.’
‘But pictures don’t lie.’
‘No, but we had that DI on her unit’ – she checked her papers – ‘Drabble, who was keeping an eye on her and she didn’t come up with anything. I’ve reviewed her last few cases and as far as I’m concerned she’s clean. Not totally flawless but clean enough.’
DCI Milton moved to the centre of the room and perched on the edge of the table. He wore glasses and had a neatly trimmed full-face beard that was just beginning to go grey at the outermost edges. Barker looked up at him. ‘Being a bit free and easy with the old intel there, aren’t you? I wasn’t aware that SOCA had a raid planned; I didn’t think you’d got that far.’
Milton smiled. ‘We haven’t. There’s nothing planned,’ he said. ‘But I want to see if any news of it gets back to Stanley. If it does, it can only have come from one place. And we’ll know for sure if Collins is dirty or not.’
2
Stacey Collins emerged from the basement exit of New Scotland Yard and headed towards her BMW in the far corner of the underground car park. She switched on her mobile and checked the time, then hit a couple of buttons and held it up to her ear.
‘Hi, Mum.’
‘Stacey! I thought you were going to be tied up all morning.’
‘So did I! The meeting finished early, so I’ll head over and pick up Sophie now. See you in ten minutes.’
‘Oh.’
‘What do you mean “oh”. What’s going on?’
‘It’s nothing, dear. It’s just that …’
‘What, Mum? What’s happened?’
‘Promise you won’t swear.’
‘What is it? What’s happened?’
‘Jack’s here.’
‘Oh for fuck’s sake. Mum!’
Her mother’s voice dropped to a whisper. ‘He’s her father, Stacey. He has a right to see her. And she has a right to see him.’
‘Not like this. Not behind my back. You have to let me deal with this my way, I told you that. Jesus Christ. Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get me into?’
‘What was the point of telling her, of telling all of us, and introducing them if you’re not going to let him be part of her life?’ Her mother was moving through the house with the phone now, trying to find a quiet corner to continue the conversation. ‘You can’t give with one hand and take away with the other. It’s just not fair. It’s not right.’
‘You don’t understand.’
‘You’re right I don’t understand. Nor does your father. We don’t understand why you kept this from us for all these years. Why did you keep it from her? What on earth were you thinking?’
‘I wish I’d never told you anything. Any of you.’
‘Well, that just says it all. You have no idea how much you’ve hurt your father, do you? You don’t even care.’
Stacey bit her lip. The words cut her to the quick. She could hear her father in the background, grunting from the effort of manoeuvring his wheelchair around the furniture. She and her mother had offered to rearrange things to give him more room, but John Collins was as stubborn as a mule and had refused every time. Being in the wheelchair was one thing; living in a house that screamed disabled access rather than normality was more than his pride could take. ‘You know that’s not true,’ Stacey continued. ‘Look, I’m on my way. Don’t let him leave until I get there.’
*
Jack Stanley was in the living room sharing a joke with Sophie and Stacey’s father when she let herself into the house. She kissed her dad softly on the cheek but did not return Jack’s cheerful smile when he looked over at her. All she could manage was a terse: ‘We need to talk.’
Their physical relationship had been brief, a matter of a couple of weeks of playing around, followed by a single drunken night that Collins had long ago dismissed as a moment of weakness. She had discovered she was pregnant soon after Stanley’s arrest for the gangland murder and, feeling certain that no father at all was better than one in prison, had kept it from him.
Sophie had been born while Jack was still on remand. After his release he had asked her only once about the child. Stacey had lied about Sophie’s age to throw him off the scent, and Stanley had been kept in the dark ever since. She had finally revealed the truth a few weeks earlier.
Her parents’ bedroom was far from ideal as a venue for a difficult conversation, but with the door firmly closed it was the most private place in the flat.
‘You shouldn’t be here, Jack.’
‘Don’t worry, Princess. I wasn’t followed. Give me more credit than that.’
Stacey’s eyes widened.
‘I know I’ve been under surveillance,’ Jack continued. ‘But they’re easy to get rid of.’ He noticed the look on Stacey’s face and smirked. ‘What, you think you’re my only police source?’
‘I’m not your source at all,’ she protested. ‘This has got to stop. You can’t see Sophie any more. Not like this anyway.’
‘What are you talking about? No one is going to find out.’
‘They’ve already found out. They have pictures of the three of us together. That day we came round and I told you about her. I’ve had internal affairs on my back all afternoon. They could be outside right now. If they find out you’re here, I could get sacked.’
Stanley’s eyes fell to the floor in thought. ‘But if they already know …’
‘They don’t know you’re Sophie’s father and I don’t want them to know. It’s one thing having you as an unregistered informant; there’s no conflict of interest there. I can still be trusted. I can still do my job. I don’t think anyone is going to feel the same if they find out you’re the father of my child.’
‘You owe me,’ snapped Stanley, his voice getting louder. ‘I saved your arse with that kidnapped kid case. Let’s face it, you’ve built your whole fucking career on the back of my graft.’
‘And you’ve built yours by breaking the law. You’d be banged up if it wasn’t for me.’
They stared at each other for a few moments, breathing hard, neither one willing to back down. Finally Stanley waved a hand in the air dismissively. ‘Oh, this is ridiculous. This is my daughter we’re talking about. You keep her a secret from me for thirteen years. Then, when you finally tell me and invite me to be part of her life, you get cold feet about it. You can’t turn the clock back. What’s done is done. You’re just going to have to find a way to deal with it.’
Stanley glanced at his watch. ‘Enough of this bollocks. I’ve got to go. I’ve got somewhere I need to be. But this isn’t over. Finding out that I have a daughter is the best thing that ever happened to me and I intend to make the most of it. Now I’m willing to be careful, I’m willing to take precautions, but that’s as far as it goes. You try to come between me and Sophie, and I’ll give you more trouble than you can handle.’