‘You a copper or something?’
‘More like “or something”,’ I said.
It went completely over his head, but when I looked back at the ticket inspector the corners of his mouth were raised in a smile. I took a business card out of my pocket. ‘My name’s David Raker,’ I said to him. ‘If you think of anything, maybe you’d be kind enough to give me a shout. Any time of the day or night.’
He took the card. ‘Okay.’
‘I didn’t catch your name,’ I lied.
‘Edwin Smart. Ed.’
‘Thanks for your help, Ed.’
As I left the station and headed back to the car, my mind returned to the CCTV footage of the day Sam went missing. I’d been over it countless times, trying to find the join. But even though every viewing I’d had of it had been more meticulous than the last, they’d all ended up the same way: no Sam.
And yet as I walked, I felt a tiny shift in my thoughts, like I’d suddenly glimpsed the outline of a memory. Although I tried to pin down what it was, the harder I looked for it, the more of a blur it became. But as indistinct as the thought had been, something of it remained. A residual feeling. A certainty.
That the answers were still in the footage.
And they always had been.
66
When Healy finally got back to the station, he walked into the incident room to find a meeting taking place. At the front, Craw was addressing the Snatcher task force, Davidson sitting almost at her side, pad on his lap, pen in his hand. Both of them clocked the movement, Craw glancing across to Healy and then returning her gaze to the detectives in front of her; Davidson looking over, a half-smile forming on his face.
Healy moved to the back of the group and perched himself on one of the desks but he could barely hear anything Craw was saying. All he could hear was his own voice: had Sallows already sent the pictures? Did Craw already know about the hospital, about how he’d got together with Raker? And what lie could he spin to help minimize the impact?
There are no more lies worth telling if she knows.
The thought sent a bubble of bile up from the pit of his stomach, but he managed to pull himself forward, further towards the group. Davidson was swinging gently from side to side on his chair as he made notes. At the back of the group, one of the other cops looked around, saw Healy and nodded, but Healy was so distracted he didn’t even remember the guy’s name. All he could see were the decisions he’d made over the past few days, and – with absolute clarity now – how he’d become consumed by revenge. He’d wanted to show them. He’d wanted to shove their taunts and their jokes and the looks he got in the office so far down their throats they’d be choking on them. They’d used Leanne against him, they’d tried to grind him down and spit him out, and he’d become so focused on that, he hadn’t been able to see where the road was leading. Raker was the only person he could trust – even after the hospital, even after the way things had been left, that still held true in Healy’s head – but Healy knew he should never have sought Raker’s help. Not now. Not this soon.
‘Healy?’
He looked up. Craw was addressing him. ‘Yes, ma’am?’
‘Did you get all that?’
‘Most of it, ma’am.’
There were a couple of sniggers, though he couldn’t see where from, and as Craw stepped forward, in front of Davidson, Healy watched a smile form on Davidson’s face.
You’re done, he mouthed.
‘Good,’ Craw said. ‘Because you’re riding with me.’
Craw told him to head towards Highgate. She didn’t say much else. Healy drove, eyes on the road, hands on the wheel, and stared ahead, going over everything that had happened and everything that might be about to come. After about ten minutes they hit traffic in Holloway. For a while there was silence, just the sound of rain falling against the roof. Then, finally, Craw turned to him. ‘Where were you this morning?’
‘I’m sorry I was late –’
‘I’m not looking for apologies, Healy. Where were you?’
‘I called you and left a message on your –’
‘I got the message. You said you were going via Julia Wren’s.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Why?’
‘I wanted to ask her a couple of questions.’
She pursed her lips, her eyes still fixed on him. She’d seen right through it. ‘Do you know where we’re going, Healy?’
‘Ma’am?’
‘Do you know where we’re going?’
‘Now?’
She nodded. ‘Now.’
‘You said it was an address in Highgate.’
‘I know what I said. But do you know where we’re going?’
He frowned. ‘I’m not sure I understand, ma’am.’
‘Let me paint you a picture, okay?’ She paused, looking at him. ‘I invited you back on to this task force because I thought I saw something in you. A hunger. Some sort of contrition. I saw the hint of something worthwhile, so I wrote off all the politics and bullshit, I put up with having my arse handed to me by Bartholomew in weekly meetings, and having him make me look like an idiot in the press, because I thought to myself, “If Healy does one good thing, if he gives me one worthwhile lead, the risk will have paid off.” Because, let’s face it, this case, beginning to end, has been one giant clusterfuck.’
He continued staring ahead, barely able to look at her.
‘But, you know, I look at you, Healy, and all I see are secrets. And if I don’t know what those secrets are, if I don’t know what makes you tick and you won’t tell me what makes you tick, how am I supposed to work with you? How am I supposed to defend you in front of Bartholomew? In front of everyone else? Everyone is against you, Healy – you know that, right? And your only friend, throughout all of this, has been me.’
He looked at her. ‘I appreciate that, ma’am.’
‘Do you?’
‘I do.’
‘Then tell me where we’re going today.’
He studied her. They were headed to Highgate. That had been where Raker had said Duncan Pell lived. Except he couldn’t tell her about Raker, couldn’t tell her about knowing Pell, until he figured out how much she knew and whether she had the photos.
‘I don’t know, ma’am,’ he said finally.
‘Are you sure?’
He looked at her. ‘One hundred per cent.’
She nodded and then turned away from him, looking out into the rain as it drifted across the windscreen. ‘Early yesterday morning a man reported seeing something suspicious up in Highgate, close to Fell Wood. It’s an old railway line.’
‘Suspicious?’
‘Said he thought someone was trying to break into a house there.’
‘Whose house?’
‘It belongs to a Duncan Pell.’ She glanced at him but he didn’t react. ‘Ever heard of him?’
‘No, ma’am.’
She eyed him for a second and there was a fleeting hint of disappointment in her face. Then she moved on. ‘Couple of uniforms go and have a look and they find the front door open. No one’s inside, but they call it in. Anyway, the investigating team enter Pell into the system and find he’s already in there, along with our friend Samuel Wren. Both of them seem to have been involved in the same altercation at Gloucester Road Tube station in October 2010. So there’s a link, however small. Both were originally arrested, but neither of them were charged. There was no indication they knew each other, but something’s up with Pell.’
They found the knives. They found Spane’s jacket.
‘He’s got a set of knives in there with blood all over them. Bartholomew barks some orders and we get them rushed through forensics last night, and when you walked in on us I was reading out the results. The DNA from the blood on the knives matches up with DNA taken from the flats of every single Snatcher victim. Wilky. Erion. Symons. Drake. All four of them. Their DNA is all over the knives. And you know what else?’