Blood Brothers (25 page)

‘Absolutely not true,’ Barnard said. ‘I didn’t know until I spoke to Bettany and his wife that he’d decided to bail out. But he’d obviously made his plans. Nothing I could say was going to change his mind. And as far as I know Fred and Shirley Bettany have left the country by now, but I’ve no idea where they’ve gone. If you know anything different you need to find him fast. He was seriously worried about his own safety.’

Jackson inclined his head slightly as if to take that on board, but Copeland ploughed on. ‘So what were you doing in Bethnal Green at his mother’s house? Your girlfriend admits you were there. She took photographs down there that morning for Carter Price. You’re his errand boy and you can do yourself a lot of good if you spell out exactly what Robertson is up to.’

‘I don’t know what Robertson is bloody up to,’ Barnard said angrily. ‘I’ve no idea. But if Fred Bettany’s reaction was anything to go by he’s got himself involved with Reg Smith’s mob which I told him was a seriously bad idea. If Carter Price found out anything more he’s unlikely to be able to tell us. And my bloody girlfriend has gone missing. I was just about to put out a call for her. She didn’t go home last night. So if you really want answers, she’s the one you need to find.’

‘Has she got copies of the photographs she took for Carter Price?’ Jackson asked.

‘No, I don’t think so. They all went to Price. I take it you haven’t found any of them?’

Neither Jackson nor Copeland responded to the question.

‘Are you seriously concerned for the safety of Miss O’Donnell?’ Jackson asked.

Barnard nodded, his mouth dry. ‘She thought someone deliberately tried to run her down as she was on the way home two nights ago. She was frightened enough to spend the night with friends and last night she didn’t go home at all. Nobody knows where she is. Whoever tried to kill Carter Price would have exactly the same motive for going after Kate. To shut her up.’

‘Right,’ Jackson said. ‘We’ll put out a call for her. You, in the meantime, are suspended. We’ll let you know when Mr Amis is ready to take these matters further. Your warrant card, please.’

Dry-mouthed Barnard handed over his warrant and glanced at Copeland, who was watching with a look of pure triumph in his eyes.

‘DS Copeland will see you off the premises,’ Jackson said.

The two sergeants walked in silence back to the CID room, where Barnard picked up his coat and hat, watched in silence by the handful of detectives who were at their desks. Copeland followed him downstairs to the main entrance.

‘I’ll be looking forward to seeing you in court,’ Copeland said as Barnard put a hand on the swing door. Without warning Barnard swung round and punched Copeland on the mouth. There was a shout of outrage from the desk sergeant as Copeland stumbled backwards clutching bleeding lips but Barnard was quickly out of the door and heading across the road towards Regent Street. When he glanced back no one seemed to have followed him and he rubbed his stinging knuckles in satisfaction. It had made sure that it was probably the last time he saw the nick as a free man, he thought, but it was worth it.

Kate O’Donnell had woken up in a strange and rather lumpy bed that morning with a sense of deep foreboding. It took her a few moments to work out where, exactly, she was, and then the memories returned of a long journey in the Rev Dave Hamilton’s somewhat dilapidated Ford, heading north, as far as she could judge, out of the city, through the suburbs and into the country where street lights became sparse and the roads narrower. They stopped eventually outside a house where lights cast what she hoped was a welcoming glow across a narrow garden between the front door and the road. Hamilton ushered her up the path to the door which was quickly opened by a grey-haired woman in an unfashionably long wool skirt and thick jumper who greeted Hamilton as an old friend.

‘Another waif and stray?’ the woman asked, peering at Kate in the dim light. ‘At least it’ll be some company for Jimmy. He’s getting very bored.’

‘This is May Priestley,’ Hamilton said to Kate, ushering her into a hallway cluttered with a muddy-looking bicycle and cupboards and shelves overflowing with books and random papers. ‘An old friend who helps me out with some of the youngsters occasionally.’ May took Kate’s hand and ushered her through the hall and into a living room where a teenaged boy Kate recognized was slumped on the sofa with his feet up watching a flickering black and white television.

‘Hello, Jimmy,’ Kate said. ‘I’m very pleased to see you safe.’

The boy did little more than grunt in Kate’s direction before turning back to Z Cars.

‘Kate’s had a nasty fright which she thinks is connected to the same criminal elements who may be looking for Jimmy, so I thought it might be good if they were together,’ Hamilton said.

‘I really hope I won’t need to bother you long,’ Kate said to May Priestley. ‘If I can just make contact with someone in London who will help me I’m sure I’ll be able to go back.’

‘Don’t worry dear,’ May Priestley said, putting a comforting hand on her arm. ‘Stay as long as you need to. I’ve known David long enough to trust his judgement. We go back a long way. If someone needs a safe haven then there’s always one here.’

After waking up for the second morning running in a strange bed Kate felt that she had at least slept without the uneasy dreams which had plagued her the previous night. But as she lay gazing at the faint signs of sunlight filtering through the thin curtains and absorbed the fact that outside there was an almost perfect silence except for the monotonous cooing of a pigeon, her thoughts were overwhelmed by the predicament she was in. She was still convinced that someone had tried to kill her and might well try again. And she was deeply troubled that she had not been able to contact Harry Barnard the day before. That, she thought, was something she would have to put right today.

But it seemed that there might be more urgent problems here and now. As she got out of bed, glanced out of the window where she could see nothing except mud brown wintry fields and put on the plaid dressing gown May Priestley had thoughtfully hung on the back of the door, she heard what she could only describe as a howl of rage from somewhere in the house beneath her. She opened her bedroom door and went downstairs and into the kitchen where she found May Priestley and Jimmy Earnshaw facing each other across the breakfast table in an angry stand-off.

‘Good morning,’ she said quietly. ‘Is everything all right?’ Jimmy gave her a furious glance and spun out of the room, slamming the door behind himself while May shrugged helplessly.

‘He hates it here,’ she said. ‘It’s too quiet for him. He’s a city boy and doesn’t know what to do with himself.’

‘I can imagine,’ Kate said, thinking that for all May’s kindness this was not a place where she would want to spend very long, restricted to what looked likely to be very muddy walks and the flickering TV in the corner of the living room.

‘The last boy I had here had run away from his family in Essex who’d been turning him into a thief. He was a skinny little thing for his age and they discovered he could get into places grown-ups couldn’t. But he ran off in the end. I never did hear what happened to him. He didn’t go back to St Peter’s, David said. I expect he’s back burgling with his dad and his uncles.’

‘I hope I won’t be here long,’ Kate said. ‘If I can just contact my boyfriend.’ The word still felt strange to her but it seemed the best one to use. ‘He’ll know what’s the best thing to do.’

‘Well, have some breakfast before you start chasing him up. You look a bit peaky.’

Kate managed a smile and accepted a plate of bacon and two eggs and a copious supply of toast and had to admit that after this feast she felt distinctly better. ‘Can I use your phone?’ she asked as she finished her second mug of tea.

‘Of course you can, duck,’ May said. ‘It’s in the hall.’

‘It’ll be trunk calls,’ Kate said uncertainly.

‘Don’t you worry about that. We’ll sort it out later.’

She dialled the CID office first but an anonymous voice merely told her that Barnard was not there. Then she tried his flat and to her immense relief Barnard answered quickly and his own relief was palpable even down a slightly crackly long-distance line.

‘Jesus, doll, I thought the bastards who tried to kill Carter Price had got you too and left you for dead in a back alley. Nobody seemed to know where you were.’

‘I was too scared to stay at the flat,’ she said, brushing her tears away. ‘I couldn’t get hold of you yesterday so I went to David Hamilton and he helped me get out of London. I can stay here for a bit …’

‘Is Jimmy Earnshaw there with you? Did the Rev take you to the same place?’

‘Yes, he’s here and getting very bored,’ Kate said. ‘I’m a bit frightened he’ll run off.’

‘The trial should be starting soon.’

‘Good,’ Kate said. ‘We all need this mess clearing up. But where were you yesterday? I did try to get hold of you.’

‘I was a bit hung up,’ Barnard said, sounding grim. ‘Not to say hung out to dry. Are you really OK?’

‘More or less,’ she said. ‘But I don’t want to go back to the flat. Someone knows where I live.’

‘You can come to stay with me,’ Barnard said slowly. ‘I think you need someone to keep an eye on you and I’ve suddenly got time on my hands.’ He hesitated.

‘Why’s that?’ Kate asked, instantly suspicious.

‘It’s a long story,’ Barnard said. ‘But it ended with me thumping Vic Copeland and getting suspended. It wasn’t the brightest thing I’ve ever done. The Yard are trying to prove I’m in Ray Robertson’s pocket. It’s not looking good.’

‘Could you come out here to fetch me?’ Kate asked. ‘I’m somewhere in Hertfordshire.’

Barnard hesitated. ‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea,’ he said. ‘This bastard Copeland has been following me around and I wouldn’t put it past him to keep on going. The last thing I want to do is lead him to Jimmy. In fact I don’t even want to know where you are myself. Talk to whoever you’re staying with and see if she can get you to a station with trains to London. I’ll meet you at King’s Cross or Euston or wherever. I’ll use the tube. He’ll find it harder to follow down there.’

‘It’s all a bit James Bond, isn’t it?’ Kate said.

‘It’ll be safer, believe me,’ Barnard said. ‘This is all getting very nasty.’

B
arnard purchased a bunch of flowers from a stall outside Bart’s hospital and handed them to Kate O’Donnell.

‘You carry those. We’re friends visiting,’ he said. ‘I can’t blag my way in on my warrant card this time. Just keep your fingers crossed none of the same nurses are on duty.’ They had travelled by underground from Barnard’s flat in Highgate and Barnard was as sure as he could be that no one was following them. Vic Copeland, he thought, must be satisfied that his aim of getting Barnard suspended and probably charged was well on its way to success.

They found their way to Carter Price’s ward and to Kate’s surprise and Barnard’s massive relief discovered that he was propped up in bed with his eyes half open in his bruised and puffy face. Kate hurried to the top of the bed, overwhelmed by a rush of emotion. She put her flowers on the bedside locker and surprised both men by kissing Price on the cheek.

‘You’re all right, then?’ she said. ‘I’m so pleased.’

‘I wouldn’t say that exactly,’ he whispered. ‘But at least I’m awake, sort of.’ Price managed a tight smile before glancing at Barnard. ‘The boyfriend came too,’ he breathed.

‘Are you OK?’ Barnard asked. ‘They didn’t seem to think so when I dropped by yesterday.’

‘Who knows?’ Price said. ‘For now, anyway, I suppose. Maybe next time they’ll hit me even harder. I’ve hairline fractures of the skull, four broken ribs and they’re giving me so many painkillers I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.’ He tried to shift himself in the bed and winced dramatically.

‘You’re lucky,’ Barnard said. ‘Chances are they meant to finish you off.’

Price gave a grimace which might have been an attempt at a smile. ‘What’s worrying me is that they might try it on our Katie here too,’ he said.

‘I’ll look after Kate,’ Barnard said. ‘No one else seems to be making a good job of it.’

‘Do you know where our pictures are?’ Kate asked, looking embarrassed at this turn of the conversation. ‘I was afraid you had them with you and they took them.’

‘I can’t remember, pet. I can’t really remember anything about it. The last thing I can recall is being in the office and then waking up here. The copper who came in to talk to me this morning says they found me half dead in an alley at the back of the
Daily Mail
building. I’ve no idea why I was there or where I was going.’

‘This officer was from the City force, was he?’ Barnard asked.

‘I expect so,’ Price said. ‘I didn’t ask him for his credentials. He said nothing seemed to have been stolen but as I’m not sure what I had with me I can’t be sure, can I? They weren’t after cash, it seems. My wallet’s intact, but if I did take the pictures out of the office with me – and I might have done – they seem to have gone.’

‘Did you usually take the pictures home for safety?’ Kate asked, looking surprised.

Price nodded and winced again. ‘Seemed safer,’ he said, with a slight groan. ‘I didn’t know who I could trust when they called me off the story. Even though I knew you had the negatives, so we couldn’t actually lose the story, I just didn’t want anyone in the office having a shufti when I wasn’t around. I wanted to find out what was really going on before showing anything else to the news desk. Obviously I wanted them to change their mind.’

Kate knew that Barnard was looking at her with a puzzled expression on his face but she refused to turn round to face him. ‘So you didn’t really think the story was dead,’ she said. ‘Not completely.’

Price spread out the hand which was not in a sling. ‘I don’t give up easily, pet. I still thought I could change their minds if we went a bit further,’ he said.

‘You obviously don’t know they attacked Kate as well,’ Barnard said, his voice harsh. ‘You should have warned her she might be in danger.’

Price managed to nod his bandaged head. ‘I didn’t know I was in danger, let alone her,’ he said. ‘I underestimated them.’