Dark Side (15 page)

Having showed him our IDs Patrick explained who we were and then added, ‘I'm not working on the assault case for which you've already been arrested and charged. I'm not arresting you for anything else either and you're not under caution – this is merely a chat.'

‘About what?' Forrester said.

‘Jingles, for a start.'

‘Who told you I work there?'

‘I just know.'

‘I don't want to talk about that.'

‘It's closed for the foreseeable future, by the way. The bouncer fell through a manhole in the cellar and the place was flooded with sewage.'

‘Who, Kev?'

‘Umm.'

Nathan could not prevent a smile creeping over his face.

‘What were your duties there?' Patrick asked.

‘I said I don't want to talk about it.'

‘Look, I'm in the position of knowing more about the club than you do and have to tell you, if you didn't know already, that it's not on the level. Please answer the question.'

After a few mulish moments, Forrester said, ‘I do just ordinary things. Clearing the tables, washing the glasses, serving behind the bar, but not the cocktails – Kit does that – a bit of behind-the-scenes cleaning. That's all really.'

‘What's Kit's surname?'

‘I don't know. He was just Kit.'

‘Have you been asked to beat up people before?'

‘No.'

‘Sure?'

‘Sure.'

‘Yet you're knocking around with people with criminal records and that doesn't bode well for your career in engineering.'

‘That's my business, isn't it? Besides, it's all gone now.
I've
got a criminal record.'

‘Only if the victims of the assault continue to press charges and you're found guilty.'

‘Fat chance of them changing their minds.'

‘The men you attacked were cops working undercover.'

Forrester closed his eyes and mouthed something along the lines of ‘Bloody hell.' Then he said, ‘That would explain it.'

‘What?'

‘Why they didn't react like down-and-outs; one of them thumped the hell out of four of us and we got arrested.'

‘Hadn't it occurred to you that seven, or even eight, against two was rather overkill if the opposition were a couple of drifters?'

‘Yes, but basically I'm a coward because I've never been involved with rough stuff before and we didn't find out who we were supposed to sort out until we got there.'

‘Sort out as in put in hospital, you mean. Or worse.'

The youth – and I could only think of him thus – flushed and mumbled, ‘Kev just said they were bad boys.'

I wrote KEV in block letters in my notebook and underlined it but Patrick did not query about the doorman further, saying, ‘It must have been the promise of money or threats that got you out on to the streets that night. Or both. By the way, how are you coping with being off drugs?'

‘I'm not a drug addict.'

‘That was the impression you gave your aunt when you asked her for money.'

‘I didn't think she'd give me any unless I said I was desperate.'

‘That's the stupidest bit of thinking I've heard for years. Aunts are far more likely to hand over money if you tell them that you're
hungry
. This bloke you're sharing the flat with … is his name Paul?'

A look of extreme wariness came over the other's face. ‘No.'

‘You're not a very good liar either.'

The thought that ‘a chat' with the man in front of him might turn into something getting on for nasty, far worse than being arrested again for another crime, visibly flitted across Forrester's mobile features. I could not see Patrick's expression from where I was sitting but knew that the pressure, which so far had actually been just about non-existent, had gone up a notch, perhaps the hint of something darker showed in his eyes. I have been present during many such interviews and still do not know how he does it.

Patrick continued, ‘As I said just now, there are several people connected with the club where you're working who have criminal records, including the registered owner. So was it money or threats?'

‘I don't want to say any more.'

I said, ‘It's always sad when young people get caught up in serious crime. If you go to prison you may well emerge a hardened criminal. All you have to do is tell the truth and we'll try to help you.'

‘I've heard that one before,' Forrester snorted. ‘In cop shows. It's not true, just a con.'

‘This is
not
a cop show but it does actually represent the rest of your life,' Patrick told him. ‘You see, I have first-hand information about what happened that night. The man you chose to attack with three others slapped you around the head and made you feel a bit sick and dizzy so you laid down on the ground and pretended to be unconscious as carrying on seemed a very bad idea. Meanwhile, your four other chums were kicking the other cop, who did end up in hospital.'

‘I don't understand why you, or someone else, isn't pasting the hell out of me right now.'

‘Because (a) this still isn't a cop show,' Patrick said grimly, ‘And (b) I don't hit kids.'

Forrester swallowed hard. ‘The others aren't my chums.'

‘Your criminal associates, then. It won't really matter in court what they are. Is the name of the man you share a flat with Paul?'

Forrester hung his head for a moment, his eyes closed. Then he looked up and nodded.

‘Mallory?'

‘You knew already then!' Nathan cried. ‘You have conned me!'

‘I haven't. You told your aunt he played very loud experimental music. Mallory's connected with the club and has a criminal record. It was a guess as he's been bothering his neighbours with the racket for years. Yes?'

Another very reluctant nod.

‘He's a drunkard and probably on drugs as well. Another man called Benny Cooper, who's a dealer, virtually controls him. I take it you know him too.'

‘Sort of. He's a real creep so I stay away from him as much as possible.'

‘Did you want the money you got from your aunt to buy drink or drugs for Mallory?'

‘Yes.'

‘Why?'

‘He goes off his head, raving when he needs a fix, and after he came into my room one night with a carving knife I thought he might kill me to get what money I had.'

‘Is Mallory the one threatening you to make you do out-of-hours jobs for them?'

‘No.'

‘Who, then? Cooper?'

‘No, Kev.'

‘Know where he lives?'

‘No, you don't ask a man like that personal questions. He threw me against a wall once.'

‘Why didn't you just leave?'

‘He told me they'd find me wherever I went. And there's another bloke who I think is the boss …' He broke off and I saw that his hands were shaking.

‘Who?'

‘I didn't really mean to say that. I'm as good as dead if I tell you.'

‘You'll get police protection.'

‘No, I can't tell you. Not only that, the others arrested with me are here too. They'll find out and grass on me, I know they will.'

‘How many of you were there altogether that night?'

‘Eight.'

‘So four were arrested and four escaped. Who are the others?'

‘Dunno. They came in from outside and I don't know their names. That's the truth.'

‘So they may have been the personal minders of this man, the boss, who you don't want to talk about.'

‘Perhaps.'

That was a yes then.

‘Have you met him?'

‘Once. That was enough.'

‘What does he look like?'

Forrester just sat there, avoiding Patrick's gaze, miserably shaking his head.

‘OK, you four who were arrested are just blokes from the club.'

‘Three including me are, plus a pal of one of them.'

Patrick turned to me. ‘Cannon fodder threatened if they talked. You know, this mobster really is stupid. Why use ordinary employees at a club and set them against people they knew were cops when there's every likelihood of their being arrested?'

‘You said it yourself,' I pointed out. ‘Cannon fodder. He values his private army too much to lose them.'

‘So he's nervous of losing his protection,' Patrick said under his breath. Then to Nathan, ‘OK, this Raptor character …'

Forrester went white.

‘That's what he calls himself and you've obviously heard the name. How did he know that two roughnecks were actually cops?'

‘I can't answer that,' Forrester said hoarsely, then cleared his throat to add, ‘As I said, we got our orders from Kev. Perhaps he got them from the boss.'

‘Kev told you we were bad boys.'

‘Yes. But he laughed as he said it.'

‘No one could have known that two men dressed as down-and-outs were police officers. Unless, that is, one, or both of them had been followed from home – from a house where they already knew a policeman lived – by someone watching them. Now, being experienced in such things, I would never openly come out of my place in disguise, get in my car and go off to some kind of stakeout. But the other officer may well have done and been observed and followed. Was a watch put on a house, do you know?'

Forrester shook his head.

‘You know that for sure then?'

‘N-no, of course not. No one said anything about it, that's all.'

‘Can you drive?'

‘I've passed my test but don't have a car. I can't afford one.'

‘I want you to tell me the truth.'

‘I am telling you the truth!'

‘What threats have been made against you?'

‘Just that I'd get sorted out if I didn't do as I was told. I used my imagination.'

‘When you applied in all innocence for the job at the club did you give your aunt's address as the place where you could be contacted?'

‘Yes, I did.'

‘This character who calls himself Raptor has been known to silence witnesses by making threats against their families. One police officer committed suicide, although it's beginning to look as though he might have been murdered. Nathan, you've got yourself in a hell of a mess and the only way out of it is by telling me the truth. Did they threaten to hurt your aunt?'

‘No.'

Even I could tell that he was lying.

‘It would have had to be something like that as I'm sure you've more sensitivity and intelligence than the whole lot put together. Most of them would probably boil down their own mothers for glue.'

‘I'm not like that,' Forrester agreed with another small smile.

Patrick smiled back. ‘No, and I believe you when you say that you didn't know the bloke you followed into Bath that night was a cop.'

‘That's right, I didn't.'

One of the best interrogation techniques: charm, retreat and pounce.

There was a very long silence before Forrester blurted out, ‘At-at-least …' and then floundered to a stop.

‘And you still weren't told when you were given further orders after you phoned in to report what he was doing,' Patrick continued. ‘But you know now. Tell the truth.'

More silence.

‘Look,' Patrick continued, ‘I want this man and because I'm a cop now and not working for special services I have to behave by arresting him, not put him into a sack and chuck him in the nearest river. But I assure you, I
shall
get him.'

‘It's auntie, though,' Forrester whispered.

‘She can be given police protection too – even taken to a safe house for a while. All the time you're dithering like this she's unprotected.'

‘OK then, but …' There were tears in his eyes.

‘All you have to do is give me your word that you'll make a full statement to the investigating officers.'

There was a muttered, ‘OK.'

‘What name is he calling himself now?'

‘Hamsworth, Nick Hamsworth.'

‘Thank you. Now tell me what he looks like.'

There was another endless pause and then Forrester mumbled, ‘Just ordinary … I can't remember really … until you see his eyes … snakey … only with a person inside them … like sci-fi movies … sorry, that's the best I can do.'

I knew the look on his face. It's called terror.

‘Carrick was damned careless,' Patrick said a little later when he was driving us back to Bath. ‘To leave home looking like a heap of rags …'

I said, ‘I'm surprised he hadn't noticed another car parked near his house after the trouble he had before.'

‘Vehicles do get left in that road as, if you remember, there's a row of cottages nearby with no off-road parking. Or perhaps various bods had been taking it in turns to watch, had parked elsewhere and were on foot. Whatever happened, it must have been a lot more covert than before.'

‘But you've checked what's going on at home?' I asked with a pang of alarm.

‘Oh, yes, no sign of either of them. Dinna fret.'

‘Will you write a report for David Campbell?'

‘I shall have to as arrangements will have to be made to protect both Forrester and his aunt. What Forrester said was probably more helpful to him than to us anyway. At least we've confirmed that the order to ambush us came from the club and that Carrick was tailed to Bath. Jigsaw bits, that's all.'

‘We have the name of one of the bartenders – Kit. Not to mention Kev. Kev could be questioned,' I suggested.

‘I'll leave that up to Campbell – if he can find anyone big enough to have him picked up and they're up to date with their typhoid jabs.' This was followed by a cold-blooded chuckle.

‘You don't think he's that important, then.'

Patrick took his gaze off the road for a moment to give me a surprised stare. ‘Oh, come on! Do you?'