The Coroner (44 page)

    Looking
at him in the rear-view mirror, she said, 'Katy Taylor spoke to you after her
release from Portshead about Danny Wills. Do you want to tell us about it?'

    Justin
crossed his hands over his stomach. 'Did she?'

    In a
voice Jenny had never heard before, Alison said, 'Cut the crap. Tell us what
you know or you're getting nicked for perverting the course of justice.'

    Justin
said, 'She may have mentioned him at our meeting. He died when she was in
there, right?'

    Alison
said, 'She said more than that, we've heard it.'

    'I'm
trying to remember . ..'

    Alison
gave Jenny a look. 'She told you that Danny was having trouble with one of the
screws and that he was talking about getting a knife to stab him.'

    'Yeah,
that rings a bell. They tell you so much stuff—'

    'Who
was the screw?'

    'She
didn't say.'

    'That
came out fast.'

    'She
didn't say a name.'

    Alison
swivelled round in her seat. 'The truth, Justin.'

    'It
is
the truth.'

    Jenny
said, 'Then why didn't you say any of this before?'

    'I
did, I told Marshall. I called him the day Katy told me.'

    'Which
was?'

    'The
Friday before she disappeared - 20 April.'

    Alison
said, 'That was over a week before he held Danny's inquest.'

    Jenny
said, 'Why didn't you tell
me
?'

    Justin
rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, 'I was frightened, OK? . . . She
tells me this and the next thing she's dead. Then I tell the coroner and he
dies. It doesn't take a lot of working out.'

    Her
medication plus a top-up of half a temazepam had given her an energy injection.
Despite having had only three hours' sleep, Jenny felt relaxed and purposeful,
ready for anything.

    Alison
came into her office with a typed-up copy of a supplemental statement she had
taken from Justin in the back of the car. She sat in the chair across the desk
and passed it over. 'What are you going to do with it?'

    'When
we reconvene I'll call him and Hayley to give evidence,' Jenny said firmly.
'Then I'll recall the staff from Portshead, and if we still don't get anywhere
I'll call every child who was in Portshead at the time until we find the
officer Danny had a problem with.'

    'I
can see why you're saying that, Mrs Cooper, but what if we did get a name,
they'd just deny everything. We've no forensic evidence of any wrongdoing—'

    'I'm
talking about a climate of fear. Say Danny was difficult and obstructive and
they tried to use force to get him to leave his cell and go to class, some of
the other kids might have witnessed it. He was a vulnerable child - if the way
staff treated him pushed him over the edge I want the jury to hear about it.'

    'Where
do you think Katy fits in?'

    'She
spoke to Justin, who talked to Marshall on Friday 20 April. Marshall sat on it.
Her information didn't come up at the inquest and he didn't tell the police,
not even when he knew she was dead. What he did do was go to his GP and get
himself some pills three days before it started. We can assume he had a copy of
the tender by then. He must have been thinking the same way as us - something
about Danny's death stinks, but there's too much at stake for UKAM for them to
risk a finding against them.'

    Alison
lowered her head. She looked tired after her disturbed night. 'What's your
theory?'

    'Something
persuaded him to look the other way. He rushed all the evidence through on the
Monday, but then came back to the office in the evening to learn that Katy
Taylor had been found dead. Her post-mortem was held on the Tuesday, and even
though he should have held an inquest he signed her death certificate on the
Wednesday. On Thursday night he died . . . You knew him. What do you think?'

    Alison
looked at her with sad eyes. 'I suppose I was frightened he'd taken someone's
money, but Mrs Marshall says there's nothing.'

    'He
could have hidden it, or the deal could have been that he'd be paid later.'

    Alison
got out of her chair and started to pace. 'No. He wouldn't have done that. Why
would he take money over a child prisoner? He wouldn't have been tempted for a
moment.'

    'What
would money have done for him?'

    'The
same as for any of us.'

    'Don't
take this the wrong way, Alison, but do you think he might have thought about
leaving his wife?'

    Alison
stopped and wheeled round. 'Are you asking if we were going to run off
together? Don't be ridiculous.'

    'I
have to ask.'

    Red
in the face, Alison said, 'There was no sex between us and there never would
have been. I love my husband and Harry was devoted to his family.'

    'I'm
sorry ...'

    Alison
fumed for a moment, then thumped back into her chair, bitter emotions under the
surface. She was still angry with him, Jenny realized, furious that he was
putting her through this.

    'Then
maybe there was a threat,' Jenny continued gently. 'Katy met a violent death.
Perhaps someone threatened Harry's daughters. Could that have been enough?'

    'He
wasn't a coward. He would have gone to the police.'

    'Whatever
he did, it was enough to make him kill himself.'

    'We
don't know that.'

    They
exchanged a look, Alison's expression betraying how empty her protest now
seemed.

    'It
would have been a whole lot easier if he'd left a note, but maybe he had his
reasons,' Jenny said. 'What he did leave was Katy's file and the tender in the
same drawer. He knew you'd be the first person to open it, right?'

    'Yes
. . .'

    'Knowing
what I do about Harry Marshall, to me it looks as if they were two signposts to
injustice. Injustice he couldn't live with.'

    'Don't
you think we should bring the police in now?' Alison asked, close to tears.

    'Do
you really trust them, the way they've handled Katy's case?'

    'It's
too big to deal with by yourself. You're already in trouble with the Ministry,
and look at what's happened to Tara Collins ...'

    'Tara's
a loose cannon. I'm far easier to deal with.'

    'What
do you mean?'

    'Let's
be honest. I got this job because they thought I'd be someone they could
control. If I don't do what I'm expected to and deliver a suicide verdict next
week, my medical history will suddenly surface and I'll be out of the door
anyway. I've got four days till we sit again. I might as well spend the time
finding a bomb to put under the whole thing. Better to go out in a blaze of
glory.'

    'What
are you thinking of?'

    'First,
I'm going to swing past and have a word with Peterson. I don't believe he's
been telling us the whole truth, or anything like it.' Jenny grabbed her
briefcase.

    'I
hate to keep bringing it up, Mrs Cooper - I had another phone call about the
accounts.'

    'Screw
the accounts.'

    She
made it through the early rush-hour traffic to the hospital only to be told by
a mortuary assistant that Peterson had left early for a children's birthday
party. It was another forty- minute creep across to Clifton, where Peterson
lived in a four- storey Georgian town house in a street that led off from the
Downs. He opened the door in jeans and a pink polo shirt with sunglasses
balanced on his forehead. There were a lot of excited noises in the background,
little girls yelling and frenetic pop music playing.

    His
face registered surprise, then anger. 'Jesus. What do you want?'

    'Ten
minutes of your time.'

    'This
is an afternoon off, for God's sake. It's my daughter's birthday.'

    'Believe
me, I'm as impatient to be gone as you are. We can talk here if you want.'

    'I
don't believe this . . .' He stormed back off along the hallway, exchanged some
words with his wife, who peered around from the end of the passageway at the
intruder, then marched back to the front door and closed it behind him. 'What
now?'

    'Your
post-mortem report on Danny Wills.'

    'What
about it?'

    'I've
read a lot of your reports in the last couple of weeks - you've been very good
- but Danny's still ranks as one of the shortest, which is surprising,
considering the circumstances.'

    'There
wasn't a lot to say. Otherwise healthy child hanged himself.'

    Three
excited girls came to the bay window in the front room and made faces through
the glass. One of them was dressed in a Princess Barbie outfit and had
chocolate smeared across her face. Jenny could see the resemblance to her
father.

    Jenny
said, 'Maybe we should take a walk.'

    They
turned out of the small, gravelled front garden and headed towards the Downs,
Peterson resenting every moment.

    She
decided to start by keeping things deliberately vague. 'Since you gave evidence
I've heard from other witnesses. Apparently Danny had some altercations with
one of the officers in Portshead, quite violent altercations.'

    'I
didn't find any other injuries, if that's what you're asking.'

    'I'm
afraid that doesn't fill me with confidence, given the quality of your
examination of Katy Taylor.'

    'If
you've a problem with my work why don't you make a complaint? But I think the
fact that I run one of the busiest hospital mortuaries in the country single-handedly
will weigh quite heavily in my favour.'

    'I'm
sure it would, but I'm appealing to your conscience.'

    'Spare
me . . .'

    They
turned the corner into the main road along the Downs. Peterson strode off ahead
of her. Jenny hurried to keep up. 'Evidence in both their cases was suppressed,
that much is beyond doubt. Marshall knew that and it's not a great leap of the
imagination to think that you did, too.'

    'This
sounds like the sort of conversation I should be having in the presence of a
solicitor.'

    'I'm
not accusing you of anything, Dr Peterson, in fact I'm prepared to offer you a
deal.'

    'You
really are quite extraordinary.' He shook his head.

    'Unfortunately
I can't exhume Danny's body to have another look. You're the only one who saw
it. The thing is, if this evidence shapes up, more questions might be asked of
you than you can comfortably answer, even given your reputation.'

    'This
is pretty low, Jenny, dragging a man out of his child's birthday party to
threaten him.'

    'I
don't doubt that fundamentally you're a decent man - you put up with all manner
of crap in the NHS. I believe Harry Marshall was, as well. But I'm also forced
to conclude that someone or something persuaded you not to look as hard as you
might have done. That leaves you with a choice - to take a chance on me not
getting to the bottom of this thing, or telling me what you know and we can
talk about ways of you being able to survive.'

    'Danny
Wills hanged himself,' Peterson shouted with an unexpected ferocity that made
Jenny step backwards. 'It was an open and shut case. Anything of significance I
found was in my report. If you don't like it, tough fucking luck, that's all
there is.'

    'You're
very agitated, Dr Peterson.'

    'Piss
off.' He strode back along the pavement the way they came. 'And don't come to
my house again unless you've got a warrant.'