DS Jessica Daniel series: Locked In/Vigilante/The Woman in Black - Books 1-3 (67 page)

‘The service was nice,’ Dave added.

Jessica nodded, not wanting to make small talk and then thought she heard her phone ringing. Because they had drifted off to a corner they had ended up sitting under a speaker and the music
drowned out the ringtone. She took the device out of her pocket and realised she had three missed calls from DI Cole. She moved outside, edging into the car park towards the back of the
building.

The air was cool and she shivered with the breeze but pressed the buttons to call him back. He answered straight away. ‘Jessica?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you all afternoon. I forgot about the funeral. How did it go?’

‘It was good. Carrie’s mother asked us to pass on her thanks to everyone.’ Cole sounded distracted, which wasn’t like him. ‘Is everything okay?’ Jessica
added.

‘Are you back tonight?’

‘Yes, we’ve got a train in an hour or so.’

‘Good, because you’re not going to believe what they’ve found in Donald McKenna’s cell.’

‘What?’ Jessica said.

‘They’ve pulled a mobile phone out of the pipe that connects his sink to the wall. It was wrapped in a plastic bag to stop it getting wet.’

Jessica remembered wobbling that exact pipe when she had been in his cell, not knowing she was millimetres away from something that could have given them a break weeks ago. ‘How did they
find it?’

‘Some routine cell check. It sounds like they surprised him and he didn’t have time to put the tubing together again properly. A guard noticed it was a little out of place and they
found the phone.’

‘What’s happening now?’

‘The phone is being examined by the labs to see if they can get anything from it. There’s a basic call history we’ve already got but it’s just numbers at the moment.
Farraday’s been going crazy.’

Jessica wondered if the DCI was frantic because he was worried his number was on the list. ‘Do we have matches for any of the numbers?’ It was almost as if someone was playing a
trick as the reception on her phone crackled at that point and she couldn’t make out what Cole was saying.

‘Sorry? I can’t hear you.’ Jessica moved quickly around the car park to see if she could find a better spot and his voice reappeared mid-sentence. ‘Can you say that
again?’ she asked.

‘Can you hear me now? I said there are no matches yet. We don’t need a warrant to check numbers to names but there were only two people McKenna had called and as far as we can tell
they’re both unregistered pre-pay numbers.’

It was a long shot and she doubted the DCI was careless enough to let the prisoner have his main number but they finally had a lead. ‘What’s happening now?’

‘McKenna’s in isolation at least overnight. He’s been charged with unauthorised possession of a wireless communication device.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘For us directly? Not much – he’ll probably get a few months tagged onto his sentence but he’s already in for life. I’m guessing he won’t have a cell to
himself any longer. I’ve booked us in to go see him tomorrow afternoon. If he’s actually been in contact with someone on the outside it gives us a whole new set of questions to
ask.’

Jessica was feeling positive about the case for the first time in a while and said she would see him in the morning. If she could just connect one of those pre-pay phone numbers to the chief
inspector that would be enough.

She dashed back into the hall and told Rowlands they had to go. They said their goodbyes to Carrie’s mother and Jessica promised to call if they had any major breaks.

In the taxi back to the station and on the train journey home, they talked about the development. Both of them were excited, passing theories back and forth. Jessica kept her thoughts about the
DCI to herself but found it nice to chat like friends again.

‘Do you think he got the phone from that warden?’ Rowlands asked.

‘It’s hard to tell, but probably. I know we didn’t find any hidden bundles of cash but there was definitely something not right about Morgan’s bank records. If McKenna
was starting to be linked with crimes happening outside of the prison it’s no wonder the warden was getting twitchy if he had smuggled a phone in. If he’d said something to the prisoner
about it, maybe that was the trigger – McKenna just phoned whoever he knew on the outside and gave the word for the prison officer to be killed.’

‘You know how they get phones in, don’t you?’

‘I don’t really want to think about it.’

‘I read this article about some guy who was in court for sentencing and knew he was going to get sent down. He bought this phone from the newsagents and got a SIM card off one of his
mates. He put it in one of those plastic sandwich bags, then lubed it up and shoved it up his arse.’

‘Eew.’

‘I know. He only got caught as he’d given the number to the guy who’d given him the SIM card and his mate phoned to ask how he’d got on in court. He hadn’t put it
on silent and, because his case had been delayed, he was stood in the dock and the bloody thing started ringing.’

‘No way . . .’

‘Seriously. The judge didn’t realise what was going on at first and was telling whoever the phone belonged to they were in contempt, then one of the security guys realised it was the
defendant. They checked his pockets and couldn’t find it then he told them where it was.’

‘Trust you to remember something like that.’

‘I’ve not even told you the best part yet. The ringtone was “The Birdie Song”. Stupid bastard was in court with the tune sounding out.’ Jessica laughed and, for the
first time since Carrie had died, wasn’t even faking it.

When she arrived home, there was still a little tickle in the back of her mind telling her she should be watching DCI Farraday’s house just in case but, for the first time in days, she
ignored it. With McKenna safely in isolation, there was no way any further crimes could be pinned on him and Jessica was confident the chief inspector wouldn’t risk anything.

She went into her bedroom planning to take a towel to the bathroom for a shower but her bed suddenly seemed incredibly appealing. Jessica reached under the covers to look for her nightwear but
the sheets and duvet itself had an almost hypnotic hold as she breathed in their smell and finally allowed herself to succumb to the tiredness.

Jessica was feeling clear-headed and determined the next day, eager for the afternoon trip to the prison. She had slept through the entire night in her clothes from the day
before. An alarm was permanently set on her phone but she hadn’t needed it recently. It was her saviour in the morning though, waking her up when she could have dozed through the day.

At the senior officer briefing, Jessica could see something had changed in Farraday’s attitude. The week before he had been combative and happy to throw his weight around but now he seemed
downbeat. She still followed her earlier pledge to not openly defy him or push issues such as Carrie’s phone records but there was something in his demeanour that almost seemed resigned to
whatever was going to happen.

She had half-expected him to announce he was going to interview Donald McKenna himself but that would have been hard for him to justify as he hadn’t had much to do with things –
plus, if the prisoner was looking to admit to anything, it wouldn’t have helped the chief inspector’s cause to be present.

At the prison, Jessica and Cole were greeted in the reception area by Dennis but she was relieved to see they weren’t the only visitors at that time. After they had been scanned, they were
left to talk among themselves as the man continued registering the afternoon’s other visitors. Instead of the governor meeting them, it was someone Jessica didn’t recognise. They
introduced themselves as one of the senior wardens and led the officers along the familiar path up to the interview room.

Cole checked the recording equipment and asked Jessica if she wanted to lead the questioning.

‘Just try to stop me.’

McKenna was brought in handcuffed alongside his usual solicitor but he was looking far more dishevelled than the previous time they had met. There was a five o’clock shadow on his chin and
his dark hair had started to grow out. He was beginning to look his age too, his wrinkles far more defined, but it was his eyes that surprised Jessica the most. The cool confidence he had displayed
before had been replaced by the same look of defiance and resignation most prisoners had when you looked them in the eyes.

‘How was the isolation cell?’ Jessica asked when they were all sitting. The prisoner said nothing and wouldn’t look at her directly. ‘I’ve seen those rooms,’
she continued. ‘Not very nice, are they? One big stone slab on the floor to sleep on, all that noise of the other prisoners screaming through the night. What was the smell like? That’s
where all the dirty protestors end up, isn’t it? Bit of a difference from having a cosy double cell to yourself, I reckon.’

McKenna wasn’t reacting and Jessica could sense his solicitor was about to step in. ‘So let’s talk about the phone, shall we?’ The prisoner was staring at his own cuffed
hands, refusing to speak or acknowledge he was being asked anything. ‘Oh, come on, Donald, you were so keen to engage the last few times we’ve been in. Aren’t we friends any
longer? You can’t have been that quiet on the phone, well, unless you used it for dirty phone calls. Is that what gets you off, all that heavy breathing?’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘So were you just using the phone to play games or something? Maybe you needed the calendar on there to manage your busy diary? What is it? Wake up 7a.m, breakfast at eight, table tennis
at nine, pottery classes at eleven? I don’t think you need a phone to remind you of all that.’

McKenna’s solicitor finally interrupted. ‘Is there really any need to taunt my client?’

‘Oh, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings. I know he must be of a delicate persuasion.’

The inmate had clearly had enough and banged his fists on the table. ‘Just ask your damn questions.’

‘Fine. Question number one: where did you get the phone that was found in your cell?’

‘No comment.’

‘It wasn’t a miracle then? It didn’t just materialise out of nowhere?’

‘Don’t ridicule my beliefs.’

‘Faith still strong?’

‘I fight temptation every day. Sometimes I don’t reach the levels I should.’

Jessica nodded. McKenna still hadn’t met her eyes but the final words did actually sound genuine. She had no idea if his religious conversion was genuine or not but pushing him on it
wasn’t going to get her anywhere. ‘Who did you call? We know there were two numbers but who did they belong to?’

‘No comment.’

‘How long have you had it?’

‘No comment.’

Jessica sighed and looked behind her towards Cole, then at the man’s solicitor before finally focusing on the prisoner again. ‘What are you hoping to achieve by refusing to answer
questions?’

‘What have I got to gain? I’m probably going to die in here so what do you want me to say? Grasses aren’t very popular around these parts.’

‘Okay, but if you are a believer and genuinely have no knowledge of everything that has been going on outside of here, then why wouldn’t you do everything possible to clear your
name?’

‘I’m at peace with myself. I know I’ve done nothing wrong and if you don’t believe me then maybe it is part of His plan?’

‘So why not tell me about the phone? Tell us who you were talking to and why you had it.’

‘No.’

‘Did you have Lee Morgan killed because he smuggled you in the mobile and was beginning to ask questions?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘It’s how you did it though, isn’t it? Is that why you allowed your accomplice to plant your blood and hairs at the scene, so that we’d be looking at you instead of
them?’

‘No comment.’

‘Why won’t you give us the name? Is it because you’re scared?’

‘Mortals don’t frighten me. I’m only worried by His judgement when the day of reckoning comes.’

‘I thought you said you didn’t want to “grass” because of what could happen.’ McKenna said nothing. ‘If you’re so worried about your day of reckoning,
wouldn’t it be better to tell us everything you know?

The prisoner clearly had no intention of adding anything and his solicitor spoke again. ‘Detectives, I’ve said before, if you want to charge my client with anything then please do
so. You can’t keep returning here and endlessly ask him the same questions over and over. He has repeatedly told you he knows nothing.’

Jessica looked from the solicitor back to McKenna. She had one final question and wanted to make sure she could see any changes to his expression. ‘Final question then, Donald. Is the
reason you won’t talk to us because there’s someone in authority you’re worried about? Perhaps a person that’s high up in the prison service or a senior police
officer?’ She felt Cole fidget nervously in the seat next to her but more importantly thought she saw the smallest amount of recognition on the prisoner’s face. His top lip and the
bottom part of his nose twitched as if he were about to say something but he stayed silent.

‘I think we’re done here,’ Jessica said. She had been thinking of Farraday and wondered if that was what had crossed McKenna’s mind when she thought she saw that flicker
of movement.

After the prisoner had been escorted out, Jessica and Cole were left in the interview room waiting for someone to take them back to the entrance. ‘What was that last question about?’
he asked.

‘Nothing really, I was just wondering if there’s someone else working here who might have something to hide?’

Jessica wasn’t sure if her superior was convinced but he didn’t follow his question up.

‘Didn’t get much, did we?’ he asked instead.

‘I don’t think either of us were really expecting to. The problem with the life prisoners is they have nothing to lose by keeping quiet. It’s not as if their sentence is going
to be overturned. I still don’t know if this whole religion thing is a front but either way he doesn’t have much to say.’