But if that daughter of hers wasn’t careful she would find herself right back where she’d started. Because Patrick was a man’s man, and all the feminism in the world wasn’t going to change
that
. If he wanted her back home, as he put it, then that was where Kate had better go.
Evelyn looked out of the lounge window and saw the journalists who were dying to get an insight into the woman DI who had taken down a paedophile ring and a second serial killer.
Maybe she could use that as an excuse? But by the same token it occurred to her that Kate’s being known to live in the home of a man who was the acknowledged king of Soho sleaze would not endear her to the public, her bosses or her colleagues.
There was all that to consider.
Evelyn thought of her lovely suite of rooms again and sighed. She missed them.
She went back into the kitchen and looked around it. They had had many a happy meal in this room, three generations of women against the world. Now she was finally admitting that she was getting too old for it all. She wanted comfort, peace and a good long rest.
Suzy Harrington was already at Grantley Police Station when Kate arrived; the young woman was dressed like a schoolmistress and devoid of make-up. Kate left her sitting there and went to her office.
‘Has she said anything?’ she asked Jenny.
‘Not a word, Kate. Just said she wanted to see you and only you. She has news for you apparently.’
‘Did the press see her arriving?’
Jenny shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I assume so. She came here in a limousine.’
‘You are joking!’
‘There’s something going down here. Either she’s going to spill the beans and look for a deal or she’s going to have an out. I’d bet on the out myself.’
‘Until she hears about the videos, of course. That’s when we really have her. She can’t know we have them yet. I want to see her face when we tell her!’
Kate was looking good today and she knew it. Patrick was on the mend and she had solved her case, got more than she bargained for and made the headlines. She had every reason to look and feel on top of the world.
‘Let’s play it by ear, Jen, see what she has to say then surprise her with the tapes. I want to see that fucker squirm.’
Jenny laughed. ‘Don’t we all?’
Five minutes later they were sitting opposite her. Suzy looked steadily at them, her eyes holding secrets.
‘Miss Burrows, I think it’s about time we talked. I have brought my brief with me and he is going to sit in on the interview if that’s OK?’
She was smiling now and Kate saw the girl she could have been if she’d ever been allowed a childhood. It depressed her and her mood of elation faltered.
‘I want to set up a TV and video if that’s OK by
you
?’
Suzy nodded graciously. Kate knew she thought it was so they could tape whatever she said. She didn’t disabuse her of this notion.
She left the room again, enjoying making Suzy wait, making her nervous. She drank two cups of coffee and smoked a couple of cigarettes before she made her way back to the interview room fifteen minutes later.
The equipment had been set up in a second room and they brought Suzy in with her solicitor, a small elderly man in a cheap suit. She saw the paraphernalia and smiled knowingly.
‘Without tape first, please.’ It was said gently, as if she was in charge of the whole operation.
‘Why?’ Kate’s voice was bored-sounding and this was not lost on Suzy or Mr Millan her solicitor.
‘Because I want to get your reactions to what I say first.’
It was an honest answer and Kate agreed.
‘I warn you, though, Suzy, we have evidence and we will be charging you.’
She didn’t answer for a few seconds, just carried on smiling that self-satisfied smirk.
‘OK, shall we start then?’ Kate asked everybody.
‘I’m ready when you are,’ Suzy told her.
‘Well then, how about you telling us why you are here today?’ Jenny began, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
‘I want to do a deal . . .’
Kate interrupted her. ‘No way. We have video evidence to put you right where we want you.’
‘You haven’t let me finish, have you, Miss Burrows?’
Kate watched her warily. There was something wrong here. The girl looked too sure of herself. She definitely had something up her sleeve.
‘I will hold me hand up to whatever in exchange for a minimal sentence. You’d better say yes because I have the goods you need so badly. I know who filmed the kids, who edited the videos, and more importantly - who the distributor was.’
‘Really. And you want us to give you an out, do you?’ Jenny said heavily.
‘Quick learner your mate, ain’t she, Burrows?’ Suzy lit herself a cigarette. ‘Did she learn at the same place you did, Kate?’
That was when they realised there was something drastically wrong. This girl was playing with them, and given what they had on her she should be shitting hot bricks and throwing them out of the window at regular intervals.
‘So who’s the Mr Big then - or the Mrs Big as the case may be?’ Kate kept her voice and demeanour casual, but Suzy knew she was getting to them.
She opened her eyes wide. ‘You mean, you don’t know?’
‘Are you going to lay all this at Barker’s door?’ Kate’s voice was low. ‘Only it isn’t going to work, I can assure you of that much, lady.’
Suzy finished her cigarette, her pale painted nails looking babyish on her long slim fingers. Other than her face, she was a stunner. Each part of her body was perfect from her hands to her breasts to her legs. It was only above the neck that she let herself down.
She looked from one to the other.
‘You really don’t know, do you?’ She was grinning in triumph and it was all Kate could do not to go for her.
‘I thought you already knew. I really did.’ Suzy was shaking her head in apparent disbelief.
‘We know a great deal,’ Kate bluffed.
‘But, Miss Burrows, surely
you
know who’s behind it? After all, you live with him, don’t you?’
Kate felt fear gripping her heart even as she was telling herself she had no reason to believe this girl.
‘What are you on about?’
‘The distributor of course. It’s Patrick Kelly.’
Kate was out of her chair and round the table in record time. Her hand flew out and she grabbed the girl by the face. The feel of her fingers digging into warm soft flesh was wonderful.
As Suzy fell from her chair and collapsed to the floor Kate felt hands dragging her away. She was so angry she was spitting hatred and rage from her mouth like a madwoman. She kicked out as Suzy lay on the floor. It took three PCs and Jenny to finally drag her away from the crumpled figure.
‘You disgusting sick bastard! You will
not
get me like that, you hear me?’ Kate could hear the terror and the shock in her own voice and hated herself for it. ‘You piece of shit!’
Suzy sat up, dazed. She looked at her brief and said in a pleased voice, ‘I want to press charges.’
Kate watched her drag herself from the floor and lean against the table as if she was in pain. But she was still smiling.
‘I thought you knew, Miss Burrows. I realise it must be a shock, him being shot recently and everything.’
Kate was standing unrestrained now, her arms hanging limply by her sides.
‘You had better be able to prove this allegation.’
Suzy picked up her cigarettes and looked at Jenny when she replied.
‘I’d hardly come here if I couldn’t, now would I?’
‘You are a liar. You know you are and I will prove it. I
can
prove it,’ Kate cut in.
Suzy smiled again. ‘Can you? We’ll see.’ She wiped a hand across her face. ‘I can understand you wanting to protect your man. That’s why I never helped you before. I knew I couldn’t tell you anything about him.’ She glanced at her brief. ‘I realised I wouldn’t be believed, you see.’
Mr Millan took some papers from his briefcase. ‘I have a statement here naming Patrick Kelly as the distributor.’
Kate stared at the little man in his cheap suit and shook her head in complete and utter disbelief.
Jenny turned her round forcibly and pushed her outside.
‘I will be pressing charges, Miss Burrows, you can bank on that.’
Suzy’s laughter followed Kate from the room.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
‘You bloody fool, Kate!’
Ratchette’s voice was loaded with anger and sheer embarrassment.
‘You should never have raised a hand to her. You have done exactly what she wanted.’
Kate was aware of that herself; she didn’t need this buffoon to point it out to her.
‘What on earth possessed you? I’ve been put in an impossible position now. She’s not only pressing charges but insinuating that you had to have known about everything. I have no other option than to suspend you pending further enquiries. I have never been in such an embarrassing situation in my life.’
‘Let’s worry about you then, shall we, sir? Is that what the real problem is? You and how this affects your life? Only you are part and parcel of Patrick Kelly and his legal businesses, aren’t you?’ Kate turned from him scornfully and left the room.
Jenny was waiting in her office.
‘I can’t believe this, Jen, can you?’
She shook her head sadly. ‘I know this isn’t what you want to hear, Kate, but could Kelly have been a part of it?’
Kate looked into her face. A depression covered her now, like a cloak.
‘I will never believe that, never. Whatever else he might be guilty of, there is no way he could ever be a part of anything like that.’
Jenny couldn’t look her in the face and Kate felt a great sadness wash over her.
‘Listen, Jen, I would lay my life on what I just said. Patrick has his faults, and they are legion. No one knows that better than me. But he would never,
never
, be involved in anything like this.’
Jenny still couldn’t look at her.
‘You don’t really know what he was involved in, do you?’ she said quietly. ‘Be honest. He had the lap-dancing club - you knew nothing about that, remember?’
‘With respect, Jenny, a lap-dancing club is legal in this country, so I don’t think having an interest in one of those automatically makes him a child pornographer, do you? Or maybe you think I am a mug, and that he
is
the distributor for paedophile literature and videos. Look, he knew I was investigating those same films and the mothers who were allowing their kiddies to take part. It’s a wonder he didn’t tip them all off, isn’t it? Christ, Jen, I can’t believe that you honestly think he is actually a part of it all, knowing what a slippery bitch Suzy is, knowing that she’s already in with Ratchette’s mob. We were warned off her, remember? Think about it, Jen, doesn’t all this strike you as odd at all?’
Jenny didn’t answer her and her silence told Kate everything she wanted to know.
Picking up her bag, Kate walked from the office and left the building. In her car she felt the sting of tears, but they were tears of anger. Anger and disappointment. It seemed her association with Patrick was leading her into more trouble than she could ever have guessed at before.
Her mobile rang and it was Golding.
‘I have a copy of her statement, ma’am. It’s there whenever you want it.’
Kate smiled gently. Her relief at having a friend overwhelmed her.
‘Bring it to the hospital and we’ll see what Patrick has to say, eh?’ She turned off the phone.
Help came from the strangest places. She had disliked Golding so much, yet Jenny who lived at her home and had become a friend had doubted her. She had believed that she was trying to cover up for her man. Life kicked you in the teeth and you never knew who the final blow was going to come from.
Well, she would get to the bottom of it all. Whatever she found out, she would at least know the truth. Once and for all.
She wheelspinned out of the station, the screeching of her tyres giving her a sense of satisfaction, and drove straight to the hospital.
‘Leave it out, Kate. There has got to be someone here who can see what a shower of shite all this is.’
Kate sat on the bed gripping his hand.
‘She must have something, Patrick, to go this far. She has to have something concrete; she wouldn’t dare otherwise. The worst thing is, she was laughing at me. This was calculated.’
She took a deep breath. ‘
Have
you ever been in on any kind of distributing? If you have been in on any porn film-making or have financed it, I need to know now, Patrick.’
He wiped a hand across his face. He had half expected this question and knew that he had to give her an honest answer.
‘I have fingers in so many pies, Kate, I couldn’t swear at this moment in time that someone ain’t doing something with money I might unknowingly have provided. I am sorry, darlin’, I can’t tell you what you want to hear because I honestly don’t know. Through the club I could be down on paper for all manner of things I actually have no knowledge of.’
It was what Kate had expected to hear, but it didn’t make it any easier. At least he was being upfront and honest. For that much she was grateful.
‘Golding has her statement. She must have given up a few bodies to make it believable. Once he gets here we can see if you know anyone by name.’
He nodded. ‘I’m sorry to the heart for this, Kate. Do you think they are going to arrest me?’
She shrugged. ‘Get your doctor to say you are too ill to be questioned and leave it to me. I’ll see what I can do.’
He half smiled. ‘It makes a change, eh, us two working together?’
‘I could do without all this, Pat, to be honest.’
He said craftily, ‘Did you smack her one hard enough to make her remember it? I hope so, Kate. She sounds like a good slap has been on the cards for years.’