Bad Blood (39 page)

‘Marty Kemp?’ Savage said. Hardin muttered something about the bloody idiot going AWOL and told Savage to get someone else to clean up the investigative mess from last night and this morning and then concentrate on finding Riley.

The conversation over, Savage stood for a moment, trying to focus on what to do next. When her phone rang again she jumped, half-expecting it to be Jackman until she realised Jackman wasn’t going to be ringing her any time soon. The call did concern another patient at the hospital though. One of Crownhill’s PCs had been summoned by doctors on account of the fact that Lynn Towner, the taxi driver, had been moved from intensive care to the high-dependency unit. She was conscious and talking and demanding to know what the hell was going on. The officer said Towner had asked him whether she was being held against her will.

‘Got to be joking, right?’ he said to Savage. ‘What’s she going to do, crawl out of here?’

‘Jackman?’ Calter said. ‘Are we going to visit him while we’re up here?’

Savage concentrated on reversing the car into a space in the hospital car park and then cut the ignition.

‘No,’ she said, thinking even if Jackman was conscious he wasn’t going to be best pleased to see them. Especially since he’d asked for police protection. ‘We’ll leave him for another day. I don’t think there’s much he can help us with. It’s Lynn Towner who will have the answers.’

In the HDU, Towner occupied a bed by a window, a slit of sunlight sneaking through the blinds and shining on a ‘Get Well Gran’ card sat on a side table. Towner didn’t look as bad as Savage had feared, with just a patch across the right-hand side of her face, a neck brace and a cast which covered her right shoulder and arm. But then again there were her legs. Or rather the remains of them. The right leg bulged with a cast and bandages, while the other lay under a white sheet which covered some sort of cage which held the material clear. According to the ward sister the left leg had been amputated above the knee and the doctors weren’t holding out much hope for the other one ever being of much use either.

When Towner spotted Savage and Calter approaching she tried to turn her head, but the neck brace prevented her from moving more than an inch or two.

‘You’ve got a nerve,’ Towner’s voice rasped out, something between a whisper and a Dalek, as her eyes focused on Calter. ‘Look at me, look what you did!’

‘Shut up,’ Savage said, surprising herself with the tone of her voice. ‘You’re lucky we don’t arrest you on a charge of attempted murder. It’s a miracle you were the only one badly hurt. You could have caused a pile-up.’

‘Miracle?’ Towner’s eyes flicked down to her bedclothes. ‘They never fucking happen to me. It’s always the other buggers that win in life’s lottery.’

‘Half the time you make your own luck. You didn’t do yourself any favours by getting involved with Ricky Budgeon again. Helping him kidnap DS Riley. Why, Lynn? Or should I say Lynnette? That was your name back then, wasn’t it? Back when you hooked up with Ricky.’

‘I helped him as a favour. I loved him, the fucking tosser.’

‘You were kidding yourself. He was never going to come back to you.’

‘I did it for the old times, not for now.’ Towner laughed, the sound more like the bark of an old dog. ‘Now is too bloody late, isn’t it? That’s life for you.’

‘What old times?’

‘You don’t understand. Your kind never do.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘It means you’ve never craved love because someone has always been there for you. Not for me. Never. Not until Ricky came along. You might not believe it but Ricky was always a gentleman, he couldn’t do enough for me.’

‘And Kenny Fallon and Alec Jackman didn’t like that did they?’

‘No.’ Towner’s eyes closed and she sighed. ‘To them I was something to be purchased, unwrapped, used and discarded. With Ricky it wasn’t like that. He loved me.’

‘They all wanted you, but Budgeon was there first. So Kenny decided Ricky had to go. Next thing and Ricky is stopped on the M5 near Bristol, and when police check the spare wheel they find five kilos of cocaine in the boot. My boss would probably call that bloody good policing. I’d say it sounds too good to be true. What do you think?’

‘Ricky was set up.’ Towner opened her eyes and she sniffed. ‘I know that now, but at the time Kenny said Ricky was unlucky, that the bust was simply one of those things.’

‘Fortuitous for Kenny though, wasn’t it? I mean he got to fill Ricky’s shoes. At least for a time.’

‘He dumped me after six months.’

‘And things went downhill from there, didn’t they? At least for you. Kenny Fallon is doing alright though, isn’t he?’

‘Bastard.’

‘You and Dowdney, you’re an item, aren’t you?’

‘It’s not like that.’

‘No? What is it like then? Dowdney fucks you on that grotty sofa and slips an extra twenty quid into your wage packet? True love.’

‘How dare you! What right have you to speak to me—’

‘Every right. You are an accessory to the kidnapping of Sergeant Riley. You’ve probably sentenced him to death. You’re scum, the sort of thing I might scrape off the bottom of my shoe.’

‘Ma’am?’ Calter put an arm out and touched Savage on the shoulder. ‘Shall we all calm down a little?’

Savage ignored Calter and moved up the bed, closer to Towner.

‘Budgeon comes back and he needs a favour. You and Dowdney go along with it. Make a plan to pick up Sergeant Riley and hand him over to Budgeon. What you don’t realise is that your current squeeze, lover boy Dave, was the very person who passed the information to the police back when Budgeon was busted. He was the one who did Fallon’s dirty work.’

‘No!’ Towner moved a hand up to her face, flinched as she did it. Her eyes filled with tears. ‘Dave?’

‘They’re all the same, Lynn.’

‘Not Ricky. He loved me.’

‘Ricky has killed at least three people. He’s a murderer.’

‘Oh God!’ The tears flowed now, twin rivers streaming down Towner’s face. ‘My life, it’s gone.’

‘Lynn,’ Savage lowered her voice, softened the tone. ‘We need your help. You did the wrong thing the other day in the taxi and you did the wrong thing when you agreed to help Ricky Budgeon. However, in view of what happened I think a judge would be lenient with you. Especially if you help us. All you need to do is tell us where we can find Ricky. Come on, Lynn. Think of your children.’ Savage glanced at the card on the table. ‘Think of your grandchildren.’

‘Fuck off!’

‘Where is Ricky Budgeon?’

‘Fuck off.’

‘You’ve met him recently, haven’t you? All I’m asking is that you tell us where that was.’

‘Didn’t you hear me the first time?’

‘Your satnav,’ Savage said, calming things down again and changing tack. ‘The one you had in the taxi when you had a bump the other week. Who’d you give it to?’

‘I …’ The initial bemusement which spread on Towner’s face changed to a sly grin. ‘What sat nav?’

‘Lynn, I know you visited Budgeon and I know he’s somewhere down in Cornwall. You just need to give us a hint.’

‘Go away, I’m not telling you anything.’

‘It would be better if you did.’ Savage moved forwards and placed a hand on Towner’s right leg, pushing down ever so slightly.

‘You wouldn’t bloody dare!’

‘Thanks to you, Budgeon has got DS Riley. He’s probably going to torture him and kill him. I will do whatever I need to in order to get him back. Whatever, understand?’ Savage pressed on Towner’s leg and the woman squirmed and let out a gasp. Her right hand moved up to her pillow and twitched around a small black object, something like a remote control. A bleep sounded way off down the ward.

‘Ma’am?’ Calter flicked her head to indicate the nurse rising from the nursing station and moving towards them.

‘Everything OK?’ The nurse’s voice floated across the ward and her pace quickened, shoes clicking on the hard floor.

‘Fine.’ Savage turned away from the bed and tapped Calter on the shoulder. ‘We were just leaving.’

Crownhill Police Station, Plymouth. Saturday 26th January. 5.28 p.m.

Back at Crownhill and Davies was waiting for Savage in the Crime Suite.

‘You and me, Savage,’ Davies said. ‘Hardin wants us in the briefing room for a
Sternway
meeting. Can’t understand why his office wouldn’t have done.’

Neither could Savage until they walked into the room to find Simon Fox, the Chief Constable, sitting behind the table alongside Hardin. Both men wore full uniform, the silver buttons gleaming beneath the spotlights and reflecting in the polished table top. Behind her Davies had a coughing fit, spluttering into a handkerchief and muttering an apology. Savage could only move forward, shake Fox’s outstretched hand and hope he didn’t notice the sweat on her palms.

‘DI Savage,’ Fox said. ‘Good to meet you again. DCI Hardin tells me you are working hard as usual.’

‘Trying my best, sir.’

Fox gestured for them to sit and when they’d done so Hardin began to outline the progress
Sternway
had made so far. That didn’t take long, so then he moved into the facts from the other operations, detailing the confluences with
Sternway
and explaining the issue with Redmond and what they knew about Budgeon.

Savage didn’t know why Hardin was bothering; Fox knew all this already and from the gleam in his eyes he knew something else too. Hardin finished and handed over to Fox who smiled and then leant forward in a conspiratorial fashion.

‘Nothing, and I mean nothing, goes beyond this room. Understood?’ Savage nodded, Davies grunted a ‘yes, sir’ and Fox continued. ‘I am very distressed to hear about the disappearance of DS Darius Riley. Riley is a good copper. Did some fine work on sorting out the mess on the Harrison case and on
Sternway
he has been invaluable in liaising with the UC officer.’

Savage listened, wished Fox would hurry up and get to the point. Beside her Davies shifted in his seat.

‘Riley’s from London,’ Fox said. ‘He was undercover for a while, instrumental in the detection and arrest of a number of big players. Things got hot for Riley so he transferred down here.’

‘We’re glad he made the move, sir,’ Savage said. ‘He’s a good officer. Clever too.’

‘Well, the heat up in London was real enough. Riley was involved in an operation which netted a number of Colombians. There was another man as well: Ricky Budgeon, whom I believe you’re fingering for the murders and the attack on Councillor Jackman. Due to certain difficulties Budgeon managed to escape justice up in London and the case against him was dropped. DS Riley was obliged to transfer away from the Met, but the transfer to this
particular
force was somewhat artificial. SCD11 – the Specialist Crime Directorate intelligence unit – had become aware of plans Budgeon had in place to move back down here. He wanted an easier life away from the gangs up in London, he wanted to get back at Fallon for shopping him all those years ago and he saw an opportunity to develop the import side of things.’

‘So Riley came down here to get Budgeon?’ Savage said.

‘Not exactly. Riley came down here because we believed previous operations against organised crime had been compromised. From inside. We needed a competent officer guaranteed to be free from corruption. However, around the time of Riley’s transfer SCD11 discovered Budgeon had been back in the West Country before he was arrested in London. DS Riley wasn’t aware of that. Budgeon had a particular reason to dislike Riley, something to do with a woman of his and the fact that Riley was the UC officer who sprung the trap which led to Budgeon’s arrest. SCD decided they could use that to their advantage. The trouble is Budgeon moved before they were ready.’

‘What?’ Savage said, as a wash of anger rose within her. Hardin moved his hands out from under the table and made a gentle downward motion with them. Savage ignored him. ‘You fuckers set Riley up? Bastards!’

‘Charlotte,’ Hardin said. ‘Riley came here to cover the Fallon angle, to work as a normal DS, yes, but at the same time find out why Fallon had managed to keep one step ahead of us. Which is why when he first went missing I immediately thought “
Sternway
”. Turns out I was wrong.’

‘Yes, because it was Budgeon. You knew he was coming, with all the consequences that might have, but you never told Riley.’

‘To be fair to DCI Hardin,’ Fox said, ‘nobody was aware of the full facts but myself and one other senior person. Even Riley’s contact at force HQ didn’t know. This was about getting
Sternway
up and running and ensuring if it was compromised we would be on to the mole immediately. Budgeon was a bonus.’

‘A bonus! For fuck’s sake! Are you going to say that when DS Riley turns up missing one hand, tortured to death? You lot are a bunch of pen-pushing tossers and I—’

‘DI Savage!’ Hardin stood up and shouted, face red, fists clenched. ‘You’ll retract your remark immediately.’

‘It’s OK,’ Fox said, waving Hardin to sit down. ‘I understand DI Savage is angry because she is concerned about her officer. I respect that, but getting hot under the collar is not going to find DS Riley.’

‘What is?’ Davies said, speaking for the first time, his voice still gravelly from his coughing fit. ‘And who’s to say he’ll be alive when we find him?’

Savage turned to Davies. She had forgotten he was there. His thin lips pressed together in what Fox and Hardin would be interpreting as a grimace. She thought it more likely Davies was smiling. The chickens had been coming home to roost but now they were heading for the pot instead.

‘Phil,’ she said, ‘do you have any information? From your … um … contacts?’ Savage stressed the word ‘contacts’ a little too hard and Davies opened his mouth and then bit his bottom lip. ‘I mean you’re pretty clued-up on the more shadowy figures in this city, aren’t you?’

‘Is this true, DI Davies?’ Fox asked. ‘Have you got some insider information that can help us to find DS Riley?’

‘Huh?’ Davies seemed confused, as if unsure for a moment as to whether he was being accused of something. He stuttered out a couple of words which Savage couldn’t make out and then mumbled something about ‘informants’ and ‘seeing what he could do’.