The Killing (23 page)

John dared to smile a little. ‘Two cops is hardly half the force.’

Millie shook her head. ‘Two that we know about, but there could easily be others. You know how it works, John. A big scandal breaking out amongst the officers in my squad means my career is down the pan. They won’t sack me, but I’ll be transferred well out of harm’s way; somewhere like the traffic department or the archives.’

James watched in horror as Millie froze briefly, then slumped forwards and burst into tears.

‘I don’t deserve this,’ she sobbed. ‘The force has been my whole life since I left university. I’ve worked too hard …
Too
bloody
 
hard.’

Michael Patel’s close friendship with Eric Crisp, Leon being a casino member and paying off his debts shortly after it was robbed, Patricia Patel’s password written on the CD found inside Will’s computer – everything pointed towards these five people being involved in robbing the Golden Sun Casino. But to make a case stand up in court, you need more than coincidences and tangled fragments of information. The pieces had to be turned into a story that made sense and was backed by solid evidence.

Everyone had a job to do. John headed back to campus to get hold of the records relating to Will’s death and ask Zara for extra resources. Dave had to carry on sticking close to Pete and Leon. Millie had to hide her hurt feelings and work normally alongside Michael Patel, while subtly trying to find evidence of his misconduct.

Although James felt bad for Millie, he was in a good mood as he drove back to Palm Hill with Dave. Not only was he optimistic about the mission succeeding, but John had asked him to switch his focus away from Max and Liza to concentrate on finding out more about Will. This meant hanging out with Hannah, which suited him fine. By the time James arrived back at the flat, he’d already set up a midnight meeting.

*

James got his butt kicked in the FIFA tournament that evening. They played two a side: James and Max as Arsenal, versus Liza and Charlie as Chelsea. Liza wasn’t into computer games. She kept getting the pass and shoot buttons mixed up and was only playing because she liked hanging out with Charlie, but Charlie more than made up for his team-mate. He weighted every pass beautifully, had a fantastic line in curved shots from outside the penalty area and most of the luck was running his way as well.

Max chucked a massive strop when Arsenal went three down for the second game in succession, claiming that Charlie was using a cheat code to score goals. After bouncing his controller off the wall, Max stormed out of his own bedroom.

‘He’s
 
such
 
a spoiled brat,’ Liza said, shaking her head jadedly. ‘Max expects to get his own way ’cos he’s Uncle Leon’s favourite.’

‘Do you want to play two against one?’ James asked.

Liza edged up to Charlie and smiled at him.

‘Maybe we’ll clear off to Liza’s room,’ Charlie grinned, as he gave Liza a quick kiss.

James nodded. ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’

‘I wouldn’t dare,’ Charlie giggled. ‘Leon might sit on me.’

Liza gently swiped Charlie across the head and told him not to be rude as they stumbled out of the room, grinning at each other. James wasn’t too happy at being left alone with Max. He wasn’t a bad guy, but he was quite boring and sometimes acted more like he was ten, instead of nearly fourteen.

Max looked embarrassed when he came back, holding two cans of Coke and a giant bag of spicy tortilla chips. He wanted to carry on playing FIFA, but James didn’t want him to start showing off again if he started losing, so they ended up watching
 
Jackass
DVDs
, while James showed him a couple of basic self-defence moves.

When it got to midnight, Max gave James a lift and he hauled himself through a wooden hatch above the
Tarasovs
’ landing, into a crawl space between the ceiling and the flat roof. He had to clamber over some fibreglass loft insulation, before breaking open a second hatch and sliding outdoors on to the roof itself. Hannah was already out there and she gave him a hand up.

‘Wow …’ James said, awed as he did a three-sixty.

He looked at the stars and the skyscrapers at Canary Wharf lit up in the distance, then at Hannah who wore a denim micro-skirt and a tight yellow top. They closed up and exchanged a big open-mouthed kiss.

‘I just had the biggest row with my dad,’ Hannah said, as she stepped backwards. ‘My headmistress rang up and told him that I bunked off yesterday. Now he says I’m grounded for the whole summer holiday.’

‘Bummer,’ James said.

‘I told Dad to shove it. He can’t stop me going out in the week, because him and Mum go to work every day. So he goes,
 
I’ll put a padlock on your room if I have to
. So I told him I was gonna run away and get myself pregnant to piss him off.’

James started to laugh. He loved Hannah’s warped sense of humour. ‘I bet that went down well.’

‘He’s
 
such
 
an idiot, James. It’s because of what happened to Will. He wants to keep me in a box like a china doll. But Will was a sad case. He got stoned all the time because he was lonely and
 
didn’t
 
have any friends, not because his friends were a bad influence. I told Dad that if he keeps on like this, I’ll end up depressed and lonely, just like Will.’

‘Your dad sounds like a
turd
. What about your mum, what does she say?’

Hannah shrugged. ‘Mum’s OK, but she’s a wimp. When I talk to her she agrees with me, but when Dad’s there, she won’t stand up to him. I know you’ve got no money or that, James, but
you’re
so
 
lucky not having parents around.’

‘It’s not such a big deal,’ James grinned, teasing Hannah. ‘It’s just
 
total
 
freedom to do whatever I want, that’s all.’

‘Anyway, from now on I don’t care
 
what
 
my dad says. I’m going out enjoying myself. I’ve already arranged for me and Jane to go swimming tomorrow.’

‘Oh, cool,’ James said. ‘Max reckons the leisure centre’s got really cool waterslides. Can I come?’

‘Actually, it’s kind of a girls’ outing. Liza’s coming and we already told her she’s not allowed to bring Charlie.’

James looked at his watch. ‘So what time have you got to go back indoors?’

‘We can spend the whole night up here for all I care,’ Hannah said.

She’d already spread out a blanket and a couple of cushions, which was a lot nicer than sitting on the prickly asphalt. They
snogged
a little bit, but mostly just talked. Hannah was the fifth girl James had got off with since his first ever kiss sixteen months earlier. Out of the five, Hannah was easily the one he had most in common with: she was blonde and good-looking, she had a temper, she hated school and she was always in trouble.

After an hour talking about all kinds of stuff, James realised that he had to do his duty and steered the conversation back towards Will and the robbery. Dave had already confirmed that Will knew Leon, so he thought he’d see what Hannah had to say about Michael Patel.

‘So, you heard about the computer blowing up?’ James said.

Hannah kissed him on the neck. ‘Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I should have warned you how dusty it is in that lock-up.’

‘It’s not your fault. If I’d had half a brain I would have worked that out for myself. When I was putting Will’s things in my room, it felt so weird. It belonged to someone only a few years older than us and he’s
 
dead
. You know what I mean?’

‘I cried so much,’ Hannah said, nodding slowly. ‘For about a week after Will died, I couldn’t get it out of my head, no matter how much I tried to think about something else. Even now I wake up with this funny feeling sometimes. Like, I’m all stiff and sweaty and I’m kind of thinking to myself:
 
was that a dream or did it really happen?
’

‘Do you think he was in trouble?’ James suggested. ‘A dark secret, like a girlfriend with a bun in the oven or something?’

Hannah grinned. ‘Will with a girl? No, no,
 
no
.’

‘What, was he gay?’

‘He wasn’t gay – at least not so far as I know. But Will never had a girlfriend in his whole life.’

‘When was the last time you saw him?’ James asked.

‘Why are you so interested?’ Hannah asked back.

James realised he’d been rattling off too many questions, like a policeman or something.

‘I
dunno
,’ he said, trying to sound as if he couldn’t care less. ‘I guess I’m morbid or something. We don’t have to talk about this if it makes you sad.’

Hannah seemed satisfied with the explanation and edged into a little smile.

‘I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘It’s more than a year ago, I’m mostly over it now. The last time I saw Will, I bumped into him on the balcony two days before he died. He looked wasted. Come to think of it, he always looked wasted; but he was in a good mood. He’d just made a couple of grand and he was talking about taking a break and going off to Thailand for a long holiday.’

James recalled seeing a Lonely Planet guide to Thailand amongst Will’s books in the lock-up.

‘So, how do you reckon he made that sort of money, selling dope?’

Hannah looked offended. ‘James, Will smoked a bit of dope but he wasn’t a drug dealer. He had a good reputation for mending computers and setting them up for people and stuff. He’d just done some job for Leon
Tarasov
.’

‘Right,’ James said, making a mental note of this fact as he sneakily picked off the tiny scab in his hair to make it bleed.

‘
Oww
,’ he said noisily.

Hannah sat up on the blanket, looking concerned. ‘What’s up?’

‘I accidentally scratched my head. I’m bleeding where that pig belted me against the car roof.’

Hannah looked at James’ bloody fingertip. ‘You poor little lamb,’ she said, grinning dopily.

‘That Patel’s a
nutter
,’ James said. ‘Max reckons he’s smacked a few other kids around, as well.’

‘I’ve heard that,’ Hannah nodded. ‘But he was really nice to me when Will died. He was just around the corner when it happened. He went over and grabbed Will to see if he was alive, then he came running over to me and Jane. I was hysterical. He put his arms around me and rubbed my back to calm me down … Actually, you know what, James? It’s a beautiful warm evening and we’re supposed to be having a nice time.’

‘Sorry,’ James said. ‘What
 
do
 
you want to talk about?’

‘Nothing,’ Hannah said, moving her head towards James so that they could start smooching again.

*

James woke up at seven, busting for a pee with a sunrise breaking out over his head and a dead arm where Hannah’s head was resting on it. He tried moving her gently on to one of the cushions without waking her up, but her eyes flickered open.

‘Oh,’ Hannah moaned slowly, as she stretched into a yawn. ‘My back’s
 
really
 
stiff.’

As James stood up and walked the cramp out of his legs, he noticed loads of cricks and twinges to go with his dead arm.

‘Who’d have thought a hard asphalt roof wasn’t a good place to sleep,’ he grinned. ‘Do you think your dad’s noticed that you’ve gone?’

Hannah shrugged. ‘If he did, he’ll shout at me; if he didn’t, he’ll shout at me about something else. So what difference does it make?’

‘I need the toilet. You can come down to my flat for breakfast if you want. Mind you, I don’t think there’s much in the fridge except milk for cereal … And I think we’re out of cereal.’

‘Might turn that one down then,’ Hannah grinned, as she wrapped the blanket around the two cushions, gathered it up by the corners and slung the bundle over her shoulder.

‘So I’ll see you then,’ James said.

‘What do you think will happen when I tell my dad that we spent all night having sex on the roof?’

‘Eh?’ James gasped. ‘I
 
wish
. All we did is snog and fall asleep.’

‘Yeah,’ Hannah giggled. ‘But I want to see if I can make Dad’s head explode.’

James started to crack up. ‘You’re
 
insane
, Hannah. Whatever you tell him, don’t bring my name into it. I don’t want him bursting in on me and trying to chop me up with a machete or something.’

‘I wouldn’t worry on that score. My dad’s got little cocktail-stick legs and a big potbelly. After the way you demolished those two thugs on Saturday night, I’ll be betting my pocket money on you if a fight breaks out.’

‘That’s if your dad ever reinstates your pocket money,’ James grinned, as he gave Hannah a goodbye kiss. ‘I’ll give you a call later,’ he yelled as he rushed off to use the toilet. ‘Have fun at the pool.’

Dave had been out food shopping the night before. He was at the table eating scrambled eggs on toast when James got in.