Nowhere To Hide

Wakefield laughed and shook Hodder’s hands. ‘If you’re coping with Jack Brennan, you must have something about you. He’s got many good qualities, but not being a pain in the backside isn’t one of them.’ Wakefield turned back towards Brennan. ‘Okay, Jack, you’ve dragged me up here to the arse-end of nowhere to open up for you. What’s this about exactly?’

‘Wild goose chase, probably. But since I’m kicking my heels over in the ivory towers, I thought I should come and see where Kenning met his unfortunate end.’

‘Why the sudden interest in Kenning? It’s not like there’s any great mystery about his killing.’

‘Except that you don’t actually know who killed him.

‘No, and I don’t suppose we ever will. I think I’ll learn to live with that.’ Wakefield was fumbling in his pocket for the keys to the cottage. ‘He was a grass. He was living on borrowed time. He got taken out. Simple as that.’

‘So who took him out?’

‘Buggers he put behind bars,’ Wakefield said. ‘But we’ll never prove it. It was a pro job, and a good one.’ He led them to the door of the cottage and, after trying a couple of the keys on the chain, found the one that fitted the front door. He unlocked the door and led them inside.

‘Who’s the cottage belong to?’ Hodder said from behind. ‘The Force?’

‘Funded from the witness protection programme’, Wakefield said. ‘We’d think about selling it but no one would want to buy up here. Keep it for the next daft bugger who blows the whistle.’

‘Take it you’ve had the place cleaned up?’ Brennan asked. The front door led straight into the living room of the cottage, a dark shabby-looking room with a worn sofa, two armchairs and, at the far end, a folding wooden table and a couple of chairs. Brennan walked over and peered at a dark stain on the dull mauve carpet. ‘This where it happened?’

Wakefield nodded. There was still a faint scent of blood in the air, just detectable through the pervading stench of bleach and disinfectant. ‘Yeah, you can see the bullet mark in the plaster behind. Best we can judge from the ballistics, the gunman was actually seated on the sofa.’

‘Doesn’t pay to exert yourself,’ Brennan commented. ‘What’s that mean, then? Someone he knew?’

‘You fishing, Jack? See what you can pump out of an old mate?’

‘You know me better, Rog. If I want to know something, I just blurt it out.’

‘True enough. Go on, then. Blurt.’

Brennan ignored him and moved to stand by the sofa, looking across to the stained carpet. He squatted for a moment, envisaging the passage of the bullet through the air. ‘What weapon?’

‘Nine mil. We think a Glock 17.’

Brennan raised an eyebrow. ‘Police weapon?’

Wakefield laughed. ‘Yeah, we use them. Not one of ours, though. Plenty out there.’

‘You’ve not found the gun?’

‘Like I said, Jack, this was a pro job. He’d have taken the bullet with him if he could. He barely left a trace. Some scraps of DNA, but nothing that matches.’ He paused, then smiled across at Hodder who was standing awkwardly by the open front door. ‘Why do I get the feeling that I’m doing all the talking, son?’

Brennan rose and moved to stand beside Hodder at the front door, peering at the lock. ‘Decent seven-lever deadlock,’ he commented. ‘Lockable bolts. Kenning cared about his security. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? So how’d the killer get in?’

‘Back door, we think,’ Wakefield said. ‘Security not quite as tight there. Pretty expert entry, though. Like I say, a pro.’

‘No alarm system?’

‘No. You know, I sometimes think that, if we want people to grass, we should look after them a bit better after they’ve done it. Just my opinion, you understand. Views expressed don’t necessarily represent those of the management.’ He pulled open the door that led out into the narrow hallway. ‘Grand tour?’

‘Might as well now we’ve paid.’ Brennan and Hodder followed Wakefield into the tiny kitchen at the rear of the house. It had been thoroughly cleaned, along with the rest of the house, but still carried a dingy air, the afternoon sunlight barely penetrating the grimy windows.

‘Dream kitchen.’ Wakefield pointed towards the back door. The lock had been replaced, but the splintered wood alongside it indicated that the door had been jemmied open. ‘How he got in. Not subtle, but skilfully done. Minimum damage, minimum noise.’

‘Not all that secure, though.’

‘Once they found out where he was, it would take more than a few locks to keep them out. And if they couldn’t get in, they’d just torch the place. Maybe Kenning wanted an exit route.’

Brennan surveyed the small kitchen. ‘Christ, what a fucking life. Stuck in this dump. Not even a sheep for company. Knowing they’re out there somewhere, waiting to track you down. Jesus.’

‘His lucky day when the mystery assassin turned up. Least he had a bit of company.’ Wakefield watched as Brennan prodded the doorframe. ‘Okay, Jack, I’ve been very patient. Now cough up. Why the interest in Kenning? He’s not the right league for your lot.’

‘Not my lot,’ Brennan pointed out. ‘I’m only on secondment. I’m one of you.’

‘Not most people’s opinion,’ Wakefield said. ‘And I’m starting to have my doubts.’

Brennan glanced across at Hodder, as if he were about to make the young man complicit in some illicit action. ‘I can trust you, Rog,’ he said. ‘Not to shoot your mouth off, I mean. Not just yet.’

‘Depends what you’re going to say.’

‘Nothing very significant. But I get the impression that communications between my bosses and yours aren’t as transparent as they might be. Don’t want to step on any more toes than I can help, just at the moment.’

‘Bit late for that, mate. But okay, if you’re in the shit, at least try to tread water.’

‘I’ve been asked to look at a series of killings. Kenning’s one of them.’

‘But your lot haven’t told our lot.’

‘Above my pay grade. But my boss has asked me to collate the evidence. Guy called Hugh Salter. You know him?’

‘By reputation. DS in the Met, before he went over to your lot. He was involved in that corruption case last year, wasn’t he? Jeff Kerridge and all that. On the rise, from what I hear.’

‘Yeah. We already had a chat about the ironies of the situation.’ Brennan looked across at Hodder again. ‘Sorry if I’m talking out of school, Andy. Just trying to be straight with Rog here.’

Hodder looked slightly surprised at being consulted. ‘Don’t mind me,’ he said, after a pause. ‘Wouldn’t trust Salter any further than I could throw him.’

‘No way to talk about your elders and betters,’ Brennan said. ‘Interesting you think that, though.’

‘He got me tangled up in that Kerridge business,’ Hodder said. ‘Had me tailing one of our undercover officers, Marie Donovan. I went along with it because – well, because he was senior to me, I suppose. I thought he’d got it officially sanctioned, but he was off on his own. He covered for me, but mainly because he had to make his own story hang together. Didn’t feel right, though. Still doesn’t.’

‘How’d you mean?’

‘I don’t know. The whole thing with Kerridge. Salter came out of it looking good. But there was something not right about it.’ He shook his head, as if dealing with a subject beyond his comprehension.

Wakefield had been watching this dialogue with some interest. ‘So what’s Salter’s interest in Kenning? The guy grassed on a small-time drug ring.’

‘Salter reckons it wasn’t all that small-time. That it was part of Kerridge’s empire. And that Kenning was taken out by Pete Boyle, the guy who’s trying to become the new Kerridge.’

‘Anything’s possible,’ Wakefield said. ‘Boyle marking his territory? Tomcat pissing up the wall sort of stuff?’