Death on Account (The Lakeland Murders) Read Online Free

Charlie that they have a proper meeting in the CID office at 8pm.
     
    Hall hitched a ride back with a uniformed PC, who drove in awkward silence. So the lads already had this one marked down as a damaging cock-up, and Hall’s cock-up at that. Nevertheless, Hall thanked him as politely as if the ride had been a huge favour, and then stood on the station steps and phoned Ian Mann again. This time his call went straight to voice-mail.
     
    Before he knocked and opened the door Hall already knew that Robinson wouldn’t be alone in his office. And sure enough Inspector Val Gorham, the Chief’s personal reputational bodyguard, was sitting next to him at the meeting table. As ever each of them was as immaculate as the other, and if their brains were half as bright as their buttons then Royal’s killer didn’t stand a chance. Hall brought them up to date on the investigation, but Robinson seemed more interested in the hour or so leading up to Royal’s death, and Hall had a pretty good idea why.
     
    ‘So you received this call from Royal at around twelve-thirty?’
    ‘Yes, it came via the switchboard, so it will have been logged and recorded.’
    ‘And what did you do then?’
    ‘I asked your secretary for the file.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I wanted to see what Royal looked like. All I knew was the name. Ian had been dealing with him. As you know we all kept to a need-to-know protocol on this one.’
    ‘So what did you do when you couldn’t get access to the file?’
    ‘I phoned Ian to get a description.’
    ‘From your office phone?’ asked Val Gorham.
    ‘No, from my mobile.’
    She raised her eyebrows, but Hall didn’t respond. He didn’t need to justify his action. ‘And what did you tell him on your mobile?’ continued Gorham.
    ‘That I had to meet Royal, and needed a description.’
    ‘Did you mention where you were meeting?’
    Hall had known this was coming.
    ‘I did.’
    Gorham feigned a look of shock and surprise. She didn’t do it all that well either.
    ‘Let me get this straight, Inspector. You told a former officer, who may well be facing very serious criminal charges relating to the deaths of two people, where you were meeting an extremely high-value informant?’
    ‘What are you implying Val?’ said Hall. ‘If Ian had wanted to sell Royal out he could have done so at any time. He knew where he was living, everything about him. And Ian’s not a former officer, he’s suspended from duty, unless you know something that I don’t but should. And the two men who died were trying to kill Ian, not to mention myself and DC Dixon, when he was involved in a highly successful undercover operation. Those two men were engaged in serious criminality at the time too. It may have been an Abbey, but they were no choirboys I assure you.’
    ‘I’m sure Inspector Gorham isn’t implying anything Andy, merely trying to ascertain the facts’ said Robinson smoothly. ‘And the fact is that Ian Mann, Detective Sergeant Mann, did know where you were meeting Royal.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘And also that the meeting was imminent?’
    ‘Yes, I think that would have been obvious to him from the context.’
    ‘Did you mention why Royal had asked to meet?’
    ‘No, I wasn’t certain. And there wasn’t time. The call to Ian can’t have lasted longer than twenty seconds or so.’
     
    ‘Did he know where you were calling from?’ asked Gorham, looking up from her notes.
    Hall looked at her with a new respect. He wondered if he’d have thought to ask the same question. He saw immediately why she had done so, and he rather doubted that he would have.
    ‘No, he didn’t ask, and I didn’t mention where I was. So for all he knew I might have already been there, waiting for Royal. So in fact there’s no way that he could have known that I wasn’t already at, or very close to, the rendezvous.’
     
    Both Gorham and Robinson had been sitting bolt upright in their chairs, as if they only articulated at the hips, but now