Broken Dreams (31 page)

I raised my eyebrows. ‘What?’

‘The ones who stole your mobile’ he explained.

I nodded. ‘Right.’ I’d seemingly been attacked so many times since, it didn’t really register.

‘Gang of kids, looking for easy pickings.’

I picked my drink up. Easy pickings, I thought? ‘It was traumatic.’

‘I’m sure it was.’

We both laughed. It wasn’t important now.

‘You’ll make another statement?’

‘Whatever.’

‘We got some work out of the Murdoch’s swingers club you went to. Remember New Holland?’

I nodded. ‘The band?’

‘That’s the one. The singer was at the party, complete with a pile of Class A’s.’

I didn’t recall seeing him, but the band had been over for nearly fifteen years. I’d read they were reforming and going back out on tour. I assumed it would be interesting as I recalled the split being acrimonious. Coleman told me about the day’s arrests. ‘I wasn’t there for them’ he said. ‘I was involved with the interviews, so I had to prepare at the station. I’m pretty pleased I missed Johnson’s arrest, though.’

‘Didn’t take it too well?’

‘Took four officers to pin him down and put the handcuffs on.’

It sounded about right. ‘How did it to go with Murdoch?’

‘He came without any trouble.’

‘The interview?’

Coleman sighed and sat back in his chair. ‘Between these four walls, it’s going as we expected. We haven’t been able to speak to him yet, as the fraud boys get first crack, but he’s not holding out on us. He’s got his solicitor with him and he’s working through the details.’

‘How’s he holding up?’

‘Couldn’t really tell you.’

Murdoch had caused me nothing but grief, but I felt a little sorry for him. He’d allowed events to overwhelm him and Johnson had been quick to take advantage of him. For all that, he’d still made his choice. The regeneration work he had planned should have been his crowning moment, but now it wouldn’t happen. The biggest losers were going to be people like the Platts and their neighbours. Just like they’d lost their livelihoods all those years ago when the fishing industry had collapsed. ‘How did it go with Johnson and Taylor?’

‘As you’d expect, really. I’m told Taylor was relieved to get it all off his chest. You could say he’s not cut out for a life of crime.’ Coleman laughed. ‘Johnson is proving to be a harder nut for us to crack.’

‘I can imagine.’

‘He’s saying nothing, insisting he’s an innocent bystander, but we’ll keep chipping away at him. We’ve got plenty of time left.’

‘Good.’ The city would be a better place if he wasn’t on the streets. Over the last few days, I’d been thinking about my future. I hadn’t been sure how much enthusiasm I had for carrying on, and although most of the work was routine, the chance to help take down people like Johnson was too great to pass over. It got me out of bed in the morning.

‘Will you be talking to Frank Salford?’

Coleman shrugged. ‘Couldn’t tell you. It’s not really my case, but it sounds like he kept himself out of the loop.’

It was probably true. Salford had spent his whole life one step ahead of the police, so I doubted he was going to slip up now. He’d given Johnson enough rope to hang himself and he hadn’t been disappointed. It showed who was in charge.

‘How about Briggs?’ I asked, turning the conversation back to the Murdoch’s.

‘I spent a couple of hours with him. He’s not a very pleasant individual, is he?’

I agreed with him. ‘Have you charged him yet?’

 ‘Not yet, but it’s looking like a formality. He killed Jennifer Murdoch.’

 ‘Good.’

‘I hope us getting Johnson gives you some sort of closure for your wife’ Coleman said quietly, before turning away from me.

I was going to mention I had given them Johnson, but checked myself. It wasn’t important. I was pleased that they had the right man. He might not have set the house on fire himself, but he had ordered it. Maybe the police would get a name from Johnson, but I didn’t care who actually started it. It meant nothing to me. Coleman couldn’t look me in the eye; he knew the police had let me down. It had been me who’d chipped away and looked beyond the obvious. Christopher Murdoch hadn’t killed his wife.

‘No hard feelings, Joe.’ Coleman was in front of me, coat on, ready to leave. He held out his hand to me but I just stared at it. I thought about Debbie and fumbled around in my pocket for my wedding ring. Finding it, I put it back on, stood up and left the pub. 

END

Joe Geraghty will return in

‘The Late Greats’