Hail and Farewell (The Lakeland Murders) (8 page)

‘Something like that.’

‘He’s done well then, bloody well. In a big city someone like that hits the top of that game in their twenties and probably only has three or four years before either we get them, their rivals do, or one of their own lads saves everyone else the bother. There are butterflies with longer life-cycles than the likes of Jack Moffett.’

‘Do you think we can write him off as a suspect then?’

‘Never. He wouldn’t think twice about having that kid killed if he thought it would help him save his own skin.’

‘But I just can’t see any possible connection between Chris Brown and Moffett, or with Hayton either, come to that.’

‘So I didn’t miss anything then, Jane? When I did the background on Chris Brown, like.’

Jane looked round and saw that Mann was smiling. She was pleased, and a bit surprised. It wasn’t really the reaction that she’d expected.

‘No, nothing. The kid was either incredibly careful, and really clever, or he was as clean as a whistle. In a way I almost wish he weren’t. At least he’d have died for something then.’

Mann nodded and drove on in silence. Eventually he spoke.

‘It’s the randomness, isn’t it? You can never get your head round it. But what Andy said is right. It’s too much of a co-incidence to have several serious injuries, all gang related and definitely deliberate, and this accidental death happening all at the same time. They must be connected somehow. Anyway, it’s friend Hayton next, is it?’

‘No, let’s pay a quick visit to our film-maker, shall we?’

‘Is it worth it? He’s not local. His footage will be the most useful thing he’s got for us, won’t it?’

‘Put it down to curiosity, if you like.’

‘You’re the boss. Where’s he staying?’

Alex Baker was waiting for them in the bar of the hotel when they arrived. He was older than Jane had expected, perhaps about her own age. Baker offered to buy them both a coffee, but Jane refused and left Mann to go to the bar and order for them.

‘I’ve never spoken to a detective before’ Baker said. ‘My only dealings with the police have been when they’ve tried to stop me filming in public places.’

‘Tried to?’

He laughed. ‘You’re right, I’ve always stopped. Some people make an issue of it, but I just don’t have the balls for it, I suppose. It’s yet another erosion of our liberties, and I know I should say something, but the police are so intimidating, close up.’

Jane nodded. ‘I sometimes think that the only people we do intimidate these days are the ones who’ve got nothing to worry about. You wouldn’t believe how some people, kids even, speak to us.’

‘The Met’s bad press can’t have helped. It just seems to be one thing after another. Do you think they’ll have to reorganise now? Change their name to protect the guilty, maybe?’

‘The normal procedure is that we ask the questions, Mr. Baker.’

‘Alex, please. So what do you want to know? I have given a statement, and you’ve already got all of the footage I shot on Friday. Every last second of it.’

Mann came back to the table with a tray and sat down.

‘I was after a bit of background, as much as anything’ said Jane, when Baker had thanked Mann for his coffee. ‘What made you come all the way up here to film Uppies and Downies?’

‘It’s a sort of hobby, really. I film all sorts of old customs and practices, all over Britain. I’ve wanted to do this one for years.’

‘And what happens to your films, when they’re finished?’

‘I put them up online, so people can see them.’

‘Free?’ asked Mann.

‘Yes. As I said, it’s a hobby.’

‘And what is it you do, as a job?’

‘I work in a planning department for a local council. I’m based in Guildford. My films are just a way of recording things before they disappear.’

‘Do you think Uppies and Downies will disappear?’

‘I don’t know. But it will certainly change, because everything does. It used to be really big, you know. The game used to get up into the town pretty regularly, and one time the scrum even went into the cinema, when a film was actually showing. Can you imagine? Popcorn flying everywhere, I expect. I’d love to have filmed that happening.’

‘So did you contact anyone before you came up?’

‘No. The thing about events like this is that they don’t have any organisers, not really. So you just turn up, and get on with it. One of the problems about filming almost anything now is that it’s all so controlled. In a way games like Uppies and Downies are just a reminder of when people were free to do what they wanted. I suppose that’s what attracts me, really.’

‘Even if people get hurt?’

‘They don’t, not usually. I spoke to a few people on Friday night, and they were shocked, really shocked about what happened. But I heard that there was some sort of gang thing going on. It’s in my statement.’

‘Yes, we’re aware of that, thanks. So give us your impressions, of the game I mean.’

‘What I expected, really. The atmosphere was good before the start, very friendly, and the game got off to a slow start. It doesn’t help that someone like me let the local Council build it’s HQ right on the pitch, but that’s how it goes I suppose. Anyway, I didn’t notice anything was amiss, right up until I heard all the shouting about that poor lad being in the water.’

‘What did you do then?’

‘Tried to help of course, as best I could.’

‘And you weren’t filming, when he was being bought to the bank?’

‘No. Like I say, I was trying to help. It’s not a war zone, and I’m not a reporter. It’s just my hobby really, a bit of fun. Maybe, in a hundred years time, someone will look at my stuff, but I’m not banking on it. And if they do it’ll probably the the stuff that I filmed by accident that they’ll be interested in, because those are the things that no-one bothers to record at the time.’

‘So you’ll be there again tonight?’

‘Oh, yes. I have to go back down south again on Thursday morning. I think I’ll need Wednesday to recover, because I’m expecting a late finish. Everyone will play really hard, because of what happened.’

‘And there’s nothing that you noticed that you think might help us?’

‘Like what?’

‘Well, anything that’s not on the film, or in your statement. Something that you saw out of the corner of your eye, perhaps?’

Baker thought for a moment.

‘This is probably nothing, and don’t take my word for it, because like I say I’m no expert. But it seemed a bit strange, the way the scrum moved back towards the beck. You know, before that poor young lad was drowned.’

‘Strange how?’

‘I don’t know. It was just an impression, and I could be wrong. I’m not even sure if I thought about it at the time, or if it was only afterwards. But one thing I can tell you for sure. There was more noise, more shouting, in the few minutes before it happened. The intensity ratcheted up a notch or two, that’s for sure.’

Jane nodded, and glanced over at Ian Mann. He hadn’t really been paying attention, but a question or two was clearly expected.

‘How many people watch your videos, then?’

‘Quite a few. The last one I made, about the Burryman up in Scotland, that’s had over two hundred already.’

‘Really? In how long?’

‘Not long, just a few months. But, like I say, it’s just a hobby. I do it because someone should, that’s all. I don’t really care if no-one else is interested.’

‘Well we’re interested’ said Jane. ‘And thanks again for letting us have all your footage.’

‘Is it any use?’

‘Absolutely. We’re still working on it, but I’m sure it will be really helpful.’

‘Great. And I’ll see you later on, I expect.’

‘At the game? Yes. We’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it.’

The two officers walked from the hotel to George Hayton’s office, above a taxi booking office in a side street close to the centre of Workington.

‘He owns this place, I take it?’ said Jane, as they stood outside.

‘Aye, and half a dozen other businesses up and down the west coast. All cash based, of course.’

‘He launders his dirty money through them?’

‘That’d be favourite, aye. And taxis are handy for the delivery round too, aren’t they?’

‘So the drugs team are interested in him?’

‘Oh aye, he’s been a category one target for years. But he’s clever enough to avoid any direct contact with the bent bits of the business these days. A couple of his main men have been busted lately, don’t get me wrong, but there’s always someone else ready to step up.’

‘So who is his right hand man at the moment?’

‘A lad called Bell, and his nickname is Stringer.’

‘They watch
The Wire
?’

‘Seems like it. One of them does, anyway. I never understood a word of it when I tried, like. Of course Bell’s a common name round here. His actual first name is Lee.’

‘I hope they don’t watch
Breaking Bad
as well, or it’ll give them ideas.’

‘I doubt it. I asked one of the lads in drugs about that funny enough, and he said that the only people addicted in Cumbria were the ones who couldn’t stop watching the show. Meth is a bit of a non-issue up here. It’s mainly used in the gay scene down south, apparently.’

‘What? And we don’t have one of those in Cumbria?’

Mann smiled. He knew when he’d been caught out. There was no point in keeping digging.

‘I didn’t say that. You need the right ingredients to make crystal meth anyway, as well as the know-how, and no matter how clever these lads think they are they’re not in that league. They’re just pretty small fish in a tiny little pond. A proper piranha would have them for breakfast. Mind you, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to put the lot of them away.’

‘I know what you mean. There’s nothing glamorous about what these people do, no matter how it looks on TV.’

The taxi office turned out to be proof of that assertion. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in the last decade, and the furniture looked as if it had come out of a skip. A woman sat at the spill-stained desk with a headset on, and she was sharing a joke with one of the drivers when Jane and Mann came in. She glanced up at them, and then gestured towards the two men leaning against a door at the back of the room.

‘You the law?’ said one of them, as Mann approached, his ID already out. The man seemed to be about to say something else, but he looked back at Mann and changed his mind. The doorway was narrow, and Mann had to to turn slightly sideways to get through. Jane followed him up the stairs.

Mann almost laughed out loud when he pushed the door at the top of the stairs, because it was like he’d walked into the back office of a recently refurbished bank branch. The furniture was new, the computers newer, and half a dozen staff sat looking at computers, or talking on the phone. And Mann didn’t need to run a PNC to know that every one of them was a straight, honest citizen. They just had that look. A woman looked up from the desk nearest them. She smiled.

‘Mr. Hayton and Mr. Bell are waiting for you. Can I offer you a coffee? I’m just about to make them one.’

‘No, thanks’ said Jane. ‘Could you just point us in the right direction?’

‘No need. Come with me, please.’

Hayton’s private office was at the back of the open plan area, and there were a pair of sofas facing each other in the area nearest the door.

‘George Hayton’ said the older man, getting up, ’and this is my colleague, Lee Bell.’

‘AKA Stringer?’ said Jane.

‘Only to my friends’ said Bell, smiling.

‘Do sit down’ said Hayton, indicating the sofa opposite. ‘Polly, love, have you offered teas and coffees?’

‘I have, George.’

‘All right, lass, leave us to it, would you?’ Hayton was still smiling as she closed the door. Both he and Bell were dressed like businessmen, of the no-tie variety. They could work for a provincial advertising agency, thought Jane.

‘Now, before we start, do I need my lawyer?’

‘That’s up to you,’ said Jane, ‘but we only wanted a chat, at this stage anyway.’

‘If I had a pound for every time I’d heard that I’d be a rich man.’

‘Aren’t you that already?’

‘Compared with who, love? You’re a DS, right? What are you on, fifty grand?’

‘I wish.’

‘Well, anyway, I make more than that, it’s true. But you’re the one with all the job satisfaction. Catching criminals. It must be fun.’

‘It’s mainly paperwork.’

Hayton laughed. ‘Isn’t everything these days? So what can we do for you?’

‘It’s about last Friday night. The death at Uppies and Downies.’

‘We heard about that. Very sad. But accidents do happen.’

‘So do you don’t think that the confrontation between your boys and Jack Moffett’s was a contributory factor? Maybe even the cause of Chris Brown’s death?’

‘Now that’s a leading question, DS Francis’ said Bell quickly. ‘And it’s based on any number of inaccurate assumptions.’

‘I didn’t know you were a lawyer, Mr. Bell.’

‘I’m not. I’m a qualified accountant. But we do have a very good lawyer, and I’m very happy to put in a call and we can continue this meeting either here, or at the police station.’

‘That won’t be necessary. As I said, at least for now. Could I ask your client, I mean your boss, a couple of more general questions? To help us establish some of the more general background.’

‘You can ask.’

‘Good. So let’s start with the victim, Chris Brown. Was he known to you, Mr. Hayton?’

‘No.’

‘And, as far as you know, did he have any gang affiliations?’

‘I really wouldn’t know.’

‘This is a waste of time, Jane’ said Mann, and Hayton looked surprised.

‘Who rattled his cage?’ said Hayton, in mock surprise.

‘Everyone’ said Mann. ‘You’re not going to co-operate, we get that. A young kid is dead, maybe because of you, and you don’t give a shit.’

‘I resent your tone’ said Hayton. ‘Ask anyone, and you’ll find that’s not the case. My companies make generous contributions to any number of local charities and good causes. We pride ourselves on it, as a matter of fact.’