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.The guesswork had anyway been unnecessary as Hugh realised he had seen him before.Montgomery shook his hand.‘Extremely sorry to hear about Mrs Gwynne.My condolences to you and your family.’‘Thanks.’Unbuttoning his jacket Montgomery sank into the adjacent chair and crossed his legs as if to set a relaxed tone.‘Campaigning groups aren’t always the easiest of people.Tend to get a touch confrontational.But Mrs Gwynne was always most pleasant and professional to deal with.We didn’t see eye to eye on the merits of the Free Denzel Lewis campaign of course but it was never personal.She was a most delightful lady.’‘You met regularly?’‘Oh no,’ Montgomery said, as if such a thing had never been on the cards.‘No, it must’ve been three times in the last two years.Ah.’ Spotting a waiter he lifted a hand and kept it up until the waiter took notice.‘Would you like a coffee, Mr Gwynne?’When they had ordered, Montgomery remarked, ‘Don’t often get decent coffee in my line of work.’Was this why the chief inspector had suggested meeting in a four-star hotel, Hugh wondered: for the quality of the coffee? Or was it out of sensitivity to Hugh’s widowed status, a place away from the clamour and interruptions of the police station? Or was it a desire to keep their meeting away from curious eyes, an extension of the secrecy he’d tried to impose on Ellis?Montgomery said, ‘DI Steadman and his team completed their investigations, have they?’Hugh took a moment to frame his answer.‘They think they have.’If this reply raised any questions in Montgomery’s mind he made no comment.‘And the fire brigade have made their report as to the cause?’Hugh was tired, he had slept even worse than usual, it was all he could do not to snap, You bloody know they have, you talked to Ellis.Instead he selected a level tone to say, ‘I believe so, yes.’‘And it was a tragic accident?’ The conjunction of ‘tragic’ and ‘accident’ was delivered matter-of-factly, like ‘serious incident’ or ‘immediate response’.‘That’s what they’re saying.’Montgomery creased up his eyes in a show of sympathy.Hugh wasn’t sure what he took most exception to, the facile compassion, the ridiculous strands of hair pasted over Montgomery’s shiny pate, or the way he pretended ignorance of the fire report.With the air of having completed the preliminaries, Montgomery ventured, ‘So.what can I do for you, Mr Gwynne? I wasn’t quite clear when you called.’Nor was I, thought Hugh, but I’m much, much clearer now.Proceed with caution.‘I’ve come on behalf of the Lewis family,’ he said.‘Oh? In a legal capacity?’‘No.Just helping out.’‘Ah.’‘It was about the meeting you had with my wife last.Tuesday, was it?’‘Yes.Tuesday morning.’‘The Lewises wanted to know what the outcome was.’Montgomery’s eyebrows rose slightly.‘They know why she came to see me?’‘Something to do with witness protection, I believe.’‘Yes.Yes, that’s right.Mrs Gwynne wanted to know how the scheme worked, whether it would be available in the event of a new witness coming forward.I wasn’t able to offer much hope.’ A semblance of regret passed over Montgomery’s pink face.‘Once there’s been a successful conviction, well.it takes a lot to reopen a closed case.’‘She must have realised that, surely?’‘She did, yes.But she wanted to know if there was any way round it.’‘And was there? Is there?’‘I told her it would take strong evidence.’‘How strong?’Montgomery had a think about that.‘A sworn statement, a reliable witness prepared to stand up in court and swear to dates and times.Something along those lines.’Feeling a duty to argue Lizzie’s corner, Hugh said, ‘That’s Catch-22, surely? You’re not prepared to offer protection until you get the statement, but no witness in their right mind is going to be daft enough to make a statement without a guarantee of protection.’Montgomery conceded with a dip of his head.‘Put like that.’‘Very good of you though.’‘How’s that?’‘To give time to people who’re out to prove you got it wrong.’‘If I’ve learnt anything in my thirty years in the force, Mr Gwynne, it’s never to close the door on people.’‘Even when they’re trying to undo all your good work.’Montgomery gave a humourless smile.‘Even then.’ The coffee arrived and he sat forward to select a sachet of sweetener.‘My wife certainly believed in the campaign.’‘Yes.’‘But you don’t think there’s anything in it?’‘My team put Denzel Lewis away on solid evidence, Mr Gwynne.’It would have been surprising if he’d said anything else, yet there was no hint of conceit or triumph in his manner.The glib sympathy had given way to an open accommodating manner.He seemed without malice or vanity.Yet he couldn’t have reached the rank of chief inspector without a sliver of steel in his spine, the same steel that was making him conceal his knowledge of the fire report.‘Solid evidence isn’t necessarily infallible evidence,’ Hugh pointed out.‘I would never suggest that it was.But it’s sufficient for the justice system.And as you’re aware, Mr Gwynne, that’s all we do at the end of the day, feed the facts into the justice system.’‘Remind me, what was the evidence exactly?’ Hugh asked, not because he wanted to hear it again but because he wanted time to think.Montgomery gave him an appraising look, as if unsure of the spirit in which this request had been made.‘I’ve always heard it from the other side,’ Hugh explained.‘Of course.’ Montgomery made a business of stirring his coffee while he assembled his facts.‘Well, for some months before the killing Lewis and his gang had been intimidating Jason Jackson for no other reason than Jason was a good, hard-working, clean-living kid who was an easy target.On the night of the murder Jason was walking home from basketball practice at the local sports centre.At approximately nine thirty he was stabbed three times and dragged into a dark alley.None of the wounds was immediately fatal, but left without medical attention he bled to death, probably within the space of an hour [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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