Contents ( 83)
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- Acknowledgements
- OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK
‘Now.’ Levy turned her gaze back upon Michael. ‘Anne’s safe. You’re both safe. Which means we have some breathing space. So let’s use it. Who the hell is Karl Hirst to you and why did he come for Derek Reid?’
FIFTY-SIX
‘Karl Hirst is the closest thing to a pure psychopath I’ve ever seen.’
Michael was retaking his seat as he spoke, his glass again replenished with amber liquid. It was now much more than half full.
‘He was also my first real case as Derek’s pupil. A hell of an introduction to the job.’
‘I know a little of the case, Michael.’ Levy was not unprepared. ‘I had the files checked. Turns out Hirst was one of the names that came up when Longman was murdered. But he didn’t make the cut when we sifted the suspects.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because we’re undermanned and under-resourced and so we had to prioritise the most likely suspects over the less likely,’ Levy replied. ‘And key details didn’t match the MO of this case, so he didn’t make the cut. Then Blunt was killed and as far as we saw there was no connection, as Blunt hadn’t been Hirst’s lawyer.’
‘But you didn’t look at Blunt’s time with the police?’
‘We weren’t aware of that line of enquiry at that stage.’ Michael saw Levy cast a glance at Sarah. ‘And once we were? That came too late.’
‘How the hell did you not know Blunt had been a cop?’ Michael asked.
‘Same answer as before,’ Levy replied, ‘only with added incompetence. I’ve got half my team split between the Longman case and the gang-killing in Brixton, and that’s out of a team that’s only at half-capacity already. When we’re stretched that far we have to trust our officers to be on the ball. It turns out the one I put onto Blunt’s background was less than that. Blunt had no family and no friends, so no one to fill in the blanks, and the idiot DC I put on his background check didn’t go any further than “lawyer”, as for him it was the obvious conclusion.’
‘That’s a hell of a mistake,’ Michael said.
‘And don’t think it’ll go unpunished,’ Levy replied.
Michael drained a mouthful of whiskey as Levy spoke.
‘None of which really matters right now,’ he finally said. ‘Not while Hirst’s still out there. What we need to be doing is making sure that anyone else he might be targeting is safe.’
‘We’ve already done that, Michael. We have you and your family under protection, plus the other barristers in the case. We’ve even put a unit on Adam Blunt’s old detective sergeant, just in case. There’s no one else left, is there?’
Michael did not answer immediately. His mind was too busy elsewhere. Did he need to tell Levy everything? Could Hirst really find the only other possible target? Michael did not know, and that fact answered the question for him.
‘There’s one other person,’ he finally replied. ‘The main witness at Hirst’s trial. Tina Barker.’