In a House of Lies

Gamble and Yeats took the Doug Newsome interview, armed with information gleaned from Fox’s trawl of the original case files. Fox didn’t look particularly happy, despite the promise of a listen to the recording. Tess Leighton offered him half her Twix, but he shook his head. Jackie Ness meantime had been fined £250 and warned not to go within a hundred metres of Brand, his family, his home or place of work. He had left court into a maelstrom of media, only to be plucked out by Sutherland and Reid and taken back to St Leonard’s, solicitor in tow, to be asked about the words Lady Brand had heard him utter.

Afterwards, in the MIT room, Reid filled them all in. Basically, Ness had no recall of what he’d said. He had been pressed but could only shrug. It had been a moment of madness, the red mist descending — something the judge had taken into account when passing sentence.

‘We might need to question him again,’ Clarke interrupted, explaining about Larry Huston. ‘And Sir Adrian, come to that.’

‘So Bloom handed the contents of the safe to Jackie Ness?’ Crowther asked.

‘Or hung on to it,’ Tess Leighton argued.

‘Unless Cafferty got hold of it, of course,’ Clarke added.

‘It’s a bloody good motive for murder,’ Callum Reid agreed, brushing doughnut sugar from one trouser leg.

They all turned as Gamble and Yeats entered the room, Gamble handing a copy of the Newsome interview to Fox with the words ‘Knock yourself out.’

‘You will be shocked to hear,’ Yeats told the room, ‘that Mr Newsome reckons he did everything by the book. No faked records, no skipped interviews with suspects, no sleeping on the job. He did, however, have a few harsh words for Mary Skelton and John Rebus.’

‘Did you ask him about Steele and Edwards?’

‘Said he barely knew them. They were uniforms, well below his pay grade — his words, not mine. For what it’s worth, his thinking at the time mirrored that of his boss — gay love triangle ends in tragedy. He took part in one of the raids on Rogues and didn’t like what he saw. Proper little homophobe is our friend Newsome.’

Clarke’s phone was vibrating in her pocket. She checked the screen and headed for the peace and quiet of the corridor.

‘Mr Speke,’ she said, answering. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘It’s probably nothing, Inspector, but I was turning things over half the night and I remembered something. We shot a thriller for Jackie Ness a few weeks before Zombies v Bravehearts. It was supposed to be erotic; maybe it was to watch, but not to make. Female cop who jumps into bed with suspects and witnesses. That’s how she gets them to talk. But one of them’s a demon or some such nonsense and she ends up half demon and half angel.’

‘Sounds riveting. What’s your point?’

‘For one scene, Jackie needed handcuffs. He asked if anyone could get hold of some. Ralph Hanratty had been talking about adding some manacles to one of the walls in Rogues — just for a laugh, you know? Manacles and chains and whatnot — not my scene, but Ralph wanted to try it for size.’

‘He loaned you some handcuffs?’

‘I’m positive they can’t be the ones you found on Stuart. When I took them to Jackie, he thought they looked cheap. They were cheap; I’m not even sure they were proper metal.’

‘So you handed them back to Hanratty?’

‘I’m pretty sure I did. That’s why I don’t think they can be the ones in the car.’

‘What was the film called?’

‘Cops v Demons, I think.’

‘I should have guessed. Would you have a copy, Mr Speke?’

‘Might have a DVD kicking about.’

‘Could I send someone to pick it up?’