Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(55)

‘It hasn’t changed in the last sixteen years,’ she said. ‘What was buried there then is still there. Will we find links to you there, Gavin?’

He eyeballed Willis. ‘No, how many more times?’

‘Lambs Farm was one that Douglas used to sell to.’

Gavin’s eyes were rolling like an arcade machine as he tried to juggle possible answers in his head to find the right one, to come up with a winning response. ‘Where is it exactly? Maps don’t mean anything to me.’

‘Buckinghamshire.’

‘I might have been there. I went all over with Douglas in those days.’

Carter nodded.

‘We’ll be talking to people who used to go to the parties at the bungalow on Hawthorn Farm, as well as to the other disciples. Do you keep in touch with any of them? Stephen, Cathy?’

‘I’ve seen Stephen sometimes. I did some work for him a few years ago, on his roof.’

‘When did you last have contact?’

‘Must be a year ago now.’

‘Can I check that on your phone?’ asked Willis.

‘No, you can’t. I’ve got some photos of my cock I wouldn’t want you to get too excited about.’

‘You’re lying to us, Gavin. We know a lot about you, your business, your connection with your bosom pals in the chain gang, Stephen Perry and Cathy Dwyer, and GET, their business. You ran the security for GET.’

‘So what?’

‘So, you’re a liar,’ said Carter. ‘You like to play with the big boys now and again and you’re not one of them. You’re just a small-time thug with rich friends who throw you a crust now and again and wouldn’t think twice about pressing the eject button on you.’

‘Fuck off.’

‘Gavin,’ Carter picked up his coat and leaned across the table, ‘drop the hard man bullshit? I’m talking about protecting your family here.’

‘I can protect my family, like I’ve always done.’

‘You’re not swanning about in the fucking A-team this time. There’ll be no taking the law into your own hands this time, no toting rifles. You leave it to us or I’ll take great pleasure in locking you up. We’re dusting Nicola’s place for prints right now. I hope you find this as funny when the results are in and your fat grubby hands are all over this.’

Carter was still thinking about the look of defiance on Gavin’s face as they left him in the café, whilst Willis checked her phone as they got in the car.

‘He’s been in touch,’ said Willis as she read from the screen. ‘Stephen Perry doesn’t want us coming to his house, he said he’ll come into Archway or meet us in a café.’

‘Understandable,’ said Carter. ‘Put in the co-ordinates, we’re going there.’

‘Nice place,’ said Carter as they got out of the car outside Stephen Perry’s house in south London. Carter pressed the intercom and showed his badge to the security camera.

‘Mr Perry? Detective Chief Inspector Carter, and this is Detective Sergeant Willis. Can we have a word, please?’

The gate opened and Stephen Perry greeted them at the door. He had on black tracksuit bottoms and a grey T-shirt. He lowered his voice as he opened the door just wide enough to talk to them. He had dark blond floppy hair that he had a habit of pushing back all the time.

‘I said I would come to the station, I don’t want my family alarmed.’

‘We were passing, keeping it informal. Can we come in?’

He ushered them into the hall and then into his slightly unused-looking study on the left before closing the door. He offered them a seat in a lounge area that had strategically placed books on uncluttered table tops, a pseudo-leather globe on a brass plinth and photos of his family on the walls, along with memorabilia from boxers and fights going back to Muhammad Ali.

‘Wow,’ said Carter, ‘you have an impressive collection here. Keen boxing supporter, I see?’

‘Yes.’ Perry gave a forced smile. ‘Look, I’ve had press taking photos of my family. It’s not right.’

‘We didn’t notice them on the way in. But, some things cannot be helped, Mr Perry. I’m sure no one round here knows about your past.’

‘They will now. I don’t even remember Millie. I mean, I do, of course, but we weren’t close. Why are you even here?’

‘When we went to Millie’s flat the only photos we found there were ones from Hawthorn Farm back in the time that you lived there. Does that say something to you?’

‘Not really. What do you expect me to say?’

‘It tells us that she thought the comradeship you built up in those days was meant to last. I mean, surely that was what all the tattoo stuff was about, huh? Chained together for ever, through thick and thin. For Millie it was all thin. She never made it like you did.’

‘I had my tattoo removed.’

‘Why was that?’

‘Well, it wasn’t something I was particularly proud of.’

‘What did it mean to you?’ Willis asked.

He shrugged. ‘It symbolised a misspent youth.’

‘Does that mean you don’t have to abide by Douglas’s rules any more? Does that mean you’re no longer in the chain gang?’ Carter asked, still looking at the memorabilia on the walls of the office.