The Fourth Friend (DI Jackman & DS Evans #3)(76)

‘I’ll try.’

She looked around the office. There was something different about it. She looked again and saw that the picture of Glory, Jackman’s old horse, had been moved to the wall behind the desk, and in its place hung an old and rather faded watercolour.

Intrigued, Marie went to look at it. It showed an old man, his dog beside him, pulling a salmon from a landing net in a river. ‘He looks just like Silas Breeze.’ She looked at Jackman, her head tilted slightly to one side.

‘It’s called “The Poacher,” so no wonder you made the connection.’

Three bodies had been recovered by the Underwater Search and Recovery Diving Unit. Carter McLean, Silas Breeze, and Klink the dog. The Eva May had broken up, and since she was no danger to other vessels, she had been left to lie where she was.

‘Where did the picture come from?’

Jackman took out his phone and scrolled through the received messages. He passed it to Marie.

“Please collect parcel behind seat of Land Rover. Take care of it for us.”

‘Carter?’

‘Yes. I’ll probably never find out why it was so important to him. I’m certain there is a story attached to it, but it’s a kind of bequest, so . . .’

‘Have you received the Marine Accident Investigation report yet?’

Jackman evidently didn’t want to say. ‘You won’t hurt me, you know,’ said Marie. ‘The facts will help me put this whole horrible affair into perspective, then I can file it away and move on.’

‘They discovered several places in the hull that had recently been “doctored.”’ Jackman looked thoroughly miserable. ‘He rigged it so that a series of bungs could be removed. It was a deliberate sinking.’

Marie nodded. ‘I thought I’d imagined it. So what I saw was true. They were drinking together when she went down.’

‘Confirmed by the bottle they found floating in the wreckage.’ Jackman pointed to a file that was lying on his desk. ‘Are you sure you are ready for this, Marie? It doesn’t have to be dealt with now.’

‘I think it does. Let’s put it to rest, shall we?’

‘The post-mortem confirmed that Professor Sam Page was absolutely correct. Carter did have a lesion in the temporal lobe of his brain. It may have been there for a very long time, or it could have been a result of the concussion. Whatever, it was probably inoperable. If he’d known, or if any of us had guessed, maybe . . .’

‘We can’t turn the clock back, sir. Carter made his choice. I don’t think the tumour would have affected his decision in the end.’

‘Probably not.’ Jackman looked up. ‘The authorities have disregarded the letter that he left. He confessed to killing Suzanne Holland because she was an emotional and abusive bully. He was on duty when she died, and the diaries prove it. The ACC suspects it was an attempt to protect one of his friends, probably Tom Holland.’

Marie wondered. Carter had lied so much that she was no longer sure what the truth was.

‘In the light of what has happened, the investigation has been scaled right down. It has been decided that the witness statement about the two men arguing gives credence to the fact that someone attacked her and took her body away. Rory’s re-examination of the blood evidence also indicates that she died in the house. It’s also likely that her body was disposed of by person or persons unknown. As everyone who might have been a suspect is now dead, the super says we don’t have the resources to take it further at this time.’

Marie nodded. ‘I think she’s right, don’t you? Time to call it a day.’ After a moment she asked, ‘How is the super? How did she take the revelation that Carter was behind Leah’s stalking?’

Jackman pulled a face. ‘Non-committal. She told me that it was in nobody’s interest to make anything of it since Carter has died. She saw no reason to do any further damage to his reputation. And then she told me not to mention it again. Case closed.’

In the ensuing silence, Marie found herself wondering what she thought she’d seen, moments before the old lifeboat sunk. Had they been lowering something over the side, or had they simply been adjusting something on the Eva May herself? Maybe even preparing to sink her? She looked across the desk. ‘Can I ask you a question, Jackman?’

He looked at her intently. ‘Of course.’

‘Have you ever, how can I put it . . . ? Let sleeping dogs lie?’ He thought for a while. Marie suspected he was thinking of a particular occasion.

‘Yes, I have.’ He raised one eyebrow. ‘Is there anything you’d like to share?’

Marie smiled back. ‘No, nothing. Absolutely nothing.’





THE END