Tommy shook his head. “Nah, you see, here was me thinking you were the one who might have a bit of decorum. Who might do things a bit sensibly, but bloody hell, Ray, me old China, you’re even worse than your little man here. You’ve made your minds up already on the most important part. And that’s sad. That’s really sad.” His voice trailed off in mock disappointment.
“Why is it sad?”
“Because it will blind you, Ray. You want the truth; you want your murderer. Well, thinking it’s me isn’t going to get you there. I thought you’d be far more open-minded. I mean, even if you did think I’d a part to play in it, which, given the level of distrust between our two organisations…”
“Our organisations,” Ray shook his head, but Tommy wasn’t done.
“Our organisations, means that it’s downright inevitable that you’d shine a light on my corner of the world. Suspicious minds and all that. I’m sure I’ve had cause to look with dismay at you lot harassing my employees and making it harder for them to go about their totally legal duties. It’s how it is. Our worlds are together, but they’re not, if you get me. Two sides of the same coin.”
“In that you’re the villains and we’re the ones who put you away.”
“Ain’t never done a stretch in my life,” Tommy shrugged, turning his head to look out of the window indifferently. “That means that at least one of us ain’t what they’re supposed to be.”
*
WPC Small greeted them in the foyer of the station as they walked Tommy Jay through.
“Sorry, sirs. Mr Jay’s lawyer is here,” she said apologetically.
“Numbers just got evened up,” Tommy smiled at them.
“We’ll give you a couple of minutes,” Ray said. “Get your ducks in a row with your brief, see if he can talk some sense into you. WPC Small, will you do the honours of booking Mr Jay in?”
“Of course, this way, sir,” Karen said cordially, leading Tommy towards the desk.
Ray and Joseph made their way back upstairs to the office. Ray asked Joseph to make the teas. Ray’s tone suggested that Joseph should do it without question.
“What do you think?” Ray asked after he’d taken the first sip of tea. He’d barely waited a second for it to cool. Joseph knew it must have hurt. Ray didn’t flinch. It made Joseph hold back.
“I think we can get him to talk.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Ray took another sip.
“Maybe if we bring Harry Jones up. That might be a good starting point. I don’t know why we’ve not mentioned it yet.”
Ray’s eye’s narrowed and he took another sip. Joseph blew on his mug but waited.
“We could and we will. Be interesting to know what they were talking about.”
This time Ray didn’t take a drink. Joseph looked at his partner wondering what it was that he wasn’t getting.
“Do you actually think Tommy Jay killed Gerald Trainer?”
“That’s not the point. I want to know if he killed him.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Something happened. Something that brought Harry Jones to Tommy Jay. Something else also happened to make someone beat Harry Jones to a bloody pulp. Could have killed him if it wasn’t for you. What we need to know, above all else, is if those things are linked or if they’re coincidence. They’re close enough, by my reckoning, to put Tommy Jay in a cell for a little while. Take away some of his delusions of grandeur. If he’s sitting in his pub, behind his little table, with a drink in hand, he’s in control and we’ll get very little out of him. If he’s in here, even if he’s just in the back of our car, he’s out of control. That’s when he’ll make a mistake. That’s why he acted like he did earlier. Talking to us like that. He can’t help himself. He wants to reassert his dominance.”
“Surely his lawyer coming is going to mean he just shuts up shop?”
“It does. And he will. We’ll finish our tea, head downstairs, and listen to half an hour of ‘I’ve instructed my client to remain silent,’ as is their wont. Thing is that his brief will go home later. And when he does, then we can really get down to it. I don’t want to mention Harry Jones now. I don’t want it playing in his mind. I don’t want him focused on one thing to come up with a clever story to cover his tracks. I don’t want him sending off orders with his lawyer when he leaves. So we don’t mention that name at all. Not in this first round of questioning. Lead them down an alley, let them focus on the wrong things, then blindside them, see if he can’t help himself.”
Their teas finished, they made their way back down to the interview room. Tommy Jay sat with his lawyer, Aldous Astley. Joseph had met him before. He was the sort of lawyer who was both expensive and without scruples, which made him very, very rich. He had the cars to prove it. He appeared to turn up in a different one every time. It was a running joke within police circles, that Aldous must have a fleet of cars for his company. Joseph had no idea what he’d turned up in this time, but on times before there had been a maroon Rolls-Royce, a silver Bentley, a dark green Lotus. All of them worth more than Joseph could ever hope to earn in his life. All of them completely inappropriate. It wasn’t the only thing that made him dislike the lawyer, but it was in the top ten.
“My client has been told not to answer any further questions.” Aldous Astley shuffled some papers and slid them back into his briefcase as Joseph and Ray sat down. He didn’t look at them once. Clearly only worthy of his contempt.
Joseph ignored him and began the formalities of the interview process. He took his notepad out once more and began to write.
“I see the secretary is back,” Tommy sneered, which drew a disdainful look from Astley. Tommy rolled his eyes in response.
To Tommy’s credit and Joseph’s surprise, they were the last words he spoke throughout the interview. For all the probing and baiting that Ray and Joseph tried, he maintained his cool, whilst every now and then, Aldous Astley repeated the mantra: “My client has been told not to answer any further questions.” Joseph would have been frustrated had Ray not prepared him for this.
An hour later, all four of them exited the room. WPC Small escorted Tommy and Aldous Astley back to the cell where the lawyer would no doubt debrief Tommy on what he had seen from his ‘expert’ point of view in there, before receiving any orders Tommy might have had. Not once did they mention Harry Jones’s name.
“Now what do we do?” Joseph asked as he watched Tommy swaggering down the corridor next to his brief.
“We go and see what we can turn over for ourselves whilst he stews,” Ray replied.
23.
Things had changed on the dockyard when they arrived. Derek Nadderley had never greeted them with a smile, but the other workers had been cordial at least. Now, that had been exhausted. Familiarity or contempt, Joseph couldn’t say for certain, but there something about the way the security guard in the gate all but ignored them as he opened the door that told him they’d outstayed their welcome.
Inside the yard, the atmosphere was muted. The workers kept themselves to themselves, heads down, shoulders hunched. Far less hustle and bustle.
“I reckon word has got out about the plight of this place,” Ray remarked.
“Do you think they blame us?” Joseph asked nervously.
