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Sam froze.
‘What is going on?’ whinged the vicar, peering myopically.
Carroll glared along the barrel of the gun, grinding his teeth furiously.
‘I am good!’ he growled, his throat tight and constricted. ‘I’m not perfect, but I am GOOD! It should be YOU not me, Tyler! I do NOT deserve this!’
‘Deserve what, Mr Carroll?’ Sam said, in a voice that he fought to keep from wavering. He tried to look past the muzzle of the pistol that was pointing right between his eyes, and instead fixed his attention on the man’s face. ‘Tell me. I’ll help you. We’ll work together. What is it you don’t deserve?’
‘It’s you he wants, not me!’ Carroll snarled. ‘You and her! Oh, I’d blow your head off, Tyler, I’d blow your damned head right off and stop all this … but it’s too late … too late for Pat, too late for me …’
‘Please, Mr Carroll, put away the gun and talk to me. I understand more than you think. I can help you. Together, we can –’
But the vicar was marching down the aisle towards them, peevishly demanding to know what in God’s name was going on.
‘Stay back!’ Sam ordered.
‘I will do no such thing!’ the vicar snapped. ‘Not until you boys tell me what you think you’re d –’
In the next moment, Carroll had the vicar in a head lock, the pistol jammed against the poor man’s face hard enough to send his glasses skittering away across the stone floor.
‘I’m not going to end up like Pat!’ Carroll howled. His voice broke, making him sound like a desperate, wailing child. ‘I’m not going to end up that way! No, no, no, no ...!’
From outside came the clanging of police sirens. Carroll stopped howling and gritted his teeth.
‘Keep them out, Tyler!’ He barked. ‘Nobody comes in here! Anyone comes through that door, anyone so much as sticks his face at a window, and I start killing hostages.’
‘Hostages?’ an old dear piped up. ‘Does that mean none of us can go?’
‘I think it does,’ put in a lady with a hat like a giant powder puff.
‘Oh. Oh dear.’
The vicar struggled against the headlock and issued a series of muffled cries.
‘What is it you want, Mr Carroll?’ Sam asked.
‘Keep them out, Tyler!’
‘I’ll keep them out, Mr Carroll, but if you don’t tell me what your demands are I can’t help you.’
‘I just want to be safe!’ Carroll screamed, tightening his grip on the vicar. ‘I don’t want to be left alone, not with him after me! Now keep ’em out of here! Keep everybody away!’ And then, venomously, he cried: ‘God damn you, Sam Tyler, you bastard, it should be you not me! IT SHOULD BE YOU NOT ME!’
Sam opened his mouth to say something, but Carroll shrieked insanely, and for a moment it seemed that he was going to shoot the vicar and then turn the gun on everyone else. So Sam held up his hands and stumbled backwards, saying: ‘Okay, it’s okay, just stay calm, I’ll see no one comes in, I’ll make sure everything’s cool …’
He backed out into the churchyard, and at Carroll’s command pushed the door closed.
He’s seen Gould … but something happened, something terrible. It’s freaked him out. But what was it? What did Gould do? What did Carroll witness that drove him to this?
Would Annie know? She had evidently been to see him, following up leads she had unearthed in the police files. She was drawn to the story of PC Tony Cartwright, no doubt sensing that there was far more of a connection between her and them than the sharing of surname. Did she know yet that Tony was her father? She must surely be suspecting … and at the same time, she must be doubting her sense of reality, wondering just who she is and where she is.
He turned – and at once ran into a huge wall of camel hair.
‘Morning, Tyler – somebody call Siege-breakers?’
DCI Gene Hunt loomed over him, flinging open his coat to reveal his ridiculous leather body holster, one hand already resting on the grip of his trusty Magnum, ready to draw. Behind him, the road outside the church was filling up with patrol cars and uniformed officers. Men were bustling. Radios were crackling. Police tape was fluttering like bunting between the lamp posts, cordoning off the street.
‘Back!’ Sam ordered.
‘Forward!’ Gene growled, and took a manly stride towards the doors of the church.
‘I said back!’
‘And I said ruddy forward, and I’m bigger than you!’
Sam grabbed him by the lapels and thrust him back.
‘Don’t you shove me, Tyler!’
‘Back, Gene, back back back!’
‘The Gene Genie don’t have no reverse gear, you know that by now!’
‘You’re going to kick off a bloodbath mucking about like this! Now get BACK!’
Sam barged Gene away. The Guv’s face fell into an expression that mixed shock, rage, and explosive indignation into one. His eyes blazed. His nostrils flared. He thrust the Magnum back into the holster and put his fists up.
‘You wanna duke it out, you and me, is that it, Tyler? Well come on then!’
Raising his voice, Sam bellowed at the uniformed officers massing nearby: ‘Everybody get back! We have an armed man in there with hostages! Nobody is to approach the church, nobody is to look in the windows, nobody is to do anything! Back, back, back!’
He waved his arms, shepherding the officers away. Gene watched him, open-mouthed.
‘Ordering plod about is my jurisdiction, Tyler!’
‘For God’s sake, Guv, just grow up!’
‘Oh, so you’re calling me a kid an’ all now, are you? You’re picking the wrong day to tangle my todger. This is Sunday. I shouldn’t even be here. I am royally miffed! I should be home with me tinnies and me feet up waiting for The Big Match. The Genie doth resteth on the seventh day, an’ all that. It was only coz I was hunting in the Cortina for me spare fags that I caught news of this shout on the radio, and being the conscientious DCI that I am, I decided to –’
‘Stop whinging and get back along with everyone else. That fella in there’s on the edge. He’s ready to start blowing the heads off a vicar and his flock at the drop of a hat. So if you don’t want blood on your hands, Guv, get you and your off-white loafers right back!’
Sam shoved and elbowed Gene back through the church yard and onto the pavement.
Annie pushed her way through the bustle of uniforms to get to Sam.
‘You were mad running in there like that!’ she scolded him.
‘He were showin’ off,’ observed Gene, giving Annie a knowing nudge. ‘He’s got his sights set on the contents of your extra-large British Home Stores pants with the reinforced gusset. Different strokes, I suppose.’
‘I’m all in one piece,’ Sam said, ignoring Gene and focusing on Annie. ‘And I got a name. The gunman’s called Carroll – ex-DCI Michael Carroll.’
Hearing the name, Annie’s eyes went wide as saucers.
‘Carroll!’ she gasped.
Sam nodded. He desperately wanted to tell her that he knew she had spoken to Carroll – but in front of the Guv, he decided to keep his mouth shut.
Frowning, Gene looked from Sam to Annie to Sam again, and said: ‘Um, do you want to include your Uncle Gene in this private chinwag? I mean, I know I’m only your boss and superior officer and professional role model and all that …’
‘DCI Carroll’s one of the names on Annie’s list,’ said Sam.
‘Oh aye?’ grunted Gene. ‘Annie’s list of what? Blokes round the department she’s ready to gobble for a quid?’
Annie was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to even hear this. But Sam reacted sharply.
‘Jesus Christ, Guv, that’s bang out of order what you just said!’ he shouted. Then he glanced guiltily at the large cross standing boldly atop the church, backlit by the sun, and mouthed at it: Sorry. In a lower voice, he hissed at Gene: ‘Flippin’ heck, Guv, that’s bang out of order what you just said.’
‘Loosen up, Tyler. I understand the way it is. How else is Inspector Jugs going to get promotion if it ain’t on her knees?’
Sam kept his temper in check, took a moment to gather his thoughts, then explained patiently: ‘Mickey Carroll is a retired DCI. He was on the force back in the sixties. Annie’s been digging into the old records and reckons him and a couple of others were on the payroll of a local villain.’
‘And what’s Annie doing spending her time on cold cases, eh?’ Gene asked, narrowing his eyes and peering at Annie suspiciously. ‘Ain’t we got enough villains on the prowl to keep her fully occupied?’
‘I think there’s secrets hidden in them files, Guv,’ said Annie. ‘Nasty secrets. I got the strong impression that Carroll was corrupt – him and others. DS Ken Darby, DI Pat Walsh …’
‘Pat Walsh!’ Sam exclaimed. ‘Of course! Carroll mentioned the name Pat in there. It’s got to be Pat Walsh, his old DI. Guv, we’re uncovering something here. If Annie’s right, and they’re both bent coppers from the sixties, then I think there’s more than just coincidence going on here. We should track down Walsh – ten-to-one he can shed some light on what’s happening inside that church right now.’
‘Well this is all ‘appening a bit sharpish,’ said Gene.
‘You can thank Annie for that, Guv.’
Gene sneered: ‘Don’t lay it on with a trowel, Tyler.’ He pulled his coat straight and added: ‘Okay. This DI Pat Walsh. Where do we find him?’
‘57, Streeling Street.’ It was a uniformed officer standing close by who spoke up. Sam, Annie and Gene turned to look at him. The bobby added: ‘It’s a call that came through right before this one. Mrs Walsh, 57 Streeling Street, reporting a break-in and possible missing person – her husband, Patrick Walsh. Some of the other lads went to see to that one. I got sent here.’
Sam reacted at once: ‘Let’s get over there, Guv – pronto!’
He sprinted towards the Cortina where it sat amid the patrol cars, gleaming in the mid-morning sun. Annie ran with him. They leapt in, Sam in the front passenger seat, Annie in the back – and then waited while Gene sauntered arrogantly over, paused to light a cigarette, adjusted the leather strap of his string-back glove, then pretended to forget which pocket he’d put his car keys in. He was not to be rushed – least of all by his minions and flunkeys.
‘Come on, come on!’ Annie hissed from the back, glaring through the windscreen at Gene.
This isn’t a police investigation for Annie, any more than it is for me, Sam thought. Annie’s unearthing her own identity here – and all the dark secrets that identity contains. And as for me – this is the start of the showdown, the final face-off between me and Clive Gould, the murderer of Annie’s father, the Devil in the Dark itself …
Without warning, Annie leant forward and slammed her fist into the Cortina’s car horn.
‘Come on!’ she cried.
Gene’s expression changed. His cheeks flushed red. A cold, hard light glittered in his eyes. He threw away his barely smoked fag, stomped furiously over to the Cortina, and flung open the rear door.
‘Out!’ he barked.
‘Oh, let’s just get going, Guv,’ Sam urged him.
‘I said, out!’
Annie glared up at Hunt, and for a moment Sam thought she might suddenly launch herself at him in a ferocious attack. But no. She angrily clambered out of the car and threw her leather handbag down hard on the ground.
Gene stared into her face and said in a low, dangerous voice: ‘You honked my horn …’
He flexed his hands, making his black leather driving gloves creak ominously.
Annie stared right back at him, her mouth pulled tight, her eyes narrow and enraged. Then she picked up her bag and strode away.
‘Annie!’ Sam called after her, but her only reaction was to rip aside a cordon of blue police tape as she went.
Gene watched her go with an expression like a very pissed off lion – then, slowly, clambered into the driving seat next to Sam. Without saying a word, he fired up the engine, brushed a speck of imaginary contamination from the horn, and hit the gas.
CHAPTER THREE: ONE SPENT CARTRIDGE (#ulink_507da481-2573-5285-8635-9cc514dd8010)
The Cortina howled to a stop outside the bungalow at 57 Streeling Street. There was a patrol car parked by the front drive, inside which a WPC could just be seen, comforting a distressed woman. A PC lurked at the front of the bungalow, licking the tip of a tiny pencil and making notes.
Gene sat behind the wheel for a moment, staring ahead.
‘What’s the story with her, eh, Tyler?’ he asked.
‘Annie’s got things on her mind,’ Sam replied, refusing to be drawn into details.
Gene snorted in contempt: ‘Got things on her mind?! She’s a bird – minds don’t come into it!’ And before Sam could spring to her defence, he added: ‘Do me a big favour, Tyler. Get her sorted.’
‘She’s her own person, Guv.’
‘In her own little head maybe, but not in my department. Stompin’ about, telling me to get a move on, honkin’ my ruddy horn ...!’ A flame of indignation flickered anew at the memory. ‘I don’t know what her problem is, and frankly I don’t give a stuff. But if you don’t rein your tart in, Tyler, I’m gonna throw her over my knee and give her a damned good slippering. And I may not be speaking metaphorically.’
‘Just give her some space, Guv. She’ll be okay.’
‘It’s my horn, in my motor!’
‘I know, Guv.’
‘And I’m the boss! And it’s bloody Sunday and I’m missing The Big Match! Don’t my feelings count for nothing round here?’
‘I’ll have a little chat with her later.’
‘Do that, Tyler – before I have a little chat with her. And you know how my little chats tend to pan out.’
And with that, Gene threw open the car door and clambered out. Sam sighed and followed him.
They crossed to the patrol car. A toothy, rather ineffectual-looking WPC got out.
