Rollover by James Raven Read Free Book Online Page A

and came striding over, her knee-length raincoat billowing like a cape.
    ‘We’ve got something,’ she said. ‘A shoeprint in the blood on thekitchen floor. Quite distinctive. Almost certainly male and size nine.’
    ‘A careless killer,’ Temple said. ‘My favourite kind.’
    ‘What about Mr Nadelson?’ she asked. ‘Is he a suspect?’
    ‘Everyone is at this stage, although I can’t in all honesty imagine him killing anyone. Still, he did get flustered when I said we’d need to take his prints. So we should check him out. Get someone to have a longer chat with him and get a statement.’
    ‘Will do,’ she said. Then, ‘So come on, guv. It’s time you filled me in on Vince Mayo. Why did the lads have a problem with him?’
    ‘Vince Mayo was not popular among your colleagues,’ Temple said. ‘The same goes for his partner, Cain. And that fact alone is going to ensure that this case will attract a lot of unwanted media attention.’
    Angel took out a cigarette and lit up, much to Temple’s annoyance. Staying off the weed was a struggle at the best of times, but it was sheer torture if smoke was being blown in your face.
    ‘Care to explain, guv?’ she said, sensing that he was drifting into his thoughts.
    He took a step back and turned away from her. He looked up at the cottage which was teeming with scene of crime officers. A flashlight exploded. A police radio crackled. Somehow it didn’t seem right that this should happen out here in the forest. This was a place that ought to have been immune from the horrors of the outside world.
    ‘Those two set up a news agency a couple of years ago,’ he said. ‘Before that they worked on the local evening paper, although Cain did spend a few years away from here in London. Anyway, Mayo especially had lots of contacts in the area. He came up with quite a few exclusive stories, a couple of which shed a bad light on the constabulary.
    ‘One of those stories broke about a year ago. It involved a detective inspector named George Banks. A good friend of mine. Worked out of Southampton CID for fifteen years.’
    ‘The name rings a bell,’ Angel said. ‘I’ve heard the lads mention him.’
    Temple took a deep breath through his nose, enjoying the second-hand smoke that was caressing the back of his throat.
    ‘Mayo and Cain got a tip-off that George had gone bad. They were told that he was recycling seized drugs and selling them to his brother-in-law, who is a bit of a lowlife.’
    ‘Was it true?’
    Temple nodded. ‘George has a son named Warren. He was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer. New drugs that would have helped him were not available on the NHS. So George had to raise the money himself. He found it impossible even though he sold almost everything he owned. As a last resort he helped himself to some of the drugs we confiscated. Like a fool he didn’t think anyone would notice.
    ‘Anyway, someone got wind of it and tipped off Mayo and Cain. They went to work on the story. They called George for a quote and he pleaded with them not to sell it. He called me and I went to see them in the hope of talking them out of it. I explained the situation. George only did it once and the amount of drugs was relatively small. I said I would see to it that George was dealt with. But because of the extenuating circumstances I was hoping to keep it low key and avoid a prosecution. I appealed to Cain and Mayo to drop the story.’
    ‘But they didn’t,’ Angel said.
    Temple shook his head. ‘They gave me the usual bullshit about it being in the public interest and police corruption was an epidemic that had to be curtailed. Mayo was more aggressive than Cain, who I think might have been persuaded. But in the end it went ahead.’
    ‘And I take it the story destroyed George Banks’s career?’
    ‘That’s right,’ Temple said. ‘We were forced to suspend him and he was facing charges. But before it got to court he topped himself.’
    ‘My