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Authors: Kerry Wilkinson
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about what we do next. Do I think we’ll be able to charge him? I doubt it. We’ll have to get the CPS in or something.’ Her boss had an incredibly irritating habit of asking himself a question and then answering it. Jessica wasn’t sure if other people noticed it but every time he did it she had to battle not to clench her teeth in annoyance.
‘Surely we can’t charge him, can we?’ Jessica asked.
Farraday glared at her. He didn’t like being interrupted and clearly hadn’t finished his train of thought.
‘As I was about to say , I can’t believe the CPS would be recommending charging McKenna, given the guy is behind bars. You’d have to have a complete set of morons on the jury to find him guilty.’
Jessica knew there were plenty of ‘morons’ just ready and waiting to sit on a jury but doubted any of them were crazy enough to find beyond reasonable doubt that someone behind bars had committed a crime on the outside.
‘Given all that, we have to start looking into anyone that might connect Millar to McKenna.’ Her boss stopped talking and leant back slightly in his chair, an invitation for either of them to speak. Jessica didn’t want to point out she had already assigned Rowlands to look into anyone that connected the two men.
With Cole not looking as if he was going to speak, she did get in first though. ‘One of the constables was sent to the register office this morning and confirmed there was no twin registered alongside Donald McKenna. There’s no obvious record of any other brother or sister born to his mother either.’
‘Are his parents still alive?’
‘There was no father’s name on the birth certificate but the mother died years ago.’
Farraday shuffled in his chair, humming to himself. ‘Any bright ideas?’
Jessica didn’t have any. As far as she could tell, they were doing all they could. She looked at Cole, who looked as blank as she did.
‘No, Sir,’ Cole said.
‘Are we bringing in the media?’ Jessica asked.
‘Do I think we should bring in the media? Not yet. We’ll wait until after you’ve been back to the prison tomorrow.’ He paused for a second. ‘Anything else?’ Neither of them answered.
‘Right then. I’m off to the cricket.’ Jessica looked queryingly at the man sitting next to her but Farraday filled them in before either had to ask. ‘Lancashire–Yorkshire at Old Trafford. Last day of the County Championship season. Would have been there first-thing if it wasn’t for having to deal with the super.’
Jessica didn’t know what to say. If her boss wanted to go to the cricket, she guessed it was up to him. ‘Is there anything specific you want us to be moving with then, Sir?’ she asked.
‘No. Just try to connect Millar and McKenna. It’s only some scumbag kid, isn’t it? If it is McKenna, I hope he takes down a whole bunch more of these little shits with him.’
Farraday stood up to indicate the meeting was over and the other two officers followed his lead. Jessica went back to her office – Reynolds was again absent – and sat at her desk. There was something a little unnerving about her boss’ tone at the end of their talk. There was a lot of black humour in police stations and people got away with saying the most outrageous things because there was no real malice behind it but it didn’t sound as if he had been joking.
Jessica had consistently found the DCI hard to read since he started. In his first week in the job, some of the officers had decided to see how many references they could get to Yorkshire into conversations with him. Someone would slip the word ‘whippet’ into a morning briefing. One officer kept going on about ‘Batley’, a town in the county, for no obvious reason, while others spoke about ‘tea’ and ‘Yorkshire pudding’. Instead of using the word ‘you’, half the team were calling each other ‘thee’. Things were getting out of hand but he eventually clocked the game when one of the younger
‘Surely we can’t charge him, can we?’ Jessica asked.
Farraday glared at her. He didn’t like being interrupted and clearly hadn’t finished his train of thought.
‘As I was about to say , I can’t believe the CPS would be recommending charging McKenna, given the guy is behind bars. You’d have to have a complete set of morons on the jury to find him guilty.’
Jessica knew there were plenty of ‘morons’ just ready and waiting to sit on a jury but doubted any of them were crazy enough to find beyond reasonable doubt that someone behind bars had committed a crime on the outside.
‘Given all that, we have to start looking into anyone that might connect Millar to McKenna.’ Her boss stopped talking and leant back slightly in his chair, an invitation for either of them to speak. Jessica didn’t want to point out she had already assigned Rowlands to look into anyone that connected the two men.
With Cole not looking as if he was going to speak, she did get in first though. ‘One of the constables was sent to the register office this morning and confirmed there was no twin registered alongside Donald McKenna. There’s no obvious record of any other brother or sister born to his mother either.’
‘Are his parents still alive?’
‘There was no father’s name on the birth certificate but the mother died years ago.’
Farraday shuffled in his chair, humming to himself. ‘Any bright ideas?’
Jessica didn’t have any. As far as she could tell, they were doing all they could. She looked at Cole, who looked as blank as she did.
‘No, Sir,’ Cole said.
‘Are we bringing in the media?’ Jessica asked.
‘Do I think we should bring in the media? Not yet. We’ll wait until after you’ve been back to the prison tomorrow.’ He paused for a second. ‘Anything else?’ Neither of them answered.
‘Right then. I’m off to the cricket.’ Jessica looked queryingly at the man sitting next to her but Farraday filled them in before either had to ask. ‘Lancashire–Yorkshire at Old Trafford. Last day of the County Championship season. Would have been there first-thing if it wasn’t for having to deal with the super.’
Jessica didn’t know what to say. If her boss wanted to go to the cricket, she guessed it was up to him. ‘Is there anything specific you want us to be moving with then, Sir?’ she asked.
‘No. Just try to connect Millar and McKenna. It’s only some scumbag kid, isn’t it? If it is McKenna, I hope he takes down a whole bunch more of these little shits with him.’
Farraday stood up to indicate the meeting was over and the other two officers followed his lead. Jessica went back to her office – Reynolds was again absent – and sat at her desk. There was something a little unnerving about her boss’ tone at the end of their talk. There was a lot of black humour in police stations and people got away with saying the most outrageous things because there was no real malice behind it but it didn’t sound as if he had been joking.
Jessica had consistently found the DCI hard to read since he started. In his first week in the job, some of the officers had decided to see how many references they could get to Yorkshire into conversations with him. Someone would slip the word ‘whippet’ into a morning briefing. One officer kept going on about ‘Batley’, a town in the county, for no obvious reason, while others spoke about ‘tea’ and ‘Yorkshire pudding’. Instead of using the word ‘you’, half the team were calling each other ‘thee’. Things were getting out of hand but he eventually clocked the game when one of the younger
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