Read Online Written in Blood by Chris Collett - Free Book Online
Authors: Chris Collett
Tags: UK
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you’d told me that night at the Drunken Duck. I can help you to arrange a DNA test, just to make sure. But I’m fucked if I can see any other reason why this guy would keep your life history in photographs hidden away, can you?’
‘It’s a struggle.’
‘And these would seem to pretty well confirm it.’ Reaching into the bag again, Flynn passed Mariner half a dozen letters bound by an elastic band. Yellowing slightly, they were written in his mother’s sloping italic hand, and among them was a programme for a promenade concert at the Albert Hall.
‘The Sibelius,’ Mariner said.
‘Significant?’
‘My mother’s got the same programme. I found it among her things last summer.’
‘They must have gone together.’
Mariner looked again at the date. ‘She would have been pregnant with me at the time.’
‘Romantic.’
Tucked inside the programme was a card, half the size of a postcard and decorated with sprigs of holly, advertising the Christmas Special at Pearl’s Café: purchase one hot drink and snack and get another free.
‘Nothing new under the sun,’ observed Flynn. ‘BOGOF existed even back then, or in this case POGOF. Pearl’s café must have been somewhere they met. Very Brief Encounter .’
‘Except that Celia Johnson wasn’t up the duff.’
The last items, sandwiched between the letters, were a couple of press cuttings. Recent newspaper reports of cases Mariner had worked on, a photograph of him that had accompanied a piece about the death of local doctor Owen Payne a couple of years ago. ‘And all this was in a security box?’ he asked.
‘These are the entire contents. According to the bank, Ryland had accessed it not long ago, too, sometime in November.’
‘Christ.’ Dazed, Mariner sat back a moment, trying to assimilate what this all meant; his father, a man in the public eye whom he’d known and yet not known at all, a man until recently very much alive and well, successful and wealthy, and apparently aware that he had a young son growing up not so very far away. This area of his life that had been void was suddenly filled with a huge persona, not just anyone, but Sir Geoffrey Ryland, and Mariner was overwhelmed by it. It was too huge to take in right here, right now. He’d deal with that later. In the meantime he steered the conversation back to the questions that came naturally. ‘So I finally find out who he was, weeks after he gets shot. Are the press on anywhere near the right track about that?’
‘It looks like it,’ said Flynn. ‘I mean, I’m not party to the main investigation, it’s being led by Chief Superintendent Griffin. But she has a good reputation. For a change the media have got a lot of the facts right. Ryland’s chauffeur, Joseph O’Connor was a former client. The JRC successfully backed his appeal against a possession-with-intent charge in 1998.’
‘Do you know the history?’
‘Vaguely. O’Connor was arrested for driving around north London in a van with a large amount of H stashed under the boot. He claimed he had no idea it was there.’
‘If his conviction was quashed then doesn’t that mean he was right?’
‘That part’s a bit hazy. As you know, the Commission was created in response to cases like the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, to look at wrongful convictions and to root out police corruption. It was one of Sir Geoffrey’s bugbears. A lot of people felt that he’d been appointed to the chair for that reason. From what I understand O’Connor’s conviction was overturned on a technicality, mainly because his statement had been coerced. I don’t think there was much question that rules were broken during the interview. Let’s face it, that sort of thing happened more often back then, didn’t it? Trouble is that dodgy interview techniques can cloud the issue of whether a suspect is actually guilty or not.’
‘Ryland must have believed he was innocent otherwise why would he have taken him on as a
‘It’s a struggle.’
‘And these would seem to pretty well confirm it.’ Reaching into the bag again, Flynn passed Mariner half a dozen letters bound by an elastic band. Yellowing slightly, they were written in his mother’s sloping italic hand, and among them was a programme for a promenade concert at the Albert Hall.
‘The Sibelius,’ Mariner said.
‘Significant?’
‘My mother’s got the same programme. I found it among her things last summer.’
‘They must have gone together.’
Mariner looked again at the date. ‘She would have been pregnant with me at the time.’
‘Romantic.’
Tucked inside the programme was a card, half the size of a postcard and decorated with sprigs of holly, advertising the Christmas Special at Pearl’s Café: purchase one hot drink and snack and get another free.
‘Nothing new under the sun,’ observed Flynn. ‘BOGOF existed even back then, or in this case POGOF. Pearl’s café must have been somewhere they met. Very Brief Encounter .’
‘Except that Celia Johnson wasn’t up the duff.’
The last items, sandwiched between the letters, were a couple of press cuttings. Recent newspaper reports of cases Mariner had worked on, a photograph of him that had accompanied a piece about the death of local doctor Owen Payne a couple of years ago. ‘And all this was in a security box?’ he asked.
‘These are the entire contents. According to the bank, Ryland had accessed it not long ago, too, sometime in November.’
‘Christ.’ Dazed, Mariner sat back a moment, trying to assimilate what this all meant; his father, a man in the public eye whom he’d known and yet not known at all, a man until recently very much alive and well, successful and wealthy, and apparently aware that he had a young son growing up not so very far away. This area of his life that had been void was suddenly filled with a huge persona, not just anyone, but Sir Geoffrey Ryland, and Mariner was overwhelmed by it. It was too huge to take in right here, right now. He’d deal with that later. In the meantime he steered the conversation back to the questions that came naturally. ‘So I finally find out who he was, weeks after he gets shot. Are the press on anywhere near the right track about that?’
‘It looks like it,’ said Flynn. ‘I mean, I’m not party to the main investigation, it’s being led by Chief Superintendent Griffin. But she has a good reputation. For a change the media have got a lot of the facts right. Ryland’s chauffeur, Joseph O’Connor was a former client. The JRC successfully backed his appeal against a possession-with-intent charge in 1998.’
‘Do you know the history?’
‘Vaguely. O’Connor was arrested for driving around north London in a van with a large amount of H stashed under the boot. He claimed he had no idea it was there.’
‘If his conviction was quashed then doesn’t that mean he was right?’
‘That part’s a bit hazy. As you know, the Commission was created in response to cases like the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, to look at wrongful convictions and to root out police corruption. It was one of Sir Geoffrey’s bugbears. A lot of people felt that he’d been appointed to the chair for that reason. From what I understand O’Connor’s conviction was overturned on a technicality, mainly because his statement had been coerced. I don’t think there was much question that rules were broken during the interview. Let’s face it, that sort of thing happened more often back then, didn’t it? Trouble is that dodgy interview techniques can cloud the issue of whether a suspect is actually guilty or not.’
‘Ryland must have believed he was innocent otherwise why would he have taken him on as a
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