The Secret Hangman by Peter Lovesey

Author:Peter Lovesey [Lovesey, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780786298419
Google: ZyRIjpXAEJkC
Amazon: B008EMCLW6
Barnesnoble: B008EMCLW6
Goodreads: 632470
Publisher: Soho Crime
Published: 2006-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

25

A select group assembled in Diamond’s office at eleven nextmorning. With little more than four hours’ sleep behindthem, they were a sorry bunch.

‘The good news is that Georgina is out all morning,’ Diamond told them. ‘A meeting at headquarters. The bad news is that she heard about the raid already. Wants me to phone her this afternoon with an explanation.’

‘Does she know about …’ Keith Halliwell shrank from speaking the words. They had a different resonance now.

‘Operation Fleece? I think not. But she will. There’s no concealing it from her.’

Young DC Gilbert said, ‘At least we were doing something.’

‘Get real, son. We were shafted.’

‘Hung out to dry,’ Halliwell said.

Diamond turned to look out of the window as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. ‘In all my years of service I can’t remember an op that was such a disaster. I take my share of the blame, of course.’

‘All of us fell for it,’ Halliwell said.

‘Yes, and Georgina will nail us to the wall. Are we agreed on what actually happened last night?’

Halliwell was desperate to get in first. ‘We were led to believe these guys were teenagers.’

‘They are,’ Gilbert said, some colour rising in his gaunt face.

‘Amateurs, then. Kids starting out, wet behind the ears.’

‘I only had Jackman’s word. He misjudged them.’

Diamond intervened. ‘Wait a bit, you two. There’s an assumption here that … What do they call themselves?’

‘Jacob and Romney.’

‘… that Jacob and Romney are the villains. Forget that. They were minor players. Their job was to set up the decoy, which they did. The Range Rover was never intended to be used for a ram raid. It was to draw us off limits while the real heist went ahead in Westgate Street. We fell for an elaborate con. My first question is: was Jackman a party to it, or was he conned as well?’

‘Trust me, he’s up and up,’ Gilbert said. ‘He was dead nervous. I could see it.’

‘Nervous of what?’ Halliwell said. ‘He could have been nervous we would rumble him.’

‘Either way, he was taking big risks,’ Diamond said. He turned to Gilbert. ‘You know what you’re going to do? Follow up with this guy. Get heavy with him. Find out who he was dealing with. Did he meet the big boys? Who was paying him? How was it bankrolled? They won’t use him again. They won’t protect him, so he’s easy meat.’

‘I’ll get onto it,’ Gilbert said, starting to rise, hoping he could walk out of the door.

Diamond pointed his finger to keep him in the hot seat.

‘Should we nick the two lads?’ John Leaman said. He could afford to make suggestions. He’d played no part in the planning, and he was only in attendance through seniority.

‘They’ll have hightailed it by now.’ Everything about Halliwell, his voice, body language, face, showed how hard he’d taken this.

‘Put out an all-units. One of them is supposed to have form, isn’t he?’

‘That may have been a false lead,’ Leaman said. ‘Jacob is a fairly common name.’

‘Get a description from Jackman, then.

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