Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Charlie had been expecting insubordination, a barrage of complaints and recriminations, but she hadn’t expected it to surface so quickly. She and DC Jennings had barely been on stakeout for five minutes before her colleague launched his attack.
‘This is bloody criminal. No other word for it.’
‘Are you referring to the suspect’s behaviour?’ Charlie replied, running her eye over Ryan Marwood’s residence, which looked gloomy and lifeless. ‘Or you and I being paired together again? If it’s the latter, believe you me, it wasn’t my choice …’
‘You know what I’m talking about,’ Jennings replied irritably. ‘We’ve got two officers out front, two round the back, four more covering the ends of the street. That’s eight officers. Eight officers babysitting a guy who may have stolen a van, who may have bumped into a teen runaway. The whole thing is a complete waste of time and resources.’
‘Remember the basics tenets of policing, DC Jennings,’ Charlie responded, just about controlling her irritation. ‘Motive, means and opportunity. Marwood could easily have taken that van. He could just as easily have been in the underpass that night. And as for motive, well the guy is a convicted rapist with a history of targeting vulnerable girls. So forgive me if I don’t jump on your bandwagon just yet.’
‘Fair play, the guy’s a slime ball,’ Jennings huffed, clearly intent on a fight. ‘But the whole thing is ifs, buts and maybes. There is no solid evidence connecting Marwood to anything, yet the boss has got half the team camped outside this sad little semi. If it was Pablo Escobar in there, you couldn’t have any more eyes on him.’
Charlie let her eyes drift back to the house, her gaze scanning the windows. But the curtains remained closed, mother and son hiding away from the world, prisoners in their own home.
‘Well if a job’s worth doing …’ Charlie replied evenly.
Jennings puffed out his cheeks, annoyed that she wouldn’t rise to the bait.
‘Seriously, Jennings,’ Charlie continued, trying her best to be reasonable, ‘we cannot let this guy out of our sight. Whatever you may think, he remains our strongest lead and now that he’s rattled, now that he knows the heat’s on, we’ve got to keep a close eye on him. I promised the boss I wouldn’t let him off the hook and it’s a promise I intend to keep, with or without your help.’
‘More fool you then.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
This time anger had crept into her tone. Jennings’ total lack of respect for her, for Helen, was hard to stomach.
‘Look, I know you two are mates from way back, but you must see that she’s got this all wrong.’
‘Got what wrong?’
‘ This , her priorities, her focus. Blowing all her credit, all her resources on a glorified missing person’s case. Honestly, I hope Marwood is guilty of something, that he does walk out the front door and lead us straight to his “evil lair”. Then we can nick him and get back to work. But I wouldn’t bet the house on it, believe you me.’
‘And when did you become such an expert?’
This time Jennings couldn’t miss her tone, harsh and withering.
‘All right, all right, keep your hair on. I’m just saying that if Grace is wrong, if this blows up in her face, then we’re all going to suffer. The unit’s reputation is on the—’
‘I asked you a question, DC Jennings.’
She turned to him, her eyes blazing.
‘Is it your five years dogged policework in CID or just natural talent that makes you a world authority on running major investigations?’
‘Easy now, I’ve done my time. I’ve earned the right to comment …’
‘You’ve done what you’re told, nothing more,’ Charlie spat back, furious. ‘So let me make one thing very clear. When you’ve achieved half of what DI Grace has in her career, then maybe, just maybe, you’ll have the right to comment. But until then, keep it zipped.’
Stunned, Jennings held Charlie’s intense gaze for a minute, then looked away, staring hard out the windscreen at the Marwood house. Charlie wanted to say more, wanted to tear a strip off this arrogant upstart, but recovered her professionalism in the nick of time, buttoning her lip. So instead the pair sat in silence, watching the suspect’s house, a heavy, uncomfortable atmosphere filling the car.