Chapter 84
Chris and Donna are sitting in the Jigsaw Room with mugs of tea. Opposite them are Jason Ritchie and Bobby Tanner.
Bobby Tanner, who detectives across eight forces had failed to locate. Elizabeth has repeatedly refused to say where or how she found him.
Elizabeth and Joyce have both seen evidence that Bobby was busy elsewhere when Tony Curran was murdered. Chris had wondered if he might see that evidence, and Elizabeth had told him he certainly could, the moment he produced a warrant.
Bobby’s deal was that he would tell them everything he knew and then slip back into the crowd, never to be seen again.
“A hundred grand, bit more than that,” says Bobby Tanner. “Johnny had it at his flat, used to keep it safe for Tony.”
“Did he have a nice flat?” asks Joyce.
“Uh, one of the big ones on the front?” says Bobby.
“Oh, yes, with the picture windows,” says Joyce. “Lovely.”
“And Tony went out to Cyprus looking for him?” asks Chris.
“A couple of times, yeah. Never found a thing. Nothing was the same after that. Jason, you drifted off, didn’t you? Started doing telly and all that.”
Jason nods. “It wasn’t for me anymore, Bobby.”
Bobby nods. “I left town a couple of months after, when my brother died. Nothing left for me here, then.”
“But someone would have seen Johnny, surely?” asks Donna. “If he’d come back to town recently? Someone would have seen him, someone would be talking?”
Bobby thinks about this. “Not too many faces left from those days.”
“Hard to know who Johnny would turn to if he needed a place to stay,” says Jason.
Bobby looks at Jason. “Unless, Jase . . . ?”
Jason looks back at Bobby, thinks for a moment, then nods. “Of course, of course. Unless . . .” He starts composing a text.
“Are you going to share this with the group?” asks Elizabeth.
“Just someone me and Bobby need to talk to,” says Jason. “Someone who’d know for sure. Leave it with us. It’s not fair if you get to solve everything, Elizabeth.”
“Perhaps you could share it with the police?” suggests Donna.
“Oh, come on,” says Bobby, laughing.
“Worth a try,” says Donna.
Jason’s phone pings. He looks down, then turns to Bobby. “He can meet us at two. That okay for you?”
Bobby nods, and Jason starts another message.
“Only one place for it, eh?”