Autographs In The Rain Part 61

'There's only one other thing I wish I could do for Christmas,' she murmured.

'What's that?'

'Give my dad his mind back. But all the money in the world won't do that. He's all alone now, there in his head. In every respect in fact. He has no friends any more. Most of them drifted away years ago; there was one old guy from his working days, but even he seems to have stopped coming around now.'

She sat on the sofa, pulling him down beside her. 'My life's going to change in a lot of ways, love. One of them will be the amount of time I give to my father. Being back here for this movie, seeing him the other day as he was, made me realise how selfish I've been, and not only towards him.

T thought I could discharge my obligations with money by paying for nursing care and such like. But in reality, I've just abandoned him, dumped him on my kid sister, made him her problem while I've gone on pinning gold stars on my CV. You know what's going to happen to me at New Year? They're going to make me a b.l.o.o.d.y CBE!

'When they offered it to me, months ago now, I accepted because I thought 262.AUTOGRAPHS IN THE RAIN.

it would be nice for my father. Nice for him? They could be turning me into a giant carrot and he wouldn't notice the difference. Lucy was delighted for me, of course, but that didn't make me feel any better.

'Things are going to be different. Dad's always resisted the idea of going into a nursing home. But he's a kind man and if he could still think straight he would accept that it's inevitable. So I'm going to make it happen. He'll be looked after in the best place I can find, and I'll be there to see him every

week.'

'And where will this place be?' Neil asked.

'Close, love,' she whispered. 'As close by as I can find.'There's nothing positive yet, sir,' said Jack McGurk. 'I'm on observation here at the moors site, and co-ordinating. Mr Pringle is watching Lander's place, and Donovan, my DC on this job, is parked at the Alvarez woman's house.

'Half an hour ago she left Coldstream, heading north, then ten minutes ago, Lander left his house. Superintendent Pringle said I should call you to keep you advised.'

'Good for Dan,' Andy Martin retorted. 'But what about Gates? Who's watching him?'

'Gates is ours, sir, any time we want him. He owns the secret site, and he used the fish there to restock Sir Adrian Watson's farm. Even if we can't do him for theft and murder, there will be about twenty other things that the Crown Office can throw at him.'

'Not good enough. At the very least, I'm going to charge every person at the scene with that girl's murder. We know where Lander and Alvarez were, but Gates is unaccounted for. I'm betting that he was there. I want him, Jack; I want to see him go down with a life sentence.'

'I hear you, sir. I'll keep you in touch as things develop.'

'No. Tell me once you have a resolution. Meantime, I'll call your divisional headquarters like Dan asked me to and have an armed response team put at your disposal. If you do have to go in there, there will be no chances taken with that rifle.

'Are any of you three carrying?'

'I am, sir. Donovan's not qualified, and Mr Pringle won't, not any more.'

'In that case, should you have to go in there, you will lead. You know the procedure; clear warning given, then fire in response to a perceived threat.

Take no risks with officers' lives. You know that there is an armed man on that site; I am ordering you to make the a.s.sumption that everyone there is carrying. I'm timing that order at eight twenty-seven Sat.u.r.day morning, December the sixteenth. I'll back your judgement, all the way.'

264.au lUUKAfna n inc, r.ii'Very good, sir.' McGurk understood what he was being told. As he signed off the call, a cold chill of fear ran through him.

He went back to the observation slit of the dugout on the moor, and watched the site for ten minutes more before the muted tone of his mobile rang out again. 'Jackie?' Dan Pringle. 'Yes sir.'

'We've trailed them both to Sir Adrian Watson's estate; not to the fish farm, but up an access road to somewhere else. We're out of sight in a layby near the road end. We can't go any further; all we can do is wait here and hope like h.e.l.l that there isn't another way out.'

'Can you take them down there, sir?' the sergeant asked, hopefully.

'They're bound to be meeting up with Gates.'

'Not good enough, son. They could say they're all getting ready for a Ramblers' a.s.sociation hike. We have to get them together on that site, or identify them there individually. Only then can we ... Haud on a minute!'

The superintendent broke off.

'Jack!' he resumed breathlessly, after a few seconds. 'Two tankers have just come out of that access road; Alvarez is driving one, and Lander the other. It's a pound to a pinch they're heading in your direction. We'll follow them, but well out of sight. I'm not going to blow this by having them spot us.

'Is your armed team set up?'

'They'll be on their way by now, sir.'

'Right. Call divisional HQ and have them given precise instructions to proceed to your hide flat-out. But Jackie, it's touch and go who'll be there first. Whatever else happens, once those two trucks go into that compound, they do not come out. Understood?'

' Sir.' This time the chill of fear turned into a s.h.i.+ver which it took McGurk some time to control. He had never felt so alone. His heart was pounding as he peered through the slit, watching the site, waiting, listening for the sound of a police vehicle at the foot of the hill behind him, until, after G.o.d knew how long, two long white tanker vehicles appeared up the rough track, the first one blowing its horn as it approached, rousing the caretaker from his cabin, bringing him out to open the gate.

He watched as the two vehicles drove into the compound, taking up position between the rows of tanks, among the six which were still full.

And still, he was alone.

'Where are you Dan?' he whispered, but it brought him no nearer. 'Oh s.h.i.+t.'He slipped backwards out of the hide and began to run, crouched, moving crab-wise round the side of the hill, trying to stay invisible to Lander, Alvarez and their warden. He could hear the tankers pumping as he moved, and hoped that they had no super-fast setting.

At last he came to a small clump near the gate, and hid behind it, gathering his breath and his nerve.

'This is it, Jack,' he said, drawing his pistol, the Walther with which he had always felt most comfortable on the firing range, the gun which he had never before drawn, far less used, for real. Switching off the safety, he launched himself from his hiding place and ran to the gate.

Vrmed police officer!' he shouted at the top of his voice, but too late to stop the site-watcher, who had seen him as soon as he broke cover, from reaching his Portakabin and diving inside.

The others still had their backs to him, watching their tankers as they sucked up the fish. 'Lander! Alvarez!' he shouted again. 'Armed police.

Stop what you're doing and turn around with your hands raised.'

Although she was further away, she heard him first; she turned as she was told, and he, seeing her, followed suit. His hands were still at his side as he walked towards the detective, with the woman behind him, as if she was trying to use him as a s.h.i.+eld. 'I only see one of you, sergeant,' he called out. 'Don't you, Harry?'

As he spoke, the minder stepped out of his shelter, rifle in his hands.

'And Harry's got a bigger gun than you.'

McGurk levelled the Walther. 'Drop it or I'll. . .' he shouted, but as he did, the man snapped his weapon to his shoulder and sighted it at him. He dropped to a crouch; and pulled the trigger. Not one, but three shots rang out.

Even after the post-mortem and the official enquiry, Jack McGurk never knew, because he was never told and never asked, whether the man had died by his bullet, or that fired by the marksman from the armed response team, standing on the crest of the hill. But he did know how close he had come himself. For the rest of his life, a tiny crescent-shaped nick out of his left ear would always be there to remind him.

The three of them - McGurk, Lander, Mercy Alvarez - stood, or crouched, frozen by the echoes of the gunfire, until a shout shattered the silence. 'You two! On the ground, now! Face down, hands on head.'

The two fish farmer lovers did as they were told, instantly, lying there as Dan Pringle and DC Donovan marched past the sergeant, to frisk them

266.AUTOGRAPHS IN THE RAIN.roughly and cuff their hands behind their back with plastic ties. Finally they were hauled to their feet.

As the armed team swarmed into the compound, McGurk walked over to the dead man. 'Who was he?' he wondered.

Dan Pringle came to stand beside him. 'I can tell you that. He used to work at Mellerkirk, until he got laid off after the first robbery. No wonder; Gates had another job for him.'

'His name was Harry Conroy,' said Glenn Lander. 'He was Ray Anders'

father. Ray's mother did a runner when he was a kid, and he and his sister were adopted by a family in Yorks.h.i.+re. Ray traced his old man eventually, and came back up here to set up his business.'

The estate owner looked at Pringle. Til tell you everything,' he said. 'It was all Gates' idea; Ray tried to sell him a system and when Watson wouldn't buy, he told him that his place could be knocked over easy, just like ours.

He'd tried to sell to Mercy and me before that.

'Gates thought this was a great idea. So he approached us; he told us that if we kept clear of our farms on certain nights and asked no questions, we'd both make a buck. We didn't know he was going to b.a.l.l.s it up, and that Harry would kill the girl.'