*****
Butchers stared at the woman. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this. It was all arranged, she was their best hope, and now she was standing there, her eyes shifty, face twitching, telling him she was pulling out.
‘All you have to do is look through the glass. See if the men you saw are there.’
She shook her head, moved as if to go inside.
‘You were happy to help us yesterday. Has someone been getting at you?’
She blinked rapidly, locked him with a defiant stare. ‘No. I just don’t want to get involved.’
‘But the little girl…’ He could barely contain the sense of righteous anger mounting inside him. She had to help them. She had to.
She shook her head, refusing to listen and shut the door.
Butchers stood there, his jaw tight, his hands clenched, his breathing ragged. Across the waste ground the sky arced, a canvas of heavy clouds interrupted here and there by shafts of vibrant sunlight. She’d seen it all from here, Butchers thought, a clear view across to where the car had been left. And now? Had she got kids? He wanted to bray on the door again, drag her out and force her into his car. He waited long enough and then, feeling sick, turned to go.
‘I had to release them,’ Janine told him when he reported to her office. ‘Without that witness…’
‘Changed her mind,’ he laughed harshly. ‘Had it changed for her, more like.’
Shap nodded in agreement.
‘But they’re good for it,’ Butchers insisted. ‘They were seen leaving the car.’ He was agitated, reluctant to accept the situation.
‘By a witness who won’t stand up,’ she said emphatically. ‘We need something stronger. We’ll keep tabs on them, a couple of DCs round the clock, and keep digging. Pull them back in as soon as we’ve a stronger case. We’re getting wall to wall press coverage and I’m sure we’ll get more people coming forward.’
‘But, Boss…’
‘That’s the way it is, Butchers. Deal with it.’ She was surprised at his pushing it. He knew the rules.
‘Now I’m going to pay a call on the Chinleys, later.’ She paused, looking from one of them to the other by way of invitation. Shap avoided eye contact, Butchers showed willing. ‘’Bout five thirty,’ she told him. ‘Come and find me.’
The remaining couple of hours flew by as she read reports from the teams on the cases and double checked that she’d recorded everything she had to in her case-book.
She was almost ready to leave when Richard arrived back from the Topcat Club.
‘Harper wasn’t best pleased to learn Stone is down for nicking his car,’ he said.
