The Retribution (9 page)
It wasn’t an entirely comfortable conclusion, but it was inescapable.
Carol shut the office door behind her but didn’t bother to close the blinds. She wasn’t expecting the conversation to go anywhere that needed that kind of privacy. ‘This had better be good, Tony,’ she said, dropping heavily into her chair. ‘I’ve got
three murders on the board. I don’t have time for anything less than life or death.’
Tony stopped pacing and leaned his hands on her desk, facing her. ‘I think this more than qualifies,’ he said. ‘Jacko Vance escaped from prison earlier this morning.’
Carol’s face blanked with shock. ‘What?’ It was an automatic response. Tony didn’t bother repeating himself. She stared at him for a long moment then said, ‘How could they let that happen?’
Tony made a dismissive noise. ‘Because Vance is smarter than anybody else in a Cat C prison.’
‘Cat C? How could he be in Cat C? He’s a convicted killer.’
‘And the perfect prisoner, according to the Home Office. He hasn’t put a foot out of place all the years he’s been inside. Or rather, he’s covered his tracks so well, that’s what it looks like.’ There was anger in his voice, but he couldn’t be bothered trying to suppress it. If he couldn’t show some emotion with Carol, then there was nowhere in his life he could open a door on what lay within. ‘Not only was he Cat C, he’s been on a Therapeutic Community Wing. Can you believe it? Free association, cells like hotel rooms, group therapy that he can stage-manage like the master manipulator he is.’ He pushed off from the desk and threw himself into a chair. ‘I could lay my head on your desk and weep.’
‘So did someone help him? Did he go over the wall?’
‘Obviously he’s had a lot of help, inside and out. He impersonated another prisoner who was due to go out on a day release. One of those temporary licence things where they’re supposed to learn how to adjust to the outside world.’ He slapped his hands on his thighs. ‘The other prisoner must have been in on it. You remember what Vance is like with vulnerability. He teases it out, then he homes in on it, makes people feel like he’s the heavensent answer to whatever ails them. He’ll have had something to offer that this other
bloke needs.’ He jumped up again and started pacing. Carol couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him so physically worked up. Then it came to her. An apartment in Berlin. Where her personal safety had been on the line. It dawned on her that this agitation might have its roots in the same cause.
‘You’re worried about me,’ she said. ‘You think he might come after me.’
Tony stopped in his tracks. ‘Of course I’m worried about you. I remember what you told me. What he said to you the night you arrested him.’
Carol felt a cold thrill at the back of her neck. Vance’s low angry words had chilled her at the time; they’d come back to her in dark and twisted dreams for months afterwards. Sometimes her gift for being able to remember precisely whatever she heard felt more like a curse. ‘You are going to regret this night,’ he’d said. Danger had come off him like a smell, leaving her feeling corrupted and afraid. Suddenly dry-mouthed, she tried to swallow. ‘Surely he’s not going to hang around taking revenge?’ she said, trying to convince herself most of all. ‘He’s going to have a bolthole lined up. Somewhere he can feel in charge of his life. That’s not going to be in this country, never mind anywhere near me.’
‘I wouldn’t bank on it,’ Tony said. ‘Remember what he did to Shaz Bowman.’
Recalling what Vance had done reminded Carol of the young cop who had been training as a profiler with Tony. Blazing blue eyes, brilliant analyst, impulsive servant of justice. Shaz had uncovered a cluster of potential serial killer victims, which had pleased her bosses. She’d also identified sporting hero and TV star Jacko Vance as the impossibly improbable suspect. Lacking the support of her colleagues, she’d gone her own sweet way, confronting Vance with her suspicions. And he had killed her in the most brutal and dehumanising manner. ‘She was a
threat to his security. To his liberty,’ Carol said, knowing it was a weak response.
Tony shook his head, an angry twist to his expression. ‘Nobody was listening to Shaz. Not even me, to my eternal shame. Nothing she had would have convinced a senior officer to investigate Vance, never mind arrest him. He was the big beast in the jungle, and she was a mosquito. He killed her because she’d pissed him off. The irony is that that’s why he ended up in jail in the first place. If he’d left Shaz alone, she’d have been written off as a silly woman with a bee in her bonnet. Killing her was what electrified the lot of us.’
Carol nodded agreement, her shoulders slumping. ‘And he’s not stupid. He must understand that now, even if he didn’t get it at the time. He’s clearly been preparing this escape for years. So why would he risk being recaptured just to get his own back?’ She glanced out of the window at the busy office outside. She badly wanted a drink, but she wouldn’t let her team see her drink on duty. She wished she’d closed the blinds, but it was too late now. ‘Surely he’s not going to stick around just for revenge? All this time in the planning, he must have an escape hatch set up. And surely that’s bound to be abroad? Somewhere without an extradition treaty?’ Trying to convince herself, to keep the fear at bay.
‘He doesn’t look at the world the way we do, Carol. Vance is a psychopath. For years, abducting and raping and torturing and killing young girls was what gave his life meaning. And we took that away from him. That’s been eating away at him ever since. Believe me, making us suffer in return is right up there at the top of his list. I know Vance. I’ve sat across a table from him and seen the wheels go round. He’s going to want retribution – and you are going to be in the crosshairs.’ Tony sat down abruptly, hands gripping the arms of the chair.
Carol frowned. ‘Not only me, Tony. I just arrested him. You were the one who analysed his crimes, his behaviour. If he’s
got a list, you’re up near the top too. And not just you. What about those baby profilers who stood shoulder to shoulder to avenge their colleague? They’re in the frame too. Leon, Simon and Kay.’ Fresh realisation dawned and Carol waved at the room beyond the glass. ‘And Chris. I always forget that’s when I first met Chris, because we were working opposite ends of the investigation. Chris will be on his list too. There was nobody more passionate about nailing Vance for Shaz’s murder than Chris. She’s a target. They’re all targets. And they need to be warned.’ Sudden anger surged in Carol’s chest. ‘Why have I not heard about this officially? Why am I hearing it from you?’
Tony shrugged. ‘I don’t know the answer to that. Maybe because I haven’t delivered my risk assessment yet. But you’re possibly right. I’m not convinced they played a significant enough role in Vance’s eyes to be in the crosshairs now. But they do need to be told.’
‘And his ex-wife,’ Carol said. ‘Jesus. Tell me they’ve informed Micky Morgan.’
‘I told them straight off they should warn her,’ Tony said. ‘He’ll perceive what she did as a betrayal. Not only did she fail to stand by him, she chose to humiliate him. That’s how he’ll see it. Rather than divorce him, she went for annulment. You and me, we understand why Vance wanted a marriage of convenience, but as far as your average prison inmate is concerned, not consummating your marriage means only one thing.’ He gave Carol a wry look. ‘That you’re a sad sack of shit who can’t get it up.’
Carol saw the pain in his eyes and felt the twist of the knife. It wasn’t just his impotence that had come between them over the years, but it sure as hell hadn’t helped. ‘You’re not a sad sack of shit,’ she said briskly. ‘Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I hear what you’re saying about Micky – the way she went about getting rid of Vance set him up for ridicule, at best.’
‘Which would be us,’ Carol said. Anxiety was beginning to climb closer to alarm. She really needed that drink now.
‘I think we’ve got a small window of opportunity before he makes a move,’ Tony said. ‘Vance was never one to take risks. He’ll want to be rested and he’ll want to be certain the plans he put in place from prison will work in practice. That gives all of us time to get our lives in order and go into hiding.’
Carol looked bemused. The notion of giving into the fear was anathema. ‘Go into hiding? Are you crazy? We need to be out there, working with the search team.’
‘No,’ Tony said. ‘That’s the last place you want to be. You want to be where he won’t be looking. Halfway up a Welsh mountain, or on a crowded London street. But certainly not with the search team, the very people he’ll be doing his best to keep tabs on. Carol, I want us all to survive this. And the best way is to take ourselves out of harm’s way till they catch Vance and put him back where he belongs.’
Carol glared at him. ‘And what if they don’t catch him? How long do we stay off the radar? How long do we put our lives on hold till it’s safe to come out?’
‘They’ll catch him. He’s not Superman. He’s got no sense of the surveillance society that’s sprung up since he was sent down.’
Carol snorted. ‘You think? The hard evidence that put him away came from the early versions of what we’ve got now. I think he’ll be very conscious of what’s out there. If he was on a Therapeutic Community Wing, he’ll have had a TV, a radio. Maybe even limited Internet access. Tony, Vance will know exactly what he’s up against and he’ll have made his plans with that in mind.’
‘You won’t,’ she said, her voice soft and warm. ‘It’s not going to be like last time. But cops like us don’t hide from animals like Jacko Vance. We go out after them.’ She held up a hand to stop him as he opened his mouth to speak. ‘And I don’t say that in the spirit of gung-ho stupidity. I say it because I believe it. If I start letting the fear take control, I might as well quit right now. Never mind a new start. The only thing I should be looking at is early retirement.’
Tony sighed, knowing when he was defeated. ‘I can’t make you,’ he said.
‘No, you can’t. And unless the others have changed a hell of a lot in the past dozen or so years, you can’t make them either. We need to be out there, looking for him.’
Tony screwed up his face in a pained expression. ‘Please don’t do that, Carol. Please. Warn the others, by all means. But just do your normal work. Leave the manhunt to people he’s got no interest in killing.’
‘And you? Is that what you’ll be doing?’
Tony found he couldn’t meet her eyes, even though he didn’t feel he had anything to be ashamed of. ‘I’m going to be a long way away from the front line, preparing a risk assessment. Suggestions about what Vance will want to do. Where he will want to go. I was going to hide halfway up a Welsh mountain with you so I could pick your brains, but that’s not going to happen, is it?’ Again, he was aware of anger creeping
into his voice. This time, he clamped down on it, forcing himself to sound genial. ‘So I’ll probably get somebody else to deal with my appointments at Bradfield Moor today and drive back to Worcester so I can work there in peace.’
It wasn’t an option that pleased Carol. She wanted him where she could keep tabs on him. ‘I’d rather you stayed here,’ she said. ‘If we’re not going into hiding, the least we should do is stay close to each other. Avoid giving Vance any opportunity for attack.’
Tony looked dubious. ‘You’re in the middle of a serial-killer inquiry and I’m not supposed to be working with you. If your beloved Chief Constable sees me hanging around in here, he’ll have an aneurysm.’
‘Tough. Anyway, I thought you’d figured out a way round that?’
Tony continued to avoid her eyes. ‘I didn’t get round to it. This other business put it out of my mind. And now I’ve got to work on this Vance assessment. I tell you what: I’ll work in your office with the blinds drawn, then, when I deliver to the Home Office, I’ll get it sorted out. OK?’
Carol surprised herself by laughing. ‘You’re hopeless, you know that?’
‘But you have to promise me something in return …’
‘What’s that?’
‘If he comes anywhere near any of us, you’ll take cover.’
‘I am not hiding up a mountain in the middle of Wales.’ Carol’s mouth set in a firm line.
‘No, I see that. But I’ve still got the narrowboat moored up in the basin in Worcester. We could set sail like the owl and the pussycat. It’d take our minds off Vance.’