No Middle Ground Read online

  ‘It’s safe in here now, but I asked them to give us time to examine the scene before letting people in to potentially contaminate it. The fire didn’t spread beyond the records room. Whoever set it shut the door behind them so, with the windows closed and the air-con working, the fire ran out of oxygen. The bad news is there’s still no sign of Tommy, his chaperone or the judge out there.’

  I thought we knew who set it, Guv?’ asked Jane as they reached the first floor and started towards the court room.

  ‘We don’t know until we find some evidence.’

  ‘Right, Guv.’

  Colin opened the big doors and they entered the court room. The big space was eerily empty. It didn’t take long for Jane to spot the one thing out of place in there. ‘Hey, boss. Guv.’ She pointed out the remains of the stenographer’s machine scattered across the floor around where she had been seated to one side of the judge’s bench.

  Court cases were not recorded on video or audio tape. The stenographer’s transcript was the only record that existed apart from any notes that the judge or the journalists in the press gallery might have made.

  ‘That supports what we were saying outside,’ Dick pointed out.

  ‘Unlikely to be any finger-prints on it, though,’ Colin argued. ‘That was done with a tool of some kind.’ He led the way towards the door to the judge’s chambers. It gave into an old-fashioned wood-panelled corridor with portraits of men in red robes and wigs hanging at intervals and several doors leading off. Secretaries, clerks and other back-office staff had offices back here as well as the judge. All the doors stood open, Pete saw as he entered the corridor. The smell of smoke was strong.

  He knew from experience where the judge’s office and changing room were, as did Colin. They headed straight for them.

  Colin stopped abruptly in the doorway, one hand going up to halt the others. ‘Get forensics here.’

  ‘Guv?’ Jane checked.

  ‘He’s dead. I can see that from here. Don’t know how yet. There’s no blood. But the pathologist will explain that.’

  ‘You sure, Guv?’ Dick asked as Jane turned away to make the call.

  Colin turned his head. ‘About the pathologist?’

  ‘About the judge. Being dead.’

  ‘His ribs aren’t moving and I don’t fancy having my neck at that angle.’

  Pete looked past the senior man’s bulky frame. The judge was on the floor of his office, head tilted up sharply as it rested against the old-fashioned cast-iron radiator between two tall windows that overlooked the narrow street down the side of the courthouse. ‘They didn’t even hide him.’

  ‘No need,’ Colin replied. ‘Everybody hurrying out of here, concerned with their own safety.’

  Pete grimaced. ‘I suppose. But what does this mean for Tommy? Or his chaperone?’

  Colin met his gaze. ‘Let’s not speculate, eh?’ He reached for the door to close it but stopped himself just in time. The scene needed recording as it was, preferably without his finger prints to contaminate it. They headed back through the court room out to the public space beyond, turning right towards the little room where Tommy had been testifying when the alarm sounded.

  ‘Pathologist and forensics are on the way,’ Jane reported as they once more stopped at the door.

  Colin nodded, peering in. ‘No signs of a struggle. They must have been blitzed.’ He stepped back and Pete saw something he had missed before.

  ‘Is that blood?’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘The edge of the witness box, to the right of the camera stand.’

  Colin looked closer, still staying outside the doorway to the room. ‘Could be.’

  ‘That’s it, then,’ Dick said. ‘Step in, slam the camera man’s head down on there to knock him out, then snatch the boy and out. Somebody the size of Adrian Southam could pick Tommy up one-handed. He’s got the other hand free, then, to clap over his mouth, stop him yelling for help.’

  ‘He’d fight, though,’ Pete said. ‘Kick the bejesus out of him if he couldn’t do anything else. And he’s not one to fight fair.’

  ‘So, if Adrian picked Tommy up while his brother dealt with the judge and destroyed the stenograph, which way would they have gone out of here?’ Jane asked.

  ‘Down the judge’s stairs, I expect,’ Colin said. ‘There wasn’t another option and they’d have had to move quick.’

  ‘Or stay put,’ Pete pointed out. ‘Hide inside until everyone’s back in, out of the way, then go out the back way.’

  ‘Bit of a risk isn’t it, with a fire going in the building?’ asked Dick.

  ‘Not if that door was shut deliberately,’ Pete countered.

  ‘You reckon they’re still here, then?’ asked Jane.

  Pete tilted his head. ‘Makes more sense than risking being seen.’

  ‘We’re going to need more bodies,’ Colin said. ‘A thorough search of this place is going to take a while.’

  CHAPTER ELVEN

  ‘Can I have everyone’s attention, please?’ Pete stood in the rear doorway of the combined court house, overlooking the small crowd of officials, jury members and judiciary as the last of the fire crews packed up their gear to his left.

  Quiet descended until someone asked, ‘When are we going back inside?’

  ‘I’ll answer that in a moment. First, has anyone seen two men leaving with a boy about so high.’ He raised his hand to roughly Tommy’s height. ‘For those of you who were in court one, he was testifying when the alarm went off.’

  Heads shook.

  ‘They could have been in a car or on foot. They’d have been big, bulky men, last seen with short-cropped hair. Look like a pair of bouncers.’

  ‘He’s your son,’ someone called out.

  ‘Correct, but irrelevant. We think he may have been abducted by the men I described. No-one saw them leave?’

  More head-shaking.

  ‘When are we going back in?’

  ‘That depends on finding the two men I described. They’re dangerous and presumed armed. My colleague is checking at the front of the building but if they weren’t seen leaving, then they must still be inside, hiding until the coast is clear, so to speak. In which case, we’ll need to search the building for them, so it’ll be a while.’

  ‘Courts are in session in this building, Detective Sergeant, and not only courts. We can’t be left out here indefinitely.’ The speaker was a grey-haired man still wearing the red robes of his office.

  ‘It won’t be indefinitely, sir. Just until we’ve cleared the building – as I said, if they weren’t seen going out the front, which seems unlikely even for someone as brazen as these two.’

  ‘So, who are they?’ someone asked.

  ‘I’m sorry, I can’t answer that at this stage for legal reasons.’ This being a court house, they ought to be able to appreciate that, he thought as he took out his phone and turned away to call Colin Underhill, who would have been asking the same questions out front of the building.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘It’s Pete. Anything?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘So they’re inside.’

  ‘Seems that way.’

  ‘So, if we start at the bottom and work up, floor by floor, we’ll have them trapped rather than letting them slip away during a top-down search,’ Pete said.

  ‘We’ll wait for the uniforms and do just that. They’re on the way. Meantime, guard that entrance and I’ll stay here. Feeney can go down to the underground car park and keep an eye there. Jane can watch where the prison vans come and go.’

  Blimey, Pete thought, trying to recall the last time he’d heard Colin say that much all in one go. ‘Right, I’ll tell them.’

  ‘Eyes peeled and be careful,’ Colin said and hung up.

  Pete called up Jane’s number on his speed dial. ‘Jane. I just spoke to Colin. No sign of them leaving so he said you should keep an eye at the suspects’ entrance and Dick should go down to the underground car park, keep watch there. Dick�
��s with you, is he?’

  ‘Yes. I’ll tell him.’

  ‘And be careful, both of you. These two are unpredictable at best, bloody dangerous at worst. And cornered, they’ll be at their worst.’

  ‘Right, boss.’

  Pete put his phone away and stepped back inside to prevent the distraction of answering questions from the assembled crowd.

  Minutes later, Colin called him back. ‘The uniforms are here. I’ll send one each to the exits and the rest can help us search the place.’

  ‘OK, Guv. Dick will certainly need help with the car park.’

  Colin cut the connection without further comment but Pete knew he would have taken the observation on-board. The underground car park was single storey, just for the use of staff and legal counsel, but it would still take a while to search effectively.

  Pete waited for a constable to approach his position.

  When a knock sounded on the door behind him, he thought it must be a member of the crowd waiting outside. He turned, ready to tell them they’d have to wait and, instead, saw a dark uniform and a face he recognised. He opened the door. ‘Mick. You on guard duty today, then?’

  ‘Seems that way.’

  ‘Baton out and stay alert then. The suspects we’re looking for are at least as dangerous as Zivan Millocovic was,’ he said, referring to a huge Polish drug pusher they’d had dealings with the year before, until he was killed in a car crash. ‘And there’s two of them.’

  ‘Oh, cheers for that.’

  Pete clapped him on the shoulder. ‘I know you can cope, mate. Anyway, with any luck we’ll be driving them up, away from you.’

  ‘Well, that’s something, I suppose. What have they done?’

  ‘Abducted Tommy and killed a judge. Today.’

  ‘Jesus, you weren’t kidding, were you?’

  ‘Not even slightly. Eyes peeled, Constable. Ears, too. And that lot out there are not coming in until we’ve cleared the place, no matter what they say.’

  ‘So I’ve got potential trouble from both sides. Great. Thanks.’

  Pete chuckled. ‘I know you love it.’ He took out his phone and hit Jane’s speed dial again.

  ‘Boss?’

  ‘When your cover gets there, clear that yard before you come in, OK?’

  ‘Will do.’

  ‘And be careful,’ he reminded her.

  ‘Always, boss. You know me.’

  He did. Which was why he’d said it. ‘And you know who we’re looking for and what they’re capable of.’

  ‘Yeah,’ she breathed. ‘See you later.’

  ‘You’d better,’ he replied and broke the connection. ‘Right, I’m off,’ he told Mick.

  ‘Like you said – be careful.’

  Pete grunted. ‘And as Jane just said – always.’

  There was a corridor leading from the rear door straight back into what seemed like the bowels of the building. It dead-ended at a point Pete guessed to be somewhere near the centre of the ground floor but before that there were doors for the lift, the stairs and several rooms that Pete didn’t know the purpose of. Before heading up to the next floor, he would search them all. He walked past the stairs and lift to the first door on the right. With his collapsible truncheon ready in his hand, he tried the handle. It opened onto a tiny room, undecorated and empty apart from two meter-boxes set into the wall, labelled ‘Gas’ and ‘Electricity’. The next door opened on the boiler room which was quiet at this time of year. Then came what appeared to be a cleaning closet. Shelves covered all three walls apart from the one with the door in.

  The one after that was locked. The handle went down at his touch, but the door refused to budge. He’d come back to it. Next was another service room, this one housing stationery stores. Shelves of paper, pens, pencils, and essential supplies. Again, nowhere to hide and no-one in there. He closed the door and moved on. Three rooms searched, five to go. His plan was to work his way down one side and back along the other before checking any locked ones. He’d already clarified with Colin that they would check every room, locked or not. Repairs could be dealt with later.

  By the time he’d completed the task, clearing every room along the corridor one by one and returning to the stairs, his shoulder was sore from barging two locked doors, the sweat of tension was running uncomfortably down his back and his brain was so wound up, the slightest shock would have tipped him into immediate violence.

  He lifted his radio and keyed the mike. ‘Jane. Progress report?’

  ‘Nearly done with the bottom floor, boss.’

  ‘Dick?’

  ‘Waiting on assistance, boss.’

  ‘Guv?’

  ‘Ready when you are.’

  ‘Up we go, then.’ He pressed the button to call the lift, waited for it to arrive and checked inside as the doors slid open, reaching in to hit the emergency button, blocking its further use before he turned to the stairs.

  He was about to emerge onto the first floor when his radio crackled.

  ‘PC 1642 French. Canvas completed, Southernhay Gardens. No witnesses and no CCTV of the suspects.’

  ‘Received,’ Colin answered her. ‘Come down to the court house and help DC Feeney search the car park, both of you.’

  ‘Roger.’

  Pete muted his radio and stepped out through the fire door.

  *

  The building had three floors above the parking basement. Smaller civil courts and arbitration services were on the ground floor, crown courts on the next with ancillary staff and the records room at the top. There were three crown courts, each with their own judge’s chamber, secretarial and runner’s offices.

  Pete ignored the fact that they had already been in the back rooms of court one. They hadn’t covered the whole area and people could move while there was no-one to see them. Forensics and the pathologist had yet to arrive, he saw when he began a second, complete sweep of the section. With the court in session, none of these rooms were locked so it didn’t take long, even though there were secondary nooks and crannies like a bathroom off the judges’ chamber, separate store cupboards and toilet facilities. Still, he’d worked his way through to the main court room by the time his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and checked the caller ID.

  Colin.

  He picked up, speaking quietly. ‘Guv?’

  ‘Have you got your radio turned off?’

  ‘Yes, why?’

  ‘The pathologist’s here.’

  He would want access to the body, but Pete hadn’t fully cleared the court room yet. ‘Give me a minute and I’ll be ready for him.’

  Colin ended the call without replying. Pete put his phone away. It wasn’t a question of his boss being rude. It was just Colin. He didn’t waste words. It could be frustrating at times, but there were a lot of worse bosses he could be working for.

  He crossed to the jury’s entrance. Beyond it, the jury room, a break room and toilet facilities opened off a corridor that led along the back of the court towards the stairs he’d come up a few minutes before. He checked the meeting room first, crouching to see under the big table that took up the centre. Then he moved on to the toilets, checking both the male and female. All the stalls were empty and open. The break room was also unoccupied.

  He moved back to the court room with its teak furniture that always seemed slightly cheap and down-market, compared with the mahogany grandeur you expected in such places. The public gallery on the mezzanine above the back, separated from the press gallery by a five-foot gap above the main doors, would have to be checked carefully from the next floor up, but the main room itself was empty.

  Pete took out his phone and dialled.

  It was picked up on the first ring, as if he’d had it in his hand already. Which he probably had. ‘Guv, where are you?’

  ‘Court two.’

  ‘Can someone check the court galleries while we stay put?’

  ‘Yep’

  Again, Colin ended the call abruptly. Pete’s radio sounded fai
ntly but he couldn’t make out what was being said. Didn’t need to. It would be Colin sending someone upstairs to do as he’d suggested.

  Moments later that was confirmed when the door at the rear of the public gallery opened and Dick Feeney stepped through.

  ‘Hey, boss,’ he nodded and checked to either side. From there, he could see across into the press gallery too. ‘All clear.’

  ‘Check the others then stay put in the corridor there until we come up,’ Pete told him.

  ‘Right.’ Dick backed out, closing the doors behind him. Pete heard the click of the lock being turned up there as he took out his radio. He turned up the volume and pressed the call button. ‘All clear for the pathologist.’

  Pete waited where he was. It took only moments for the pathologist to enter the building and climb the single flight of stairs. One of the big doors in front of Pete opened and the small, silver-haired man stepped through, his customary battered black leather case in one hand.

  ‘Hello, Doc,’ Pete said

  ‘Peter. How are you?’

  ‘Tense,’ Pete admitted. ‘Worried sick, actually. They’ve left at least one body behind for you and taken Tommy with them.’

  ‘Oh, my God. I didn’t realise. I’m so sorry.’ Doc Chambers clapped him gently on the shoulder. ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘Judges chamber.’

  Tony Chambers’ eyes widened. ‘Not…’

  Pete nodded. ‘Yep.’

  ‘Good Lord,’ the Doc breathed. ‘They must be desperate or truly psychopathic.’

  ‘Trust me, it’s the latter. So lock yourself in, at least until forensics arrive. We’ve got one more floor to check, then I’ll be back.’

  ‘Right. Lead on,’ the older man nodded.

  Pete turned back towards the left-hand access door and opened it. ‘First on the right,’ he said. The pathologist went past him, stopped at the open door to put down his case and open it. He withdrew a white overall and blue plastic shoe covers and pulled them on. There was no need to ask whether anything had been touched in the room. They’d known each other for too long. Pete waited until Chambers had gloved up and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He heard the latch click and turned away.