A Box Full of Darkness (Wilson Book 5) by Fee Derek

but even he would have to use a lot of influence to have him sidelined like this. There were so many options open to him. Why bury him investigating a forty-two-year-old murder? If there was a reason, he’d discover it soon enough. He moved behind the desk and sat down. It wasn’t in his nature to be morose or depressed. When he played rugby, he’d often been on the losing side but he kept going until the end of the game. Now, when things were going against him he would have to find the resilience that used to be second nature to him. He looked at the label on the box file. It was a simple handwritten white label inscribed with the word ‘Cormac Mallon and Sean Lafferty – Belfast, 1974’. He opened the lid of the box and looked inside. There was a single buff-coloured file. He took it out and pushed the box file away. If this was a record into the death of two men, it was something of a joke. A murder book was generally several hundred pages and for a difficult case could run to more than a thousand. The file before him contained no more than thirty pages. He ran quickly through the contents. There were a number of statements but no photographs of the scene. There was a one-page report of the autopsy but no photographs of the corpses either at the scene or at the autopsy. He settled back in his chair and began to read the file.
    Half an hour later he had read the contents of the file twice. If the RUC had intended to investigate the murders of two young men, they had failed miserably. It wasn’t just a case of incompetence; it was also sloppy police work and a flagrant disregard for procedures. He opened the drawer in the desk and found an empty notebook and a couple of pens with the logo of a garage on them. He opened the notebook and began to set out his strategy for investigating the deaths of Cormac Mallon and Sean Lafferty. It was forty-two years since the crime had been committed. Little or no evidence had been collected and the murders had received scant investigation. The task force, if you could call him and Jackson by that name, certainly had their work cut out. Both of the young men had been seventeen which meant that their parents would have been in their thirties or forties at the time of their deaths. That would mean that they would now be in their early seventies or even eighties if they were still alive and if they were still living in the Province. That would be his starting point. He had just commenced writing in the notebook when there was a knock on the door. ‘Come in.’
    Detective Sergeant Simon Jackson entered and stood at attention in front of Wilson’s desk. ‘I was wondering what you want me to do,’ Jackson said.
    ‘For God’s, sake, stand at ease, sergeant. I’m not one of those people who stand on ceremony.’
    ‘Sorry, sir, it’s just force of habit.’
    Well lose it , Wilson thought but didn’t say. ‘I’ve just read the file and quite honestly I’m appalled at the way the investigation was carried out.’
    ‘It’s par for the course,’ Jackson said relaxing slightly but still maintaining the military bearing.
    ‘Where did you work before here, sergeant?’
    ‘The Legacy Support Unit, that’s where I met the boss.’
    ‘And before that?’
    Jackson hesitated just perceptibly. ‘Special Branch.’
    ‘And before that?’
    ‘British Army.’ No hesitation.
    ‘You have a very interesting career trajectory, sergeant.’ Wilson was wondering what a former Special Branch officer was doing working as an investigator. And even more interesting what was a former Special Branch officer doing working with him?
    ‘I go where I’m told, sir.’
    Wilson leaned back in his chair and only just regained his balance in order to stop the chair toppling over. ‘I started as a simple plod and worked my way up through the ranks. I didn’t have any of those exotic moves.’
    Jackson had taken up the military at-ease stance with both hands behind his back. ‘I wouldn’t use the word