can’t fight for themselves. I’ve always admired that.’
‘Then please help me with this. It’s got to be done – whatever it costs.’
Caro drank some water too, hoping the sharpness of the bubbles against her tongue or the coldness edging down her throat would make her brain work faster. They didn’t.
‘Stephanie, why have you brought this to me? It’s precisely the kind of information the whistle-blower’s phoneline was set up for at Scotland Yard. Why haven’t you used that?’
‘I’ve tried it four times. Nothing’s happened. I’ve been to all the senior officers I know well enough to trust. And I’ve written to CIB3. No one’s taken any action. You’re my last hope.’
Caro relaxed. CIB3 was the corruption part of the Complaints Investigation Bureau. If they had received Stephanie’s warning and taken no action that meant no action needed to be taken. There had been rumours that after 9/11, when anti-terrorist work had had to be beefed up, CIB3 had been downgraded, but Caro didn’t believe them. Corruption in the Metropolitan Police had caused such problems since the Second World War that no commissioner was ever going to risk its going unchecked again.
‘I know John Crayley is popular and successful,’ she said, ‘but he’s not untouchable. If you’ve reported your suspicions and no action has been taken, that must be because they’ve investigated him and found he’s clean. So whoever’s watching you can have nothing to do with this. You can forget your fears.’
‘I don’t think so.’ Stephanie looked like someone contemplating a leap off a cliff. At last she looked straight at Caro.
‘They don’t believe me because he dumped me for my best friend eighteen months ago. They think I’m trying to get revenge.’
Caro felt as though she could hear alarm bells ringing all round her. ‘That must have been very hard for you. I hadn’t realised you were ever together. I’m sorry.’
Stephanie blew her nose, then stuffed the tissue in her pocket.
‘I’ve never been good at relationships. I get too angry about too much, and blokes don’t like it. But John was different. We’d lasted three years. The best of my life. He … he was so kind. And he never fought dirty. I mean, in the beginning if we disagreed about something, we’d talk it through. He didn’t shout at me, or run away from a row, or try to win by blaming me for something. I loved him. I felt safe with him.’ She raised her eyes, and Caro thought she’d never seen such naked need in anyone. ‘I’d have done anything for him, until …’
‘Until the day came when you had to suspect him of being in league with the Slabbs?’ Caro suggested when the silence had gone on too long.
‘There was no actual day. At first I was just a bit surprised when he wasn’t where he said he’d been. Then I got worried when he started to hide things.’
Caro tried to look beyond the obvious reason for both. Stephanie wasn’t stupid and she must have seen it too.
‘We’d always been open with each other, so I tackled him. I asked who he was seeing, and whether he was in love with her.’ Stephanie swallowed. ‘He told me not to be stupid, sounding really angry. It was so unlike him that I was even more worried. I started to think maybe he had some ghastly disease and was trying to keep it from me. So I didn’t ask any more. I just watched.’
‘And saw what?’
‘More and more times when he lied about where he’d been, and odd phone calls, and a whole lot of little things that showed
he had some other kind of life. He was paying for all sorts of things in cash, and I couldn’t understand why. Or how he had so much money. I mean, we kept our finances separate, but I knew roughly what he earned.’
This sounds serious, Caro thought.
‘It took ages before I realised it wasn’t either another woman or a terrible disease, that it had to be something to do with the job. Even then I didn’t let myself believe the
‘Then please help me with this. It’s got to be done – whatever it costs.’
Caro drank some water too, hoping the sharpness of the bubbles against her tongue or the coldness edging down her throat would make her brain work faster. They didn’t.
‘Stephanie, why have you brought this to me? It’s precisely the kind of information the whistle-blower’s phoneline was set up for at Scotland Yard. Why haven’t you used that?’
‘I’ve tried it four times. Nothing’s happened. I’ve been to all the senior officers I know well enough to trust. And I’ve written to CIB3. No one’s taken any action. You’re my last hope.’
Caro relaxed. CIB3 was the corruption part of the Complaints Investigation Bureau. If they had received Stephanie’s warning and taken no action that meant no action needed to be taken. There had been rumours that after 9/11, when anti-terrorist work had had to be beefed up, CIB3 had been downgraded, but Caro didn’t believe them. Corruption in the Metropolitan Police had caused such problems since the Second World War that no commissioner was ever going to risk its going unchecked again.
‘I know John Crayley is popular and successful,’ she said, ‘but he’s not untouchable. If you’ve reported your suspicions and no action has been taken, that must be because they’ve investigated him and found he’s clean. So whoever’s watching you can have nothing to do with this. You can forget your fears.’
‘I don’t think so.’ Stephanie looked like someone contemplating a leap off a cliff. At last she looked straight at Caro.
‘They don’t believe me because he dumped me for my best friend eighteen months ago. They think I’m trying to get revenge.’
Caro felt as though she could hear alarm bells ringing all round her. ‘That must have been very hard for you. I hadn’t realised you were ever together. I’m sorry.’
Stephanie blew her nose, then stuffed the tissue in her pocket.
‘I’ve never been good at relationships. I get too angry about too much, and blokes don’t like it. But John was different. We’d lasted three years. The best of my life. He … he was so kind. And he never fought dirty. I mean, in the beginning if we disagreed about something, we’d talk it through. He didn’t shout at me, or run away from a row, or try to win by blaming me for something. I loved him. I felt safe with him.’ She raised her eyes, and Caro thought she’d never seen such naked need in anyone. ‘I’d have done anything for him, until …’
‘Until the day came when you had to suspect him of being in league with the Slabbs?’ Caro suggested when the silence had gone on too long.
‘There was no actual day. At first I was just a bit surprised when he wasn’t where he said he’d been. Then I got worried when he started to hide things.’
Caro tried to look beyond the obvious reason for both. Stephanie wasn’t stupid and she must have seen it too.
‘We’d always been open with each other, so I tackled him. I asked who he was seeing, and whether he was in love with her.’ Stephanie swallowed. ‘He told me not to be stupid, sounding really angry. It was so unlike him that I was even more worried. I started to think maybe he had some ghastly disease and was trying to keep it from me. So I didn’t ask any more. I just watched.’
‘And saw what?’
‘More and more times when he lied about where he’d been, and odd phone calls, and a whole lot of little things that showed
he had some other kind of life. He was paying for all sorts of things in cash, and I couldn’t understand why. Or how he had so much money. I mean, we kept our finances separate, but I knew roughly what he earned.’
This sounds serious, Caro thought.
‘It took ages before I realised it wasn’t either another woman or a terrible disease, that it had to be something to do with the job. Even then I didn’t let myself believe the
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