Nowhere to Hide by Alex Walters

his legs. ‘Who knows? Might have been there on business, might have just gone out for a quiet pint or two with his mates.’
    â€˜In Stockport?’
    â€˜It’s been known. Apparently. Though I’d stick to the real ale in the Crown. Is all this going somewhere?’
    â€˜Last case you were working on, before we called on your services.’ Salter turned from the window. ‘Stephen Kenning.’
    â€˜This your specialist subject? Recent cases of the Greater Manchester Police, Metropolitan Division?’
    â€˜Maybe. How am I doing?’
    â€˜Seems to me you’re asking all the questions.’
    Salter lowered himself back into the seat opposite Brennan. ‘Okay, here’s another one. Your starter for ten. Tell me about Stephen Kenning.’
    â€˜Another grass. Big time, though. Blew the whistle on a major drugs ring in Longsight, four or five years back. Was in witness protection, living all by himself in a little cottage out in the Peaks.’
    â€˜Picturesque.’
    â€˜Not this bit. But there was a decent view. So you could see anyone coming from a mile away. Except that he didn’t.’
    â€˜No. Shot three times, I understand.’
    Brennan nodded. ‘Pro job. It was a couple of weeks before anyone found him. Postman noticed the smell eventually.’
    â€˜Anyone in the frame for it?’
    â€˜You must know the answer to that,’ Brennan said. ‘You seem to know quite a lot about all this.’
    â€˜Don’t pretend you share everything with the likes of us. Any more than we share everything with the likes of you.’
    â€˜In this case, there was nothing to share. I mean, it’s obvious who’s behind it. But we can’t prove any link, and we were never going to get near whoever actually pulled the trigger.’
    â€˜And it took a burden off your hands,’ Salter pointed out. ‘Pain in the arse, witness protection.’
    â€˜If you say so.’ Brennan’s face was expressionless. ‘Anyway, we’d reached a dead end.’
    â€˜This drugs ring,’ Salter said. ‘You know who the key players were?’
    â€˜We know who went inside. That doesn’t mean they were the key players. We took it as far as we could with our resources. I imagine you lot would have the bigger picture. What was it you said about not sharing stuff with the likes of us?’
    â€˜We just try to make connections. Name Jeff Kerridge mean anything to you?’
    Brennan looked up. ‘Not as much as he means to you. He was the guy you shot?’
    â€˜Yeah. He was the guy who’d got our corrupt cop on the payroll. They tried to kill me. Then, like you say, I killed him.’
    â€˜You’re saying that it was Kerridge behind the drugs ring?’
    â€˜Kerridge didn’t leave any more fingerprints than he could help. Looks that way, though.’
    â€˜But if Kerridge is dead, who killed Stephen Kenning?’
    â€˜Interesting question, isn’t it?’
    â€˜Another interesting question.’ Brennan fingered the file he’d placed on the table at the start of the meeting. ‘What does all this have to do with our two fall guys in North Wales? I’m assuming you didn’t send me out there just to enjoy the scenery?’
    â€˜Christ, no. Just wanted an objective view on what they were up to. Don’t trust those Welsh bastards to share any more than they need to.’
    â€˜Well, they were very polite, just not very forthcoming. They gave me the basics, but not much more.’ Brennan flipped over the file. ‘Two bodies. One was a small-time crook, known to them. Name of Mo Tallent. The other’s still unidentified. Not on their records. Not yet reported missing.’
    â€˜Nice to be loved,’ Salter commented. ‘What do you reckon, then?’
    â€˜Looked like a warning to me. Somebody frightening off the competition.’
    â€˜But the local plods claim