Woody shook his head. ‘No, you won’t.’
She made no effort to hide her surprise. Normally Woody pushed her to deal more with the press.
‘Won’t what?’ she queried. ‘Announce it as murder or take the press conference.’
‘Neither,’ he answered.
‘Sir, we need to announce it. We’ve found no clear motive for the murder of Sadie Winters. No forensics to try and match. How do we know other kids are not at risk? I appreciate you giving me the day to find out, but we really now have to be fair to the parents who may want to remove their children from the school.’
‘Murder is not to be mentioned by us, do you understand, Stone?’
‘No, sir, I don’t,’ she replied. ‘Please explain why we are going to risk the lives of more children by not being honest about Sadie’s death.’
‘I will not explain my decisions to you,’ he roared.
‘But are they yours?’ she asked, unable to stop the words shooting out of her mouth.
He stared at her for a long minute. ‘That’ll be all, Stone,’ he said, shortly.
‘Sir, I really must protest. We cannot put more children—’
‘I said, that’ll be all. Now get out.’
She headed for the door and even though she knew she had already said too much she turned back for one last attempt to voice her argument.
But her boss had already picked up the phone.
Twenty-One
The cards filed into the candle room one by one, their shoes shuffling along the bare concrete. Casual dress but no trainers. Always shoes.
The dark space beneath the bell tower had been the meeting room of the Spades since 1949 and now had a single light bulb in the centre of the fifteen foot square space. It wasn’t switched on. Instead the room was lit by a tall candelabra in each corner, casting willowy shadows around the room. It was tradition.
The Joker waited until all the cards stood behind their chairs at the round table, the King to his right and the Jack to his left. His own chair stood before the framed black Spade sewn together from pieces of the graduation gowns of the first eleven cards back in the early fifties.
He sat, and the others followed.
This was an unscheduled late-night meeting. There was an empty chair. One card was missing and that was the reason they were there.
But that would wait for a short while.
‘You all know that Sadie Winters is dead?’ asked the Joker, gravely.
He watched as they all nodded in turn. As was customary, a card did not speak unless spoken to directly.
‘Is there anyone here who knows anything about the incident?’ he asked, looking around the circle.
Heads shook in the negative.
The Joker held the gaze of the King for a second longer. A couple of cards had clashed with Sadie Winters, but the King had been closer than most.
The King shook his head.
‘Spades don’t take the law into their own hands,’ said the Joker, to ensure they all understood. ‘Punishments are discussed and agreed,’ he said, nodding towards the empty chair.
‘There is one amongst us that does not adhere to the rules.’
They all nodded and understood the reason for the empty chair.
Six had not been invited.
‘Which one of you explained the rules?’
Every head turned towards Seven.
‘And did you tell him about Lewis Millward?’ the Joker asked.
Seven nodded.
‘Speak,’ he instructed. It had been a direct question.
‘Yes,’ Seven answered.
Lewis Millward’s experience served as a cautionary tale that had been handed down for the last twelve years. Lewis had been fourteen years old when offered the Ace of Spades at roughly the same time one of his buddies had been invited into the Clubs.
Lewis had felt he could choose which rules he would follow and which rules he would not and continued to spend time with his former friend. Despite warnings from the Joker and all other cards he had continued to flout the rules.
One night he had been removed from his bed and taken to the shower block and placed beneath a stream of freezing cold water to recite the rules until he fully understood them. Only once his lips had begun turning blue was he allowed to get out and dry off.
Finally, he got it.
Spades and Clubs didn’t mix.
The importance of the rules was made clear to every card from the moment they were invited to join.
‘Recite them to me, Seven,’ the Joker instructed.
Seven shifted uncomfortably. His humiliation would ensure that he drummed the rules into the next new recruit.
The Joker said the words in his head as Seven recited them.
‘Respect the suit and its cards beyond all others.
Keep the secrets of the suit and all its cards.
Once a Spade, always a Spade.
Always be ready to help a fellow card.
Never aid a Club suit card.’
And that was the one they would discuss today.
‘Six helped a Club with his chemistry homework.’
A low murmur travelled around the table.
As was tradition, the person who had explained the rules was responsible for the punishment.
The responsible card raised his head. He understood.
‘Okay, Seven, you know what you have to do.’
Twenty-Two
‘So, who’s up first?’ Kim asked, stepping into the squad room.
‘I’ll start, boss,’ Stacey said. ‘Went through the witness statements as you asked.’ She shook her head. ‘Cor find anyone who actually saw her on the roof.’
Kim frowned. How the hell was that even possible?
‘Did you track all the statements?’ she asked.
‘Yes, boss,’ Stacey said standing up and moving over to the spare desk.
The statements had been laid out in vertical lines overlapping each other, like playing cards in the game of patience.
‘First and longest line are the people who state who actually told them either by phone or in person. The second line are the ones that heard about it from shouting in the hallway, and the third line are people who cor remember how they found out.’
‘Damn it,’ Kim said, unable to comprehend that they could not track it to the original source. She was sure that had been the work of the murderer.
‘Anything else?’ she asked.
‘Just started getting some background on the adults. Sadie’s parents are obviously well-heeled.’
‘Two girls at a private school for thirty-five grand a year. I’d have thought so,’ Dawson observed.
The detective constable slid back into her seat and tapped a few keys.
‘Laurence Winters was born into the illustrious Winters family that specialise in manufacturing medical equipment. There’s been a Winters child at Heathcrest since Laurence’s great-grandfather was sent there during the War.
‘And Hannah Winters?’
‘A bit more colourful. Hannah Winters descends from the Sheldon line, a blue blood family who can be traced back to the 1400s. Lots of titles but not a pot to piss in. Made their money from horse breeding and racing, until Hannah’s grandfather lost a coveted race and in a fit of madness shot every horse and then himself.
‘Left with crippling debts, Hannah’s father sold off every property they owned and managed to keep enough back for Hannah to go to Heathcrest with the single directive of—’
‘Finding a rich husband,’ Kim finished.
And she’d certainly done that, she thought.
‘Anything else?’ Kim asked.
‘Not yet,’ Stacey said with a look of glee. ‘But give me chance. There’s some real saucy stuff goes on behind these rich and powerful doors.’
Kim raised one eyebrow at her colleague.
She wondered idly if Stacey felt she’d been backtracked slightly. On their last major case, she’d been paired up with Dawson and both had done an outstanding job of uncovering a network of slave labour. Kim been allowed additional manpower and had seconded Austin Penn, from Travis’s team; but she knew that Woody wouldn’t sanction that again, and anyway, Kim needed someone with Stacey’s data skills on this one.
From the look on her face, Kim was reassured that Stacey wasn’t taking it too badly at all.
‘Kev, anything from Sadie’s friends?’