The place wasn’t familiar, of course; the stench of Charlie Cooper was still hanging over every part of the City, but we were out at Winsford, not that far from Neil’s address. Mr Sedgewick had been cheeky, asking specifically if I could possibly visit Gemma’s before the trip, so both Candice and I were carrying several cardboard boxes of pastries in readiness. She had found a pub that did rooms in a place called Little Budworth, as there was sod-all in Winsford, and neither of us fancied a Purple Palace again. She was driving, a works car, because the public transport was also non-existent. At least the HQ had a decent amount of parking. We waited at the desk like good little girls until a civilian came to collect us, and off we went to Mr Sedgewick’s office, towing the consolidated evidence bundle in a non-small pull-along suitcase.

“Welcome, ladies! Alison is going to make us a tray of drinks—tea or coffee?”

We both opted for tea, and tried to ignore the stares Sedgewick was directing at our carrier bags. When our drinks arrived, though, Sedgewick thanked his PA before pointing at the boxes.

“Alison, could you do me a huge favour and invite the rest of your team to join us for a second?”

A minute later, we were joined by another six people, and our host was explaining.

“Ladies and gentlemen, these Officers are from Wales, working with us for a short while. You will remember the case of one Charles Cooper?”

There were a few mutters, one of which was the C-bomb, as well as a lot of angry expressions.

“Yes, that one. These are two of the team that broke that case. There is need to know in their business here, BUT there is also need to know in what they have brought with them. They have a friend who is an excellent pastry chef, and so I made a request for some samples. Please help yourselves, but leave some for the three of us”

His support staff descended on the boxes, each carrying off a couple of items, one turning as he was about to leave the office.

“May I ask a question of our visitors, sir?”

“Go ahead, Jack”

“It’s just… Is this another nasty one?”

Candice answered for us.

“It is, I’m afraid. Nowhere near as bad as the Cooper case, but unpleasant”

“How do you cope? Sorry to be personal, but meant in sympathy”

She waved at me.

“Friends. Friends to be strong for, and friends who are strong for me. Oh, and the occasional piss-up”

“Where are you staying?”

“Red Lion, place called Budworth”

“Got ear plugs?”

“Sorry?”

“You’re not far off Oulton Park. Bike and car race track”

“Oh! That’s, well, fitting”

We were left in peace, and for a while we simply sipped, chewed and made neutral talk, until Sedgewick’s mobile chirped. He looked at the screen for a few seconds, then sighed.

“Forbes has been lifted. He is apparently not a content lagomorph. Be prepared for a lecture on the Magna Carta. The warrant was deliberately vague, so you will be able to do some rug-pulling that will leave him off-balance. The warrant simply says ‘criminal harassment’, and it is a bench warrant, so the arresting Officers won’t have to give a full account at the Custody desk”

A softer smile this time.

“Rank at my level is largely political in its responsibilities, ladies, but I can still remember my days as an active thieftaker. You have a slight edge in this case, so please---ah. Come in, David. Diane Sutton and Candice Warren of the Review Unit, David Hodge from our CID. Oh, forgive me”

He pointed at each of us in turn, giving out ranks, “Detective Sergeant, ditto, DC”, and Hodge looked at our not-so- little suitcase as Sedgewick waved an invitation at the pastries.

“The original papers and stuff in there? Discs?”

I nodded.

“I signed it all out, and as I signed for the originals when we collected them, I can produce when it comes to that point”

“Great. We have a vid player in the room, so we can show the crunchy bits properly. Do you write an interview plan?”

I shook my head.

“Nope. Got an idea of what I have as ammo, but I just focus on where I need to go so I can listen to his answers better”

‘David’ laughed heartily.

“I like her style, sir! Great minds and that. How long should we leave him to fester and fret? He’s speaking to the duty brief at the moment, but until we start dishing the dirt, he won’t have much to work on”

Candice waved at the table.

“Still got cake, David. I can’t work and eat at the same time—blonde, as you can see”

For once, she couldn’t keep a straight face, and corpsed.

“I will tell you two things. Firstly, I am expecting a lot of interview suspensions as the evidence builds up, and that may lead to the brief walking out if Nige tries to lie too much to him. Second, I do believe our wannabe Deformity Councillor is worried, and that’s cause he is a Mighty Freeman, and those twats usually just rant, telling us what the law is, rather than getting a brief in”

David raised his eyebrows.

“Not so blonde at all, are you?”

“I will have you know this is all natural, unlike when Diane tried it. Anyway, the two of us met the widower, and he is a very, very nice, gentle man. This is for him”

We gave Nigel an hour after his brief had come out before we started our little game, and it did seem to have had an effect, as he was blustering from the start, loud complaints about his personal conveyance and his contract with the Sovereign, our status as paid lackeys without the power to enforce any law, and so much more of a similar kind. David just sat patiently, until the brief interrupted.

“Mr Forbes, these Officers can’t proceed until some formalities are observed. Also, you won’t be able to examine the evidence they hold if they aren’t allowed to speak”

Translation: FFS STFU.

David uncoiled.

“I am Detective Sergeant Hodge of Cheshire Constabulary. This is Detective Sergeant Sutton of the Serious Crime Review Unit, South Wales Police”

Forbes brow furrowed.

“What on Earth has Wales got to do with anything?”

I gave him ‘Sammy, Sweet’ as a smile, holding my version of ‘Feral’ for later.

“As far as I am aware at this moment, nothing. However, my team support serious crime investigation across the whole of the UK. We are here to support this case on behalf of Cheshire. I am here personally because I gathered the evidence we shall be presenting”

“As a Freeman of this Land, I will decide what counts as evidence”

“No, sorry. That’s down to the judge in any trial”

There was another murmur from the brief, and David produced the necessary fresh packs of tapes, explaining the way the system works, and then, finally, we were at the “This is an interview of Mister Nigel Ewan Forbes. Present is myself…” stage.

Candice was spot on with her prediction, for as soon as David asked “Did you know a woman called Madeleine, Maddy, Strachan, formerly Madeleine Gibson?” Forbes was asking to consult his brief. Suspend the interview, and David insisted on using the long-form break, which meant signing and sealing all the tapes before we left the room, which of course meant that we would have to do the whole opening ritual once again. Candice, of course, had spotted that and congratulated him for his nastiness.

Ten minutes later, and we were back in, and yet again, “This is an interview of…” was followed by that first question: had he known Maddy?

“No. I have no idea who that person might be”

I kept my poker face on, because as every copper knows, a provable lie is as good as a confession. David was smooth.

“Have you ever eaten at the Bouchon Bordelais in Middlewich?”

“I believe so. It is a very nice restaurant. I have eaten there often”

David smiled.

“So I hear. Did you eat there on May the…”

“I may have done”

“I am now showing Mr Forbes a copy of the booking records for the Bouchon on that day. The record says for seven that evening ‘Forbes plus one, table 14’. Was that you, Mr Forbes?”

“Possibly. I like the food”

The brief interrupted just then.

“I am sorry, Officer, but my client obviously has no idea what relevance any of this has to anything at all. We have only been informed of an allegation of criminal harassment”

“Oh, I am so sorry. It’s a case of criminal harassment of Mrs Strachan and her husband. Harassment that seems to have resulted in her suicide. Does that clarify things sufficiently?”

Out for a second break, this time for forty minutes. Back in, opening credits again, and…

“When you ate at the Bouchon that time, who was the ‘plus one’?”

“I have no idea”

“Was it Madeleine? Maddy?”

“I do not know anyone of that name”

“Well, obviously not now, as she is deceased. That doesn’t answer my question, Mr Forbes”

“No. It wasn’t your Maddy person”

“I have here a copy of the payment record for that evening, for the table and time slot of your booking. The bill was paid by someone called M Gibson”

Long break procedure once again, Candice almost choking with laughter.

“How much longer will this go on?”

David sighed, mask slipping slightly.

“In terms of questions, not that much longer. He’s lied by reflex, so it’s going to be a summing up, a crunch question, then special warning before we put all the notes to him and run the vids. Fun’s almost over; just the grind now. That one he sent her husband is the last one I want to put to him. What a cunt—sorry. I mean, even getting her to pay the bill for the meal!”

It was another forty minutes before we were back in, and, as promised, David cut straight to the chase.

“Mr Forbes, I have now given you what I believe is an adequate overview of what this investigation is concerned with. Detective Sergeant Sutton here has a bundle of evidence in this case, and as she assembled it, she will be putting it to you. There is a lot of it. It is a record of a pattern of harassment that caused an innocent woman such distress that she took her own life. Before we start this lengthy process, I will issue you with what is called a special caution. You do not have to say anything, but if you do not mention now something which you later rely on in court, a judge may instruct a jury to draw such conclusions from your failure as may appear to be proper to them. You do not have to say anything, but anything you do say will be given in evidence”

David paused for a moment to let the warning fester, before beginning the grind. I prepared the first note as he drew breath

“On various dates, the following notes were delivered to the business premises of Mrs Strachan and her husband. They have been examined forensically, and each one has traces of DNA that match the sample obtained from you recently. I am now requiring you to account for this. Sergeant Sutton?”

I held up that first note.

“For the benefit of the tape I am showing Mr Forbes item marked Sutton zero zero zero one. It is a note reading ‘Hope local schools don’t let you paedos take kids pics’. How do you account for it carrying a match for your DNA?”

His mouth moved a few times before I finally got the first “No comment”, which was a relief. We got about three quarters of the way through the bundle before David called a halt.

“We are now entering a rest period, and therefore we will be suspending this interview until the morning. We will recommence at ten, if your legal advisor is able to attend”

He rattled through the closing parts of the process, and switched it all off after sorting the tapes. Forbes was snarling by then.

“And how am I supposed to get here for that time? Your fellow lackeys stole my private conveyance!”

David did the theatrical ‘confused’ look we all use, even though it isn’t taught at our college.

“I’m sorry? No need for a car—it’s only a short walk from your cell”

Forbes looked stunned, but at least his brief tried.

“I am sorry, Officer, but isn’t this a case suitable for Inspector’s Bail?”

David nodded.

“Yes, ordinarily. However, as your client has repeatedly stated that he believes he is under no obligation to comply with any such restrictions, we can’t offer them”

We walked the two of them back to the Custody desk, where David had clearly prepared the sergeant, and that conversation ended with “Put him in number six” and a question to the brief: did he want some time with his client?

I had to give the man some credit, in the end, as he didn’t walk out claiming professional embarrassment.

We regrouped with Sedgewick after David had managed to curb his laughter sufficiently to speak. The Super did the look-over-tented-fingers bit they all do, and then asked, “Will you need me for a review, David?”

“Sorry, sir, but I have wanted to pop one of those bubbles ever since that ‘Freeman’ nonsense first started. Simple answer is that I suspect I will. Time scale depends on two things, and one of them we can’t change: the introduction of all the evidence. The other factor is simply how much of an idiot he is going to be, or rather which sort”

“Please explain”

“He started out all mouth and stupid red trousers, like they all do, Freemen. Then, when Di started putting the stuff to him, he switched to ‘no comment’. If he stays with that, it’ll be quicker, and there will almost certainly be a conviction. If he decides to play silly buggers, like he was at the start, there will definitely be a conviction, because he will seriously piss off the Bench, and ditto if he goes for a judge and jury”

Sedgewick was now grinning.

“I wonder what representations he will make? Diane?”

“Sir?”

“I must remember to give you the money for your pastries. How much were they?”

“Er, Gemma asked who they were for, and I just said ‘Cheshire’, and she said they would be free for you, and Debbie confirmed it. She was quite emphatic; said you’d given her her life back”

That wasn’t exactly correct, for she’d included my own work in that nastiness, but it was mostly true. We said our farewells and ‘see-you-tomorrows’ before Candice drove us back to the Red Lion.

We didn’t get drunk, but we weren’t sober. That little detail of Maddy paying for the meal curdled inside me. The morning would be a hard one.

Our breakfast was absolutely wonderful, but I didn’t, couldn’t, enjoy it fully as that knot was still there. I made sure I had some mints before we entered the HQ, and took some time in the ladies’ to try and get my face more professionally neutral.

We started on time, and for the rest of the paper exhibits, he was still running on ‘no comment’, the ‘Freeman’ shite not appearing until we started showing the video evidence, when we received a lecture about inadmissibility due to permission not having been sought before filming. David caught that one mid-flight.

“That is a public place, and as such there is no presumption of privacy”

“Not true! And why have so many cameras?”

I dropped my own sweetener in there.

“Ah, it’s the sort of thing people do when they are being criminally harassed, Mr Forbes”

“And that is clearly a different registration on that vehicle, not mine!”

“That is the registration mark that belongs on a different vehicle in North Yorkshire, and I would suggest that the plate we can see in that picture is one of the pair seized from you when you were arrested for driving a cloned car, Mr Forbes. For the benefit of the tape, that offence does not form part of our investigations here, but is a separate matter”

He actually tried to claim that the Yorkshire man whose number he had cloned could have driven across for his own unspecified reasons, but I closed that one down with some of the stills showing the mud pattern, and he dropped back into ‘no comment’.

Once I started playing the video and audio of his visits inside the shop, his ‘no comment’ became much less confident.

Two hours of it, and I was getting tired of the whole thing, because he was, in the end, of the same category of vermin as Cooper; he just liked his victims older. Entitlement and cruelty, like any other rapist.

‘Rapist’. I didn’t know where that word had surfaced from, but the face I was now seeing was that of Ashley fucking Evans, my own entitled, cruel rapist. I had one last card to show, though.

“I will remind you once again of the special caution, Mr Forbes, especially in regard to this last item. For the benefit of the tape, I am showing Mr Forbes another piece of paper that was placed through Mr Strachan’s door. The last video recording I produced was timed just before Mr Strachan found this last document, and it would therefore be reasonable to assume that the paper seen in the video is the same as I am now showing Mr Forbes, and for the benefit of the tape it reads ‘Dogs go woof, ducks go quack, cows go moo, freak goes splat’. Once again, it carries a match for your DNA. It was delivered after the unfortunate death of Maddy Strachan. I am now requiring you to account for that fact”

His mouth worked a couple of times, but he settled for another ‘No comment’, and David took over.

“I was at a loss when I first read the file for this case, Mr Forbes, for I was unable to work out how someone could harass another human to the extent that they took their own life. I was stunned, however, when I realised that you had not just abused Mrs Strachan to such an extent, but actually felt the desire to gloat about her death to her widowed husband. Would you like to explain your motivation, your thought processes, in that matter?”

“No comment”

“Right. Do either you or your legal representative have anything to add? Anything you wish to clarify?”

“I will clarify that you have no lawful authority to engage in this abuse of my rights”

“Go ahead, Mr Forbes. Both Sergeant Sutton and I will be interested to hear your views on this matter”

The brief piped up, advising his client not to answer, then asked what should have been an obvious question.

“Officers, may I ask for clarification of one matter?”

“Please do”

“How did she meet her demise? Was it definitely a suicide?”

David glanced at me, then looked straight at the brief.

“I didn’t attend the incident, as it is not my role. Several of my colleagues had to bear that burden. She fell or jumped from the top of a six storey car park. ‘Splat’ was indeed a fair description, if you pardon my levity in such an awful case: call it a way of coping with true horror. She had a note in her pocket, in which she apologised to the man she called her only love, for being too weak to bear what she called ‘non-stop papers through the door’. The Coroner ruled it was a suicide”

“Thank you, Sergeant. I will advise my client not to speak further. I have nothing more to add. Mr Forbes? Remember my advice”

Forbes just dipped his head, then shook it.

“For the benefit of the tape, Mr Forbes has shaken his head. I shall take that as a no, and I am now terminating this interview. The time is…”

We went through the same old same old again, and eventually the brief left for his office after Forbes was locked away once again. David’s smooth manner evaporated as soon as we were back with Candice.

“Sorry, ladies, but I need a moment. Di: one of those people who had to deal with Maddy afterwards was my missus, when she was still squeaky new and I wasn’t even out of the college. She’s never got over it”

Candice was the gentle one, just then.

“We have a friend, David. She’s a Custody Sergeant now, but she was in Traffic. Believe us when we say we understand”

He nodded, a hint of a smile there.

“Yeah, and I followed some of your other cases. Shitty job we have”

I gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“Boss, our boss, said something about us having the privilege of taking the people who make it shitty and locking them up. Making a difference, yeah?”

“Yeah. Suppose I better shout CPS for a decision”

In the end, the Crown Prosecution Service decided he should be bailed, while they worked out whether there was sufficient evidence for a charge, and most likely argued about which charges were appropriate. The rules didn’t really allow us to hang onto Forbes any longer, and as David put it, we would get our own ‘shits and giggles’ in putting his door in if he decided to play games.

For my part, I had simply had enough. He was a consummate turd, and as I compared him to the big, gentle man he had hurt so badly, I wondered whether Forbes was actually of the same species.

We drove back to Cardiff in near silence. Poor, poor Neil; I just hoped we could lend him the strength for what must surely be a trial.

Three weeks later, though, and it was done. The CPS had, for once, decided to be proactive on our side, and Forbes was charged with a multitude of offences from harassment to stalking, by way of Malicious Communications, and for once he decided to keep his gob shut in court, going ‘guilty’ at the Plea and Directions Hearing, which spared Neil from an ordeal I suspected would have left him as fragile as Forbes had made Maddy. Lexie took Enfys and Alys back over to his place before sentencing, so that they could work together on his Impact Statement, which Alys read out for him just before Forbes got sent down for three years.

Three years, for what had effectively been murder?

Still better than nothing, as Sammy reminded me once we were all back at our day job. Two months later, and that Inspector got twelve years for Perverting the Course, which went some way to easing my discontent.