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"But if Leach-"
"The first question we'd be asked is why, if we knew about Leach's threat to Cartwright, we didn't recommend that he was transferred to another prison the same day."
There was a gentle tap on the door.
"Come in," said the governor.
"Sorry to disturb you," said his secretary, "but I thought you'd want to see this immediately." She handed him a sheet of lined prison paper.
He read the short note twice before passing it across to Ray Pascoe.
"Now that's what I call proof," said the governor.
Payne was showing a client around a penthouse apartment in Mayfair when his mobile phone began to ring. He would normally have switched it off whenever he was with a potential buyer, but when the name Spencer appeared on the screen he excused himself for a moment and went into the next room to take the call.
"Good news," said Craig. "Cartwright's dead."
"Dead?"
"He committed suicide-he was found hanging in the showers."
"How do you know?"
"It's on page seventeen of the Evening Standard. He even left a suicide note, so that's the end of our problems."
"Not while that tape still exists," Payne reminded him.
"No one is going to be interested in a tape of one dead man talking about another."
The cell door swung open and Pascoe walked in. He stared at Da
"OK, lads, grab a meal and then get back to work. And, Moncrieff," said Pascoe, "I'm sorry about your friend Cartwright. I for one never thought he was guilty." Da
"He knows," said Big Al quietly.
"Then we're done for," said Da
"I don't think so," said Big Al. "Fur some reason he's gon' along wi' the suicide, an ma bet is that he's no the only wan who's got his doubts. By the way, Nick, whit made ye change yer mind?"
Da
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
DANNY STOOD AS inconspicuously as possible at the back of the churchyard as Michael raised his right hand and gave the sign of the cross.
The governor had granted Nick's request to attend Da
As the unmarked car had swung into Mile End Road, Da
He tried not to look when they passed Wilson 's garage, but he couldn't stop himself. There were few signs of life in the little yard. It would take more than a fresh coat of paint to make anyone think about buying a second-hand car from Wilson 's. He turned his attention to Monty Hughes's place on the other side of the road: row upon row of gleaming new Mercedes with smartly dressed salesmen displaying cheerful smiles.
The governor had reminded Moncrieff that although he had only five weeks left to serve, he would still have to be accompanied by two officers, who would never leave his side. And if he were to disobey any of the strictures placed upon him, the governor would not hesitate to recommend to the Parole Board that they rescind their decision for an early release, which would result in him having to serve another four years.
"But you already know all this," Michael Barton had gone on to say, "because the same strictures were placed on you when you attended your father's funeral just a couple of months ago." Da
The governor's strictures, as he called them, rather suited Da
Pascoe and Jenkins stood on either side of him, some way back from the mourners who surrounded the grave. Da
Father Michael opened the service with a prayer while Da
Da
When Father Michael had finished intoning the prayers, he bowed his head before delivering his eulogy. "The death of Da
Father Michael raised his head. "But for now, let us remember the son, the young father, the gifted leader and sportsman, for many of us believe that had Da
As the young choir softly chanted the "Nunc Dimittis," Father Michael, Beth and the rest of the Cartwright family knelt by the graveside. Alex Redmayne along with several other mourners waited behind to pay their last respects. Alex bowed his head as if in prayer, and spoke a few words that neither Da