Ash & Bone

'What do you think?' Karen asked.

Elder made a face. 'With all the testimony we can bank on as to Ke

'Mike'll come up with something, don't worry.'

But by seven that evening, that's exactly what they were doing.

Ke

'You searched the van as well?' Elder said. 'The one he uses for work.'

'What d'you think I am, a fucking amateur?'

'Sorry.'

'No problem.'

But Elder's mind was suddenly elsewhere: the first time he'd seen Ke

'He's got a car,' Elder said. 'As well as the van.'

'You're sure?'

'Saloon, four-door. Dark blue. Ford, I think, but I couldn't swear.'

'Lee,' Ramsden said, 'check it out. As long as it's registered to him, we're quids in.'

'Well done, Frank,' Karen said. 'Well remembered.'

'We'll see,' Elder said. 'We'll see.'

42

Elder got back to Finchley at about seven. The morning when Karen had first told him of Ke

His mobile rang before he could turn on the taps, adrenalin pulsing at the sound of his daughter's voice.

'Katherine, are you okay?'

'Yes, why?'

'Nothing. Just, you know…'

'You sound worried.'

'Not specially, no. Bit of a headache. Busy day.'

There was a brief silence and then, 'I wanted to ask you, this business, the police, you do know what's going on?'

'I think so, yes.'

'Only Rob… well, what they're asking him to do… he's not sure who he can trust.'

'Who's he been talking to?'

'This woman, policewoman. Maureen. Her mostly.'

'Maureen Prior. You can trust her, believe me.'

'Bland, though, he's one of them.'

'No. No, he's not. Not really. Not any more.'

'I don't know.'

'When's he meeting him, Rob? When's he meeting Bland again?'

'Soon, I think. The next couple of days.'

'As soon as that's done with, maybe you should get away for a bit. Just till things calm down.'

'Rob's got friends up Hull way. Family too.'

'Why don't you go up there then? Just for a week or so.'

'You don't mind?'

'Mind what?'

'Me and Rob, being together like that.'

'It's not what I'd choose.'

'But you don't mind?'

'You're old enough to make your own decisions.'

'Make my own mistakes, that's what you mean.'

A pause. 'Maybe.'

There was a man's voice, just audible in the background, Rob's most probably, Elder thought, and then Katherine saying, 'Look, Dad, I'd better go.'

'All right. Just be careful. The two of you. And keep in touch, okay?'

'Okay.'

'I love you,' he added, but the line was already dead.

Elder took one swallow of whiskey and then another. He remembered how she had been when he had found her, a prisoner in the jerry-built hut sheltering against rock, high on the North York coast. The stench of rotten fish and drying blood. The bruises discolouring her face and back. Was this something else he was helping to draw her into, some new danger? Or had she chosen that herself when she started hanging out with the down-and-outs in Slab Square, going out with someone who, in no matter how small a way, dealt drugs? It was difficult to care and not to judge.

While the bath was ru

'Katherine said.'

'You've spoken to her then?'

'She rang earlier.'

'She's a good kid, Frank.'

'Not a kid.'

'You know what I mean. She's strong.'

'She's had to be. She'd have gone under, else. I thought she had.'

'I'll keep an eye out for her, you know that. Do any more, put someone babysitting her, there's a good chance Bland'll catch wind.'

'I know.'

'I'll be careful. Do what I can.'

'Thanks, Maureen.'

'Look after yourself, Frank.'

'Do my best.'

He topped up his glass and carried it into the bathroom. No message from Karen yet about Re

43

The car was a Ford Mondeo five-door estate, S reg, with a little over 18,000 on the clock. It was found parked on Tollington Way, close to the back of the old Royal Northern Hospital. There were a pair of Ke

Karen drank a large black coffee in the canteen and then splashed cold water in her face in the cloakroom. 'Take it easy,' she told herself. 'Easy. Chill.'

At a little after ten, Steven Ke

Ramsden thought if he carried on like that he might just reach across and grab the pen, then stick it up his bony arse.