Whispers Under Ground

to avoid handcuffing suspects unless physical restraint is necessary – thus avoiding the risk of chafing, positional asphyxiation and injury sustained by falling over your own feet and smacking your face into the pavement. It was most assuredly not because I’d forgotten to pick up my handcuffs.
    We sat him down in the interview room, set him up with some plain digestives and a cup of tea, let him settle for five minutes, and then I went in. Seawoll reckoned we had about half an hour before his brief arrived – so no pressure.
    I introduced myself, sat down and asked him if he needed anything.
    His face was pale and drawn and his hair was damp with sweat but his eyes were blue and alert behind his spectacles.
    ‘Did I ask for my lawyer?’ he asked. ‘I’m sure I still have all sorts of human rights.’
    I indicated that he had, and that we expected his solicitor along any minute.
    ‘But in the meantime,’ I said, ‘I thought we’d have a chat about the things that probably won’t make it into court.’
    ‘Such as what, exactly?’ he asked. Obviously he was regaining his balance. I couldn’t be having that.
    ‘The Quiet People,’ I said and he looked genuinely blank, which was a worry. ‘Dark glasses, pale skin, live in the sewers, keep pigs and make pots. Any of this ringing a bell?’
    ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘You mean the Whisperers.’
    ‘Is that what you call them?’ I asked, and thought that what we needed was some bloody agreement about nomenclature. An EU directive perhaps, looking to harmonize the terminology appropriate to the uncanny on a Europe-wide basis. Maybe not – it would probably end up all being in French.
    ‘Did you not notice all the whispering?’ he asked.
    ‘And the groping,’ I said.
    He gave me a half smile. ‘That was more in the way of a perk,’ he said.
    ‘You don’t seem very surprised that we’re talking about it,’ I said.
    ‘A race of people living under West London like Morlocks,’ he said. ‘Your actual Victorian submerged nation complete with flat caps and steam engines. I’m Irish so I’m not really that surprised to find that the British security apparatus extends even there.’
    ‘You would be if you bloody worked for it,’ I said.
    He smiled thinly.
    ‘If you know about the Whisperers,’ he said. ‘What exactly is it you want from me?’
    ‘You understand that no matter what, you’re going to get done for the murder of James Gallagher,’ I said.
    ‘I understand nothing of the sort,’ he said, but he unconsciously slipped his right hand, with its fresh bandage, out of sight under the table. He’d worn fingerless gloves at the Tate Modern, not an affectation but a disguise.
    ‘We have the wounds on your hand which match the murder weapon. In twelve hours we’ll have the DNA results which will match the swab you gave ten minutes ago to the blood we found on the aforesaid weapon.’ I paused to let that sink in. ‘As soon as we knew there were other entry points into the system we pulled the CCTV footage from cameras around Bayswater and Notting Hill. Sooner or later we will break your alibi.’
    According to HOLMES, Ryan Carroll had been statemented the day after I’d met him and had been given an alibi by one Siobhán Burke, who claimed to have been sleeping with him on the night in question.
    ‘Whether or not Ms Burke faces charges of aiding and abetting after the fact,’ I said, ‘rather depends on the outcome of this conversation.’ That was an outright lie. Stephanopoulos would be using the threat of a perjury charge to get Siobhán Burke to flip on Carroll but we figured that he’d respond better if we thought he was the centre of attention. We’ll use your ego against you if we can – we’re not proud.
    This approach, trying to roll over your suspect before their lawyer arrives, is high-risk and I could practically hear Seawoll grinding his teeth from next door where he was no doubt monitoring the interview. I suspected that Stephanopoulos was also watching, and definitely Nightingale and probably Agent Reynolds, in which case Kittredge would be there to keep an eye on her. For an interview that wasn’t officially taking place there weren’t half a lot of witnesses.
    ‘That’s low,’ he said. ‘Even for the police, that’s low.’
    ‘My point, Ryan,’ I said, ‘is that we don’t need anything more to send you down. But we do want to know why. So we’re giving you this opportunity to get it off your chest