‘They’re too quiet,’ Henley said, reading Rob’s thoughts.
‘Which means they’ve broken something or are plotting something. Let me see what they’re up to but, Anj,’ said Rob, taking hold of Henley’s hand and intertwining her fingers with his. ‘I know I’ve asked you to step away from the job before.’
Henley raised her eyebrows.
‘All right, I’ve been an arse about it,’ said Rob. ‘But this is different. I don’t care what Chris tells you, I’m asking – no – I’m telling you to step away.’
‘One day I would like you to just call me and ask me how I’m doing and if I fancy a drink,’ said Chris, handing a coffee cup to Henley.
‘We are out for a drink,’ Henley replied, welcoming the warmth of the cup in her palms.
‘When you first called me, I thought it was a wind up,’ Chris said as they walked towards Hilly Fields. ‘It’s a good thing you’re wearing your trainers because I’m thinking you should run.’
Henley stopped and looked up at Chris, searching his face for any traces of the humour that had been present a few moments earlier but there was nothing. His lips were so pressed together, they’d nearly disappeared and a frown line had deepened between his eyebrows.
‘Chris, I just need some answers,’ Henley pleaded.
‘The account number isn’t one that technically belongs to the NCA,’ Chris said, dropping the volume of his voice as they continued to walk. ‘It’s kind of a floating bank account that’s used by the NCA to pay their informants and I don’t mean the informants grassing up the local drug dealer.’ He paused. ‘He wasn’t a grass, Henley, and he wasn’t involved in things that would land him in prison. The account that transferred money to him is also used to protect whistleblowers. It could be that Rhimes discovered something, like corruption, and the NCA wanted more.’
Coffee swirled and escaped from the mouth of her cup and ran down Henley’s hand. She looked down, for a brief moment finding the trembling of her fingers hypnotic.
‘Are you ok?’ Chris asked, concern etched on his face.
‘No, not really,’ Henley replied, stepping away and dropping her cup into a bin. ‘How can I be when you’re standing here telling me that someone wanted Rhimes out of the way to stop him from revealing, what exactly?’
‘That I do not know. And you’ve got to realise, I’m not necessarily talking about corruption in the Met – not that there isn’t any. The NCA were the ones paying Rhimes, but just because we’re London based …’
‘Doesn’t mean he was necessarily investigating the Met,’ said Henley. ‘There are forty-three police forces in the UK.’
‘And I don’t know which one.’
‘Informants have handlers,’ Henley said assuredly. ‘They’re not out there on their own. Rhimes would have had to report to someone.’
‘Yeah, he would have.’
Henley knew this was the moment when she should walk away and return back to her family.
‘This is the last thing I’m going to ask you to do for me,’ she said.
Chris groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Shit,’ he said. ‘You have no idea the hornets’ nest you’re kicking.’
‘I know I don’t. All I’m asking you to do is to find his handler. A name. That’s all I want.’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll let you know when I have a name.’
Henley tried to remember the last thing Rhimes had said to her. It had been something innocuous about booking flights to see his brother in Florida. Rhimes was a man who had plans and many reasons to live and that was why she couldn’t walk away and leave his secrets buried with him.
‘What are you thinking?’ Chris asked.
‘That I should have paid closer attention to the things that weren’t being said. I worked with Rhimes every day for years and I couldn’t see that there was something deeper going on with him.’
‘There is another way of looking at this,’ said Chris. ‘They say that people who whistleblow have a stronger sense of integrity. It’s not about them. Rhimes took his ability to put others before himself to another level.’
‘I can’t believe I’m learning more about the sort of man Rhimes was in death than I ever did in life.’
‘That ain’t a bad thing, Anj. In a strange way, Rhimes is teaching you something important.’
‘And what’s that?’ Henley asked.
