The Old Enemy by Henry Porter (read with me .TXT) 📕

‘Once or twice – I wasn’t sure, but I did say you reached for a knife, which would certainly indicate a determination to harm him.’

‘Right, but you’d been stabbed and you told them he was going to assault you, and he would have killed you afterwards.’

She looked down and nodded.

‘Good.’ He stopped, pulled the bedclothes back and pointed to the bag brought to the hospital by Derek and Jericho earlier. ‘Can you hand me that? I’m going to get dressed. I’ve got things to do.’

‘What about your leg?’

‘It’ll be fine.’

When he finished dressing, he sat on the bed and smiled at her. ‘What was the problem the tulip guy helped you with?’

She bit her lip. ‘I got to using a little coke in the clubs when I used to perform. It became a bad habit. This was two years ago, when we weren’t seeing each other. I went into rehab and quit really easily. Leo is an ex-addict and he was very supportive. The worst part is that a senior colleague found out about it. Of course, they didn’t refer to it when they asked me to watch you a couple of days ago, but you know it’s in the background. I could be fired for use of a Class A drug. I’m sorry – it doesn’t make me proud – but that’s how I came to be in your flat last night. They wanted to know what you’re doing.’

‘The important thing is this, Jo – I wasn’t there for you, but the tulip guy was.’ He put his hand up to her face and she pressed her cheek into his palm.

‘You had your own addiction, didn’t you, Samson? You went gambling crazy.’

‘Yes, but I quit too, and paid off my debts.’

They were silent.

‘Is this it?’ he asked.

‘Yes, it is.’

‘Were you going to tell me about informing on me?’

‘Of course not.’ She took his hand, brought it up to her lips and kissed it. ‘Goodbye, dear Samson. And for fuck’s sake, try to stay alive.’ She got up and left with a look of heartfelt regret.

An hour later he was told he could leave, but two police officers, an inspector named Glynn Jones and a Sergeant Taylor, arrived with more questions. They were puzzling over the motive of the dead man, who they identified to Samson as Pim Visser, not knowing that he was already familiar with the name. Jones declared himself mystified. What was a face from Rotterdam’s underworld doing in Samson’s flat? What had Samson done to earn the attention of the people who paid Visser and Miroslav Rajavic? In their questioning, Samson saw an obvious conflict and waited for the moment when Taylor, a short, wheedling individual with a cowlick and not the brightest look in his eye, asked again and again about the blows he’d delivered to the man’s head, as though Samson had intended to kill him.

‘On the one hand, you’re telling me that these two men were extremely dangerous individuals, yet, on the other hand, you seem to be saying that I used excessive force and ask why I couldn’t have immobilised Visser, sat him down, offered him a drink and reasoned with him.’

‘There’s no need for sarcasm, Mr Samson.’

‘Tell me what you would have me do in those circumstances. Seriously! I knew Inspector Hayes was in the flat because I heard her phone, yet it was dark and there was no sound from inside. I knew she was in trouble and my only thought was to rescue her. As it turned out, he’d stabbed her and was about to rape her. He had already lowered his trousers – right? So this was not a normal break-in. He would have killed us both, after having raped a senior police officer.’

‘But you didn’t know this when he came at you, sir,’ said Sergeant Taylor.

Samson gazed at him. ‘Of course I bloody didn’t know that, but it was lucky I hit him with all the force I could muster, or we might both not be here.’

‘And you hit him again.’

‘Yes, but I was being stabbed at the time, remember?’ He looked down at his leg.

‘And you grabbed a kitchen knife, which you intended to use.’

‘Of course! What’s your point? This was a life-or-death situation. I’d have had no problem using that knife. No problem at all!’

‘We have to consider that you used unreasonable force.’

‘I’d like to see you make that case in court. And, with Inspector Hayes as a witness, forget it. Have you looked into Pim Visser’s background? How many people is he suspected of killing?’

‘We are simply doing our job, sir.’

‘You’re doing your job – exactly! So you know the man’s movements before he went to my home. You have his phone, so you can find out who he was speaking to from the flat. You can find out when he arrived in this country, because his face will be on CCTV at Harwich or somewhere. You know all this, right, and you don’t need me to tell you that this was a murderous psychopath with a lifelong history of violence.’

‘We are working on all that.’

‘What transport did he use to get to my flat?’

‘We assume a motorcycle.’

‘But you haven’t located that motorcycle. Is that correct? So that might lead you to conclude he was dropped off near my place. But he brought his own supper with him, so maybe there was a stop on the way.’

The officers looked mystified.

‘There was a half-eaten kebab in the flat. The only place he could have got that near my flat was at Jimmy’s Kebab on Edgware Road. Jimmy’s is bound to have CCTV, so you can see what time he got there and whether he was accompanied by anyone, which he must have been, because no one is going to walk from Jimmy’s to my flat and wait to eat their takeaway.’ He stopped. ‘He would eat it on the way, no?’

There was no need to make them look any more foolish,