Chapter 26

Rejuvenation

The phone call was a complete surprise. He’d wished for, but never expected, Tim Beck’s message.

“He wants to meet you, Boss. Tomorrow, one o’clock. He said you’d know where. Didn’t say what it was about,” Stanley informed him.

At the appointed time, Thurstan sat over a mug of tea in the café where they’d last met. He hoped he’d got it right.

He didn’t recognise Tim when the door opened. He’d lost weight, looked a bit gaunt for it and seemed much older. He got him a coffee and they moved to a corner table, near the window.

Thurstan opened with, “Why now?” He suspected he already knew the answer.

Tim sipped his drink, paused, then said, “You probably noticed, I’m not a well man. I may beat it, but I might not. It focused my mind. Well, that and meeting an old colleague from the drugs squad days. We were both getting chemo at the hospital.”

The DCI said nothing, allowed Tim his own time.

A deep breath, then Tim said, “I’ll tell you everything I know about what they were doing. I’ll name names but it won’t do you much good because most of them are dead. I heard Freddy Walsh had passed on. It made me wonder. Did you ever find Reg Barker?”

Thurstan shook his head and took a mouthful of tea.

Tim continued. “I know I told you last time he’d resigned but, when I mentioned it to this bloke, he said he hadn’t. He reckoned, he transferred to another force down south. He seemed very sure about it but couldn’t remember which one. He thought it might have been Thames Valley or Essex.

“He said he heard from a couple of the others Reg had it all arranged so he must have been thinking about it for a while. The Superintendent on the squad gave him a good write up, you know the sort of thing, God’s gift to police work, and they sucked it up. He’d apparently told this other force he was involved in a big job so he’d let them know when he was free; they were in no rush anyway. Now, this is all third-hand but it’s what I was told.”

Thurstan looked him firmly in the eyes. “Are you willing to put this all down, formally, in a statement?” Beck nodded back.

“Tomorrow, OK?” the DCI added. “I’ll pick you up the same time, take you somewhere safe, we’ll get it done, then I’ll bring you back. Here’s my personal phone number, any complications, call me.”

Armed with what he now knew, Thurstan began a new search for the elusive Reg Barker.