Page 88
Story: The Curator (Washington Poe)
‘The first was declared a mistrial because of his injuries. It was almost a year before they were ready to go again. Different jury this time, obviously. Our jury. Same overwhelming evidence but the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict and it was hung. The prevailing theory was that some of them were swayed by what had happened to him. Apparently he was a pitiful sight in the dock. The CPS elected not to pursue a third trial and Atkinson walked free.’
‘What a clusterfuck,’ Flynn said.
‘Gets worse,’ Poe said. ‘Within a year of the hung jury two things happened: Atkinson tried to hang himself and a whistleblower came forward.’
‘Tried to hang himself?’
‘Messed it right up. Ended up with an incomplete spinal cord injury. He’s now in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Has feeling below the waist but no movement.’
‘And the whistleblower?’
‘He was more of a co-conspirator really, but he said that, at the behest of the CEO himself, he’d amended the logbook so it looked like Atkinson had tried to cover his tracks. He also said that J. Baldwin Limited had been illegally dumping hazardous material on the waste ground for months while they waited for one of their disposal units to be repaired.’
‘So he wasn’t guilty?’
Poe shook his head.
‘Poor sod,’ Flynn said.
‘Not poor,’ Poe said. ‘He sued J. Baldwin and won a seven-figure sum. He then went after the police for not taking his protection seriously—’
‘Had they?’ Flynn cut in.
‘I honestly don’t know. I do know that they settled with him. A big pay out.’
‘They were worried about the optics? Thought that it’d look like they’d deliberately ignored Atkinson’s concerns because a Cumbrian cop’s kid had been blinded?’
‘Probably.’
‘So where is he now?’
‘That’s just the problem,’ Poe replied. ‘And it’s why Superintendent Nightingale’s on the phone to our lot as we speak – Atkinson’s a protected person …’
Chapter 55
The UK Protected Persons Service, previously called Witness Protection, was formed in 2013. Regionally delivered by the police but coordinated by the National Crime Agency, Poe had never had active involvement with them other than attending mandatory briefings. All he knew was that people would be removed from the area of threat and relocated to a different part of the country – sometimes even abroad – where their lives were rebuilt with new identities.
&nbs
p; UKPPS operated in great secrecy and on a closed computer system. It could only be accessed by sitting in front of a UKPPS terminal with a complex set of passwords and identifiers.
Even Bradshaw couldn’t beat a system like that.
Poe seriously doubted that Nightingale would have much luck getting Atkinson’s new name. And, as the best tool at UKPPS’s disposal was putting distance between the protected person and the problem area, Poe also doubted that Atkinson, whatever his name was now, would be living anywhere near Cumbria anyway.
Nightingale’s face was sourer than a Scottish banana.
‘No joy?’ Flynn said.
She shook her head. ‘Not a credible threat. Wouldn’t even confirm he was on the scheme.’
‘But we already know he is.’
She shrugged.
An admin assistant popped her head round the door. She waved a folded bit of paper and Nightingale beckoned her in. She read it.
‘Think this’ll change their mind?’ she asked, handing it to Flynn. ‘We’ve tracked down one of the jury members and he says that Howard, Rebecca and Amanda were the three dissenting voices who went for not guilty.’
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88 (Reading here)
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138