Free The Informant by Susan Wilkins

of Karen Phelps. She’s a special project of yours, isn’t she? Bit of a poster girl for the rehabilitation of offenders?’
    There was only a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Helen painted on a smile. Did he have any inkling of just how special or was he simply being a cop? She concluded the latter.
    ‘She’s fine, but she’d be even better if you lot’d stay off her case.’
    Suddenly the smile vanished. Turnbull sighed and fixed her with a serious look.
    ‘Something you don’t know, but probably should, is that we had an undercover officer who got pretty close to Joey Phelps. We’ve just pulled his body out the river. Looks like
Phelps murdered him.’
    He scanned her face, waiting for the reaction this news would bring. But Helen wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. She shook her head.
    ‘C’mon, what’s that got to do with Karen? She’s been in jail and she has no involvement in her brother’s criminality. I’m sure she knows nothing about
it.’
    Turnbull inclined his head to one side as if dealing with a recalcitrant child.
    ‘My point is, Joey Phelps has murdered a police officer. What do you think he’s going to do to his sister when he finds out she’s been talking to us?’
    Helen raised her chin. This was really beginning to piss her off. ‘She hasn’t been talking to you, you’ve been badgering her and she’s made her position very clear.
She’s not prepared to act as an informant and you can’t force her to. And if you continue to harass her . . .’
    ‘One of my officers went to visit her at the hostel. He even bumped into Joey. Now I wonder how Karen will have explained that away? If she lied, that could be tricky. Joey Phelps is not
stupid, he sees the same officer hanging round Karen a couple more times, he’s going to get curious. In a paranoid individual like him, who knows how that’ll play out?’
    Helen stared at him in disbelief. ‘What is this? You’re setting her up? You’re hoping to provoke him into attacking his own sister?’
    ‘Not at all. I’m merely trying to point out to you the dangers of her situation. She’s not going to be safe to get on with her life until her brother is behind bars. You need
to persuade her Ms Warner. It’s for her own good. I’m not the enemy, you need to tell her that.’
    Helen met Turnbull’s gaze directly. He exuded a confident masculinity. Crossing swords with him was exhilarating, at the same time Helen felt at a disadvantage. Some men seemed to be able
to do that to her and she hated it.
    He produced a business card from his pocket. ‘Let’s keep in touch.’
    Helen took the card, but she wasn’t about to let him think he’d won. She eyeballed him, gave him the tough stare that had put the fear of God in more than one CPS lawyer.
    ‘Two things Superintendent. Karen Phelps has served her time and provided she abides by the terms of her licence she’s entitled to get on with her life free from police harassment.
And if I have to go to the IPCC and lodge a formal complaint, I will. Secondly, even if I tried to persuade her, I don’t think I could. She’s given you her answer, she’s not going
to change her mind. So back off.’
    Turnbull smiled, inclined his head. ‘Sooner or later he’ll turn on her. You know that, I know that. You really want that on your conscience?’
    It was a hit, Helen’s face remained a mask but they both knew it. Helen had expressed exactly that fear to Kaz on several occasions. But Kaz had simply dismissed it; Joey would never harm
her. Helen wasn’t convinced.
    Turnbull knew he’d made his point. He gave her a lop-sided grin. ‘Come on Helen, are we that different, you and me? I’ll tell you how I look at it. Justice system can’t
cope, the government’s got its head up its arse, police morale’s the lowest it’s ever been. But still the likes of us, we soldier on don’t we? Why?’ He glanced over
her left shoulder with a faraway look in his eye. Then he sighed.