Free In the Absence of Iles by Bill James Page B

would be personal, a Desmond Iles odyssey, like the previous one. As far as she could make out, most of his life was a personal Iles odyssey, with police duties tacked on when necessary. Yes, she did think she could sort him out more capably now: he seemed, in his guarded, evasive style, drawn by the similarities of this grim Out-loc case to the earlier one on his own ground. Perhaps until lately Iles thought he had resolved that pain. Did the parallel Dean Martlew death reactivate Iles’s old suffering? He didn’t name any day for his visit. If he arrived and she missed him that’s how it would have to be.
    ‘Is it accurate to say Detective Sergeant Martlew was playing a part?’ the QC said.
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘And might his role be known in police language as “undercover”?’
    ‘“Undercover” or “Out-located”.’
    The judge paused from handwriting her account of the exchange between Channing and Bruno Longmuir QC. ‘Out-located?’
    ‘Yes, Your Honour. Or familiarly, Out-loc.’
    ‘Out-located or Out-loc in what sense?’ the judge said.
    ‘Such duties are, by their nature, Your Honour, performed separate from, and, apparently, disconnected from, all police colleagues, all police contact – though, of course, there
is
clandestine contact with the managing officer for the passing of information. Very clandestine: the implanted detective must not be seen as associated in any way with his or her usual work conditions and is therefore termed Out-located. It is a kind of code, devised for security purposes. Less revealing than “undercover”.’
    ‘But from another point of view,’ the judge said, ‘an undercover officer could be described as “In-located”, couldn’t he or she? He or she is
inside
the organization you wish to penetrate and is therefore In-located.’ She kept her face pretty deadpan, but clearly felt witty and fleet.
    Channing said: ‘Well, yes.’ He gave it a nice dose of surprise, even astonishment, as if he had never come across this monumental slab of obviousness before. Esther’s choice of Channing hadn’t worked as she’d hoped, but she still thought he showed big talents. No particular censure could be directed at him for Dean Martlew’s death. He handled the operation as well as it could be handled for four months. It might still turn out a part success, though at hellish cost. The verdict here could do big, even fatal damage to the Cormax Turton Guild. Or, then again, to her.
    Longmuir said: ‘Does this type of police work carry some risk, Superintendent?’
    ‘Often very considerable risk.’
    ‘Why is that so?’
    ‘There is always a danger that his real identity will be exposed. Even if that identity is only suspected, the officer is at serious hazard, if the company or companies he has penetrated is criminal. He’s certain to be outnumbered by the people he was sent to watch and will often be in totally cut-off, private surroundings and unable to summon aid. Although when installed in certain organizations he might be armed, as a natural feature of the gangster role he has to play, it’s likely he would be overwhelmed before he could protect himself. He could be attacked when asleep or otherwise off-guard.’
    ‘You say “at serious hazard”. This might entail his death?’
    ‘Certainly.’
    ‘Torture?’
    ‘Certainly.’
    ‘Can you say why the reactions against the officer might be so extreme?’
    ‘There are two possible reasons,’ Channing said, ‘one practical, one deeper. The two may act in unison. The Out-located officer will have been embedded to collect information not otherwise obtainable. If he is killed, he plainly cannot pass on any further information. It is an obvious and infallible way to silence him. But, in addition to this, there is a traditional, intense loathing among criminals and criminal gangs of anyone smuggled into their organization to betray it. That would be
their
term, “betray”. This could lead to a violent attack –