Dead or Alive Read Online Free

out corruption down there. I do hope we haven’t imported some of it up here.’
    â€˜That’s a serious accusation. Do you have anything to substantiate it?’
    â€˜Only common sense, sir. For the last week he’s been advising my colleagues not to contact me or associate with me or they might find themselves under investigation themselves, which is nonsense, sir.’
    â€˜Why would he do that? He barely knows you.’
    â€˜My point exactly, sir. The minute he comes up here he begins to stir up trouble for an officer he barely knows. But I know him – or rather I know
of
him from a friend down in the Met who believes Cope applied for a transfer up here the minute he caught wind of their corruption investigation. My friend is of the strong opinion that Cope isn’t above a bit of corruption, sir.’
    â€˜That’s your friend’s opinion is it?’
    â€˜It is, sir, and I value his opinion quite highly.’
    â€˜Do you now?’
    â€˜Yes, sir. I mean Cope’s a Londoner, born and bred. Why would he want to come up here? Does he have family up here, sir?’
    â€˜Not that I know of.’
    â€˜No, nor me, but I know he has family down there, sir.’
    â€˜As far as I know he’s a single man.’
    â€˜He wasn’t very single down there, sir. He led a very full social life according to my friend. Up here he seems to have cut himself off from everything. He was also a great theatre lover.’
    â€˜Leeds has theatres.’
    â€˜Only one to match the ones in London, sir, and even then we only get the regional theatre actors, none of your big stars. He likes the big stars does Cope; knows a few of them as well. He also likes the London nightlife. In Leeds, the nightlife only caters for people under thirty, not middle-aged coppers. He’ll be like a fish-out-of-water up here, sir.’
    â€˜You’ve checked on him have you?’
    â€˜I keep my eyes and ears open, sir, as you know. To me, him trying to distance himself from the Met’s investigation is the only thing that makes sense. My informant also believes he might have followed Vince Formosa up here, sir.’
    â€˜Vince Formosa! Oh my God! Now you are in the realms of fantasy. Formosa’s been up here five years.’
    â€˜And he’s been running rings around the police for five years. Not a single arrest. My informant reckons Cope was in Formosa’s pocket down there, sir.’
    â€˜Anything ever proved?’
    â€˜Of course not, sir, which is why he’s still a serving police officer.’
    â€˜Well, there you go. If the investigators need to question him they’ll drag him back down there soon enough.’
    â€˜Possibly, sir, or possibly he’s working on the out-of-sight-out-of-mind theory. Who knows?’
    â€˜Not me that’s for sure,’ said Ibbotson, ‘and in the light of no concrete evidence of your suspicions I have to assume his reason for coming up here was for a change of scenery to God’s Own County.’
    â€˜I don’t know of any Londoners who have that opinion of Yorkshire, sir. The Met looks upon us as provincial plods. It’s usually our lot who have ambitions to join the big boys in the Met.’
    â€˜Have you by any chance made this suspicion of yours known around the station?’
    â€˜I’ve mentioned it to one or two, sir.’
    â€˜Enough for your views to have got all round the station and back to Cope no doubt. No wonder he’s got it in for you.’ Ibbotson leaned forward on his desk. ‘I assume you’re aware that the investigation into Cyril Johnson’s death is an independent investigation and that the Independent Police Complaints Commission only conduct investigations into incidents that cause the greatest level of public concern – for example, deaths in or following police custody.’
    â€˜I’m aware of that, sir.’
    â€˜Is it true that