Quintin Jardine - For The Death Of Me

He glared back at me. ‘I don’t know where you dredged all that crap from,’ he hissed, ‘but the only thing I will ever tell you is. . fuck off!’ I was looking in his eyes as he shouted the last two words of advice, and I knew that he meant it.

I walked behind him and leaned close, then whispered something, so quietly that no mike would have picked it up unless one of us had been wearing it, keeping my face off camera so I couldn’t be lip-read. ‘A promise. If you ever go near any member of my family again, I’ll have you killed.’ He twitched; that was all, but it was enough to tell me that he believed me.

I straightened up and walked out of the room, waving goodbye as I closed the door behind me.

‘What was that all about?’ Coffey asked, when I rejoined him and Ricky.

‘The Triads are after Harvey’s ex, for reasons which to them seem pretty solid. Nobody outside this room needs to know that, though.’

‘What sort of a world are you living in these days, man?’ asked Ricky.

I looked at him. ‘Listen, I’m supposed to be on my holidays. These things just happen to me.’

‘He had a mobile on him when we brought him in,’ said Ollie Coffey, thinking like a real policeman. ‘If it needs a password we’ll never get it from him, but I can access the information on it, one way or another. You guys go for a pint somewhere; I’ll join you when I’ve got it.’

In fact we went to the Western General, to check up on Harvey’s condition. Ellen was with him when we got there, having left Jonny in charge at St Andrews. He wasn’t with anyone: he was awake but dazed, and sedated on top of that. When he spoke, it was nonsense.

At least he knew me when I walked into the small room they had given him. ‘Hello, brother-in-law,’ he said. ‘How are the fish?’

‘Fine,’ I replied. ‘I fed them before I left.’ That seemed to satisfy him, for he smiled and settled back into his mountain of pillows. I’d been right about the black eyes. They were well puffy already; in a couple of days they’d be prime shiners.

Our Ellie was less easy to placate. ‘What is this all about, Oz? Why should someone attack Harvey like that? He doesn’t have any clients with a grudge. And how could it happen in there?’

‘Parliament Hall is a public room,’ I told her. ‘And it wasn’t a disgruntled client. It was his first wife’s brother.’

‘What? Trevor the bloody soldier? What could Harvey possibly have done to upset him?’

I had hoped, against all hope, that Harvey had taken my advice and told Ellie the whole story. But clearly not: he might have faced up to some serious villains in the witness box, but my sister is a different story. He had bottled it and, in the process, put me right in the firing line. ‘Actually,’ I admitted, ‘it’s more me who’s upset him. He just took it out on Harvey. I’m just not sure why he’s gone off like that.’

She took me by the elbow, as she used to when we were kids, and led me into the corridor, then looked me in the eye and said, ‘Right, spill.’

It took me a while, but I told her everything, including the bits I’d left out to spare Harvey’s feelings. No, not everything: I didn’t tell her about Mike Dylan. To my relief, she didn’t rant, and she didn’t rave. She waited until I was finished, and then she shook her head.

‘You two,’ she sighed, ‘you’re just a pair of stupid boys. Okay, so a sleazy tabloid publishes an ancient photo of the new Lord January in his dad’s old robes with his cock hanging out. So what? He’s not a faggot Aussie actor playing a stud in a TV show, plus, the Supreme Court only acknowledges the existence of the tabloids when they’ve got one of their editors up before them for contempt, so how can it really harm him? He’ll be the laugh of the New Club for a week, and that’ll be the end of it. But, no, you and he had to take the whole thing seriously, and you wind up flying half-way round the world to buy the silly bitch off. Have you still got the fifty thousand?’

As a matter of fact I had: it was in the knapsack, over my shoulder, although I wasn’t quite sure why.

I decided it was time to mount a counter-offensive, to appeal to her soft side, wherever that might have been hiding. ‘We did it for you, you ungrateful hussy. Harvey wanted to spare you the embarrassment.’

It didn’t work. ‘Why should I be embarrassed?’ She snorted. ‘Between you and me and anyone else who asks, I’m very proud of my husband’s chopper. Big improvement on the last one, I’ll tell you. You’re lovely lads, but you’re silly; I wouldn’t have minded that much.’

‘Whatever, it’s gone way beyond that now, though, Ellie,’ I pointed out. ‘Even if I hadn’t gone out there, she’d still be in deep trouble, and maybe dead by now.’

‘Agreed, so why’s her brother gone off the deep end at Harvey?’

‘I’m going to find that out when I trace the bloody woman.’

‘You might have a job doing that. She’s taken a scunner to you it seems.’

‘I’ll find her, sis. I’m going to save her bloody life in spite of herself.’

‘Well, when you do, tell her to come and see me. Mind you, she might prefer those Triangles to that!’

As she spoke I was looking over her shoulder, at Ollie Coffey who had just turned the corner and was coming towards me. I introduced him to Ellie. ‘Have you got this thug well locked up?’ she demanded.

‘Yes, Mrs January, he’s for the court in the morning. I’ve been checking up on him too. Your husband was right, he was in the army for a while, second lieutenant in the Green Jackets, but he resigned his commission after a few years because he felt he wasn’t seeing enough action. Then, believe it or not, he joined the French Foreign Legion, and served there for eight years. Since then he’s been a freelance journalist, specialising in military matters. He’s popped up once or twice on television and radio news programmes as a quote, defence expert, unquote.’

‘Sounds like a fantasist,’ I said. ‘His old man was an adventurer and died on the job. Like father like son.’

‘What’s he being charged with?’ Ellie asked. ‘Attempted murder, I hope.’

‘With no weapon used we’d never make that stick. It can only be serious assault for now, but the Lord Advocate’s told the Crown Office to take a longer look. Legally speaking the attack happened within the confines of the court.’

‘What difference does that make?’

‘About five years, depending on the judge.’

‘That’ll do for starters.’ She left us and went back into Harvey’s room to send out Ricky Ross.

‘I’ve got something,’ said Coffey, when he arrived. ‘Raymond’s only had one call on his mobile in the last couple of days, yesterday morning as you thought, Oz. It was made from a callbox at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.’

‘She made it out of Malaysia, then, thank Christ. Can we find out where she’s going from there?’

‘Ouch!’ said Coffey. ‘That’s going to be a bit more difficult. It’s going to involve other agencies; I don’t know if I can do that.’

‘Come on, Ollie,’ Ricky cajoled him, ‘you’re Special Branch, you’ve got access. The woman’s brother’s just attacked a judge, and you’ve got evidence from Oz here that she’s been involved with organised crime in the Far East. You’ve got every reason to try and trace her.’

‘He’s not a judge.’

‘He will be inside a fortnight,’ I volunteered.

‘In that case, I suppose I can,’ he conceded. ‘Leave it with me.’

We left it, and Ricky left me, promising to give me any feedback he got from Ollie. I found a pay-phone and called Susie, to reassure her that Harvey was going to be all right, and then I went back to Ellie. We stayed in the tiny ward for half an hour or so, until the consultant came back and told us that we might as well go since the patient would be dozing for the rest of the night. All being well, he promised (meaning if his brain didn’t implode during the night), he’d be able to go home some time the following day.