Quintin Jardine - For The Death Of Me

I found that I was crying softly. ‘You may choose to believe that,’ I told her, ‘but I never will.’

I didn’t sleep that night: I knew that if I dropped off I’d dream of Jan, and that if I did, waking up would hurt, maybe more than I could handle at that time.

So instead I read a book, Lethal Intent, the latest Skinner novel, which Ellie had left for me in the guest room. Eventually the pages swam before my eyes, so I laid it down to be resumed later (I’d buy my own copy next chance I had: as an actor I have this secret belief that sharing books and DVDs is morally wrong) and picked up a notepad and pen from the bedside table.

I began to make notes, and to look for unanswered questions flowing from what had happened in Singapore. When I thought about it, there were only two. Had Sammy Goss’s meeting with us in the Crazy Elephant been sheer, blind coincidence? Since I only believe in coincidence when it doesn’t matter a damn, that led on to the second question. How the hell had he known that we’d be there?

I thought about that for a while, but I got nowhere near an answer.

After that I just thought, ready to make random notes about oddities as they occurred, but none did. . until around four thirty in the morning. I found myself looking at a mind picture, looking for something, and being unable to find it. I switched on my mobile, found the entry for Benny Luker, and hit the call key.

‘Yes,’ he shouted in my ear, over background music that sounded as if it was live.

‘It’s me,’ I said. ‘Where the hell are you?’

‘The Iridium Jazz Club, on Broadway; Mose Allison’s on. The set’s just winding up. Hold on and I’ll find somewhere quieter if that’s possible in here.’

I waited until the music stopped and the background buzz was cut off.

‘Okay, I’m in the gents’. What’s up? Has she been found?’

‘No, but she was in Vietnam on Tuesday. She called her brother from there, and she’s seriously pissed off at me, for some reason. He’s caused some local difficulty, but that’s been dealt with and he’ll be going away for a spell.’

‘Do you know where she headed from there?’

‘No, but Ricky and I have someone working on it, Ollie Coffey, Special Branch.’

‘I remember him.’

‘Yes, well, try and remember this. When we were in Tony Lee’s flat, in his office, we saw a docking station for a palmtop computer, a PDA.’

‘Yes, Hewlett Packard manufacture.’

‘Did you see the unit itself anywhere?’

As he thought about it, or as I thought he thought about it, I heard a toilet flush. ‘Sorry. I took a piss while I’m here. The answer is no, I definitely did not.’

‘No, me neither. So, possibilities: maybe Tony had it and Sammy took it after he’d killed him.’

‘Maybe, or maybe it was in his car, or in his office.’

‘Or maybe Madeleine took it with her. They had a scanner, okay, mostly she used film for photography, but there was an empty folder called “Maddy’s pics” on the computer. What can you store on a PDA?’

‘Quite a lot: they take standard SD cards. I see where you’re going. You think she might have taken some bargaining power along with her.’

‘My, my, we do work well as a team. I’ll keep you informed if Coffey comes up with anything.’

‘Coffey might get his arse kicked, getting involved with this.’

‘Knowingly or not, Maddy incited an attack on Scotland’s newest judge. He can dress that up as possible terrorism.’

‘She’s really in bother now, isn’t she?’

‘Indeed. Go on, get back to old man Mose. Are you on your own, or are you trying to gain ground with your lovely editor?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Just a friend. Hey, what time is it with you?’

‘Going on five.’

I heard his sigh, all the way from the crapper in the Iridium Jazz Club. ‘Pal, when this is over, you really must get yourself a life.’

And then he was gone, and I was left to wonder.

I went back to Edinburgh with Ellie next morning, but not before I’d gone down to the Old Course with Jonny, to meet his employer for the day, and to walk the first few holes with them. He was a nice lad, and he welcomed the attention; he even welcomed the early-duty photographers who spotted me and focused on us. I apologised, but he told me not to be worried. ‘My sponsors will love it,’ he said.

Being a youngster, playing with two other young Americans, he had an early time, but that suited me, since I’d been up with the lark; in fact, slightly before the chirpy wee bastard.

I hadn’t been alone. ‘Who were you calling in the middle of the night?’ Jonny asked me, as we strode down the first, after the boss’s opening six-iron. He’d asked my nephew what he should hit; like an old pro caddy, the lad just took the club from the bag and handed it to him. ‘Leave yourself a full wedge,’ he’d said.

‘America,’ I told him. ‘Business.’

‘At five in the morning? I’ll need to talk to Aunt Susie about you. She needs to get you under control.’

He was dead right. I left them on the fifth tee, at which point Jonny’s boss was two under par, and headed back for breakfast.

When we reached the Western General two and a half hours later, Harvey was sitting up in bed. His eyes were blackening up nicely and his cracked ribs meant that he couldn’t get comfortable, whatever way he tried, but otherwise he was fine, back to his normal self.

‘Well,’ he said, greeting us. ‘Bloody Trevor, eh? Stupid lad. I just had the Lord President on the phone: he’s absolutely livid and is insisting that he be charged with gross contempt. I tried to intercede, but he’s adamant’ He looked at me. ‘Why did he do it, Oz? All to do with Maddy, I expect.’

‘Yes, as far as I can see, she’s blaming us for disturbing her happy life.’

‘Silly bitch. Is there anything more we can do to help her?’

‘I’ve got someone working on it. You forget about it, though, you’ve got an installation to prepare for, and a practice to wind up.’

‘Yes, indeed. The LP told me that the announcement’s been accelerated, in view of what happened. It’s being made this morning. God knows what Madeleine will do when she reads about it’

I grinned at him; couldn’t help it. ‘I don’t think it’s going to be the top item on the news in Ho Chi Minh City, Harvey.’

I left the two of them there, eventually, and went out to Crewe Road to look for a taxi. I had no clear idea where I wanted to go, but finally when one stopped I was forced to it. I decided on Ricky Ross’s office and gave the driver his address. Ricky was with a client, but his secretary was happy to lend me a desk and a phone. I began by calling a travel agent to book a scheduled one-way flight to Nice. Eventually he found me one that left at six thirty and got me there at midnight; it meant going to Frankfurt again, but I booked it anyway.

Next I called Alison Goodchild at her office and told her that the threat to Harvey was probably still active, but that if it happened the family reaction was going to be ‘So fucking what?’ as politely and eloquently as she cared to put it.

Finally I dug out the list of numbers I had acquired over the previous few days and called Janine Raymond, Madeleine’s mum. She really did sound like a vicar’s daughter, very soft-spoken, very polite and very sorry for Harvey when I explained to her what had happened to him.

She sounded sad, but not surprised. ‘My younger children have been a great disappointment to me as adults, Mr Blackstone,’ she admitted. ‘I rarely see or hear from either of them.’

I didn’t tell her how much trouble Maddy was in, but asked when she had last been in touch.