Quintin Jardine - Stay of Execution

‘I don’t bloody know; Malou wouldn’t say. He wouldn’t have told me about it at all, if I hadn’t picked up on a reference he made to him. He used a name that only a few people know. Dan, I want you to pull all the information on this investigation together, in fact on both of them, ours on Lebeau and the Humberside police’s on Hanno. I want to see all the interviews that you and the boys have done with the Belgians, and all the witness statements that the Hull people have taken; everything, post-mortem reports on both men, the lot. While you’re doing that, I’ll be trying to find some answers.’

Pringle nodded and left. As soon as the door closed, the DCC picked up the phone and called a cell-phone number. ‘Yes?’ a female voice answered.

‘Aileen, it’s Bob Skinner. Can you speak?’

‘Yes, I’m alone, but how did you get this number?’

‘I’ll tell you when I see you. For now just call it a small demonstration of power. I’m sorry, but would it be a mighty inconvenience if we postponed our dinner this evening for, say, twenty-four hours? Something very important has come up.’

‘If it’s that important, sure. I’ll call the club and tell them to move the arrangement back a day. Can you tell me what this thing is?’

The DCC chuckled. ‘Not on this line. It’s only slightly more secure than calling you through your office line.’

He put down one phone and picked up another, then dialled a scrambled Whitehall number that was lodged in his memory; the receiver at the other end rang once and was picked up. ‘Hello, mate,’ said a familiar voice, ‘what fookin’ crisis has befallen you today?’

‘I’ll say this about you, Major Arrow. You’re nothing if not to the point.’

‘And you, Deputy Chief Constable Skinner, always like a preamble. So how’s the wife, how’s the kids?’

‘All in fine form, thanks. I won’t ask about your home life; if I found out about it, you’d probably have to kill me.’

Adam Arrow laughed. ‘We don’t use that word these days, mate. “De-incentivise” is in fashion now, but it wouldn’t come to that with you: a simple lobotomy would be enough. As it happens, I don’t have a home life at the moment, so you’re safe on all fronts.’

‘Glad to hear it. To get to the point, Adam, you’re my doorway into the murky world of defence intelligence, and I need your help again. I’ve got a double murder investigation under way here. .’

‘It doesn’t involve soldiers, does it?’ asked Arrow, sharply.

‘Not ours, and certainly not on the active list any more. The victims are Belgian, and they’re in their sixties. The only connection that I know of is that they were all in the army together, with the band of the First Guides Regiment. I need to ask some questions there, and I need a contact.’

‘It won’t be that easy, Bob,’ Arrow warned. ‘You’ll need to go there.’

‘I know that.’

‘Even then. . a foreign policeman, not even one of your rank, can’t just walk in and talk to these guys.’

‘I guessed that too.’

His friend sighed. ‘So you want me to go with you.’

‘You guessed it in three. Can you?’

‘It’s important?’

‘We’re got a major event in Edinburgh on Friday. There’s a public rally in the rugby stadium, at which Pope John the Twenty-fifth will meet his people. The Prime Minister will be sat next to him. These dead Belgians were supposed to be playing for him. Their band still is.’

‘It’s important,’ Arrow exclaimed. ‘Right, the people we’ll need to see are in the security division of the Belgian General Intelligence and Security Service. They can get access to everything without any questions being asked, so it’ll be much quicker than going through their personnel section. The head of that division’s a contact of mine; I see him regularly at NATO meetings. How soon can you get to Brussels?’

‘There’s a flight from Edinburgh this afternoon; there’s a seat held on it for me. I can be there this evening.’

‘I’ll meet you at the British Airways desk in Brussels airport. Half six?’

‘Make it six forty-five. See you there.’

‘Does it really mean anything, Stevie?’ asked Detective Superintendent Chambers. ‘This thing the boy found? It’s only a few letters grouped together after all.’

‘It could do, Mary. If Ivor was on to her, and she found out, it’s possible she did away with him, or that she and her husband did. I’m assuming they’re acting in concert.’

‘Why should they run now, with Whetstone set up to take the blame?’

‘Maybe they always intended to run, but maybe they couldn’t just then, not until the money had hit its final destination.’

‘That’s plausible, I’ll grant you. But as proof of anything, what does this all mean?’

‘Next to bugger all, I admit, as I told Murphy.’

Chambers smiled grimly. ‘Not next to it, Stevie,’ she said. ‘It means precisely bugger all. It doesn’t tell us anything for sure and it doesn’t lead us any closer to them either. If it makes the Whetstones feel better, that’s good, but that’s all it’ll do.’

‘I know, Mary,’ Steele conceded. ‘The lad was so pleased with himself, though.’

‘And I hope he stays that way, but what are you planning to do next? I appreciate you keeping me involved, but this is your inquiry, remember; I’m still feeling my way into this job, so I don’t plan on muscling in.’

‘I’m going to dig into Aurelia’s past,’ he told her. ‘I’ve requested her file, formally and in writing, from the SFB human-resources manager; she’s consulting the data controller, just to stay on the right side of the Data Protection Act, but I don’t anticipate problems. I want to see if it gives us any pointers to where she and her husband might have headed.’

‘What about his file?’

‘I’ve made the same request to Heriot-Watt University. They’re more used to police requests for information. With a bit of luck I’ll have both files by the end of the day. If I have to I’ll take them home with me and look through them tonight.’

‘They’ll be well protected, then.’

Steele gave her a curious look. ‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Maggie had a quiet word with me while you were out. I don’t know whether it was woman to woman, or senior officer to senior officer, but she told me about her. . How do I put it? Relocation. I’ve never seen her look so happy; I’m very pleased for you both, and I really do hope it works out.’

‘Thanks, Mary,’ he said, ‘that means a lot to us. I hope everyone takes it as well.’

‘They will, don’t you worry. Does Mario know yet?’

‘I think he’s guessed that we were seeing each other, but not that Maggie’s moving in. She wants to tell him herself, but face to face, first opportunity she gets. She’s going to leave it for a couple of days, though. Apparently he’s pretty broken up about the American guy.’

‘He’ll be steamed up now, after the outcome of the autopsy.’

‘Why? What’s up?’

‘The DCC’s wife found fresh tap-water in the lungs. She proved that he was drowned somewhere else then chucked in the dock. She’s a sharp operator, that one; there’s a few pathologists would have missed it. Dan Pringle called to tell me, as a courtesy, so I didn’t hear about it first on the telly. There’s a press conference this afternoon.’

‘Is Mario taking it?’

‘No, Mario isn’t in charge. McIlhenney’s running this one, and Alan Royston’s handling the media himself.’

‘Why big Neil?’

‘Because Special Branch does organised crime, and that’s where the investigation’s focused.’