Quintin Jardine - A Rush of Blood

‘At the time, I never knew he was involved,’ she replied. ‘He didn’t tell me when he did it, even though we were supposed to make all the business decisions together. I only found out a couple of years later, not long after Lucie was born, when we were at a party, a business thing, and one of the women there, a banker’s wife, I think, made a nasty remark. She called him a pimp. I didn’t know what she was talking about so I punched her.’ She tapped the side of her nose, and smiled, very faintly. ‘Right there,’ she whispered. ‘It bled all over her blue satin dress. There was a scene, of course, and Tomas had to take me home. Once we got there I made him tell me what she had been talking about.’

‘You made him?’

‘Oh, I made him, all right.’ She looked at Stallings. ‘Imagine, he thinks I couldn’t stand up to my husband. Tomas might have been. . what he once was. . but I was no pushover either.’

‘I know that well enough,’ Skinner chuckled. ‘No one ever took you for a softie, Regine. So what did he tell you?’

‘He said that not long after Tony Manson died, he was approached by a man he called Dudley.’

‘Eh?’ Skinner’s eyebrows rose. ‘How did he know this man?’

‘From his time in the merchant navy. Dudley was on the crew of his ship.’

‘But he’s Scottish. On a Lithuanian ship?’

She nodded. ‘He joined in Amsterdam, after some men defected and left them short-handed. He and Tomas sailed together for a couple of years, and when Dudley left the ship in Scotland, Tomas went with him. . unofficially. He deserted, and he was allowed to stay.’

‘I know that. When he approached Tomas, what did he want?’

‘He thought that Tomas had been left Manson’s massage places,’ she explained. ‘It was known that Tony had left everything worth having to an associate, and Dudley assumed that it was him. He told him it wasn’t and he thought that would the end of it, but Dudley came back. He said that he had someone who was interested in buying the places, and that if my husband could help, he would cut him in for half of the deal. Tomas thought why not, and so he approached the lawyer who was acting for Lennie Plenderleith. . he was in jail by then.’

‘How did Ken Green get involved?’

‘When Tomas asked Mr Conn at Curle Anthony and Jarvis to act for him in the deal, he said he’d rather not. Green was introduced by the other man in the deal.’

‘This partner, this other man. Who is he?’

‘I don’t know that. Tomas wouldn’t tell me. He never did tell me, ever.’

‘Do you know if the two of them ever met, or was all the business done through Dudley?’

‘Oh yes, they met. When the company in Uruguay was set up, they went there to sign the papers. Four of them went. Tomas took Valdas, because he was going to be looking after the places, and the other man had someone with him too. Not Dudley, though; a man Tomas called Henry.’

‘Was that the trip when he had the tattoo done on his shoulder?’ McGuire asked.

She nodded. ‘He said that they all did.’

‘Excuse me for a moment.’ Skinner stepped out into the garden, took out his phone and called McIlhenney. ‘Neil,’ he said as the superintendent answered, ‘no time to chat, but call Greatorix and tell him that his pathologists should check for a tattoo on Henry Brown’s shoulder. They’ll find one, and when they do, they should photograph it. Then check the photos that were taken at Tomas’s autopsy, and at Valdas’s; you should find two the same, although Valdas’s will be a wee bit singed.’

He went back inside. ‘Sorry about that, Regine,’ he murmured. ‘So Valdas knew who the man was?’

‘Yes.’

He looked at Jonas Zaliukas, who had come down the steps and was standing behind his sister-in-law’s chair. ‘What about you?’ he asked.

‘I was in the army when this shit happen,’ the man replied.

‘That’s not an answer, but we’ll go back there later. For now, do you know, Regine, if Tomas put any more money into that company?’

‘No, he didn’t. He was paid a dividend on his investment, fifty thousand every year, twenty per cent of his capital, but he didn’t put any more in.’

‘Where did the money go?’

‘Into a bank account he opened in France, for the girls. I doubt if he paid tax on it; it was always in cash.’

‘We don’t really care about that,’ the chief constable told her. ‘Why don’t you bring us up to date now?’ he invited. ‘When did all this business begin?’

‘Two weeks ago,’ she replied, and as she did, the tension seemed to grab her once more, tightening her shoulders, and narrowing her mouth.

‘How?’ the chief constable asked quietly.

‘Tomas came home from the office on Wednesday night,’ she replied, ‘the week before last. He told me that there was big trouble in the massage parlours, that Valdas had done something very stupid, and that his partner was very angry.’

‘Did he tell you what Gerulaitis had done?’

‘No, but he said that it was criminal, against the law. You see, those businesses are sensitive, what happens there is. .’ She paused, frowning. ‘How do I say it?’

‘What happens there is tolerated,’ Stallings prompted her. ‘Men go there, and to places like that all over Britain, and they pay for sex. We all know it happens, but there’s an unspoken agreement that nothing will be done about it. Our society can never eliminate prostitution, but it can’t be seen to make it legal either. So we compromise; we turn a blind eye to women selling themselves in places like that, because it’s a hell of a lot safer for them than doing it on the street. As long as the business is properly run, and the women aren’t exploited; if they were, that couldn’t be overlooked.’

‘And that’s what Valdas was doing,’ Skinner added. ‘He had smuggled in a squad of girls, youngsters, some of them under age, from Estonia, and put them to work. Some were willing, and those that weren’t were drugged.’

Regine stared at him. ‘That’s what he did?’

He nodded.

‘Tomas didn’t tell me that. Now I know, I’m even more glad that he’s dead.’

‘How did his partner find out?’

‘Through Dudley, Tomas said. From time to time he would go into the places as a customer, to check that they were being run properly.’

‘And when he did that a couple of weeks ago,’ McGuire murmured, ‘he saw the new talent.’

‘Just so,’ Jonas Zaliukas growled. ‘Valdas!’ he spat. ‘What’s your word in English for someone who is very stupid?’

‘Idiot, dimwit, moron. . take your pick.’

‘I take all of them. My brother made not many mistakes, but he was one. And it kill him.’

‘Regine,’ Skinner whispered, ‘go on. Tomas sent you here, didn’t he?’

‘Yes. He said he would have to deal with the trouble, but that his partner was a very serious man, and there could be danger until it was all made clear. He told me to take the children and come here to Mezin. He said he would come for me when it was safe. But it never was for him.’ Her eyes filled with tears, but she kept her self-control. ‘We left the very next day; I drove and we got here on the Friday afternoon. Everything was fine over the weekend. Tomas called me several times, and I told him we were OK. On Saturday he told me that Jonas had arrived from Lithuania, and also that his partner seemed to understand that what had happened was not his fault. I was going to go back, but he told me I should stay here for a few more days.’ She stopped. ‘I’m sorry. I need something to drink.’

Stallings rose to her feet. ‘I’ll get you some water.’

‘Thank you,’ said Regine. ‘A very little water, please, with a lot of whisky in it. You’ll find both in the kitchen.’ She looked around. ‘Would anyone else. .?’