Barry Maitland: Babel

‘I don’t know, Fran. The more we can piece together the better. Maybe you’ll think of something else. What about your husband? Would Abu have talked things over with George?’

‘Don’t think so. Abu was secretive, and only told me about the money because he needed advice. George is hopeless with money.’

Later, walking back to the car, Leon glanced at Kathy, deep in thought.

‘She’s bright. Too bad she’s given up the merchant banking. But I suppose that must be a tricky occupation for a Muslim.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, they don’t believe in interest. If they earn any, on bank accounts for instance, they’re supposed to give it away to charity, as zakah.’

‘What’s zakah?’

‘Alms. It’s one of a Muslim’s obligations. You can give zakah to the poor, or the needy, or… there’s a third category, with a funny name. I forget. What were you thinking so hard about?’

‘The gun. The money was intact, thirty thousand exactly. So he didn’t use it to buy the gun.’

‘Maybe dad in Beirut sent it over with the cash.’

‘Then why use it to kill Springer? If he was going to shoot anybody it’d be more likely to have been old man Manzoor.’

‘Guns! That was the third category.’

‘You can give alms to buy guns?’

‘Sort of. Feesabeelillah, it’s called. Money spent supporting the Muslim cause. Money for Jihad.’

The following day, Sunday, Kathy drove down to Battle to make her peace with Suzanne. They sat in the conservatory and drank coffee, just as she had done three weeks before, reading Max Springer’s obituary.

‘You’re looking so much better, Kathy,’ Suzanne said. ‘Are you sleeping?’

‘Yes, thanks.’ Kathy smiled at hearing the brisk tone again that Suzanne adopted when discussing the health of one of them, her brood of grandchildren, Kathy, Brock- potential problem children all. ‘I’m just sorry that I haven’t been in touch more.’

‘Oh, we’re all busy. You were ready to go back, weren’t you? I thought it was too soon, but you must have felt it was right.’

‘I didn’t think so at first, but, you know, you get caught up.. .’

‘Mm. And David, he’s very caught up at present too, I gather.’

‘Yes. We’ve reached a point… it’s hard to describe, where we seem to have most of the bits we need to wrap the thing up, but somehow it refuses to gel.’

‘Sounds like my attempts to make plum jelly. And of course, this is David’s moment, isn’t it?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘The stage in the investigation where the great detective discovers the truth that’s eluded everybody else.’ She smiled mischievously. ‘I’m not being sarcastic, but it is something like that, isn’t it? The enlightenment. It’s what David lives for, that moment… if you don’t get there first.’

‘Me?’

‘Yes, you. He described you once as quick on your feet. I think that’s what he meant. You’ve beaten him to it once or twice, haven’t you?’

Kathy suddenly felt herself under examination, Suzanne looking at her over the rim of her coffee cup.

‘You mean he resents it?’

‘No, no. I’m sure he doesn’t. I just think he’s been surprised. That’s good. You keep him on his toes. I know he was very worried that you might want to quit.’

All the same, Kathy had a vague sense that Suzanne was giving her a warning.

‘I feel bad about letting Tina down after she went to all that trouble for me. Is she annoyed?’

‘I honestly don’t think she ever really saw you escorting old ladies round the pyramids, but give her a call. And how’s your lovely Art Malik friend?’

‘Leon?’ Kathy laughed. ‘He doesn’t look like Art Malik, does he?’

‘Brock says he does, a younger version. I’m dying to meet him. Did he contribute to your recovery?’

‘He was part of the problem. You know we were, well, quite close, before Christmas.’

‘I got that impression, yes. I never learned what went wrong.’

‘A misunderstanding… no, a mistake, on my part. I missed an appointment. Only it was more complicated than that. There was a woman I was jealous about…’

‘Freud said we don’t really make mistakes like that. Maybe you missed the appointment on purpose, without realising it. Was he cross?’

‘Yes. Everything fell apart after that. Probably just as well. Having a relationship with someone at work only complicates things.’

‘Really? Only David happened to mention a Special Branch officer-oh, he didn’t say anything, but it was the way he didn’t say anything that made my ears prick up. Was I wrong?’

‘Yes,’ Kathy said firmly. ‘That was a figment of Brock’s imagination, I’m afraid.’

‘Well…’ Suzanne smiled quietly to herself. ‘Figments can be fun sometimes.’

D espite newspaper reports that he was helping police with their inquiries, Haygill had been released on the evening of the Thursday on which he had first been interviewed following the discovery of the gun, pending further investigations. The searches of his premises had yielded plenty of documentary material, including bank statements and correspondence with backers in the Middle East, but nothing immediately incriminating. On the following Monday he was reinterviewed, this time by Bren and Kathy, with Brock observing from the adjoining room. Kathy’s role was to look sceptical but say little, Bren’s to be actively hostile and disbelieving. Brock was pleased to see that Haygill looked as if the weekend had not raised his spirits. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his speech had lost its former confidence and had become hesitant. Throughout the interview he looked frequently to his solicitor for guidance and, perhaps, reassurance.

‘Tell us how you recruited Abu Khadra?’ Bren asked, feeling more confident that Haygill’s decline might throw up some mistake or inconsistency.

‘It would have been about eighteen months ago, I think… umm, I can check the exact date…’ Bren waved a hand dismissively and Haygill continued. ‘I was on a visit to the University of Qatar. We’d recently lost our computer programmer, and the university provider wasn’t giving us the sort of service we needed, so I was on the lookout for someone.’

‘An Arab?’

‘Well, not necessarily, but we’re happy to recruit suitably qualified people from the region. Our sponsors like it, and we see it as part of our educational role. I think I explained to your Chief Inspector…’

‘Yes, yes. Go on.’

‘Well, Abu approached me. He’d heard of our project, and was very interested. He was just finishing a master’s degree at Qatar, as it happened, and was looking for opportunities. He was highly recommended by his supervisor, and after meeting him a couple of times during my visit I offered him a job.’

‘Just like that? No advertisements, interviews?’

‘His position is funded by our external research income, so I have discretion.’

‘So he owed his advancement entirely to you and to no one else.’

‘If you like…’

‘And this was the reason why he regarded you as a sort of father figure, is it? Or was there more to it?’

‘Your Chief Inspector used that phrase, but really, that’s putting it far too strongly. He was respectful, but no more than others.’

‘Oh, come on, Professor! He hero-worshipped you! That’s certainly the impression we’ve been getting.’

‘Well, I don’t-’

‘You know his personal history, do you? He lost both his parents at an early age, and was taken in by a family in which, from all accounts, the father was a petty crook.’

‘I didn’t know that.’

‘So when a man like you came along and changed his life, offering him a chance to work under you in Europe on a glamorous leading-edge research project, he obviously felt more beholden than an employee would normally do to his boss, don’t you think?’