Barry Maitland: Chelsea Mansions

A detective Brock recognised from the borough command came to his side and they shook hands. ‘Hello again,’ the man said. ‘So this is Mikhail Moszynski.’

The way he said it made Brock glance at him. ‘Should I know him?’

‘Russian, he married Shaka Gibbons a couple of years ago. You know, the model?’

Brock didn’t know.

‘Resident of Chelsea Mansions,’ the detective went on, indicating the building through the trees. ‘He owns most of the building. Stepped outside at about nine fifty to smoke a cigar here in the gardens. Apparently Shaka won’t have smoking in the house. At ten thirty his bodyguard came out with a torch to check on him and found the body.’

‘He had a bodyguard?’

‘Name of Wayne Everett, calls himself Mr Moszynski’s security agent and driver, on contract from…’ He held his notes up to the light. ‘Shere Security. His boss arrived soon after us. They’re both inside the house now with Shaka. Everett says he only felt for a pulse then stepped away. Looks like three puncture wounds to the chest. No immediate sign of the weapon, but I reckon we’ll have to wait till daylight to search the gardens properly.’

Brock grunted his agreement. His head still felt full of cotton wool. ‘That’s where the American woman, Nancy Haynes, was staying, of course, in the hotel at the end of the block.’

‘Yes. As soon as I realised that I thought I’d better get you in straight away. There hasn’t been a single homicide in this borough in the three years I’ve been stationed here and now we’ve got two from the same building.’

They made their way towards the gates, discussing the steps that had been taken so far, when Brock saw Kathy coming through the checkpoint. He introduced her to the CID man and then sneezed.

‘You all right?’ she asked, but he dismissed it with a wave of his hand and the detective told her quickly what had happened.

‘Shaka Gibbons?’ she said. ‘She’s his wife? This’ll be huge. We’d better get the Press Bureau on to this right away.’

As if in confirmation, the uniformed constable stationed at the victim’s front door told them that Ms Gibbons’ manager had just arrived and been admitted at Ms Gibbons’ insistence. As Brock and Kathy passed him to go inside, the constable tugged down his protective vest and straightened his tie, as if expecting the cameras at any second.

Wayne Everett, the bodyguard, was waiting in the hall inside, looking grim, his bulk overshadowed by an enormous chandelier suspended from the high ceiling overhead. Another man was behind him, one foot on the bottom step of a grand staircase at the far end of the hall, murmuring into a phone. He now wheeled around and strode in front of Everett to face the detectives. He was Peter Shere, he explained, handing them business cards, head of Shere Security and responsible for all aspects of Mr Moszynski’s safety and that of his family while in the UK.

‘Clearly there’s been a shocking breach,’ he said angrily, and Kathy saw Everett behind him lower his shaved head a little further. ‘My immediate concern is to ensure the ongoing security of the family. Later we’ll be carrying out a post-incident review. In the meantime, it goes without saying that we’ll give you our fullest cooperation.’

Brock pulled a wad of tissues out of his coat pocket and noisily blew his nose. ‘Do you have any reason to be concerned about the rest of the family?’

‘No, but we had no immediate concerns about Mr Moszynski either. He has a daughter, Alisa, living near Esher. I’ve sent one of our cars to bring her, her baby daughter and Mr Moszynski’s mother, who’s been visiting them, back here. Alisa’s husband Vadim is in Moscow at present. He’s been informed and is flying back immediately.’

Kathy was taking notes. ‘Is that the whole family in the UK?’

‘Yes.’

Brock said, ‘Let’s hear what Mr Everett has to say.’

Shere waved his employee forward.

‘I came on duty here at seven this evening,’ Everett said, voice subdued. ‘There’s always one of us here with Mr Moszynski twenty-four/seven, working twelve-hour shifts. I’ve been on this assignment for six months now without incident. I made myself known to him, established who was at home and carried out our regular security inspection of the whole house. Mr Moszynski was having dinner with two guests in the dining room, and said that he would be remaining in for the night and wouldn’t need to be disturbed again. After I’d completed my rounds I went down to the basement kitchen where Mrs Truscott, the housekeeper, gave me a cold supper. I had no alcohol with the meal or at any other time in the past twenty-four hours and I request a blood test to confirm that.’

Brock grunted impatiently. ‘Yes, yes.’

‘At ten twenty-five Mrs Truscott returned from upstairs where she’d been checking to see if the dinner party needed anything. She informed me that Mr Moszynski wasn’t there, and had apparently gone outside to the square to smoke a cigar. This was strictly against the protocol we’d agreed with Mr Moszynski, and I immediately took a torch and went out to check on him. The gate to the central gardens was open and I could smell his cigar as I went in. I found him sitting collapsed on the bench in the middle of the gardens. That was at ten thirty-two. I made out extensive bloodstains on his clothes and checked his throat for a pulse. There were no signs of life, and I immediately rang triple nine and our home base. I also rang Mrs Truscott and told her to lock the front door and inform the other guests. I then waited with Mr Moszynski’s body until the police arrived.’

He took in a deep breath. ‘I should add that Mr Moszynski has done this twice before, to my knowledge, despite our objections. He told me he’s very partial to a cigar after dinner, but Mrs Moszynski won’t allow it in the house or the rear courtyard. Ordinarily I would have been aware of someone opening the front door from the security system, which should have alerted me.’ He showed them a security monitor, like a large mobile phone, attached to his belt. ‘But this didn’t happen. I assume that Mr Moszynski disarmed it before leaving. He told me he didn’t like me fussing over him when he went out for a cigar.’

‘I can confirm that,’ his boss said. ‘I had words with Mr Moszynski about it, but he was pretty relaxed about security.’

‘What about the murder of the American lady at the end of the block?’ Kathy said. ‘Didn’t that concern him?’

Wayne Everett frowned at her. ‘Not as far as I’m aware. Why should it?’

‘He knew her though, didn’t he?’

Everett exchanged a glance with his boss. ‘I couldn’t say.’

‘He went to Mrs Haynes’ memorial service this morning,’ Kathy insisted. ‘Your colleague was with him. Did he talk to you about that?’

‘No.’

‘Who’s been here in the house this evening?’ Brock said.

Everett listed them: the cook who’d prepared evening meals for the household had left at nine p.m.; the housekeeper, Mrs Truscott; Mr Moszynski’s wife, Ms Gibbons, who had eaten alone in her suite; Ms Gibbons’ business manager, who’d arrived within the past half hour at Ms Gibbons’ request; and Mr Moszynski’s two guests-his business partner Mr Freddie Clarke and Sir Nigel Hadden-Vane.

‘Hadden-Vane?’ Brock stared at him, then at Kathy.

‘Yes, he was at the memorial service this morning too. Sir Nigel now, is it?’

‘Yes,’ Everett said. ‘He’s the local Member of Parliament.’

They went to speak to the wife first, in her suite on the first floor. As they mounted the stairs Brock felt oddly disoriented. From the outside the building appeared to be the series of townhouses that it once had been, with individual front doors, but inside the scale expanded, as if he’d drunk from Alice’s magic bottle. They must have ripped out its guts, he realised, to build a palace inside the shell.