Stephen Leather - Tango One

After-school activities for Donovan had been a quick cigarette behind the bike sheds, but Robbie and his peers could choose from a host of sports and activities, all supervised by teachers who actually seemed to enjoy their work.

One wall of the waiting room was covered with awards and trophies that the school had won, with pride of place given over to a large framed photograph of the Duke of Edinburgh paying a visit in the late 19805.

The door to the headmistress's study opened and for a crazy moment Donovan felt a surge of irrational guilt as if he were about to be given six whacks of a slipper. That had been the punishment of choice meted out when he was at school it never left a mark but it hurt like hell.

"Mr. Donovan? So nice to see you." The headmistress was a tall, thin woman with sharp features and long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

She offered Donovan an elegant hand with carefully painted nails, and they shook. She led him through to her office. Unlike Patterson's office there were no comfy sofas, just an old-fashioned walnut desk with a dark green leather blotter. A brass nameplate on the desk read "Andrea Stephenson. Headmistress' No Mrs. or Miss, or even Ms. Just her name and her title. A high-backed dark brown leather executive chair sat on one side of the desk, two simple wooden chairs facing it.

Donovan could hear the computer on a side table buzzing quietly to itself.

She walked quickly behind the desk and sat down.

"I'm so glad finally to get to meet you, Mr. Donovan," she said. She ran her fingers along a pale blue file on the blotter. It was probably Robbie's file, thought Donovan, in which case she knew exactly how long it had been since Donovan had sat on the uncomfortable wooden chair.

"We are obviously a little bit concerned about Robbie's recent absence from school," she said. She put on a pair of wire-framed reading glasses, opened the file and glanced down at it.

"Robbie's aunt has been our point of contact, I gather."

"My sister. Laura."

"She telephoned to say that Robbie was unwell."

That's right."

The headmistress looked at Donovan over the top of her spectacles.

"Why didn't Mrs. Donovan phone us? Or you?"

"I've been overseas," said Donovan.

"Robbie's doing okay, is he?"

"Robbie's doing just fine," said the headmistress.

"A little boisterous, but then what nine-year-old isn't? It's not Robbie's behaviour that concerns me so much as his absence, however, I'm putting two and two together and getting the feeling that perhaps there are problems at home? Would I be right in that assumption?"

Donovan nodded and linked his fingers in his lap, though what he really wanted to do was to wipe the patronising smile off the headmistress's face.

"Robbie's mother has left the matrimonial home," said Donovan.

"I'll be taking care of him from now on."

"You and Mrs. Donovan are separating?"

"Robbie caught her in bed with my accountant."

"My God," said the headmistress, a look of horror on her face.

Donovan felt a surge of satisfaction at her reaction, but kept his feelings hidden. He stared impassively at her.

"Exactly," said Donovan.

"Now she's gone A.W.O.L. and I'm taking care of Robbie."

"Would you like me to talk to Robbie?" said the headmistress.

"I think he's okay. He's taking it well enough. No, what I'm here for is to make sure that you understand the position. My wife isn't to go near Robbie."

The headmistress frowned.

"I'm not sure I follow you."

"She's served me an injunction preventing me from taking him abroad, so until we overturn that, he has to stay put. It looks like she's going to try to get custody, and as part of that I think she might try to snatch him back."

The headmistress nodded thoughtfully.

"Obviously I want Robbie back at school as soon as possible. So I want it made clear that if she turns up at the school she's not to be allowed to take him."

"Mr. Donovan, I'm not sure if I can give you that guarantee. Mrs.

Donovan is Robbie's mother." Donovan opened his mouth to argue but she held up her hand and raised her eyebrows as if she were silencing a noisy classroom.

"Do you have some sort of legal backing for your request?"

"Such as?"

"A court order. Something like that."

"No, but my lawyer is applying for sole custody and we're confident the court will see it our way."

The headmistress spread her hands, palms upwards.

"Mr. Donovan, unless a court forbids your wife access to your son, I'm not sure that we can ' "You don't understand," interrupted Donovan.

"She might snatch him. She could turn up with a couple of heavies and whisk him away."

The headmistress shook her head sadly.

"Mr. Donovan, I know your wife. She was a regular attender at Parent Teacher Association meetings. She donated money to our arts club appeal."

Donovan stood up. The headmistress jerked back in her seat as if she'd been stung.

"If she comes to the school, she's not to go near Robbie," he said, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"If she does, I'll hold you responsible. Personally responsible."

"Are you threatening me, Mr. Donovan?" she asked, her voice shaking.

Donovan leaned over her desk, invading her space.

"I'm telling you, Miss, Ms or Mrs. Stephenson. You know my wife and maybe you don't know me, but believe me, anything happens to my son and you'll get to know me. Do you understand?"

The headmistress nodded.

"Maybe you don't," said Donovan. He picked up the brass nameplate and waved it under her nose.

"I know your name, and it would take me two minutes to find out where you live." He slammed the nameplate down on her desk and she flinched.

All the colour had drained from the headmistress's face. Donovan smiled. He straightened up and took a step back.

"Let's not get off on the wrong foot," he said softly.

"Robbie's a good kid. You've done a great job teaching him and I do appreciate that. If it's donations you want, I'd be happy to help out.

I can even come to PTA meetings." Donovan straightened up.

"Thank you for your time. If my wife should turn up at the school, I'd be grateful if you'd call me. Immediately." He handed her a card on which he'd written the number of one of his pay-as-you-go mobiles.

The headmistress sat with her head down and her hands in her lap.

Donovan kept holding the card out to her. Eventually she reached up hesitantly and took it.

"Thank you," said Donovan.

Donovan went back to the hotel and told the manager he'd be checking out. He went up to his room and quickly packed his things. He was gathering up his mobile phones when he saw that two of them had received voice messages.

One was the phone that Juan Rojas used. Donovan checked that one first. Rojas said nothing of interest, just that he was on the case but that so far he had nothing to report. The second message was from Jamie Fullerton, saying that he had the rest of the money from the sale of the paintings. Three hundred and fifty thousand pounds.

Donovan phoned Fullerton and arranged to meet him at Donovan's house later that night, then went downstairs and paid his bill in cash.

He caught a black cab back to the house, and looked around before opening the front door. He didn't see any obvious surveillance, but now that he was back to being Tango One he was sure that there'd be watchers somewhere along the street. They could be in a flat across the road, in an attic somewhere, in the back of a van with darkened windows. They might even have set up a remote-controlled camera in a parked car, monitored some distance away. If they were good, he wouldn't see them.

He let himself into the house and took his suitcase upstairs. He stripped off the bedding in the master bedroom and took it down to the kitchen and put it in the washer-dryer, then had second thoughts and stuffed it into black rubbish bags and put them outside by the bins.