Майкл Ридпат - The Partnership Track

No she didn’t, but I didn’t reply. My mind was elsewhere.

I had remembered where I had seen Sergeant O’Leary before.

And I knew why neither I nor anyone else had heard a gunshot.

I got up to leave the room. Outside, in the lobby, my way was blocked by the young police officer. He was tall and nervous; he seemed to still be recovering from Manuela’s hysterics. He didn’t look like a country policeman at all. A policeman, even in rural New Hampshire, should be able to handle angry women better than he had. In fact this guy didn’t even look as if he lived in New Hampshire — he seemed more of a soft city boy.

‘Where’s your squad car?’ I asked him.

‘Out front,’ he said.

‘I’m going to see it,’ I said. ‘And I’m going to take a look at where Harald was killed.’ I moved to one side to pass him.

‘I can’t let you do that, sir,’ the cop said, stepping in front of me.

‘How are you going to stop me?’

‘I can restrain you, sir. I’m a police officer.’

‘Are you sure quite about that?’

I asked at the front desk for Bill’s room number. Jason was at reception and he wasn’t in a helpful mood.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t disclose that, sir.’

‘What do you mean?’ I protested. ‘We all work for the same company.’

‘It’s policy. We can’t disclose our guests’ room numbers without their permission. And I don’t have Mr Labouchere’s permission.’

A door swung open from a corridor leading away from the front lobby of the lodge, and I turned to see the podgy balding figure of Steve Rosenheit. He was moving fast and he looked angry.

‘Steve!’ I called out.

Steve paused. When he saw who was addressing him, his face became even angrier. For a moment, I thought he was going to hit me.

‘Fuck you!’ he said and headed out of the main entrance.

‘Steve! What’s Bill’s room number?’ I called after him, but he ignored me.

I pushed through the fire door into the corridor from which Steve had come. There were three doors, each of which bore a name: Mount Washington, Mount Adams and Carter Dome . I tried Mount Washington and Mount Adams . Conference rooms. Empty. Then I opened the door to Carter Dome.

Three people were sitting in the small room behind a table, watching a large screen in front of them.

The three were Bill Labouchere, Professor Behbehani and Sergeant O’Leary. On the screen was a CCTV feed of the dining room. Cynthia, Trent and Charlie were talking.

Bill frowned when he saw me, but only for a second. Then his face broke into a grin and he stood up. ‘Peter! You figured it out! I told you he’d figure it out, Shelley.’

‘You did,’ said Professor Behbehani, who looked less pleased.

Anger flashed through my brain, but I fought to control it. I had intended to force Bill to tell me what was going on, but an urgent voice somewhere in my head told me to shut up and think. And listen.

Losing your temper with Bill Labouchere was never a good idea.

‘Take a seat, Peter. Congratulations. How did you do it?’

‘That young police officer didn’t seem right to me,’ I said. ‘And then I remembered where I had seen this guy before.’

Detective Sergeant O’Leary raised his eyebrows.

‘You’re an actor, aren’t you? You had a bit part in House of Cards? ’

‘You remembered that?’ said O’Leary. ‘I’m impressed. No one ever recognizes me from that. I was only in one episode.’

‘Don used to be a cop before he became an actor, so he was perfect for the role,’ said Bill. ‘He could do the live interviews with you guys.’

‘You forgot that Harald must have made some footprints,’ I said to O’Leary. ‘As did Jason. Is he an actor too?’

‘Yes. We realized he might have a speaking role.’

I looked at the three people on the screen. Cynthia seemed to be having second thoughts that I was a murderer. The audio quality was excellent; the view was from high up.

‘Is the camera in the bear?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ said Bill. ‘In his throat. Gives us a great view through his jaws. You did a good job there, by the way. I thought Trent had you, but you fought back well.’

‘So where’s Harald?’ I asked.

‘He’s fine,’ Bill said. ‘He’s at the motel in town. We whisked him away in the middle of the night. He has no idea what’s going on here. Poor fellow never was on the partnership track, but I needed a fall guy to play the favourite.’

‘You had us fooled,’ I said, trying and mostly succeeding to keep the anger out of my voice. Bill looked very pleased with himself; O’Leary had a relaxed smile now the charade was over. Only the professor was looking at me closely. She knew I was angry.

Bill flashed a warm grin of triumph. ‘This was the ultimate partnership test. It was Shelley’s idea, but we tailored it for the firm. We wanted you to be the chief suspect, and I must say you handled it pretty well. But that affair between Manuela and Harald was quite unexpected. I wouldn’t have thought he was her type. I’ve learned a lot about Trent as well. And then there’s Project Assegai. I knew there was something going on with that, I just didn’t know what it was.’

‘That’s why Steve was here?’

‘Yes. I told him I wanted his help evaluating you guys, but I hoped that the pressure of the situation would encourage Charlie to talk. Which he did. Thanks to you.’

‘Steve didn’t look very happy when I passed him in the lobby just now.’

‘No,’ said Bill. ‘I don’t think we can really trust Steve as a partner going forward. Some serious issues have been raised. It doesn’t look too good for Charlie either. But you, Peter? I’d say that you are the clear winner from the weekend’s exercise, don’t you agree, Shelley? Shelley has been assessing you all throughout the exercise.’

‘Peter performed very well,’ said the professor. But she was watching me carefully.

‘And what about Manuela?’

‘That was unfortunate,’ said the professor. ‘We weren’t expecting that.’

‘But we learned a lot about Manuela too,’ said Bill. ‘She slept with Trent and with Harald, and she knows that’s not the way we do things at Labouchere. Don’t worry — she’ll be fine this afternoon once she knows Harald is OK. And she’ll be laughing about it next week.’

I wasn’t so sure.

‘How did you know I would go for a run?’ I asked.

‘We know how you behave,’ Bill said. ‘You often go for runs in the morning, especially if there is a deadline approaching. As does Harald, which is why we chose an early-morning run as the best way for his body to be found a distance from the hotel. We didn’t expect Trent to do the same; that was a stroke of luck. As was the fresh snow. But the plan was always flexible. In a sense, it didn’t matter, as long as it was credible. The key thing was to see how you all responded.’ He paused, nodded, and gave me one of his warm, intimate smiles. ‘And you responded very well.’

Bill was on the brink of offering me a partnership. I had worked so hard for this moment, sacrificed everything for it, including Henrietta. It was what I had always wanted. It was something I could show my mother: look at the shiny new life I have made for myself, all the money I’m making, the status I have.

But Mum was dead. And if she were alive and she knew what I had done to get to this point, she wouldn’t be proud of me at all.

A stab of grief was added to the shame.

What a fool I had been. I didn’t want to be this man’s partner; I wanted nothing to do with him. I needed to get back to London as soon as possible and talk to Henrietta. Not just for two hours over lunch. For a week. Two weeks.