The silence perfectly complemented the facial distortion of the recipients. They did not decline immediately and she offered to terminate the video link out of politeness. She was confident she had them over a barrel, and Enfield was quite taken aback at the ruthless streak in this woman, after having worked with her husband for many years.
*
The wife of Andrew Todd asked to see Renton. What he heard was to turn the investigation on its head again.
“Inspector, I wondered if you can tell me when Andrew’s body will be released. I was so much in shock when I saw him that I forgot there are things we have to do.”
“I understand Mrs Todd, really I do, but there are things we have to do as well. One of the most important is to find the killer, not just for Andrew and your family, but for the other families of those murdered. It’s also crucial for us to try to prevent more innocent people falling victim to the same fate. There are aspects of a murder investigation which can give us information which we piece together to guide us in stopping this maniac. I can’t advise you of a specific time when all of these tests will be completed and there’s also the Coroner’s involvement in the procedures.”
“Yes but it’s only now that I have realised there are things I must do to be sure his body is treated as our faith ordains.”
“Your faith? I’m sorry to ask such a personal question, what faith is that?”
“We’re of Islamic faith. As I say, the grief had overwhelmed me, and in consoling me, one of the clerics from the Mosque reminded me of the obligations. That’s why I am here.” Renton’s mind went into overdrive, but for now he just had to repeat the previous message. She offered an explanation which Renton had not demanded.
“Andrew worked in Egypt before Bio-Cure, and we met so many lovely people there that we looked into the Islamic way of life. He pledged to our friends that he would convert when we returned to the UK. It didn’t affect me quite as dramatically as it did him, but I saw things which made me comfortable with converting too. Our children are being brought up according to Muslim principles. Andrew was so taken with this change in his life that I would feel I am betraying him, if I didn’t make this request. The cleric also told me it was my duty to ask.”
“I’ll try to find out an approximate date for you, but you must also accept that you’re both British citizens, and therefore subject to British law, just as the families of the other victims have done. The priority given by the law in the investigation of a murder is quite specific. I’ll contact you as soon as the tests are completed.” Renton mused as to what the authors of the C.V. Killings would make of this. He informed Gibson and Stephanie, and the news had precisely the same effect on them.
*
Gradual matching of the delivered mail to the station CCTV footage helped eliminate most of the subjects on the footage, but there were still eight unaccounted for. Changes of address which had not been updated, people having gone on sunshine holidays, and incomplete forms hampered the task of narrowing the field much further at present.
*
Bradstock’s presentation of how he wanted the incident room to operate managed to generate lots of open mouths and wide-eyed astonishment. In his determination to convince the powers that be, that he was on top of the various areas of criticism by the press, he proposed his ‘magic bullet.’ “The first thing I want to get across is that crime never sleeps, and we must respond. I have drafted in support from all parts of Three Rivers for this temporary restructuring. It is founded on this room being manned twenty-four seven. Information gathered must be communicated instantly and case updates treated exactly the same. Having to wait for the normal hierarchy to get out of bed and tackle their in-tray over a relaxing cup of coffee is history. The chain of command to act on the live situation has yet to be detailed, but there must always be someone here who takes that responsibility. It is very simple to grasp – we must run faster so that we are more proactive and do not merely react. I have also decided to introduce another tool in our armoury, but that will occur tomorrow. I have secured the services of a highly reputable profiler, to use all the information available, but from a different perspective. She will report directly to me, but will need absolute support from you. The duty rosters will be made available soon. This is an injection of urgency in which there is no opt out. If you are in this room now, it is for a good reason.”
Nobody dropped out of their trance quickly enough to ask a question, and Bradstock strode proudly out of the room. The gathering broke into small cliques and the muttering began. Renton was listening rather than talking, when his phone rang. He terminated the call and turned to the fragmented audience, clapping his hands to get attention.
“They say when you’re waiting for a bus they never seem to arrive and then two appear at once. Well, maybe that’s true right now, we’ve just had the cart carrying the horseshit, and now Ben Adams has just opened his eyes.”
There was an almighty cheer and both Bradstock and Cousins rushed back into the room. Renton took advantage of the situation and announced to them that he was leaving for the hospital.
“Adams has recovered consciousness Sir, you must excuse me.” There was genuine relief on the face of Cousins, and Renton acknowledged it with a gentle pat on the back. Bradstock tried to offer an appropriate emotional response to the news but it came across as awkward and somewhat stunted.
On his way to see Ben Adams he knew he had another item to take care of. When Jane picked up, he gave her the news about Ben’s improvement, and she detected the unsteadiness in his voice.
“I just wanted to let you know, and also tell you about the new shift system this wanker Bradstock is pushing through. Whatever it turns out to be, it’s not going to change our plans for the cinema. Maybe I couldn’t have said that a few years ago, but this is now, and you have my word.”
“Listen Jack, it sounds important and please don’t get yourself into trouble over a night at the movies. What with the news about Ben, and Daniel being so happy to see you, there’s no need to be so rigid in sticking to one particular arrangement.”
“It’s not just an arrangement to me Jane, it’s a chance at a new relationship with you and Daniel, and there isn’t anything more important on my horizon. I’ll make all the time necessary to see Ben, and if I am on duty on Saturday evening, I’ll swap with someone. One of the few advantages of this crazy idea is that if you’re off, someone else at your level picks up the baton. Have you decided what we are going to see?”
“Well, we had, but in view of what you have just said, I daren’t tell you.”
Chapter 23
Friday November 16th 2018
Hepworth knocked at the door. He had waited until the secretary had gone to copy some documents. Upon entering the office he appeared to be deeply concerned.
“What is it Julian?” When he had explained the demand of Price, she closed her laptop.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am afraid so, he is waiting in my office. He came to me about it but I said I couldn’t action such a demand.”
“Do you believe that he talked Alistair into such a crazy idea?”
“Oh yes, that I can confirm. In fact Alistair then became desperate to get his hands on this information. I overheard them talking about it in town one night. I didn’t know anything about the extent of the fee they had agreed, but I thought at the time it was dangerous. When I heard no more about it I assumed it had been shelved.”
“Very well, bring him to me. Wait, just refresh my memory. His company is contracted to us for exactly what?”
“They installed and maintain our security system. Apparently they have done an excellent job.” When Hepworth and Price entered, Vivienne asked the secretary to take an early lunch.
“Mr Price, I’ll dispense with the pleasantries if you don’t mind. If I’m to take your demand seriously you need to show more proof than the corroboration of Julian Hepworth overhearing your conversation in a bar. Who actua
lly delivered this genetic information to my husband?”
“These issues are very sensitive Vivienne, and his position may be vulnerable unless anonymity is maintained.”
“Sorry, I referred to you as Mr Price. Please show me the same respect. Your position as our security provider may also be vulnerable unless we can both be satisfied on how to handle your extra-curricular demand. How would it survive if we can’t establish trust with someone who is employed to protect us from such threats? I won’t discuss this further until I’ve met this individual.” Hepworth had already begun to think that Price’s scam was a mistake. Donald Price was however still extremely confident.
“I don’t think it would be wise to let this affect the security agreement. That’s something which needs to be planned ahead in order to avoid gaps when moving from one supplier to another; it is a complex system which your husband insisted upon. I seem to have offended you by asking for a payment to be honoured. We all took a considerable risk in executing Alistair’s wishes, and that risk is not yet neutralised. I can understand your reluctance to discharge the balance purely on my say so, and I’d suggest your financial director looks for the initial payment of £200,000. It will not of course be listed as a deposit for such an item, but I will be very surprised if he doesn’t know about it or can’t find it. If I was to just forget about it there could be serious consequences, courtesy of the artisan of the information transfer.”
“Very well, but I still want to meet him. You also have to realise Mr Price that as I’m such an inexperienced businesswoman, I don’t see the risks as clearly as a seasoned executive like you. Depending on how one looks at this, the game is not that different to poker. It comes down to one of us calling the other’s bluff. As I can’t visualise you throwing in your hand, I must take the risk to see it. Do I get to meet with this person or not?”
“I’ll make contact now and see how he feels about it. If he refuses, there is nothing more I can do.” When Price got through to Chen, the conversation was brief. The only obstacle was the location, as Chen had to be seen to be working continuously on the restoration of the directory.
“He asks if you can visit him, as he can’t leave his post at present. He is actually trying to recover the files which he procured for Alistair. This is what I meant by the need for many loopholes to be closed.”
“I think that will be possible, and let’s do it sooner rather than later, it’s Friday, how about tomorrow when most normal people aren’t at work?” Price checked and it was agreed.
“Now, I’ll leave it to you to reserve the flights Mr Price, as it’s very short notice to use our own aircraft. Let me know the time when you have the reservations. I would not expect you to deduct this from your owed balance, we must treat this as extraordinary expenses and you will be reimbursed, goodbye.”
When they were alone Vivienne turned to Hepworth. “This was a poor performance Julian. I am happy that you informed me of the problem, but unhappy that you had no strategy for dealing with it. You must try to explain why this Directory was valued so highly by my husband.” Hepworth said it was not something which Alistair talked about, for obvious reasons, but gave Vivienne his own spin.
“When it comes to valuation we must include leverage and not simply the price of classified information. The initiative by the government to invite all hospital admissions to undergo genetic mapping was directly linked to identification of future cost of appropriate treatment. It’s comparable to things such as obesity, smoking related conditions, drug abuse rehab and many others. The health service is already weltering under the cost of treating such conditions, and realised this too late. It’s very worrying to them that people with conditions that are not self-inflicted, such as many forms of cancer, are being deprived of treatment on the basis of cost effectiveness. When the former group can avail of treatment in the form of cash incentives to help themselves, the government are literally shitting themselves that it is the thin end of a very thick wedge. Add to that the civil unrest which is growing over the possible division of the subjects in the directory, into bands of cost effectiveness, which actually translates to a live or die list. Alistair saw this as giving him ethical leverage to press for speeding up of clinical approval. He realised that campaigning openly for such transparency would take decades, even if it could ever be achieved. This information is the absolute blue touch paper to a revolution which is already fermenting.”
“So he wanted it to underpin moving the business to Germany.”
“I’m not quite with you.”
“If he was to use this leverage, he would be restricted by all kinds of charges, including endangering national security. He would need to have residence elsewhere, somewhere from which he was unlikely to be extradited. I think I’m beginning to understand why Alistair had certain plans, which on the surface did not make sense.”
*
Sam Gibson had followed up on Renton’s suggestion that a new pair of eyes might prove fruitful on looking at the timeline of Banks’ death. When he included all of the recent updates there was one burning question which stood out.
Disembark aircraft at Stansted - all five passengers. Banks has briefcase, does Baumann?
Preparation to leave airport. Banks alone meets hired limo driver. Returns without briefcase?
Limo drops all five at bistro and departs. Banks does not have briefcase.
After match, Banks and Baumann declare non-return to others and phone pilot.
The group splits at approx. 5.30 pm.
Parrish says he arrived at Covent Garden at 6.10 approx, Price and Hepworth head off to?
Jackson – the package collector - inherits Banks’ body at 6.30 pm. Baumann has briefcase?
Banks watch stops at exactly 6.53 pm.
Parrish says he arrived at Stansted at 7.50 pm approx, after Price, but before Hepworth.
Watson’s more accurate time of death is 7.00 pm. approx..
When he showed this to Renton and Stephanie he waited for some reaction. They both had different questions. Renton asked why Gibson had put a question mark after ‘Baumann has briefcase.’ Stephanie was more interested in the obvious discrepancy between Banks being dead at 6.30 pm and the watch stopping at 6.53 pm. Gibson took Stephanie’s query first.
“The watch could have stopped for many reasons, such as when he was attacked, when he was dragged or dumped in the abandoned hospital, or when Jackson had to stuff him in the car. It’s a conundrum, but not reliable evidence that he was killed at 6.53 pm. Jackson has already told lies on several occasions and his recollection of times was approximate, while under severe pressure to return north. The reason for the question mark against Baumann clutching a briefcase under his arm is interesting to me for two reasons. Jackson’s recollection of this was associated with the fear he claimed Baumann exhibited, and in fact which he felt himself. Secondly, if Baumann didn’t have a briefcase with him on disembarkation at the airport, when and where did he get this one? Was it the one Banks had taken? Had Banks given it to him when they went to their meeting? Did he take it after Banks was killed? Would the thugs Jackson mentioned have allowed him to have possession of it? Had they asked him to open it? Is that what they killed Banks for? Did they kill Banks? We can go on forever, but it would be narrowed down quite a bit if we had an answer to the question I haven’t asked.”
Renton pre-empted him. “Was there more than one briefcase?”
“Precisely! Ben Adams logged information to the effect that Vivienne Banks has one at home, and you Sir, were told by Hepworth that Baumann was often sent as a courier with such a briefcase when Banks had other pressing appointments. We’ve heard that these cases self-destruct if opened without the correct code. This is bugging me because we don’t know if the killer or killers knew this. It’s a tiny detail, but I think it could be worth speaking to Vivienne Banks again, and possibly Mrs Baumann. She would surely know if her husband went to the match trip with his briefcase. We know that the others say he didn’t
and they would have ribbed him just as they did Alistair. And I’m afraid that I don’t buy into him taking such luggage for a one day trip to the match, when he patently intended to fly to Germany – the real reason for the highly secure case.”