Butterfly Grave (Murder Notebooks) (5 page)

‘Yeah, but think where society would be without bridges. Think about how long it would take to get from here to South Shields. Days! Did you know that there are twenty-two bridges across the Tyne?’

‘Twenty-two!’ Rose said, picking up her beer.

‘You know you’re quite nice-looking. Has anyone ever told you that? Maybe a little bit of make-up might improve . . .’

Rose spluttered in outrage into her drink.

‘I’m not interested in what you think about how I look. I look the way I like to look.’

‘Sorry. I speak without thinking.’

Rose huffed. Then she softened. It was something she did a lot. Saying things before thinking them through. She changed the subject.

‘What was all that about with that boy, Rory?’

‘Ah! Past history. Rory Spenser used to be a very bad boy. In school he had a way of relieving other people of their money. He’d go up to younger kids and say,
Don’t you owe me some money?
And they’d say
How much?
And he’d say,
How much you got in your pocket?
And that way Rory built up a bit of a reputation. Now he’s a changed man.’

‘He did this with Skeggsie?’

‘That and more. Although Skeggsie never did himself any favours in school.’

‘That doesn’t excuse people taking advantage of him.’

‘I know. Rory was nasty. But believe me, he has changed.’

‘What changed him?’

‘He got beaten up a few times. He began to know what it felt like to be on the receiving end.’

‘Who by?’ Rose said, as Martin’s eyes slid towards Joshua.

‘A few of us. He’s got an older brother and we had to explain it all to him as well. We saw it as a kind of community service. Now Rory’s more careful what he does.’

Rose frowned. ‘But doesn’t that make you just as bad?’

‘No, it stops the problem. I got no regrets about helping Rory improve his interpersonal skills.’

Rose felt there was something else to say but didn’t know what.

‘But enough of this,’ Martin said. ‘How long are you up for?’

‘Till New Year.’

‘Great. I’ll no doubt see you around with Josh.’

Martin stood up, went across to Joshua and said something, patting him on the back, before going back into the other bar. Not long after, Joshua and Skeggsie came back to the table, the game of darts over.

‘Let’s drink up and go,’ Joshua said.

On the way out of the pub they passed Rory Spenser, who was on his own, standing by the bar holding a pint of beer. His eyes followed them all the way through. Rose looked round and saw Skeggsie staring down at the floor.

Outside the cold bit into them and Rose did her coat up and hugged herself. She looked into the darkness and felt the sea out there, huge and silent.

‘I’m going home,’ Skeggsie said, backing away. ‘I’ll be round in the morning about ten?’

‘Sure.’

He walked off. Rose turned to go in the opposite direction but Joshua pulled at her sleeve.

‘Wait a sec.’

A few moments later the pub door opened and Rory walked out, looking round, his eyes following Skeggsie as he walked up the Promenade and then turned down a side street.

‘Where you off to?’ Joshua called.

‘What’s it to you?’

‘Leave Skeggsie alone, Rory. I’ve told you before . . .’

‘Or what?’

Joshua looked at Rose and then seemed to hesitate. ‘You know what. Just remember the last time.’

Joshua walked off and Rose followed. She glanced back and saw Rory in the same position as before, his face pale and round. She had to hurry to keep up with Joshua, who was walking swiftly, his shoulders rounded. A tinkle of laughter came from a nearby group of people as they turned off the front and headed towards the back streets and Stuart’s house.

FIVE

The next morning Skeggsie drove them to the hospital. It was a twenty-minute drive and no one said much. When they parked outside Joshua sat for a moment, not opening the door.

‘Do you guys mind if I go and see Stu on my own? I don’t think he’s ready for anyone who’s not close family.’

‘Are you sure?’

He pushed the handle and the passenger door opened.

‘I’ll make my own way home. Just expect me when you see me.’

‘I’ll come and pick you up,’ Skeggsie said.

‘No. I’ll get the bus.’

‘Right,’ Skeggsie said.

‘Maybe you two can spend a bit of quality time together,’ Joshua said with a wan smile.

They watched as he walked towards the entrance of the hospital, his big coat flying out behind him. Then Skeggsie spoke.

‘There’s something I want you to look at. It’s at my house.’

He drove off and Rose felt her spirits sink. This had to be something to do with the notebooks. The car shot along the dual carriageway and then turned off for Whitley Bay. She sat silently, holding in her irritation. After what Joshua said the previous evening about leaving it until they got back to London Skeggsie was still going on about it.

‘I’ve decoded some more of the notebook,’ he said. ‘There are some puzzling bits and I’m not sure how to tell Josh. I mean I wouldn’t tell him
now
, with all this going on, but I’ll have to tell him sometime.’

‘What is it?’

‘I’ve had this decoding programme running on the text for days now. You remember I told you that the code changes every few lines? Like on one line A equals L? Then two lines down it changes and A equals P. It seems that the basic key is the same on each page. Paragraph, Line, Letter. So it’s paragraph four, line three, letter two. The only thing is that every couple of lines the page number changes. So you get two lines of text then the code doesn’t work any more. You have three hundred and forty-eight other pages of
The Butterfly Project
to choose from. Well, that’s not strictly true because at least a hundred of the pages are covered in drawings and diagrams but it leaves approximately two hundred and forty-eight pages to go through until you start to get a word. So a couple of days ago . . .’

‘Enough about the code, just tell me what it says.’

There was a moment’s silence. Then Skeggsie spoke, his voice tight.

‘I’ve printed off a page of it and I’ll show it to you when we get back to my house.’

‘Don’t go all moody on me. I just can’t get excited about a silly old code!’

Skeggsie put the radio on loud. It was a talk station. Rose would have preferred music but she let it go rather than ask him. The traffic was moving slowly.

Rose slipped into thinking about the notebooks.

Joshua had taken both books from the man who had given them the information that their parents were still alive. The first page of each was a photograph and there were some maps and diagrams and pages and pages of coded writing. It wasn’t until they found a dog-eared copy of
The Butterfly Project
among Brendan’s belongings that they thought they might have a way to break the code. Skeggsie had been working on one of the books ever since.

After crawling through traffic they finally reached Skeggsie’s house. Rose waited while Skeggsie unlocked the Chubb lock then the Yale and then punched in a code for the burglar alarm before they went inside. She was reminded, for a second, of the way that Skeggsie used to lock the Camden flat door every time someone came in or went out. Lately he had not been so nervous about security.

‘Come up to my room,’ Skeggsie said.

Rose trudged up the stairs behind him. Once in his room she looked around and saw, without surprise, that it was arranged almost identically to the one he had in London. On one side was a neatly made bed. On the other was a big desk. Here the only computer he had was his laptop. On the wall behind it was a large picture of the Angel of the North. Rose’s eyes were drawn to it. It looked like some computer-generated alien, its face featureless, its body striated with ridges. Its wings were vast, one giant slab of steel cutting through the soft rounded body.

‘Ever seen it? Close up, I mean,’ Skeggsie said.

She shook her head.

‘Its wings are the width of those of a jumbo jet.’

‘Really?’

‘Josh and I were going to go but now I’m not sure . . .’

‘There’ll be time. Get Christmas out of the way.’

Looking down at the desk Rose saw the notebook that Skeggsie had been working on. She sat down on the chair and picked it up. She hadn’t seen it for a while and she lifted the front cover to see the familiar photograph of Viktor Baranski, the former Russian navy man who had become a millionaire businessman. He had settled in London and was rumoured to have given secrets to the British government. It was also thought that he was involved in trafficking.

They knew that her mother and Brendan had been investigating Viktor Baranski and his organisation. They were looking into the discovery of five dead eastern European girls who were found in the back of a lorry. One of them was only fifteen. They built a case against him but then in 2006 he disappeared and turned up dead, in the North Sea. At the time it was said that he’d been killed by the Russian secret service as a reprisal for giving their secrets to the British. According to ex-Chief Inspector Munroe it was this very event that triggered their parents’ disappearance. Baranski owed money to German gangsters and they blamed Brendan and her mum for not getting what they were owed.

Was any of it true? None of them knew for sure.

Rose flicked through the pages of code. On one was a diagram that she recognised. It showed a coastline and a village. It was Stiffkey in Norfolk, where their parents had stayed in a cottage. Weeks before Rose and Joshua had found the remains of an identity bracelet there that had belonged, they thought, to Viktor Baranski. It was also the place where Joshua and she had been roughed up and threatened by Lev Baranski, Viktor’s son, the man in the silver SUV. Rose closed the book because she did not want to remember it. She saw that Skeggsie was holding a single sheet of A4 paper. He put it in her hand.

‘This is the section I decoded. Read it.’

She took the piece of paper.

Operation VB

Viktor Baranski at an event in his restaurant, Eastern Fare, 15th July at 17.30.

Afterwards will be making visits to other business concerns, Property Ventures in Holborn and Elite Buildings in Mayfair.

Approx. 20.30 he will then go to the flat of his mistress off Oxford Street.

He is expected to be there for a couple of hours.

He is to be picked up after spending time with this woman. He will have to be intercepted inside building before his driver knows that anything has happened. Important to use restraints and gags.

Take care about SVR surveillance. Take note of people, cars and cameras.

Once in custody Baranski should be passed on to B.

Change cars.

B will take him to Stiffkey.

B will hand him over to F.

B will wait until operation is complete.

B will help dispose of evidence.

Rose felt uncomfortable. She read it over again and found herself frowning. Viktor Baranski’s body had been found near Cromer, which was twenty or so miles from Stiffkey. So this document, plan, whatever it was, had been written while Baranski was still alive. It was in fact a plan to
abduct
him.

‘What’s the SVR?’ Rose said.

‘The SVR is the Russian foreign intelligence service. Part of what used to be the KGB. Spies.’

‘So you think that the Cold Case team kidnapped Baranski in order to hand him over to the Russian secret police?’

‘Maybe.’

‘But what about the case of the suffocated girls, the trafficking? Why was he not arrested for it?’

‘Maybe they didn’t have enough evidence for a trial. Possibly this was how they decided to resolve it. Hand Baranski back to his own people so that they could deal with him.’

‘Perhaps they thought that Baranski would be taken back to Russia and put on trial.’

‘I don’t think so. That’s why I’m a bit worried about showing this to Josh.’

Rose read over the document again. It didn’t take long for Skeggsie’s words to sink in.

‘You think B stands for Brendan?’

Skeggsie nodded.

‘And Brendan was the one who handed him over? At the cottage in Stiffkey?’

‘It would make sense. That’s where you found Baranski’s identity chain.’

‘But just because Brendan handed Baranski over that didn’t mean he knew they were going to kill him.’

‘It makes some sense of the threats Baranski’s son made against Josh.’

Rose remembered Lev Baranski shouting at Joshua,
I have not forgotten my father’s death and I never will
. It had happened at the cottage at Stiffkey.

‘Look,’ Skeggsie went on, ‘it says
B will wait until operation is complete. B will help dispose of evidence
.’