Dead Simple (24 page)

Next he and Grace carefully examined all their clothes. There was mud on all their shoes, and plenty of traces of it on Robert Houlihan and Peter Waring’s clothes. Tindall bagged all of these items separately.

‘Are you going back to the lab now with these?’ Grace asked him.

‘I was planning to go home — be quite nice to see it before the weekend is over and have a life — or some pretence of one.’

‘I hate to do this to you, Joe, but I really need you to start work on these now.’

‘Great! You want me to cancel my U2 concert tickets for tonight, which I paid fifty fucking quid each for, stand my date up and haul my sleeping bag out of the office cupboard?’

‘U2 — she really is young, isn’t she?’

‘Yes, and you know what, Roy, she has a short fuse. She’s high maintenance.’

‘There might be a man’s life at stake here.’

His anger rising, Tindall said, ‘I want the price of my tickets back from your budget.’

‘It’s not my case, Joe.’

‘Oh — so whose is it?’

‘Glenn Branson’s.’

‘And where the hell is he?’

‘At a birthday party in Solihull.’

‘It gets better all the time.’

By the row of lockers Tindall peeled off and binned his protective clothing and said, ‘Have a nice sodding evening, Roy — go and ruin someone else’s weekend next time.’

‘I’ll come over and keep you company.’

‘Don’t bother.’

Tindall slammed the door behind him. Moments later Grace heard the angry revving of a car engine. Then he noticed that, in his pique, the forensic expert had left behind the black bin liner containing his bags of evidence. He debated whether to run out after him, then decided to drive it over himself and try to calm the man down. He could understand his being hacked off — he would have been too, in the same circumstances.

He ducked into the sitting area, helped himself to another digestive biscuit and drained the remains of his tea, which had gone cold. Then he picked up the bin liner and Cleo walked him to the door. As he was about to step out into the rain he turned to her.

‘What time are you finishing work today?’

‘Another hour or so, with luck — assuming no one dies this afternoon.’

Grace stared at her, thinking she really did look incredibly lovely — and suddenly feeling a bag of nerves as he glanced at her hands and saw no rings. Of course she could have taken them off for work. ‘I—’ he said. ‘I — just wondered — do you — you know — I mean — have any plans for this evening?’

Her eyes lit up. ‘Actually I have a date to go to the cinema,’ she said. Then added, as if for reassurance, ‘With a friend — an old girlfriend who’s going through a traumatic divorce.’

All his usual confidence deserting him, Grace said, ‘I didn’t know — whether you were married — or had a fellow — I—’

‘Neither,’ she said, giving him a long, friendly, expectant gaze.

‘Would you — sometime — maybe — like to have a drink one night?’

Continuing to gaze at him, her lips slowly breaking into a broad smile, she said, ‘I’d like that a lot.’

He walked on air across the tarmac to his car, oblivious to the pelting rain. Just as he pressed the remote to unlock the doors, Cleo called out to him. ‘Roy! I think you forgot something!’

He turned and saw she was holding the black bin liner in her hand.

‘You idiot,’ Ashley said to Mark, who was slumped raggedly in the back of the limousine beside her. ‘I can’t believe your behaviour — why the hell did you have to be so aggressive to that cop?’ She leaned forward and checked the glass partition to the chauffeur was firmly shut.

Mark put a hand on her ankle, and worked his way up her leg, beneath her wedding dress. She pushed him away sharply.

‘Behave!’ she said, sharply. ‘For Christ’s sake.’

‘He’sh a jerk.’

‘You’re pissed out of your skull. What the hell did you think you were doing, having a go at him about speed cameras?’

Mark squinted at her. ‘Putting him off the scent.’

Through the window she could see they were approaching the Van Alen building. It was half past five. ‘How exactly is that
putting him off the scent
?’

‘Wouldn’t expect me to be rude if I had someshing to hide, would he?’

‘So what exactly did he mean about having your BMW washed?’

‘No idea.’

‘You must have some idea — what did he mean?’

The intercom suddenly clicked and the driver’s voice said, ‘Front entrance?’

‘Sh’fine,’ Mark said. Then he turned to Ashley. ‘Want to come up for a drink?’

‘I don’t know what I want. I could kill you.’

‘What a charade thash wash.’

‘It was a good charade — until you almost blew it.’

Mark spilled out of the car, almost falling on his face onto the pavement. It was only Ashley’s steadying hand that saved him. Several people walking past stared, but she ignored them, her one goal to get Mark inside before he did anything else incriminating.

She dismissed the driver and helped Mark up to the front entrance, where he stared, bleary-eyed, at the door panel then managed to punch in his entry code accurately.

A few minutes later they were inside his apartment. Mark closed the door and slid the safety catch in place.

‘I can’t stay, Mark,’ she said.

He began pawing at her clothes. She pushed his hands away. ‘Let’s have some coffee, and then I want you to tell me what the detective meant about having your car washed.’

Mark stared at her. She was wearing her white lace wedding dress, the veil pushed up. He lunged forward and kissed her on the mouth. She allowed him to kiss her on the lips and gave him a half-hearted kiss back, then pulled away. ‘I mean it, I can’t stay. I have to go round to Michael’s mother and play the role of the grieving stood-up bride — or whatever fucking role I’m meant to be playing. God, what an afternoon. What a nightmare.’

Mark staggered over towards the open-plan kitchen, opened a cupboard and pulled out a jar of coffee. He stared at it with a puzzled expression, put it back in the cupboard, opened the fridge and removed a bottle of Cristal champagne.

‘I think we should have a proper toast to your wedding day,’ he said.

‘That’s not amusing — and you’ve had more than enough to drink.’

Holding the unopened bottle, Mark slumped onto a sofa, then patted the cushion beside him, by way of an invitation.

After some moments of haughty hesitation, Ashley sat at the far end of the sofa, as far from Mark as possible, tugged off her veil, then crossed her legs and kicked her shoes off. ‘Mark, I want to know what Grace meant about your having the BMW washed.’

‘I have no idea.’

She was silent.

‘Do you love me?’

Shaking her head in despair she stood up. ‘Yes, I love you. I have no idea why at this moment, but I do. And Michael’s mother is waiting for me to turn up and blub my bloody eyes out, which is what I am about to go and do.’

‘Have a drink first.’

‘Christ, Mark.’

He pushed himself up from the sofa, staggered towards her and took her in his arms. Then he nuzzled her neck. ‘You know — if the accident hadn’t happened — the wedding would’ve gone ahead. You’d be Mrs Michael Harrison now.’

She nodded, melting a fraction.

He stared into her eyes. ‘You’d have been on your way to the Savoy in London. You’d have made love to him tonight, wouldn’t you?’

‘That’s what wives are meant to do on their wedding night.’

‘And how would you have felt?’

Cupping his face in her hands, she said, ‘I would have imagined it was you.’

‘Would you have gone down on him? Sucked his dick?’

She pulled away from him. ‘Mark!’

‘Would you?’

‘No way.’

‘Come on!’

‘We had an agreement, Mark.’

He took the bottle over to the sink, removed the foil then took two glasses from the cabinet. He popped the cork then filled the glasses and handed one to her.

She took it reluctantly and chinked glasses with him. ‘We had it all planned,’ she said to him.

‘We had Plan A. Now we’re into Plan B.’ He drank a large gulp, draining half his glass. ‘Wash wrong wish shat?’

‘The first is that you are pissed. The second is that I now don’t happen to be Mrs Michael Harrison. Which means I don’t get to participate in his half of Double-M Properties.’

‘His two-thirds, actually,’ Mark said.

‘So?’

‘So I do, under our shareholders’ agreement, and our key man insurance policy.’

‘Provided he’s dead.’

‘Why do you say that?
Provided?
’

‘You plugged the air hole properly, didn’t you? You used superglue like I told you?’

Squirming, he said, ‘Yesh.’

She was staring hard at him, seeing through him. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yesh. That lid was screwed down. I pulled the tube out and I put a ton more earth down on top. If he was alive he’d have made contact, wouldn’t he?’

She gave him a strange look.

‘You want me to go and stick a fucking stake through his heart?’

She drank some champagne, then walked over to the stereo and looked at the CD rack. ‘How much do you love me?’

‘How much? More than I could ever put into words.’

She pulled a CD out of its container, put it on the player and pressed the
play
button. Moments later, ‘Love is All Around’ filled the room. She put her glass down, took Mark’s and put that down, then put her arms around him and began to lead him in a dance to the music. Pressing her lips against his ear she said, ‘If you love me, you’ll always tell me the truth, won’t you?’

They danced for some moments, then he said, ‘There’sh shomething that’s been bothering me for the past few daysh.’

‘Tell me?’

‘You know that Michael and I both use Palms for picking up email when we’re out of the office. We’ve been careful not to copy him in on any emails about his stag night — but I think I might have messed up.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I think I copied him on one by mistake. And he has it with him.’

She pulled back from him, her eyes sharp as tacks. ‘Are you saying he has it with him?’

‘Possibly.’

‘How
possibly
?’

‘I can’t find it anywhere in his office — or in his flat.’

‘It’s in the grave with him?’

‘It might be.’

‘
Might
be?’

Mark shrugged.

‘You’d better make bloody sure, Mark.’

He stared at her in silence. ‘I’m just telling you because—’

‘Because?’

‘Because it could be a risk.’

‘You’d better get it back, hadn’t you?’

‘We’re OK so long as no one finds him.’

Ashley sat down on a sofa and drank some of her champagne. ‘I don’t believe what I’m hearing. Why didn’t you tell me this before?’

Mark shrugged. ‘I thought — I—’

‘You what?’

Mark joined her and attempted to clink glasses. Ashley withdrew hers, sharply.

‘You’d better get it back,’ she said. ‘Pretty damned sharply. Like tonight.
Capisce?
’

As he drove back out towards the CID headquarters, Grace plugged his mobile into the hands-free and rang Glenn Branson. ‘How’s Solihull?’ he asked.

‘Pissing with rain. How’s Brighton?’

‘Pissing with rain.’

‘And Ari’s sister’s gone to bed with a migraine.’

‘So it’s going to be a great birthday party.’

‘I’ve collected plenty of brownie points for turning up, though. How was the wedding?’

‘A bit like your birthday party’s going to be. No show from the host.’

‘No surprise there. Tell me — how many of Ashley Harper’s relatives turned up?’

‘Just one that I saw,’ Grace said. ‘An uncle.’ He halted at a traffic light. ‘I wanted to ask you, have you checked on Michael Harrison’s bank account and credit cards?’

‘Got a constant monitor on them. Nothing since Tuesday afternoon. Same with his mobile. Any developments your end?’

‘The helicopter’s been up again but seen nothing. Nicholl and Moy are working over the weekend — they’re getting Michael’s photograph circulated to the press, and they’re collecting all the CCTV camera footage in the suspect area — I have a team starting work viewing it. We’re going to have to make a decision about calling in specials and getting a full-blown search of the area. And I’m getting unhappier by the minute with his business partner, Mark Warren.’

‘Tell me?’

‘Nothing specific yet, but I think he knows something he isn’t telling. We need to run some background checks on him.’

‘I have the Holmes team doing that already.’

‘Good boy. Hang on—’ Grace concentrated for a moment as he pulled away from the lights. ‘I think we should take a close look at their company, Double-M Properties. See what their insurance policies are.’

‘I have that under way, too — and I’m having their Cayman Islands company checked out. What do you make of Ashley?’

‘I don’t know,’ Grace said. ‘I don’t have a view. She’s giving a convincing performance. I think we should check her out, too. You know what’s odd about her?’

‘This no relatives thing? You ever see that movie
The Last Seduction
, with Linda Fiorentino?’ The phone signal weakened suddenly and Branson’s voice became crackly.

‘I don’t remember it.’

‘Bill Pullman was in it, too.’

‘Doesn’t ring a bell.’

‘She was in
Men in Black
too.’

‘OK.’

‘Worth seeing —
The Last Seduction
. Had a predatory woman. Dark ending. She kind of reminds me of Ashley.’

‘I’ll check it out.’

‘Get it on DVD. Play.com — great value.’

‘How many twenty-seven-year-olds do you know that don’t have relatives? You’re twenty-seven, you are getting married, the biggest day of your life, and you can only produce one relative to turn up to your big day.’

‘She could be an orphan. We need to check her background out.’

‘I’ll go and talk to Michael’s mother — she must know about her future daughter-in-law.’

‘Mine knew more about Ari than I did before I got hitched.’

‘Precisely,’ Grace said.