Gregory's Game (12 page)

There was a moment of shocked silence. Vinod coughed nervously, obviously thinking that Tess should take charge. Tess withdrew her hand.

‘You're wrong,' she said. ‘We'll get them. We'll get the wife and child back where they belong and if this friend of yours is in any way responsible, then he'll be brought to book too.'

She sounded pompous, Tess thought, and Annie obviously thought so too. She laughed softly. ‘I wish you well,' she said. ‘Truly, I do. But you're playing blind.'

Her husband had returned with a photograph album which he laid down on the table. Annie flicked quickly through the pages and selected an image. She handed that back to her husband. ‘Bob will copy it,' she said. ‘You can have the copy. Don't worry, we've got top of the line equipment: the scan will be as good as the original, or as near as you won't notice.'

‘We'd bring the picture back,' Vinod objected.

Annie just looked at him. She closed the album and set it aside. It was very clear that she was impatient for them to go.

‘You realize I could charge you with obstruction,' Tess said. Oh God, she was just sounding pompous again.

‘For doing what?'

‘I don't believe you. I think you'll be in touch with Nathan the moment we leave.'

That earned her a raised eyebrow and a considered look. ‘Do you want the photograph?' Annie said. ‘Because I could insist you come back here with a warrant.'

‘That won't be necessary,' Vinod said. ‘Ms Raven, we're grateful for your help, but you can understand we're concerned. Two innocent people have been taken and—'

Annie Raven held up a hand and Vinod fell silent. ‘Sergeant Dattani, I know all about innocent people being punished for things others have done. Believe me. So does Nathan. But the only guilty parties here are whoever took the mother and child and whoever ordered it done. Can you think of one justifiable reason for doing that? Even to punish someone or to obtain information or to send a message? I think you'll agree with me that nothing anyone had done could justify such an action, could excuse this threat to innocence, as you would term it? No, so this is not Nathan's fault; this is not Nathan's guilt, and neither, presumably, is it Ian Marsh's. The only people responsible for this action are those that carried it out.'

Bob Taylor had returned with the picture. He set it down on the table and Annie examined it before handing it over. There were four people in the picture. Annie, looking amazing in a fitted red dress; Bob Taylor, his gaze fixed adoringly upon his wife, and two other men. ‘That's Nathan,' Annie said, indicating the younger of the two.

‘The other one's my brother,' Bob volunteered. ‘He was the best man.'

Annie was on her feet now and signalling it was time for them to leave.

‘We may need to speak to you again,' Tess said.

Bob coughed nervously and then handed her a business card. ‘That's my lawyer,' he said. ‘He handles the business side of things for me. If you want to speak to us again, then please call him first and set up a meeting. I'm … I'm getting quite particular about who comes to my house these days.'

‘What the hell just happened?' Tess stormed as they drove away. ‘Who the hell do they think they are?' She slammed the heel of her hand into the steering wheel. The car jerked sideways.

‘Watch it,' Vinod said calmly. ‘You'll have us in the ditch.'

Tess glared at him. ‘You think I handled that badly.'

‘I think we both did. I think Annie Raven is used to catching people off balance. At least we know what this Nathan Crow looks like.'

‘That's if she's not spinning us a yarn. She volunteered her friend's picture a bit quick.'

‘Crows and Ravens,' Vinod said. ‘Is there a Magpie somewhere? A Jackdaw? They've got to be made-up names. I mean, who'd call themselves after a corvid?'

‘So, we do a background check on the whole damned lot of them. Annie Raven and her husband; Ian Marsh; this Nathan Crow.'

‘You want me to get Jaz on to that now? She and her team are still working their way through paperwork from the Palmer murder. Best they broaden their search now.'

Tess nodded. ‘Do that and see if you can grab them a couple of extra bodies to assist.' Not that this is likely to stay my case, she thought. This is much too big, especially now.

She could hear Vin speaking on the phone, getting updates and then talking to DC Jaz Portman. When he got off the phone he confirmed her thoughts.

‘A Major Incident Team is being formed,' he said. ‘There'll be a briefing when we get back.'

Tess nodded, not sure whether she was disappointed or relieved. ‘Who's heading it?'

‘No one knows yet. Superintendent Chase is organizing everything that end. Looks like we'll get shunted sideways though.' He sounded bitter.

‘There'll be plenty to go around,' Tess told him. A sense of deep foreboding gripped her. She remembered the crime scene, the sight of Anthony Palmer hanging from that beam, the monofilament eating its way into his flesh. She tried not to imagine the pain, but couldn't help herself. Whoever had done that to Palmer now had a woman and a child.

A
nnie had done what she always did when she wanted to think: she had wandered out into the garden and stood beneath one of the scrubby old oaks which, though they were well past their sell-by date, neither she nor Bob could bear to take down. Bob watched her, sipping a new cup of coffee. The visit had shaken him up; the last couple of months had been peaceful and wonderful. Annie had seemed content, had been working part-time teaching a photography course and Bob had slowly resumed his painting. It was the memory of the episode preceding such peace that set Bob so much on edge. The man who had tried to kill him and the other, equally frightening in his own way, who had stopped him. Bob had glimpsed what had been Annie's world and he didn't like what he had seen.

He saw Annie start back towards the house and sat down at the big table in his studio to wait for her. Knowing whatever it was had been resolved, he worried as to
how
it had been resolved. Shrugging off the old coat she wore, she sat down opposite him.

‘He hasn't been in touch to ask for my help and he hasn't told me what's going on,' she said. ‘That means Nathan doesn't want to be found, not even by me. He's gone deep and for that he needs other help. I'll send him a message about the visit, but that's all I can do.'

She reached across the table and took his hand as she had Tess's earlier. ‘I'm not about to get involved in this,' she told Bob.

He lifted her hand and kissed the palm. ‘Of course you are,' he said. ‘If he needs you. You'd never walk away from someone you love. I know that and I respect it. Nathan is family. He's a brother to you. I wouldn't dream of blackmailing you, of making you choose; you know that.'

Annie squeezed his hand. ‘And Nathan knows that too, about you.' She sighed deeply and rubbed at her eyes with her free hand. ‘He's gone after them, after the child mostly. He won't rest until he finds her.'

‘You know most kidnap victims don't survive, don't you?'

‘I know the statistics, Bob. Death usually happens in the first hour. Sometimes, I think, that's a good thing. But this is no ordinary abduction. They'll keep the wife and kid alive. That way they keep all of the control. If Ian Marsh thinks his family is dead they'll have no means of keeping the pressure on.'

‘You think this is about Professor Marsh, not Nathan?'

‘I don't know,' Annie admitted. ‘It could be either; could be both. Nathan specializes in upsetting the wrong people, but from what I know of Ian Marsh, he's not been so far behind.'

‘You've not mentioned him before.' Not that it meant anything. There were a lot of things Annie didn't talk about.

‘I don't
know
him. I've met him twice, but not in any, you know, work context. Nathan brought him to an exhibition – he brought his wife too, come to think of it. And I met him once when Nathan gave him a lift somewhere. I was in the car.'

‘But you know
about
him.'

‘I know he worked as a diplomatic aide – and you know as well as I do that can mean anything from him being the man who makes the coffee to the man who disposes of the bodies. He speaks several languages, but Nathan first met him when he needed an interpreter. I don't remember what language. Nathan said he facilitated medical access on a couple of occasions, but we didn't talk about him. He was part of Nathan's life I had no involvement in. Nathan likes him, that's all I'm really sure of. Apparently he got sick of the travelling and probably the getting shot at, so he shifted into academia. That must have been a decade ago. Nathan was only in his early twenties when they met.'

‘And so the idea that someone might take his wife and child because of something he did?'

She shook her head. ‘It's possible, of course. I think most of what he did was legit and transparent. According to Nathan, he's got a conscience, has Professor Marsh – or at least, he did have.'

‘What do you mean?'

Annie shook her head and for a moment Bob thought she would refuse to answer. She had always tried to keep him out of what he thought of as her other life. He saw her considering what she should tell him. Finally she said, ‘He did a lot of work with injured kids; worked all over the Middle East trying to get medical programmes off the ground, negotiating and coercing when he had to. Truth is, Bob, I don't know, but maybe he did something, got himself mixed up in something that meant certain pressures could be applied.'

‘And you think someone now wants to make him pay?'

‘I think it's possible. But I don't think he's been in any position to tread on toes for a very long time. Whoever is doing this, they knew they'd also draw Nathan in. I guess that's at the very least a bonus.'

Bob squeezed her hand. ‘Annie, he's survived worse, I'm sure. He'll come through.'

She smiled. ‘I know. Bob, I wish this could all just go away, you do know that, don't you?'

He kissed her hand again. ‘We play what we're dealt,' he said softly, ‘and if the best we can come up with is a pair of twos, then we just have to bluff that bit better. I love you, Annie. Better or worse, remember?'

‘Better or worse,' she agreed and hoped fervently that it would be the former.

N
aomi's taxi dropped her off after her second afternoon at the centre. Alec wouldn't be there; he'd already warned her of that. He'd decided he wanted to do his next hospital appointment alone.

‘It makes no sense for you to just sit around in the corridor waiting,' he had said.

‘Then maybe you should let me come in. I am your wife, Alec.'

‘I know, it's just …'

He didn't finish and she didn't argue, too worn out and angry to bother any more. Naomi didn't know if this sudden show of independence was a good thing or signalled the deepening of the rift between them, but she didn't have the energy to try and figure it out or to ask him more. Instead she called the advice centre and made herself available for another two-hour slot.

Letting herself in the communal front door, she sensed at once that someone was there. Napoleon whined in recognition.

‘Hello? Someone there?'

‘Hello, Naomi.'

Gregory? What on earth was he doing here? ‘You'd best come up,' she said. ‘You know you shouldn't come here. Anyone could see you.'

Gregory laughed. ‘Except the person I came to visit.'

‘Oh, we're doing irony now, are we? Come on in; Alec won't be back for a while.'

‘Where's he off to?'

‘Hospital,' Naomi said shortly. She led the way into the flat and released Napoleon from his harness. He turned immediately to get his share of fuss from Gregory. ‘Tea, coffee?'

‘Whatever you're having.'

Naomi nodded and went through to the kitchen. She filled the kettle and switched it on, got mugs from the cupboard, using the time to gather her thoughts. She liked Gregory in an odd kind of way, but she could not help but see him as a storm crow, presaging trouble.

‘You want to carry your mug through,' she said. ‘I'm fine with one; I have this tendency to spill two.'

She felt him come into the kitchen and reach past her for the coffee and she was suddenly very conscious of his presence. Of his scent and height and … she pushed the thought aside, knowing it had arisen only because she felt so neglected by Alec just now.

‘So, not to seem rude, but why are you here? I thought you'd have left the country or something by now.'

Gregory laughed softly. ‘That would have been the sensible option,' he said. ‘But no, life doesn't always allow for the sensible options. Truth is, Naomi, I've got a problem and I think you might be able to help me with it.'

‘Me? I doubt that. What the hell can I do?'

‘You know a woman called Tess Fuller. She's a DI.'

‘I know what she is,' Naomi said. A little too sharply, she realized and realized too that Gregory would have heard. ‘Alec knows her better; he's actually worked with her. What about her anyway?'

‘There was a murder—'

‘Church Lane. Mr Palmer? The tenant.'

‘That will be the one. This DI Fuller, she's heading the investigation.'

‘And?'

‘And things have got complicated. It's not just a murder any more.'

Naomi listened as he filled her in on the kidnapping, Nathan's involvement, their speculation as to what might be at the heart of things. ‘So, as I say,' Gregory continued. ‘We've got problems and I need your help.'

‘To do what?'

‘Well, for a start, how good is this Tess Fuller? What sort of problems are we likely to have?'