Gregory's Game (27 page)

‘The way he was killed,' Tess said. ‘What's your take on that?'

‘How was Palmer murdered?' Alec asked.

‘Um, I've got some of the pictures on my laptop,' Tess said. She looked at Charles Duncan, wondering exactly how far this sharing thing was going. ‘OK if I …?'

He nodded.

Alec took his time looking at the crime-scene photographs. He described them to Naomi.

‘It sounds sort of ritualized,' she said. ‘It's very specific.'

‘You'd be right about that,' Charles Duncan confirmed. ‘We think whoever did this was emulating another murder, or should I say other murders. I'd like to suggest that it was sending a message, but frankly, most of those capable of reading such a message are dead and gone.'

‘What then?' Naomi asked. ‘Is someone trying to prove a point? Send a warning?'

‘I suspect that Rico Steadmann himself was involved in the killing,' Charles Duncan said. ‘I suspect it was done this way by him or under his supervision simply because he was curious. I think he wanted to see it done. For Steadmann, this was the way traitors had been dealt with. He once had an associate, name of Mason, who specialized in that kind of torture and assassination.'

‘And we still don't know what Palmer took from him. Or how he found him. Did Ian Marsh betray him?'

‘We think the answer to that last question is yes. To the first, Palmer stole money. A lot of it. He also tried to muscle in on Rico's connections, take a cut of the action for himself.'

‘And what did Ian Marsh have to gain?'

‘Ian Marsh had used his own connections to … OK, we have to take a step back here. You are aware of Gustav Clay. You're aware, I think, that one of the things he did was run a sort of underground railway. New identities, new lives for those he chose to save?'

Naomi nodded. ‘Molly Chambers told us something about that,' she said. ‘There was no protection for those who acted as interpreters or worked for British troops or government officials. A great many people died because they found themselves wrong footed when our people pulled out. Clay helped Molly and her husband to change that when they could.'

‘And set up a very complex network to facilitate it. Yes. Nathan Crow and Annie Raven were rescued by Clay, you know that. He saved them; he them controlled them. Eventually they had to break free of him.'

‘And Ian Marsh?'

‘Was a party to much of the action. Sometimes he even selected those who could and should be protected. I believe that in part our professor is a man of conscience. I think he's also a greedy man.

‘What we understand is that Marsh, even after he'd taken up academia, remained a part of Clay's wider network. From time to time, Rico Steadmann made use of it. From time to time Clay made use of Rico Steadmann.'

‘And once Clay had gone, the likes of Steadmann moved in to make use of his networks,' Alec guessed.

‘They did. And Ian Marsh found, or thought he found, ways of increasing his cut. The trouble was, Palmer threatened him. He threatened to blow the whole scheme. We didn't know just how deep in Steadmann's pocket Ian Marsh was until Palmer told us. Ian Marsh then betrayed Palmer to Rico Steadmann. Palmer was then killed. We think Ian Marsh escaped Rico's censure only because he still had something to trade.'

‘And Ian Marsh was there, wasn't he?' Tess said.

She'd surprised Charles Duncan, she realized. That pleased her.

‘How do you know that? Did you work that out when you went back to Church Lane?'

It was Tess's turn to be surprised. ‘You've been watching me?'

‘No, I had someone watching the house. I thought Marsh might just turn up there.'

‘I think he finished the job,' Tess said. ‘The knife in the side. It doesn't fit with the rest of it. There's nothing slick or patient about the stab wound. It was angry. Impulsive, almost.'

‘And how does the kidnapping fit?' Naomi asked. ‘Gregory is of the opinion that Ian Marsh staged it.'

‘And I think he's right. I think he got Steadmann to carry it out. I think the plan was then for Marsh to disappear and the family to be reunited. Professor Marsh knew, or suspected, that after Palmer spilled what he knew, we'd get around to arresting him. He was trapped between trusting Steadmann and hoping Palmer hadn't told him too much or waiting for us to act. Presumably he made an agreement with Steadmann that they'd use their smuggling routes and their protection, to get Ian Marsh and his family out of the way. How he thought he'd be able to square that with Katherine is another matter. But he's an arrogant man. I don't suppose it occurred to him that she'd cause problems.'

‘Any more than it occurred to him that Rico Steadmann wasn't trustworthy,' Alec said.

‘I think he knew that, but was left with too few options. I also suspect that he wanted to be at Palmer's death, so he'd find out what Palmer knew or had already told.'

‘Or maybe he wanted to prove he was still loyal to Steadmann,' Naomi said.

‘That's also a possibility and until we catch up with him, or we are in a position to start making arrests, we're not going to find out.'

‘But that doesn't explain the text messages,' Tess put in. ‘Did they come from Steadmann?'

‘Text messages?'

‘Katherine's phone turned up at the Marsh house. Whoever left the photograph that caused Nathan Crow to take off into the wild blue yonder also left the phone. They were in touch with Marsh. The last message told him that he was out of time.'

‘For what?'

‘For whatever he'd promised to deliver, I suppose,' Charles Duncan said. ‘He handed over his wife and child, promised something in return for a new life for all of them, and then failed to deliver. At least that's the way I read it. Exactly what he was trading is more difficult. It could be information, it could be money.'

Naomi thought about it, decided it sounded plausible. ‘So,' she said. ‘Exactly why are you here?'

‘Because you have a means of contacting the … shall we call them the other half of the investigative team,' Charles Duncan said. ‘We know Gregory and Nathan Crow went to see Bernie Franks, a known associate of Rico Steadmann. We know they have ties to Mae Tourino and that there are pieces of this we don't have.'

‘And why would they help you?'

‘Because of the child. Because for once we all have the same aim in mind. Because Nathan understands enough to realize he can't make any move, live any kind of independent life, unless and until he squares Clay's empire away once and for all.'

Naomi thought about it. Charles Duncan was being disingenuous, she thought, putting a positive, Nathan-friendly spin on this. She had a reasonable grasp of the kind of black hole Gustav Clay's death had left and that it was a toss up which element of the criminal classes – government sponsored or old-school thieves – plugged the gap and how effectively. Clay had straddled both camps and Naomi had come to view them, anyway, as elements and pointers on the same continuum. What had happened, she wondered, to the idealistic young copper she'd once been?

‘We'll pass your message on,' she said. ‘But I can't promise a response. You can understand that Gregory in particular is a little wary of representations from his old employers.'

‘Different department,' Charles Duncan said.

‘I'm sure he'll feel reassured.'

‘What was Palmer's real name?' Alec asked.

‘Sorry, can't tell you that. It probably isn't relevant anyway.'

Naomi heard the sofa creak as Charles Duncan got to his feet. ‘Thank you for your time,' he said. ‘Be sure to pass my message on, won't you? Soon as I get your call I'll set up a meeting.'

‘I wouldn't hold your breath,' Alec said. ‘We're standing on the sidelines, Naomi and I. Not players.'

‘You're not that naive, Alec,' Charles Duncan said.

He and Tess left after that, leaving Naomi and Alec feeling heavy with unease.

M
ae's eyes narrowed as she slid into the booth opposite Gregory. The café was trying for fifties American retro, but it was trying a little too hard; the result was more a Disneyfication of the original than a replica. ‘I asked to speak with Nathan.'

‘And Nathan sent me.'

‘He doesn't trust me?' Mae smiled.

‘Any reason he should? The way I see it, and Nathan is inclined to agree, is that you and Marsh set him up to take the fall for this. All he wants now is the information you might have.'

‘And I want something in exchange.'

‘Annie said you wanted protection. Not going to happen, Mae. Even if he could I doubt very much he would.'

‘Then you get nothing from me.'

‘Mae, you want to give us what you know; if you didn't you'd be halfway across Europe by now, selling yourself to the highest bidder, just like you've always done.'

‘Maybe I've nowhere left to run to.'

‘Happens to all of us in the end,' Gregory said. The waitress came over and he ordered another coffee and one for Mae. ‘You want anything to eat?'

Mae looked at him as though he'd gone mad.

‘Look,' he said. ‘When Gustav Clay departed this life, it was inevitable that the world, our world, would change. We could try and keep a lid on things, but when someone like Clay dies, secrets he kept, rules he broke, those who want revenge for wrongs committed so long ago that there's barely anyone left alive to remember them – they all come out of the woodwork looking for their cut. Mae, we're the lost generation now. There are bullets with our names on for the whole damned lot of us and with Clay and his ilk passing, some of those bullets are going to be fired and some of them are going to catch more than one of us when they ricochet.'

She laughed. ‘You're getting poetic in your old age, Gregory.'

‘No, I'm just getting real. I had a dream a while ago, Mae. Four men dead in a room I didn't know, but could have been a hundred rooms I've passed through or been in or killed in over my lifetime. Four men, one shot fired. Mae, just tell me what you came to tell and I'll act on it and we'll do our best to deflect the fire, but that's all we can do. All any of us can do.'

The smile was gone now. Annie was right, Gregory thought. Mae was looking old. Tired and worn down and worn out.

‘What was Ian trying to sell?'

She shook her head. ‘Not if you won't help me.'

‘No one's going to help you. No one can. You figured that out for yourself. Whatever decision you have made you must have known no one else could rescue you.'

Mae said nothing, but bright spots of colour touched her cheeks and Gregory had the strangest feeling that she was ready to cry.

‘Ian said he knew how to access Clay's crisis fund. Millions, he reckoned.'

Gregory tried not to laugh out loud. ‘Mae, that's all bollocks. Clay was government funded and when he wasn't he drew down favours from all over the place, Rico included on occasion. Clay didn't have a fund; Clay had his house and a few personal accounts.'

‘You don't know that.'

‘Nathan knows it. Nathan knows exactly what Clay's resources were. He spent enough time managing them.'

‘Nathan didn't know everything. Ian told me. An offshore account. He reckoned he could get the numbers. He—'

‘From who, Mae?'

‘I don't know. From Nathan, maybe. Look, all I know is that Rico's been making a lot of moves since Clay died. He's bought a load of property. Warehouses and development stuff, mostly. And he's been liquidating a lot of his other assets, piling everything he can offshore. I don't know what he's planning, Gregory, but I don't think he plans to stick around. With Clay gone, it's all changing. It's like his death started the dominoes falling and now they've started they aren't going to stop. Getting access to Clay's little fund would be the icing on the cake.'

Gregory gave up. For all he knew there had been a crisis fund, but he doubted it. Ian Marsh had most likely been spinning Rico a line. Most likely too Rico Steadmann knew that, had just played him, getting what he could. People like Bernie Franks and Rico Steadmann didn't always have a reason for doing things, at least not the kind of reason anyone else would understand. He let it go. He and Nathan could argue the ins and outs of that later.

‘The child, Mae. Where is she?'

‘One child, Gregory. Why the hell should I care about one child?'

‘Truthfully? I have no idea. Maybe you're growing soft or maybe you didn't set as hard as you like to think. Frankly, I don't give a shit. I just want to know what you know.'

There was a long silence. The coffee arrived and was ignored. Gregory watched the door, wondering, not for the first time, if she was simply playing for time.

‘I know where they were held,' she said eventually. ‘The baby was moved. They've got a customer for her, but the sale can't be made for a day or two.' Mae shrugged. ‘Maybe I should just let it happen. It's a rich family, loads of money and all they need is a blonde-haired toddler to make their life complete. There could have been worse fates for little Desiree. But I persuaded him, Gregory.
I
persuaded him that he should just sell her on, to a family. To someone who could look after her. Who
would
look after her. That's got to count for something, doesn't it?'

‘So, go to the police, tell them. Let them decide what it counts for.'

He thought he'd blown it. The look of hatred that crossed Mae's face, she would have turned him to stone in a heartbeat. Instead, she looked away. ‘Wish I could smoke,' she said. ‘What is it with the world? I can't even light up in a public place any more.'

‘The child, Mae.'

He watched her face, certain that she'd finished with him. That he'd failed, or that she didn't know as much as she made out after all.