I Am Gold (30 page)

‘And your daughter?' Ember said.

‘They've given her a sedative. She's with her aunty.' If Matilda saw you she'd probably gob in your fucking face. But he didn't say this last bit either.

‘Terrible for her.'

‘Yes.' They went into the den room. Shale poured claret.

‘Half a family wiped out,' Ember said.

‘Yes.'

‘And for what?'

‘A mystery,' Shale said.

‘Have you thought about the Lake family?'

‘The Lake family? Why?'

‘That death of Denzil.'

‘His suicide?'

‘Well, yes, his suicide,' Ember said. ‘We all know that's what it was, of course, but does the family accept this?'

‘But why shouldn't they, Ralph?'

‘Well, yes, but you know what some people are like. He came from a rough dynasty, I heard. Hackney?'

‘That way, yes.'

‘Might they want to settle things?' Ember said.

‘Settle? Which things?'

‘It's been a long while since the death, but what's that saying about revenge? A dish best eaten cold. Have you had any dealings with those folk? Could they be secretly determined to get you?'

‘They must know I was as distressed as any of them by what happened to Denz. We was very close, you know.'

‘Certainly,' Ember said. ‘That, too – his death – must have been an appalling shock for you.'

‘Appalling,' Manse said. ‘A true shock.'

‘Yes.'

Iles and Harpur called while Ember was still there. Shale poured more wine. Iles said: ‘You're brave, Manse. It would break me, a wonderful woman, a wonderful child.'

‘You'll probably know we got an identification pretty quickly,' Harpur said. ‘Lance Stanley Sparks.'

‘No, I've never heard the name,' Shale said.

‘Ralph?' Iles said.

‘No, how would I?' Ember said.

‘Sparks – an up-and-coming general duties villain operating in mainly Manchester,' Harpur said. ‘Sometimes Liverpool and Nottingham. We put out a picture of him and had a more or less instant response from West Midlands police. They'd had a tip he might be offering himself as a freelance executioner at ten grand a pop and were working on it. Obviously, he hadn't properly learned the trade yet. And so the terrible mistakes, Manse. He saw what he'd been conditioned to see – the Jaguar.'

‘Not that we'd have wanted him to get it right, and wipe you out, as commissioned, Manse, of course,' Iles said. ‘A few of these youngsters try to come on too fast. He'd convinced someone he could do it. But you've definitely no knowledge of him, Ralph? You keep in touch, don't you?'

‘In touch with what?' Ember said.

‘That's one of your strengths,' Iles replied, ‘keeping in touch with many.'

‘We wondered about the Lakes,' Harpur said.

‘What about them?' Manse said.

‘A revenge situation?' Iles said. ‘But mucked up by some novice shooter. He's been told a Jag and the likely time so just blazes away, thinking it's you.'

‘Revenge for what?' Ember asked. ‘Do you mean the death of Denzil? Surely everyone knows he took his own life. If I were Mansel I'd feel very hurt at that kind of questioning. Very hurt and resentful.'

‘You're known to be sensitive, Ralph,' Iles said.

‘Disgraceful innuendo against Mansel,' Ember replied.

‘Naomi – the London connections, Manse,' Harpur said.

‘Might she have run into dangerous folk up there? Excuse us for all the questions so soon after the tragedy, but we need to see which way inquiries should go. Is it possible she was the target after all, not you? The boy killed simply because he was there.'

‘She worked as consultant on a celebrity paper,' Shale said.

‘Yes, we know that. It's the kind of job where people can run into all sorts of other people,' Iles said.

‘Which sorts of other people?' Shale said.

‘Yes, all sorts of people,' Iles replied.

‘Smear and then extra smear,' Ember said. ‘That's always your method.'

When they'd gone, Ember said: ‘Maybe Naomi did have some troublesome links through the job, Manse.'

‘What sort of troublesome links?' Shale said.

‘I do understand your touchiness on this, Manse. She was such a lovely woman. It's difficult to imagine any darker side to her life.'

‘Well fucking don't.'

Ember stood. ‘You'll want to rest, Manse. Please call at any time if you feel the need of company. This house will seem very large and lonely now, although you have Matilda.'

Not long after Ember had left, the phone rang and a man said, ‘Excuse me, this is something of an exploratory call. I've just seen on television news about the terrible shooting of a lady called Naomi Shale and her stepson. I am hoping, trusting, it is not the Naomi we used to have dealings with in London. We knew her then as Naomi Gage, a charming, very helpful person. She has not been among us recently, and I'd heard she went away to get married in your part of the world. So, you see my concern and why I make this rather, well, rather
wide
inquiry. I do hope I'm wrong.'

‘What dealings?'

‘Yes, dealings, you know. There are some very ruthless individuals connected to this kind of dealing. I won't spell it out. One needs to be very judicious on the phone. Perhaps you know something about this trade, indeed. Possibly that is what brought you together.'

‘The Pre-Raphaelites. How did you get this number?'

‘Please do tell me I'm wrong, and this Naomi Shale is not our Naomi Gage.'

‘What dealings? Facilitating?'

‘So, I'm
not
wrong. Oh, God. Such a loss. I grieve with you.'

Afterwards, Manse dialled 1471. ‘You were called at 2132. The caller withheld their number.' Only the other day when Laurent had used 1471, after he answered a ring on the phone and got silence from the other end, he'd told Manse that this announcement by British Telecom was not good grammar. ‘It shouldn't be “withheld
their
number” but
his
or
her
number.' In this case, his. Yes, only the other day.