The Administration Series (240 page)

"I know him," Cele said at length.

"What?"

"I have no idea where from, but I've seen him. I'm sure I have. Or someone who looked damn like him. Or maybe a picture of someone." She shook her head. "I can't put my finger on it."

"Well, that narrows it down. Val?"

Valeria shook her head. "He doesn't look like anyone except him."

It was almost three by the time Valeria's friend arrived. Toreth lurked in the hall while Jen and Cele spoke to someone he assumed at first was her mother, but who turned out to be a child minder, summoned at short notice.

"Mrs Waller said that Katherine could stay for as long as Valeria wanted her to, but you were to make sure she wasn't upset."

"Of course," Cele said soothingly. "Don't worry — Val doesn't seem to want to talk about it."

"I think she just needs one of her friends," Jen added. "Someone familiar, someone her own age."

"Sure. Makes sense." The minder didn't sound interested. "Would it be okay if I didn't stay? Only I have things to do. I'll leave my comm number."

A score, Toreth thought, grinning. No need to pry the child away from a clingy parent.

It took another half hour before Katherine and Valeria were alone in Valeria's room. Leaving Cele with instructions to keep an eye out for Dillian and Warrick, Toreth went upstairs with the sketch. He paused outside the room, running through the questions he wanted to ask. This would be so much easier if he could involve Mistry. She'd sit and chat to the kid and then an hour later she'd somehow have all the important facts run through three times and a summary distilled from them ready for him. He didn't appreciate her enough.

When he went into the room, they were sitting at opposite ends of the bed, legs stretched out and feet touching. They both seemed to be absorbed in reading separate books, which made him wonder if they were really so friendly after all.

They both looked round as he entered.

"Val, would it be okay if I had a word with Katty?" he asked.

Valeria nodded but stayed put, looking grimly determined. Toreth decided it would be easier to let her stay.

He set a camera on the dressing table, making the gesture as casual as he could, then sat down on the floor beside the bed.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked Katherine.

She nodded, sitting very still, her hands under her thighs.

"I told her," Valeria said. "And that you were investigating."

He put his finger to his lips and she nodded.

"I'd like to ask you some things about yesterday afternoon," he said to Katherine. "Can you tell me what happened?"

She looked down at her feet. "I went outside, and I was standing by the fence when there was a bang. A big bang." She shifted on her hands. "I looked up the road and there was a big fire."

"What happened then?"

"I went up to the gate to see it better. There was the big fire on a big transporter and all around on the road, and there was a car in it, all twisted up. But I only saw it for a minute before Ms Plaice came out and we had to go in. She said it was goulash."

He considered for a moment before he got the word. "Was there anyone else watching? In the street?"

She nodded. "Lots of mummies and daddies. Of people who're in the band."

"Anyone else?"

"Don't know."

He laid the drawing on the bed beside her. Before he could say anything, she nodded.

"He was right by the gate but he wasn't looking at the fire. He looked at me. And he looked at the school and then Ms Plaice came out and I didn't see him again."

"Ms Plaice teaches music," Valeria added.

He nodded, without looking away from Katherine. "Have you seen him before?"

"I don't know."

He was prompting too much, but he couldn't see another way forward. "Have you seen him at the school before? Someone's daddy, maybe?"

"Maybe. I might've done."

"Do you — "

Valeria said brightly, "Hi, Auntie Dilly."

Toreth turned round, only then realising that he hadn't properly closed the door. How long had Dillian been standing outside? Long enough, judging by her expression — she looked ready to add a murder to the recent mayhem.

He cleared his throat. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I can tell that." Before he could stop her, she crossed to the bed and picked up the sketch. "Who's this?"

Valeria kept quiet, but Katherine piped up immediately. "He was at our school on the day that Mr Marriot — " Valeria kicked her and she stopped, glancing anxiously between Valeria and the adults.

"Downstairs," Dillian said, looking directly at Toreth, cold and furious.

He nodded. There was no need to have his only witnesses contaminated by witnessing this too. Toreth followed Dillian out, pocketing the camera on the way.

"How could you get him involved? How the hell could you let him talk to Val? How could you
encourage him
?"

Dillian waved the sketch towards him without looking at him. Toreth crossed his arms. To his surprise — and relief — so far most of her venom had been directed at Cele. He'd gathered only third-person scorn. He wasn't about to push his luck by saying anything.

Warrick had also said nothing so far. Perhaps he was waiting for Dillian's fury to blow itself out, although Toreth caught the odd appealing glance thrown in his direction by Cele.

"If you thought it wasn't an accident, why the hell didn't you call Justice?" Dillian demanded of Cele — rhetorically, because since she'd slammed the kitchen door she hadn't paused for longer than it took to gather a fresh lungful of outrage.

"Dilly — " Cele said for the fifth time.

"If there needs to be an investigation, that's Justice's job, it's not anything to do with
him
."

"I said that Toreth could speak to Val," Warrick said.

Dillian stopped dead, her mouth open. After a moment she tried to speak, but nothing came out except a protesting squeak. Luckily she was too surprised to check Toreth's reaction, because he knew he must look as stunned as she did.

"I thought it was for the best," Warrick continued.

"The
best
?!" Dillian was starting to wind herself up for another assault when Warrick stood.

He crossed the kitchen and stood beside Toreth, hip touching his, hand behind Toreth on the counter. Presenting a united front. For his part, Toreth managed some kind of a neutral expression, although it was a struggle.

"I'll spell it out if I have to," Warrick said. "Tarin did and said some dangerous things in the past. Do you really want Justice to start taking a close interest in him? What else might they find? What about Philly and Val?" He gestured round the kitchen. "What about us?"

Dillian closed her mouth, then sat down, the sketch crumpling in her hand.

"Toreth offered to look into it, I accepted. Blame me, if you have to blame anyone. Certainly not Cele."

"Oh." Dillian looked down and rubbed her nose. When she looked up, she was flushed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Warrick said.

His voice had softened, and he crossed over to crouch beside Dillian, putting his arm round her. Toreth couldn't help smiling. Classic Warrick — attack and retreat, punch hard and then offer a soothing hand. God, he must be a demon in corporate negotiations.

"Everyone is upset," Warrick said. "And I'm sure no one will take anything to heart." He looked up. "Right?"

Cele nodded and turned to Dillian. "Already forgiven and forgotten, sweetheart."

The door opened and Jen looked in.

"What on Earth is going on? The noise woke me up." She sounded more like the Jen Toreth remembered — sharp and collected. "It gave me flashbacks to twenty years ago. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Warrick said as he stood. "Frayed tempers, that's all. Why don't I — "

Toreth mouthed 'make some tea' along with him, and caught a faint smile from Cele.

"I'm going to see Val," Dillian announced. "I'll take something up to her."

"I'd lay off the chocolate biscuits," Cele said.

Toreth detached himself from the discussion going on around him and thought about what Katherine had said.

'Maybe a parent at the school' was the best identification he had. Odds were the girl was only trying to be helpful. Valeria hadn't recognised him, and she seemed like the sharper observer. On the other hand, he did have a possible adult witness — the music teacher.

"Toreth?"

Warrick's voice. Toreth looked round. He'd just poured water into the teapot — through the wisps of steam, his eyes were cold.

"Could I have a word?" Warrick said. "In the living room."

"Nice move in the kitchen," Toreth said.

"You had no right." Warrick's voice was low but furious. "No right at all."

Toreth blinked. "I thought — "

"I meant what I said. Dillian had no need to blame Cele for what happened. Now what exactly do you think you were playing at?"

"I'm not playing at anything. I'm talking to witnesses, which is my job."

"Not here. Not without my permission, unless you have a warrant you didn't show me. Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"Because you'd have thrown a fit like Dillian — just a different fit. You were dead right in there, you know. What if Justice take an interest? There should be a big hands-off flag in Tarin's security file. But Kate's gone now, so what if there's no flag any more? What if they press an investigation? Besides, don't tell me it never crossed your mind there might be more to it than an accident."

"I've hardly had time to think about it, have I?"

"Bullshit. Free tip — if you're going to lie, just lie. Don't make it into a question, because it's a real telltale. I knew you'd think of it. So I wanted to look into it quietly and find out if there was anything to worry about. If there had been, I'd have told you right away. Until then, the fewer people who knew about it, the better."

Warrick's shoulders relaxed. "I see. And I admit it's logical, although I still wish you'd told me. I'm sorry I was a little sharp."

And I'm sorry your sister is such a fucking bitch. "No big deal."

"What was the sketch Dillian was going on about?" Warrick asked.

"Oh. Valeria saw someone at the school, just before the accident. She thought he might be watching her. I asked Cele to sketch him. Probably nothing to do with anything, but I'll look into it. I can do it a lot easier from I&I — ask around a bit, get a photocomposite made up, maybe run a systems search with a borrowed code. It'll only take me a few days to do it perfectly safely. You've got enough to do without running an investigation."

Warrick smiled wryly. "True. Well, then, thank you — and be careful."

"Fuck, yes. Sit down, I'll get the tea."

"Bring the sketch in," Warrick called after him.

In the kitchen, Jen and Cele glanced up when he came in — from the sudden silence he surmised they were talking about either himself or Dillian, or possibly both. As he crossed the room, Cele turned her head to follow him, then winked at him out of sight of Jen. At least she was still talking to him, which might be useful later.

Jen had the sketch in front of her, smoothing out the creases.

"Who's this?" she asked.

Toreth looked over her shoulder. "Someone Valeria saw outside her school before the accident."

Jen nodded. "The source of the argument," she said drily. "But what I mean is
who
? His name."

"No idea." With two mugs of tea ready, he paused by the table and turned the sketch towards him.

"Do you think the accident wasn't one?" Jen asked.

Toreth glanced at Cele, who shrugged slightly.

Jen was too sharp to lie to, and there was little point now that so many other people knew. "Maybe. I've got no real evidence one way or the other. Mostly it's that I deal with far too much crap like this at work, and it kicked off my paranoia."

"I see. And Dilly was upset because you talked to Val?" Jen frowned thoughtfully. "It doesn't seem like her to go off the deep end like that, if that was all it was."

"Everyone's upset." He shrugged. "And she doesn't like me."

"I've noticed." She paused, then added, "Kate was very fond of you."

Noting the past tense, he looked at her curiously. She smiled wanly. "I was there when she was arrested. Keir told me that Kate was in some kind of trouble, that she'd had to leave the Administration. He also said that it's unlikely she'll be back, so I try not to let myself hope. One more thing we shouldn't talk about, I suppose."

You have no idea. "Yeah."

"I wish she were here now — she was always stronger than me, although most people would tell you it was the other way round. I'm all front, I'm afraid."

Cele snorted quietly and, remembering Jen's performance in defence of Tarin, Toreth tended to agree with Cele. "I wouldn't say that." Fuck, for all he knew Jen could work for Cit Surveillance too. He looked down at the drawing. "Don't suppose you recognise him, do you?"

"No . . . not really. There's something a little familiar."

"Dillian said so too," Cele added.

"What?"

"She said she thought she recognised the man." Cele smiled wryly. "Once she'd calmed down and actually looked at the sketch. But then she changed her mind."

He nodded. He'd looked at the damn picture so often he was beginning to think the same thing himself. Probably the guy just had one of those generic faces that every witness you spoke to thought they'd seen. Still, he'd see what Warrick could do.

When he went back to the living room, he found Warrick in a chair, his head back and his eyes closed. However, he looked up when Toreth closed the door, and he took the tea with a heartfelt "Thanks."

"Here you go," Toreth said as he sat beside him. He laid the sketch on his knee and blew on his tea to cool it. "Bonus points if you
don't
think you recognise him."

"But I do," Warrick said quietly. "I think I met him recently."

Startled, Toreth looked up. Warrick had gone very still. "You — where? Who is he?"

"He probably isn't a colonel in the Service."