A Rush of Blood

Fourteen

‘Uruguay?’ DI Becky Stallings exclaimed.

‘That’s what the man said, boss.’ Haddock grinned. ‘I don’t suppose. .’

‘No, you don’t. If the need for a trip out there did arise, you are right at the back of the queue.’ She glanced at McGurk. ‘As for you, Jack, you’re too tall ever to be comfortable on a plane, so. .’ The Londoner frowned. ‘Where is bleedin’ Uruguay anyway?’

‘East coast of South America,’ Haddock volunteered. ‘Jammed in between Argentina to the south and Brazil to the north.’

‘Hardly a day trip, in that case. Just as well this is an i-dotter.’

‘A what?’ McGurk drawled.

‘An i-dotter, a t-crosser, a routine inquiry allowing us simply to tell the procurator fiscal that Tomas Zaliukas partially decapitated himself while the balance of his mind was disturbed.’

‘Ah, but the problem is,’ the sergeant pointed out, ‘we can’t tell him that with any authority. Professor Joe says that he was in perfect physical health, apart from the bit of him that’s still spread over the hilltop. Also, I’ve discovered that he hasn’t been near his GP in seven years, since he and Valdas Gerulaitis had inoculations for a foreign trip.’

‘I wonder where they were going.’

McGurk looked at Haddock. ‘That’s barely relevant is it, Sauce?’

‘Probably not. It’s just that he set up the offshore company around that time, and Mr Gerulaitis told us that he had nothing to do with that part of his cousin’s business. Yet Alex Skinner said that her predecessor, Conn, thought that he did.’

‘Interesting. What did Green say?’

‘He didn’t know.’

‘Still. .’

‘Let’s not over-complicate things,’ Stallings told them. ‘That’s not really relevant, is it? You two put a report together now, saying suicide, motive unknown, and I’ll email it to Mr McIlhenney.’

‘But what about the money?’

‘What effing money, Sauce?’

‘The money to pay for the massage parlours. Shouldn’t we find out where that came from?’

‘There’s no one left to tell us that,’ she countered, ‘except maybe the widow.’

‘Or maybe Gerulaitis. Or this man Plenderleith; his lawyers might still hold the detail of the transaction.’

‘DC Haddock,’ Stallings told him firmly, ‘just do that report.’

‘Boss, I’ve got a date.’

‘Then the quicker you’re done, the less late you’ll be. If she really fancies you, she’ll wait.’

The young man sighed. ‘Very good, ma’am.’ He looked across at McGurk. ‘I’ll do notes of my interviews with Alex Skinner and Mr Green, Jack, yes?’

‘You do that. I’ll write up mine and summarise everything.’ He paused. ‘By the way,’ he added, ‘it’s lucky for you that cunning Ken was cooperative, otherwise you and I would be having a discussion about an excess of initiative.’

‘I saved time, didn’t I, by going straight along there to see him? If I hadn’t taken the chance, it could have been a couple of days before we’d got to see him. Anyway, he was OK, nothing like the slippery bastard they say he is.’

The DS chuckled. ‘You wait till the first time you come up against your new best friend in the witness box. Then you’ll see what he’s really like. Go on, get on with it; you’ve got a hot blonde waiting somewhere.’

Haddock nodded and bent over his keyboard, but he had barely typed half a page before his mobile played the opening bars of Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’. ‘Bugger,’ he whispered. He picked it up; the number on the outer screen was vaguely familiar. He flipped it open. ‘Sauce,’ he said.

‘Do you always answer like that, Detective Constable?’ Alex Skinner asked.

‘Unless I know it’s the chief on the line,’ he replied.

She laughed. ‘I’ve got some information for you. I’ve spoken to my colleague in our personal client department, and I can give you the details of Mr Zaliukas’s will.’

‘Thanks.’ He grabbed his notebook and a pen. ‘Go on.’

‘It’s pretty simple in outline. His property and all its contents, investments, cash, and valuables, all pass to Mrs Regine Zaliukas. His holdings in Lietuvos Leisure Limited and Lietuvos Developments Limited are to be vested in a trust fund for the benefit of Mrs Zaliukas and their children. That’s it, almost. There’s one other item; his shares in something called Lituania SAFI, of which this firm has no knowledge, but which looks like an offshore company of some sort, is to be transferred to a Mrs Laima Gerulaitis.’

‘Her?’ Haddock exclaimed. ‘Why the hell would he do that?’

‘Who is she?’ Alex asked.

‘His cousin’s wife. According to him, she didn’t like Zaliukas.’

‘What’s this company anyway? Can you tell me? My partner’s going to need to know.’

‘It owns the massage parlours. As it was explained to me, it’s a liability shelter. The directors and shareholders are guaranteed secrecy under Uruguayan law.’

‘Jesus! That’s pure Ken Green.’

‘But legal, yes?’

‘So far. It gives you an insight to Mr Zaliukas, though, and reminds me of one of my dad’s personal aphorisms: you can take the man out of the gang, but you can’t take the gangster out of the man.’

‘Seems not. Who’s the executor?’

‘Mrs Zaliukas.’

‘That’s no surprise. Now, what about the lady. . the widow, I suppose? Can we interview her, or will you give us her statement? It’s no big deal either way, to be honest. We’re probably in the process of wrapping this thing up even without it.’

‘Just as well, for we haven’t been able to get in touch with her. We have a mobile number for her, but she’s not answering at the moment. When we raise her, I’ll let you know.’

‘We could get the French police to trace her.’

‘They wouldn’t know where to start, and anyway my partner would rather you didn’t. She knows Mrs Zaliukas and would prefer to break the news herself.’

‘Fair enough. I’m cool with that. Anything else?’

‘Just one small point. The clause in the will transferring the offshore holding to Mrs Gerulaitis. . that was inserted only yesterday afternoon. That might indicate that my late client’s suicide wasn’t a complete spur-of-the-moment thing.’

Haddock smiled. ‘Hey, Alex,’ he said, ‘I’m supposed to be the detective here.’