Cell

22

Harry Butler was the last to leave on the mission Tweed had given him – to watch Pecksniff's office. Tweed was amused as he listened to Harry phoning the solicitor.

'That's Pecksniff, isn't it?'

'Yes. Who is this?'

'I called on you. We had a nice little chat about Carpford. Remember me?'

'Yes. Unfortunately. What is it now? I still have a lot of work to get through.'

'Mr Pecksniff, one question I overlooked. I'm sure you won't mind answering. If you feel inhibited I can always pop down now in the car

…'

'What is the question?' The. voice quavered.

'You said you never handled the transaction for Victor Warner's purchase of that chunk of land New Age overlooked. But what about the legal junk when you rent a place? Who dealt with that?'

'I did, of course. No outside agent was involved.'

'See you…'

Before he put down the phone Harry thought he heard a choking protest. He grinned, told Tweed what Pecksniff had said.

'Something not right about that village,' Tweed remarked as he put on his raincoat. 'I'm off now for dinner with Eva…'

Outside, he paused under the nearby street lamp to pull up the collar. Getting into his car he drove to the end of the Crescent, noticed there was very little traffic as he turned left towards Baker Street. It was bitterly cold. He guessed most commuters had left for home early.

In his rear-view mirror he noticed a juggernaut coming up behind him. Too big for the roads, he thought. One of the really big jobs with a cab hauling its immense load. He'd seen them take half a minute to negotiate a sharp bend, holding up all the traffic behind them. He wondered how many tons the leviathan weighed. Too many.

The lumbering giant had picked up speed, was almost on his tail, A situation he always disliked. If he had to make an emergency stop, would the brute pull up in time? He doubted it. He drove faster to get away from it. The juggernaut driver also increased speed. Idiot! Tweed pressed his foot down.

Inside his Audi with the souped-up engine, Beaurain sat with his girlfriend, Sally, parked in the shadows of Park Crescent. He had only known her for a month and already decided she was high on good looks and low on intellect. He knew he'd soon be bored with her.

The advantage was she had a cultured voice and a smart – if not daring – dress sense. She would fit in at Santini's. She fiddled in her evening handbag, produced a cigarette case, perched a cigarette in her mouth.

'Don't light that, please,' he requested mildly.

'Oh, I see. I'm stuck with one of those non-smoking fanatics.'

'Actually, no. I do smoke. But never in a car. Smoke can get in a driver's eyes at just the wrong moment.'

'Well, let's get moving. I'm hungry.'

'So am I. We don't want to be first in the restaurant. You won't be able to make a grand entrance,' he said with a wry smile.

'I suppose you've got a point, Jules.'

Earlier Beaurain had noticed the juggernaut parked with its cab protruding. He had also noticed the binoculars used by the driver whenever anyone left the SIS entrance. Then Tweed came out, got into his car, drove off. Beaurain started his own engine and Sally, who had been tapping her varnished fingers on her bag, let out a sigh of relief.

'At long last.'

Beaurain timed it so the Audi emerged from the Crescent just as the juggernaut drove past towards Baker Street. He sat on its tail. At a curve he saw that Tweed had increased his speed. The juggernaut driver did the same thing. The lumbering brute was almost touching Tweed's boot. Tweed went faster. The juggernaut driver revved up like mad.

Beaurain knew now he was going to ram Tweed. He dropped back. Ahead was a junction, no other traffic. To the left reared a new office building site, festooned with scaffolding rising high up. No workmen – they had all gone home. Beaurain started overtaking the juggernaut, honking his horn non-stop. The driver glared down. For a moment there was a wide gap as Tweed pressed his foot down again. The driver revved up to high speed.

Beaurain was ahead of him. He signalled left, cut in front of the juggernaut, missing him by inches. The driver panicked, swung his wheel to the left to avoid hitting the wrong target. Then he screamed.

The massive building site was rushing towards him. His hands slipped on the wheel, covered with the sweat of fear. The cab had been jerked round too suddenly. Behind it the huge load pushed it forward. It slammed at speed into the maze of scaffolding, rushed on, crashing into a huge concrete wall. The cab concertina'd, was squashed into less than half its normal size, stopped. Deathly silence.

'What happened?' Sally asked in her dumb voice.

'Truck skidded,' Beaurain said calmly, driving on. 'I saw the driver climbing down out of his cab,' he lied.