Dead of Winter

Chapter 39

They pulled into the car park. It was four in the afternoon and already dark. Orange lights flooded the area.

‘That could be Justin de Lange over there, Sarge.’ Ebony looked across at the entrance as they parked up. ‘He looks like he’s spotted us.’

Carter looked across to the hospital entrance; a man picked up a briefcase from the back seat of his black Audi before looking their way. He was striking-looking, in jeans and a denim shirt. He had on a sheepskin coat. Expensive but casual. Ebony thought how de Lange looked like an ageing footballer with his blue eyes and blond hair falling over his collar.

‘Blimey it’s the lion king, Ebb.’ Carter kept the engine running and sat for a minute watching him. ‘Yeah. . I agree. He’s waiting for us. Should be interesting, Ebb. Wonder where wifey is.’ The man smiled at them as they walked across the gritted car park to meet him.

‘Justin de Lange?’ He nodded. Carter made the introductions as they reached him. ‘I am Detective Sergeant Dan Carter and this is Detective Constable Ebony Willis. Thanks for seeing us this afternoon.’

‘How do you do? I just came out to get my briefcase. Follow me and we’ll go inside to my office; it’s freezing out here.’

‘Absolutely. . Lead the way.’

Ebony turned to look around the car park. She saw a car drawing in, parking in the corner; that made twelve cars in total. They walked up the ramp and through the swing doors, past reception. Carter smiled at Ivy. She beamed back. Justin led them up a flight of stairs and into his office.

‘Please sit down, I’ll order us coffee. How do you take it, Sergeant?’ Justin sat on the edge of the desk with one leg on the floor.

‘Milk and sugar please. . Ebb?’

‘Not for me, thanks.’

‘Please. . make yourselves comfortable. My wife will join us as soon as she can. She was helping Mr Martingale today.’

‘You’re from South Africa too?’ asked Ebony.

‘British.’ As he said it he looked across at her and smiled politely.

‘How long have you been in the UK?’

‘This trip? About a month. We’ve been overseeing a new project in Poland.’

‘This must seem almost tropical then compared to Poland?’ Carter laughed.

‘About the same actually.’

‘You managed to keep your tan?’ Justin smiled, didn’t elaborate. Carter was searching Justin’s face. Ebony knew what he was thinking. Justin’s perfectly even tan should have disappeared by now after a month in the UK winter and Poland before that. It had to be the product of a sunbed or a bottle. ‘Where were you in Poland? I went there once on a stag do. Luckily it was springtime. Although we never got out in daylight.’

‘Our new flagship hospital is just outside Krakow.’

‘You know what. . I’d love to see it. . wouldn’t you, Ebb?’

‘Love to. I’ve never been outside England.’

Carter and de Lange looked at her. ‘Really?’ said Carter. She nodded.

‘Can you show us on your laptop?’

Justin went round to sit at his desk, opened his laptop to face him and tapped some keys.

‘Sorry. . seems to be on a “go-slow”.’

‘Ebb will look at it. . won’t you, Ebb?’

Ebony stepped forwards. ‘Of course. .’

‘No, that’s okay. Can’t let anyone else onto it. You know how it is: patients’ records and stuff.’

‘Oh yes, of course. Understandable,’ Carter said. Justin’s phone buzzed for a message alert. He picked it up and read it, turned and looked out of the window, down into the car park at the front. ‘Here’s Nikki now. She’ll be with us in a minute.’ Ebony moved closer to the blind and counted the same cars in the car park as when they’d come in. The twelve hadn’t changed.

‘You live near here, Mr de Lange?’ she asked.

‘Please, call me Justin. Yes, we live here in an apartment in the hospital grounds. In the relatives’ accommodation on the other side of the car park. We prefer it to staying in a hotel and we both work here in the hospital so it makes sense.’

‘Ah Nikki. .’ The door opened and Nikki de Lange came in. She was also in casual mode, wearing a black polo-neck and leather trousers, no makeup and her hair scraped up in a ponytail. Ebony resisted the urge to see if Carter was sweating.

‘How nice to see you again, Sergeant, Constable?’ She smiled at Carter and Ebony in turn and looked at Justin: ‘If you’re ordering coffee I’ll have one please.’ She threw the jacket she was carrying onto the back of the sofa and sat down, crossing her legs.

Justin buzzed down for coffee.

‘Is it difficult for you working together?’ Carter looked at Justin.

‘No, not at all. We do different jobs, we just both work for James, that’s all,’ he answered. His face was difficult to read: his expression hardly changed. He gave a flick of the head as his long fringe fell into his eyes again. He was still fiddling with the laptop. The atmosphere in the room had changed since Nikki’s arrival.

‘He must be a very special bloke?’

‘Yes he is, very special.’ Justin shut the laptop irritably. ‘I give up.’

‘He’s actually a genius, isn’t he — a modern-day Louis Pasteur? If you Google him you get loads of pages: must be weird to be that famous. He’s written books, papers, and theses about medical procedures.’

‘He’s very special,’ Justin answered. Trying his best to look relaxed, crossing his arms across his chest. He hadn’t gone back to his perch at the end of the desk. He looked like a man with a short fuse, thought Ebony. He was pent up. He was trying hard to show just one side of his character. He was getting irritated by Carter’s style.

‘Still working?’ Ebony was beginning to understand what Carter was about. She could never do it. He was making himself out to be slow, a little thick but well-meaning. He was lulling them into thinking they could let their guard down. ‘Is he ever going to retire do you think? He obviously doesn’t need the money any more? I’ve looked into his empire a little. It’s pretty huge.’

Nikki thanked Ivy who brought in a tray of coffee and set it down on the table in front of her. ‘No, you’re right. It’s not about the money. It’s his contribution to the world, his legacy. He’s always striving for perfection, always looking to find the answers to medical conditions.’

‘He’s definitely carved his name in history.’

‘Yes, thank you, we are very proud to be working for him.’ She looked towards Justin. He nodded. It was a nod that said ‘enough is enough’.

Carter turned to Justin: ‘And you are in charge of just about everything else, according to our researcher? You’re the nuts and bolts of this empire.’

Justin de Lange smiled. ‘I wouldn’t say that. I’m the spare parts man. I make sure there’s enough paper in the toilets.’ Nicola gave a forced, shrill laugh. ‘Here. .’ He handed a smart-looking dossier over to Carter. ‘I have prepared the list of companies that you requested.’

‘Thanks. . But tell me. . you preferred the world of finance to medicine? I understand that you trained as an anaesthetist before you became an accountant? That’s a lot of years of study to then change career? What happened?’

Justin smiled. ‘You did your homework. Life happened, I suppose. You get channelled into one direction when you’re young and I accepted it but it never really suited me. When I was given the chance to try something new I jumped at it.’

‘You don’t look old enough to have done so much. I have your age down as forty-five?’ Carter said. ‘Surely that can’t be true? You and your wife seem to have eternal youth.’

Justin de Lange smiled. Nicola’s smile was a little thinner. Her eyes flicked towards Ebony. Ebony could tell that she wasn’t so easily convinced by Carter’s attempts to appear naïve.

‘We are lucky,’ de Lange answered.

Yes, thought Ebony. . lucky to work for a cosmetic surgeon.

‘I was wondering about the headlines in the papers yesterday about a group of what they’re calling Bloodrunners?’ Nikki de Lange asked Ebony.

‘We are still looking into leads at the moment,’ answered Ebony. ‘But it’s part of an ongoing investigation into the murders in Totteridge and the link with Rose Cottage.’

‘I was just talking to Dad about it this morning. He’s very upset by it. If there’s anything we can do to help, we will.’

Carter shook his head. ‘Sorry? Dad?’

‘I’m Mr Martingale’s daughter. There’s four years between me and Chrissie, or there was. She was my half-sister. I’m the result of his first marriage. That didn’t last long either. He’s not into long marriages.’ She smiled, looked at them both. ‘I can see you didn’t know much about me. I’m happy to fill in any gaps.’

‘Can I ask. .’ said Ebony. ‘Is your mother around?’

Nikki shook her head.

‘Who knows where she is? I don’t remember her. She left me with my father to bring up. She was from Zimbabwe. I think she’s probably there now, if she’s still alive.’

‘You never tried to find her? You’re not curious at all?’

‘No. . my father said she was a wild child, arty, mysterious, and she disappeared.’

Carter smiled. ‘He had a type. . your father?’

‘Type?’ As Nikki looked at Carter she was turning colder by the second. She didn’t mind Ebony being blunt but she didn’t like it from Carter.

‘Arty? Creative?’ Carter smiled, trying to backpedal.

‘Seems so, doesn’t it?’ Nikki smiled with her mouth, not her eyes. ‘Glutton for punishment.’

‘Did you grow up with your father?’ asked Ebony.

‘Yes.’

‘Did you know your sister at all?’ Ebony was firing questions at Nikki de Lange, who seemed not to mind, although Carter could see Justin getting fidgety at the desk.

‘No. I don’t remember her,’ answered Nikki, still smiling.

‘You must have been here at some time while she was alive?’

‘No. I wasn’t always with my father when he came over.’

‘You never met her?’

‘I did; but I don’t remember.’

‘What about your nephew Adam? Have you ever met him?’

‘No. I’ve never met him.’

‘I think that’s enough questions, Constable,’ Justin interrupted.

‘I don’t mind.’ Nikki turned to him and spoke the words succinctly.

‘Did you attend your sister’s funeral?’

‘No, I was poorly at the time.’

‘Right,’ said Justin. ‘You have the information I promised. If you don’t mind, my wife and I need to get on with things now. We have lots to attend to.’

‘Of course,’ answered Carter. ‘We’ll leave you to it. Thanks.’ Nikki de Lange went to escort them to the door. ‘Don’t worry, we know the way,’ Carter smiled.

They walked back to the car.

‘What do you think, Ebb?

‘Lots to think about, Sarge. For a start, I don’t think his laptop was playing up. He just didn’t want me to look at it. Or he didn’t want us to see the hospital in Krakow for some reason. For another thing. . I can’t believe she never tried to find her sister. Her only sister.’

‘Did she seem a little false and strained to you?’

‘Yes. . they both did. There’s something not relaxed about them as a couple. What a weird world she lives in. She’s brought up by a man who thinks he’s God and she’s married his junior. What kind of a life has she had?’

‘Frigging weird one if she didn’t even want to meet her family.’

‘Unless she doesn’t want to tell us about it.’

‘Out of loyalty to who?’

‘To her dad maybe. She says he strives for perfection all the time. He must have done the work on her face. . who does that? Takes a knife to his daughter’s face to make her prettier? Surely your kids are supposed to be perfect as they are?’

‘We don’t know he did the work.’

‘He’s bound to have done it.’

‘Do you think Martingale was secretive about her? I had no idea.’

‘Hard to tell, Sarge. We didn’t ask. Maybe he presumed we knew. It was no secret there was another child. Carmichael mentioned he knew there was a sister but he knew nothing else about her. We just never saw any info on her, I suppose.’

‘We’ll have to talk to Martingale about the Bloodrunners soon. Now that the papers have got hold of it, everyone will know, including Carmichael.’