Fatal Last Words

Eighty-four

Aileen sat upstairs in the study, reading a brief on the escalating costs of the Forth River crossing, wishing that her colleagues had followed her instincts and chosen a tunnel rather than a second bridge. Normally she had a mind like blotting paper, but she found that after only a few minutes her concentration lapsed, as she wondered what was happening downstairs. Eventually, she gave up, put the folder back in her blue box and switched on the radio, listening to the folk music programme on Radio Scotland, but with the volume moderate, to guard against any chance of the sound escaping.

She was almost asleep when her mobile buzzed and vibrated on the table beside her. She shook herself back to full wakefulness and picked it up.

‘It’s done,’ he told her quietly.

‘Was there any difficulty?’

‘None we couldn’t handle.’

‘Where are you?’

‘Still in the building, waiting for a van. We’re taking them out the back way, and up to Fettes. Neil and I are going with them, and the new fiscal’s meeting us up there. I can’t let this lie overnight. I must have charges laid formally before this breaks in the media. There’ll be a court appearance tomorrow morning, ten o’clock as normal. I’ll instruct Alan Royston to set up a media briefing half an hour before.’

‘Will you take it yourself?’

‘No. Sammy Pye will be front and centre; he’s senior investigator and that’s how it works.’

‘Did it play out the way you thought?’ she asked, wondering why he was not more elated.

‘Not quite, but three out of four ain’t bad. It looks like she didn’t kill the gypsy after all.’

‘What about Denzel? Will he be charged too?’

‘I don’t anticipate that, although the fiscal might have a different view. Coben says that she’s actually married to Tadic, that she was with him when the attempt was made on his life. He made her fake her death, to protect her, when he realised that sooner or later someone was going to get him. Chandler was used, all the way along, the poor dupe.’

‘I’m a dupe too; she took me in.’

‘Me too. We all were, until this evening, when I saw that fax. Christ, she’s clever. She had Collins use her name when he saw Andy and when he bought the cigars, knowing that we’d go looking for a man. Nobody outside their circle in Serbia twigged to the fact that Coben was female. Nobody actually studied those documents in the Tadic file, took a close look at them.’ She heard him sigh. ‘That’s what happens when you do things in secret.’

‘I’ll remember that,’ she told him. ‘I’ve decided to follow your suggestion. I’m not doing any more deals with my coalition partners. I’m going to blow them out, and form a minority government. If it doesn’t survive the by-election for Ainsley’s vacant seat, then so be it. I’m putting my political integrity first, from now on.’

He chuckled. ‘We’d better enjoy this place while we can, then. You stay put, and I’ll come back here when we’re done up the road. If I’m in time, maybe we’ll go across the road and have a drink in the Book Festival bar. I suppose I should find the deputy director, if I can, and tell him he’s been promoted.’