Game Over

Eighteen

The Ego Has Landed

It all makes sense,’ Atherton said to the assembled desk-squatters. ‘Clydebrae was a ship-building yard until 1943, when the government takes it over. They use the site for secret nuclear experiments, trying to catch up with the Germans. After the war they hand it back for shipbuilding, but change the name in case Clydebrae has any associations for anyone. But the land is contaminated with cadmium and beryllium. Nobody realises this, but the yard is known as an “unlucky” one with a high absentee rate. Not the workers being naturally bolshie, but falling sick rather too often, and not feeling terribly well when they are at work.’

‘And there are no seabirds any more on the nearby beach that used to be a bird-watching site. I wondered why there was a road to nowhere,’ Emily added.

‘Finally Dansk, the latest in a series of owners, decides it can’t make a go of it, and decides to sell. And then the government gets involved, because there’s an election coming up and the loss of two thousand jobs could just swing the seat in favour of the Nats. Anderson-Millar buy it, but they don’t really want to run a shipyard there where everyone else has failed. They want to sell it for development.’

‘Like Salford Quays,’ Joanna said quietly, from Slider’s shadow.

Atherton nodded towards her. ‘Freddie Bell said the profit of a development like that depended on what you had to pay for the land.’

‘But if the land was toxic and had to be decontaminated, it would add millions to the cost.’

‘Could be a billion or more,’ Atherton said. ‘And it would ruin the cachet—’

‘The what?’ said Hart derisively.

‘Who would want to visit, let alone live and work in, a development they knew had been built on contaminated land?’ he translated for her. ‘Even if they were told it had been cleaned up. It could never be a prestigious, luxury venue for the movers and shakers with that reputation. On the other hand, if you don’t tell anyone . . .’

‘Nobody could be that cynical,’ Joanna said, shocked. ‘You’re talking about risking people’s lives.’

Slider said, ‘Two of the players, at least, have no particular reverence for life.’

‘If they knew about it,’ she said.

‘Somebody knew about it,’ Emily said. ‘There was a big housing development project supposed to happen right next door after the war. But it didn’t go ahead. They cleared the land and demolished most of the houses, but they never built on it. Why, when they were so short of housing? I think somebody back then knew the truth and the project was just quietly dropped.’

‘It would be something to know the history of that,’ Slider said, ‘and who owns the land now.’

‘If it was bought for council housing it must be the council,’ Atherton said. ‘And they’ve just left it empty. Maybe that was one of the things Danny was looking into.’

Hart came in. ‘All Danny’s protests were environmental things. He tried to get the Hartlepool ship-recycling thing stopped. And he’d borrowed that book from the library about breaking up nuclear submarines. So he’d know about the toxic chemicals that came with it.’ She clapped a hand to her mouth. ‘Blimey, I forgot to ring Reading Library, to get them off Ma Masseter’s back.’

‘What does it matter? They can buy another copy, can’t they?’ Fathom said, wanting to get back to the exciting bit.

‘It’s not like the new Dan Brown,’ she told him severely. ‘It costs two hundred and fifty quid a copy.’

‘Yeah, and it’s rubbish,’ Hollis said. ‘You could never make a film out of it. Guv, it occurs to me that Richard Tyler was junior minister in the Department of the Environment. So any questions about cleaning up a toxic site would come to him, if anyone. And he was supposed to be tight with Sir Henry Paxton, the boss of Anderson-Millar. Suppose Paxton had found out about the contamination, and went to Tyler quietly, saying what are we going to do? We know Tyler was in to make a lot of money out of the development, through his shares in Key Developments . . .’

‘Do we?’ Atherton said. ‘I thought that was only a supposition until we got an answer from Vollman Zabrinski.’

‘All right, we assume Tyler had the shares, and who knows what other bungs and percentages he might have through his mate Bates? So he says to Paxton, I won’t tell if you don’t tell. And the plans get pushed through.’

‘Until Danny Masseter finds out something, and goes to Stonax because he’s known as an eco-warrior,’ Mackay said. ‘And maybe his interest in the place is known about in eco circles.’

‘And maybe also because he knows he’s been in Dutch with the government,’ said Swilley. ‘Sorry, Emily – but Danny wouldn’t want to take it to an establishment figure, and he might well think your dad had a grudge and would be more willing to listen to him because of it.’

‘You don’t have to apologise,’ Emily said patiently.

‘And it just so happens,’ Atherton continued, ‘that he hit on the person who already knew more than he wanted to about dear old Waverley B.’

Joanna was shaking her head, though Slider knew it was more in despair that people could be so corrupt than in disbelief of the scenario. He knew it was a far cry from working things out to proving them, but it all felt right, and it covered all the aspects. And it was no chickenfeed they were talking about. ‘A development like that,’ he said to her quietly, ‘could be worth several billion. Well worth fighting for. But if the contamination story got out, it was all over.’

‘But then why didn’t Ed Stonax go public with it?’

‘Because he didn’t have all the information,’ Emily said. ‘Or the proof. And he couldn’t go public without the whole dossier – the one, presumably, poor Danny Masseter was preparing for him. He must have asked too many questions and made someone suspicious.’

‘So Tyler contacts his old friend and co-conspirator Trevor Bates, and says I’ll help you get out of jail free, if you’ll get rid of the problem for us,’ Atherton concluded. ‘Silence Masseter and Stonax before it all gets out, and make sure you get all the documents.’ Out of sight of the others, Emily pressed his hand in thanks for using the word ‘silence’ instead of ‘murder’, something she still found hard to say, even in her head.

‘And Bates thought he’d take the opportunity to get back at me,’ Slider said. ‘He thought he was invulnerable. He was too smart to get caught for the jobs he was doing privately for himself and Tyler. Dave Borthwick and a hit-and-run driver would stand up for those. And I was to go in a gas explosion – nobody’s fault at all.’

‘For God’s sake,’ Joanna muttered.

McLaren spoke up from the back through the last mouthful of Mars Bar. ‘Yeah, well, it’s all very nice but it’s just Goldilocks and the Three Bears, innit, unless we get some evidence.’

Swilley looked at him, impressed. ‘Blimey, Maurice, you come out quite sensible sometimes.’

‘It’s maybe not as bad as it looks,’ Slider said. ‘We’ve got Mark on evidence, as soon as we can catch him, and if the damage on the car matches the damage on the motorbike, we’ve got him for Masseter’s murder. Mark is Bates’s right-hand man, and if that’s not enough, we now know Bates gave him shares in Ring 4, so that ties him in with Bates. It was Tyler who gave Bates the government IT contract, so that ties them. And if Vollman Whatnot confirm that it’s Tyler who owns the BriTech shares, it gets them both tied in with the Waverley B development.’

‘But we’ve still got nothing on the pollution, and without that, there’s no motive for Stonax’s death,’ Mackay said.

‘Well, the evidence is out there, and if Danny Masseter managed to find it, we can,’ Slider said, though he didn’t sound happy about it. It could take for ever – and there was always the risk that tracks would start to be covered and documents shredded. Worse still, people who had answered questions might get shredded in the process. ‘We just have to hope Jimmy Pak can get into the encrypted files somehow. I’m willing to bet that’s where the evidence is. Meanwhile – ’ he hoisted himself off the desk – ‘we have to concentrate on finding Bates, which means finding Mark. No luck on the relatives, I suppose, Norma?’

‘No, sir. I can’t find any at all, never mind in the area. Could be he was an only child.’

‘So Bates is the only friend he has. And Tyler’s the only friend Bates has,’ Slider said. ‘Well, I think I’ve had about enough. We’ll call it a day and start again tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow’s Sunday, boss,’ Swilley said. ‘Do you want us in?’

‘Sunday’s a good day for legwork. People are at home, you can catch them there. Tomorrow is Find Bates and Mark Day. We’re going to visit every place they’ve ever been, every person they’ve ever spoken to, and find them if we have to wear our legs down to nubbins. I’ll OK the overtime with Mr Porson, so you can take that look off your face, McLaren.’

‘I haven’t got a look on my face,’ he protested.

‘Oh, no, you’re right, it’s chocolate,’ said Slider. ‘That’s it, boys and girls.’

They all moved away except for Joanna, Atherton and Emily.

‘What are we going to do?’ Joanna said. ‘With all our worldlies stuffed in the car and no home to go to?’

‘We’ll go to an hotel,’ Slider said.

Atherton and Emily exchanged a look. ‘It’s all right,’ she said to him.

‘It makes it look a bit official,’ he said nervously. ‘I don’t want to rush you into anything.’

‘If I remember rightly, I did the rushing. Come on, a friend in need and all that sort of thing.’

‘Shall we leave you two to talk code in peace?’ Joanna said.

‘We don’t want you to go to an hotel,’ Emily translated. ‘There are two bedrooms at Jim’s house, and I don’t mind sharing with him – or more specifically, I don’t mind you knowing I’m sharing with him. I know it makes me look like a fast hussy, but there it is.’

‘Who are we to judge?’ Slider said. ‘If you’re sure?’

‘I’m sure,’ they both said at the same moment, and looked at each other and smiled.

‘Well, thanks,’ Joanna said. ‘It’ll be a lot nicer than an hotel.’

‘I have to go and see Porson,’ Slider said. ‘Why don’t you three go on ahead and I’ll join you later.’

Porson listened gravely to Slider’s exposition. ‘It all sounds all right,’ he said, ‘and, my God, if you’re right this is going to cause a stink.’

‘It’s my betting that it won’t,’ Slider said sadly. ‘They’ll cover up for him, like they did before.’

‘No, laddie, he won’t get away with it this time. You’d have to spin like a dervish in a washing machine to get this one to come out straight. They’ll dump him hard and let him take his knocks, believe me. But we’ve got to have all the evidence, dot every tee, or it’s all deniable.’

‘If we can find out about those shares, to start with . . .’

‘I’ll do a bit of leaning. Anything else?’

‘Reading police – matching Mark’s car with the motorbike damage?’

‘More leaning. Leave it to me. Tower of Pisa job. I suppose Pak’s not come up with anything?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Well, he’s a good lad. He won’t stop until he does. For now, why don’t you go home? You look played out.’

‘Yes, I’m going now.’

‘Hang on, you haven’t got a home to go to, have you?’ Porson said, and he seemed to hesitate on the brink of something.

‘I’m staying with Atherton, sir,’ Slider said. ‘He has a spare room.’

‘Oh, well that’s all right,’ Porson said briskly, and turned away. ‘Off you go, then.’

Slider went, wondering uncomfortably whether the old boy had been about to offer him his spare room, and whether he would have welcomed Slider’s company.

Atherton did an enormous stir-fry for quickness’ sake, and the four of them sat around the table companionably, as if they had known each other for years, with the cats teetering on the backs of armchairs, trying to see over peoples’ shoulders, and purring like food mixers. Joanna hoped so much that Atherton and Emily could survive the end of the case and the realisations that were bound to come over her then, because they seemed so right together – as right as Joanna felt with Bill.

It was inevitable they should talk about the case, and a lot of it was rehashing the supposed Waverley B plot, guessing how much money the whole thing was worth, and wondering despairingly how people could be so fixated on money.

‘Because they’ve got nothing else in their lives,’ Slider said.

‘That’s all very well, but Tyler, at least, did have other things in his life, before he destroyed them by his own hand,’ said Atherton.

‘We’ve got to find documentary evidence,’ Slider said. ‘I can’t believe Bates got hold of the only copies. Where would your father keep something that important?’ he asked Emily.

‘In his computer,’ she said with a shrug.

‘He wouldn’t give a copy to anyone? He didn’t send you anything, like a data disc or a memory stick?’

‘I’d have said so if he did,’ she said patiently.

‘What about a friend? Candida Scott-Chatton for instance?’

‘No. He wouldn’t implicate her when it was something as dangerous as this. And she’d have told you, surely, if he gave her something and told her to guard it with her life.’

Atherton looked at her sharply. She was holding the locket, warming it in her hand as she so often did. ‘He did send you something.’

She met his eyes. ‘My birthday present?’

‘Why did he send it to you if he knew you were coming over? He could have given it to you in person.’

‘He wanted me to have it on the day,’ she said.

‘Which was a week ago. And Masseter was killed two weeks ago. Allowing for the post—’

‘You think he sent Emily the locket when he heard Masseter was dead?’ Joanna said. ‘But why? You couldn’t get a data disc in that.’

‘I’d have noticed,’ Emily agreed, with quiet humour.

‘But he did tell you it was very valuable and warned you not to let it out of your sight,’ Atherton persisted.

‘No, he warned me not to lose it. I was the one who decided to wear it all the time. I like it. And it reminds me of him.’ Her eyes filled abruptly with tears. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. Slider passed her across his handkerchief, and she accepted it and blotted her eyes, biting her lips to regain control.

Atherton said, ‘I can’t help thinking that he may have sent you a clue of some sort with it. Did it come in a box?’

‘Yes, a jeweller’s box, in a Jiffy bag. But there was nothing else in it.’

‘I don’t suppose you have the box with you?’

‘Yes, it’s in my case. But honestly, there’s nothing else in it except the card that came with it, and unless you’re suggesting there’s a microdot . . . ?’

‘Well, you never know,’ Atherton said.

‘I do. Where would he get access to the technology to compress all his files into a microdot?’

‘But I’d like to have a look at it, if you don’t mind,’ Atherton said, and she shrugged and went upstairs, returning with an ordinary jeweller’s box about four inches square, in red leatherette. Inside was the usual black velvet bracer, with slits where the chain would have been secured to hold the locket in place, and a square, stiff card with some handwriting on it.

‘You’re right, your dad’s handwriting is terrible,’ Atherton said. ‘What does it say?’

Emily took it back. ‘It says “Happy birthday, darling. I hope you like it. It’s valuable so be sure not to lose it. It will be something to remember me by, even if you’re glad to see the back of me.”’

‘That’s an odd thing to say, isn’t it?’ Atherton said, frowning. ‘Why would you be glad to see the back of him?’

‘Oh, it’s a sort of old joke,’ she said. ‘He didn’t like it when I went to live in the States, because he was going to miss me, and he said it must be because I didn’t like having him hanging around me, spoiling my pitch. A joke about me being a better journalist than him – which wasn’t true. He was the best there was.’

Atherton held out his hand. ‘Would you let me look at it?’

‘There’s nothing in it except a picture of him,’ she said, but she undid the clasp anyway, and handed it across.

Atherton took it, warm from her hand, smooth and pleasant to the touch. It didn’t look old, that was his judgement. There’s a look to old, second-hand gold. This looked quite new. And it didn’t look valuable to him, either – not enough to warrant a warning. It was worth maybe a couple of hundred pounds, not more. He prised it open with a thumbnail, and inside was a photograph of Stonax, smiling and looking rather windblown with that shock of dark hair. The photograph was held in place by a thin oval bezel. He thumbnailed that off, as well, and lifted out the photograph, which he saw had been cut with scissors to fit the oval shape. There was nothing behind it but the back of the locket.

He turned the photograph over. On the back was some very small, neat writing.

BZ793A58

He handed it to Slider. ‘Eight randomly assorted numbers and letters,’ he said.

When Slider came back to the table from the telephone, he said, ‘Jimmy Pak says there’s an absolute mass of information there – notes, scanned documents, letters, cuttings from newspapers, you name it. It looks like the goods all right.’

Joanna reached over and kissed Atherton on the cheek. ‘Genius!’ she said. ‘Old planet-brain, the boy wonder.’

‘Fluke,’ said Atherton. ‘It was Ed Stonax who was the clever one, thinking of hiding it that way.’

‘I don’t know why I didn’t think of it,’ Emily said. ‘I’m embarrassed.’

‘Don’t be. How were you to know?’

‘But he said he had something important to tell me. I suppose when I got here he was going to tell me everything, show me the documents.’

‘I’m not quite there,’ Joanna said. ‘He copied everything into the computer and encrypted the files?’

‘The Arbuthnots heard him tapping away day and night,’ Slider said.

‘Then why did he keep the original stuff – assuming that was what was in the file that was stolen?’

‘Insurance,’ Atherton said, ‘in case of a break-in. The way I see it, he wouldn’t leave everything in the file, but enough to look convincing, so that if they broke in they’d think they’d got the lot and (a) not tear the place apart and (b) feel confident they’d covered themselves. He knew they were ruthless – he must at least have suspected Danny’s “accident” was helped along. But probably he didn’t realise just how ruthless they were. He can’t have thought that they’d actually kill him – only cut him off at the pass like they did the first time.’

‘If he’d known,’ Emily said quietly, ‘it wouldn’t have stopped him.’

‘But he might have gone about it a different way,’ Slider said.

‘So if he had all Danny’s stuff,’ Joanna said, ‘what was he waiting for? Why didn’t he go public right away?’

‘Hard to say, until we see what there actually is in the encrypted files,’ Slider said. ‘It might be that there was something else he still needed. Or he might have been working it up into a final report. Or he may have had someone else involved and was waiting for them to act.’

‘But no-one else has come forward to say they were working with him.’

‘True. Well, I don’t know the answer to that.’

‘Of course, there wasn’t any particular hurry,’ Atherton said. ‘It wasn’t as if the leisure park was going to be built in one day, starting tomorrow. He may just have been considering what course his action should take. He had plenty of time.’

‘Except that he didn’t,’ Emily said. There was an uncomfortable silence, which in the end she broke. ‘So is this enough to get them, now?’

‘I don’t know until I look at the stuff. Jimmy Pak’s making copies, and we’ll have to go through it all tomorrow and see what we’ve got. And then get Porson in on it and start making up a case. But if your father took this trouble to get the information to you, I’m betting it will be significant.’

‘But you still don’t know where Bates is,’ Joanna said. ‘Not to rain on the party, but we can’t go home until you get him.’ She anticipated Atherton’s next words and said, ‘We can’t stay here with you for ever, Jim. Even if you were willing to keep us, what about Derek?’

‘Derek?’

‘The baby.’

‘Why on earth—?’

‘Don’t ask,’ said Slider. ‘Is that your phone?’

Atherton went out into the kitchen, where they heard him say, ‘Oh, hi . . . Yes, he is. Did you want to . . . What? Good for you! Yeah, yeah, I’m writing it down. Brilliant. OK, I’ll tell him. Love to Tony . . . No, I mean it. Bye.’

He came back in, grinning. ‘That was Norma. She was waiting for a call back from an estate agent friend – or in her case, probably a former lover.’

‘Pots and kettles,’ Joanna muttered.

‘Anyway, she’s found – or rather he had found – Richard Tyler. He’s bought a house in Holland Park Avenue. And given what property costs along there, he must have done very well out of Brussels and whatever else he’s been up to since he went away. He moved in at the end of August.’

‘Just about the time Bates escaped,’ said Joanna.

‘Holland Park Avenue’s right on our doorstep,’ Slider said. ‘Not much more than half a mile from the station.’

‘Also just round the corner from Aubrey Walk,’ Atherton added, ‘where Bates’s house is.’

‘And a hundred yards or so from where they found the black Focus,’ Slider added grimly. Joanna glanced at him, and knew that expression. She felt a cold chill, though she wasn’t sure what she feared. ‘I said that Bates hadn’t a friend in the world but Tyler – if you can call him a friend. But friend or not, he’s the one person Bates can be sure won’t shop him. What would be more natural than that he should hole up with Tyler? On his old stamping ground, which criminals always like, being creatures of habit. And handy for his old house if he needs a bit of equipment. I’m sure Tyler could arrange that. Tyler came back to England at the end of July, and Bates was sprung at the end of August.’

‘And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t find him,’ Atherton said. ‘Well, of course they couldn’t if he was under the wing of a former minister and EU commissioner.’

Joanna was still looking at Slider and reading his mind. ‘Bill, no. You’re not to.’

‘Just a look,’ he said. ‘I promise I’m not going to do anything, but I just want to have a look.’

Atherton looked at him too. ‘What, now?’

‘Why not?’

‘I’m coming with you, then.’

Slider said to Joanna. ‘Just a look. And I’ll feel better about leaving you because you won’t be alone, with Emily.’

‘Better let them get it out of their system,’ Emily said to her. ‘You know what boys are like.’

She was easy about letting Atherton go, Joanna thought, because their love was so new, and she couldn’t yet imagine anything bad happening to him. Perhaps it was another thing to lay at pregnancy’s door. But she had never tried to stop him doing what he felt he had to. It was just that the longer she knew him and the more she loved him, the harder it was to let him go.