Private Investigations

Fifty-Two

‘What a nice man,’ Haddock said, as he and Pye watched Francey walk down the driveway of the police office, from their vantage point in the CID suite.

‘A gem,’ Pye agreed. ‘When all this is over, we must set the Trading Standards people on him. I’m sure they’ll be interested in him selling frozen fish as fresh.’

‘When all this is over we might be working for Trading Standards. I hate to point this out, boss, but we’ve just made a rod for our own backs. We were under pressure already to close one major inquiry, and now we’ve gone and opened another.’

‘Do you take pleasure in ruining my day, Sauce? Have we got any positives?’ He moved across to Dickson, who was working at his desk. ‘What about Dino’s stash of cash, Walter? Have forensics come up with anything on that?’

‘No, sir,’ the DC replied, mournfully. ‘As you’d expect from old banknotes, they’re a whole database of fingerprints in themselves. They found Dean Francey’s prints on the notes on the outside, but nothing else they can match to anybody. There were prints overlaying prints, making it virtually impossible to come up with anything for comparison with the central register.’

‘Great,’ Pye moaned.

‘There was one oddity though,’ Dickson continued. ‘You got excited by the Clydesdale Bank connection, I know, but when the bundle was opened up, they found that there was only a hundred quid in those notes, together on top. The rest were all Bank of England; a mix of tens and twenties. You were right about the total though; five thousand.’

‘Where’s the oddity?’ Haddock asked.

‘This is Scotland, Sarge. If you draw a large amount of currency from a bank here, even if you ask for it in used notes, you’re likely to get predominantly Scottish issue. So doesn’t that indicate that the bulk of that money came from south of the border?’

The DS nodded. ‘Probably it does. But does that take us one step forward, Walter? No, it doesn’t.’

‘However,’ Pye began, then stopped.

His team gazed at him, waiting.

‘However what?’ Haddock said

‘Quiet, I’m thinking.’ He walked back towards the window, then turned, retracing his steps, beckoning the sergeant to follow him into his office. ‘We live in the age of money-laundering, right?’

‘And then some,’ his colleague agreed. ‘So?’

‘So, if you were putting together a pile of cash for illicit purposes, as in to pay a hit man, would you go to the bank for it? And suppose you did, would you ask specifically for old cash?’

‘Probably not, gaffer.’

‘No, Sauce, certainly not. But here we have the best part of five grand in old notes, almost exclusively with the Queen’s head on the front, not Sir Walter Scott or some other figure from Scottish history like we have on our money. That’s suggesting two things to me: one, that the cash Dino was paid with wasn’t exactly legitimate and two, that as the other Walter suggested, it was obtained in England.’

Haddock walked to each of the four corners of the small room, peering into each with his hand shading his eyes.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Pye asked.

‘I’m looking for a straw you haven’t clutched at yet.’

‘Fuck!’ the DCI shouted as he slumped into his chair. ‘If you weren’t my mate, I’d have you on points duty.’

‘Sorry, Sammy,’ the DS said, ‘but that’s what it sounded like. The money’s not going to take us anywhere, other than in ever-decreasing circles, until we disappear up our own arses.’

‘I know,’ Pye sighed. ‘But what have we got? All I can see is the end of the tunnel, and the only light’s an oncoming train.’

‘That may well be, but there’s still one line of inquiry that we haven’t explored, one strand that links our two crimes. We’ve got two victims, the Gates family and now the Mackails; and in each one the father was, or is, in the Navy. Do they connect, and if so, how?’

The DCI pulled himself up in his chair. ‘You’re right, of course,’ he said. ‘I’m tired and I’m under pressure. Thanks, Sauce, I needed that kick up the arse.’ He paused, frowning. ‘We should check Mackail’s Navy background, but let’s not get too excited. The two families were connected professionally; if the two men did know each other in the Navy and kept in touch afterwards, yes, I can see where that could have led Grete to work for Hector, but the likelihood is that the link extends no further than that.’

‘It still has to be ticked or crossed off,’ Haddock insisted.

‘Agreed, but that might be easier said than done. Remember, Lieutenant Gates set off all sorts of security alarms last time we asked about him. That might happen again.’

‘And it might not. Stay positive, gaffer.’

‘I’m trying,’ Pye said, ‘but I know in here,’ he tapped his chest with his middle finger, ‘that there’s something we’re just not getting, a link in this chain of events that we can’t see, and my problem is I have no idea where to go looking for it. I tell you this, Sauce, and only you; this new set-up makes me feel completely exposed. Oh how I wish Bob Skinner was here!’

As he spoke, with a huge frustrated sigh, his office door opened, and a familiar voice exclaimed, ‘Be careful what you wish for.’