The Impossible Dead

Thirteen
41

It took a few days to arrange, but that was fine. In the meantime, the terror suspects had been charged, remanded and moved into Edinburgh’s Saughton Prison. The Justice Minister had enjoyed giving interviews and had praised ‘my big sister’, much to the delight of the tabloids. The alert level at Fettes remained CRITICAL, but would soon be downgraded. Fife Constabulary had written a letter to Lothian and Borders congratulating the Complaints team on its ‘exemplary’ report. Whether the media were informed or not, Fox and his team didn’t know – nothing seemed to appear in the press. Reprimands would be issued to Scholes, Haldane and Michaelson, and that would be that.

Mitchell Fox had left hospital, not for Lauder Lodge but for his son’s living room. Fox had bought a single bed from IKEA, Tony Kaye helping him put it together. The only toilet in the house was upstairs, so Fox tracked down a commode. Jude was promising to act as nurse for a short while – ‘not for ever and a day, mind’. Mitch was slow and occasionally confused, and his speech was slurred, but he was able to eat and drink with just a little bit of help. Lauder Lodge warned Fox that they couldn’t keep his father’s room unoccupied for long, but he had paid them until the end of the month, which gave a bit of breathing space. At night, he sat and watched TV – him on the sofa, his dad propped up in bed. The old boy could get up during the day, though it was proving a challenge getting him dressed. More often, they left him in his pyjamas and a towelling robe.

Mitch’s old drinking buddy Sandy Cameron had visited and approved of the effort brother and sister were making: Your old man’s proud of you – I can see it in his eyes. They cooked dinner on alternate nights and pretended everything was quite normal. Afterwards, whatever the weather, Jude would disappear into the back garden for a cigarette – she was already up to ten a day – and Fox would settle down on the sofa with the TV remote and the evening paper. The room had become cramped, bed and commode taking up space. Mitch’s clothes had been relegated to a suitcase and bin liner in the hall. The coffee table was covered with his paraphernalia, and the dining table had been folded closed, meaning all Fox’s paperwork was now spread across his bedroom floor.

A physio was due to pay a visit once a week to work with Mitch. A speech therapist had even been mooted. They’d given him a rubber ball he was supposed to squeeze twenty times per hand three or four times a day. The shoebox of photographs sat untouched on the coffee table. Jude made a shopping list: furniture polish, fabric conditioner, vacuum-cleaner bags and dusters. Plus an iron and ironing board. She asked her brother how he’d coped all these years.

‘Dry-cleaning,’ was his unconvincing answer.

Stephen Pears was due to address shareholders at a meeting in Edinburgh on the Tuesday at ten in the morning. The venue was the ballroom of a venerable city-centre hotel. Fox’s contact on the Scotsman’s business desk had proffered the information, and had also asked if Pears was in any trouble.

‘Because whatever this is about, Inspector, it’s not a profile of his sister.’

Fox had asked if there were any rumours flying around. As far as the journalist was concerned, their apparent lack was no great comfort.

‘These days, seems anybody can go bust at an hour’s notice.’

‘If I get anything,’ Fox assured the man, ‘you’ll be the first to know.’

The shareholders piling into the ballroom looked quietly prosperous. They carried their copies of the annual report and muttered about the levels of remuneration the board seemed keen on divvying up. Most appeared to be well into their twilight years. They were the prudent, cautious types who hadn’t lost too much so far in the recession but would welcome good news from Stephen Pears and his team. There was to be a reception afterwards, drinks and canapes served. Names were ticked off and shiny brochures handed out. On the front of the brochure a smiling couple held hands across a restaurant table. Future-Proofing Your Dreams, the headline announced. Fox took a copy, then admitted that his name wasn’t on the acceptance list. He showed the staff behind the makeshift desk his warrant card, then pointed to the three men behind him.

‘They’re with me,’ he announced.

The attendants from Carstairs stood either side of Donald MacIver. Fox had picked them up at quarter past eight. Gretchen Hughes had repeated that MacIver shouldn’t get too much stimulus. Fox had signed his name to the paperwork, knowing that if his bosses at Fettes HQ ever got wind of this, he would be on a charge. He had lied and lied again in order to convince Hughes and her colleagues that he was fully authorised in his actions and that a murder inquiry might be stymied without Donald MacIver’s help. MacIver himself looked presentable, as though making an effort for the occasion. Fox asked him when he’d last set foot outside the compound.

‘A hospital visit,’ he eventually remembered. ‘Suspected appendicitis. That was probably four or five years back.’

They’d all decided that restraints would not be needed in the first instance. The attendants looked like they worked out in what spare time they had, and could probably handle their charge whatever happened. During the drive, they’d kept up a dialogue about various martial arts and dietary supplements, while MacIver stared at the passing scenery, answering Fox’s questions with a series of grunts, punctuated by the occasional yes and no.

‘Not too many changes,’ he’d muttered as they entered the city. ‘A few new roads and buildings.’

‘I could take a detour past the parliament,’ Fox had offered.

‘Why bother?’ had been MacIver’s response.

‘“Bought and sold for English gold”?’ Fox had quoted, receiving a slow, determined nod of the head in return.

So they’d headed for George Street instead, parking on a meter and entering the hotel.

The ballroom was larger than necessary. There were eighty or ninety chairs, laid out in rows of ten. Pears’s team seemed to comprise sharply dressed young men and women who scanned the room for possible dissenters and handed out notepads and pens to anyone who needed them. It didn’t take them long to spot Fox and his guests. They remained standing at the back of the room, and wouldn’t budge when offered seats. MacIver seemed slightly agitated, but the attendants didn’t look worried. His facial colouring was what Fox would call ‘prison grey’, but he didn’t suppose his own was much better. He hadn’t slept well the past few nights – and not just because of his father’s presence in the house.

The stage beyond the front row of seats didn’t look permanent. It supported a long table with a blue velvet cloth draped over it. Four place cards with names on them, but too far away for Fox to make out the actual names themselves. Carafes of water and pre-filled tumblers. Microphones. There were loudspeakers stage-right and left. People in the audience greeted each other with curt nods. A young man stopped in front of Fox, but Fox was ready for him. He held his warrant card an inch from the lackey’s nose and identified himself as a police officer.

‘I can say it louder, if you want everyone else to hear,’ he offered. MacIver gave a little growl and the young man took a step back, then turned and fled. He went into a confab with others in the team. Someone punched a number into their phone and started a whispered conversation, holding their hand over their mouth as if fearing lip-readers.

Good: Fox hoped the news would get backstage.

Maybe the call had come too late, though, for now four men were arriving by way of a side door. They strode purposefully towards the stage, climbed the steps and settled themselves behind the table. Stephen Pears tugged at the cuffs of his shirt and checked the straightness of his tie. When introduced, he nodded and smiled, taking in the whole room. There were others standing at the back now – not just Fox, MacIver and the two attendants, but the team working for Pears, plus some latecomers. One person in the third row started having a coughing fit, and a staffer was quick to take them some water. The four men on the stage tried not to let this distract them. A statement of the company’s achievements during the previous twelve months was being recited. Fox had eyes only for Stephen Pears, though Pears appeared focused on the rows of seats – these were his constituents. He had brought no papers with him. When a phone chirruped in the room and went unanswered, he tried not to look annoyed.

The attendant next to Fox nudged him, letting him know it was his phone that was the culprit. It stopped, but half a minute later started ringing again. The ringtone had been set to maximum volume. When Fox lifted the device from his pocket and checked the screen, he saw that it was Tony Kaye, right on cue. The man reading out the report had come to a stop, reminding the room that all phones should be switched off. People were turning their heads to look at Fox. He did eventually cancel the ringing, but only when he was satisfied that he had at last gained Stephen Pears’s attention.

Fox stared back at him, nodding an acknowledgement. The report was in full flow again, but Pears’s body language had changed. He was stiffer, less sure of himself. When he looked towards the back of the room a second time, Fox leaned past the attendant and touched MacIver’s arm, whispering something to him.

‘You all right there, Mr MacIver?’

An innocent enough question, to which MacIver responded with the nod Fox had wanted from him.

‘Sure?’

Another nod. Fox turned his attention back to the stage and gave Pears a little smile, hoping it looked satisfied enough. Pears ran a hand through his hair, leaned back in his seat, gave the ceiling his full attention, then the tabletop. The report was winding to its conclusion. He was being invited to say a few words about the future. When people clapped, Fox clapped with them. The noise didn’t agree with MacIver. He pressed his hands over his ears and gave a low moan. As Pears stood up and the applause ended, that moan could still be heard. Pears had taken hold of the microphone, but he didn’t say anything. The attendants were trying to calm MacIver.

‘No,’ he said, repeating the word a few times.

‘Better take him out,’ the attendant nearer to Fox said. Fox nodded his agreement.

‘I’ll be there in a minute,’ he replied.

The whole room watched as MacIver was led away. Then they turned back to Pears, expecting the usual poised performance, the noteless tour de force. Pears had finished all the water in his glass. More was being poured. After fifteen or twenty seconds, he started his speech.

And it was fine. Fox doubted anyone who had heard him before would notice anything different about the delivery.

Quite the actor, he thought to himself.

But then he knew that already. Five minutes in, he caught Pears’s eye again, and offered a mimed handclap, along with a slow nod. Then he headed for the doors, taking out his phone as if to make a call.

MacIver was seated in the hotel’s reception area, running a finger along the stories on the front of a morning paper.

‘Back to normal,’ one of the attendants assured Fox. Fox settled himself next to MacIver and asked if he’d recognised anyone on the stage. MacIver shook his head.

‘You sure?’ Fox persisted.

‘Sure,’ MacIver echoed.

Fox held out his copy of Future-Proofing Your Dreams. Its back cover consisted of smiling portrait photographs of the main players. ‘Him?’ Fox asked, dabbing a finger against Stephen Pears.

‘He was in the room.’

‘Yes, he was.’

‘I don’t know him.’

‘He’s been on TV and in the newspapers. His name’s Stephen Pears. I’m pretty sure you’d have known him as Hawkeye.’

MacIver stared at him. ‘You’re wrong,’ he stated.

‘The war’s over,’ Fox persisted. ‘No need to lie for a cause that’s won.’

But MacIver was shaking his head slowly and defiantly. ‘Can I go back?’

‘Back?’ Fox thought he meant to the ballroom.

‘Home,’ MacIver corrected him.

‘He means Carstairs,’ one of the attendants clarified. ‘Isn’t that right, Donald?’

‘That’s right,’ MacIver confirmed. ‘I don’t like it here.’ He glared at the attendant. ‘And it’s Mr MacIver to you until you know me better.’

‘I’ve known you almost two years.’

‘You’re still on probation.’

‘What if we went back to the hall for a minute,’ Fox suggested, ‘just so you could hear him speak?’

MacIver was shaking his head again.

‘We don’t want to make things worse,’ the other attendant cautioned.

Fox considered his options. Hadn’t he got what he wanted? MacIver was back to his reading, asking the attendants if they had a crayon.

‘I’ve got a pen,’ Fox offered.

‘Has to be a crayon,’ the same attendant told him. ‘And not too sharp.’

Fox nodded his understanding. His phone bleeped a message. It was Tony Kaye, asking if it had worked.

More or less, Fox texted back. MacIver was studying the portraits on the back of the annual report. But then he seemed to dismiss it and went back to his newspaper.

‘Ready when you are, Mr MacIver,’ Fox announced. ‘And I want to thank you for everything.’

MacIver got to his feet and took a last look at his plush surroundings. ‘Russians or Arabs?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure I understand.’

‘Who owns this place? It’ll be one or the other, mark my words. And next year or the year after, it’ll be sold on to China. A nation bought and sold…’

The attendants shared a look. One rolled his eyes. ‘Here we go again,’ he said.

MacIver’s grievances were growing louder as they accompanied him to the door.

Having dropped the three men back at Carstairs, Fox was halfway to Edinburgh when his phone started ringing. He had a good idea who it might be and was content not to answer – not straight away. Eventually there was a sign pointing to a lay-by, so he signalled and pulled to a stop. The number wasn’t one he recognised, and no message had been left. He took a hand-held digital recorder from his pocket. Joe Naysmith had assured him the batteries were brand new and it would be good for eight hours of continuous use. Fox switched it on, then called the number and engaged the speakerphone mode.

‘Hello?’

It wasn’t the voice he’d expected. Female. Sounds of chattering all around.

‘Stephen Pears, please. He just phoned me from this number.’

‘Hold on…’

The phone changed hands. It was a man’s voice this time.

‘Yes?’ Stephen Pears asked.

‘Enjoying the canapes?’ Fox commented. ‘Managed to get all those juicy directors’ bonuses past the shareholders?’

‘Where are you?’

‘I’m driving. Had to drop Donald MacIver off.’

‘The man who was with you?’ Pears pretended to guess.

‘Your old pal.’ Fox paused, watching a lorry hurtle past. ‘Not much wrong with his memory…’

‘What exactly is it that you think you’re doing?’

‘A bit of future-proofing,’ Fox stated.

There was silence on the line for a moment. ‘Are we talking about money?’

‘We could be – or else your own future might not be too bright.’

Pears gave a little laugh. ‘I don’t think I believe you.’

‘Oh?’

‘Nothing about you strikes me as the type.’

‘The type?’

‘To be bought off.’

‘How much do you know about me, though? You’ve got my phone number – but then I gave that to your wife. Did your little break-in provide any clues? I wouldn’t mind my laptop back, by the way – if you’re done with it. And the watch. You can hang on to Professor Martin’s book. What did you think of his thesis? All that political energy wasted…’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Of course you don’t. And you were never known as Hawkeye when you were part of the Dark Harvest Commando. You never held up banks and post offices, never sent poison and letter bombs to London. Never stole all that money from Francis Vernal’s car after putting a bullet in his head.’

‘These sound like ravings, Inspector.’

‘You tell your version, I’ll tell mine.’

‘You’ll end up in a room next to your friend in Carstairs.’

Fox tutted. ‘I didn’t say anything about Carstairs, Mr Pears. But you’ve got me wondering now – would John Elliot recognise you, given a nudge? Maybe there’ll be others who’ll come out of the woodwork. The police can do wonders these days. We’ll take a recent photo and change the hair colour and length, give you a beard… reverse the ageing process. Then we’ll start to see.’

‘See what?’

‘See Hawkeye staring back at us. The man who wanted to bring down the government, the man with anarchy in his veins.’ Fox paused. ‘Until greed got the better of him…’

‘You’re making a mistake.’

‘I really don’t think so.’

‘I do.’ It was Pears’s turn to pause. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got more important things to attend to.’

‘You do that, Mr Pears. I’ll just give Mrs Pears a call. Alice Watts, as was. Have you seen that picture of the two of you, arm in arm at the cop-shop demo?’

‘Do what you have to do, Inspector.’

‘Fine by me. Just need to toss a coin to decide which murder we charge you with first. Or were there more than two? My arithmetic’s not what it was.’

Fox ended the call, checked the quality of the recording, then sat for a few minutes, his hands resting against the steering wheel. He hadn’t got much; nothing that would begin to stand up in court. Hawkeye had learned caution somewhere along the way. Fox was about to head back on to the road when his phone rang again. Same number as before. He switched the recorder back on.

‘I seem to have hit a nerve,’ he commented.

‘I’m a man who likes a deal, Inspector. If there’s any sort of deal to be done here, I’m willing to consider it.’

‘It’s only when you don’t get your way that the killer instinct takes over?’ Fox speculated.

‘Business requires a touch of ruthlessness,’ Pears seemed to agree. ‘But accommodation is always preferable.’

‘And you’re a reasonable man?’

‘Unless pushed too far.’

Fox stayed silent, pretending to weigh things up.

‘We need to meet face to face,’ he eventually stated.

‘Why?’

‘We just do.’

‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea.’

‘The Wallace Monument. Five this evening.’

‘I have plans for this evening.’

‘Five o’clock, Mr Pears.’ Fox ended the call and stared at his phone. He found that his heart was pounding, the blood whistling in his ears, and there was a slight tremor in his hands.

Other than that, he felt fine.