‘So, in your opinion, Dougie, what’s it all about?’
‘We know from Wee Tam the Doherty’s disagreement with the Cameron-Smythe is about money. Marcus Triffit, an associate of theirs, disappears and he is working on a project for a Bank; and the daughter of the CEO of the same Bank also disappears. It’s all a bit too much of a coincidence.’
‘What do you think this Banker will say?’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if he denies everything – even having a daughter.’
They reached the end of the M8 and headed left onto the A720. At the next roundabout they turned into a large commercial park, crowded with glass and concrete office blocks.
‘Are you sure this is the right place, Dougie? I thought it would be in the New Town.’
‘According to their website they sold the New Town offices and moved out here with the other banks several years ago.’ Douglas pulled into the car park in front of imposing steel and glass building.
‘Is this it?’ Nicola asked.
‘According to the website, it is.’
They walked across the car park to the entrance. A brass plate announced to the world that this was the Scotia Investment Bank. Inside they trudged across the vast entrance hall to the reception desk on the far side. An immaculate receptionist looked them up and down and failed to slot them into the correct box. Douglas smiled at her. ‘I believe Mr Samuel Sutherland is expecting us. The names are Collins and Ashburner.’
The receptionist’s eyes widened slightly – obviously Mr Sutherland didn’t deal with cheaply dressed Glaswegians on a regular basis. However she quickly regained her composure and her plastic smile returned. ‘Please take a seat, I will let him know you are here,’ she announced before picking up one of the phones from the glass topped desk.
Douglas followed Nicola across the reception area to the seating area. He sat down in an armchair opposite Nicola and from this seat he could see across the reception area to the desk.
‘That bint is still trying to figure out what we’re doing here, when we obviously haven’t got two bass farthings to rub together,’ she said.
‘Farthing, what’s that in new money?’
‘I’m no’ that old, Dougie.’
Douglas saw the receptionist glance up at the sound of Nicola’s voice and judging by her expression, Nicola’s accent wasn’t to her liking.
*****
They didn’t have long to wait. Douglas saw another tall, immaculately dressed woman in her late twenties arrive at the reception desk. She spoke to the receptionist before turning towards them. He had a clear view of her as she walked towards them; she must have been trained for the catwalk at some point in the past judging by her deportment. He wondered how she came to work in Sutherland’s office – perhaps she was the reason for his wife’s disappearance from the scene.
‘Mr Sutherland will see you now,’ the woman said. Her accent wasn’t local to Edinburgh and certainly not Glaswegian.
They followed her to a corridor hidden behind the reception desk; this led to a small lift just large enough for four people. Nicola waited until the lift doors were closed before speaking. ‘Very private, just the thing for keeping the polis out of sight of staff and paying customers.’
‘Before the meeting with Mr Sutherland, I will need to see your warrant cards and verify your identities with Strathclyde Constabulary,’ the immaculate woman replied.
Nicola smiled acidly at her. ‘Of course, madam.’
*****
Sutherland was a large, sandy haired man with an expensive suit, a large Rolex watch and a tan. To Douglas the man’s whole posture spoke of arrogance and he could see Nicola hated the man at sight. The man gestured at the chairs in front of his desk and they sat down.
‘I’m Detective Constable Ashburner and this is Detective Inspector Collins,’ He said and took out the print of Annabel’s birth certificate from his briefcase. ‘Are you Samuel Arthur Sutherland, married to Miranda Florence Sutherland, nee Sowersby?’
‘What is this about?’
‘Please answer the question?’ Nicola said.
‘Yes, but my wife and I are separated.’
‘And you have a daughter named Annabel Candace Sutherland?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are you aware of your daughter’s present whereabouts?’
‘She lives with her mother in Dubai.’
‘Are you aware she is studying at the University in Glasgow?’
‘Vaguely.’
‘Could you please expand on that?’
‘My wife did mention it in one of her rants about money, but I didn’t know if anything came of it.’
‘Are you aware of your daughter’s present location?’
‘No…look what is this about, can we get to the point?’
‘We have reason to believe your daughter has been abducted.’
Sutherland looked at them and said nothing.
‘Has there been any communication about your daughter from anyone?’
‘No.’
‘Do you know of any reason why anyone would want to abduct your daughter?’
‘No…this is obviously the work of a sex maniac?’
‘We have reasons for thinking this is not a sex crime,’ Nicola said and paused before continuing. ‘If your daughter gets in contact with you, or if anyone makes contact with you demanding a ransom, or any other action, please ring this number.’ She put a card on the desk in front of Sutherland. ‘Anyone you speak to on this number will treat any information you give in the strictest confidence.’
‘Do you have contact details for your wife?’ Douglas asked
‘My secretary has them,’ Sutherland said and stood up. ‘And, if we are done, I will ask her to provide them.’
‘We’re done, for now,’ Nicola said.
Sutherland picked up the phone and asked the secretary for his wife’s contact details and bid them goodbye. The details were coming out the printer by the time they reached her desk in the outer office. Douglas took the sheet of paper from her and checked the details: Address, telephone and mobile phone numbers were all there.
*****
As he drove out of the car park Douglas said: ‘Whose number did you give him?’
‘Special Branch,’ she said and noticing his glance she continued: ‘Orders from on high.’
‘Because it’s Samuel Sutherland?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine, Dougie…anyway let’s get out of La-La land and back to reality.’
Once on the M8 he relaxed and settled down to cruising at the speed limit.
‘Can we no’ speed up a bit, Dougie?’
‘Do you want to drive, ma’am?’
‘No Douglas, just you carry on, I don’t mind spending the evening catching up with my paperwork.’
‘We would only save ten minutes,’ he replied and to distract her he turned on the radio. They listened to Radio Four for five minutes before Nicola cracked and started fiddling with the radio to find a local Glasgow station. After two heavy rock songs the twelve o’clock news came on. The second item riveted his attention:
‘The body of a man was recovered this morning from the River Clyde near Cumbuslang. He had been tortured and strangled. Police have issued a description and are asking for anyone who recognises the description to get in contact with Strathclyde Constabulary. The man is five feet six inches tall, slightly built, with light brown hair, about thirty years old. He has no tattoos or other distinguishing marks...’
Douglas glanced over at Nicola and back to the motorway again. ‘Did you catch that? It fits James Cameron-Smythe’s description of Marcus Triffit.’
‘Yes,’ Nicola replied and after another two miles spoke again: ‘I think we should pay James Double-Barrelled a visit at work and see if we can get sufficient reason to break down Mr Triffit’s front door.’
‘You wouldn’t be thinking of getting there ahead of the others on this would you?’
‘Perish the thought, Dougie, I�
�ll put in a call and get the details.’
*****
Nicola opened the glass door labelled Computing & Software Utilities and Douglas followed her in. At the large polished reception desk she stopped in front of the receptionist. ‘James Cameron-Smythe please,’ she said.
The receptionist returned her question with a blank stare. ‘And you are?’
‘Just get him,’ Nicola snapped.
‘I can’t do that.’
‘What do you mean?’
Douglas could see the signs of an impending explosion and stepped in. ‘We need to talk to him about a missing person report,’ he said, showing his warrant card to the woman.
‘He’s with the Managing Director at the moment and they can’t be disturbed.’
Douglas smiled grimly. ‘I’m afraid we must insist. This matter takes precedence over anything else.’
‘Oh, all right, I’ll speak to her,’ the receptionist snapped back and nervously picked up the phone.
‘The police are here to speak to James,’ she said and Douglas saw her flinch as he heard the faint sound of shouting from the phone. ‘They insist on speaking to James,’ she repeated.
Douglas could hear more shouting and the receptionist slammed the phone down. ‘I’ll show you up to the office,’ she said and stood up.
They followed her up the stairs, through a set of double doors into a large office, and thence to a smaller office at the far side. They found James sitting in front of a desk facing a tall thin woman in a trouser suit and a blue silk blouse.
Nicola looked at her. ‘I am Detective Inspector Collins and this is Detective Constable Ashburner; and you are?’
The woman stood up. ‘I’m Fiona Grey, I run this company.’
Douglas looked at James. ‘How’s the wound?’
James grimaced. ‘Healing…it’s not so painful now.’
‘A body fitting the description of Marcus Triffit was found in the Clyde this morning. We need all the details that this firm has on him.’
James said nothing. Douglas could see he was waiting for his boss, standing behind the desk, to say something.
‘Can’t I just look at the body and tell you whether it’s Marcus or not?’ Fiona Grey said.
Nicola broke in. ‘There are particular reasons why that is not possible. We need his address to look for personal items that could identify him: We need his DNA.’
Douglas watched the implication of this statement sink in: James and the tall woman both turned pale.
James looked as if he was about say something. Douglas raised his eyebrows and said: ‘Yes?’
Raising his head James answered: ‘Marcus had a mug he refused to let anyone else use. He kept it in his desk and it will have his DNA on it – he didn’t wash it very often.’
Nicola nodded at James. ‘Show Detective Ashburner the desk…and, Douglas, break it open if you have to,’ she said before turning back to Fiona Grey. ‘Marcus Triffit’s contact details, National Insurance number and ID verification…please.’
James led him to a workspace cluttered with PCs, books, manuals, papers, pens, monitors, a keyboard and a mouse. The space under the desk was crowded with four tower computers and a mass of wiring. The desk had a single drawer at the right-hand side. James tugged at the handle of the drawer to show it was locked.
‘If you sit on the desk, I’ll give it a heave,’ Douglas suggested to James.
James moved the keyboard, mouse and a pile of books out of the way and sat on the edge of the desk. Douglas grabbed the handle of the drawer with both hands and pulled down and out simultaneously. The drawer shot out and hit the end stop with a loud thud. A mug, pens, pencils and paper clips skidded forward and stopped in a heap at the front of the drawer. Douglas searched his pockets until he found a plastic evidence bag. Turning the bag inside out over his hand he picked up the mug and then carefully pulled the bag back the right way over the mug and sealed it. He wrote the details on the outside of the bag and leaving James to tidy up the desk he returned to Fiona Grey’s office.
Nicola was pacing up and down. He held up the evidence bag with the mug safely inside. ‘It looks as if he hasn’t washed it for a while, so we could have some DNA,’ Douglas said.
‘Good, get it over to the forensic lab,’ Nicola said.
‘Myself?’
‘I want the result ASAP,’ Nicola replied and followed him out of the office. ‘If they don’t want to co-operate, get back to me and I’ll lean on somebody.’
*****
Nicola returned to the MIU offices in good time for her meeting on the fifth floor. It would be her second trip upstairs in a week and this meeting was even more unusual than the one with ACC McLennan – Chief Constables do not talk to Detective Inspectors on a regular basis. She needed to take a lot more care with her appearance for this meeting and she called in to the executive washroom after leaving the lift to run a brush through her hair, put on lipstick and brush down her jacket. A polish of her shoes with a paper towel completed the makeover.
‘He has DCI Stone with him at the moment; best take a seat,’ the secretary said as she entered the outer office.
Nicola checked the nameplate to jog her memory, it read Eleanor and she settled in one of the armchairs to wait. But no sooner was he comfortable than the door to the inner sanctum opened and DCI Stone appeared. He nodded to her as strode past and out of the office.
‘You can go in now, DI Collins,’ Eleanor said.
Inside the office Nicola found a tall man in a classic double-breasted suit sitting in front of the desk. Frayer gestured towards the chairs in front of his desk. ‘Take a seat, Nicola,’ he said but didn’t introduce the tall man.
She guessed the tall man held a senior rank in one of the intelligence services.
Eleanor appeared and placed a cup in front of her and filled it with coffee from the pot on the desk. Both men declined a refill and she left the office.
‘Have you any indication of any journalists nosing into the Doherty business?’ the tall man asked.
‘No, sir, nothing at all,’ Nicola said,
‘I wouldn’t have thought he would be easily put off,’ Frayer mused. ‘The other matter is the death of Marcus Triffit; I know the post-mortem is tomorrow, but I doubt if the Fiscal will treat it as anything other than murder. The man didn’t torture himself then jump into the Clyde.’
‘We don’t know for sure it is Triffit yet, sir,’ Nicola said.
‘I think for the purpose of this discussion we can assume it is Dr Triffit,’ the tall man said in a home-counties English accent.
‘Doctor Triffit?’
‘Yes…his PhD thesis was on the mathematics of prime numbers – not exactly a best seller, but it has its fans.’
Frayer continued. ‘Nicola, I want you to be SIO on the Triffit investigation. You are running a number of associated enquires and it will more efficient if they are run together.’
‘Very good, sir.’
‘We also have the abduction of the Sutherland girl, where are you with that?’
‘The only motive we have comes from the tip we received from the fourth floor. I need to know if there is any more to be had from that source.’
‘That fragment is all there is. They weren’t looking for it but the name Sutherland triggered their interest,’ the Tall Man said.
‘Why is the name Sutherland of interest to you?’
‘All I can say is that Samuel Sutherland is of interest and after your visit this morning he is of interest to you. Also Doctor Triffit had links to Sutherland.’
‘Links?’
‘It’s possible he knew the Sutherland girl.’
Frayer nodded. ‘Thank you for the contribution – I know you have a plane to catch, but I wanted you to meet our SIO…Andy Stone will take you to the airport.’
‘Goodbye, Sir William, DI Collins,’ the tall man said and uncoiled his long legs to stand up.
When the tall man had departed Nicola raised her eyebrows; a knighth
ood for Frayer was widely expected and the odds were so low that the custody sergeants had resorted to a sweepstake on the date of the announcement.
Frayer noted the unspoken question. ‘That is not for public distribution; the palace has not announced it yet.’
‘Of course, sir.’ Nicola nodded and decided to strike while he was on the back foot and she continued. ‘Manpower, sir, I haven’t discussed manpower with the DCI or the Superintendent. And DCs Ashburner and Vidak are only working for me part-time from Monday.’
‘We will be postponing the undercover operation for as long as necessary. If necessary we can allocate you another team as well. Now, on a different matter, the SCDEA are requesting assistance with a raid on the Blind Piper and because you have an on-going interest in the place you can provide the assistance. They will be in contact over the weekend to sort out when and how.’
Nicola wondered how they were going to manage with so few people when Frayer continued. ‘The Fiscal has decided that the death of Thomas Goslin is not suspicious. The pathologist consulted with his colleagues at the University and they reached a consensus that the bruising is due to repeated CPR attempts to revive the man. Unless other evidence comes to light that case is closed.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Nicola left the office thinking about the Tall Man. One thing was clear; whichever agency he belonged to, he was important enough for Stone to be doing chauffeur duty.
*****
Douglas dropped the mug off at the Forensic laboratories and to his surprise they agreed to prioritise the DNA testing. Somewhat at a loss after this turn of events Douglas went back to the MIU suite – he found Tanya sitting on his desk wearing a tight grey skirt and a shiny blue shirt.
‘Are we ready to go?’ she said.
He checked his desk for any documents he’d left out and it was clear. ‘Yes, let’s go,’ he said and without thinking he put his hand on her waist. She allowed him to guide her towards the door. But before they had taken more than three steps Nicola came through the door and stopped to look at them. He immediately realised where his hand was and dropped it from her waist.
‘Where are you off to?’ Nicola asked.
Shallow Water Page 11
