When Elliot finishes his on-site exam, the body is removed and we comb the surrounding area. I find a knife in the bushes, not dissimilar to the one that Neva carries. It could even be hers. My mind runs over my telephone call with her. I hadn’t told her where in Scotland I was, nor even who Olive Redding’s parents were. So she couldn’t have found the place. Besides, the attack on Stanners is frenzied, angry. Neva’s kills are always cold and concise.
‘What’ve you found?’ Elliot says behind me.
I hand over the knife.
‘Interesting blade,’ Elliot says. ‘It looks like the murder weapon.’
When the search is over and anything even remotely interesting is taken away, I remove my gloves and wend my way back to the Range Rover.
Inside the car, and sure I am alone, I open my bag and call Neva.
‘Where are you?’ I ask.
‘Why?’
‘Olive’s father is dead. Someone murdered the entire household last night,’ I say.
‘And you thought it was me?’
‘Was it?’
‘I’m sat looking at boats going up and down the Thames.’ She snaps a picture and sends it to me.
‘I had to ask,’ I say. ‘There was a knife like yours at the scene.’
‘Standard Network issue,’ she says. ‘I’d never drop mine.’
‘I’ll call you later,’ I say. ‘Have to go before Beth comes looking for me.’
‘Michael?’
‘Yes?’
‘I didn’t ask you where Redding’s parents were because if I’d known, I might well have come and questioned him. Was he tortured?’ Neva asks.
‘No. It was a frenzied stabbing,’ I say.
‘Do you think it was Olive?’ she asks.
‘I don’t know. But someone really had a grudge.’
I hang up, turn the phone off and put it in my suit trouser pocket. This trip to Scotland hasn’t worked out quite how I imagined it would. The body count sure wasn’t what I’d expected.
I lock the car and head back to the house just in time to see Ray releasing Hamilton. Stanners’s lawyer is red in the face as he walks past me down to the visitors’ parking lot.
‘Your people haven’t heard the last of this,’ he says.
‘What’s with him?’ I ask Ray as I reach him.
‘He didn’t like being asked about the Network. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take him in for proper questioning. But we’re aware of him now, and I’ll be taking a look into his finances. But never mind that. What a fucking mess this is,’ Ray says.
‘I know.’
‘Talk me through what you think went down here,’ Ray says.
I walk him through the house, starting with the employee quarters.
‘Someone enters via the back door, which is also the staff’s private entrance. See, the lock was forced. Not much finesse in that, when it could have been picked. But I think they were in a hurry. Once inside, they work their way through every room on this corridor. The killer uses a silencer so as not to alert the other occupants. He puts two shots in the head of each of them on his way through.’
‘Why kill the servants?’ Ray asks.
‘To prevent any of them raising the alarm perhaps?’
‘What next?’ Ray says. We walk now into the hallway.
‘At some point Stanners had started to pack his bag. He was going to run, probably before we could interview him. My guess is he comes downstairs and hears something. Look there…’ I point to a cupboard under the stairs. The door isn’t closed flush. I walk up and open it now.
‘When the killer goes upstairs looking for him, he sneaks out of his hiding place and then goes into the kitchen. He opens the cellar door, goes in and locks it from the inside to stop them following. Then he exits into the walled garden. During this time the intruder searches Stanners’s rooms, finds the half-packed case, and guesses he’s running. They exit the house through the Estate Office entrance, leaving the door wide open, and go searching for him. Stanners is found as he is trying to escape. A bloody assault happens after that, in which our perp lands several deliberately painful, but not killing, blows. Ending with – and I don’t know this until Baker confirms – a final sweep upwards, under the ribcage and into the heart delivering a death strike.’ I pause. ‘Then they drop the knife and run.’
‘After being so professional up until that point, why did they drop the knife?’ Ray asks.
‘I have a theory. Knowing what we know of the Network, this could have been a clean-up that went wrong. Stanners was scared. He was running. If he panicked and spoke to someone at the Network maybe they thought they couldn’t trust him to keep quiet about what he knew. Or maybe he tried to blackmail them. Either way, they decided to retire him. But the assassin they sent lost him in the house and Stanners got away. Then as he’s escaping, thinking he’s home free, Redding finds him outside. She’s come to see him. Maybe she’s going to reveal who she is. But Stanners knows already that she’s his daughter. He thinks she’s come to kill him so he begs for his life, telling her in the process what he did and why. Before then, I don’t think she knew he was involved.’
‘So, shocked by what he says, she loses it and kills him?’ Ray says.
I nod.
‘It’s one scenario. And it’s all I can think of that would explain the difference in the kills. Two different killers, with different motivations,’ I explain. ‘Also, if this was Olive it wasn’t premeditated.’
‘How do you figure that?’ Ray asks.
‘Her weapon of choice is a crossbow, not a knife. But the knife was all she had on her.’
‘That’s a great theory. Good work, Michael,’ says Ray. ‘Let’s see if it matches up with any of the evidence.’
We reach the location where I found Stanners. I point to where the shape of his fallen body is marked out with tape and forensic markers and explain the circumstances to Ray, tying it all in with my concept.
‘Redding, though a former killer, was broken. Having nowhere else to go she seeks out her parents. Learning of her mother’s Alzheimer’s, she gets work at the care home to be near her. When we blow her cover there, she sees this as the last opportunity to get to know her father before she has to disappear for good. The problem is, Stanners is the one who gave her to the Network. When she discovers her father’s betrayal, it’s too much. She kills him, then throws the knife because she’s in a state of shock. If I’m right, she stumbled off in that direction. See the bend in the longer grass over there?’ The scenario is now clearer to me.
We follow the line of the grass as it leads into a patch of woodland. The trees become denser, forming a barrier from the road with a deep dip between the trees and the road, which is designed to put off any intruders.
‘The rest of this estate is walled,’ I comment.
We scramble down the embankment and back up to the country lane on the other side. It’s not easy to do, and would put off any casual criminal – but it’s not insurmountable to someone with enough motivation.
‘Something was parked here with a minor oil leak,’ I say, pointing to an oil stain on the road.
‘I’m inclined to agree with your reasoning,’ Ray says. ‘Good work, Michael, and welcome back to the team.’
Ray calls the head of the forensics team to join him back at the house so he can walk them through the scenario that I just outlined.
We walk back to the house following the road so as not to further contaminate the route that Stanners’s killer might have taken.
‘Where do you think Redding will be now? Ray asks.
‘Long gone. And I doubt we’ll ever get such a good lead to her again,’ I say. ‘Remember, they are trained to disappear.’
Ray nods.
I feel a little frustrated now that I had her and let her go. But what use would Olive be to us now anyway? Stanners is dead and Olive’s world has fallen apart. She won’t even be able to do the only thing she wanted to – take care of her sick mother.
/> As we reach the estate office once more, I can’t help but pity Olive. I hope she will stay out of sight and find some inner peace. More than anything I hope the Network don’t find her.
Chapter Thirty
Michael
Beth and I fly back from Scotland, but Ray stays behind to liaise with the local police. He arranges to have the bodies of Stanners’s staff returned to their families. Stanners on the other hand is taken back to MI5’s medical facility in Glasgow, where Elliot Baker will perform his autopsy. After that, Stanners’s relatives will be able to claim him. I’m expecting Baker to confirm most of what I suspected, but there may be a few surprises that could give us a clearer picture.
The trip has gone a long way to normalising my relationship with Beth, and Ray was treating me like he’s always done, taking my input and accepting it. I am starting to believe that we can actually get back to some normality after all and that I am welcome back on the team as Ray had said.
It’s after five when we land. I say goodnight to Beth but instead of going home, I make my way back to Archive’s offices to write up my report while it’s still fresh in my mind. As discussed with Ray, my stance is that Olive killed Stanners, but I also believe another intruder executed everyone that had the misfortune to be in the house. Whether they were working together or not, I can’t confirm, but it is unlikely, and I say so in the report. Olive’s possible presence there at the same time was most likely a coincidence.
I save the report and by eight I’m heading home in a cab. On the way back I order a take-away delivery that arrives as I get out of the taxi. I pay the driver, collect my food and go upstairs.
I’m not surprised to find Neva there in my living room when I come in. I don’t ask her why she’s here. I merely close the door and place the food bag down on the coffee table.
Then I pick Neva up and take her into the bedroom.
She doesn’t object as I take her. I’m rough, demanding and very possessive. But I can’t help it. It’s how I need her tonight. But no one understands this more than her.
Afterwards, sated, I hold her for a while. It is almost an apology for assuming that my behaviour was okay.
‘Did I hurt you?’ I ask.
‘No. It was wonderful. You let go of yourself with me for the first time.’
I get out of the bed and go into the kitchen, where I open the bottle of wine that Beth had left me. Then I bring the takeaway into the bedroom. We eat the cold Chinese food out of its containers while sitting together on the bed.
‘I want to tell you about the flight,’ she says. ‘That was the deal.’
‘Okay,’ I say. ‘Tell me about it.’
‘There’s a hacker by the name of Solomon Granger that was posing as one of the flight attendants. He’d been undercover for years, waiting for his handler to place him where she needed him. He probably took over the onboard computer systems.’
‘Why?’
‘I told you, someone important to the Network was on the plane.’
‘Who?’
‘A businessman. His codename: Armin. He was taken off the plane and then it was detoured.’
I pick up a cold wonton and pop it into my mouth. ‘So, you have a source that’s given you this information? What do they hope to gain by telling you?’
‘Solomon’s handler is playing a double game. She’s the one working with Almunazama. She’s in over her head and doesn’t know it,’ she says, avoiding answering my question.
‘Was this Solomon the only spy on the flight?’
‘Why do you ask?’ Neva says.
‘We found the body of a woman. We think she was one of the flight attendants replaced by a doppelgänger,’ I say.
‘A body? She’s dead?’ Neva’s face becomes guarded.
‘Look, whatever you know, it could help us stop these guys.’
‘I … need to make some enquiries,’ she says. ‘Solomon wouldn’t have killed this woman. It’s not his bag.’
‘Well, the way it’s looking, her double did it. Probably some weird Stepford moment and it was cruelly done.’
‘How did she die?’
I explain the way we found the body.
‘That’s sick. And coming from me that’s saying something,’ she says. ‘Though he’s been radicalised by his handler for years, Solomon couldn’t have done it. He was just some young IT geek when she found him. He’s been warped, but he’s more passive than aggressive. He wouldn’t have stopped someone from killing though…’
‘It sounds like you know him,’ I say.
‘I’ve had dealings with his handler … and heard stuff about them both,’ she explains.
She tries to lighten the mood again after that but I know she’s disturbed by my revelation. I want to question her more about this Solomon Granger and Almunazama but I decide against it. Whatever she tells me, I can use to shape the investigation we do on the plane, but the information I tell colleagues will have to come from a provable source. I doubt that they will accept me saying I have an informant again without a complete interrogation of who that person is.
Neva moves the tray of food off the bed and pulls me to her.
‘I took care of you,’ she says. ‘Now it’s time you take care of me.’
I don’t need further encouragement to make love to her again.
Chapter Thirty-One
Beth
Beth arrives home to find Callum with the boys instead of her mother.
‘So you’ve finally showed up,’ he says.
‘What’re you doing here?’ she asks.
‘Your mum had plans, or doesn’t that matter to you?’
‘Fuck off, Callum. This is my job and I’m done with you having a go at me about it,’ she says.
‘I’ve decided I’m going after full custody,’ Callum says. ‘The boys need structure in their life. When we were together, I was there for them at least.’
‘You were the one who said our marriage wasn’t working,’ Beth says. ‘I’m not quitting my job. How the hell do you expect me to keep a roof over their heads without it?’
‘Please, Mum,’ said Philip coming into the kitchen. ‘We can’t stand it when you and Dad fight.’
‘Sorry, love,’ Beth says. ‘Look, you two go up to bed and I’ll come up and tuck you in soon.’
Philip takes Callum junior’s hand and leads his younger brother upstairs.
‘I don’t want to fight,’ Beth says. ‘I’m tired, Callum. Please go and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’
‘I mean it, Beth. They’d be better off with me. I’ll still give you visitation rights.’
‘I can’t do this now,’ Beth says.
Callum picks his jacket up and pulls it on. Beth follows him to the door.
‘How did this happen?’ he says.
‘What?’ she answers distracted. All she wants is peace and quiet and time to herself. Something she never really has.
‘Us. We were so close, then you started at Archive… I’d pull this family back together if you’d let me.’
He reaches for her, pulling her into his arms, and that’s when he feels the gun stowed in a holster under her jacket.
‘For fuck’s sake,’ he says. ‘You’re wearing a weapon as standard now? What the hell are you into? It’s a cold case investigation team…’ Callum stops talking as though the penny he couldn’t catch has finally dropped and the past few years start to make sense.
‘Don’t ask,’ she says.
‘I’m not comfortable with a gun being in the house,’ he says.
‘I have a safe. It’s in there every night.’
‘A safe? Where?’
Beth lifts her eyebrows at him.
‘So I have no right to know where this is? Even in my house?’
‘I’m currently in the process of buying you out. So this isn’t your house anymore,’ she says.
‘Did you have that thing and the safe when it was?’
‘Goodnight, Callum,’ Beth says. She puts her han
d on his shoulder and encourages him to step over the threshold.
‘Beth…’
‘No. You don’t get to criticise. You don’t get to say anything to me anymore. You want to know what happened to us? You did. Your ego. You’re the one who said he didn’t mind his wife earning more than him. You’re the one who encouraged me to keep my job after the boys were born. After all, we really needed the money then. Suddenly that’s no longer acceptable. You think because you got promoted that I should just give up and stay home? You can’t have it all your way, all the time. I may be a mother but I’ve a right to live a life I want for myself too. Don’t you get it? I’m not housewife material. For fuck’s sake, I carry a gun and I know how to use it! That should tell you all you need to know about me. Now go away, Callum. And go after the kids, that’s fine with me. I never fucking wanted them anyway.’
Beth closes the door, cutting off Callum’s shocked grunt as she delivers her parting blow. She turns around and sees Philip standing at the bottom of the stairs.
‘Hey, baby,’ she says.
Philip turns away and runs upstairs.
‘No sweetheart… I didn’t mean…’
But she doesn’t pursue the little boy upstairs, because she can’t lie to him. She did mean it and maybe they would be better off with their dad after all.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Michael
When I get back into the office, there’s an email from Ray asking me to look at Leon and Brinkman’s folder on the missing aircraft.
There’s a report from Beth and a list of the crew’s names. Four are highlighted as suspects: Angela Carter, Chloe Bell, Jay Astor and Frank Minchin. I read the information she’s gathered about Astor and Minchin. Following the link to Astor’s profile page on Facebook, I look at the photographs that Beth thought genuine: Astor with various boyfriends in many different locations. There are no pictures of him with any of the other crew members, even though this team has worked together for the best part of six months.
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