Eisner was impressed. She had been friendly and apparently helpful, but she had neither confirmed nor denied that Mancuso worked there. Mancuso was now in control. It would be up to him to decide whether to make contact.
Eisner had a shower to try to stave off the worst effects of jetlag. Flying business class helped, but he was still beginning to feel shitty. As he was towelling off, his cell phone rang. It was Frank Mancuso.
‘Jack! Are you in Bonnie Scotland?’
‘Better yet, Frank. I’m in Aberdeen, and I wondered if you’d be free for a drink or some dinner this evening. It would be good to catch up and there’s something you might be able to help me with.’
‘Name it.’
‘Not on the phone. It’s kind of sensitive.’
They agreed to meet in the bar of Caledonian Hotel in Union Terrace at 6.30 that evening.
*
Before the press briefing at noon, the NEC press office issued what Vanessa Fiske had come to call ‘a Harry Conival Special’: a briefing that gave an impression of openness, but made public only what the investigating officers wanted known. In this case, it was limited to information already in the public domain, and it was crafted in a way designed to influence the line of questioning Vanessa and Colin would face.
SUSPICIOUS DEATHS ON THE VERMONT ONE OIL PLATFORM AND AT GRAMPIAN ROYAL HOSPITAL
North East Constabulary is investigating two suspicious deaths. Both are now being treated as murder.
The body of Harvey Jamieson, of Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, was discovered late on the afternoon of Friday October 5 on the Vermont One Oil Platform, operated by Ebright Offshore Drilling, approximately 100 miles north east of Aberdeen. The cause of death was a blow to the head and a fall from a height of about six metres.
The body of Peter Keller, of Biddeford, Maine, USA, was found at Grampian Royal Hospital at about 8.00 a.m. on Saturday 6 October. The cause of death was a lethal injection.
The investigation is being led by Detective Chief Inspector Vanessa Fiske and Detective Inspector Colin MacNee and is pursuing a number of lines of enquiry, including the fact that both Ebright Offshore Drilling and Hedelco, the company that manages GRH on behalf of the Health Board, are owned by the same company, Burtonhall Inc.
Vanessa began the press conference by referring to the briefing paper and saying that she had nothing to add to it, but she was ready to take questions.
‘My answers may, of course, be limited by the need to keep some information confidential in the interests of the investigation, but I will try to tell you as much as I can.’
The first question came from the G & T reporter who had broken the story about the cause of Keller’s death. ‘Can you tell us what drugs were used to kill Mr Keller, Chief Inspector?’
Vanessa smiled. ‘I’m really sorry not to be able to answer the very first question, but no, I can’t.’
The reporter came back. ‘It’s an unusual cause of death, isn’t it? Do you think that it’s what might be called a professional hit.’
‘Not a phrase I would use. But we are working on the assumption that Mr Keller’s murder was planned. It was not an opportunistic killing, or a killing in the course of another crime, such as a mugging.’
Vanessa moved on. ‘Ben Aaronson, Financial Post. You said that you were pursuing the common ownership line. Do you believe that this will lead to the motive for either or both of these killings.’
‘As I said, it’s one line of enquiry among several. We thought it wise, when we learned about the ownership of the two companies, to bring the two enquiries together. We have added to the team a financial expert on secondment from the Strathclyde Police Fraud Squad. If there’s anything there, we hope he’ll help us to find it.’
‘David MacKay, BBC Scotland. Are you looking for one killer or two?’
‘Two. The timelines make it impossible that the victims were killed by the same person. Both murders took place on Friday afternoon or early evening and the timings of helicopter shuttles from Vermont One would have made it impossible for the same person to commit both murders.’
No-one asked what the dead men had been doing, so Vanessa didn’t mention the two laptops, one taken as evidence and one missing. Nor did she have to tell the hacks about Dongle Donaldson. Just as well, really, as she still couldn’t say his name without laughing.
It had lasted little more than twenty minutes and Vanessa was about to close by saying that further statements would be issued and press briefings arranged as appropriate when the man from the G & T stood up.
‘Chief Inspector, would you care to comment on the possibility that the drugs used to kill Mr Keller were similar to those used in executions in the United States?’
Only those who knew her really well, like Colin MacNee, would have known that Vanessa was a little thrown, for her reply was crisp and conclusive.
‘As I said, I can’t comment on that.’
As they left the briefing room, Vanessa said to Colin, ‘Somebody is feeding him information. If we were in a spy novel, I’d say we had a mole.’
*
Frank Mancuso was at the bar of the Caledonian Hotel drinking a cocktail when Jack Eisner arrived.
‘Jack! How the hell are you? Good to see you. Drink? I’ve been trying to train bartenders in this goddam city to mix a decent whisky sour, but they don’t seem to want to learn. They probably think it should be illegal to drink anything but Speyside malt, but I can’t get a taste for it. Too full on!’
‘You ought to try the Islay malts, full on and industrial strength!’
‘So what brings you to Aberdeen?’
Eisner told Mancuso that he was here to find out what he could about the investigation into the two murders that had happened at the weekend because both of them had happened on facilities operated by Burtonhall companies.
‘Cy Packard – remember him – is fit to be tied and wants me to get ahead of the police, or at least to give him a heads up on where their investigation is going. I don’t have a lot of time, so I need a contact, somebody who might, for a consideration, give me some inside information. I thought you might be able to help.’
‘Why me?’
‘Well, we’re old colleagues. But more importantly, because Last Corporation has had the kind of rough time here that can only be smoothed out by good PR. And that means two things: contacts and information. I need contacts so that I can get information for Cy.’
‘Not my bag, Jack. Like you, I’m security and I don’t know jackshit about PR.’
Eisner looked at him incredulously.
Mancuso smiled broadly. ‘But I may know someone who does. Tell me where you’re staying and I’ll get a name to you by tomorrow morning.'
*
‘Boss, can I have a word, please?’ Colin MacNee caught up with Vanessa in the corridor outside the briefing room.
As they went into Vanessa’s office, she asked what was on Colin’s mind.
‘It’s work-related, but personal, and I really need your advice.’
Vanessa looked concerned.
‘I know you’re busy, so I’ll come right to the point. You know that we decided after I got my promotion that Janet could go back to work full-time. Well, it’s not working out. We can’t get reliable childcare. We’ve bounced from one unsuitable childminder to another. We need someone who can be there when Emma and Cat get out of school, even if there are some days when one of us can be there. We’ve both got unpredictable jobs. I can’t always get away and Janet can hardly walk out on a patient. I’ve nipped off a couple of times, but people are beginning to notice…’
Vanessa grinned. ‘Slow down. Colin. And no, I’m not grinning because I find it funny. I’m grinning because this is a reprise of a conversation I had the other night with Chris Jenkinson after I told her I’m pregnant. Best I can do is to give you the advice she gave me: find reliable childcare. Easy in principle, I know. In practice, a bit more difficult.’
‘We can’t afford a nanny, and I
don’t think I could live with myself if I had to tell people we had one. But we need someone that we don’t have to check up on all the time, that we know will be there when they should be.’
‘How about an au pair? Board, lodgings and pocket money. Less than that probably, once they’ve met the girls. They’re so lovely an au pair would probably pay you!’
Colin laughed. ‘Well seen you don’t have to live with them. How would we go about it? What kind of person could we get?’
‘There are agencies. Or you could advertise. English language students from Europe. American graduate students writing up their dissertations. Aussies travelling the world. I’ve known lots of people who’ve had au pairs, including DCC Jenkinson. It’s one of the possibilities that Neil and I will have to consider.’
‘I’ll talk to Janet. And the girls. Mind you, I don’t think I’d relish being interviewed by Emma and Cat. Thanks, Boss. I’ll let you know how it goes.’
*
In Wilmington, Delaware, Cy Packard was reading a brief message from Jack Eisner, setting out what he had done so far in Aberdeen and saying that he hoped, later in the day, to be able to report progress in finding a source that could give him the inside track on the two murder investigations, when his phone rang.
‘It’s the Chairman, Cy’, his secretary said, ‘Putting him through.’
‘Mr Chairman! What can I do for you?’
‘You can tell me what the hell’s going on in Scotland. You must have known this couldn’t be kept under wraps. We have the kind of investors who scan the Web every day, or have people who do it for them. I’ve had the financial advisors of three of them on to me in the last twenty-four hours, as well as several members of the board. Nobody threatening to withdraw funds. Yet. But they’re getting edgy. They saw Burtonhall as a safe, anonymous fund that would make money without making headlines. So what gives?’
‘I don’t know yet. But I’ve got Jack Eisner over there now, and by the weekend I should know how much damage, if any, these two murders are going to do us. Ebright and Hedelco, or rather Vermont One and that fucking hospital, aren’t the strongest businesses we own, so anything that affects their performance causes me concern. I don’t know whether we’ll need to do anything, but I’m on it.’
‘Glad to hear it’, the Chairman said drily. ‘How bad are things?’
‘Vermont One is some way off the production levels we promised investors, but that may be temporary. We’ve been shielded a bit by the rising price of Brent Crude. The hospital is just about breaking even. Wouldn’t take much going wrong to put it in the red.’
‘Look, Cy, we have some real heavy hitters on the Board and I wonder if we should use them. I know it’s a while since James stopped being prime minister, but he still has access. Maybe we should see if he can do anything to help.’
‘Maybe. But not yet. I need to get a firmer handle on this than I have so far before we take any initiatives. We still don’t know how big it’s going to get.’
‘Keep me in the loop. If this goes viral I need to be ready.’
*
It was nearly noon when, just as Vanessa and Colin were starting the press briefing, Eisner took a call in his hotel room from Frank Mancuso.
‘Jack. You didn’t get this from me, but the name you want is Martin Gilbertson. He’s a press officer at the council we had to apply to for planning permission for the development out near the Cairngorms. He was very helpful to us and he seemed to have connections in the local police. There were a number of demonstrations against our complex and it was really useful to know in advance what police tactics were likely to be. We had to compensate him, but his rates were reasonable. I’ll text his private cell phone number to you.’
As soon as he ended the call, Jack Eisner dialled Cy Packard’s direct line at Burtonhall HQ. It would be early morning in Wilmington, but Packard was usually at his desk by seven. The call was picked up by Packard himself: his staff didn’t get there until eight.
‘How’s it going, Jack? Your email last night told me zilch.’
‘That’s because there was nothing to tell. I think I’ll do better today. Meantime, I need some background.’
‘On what?’
‘Did you send Jamieson and Keller in to get some data that would allow us to pull out of these businesses. I need to know what I’m dealing with here.’
‘Hell, no. I didn’t even know they were there until they were killed. Ebright and Hedelco deployed them.’
‘Just another coincidence, then?’
‘I’m not sure I like your tone, Jack, but yes. No conspiracy.’
‘The Brits only have two possible explanations when things go tits up, Cy: cock-up and conspiracy. So if it’s not conspiracy…’
‘Who’s responsible for the cock-up? That’s what you’re there to find out.’ He hung up.
*
The First Minister of Scotland was the kind of woman who is usually described as ‘formidable’. She had moved against her predecessor in a well-planned coup, removed him, and had been FM for just over a year. Her nationalism was uncompromising and it was generally believed that she would stop at nothing – or almost nothing – to achieve her goal. She was resolute in the defence of Scottish interests as she saw them and believed that every confrontation she could engineer with the UK government made it more likely that she would win a referendum on independence. Her colleagues respected and feared her in equal measure. Her opponents found it difficult to lay a glove on her. Her nickname, of which she was very well aware, was ‘Eva’. She affected to believe that the reference was to Eva Peron. Others had quite another Eva in mind.
Paul MacIver, the FM’s special adviser, was never far from her side. He was adviser, enforcer, fixer and spokesperson. He organised her diary, ensured that the maximum publicity attached to all her appearances, worked to make it unnecessary for her to dirty her hands with party management, and listened in to every telephone call she made or received. It was said that nobody liked him, not even his family, but most people feared him. And he was anonymous, hiding in plain sight. Even the best informed Scots would have been hard pressed to put a name to a photograph of him.
‘You need to try to close this down.’ MacIver was alone with the FM just before she was due to speak to the Chief Constable of North East Constabulary. ‘Scotland’s oil and Scotland’s health service, both at the mercy of an American private equity company? If the opposition had any brains, you’d be struggling already. Make sure you don’t hand this one to them on a plate.’
‘How can I be seen to interfere in operational policing? You persuaded me to go right over the top about police independence when that royal aide tried to interfere in the investigation of the Balmoral murder. I can’t ask the chief constable to limit the enquiry.’
'No, but you can work on him to keep the investigation limited to the murders. The detective leading the enquiry announced today that she's added a financial expert from Strathclyde to her team. That means she's going to poke around in the accounts of Hedelco and Ebright. Possibly Burtonhall, too. You should come on as a local MSP. He knows you're FM and, as always, he'll want to be helpful. He also knows that you'll have the final say in the appointment to the Scotland job. Perfect conditions of suggestibility.'
Her look was a mixture of outrage and complicity. 'I'll ask him for an update and take it from there. He's very unlikely to reveal anything about our conversation. He's too ambitious for that, which is more or less what you just said.'
*
'First Minister! It's always good to hear from you. How can I help.' The Chief Constable was striving for, but not quite achieving, the right balance between authoritativeness and obsequiousness.
'I'm speaking to you mainly as one of your local MSPs, Chief Constable. Is there anything more you can tell me about these murders, apart from what's been in the news? I see you've brought the two investigations together. Rather worrying. I don't know how many deaths make a serial killer, but I hope you can
reassure my constituents.'.
'A connection between the deaths is only one of several lines of enquiry. These may be two quite separate...events...and the...commercial connection may be a coincidence or even a red herring.' He was choosing his words carefully, trying to protect the independence of his force while reassuring the FM and safeguarding his own position.
'You must act as you see fit, but it seems to me that the focus should be on the deaths and who caused them - the purely criminal aspects that bear on community safety, rather than on the businesses - both very important to the area and to Scotland - where they happened to occur.'
By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) Page 7
