Paying the Ferryman

by Jane A. Adams

  ‘He saved us a lot of time and a considerable amount of money,’ Steel was told.

  He’d been the go-to guy when anyone wanted computers installed, viruses dealt with, advice on what to buy.

  ‘He knew all about stocks and shares and online trading,’ he was told. ‘You know, all that financial stuff. He did something … what did he call it … day trading? Does that sound right? He was a real tech head.’

  Steel returned the landline phone to its cradle and sat back, staring at it, not entirely sure how this latest snippet of information fitted in with everything else.

  He wondered what Sophie would learn from the Trust this time and what would happen once police finally got into the Brighton house.

  Naomi was not in a fit frame of mind to go with DS Sophie Willis that morning, but she could not think of a good reason to say no. They had still had no response from the Vitellis and had almost given up hope. To be honest, she’d been of a mind to resist Gregory’s persuasion – it seemed like an outrageous and foolish thing to do; something akin to poking an uncaged tiger with a stick – but now she had committed, she was impatient to play the end game.

  ‘Penny for them,’ Sophie said.

  ‘Sorry. Not very good company, am I?’

  ‘That’s all right, but you do seem a bit out of sorts.’

  Naomi smiled. She supposed she was. ‘Apart from anything else, I’m thinking this trip is a waste of time,’ she confessed. ‘I get the feeling that the Trust want to keep us very much at arm’s length, and we can’t even guarantee that there’ll be anyone in charge that we can talk to, turning up unannounced.’

  ‘True,’ Sophie agreed, ‘but announcing ourselves didn’t do us any favours last time, did it? Personally, I think we’ll end up having to get a warrant for their personnel files, but who knows?’

  ‘And what exactly are we asking anyway?’

  ‘How long Marcus Karadzic worked for them and why he was dismissed.’ She glanced at Naomi, unable to resist a little dig. ‘I don’t suppose this mysterious informant of yours would be able to tell us that, would he?’

  Naomi’s mouth twitched in a slight smile. ‘Given time, probably.’

  ‘Who is he, then?’

  ‘A friend. Just a friend.’

  Sophie laughed; she hadn’t expected a straight answer. ‘You and Alec have had a busy couple of years,’ she said. ‘I got curious and looked you both up.’

  ‘I don’t imagine you found a lot of detail,’ Naomi said.

  ‘No, you’re right there.’

  Sophie glanced sideways at her again, wondering if patience and persistence would earn her more information. She decided they would not.

  ‘Any news on the Hughes case?’ Naomi asked and Sophie Willis allowed herself to be led on to neutral ground.

  ‘Nothing yet. Sightings that were probably the local milkman. You ask me, he’s long gone. Steel seems to think he’ll hang around.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be surprised,’ Naomi said. ‘He’ll want to see how everyone behaves, what reaction he’s got. I don’t know that you can expect him to do the sensible thing.’

  ‘Well, we’re here,’ Sophie said. ‘Here we go.’

  ‘Into battle?’ Naomi smiled at Sophie’s tone. ‘And the boy, Joey. Any news?’

  ‘Nothing good. But Steel has shoved more resources into catching Hughes. If he’s still around, we’ll get him for what he did.’

  As it happened, there was a conference on in the ugly steel and glass centre and so Julia Tennant was present – and not best pleased to see them again. She showed them into the same room and told a woman at reception that she was not to be disturbed.

  ‘What do you want?’

  Naomi spoke first. ‘Information. Hopefully you can give it to us without our having to go and apply for a warrant. If it got out that the Winslow Trust was obstructing a murder inquiry it wouldn’t play very well in the media, would it?’

  Sophie was a little startled that Naomi had taken the lead. Julia was furious. ‘Is that a threat?’ she asked. ‘If so, then it’s very ill judged. You are here, I believe, as a civilian. You have no authority—’

  ‘I don’t,’ Naomi agreed. ‘Neither do I have to be polite and circumspect, as my friend here does. And I’m also deeply resentful that you weren’t straight with us last time we were here.’

  ‘In what way? I answered your questions. I—’

  ‘Did you know that Victor Griffin had worked for you in the past? True, you might have known him then by his real name—’

  ‘Which was what? If he’d changed his name, how on earth was I supposed to recognize it?’

  ‘Because I suspect you already knew. I suspect that when Dr Pauley was asked to give Lisanne an interview you – or whoever her friend was within the organization (you do refer to your contacts as “friends”, don’t you?) – would have checked out the man she was living with. No one would want a scandal. No one would want to take the risk that a woman you’d been protecting had shacked up with a violent man, one with a record, one that was unacceptable.’

  ‘We don’t control people’s lives,’ Julia said. ‘We don’t do in- depth background checks of those they choose to live with after we’ve got them away.’

  ‘But you do some checking?’ Sophie interrupted.

  ‘Yes. We look for criminal records, anything obvious. Nothing came up for Victor Griffin.’

  ‘Then perhaps you could check it out now. Victor Griffin, a man you’d have known as Marcus Karadzic, worked for you about ten years ago, we think for about three years. From our information, he was dismissed from his job. We’d like to know why.’

  ‘I can’t just—’

  ‘I think you can,’ Naomi said. ‘And while you’re checking, perhaps you could see if he ever had access to this location.’ She took a slip of paper from her pocket on which was written the address of the house in Brighton. ‘Police are waiting to search it,’ she added.

  ‘Waiting?’ Julia looked at the piece of paper and Sophie saw a flash of recognition in her eyes. ‘The Trust rented this place for a while. It was too expensive to keep on. What are they waiting for?’

  ‘Apparently it’s structurally unsound,’ Sophie said. ‘Structural engineers are assessing it before they let our colleagues enter. Did Marcus Karadzic work there?’

  Julia shook her head. ‘I have no idea,’ she said.

  ‘But you can go and find out?’

  She hesitated and then seemed to make up her mind. ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she said. ‘Then you go. Come back again and I’ll be the one raising the media storm when I accuse you of harassment.’

  Naomi received a phone call from Alec on the way back. Gregory had called. The meeting would take place that evening, at the Dog. Alphonso Vitelli was sending a representative to hear what she had to say.

  A second phone call came through to Sophie’s phone. She was driving and her phone was on a hands free cradle. ‘Steel,’ she said. She pressed the speakerphone button. ‘Boss?’

  ‘They’ve gone into the Brighton house,’ he said. ‘There’s a sub basement that’s been blocked off behind a false wall. They’re focusing the search there. Any luck your end?’

  ‘Some, yes. Marcus Karadzic started as a general assistant; by the time he’d left he was working on their IT, creating databases and looking after their financial resources. He couldn’t actually touch any of the money himself, or so Julia Tennant reckons, but it looks as though he was sacked for trying.’

  ‘So, not such a white hat after all,’ Steel commented. ‘And if he tried it once—’

  ‘He may well have done it again, and against a less forgiving target,’ Sophie agreed.

  FIFTY-FOUR

  By the time they returned to Ferrymouth there was a little more information. The police search team had entered the sub basement and found another false wall, beyond which was a set of old school-style lockers. Three were locked and the locks appeared to be of the kind that the key in Thea’s letter
might fit. It seemed likely that anything hidden there would have been left by the man who became Victor Griffin.

  Steel paced impatiently waiting for more information as Sophie reprised what had happened when they met Julia Tennant this time around.

  ‘If the Baldwins or the Vitellis knew there was something hidden there, why didn’t they just look?’ Sophie asked.

  ‘I wondered the same thing. Apparently the place is a death trap. It took the engineers three hours to make it safe this morning. And anyone searching would have had to be aware that the basement was there, and that sections had been walled off. Apparently it had been done when the Trust rented it – I’d speculate that Vic had had a hand in it – but there was still a way in via a service hatch. You’d have to know it was there, and you’d have to be small enough to get through.’

  ‘Not Vic, then. He was a solid lump of a man.’

  ‘No, but Thea might have been slight enough to get inside. She must have left whatever’s down there just before she ran, perhaps thinking that as her family owned the building it would be safe in its hiding place indefinitely.’

  Steel nodded. ‘But now we’re just going to have to wait.’

  Gregory was waiting for Naomi at the Dog, sitting with Alec in the snug.

  ‘So, the meeting is on, then?’

  ‘It’s on. We’re just waiting for the call,’ Gregory said.

  ‘Where are we meeting?’

  ‘When I did my little scout around I found a place by the river. Parking and picnic spot, by the looks of it. No one around this time of year. It’s open and you can see anything coming for miles. It’s less likely that anyone will get jumpy.’

  ‘Not here, then?’

  ‘Too many curious eyes,’ Gregory told her. ‘This way is better. When we get the call you and I will walk up there while Alec goes to fetch Steel.’

  ‘You’re involving Steel?’

  ‘It’s better that way,’ Alec said. ‘Makes it sort of official.’

  ‘And the Vitellis know that?’

  ‘They know,’ Gregory said calmly. ‘We all want answers, don’t we? They see as well as I do that this saves time and could prevent a few repercussions later on.’

  ‘Repercussions?’

  Gregory shrugged. ‘There are times when you don’t need witnesses and times when you do,’ he said.

  Gregory’s phone rang. He listened. ‘This is it,’ he said.

  Steel hadn’t been sure what to think when Alec had come to fetch him but something in Alec’s manner told him not to ask too much until they were outside. Walking along the river path, Alec filled him in on what they had done.

  ‘You’re certifiable. The pair of you. You know that?’

  Alec shrugged. ‘It just seemed to us that the number of available witnesses to what actually happened when Thea Baldwin left is diminishing rather rapidly. There are clear indications, now, of something going on between the Baldwins and the Vitellis, and there have been enough deaths.’

  ‘And what do you hope to gain by this?’

  ‘The truth,’ Alec said. ‘What actually happened. Why Thea and Vic were killed; maybe even who was really responsible.’

  ‘You think the Vitellis organized the hit?’

  Alec shook his head. ‘Actually, no. My money’s on Roddy Baldwin.’

  A strong, damp wind blew across the estuary as they rounded the bend beside the river and came upon the picnic ground. A black car was parked up and beside it stood two men. A third, in a wheelchair, sat close by, his chair wheeled up to a picnic bench. The old man in the chair, dressed in a thick, dark coat, woollen scarf and grey fedora, was talking to Naomi. The man called Gregory stood nearby.

  Alec and Steel halted as one of the men stepped forward from the car.

  ‘Let him search you,’ Gregory instructed. ‘He needs to feel he’s doing his job.’

  Reluctantly Alec raised his arms and was patted down. To Steel’s surprise, when it was his turn the man treated his wounded arm gently. He looked at Gregory, who shrugged. ‘I expect he knows how much bullet wounds hurt,’ he said.

  They walked over to where Naomi sat. ‘This is Alphonso Vitelli,’ she said. ‘He would like to know how his grandson died.’

  This is surreal, Steel thought, but he sat down on the other bench, facing this old man with his paper-thin skin stretched tight over an over-large skull. ‘What do you want to know?’ he said.

  The old man had grown cold and his bodyguard had helped him back to his car. The second man came over and sat down beside Steel and the others.

  ‘Mr Vitelli has authorized me to give you certain information,’ he said, ‘on the understanding that Mr Vitelli and his family only discovered these pertinent facts over the past few days. Mr Vitelli and his family had no involvement in the events I am about to disclose and concerning which I have prepared a statement. Mr Vitelli would also like you to know that he is concerned for the welfare of his great granddaughter, Sarah. His legal team will be contacting the local social services tomorrow with a view to Mr Vitelli taking over her guardianship.’

  Steel frowned. ‘Mr Vitelli is a known—’

  The man held up a hand. ‘Mr Vitelli has a clean record,’ he said. ‘He is a respectable business man with the means and wherewithal to take care of his great grandchild.’

  ‘And he had nothing to do with her stepfather’s death, I suppose.’

  ‘Nothing whatsoever. Be assured that Mr Vitelli was at a loss to know the whereabouts of Marcus Karadzic. Our enquiries over the past few days have assured us that the man responsible for his death was Roderick Baldwin.’

  ‘And you can prove that, I suppose? What about this business deal between Baldwin and the Vitelli family? The property in Brighton—’

  ‘That the police are currently searching? Ten years ago, Mr Baldwin expressed an interest in broadening out his business portfolio. He came to Mr Vitelli’s son, Mr Thomas Vitelli, and asked advice. They came to an agreement. A business agreement. The Vitellis often invest in property; it is possible that Marcus had recommended the building to his cousin as a potential investment. We believe he was working there at the time. Before he changed his name, he was in regular contact with his family.’

  ‘Marcus and Thea,’ Naomi said.

  ‘Were unwise.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘They fell in love. They separated, but it seems that they remained in love. According to our enquiries – and you will find details of all of this in the statement – some seven years ago, Mr Marcus Karadzic was enticed, shall we say, into assisting Terry Baldwin in a criminal act. Terry had the connections, Marcus had the skill. He’d already tried to defraud the Winslow Trust and failed, and been sacked for his trouble, but Terry believed that a second attempt at theft would be successful. The consequence was that, acting on information received from Terry Baldwin, Marcus … misappropriated a substantial amount of money.’

  ‘Where from?’

  The lawyer smiled. ‘In the main from the Baldwin family,’ he said. ‘The Baldwins realized that Marcus was involved, so he had to disappear, assume a new identity. At that point, Roddy Baldwin had no idea that his own brother had also been involved; Terry believed he’d got away with it. What Terry didn’t know was that Marcus had taken Thea into his confidence and the two of them had planned for her to join him, once they were sure they were out of the Baldwins’ reach. Terry never found out, until Marcus and Thea were dead, that his ex wife hadn’t just run away – she’d run into Marcus’s arms. Recently, it seems, Roddy Baldwin finally tracked Marcus down, despite all of their efforts to hide, and found him with Thea. He sent representatives to try and … persuade them to return what they had taken. It seems that they told Roddy Baldwin about his brother’s involvement and told him, correctly as it happens, that Terry had access to half the funds. Roddy seems to have fooled Terry into believing that a third party was willing to kill his wife and child, and, shall we say, facilitate Terry’s removal from prison, if he provi
ded details of the accounts holding the stolen money.’

  ‘Oh, come on, even Terry isn’t that stupid! He’s doing an eighteen-year stretch.’

  ‘Because of evidence that his own wife handed over. Evidence that she might have fabricated, a lawyer could argue.’

  ‘So Terry Baldwin believed something could be done because that’s what he wanted to be true,’ Steel said. ‘Incidentally, there’s a flaw to your boss’s plan to adopt Sarah. Victor Griffin wasn’t Sarah’s biological father. He had no legal rights.’

  ‘Victor Griffin loved Sarah like his own child. That is one thing that everyone agrees upon, I believe. His last act was to try to save the life of his children. And Mr Vitelli has very good legal counsel.’

  ‘What happened to Thea and Marcus’s half of the money?’ Naomi asked. ‘Is it in the basement of that house?’

  The lawyer shook his head. ‘I doubt it,’ he said. ‘Marcus Karadzic seems to have moved it into offshore accounts. They dipped into those funds only on rare occasions. They were patient and careful. It seems that he wanted to do this one job, just so that they could escape from Terry Baldwin and his family.’

  ‘He tried to defraud the Winslow Trust,’ Naomi objected.

  ‘The Trust brought no charges.’ He stood up and laid an envelope on the picnic table. ‘You should find all you need in there,’ he said.

  They watched him walk back to the car and Naomi shivered. The wind had grown colder and threatened rain and she had been sitting still for too long. The black car drove away; she heard the crunch of gravel beneath its wheels and then it was gone.

  FIFTY-FIVE

  Joey Hughes gave up his fight for life at eight o’clock that evening. Irregular as it might have been, Maggie had managed to get permission to sit with him and she was there, holding his hand, when he died. And now she didn’t seem to know how to stop crying.

  She had wept with Sarah and with Tel and with Stacy, and then cried some more when she spoke to Steel.