by S G Read
‘I’ll keep plugging away to see if I can find out about the imposter.’ Lorna answered.
‘Is there anything else to be done?’
‘I still have options, as you say, never leave a stone unturned.’ Lorna answered.
‘I thought you’d turned all the stones?’
‘Now I am turning stones I didn’t think to turn before, you get on to your chatter.’ Lorna answered.
They carried on doing what they wanted, John using his clearance to listen to old recordings of chatter, and their translation. He selected dates where they had no knowledge of who was killed and listened to reports but only in the area Clementine was at that time. It was long and tiring work especially after a day in the office.
‘I have done the next stage of my search, shall I go on to the petty cash receipts?’ Lorna asked after two hours.
‘No need, they are all done.’
‘All of them? Did you sleep here all week?’ Lorna asked.
‘Almost but I did have the office to run as well.’ John answered. ‘It just shows how much I rely on you.’
‘Then you’d best not let anything happen to me.’ Lorna declared.
‘Winfield would be the first to suffer if I thought he had a hand in it!’ John said softly.
‘The shame is that I wouldn’t be around to see it.’
‘Well you might get to see his reappointed when I present the files to the PM.’ John answered on a brighter note.
‘I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see Marion’s face when she hears her mortuary is being bugged and she just had it swept for them.’
‘Just take care where you speak to her, you can never be too careful with Winfield. I think he has an inferiority complex, not helped by the fact that he is such a dick head.’
Lorna laughed.
‘Anything on the chatter?’ She asked.
‘I have one name to add, Dmitri Declocroque. A dissident student who disappeared in the middle of a student uprising never to be seen again. It sounds like a Clementine hit. Go in as a student, lure him to a waiting car and when he wakes up he is at the bottom of the ocean.’
‘Shall I add him to the list?’
‘Yes Lorna, if he should turn up between now and when I present the file I can soon delete his name. When I see Clementine next I will ask her about the list.’
Lorna added the name and the date he disappeared.
‘Why leave him off the list?’ She asked.’
‘Winfield was probably doing a favour for a friend. Gaining brownie points or paying back a previous favour.’ John explained.
‘And each favour costs someone their life?’
‘That is about the size of it,’ John admitted, ‘too much of it goes on if you ask me. Some deserve to die but then again some do not.’
‘And sometimes the ones who deserve to die sometimes end up running a country.’ Lorna snorted.
‘They do that.’ John agreed. ‘Then the appointer realizes that they have unleashed a devil and cannot get rid of him!’
‘And they run the country!’ Lorna complained.
‘They do.’
‘Well I can’t do any more so I am going to my castle, my well bugged castle.’
‘Shall we have them debugged just to give Winfield something to keep him occupied?’ John asked.
‘What can you give as a reason?’
‘I will say it is in case Clementine has been around bugging to find out what is happening.’ John answered.
‘They might wear that one.’ Lorna declared. ‘As the female I get first say in the bet on how fast Winfield has the bugs back in place!’
‘That goes without saying, but I shall still win. A tenner is it?’
‘A tenner it is. I will give my timing after they have been debugged.’ Lorna answered.
They finished what they were doing and made their way home. Lorna went home to a banquet, cooked by herself, to make up not eating for a week. John just made a snack and watched television.
John arrived in the morning sporting a bug detector. Lorna looked up from her work and saw what it was. She mouthed the word ‘how’ and he just smiled. They spent an hour going round both offices marking the bugs and removing them for storage in a sound proof box, then John went out of the office; with the bug detector.
Lorna carried on with her work but leapt out of her chair when the Prime Minister walked in with John. John did not say anything but opened the box and pointed to the bugs inside. He highlighted it by using the bug detector which flashed when it was near a bug, he closed the box and the Prime Minister nodded. The two men walked out again without speaking and Lorna dropped back into her seat.
‘So what was that all about?’ Lorna asked when John returned alone.
‘Just pointing out that everywhere is bugged, even his office. I took his bug and you can trace it through the serial number but I doubt if it will lead back to Winfield. That way I can say Clementine put it there to find out if Winfield was ordering her termination. I did lie to the PM. I said Clementine was well and still doing her job in a very pretty and sexy way.’
‘She didn’t?’
‘What sleep with the PM? Not while he was the PM but she did sleep with him before he became PM.’ John answered.
‘She gets around.’
‘She does that.’ John answered. He laid the bug on the table and covered it with his hand. ‘Trace that one and then the ones in the box. Then we will find a way to destroy them to cause as much discomfort to those listening. Oh and handle it by the wires only. ’
Lorna nodded and John walked into his bug free office. It felt good to be able to speak whenever he wanted to without having to think about whether he should say what he was going to say or not.
Lorna spent the next three hours tracing the bugs by their serial numbers and then filling out a spread sheet with the relevant information about the bug. Where it was made, where it was purchased and who bought it. All bar one was a cash purchase, the exception was bought by using a credit card, a personal credit card and it was one of Winfield’s workers. She made sure all the bugs were in the box and walked in to see John.
‘Winfield’s balls are on the block. One of his idiots bought the bug in the PM’s office with his credit card.’ Lorna informed him.
‘No!’ John cried in dismay. ‘A bit of a fo pah and could lead to heads rolling. Dot the I’s and cross the T’s and I will let the PM read it.’
‘Can I be there when he gets the chop?’ Lorna asked.
‘It will never reach Winfield Lorna. The operative will fall on his sword for the good of the country but only metaphorically I hope!’ John answered.
‘He is a slippery son of a bitch.’
‘Keep those bugs in a safe place and I will have Marion lift some fingerprints off them.’
‘I gathered that when you told me I had to hold them by the wires.’ Lorna replied.
‘Just covering all bases, thinking outside the box as they say.’ John declared. ‘Now let us give someone an ear ache.’
He produced an air horn which was usually used to start boat races. Took out one of the bugs and laid it on the desk.
‘Did you hear about the petty cash receipts?’ He said letting his voice fade to invigilate the man or men listening to both turn up the volume and to call Winfield to listen.
‘You mean the…’ Lorna started and lowered her voice to a whisper…’things you found?’
‘Yes, especially the…’ All the time he spoke his voice dropped lower and lower.
They both covered their ears with the defenders John supplied and he pulled the trigger on the air horn causing a very loud honking noise which blared out giving just one loud note until he stopped pulling the trigger. John put the bug back into the box and walked out of the office, carrying the bugs, air horn and defenders.
Winfield arrived in the office ten minutes later looking for John. Lorna was pleased to see him fingering his ear trying to stop them ringing. She tried to look as ins
crutable as possible, even though that she knew that he knew that they were responsible.
‘Is John about?’ He asked.
‘Out on an errand, the PM was in earlier, it could be something to do with that.’ Lorna answered. ‘Is there something I can do?’
‘No, can you ask him to call me when he returns please?’
‘I will tell him as soon as he gets back.’ Lorna answered, thinking seriously about adding that he was at the forensics laboratory but she bit the bullet and said nothing.
Winfield walked out and Lorna glared after him.
‘One day you will get your comeuppance.’ She said softly and carried on with her work.
John returned four hours later. Lorna could picture Winfield climbing up the wall in his office waiting for John to phone.
‘Winfield dropped in for a chat and asks if you will phone him?’ Lorna enlightened him.
John looked at his watch.
‘Too late today, I will phone him in the morning.’ He replied.
Ten minutes later they both went home.
They met at Lorna’s aunt’s house later and Lorna read her emails. When she read one, a big smile grew on her face.
‘So who is thinking outside the box now, I know the name of the imposter!’ She exclaimed.
‘I thought they weren’t on the twin’s register anywhere?’
‘They aren’t as they are triplets.’ Lorna said smugly.
‘Identical triplets! Of course, three places at more or less the same time, has to be triplets but where does that leave Clementine?’
‘I can’t tell you his Christian name but his surname is Lautrec.’ Lorna added.
‘No with identical triplets the DNA is the same but when I find out who is still alive and which one is missing I will know who we have on ice. If they have killed Clementine and replaced her I will definitely turn them over to Winfield.’
‘I wouldn’t wish that on anyone really but if they have killed Clementine they deserve it, there was no real harm in Clementine!’
‘Harm! She was a trained assassin and she used all her worldly charms to get the job done.’
‘That was just her job though.’ Lorna argued. ‘She didn’t go around killing people willy nilly like Winfield does.’
‘He doesn’t actually kill them himself, he has people like Clementine to do it for him!’ John declared.
‘You know what I mean.’ Lorna answered.
‘I do, he is out of control but kid gloves for the present or we might find ourselves at the bottom of the ocean with weights to keep us down.’ John warned.
‘I thought that died out with Al Capone?’
‘The old methods still work so they are still used. A quick bullet is alright for some but even the PM would smell a rat if we were both assassinated at the same time while we were sorting out this petty cash thing.’ John answered.
‘So what happens now over this Lautrec business?’
‘That depends, what did you find out?’ John answered with a question.
‘How do you mean?’ Lorna answered doing the same.
‘Do we know where they live? Are their parents alive? Are they receiving any government payouts that we could find out their address from?’
‘Oh that stuff. I will let you know when I find out.’
‘When I know more I can tell you what I am going to do about it.’ John answered.
‘Slave driver!’ Lorna retorted.
She returned to her searches on line and also sent out more emails and despite getting some information she refused to divulge it until she had it all. John had to settle for going home without knowing, in the dark both ways.
In the morning he walked up to see Winfield but he was not in, Spearforth told John that he had gone to see his doctor.
‘Nothing trivial I hope.’ John retorted.
‘Just a check up, oh and he has something wrong with his ear.’ Spearforth answered.
‘You are supposed to be a spook, should you divulge such information?’ John asked lightly, he liked Spearforth.
‘I didn’t tell you which ear, did I.’ He replied with a laugh.
‘That reminds me of an Andy Cap cartoon some years ago.’ John replied.
‘The one with the pencil, I have it up on my wall at home to make sure I never get that lazy.’ Spearforth declared. ‘That and a few others which give me a laugh after a hard day.’
‘I can imagine. Let him know I called to see him please.’
‘I will do when he comes in Mr. Fairchild.’ Spearforth answered and John returned to his office.
‘What did he have to say?’ Lorna asked, always inquisitive.
‘He was out, gone to the doctor’s about his ear.’
‘Which one?’
‘That information was withheld from me.’ John answered and laughed.
‘Not hard to work out though.’ Lorna declared. ‘If he was listening in with one ear piece he would have held it with his right hand and therefore it would have been up to his right ear!’
‘Sherlock Holmes strikes again.’
‘Well he was massaging his right ear when he came in yesterday.’ Lorna admitted.
‘Cheat! But your logic was quite correct.’ John exclaimed.
Winfield did not come in during the day but they did have several visitors and deliveries. After each delivery or visit John swept the office and removed any bugs which had suddenly appeared in the office. They were all put in a box for Marion or Angela to do their thing with them, after Lorna had recorded the serial numbers and any other salient facts.
The Prime Minister arrived personally in Winfield’s office during the morning looking for Winfield who was still missing.
‘Spearforth isn’t it.’ He asked.
‘Yes Prime Minister.’
‘Is Alex here Spearforth?’
‘No Prime Minister, he is at the doctors for his check up.’
‘Can you get in touch with him then?’
‘Of course Prime Minister.’
Spearforth made a phone call and waited until Winfield answered.
‘The Prime Minister is here to see you Mr. Winfield…’
The Prime Minister took the phone out of his hand.
‘I am asking why a bug which was planted in my office, and I repeat, my office! Was paid for by Victor Thompson’s credit card?’ He asked.
‘I will bring him in and ask him Prime Minister, I am wondering the same thing myself!’ Winfield answered honestly. His interest was why in the hell he used his own credit card and did not withdraw cash which would have been untraceable. He did not say as much to the Prime Minister but his mind was racing.
‘I will be waiting for an explanation and soon Alex.’ The Prime Minister warned and passed the phone back to Spearforth before walking out of the office.
‘What do I do Mr. Winfield?’ Spearforth asked after he had walked to the door to make sure the Prime Minister had indeed gone.
‘A tricky one Spearforth, Vic is a good operative but he has let the side down and the only way out is a code seven.’ Winfield answered after a few seconds.
‘No!’
‘Yes Spearforth, I have to protect my position so issue a code seven for Victor Thompson now and get Clementine to do it, that is fitting.’
‘Are you sure Mr. Winfield?’
‘I am and if it is not issued very soon I will be issuing another code seven for someone else!’ Winfield warned.
Spearforth rang off and issued a code seven for Clementine to carry out, leaving Victor Thompson in serious trouble. He sat in the office, he had ordered a lot of deaths by various means but not a fellow workers. He remembered the situation well, Winfield had ordered the Prime Minister’s office bugged with a certain type of bug which they did not have and it had to be done immediately, which was the same for all Winfield’s ideas, immediately if not before. With no cash and no way of getting cash Victor had used his credit card rather than the official credit card, therefore forfeiting his life if
it was found.
Charles Lautrec picked up the order soon after it was sent and he discussed it with his surviving brother Pierre, while they ate lunch.
‘It will take both of us to make sure he is never seen again.’ Charles suggested.
‘I think you are right Charles. If we travel through the tunnel as two different people and then meet at the proposed target’s stake out we can be home for a decent meal tonight.’
‘I will book a fishing vessel to transport the target to where he is going to end up.’ Charles offered. ‘That way we do not have to ride around trying to hire one.’
‘Make it away from prying eyes Charles, and make sure the man hiring the boat is not close enough to see anything.’
‘I know the very boatyard and the very boat. I have used it before and he loves repeat custom, especially as I pay over the odds for a fishing trip.’
‘I will pack my fishing gear then Charles. We could eat fresh fish, caught by one of us tonight.’
‘A pleasant thought. I will look in on mother before I go to make sure she is still well and let her know someone will see her tomorrow.’ Charles replied. ‘She might like some fresh fish as well.’
‘I am sure she would but do not promise anything in case we are catch less.’
‘I will promise as we can nip by the harbor and buy something as it comes in, or of the stalls. That fish is always fresh.’
‘Yes it is but could she still tell the difference?’ Pierre asked.
‘Not in her condition but I will be happy to be proved wrong old chap.’ Charles answered practicing his English voice.
‘Jolly hockey sticks and all that!’ Pierre answered.
‘I wonder if anyone ever really said that.’
‘They are English.’ Pierre pointed out.
Winfield made a point of not returning to the office at all so that the Prime Minister could not find him. He stayed away from all of his normal haunts and ate in a restaurant that he had never eaten at before. Had he asked Lorna she could have warned him to stay away from it but then she would have probably told him to enjoy his meal.
The two Belgians travelled through the channel tunnel, each in a different car. They knew they could not charge for both on expenses but it ensured one did get through and carried out the assignment if the other was detained for any reason.
