‘What the hell happened?’ Strathen asked anxiously.
‘Someone didn’t like me being on the same road as him. I’m afraid there’s a bit of damage to your car.’
‘Sod that,’ Strathen readily dismissed. ‘Is Helen OK?’
‘Apart from being cold, wet and in shock, yes. She’s inside the pub. We need to get her somewhere safe.’
‘Leave it to me.’ Strathen reached for his phone as Marvik returned to the pub. He fetched Helen and they climbed into the rear of the taxi as Strathen climbed in the front and gave directions to the driver to head for Arundel, ten miles east of Chichester. Helen said nothing. Perhaps she was too wet and too dazed to enquire where they were going. Marvik had no idea who Strathen was taking them to.
Before they reached the market town with its eleventh-century castle, the family home of the Dukes of Norfolk, perched high on its hill, Strathen gave directions to the driver to turn off and soon they were winding their way through a small estate of bungalows. The driver pulled up outside a large one on a corner plot and the door opened immediately to reveal a couple in their mid-thirties.
Strathen paid off the driver and swiftly introduced Colin and Amy Chester. Colin Chester, like Strathen, was an amputee. Strathen didn’t need to explain where they’d met, but he did. It was at the military rehabilitation centre at Headley Court in Surrey. Colin Chester was ex-army.
The bungalow had been extended and Amy Chester led Marvik and Helen to the bedrooms on the right of the property. ‘The bathroom’s next door,’ she said, indicating beyond the guest bedroom. ‘The main bedroom beyond the bathroom has an en-suite. The twins are in the bedroom opposite. They’re five. They won’t disturb you.’
Marvik could hear them talking through the slightly open door. He told Helen to take the main bedroom and en suite and he’d shower in the family bathroom adjoining the spare room.
Amy Chester said, ‘I’ll let you have some of Colin’s clothes and Helen you can borrow some of mine. I’ll bring them in. Let me have your dirty things and I’ll run them through the washing machine.’
‘This is very good of you.’
But she waved aside Marvik’s gratitude. ‘There are fresh towels in both bathrooms but if you need anything just ask.’
Marvik quickly showered and found Colin’s clothes laid out on the king-sized bed in the tastefully decorated and modern guest bedroom when he emerged. They were a goodish fit. Chester, like Strathen, kept himself fit and both had good upper body strength. He bundled up his own sodden and soiled clothes and took them into the kitchen at the rear of the house which had been cleverly extended into the garden. He couldn’t see how big the latter was but there were no lights of houses beyond it so either it backed on to bungalows or the countryside.
Strathen and Chester were seated at the table in the kitchen. Strathen spoke. ‘Helen and I can stay here for a couple of days.’
Colin, a fair-haired man with a keen expression, said, ‘For as long as you need to.’
‘Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome to stay too, Art, but Shaun says you might have other arrangements. I’ll contact the garage in the morning and get the Volvo towed here.’
Marvik felt bad about the Volvo being out of action because it would restrict Strathen’s mobility. He began to apologize but Strathen made light of it.
‘Taxis will do for now.’
‘I can take you anywhere you need to go,’ Chester volunteered.
Marvik wondered how much Shaun had told Colin Chester of their mission. Probably enough but not too much. Looking at him, Marvik saw a man intelligent enough to have joined up some of the dots but he wouldn’t be able to complete the picture because not even he and Shaun could do that yet. Perhaps they might never be able to and that thought horrified him and made him even more determined to find out what the hell was going on.
To Strathen, Marvik said, ‘Can you continue working from here?’
‘Yes.’ He was prevented from saying more by the arrival of Amy Chester with Helen. She was dressed in black trousers and a white jumper that fitted quite well. She was only about three years younger than Amy but without her make-up Marvik saw in her raw and exposed face all the pain and insecurity of her youth and the years of anxiety and anger following her sister’s death. Amy Chester had her problems too; there was anxiety and concern in her eyes and in the lines of her fair face and yet it was softened by love, an emotion that was missing from Helen’s and possibly his own, he thought with a pang of regret which he hastily pushed aside.
He would have liked a doctor to check Helen over but that would have meant revealing her location and he and Strathen had agreed they couldn’t risk that. He didn’t think Helen would agree to a medical examination anyway.
Colin Chester rose. ‘You’d like to talk. I’ll show you to the lounge. We’ll call you when dinner’s ready.’
Strathen smiled his thanks and after Colin Chester had left them in the comfortably furnished and modern lounge, Marvik asked one of the many questions that had been bugging him. ‘How come you reached us so quickly, Shaun?’ Marvik caught the sounds of the meal being prepared in the kitchen and the laughter and chatter of the twins in their parents’ bedroom.
‘As soon as I got back from Mrs Handley’s flat I realized you’d given me the slip, Helen.’
‘I’m not sorry,’ she said defiantly. ‘And neither am I sorry about showing up at that slime ball Wycombe’s house.’
Strathen continued. ‘It was just after four and I rang for a taxi, which took ages to arrive. By the time I reached the station the train had left. I tried ringing you, Art, to warn you where Helen was heading. I thought the taxi would reach you before Helen did but there was an accident on the A27 between Emsworth and Chichester. Both carriageways were blocked, the road closed and we sat there for two hours doing sod all. If I could have walked or run it I’d have done so. By the time we got through and I was at Itchenor outside Wycombe’s house there was no sign of either of you. Then I got your call. Any idea who ran you off the road?’
‘All I could see was a dark hooded figure in a black Range Rover. The car came out of the turn off from the marina. How could Wycombe have summoned that kind of assistance so quickly? And why wait in the turn off to the marina?’ More questions that had been gnawing at him.
‘The driver knew you were coming from Wycombe’s place and there is no other road you’d take to reach Chichester.’
‘But we might have swung east and taken the road to Bognor.’
‘He gambled you’d return to Chichester and take the main road back to Portsmouth and Southampton. And there are several ways he could have known you were at Wycombe’s place.’ Strathen addressed Helen. ‘Someone could have followed you, which means whoever it is knew you were staying with me.’
‘I didn’t see anyone suspicious,’ she declared, clearly thinking of her fellow train passengers.
‘Perhaps you were too engrossed in thinking about what you’d say to Wycombe to notice,’ Strathen answered, then quickly continued. ‘But I don’t think anyone followed you because it’s far more likely there’s a tracking device on my car.’
Marvik hadn’t searched for one. Maybe he should have done.
Strathen continued. ‘It’s likely to have been planted when my car was at the marina where you left it, Art, before I collected it and I didn’t check it over. I should have done. It’s probably a live GPS vehicle-powered tracker, rather than a battery-operated one that would need recharging. It would have been sending a signal to report the exact location of the vehicle in real time, which means that whoever was tracking it at the other end knows you went to Weymouth and Bordon, then to Portsmouth and on to Itchenor and it wouldn’t have taken much to assume that your visits to Portsmouth and then Itchenor were linked with Vince Wycombe. The driver of the Range Rover only needed to wait for you to drive away from Itchenor to know where and how to intercept you. The device could be under the radiator, behind the back bumper, in th
e wheel wells or in the wheel axle underneath the car. Instead of phoning the garage to collect the car it might be better if I went with Colin tomorrow and swept it before moving it in case the device is still transmitting.’
Marvik agreed. If his Land Rover had also been located then that too could contain a tracking device. Maybe it did anyway: there had been ample time to place one while he’d been away from the cottage. It had probably been fitted while he’d been taking Charlotte to Southampton last Thursday.
Strathen went on. ‘There is also the possibility that my apartment is bugged and someone’s been listening into my conversations, so they’d know you were heading for Wycombe’s place. I did a sweep of it this morning and it was clean but that doesn’t mean to say it is now or it was when I left. The apartment was empty between the time you left, Helen, and I returned from Mrs Handley’s. I phoned you, Art, and left a message to say where I thought Helen was heading. It was careless of me.
‘The other possibility is that Vera Pedlowe could have told whoever is behind this that I asked for the lists of those who attended the fund-raising events, and I also asked who attended the Remembrance Service in 1997. She told me that it was Roger Witley. He could be giving the orders from Germany.’
‘If he’s really in Germany.’
‘Yes. Or perhaps he’s relaying the information to someone here who is making sure the trail stays closed.’
‘Whoever it is didn’t tell Wycombe because he was surprised to see us. If Wycombe knows who Esther’s killer is, or knows something about her murder, then surely someone would have got to him before us to make sure he said nothing.’
‘Perhaps they judged he’d keep his mouth shut because he has a lot to lose.’
‘Or he has nothing to do with her death. He had an affair with her, yes, and he failed to declare an interest at her trial but perhaps he really did believe Blackerman killed her.’
Helen looked highly sceptical. ‘Unless he killed her and he’s the bloke who’s organizing the planting of all these bugs and nearly killing us. He had this maniac in that road waiting for us. Maybe he’s just good at acting surprised.’
But Marvik could swear his reaction had been genuine.
Helen continued. ‘Perhaps Esther found out something about him and threatened to tell the police, especially after he ditched her.’
Marvik said, ‘If she did then she couldn’t have named Wycombe to Blackerman otherwise he’d not have chosen him to defend him.’
Strathen said, ‘But Wycombe could still be involved in her murder. Perhaps Esther overheard him discussing something with someone who couldn’t take the risk that she wouldn’t repeat it. And it could be a financial scam, as we previously discussed, prior to DRTI being set up.’
Marvik frowned as he recalled what Louise Tournbury had told him. ‘Ashley Palmer’s former girlfriend says he’s scrupulously honest. According to her he’d have certainly exposed a fraud if he’d discovered it. Perhaps he confided his fears to the wrong person. And the same could have applied to Esther, except that DRTI didn’t exist then.’
‘But Danavere could still have been attracting finance from government sources. When Wycombe ditched her she also told the wrong person, and I don’t mean Blackerman but her killer. Witley served in the same regiment as Jim Shannon. She’d certainly have admitted him to her room at the club. Esther believed she could trust him because he had known her father. Blackerman became the fall guy for Esther’s murder and a perfect one because he’d slept with her. Palmer’s been set up as having sold valuable information to a competitor before vanishing. Whoever it is has leaked this information to make everyone believe Palmer’s dishonest and if his body shows up then they’ll believe he’s been killed by unscrupulous rivals.’
Marvik agreed it was a possibility.
Strathen continued. ‘But the reason for Esther’s death and Palmer’s disappearance might not be fraud. I’ve been working on another theory, and one that was sparked by you, Art, when you suggested that Charlotte and Ashley might have met at a medical seminar. I haven’t been able to check that out yet but I will.’
Marvik sat forward eagerly. ‘Go on.’
‘Perhaps what both Esther and Ashley discovered was a medical cover-up. Not drugs, because Danavere aren’t involved in testing or manufacturing drugs, but it could be connected with the design and manufacture of a faulty medical device, and Wycombe could have been called in to give Danavere legal advice on it seventeen years ago.’
Helen said, ‘But is that enough of a reason to kill someone?’
Marvik answered, ‘Anything can be a reason to kill if someone thinks their livelihood, reputation, or way of life is threatened. Or if they believe they’ve been insulted or compromised. They might also be a psychopath or suffering from some kind of maniacal personality disorder.’ He addressed Strathen. ‘How would this work?’
‘The MHRA, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they do what they’re supposed to do and are safe. It’s an executive agency of the Department of Health. It’s responsible for the regulation of medicines, medical devices and equipment used in healthcare and for the investigation of harmful incidents. It also looks after blood and blood products, to improve blood quality and safety. So let’s say that one of the medical devices designed by Chiron and manufactured by Danavere is being used or trialled in 1997 or just before then. It could be equipment used for the diagnosis or treatment of a disease, or for monitoring patients, or assisting them, like my prosthetic leg for example. But this equipment or device caused unwanted side effects on a patient or on someone using the device in order to help a patient. He or she could have been permanently injured, or possibly died as a result of the failure of the device – a faulty reading, maybe, or a misdiagnosis that led to the wrong treatment. The fault could have been caused by faulty design, hence involving Dr Shelley and his sister, or perhaps Danavere cut corners when they manufactured it. They made modifications to save money or time. They had to hush it up or they’d find they had a huge law suit on their hands which would effectively push them out of business.’
Marvik had it in a second. ‘Ashley Palmer, in the course of his research, discovered old files on this.’
‘Yes.’
‘And there might have been more than one person who suffered as a result of the faulty equipment or device; they could have been using it or trialling it on service personnel or veterans.’
Hence the involvement of the intelligence services and possibly naval intelligence, thought Marvik.
Strathen added, ‘The devices were hastily recalled under some pretext and destroyed, but not until after Esther had been killed to prevent her from telling what she knew or suspected.’
‘If it’s true then how the hell do we prove any of this?’ Helen cried in exasperation.
‘We can’t, not yet,’ Marvik answered. ‘But we need to force the pace. I’m going to talk to Duncan Ross tomorrow and put pressure on him. I’ll come clean about what I’m doing and ask him to tell me what Blackerman told him about his conversation with Esther in that lift.’
‘And will he tell you?’ Helen said dubiously.
‘Probably not, but we’ll soon know if he’s involved.’ He glanced at Strathen and saw he understood his meaning.
Helen said, ‘But what are we going to do about Wycombe?’
‘Nothing. We need proof. It’s his word against ours and the police won’t investigate, or if they do then whoever is behind this is powerful enough to see any investigation stalls.’
‘I could go back to him.’
‘No. You’re staying here with Shaun.’
‘I …’
‘No, Helen. The risk is too great. I need you helping Shaun. Please.’
She made to protest but Marvik could see she was exhausted both physically and mentally. She capitulated. There was no further chance for debate anyway because Colin Chester came to tel
l them their meal was ready.
All further discussion was postponed until Marvik and Strathen were alone. Helen had retired to bed. Marvik said, ‘I need to return to the Hamble and fetch my boat.’
‘And I want to check out the flat and pick up my laptop. We’d better not use Colin’s car because it could be traced back here; the same goes for calling a cab from here but if Colin drops us off at Chichester railway station we could get a taxi from there.’
Marvik swallowed two more strong painkillers to dull his throbbing head before setting out. Colin dropped them as arranged at Chichester station where they transferred to a taxi for the thirty-mile journey to Hamble.
There was no sign of anyone watching them when they reached Strathen’s apartment but as he inserted the key in the door of his flat he said, ‘Feels sticky.’ Marvik knew he wasn’t referring to glue or grubby hands but that the lock hadn’t opened as smoothly as it should have done, a sure sign that it had been manipulated.
Strathen disabled the security alarm. They said nothing. In the office, Strathen flicked on the light. Everything looked to be in the same position, but only Strathen would know whether it actually was. He leaned over one of the desks and switched on a PC. Marvik stood directly behind him as though waiting to get into the seat and blocking the view to Strathen, who said, ‘While that fires up I’ll make some coffee. We’ll need to download what I’ve got and take it with us.’
‘Right.’ Marvik stepped aside to let Strathen go ahead of him then followed him into the hall and into the kitchen. Strathen was carrying a holdall. ‘I’ll stuff some clean clothes in this. It’ll be enough for a few days. Coffee first though.’
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