Die Twice

by Simon Kernick

  The meeting broke up at ten past ten and Knox, after doling out orders to various individuals and trying to solve a couple of minor grievances, one involving Boyd and Capper and an alleged sexist comment, called me into his office. Neither of us was in the best of moods and the sweltering heat in the office did little to help matters. Knox had two desk fans blasting away but all they did was push the hot air around the confines of the room.

  ‘Look, John, I know you’re pissed off because you don’t think things are moving as quickly as you’d like on this case, but you know how things are.’ I didn’t say anything. ‘I’m going to speak to DCI Peppard, DI Burley’s boss, later this morning to see what information we can get from them. If they pick up Jean Tanner, I’ll make sure we get the opportunity to question her about Matthews, and see what she may or may not know. We’ll also chase them to find out how McBride died and whether they’ve got any leads on who may have killed him.’

  ‘DI Burley wasn’t exactly helpful, sir.’

  ‘He can be very brash, I admit.’

  ‘He treated me like a criminal. We’re meant to be on the same side.’

  Knox’s face reddened. He had the look of a man who’s been given the job of counsellor without actually wanting it. ‘It’s not like that. Burley’s territorial. He doesn’t like people, even fellow officers, muscling in on his patch.’

  ‘I was hardly muscling in. I was actually trying to help him.’

  ‘I’m sure you were, it’s just that that’s not how he interprets it. He’s not very good sometimes around younger officers. I think he thinks they’re upstarts.’ He gave a reassuring and vaguely patronizing smile as he said this – not that I thought there was anything particularly amusing about it. I continued to look at him stony-faced.

  Seeing that he didn’t seem to be making much of an impression on his disgruntled charge, Knox changed tack. ‘Whichever way we look at it, Roy Fowler still remains for me the prime suspect. He of all people had a motive. Now, I’m not letting this inquiry go, no way. What we need to do is to look into Fowler’s background much more deeply because he is most definitely the key to all this.’ Warming to his theme in a way that had been conspicuously absent in the meeting earlier, he continued, occasionally banging his fist on the desk for emphasis. ‘He and Matthews were definitely involved in the drug dealing. It’s a lucrative business. I’m sure they fell out about it, and it’s very likely that that fall-out somehow led to his death. Why else would Fowler have disappeared? Unless he’s got something to hide. He’s been gone, what? Three, four days now. Which I would describe as highly irregular. And didn’t you and Berrin tell him not to go anywhere during the course of the inquiry?’ I told him we had. ‘So let’s concentrate on him. I want you to review the case notes, go back and talk to his associates, particularly staff members at the Arcadia, and Capper and Hunsdon are going to dig deeper into what he’s been up to in the past. What scams he was involved in, particularly this brothel business. This Heavenly Girls. That might give us some ideas. It’s time for some lateral thinking.’

  ‘My lateral thinking would be helped a great deal, sir, if I didn’t have to worry about a missing persons case as well.’

  Knox sighed. ‘I know it’s not ideal, but you know the problems we’ve got with manpower. I’ve got to put bodies on that indecent assault yesterday. The media are already sniffing around. She’s a very pretty girl, and, worse than that, her parents are high-band council taxpayers with a lot of clout, so we’re going to need a fast result. No-one wants an animal like that running loose, particularly when he’s doing everything possible to make his crime as high-profile as possible, so we’re going to have to show plenty of faces. I’ve also got the Drugs Squad breathing down my neck for help on some major surveillance they’re running. Operation Swift Strike it’s called, though swift it most certainly ain’t, and it’s likely to take people out of the loop for the next three or four days. You see what I’m saying?’

  ‘Of course I do, sir, and I appreciate the manpower problems. We’ve always got them. But you’re paring back the murder squad to an absolute minimum, and with Berrin off sick, I think I should really be concentrating my efforts on the case.’ I resisted the urge to add, ‘You see what I’m saying?’ I still wanted to make DI again after all, and I’d more than made my point today.

  ‘This is very much a routine one, John, and it shouldn’t take you long. The bloke’s ex-wife phoned in this morning, says she hasn’t heard from him in days, and that he’s missed two family functions which is apparently not like him at all.’ He gave me the standard look of weary scepticism which greeted any family members’ description of someone’s actions as being ‘not like him at all’. ‘But the point is, he’s a big bloke, an ex-con and ex-soldier who works as a freelance bodyguard, so he’s not likely to have come to much harm. He’s probably just gone off somewhere for a few days but I want you to give it a quick once-over. Apparently, he does most of his work for a company called Tiger Solutions.’

  I snorted. ‘What sort of name is that?’

  ‘A very foolish one. His ex says she’s already contacted them and they haven’t seen him for a week or two themselves, but I’d like you to speak to them when you’ve got a moment, and then give the ex a call and tell her what you’ve found out. If you can do it in the next couple of days it would be a big help.’

  I knew there was no point in arguing. ‘Sure, I’ll do that.’

  ‘Your hard work’s appreciated you know, John,’ he said, fixing me with one of his managerial looks. ‘It all counts in your favour, I want you to know that, and I’m keen for you to make progress here. But do me a favour, eh? DI Capper told me about yesterday with Neil Vamen. Don’t go talking to him about anything unless you’ve got solid evidence implicating him, and you’ve checked it through with me.’ I nodded, and he let it go. ‘Now, remember, this missing persons case is very much a side issue, so concentrate on Matthews, and I’ll keep you informed of my discussions with DCI Peppard. And let’s try looking at it from some new angles. Lateral thinking, that’s what we need.’

  I got to my feet and said I’d get on to things straight away. Thinking that Knox had probably never had a lateral thought in his whole life.

  When I got back to my desk, my mobile was ringing. I didn’t recognize the number but picked up anyway. ‘Gallan.’

  ‘Hello, Mr Gallan,’ said a pleasant, youthful voice I didn’t know. ‘It’s Asif Malik here, SO7.’

  ‘Hello, Asif. Thanks for getting back to me.’

  ‘No problem. What is it I can do for you?’

  ‘I’m involved in a murder inquiry which may have a link with the area you cover, and I wonder if I could pick your brains about it for a few minutes. As you’ll appreciate, it’s not something I can talk about over the phone. Do you think we could meet up for half an hour? I’ll come to you.’

  ‘Can you tell me who it’s regarding, just so I know I’m the person you should be talking to?’

  For some reason, I felt impelled to whisper into the phone. ‘The Holtzes, and particularly Neil Vamen.’

  There was a short silence at the other end. Then, ‘I’m the right person. How about Wednesday?’

  ‘Fine.’

  ‘I’ll meet you at the Soul of Naples restaurant. It’s Italian.’ Like it’d be anything else. ‘That all right for you? It’s up near me.’

  I laughed. ‘I’m usually limited to a sandwich on the run, so anything above that’s a bonus.’

  ‘Well, this place is good. I’ll be there at midday.’

  ‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’

  He gave me the address and some basic directions, then rang off.

  For a few seconds, I sat there staring at the mobile, hoping that somewhere among the morass of information Malik and his colleagues had undoubtedly gathered on the Holtzes there’d be something that would stop this case ending up in the growing ranks of the unsolveds.

  At that point, however, I was not feeling optimistic.

>   Iversson

  ‘Kidnapping, Max? It’ll never work, and it’s too fucking dangerous.’

  We were in the lounge of Elaine’s apartment, just the two of us, beers in hand. Elaine had gone out to give us the privacy to talk things through.

  ‘It will work, Joe, if we do it properly. Elaine says that—’

  ‘Is this her idea?’

  ‘Course it isn’t. It’s a product of a lot of thinking I’ve been doing. Now, all I want you to do is hear me out. If after I’ve said my piece you still don’t want to know, then fair enough, all you have to do is walk out of here and forget we ever had this conversation.’

  Joe took a slug from his beer. ‘Go on, then,’ he said suspiciously.

  ‘Krys Holtz likes to go to a little gentleman’s club called Heavenly Girls which is down round here, not far from Farringdon Road. It’s a nice townhouse in a posh street, which is mainly offices, and basically it’s full of top-drawer and top-price totty. Krys is meant to keep his movements unpredictable to stop any of his many enemies taking potshots at him, but word is that he tends to go to the club several nights a week, and usually most Friday nights if he hasn’t pulled anywhere else. And sometimes even if he has.’

  ‘And where’s this information coming from?’

  ‘Elaine. She knows some of the girls down there. Apparently Roy Fowler used to manage it as well as the club.’ Joe pulled a face but didn’t say anything. ‘We might have one or two false starts but we should be able to survey the place all right without arousing suspicion.’

  ‘What about you? You’re a wanted man.’

  ‘I won’t have shaved for a few days, I’ll be wearing glasses, and anyway the street’s not particularly well lit or well used after dark, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem there. When Krys arrives all we do is wait for him to go in – apparently he usually travels with a couple of associates – then one of us goes to the door and gains entry.’

  ‘How does the person gain entry in the first place? Presumably they don’t let in any Tom, Dick or Harry.’

  ‘Someone’ll have to do a dummy run first to get an idea of the place. Whoever does it’ll use the name of one of the regulars, say that the bloke’s recommended it to him. Then once he’s been once, he shouldn’t have any problem going back a second time. So when he gets in the second time—’

  ‘If he gets in.’

  ‘He goes upstairs to reception, which is supposedly fairly quiet, and when he’s satisfied that everything’s all right, he pulls a gun, takes control of the reception area, and gets the receptionist to let the rest of us in. Then, when we’re up the stairs, we find out the room where Krys is doing his thing, and grab him.’

  ‘What about the men with him? What’ll they be doing all this time?’

  ‘They usually tend to be with their own women. They certainly don’t hang about guarding Krys. The beauty of it is that they’ll be really easy pickings. Caught with their trousers down, so to speak. We tie them up, disarm them, and then we’re out of there. By this time, we’ve hired a nice little place out in the country on a short let, and we keep him there until the ransom’s sorted out.’

  ‘And how the hell are we going to collect the ransom without getting ourselves killed in the process?’

  I paused, not sure whether I still needed to convince myself of this bit. ‘We get his dad to deliver it.’

  ‘Who? Stefan?’ I nodded. ‘Max, we’re talking about a man who’s a virtual recluse. How are you going to get him out running errands?’

  ‘Because Krys is his son. One of his boys is in prison, and now he risks losing another one. From what I hear, they’re a close-knit family, and Krys, even though he’s meant to be one mean fucking bastard, is also the apple of his mother’s eye.’

  ‘Where are you getting all this information from?’

  ‘A lot of it’s common knowledge, Joe. You know that. The Holtzes might try to be secretive but everyone knows about them. I think that if we play this right, then we’re going to be able to get his old man to come. And, obviously, if we can do that, then the chances of anyone trying to fuck us over are minimal. They won’t dare do anything that’ll risk hurting the big boss. Then we take the money, give Krys a nice kicking so he knows what it’s like to be on the wrong end of a beating for once, and we’re out of there.’

  ‘And that’s it?’

  ‘That’s it. If we make a straight ransom demand of half a million in cash, that’ll be enough to make up for the risks we’re going to have to take, and give everyone involved the opportunity to take off elsewhere until things either calm down or they don’t. Either way there’ll be a nice little nest egg, and it’s not a sum that people like the Holtzes are going to have any trouble raising. Not with their money. The whole thing’ll take a few days and then, bingo, you’ll be a whole lot richer than you are today.’

  ‘If we get away with it.’

  ‘It’s a risky venture, I know that. I’m asking for your involvement because you’re my mate, and you know I’ve got to do something to sort out this situation. Plus, I think the money outweighs the risks. Think about it. We spent months at a time fighting people who make the Holtzes look like pussycats, and all for five hundred quid a week tax free. This might be dangerous, but it’s no more dangerous than anything else we’ve ever done, and this time we can all take a nice long holiday at the end of it.’

  Joe took another slug of the beer. ‘Have you spoken to anyone else about this?’

  ‘Apart from Elaine, no.’

  ‘And what does she think, this woman you’ve known for all of one weekend?’

  ‘I think she’d prefer it if we just got out of London and forgot the whole thing, but now that she knows I’m committed to doing it, she’s right behind me.’

  ‘How do you know she’s not going to go and blurt the whole thing out to one of her mates?’

  ‘Because she’s no fool, Joe. Plus, she owes Krys Holtz after what he did to her last night. She won’t let us down.’

  Joe sat back in his seat and lit a cigarette, still not back in the habit of offering me one, so I pulled out one of my own. ‘The police came to see me again this morning,’ he said eventually.

  ‘Oh yeah? How come?’

  ‘Eric’s missus. She’s reported him missing. This detective came round asking questions. Had we seen him? How long’s he worked with us? That sort of thing.’

  ‘Did he mention anything about me?’

  ‘No, it was a different bloke to the ones who came round Saturday. I got the impression that this one didn’t know anything about you. God knows why. You’d have thought they’d have co-ordinated things a bit better.’

  ‘That’s the Old Bill for you. Do you think he suspects anything?’

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. He sounded like the whole thing was routine, but we really don’t need the attention, not with everything else. And you’ve got to think, they’re going to be able to put two and two together eventually, aren’t they?’

  ‘That’s another reason to go ahead with this. If we’ve got money in our pockets, big money, we’re not going to have to worry about it.’

  He sighed. ‘I don’t think they can prove much anyway, not without a body, but it’s a worry. You know, it’s amazing how everything can change just like that. This time last week everything was hunky dory. Now look at it.’ He sat in silence for a few moments and I watched him closely, knowing that if he didn’t bite I might as well forget the whole thing now. ‘This sort of operation’s going to need at least four people involved, maybe even five,’ he said after a while.

  ‘Yeah, I know. I thought we’d use Johnny Hexham as the driver. He’s always available for work, and we don’t have to tell him what we’re doing. Not until it’s too late for him to do anything about it anyway. I can even get him to nick the vehicles we’ll use for the snatch. Any ideas who else? Anyone we’ve worked with in the past? I was thinking of ex-squaddies who are looking for a bit of extra cash.’

/>   ‘Not many are going to want to get involved in something like this. Too many things could go wrong.’

  ‘With half a million to play with, we could make it worth their while.’

  ‘What split are you suggesting?’

  ‘Equal shares for everyone who has to carry a gun, fifty grand for the driver, and thirty to Elaine for her part in setting it up. Does that sound fair?’

  Joe nodded. ‘Yeah, but we’ve got to be very careful who else we bring in on this. We don’t want to talk to anyone who then turns round and says they’re not interested, because that’ll compromise everything and probably land me on the same target list you’re on.’

  ‘I agree, but I can’t think of anyone offhand. A week ago I’d have said Tony. He was the sort of bloke who’d have gone for this.’

  ‘When are you hoping to make the snatch?’

  ‘As soon as we’ve got everything organized. The place where we’re going to hold him, the cars, and obviously the people. It’ll be a few days yet, but that’s all.’