The Genesis Inquiry

by Olly Jarvis

  Combover’s cheeks turned even ruddier than before. ‘You want an amateur to find Shepherd for you? Because you can’t?’ He banged his fist on the table causing a few teacups to clatter on their saucers. ‘Coming in here shooting your mouth off about Osman warnings.’ He pointed at her across the table. ‘This is your bloody mess, Harris.’

  She didn’t respond.

  ‘Covert monitoring for now.’ He shot her a look. ‘Understood?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ she replied.

  He put the pen in an inside pocket. ‘I’m sure this whole inquiry will hit the buffers in a couple of days,’ he offered, recovering his composure. ‘It’s a sideshow.’

  There was mumbled agreement around the table.

  Harris got up to leave and pushed the chair carefully back in position.

  ‘Wait,’ Combover ordered. ‘Have you got anything to hold him on yet?’

  Harris stopped and exhaled. ‘’Fraid not sir, you know how clever he is and he surrounds himself with the right people.’

  ‘All right, you can bring him in for interview, give him a shot across the bows.’

  ‘Yes,’ said one of the other suits. ‘A shakedown, I think the Americans call it.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Harris replied. ‘Thank you, sir.’

  ‘But Harris,’ Combover said gravely as the agent was almost at the door. ‘Don’t mention the target.’

  ‘Of course not, sir.’

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Greg was standing at the entrance to the Gonville, illuminated by the porchlight. He rushed out onto the forecourt as they approached. ‘Lizzie…’

  She ran to him.

  After a hug, he bent down and inspected her face. ‘You hurt?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘Just a bit freaked out.’

  He acknowledged Ella, then rested his eyes on Jay.

  ‘This is Jay,’ said Lizzie. ‘Jay, Greg.’

  They shook hands. There was an awkward silence as they measured each other up.

  ‘Lizzie says you’re starting at Cambridge in September?’

  ‘Yeah, and you’re at Wolfson, right?’

  ‘For my sins,’ Greg replied. ‘Look, I heard what happened, mate,’ he said. ‘You need a place to crash?’

  ‘No thanks,’ Jay replied, nervously glancing away. ‘I’m sorted.’

  ‘OK, well the offer’s there,’ Greg replied, then turned to the others. ‘Have they caught the bastards that did it?’

  ‘I reckon that’ll take a while,’ Ella cut in. ‘These guys need to get some rest, Greg.’

  ‘Right, of course,’ he replied.

  Lizzie shot her mum daggers, then stood on tiptoes and kissed Greg’s cheek. ‘I’m going to stay with Mum tonight.’

  He gave her another hug.

  ‘I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, promise.’

  ‘OK.’ He nodded over at Ella and Jay, put his hands in his pockets and sauntered off, a picture of dejection.

  Ella wasted no time heading inside and up to the room.

  Lizzie had to skip to keep up. ‘Why couldn’t you invite him?’

  Ella stared straight ahead. ‘I hardly know him.’

  Lizzie tried to get alongside her mother on the corridor. ‘I know him.’

  This time she turned her head and looked Lizzie in the eye. ‘Did he know you were going to Jay’s?’

  Lizzie gasped. ‘I can’t believe you asked that.’

  The three of them stopped outside the room while Ella went through her pockets for her key card.

  ‘Look,’ said Ella, taking a breath. ‘This is supposed to be a confidential inquiry. I’ve already involved too many people.’

  Seeing the logic, Lizzie’s anger subsided. ‘He didn’t know the address. He’s just a student.’

  ‘I know,’ Ella agreed, realising her judgement was all over the place. ‘I’m sorry.’

  As soon as they were in the room, Ella sat down at the desk against the wall under the flat-screen TV. She started scribbling on a pad.

  Jay sat on a chair in the corner. He took a laptop and charger out of his bag and set up on the coffee table. ‘What’s the Wi-Fi code?’

  Ella tossed him the card and caught her reflection on the wall mirror in front of her, then Lizzie’s anxious face, sitting on the edge of the bed, behind her. Their eyes met, then away. Ella wasn’t used to being so in tune with her daughter.

  She ripped the page off the pad, grabbed her wallet and went over to Jay. ‘Do you want a job?’ she asked, abruptly.

  Jay shifted uneasily in his chair, as if wondering how to answer. ‘You don’t have to pay me.’

  ‘Oh, I do.’ She took a hundred pounds in notes out of her wallet and thrust it towards him. ‘Take it.’

  He looked at Lizzie, who nodded, then accepted the money.

  Ella put the paper on the table. ‘And sign that.’

  ‘What is it?’ he asked, leaning forward to read it.

  ‘An employment contract with a confidentiality clause. I’m employing you on this inquiry – one hundred pounds to open that stick.’

  He looked skywards, then back. ‘I get it.’

  ‘Good,’ she said, staring him out. ‘This is my insurance. You breach this contract, I will sue your arse and I will make sure there’s no way Cambridge will ever take you.’

  Lizzie tutted. ‘All right, Mum, steady on.’

  Jay raised a hand. ‘It’s fine. I won’t tell a soul.’

  She took the USB stick out of her jeans and was about to hand it to Jay when there was a knock at the door.

  They all froze.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Lizzie was the first to move. ‘It’s probably Greg, don’t worry, I’ll talk to him.’

  ‘Hang on,’ said Ella, going over. ‘Stand back.’ She tentatively moved her head towards the spyhole and squinted through. A sigh of relief. ‘It’s OK.’

  It was Broady. She opened the door. He walked in with a finger held to his lips.

  Nobody spoke.

  They watched as he turned on the TV and ran his fingers behind it, then under the dressing table. He did the same around the bed and coffee table. He stopped, then stood up straight, carefully surveying the room. He rummaged around on the breakfast tray and picked up a teaspoon, then pulled out a chair and stood on it.

  The others watched in silence, mesmerized.

  He used the end of the spoon to unscrew the air-con vent in the ceiling. Once he had the cover off, he felt around in the void with his free hand.

  There was something there. He pulled it out, got down off the chair and held it between finger and thumb.

  The others crowded in.

  It was a tiny blob of black foam covering a piece of metal.

  Ella gasped – was it a microphone?

  He walked over to the bedside table and dropped it in a glass of water. ‘I take it that robbery was to do with you?’ he said, pointing at Ella.

  She immediately looked at Jay but didn’t reply.

  ‘How do you know?’ Jay asked.

  ‘Gut.’ He patted his stomach. ‘Lady, you are involved in some heavy shit.’

  ‘We don’t know for sure,’ she protested, without conviction, then looked from face to face, searching for reassurance. All but Broady’s expression reflected her own – fear. ‘Who would want to bug my room?’

  ‘Who knows,’ said Broady. ‘Could be anyone, maybe more than one entity.’

  ‘Entity?’ she asked, wondering why he knew the jargon.

  ‘A government agency from here, or overseas, or maybe a commercial operation.’

  She tried to think quickly, logically, use her advocacy skills. ‘How do I know you’re not one of them?’ Her mind began to race. ‘Using the Phoenix Police as a cover?’

  ‘Hold on…’ he said, putting up his hands.

  ‘Maybe you had something to do with Cameron’s death?’

  All eyes were on Broady now.

  ‘You’ve got it wrong,’ he protested.

  �
�Google him, Jay,’ she ordered. ‘Detective Hank Broady, Phoenix Police Department.’

  They all watched Jay’s fingers dance over the keys. Within seconds he was reading off the screen. ‘Nothing about personnel on the police site, which makes sense.’ He kept typing away. ‘Hang on, I’ve got something.’ He glanced up at Broady. ‘There’s a lot actually. Deputy Chairman of the Phoenix Astronomical Society?’

  Ella felt her body release some of its tension.

  ‘Does a lot of stuff for a charity too, underprivileged kids. Look,’ he said, swivelling the screen around. ‘Detective from the Phoenix Police Department. That’s him, getting an award from the mayor.’

  Ella bent down and looked at the picture, then at Jay. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘There’s just too much stuff here – he’s who he says he is.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Broady said, giving Jay a nod.

  Ella wasn’t finished. ‘How come you know about bugs and things? That’s not everyday stuff for a cop.’

  ‘I served in the military, did tours of Iraq, Afghanistan, got quite high up, ’cos I know about the desert. Did some counter-surveillance stuff.’

  She was satisfied. ‘OK.’

  Broady picked up the remote and turned up the volume on the TV. He motioned for them to sit on the floor around the coffee table. ‘McDonald gave me some intel.’

  Ella was starting to see him differently. ‘How did you manage that?’

  ‘He likes having his ass kissed,’ he said, directing his observation at Ella. ‘It’s an underrated technique.’

  ‘Go on,’ she said, ignoring the dig.

  ‘They’ve investigated his cell phone number.’ He looked at the faces of the others, drawing them in. ‘The account was still active, but he stopped making calls a few weeks before he disappeared. Same with the email account, and all old emails deleted.’

  ‘He knew his devices were being intercepted,’ said Jay.

  ‘I reckon,’ Broady agreed. ‘He didn’t want them to know what he was doing.’

  Jay shot Ella a look. ‘So, he couldn’t use his phone or email account?’

  ‘Or even the internet,’ added Broady. ‘So, I recommend we do the same – radio silence about anything to do with this investigation.’

  Ella was still trying to take it all in.

  ‘There’s something else,’ said Broady. ‘He made a mistake.’

  ‘Who?’ asked Ella.

  ‘Matthew. He got a few calls which went to voicemail.’

  ‘Who was it?’

  ‘They don’t know, he deleted them, could be anyone that didn’t know he wasn’t using the phone, dry cleaning, IRS, doesn’t matter.’

  Ella immediately saw the point. ‘Because they gave away his location.’

  ‘That’s right. If you get a call, even if you don’t take it, it connects to a cell-site. Matthew hadn’t figured that out yet.’

  ‘Cell-site?’ asked Lizzie.

  ‘Masts with antennas, all over the place,’ said Ella. ‘In petrol stations, on top of tower blocks. When a mobile phone makes or receives a call, it sends a signal to the nearest mast – a cell-site.’

  She glanced at Jay, then back at her mum. ‘I’ve never noticed them.’

  ‘The police swear by them, to catch drug dealers. There aren’t many sites in rural areas,’ Ella continued, ‘but they’re all over the place in cities, to deal with the volume of phone traffic.’

  ‘McDonald’s going to give me a map tomorrow, with the sites marked, but he says most of the hits are in Cambridge, probably sitting in his room, but one of the pings was in London, and another was in Oxford.’

  ‘Well, at least we’ve got something to go on.’ She gave Broady an encouraging smile. ‘Whatever Matthew was working on…’ she said, her voice trailing off.

  ‘Everybody wants,’ said Broady.

  ‘Or somebody wants to stop us from finding out?’ said Ella.

  ‘Why go to such extremes to hide it?’ asked Lizzie.

  ‘He must’ve been scared,’ said Jay, ‘about what would happen if it got into the wrong hands.’

  ‘Then why not share it with Cambridge, with De Jure?’

  ‘Maybe he wasn’t ready,’ said Ella. ‘Didn’t know what he had? Or couldn’t tell anyone until his work was finished, to make sure no one got there first?’

  They all fell silent, deep in contemplation. They made a ridiculous spectacle, huddled around the tiny table.

  Broady was the first to speak. ‘Is there anything else you guys want to tell me?’

  Ella had already decided that she wasn’t ready. ‘Like what?’

  ‘Like how he fits into all this,’ said Broady, gesturing towards Jay.

  Jay waited for Ella to take the lead.

  ‘He’s Lizzie’s friend and—’

  ‘And you got him off a hacking charge, I know, McDonald told me.’ His frustration was showing. ‘But why did three dudes break into his apartment and put a knife to his throat?’

  Ella took a while to reply. She wasn’t going to lie. ‘I’m sorry, detective.’

  ‘Hank.’

  ‘Hank.’ She could see the dubious look on his face. ‘I can’t take this to the next level, not yet. I need to think about it?’

  He looked affronted. ‘I got to say, you ain’t much of a team player.’ Then, with more sympathy, he added, ‘Sometimes you got to let people in, take a chance.’

  The observation struck a chord with Lizzie. ‘He’s got a point, Mum.’

  ‘It’s not that simple,’ Ella snapped. ‘Look, I’ve been thinking about Cameron’s death. He knew something, or had something, that’s why he’s dead.’ She took a deep breath, then exhaled ‘I’m probably only alive because they think I don’t know anything.’

  Broady seemed to get it. ‘You’re worried that after that, there’s no going back?’

  ‘Yes, for you it’s a job, even me, it’s these two I’m concerned about.’

  ‘I thought we’d already decided this,’ said Jay.

  Ella reached over and touched Lizzie’s cheek. ‘You’re just kids.’

  Lizzie’s brow furrowed. ‘We’re already involved.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Jay agreed. ‘I’ll take my chances. Knowledge is power, right?’

  ‘How about you give me twenty-four hours? Let me think things through?’

  Broady nodded.

  ‘It would have to be done right. I’d need to speak to Desmond at De Jure, introduce Hank, formally.’ She was already working things through in her head. ‘Lizzie and Jay still have to make their statements about the robbery. Lizzie, when you’ve done that, take my credit card, get a load of cash out. Take Jay to get a laptop, second-hand, buy it in cash, nothing to link any of us to the device.’ She was thinking like a criminal lawyer now. ‘And some phones, pay-as-you-go, not contract. I’ll sort new accommodation for all of us, so pack a bag.’

  ‘Gees, that’ll cost,’ said Broady

  ‘Don’t worry about it, I’m on two thousand a day.’

  Broady looked shocked. ‘Euros or dollars?’

  With a wry smile, Ella said, ‘Pounds.’

  ‘Wow! You must be one hell of a lawyer?’

  Ella appreciated Broady’s knack for releasing the tension.

  ‘She is,’ said Lizzie.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  ‘Hey, blue eyes,’ said Broady as he sat down at the breakfast table.

  ‘Blue eyes?’ Ella repeated with disdain.

  ‘Yeah,’ he replied, helping himself to the breadbasket. ‘Your eyes, they’re blue.’ He inspected a pain au chocolat.

  ‘Save the flattery,’ she said. ‘I’ve been around a long time and besides, you can’t say that shit anymore. Me too, remember?’

  ‘Abso-god-damn-lutely,’ he replied, totally deadpan. ‘It will not happen again. Count on it.’

  She couldn’t tell if he was still flirting with her. He took a bite of his pastry. She waited for him to swallow. ‘Aren’t you scared, nervous about everyt
hing?’ she asked.

  He wiped a few loose flakes off his lip. ‘You can’t change the future.’

  He seemed so matter-of-fact. Was that his military training, she wondered. She watched him pour himself some coffee from the pot. ‘Don’t you mean the past?’

  Their eyes met, just for a moment. She’d hit a nerve. They both had a past.

  It was a long time since she’d wanted to know more about someone other than Lizzie. ‘Thanks for letting Jay stay in your room last night.’

  ‘No sweat, I’ve got a twin, anyhow. He’s a good kid, real bright.’ He gave her a lazy smile. ‘And your daughter, she’s something’ else.’

  Ella couldn’t help but like the guy. ‘Thanks.’

  He winked. ‘Like her mom.’

  She could feel the colour rushing to her cheeks. She didn’t know how to take him. ‘Do you have kids?’

  He stiffened. ‘I had a son. He died.’

  ‘I’m so sorry.’ Ella could see the pain in his eyes.

  ‘Few years ago, serving in Afghanistan.’ He sighed. ‘Wanted to be just like his dad. Stood on an IED.’

  She hated herself for it, but for a split second it crossed her mind that he was lying, trying to ingratiate himself. She was finding it hard to be sure of anything, or anyone, except Lizzie. ‘How do you cope with something like that?’

  ‘You don’t.’ He fidgeted with a fork on the table.

  She hadn’t seen him so unsure of himself.

  ‘You’ve just got to carry on.’

  She wanted to believe him. Everything she’d ever learned from dealing with murderers and every kind of criminal told her that he was a good man. She’d made a career out of trusting her instincts.

  She made a decision to follow them now.

  Once they’d finished breakfast, they set off on foot across town to see Desmond.

  Ella kept checking behind her to see if they were being followed.

  Broady told her not to bother, not until it mattered. They’d never be able to tell, anyway. Whoever they were, they knew what they were doing.

  After a while, Ella almost forgot the pressure she was under, riveted by the expressions on Broady’s face as they walked up King’s Parade.