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The Bid: A Cruxys Solutions Investigation © 2017 by Adrian Magson.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First e-book edition © 2017
E-book ISBN: 9780738750866
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dedication
To Ann, as always.
Acknowledgments
My thanks to David Headley of DHH Literary Agency, for his continued support, and to the team at Midnight Ink, for their professionalism and dedication to making my bunch of words look like a book.
one
The room was a box within a box. It was cramped, gloomy, short of air, and heavy on heat, especially in daytime. It held two metal folding beds, an old wooden chair, and a bucket in one corner that was already attracting flies.
The walls were bare and of simple stud construction, scarred with the signs of transportation and handling. Gaps showed in the corners where the fit had focussed more on urgency than care. A small slit window on one side was the only natural light source, with a battery-powered storm lantern on the chair for emergency use. The window itself offered a limited view of a patch of coarse grass leading to a weed-dotted concrete surface running arrow-straight into the distance. Farther over was a huge wood-and-concrete slab building that had seen its best days half a century ago. A door in the opposite side of the room had a small peephole showing the concrete strip going the other way. Beyond that was a long view of nothing; flat, dun-coloured ground interrupted by acres of scrub and a bunch of large rocks lying scattered to the horizon like toys on the floor of a child’s playroom.
A driver travelling along the little-used road a quarter of a mile away would, if he were curious, see an abandoned airfield from the 1940s with an ancient hangar and a tired, clapboarded workshop with a sagging roof and an air of decaying desolation. No planes, no people, no engineers or smart terminal buildings; nothing to draw anyone in closer save for idle curiosity and maybe the urgent call for a rest stop.
If he had any degree of instinct, the driver wouldn’t bother; he’d keep this foot hard on the gas until he hit the next township thirty miles away.
Uncomfortable, perhaps, but at least that way he might get to live longer.
What he wouldn’t see was the newly constructed room inside the workshop, put together two weeks ago under cover of night by an imported construction crew. Nor would he have cause to wonder at the recent confusion of tire tracks and foot prints left behind during the construction, which had been impossible to eradicate altogether—although the crew’s final task had been to try as best they could, even if they hadn’t fully understood the reasons why.
Most importantly of all, the passing driver wouldn’t notice that, in a supposedly abandoned structure like this, there were supplies of canned food, fruit, and a pallet of shrink-wrapped bottles of water. Or that one of the beds had been fitted with two sets of steel handcuffs; one at the head, another at the foot. Of law-enforcement grade, they were impossible to pick, break, or cut through, and snug to the bone to avoid a desperate man attempting to slip them off.
Like the prisoner currently lying there, being watched over by a second man.
two
“I’m sorry—Ruth who?”
The woman standing in the doorway of the elegant Georgian townhouse in London’s Chelsea was tall and slim, immaculately dressed and carefully composed. She sounded faintly American, but as Ruth Gonzales knew from the briefing file she’d read ten minutes ago, that was because she spent a lot of time jetting back and forth to the States. Right now, though, Elizabeth Chadwick was at her London home and appeared unaware that she was the subject of a Code Red alert after her husband had dropped off the radar.
“I rang earlier,” Ruth reminded her. “From Cruxys Solutions.”
“Oh, that. You’ll have to remind me; you said something about my husband?” Elizabeth held up a cell phone as if it were a living thing too vibrant to ignore for a second. “Only, I’m kind of right in the middle of something here.”
Like booking a lunch table for five at The Ivy, thought Ruth, which seemed to have been the sign-off to the conversation she’d heard as the door opened. The woman seemed very calm, which was a surprise, but unless she was a world-class actress and hiding something, all that was about to change. Most people reacted powerfully to bad news; maybe Elizabeth Chadwick was made of sterner stuff.
Ruth handed the woman a business card bearing her name and the number of the Cruxys switchboard, and she watched while it was scrutinised front and back. She waited some more as Elizabeth then gave her a careful once-over, from her no-nonsense shoes past the neutral business suit to the top of her cropped dark hair.
No visible reaction. She said, “Cruxys Solutions. What is that?”
“We’re a private insurance and security company and—”
“You’re selling something?” She looked annoyed and stepped back ready to close the door. “For heaven’s sake—”
“Wait, please.” Ruth held up her hand, and for good measure placed her foot inside the door. “It’s about your husband.”
“James? What about him?” The words came out with a snap, which told Ruth a lot. She revised her opinion about how this was going to go. Some remembered hurts were lurking in there somewhere, which could mean a very short meeting.
She hesitated. The front door of the townhouse was at street level and offered little privacy for what she was here to discuss. “May I come in? It’s a private matter.”
Something in her voice must have finally penetrated the woman’s reserve, because after a moment she stepped back inside. “All right.” She turned and led the way into a beautiful drawing room with large comfortable chairs, elegant paintings, and an abundance of fresh flowers.
Dressed and decorated by an expert, Ruth thought, but not a place that felt lived in. More like a trophy pad for
occasional visits. It had the cold feel of a hotel room, with all the necessary pieces but none of the personality of its owner. The only difference was, to live in this kind of place in this area, you had to have more than a hotel room’s amount of money.
She took a seat on a long sofa and Elizabeth sat nearby.
“My husband, you said?”
“That’s correct.” Ruth took out her cell phone and brought up the briefing document she’d been sent earlier that morning by the response team at Cruxys. It described the kind of policy taken out by James Chadwick and gave a summary of his background and family details. “A little over six weeks ago your husband approached us and took out a protection contract. It’s like an insurance policy, but it provides assistance and security for you and your family in case anything should happen to him while on business away from home.”
Elizabeth gave a small shake of her head. “I don’t know anything about that. And why should anything happen to him? He’s a business consultant, for God’s sake. The worst he could suffer would be a paper cut or a missed call. Are you sure you’ve got the right man? It sounds ridiculous.”
Ruth didn’t bother arguing the point. Evidently all was not well in the Chadwick household. “I’m absolutely sure. The contracts were originally created for people working in hazardous professions—the oil, gas, and mining industries, for example. It’s not just the jobs they’re doing, but the places they work in can be very inhospitable, especially with the current terrorist threats. Other professions began taking out the protection as well, quite a few of them in apparently safe positions. For them it’s peace-of-mind protection.” She hesitated. “Your husband never mentioned it?”
“No. He didn’t. But since he spends most of his time in hotels in London, Paris, and New York, that’s hardly surprising.” The sense of bitterness was suddenly vivid. “And I can’t think what hazards he’d be facing. What does this contract provide for, exactly? I mean, has anything happened to him?”
The instinctive response would have been you mean you don’t know? But Ruth stopped herself in time. Instead she explained, “Mrs. Chadwick, these contracts contain a number of optional clauses. Most responses, as we call them, are activated by family members when they receive news of an accident or … or worse. We then put a programme into action. This can provide all manner of help depending on the specific contract, ranging from appropriate medical treatment through to financial assistance, repatriation if that’s required, and looking after the family while their affairs are being resolved.”
“Repatriation. You mean of a body? Do you think James is dead?”
“We don’t know anything at the moment, which is why we’re pursuing various avenues of information. What we do know is that the contract he took out contains an extra, critical element; it’s referred to in-house as a Code Red clause. Simply stated, if our systems don’t hear from the client every five days, usually by an automated code number sent in by text from his cell phone or email, then we are to assume something is wrong and we initiate the Code Red alert. That means contacting his family, friends, employers, and known contacts, and beginning a search based on his last known location.”
“What?” Elizabeth gave a brittle laugh. “That sounds like something out of Hollywood. What if he simply forgot to dial in or lost his phone?”
“He couldn’t forget as long as he had his phone on him. The code would be activated by the device recognising his thumbprint. Every time he picked it up, it would record him as mobile and active. No call means no phone use. If he’d lost his phone he could still call in by a landline or another cell and give the appropriate code. In our experience, clients who take out this level of the contract have never been known to forget—it’s too important to them.” She checked her screen. “It’s now been six days since the last code call came in on schedule. I have to ask you, have you heard from your husband in that time and do you know where he might be? It could be something quite simple—that he’s unwell in a hospital somewhere. But we have a duty to find out, for your sake as well as his.”
Elizabeth Chadwick blinked at the reminder, evidently finding it difficult to take in the details. Then she shook her head and said shortly, “I don’t know where James is—and frankly, I don’t care.”
“I see.”
“That I doubt, Miss”—she consulted Ruth’s card—“Gonzales. The truth is, James and I are separated. I haven’t seen him in several months and we only communicate by email or text. In fact, I’ve applied for a divorce.”
“I’m sorry. We didn’t realise.”
“Why should you?” She stopped for a moment and dropped the cell phone with a clatter onto a small coffee table between them before looking around in a distracted manner. “Would you like tea? I think it’s about time, don’t you?”
Without waiting for a reply, she stood up and left the room.
Ruth listened to the distant sounds of a tap running, the rattle of crockery, and a drawer being closed. Kitchen sounds, as intimate and everyday in most homes as the radio, even in this cold place. Her attention was drawn to the cell phone on the table. The screen had lit up, no doubt from the impact of the device landing on the table, and was open at the contacts page. She leaned closer. Most of the entries were women’s names, from Davina to Fiona, Georgina, Gail, and Ilsa. After a quick glance towards the door, Ruth reached out and touched the screen, scrolling down until she came to the J section.
No James listed. Had she really blanked him out of her life to this degree?
She touched a clock symbol to one side and found herself in the history screen, showing calls made, received, or missed. Again, most seemed to be women, three of them today, all lasting several minutes. Elizabeth Chadwick might be troubled by a broken marriage, but she clearly wasn’t short of friends to console her. She scrolled down. The exception to the regular calls in and out over several days was somebody called Ben. A lover, perhaps? Or a lawyer tying up details for the divorce action? Then she recalled a name from the file: Benjamin. The Chadwicks’ son. Currently at boarding school in Hertfordshire, just north of London.
She heard the chink of crockery and spun the phone away just in time. Elizabeth Chadwick entered the room carrying a tray of tea, milk, and sugar.
“I’m sorry if I was rude,” she said, setting down the tray. “But hearing his name can set me off.” She handed Ruth a cup and indicated milk and sugar. “He was supposed to be in London this week to take Benjamin to an exhibition. Ben had got permission to be out of school because it’s a subject he’s studying for a technology module. He and his father used to build and fly model airplanes and gliders; it was the one regular point of contact between them and, frankly, I used to encourage it. Better to have them off crashing their kit planes in fields than having no time together at all.”
“What happened about this exhibition?”
“James said he’d got it all planned, but when we didn’t hear anything from him, Ben had to cancel the idea because the school wasn’t happy for him to go by himself. He was very upset; he’s always looked up to his father, in spite of our … difficulties. But this was unforgiveable, even for James.”
“So he hasn’t done this kind of thing before?”
“No. He’ll change visit dates sometimes to suit himself—business pressures, he always says. But not like this. It doesn’t seem to bother Ben much because he knows his father will find a way of making up for it.” The muscles in her cheeks flexed and she shook her head. “He’s not going to find this one so easy to get over.”
Ruth didn’t mention the obvious: that if anything bad had happened to James Chadwick, making up for a missed date with his son was going to be the last thing to happen. Instead she said, “So as far as you know, he’s still in the States.”
“Yes.”
“That’s a start. Can you confirm the addresses we have for you and your husband?” She handed over her cell phone
showing the details on file with Cruxys.
Elizabeth nodded at first, then scowled. “Two are correct—this one here and the one in Annapolis. But I don’t know anything about this one.” She stabbed an elegant fingernail onto the small screen. Ruth glanced at the detail. It showed an address in Newark, New Jersey.
“Could it be,” Ruth suggested carefully, “a rental property he took on because of your marriage problems? We’re having both of the American addresses checked out, just to make sure.”
“I’ve no idea. It could be anything. Maybe he’s moved on already, although I’d be surprised. His company office is in New Jersey, but he works remotely. I’ve no idea why he’d need a place in Newark.”
“It’s convenient for the airport … late arrivals, early departures. He travels a lot, you said.”
Elizabeth didn’t appear convinced. “If you say so.”
Ruth changed tack. “What you just said—that he might have moved on. Is it possible? I’m not being nosy, but it could be something we have to consider.”
Elizabeth almost laughed. “God, you mean James might be shacked up with another woman? You clearly don’t know him … although it would be preferable to him just disappearing like this and not knowing—especially for Ben.”
Ruth hesitated, sensing there was an undercurrent of meaning to what Elizabeth had just said. “What about you? Have you moved on?”
“You don’t pull your punches, do you?” Elizabeth gave a faint smile. “I almost have, as a matter of fact. Not that you should put that in any report, if you don’t mind. To put it bluntly, I don’t intend remaining single and bitter for the rest of my days. Is that shocking?”
“No. Of course not.”
“What do I tell Ben?” Her earlier hostility at the mention of her husband’s name appeared to have diminished, replaced by concern for her son. “He’ll be crushed.”
“That depends on you. We can assign a counsellor if that would help. What we have to do is track James’s last moves, see where he was six days ago. That shouldn’t take too long. Our New York office is checking with his employers, so we’ll work outwards from there.”
The Bid Page 1
