by C B Barrie
Likewise, the reverse was true. Tillitson was Gregson’s eyes and ears as far as the working within CM went – everything that took place in the corporate setting was Tillitson’s domain – Gregson could rely on her to apprise him of every titbit of corporate politics, recruitment, and scheming. Nothing that happened in CM failed to get to Tillitson’s ears; she had more informants than the Gestapo.
However, this day she gave Gregson unwanted news, Her green eyes, tightly-bunned black hair and matching prim dress was, as usual, very arousing to Gregson who had always felt sexually attracted to her. However, he was too aware of how he could be compromised should he attempt a seduction – it would expose a weakness in him that he had no intention of showing, particularly if his corporate competitors saw it and used it against him. He wondered too if Barbara had the same feelings for him, and might be prepared to keep any liaison a secret. But as he pondered on this for the umpteenth time the same conclusion formed in his mind – it was far too dangerous.
She laid some papers on Gregson’s desk, ‘You queried the absence of reports from Holden for the last two weeks; we’ve still had nothing. There is no answer from his mobile and he doesn’t have a land line number. I don’t dare attempt to contact him at his work, I stand by your instructions not to risk disclosing Holden’s status.’
Gregson sat back in his desk chair and looked out of the wide picture window which offered a panoramic view of the Milbank quarter of the City of London. He could just see the corner of the old BAT building at 7 Milbank and all the other prestige architecture that occupied the area. However, the one building he always wished wasn’t in sight was the white marble exterior of M.I.M.C, the Metal Industries and Mining Company, Consolidated Mining’s principal competitor. He had always longed for the day when all the staff at M.I.M.C were forced to vacate the building because they had been obliged to cease trading, not least because of Gregson’s intervention.
He gave a slight inward sigh and turned to Tillitson.
‘How long since Holden made contact?’
‘Getting on for two weeks now, he’s vanished.’
He let the news sink in. Had Holden jumped ship or was there another reason he had reneged on his obligation to Gregson and CM? The only one who might shed a light on Holden’s disappearance was Nathaniel Ellis, one of Gregson’s small group of sponsored graduates. Ellis was Gregson’s first student recruit, a one off – an experiment approved by the board after Gregson had proposed a method to engender good publicity for CM within academia, and to see if company sponsorship could pay other dividends. CM’s board were kept in the dark as to what dividends the sponsorship scheme might create, but Gregson had very definite ideas about it. Sponsorship to the board meant attracting well qualified graduates for the company’s engineering and management teams; to Gregson the term ‘sponsorship’ was a simile for bribery, an enticement that ensured the recipient had little freedom or any career choice after graduation. Other than the academic subject, it wasn’t what the undergraduate wanted to do; the contract was unashamedly about what he or she was required to do.
Gregson gave the Holden dilemma more thought.
‘Contact Ellis, find out what he knows and when he last reported to Holden; then we’ll take it from there. Just in case, get hold of those two reprobates Prescott and Davies, tell them to meet me here tomorrow and to be prepared for a long trip to North Cornwall.’
Barbara Tillitson smiled, ‘Will do Mr. Gregson.’
Nathaniel Ellis knew who was calling him on his mobile – the call was coming in on a number he never wanted to see again.
It was a Consolidated Mines number, one he had constantly seen and was painfully familiar from his undergraduate and postgraduate days. Either they wanted him to keep to his contract and start penetrating Metlab’s operations, or they wanted to know about Holden. Either way, he didn’t relish discussing either subject. It was tempting to ignore them as he had recently, but this time he felt he had no choice. This time he had to tell them he was no longer prepared to follow CM’s instructions or be disloyal to his current colleagues or employers. Enough was enough, he had to end it, and it had to be now.
‘Hello’
‘Nathaniel, this is Barbara Tillotson. We would like to know why we haven’t heard from you lately, nor I might add from Mr. Holden. Do you have any idea why Mr. Holden hasn’t made contact recently?’
‘No, I’m sorry, I can’t help you. Furthermore…’
‘Holden was your liaison, for him to vanish while you are still in post is surprising. Surely you must know something.’
‘No, I don’t. He has gone but I don’t know where or why. He said nothing to me regarding his intentions and that is all I can say about it. Now, I don’t see why you continue to hassle me - I have no further interest in following your demands.’
‘Yes Nathaniel, from your tone that’s unmistakable; Mr. Gregson is extremely worried about you being so reluctant to remember the extremely generous sponsorship that you received from us. He feels you have an inescapable obligation to your sponsors and is determined that you will meet that obligation. We expect you to do what Holden was doing, but in a more informative way. We suggest you do what we ask Nathaniel, or take the consequences.’
Caplin had no trouble with Nick Gordon the research director, he was happy to oblige Caplin with his permission for Ellis to become permanently attached to the ultra hard metals programme. Ellis, he was assured, had every reason for wanting to stay with Caplin’s programme; after all, they had converging interests.
As Caplin knocked on Felton’s door he was confident that there would be no problem in getting personnel to mark Ellis as the new research assistant in Caplin’s laboratory; Felton was usually conciliatory, especially when there was no reason not to be.
‘Come in…oh, hello Michael, to what do I owe the pleasure?’
Caplin took the centre of the three chairs facing Felton’s desk.
‘Nick Gordon has just okayed permanently re-assigning Dr. Ellis to the ultra hard metals programme. It means he’s permanently located in my laboratory and forms part of my team. As a matter of courtesy, I agreed to notify you of the move and would ask that Ellis be treated as having a new status. Personnel section I’m sure would want to make this official.’
Felton nodded his approval. ‘Of course Michael, I’ll get it noted. How’s the programme going by the way, are you winning?’
Caplin offered a confirmatory smile, ‘I do believe we are getting somewhere. It’s early days yet but with Nathaniel Ellis in support, bringing his own expertise into the programme, I think it marks a new beginning and we are…optimistic, let’s say.’
Felton took his desk chair and for a moment looked blank.
Caplin saw the look and concluded he needed to establish why Felton was so obviously preoccupied.
‘Penny for your thoughts Charles, what’s up?’
Felton gave a wriggle of discomfort – but did at last share his concern.
‘You know that we were due another visit by DC Meredith, the policeman who investigated the disappearance of our foundry man, Holden. From what he said when he made the appointment to see me today I got the impression that he didn’t think there was anything sinister in Holden’s disappearance. However, he never got to tell me. He’s vanished, just like Holden. The police were in contact with me later today, and they can’t call him or find him. It’s all rather disturbing.’
Caplin was momentarily taken aback – so Meredith probably had no suspicions – damn! Still, it was too late for regrets.
‘I wouldn’t be alarmed Charles – I’m sure Meredith will turn up. Its not as if he isn’t in the ideal profession to be found; every policemen from here to Aberdeen will be looking for him. He’ll reappear I’m sure.’
Felton shrugged, ‘I’m sure you’re right Michael, but in the event he doesn’t it is ominous. Why would he vanish?’
Caplin deflected the question with a lift of his palms. ‘Can’t say, but perhap
s you’ll let me know of any outcome, I’m intrigued. So it’s okay abut Ellis, let me know if anyone has objections will you. I don’t want to offend anyone who had designs on Ellis.’
Felton nodded and stood up. They shook hands and Caplin left.
As he did so Felton was gripped by the same feeling he had when the police sergeant told him about Meredith. It was all too much of a coincidence.
Sergeant Mike Nichols had all four of his team off beat and in the station.
Two of his men, Dally and Jones, had only just made it in for the meeting having kept the rest waiting for thirty minutes. The two latecomers were wet and shivering, and made it plain they were glad to be indoors out of the unseasonable cold wind, rain and hailstones.
‘Glad to see you have deemed to visit us!’ Nichols commented as they came through the station door and joined the group in the heated office section behind the reception counter. The two mumbled a few choice words and stood in line with Epsom and Gills, their two much drier and warmer colleagues; all now facing Nichols.
‘Okay, report.’
Gills withdrew his notebook, took a look at the top page and shook his head.
‘Nothing sarge, he’s not been seen since first thing this morning, that is when he drove away from his digs and supposedly started his journey for Morvah. I dug around a bit more but absolutely no one remembers anything untoward this morning as far as Alec Meredith is concerned. Sorry, dead end.’
Epsom made no effort to consult any notes but simply took breath and spoke up. ‘I spent a lot of time attempting to establish any mobile phone contacts or outgoing calls. Last outgoing was yesterday to his mother in Taunton. All other outgoings were by landline from this station – all purely routine. I checked all eleven pubs in the town. He hasn’t been seen in any of the town’s watering holes since last Thursday – seems he isn’t much of a drinker. He has no known acquaintances or friends here in town but that shouldn’t be surprising, he ain’t been here that long. His landlady said he was the perfect lodger. Couldn’t ask for better.’
Nichols looked saddened by the reports so far, it wasn’t looking good.
He gave the bedraggled pair Dally and Jones a hard look. ‘And you two?’
Jones looked defiant. ‘We did the road as you ordered – took a car cos’ of the weather.’
Nichols looked thunderous, ‘A car, that’s no bloody good, how on earth could you examine the road that way. You’d miss…’
Jones talked over Nichols’ outburst.
‘We walked – as you insisted. One of us started walking from here and continued along the 3066, but with the car left behind and one of us at the driving wheel. After half and hour the car was driven to where the walker was and we changed places. Then the first walking man now became the driver, while the previous driver set out on foot, checking everything along each side of the road. We covered the full 26 miles in six hours and we’re bloody tired and wet through. We checked thoroughly, nothing we could see indicated any sign of an accident or a breakdown – nothing.’
The group lapsed into silence while Nichols appeared to brood over the situation.
‘He looked around at his four men, ‘Well, that’s it. I can’t believe he’s done a runner – it’s out of character and contrary to his recent behaviour. We’ve no choice; we’ve got to regard him as missing in suspicious circumstances. I’ll get Camborne involved; what’s the name of the DCI there, anyone remember?’
‘Neilson sarge.’
‘Oh yeah, Neilson.’
14
When he returned to the laboratory Caplin found Ellis still at the keyboard of the PC.
As he slipped on his lab’ coat he wondered when he was going to get a chance to continue with the patent specification beyond the opening paragraph he had already written. If the opening paper that Nathaniel was completing was good enough there was no urgent reason to write up the second or the third. He had to read the one and then, if all was right, discuss the contents of the second.
There was no point in letting Nathaniel overshoot and risk overstating or revealing too much.
For the moment he decided not to interrupt Nathaniel’s work, better to get through the first paper and then, if necessary, talk Nathaniel through it.
He found a chair near the experimental vacuum apparatus after silently picking up the printouts of Ellis’ first attack at the paper.
He began to read, and it was edifying; everything he expected the paper to contain, question, evade or dissemble was there. As he read on, there was no doubt, it was a brilliant piece of experimental reporting; he couldn’t have done better himself – everything needed to distract or tantalise a reader was there.
‘Bloody brilliant Nathaniel – so far you’ve really nailed it. This will get them talking, you wait and see.’
The keyboard staccato stopped as Ellis heard Caplin’s shout of congratulatory admiration.
‘You think it will do Michael?’
Caplin made his way into the end office holding the draft papers in his hand. He looked down to where Ellis was sitting at the desk in front of the keyboard.
‘I don’t think it will do Nathaniel; I’m convinced it will make its mark. It’s a brilliant piece of devious and disingenuous prose, it even had me thinking just how close we might be to a general solution for forming ultra-hard materials. And yet we actually did! Talk about dangling carrots; when they read this they’ll all turn into rabbits.’
Ellis looked suitably pleased but then tapped his fingers along the desk top.
‘Just hope I’m around to see it – I was contacted earlier by Gregson’s secretary, Gregson’s the Consolidated Mining guy that first signed me up for their graduate sponsorship programme. They’re becoming very threatening. They know Holden’s done a runner and they now want me to honour my agreement; by reporting any intelligence about Metlab I can acquire. I have to admit; I think they mean what they say about making life difficult for me. It’s got me very worried.’
Caplin put Ellis’ paper down and pulled up a chair to sit beside him. There was no doubt the situation was serious.
‘Listen Nathaniel, as we’ve discussed before, CM can’t hurt you. They have no recourse or remedy in law and there’s an old saying about sticks and stones. I don’t know what this guy Gregson is thinking, but he’s way out of line. Short of coming down here to harangue you he’s too distant and too impotent to do you any harm. So far, for all the pressure on you its only perceived pressure –you haven’t actually had anything nasty dropped on you yet, or had to endure any real penalty. Gregson is bluffing, so stick with it. I promise it will all fade away.’
Ellis looked doubtful, ‘I hope you’re right Michael, I can’t afford this to go wrong. And come to that, nor can you, there’s too much at stake.’
Caplin declined comment and simply nodded his head. But his mind was racing; he had to ensure that Ellis was safe from further intimidation, for both their sakes.
Detective Chief Inspector Neville Neilson was beginning to think it was time for retirement.
He’d transferred to the Camborne station in the hope he might be spared the interminable pressure of big city CID operations. He’d done well in his early years and had raced up the promotion ladder with a series of well publicised ‘collars’, but there came a time when he tired of battling with cases which not only ended with the perpetrators being found guilty by courts that, over sympathetically, had then handed down laughably lenient sentences, but his detection methods came under the spotlight of rigidly un-pragmatic and idealistic seniors. So when the chance came for what promised to be a quieter life, he took it.
To say he had exchanged one drawback for another was almost an understatement. To have to run a CID team, whose primary duty seemed to be locking up shop lifters and the odd drunk charged with affray, wasn’t the reasonably stimulating environment he hoped for. Okay, going from investigating serious cases on a 24/7 basis, to wandering around the station waiting for something to happen, was no
t quite the invigorating change he expected. It was as he began to think seriously about taking more time to tend to his rose garden that the request for assistance came in from St Ives.
Neilson knew Meredith; he’d taken a liking to the young detective and was impressed with his intelligence. When Meredith was first added to the Camborne CID he had given everyone the impression that he took the job seriously and had the making of a good investigator.
For Meredith now to be lost was extremely puzzling – he just wasn’t the type to disappear without any warning or adverse behaviour, nor to indicate that he had personal problems and was having difficulty dealing with them. According to the senior man at St Ives, one Sergeant Nichols, Meredith had been pursuing a case competently in every way, and without any indication that he was going abandon it and abscond. The St Ives force had, on the face of it, carried out all the appropriate investigations in an attempt to discover Meredith’s whereabouts, or what had prompted his decision to vanish.
Neilson too found it hard to believe, and the report from Nichols that he considered Meredith as ‘missing in suspicious circumstances’ was definitely the case. He made arrangements to stay with the St Ives force for a few days – if nothing else it would be a lot more stimulating than his present state of affairs.
Caplin found Gregson’s thumbnail biography on the Consolidated Mines website.
In truth there was very little background to Gregson – a university degree in mining, an original job with mining equipments firm and then a leap forward into Consolidated Mines seventeen years ago. He was now Director of Commercial Intelligence, a board member, and, given his threat to all concerned, Caplin’s next target. But how that was to be achieved was another matter, it was going to require some careful planning.
