Cuts Both Ways

by Solomon Carter

  “If you wait out there I’ll bring it out for you,” said Eva, ignoring the man as she picked out the filter papers and ground coffee from the cupboard beneath the draining board.

  “It’s okay, Miss Roberts. You really don’t need to stand on ceremony for me. I just wanted to talk.”

  “Talk? Just now you said this might be a matter of life and death.”

  “And it is. But I also wanted to gauge progress on the case. To see if you’d made any progress at all.”

  “Mr Poulter, I could have updated you on the phone. You led me to believe that you had something new to share with me. Something important, didn’t you say?”

  “And yes, I will. But… have there been any developments? Alma’s extremely vulnerable, see. And easily led. She’s with very bad people. I just need to know.”

  “Of course you do. And just as soon as I hear anything I’ll—”

  Eva’s phone started to buzz. “Oh!” She put the foil coffee bag and papers aside and pulled her mobile from her pocket. Poulter watched her, fascinated and anxious. Eva frowned as she scanned the screen.

  “Something about your other case? Or is it about Alma?”

  “Wait a second,” said Eva. “Let me read it first, please.”

  “Oh, yeah,” said Poulter. “Sorry, it’s just that, you know, I’m worried about Alma and I did pay you to find her. You do see what I mean, don’t you?”

  Eva did see, but she didn’t reply. The man was angry and incredibly impatient and hiding it beneath the thinnest veneer of artificial friendliness. Eva looked up from Dan’s text message.

  “Actually, I think my partner may have worked out where she is.”

  Poulter’s eyes widened, and his nervous face formed a smile.

  In fact, the text message from Dan was more definitive than Eva had let on. He’d found her and had also given her the basics of Alma’s situation. But Poulter didn’t deserve to know that yet. If he’d been less hassling, less persistent, she knew she would have told him everything. But there was something unpleasant about the man. She couldn’t work it out. It wasn’t entirely about his false friendliness or his annoying overly-nervous manner. It was something deeper. Eva tried to figure it out, tried to explain it away with logic. But logic failed. Still, Eva decided she wasn’t going to reveal everything until Poulter had told her precisely what he had dragged her here for. A kind of trade seemed only fair.

  “Seriously? You think he’s found her? Where is she?”

  “Like I said, he thinks, Mr Poulter. We can’t be certain yet, but we’re getting much closer.”

  Poulter licked his upper lip. “That’s… well, that’s great news. I can’t wait to see her face to face.”

  “And that’s coming. Now let me get your drink. Go and wait for me at the front desk. I’ll bring it out for you in a moment.”

  Poulter’s eyes flitted between Eva’s, like he was trying to read her for more, trying to suss her out.

  “Mr Poulter, please,” she added, without a hint of deference. Her words were firm. The man nodded and stepped back from the doorway. She watched as he put a self-conscious hand up around the back of his neck and walked out into the office. The front desk was Mark’s. In a short while Joanne would occupy it, and together they would examine this strange man. If there was something wrong with him and Eva couldn’t pinpoint it, then together, one of them would be sure to locate the problem. Eva took her time. She slowly made a half pot of coffee and tried to settle her mind away from the pressure. At least Dan was okay. At least one case was more than halfway solved. All she had to do now was fix Lauren, and they’d have two pay cheques coming in and two fewer problems. The coffee gurgled to a climax and Eva poured two mugs – Poulter’s the one without chips and cracks.

  “Milk?” she called from the door.

  “Uh, yes, if you have some…”

  Eva poured the semi-skimmed and took out their drinks.

  “Here,” she said. Poulter had settled just where she wanted him to, at the client side of the front reception desk, his back facing the office door. His arms were folded. His face was solemn. She placed the cup in front of him and sipped her own before she sat down.

  “So,” said Eva.

  “So,” said Poulter.

  “You called me here to tell me about Alma. Something important. What is it you want to tell me?”

  “A couple of things, actually. But I don’t suppose any of it would be relevant now, seeing as you’ve found her. It’d be superfluous, don’t you think? Best I just get on and see her. I can’t wait.”

  “Mr Poulter, I said we’re close to finding her.”

  “Really…? But doesn’t that actually mean the exact same thing. I mean, you don’t know you’re close to catching a cold until you’ve caught the bloody thing and you’re already sneezing. You don’t know your train has reached the station until it gets there and the doors open. Sounds to me like your partner has probably found her already.”

  Eva met his eyes. Her spine stiffened as she dropped into her seat. She put her cup and mobile phone down and leaned her forearms on the desk.

  “Some fascinating insights, Mr Poulter, but still a little off the mark. You’re the client. If we’d found your sister, don’t you think we’d tell you?”

  Poulter tilted his head left and right as if he wasn’t sure.

  “A set of new clues means we’re getting warmer. A bit like that game children sometimes play. You get warmer or colder depending how close you get to the solution. At the moment we think we’re getting a lot warmer. Do you follow?”

  “I follow you, I guess. I never knew investigating could be so… simple.”

  “Everything’s simple when you’ve done the difficult part, Mr Poulter. But add it all up, it’s still a complicated job.”

  Poulter nodded, but to Eva’s mind it didn’t look like he was agreeing with anything. Ever since the text message, he’d seemed to be elsewhere.

  Behind Poulter the door latch clicked, the front door creaked and the bell gave a brief, stuttering ring. In came Joanne. The girl looked flustered, with wisps of blonde hair over her face from the breeze. She glanced at Poulter, who turned to look at her, then Joanne put on a smile for Eva. It seemed genuine enough. More genuine than Poulter’s at least. But then Eva supposed that wasn’t too much of an accomplishment.

  “Mr Poulter, I presume?” said Joanne. She walked in, as professional as a working woman ten years her senior, with her soft hand outstretched. No matter how she dressed it up, Mark had never been as confident as Joanne. Poulter half rose from his chair to stand and take the girl’s hand. He looked at Eva, confusion in his eyes.

  “Joanne works here at the agency with us.”

  “Another partner?”

  Eva shook her head. “Not quite yet. Just a valued member of the team.”

  Joanne smiled at that. She hung her jacket on the back of the other client chair, and Eva noticed her attire. A black office-style dress, the kind with faux blouse sleeves and a collar attached. She’d changed her clothes. And she looked smarter for it. Eva declined to mention either fact.

  “You’ve got drinks,” said Joanne. “Is there anything else I can do while I’m here?” As Joanne spoke she walked to one of the desks behind and took out a tablet from her handbag, swiping the screen as she waited for Eva’s answer. Eva watched the girl looking at something on screen. The tablet light illuminated her face as she looked up, still awaiting Eva’s reply.

  “Please, get settled first, then come and sit in on this meeting. Mr Poulter says he’s got some information to share with us. Something important that he didn’t tell us at the start.”

  “Oh?” said Joanne, a frown crossing her face.

  Poulter shook his head. “It’s just something and nothing. I thought it might be good to know. But seeing as you’re so close to finding her, I really don’t see the point in telling you now.”

  “Are we close to finding her then?” said Joanne.

  “We’re
getting closer,” Eva said quickly.

  Joanne seemed pleased.

  “But seeing as Mr Poulter said this other information was so very important, I think we’d better hear it. Joanne, would you make some notes for us?”

  “Sure, Eva.”

  She brought her tablet with her as she walked to the desk, pulled her chair around and sat down, beside Eva. Just two professional women dealing with their client. Dutifully, Joanne opened a notepad function on her tablet and sat poised to make notes. She held an electronic stylus in her hand and looked between Eva and Poulter, ready to transcribe. Poulter scratched his nose.

  “Okay. Okay… So here it is. The information. Alma certainly is in danger, but it’s not quite exactly as I told you.”

  “No?” said Eva, her eyes gleaming.

  “Uh. Not quite.” The man paused and looked down at his hands before meeting their eyes once more. “See, the thing is, Alma isn’t really just a victim. She was also involved in what they’re doing.”

  “In what who are doing, Mr Poulter?” said Eva.

  Joanne’s lips tightened. She looked at Poulter with fascination, and perhaps, Eva wondered, a little disgust. So the feeling was catching.

  “The dealers she moved in with in Watford.”

  “Moved in with? You didn’t tell us that she moved in with anyone. You said she was involved with them… that they had gotten hold of her, that they had more or less brought her down here against her will.”

  “I never said that, exactly. You may have gotten that impression, or assumed it, but that’s not what I actually said.”

  “But I took notes, Mr Poulter. The same as Joanne here is taking notes now.”

  Joanne nodded at the instruction and dipped the stylus to the screen and started to scrawl across the glass. The note taking really wasn’t necessary. Eva only wanted company. Poulter was beginning to disturb her, and she wanted a second opinion. But Joanne began to write anyway, though it didn’t really matter what.

  “The truth of it is that Alma is still a victim,” said Poulter. “Because she believed what they told her. And because she believes she can handle being a part of their business.”

  “Their business? You’re now saying that Alma is part of their business? This Watford drug gang who came to Southend.”

  Poulter frowned and gave a shrug.

  “To put it another way,” said Eva. “What you’re now suggesting is that Alma Poulter wasn’t taken anywhere against her will. The men she got involved with in Watford were her friends. She knew they were drug dealers, and she didn’t mind either way. Which suggests that she is involved in their illegal drug operation. And, unless I’m mistaken, the implication of that is that Alma came here with the Watford gang of her own free will. For what purpose? Because Southend represents a better business opportunity for her? Is that it?”

  “I’m afraid I really don’t know my sister’s motivation.”

  “You seem to know it a lot better now than you did before, Mr Poulter,” said Eva.

  “I’m telling you, I honestly don’t know,” Poulter repeated.

  “I can’t see how she’s a victim at all from what you say. She now sounds more like an accomplice than a victim.”

  “You’re not police. What does it matter? I’ve paid you to find her, that’s what matters.”

  “Yes, and it matters that you didn’t tell us the whole story. That’s something that matters very much.”

  “But you’ll still finish the job? You’ll still find her?” Poulter’s eyes implored her.

  Eva kept her face even, her eyes inscrutable.

  “The case has a different complexion now,” said Eva. “Why exactly do you want us to find her, Mr Poulter?”

  “For the exact same reason. Because I want to save her. She’s being an idiot, Miss Roberts. She’s acting like a bloody teenager, thinking she can make a few grand just because these scumbags are telling her so. But you and me know what the drug business – what the whole bloody crime thing is like – it never pays, does it? It only ends up with heartache and prison time. My sister is just being a dumb little brat, but she really doesn’t deserve to go to jail because of having her head turned by some chancer’s story.”

  Eva waited. She looked at Joanne before she returned her eyes to the man.

  “That’s all there is to your request to meet with me? You wanted to confess that Alma wasn’t a victim. She was involved with these dealers?”

  “I guessed you’d find out when you found her anyway. I didn’t want you having any nasty surprises.”

  “You didn’t want us changing our minds when we found her. You didn’t want us shopping her to the police or dropping the case.”

  Poulter shifted in his chair. “That might have had something to do with it, I suppose.”

  Eva looked at Joanne again, and the girl ran her stylus across the tablet screen in a rapid scrawl. The look in Joanne’s eyes said the man was making her cringe. But Eva saw a hint of apology in the girl’s eyes too. She guessed Joanne felt responsible for bringing her such a slimeball for a client.

  “No harm done. At least we know the whole story now, eh?” said Eva. “That is all there is to know, isn’t it?”

  “Of course. Now you’ll be able to tell me everything else when you find her,” said Poulter.

  “That’s the arrangement, yes,” said Eva.

  Poulter nodded.

  “Now. Is there any way you could tell me a little more about how things are going? I just get the feeling somehow that you know a little more than you’re letting on.”

  “This is a live case, Mr Poulter. Things change all the time. We’ll update you when we can.”

  Poulter held her gaze. “All the same, it’d be good to know what you do,” said Poulter. Eva reached for her phone, checking for any update. She saw she’d somehow missed a text message, and a call. But there was nothing new from Dan. Which enabled Eva to shake her head, as if to say, ‘no, nothing there’. She put the phone back on the desk.

  “Mr Poulter,” said Eva, under the weight of his gaze. “Just let me confer with my colleague a minute. There’s a couple of things I need to discuss with her.”

  “My case being one of them?”

  “It’s an admin matter, Mr Poulter,” said Eva. She stood up from the desk and Joanne followed, tablet in hand. Eva left the man seated at the reception desk with the untouched coffee cups and under Poulter’s watchful gaze they walked to the kitchen. Eva looked back and saw the man watching. She led the way into the kitchen and slid the door halfway across to hide their conversation.

  “He’s a bit creepy, I’ll give you that,” said Joanne. “But at least it’s a paying job.”

  “Yes. And he paid an advance. But he seems unreliable, Joanne, don’t you think? Untrustworthy, perhaps.”

  “I can see he’s a bit… odd,” said Joanne.

  “Yes. We picked up on the oddness when he first showed up, and thought it was just his nerves. And I put that down to a him never having used a PI before. To a new client there’s always a certain amount of mythology that comes with hiring an investigator. I thought he’d bought into all that, as some of them do. But now, I’m not so sure.”

  “So you’re not happy with the client, or the job?”

  “None of it reflects on you, Joanne. I didn’t bring you in to complain.”

  “Well, that’s a relief. I was only trying to help you.”

  “And it’s appreciated. I brought you in for a second opinion. What do you make of him? Do you believe him?”

  “Believe him about what?”

  “About any of it. He called me back here to tell me some piece of vital information he said he’d held back on, but to my mind, he’s given us nothing more than I suspected already. His sister came here of her own free will. She’s more or less in cahoots with them.”

  “Which means?”

  “Mr Poulter exaggerated the value of what he was going to tell me. To be honest, everything he just said feels to me l
ike he could have made it up on the spot.”

  “No, I don’t think so,” said Joanne. “It all fits with what I heard when I passed you the lead in the first place. His sister’s missing. He probably just didn’t want to share all the gory details. We all like to cover up for our loved ones, don’t we?”

  Eva considered the theory.

  “Then what’s your impression of the man himself?”

  “I don’t like him,” said Joanne. “But he might still be kosher, as Dan would say.”

  Eva nodded but she wasn’t so sure. Joanne saw it in her face.

  “What about progress? How long do you think it will be until you find her? Then you can get shot of him.”

  Eva lowered her voice again and peered around the edge of the kitchen door before carrying on. She saw Poulter at the desk, reclining in his seat, shaking his foot like a true fidget. He gave Eva a wave, and she nodded back and withdrew.

  “Dan’s already found her.”

  “That’s brilliant!” said Joanne. “Then why don’t you let him know and get your fee and get rid of him. End of story.”

  “Maybe…” said Eva.

  “Why not?” said Joanne.

  “He makes me uneasy.”

  “Perhaps you’d like me to sound him out a bit more?”

  “How would you do that?” said Eva.

  Joanne shrugged. “He’s a bit of a creep, isn’t he? The way he shook my hand when I came in. He squeezed my hand a bit too much… I think I might be able to get him talking. If I had to.”

  “Don’t indulge the man, honestly. It’s not worth it.”

  “But it might be worth it. Just to work him out…”