For Andy, the new title still had an awesome ring. ‘Good evening, gentlemen. Pleased to meet you. My message has implications for you too, so it’s as well that you’re here.
‘Just over an hour ago, my office had a “most urgent” call from a bloke called Allingham. He’s a Superintendent in the Met, but on secondment to the Foreign Office. I suppose you’d describe him as part of the Diplomatic Service. His job is to deal, as quietly as possible, with awkward incidents involving foreign embassies and nationals.
‘It must keep him busy, for he was in his office this evening, when he had a call from the Japanese Ambassador. According to him, the Ambassador was well upset. He had just been told by Madame Yobatu of her husband’s arrest, of the things we found, and of the likelihood of murder charges. The Ambassador’s on the spot, boss, and so are we all.
‘What we didn’t know, and what Yobatu and his wife didn’t choose to tell us, is that the guy has vice-consular status.’
He paused only for breath, but that was time enough for Skinner to explode, ‘Jesus Henry Christ! You know what that means don’t you.’
‘Exactly, boss. Yobatu has diplomatic immunity!’
‘Marvellous, just fucking marvellous!’ It was one of the few times that Martin had heard Skinner really raise his voice in anger. He decided, very quickly, to wait for the storm to blow over. Even the case-hardened Haggerty looked awed.
‘So what does Mr bloody Allingham want us to do? Turn this murderous lunatic back out on the street?’
‘No, boss. He hasn’t asked that, not yet anyway. The Ambassador wants to talk to you, face-to-face, before deciding what should happen. But he can’t order Yobatu to waive immunity, nor can he sack him retrospectively. Anyway, the Ambassador, whose name is Shi-Bachi, is flying up himself, tonight. He’ll be on the 8.40 British Midland, arriving here about ten o’clock. Allingham is coming with him, and it was him who asked that there should be no further questioning until they arrive.’
Skinner laughed, a short laugh without humour. ‘That’s no problem at all.’
‘What do you mean, boss?’
‘The man’s a vegetable, Andy. He’s had a complete mental collapse. Kevin O’Malley’s just gone off to arrange for his admission to the Royal Edinburgh, and Brian Mackie’s away to get Madame Yobatu, so that she can sign him in.’
Martin whistled. ‘That could be dicey. What if Madame decides to cut up rough, and starts denying everything on her old man’s behalf. Could we wind up being the bad guys here?’
The hard edge had gone from Skinner’s voice. He laughed that odd laugh once more. ‘She can say what she likes, Andy. But there’s one thing, or rather two, that she can’t talk her way round. Remember what was in that toffee box in her old man’s garage!’
He turned to Haggerty. ‘Willie, you’ve got an interest in this. You’d better stay here to see the Ambassador. Get your boss through if you think it wise. Don’t worry, though, if the shite does hit the ventilator over this, I’ll make sure that none of it splatters on you.’
He looked over to Martin. ‘I want you here too, Andy. Allingham’s your pigeon. I’m going to talk to the Ambassador directly, not through him. So you be here to look after him. I won’t have time. Besides, it’ll be worthwhile experience for you; might teach you to store the names of all resident diplomats, honorary or not, in that photographic memory of yours.’
He picked up the telephone and called Sarah. ‘It looks like being a long night, love.’
‘Can I still expect you?’
‘Yes, but I’ve no idea when I’ll be through here. Things concerning our Japanese guest have taken an unusual turn. If I’m not there by midnight or so, you can start without me.’
36
Martin returned to the Fettes Avenue office at 9.45 p.m., after failing to make peace with Joanne. Skinner, Haggerty and Bell were still there. Three empty pizza boxes and three plates with cutlery lay on the table.
‘You didn’t see Proud Jimmy on your way in, did you?’ Skinner asked. ‘I called him earlier on. Ambassadors are right up his street.’
‘No sign when I came in. Who’s collecting the Ambassador and Allingham?’
‘Brian’s gone to pick them up. I gather the plane was on time. They’ll be brought here, then we’ll go up to the Royal Edinburgh. Yobatu’s there now, under guard, with his wife. I’ve asked Kevin O’Malley not to sedate him until the Ambassador’s had a chance to look at him.’
‘How’s Mrs Yobatu bearing up?’
‘Okay. Brian asked her if she could account for the things we found. She said that she didn’t have a clue. All that she could say was that her husband was and had always been a man who put great store in honour.
Martin grunted his disapproval. ‘That’ll be a great source of comfort to lain MacVicar’s mother!’
As he spoke, Chief Constable Proud swept into the room, resplendent in full dress uniform and radiating authority. The Strathclyde detectives looked hugely impressed, almost bowing as they were introduced. Proud nodded to them, then turned to Skinner.
‘He’s not here yet, is he?’
‘Not yet, Chief. Let’s go out front to meet him.’
‘Yes, let’s be a welcoming committee.’ He bustled out, all epaulettes and silver braid, with Skinner and Martin following.
They stood behind reception for five minutes before Mackie’s car drew up at the main entrance. When he appeared in the hallway, the Inspector led an elderly, balding Japanese, and a tall man with a thin, sallow face and a dark moustache. They were dressed for the frozen North, in navy blue overcoats with a Savile Row look. Snowflakes melted on the dark cloth.
Proud shook the Ambassador’s hand, and nodded in Allingham’s direction. Shi-Bachi bowed slightly, and he and the Chief exchanged pleasantries as Proud led the way to his office. Skinner, following behind, attempted small-talk with Allingham. The man did not respond.
There was a pot of coffee on a tray on the big rosewood table in the Chief Constable’s office. Proud poured six cups and handed them round.
‘Well gentlemen, shall we get down to business. Bob Skinner has charge of this investigation, and enjoys my complete confidence; I suggest that he leads off.’
Shi-Bachi smiled and nodded his assent. He looked across the table towards Skinner, who put down his cup.
‘Thank you, Chief, and thank you, Your Excellency, for coming north so quickly to help us with this difficulty. Now, where shall I begin?’
To his astonishment, even as the Ambassador opened his mouth to reply, Allingham cut in, brusquely.
‘You can begin by telling His Excellency how a Japanese vice-consul, with full diplomatic immunity, comes to be locked up in your nick!’
Skinner turned on the man. He glared at him and said in a hard, even voice, ‘Listen here, Mister; Superintendent is it? I don’t know who the hell you are, I don’t know what the hell you are, and guess what, I don’t care about either! But I know where the hell you are. You’re on my patch, interfering with my investigation, with no locus or authority. So before go any further, you will go somewhere else with Mr Mackie, and make the Ambassador’s hotel arrangements. That’s what you’re here for. That will allow His Excellency and I to discuss this matter without interference. Brian, take this man away!’
Allingham looked to Proud for protection, but was met by silence and an angry glare. He turned back towards Skinner, blustering. ‘If that is what the Ambassador wishes... ’
‘It is.’ Shi-Bachi cut him short. The man flushed, but rose without another word and left the room, with Mackie on his heels.
Skinner turned back to address the Ambassador. ‘As I was saying, sir.’
Shi-Bachi nodded. ‘Now that my guard has gone,’ he said with a smile, ‘perhaps you would simply tell me why you believe that Yobatu san may have done these terrible things.’ He spoke in perfect, if slightly clipped English.
And so Skinner led him through the whole terrible story, beginning with the brutal murder of Yobat
u’s daughter and ending with the man’s mental collapse earlier that evening. He missed no detail, and it was fully half-an-hour before his account was complete.
‘So, Your Excellency, you will see that we have the strongest evidence of Yobatu san’s guilt. But as a diplomat, even an honorary one, he cannot be prosecuted, or brought to account for himself in any way. He is known here as a respectable businessman. If he is simply declared persona non grata, people will want to know why. If the story should emerge there will be embarrassment, to say the least. How do you suggest that the matter should be settled?’
Shi-Bachi looked grave. And then, after deep thought, he said, ‘Let me see him. Let me try, at least, to speak with him. Then, as you say, we will sleep on it, and decide upon action in the light of the new day.’
Skinner nodded in agreement. ‘Then let’s go to the hospital.’
When they arrived at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Morningside, they were directed to a first-floor room. A uniformed policeman stood outside the door.
Inside, a second constable sat facing the bed on which Yobatu lay. His wife was at his bedside. The woman rose to her feet the moment the Ambassador entered, preceding Skinner, Proud and Martin. She bowed in respect. Shi-Bachi, smiling, walked to her. He spoke softly in Japanese and pressed her gently back into her seat.
Yobatu lay propped up by pillows, staring fixedly at a point on the wall. Shi-Bachi leaned over him and spoke clearly in Japanese. There was no reaction.
‘I am sorry, gentlemen,’ he said to the policemen. ‘For your convenience, I will speak in English.’
He turned again to face the bed. ‘Yobatu san, you know me well.
‘You have been accused of terrible crimes. Do you have any defence, or any answer to these charges?’ His tone was stem, but it brought no movement, no reaction of any kind.
Shi-Bachi repeated his question, louder the second time. But Yobatu continued to stare at his piece of wall.
The Ambassador looked at the man for some time. He placed himself in his line of sight. Still Yobatu did not react, or move a muscle. Shi-Bachi turned to the group of policemen.
‘We have a problem, you and I. Let us go away to think about it.’
They left the hospital in silence. Skinner drove Shi-Bachi to the Caledonian, one of the two massive hotels which stand like bookends at either end of Princes Street. A subdued Allingham met them in the foyer. They arranged to meet at Fettes Avenue at 9.30 a.m. next day.
Skinner arrived at Sarah’s flat just five minutes before midnight. She met him at the front door. ‘Bob, you look exhausted. What a day you must have had. Come on, let’s not bother with a night-cap. Let’s go to bed.’
As they undressed in silence, Sarah looked beneath the tiredness, and saw that Skinner the detective was still mentally at work.
‘Come on then, darling, tell me what’s wrong.’
‘I’m not exactly sure. I have a feeling that I’m going to lose this guy to the Japanese, and that’s eating at me. But there’s something else, too. It’s been niggling away since the start, and I can’t nail it down.’
‘Look, Robert, you’ve got the right man, yes?’
‘Look at the evidence. And he as good as admitted it before his mind went on its holidays.’
‘Then does it matter whether he spends the rest of his life in a secure mental hospital here, or in one in Japan. Because that’s the likely outcome, as Kevin O’Malley would tell you right now, if you really pressed him.
‘It matters to me that people know that we’ve caught him, that they can feel safe again. That’s what really matters.’
‘Then that’s your deal with the Japanese. They can have him without protest, but the story is told.’
‘My lovely Doctor, you are too sensible for your own good. Come here.
‘Skinner, you must be joking! Sleep - now!’
And almost instantly, involuntarily, he obeyed.
37
The meeting with Shi-Bachi and Allingham took place once more in Proud Jimmy’s fine, oak-panelled office. Tea was served in delicate china cups, and two plates of MacVitie’s chocolate digestive biscuits, obligatory at such meetings, even at 9.30 a.m., were placed on the highly polished table, around which seven men sat.
Skinner was on the Chief Constable’s right, with Martin beyond him On Proud’s left, sat Assistant Chief Constable Graham Parton, Strathclyde Constabulary’s Head of CID, with Willie Haggerty by his side.
Shi-Bachi and Allingham sat opposite the group of policemen, giving the meeting a suitably formal air. As soon as his secretary had poured the tea and left the room, Proud took the initiative.
‘Your Excellency, I do not propose that a written record be kept of this meeting. But, I would ask you to agree to the attendance as an observer of Mr John Wilson, who is Private Secretary to the Lord Advocate, our senior Law Officer. In suggesting this, I recognise formally that our courts do not have jurisdiction over Mr Yobatu in the matters which we are here to discuss.’
The Ambassador returned Proud Jimmy’s cool gaze. He nodded briefly. ‘I have no objection, Chief Constable.’
‘Thank you, sir.’ Proud turned to Martin. ‘Chief Inspector, you should find Mr Wilson in my outer office. Would you please invite him to join us.’
‘Sir.’ Martin left the room.
Skinner was surprised. The Chief had not told him about the Lord Advocate’s observer. However, he supposed to himself that it was only natural for the politicians to want to keep an eye on a sensitive matter which was, not only in theory, but in all probability in practice, out of their hands.
Martin reappeared a few seconds later. He held the door open to admit a tall man in his early forties, with thinning hair and a sharp face. Wilson took a seat at the table, midway between Shi-Bachi and Martin, symbolically at least, a member of neither camp.
Proud Jimmy nodded towards the man, ‘For your benefit, Mr Wilson, and, to an extent, for that of ACC Parton, I will ask Chief Superintendent Skinner to give an account of his investigation, and of the events which have led us all to this meeting this morning.’
Skinner looked to his right, making full eye-contact with Wilson. The man dropped his eyes after only a couple of seconds. In a far recess of Skinner’s mind an alarm bell sounded, faintly. He ignored it and began to speak.
Once again, he went through the story stage by stage, looking at Wilson frequently as he did so, as if the man was a juror, and he was in the witness-box. As he reached the climax of his tale, he described in detail the encounter with Yobatu, citing the man’s delight at the manner of Shun Lee’s death, and his silent reaction to the discoveries in his garage.
Turning from witness to prosecutor, he began to sum up. ‘So where does that leave us, gentlemen?
‘It brings us to a position where we have motive, opportunity and hard evidence, all pointing to the guilt of Yobatu san of the murders of Shun Lee, Mortimer and Miss Jameson, and forensic evidence which proves categorically that the killer of Mortimer was responsible also for the murders of the unknown man, Mrs Rafferty and PC MacVicar.
‘On the basis of our evidence we believe that we would undoubtedly gain convictions on the four Edinburgh murders, at the very least, were Yobatu san fit to plead. At the moment he is not, but the opinion of two psychiatrists who have seen him is that should he recover from his present collapse, his mental condition at the time of the murders would be a matter for the judgement of a jury.
‘But all of this, Mr Wilson, is academic. As an honorary vice-consul of Japan, Yobatu san enjoys diplomatic immunity, and could not be prosecuted for these crimes, even if he were fit to plead. That is the situation which we are here to discuss.’
Skinner looked across at Shi-Bachi. ‘Your Excellency, you can see my - our position. We have had a series of brutal murders which have caused great public concern.
‘We believe that we have caught the perpetrator. But we can’t tell the public, to allay their fears, and we can’t charge the man because of hi
s status.’
Skinner sat back in his seat and looked at Shi-Bachi.
But before the Ambassador could speak, Allingham broke in. ‘Correct me it I am wrong, Chief Superintendent, but Yobatu san has not admitted these crimes.’
Skinner looked at him, mastering his dislike of the man only with an effort. ‘Superintendent, listen as a policeman to what I am saying to you. The evidence here is so strong, that in all my experience, I have never encountered a jury which would have acquitted after hearing it.’
Shi-Bachi waved Allingham to silence. ‘Gentlemen.’ He looked directly at Parton, then Proud, and finally Skinner, upon whom his gaze settled as he spoke. ‘I grieve for what has happened in your cities. I grieve for the people who are dead. But what can I do? We have a man suspected of vile crimes who is under the protection of international law. I cannot remove his status.
‘However, Yobatu san himself can elect to stand trial and face the consequences if he is convicted. In theory, I cannot force him to make that choice, Nevertheless, I am of the Japanese royal family; he is samurai. In practice, I can order him, and he will obey. Should his condition improve so that it becomes possible, that I will do.
‘In the meantime, you may keep him in your hospital for as long as is necessary. My Embassy will pay for his treatment, and will fly over the best available man in Japan to assist. For the present, I suggest that you tell your newspapers that you have arrested a man, who is for the moment too ill to be charged or to stand trial, but that you are looking for no one else. Then your people can feel safe again.’
Skinner’s face brightened as Shi-Bachi spoke.
‘Your Excellency, that is a most generous proposal.’
Proud and Parton nodded in support. The Chief Constable spoke for the first time in twenty minutes. ‘Yes, Mr Ambassador, thank you indeed. We will discuss the wording of our announcement with our Crown Office and with you before any statement is issued.’
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