All you had to do was ask her sister, Jack thought uncharitably. ‘Professor Chan, I imagine that is all academic now and would only serve to upset you even more.’
‘More? Do you honestly believe I could be more deeply broken than I am right now? Let’s not forget — as you informed me, DCI Hawksworth — that my fiancée was not only seeing another man but was pregnant to him. I really thought learning that would make it easier to cope with her death … but it hasn’t.’
‘I’m sorry, I simply meant —’
‘I know what you meant, DCI Hawksworth. But as I explained on the occasion we met, I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve. But that doesn’t mean I don’t hurt like everyone else.’
‘Again, I’m sorry.’
‘Lily did once mention she occasionally had a coffee with one of the translators she’d got to know. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t pay much attention, so I can’t tell you who it was. I know it was a man, because I recall telling her to beware of leading anyone on. I’m not sure Lily was ever fully aware of her effect on people, especially men.’
Jack knew exactly what Chan meant. ‘I had met her, as you may recall,’ he said.
‘Then you know what I’m talking about.’
‘She was charming … captivating.’
‘Indeed. And that was why I suggested to her that she consider it carefully when men asked her to join them for coffee and the like.’
‘Ms Wu was twenty-nine, Professor, and I suspect, as a modern woman, was perfectly capable of sorting those things out.’
‘Except I’m an old-fashioned man, DCI Hawksworth, and it seems I was right to warn her.’
‘You never saw Ms Wu with this interpreter; you couldn’t recognise him from a photo?’
‘Never and no.’
‘All right, Professor, I think —’
‘However, Lily was always in hot water with one of the sisters in charge of one of the general wards on the day shift. Nan Beckitt, I think her name is. I heard Lily complain about her often enough. Perhaps she would be worth contacting. She would know of the translators regularly used in the wards.’
Jack’s hopes flared. ‘Thank you, Professor, we’ll keep you posted.’
‘And your friends?’ Jack frowned at the man’s query. ‘The police cars?’ Chan prompted.
‘Oh right, I’ll phone them. Are you going out again tonight, Professor Chan?’
‘No. I’m home all evening.’
‘Someone will be outside.’
‘Goodnight, DCI Hawksworth.’
Jack rang off, feeling drained. His reliable gut told him he’d been barking up the wrong tree with Chan. In his mind now, the professor was as likely to be the killer as Geoff Benson was.
‘Sarah . . .’
‘Sir?’
‘We need the number of a senior nurse at RLH. Her name is Nan Beckitt, or something like that. Pass any information on to Cam. Any news from him or Mal?’
‘Nothing yet,’ Sarah admitted, ‘although I’ve checked out our translator — he uses the full name of Sarju Rahman.’ She shrugged. ‘It may help get us closer to the killer and hopefully Kate. Another thing occurs to me, sir.’ She bit her lip.
‘Now’s not the moment to go coy on me, Sarah. I’m reaching at anything. I want this bastard, and all of those who link up to him to make his killing become reality.’
She nodded. Jack shrugged deeper into his coat. It was freezing and a storm felt as though it were brewing. ‘Malik mentioned Brick Lane ... he thought Sarju lived there or close by, right?’
‘He said that, yes.’
Her expression of pain deepened. ‘It’s just that today when I was interviewing Claudia Lenkas, who gave us the details of Mr Gluck and his possible association with Schlimey Katz, she also gave me an address in Brick Lane that one of the girls — who’s now gone missing — went to with a client.’
Jack stepped closer until he towered over Sarah.
‘Tell me what she said.’
‘Claudia’s friend, Aniela, is just a kid — she broke the cardinal rule and took off in a taxi to meet a guy at his place in Brick Lane. She’d been with him on the platform of Amhurst station. According to Claudia — who, I might add, heard this from someone else — this bloke didn’t want to do it publicly. He wanted to be with her alone at his home. Apparently, he was dark-skinned and smallish — with an address in Brick Lane. It could be Sarju!’
‘And this Aniela went there and hasn’t been seen since.’
‘That’s exactly right.’ Sarah’s pleasant freckled face wore a look of intense worry.
Jack closed his eyes. Another victim? ‘Right, Sarah, get on to Angela. I want Mr Gluck picked up for questioning and taken over to Bethnal Green. Sling anything you want at him. Get Claudia down there as well and this second witness you mentioned who told her about Aniela’s movements.’
‘Claudia’s probably still at the station,’ Sarah said.
‘Whatever. Just make sure she’s available for questioning. I’m going there now. You stay here in case Kate turns up.’
‘Right, sir.’
‘Geoff, let’s go. I need to talk to this Claudia and Gluck.’
‘Hawk.’ He looked at his watch. ‘It’s already nearing eight-thirty.’
‘Don’t think like that,’ Jack growled. ‘We’re going to find her. He will not have Kate.’
Jack’s phone rang. He stared at the screen hopefully then felt his heart sink deeper into his chest. There was no avoiding this. He had to answer it. ‘Yes, sir.’
Sharpe sighed at the other end. ‘No way to tell you kindly, Jack. You know it’s been coming. I’ll just say it. You’re off Panther.’
Jack felt instantly sick. Sharpe had obviously found out about his connection to Lily. ‘Sir, wait, please, I can explain.’
Sharpe ignored his pleas. ‘You know the drill. I can’t bend the rules that far.’
‘You need to understand that I had to, sir. It was the only way that we could —’
‘Jack, listen to me,’ Sharpe growled. ‘I’ve just put the phone down on my counterpart in Athens and I —’
‘Athens! What’s Athens got to do with this?’
Sharpe paused. The silence was awful. ‘Have you bumped your head, Jack?’
‘I’m sorry, Chief, but what are you talking about?’
‘I could ask you the same. I thought you already knew. I’m the one that’s been in meetings all day. Chief Inspector Klimentou said he’d left a message for you.’
‘Sir,’ Jack said through his daze. ‘I haven’t got a clue what we’re discussing.’
‘Wake up, Jack! I’m talking about Anne McEvoy. She’s been found. And what’s more Interpol has moved fast and she’s in custody at Rhodes, of all places. She was found working in a tiny art gallery at Ixia in the Greek islands. Anyway, she’s being escorted to Athens now and tomorrow morning you’ll be boarding a flight at Heathrow to go and fetch her, returning tomorrow evening.’ Jack’s heart was pounding. Why now? Sharpe was still talking. ‘I can’t let you remain in charge of Panther. I’m looking into who can take over. Perhaps Geoff Benson, who’s on leave, and therefore available … you have a lot of time for him. What do you think?’
A notion exploded in Jack’s mind. He shoved his mobile at Geoff. ‘Here, the super wants to talk to you.’
Geoff looked at him aghast. ‘What?’
‘Don’t keep him waiting,’ he urged. ‘Sarah, can I have your phone?’
‘I’m just onto Andy now, sir. The girls are still being processed.’
‘Listen, tell him to put Claudia on the line.’
‘What?’
‘Humour me. Kate’s life might depend on something I think she might know.’
25.
When Kate regained her wits her mouth felt like a desert and her eyelids remained heavy. She struggled to focus.
‘Welcome back,’ a friendly voice said.
She remembered. ‘Charles,’ she groaned from the seat she was tied to.
‘What’s happening?’
‘Don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything. I just needed to settle you down.’
She noticed immediately that she was in a hospital gown and sensed herself naked beneath it. But that was instantly forgotten when Kate saw the body on the gurney. It wasn’t naked, however, and looked intact.
‘Who’s that?’ she asked, terrified.
Maartens shrugged. ‘I have no idea. She was pretty though. Actually I lie, I do know something about her. She’s a prostitute. Illegal, of course.’ He shrugged. ‘From somewhere in Eastern Europe, no doubt. No one cares about her. Just another unwelcome visitor taken off the English streets.’
‘I care,’ Kate said, unable to mask the fury that had suddenly exploded into her body. Terror was not gone, but the paralysis that fear seemed to bring to mind and body was — and she could hear that even her voice was different now: darker, deeper.
‘No you don’t, Kate. You care about ambition, working big cases, climbing the ladder. This woman’s death is so inconsequential it will hardly even register at the local police station — not that I intend for her to be found. I should never have allowed the Jew to take care of things. He’s been lazy, got others to do his dirty work. You’ve had a case to follow simply because the sloppiness of others has permitted my waste to be found.’
‘Waste? You mean the victims of your barbarism?’
‘This is not barbarism, Kate. This is progress. It’s the beautiful people like you who push for these advances in medicine. Yes, my work is going to benefit loads of damaged, deformed, worthy people who genuinely could live new, happy lives with a face transplant. But it’s the stupid, vacant, once-beautiful people of the world who fund the black market — and that will never stop.’
‘So you just took people off the streets because you wanted their skin?’
‘That’s about the size of it. Although I took no one. The two Jews arranged all that through some third party I have nothing to do with.’
‘And you just order a kill because someone’s ordered a face transplant?’ she asked, aghast.
‘Not quite. The first three were practise runs. I knew I could do it. I just needed to prove it that I could reconnect a face from one person to another.
I am changing medical history, Kate.’
‘But Lily Wu’s face was for a real patient.’
‘I was very proud of it,’ he said, wiping his hands.
‘But you knew her!’
He shrugged. ‘Not really. I’d never met her. And I didn’t actually order her if that’s what you’re getting at.’
Kate’s fury returned. ‘Please don’t try and tell me this was coincidence.’
He smiled. ‘Well, yes … and no. No, because I knew the spotter the Jews used was a little Bangladeshi man who worked the Whitechapel area and trawled the corridors of the Royal London Hospital for appropriate, um “product”, shall we say.’ He flung the towel into a black rubbish bag. ‘And while I knew Jimmy’s intended bride had a floristry run in the hospital, I didn’t specifically send a message that ordered Ms Lily Wu.’
‘But you made it so possible that she would be chosen.’
He shrugged. ‘She was Chinese, young, good complexion, healthy … And she was sleeping with your boss.’ He laughed. ‘Oh, was that supposed to be a big secret?’ He put his hand to his lips and twisted a pretend key in a make-believe lock. ‘Forgive me. Jimmy was so cagey about his girlfriend, I had to learn more. It started out as a bit of fun actually. I was going to tease Chan that I knew Lily — where she lived, who her friends were and so on. I used a friend of a friend who is a private investigator. Then I found out that not only was Lily cheating on Jimmy,’ he feigned horror, ‘but that she was cheating with a very senior detective in Scotland Yard.’
‘And you couldn’t have that, could you?’ she sneered.
‘Absolutely not. Suddenly Lily became a liability. I didn’t need a policeman that close to me. Fate stepped in and presented me with a first client from Hong Kong who needed a partial face transplant. Lily’s skin was ideal from what I could tell and I must admit I hoped the spotter would choose her because she was convenient. And he did.’ He smiled smugly. ‘Unfortunately, I still managed to win DCI Hawksworth’s attention.’
‘Did you think he’d just ignore her death?’
‘Well,’ he said, taking a moment to ponder her question. ‘I rather hoped he’d run scared once the inevitable investigation began and distance himself from Lily. I assumed they were simply lovers, not in love, and that he would melt away.’
‘You clearly don’t know him.’
‘But who would have thought the planets would align and he would be given supervision of the case? That really was bad luck on my part.’
‘Your arrogance makes me sick.’
He made a tutting sound. ‘Shame. And I thought we were getting on so well this afternoon. I even imagined us as lovers.’
She pulled a face of disgust at his suggestion. ‘You can’t truly believe there’s a future in this.’
‘Kate, my dear, although your time has run out, this is just the beginning for me,’ he said. He looked charged with unnatural energy.
‘No, this is the end for you, Dr Maartens.’
‘I don’t think so,’ he said conversationally. ‘I’ve covered my tracks, Kate. There’s no proof, no clues, no tracks to follow.’
‘No tracks? How about your ginger-haired mate for starters? Do you think he’s not going to give you up the minute we nab him?’
‘No, because Schlimey Katz will be dead in about …’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Oh dear, about now actually.’
‘What?’
‘Mugged and stabbed — but long before he reaches the CCTV cameras of London. I’ve decided to clean up my own mess, Kate. As for his boss, he’ll say nothing. He likes his diamonds too much. And that leaves one final person … the lowest of the low. The Bangla. He, too, will go to his maker this night and pfft,’ he made the sound of a soft explosion, ‘all traces to me are destroyed.’
‘We’ll pursue you to the ends of the earth,’ she threatened.
‘You and which posse? You’re all there is, Kate, and unfortunately you’ll be dead soon too. I just haven’t got around to you yet.’
‘And you think Scotland Yard isn’t going to follow through on that?’ she scoffed, desperately trying to keep a quaver from her voice.
‘Oh, I’m sure it will. But it will find you dead in a ditch a long way from here — on the lonely, treacherous country roads of somewhere like Berkshire or Hampshire, even. It’s why you’re naked — or near enough. We’ve cleaned you up completely and that’s why your hands, your feet, even your hair are encased in surgical gear. I want no forensic clues being taken out of here with you. Don’t worry, we’ll let you dress again once you get to your final destination. I’ve even had your clothes vacuumed and your own car is being driven here for the express purpose of keeping everything neat and tidy.’ He sounded pleased with himself. ‘You may want to look away now Kate, I’m going to disfigure this young lady’s fingers in case she’s already been fingerprinted by the police. I don’t think we need to worry about her dental records from Lithuania or Serbia or wherever the hell she comes from, do you?’
Kate shuddered and looked down in horror as the charming surgeon, the one she had considered might be pleasant company for a night out, began pulping the corpse’s fingertips with a vicious-looking hammer.
‘Is that Claudia?’ Jack asked.
‘What if it is?’ said the bored, accented voice on the other end of Sarah’s mobile.
‘Claudia, I’m DCI Jack Hawksworth and —’
‘Blah, blah, blah,’ she said over his words.
He stopped talking immediately. Then sighed.
‘Look, I get it.’
‘No you don’t. You’re just another man who wants a different part of my body. You want my brain, the next one wants my arse, another craves my mouth.’
Jack underst
ood her anger, but right now his took precedence. ‘So if I paid you for your help, you’d talk to me — is that it?’
It was her turn to pause. He wondered if she was about to electronically spit in his face. She surprised him. ‘Why not? I have a daughter to feed and no doubt some legal battles to fight. A thousand should do it.’
‘One thousand pounds?’ he asked, aghast.
‘I don’t mean pence,’ she drawled. He thought he heard her mutter ‘cheapskate’ after it.
‘Will that buy me information on a man who may or may not be a surgeon?’
She was quiet.
‘Claudia, there’s a man — we think it’s a man — who is out there expertly hacking off the faces of vulnerable people.’
‘I know it. Your little soldier told me all of this.’
‘Did she tell you that we think he may also have my colleague, DI Kate Carter? She’s probably around your age. If I don’t find her — and I mean soon — she’ll never know what it is to even be a mother like you. She acts tough but she’s not really, although she’s brave and feisty and works hard. Help me, Claudia. Please.’
‘You have a nice voice, DCI Hawksworth.’
‘I wouldn’t know,’ he said, disappointed as precious time ticked away.
‘When I spoke to Sarah just a moment ago I agreed to talk to you only if you were handsome. Sarah tells me you’re like a film star.’
That was the last thing Jack would have guessed might be said to him by Claudia. ‘She said that?’ he queried, buying himself time because he didn’t know what else to say.
‘As I stand here,’ she confirmed. ‘Is she lying?’
She was toying with him, but he needed to keep her on the line just in case she could give him something. ‘Definitely exaggerating.’
‘Why would she exaggerate? She struck me as someone who is deadly honest, very straight with people. I liked her; it’s why I agreed to even speak on this phone to you.’
‘Claudia, I don’t know —’
‘All right, Handsome Jack. I’ll tell you what. You don’t have to pay me anything. I promise no results but I’ll answer your questions as best I can.’
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