‘Very good, boss. Been doing your homework?’
‘I have a live-in tutor. But if I wanted to set up that kind of account, where would I get the nominee directors? And how would I know I could trust them?’
'Law firms and accountancy practices in BVI, as in all the tax havens, offer nominee director services. They charge the kind of fees that only the seriously rich and the seriously criminal will pay and their business depends on absolute discretion and trust. The only industry in these places is looking after money for people who don’t want anybody, especially the tax authorities, to know they’ve got it or where they’ve stashed it.’
‘Can you try to find out who’s using the account?’
‘I can try, but I don’t hold out much hope. I’ll talk to some people in London, but if you’ve any other way in, you should use it.’
‘What about the payments to MacIlwraith and Mathieson?’
‘Better news there. The money came from MacIver, all right, but he tried to disguise the fact that he was sending it. A sum equivalent to the two payments went, from the same account that received the BVI money, by standing order each month, to an account in the name of the “SF Club”. Apart from payments to MacIlwraith and Mathieson, and deposits to cover them, the account has been dormant for years. The signatories are MacIver and somebody called Morven Trask, but there’s no evidence that she’s had anything to do with the account in the last five years. I didn’t go back any further than that. It’s common practice for an account in the name of an organisation rather than an individual to have more than one signatory, with each signatory authorised to make transactions. Payments to MacIlwraith and Mathieson were made, by monthly standing order, from that account. It’s not very sophisticated as a way of covering his tracks, but MacIver clearly didn’t want people to know where the money was coming from.’
‘Morven Trask? That name rings a bell.’
She turned to her computer and put the name into a search engine. ‘She was a Nationalist MSP until the last election. Stood down to work full time for the Independence side in the referendum campaign. Almost exactly the same age as MacIver. He probably knew her at university. We’ll have to talk to her’.
‘There’s one more thing, boss. The deposits from the BVI account only started about six months ago. MacIlwraith and Mathieson have been receiving deposits for a lot longer, at least three years, but for much smaller amounts.’
*
‘Duncan, how do you and Stewart fancy a trip to Edinburgh?’
DC Duncan Williamson looked up from his computer. ‘I’m up for it, boss, even though I know that there’s only one answer to a question like that.’ He grinned at Vanessa. ‘Stewart will feel the same. What do you want us to do?’
‘Andy Hanna’s come up with a piece of information that may or may not be important. I want you two to find out which it is. Get a hold of Stewart and come and see me and I’ll give you a briefing.’
*
'Right, Dongle. Let’s hear what you've got from the laptops. We'll do MacIlwraith first, then Mathieson, then MacIver.'
'Thanks, boss. MacIlwraith's was the simplest. He's not the brightest wire on the circuit board, so he hadn't done much, effectively nothing, to cover his tracks. The search history brought up an impressive number of porn sites, a couple of dating sites...'
'Sad bastard!' Colin MacNee could be quite Presbyterian and judgmental. It didn't sit well with his generally liberal and relaxed attitude to other people's lives. Vanessa put it down to his having daughters.
'Go on,' she said, with a sideways glance at Colin.
'He's done a lot of research on lethal drug cocktails and on where he might get the ingredients. Visits to a number of sites in Eastern Europe enquiring about Pentothal and potassium chloride. He eventually ordered enough to kill, from a company in Russia - Ekaterinburg - and paid in Bitcoins. I guess he must have had help to set that up.'
'Probably from Mathieson', MacNee said. 'Was there anything on the box we found at MacIlwraith's to suggest where it came from in Russia?'
'I don't think so.' DC Aisha Gajani said. 'But it may have had the name of the manufacturer. We could locate it from that.'
'That would firm up the circumstantial a bit.' This was Esslemont.
Dongle looked to Fiske to see if he should continue. She nodded.
'Also, our boy had been raking around for instructions in bomb making. Mainly radical Islamic sites, but also some in the USA. He had even downloaded and saved some recipes. As I said, not very bright.'
'Let's get that to the Last investigation team. We need to know if any of the "recipes"' - Vanessa shook her head at the word - 'matches what they know about the Cairngorm bomb. Mathieson?'
'Almost nothing. He applied online for Nuttall's birth certificate, but we probably knew that already. No porn, no evidence of suspicious interests. Lots of traffic to legitimate sites - online magazines and blogs - dedicated to the Scottish nationalist cause.'
'The Strathclyde hi-tech squad have confirmed that his laptop was configured to control the various other computers and hard disks that we found in his flat. He had the capacity to mount the kind of cyber attack that crippled Mercury, but there's no conclusive evidence that he did it. They're still working on it.'
'Might take a while.' Dongle said.
'That's it?' Vanessa asked.
'Pretty much. If I dig up anything else I'll let you know.’
'What about MacIver?'
'He's been very careful. Nothing of interest on his government-issue laptop, but there's something, or possibly nothing, on his personal laptop. Over a short period, about five, six months ago, he did a fair bit of research into a number of international organisations - I think they're called NGOs, Non-Governmental Organisations - and charitable foundations. All working in the countries of the former Soviet Union, mainly in Central Asia. Doing good works, education, medical aid, development.'
'Doesn't sound directly relevant to any of our investigations.' Colin was itching to get back to some old-fashioned police work, like interviewing suspects, and he was showing some impatience with Dongle's laid back style.
'Maybe not, directly. But then I had a closer look at the sites. All of these organisations are connected to James Roskill. Most of them were set up by him or by the foundations and trusts that he’s set up.'
'The ex-prime minister?' Aisha Gajani asked. 'I remember him from when I was a student. Went on a few demos against wars in Central Asia. Before I had to police them...I remember placards that said "RosKILL", with "KILL" in capital letters.'
DCI Fiske suppressed her interest. 'Might be worth a closer look. Let me have a list of the organisations with their URLs. Next meeting tomorrow, same time. Sir, can I have a few minutes?' Esslemont nodded. 'Colin, would you join us, please?'
*
'I'm really not sure what to make of this, sir, if anything.' Fiske was sitting beside Colin MacNee, facing Esslemont across his desk. 'I was a bit thrown, as you probably were, by that stuff about MacIver researching Roskill's good works, given what Fleming told us about Mancuso's drunken ramblings.'
She turned to MacNee. 'Sorry, Colin, I haven't had a chance to tell you about our latest interview of Richard Fleming.' She gave him a brief account of what Fleming had said. He nodded and took some notes.
'I'm going to spend some time this evening looking at the sites Dongle mentioned to see if anything leaps out at me. But if Roskill turns out to be of interest to this investigation, we'll have another layer of politics to deal with. I'd like to keep this between ourselves for now. If we decide to go any further with it, we'll have to brief the Chief.'
*
Esslemont had decided that less damage would be done to the force if they announced the charges against Richard Fleming quickly. The statement would also say that he had resigned from the police service with immediate effect. Vanessa Fiske’s remark to Fleming that conspiracy was never a solitary crime made it inevitable that they would also announce t
he charges against Gilbertson. They decided to withhold the news until the men had appeared in court and been formally charged and released. That way, there was at least a chance that Fleming and Gilbertson could avoid the press and the photographers.
Harry Conival cobbled together a pretty anodyne press release and sent it out just in time to miss the main evening news bulletins. The release didn’t say specifically that the charges related to the same offences, but that was a tiny piece of obfuscation that no hack more senior than a copy boy, or whatever the equivalent was in the digital world, would have any trouble with.
As expected, Harry’s phone started to ring within minutes of the emailed press release going out. The questions were all about how the arrests and charges related to the murders and to the investigations at Last and Mercury.
Harry had agreed a line with Fiske - ‘The offences came to light in the course of other enquiries’ – that said everything and nothing, but it might keep some of the hacks happy until the next press briefing.
Jason Sime of the G & T was the first to ask the direct question that joined the dots. 'What's the connection between Fleming and Gilbertson and the head of security at Last Cairngorm, Frank Mancuso? They know each other, don't they?'
'No idea, mate.' Harry said, unconvincingly. 'I'll pass your enquiry on.'
'Who to?'
'DCI Fiske.'
'What about the anti-terrorism boys?
'I don't work for them,' Harry said, as he grabbed his cigarettes and headed towards Vanessa's office.
*
DCI Fiske spent an hour, late in the afternoon following the team meeting, looking at the Roskill websites that Dongle had identified from the recovered search history on MacIver’s laptop. Most of them were promotional, describing the charitable foundations that Roskill had set up after he resigned as prime minister and left parliament. There were many examples of the good work being undertaken by NGOs and charities that he supported, either through his foundations, or in a personal capacity, as a board member or trustee. Almost all of them worked extensively, and some of them exclusively, in Central Asia. Conscience money, Vanessa thought.
Some of the sites reproduced articles about Roskill and his work for the foundations and other bodies. Their content was mainly related to the parts of the world where the work was being done, with only rare excursions into domestic political issues. The exception was the website of The James M Roskill Public Affairs Trust, an online archive of Roskill’s public statements and press articles. Most of these related to his overseas work. A few were excursions into domestic politics. Only one was relevant to Vanessa’s enquiries.
Just about six months before the murders (Vanessa was, as usual, relating everything to the date of the crimes under investigation), Roskill had given an interview to an international business magazine. The subject matter was wide-ranging, covering the domestic and foreign policies of his successors and trying, not altogether successfully, to avoid backseat driving. There was one passage, however, that changed Vanessa’s approach from skimming to careful reading.
Roskill had been asked about the likelihood of Scotland voting to leave the United Kingdom and, after reviewing the state of public opinion on constitutional change, he turned to the economic effects of the uncertainty leading up to the referendum.
The independence campaign is majoring on the fact that, by their measures, Scotland’s economy is performing better than the UK. However, if the performance of enterprises in Scotland, particularly those that depend on foreign capital, were to decline sharply, or if foreign companies withdrew or delayed investment, the terms of the independence debate would change. It could go either way: it could make people more defensive about Scotland’s future and so more inclined to support independence; or it could make them more nervous and inclined to see the bigger UK economy as a safety net for companies operating in Scotland. I think the former is more likely.
Vanessa emailed the link to the article to MacNee and Esslemont.
*
DCI Fiske was just about to leave for the day when she took a call from DCC Chris Jenkinson, whom she hadn’t seen since the evening of the WPNS meeting in Perth.
‘Hi, Vanessa. I hear it’s twins. Clever girl! Get it all over in one go, one pregnancy, one maternity leave. Couldn’t be better! Would you like to have that discussion soon?’
‘In principle, yes. But I’ve been trying not to think about it until this double murder enquiry is over.’
‘But I knew you had made the arrests. That’s why I decided to phone you. Is there a problem?’
‘Not as such. I’m sure we’ve got the right people in custody, and we may even lay some more charges. It’s just that it’s kind of grown legs. You’ll know it’s already a bit political. Might be about to become more so. The DCS, Colin MacNee and I may have to have a session with the Chief tomorrow.’
‘Possibly not the best day. The Justice Secretary is announcing who’s got the top job at a press conference in Edinburgh at noon. I’d get in before that, if you can.’
‘Understood! Can I get in touch when things are less fraught? I need to think about how I should plan things, and a chat with you will help to clear my head.’
‘Fine. Look forward to it. Oh, and it would be nice to meet Neil some time. Come to dinner one weekend, when my husband’s here.’
*
‘Not the Cayman Islands, my sweet, the British Virgin Islands.’
Vanessa was hanging up her coat and shouting to Neil, who was searing a couple of salmon steaks, and, at more or less the same time, trimming some asparagus spears.
‘That’s where the money was coming from, a shell company with nominee directors, just as you said. Andy Hanna’s trying to find out who really owns the account, but he’s not very hopeful.’
‘Nor should he be. Tax havens rely on secrecy. BVI, though, has been the target of a lot of investigative journalism, mainly about very rich expats avoiding tax, but if any big names had come up, we’d know.’
‘What if the name was Roskill? Would that have made a headline?’
‘Oh, I think so! Is that who you think was paying MacIver? But why?’
‘I’m working on that. But if any of your old mates at Canary Wharf can help, I’d appreciate it. I have sexual favours to offer!’
She put her arms round Neil’s neck and kissed him.
‘I get them anyway…unless you’re offering them to my old mates at Canary Wharf…’
A look was enough.
‘As it happens, I spoke to one of the said mates today. I asked him if there was any unusual activity on the shell company front and he said that there’s a rumour doing the rounds of the City to the effect that Roskill has been setting up companies and registering them abroad. He didn’t know how many, and he didn’t know where. Odd though that Roskill’s name should cross both our desks on the same day.’
‘Yes, it is. And I don’t believe in coincidence, as you know. Now, serendipity, that’s a whole other ball of wax. I need to phone Andy Hanna.’
*
Vanessa had arranged for Colin MacNee join her at a meeting with Esslemont at nine o’clock on Friday morning and had asked the DCS to make a provisional arrangement to see the Chief Constable as soon as possible after their discussion. When she told Colin about the meetings, he had asked if he could have a discussion with her before they saw Esslemont. He was waiting for her when she got to HQ.
They collected coffees from the canteen and as they were walking back to Vanessa’s office, she asked Colin what was on his mind.
‘Roskill. But I need a whiteboard before we talk about him.’
Colin stood beside the small whiteboard in Vanessa’s office, armed with a selection of coloured markers.
‘Let’s look at how many times Roskill’s name has come up since the murders. As soon as we linked Vermont One and GRH to Burtonhall, we learned, from Neil in the first instance I think, that he’s on Burtonhall’s board. Then you approached the Foreign Office fo
r help in getting the emails. Sir Justin Carey, the Permanent Secretary, questions your need to see them and he’s very close to Roskill. You suspected that Roskill had approached Carey twice – before you went to the FO and after you planted the story that nailed Fleming. Then we find that he’s a non-exec on the board of Mercury Fulfilment, and Mancuso, albeit pissed, says he’s showing an interest in Last Cairngorm. Dongle finds that MacIver’s been researching Roskill’s activities. Then you come up with that quote from him about how disinvestment by foreign companies might affect the independence debate. I think all that makes him a person of interest to us. We need to talk to him.’
‘You’re probably right. And there’s more. The money that was paid into MacIver’s account, and then passed on to MacIlwraith and Mathieson, came from an account in the British Virgin Islands. The account is controlled by a company registered in BVI and run by nominee directors. However, we don’t know who’s behind it. But Neil got a tip from a pal in the City yesterday to the effect that Roskill’s rumoured to be setting up shell companies and registering them abroad. And you know how I feel about coincidence!’
By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) Page 23