*
'You need to make a statement. Your approval ratings are dropping like a stone. You are risking taking the party and the fucking referendum down with you. I know it's hard, but life, and the government, goes on.'
The Justice Secretary had demanded to see the First Minister as soon as he left the press conference. She was at her official residence in Charlotte Square and there was a small knot of reporters, and a camera crew, hanging about outside.
'I know I should, but I need to know where the police have got to before I do. Does Grant Ingram know? Have you checked? Is he still being briefed? Is he briefing you?'
She was edgy, not completely in control, acting in a way that the Justice Secretary hadn't seen before.
'I haven't been briefed since MacIver was arrested, so I assume that the arrangement to keep us informed via DCC Ingram has lapsed because of the government's closeness to the action.'
'You mean me?' The First Minister was fiddling with a thread on the Scottish flag that stood by her desk. 'Should I speak to the Chief Constable?'
'He'll probably refuse to take your call, and I wouldn't blame him.'
There was a knock at the door and a secretary came in.
'I'm sorry to interrupt, First Minister. There's an urgent telephone call. It's Detective Chief Superintendent Esslemont from Northeast Constabulary.'
*
'We need to speak to the First Minister.' Esslemont had just had reports from Fiske and MacNee on the three men on remand. Morven Trask's information on MacIver's background added urgency to the need to determine how deeply he had been involved in the murders, in the Last explosion and in the cyber attack at Mercury.
'She may wish to do the interview when she's up here on constituency business. And I think we should accommodate her. I'll phone her and I'll ask her to make no public statements bearing on the case until she's talked to us.'
*
'We have the beginning of a motive for these murders and a glimmer of light about who, ultimately, was financing the killers. We know they were being paid by MacIver, directly when they were on low pay, indirectly when their pay went up - tripled, in fact, about six months ago. But we need a lot more before the Crown Office will be ready to prosecute.'
DCI Fiske looked round the table at her augmented team.
'Those of you who've been on the investigation since the start will know that information was being leaked in a way that compromised our enquiries. That's been dealt with, but it underlines the importance and sensitivity of what I'm now going to say.'
Esslemont gave her one of his almost imperceptible nods. She decided to regard this as support and encouragement.
'I have reason to believe that the men we have in custody were being funded by James Michael Roskill. Some of you are old enough to remember him as prime minister and I hope that the rest of you have at least heard of him. He is very high profile and our enquiries into his affairs will need to be sensitive and, to the greatest extent possible, secret. We are already working at the heart of the Scottish Government, so what we do will be under constant scrutiny, from politicians, from the press, from the public.'
'You mentioned motive, boss. Can you tell us any more?' DS Sara Hamilton already knew that some of her ongoing work was being passed on to a detective constable brought in from another team, but she was less sure what she was now expected to do.
'This is hypothetical, but based on evidence collected in the course of the arrests we've made. I think that MacIver, working through Mathieson and MacIlwraith, planned the murders as a way of destabilising the companies that operate GRH and Vermont One. We know that MacIver used to be a member of the Scottish Freedom Party. It's possible that he never really left it. He may have used his time in Canada to put distance between himself and his former SFP associates - who included MacIlwraith and Mathieson - so that he could, apparently, join the political mainstream.'
'I'm struggling a bit here.' Duncan Williamson said. 'Why would they want to "destabilise" businesses that bring investment and jobs to Scotland?'
Vanessa nodded. 'I know. It sounds perverse, but the radical fringes operate a different logic from the rest of us. There's a school of thought - if you can call it that - that says that demonstrating the fragility of inward investment will make people more likely to believe that Scotland should be running its own economy. It's a particular form of xenophobia. All our problems stem from the wicked foreigners, so we should try to make them leave. Then Scotland will be a truly independent nation. If the voters think that Scotland would be better off without foreign investment, the "logic" goes, they'll be more likely to vote yes in the referendum. As I said, perverse. But remember we're talking about people who'll kill and bomb to further their aims.'
'So does that mean that Last, and Mercury are part of this too?' Andy Hanna sounded incredulous.
'Possibly. I'm talking to the anti-terrorist unit and to Special Branch, and it's at least possible that they'll take over the investigation. Meanwhile, we have some serious legwork to do.'
'But what's Roskill's interest in this?'
'That, Andy, is what I want you to work on. I need you to find everything you can about Roskill's financial activities. The obvious question is how he might benefit from problems in firms owned by a company where he's a director. Sara and Aisha, I want you to dig as deeply as you can into the political activities of MacIver, Mathieson and MacIlwraith. How much contact has there been between them since university, where did they meet, who else was in their circle? Crucially, did MacIver maintain his links to the SFP after he became "respectable".’
Aisha Gajani smiled. She quite fancied another trip to Glasgow.
'You'll be able to see your mother,' Sara Hamilton whispered, with heavy irony.
Stewart Todd was about to speak, but Vanessa pre-empted him.
'Stewart, I want you and Duncan to find out what MacIver was doing in Canada. What does Quebec, where he seems to have spent a couple years, have in common with Scotland? Please don't ask to phone a friend.'
'A separatist movement with a terrorist wing.' Stewart looked pleased with himself.
'So you should talk to the RCMP to see if they've got anything about him on file. Our intelligence services as well, though you may need to involve me or the DCS in approaching them.'
That left Dongle Donaldson.
'Dongle, when you are completely certain that you've extracted everything of interest from the phones and laptops, I need you to get close to the hi-tech boys in Strathclyde. I want to know whether they can establish a link between Mathieson and the cyber attack on Mercury. It's a missing link in the circumstantial case. We know MacIlwraith was looking at bomb making sites, so that's the beginning of a link to Last. All that geekware in Mathieson's flat wasn't just for playing computer games.'
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
'Did I hear you having a bad time in the loo this morning?'
Vanessa kissed Neil on the cheek. 'Yeah. Sorry if I woke you. Hasn't been bad this week, probably because I haven't had time for it. But my body knows it's Saturday and I'm supposed to be off!'
'Supposed to be?'
She looked a little shamefaced. 'I'm off duty, but on call. And I really have to go in to talk to Andy Hanna. Shouldn't take me more than an hour, if that. Especially if you've anything to tell me that might help him to cut some corners.'
Neil smiled. 'I'll make a fresh pot of coffee while you have a shower, then we'll talk about it.'
'Have you had a shower?'
'No.'
'Come and have one with me. I'll make it worth your while! Then you make the coffee while I get dressed.'
*
'I spent my so-called lunch break yesterday sitting in Union Terrace Gardens giving my mobile what my Glasgow auntie used to call "laldy". I spoke to a lawyer I used to work for who's now with the Serious Fraud Office. He'll talk to Andy off the record and point him towards some people in the City. He also said, and you may not like the sound of this, that ther
e are some really smart investigative journalists working on globalisation and international financial dealings. They might be prepared to speak to him.'
'Oh, Neil! After all that stuff with Fleming, not to mention that bastard from the Graphic who tried to blackmail me during the Balmoral murder investigation, I'll need a very long spoon before I sup with the reptiles. They always want a quid pro quo. And I can hardly go handing out exclusives!'
'I'm not about to tell you how to do your job, but it might not be in your best interests, maybe not in the public interest, for you to deal in moral absolutes.'
Vanessa's post-coital glow disappeared. 'Moral fucking absolutes! I'm just trying to be consistent in the messages I send my team, as well as making sure that I'm procedurally squeaky clean. This is so high profile that...'
'Take it easy! Bad choice of words. I was simply trying to point out that you can't afford to rule out anything that might help you to close this case.'
'Easy for you to say!'
Neil decided to move on. 'My contact specifically mentioned Ben Aaronson of the Financial Post. Wasn't he the guy who unearthed the fact that Burtonhall owns Hedelco and Ebright?'
Vanessa nodded. It was the first time Neil had seen her in anything approaching a huff. 'You dug that up too.'
'I did, but the fact that Aaronson got it shows he's good. And he's not on the FP's staff. He's freelance, which allows him to be more radical.'
'Radical?'
'Apparently he spends part of his time working with a "collective" of financial reporters who expose the seamier side of international finance. His particular interest is in who uses tax havens, offshore accounts, and offshore companies.'
'Really?'
'Yes.'
'Did you mention Roskill?'
'Of course not! I did say that the investigation had already reached into some pretty high places. If he checks, he'll see that you've charged the First Minister's adviser and that you had a meeting at the FO. He may also know that Roskill's on the Burtonhall board. But if he knows you're going after Roskill, he didn't get it from me.'
*
'I need you to go to London. Whether you go today, tomorrow or Monday is up to you. If you can arrange to see any of the people whose names my partner has produced over the weekend, then go. Admin will make travel arrangements and find you a hotel. I'd leave the SFO guy until you can reach him in his office. But I guess the reptiles - sorry - journalists might be prepared to meet you tomorrow.'
'Can't I just phone them, boss?'
'I really don't think so. You may need to prove you're not recording what they say and that they're talking only to you. Difficult in either an audio call or by video. My guess is that if Aaronson or any of the others agrees to talk to you, they'll want to do it in a public place in the open air. Weather forecast's good for the next few days in London.'
Andy Hanna took the list of names and numbers from DCI Fiske and started to enter them in his smartphone.
'Is that wise?' Vanessa asked.
'More secure than a wee bit of paper, or writing them down anywhere else. The phone's password protected and my contacts are encrypted. Dongle would be into it in no time, I grant you. Not many Dongles about, though. And I'll delete them as soon as I'm done.'
'The things you learn in police work. Please tell me if I begin to show signs of geekiness.'
'What's the order of priority in this? If I was coming back with just one piece of evidence, what would you like it to be?'
'That's easy! Who are the signatories and who are the beneficial owners of the account from which MacIver was being paid? And anything, repeat anything, else about James Michael Roskill, in addition to the fact that he is one of these owners, as I'm pretty certain he is.'
'How long have I got?'
'I want you back in time for the team meeting on Tuesday.'
*
Andy Hanna met Sara Hamilton as he came out of the admin office after arranging a Sunday morning flight to London.
'Why London, Andy?'
'The boss got a lead and I'm meeting a couple of people tomorrow, then seeing someone at the SFO on Monday, as well as some financial crime experts in the Met and the City of London Police She wants me back for the team meeting on Tuesday, and her tone strongly suggested that she would have significant parts of my anatomy if I come back empty handed.'
'I don't really think she's like that. She's just determined to close this case. Aisha and I are off to Glasgow tomorrow - I've just been collecting our rail warrants - and I think Fiske expects results from us on Tuesday as well.'
'Any leads?'
'Not as such. We'll talk to some of your colleagues, especially Cam Ritchie. He was really helpful when we were in Glasgow before, when he wasn't trying, successfully as it turned out, to get into Aisha's knickers.'
'Cam's a good guy. She could do worse. And he knows his way around Glasgow politics, student politics in particular. He had a secondment to Special Branch for a while, too. Very bright, and ambitious with it.'
'Good to know. I'll just have to try and keep their eyes on the ball rather than each other! Aisha's a good officer, so I don't really see a problem. Mind you, I doubt if I can resist winding her up. Good luck in London.'
'Thanks. See you Tuesday.'
*
The First Minister looked drawn. She was in her constituency office in Montrose at 0830 hrs on Monday morning, waiting to be interviewed by DCS Esslemont and DCI Fiske. The detectives were shown in by one of the FM's local staff and offered coffee. As usual these days, Vanessa asked for water. Esslemont had black coffee, as did the FM. They were joined by the FM's personal lawyer. The fact that Esslemont had emphasised that the interview was informal had clearly not persuaded her that she didn’t need legal support. After the introductions, they sat round a low coffee table. Esslemont led the questioning. Fiske took notes.
'How can I help?', the First Minister asked.
'We need to understand the background to your employment of Paul MacIver who we’ve charged with conspiracy to murder. It's likely that there will be other charges, equally serious.’
‘I’m not sure what you mean, Detective Chief Superintendent.’
‘When did you take him on? How did he come to your attention? How much background checking did you do? How much do you know about his friends and associates? That sort of thing. And I would ask you, please, to err on the side of over-provision of information and let us decide what’s important and what’s not.’
‘I became Finance Secretary after the Holyrood election in 2007. I had been looking for a special adviser while I was in opposition, in the expectation that I would be appointed to Cabinet if we won. Paul had been writing analysis and comment on Scottish politics for the Glasgow Banner for a couple of years. He was clearly coming from a Nationalist position and a friend who knew him well suggested that I might want to talk to him. I did, I liked him, I offered him a job. He’s been with me ever since.’
‘Can you tell me the name of the friend who recommended him?’
‘I’d rather not. The person in question is not a public figure and I don’t see any reason for drawing them into this.’
Esslemont pursed his lips. ‘I see. I may have to come back to that, First Minister, but let’s leave it for now. How much checking into his background did you do before hiring him?’
‘I assume that my staff would have run his name through Disclosure Scotland to see if there was anything on the record. Beyond that, I made my decision on the basis of a recommendation from a respected friend and my own knowledge of Paul’s work.’
‘Was any more checking done when you became First Minister?’
‘Not to my knowledge.’
‘Were you aware that MacIver had been a member of the Scottish Freedom Club when he was a student?’
The First Minister stiffened visibly. ‘We are all allowed our youthful indiscretions, Chief Superintendent.’
‘I’m afraid that doesn’t answer my question.’
‘I was made aware of that.’
‘When?’
‘The Permanent Secretary informed me when I became First Minister. He asked me if I wanted any further checks done. I said that Paul MacIver had my full confidence.’
‘Was it suggested to you that you might ask Special Branch or the Intelligence Services for a view of his suitability?’
‘It was not. And if it had been, I would not have accepted the suggestion. These agencies owe their loyalty to Westminster. They should not have any locus here. Had I asked them to investigate Paul’s background, I would have conferred on them a legitimacy that they should not have.’
By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) Page 25