By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2)

by Alan Alexander

  'I know what his response will be. That is my job.'

  'Put it to him anyway. I will await your call. When may I expect to hear from you?'

  'In due course.' The line went dead.

  *

  'So how have you been?' Janet MacNee was taking Vanessa's blood pressure and looking at her scan on the computer screen. Before Vanessa could answer, she said, 'That's a wee bit higher than I'd like, but still within the proper range.'

  'I'm glad to hear it. Given the pressure of this double murder enquiry that Colin and I are leading, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had gone through the roof. But generally, I'm fine. The morning sickness isn't as bad as it was. Funnily enough, it seemed to get better as soon as I told my team I'm pregnant. I could do with more sleep, though, but that's normal. And Neil's been great. Lots of TLC and some gentle sex.'

  Janet laughed. 'Lucky you! You'd be surprised by the number of men who are put off by pregnancy.' She caught Vanessa's look. 'Not Colin, of course, since you ask. Have you thought any more about when to stop working?'

  'Not really. As you'll know from Colin, this investigation has become very complex, and I really can't think beyond that right now.'

  'I understand that, and I wouldn't have expected anything else. But you are carrying twins and that complicates things.'

  'How?'

  'Oh, come on, Vanessa, don't tell me you haven't been surfing the net for information about being pregnant with more than one baby!'

  'I really haven't had time. I think Neil has, but he knows how focused I've been on these murders, so he's probably waiting for a good moment to share his research findings with me.'

  'You must know that with twins you may not to go to full term. Expect to go into labour any time from thirty weeks on. You're ten weeks now, so that means you may only have five months to go. That's why you need to think about when to start your leave. You really don't want to start having contractions when you're at work. I'd advise you to plan for between twenty and twenty-five weeks. Day after tomorrow, really.'

  Vanessa sighed. 'Thank you, Janet, for being so blunt. I'll work on it. You've given me ten weeks to finish this case.'

  *

  Griffiths, Roskill's minder, phoned back later on the day of Vanessa's initial conversation with him.

  'I've spoken with Mr Roskill and he has asked me to put you in touch with his personal lawyer so that you can discuss with him the details of your request and the matters you would wish to discuss with Mr Roskill.'

  Vanessa was very practised at spotting a runaround, and she thought she could see the signs.

  'I did stress that I was requesting an informal interview. Involving a lawyer cranks things up a bit, don't you think?'

  'That may be so, from your perspective, Chief Inspector. But that's where we are. If you want to progress this matter, you'll have to speak to Lord Cordingley. May I give you his contact details?'

  Edmund Cordingley had been Solicitor General throughout Roskill's time as Prime Minister. He was a ultra-loyalist who had deliberately undermined the measured advice about the interventions in Central Asia that had been produced by his nominal boss, the Attorney General. He had left government to go into private practice as soon as Roskill left Downing Street. The Attorney General had been reported as saying that Cordingley was so far up Roskill's arse that he could see Richard Seaton.

  'Lord Cordingley? Ieuan Griffiths suggested I should speak to you. I think you know why.'

  'Ah, Chief Inspector, I was expecting your call.' The voice was cultured, smooth with the cadences of Westminster and the courts. Behind it, though, Vanessa could detect the accent of Cordingley's origins in West Yorkshire, effaced, but not completely. 'How do you believe I can help with your enquiries?'

  Vanessa ignored the touch of sarcasm. 'I doubt that you can. As Mr Griffiths has probably told you, I need to speak with James Michael Roskill and I understand that you may be able to facilitate that.'

  'What would be the nature of your discussion with my client?' The implication of the privileged relationship was unmistakeable.

  'That will become clear when I meet him. I would be happy for you to be present. All I can tell you is that his name has come up in the course of my enquiries.'

  'I have no wish to be difficult.' The voice oozed insincerity. 'But I will advise my client against meeting you. I will tell him that I have asked you to submit written questions, which he will either answer or provide a written statement in response.'

  'You're a lawyer, Lord Cordingley, so you must know that I can't accept that. I recently had to tell a potential witness that we don't operate through intermediaries. But she was an American. You don't have that excuse.'

  'I'm not sure I like your tone.'

  'I'm sorry about that. But I don't like being obstructed in my enquiries. I will ask again. Will you advise Mr Roskill to speak to me?'

  'No. I will not.'

  *

  In Parliament at Holyrood the First Minister was under pressure from all sides but her own. Even her supporters looked silent, sullen and undemonstrative. Like all successful politicians, she had made enemies and created rivals. Her reliance on Paul MacIver had led her into failure to build the kind of personal alliances that show their value in a crisis. She hadn't dealt with the lingering resentment in some sections of her party about the ruthlessness with which she had deposed her predecessor. And there was already speculation, in the press and in the party, about how long she could survive and who would succeed her. Her statement had been prepared by civil servants and there was no-one to do the political fine tuning that had been MacIver's special talent.

  Presiding Officer, I undertook to keep Parliament informed on the progress of the various police operations now underway: the murders at Grampian Royal Hospital and on the Vermont One oil platform, the bombing at Last Cairngorm and the apparent cyber attack on Mercury Fulfilment.

  North East Constabulary have arrested three men in connection with the murders. These men have now been charged with various offences including murder and conspiracy to murder. Other charges may follow.

  Enquiries into the Last and Mercury attacks are proceeding.

  It would not be proper for me to comment further while enquiries area ongoing.

  There was a murmur of incredulity, cries of 'Is that it?, as the Leader of the Opposition got up to speak.

  'We now know, as we suspected last week, that one of the men arrested is Paul MacIver, Special Adviser to the First Minister, although I would like to think that he has now resigned from that position. There are persistent reports that MacIver was, at one time, member of an extremist nationalist splinter group known as the Scottish Freedom Party. Will the First Minister tell Parliament what checks into his background and activities were undertaken when she first appointed him while she was Finance Secretary, and what further checks, if any, were made when she became First Minister?'

  She rose, picking up her briefing notes from her desk. They shook noticeably in her hand.

  'The Leader of the Labour Party knows that we never comment publicly on security matters. For the record, Mr MacIver resigned as soon as he was taken into custody.'

  'At a time of national crisis, that is an unbelievably inadequate response. The public will draw its own conclusions from the fact that the First Minister has refused to confirm that security checks were undertaken. So will her party. She knows that I did not expect details, only confirmation that, if may borrow a phrase from the financial sector, due diligence had been done. If she will not answer my question about security checks on Paul MacIver, will she confirm that she has been interviewed by officers investigating the murders?'

  The First Minister remained seated, apparently unmoved by the shouts of 'Answer! Answer!’ Members clamoured for a chance to speak. The Justice Secretary, seated beside the First Minister, gathered his papers, rose, and left the Chamber.

  *

  'Roskill refuses to see me. I remember learning about the Praetorian Guard
that protected Roman emperors. Roskill's got one. I think that the only way we'll get to speak to him is to tell his lawyer that we want to interview him under caution.'

  'It may come to that, Vanessa, but let's be sure we've explored all other avenues before we play that card.' Esslemont was as irritated as Fiske with the obstruction they faced, but his caution was a useful corrective to her aggression. 'Let's get MacIver in here again and press him on his links with Roskill. We can start with his search history, move on to the bank transfers, and then hit him with our belief that Roskill is a beneficial owner of the nominee account in BVI.'

  'Fine, sir. But I don't want to delay too long. Roskill's in London for board meetings and I'd like to talk to him before he leaves. And it’s possible that MacIver will give us something that we can use as leverage.'

  It was already late afternoon, and it was likely that MacIver's lawyer, who was a partner in a large Edinburgh firm, would be unable to get to Aberdeen until the following morning.

  *

  The security correspondent of Channel 4 News had an exclusive. It aired at the top of the news at seven and was posted on the website immediately afterwards.

  Reliable sources have told Channel 4 News that Scottish police investigating two murders and two terrorist attacks want to talk to former Prime Minister James Roskill.

  Last week, the Scottish political establishment was rocked by the news that the First Minister's closest political adviser, Paul MacIver, had been arrested in connection with the murders of American citizens Peter Keller at Grampian Royal Hospital in Aberdeen and Harvey Jamieson on the Vermont One oil platform in the North Sea. There are believed to be links between these killings, which occurred on the same day just over two weeks ago, and the bomb attack at the Last Cairngorm leisure development in Aberdeenshire and the cyber attack on Mercury Fulfilment in Cumbernauld, near Glasgow.

  Our sources say that the Roskill connection involves an account held in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven noted for its secrecy, and for the provision of nominee directors to conceal the identity of bank account holders. The precise nature of the connection is not known and Mr Roskill has refused a request to be interviewed.

  This raises the possibility that the investigating officers will decide to interview the former Prime Minister under caution, which would be almost unprecedented for such a senior political figure.

  The remainder of the report filled in the background to the case and named DCI Vanessa Fiske as the SIO, but gave no further details.

  Vanessa's mobile rang at home just after seven.

  'Sorry to call you at home.' Harry Conival's apologies were frequent but perfunctory and always elicited from Vanessa the reassurance that he shouldn't worry about it.

  'Have you been watching the Channel 4 News?' Vanessa said she hadn't.

  'You're probably too late to catch it now, but you can get it at eight on Channel 4+1 or right now on the website. They're claiming "reliable sources" for a story about you wanting to interview James Roskill. My phone is already ringing off the hook. I need a brief.'

  'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! You plug one leak and another springs up! I have no idea where this came from so I think we should say that we have no comment to make on unsubstantiated rumours.'

  'There you go again. Too many words. We should just leave it at "No comment". They'll hate it and they'll be back, so you'll have to talk to me about it tomorrow.’

  'I will, Harry, I will. As it happens, this might not be entirely unhelpful, but you didn't hear me say that.'

  *

  ‘Tell me about your relationship with James Roskill.’

  Paul MacIver and his lawyer sat opposite Fiske and Esslemont in Interview Room 1 at NEC HQ. Colin MacNee and the Chief Constable were watching through the one-way glass.

  MacIver looked at his lawyer, who nodded.

  ‘I have never met Mr Roskill.’

  ‘Are you absolutely sure about that?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘There are many kinds of relationship,’ DCI Fiske said, ‘and most of them don’t involve face-to-face contact. In the hope of making progress, let me accept, for the moment, that you have never met Mr Roskill face-to-face. Have you been in contact with him in any other way?’

  ‘Such as?’ MacIver was feigning nonchalance, but he failed to convince.

  ‘Email?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Telephone?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘Semaphore or Morse code? Don’t answer that, I am being unforgivably facetious. And you are being unbelievably unhelpful.’

  ‘Is there a question, Chief Inspector?’ This was the lawyer, speaking while resting a cautionary hand on his client’s arm.

  ‘My apologies. I have a full analysis of the search history from your personal computer. You have spent a lot of time consulting websites about Roskill. Do you deny having done so?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘A straight answer! I’m so glad this is being recorded. Now, will you tell us why you were so interested in Mr Roskill?’

  ‘He’s an interesting man, sometimes with interesting opinions about Scotland.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘I can’t think of an example offhand.’

  Vanessa smiled. ‘Let me see if I can jog your memory. I spent a fascinating few hours looking at all the sites you had visited. There was only one reference to Scottish politics. Do you remember it?’

  'No.'

  'Roskill was speculating on the possible effects on the independence campaign of foreign investors pulling their money out of Scotland. He seemed to think, on balance, that it would help the cause of independence. Do you agree with him?'

  'No comment.'

  'There's a coded email exchange on your computer between

  damascus@easymail.com and mike@exflt.com. What can you tell me about that?'

  'No comment.'

  'I believe that that you, Paul, are "Damascus" and that "Mike" is James Michael Roskill. Am I right?

  'No comment.'

  'We've broken the code. It wasn't very difficult. Interesting though, because the first email in the series was sent from your laptop to "Mike"' and it appears to be following up from a face-to-face meeting. Did you send that email?'

  'No comment.'

  Vanessa opened the file in front of her and brought out a clear plastic folder with some papers in it.

  'These are copies of the bank statements of the Scottish Freedom Club. You are a signatory. A substantial sum has been deposited to that account every month since April. The money is transferred from an account held by a bank in the British Virgin Islands. Who was sending the money?'

  'No comment.'

  'How would you react if I told you that we have reason to believe that the BVI account is controlled by Roskill?'

  MacIver looked down at the table, apparently to mask his reaction and the fact that he had become very pale. He looked at his lawyer, who leaned towards him and whispered in his ear.

  'No comment.'

  'What was Roskill buying from you for a two thousand pounds a month?'

  'No comment.'

  'I will be speaking to Mr Roskill very soon, but it would do your case no harm if you were to tell us what you know about these accounts.'

  Again, MacIver broke eye contact with Vanessa and turned to his lawyer, who shook his head.

  'No comment.'

  'What about the £750 each that went from the SFC account to your friends Simon Mathieson and Andy MacIlwraith? What was that for?'

  'No comment.'

  *

  'He's met Roskill all right. Did you see how he reacted when I said I knew that Roskill controlled that BVI account?'

  Colin MacNee smiled, nodded and accepted the large whisky Vanessa had poured him from a bottle extracted from the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet. Vanessa found a bottle of fizzy water in her bag.

  'And the whole thing was pretty free of denials.' Colin said. 'He knows we've got him but he's smart eno
ugh to know that the case is circumstantial so he's relying on a jury basing its verdict on presumption of innocence and the defence pointing out the almost total absence of forensic evidence.'

  'So let's see if we can beef it up a bit. We'll have to interview Roskill under caution. At the very least, he's looking at conspiracy to murder.'