Smith said, ‘But as you have kept it quiet, what else have you done with it? How far have you got?’
Serena Butler said, ‘It checks out. His last call was to the RAC helpline at 22.31, five minutes after the last call to the mystery mobile, so we know that was a short one, too. Although it’s a nationwide number, calls are diverted to regional centres. Sokoloff’s call went to Norwich. I’ve been in touch with them, and it’s on their records as a no-show.’
As he listened, Smith was watching the movement in room 17 and calculating how much time they had left. But he looked back at Serena when she made that final comment, and asked what that meant.
‘It means that one of their drivers turns up and there’s no sign of the customer. Apparently, it happens more than you would think, for all sorts of reasons.’
‘We’ve got the name of the driver, and his contact details?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well done. So, the sixty four thousand dollar question; what location did Sokoloff give them for his breakdown event?’
She had it written on her notepad, and she passed it across to Smith. Wilson was back in the room and watching the huddle around her desk. Smith read it, nodded, shaped his lips as if about to give a low whistle, and then handed the pad to Waters – Sokoloff had told the breakdown service that his vehicle was in the car park of The Queens Arms public house in Overy, north-west Norfolk.
Serena Butler said, ‘There’s a bit more which I haven’t written down yet. When he was asked for some information about the nature of the break-down, Sokoloff told the call-handler that his tyres had been slashed. When the driver reported back to the centre in Norwich, that’s why he said the call was a hoax – if all four tyres had been done, there was no way it could have been driven away, and there’d not been enough time for anyone to bring and put on four tyres. He called the contact number but there was no answer. That’s true. It doesn’t show on this record level, which is only showing connections made but it is there on the full activity log – the driver dialled Sokoloff’s number three times in as many minutes.’
Smith said quietly, ‘Christ! We could do without this sodding meeting…’
He thought, and then Waters said, ‘Serena – how long between the call to the RAC centre and the driver turning up at Overy?’
‘OK, I’ve worked that out already. It was well over their target time because it was a Saturday night and they were busy. An hour and fifty one minutes.’
Smith said then, ‘So, there’s the window. Assuming that Sokoloff phoned from somewhere near The Queens Arms – and we can check that if we have to, can’t we?’ to Waters, who nodded the confirmation – ‘he disappeared in that hour and fifty one minutes. Robinson’s PM says he died sometime that night. If we can put other people in that area at that time, we have at least some hope of showing opportunity. As for motive, I still don’t have a bloody clue, except this – it’s something to do with the calls to that burner mobile number, has to be. He was reporting in to someone.’
Chief Inspector Reeve was in the room now; the case, Smith concluded, had everyone’s attention because of the involvement of the Met, and they might be right, he wouldn’t rule that out. Sokoloff might have been reporting in to someone back in London. As to whether it was gangsters and organised crime, well, that was a different matter.
Waters said, ‘We need to speak to the RAC man as soon as we can.’
Serena answered him – ‘Look on the next page of the notepad. I’ve got his details. We got lucky as well – he lives in Upham. John’s already arranged it. He’s on duty now but he’ll be home at about six tonight. He’s more than willing to tell us all about it, isn’t he?’
Murray nodded, and Smith said, ‘Top work from everyone. It’s the first proper break and you lot are all over it. If Terek asks, John, tell him you’ve already fixed it up for this evening, and then he can’t – or at least he shouldn’t – take it away from you two. You both deserve this one. Sorry, jumping the gun a bit – can you both do an interview this evening? Is Maggie alright?’
Yes, she is, said Murray…These are the moments when it’s more than a job, much more, and nothing but a direct order from on high would have prevented Butler and Murray from driving to Upham that evening to meet the RAC patrolman who had been within an hour or two of seeing Bernard Sokoloff alive.
Room 17 was filling up now. Smith said to Serena, ‘Get all this into the meeting as soon as you can, make it sound as though you’ve just got it in the past few minutes. Stick to the facts and make it look like it’s more routine stuff we need to follow up. Don’t make it sound too exciting or they’ll all want a piece of it.’
She nodded and looked around at the other three. With no shame at all, and making no attempt to lower his voice enough so that Smith couldn’t hear, Waters leaned across to her and said, ‘It’s what’s known as managing up.’
Detective Superintendent Allen had completed the big reveal and was now into his final rhetorical flourishes; not for the first time, Smith wondered whether Allen wasn’t rather a fan of Winston Churchill. It had been established that Brian Elliott, with whom Sokoloff had undoubtedly had a difficult relationship for many years, had contacts in Norfolk – to be specific, Elliott had a brother and nieces and nephews in Cromer. Exhaustive checks had not shown that any of these people had troubled the county’s police force, but nevertheless, said Allen, in view of Sokoloff’s repeated visits to the area, this was still an active line of inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector Reeve herself would be in contact with the Elliott family tomorrow morning.
Smith had given this news his full attention and had tried his best to make it fit in with what his own team’s efforts had produced today – he had tried his best and failed. The Queens Arms was somehow important in Sokoloff’s story but it was impossible at present to see any connection between the pub and the apparently innocent family of Elliotts who lived in and around Cromer. For a start, there was a good twenty five miles of coastline between the two.
Serena’s new information about the RAC patrolman had been well-received, though, and she had taken the opportunity that gave to say that an interview had already been arranged by John Murray for that evening; smart work, thought Smith, making it even more unlikely that DI Terek would try to interfere. Smith had watched Terek after that development and could see him thinking it through – Terek had seen the potential significance of what seemed to have taken place in Sokoloff’s last hour or two, and it was unfortunate that they had not had the time to develop a closer working relationship. Unfortunate, too, that they never would, perhaps. Smith prepared himself to answer the questions that he would ask if he was in Terek’s position.
Sure enough, as soon as the meeting was over, the detective inspector called the four of them over to Serena’s desk. He asked to see the phone records, and as she opened them again, Smith winced a little and wondered whether the time on the email that had accompanied them had been noted – but there was no sign that it had, and Terek did his job properly, which was to check and check again.
Then he said to them all, ‘The driver reported that there was no sign of the person who made the call for assistance. But if you were in the patrolman’s situation – you had gone to a pub car-park and found no-one and no sign of the vehicle - what would you have done?’
Smith had already run this scenario and he was sure that he would not be the only one, but none of them answered because Terek was still a new and unknown quantity. After a suitable pause, Smith said, ‘I think I would have at least inquired at the pub as to whether one of their customers that evening had had a problem with his car. Not least because this car had, we have to assume, been parked in their car-park.’
Terek said, ‘Me, too. But no-one at the pub mentioned anything like that, did they?’
‘Not a word, so far. It might depend on whether the RAC man mentioned the name of the driver. If he didn’t, I suppose it’s forgettable and the staff at The Queens Arms would have no reason to
connect it to our inquiries. But if he did use the driver’s name, it’s not one that you’d easily forget, is it? Mr Sokoloff?’
John Murray was already making a note of that question as Terek pointed out that they needed to ask it. Terek apologised with a half-smile, and then looked at them one by one.
‘I can see that you’re used to working with each other in a particular way, and judging by what you’ve managed to come up with today, it’s effective. I was going to come along tonight and tell one of you to go home, but I won’t. Just keep me in the loop. One of you ring me after you’ve spoken to the RAC man?’
Serena said that she would do so. Then the detective inspector turned to Smith and said, ‘A word, DC.’
They went to Terek’s office, not to the desk he had placed in room 17.
‘You have a good team.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘And a very loyal team.’
This time Smith simply gave a short nod.
‘And I do appreciate that it takes time to bed in someone new. So, on this occasion I’m going to overlook the fact that Detective Constable Butler held back what she had found in the phone records until you were back in the office.’
Terek was peering over his spectacles again.
Smith said, ‘If I told you that she had done so on my orders, I don’t suppose you’d believe me, sir.’
‘No, I would not. If you’d let them know that I know, that will be the end of it as far as I’m concerned – as long as there is no recurrence of it.’
Smith gave another nod as he met the younger man’s stare directly; this was by far the most intelligent thing Terek had done since his arrival, and also the most surprising.
Terek said, ‘Good. Before you go, let me know where you think this is heading, DC. How significant is the fact that Sokoloff’s apparent nemesis has family in the area?’
Sokoloff’s apparent nemesis? Surprise after surprise – I must have lowered my guard, thought Smith. What was the name of that detective constable down in Huntingdon, the one who had been looking into Lucky Everett’s murder in the prison? Nigel Hinton. Ought to give him a ring and see what else he can tell me about his erstwhile boss… At least, I would if he was going to be my new boss for any length of time.
‘We shouldn’t rule it out, sir. For one thing, we’re seriously short of a motive for what was done to Bernard Sokoloff. On the other hand, it doesn’t join up at all with what we’ve found between The Royal Victoria Hotel and The Queens Arms.’
‘And what exactly have we found, DC? It’s alright – I’m not doubting you, I’m asking you to speculate a little. Go ahead.’
Detective Inspector Terek had made a couple of good moves in the last ten minutes, and so Smith went ahead and speculated, openly and honestly, holding nothing back. His conclusion had to be that someone at The Queens Arms in Overy knew something that they had not shared with the police – things were beginning to point that way. That was all it was, of course, with no suggestion that the everyday folk of Overy and Deepford had actually murdered the Londoner, but something wasn’t right and with the involvement of the RAC patrolman, that impression was likely to grow stronger – at least, that was Smith’s guess.
Terek had reacted with surprise when the name of Sam Cole had reappeared but, as Smith explained, the community of people who make their living by and from the sea is a small, interconnected and intimate one – the ancient administrative and inland county of Huntingdonshire would not have its equivalent, and Terek accepted the idea.
He said, ‘Chief Inspector Reeve has said to me that we’re going to miss your local knowledge.’
‘Maybe so, sir, but there will be compensations. There will be other bits that people won’t miss at all.’
‘I have to disagree. That’s not the general impression that I’m getting. But let’s get on. I wanted to warn you that if the Brian Elliott connection starts to look like it will fly, there will be a move to transfer this case to the new murder squad, for obvious reasons. If there is a gang-land connection and the Met are involved, that’s the way it will go. Some of us might still be involved but we won’t be running it any more. I thought you should know and you might want to warn your team, just in case.’
Some cases just get under your skin. At home that evening, Smith ate only the slightest of salads, telling himself that he was never very hungry in hot weather, whilst knowing full well that the real reason was the adrenaline hanging around in his system. Every few minutes he wondered what the patrolman was saying, and whether Murray and Butler were pointing things in the right direction, even though there were no two people he would trust more to do so.
Seven o’clock came and went, so it wasn’t a short interview, assuming that they had made contact with their man. At seven fifteen he checked his mobile signal and found only one bar; he took it to the window sill, watched and waited until it reached two bars and then propped it up against a plant-pot that contained one of Sheila’s scented-leaf geraniums. It needed water, he noticed, and that’s what he was doing, watering every plant in the lounge when his telephone rang. It was seven thirty.
‘About bloody time! What did he have to say?’
‘Who?’
It was Jo, and he had forgotten every word about her promise to call him.
‘Sorry! Work!’
‘You’re still at work? I can call another time, David.’
‘No, I’m home. Just stuff still going on as it does. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten,’ though, in truth, it had been years since she was a DI herself, and she probably had. He added, ‘So, you must be having dinner on dry land tonight…’
Yes, she was, and on her own in the university apartment in Munich. She laughed about the events on the floating restaurant last night, how they had been towed along by a tugboat as the main course was served and the jazz band played on, how they had had to fight off the efforts of the management to make everything free because of the break-down when, in truth, it had been one of the best meals that she had ever eaten. Smith smiled because her ironic sense of humour was infectious and easily caught, matching as it did his own, but when he glanced at his watch it read 19.47 and he wondered whether Serena Butler had been trying to reach him.
‘Your messages said you had something important to tell me.’
The first significant space since she had called him, before she said, ‘I do. The deed has been done.’
‘Which one?’
‘What I was talking about before. I’ve told them that I won’t be coming back after Christmas. I suppose you could say that I’ve handed in my resignation as well.’
He was silent, and she said, ‘You have actually done it, haven’t you?’
‘Yes. Monday morning. They’ve accepted it, not that they had any choice as I’m already two years past the usual date. Superintendent Allen has organised a firework display.’
‘I don’t believe it. They’ll have the flags at half-mast.’
‘What about you? What did they say?’
‘That there is a job here for another couple of years, if I want it, and all the research facilities I need. More money…’
19.56, and a little, green, phone-shaped symbol had begun flashing at the top of his mobile screen; he couldn’t be certain but he thought that meant someone else had tried to reach him during this call.
He said, ‘That’s a lot to turn down, Jo.’
‘I know. But I told them that I had some important work to do back in the UK. At least, I think I do…’
The symbol was red now, blinking on and off. Smith stared at it, still aware that the conversation with Jo Evison had reached a critical moment, and that he should be saying something meaningful right now.
‘Yes, I think you do, too.’
The relief in her voice as she said goodnight unnerved him a little; something had just been said – something had just been agreed, hadn’t it? Perhaps she had been thinking of the book she planned to write about Andretti.
; His phone rang again within seconds, and it was Serena Butler.
‘Finally! Who were you gossiping with, sir? You never talk to anyone for as long as that!’
‘My stockbroker about my offshore accounts, and whether gold has a future. What happened with Mr RAC? Is he any use?’
‘Definitely. That missed customer might have cost him his monthly bonus, and he isn’t happy. He remembers everything.’
‘Go on. Did he call at the pub? Did he speak to anyone?’
‘Yes, he did, and he mentioned Sokoloff’s name more than once.’
‘I thought so – there was no way he’d just drive off. Did he get a name?’
‘No, but he’d know her if he saw her again.’
‘Her?’
‘Yes. He spoke to a woman.’
Chapter Twenty Five
Early the following morning, the Friday, there had been a meeting around Smith’s desk in room 17 – just Smith’s team and Detective Inspector Terek, with Wilson looking over from time to time. Ten minutes later, only John Murray remained, with instructions to do whatever he could with the blurred images of the four by four vehicle that had been parked on the road behind The Royal Victoria Hotel during the night that Sokoloff had disappeared. After a few minutes, Wilson had wandered over and asked exactly what the new lead was that Terek had announced, and then he wandered back again, not much further forward.
The four detectives had taken two cars because it was not certain how things would now develop; Smith had Serena Butler as his passenger and Waters was having his first ride with DI Terek. Unfortunately, Smith left Kings Lake Central first, and Terek had followed him all the way, so Waters didn’t get the fully authentic experience on this occasion but it was surely only a matter of time.
They arrived in Overy at a little after nine o’clock. Smith pulled over to the side of the road two hundred yards short of The Queens Arms and the four of them had spoken briefly again. He had said, ‘We might end up looking heavy-handed here. If her first answers are just the oh-it-must-have-slipped-my-mind sort, and she brazens it out, the best we can do is get annoyed and make the statement-taking uncomfortable.’
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