In the Cage Where Your Saviours Hide
Page 16
The man nodded and said, ‘Yes?’
Sholto said ‘Dillan Howard?’
‘That’s me unless you’re trouble or wanting money.’
‘My name’s Sholto Douglas, this is my colleague Darian Ross, we work for an investigations company and we’re looking into an assault in the city three nights ago. Could we chat?’
Sholto asked as though he hoped to be refused, but Howard was happy to disappoint him and held the door open. He led them through to a sparse kitchen where they sat at a small, round table. There wasn’t much of anything to look at in the kitchen. It was small, with a window looking out at the side of the building next door, and a gap where a washing machine would go.
Dillan said, ‘Would you like a cup of tea or something?’
They both said, ‘No thanks.’
‘What’s this about? Private investigation, so you’re not cops?’
Sholto said, ‘No, we’re not, so you don’t have to answer anything if you don’t want to. We’re here about Uisdean Kotkell. You’ll have heard he was beaten up outside Himinn the other night?’
‘I heard.’
‘And what do you think about that?’
‘What do I...? I think it’s very sad, that’s what I think. I was going to go and see him in the hospital today but I heard he’s out, back home with his parents. It was a shame what happened to him, he’s a good guy.’
‘And do you happen to know anything about why this great shame happened to this good guy?’
Dillan leaned back in his chair, his face getting harder and taking on the look of a man hanging onto the end of his short fuse. He said, ‘How would I know anything about it?’
‘Well, what do you think happened to him?’
‘I suppose he must have got jumped, someone got pissed and wanted to be a hardman, or thought they could mug him and make a bit of money. No shortage of young men getting pissed and violent in this city. Surely your investigations have taught you that?’
‘So you and him didn’t have a big falling out, he didn’t dump you? You weren’t the one who got pissed and violent, waiting for him outside the club so you could give him a little bit of relationship counselling?’
Howard was smiling dismissively. He looked almost childish when he did. He said, ‘Do you think I got in a fight with him, or do you just wish I did so you could pin it on me, get an easy bad guy to point the finger at? That would make it nice and easy for you, go back to Uisdean’s father with my head on a pike, because that’s who you’re working for, isn’t it? Private investigation. The police would never be good enough for him; he would always want special treatment for his family and he could pay any price for it. He’s a dangerous man, Uisdean’s father. All that power. I hope you realise what his reaction would be if you tell him something he doesn’t like.’
‘I can’t tell you who we’re working for.’
Dillan laughed at the stiff delivery. ‘Oh, you are playing with fire if you’re playing with that man.’
This was going round in a circle so Darian interrupted and said, ‘Were you and Uisdean in a relationship?’
‘A relationship? No. I’ve known him about a year, we partied together a bit, had some fun, but there was nothing more than that. Neither of us could have dumped the other. If you want a scapegoat you’ll have to go look in another field.’
‘Do you know anyone who might have had it in for Uisdean?’
‘He isn’t the sort of guy that goes round making enemies. He’s not flash, not a troublemaker, so don’t try to blame what happened on him. Some drunk, I don’t know, a random attack. I’m sure you’ll find a way of wrapping it up without catching anyone and without embarrassing his father.’
Sholto, with surprising force, said, ‘We will not wrap it up, we will not. A crime has been committed and we will investigate it fully.’
There was a slightly stunned silence for a few seconds before Darian hurdled over it, saying, ‘You hadn’t heard anything about someone threatening him, maybe trying to get money off him?’
‘No, the only person Uisdean ever complained about was his father and by the time he was done whinging about him there was no time left for anyone else.’
‘All right, we’ll leave it there.’
They left the building and went back to the car. Sholto looked annoyed by a spiked dead end, no solution but a reminder of the danger that upsetting Durell Kotkell posed. He slammed the car door shut behind him. Darian gave him a look.
‘Waste of bloody time, and he didn’t need to get that chippy either, as if we’re the bad guys.’
He was flushed, looked unsure of himself. For Darian it brought back the memory of Corey in their office, telling them they were hiding there, that Sholto didn’t have the guts for real police work and its dangers. He’d lost one verbal battle that didn’t matter a damn and he was losing the rag about it. Maybe Corey had a point.
Darian said, ‘So what now?’
‘We’ll try to get the boy on his own, without the father or mother there. He’s the last person left who knows more than he’s told us.’
They drove back to the office.
DOUGLAS INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
Douglas Independent Research
21 Cage Street
Challaid CH3 4QA
Tel: (01847) 041981
Email: Sholto.Douglas@DouglasIR.sco
Dear Miss Campbell,
I’m writing to inform you of the conclusion of the investigation regarding the financial affairs of Moses Guerra. You will by now be aware that a suspect, Randle Cummins, has been arrested and charged with murder, and that my colleague and I played an active part in uncovering the suspect and securing the charge against him. Overleaf you will find a sheet detailing the work carried out by us on your behalf that led to this conclusion.
Overleaf you will also find a separate sheet detailing the expenses incurred in pursuance of this investigation. I am pleased to say that as the investigation was relatively short the cost to you is much less than previously expected. All expenses are in line with standard practice, as presented to you at the beginning of the investigation, and if you have any questions regarding them then please don’t hesitate to contact the office.
While the suspect charged has not yet been convicted, and a trial is yet to occur, I wish to express my relief that we have been able to aid you in this matter. If, as expected, Mr Cummins is convicted then it will take a very dangerous man off the street, and your determination to not let the matter rest was the cause of that. I wish you well for the future.
Yours Sincerely,
Sholto Douglas
Douglas Independent Research
INVESTIGATION INTO FINANCIAL AFFAIRS OF MOSES GUERRA
By Sholto Douglas, Douglas Independent Research – For Miss Maeve Campbell
My colleague, Darian Ross, began the investigation at your request, starting with information provided by yourself and another contact. No contacts will be named in this report as all receive strict anonymity as a condition of their assistance.
• Darian began by questioning the waiter, Benigno Holguin, who had been in the alleyway where the victim’s body was found, on the night. No new information was gained.
It was at this point that Darian and I began to work together on this case, believing it required as much manpower as we could provide.
• I learned from a separate contact that Randle Cummins had stated that he had previously been a friend of Moses Guerra and had taken a significant sum of money from his flat, with the suggestion that violence may have occurred in the process.
• We carried out research to identify the address of the suspect and made our way there to speak with him.
• We gained access to the house of the suspect and spoke with him at some length about his friendship with Moses and whether he had taken money from the flat. While he denied that he had killed Moses, he did let slip that he had owed a significant sum of money which he had been able to pay off.
A
t this point it was clear to us that Randle Cummins was a suspect in the murder of Moses Guerra and that the police needed to be informed. They subsequently arrested the suspect.
• As a further part of our investigation my colleague, Darian Ross, was able to confirm that Randle Cummins paid a debt in the region of £18,500, within forty-eight hours of the murder of Moses Guerra.
The suspect has now been charged with murdering Mr Guerra, and we believe the evidence against him is convincing and our work on your behalf concluded.
DOUGLAS INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
Douglas Independent Research
TO
Maeve Campbell
21 Cage Street
44-2 Sgàil Drive
Challaid
Challaid
CH3 4QA
CH8 6DG
Tel (01847) 041981
JOB
PAYMENT TERMS
DUE DATE
Researching finances of Moses Guerra
Due on receipt
QTY
DESCRIPTION
UNIT PRICE
LINE TOTAL
Travel expense – petrol
Travel expense – rail card
Telephone
Office expenses
Labour
£26.52
£12.00
£4.60
£8.00
£205.05
TOTAL
£256.17
Quotation prepared by: Sholto Douglas
To accept this quotation, sign here and return:______________________
Thank you for your business.
29
THERE’S NO PARKING on Cage Street, it’s pedestrianised after all, so Sholto always parked on the road at the bottom, Dlùth Street. From there it was a short walk for him and Darian to the office. They came round the corner at the bottom of Cage Street and Darian stopped. Sholto kept walking, oblivious, but Darian grabbed his sleeve.
He said, ‘You see that guy outside The Song? That’s MacDuff.’
Sholto very obviously stared at the young man who was taking the opportunity to have more of Mr Yang’s spring rolls. He looked casual, like he wasn’t watching for anyone and wasn’t in a hurry.
Sholto said, ‘Maybe he’s just back for the food.’
‘He came a long way out of his way to get it.’
They walked up the street to the building, nodding to MacDuff in passing. He looked a little sheepish, Darian thought. They went in and upstairs, Sholto putting the key in the door and finding it already unlocked. That spooked him, and he went paler. He pushed open the door and stepped in to find DI Folan Corey sitting patiently on the chair in front of Sholto’s desk, playing the role of the happy visitor. He’d probably been in that office a while and he’d have had a good look round before they turned up. Darian wanted to ask where he’d got a key but Sholto didn’t and it was his conversation.
He said, ‘Folan, good to see you, how are you, what can we do to help you, would you like a cup of tea?’
Corey ignored the barrage and looked past Sholto to Darian. He glared at him for a few seconds, and then turned back to his former colleague. Sholto had taken his usual seat behind his desk, facing Corey over a stack of folders. The DI ignored Darian completely now, focusing on the cage he knew he could rattle.
‘I’m hoping you can help me out, Sholto.’
‘I’ll try.’
‘You see, I have a problem with people harassing me at my work. It started out when they targeted a vital contact of mine.’
‘Oh, right.’
‘And then they tried to get involved in a large murder inquiry, and are still hampering that inquiry despite the fact a man has been charged with the murder in question.’
‘Gee whiz.’
‘And now they’re getting involved in an assault inquiry handled by my station that has nothing to do with them.’
‘Blimey pink.’
‘I’m starting to think they’re trying to provoke me, maybe hoping I’ll do something that gets me into a lot of trouble.’
‘Muirt mhòr.’
‘Are you taking the piss out of me, Sholto?’
‘What? No, Folan, no. You know me, I wouldn’t do that.’
Corey stared at him a while, watching the nerves twitch on the jowls of the former detective. He said, ‘You may not be doing it knowingly, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sit on your shoulders. You have to take responsibility for the things your staff do, Sholto. The buck stops right there.’
Sholto looked down at the spot on his desk Corey was pointing at, and then said, ‘Okay.’
Corey turned slightly in the chair to look at Darian, now sitting at his own desk. Corey said, ‘Oh yes, I can see a lot of your father in you. Perhaps not as much as is bubbling away in your crooked big brother, but still enough to be obvious. You know, I have a theory that ninety-nine per cent of people under the age of twenty-five are insufferably boring. The thing about most smart young people is not how deluded they are, because most smart people get deluded by their cleverness, but how pretentious and worthy they think they have to be to prove it, always trying to be superior. They haven’t been beaten down enough by the world to respect its power. You may actually be a one-per-center.’
It was a sort of compliment, the kind you weren’t sure you had received, and Corey was skilled at giving.
Darian didn’t bother pointing out that they had been hired by Durell Kotkell, because Corey would have known that already. He also didn’t bother pointing out that he considered Cummins innocent, because Corey would know that, too. Instead he said nothing as Corey got up from the chair and strolled over to the door he’d already made his own uninvited way in through.
Corey looked at Sholto and said, ‘I’m sure a skilled investigator like you will find out who’s been harassing me and put a stop to it, won’t you, Sholto?’
‘Yes, Folan.’
‘It’s DI Corey.’
He left the office. Sholto stared back at the spot on the desk where the imaginary buck was still sitting. It was obvious he was furious with Corey, but the cop was gone and, even if he wasn’t, Sholto wasn’t going to aim his guns in that direction.
‘You’re still working with Maeve Campbell? I told you not to, we’re finished with her. I posted her report and bill this morning, so that’s it, we’re officially done with her. Tell me you’re finished with her, Darian.’
Darian looked at Sholto and then looked away without saying anything.
Sholto threw up his hands and said, ‘Ach, I don’t know why I bother trying to teach you anything, all my years of experience and you won’t listen. You’re like a dog staring at a seagull on a chimney pot, convinced you can jump and catch it the second it takes off, and I can’t make you understand.’
There were a few hours of awkward silence in that office until the security officer at Glendan called and told Sholto they would pay for two more weeks of watching the Murdoch Shipping warehouses. The promise of more easy money cheered Sholto up no end, and two weeks sounded like long enough to spot something that could be dressed up in the clothes of criminality. He remained convinced that it was impossible for any of those old shipping companies to be entirely clean; if Murdoch were, then they’d be the first in a thousand years.
‘You go and sit and watch those warehouses. Don’t get seduced by them if they show you a bit of leg, don’t get led astray by their whispers, and don’t go sticking your nose into Corey’s business because they tell you to. Just watch them. Can you do that?’
‘I’m going.’
‘Aye, good, and you can call up Maeve Campbell and tell her the party’s over as well.’
As Darian got up from his desk he said, ‘I’m going round to see her tonight. I’ll talk to her about it then.’
‘Going round to... That’s the problem, once you see her you’re under her spell like that old witch with the snakes on her head. Just use the bloody phone so you don’t have to get beguiled by her, it’s what the
y were invented for. There’s no helping you, there really isn’t.’
Darian left the office and headed for his usual spot in The Knarr café, watching the warehouses. He was thinking about Maeve, about Corey, and about how Sholto’s attempts to educate Darian were really efforts at helping himself.
30
IT WAS DARK by the time he got to Sgàil Drive, but it always seemed to be dark on Sgàil Drive. This time Maeve was ready for him, fully dressed and armed with information.
She opened the door, smiled, and said, ‘Come in.’
He walked through to the living area and sat on the same couch he’d been on last time. He watched her walk out of the room and come back thirty seconds later with her notebook and a bottle of cheap wine clutched in one hand and two glasses in the other. She filled the glasses quickly and passed one to him. He took a sip and was careful not to wince.
‘I got my bill from your boss today. You’re not cheap for a day’s work, you two.’
‘He said he sent it. He might round up the expenses now and then, but he’s not a cheat, that’s the going rate. I take it the report told you nothing you didn’t already know.’
‘Not a damn thing. He wrote about it being an investigation into financial affairs and then talked about the murder without saying anything much.’
‘He’s always careful with that. Doesn’t like the client knowing too much, especially when the client is you. He told me to call you and tell you I’m finished helping you. We had Corey in the office today, warning us about this, and other things.’
‘Shit. Corey. So are you finished helping me?’
‘I didn’t call, did I?’
Maeve smiled and said, ‘Have you found out anything?’