The Quiet Man

by James Carol

  60

  Winter was sitting arm-to-arm with Anderton on one of the lobby’s sofas. On the other side of the walkway, a sound man was clipping a microphone to Cathy’s top while Delaney sat there quietly, psyching herself up. The cameraman had set up a small monitor so they could see what was being recorded. Cathy and Delaney were in the middle of the screen. At the right-hand edge of the shot was a glimpse of a painting that evoked the Far East. On the left was part of a window that held the reflection of another painting. This one was distorted but the Asian influence was still evident. Jefferies and Freeman were sitting on the next sofa along. Both of them had their eyes glued to the monitor. The sound man did a quick sound check then gave the thumbs up and moved out of shot. Delaney sat back in her chair and got comfortable. Then she faced the camera.

  ‘We are joined this evening by Cathy Gifford. Her husband is suspected of being involved in the August 5 bombings. Mrs Gifford is now going to read a short statement.’

  So far, so good. Delaney was sticking to the script. She hadn’t come right out and accused Gifford of being the killer. And she had used Cathy’s married name, which would help to establish a bond with Gifford. Cathy unfolded a sheet of paper and cleared her throat. When she spoke her voice was two tones higher than usual and there was a slight waver.

  ‘Billy, if you’re watching this, please get in touch with me. People are saying the craziest things about you, things that I just can’t believe are true. The man that I married isn’t capable of doing the things they’re claiming. You are a good person. A loving person.’ Cathy paused to compose herself. She cleared her throat again. ‘I know things haven’t been good between us, but whatever problems we’ve had can be solved. Nobody knows you as well as I do, and that’s how I know you’re innocent. Together we can clear your name, so please contact me.’

  Cathy folded the sheet of paper and curled it into her hand. Her knuckles were white from holding it so tightly. The strain was showing and she looked on the verge of tears.

  ‘Are you okay to answer some questions?’ Delaney asked.

  Cathy nodded.

  ‘You clearly think that your husband is innocent. How can you be so sure of that?’

  ‘Because I know my husband. He’s got a great sense of humour. He’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. He works as a photographer. People warm to him immediately. They like him. How can someone like that be guilty of the sorts of things he’s being accused of?’

  ‘If your husband was sitting opposite you right now, what would you say to him?’

  ‘I’d tell him that whatever’s happened doesn’t matter, we can work this out. There’s nothing that can’t be fixed.’

  ‘Is there anything else you’d want to say?’

  ‘Only that if people knew Billy the way that I know him, they’d realise he couldn’t possibly be guilty of these crimes.’

  This was where the interview was supposed to wind up. All the points that needed to be covered had been covered. Short and sweet was the name of the game. Winter caught the way Delaney looked at Cathy and realised that wasn’t going to happen. Her next question was off script, but not unexpected. Delaney softened her voice, aiming for a tone that was confidential and trustworthy. It’s just the two of us, that voice promised, you can tell me anything.

  ‘If Cody Hooper was sitting opposite you, what would you say to him? In case you don’t know, Cody was Myra Hooper’s son. Myra was murdered yesterday morning by the August 5 Bomber.’

  The camera zoomed in on Cathy. This move had clearly been planned in advance. Again, this wasn’t completely unexpected. Anderton went to stand up and Winter touched her arm. Her head snapped toward him.

  ‘Can’t you see what’s going on here,’ she whispered. ‘This is an assassination. We’ve got to get Cathy out of there.’

  ‘Just give it a little longer.’

  ‘No, this isn’t fair on Cathy.’

  ‘It’s not fair, but you need to trust me on this one, okay?’

  Anderton stared for a second longer then sat back down. Cathy’s face filled the whole screen. The monitor might have been small but Winter could still make out every line and wrinkle. Her eyes were haunted. She wasn’t crying, but the tears weren’t far off.

  ‘Cody was ten,’ Delaney prompted. ‘And now he’s going to grow up without his mother.’

  ‘I don’t know what I would say to him,’ Cathy stammered. ‘All I know is that Billy is innocent.’

  ‘And what would you say to Lian Hammond’s husband. Lian was murdered on August 5 last year.’

  Now the tears came. They were streaming down Cathy’s face. She wiped them away, but as soon as she did there were more to take their place. ‘Billy didn’t do it,’ she said quietly.

  ‘What about Alicia Kirchner’s husband, and Isabella Sobek’s? What would you say to them?’

  Winter walked over and positioned himself between Cathy and the camera. ‘This interview is over.’

  Delaney smiled. ‘No problem. We’ve got everything we need.’

  ‘You stepped over the line.’

  ‘I disagree. It’s important that our viewers see Cathy as human. Tears are one of the best ways to achieve that.’

  There was no response to that. At least there wasn’t one that he could be bothered to give. Winter held out his hand and helped Cathy to her feet. She laid the microphone on the seat and he led the way back toward reception. Behind them, Delaney was conferring with her camera operator, no doubt checking to make sure he’d got everything. Anderton had gone into a huddle with Jefferies and Freeman. They were talking in whispers, autopsying the interview.

  Winter carried on walking until he found a quiet corner. He guided Cathy toward a sofa and sat down beside her. She wiped the tears away and looked at him.

  ‘I totally screwed that up. I’m sorry.’

  ‘You’re kidding, right? You were awesome.’

  ‘No I wasn’t. By the end I could hardly string a sentence together.’

  Winter shook his head. ‘You did good. Really good.’

  Cathy wiped her eyes again. ‘The person I was describing back there wasn’t Billy.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘And everyone watching is going to know that, too. Billy included. This was a complete waste of time.’

  ‘It was not a waste of time. I promise you. Billy might suspect that you’re not being truthful, but there will be a part of him that wants to believe. It doesn’t matter about anyone else who’s watching, all that matters is that Billy thinks you might be telling the truth.’

  Winter heard footsteps and looked up. Anderton and Jefferies were walking toward them. Jefferies was looking as cool as ever. He stopped in front of Cathy and waited for her to look at him.

  ‘Thank you for doing that,’ he said. ‘I realise how tough it must have been.’

  ‘When can I go home?’

  ‘We’ve booked a flight for you for tomorrow morning. You’ll need to change in Seattle, but you’ll be back in Idaho by lunchtime. Tonight you’re going to stay in one of our safe houses. There will be armed police guarding you at all times. Your ex won’t be able to get within a hundred miles of you and that’s a promise.’

  ‘So what happens now?’

  ‘Now you’re going to come with me. There’s a car waiting outside.’

  Cathy stood up. There was a quick round of thank yous and goodbyes. Cathy was anxious to get away, which was totally understandable. Today had been like a bad dream. The sooner she could wake up to a newer, brighter day the better. Winter watched Cathy and Jefferies walk away, then turned to Anderton. She wasn’t smiling and she didn’t look happy.

  ‘Outside, now. We need to talk.’

  61

  ‘You haven’t been entirely truthful,’ Anderton said.

  Winter lit a cigarette. Behind them, the skyscraper that housed the Shangri La stretched way above their heads. The glass glinted and shimmered and flashed in the evening sunlight, reflecting buildings and s
ky. It was six hundred and fifty-nine feet tall. Sixty-two storeys. Floors one through fifteen were occupied by the hotel, the rest was residential. The view from the penthouses must have been stunning. Look north and there were the mountains. Turn west and there was the water. To the south and east the city stretched way into the distance.

  ‘I said, you haven’t been truthful.’

  ‘I heard you.’

  ‘That isn’t a denial, or an apology.’

  ‘No, it’s not.’

  ‘Cathy isn’t the bait, is she?’

  Winter kept quiet.

  ‘Come on, Winter, I know what’s going on here. I’m not stupid. This is why you wouldn’t let me step in and stop the interview. You wanted Delaney to make Cathy cry.’

  He took another drag and blew out some smoke. ‘Look around, what do you see?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter what I see. What do you see?’

  ‘I see a disaster just waiting to happen. You know how this one’s going to play out as well as I do. Freeman is going to have shooters on rooftops and people watching all the ways in and out of the hotel. It’ll be total overkill, but that’s the way it’s got to be done because that’s what it says in the rulebook. The problem is that the rulebook doesn’t work in this situation. If Gifford gets even a hint of a trap he’s going to disappear. This is strictly a one-shot affair. We don’t get a second chance.’

  ‘You knew that Delaney wasn’t going to stick to the script. You knew that she was going to attack Cathy.’

  ‘Not for certain.’

  ‘But you strongly suspected that it might happen.’

  ‘I’ll admit to that much.’

  ‘At what point are you going to tell Delaney that you’ve pointed a psychopath in her direction?’

  Winter took a long pull on his cigarette. ‘Do you know how many views “FBI Guy Loses His Shit” has had on YouTube? Almost quarter of a million. That means that two hundred and fifty thousand people have seen Delaney dissing Gifford. And you can bet that a fair few of those views were actually made by Gifford himself. Then there’s the fact that the interview was on heavy TV rotation. Delaney might be saying what everyone else was thinking, but that’s not how Gifford will perceive it. Every time he watches the interview it reinforces the idea that Delaney has a vendetta against him.’

  ‘And the interview with Cathy is going to reinforce that idea even further,’ Anderton said.

  Winter nodded. ‘His obsession with Cathy has just been awoken after a long slumber. Despite everything that happened, I’m betting that he’d welcome her back into his life with open arms. He’s probably itching to get all those pictures out of storage so he can hang them up around the house.’

  ‘He’ll be looking for a big gesture to win her back,’ Anderton said. ‘Let’s face it, a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates isn’t going to cut it in this instance. How do you think it’ll go down?’

  ‘His MO has worked up until now, so he’ll probably stick to that.’ Winter took another drag. ‘This is the point where you’re going to try to convince me that we need to involve Freeman. Before you do, I’ve got a question. What did Freeman say to you when he pulled you aside in the conference room?’

  Anderton hesitated, her face suddenly hardening. ‘He thanked us for bringing Cathy in and asked if we could hang around to babysit her through the interview.’

  ‘And what else?’

  ‘He said that after the interview we should make ourselves scarce.’

  ‘Okay, here’s another question. If you take this to Freeman, what will he do with it?’

  Anderton sighed. ‘He’ll bring in the shooters and the watchers, and it’ll be a complete circus.’

  ‘The other thing to bear in mind is that there’s no guarantee that Gifford will go after Delaney. You wouldn’t want to get charged with wasting police time.’

  ‘Right now, that’s the least of my concerns.’

  ‘So what are your concerns?’

  ‘Where do you want to start? Okay, firstly, there are only two of us. That’s nowhere near enough manpower to carry out an operation like this.’

  ‘Agreed. So what’s the minimum amount of people you’d want on an operation like this?’

  ‘That would depend on the size of Delaney’s house.’

  ‘Judging by what I saw on Google Maps, I’d say it’s about half as big as Sobek’s.’

  ‘In which case I’d want at least four people. Two to watch the front, two to watch the rear. That would be the absolute minimum.’

  ‘That’s what I figured, and that’s why I’ve asked Sobek to arrange for a couple of PIs to join us. They’re already at Delaney’s house, keeping an eye out for Gifford. Me and you make four. Okay, what’s your next concern?’

  ‘As much as I hate the woman, we can’t just put Delaney in danger like this.’

  ‘She won’t be in any danger. If Gifford sticks to his MO then he’ll want to be in place before she gets home.’

  ‘And what if Delaney gets home before him? He altered his MO with the latest murder, remember? He waited until the Hoopers were asleep before breaking in.’

  ‘I remember, and if he tries that here we’ll be ready for him. He’s not going to get anywhere near Delaney. A guy acting suspiciously in the dead of night is going to be easy to spot.’

  ‘A guy who might have a bomb,’ Anderton put in.

  ‘A small bomb. Worst-case scenario, he blows himself up in the middle of the street and wakes the neighbourhood. Nobody’s going to get hurt, and nobody’s going to cry at his funeral. Okay, next concern?’

  Before Anderton had a chance to say anything else her cell phone rang.

  ‘That’s probably Jefferies,’ Winter said. ‘He’ll be calling to tell you that Gifford has hacked into the Shangri La’s computer system and gained access to the guest register.’

  Anderton took out her phone, glanced at the display, then connected the call. The conversation lasted less than twenty seconds. She hung up and put the phone away.

  ‘That was Jefferies. Gifford has hacked into the Shangri La’s computer system. He now knows that Cathy checked into room 325 at lunchtime.’ She paused. ‘Or should that be he believes she checked in, since she isn’t actually staying here?’

  ‘Gifford is comfortable with computers but I’d venture that hacking into a hotel system goes beyond his capabilities.’ Winter paused. ‘On the other hand, Sobek’s computer guy would be more than capable of pulling off something like that.’

  ‘The one who found the RAT on Eric Kirchner’s laptop?’

  ‘One and the same. Anyway, that’s who hacked into the Shangri La’s system.’

  ‘And the reason you got him to do that is because you want the police to think that Gifford is coming here.’

  ‘I just want to make sure that Freeman stays out of our way.’ Winter took a last drag on his cigarette and crushed it out in the smokers’ trash can. ‘You brought me to Vancouver because you wanted my input. From what I know about Gifford, softly-softly is the way to go. That said, this is your call. If you think the way forward is to take this to Freeman, then go for it. It would be a mistake, but that’s just my opinion.’

  ‘Do you really think we can pull this off?’

  ‘I’m sure of it.’

  ‘How sure? And be honest.’

  ‘About ninety-nine per cent. Which is as good as it gets.’

  ‘How likely is it that Gifford will go after Delaney?’

  ‘I’d say about fifty-fifty. We’ve presented the bait in a way that’s tempting. Whether Gifford takes it or not is down to him. But even if he doesn’t, I’d say there’s a good chance that he’ll try to reach out to Cathy. To do that he needs to break cover, and when he does, he’ll get taken down.’

  Anderton frowned as she weighed up the pros and cons.

  ‘Okay, your turn,’ Winter said. ‘Do you think Freeman could do a better job than us? And be honest.’

  Anderton’s head went slowly from side to side. ‘
No, I don’t.’

  62

  Anderton parked one street away from Delaney’s house. The car was filled with the smell of hot coffee and there was a box of doughnuts on the back seat. Stake-out supplies. Winter found his cell and called the number Sobek had given him. The man who answered sounded confident and in control. He was economical with his words and precise with their delivery. Winter told him where they were parked and he said he’d be there in two minutes. One minute and five seconds later a figure emerged from Delaney’s street. Fifty-five seconds after that he was sliding onto the back seat of the Mercedes. He was older than Anderton and thin to the point of malnutrition. His skin was deeply tanned, like he’d spent most of his life outdoors. Anderton turned in her seat and smiled at him.

  ‘Hey there, Pascoe. Long time, no see.’

  ‘You two know each other,’ Winter said.

  ‘Are you kidding? We go way back. Pascoe retired from the force about five years before I did. We worked some cases together back in the day.’ She turned to Pascoe. ‘How are things looking over there?’

  ‘All quiet. No sign of Gifford or Delaney. Culver is watching the house at the moment. He’s just a kid but he’s got good instincts and good eyes. There are only two ways to get into Delaney’s house. Either a rear approach via the yard of the house that backs on to hers, or a direct approach straight up her driveway.

  ‘In that case, you guys can cover the rear and we’ll cover the front. We’ll touch base every thirty minutes.’

  ‘Of course.’

  Winter gave it a second to make sure they were finished. ‘Sobek said you’d have something for me.’

  Pascoe reached into his jacket and brought out a small string-tied cloth bag. There was a clunk of metal colliding with metal as he handed it over. Winter untied the string and tipped out the contents. Two Glock 19s landed in his lap. He held one out to Anderton. She looked at it for a second then took it. Winter ejected the clip from his, checked to make sure it was full, then banged it back in. Locked and loaded. Anderton was going through the same checks with hers.