She Was a Pretty Girl: A spy story

by S G Read

  ‘Start with wine and I will follow it up with spirits later, that’s if there is a later?’

  ‘I’m not expecting anyone else Lana and there are two spare rooms.’ John answered. ‘Red or white?’

  ‘White please, I don’t want a headache, it is only my second day at work and I don’t want to be told off!’ Lana answered.

  They sat drinking white wine and then moved on to brandy. As they sat, they talked about things, life and Lorna. They slowly grew drunker and drunker until John decided it was time for bed. He helped Lana upstairs but when he stopped outside the spare room Lana refused to go in.

  ‘I will be cold in bed all alone!’ She declared. ‘I won’t keep you awake, well not for too long.’

  Despite their drunkenness they made love for the next hour, on and off until Lana fell asleep. John soon joined her and they slept together in the king sized bed. The first thing saw in the morning was a naked Lana returning from the ensuite bathroom.

  ‘Do you have a headache this morning?’ He asked as she walked by the bottom of the bed.

  She turned to face him.

  ‘No, no headache. I am sore in other places though, have you been celibate for a while?’ She answered.

  ‘A while.’ John agreed.

  ‘We will have to make sure you don’t go without for so long again.’ Lana declared and slid back into bed.

  Chapter 9

  Over the next week John and Lana watched Winfield’s section moved out of the building to another location. When Winfield handed over the keys to the porter in charge of the doors, John was happy. He was still sad about Lorna’s death, which he was sure Winfield ordered to make sure she did not speak to anyone important about the bug in the PM’s office. And then only did it because John was injured.

  He walked up to the office and looked through the open door. So much had gone on in the room in front of him, and a lot of things which should not have. Winfield made deals and money changed hands he was sure, all in the name of the country. He shook his head and walked away again, he did not want to go in there. Back in his office Lana was there to greet him with a cup of tea.

  ‘Well, they’re gone and good riddance!’ She exclaimed. ‘Shall we celebrate with a bun?’

  ‘Why not, it is a good day today!’ John agreed and sat on the desk next to her.

  ‘You know he will set up shop and soon be back up to his old tricks again.’ Lana warned.

  ‘But I shall be watching him like a hawk and now I have the PM’s ear.’ John replied. ‘Let him do his worst! I shall be looking for cracks in his armour from now until I get him!’

  ‘How?’ Lana asked.

  ‘There is always a trail. Usually money and that is where I will start.’

  ‘What sort of trail?’

  ‘Well you look for connections or anomalies.’ John explained. ‘You don’t know if there are any but when you do find them, things start to make two and two.’

  ‘I am sure I will understand more if you find something.’ Lana answered, tiring of the conversation. ‘Just don’t tire yourself out too much.’

  John looked up and smiled. He knew what they would be doing tonight and, just in case, the jammer would be on again. He carried on with his work, the files were all on his computer and he went through each one meticulously. When one avenue of thought proved to be a waste of time, he did it all again with a different focus.

  Time passed, with Lana typing letters to her friends or phoning other friends, as she had finished all her work. When finishing time came, John was still pouring over the files, with nothing to show for it.

  ‘Found anything?’ Lana asked as she put on her coat.

  ‘Not yet. He is a secretive little devil.’ John answered and looked up.

  When he saw that she had her coat on, he looked at his watch.

  ‘That time already, you go ahead, I’ll be with you directly.’ He said, noting the flash of annoyance on her face.

  ‘You’re like a dog with a bone.’ She retorted and then smiled when she imagined what they would be doing later.

  He was not to be moved and she left him to it. John remained, going through file after file on Winfield’s expenses, until he spotted his first anomaly.

  ‘A-ha.’ He said as though he was close to getting the lid of a particularly awkward tin.

  An hour later he had his trail. He closed the files and turned the computer off. He had copies so it did not matter if anyone stole his computer or erased his files. He drove home a happy man to a house in darkness.

  ‘I’m up here.’ A voice called down when he opened the front door. ‘We are having dinner in bed!’

  ‘Persistence Lana.’

  ‘I will have to try some of that.’

  ‘I thought you did, last night in bed!’ John exclaimed.

  ‘Well you can have a rest tonight, I am going out and I will be closer to my flat than to here when I come home. So I will sleep there.’

  John did not know whether to be sad or happy. Instead he started compiling the findings.

  ‘Now we look for a pattern.’

  ‘What sort of pattern?’ Lana asked, looking at the list.

  ‘A sudden raise in the rent, when either the area or the building had work done on it and became a more desirable location. That way we might locate the building.’

  ‘I’m all for that.’ Lana declared, then asked. ‘What happens when we do when we find it?’

  ‘Not a lot but we will know and he won’t know we know. I might have the location watched surreptitiously.’

  ‘You can do that?’

  ‘I have men I can call on for such occasions, who answer only to me.’ John explained.

  Men? Not Clementine then?’

  ‘No, after things went awry, when I speak with Clementine we are both holding our weapons, in case one has orders to eliminate the other.’

  ‘So it was not a friendly meeting then? I heard you were close at one time.’

  ‘We were as close as I was with you last night and for about the same time.’ John answered with a twinkle in his eye. ‘But don’t ask me who was better in bed!’

  ‘I wouldn’t dream of it but you were younger then.’

  ‘I was. I have to agree there, so you can draw your own conclusions from it.’

  ‘I already have.’ Lana answered. ‘I will trawl through letting agencies and get some up to date prices.’

  ‘Good idea.’

  They worked on until they came to a decision. There were three areas that matched the time frame when the prices went up and one of them was too new to be part of the puzzle.

  ‘That leaves two areas to look into.’ John declared and closed down the files. ‘Enough is enough.’ He added as he did so. ‘I think music and a good wine tonight is in order.’

  ‘While I go and do my thing.’ Lana answered without explaining what her thing was.

  They parted, John going home to drink wine and listen to music and Lana going off to do her thing. It was late when John woke up, the music had long since finished and the room was dark save for the glimmer of the standard lamp in the hall outside. He decided it was time to go to bed.

  He arrived in the office before Lana and started on the post. When she walked in he could see she was happy.

  ‘You look bright eyed and bushy tailed!’ He exclaimed.

  ‘So I should John, so I should!’ Lana declared. ‘While I was doing my thing last night I had occasion to go to St. Peter’s church. Who should I see walk into the butcher’s shop opposite but Alexander Winfield. He is not my most favourite person as you well know. After we had been looking for his secret location, I watched what happened. He walked out half an hour later with a box in his arms as though he had been buying meat. Being inquisitive and still being able to do my thing I watched the butcher’s shop and saw Jacob Court arrive. He was smoking, so he tarried outside while he finished the cigarette before going in. That meant I got a good look at him. He came out with a box which looked exactly th
e same as the one Alex Winfield brought out. I thought it was quite a big coincidence so you might want to put one of you bloodhounds on it. Just in case.’

  ‘I will do just that Lana.’ John answered without asking her what she was doing there.

  ‘Aren’t you curious as to what I was doing there?’ Lana asked.

  ‘As you had a folder with you and the materials in the bag you carried were for brass rubbing I did not think I needed to. I am supposed to be a detective you know.’ John answered.

  ‘Do you want to see them?’

  ‘Do I have a choice?’ John asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘I thought not. Yes I would love to see them Lana.’ John exclaimed, with the right amount of enthusiasm.

  ‘Good.’ Lana answered and proceeded to show him her brass rubbings, while relating just where the rubbing was in the church and how she had managed to get it to look so good.

  John listened, making sure he looked very interested, until she finished speaking which was some time.

  ‘Do you laminate them or anything?’ He asked trying to maintain an air of interest.

  ‘I never had access to a laminator before so I put them in those plastic covers. Laminating is a good idea but won’t they notice the pouches going missing?’

  ‘How many are you likely to laminate then Lana?’ John asked worriedly.

  ‘I have hundreds at home John.’

  ‘Hundreds!’ John exclaimed. ‘I have a laminator at home you can use.’

  ‘At what price?’ Lana asked.

  ‘We’ll work something out.’

  ‘In, I hope.’ Lana answered and started to deal with the pile of paper John had put in her tray from the post.

  John made a phone call and then went out to meet one of his bloodhounds. Even though Winfield was no longer in the building, John still took no chances. The meetings were so contrived that one was not seen with the other but the message was still passed telling one what to do or the other what the answer was. He walked back to the office, going a circuitous route just to see if he was being followed. He had to admit that if he was being followed, he did not see them.

  Back in the office he flopped down into his chair to rest and Lana brought him in a tray of tea. Unlike Lorna who knew just how to make the tea for John, Lana merely dumped a tea bag in the tea pot and he could pour it when it was how he liked it. It was a different system but John had grown used to it. Now he could get two cups of tea from the pot when it was brought in and both were drinkable.

  The answer from his bloodhound, when he collected it three days later, was a definite yes, it was Winfield’s secret location. The members of Winfield’s group came and went during the day. Always coming out with what looked like a boxful of meat but really it was a collapsible box that could be carried inside the carrier bag they went in with. It gave the pretext of buying a lot of meat and it was still a working butcher’s shop.

  Now John had to work out what to do about it. He would like a look inside the butcher’s shop, especially the cellar. He thought about going there to buy meat but even if he had just chanced upon the shop and wanted some steak for his dinner, Winfield would read more into it, he always did.

  What John wanted was definite proof that he had murdered or order killed either Marion or Lorna. If he thought that Marion’s body was in there in the deep freeze, he would tear the shop apart but Winfield was not a silly man.

  John sat in his office and mulled over what he knew. This place was findable by anyone willing to do several hours of digging. To do it John had written his own search program to do it, all he had to do was to add in all the payments that he had listed and all the petty cash payments Winfield had claimed. He thought deeply and started to load all the petty cash vouchers and receipts from the men who worked or had worked for him in the past.

  He did not explain what he was doing but it took him a week to load all the details he wanted on the computer and then he set it searching. While he was there at his devious best he also started a search for a match or close match of Clementine’s DNA. He had not gone back to Lorna’s aunt’s house, which of course was Lana’s Aunt’s house. The memories were too strong at the moment. When Lana mention the house he would go in there with her and help her clear up, until then he redirected any email which would normally go there, to his computer.

  He heard the voice say ‘You have email’ then he watched the count at the top of the screen go up and up and up. He groaned, assuming they were all spam and when the number stopped moving he went through them. First deleting all that he could see were spam and then reading the others. There was no news on the DNA front yet but a couple of snippets made him read the rest with more interest. He smiled and deleted all the emails to give him a clean sheet and walked out to see how Lana was getting on.

  ‘I’ve been thinking.’ She said when John perched on her desk in front of her.

  ‘That sounds worrying.’ John replied.

  ‘The rent on my flat is quite high and I was wondering if I could let it go and move in with you?’ She continued without looking at him.

  ‘Do you want any help shifting your gear from your flat to my house Lana?’ John asked, showing a slight smile.

  ‘No I can manage that but is there room for my bed?’

  ‘The attic.’ John answered wryly.

  ‘I am not going to sleep in the attic!’ Lana exclaimed.

  John laughed.

  ‘We’ll put it up in the spare room, the bed in there has seen better days, that way if you need a rest you can sleep in there.’ He declared.

  ‘I was thinking more about when I come back from my expeditions John.’

  ‘You don’t have to laminate them as soon as you get in, do you?’ John asked.

  ‘Of course not but I am usually late in.’ Lana replied.

  ‘If you wake me, you wake me.’ John declared. ‘But if I am here on my own I will probably drink a glass of wine or two. That will mean you will find it hard to wake, let alone get any decent response!’

  ‘At that time of night I will accept a ‘grunt and turn over’ attitude, that’s what I will be like.’

  ‘And probably what you’ll get.’ John declared.

  ‘So it’s settled then, I can let my flat go.’ Lana asked.

  ‘It is alright by me but you will lose a bit of your independence.’ John warned. ‘Me I have my shed with a lock on the inside.’

  ‘If I am not already inside.’ Lana warned. ‘It works both ways.’

  John returned to his desk and put the two searches into the background where they would perform without anyone seeing. He had rigged it to send him an email to offer cheap Chinese electrical goods but from a fictitious company, one he had invented. It sounded just like all the other companies and would be sent into the spam folder and that is where he would look when he wanted to find out their progress.

  Over the next week Lana’s furniture and things she wanted to keep arrived in dribs and drabs until she declared the flat was off her hands. It worked out well with John going into his shed if he wanted to be alone and Lana out late some nights taking more brass rubbings.

  Work continued with John checking the success of his search programs. The DNA search had not yet yielded results and it might never show any but his petty cash search flagged up an unusual similarity over the last year which pointed to Winfield having another property hidden away somewhere. It was paid for by the men’s petty cash vouchers, spread evenly amongst them.

  He immediately wrote another search program to find the property. He had a start date and he knew how much Winfield was paying but he did not know where it was. He typed in variables but it help that he could imagine what Winfield would want in his property.

  He let that search and carried on with his latest piece of sleuthing, who was stealing paper clips from the stationary office, and why? Such was the importance of his work at the moment. It annoyed him that he could not nail Winfield to the wall but his chance would come and when
it did, he would be ready!

  While he sat at his desk, he thought about Lorna’s aunt’s house. He had not mentioned it when Lana had wanted to give up her flat, thinking it might have to have been sold but then, as she was now the sole owner, she could live there, so why sell it?

  The conclusion? She wanted to move in with John and that made him feel younger than his actual years. She was young and attractive, so why did she want to move in? A link to her dead sister maybe but still he did not care. She was there and he was happy!

  That evening he stood looking out of his rear window at the shed and remembered how he had employed it and then reflected on how luck stopped the house being rumbled. His hitting the skip had cost Lorna her life but it had stopped Winfield finding the house. There was still information in there that might cause Winfield some grief. He walked out with his car keys.

  ‘Just going up the shop.’ He called to Lana and drove to the next road the aunt’s house was in.

  He had not seen a tail but then he had no intention of going into the house, he just wanted to see what was happening with it. He drove down one road, then up another and then finally past the aunt’s house. It looked just the same as it had always looked. There were no for sale signs and it did not look like anything had been touched, which surprised him. He drove down another two roads and then on to the shops.

  ‘Honey I’m home.’ He called when he walked in, slamming the door behind him.

  That was something John’s wife had complained about while they were living together, in fact she complained about quite a lot really.

  ‘And what did you buy?’ Lana asked standing there in a sexy negligee.

  ‘Caviar and champagne, I realized that we had not really celebrated you moving in with me.’ John answered and held up the purchases for inspection.

  ‘You old smoothie, I bet you are the same with all the girls.’ Lana rebuked.

  ‘Less of the old.’ John ordered.

  They drank champagne and ate caviar in bed and John wondered what his wife would have thought of that! He smiled at the thought as he emptied his glass.

  ‘A penny for them.’ Lana offered when she saw the smile which refused to go away.