The Divinities

by Parker Bilal

  ‘Thermite isn’t something you just leave lying around. Someone had it there for a purpose. Waleed was covering for someone who was staying at the mosque. The same person who was covering for him at Magnolia Quays.’

  ‘Did you get a name?’ asked Milo.

  ‘Waleed has a very fluid relationship with reality. Also, he was trying to protect him. I could only get a nickname. Akky.’ Drake shrugged. ‘Could be anything.’

  ‘Actually, that might tie into something I got from the comedians over at Magnolia Quays.’ Kelly rummaged through the stack of folders she was holding. ‘Mr Car Attack came up with a list of National Insurance numbers.’ She handed him a photocopy. ‘I cross-checked those names with the other documents they provided, thinking I might find an anomaly. And, guess what?’

  Drake took the second photocopy she handed him. It showed a copy of a driving licence.

  ‘What am I looking at?’

  ‘They needed someone to drive a van one day to pick up something and our friend “Wally” volunteered. Only it wasn’t Waleed. The van hire company took a copy of his licence. Could this be Waleed’s mysterious friend?’

  ‘Duwayne Jones?’ Drake stared at the photograph. ‘What makes you think he’s the one?’

  ‘I did some digging.’ Kelly placed another photocopy on the table. ‘Duwayne Jones is small time. B & E, carjacking, and a history of mental issues.’

  ‘Waleed said he met him in the Maudsley.’

  ‘Jones did a stint there four years ago. Also, he converted to Islam during a spell in Wandsworth. Nowadays he calls himself Akbar Hakim.’ Kelly lifted her hands. ‘Akky?’

  ‘Could be. Well done.’ Drake nodded towards the MIU. ‘Did you give this to them?’

  ‘Thought I’d wait to see how you felt about that.’

  ‘Well, no point in getting their hopes up if it’s nothing.’

  ‘That’s what I figured you’d say,’ said Kelly.

  ‘I thought we were supposed to be a team?’ Milo asked. He saw the looks on Drake and Kelly’s faces and threw up his hands. ‘Forget I said anything.’

  ‘No chance of an address, I take it?’ Drake asked Kelly.

  ‘Not so far.’

  ‘Well, I may have a lead on that.’

  As Drake and Kelly headed out, Pryce appeared in the doorway of the conference room. They locked eyes for a second.

  ‘A word, DS Drake.’

  ‘We were just on our way to conduct an interview.’

  ‘This won’t take long.’ Pryce planted himself in their path, hands in his pockets. He was a bigger man than Drake. Taller and heavier. ‘I take it Superintendent Wheeler has explained why I had to set up the MIU?’

  ‘You’ve decided it’s too important to be left to the likes of us.’

  Pryce sighed. ‘I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but this is not the time for that.’

  ‘Meaning there is a time for it?’

  Pryce took a long look at Drake. ‘Meaning, I outrank you. If you’re not happy with the situation, I suggest you put in a complaint, and we’ll take it from there.’

  ‘I was just seeking to clarify.’

  ‘I think the situation is clear enough. You report to me now. Is that understood?’

  ‘You’re the boss. Sir.’

  On the stairs, Kelly turned to him. ‘What is it between you two?’

  ‘What makes you think there’s anything?’

  ‘I don’t know, maybe it’s the daggers coming out of both of your eyes.’

  ‘You’re wasted in this job, Kelly. You ought to be a clairvoyant.’

  ‘I think you mean a mind reader. A clairvoyant can see the future. Which if I was I would have been able to predict the arrival of Catwoman.’

  Drake followed Kelly’s eye to the front desk where Crane was waiting.

  ‘Ah, Doctor Crane, right on time.’ Drake flashed her a smile. ‘You can tell us more about this kidnapping on the way.’

  Crane looked to Kelly for an explanation.

  ‘Don’t ask me,’ said Kelly. ‘Some days he’s just the life and soul.’

  CHAPTER 29

  Kelly drove while Drake went through the photographs. Finally, he tossed the envelope back to Ray.

  ‘It’s not here.’

  ‘What isn’t?’

  ‘The picture you showed me at your place. The high angle.’

  ‘That doesn’t make any sense.’ Ray opened the envelope and sifted through the prints. ‘So, it’s not here. Someone forgot it.’

  ‘Never assume anyone is incapable of fucking up.’

  ‘The world according to Drake!’ Kelly was shaking her head.

  ‘You know you can just have my copy,’ Ray said. ‘That might be easier.’

  Drake twisted round to look back at her. ‘It’s not the picture I’m concerned about. I just want to know why I never saw it until you showed it to me.’

  Ray sat back in her seat and stared out of the window. ‘There’s a word for your condition, you know.’

  ‘I don’t doubt it,’ said Drake.

  ‘I think she’s saying you need help,’ said Kelly helpfully.

  Howard Thwaite kept them waiting in a conference room on the first floor of a converted warehouse overlooking Chelsea Harbour. Ray stood by the window. Kelly wandered around, helping herself to the coffee and cream that had been brought in on a tray.

  ‘Not bad, eh?’ she opined, biting into a chocolate biscuit.

  Through the glass wall Drake could see dozens of bright young things busily tapping away at computers and working at drawing boards. He wasn’t exactly sure what they were doing but he had seen enough to know that they had operations going on in places across the globe.

  The door opened and Thwaite walked in. He looked more tired than the first time Drake had seen him. As if the weight of what had happened had begun to take its toll. His skin looked grey against his black clothes. Behind him followed a tall woman wearing a short pencil skirt and oversized spectacles. She rearranged a handful of folders and a tablet in her arms.

  ‘I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I’m afraid we’re very busy these days, what with one thing and another.’

  ‘Well, we appreciate you taking the time. I felt this couldn’t really wait.’

  The look on Thwaite’s face told him he was less than impressed.

  ‘I understood the case had been handed to a new officer.’

  ‘Actually, it’s really an expansion of the original team,’ Drake said. Thwaite seemed satisfied with this. He sat down and folded his hands.

  ‘If that means you are taking the matter more seriously, then I’m glad to hear it.’

  ‘One of the reasons we wanted to see you today was to follow up on a matter that has just come to light.’

  ‘What matter?’

  Ray stepped up. ‘Why did you not mention that your wife had been held hostage in Iraq?’

  Thwaite turned to look at her. ‘I’m sorry, who are you?’

  ‘Doctor Crane is a forensic psychologist who is assisting us with this case.’

  ‘I see,’ said Thwaite, curtly. ‘Well, the reason is simple; I didn’t think it had any bearing. I still don’t.’

  ‘Your wife wasn’t alone. Two other people were taken hostage with her. One of them died. The other was Tei Hideo, the same man who was killed with her at Magnolia Quays.’

  ‘The same . . .?’ Thwaite’s face grew ashen. ‘But I don’t understand. How could that be, he was Chinese or something?’

  ‘Japanese by origin. He was a French national working for the United Nations.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say. How can that be?’

  ‘Well, we’re trying to understand the motivation behind the murders,’ said Drake. ‘So, it would be helpful if perhaps you took us through the whole kidnap episode.’

  ‘Of course.’ Thwaite signalled to his assistant, who poured him a glass of water.

  ‘At the time, Marsha wasn’t actually your wife,’ Drake continued. �
�But you were . . . involved, weren’t you?’

  ‘Yes. I was married at the time, it’s true. Marsha and I were, as you put it, involved.’ He shook his head in disagreement with himself. ‘It was more than that. I planned to leave my wife for her.’

  ‘He makes it sound like waiting to catch a bus,’ muttered Kelly behind Drake’s back. Nobody else seemed to hear. Thwaite went on.

  ‘We . . . Our relationship was not public knowledge then. We were both in Iraq for separate reasons, but it gave us a chance to be together.’

  ‘Can you tell us what you were doing in Iraq at the time?’ Drake asked.

  ‘I was overseeing a project. A hospital that was being constructed in Tikrit. Marsha was there for a charity she was working for.’

  ‘Could the kidnappers have been targeting you?’ Ray asked.

  ‘It’s possible,’ agreed Thwaite. ‘If they had been watching me. I thought about that at the time.’ He shook his head. ‘It was terrible. Everything came out. The press, you know, eager for details. It ended my marriage.’

  ‘They demanded a ransom,’ said Drake.

  ‘They wanted three million dollars. One million for each hostage.’

  ‘Your wife’s maiden name was Chaikin,’ said Kelly. ‘She was Jewish.’

  Thwaite nodded. ‘That complicated matters somewhat. She had family in Israel. Distant, but nevertheless, their security services wanted to get involved. I refused their help. I thought it would only make things worse.’

  Drake perched himself against the window. ‘UK government policy was not to negotiate with terrorists, and not to pay ransoms. How did you get the SAS in to release them?’

  ‘It’s true we couldn’t get any government support. They wanted nothing to do with it. I had friends trying to pull strings in Whitehall, but to no avail. I don’t think they cared.’

  ‘That’s a little harsh, isn’t it, sir?’ Kelly interjected.

  Thwaite looked over at her as if he had forgotten she was there. ‘In a way it serves their purpose. The more brutal the enemy, the more justified you are in waging war against them. That’s the pragmatic view.’ He faced towards Drake. ‘I was given the name of a security firm that specialized in this type of thing.’

  ‘You mean a private military contractor?’

  ‘Hawkestone, I think was the name. I can give you the details. Anyway, they were supposed to go in and negotiate the release.’

  ‘Only it didn’t work out that way, did it?’ Ray said.

  ‘No, it didn’t.’ Thwaite’s eyes fixed themselves on the table. ‘In the end it all went wrong.’

  ‘What happened exactly?’ Drake asked.

  ‘Two of the hostages were released. Marsha and the man from the UN. The one you mentioned.’ Thwaite’s eyes came up to meet Drake’s. ‘A third hostage was killed.’

  ‘Janet Avery,’ said Kelly.

  ‘Yes, that was her name.’ Thwaite’s eyes were focused on the table in front of him as the memories came back. ‘They bungled the whole operation. Their operatives went completely off script. They killed a number of people. I was so angry. I said I wouldn’t foot the bill for their incompetence.’

  ‘How did that go down?’ Drake asked.

  ‘We reached a compromise. I paid the costs.’ Thwaite’s eyes found Kelly, expecting some snarky comment that never came. ‘I wanted to wash my hands of the whole business.’

  ‘But you got your future wife back unharmed,’ said Drake.

  ‘Yes, I did.’ Thwaite fell silent for a moment. ‘Do you really think this has something to do with why she was killed?’

  ‘It’s possible,’ said Drake. ‘We need to look into every aspect.’

  ‘That sounds like the perfect excuse not to do anything,’ muttered Thwaite.

  ‘It might help to speed things up if you were a little more cooperative.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Thwaite spluttered. ‘Why are you still in charge of this investigation?’

  ‘Sheer good fortune, I guess.’ Drake glanced at Ray, wondering what she was thinking. ‘One last thing, I need to ask about your finances.’

  ‘My finances?’

  ‘Yes. Just how close to bankruptcy are you?’

  ‘This is outrageous. Now you want to poke about in my business affairs?’

  ‘We understand that your wife has been keeping you afloat.’

  ‘I really don’t see the relevance of this line of questioning.’

  ‘Humour me. The Magnolia Quays project was behind schedule before this happened. Your backers are presumably not happy about this property being the scene of a murder. It’s not exactly going to help sales. What happens if they decide to pull the plug?’

  ‘The investment so far would be lost. That would be disastrous for the company, and for me personally.’

  ‘That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t do it.’

  ‘They would never do that.’ Thwaite’s fingers drummed impatiently on the table. ‘I think I’ve proved that I am competent and as interested in success as they are.’

  ‘Presumably you stand to inherit a fair amount from your wife,’ said Drake.

  ‘Okay, that’s quite enough,’ Thwaite struggled to get the words out.

  The assistant stepped in.

  ‘As Mr Thwaite’s lawyer I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.’

  ‘Well, I hadn’t actually finished,’ said Drake.

  ‘If you want more from my client you’re going to have to request a formal interview.’ Behind the spectacles her eyes were trained sharply on Drake. ‘Or charge him.’

  Outside, they stood around the car. The sun was shining for a change. The pleasure boats in the harbour rocked gently at anchor.

  ‘Didn’t see that coming,’ said Kelly. ‘I didn’t realize she was his lawyer.’

  ‘Me neither,’ said Drake. ‘He was expecting trouble, even before we told him what it was about.’

  ‘You think that means he is worried this is connected to his finances?’ Ray asked.

  ‘I think that’s a reasonable assumption. Thwaite’s backers add up to a stack of oddballs.’ Drake listed a couple of the bigger names. A Kuwaiti holding company, offshore firms, Russians registered in Belarus. ‘Then there are the Apostolis brothers, and the Ziyade family.’

  ‘Dirty money?’ asked Ray.

  ‘As dirty as it comes.’

  ‘So what’s your hypothesis?’

  ‘There’s two ways this could go.’ Drake folded his arms and leaned back against the side of the car. ‘There’s the link to Iraq. Someone connected to the kidnapping is the obvious one. A relative of one of the kidnappers or the victims.’ He turned to Kelly. ‘We need to get a list of everyone involved at all levels. If there’s a connection there we need to find it.’

  ‘I’ll get on to that right away,’ said Kelly.

  ‘We also need to get in touch with these contractors, Hawkestone.’

  ‘I have a few contacts,’ said Ray.

  ‘I’ll bet you do,’ said Drake.

  ‘They’re generally cagey, but I can reach out to them.’

  ‘That would be helpful.’

  ‘What was the other line you mentioned?’ Kelly asked.

  ‘It’s always possible that at the root of it all is some kind of rivalry between backers. There’s a lot of money involved in a project like this. Someone might be getting itchy fingers.’

  ‘The thing about this is that the perpetrators were trying to make a point,’ said Ray. ‘This was meant to stir things up.’

  ‘Which would make perfect sense if someone was trying to make a big splash in the media. If the point here is to take down Thwaite, then they have done a pretty good job of undermining confidence in the whole project.’

  ‘Making it perfect for a takeover bid.’

  ‘We need to stick to the facts,’ said Drake. ‘Whoever did this had help on the inside. That’s where we need to start looking.’

  CHAPTER 30

  Back at Raven Hill, Kelly
jumped out of the car to head up to the Murder Room. Drake hung back, and Crane, sensing that he wanted to talk, let go of the door handle and sat back.

  ‘You should know that I am officially no longer in charge of this case.’

  ‘So they gave it to Pryce?’

  Cal rocked his head from side to side. ‘I had my chance. I blew it.’

  ‘Why are you telling me this?’

  He stared at her for a moment. ‘I just thought you should know.’

  ‘I can’t pick sides in this fight. Wheeler brought me in to advise on the case.’

  ‘Sure, I get that.’

  ‘If Pryce is in charge, I have to answer to him.’ Crane paused. ‘You still think you can win this, don’t you? I mean, solve the case, bring in the killer and save the day?’

  ‘You think I’m making this personal.’

  ‘Of course it’s personal. I get that. When the Malevich case went down you took the fall and Pryce came out smelling of roses.’

  Drake tapped a beat on the steering wheel but said nothing.

  ‘You don’t trust him,’ Crane went on. Drake shook his head. ‘That’s why you need to win this case.’

  ‘This is the last chance I get,’ Cal said. ‘They would have pushed me back to traffic control if Wheeler hadn’t stepped in. He got me transferred.’

  ‘You’re saying you owe it to him?’

  ‘I don’t owe anyone anything. If I can’t get back to where I was then I’m not sure I see a future for me here.’

  ‘You’re up against a system, Cal. People like Pryce know how to use it. Either you learn that, or you’re always going to wind up holding the short end of the stick.’

  ‘People like Pryce have been trying to take things from me for as long as I can remember.’

  ‘That’s good,’ she said, cracking open the door. ‘Hang on to that. You’re going to need it.’ She leaned in as she made to go. ‘If you’re asking if you can still count on me, the answer is yes. I’ve run into a few Pryces of my own.’

  He watched her walk away, climb onto the Triumph and race off. Catwoman indeed. In her dark leather jacket and helmet she looked like some demon angel escaped from the underworld.

  Drake sat there for a time, before leaning forwards to punch the ignition. He suspected that if he showed his face in the Murder Room, Pryce would assign him to some hopeless task. The best strategy right now was to stay out of his way. The only strategy.