'How about if you take the rooms on the left, and I'll do the ones on the right hand side. Okay, let's see what we've got here,' said Jack, opening the nearest door.
'This one's a cleaner's cupboard,' said Annie. 'Although when I say cupboard, it's actually nearly as big as my whole flat. What have you got?'
'Whew, this one's the sauna,' said Jack quickly closing the door as his glasses steamed up. 'And I think there might even be some kind of plunge pool in there as well. But it's far too hot to go in with clothes on.'
'Ah, now this is very cool' said Annie, as she entered her second room. 'A home cinema.'
'Really?' 'Yeah, come and see, boss. This is so great, there's six huge padded leather seats, a small bar in the corner and a projector screen with a fancy surround sound system. I bet there wouldn't be much change out of fifty grand for kitting out this room alone.'
'Very nice indeed,' said Jack. 'Remind me to have a word with my downstairs neighbours, to see if they'll move out and let me convert their flat into a home cinema. I'm sure they wouldn't object. So, that's three rooms down. Any guesses what the last two might be used for?'
'Well, I already know about one of them from my new best friend, remember her?'
'The foxy lezz at the party. How could I forget?'
'Exactly. She told me that one of the basement rooms is kitted out as a gym. And, although they might need somewhere else to keep the coal, my bet is that the last room is a wine cellar.'
Jack opened the final door on the right and whistled, 'that was very good, Annie, it is a wine cellar. You never cease to amaze me. But tell me, was that a hunch or a feeling?'
'Neither, boss. There's a sign on the door and a crate of empty wine bottles sitting outside.'
'Okay, fair enough, I've obviously trained you well.' Stepping inside the wine cellar, which had floor to ceiling bottle racks on both sides, Jack exclaimed, 'God almighty, there must be over a thousand bottles of booze in here at least. Do you think he would miss a couple?'
Entering the final room on their fascinating basement tour, Jack said, 'so this last one's obviously the gym.'
Annie followed him inside and looked around, admiring the gleaming array of high-end fitness equipment, which included a cross-trainer, an exercise bike, rowing machine, a treadmill and a weights machine, before announcing, 'she's been in here.'
'Who?'
'You know, my new best friend.'
'How on earth do you know that?'
'It's that distinctive musky perfume she wears. I've no idea what it's called, and it's certainly never been on special offer in my local Boots chemist. But she's definitely been in here recently working up a good sweat. And I don't think she was alone either, because I'm getting a faint whiff of something else, maybe another brand of deodorant or cologne.'
Jack held on to that thought for a moment then crouched over the exercise bike, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
'For heaven's sake, stop sniffing the seat on that exercise bike. That is just so gross. I can read you like a book, boss, and I've come to the conclusion that, regardless of their age, all men are complete perverts.'
'Please Annie, that's hurtful,' said Jack, standing up quickly. 'I'm just following my animal instincts and looking for clues. But this is all a bit dull, don't you think?'
'What do you mean?'
'I don't know, I'm not sure what I was expecting the gym to be like. But, in my fevered imagination, I thought it would be more exciting, more like a proper kinky dungeon. You know, with a selection of whips, chains and maybe even a rack or two. Actually having a rack would be ideal, because then we could drag Henry down here and stretch him out by a few inches, until we get some truthful answers from him.'
'That would be fun, admittedly, and he does deserve it for all of his rubbish jokes about Glasgow. But since we can now read his emails, it's probably not strictly necessary. Okay, that's all of the basement rooms done, what now?'
'I'll check the front and back doors on this level and then we can start on the ground floor and work our way up to the top.'
Jack found that both access doors to the basement were the original solid timber construction and, although their basic mortice locks were also original, with huge keys, the doors had been strengthened on the inside by the addition of thick modern steel security bars and large bolts.
'Trust me, Annie, nobody's getting in through these doors. Although it looks like somebody has tried to force the back door. See … these are fairly recent gouges on the outside paintwork, made by some kind of jemmy.’
'Okay, what about the basement windows?'
'No issues there either. They've all got the original cast iron bars on the outside, with modern steel security shutters on the inside. Technically speaking, this whole basement level is as tight as a duck's arse.'
As they climbed up the steps from the basement, Annie paused, looked back and said, 'do you want to know something, boss? I think I could actually live down here quite happily for the rest of my life.'
'I know what you mean, Annie, but there's only one problem with that.'
'What?'
'Haven't you noticed the CCTV cameras? There's been at least one discretely tucked away in each room we've been in so far and there may be others that I didn't spot.'
'God that's a bit creepy and I missed it completely, because I've been so gob smacked by all the money that's been spent down there. I've been daydreaming about what it must be like to live in this house. I wonder if there's a Mrs Guy anywhere on the scene?'
'If there is, I've never heard her mentioned.'
'Well if he is still single, I think I'll apply because I could really see myself living here.'
'If you get the job, Annie, could I be your butler and personal trainer?'
'Absolutely, boss. But only on condition that you wear gold lame hot pants at all times.'
'Ah, I get it. This is yet more revenge for me playing country music in the car, isn't it?'
'Might be,' said Annie with a smirk.
'Okay, I'll need to get back to you on that one. I'm not sure if the ones I have in the wardrobe back home still fit.'
Jack then lowered his voice and said, 'all kidding aside, Guy Brodie is obviously a man who takes his personal security very seriously. Until we know otherwise, I think we should probably assume that most of the rooms are bugged as well as having cameras. So, if we want to have a private conversation, we need to go outside while I have a fag break. Or, alternatively, we could use text messages. Although at the speed I text, we're probably quicker going outside.'
'Okay, got it. And although Henry mentioned about being able to use the house Wi-Fi, I think we should only use my encrypted dongle when we're checking our emails and his.'
Chapter 37
Guy Brodie was waiting to greet them at the door to his penthouse office.
'Come in, it's really good to see you both again. I hope Henry has got you settled in okay.'
'Yes, our rooms are very nice, thanks.' said Jack.
'Yeah, just like home, not,' added Annie with a smile. 'By the way, is it okay for me to use the gym and the other facilities down in the basement?'
'Yes, absolutely. You have the complete run of the house apart from the top floor, which is where I've been holed up for the past two weeks, working full time on this deal. You might bump into one or two of my close friends, who occasionally pop in to use the gym or the sauna. But apart from them you'll basically have it to yourself, Annie. I'm afraid I've not been down there as often as I should lately, what with one thing and another.'
'I think I'll pass on the gym,' said Jack. 'The home cinema is probably more my style.'
'Again, please feel free. There's a small cupboard on the left just as you go in, with a pretty good DVD library. But if there's nothing in there to your taste, you can stream movies and television shows directly from Netflix or Amazon on the big screen.'
'Perfect,' said Annie.
'To get back to business, I was d
eliberately vague the last time we spoke, about how long your job here will last. But the way things are shaping up at the moment, I think I'll probably need you around for around for at least two weeks, give or take a few days either way.'
'Yes, Henry gave us a heads up earlier and we're happy with that,' said Jack. 'We've completely cleared the decks in terms of taking on any new work, so we'll be here for as long as we're needed. But it would be useful if you could give me as much warning as you can, when the finishing date becomes clearer.'
'I will. So, tell me Jack, what's your professional assessment of my security arrangements?'
'Well we've been right round the place, both inside and out and, overall, I'd say your security looks very impressive, with no obvious weak spots.'
'It's reassuring to hear you say that,' said Guy.
'But it would be really useful if we could get access to your CCTV system,' added Annie. 'So we can monitor the whole property, inside and out. Is there any way I can link up my laptop to the security cameras?'
Guy began scribbling on a sheet of paper before replying. 'Yes that's an excellent idea, Annie. All the security cameras are linked to a wireless local area network, which has the very latest encryption. I'll give you a password for the house Wi-Fi and, once you're logged on, this second password, which I've written below, will allow you access to the CCTV hard drive and all the live feeds from the various security cameras throughout the house, except for the ones on this floor. My private suite is completely self-contained and secure.'
'Yes, Henry explained earlier that you even have a panic room up here,' said Jack.
'That’s right and you're probably both far too polite to say so, but I'm aware that you're thinking my apparent obsession with security is slightly over the top. But to give you a little background, my previous home was broken into and completely trashed just before I moved here. Very unpleasant and, although you may not be aware of it, there's been something of an epidemic of burglary here in Edinburgh over the past year or so. This followed the disbandment of a very effective local police team, which specialised in home burglary investigations.'
Jack snorted and said, 'obviously not one of Police Scotland's smarter decisions. Although, to be fair, the same could be said about quite a lot of other things they've done recently.'
'Quite so, but in this case it sent out the completely wrong message to the local criminal fraternity. They took it to mean, correctly, that they could go ahead and burgle houses throughout Edinburgh, including here in the New Town, with complete impunity.'
'Yes, but somehow, Guy, I'm getting the feeling that's not the whole story.'
'What do you mean?'
'We've got the impression from speaking to Henry that, leaving aside general concerns about burglary in the city, there have also been specific threats to you personally. He didn't go into any great detail, but he said that you might want to explain a bit more about it.'
Guy said nothing but got up and went over to a dormer window, where he stared out at the panoramic view over the rooftops, north across the river Forth to Fife.
'Look, I'm sorry if I've got that completely wrong, but I felt I had to ask.'
'There's no need to apologise, Jack, because your instincts are absolutely correct. It started about a month ago, just after I moved in here. It was low-level stuff at first, hardly worth mentioning really.'
'What do you mean?' said Jack.
'First there was a broken window. An unopened can of Tesco value lager, if I remember correctly, ended up in the middle of the dining room carpet. Without being snobbish, there's probably not a great deal of that particular beverage drunk here in Moray Place, so I think I can safely rule out any of my immediate neighbours as potential suspects.'
'Anyway, not a big deal I thought, probably just some passing drunken idiot and it was just bad luck that he happened to pick my house. These things can happen anywhere, so I had the window fixed and forgot about it. Then a few days later a neighbour telephoned me around eight o'clock in the morning to let me know that graffiti had been sprayed over my front door.'
'What kind of graffiti?' said Annie.
Guy picked up his phone, quickly found a saved picture of the vandalism and showed it to Jack and Annie.
'It was puzzling, because it wasn't the usual type of mindless graffiti that you occasionally see around the city centre. You know, gang tags or something to do with football. It was just one word, CHEAT, that had been written in big block capitals, using an aerosol can of bright red paint.'
'I see, so someone was obviously sending you a specific message, or a warning. What did you take it to mean?'
'I really didn't know what to make of it at the time, because at that point I wasn't aware that I had pissed anyone off unduly, either in my business dealings or my private life. Well, no more than usual. You know what it's like, Jack, there are winners and losers in every walk of life and property development is no different. But things usually even out over the piece and, at the end of the day, we all have to co-exist with our competitors and rivals. So it was a complete mystery to me at that stage.'
'What happened next?'
'That's when things got really serious. A shot was fired at the front of the house, which broke a window on the first floor, with the bullet lodging in the ceiling plaster. It’s not been repaired yet, so you can still see the damage. The police went through footage from the security camera on the front of the house and they describe it as a so-called drive-by shooting which is, thankfully, much more common in South Central LA than here in Edinburgh.'
'Did they get manage to get a plate number, or identify the make of car?' asked Jack.
'No, unfortunately all that can be seen on the video tape is a large dark coloured car slowing down outside and then the bright muzzle flash of a handgun being fired from the front passenger window, by someone who was wearing a ski-mask. This happened around two-thirty in the morning, when there was no one still up in the house, so it clearly wasn't a serious attempt to kill or injure me.'
'But extremely unsettling nevertheless.'
'Absolutely, Jack, and at that point I started to get really worried. So, with Henry's help, I immediately beefed up my security, installing even more cameras and that’s when I had the panic room installed here on the top floor. If you'd told me six months ago I'd be doing all of these things, I'd have said you were completely mad. But it doesn't feel mad now. And then Henry suggested that we should think about hiring some extra help.'
'I've worked on a few jobs with Henry and we've always got on pretty well,' said Jack diplomatically.
'Henry and I go way back. We're good friends as well as business colleagues and I trust him with my life. In fact, I don't know what I would have done without him these last few weeks. When I saw how concerned he was for my personal safety, I decided to take his advice and that's why you are both here.'
'Have there been any more recent incidents?'
‘Yes, I’ve also received numerous silent phone calls to my private number. I’ve changed it three times in the last month alone, but somehow they still manage to get through. What else? Oh yes, my car has been vandalised twice and the last few times I’ve been out and about in Edinburgh, I’ve had the feeling that someone was following me. So I think that my current level of paranoia has some justification.’
‘And I noticed that someone tried to force the rear door down in the basement,’ added Jack.
‘Yes, I forgot about that and I’m pleased you picked it up on your survey. So, as you can appreciate, it’s quite a long list of aggravation that I could heartily do without. But just to bring you completely up to date, the very latest development is that a gang of young men have taken to regularly hanging around outside the house late at night. Sometimes they kick a ball about in the street, or they sit on the bonnets of cars laughing and drinking cans of beer. Other times they just stand outside silently staring up at the house, which is even worse. Quite intimidating in fact.'
'
Any idea who they are?'
'None. But it doesn't take a genius to work out that someone has put them up to this, Jack. There is no other explanation, because I don't know any of them and I've certainly never had any kind of interaction with a bunch of hooligans. Of course, I've spoken to the police about it and they've driven past a couple of times and had a word with the gang members.'
'So how did that go?'
'They told the police they were just waiting around for a lift. Complete rubbish, of course. But since they've not been seen committing a crime, the police say their hands are tied for the moment.'
'Yes, and I suppose if they can't be arsed to come out of the cop shop to investigate burglaries, they're not going to get too excited about some young guys playing football out in the street, even if it is in the New Town.'
'One of the older policemen who came to the house even suggested that, given the Scotland team's ropey form, we could actually do with more youngsters practicing football out in the street. You know, the way kids used to do years ago.'
Jack smiled and said, 'he does have a point there, Guy, to be fair. But just to go back to the graffiti on your front door, which implied you had cheated someone, I think it would help if you could explain a bit more about the background to this big property deal you've been working on.'
'About six months ago, at the beginning of February, I was approached directly by a property agent, acting for an unnamed family trust which owns a large vacant site just to the west of the city centre. The sellers, for undisclosed reasons, didn't want to become involved in a protracted public bidding process for the land. I'd dealt with this particular agent before and it seemed a perfectly plausible story at the time. A quick sale for cash was what was on offer and I was given a week to chew it over and come to a decision, one way or the other. A slightly unusual set of circumstances, certainly, but not unheard of. So I took a look at it and that's when I started to get excited very quickly, because opportunities like this one don't come along very often.'
Bridge of Doom Page 18