by Joe McNally
Ben said, ‘Can’t say I don’t feel guilty leaving you with all this.’
I put a hand on his shoulder as I sat beside him, ‘It’s all figured out, Ben. All slotting nicely into place. I’ve just come back from Dil’s place. He’s setting things up his end. Mac will be here in an hour or two and we’ll get the formal stuff organized.’
He said, ‘How was Monty?’
‘Pessimistic. Better that way. He can celebrate all the more when this is done.’
‘Want to tell me what it is you’ve got planned?’
‘Not yet. Once you’re safely hidden among ten thousand sheep in the outback, I’ll let you know. Is Alice looking forward to it?’
‘That’s a change of subject, Eddie, and a very clunky one,’ Ben said.
Mave said, ‘He’s crap at it, isn’t he? In his mind he segues smoothly toward cunning distraction. In the minds of the would-be distracted, he crashes through gates and hedges and lands on his arse in the great wide open.’
I laughed, ‘But the judges always give me a ten for effort.’
Ben said, ‘Well, to answer your question, Alice is excited about her first trip abroad, and even more excited about coming back to stand in the dock and nail these bastards.’ Ben flashed his eyes at me in warning, and I guessed that he feared Alice was listening.
I said, ‘She’s not the only one. From DJ upward, we should get the whole gang.’
Mave’s glance moved between me and Ben, but she didn’t turn around to see if Alice was in the doorway. I said, ‘Just need to go to the loo. Been a long drive.’
I went past the foot of the stairs. No Alice. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t up there with her ear to a glass and the glass to the floor. My phone bleeped. I looked at the message from Dil: “Vita’s not coming.” At least he’d remembered to use the throwaway phone.
I pulled up her number and went outside. She answered at the second ring, ‘My, oh my, everybody in England suddenly wants to talk to me. That cable on the floor of the Atlantic must be buzzing.’
‘Vita, hang up and I’ll ring you right back. You won’t recognize the number, but answer it.’
‘Okay.’
I got her back, ‘How are you, Vita?’
‘Intrigued is how I am. You are all using anonymous phones. Dil tells me you’ve caught the bad guys. Trouble is he couldn’t tell me who they are.’
‘I can.’
‘Go on.’
‘Not on the phone.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because Dil was wrong. We haven’t caught them. We know who they are, but catching them is going to be very dangerous.’
‘Call the cops.’
‘We don’t have the evidence. Yet.’
‘How are you going to get it?’
‘You’re going to fly back here tomorrow and help us.’
‘Is that right, now?’ she laughed.
‘Yes. It is.’
‘You seem awful sure about that.’
‘Because nobody but you can pull it off, Vita. You and Prim.’
‘What, like some kind of Cagney and Lacey who can’t stand each other?’
‘You’re only playing with her, anyway, as she is with you.’
She paused. I think she was holding her breath. She said, ‘Nobody’s playing with me, Eddie.’
‘You believe that?’
‘I think she’d want to, but she’s not smart enough. Never will be.’
‘Vita, she’s a hell of a lot smarter than you think. Maybe even as smart as you.’
‘Your compliments are cack-handed. Say what you’ve got to say, will you?’
‘In an hour, I’ve got a meeting with Peter McCarthy. In the-‘
‘It’s almost one in the morning over there!’
‘That’s right, which shows you how important this is and how quickly we’re moving on it. In the morning we’ll see Chief Constable Bradley of Merseyside police. Later tomorrow, Nigel Steel the CEO of the BHA will fly up to sit down with us.’
‘All for somebody nobbling a few horses?’
‘It’s more than that, Vita, much more. At the very top is a man the police have been trying to nail for thirty years. He traffics young girls for prostitution and runs huge drugs rings along with a dozen other crimes. His solution to problems is killing and maiming. And we can’t catch this guy without you. And that’s not bullshit. Get a flight tomorrow. I’ll meet you at Dil’s place. If you think I’ve brought you here under false pretenses, I’ll pay your return flight.’
‘First class?’
‘First class.’
‘It’s a deal.’
‘Good. See you tomorrow.’
‘You will…You will.’
That excitement was back in her voice, the tone I remembered from the day at Dil’s when we were running through the Vogel tapes and Vita was buzzing. The buzz was back.
I tapped my phone to open Dil’s’ message and replied: “Yes she is”
Out of courtesy, Ben and Mave waited up to greet Mac before going to bed. He seemed touched by this as he settled across from me in the Snug with a glass of cognac. He said, ‘How odd it seems to be in a house with other people…especially such warm-hearted people.’
‘That offer to join our little commune is always open, Mac. You can get too used to living on your own down there in the Lambourn Valley. I speak from experience, as the saying goes.’
He smiled, ‘Maybe once I’ve retired, Eddie. I can think of worse things. I like it here, oddly.’
‘Oop north, you mean? It’s not just flat caps and whippets after all, eh?’
‘Surprisingly, no.’ He raised his glass. I laughed.
He said, ‘Tell me your plans.’
‘You need to know first that the guy we’re dealing with here, is a dangerous man. Once I tell you who he is, you need to accept that he might find out that you know his name.’
‘Kelman Hines?’
‘It’s not Hines. This fella makes Hines look like a saint.’
‘Who is he?’
‘Sydney Ember.’
Mac frowned and I watched as his brain pushed his features around, working on the name. He said, ‘Why does that ring a bell with me?’
‘Remember when Bradley wanted to bug my phone? It’s the fella your man Bradley thought I might be in with.’
‘Ahh, indeed it was! Bradley was right, then?’
‘Well, he was right about Ember!’
Mac laughed, then sipped his cognac and rolled it around in his mouth and swallowed it and smacked his lips and said, ‘Tell me the plan.’
Mave was still awake when I slipped in beside her. She reached for my hand. I said, ‘You know the cunning plan we came up with?’
‘Uhuh?’
‘It ain’t going to work. Well, half of it might work.’
‘Which half?’
‘First half,’ I told her everything about Ember’s security system.
She said, ‘Maybe we can work it so he’ll let Bruno in with a laptop.’
‘Ah, but he only trusts him ninety percent, which, by my reckoning, will leave us about ten percent short.’
Mave raised herself to lean on her elbow and look down at me, ‘We’ll just have to find another way.’
‘We will. You’re a genius, remember?’
‘What doth it profit a man to possess a genius when the baddie has no PC?’
‘And no trust.’
‘And a penchant for surveillance even of the anus.’
I looked up at her, ‘I think we need an anus mirabilis’
She smiled, ‘I believe you’re right.’
‘Should we sleep on it?’
‘I’ll sleep on my front if you don’t mind,’ she lay down again.
‘You do that. I’ll lie awake and think.’
’Don’t, the grinding of the gears will disturb me. Is Mac staying for the duration?’
‘I think so.’
‘And you reckon Bradley will provide protection?’
&n
bsp; ‘Yep. After our meeting we become assets. It’s often much better to be an asset than a person where the police are concerned.’
‘Bradley’s going to have to do some Herculean rule-bending here, isn’t he?’
‘He’ll do it.’
‘You’re sure, aren’t you?’
‘Ember’s his Ronnie Biggs. His lifetime project. He’ll do whatever he needs to.’
‘You’ve only met the man once.’
‘That was all I needed. It took him less than a minute to get onto Ember once he started talking. He’s obsessed, believe me.’
‘But the plan you thought you’d be selling him is now just half a plan. Will he buy half a plan?’
‘Probably not. I won’t tell him about Ember’s security arrangements.’
‘I’d have thought he’ll know them by heart.’
‘Monty told me it’s been a long time since the cops have visited him at home.’
She turned her head, ‘Who are you trying to convince here, me or yourself?’
‘Me.’
She squeezed my hand.
74
The sun was up as we waved Ben and Alice off in the taxi, its suspension bouncing on the pot-holed road. I watched until it turned left at the old beech tree, though I could still hear the engine. As the sound faded, I heard Mac say, ‘And then there were three.’
Mave and I turned. He was standing halfway along the drive. I said, ‘You must have fallen out of bed. It’s only just gone six.’
‘I rarely sleep past dawn these days, regrettably,’ he said. He looked around, and up at the cloudless sky. He said, ‘No flat caps, no whippets, no rain. I could get to like it here.’
We walked toward him, ‘You’d miss the smell of horseshit coming up the Lambourn valley.’
‘Not to mention the smell of bullshit from High Holborn.’
I laughed. High Holborn, in London, was where Mac’s office was. ‘Hungry?’ I said.
Mac shrugged, ‘You know better than to ask that, Eddie.’
I put one arm across his shoulder, and the other across Mave’s, ‘Let’s go fry some eggs.’
After breakfast, I watched and listened as Mac tried to get in touch with Chief Constable Bradley using the cheap phone I’d given him.
‘When do you expect him?...Can’t you call him?...I know it isn’t, but tell him it’s about Sydney Ember. I’ll give you my number.’
We counted it down on the big kitchen clock. Bradley called back in six minutes and agreed to change his schedule and meet us in Liverpool at ten. Mac said, ‘We need ID.’
‘Why?’ I asked, ‘Can’t he meet us?’
‘All formal meetings need to have attendees signed in. Just bring your driving license, passport.’
Mave said, ‘I’d better get digging.’
Mave and I waited by the window in the reception area of Merseyside police HQ, while Mac went to the desk. Ten seconds later, Mac waved us toward him. ‘ID time. Chief Constable Bradley’s on the top floor. Access needs iris recognition.’
‘Seriously?’ I said.
‘Seriously.’
I looked at him, ‘This place is worse than Ember’s house.’
‘Very funny,’ Mac said.
The young officer behind the desk said, ‘If you’d just step up here and show me your ID, we log it to the iris image…just put your chin on that small ledge, please.’
We went in the lift unaccompanied. On the top floor, we had to go through the access door one at a time, after an iris scan. As we walked along the corridor I said to Mac, ‘Seriously, how much does all this cost?’
Before he could respond, we saw Bradley in full uniform coming toward us, a sandy-haired man who was half a head taller than Bradley walked beside him. They stopped at a door and as we reached them, Bradley opened it and ushered us in, closing it behind him. ‘This is Superintendent McConnachie,’ he said. We introduced ourselves and shook hands. I said to Bradley, ‘Before we start the meeting, can I have a quick word?’
Bradley looked at me for a few moments. I expected him to ask McConnachie to leave. Instead, he opened the door and motioned me out into the corridor, then closed the door behind him. ‘What is it?’ he said.
I walked five paces along the corridor and turned. He hesitated then came toward me, his hard heels clicking on the shiny tiles. I said, ‘I think you might find this easier hearing the proposal on your own.’
‘Easier?’
‘Quicker. You’ll get to Ember without having to jump through hoops.’
‘I normally leave the hoop-jumping to others, Mister Malloy.’
‘Call me Eddie. That’ll be quicker, too.’
He shifted his weight and clasped his hands at his waist. I said, ‘I can get you Ember, but I know how best to do it. And I need a deal for the people who’ll be setting Ember up. You might want to hear everything on an informal basis first, that’s all I’m saying. Once you know what’s happening, if you want to bring the Superintendent in, I’ve got no problem with that.’
He said nothing, just turned and went back to the room. Within seconds, McConnachie came out and walked down the corridor without turning. Mac stepped halfway out of the doorway. I could see one, eye, one arm, and one leg and the finger he used to beckon me back in. Bradley was seated at a long, highly polished table. I said, ‘Please forgive me, I need just two minutes outside with Mave. Just to reassure myself we can deliver every single part of this.’
Bradley said nothing, he just clenched his jaw and opened a notebook. I nodded to Mave. She followed me out and five paces down the corridor and she said, ‘Why don’t we just have the meeting here?’
I smiled, ‘Listen, you know you said that the first plan was a doddle for you?’
‘It was a doddle for anyone with coding experience. It wasn’t false modesty.’
‘I’ve got something a bit more challenging. I doubt it will be a doddle. I believe it will be a thing of beauty, if you can deliver, a thing of beauty.’
‘You’re talking art, here?’
‘Art…and craft.’
‘Shoot.’
Half an hour later, Bradley sat watching me, his fingers steepled below his chin. He said, ‘You’re going to need luck.’
‘Just an absence of bad luck,’ I said, ‘there isn’t a single reason this shouldn’t work out.’
‘Shouldn’t and doesn’t are two different things, Mister Malloy.’
‘But you can’t see any obvious holes in it?’ Mac asked.
‘Other than the rather large hole waiting to swallow me up if it goes wrong, no I can’t.’
I tried not to smile as I watched him. I said, ‘You’ll do it?’
He looked at me for a few moments, then said, ‘Yes. Assuming Miss Judge’s tech work is approved by my team,’ he turned to Mave, ‘purely procedural. No offence.’
‘None taken.’
Bradley said, ‘And you’re confident that Miss Romanic and Miss Brodie will sign the appropriate disclaimers, not to mention Mister Bearak?’
‘We’re meeting Prim and Vita next, but I’m confident.’
‘Then all I should need is a day to pull together all the resources and agree coordination.’
I smiled, ‘Good. That’s good news.’
He lowered his hands and nodded. I said, ‘Can I ask one final thing? Can we be there for the interview after the arrest? I want to see his face. We’ll all want to see his face.’
‘Well, since the protocol will be shredded by then anyway, I don’t see why not. We have an observation room.’
‘How many does it hold?’
Bradley smiled, ‘Eddie, if you pull this off, we’ll build an extension if we need to.’
75
From Liverpool, we drove straight to Dil’s’ place. On the final half mile, rounding a bend approaching the yard, I slowed as I saw two riders on Dil’s horses. We passed them at walking pace and exchanged greetings. As the car window rolled back up I said to Mac and Mave, ‘This is the first time t
oday I’ve thought about racing.’
‘As in?’ Mac said.
‘As in I’m a jockey and I should be driving to a racecourse somewhere to do my job.’
‘A day off won’t kill you.’
‘That’s not the point, Mac. This is the first day in my adult living memory that I haven’t woken up frustrated because I have no rides booked.’
‘Well, a change is as good as a rest, Eddie. And you can hardly fault yourself for being waylaid by something a tad more pressing than riding a novice hurdler at Sedgefield.’
‘True…I suppose. But worrying.’
I glanced at Mac as we turned into the drive. He was smiling and nodding like a wise old man.
As we passed Arnie’s cottage, I said, ‘They might want to hold this meeting in the haybarn.’
‘Why?’ Mac asked.
‘Prim got it into her head that the house might be bugged.’
‘By whom?’
‘She doesn’t know. Just humour her, for now, will you?’ I rang Dil’s doorbell.
Fifteen minutes later, we were in the haybarn, on rearranged benches of bales. Their disturbance threw up a fine dust that floated in the sunlight coming through the big sliding doors. Mac had a sneezing fit that brought on a nosebleed and Dil returned to the house and came back with a roll of tissue.
Mac’s blood stained the front of the haybale he sat on. Prim looked embarrassed, her blushing face still many shades paler than the scarlet two piece suit she wore. She said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m up to high doh over all this.’
Mac raised a conciliatory hand and nodded as he held the reddening tissue to his nose. I said, ‘Why don’t we walk and talk? We could walk up the gallop.’
Mac waved and shook his head and said, ‘I’ll be fine. It’ll stop in a minute.’
I said, ‘You’d rather bleed to death than haul yourself a mile uphill.’
He smiled and raised a thumb and that seemed to break the tension as Prim smiled too. I said, ‘That’s the first in a long time I’ve seen you smiling, Prim.’
‘Feels like years to me, Eddie. I just want this to be over now.’
‘It will be. Soon. And I can arrange to have the house swept for bugs.’