‘I wonder where they were going.’
McGurk looked at Haddock. ‘That’s barely relevant is it, Sauce?’
‘Probably not. It’s just that he set up the offshore company around that time, and Mr Gerulaitis told us that he had nothing to do with that part of his cousin’s business. Yet Alex Skinner said that her predecessor, Conn, thought that he did.’
‘Interesting. What did Green say?’
‘He didn’t know.’
‘Still. .’
‘Let’s not over-complicate things,’ Stallings told them. ‘That’s not really relevant, is it? You two put a report together now, saying suicide, motive unknown, and I’ll email it to Mr McIlhenney.’
‘But what about the money?’
‘What effing money, Sauce?’
‘The money to pay for the massage parlours. Shouldn’t we find out where that came from?’
‘There’s no one left to tell us that,’ she countered, ‘except maybe the widow.’
‘Or maybe Gerulaitis. Or this man Plenderleith; his lawyers might still hold the detail of the transaction.’
‘DC Haddock,’ Stallings told him firmly, ‘just do that report.’
‘Boss, I’ve got a date.’
‘Then the quicker you’re done, the less late you’ll be. If she really fancies you, she’ll wait.’
The young man sighed. ‘Very good, ma’am.’ He looked across at McGurk. ‘I’ll do notes of my interviews with Alex Skinner and Mr Green, Jack, yes?’
‘You do that. I’ll write up mine and summarise everything.’ He paused. ‘By the way,’ he added, ‘it’s lucky for you that cunning Ken was cooperative, otherwise you and I would be having a discussion about an excess of initiative.’
‘I saved time, didn’t I, by going straight along there to see him? If I hadn’t taken the chance, it could have been a couple of days before we’d got to see him. Anyway, he was OK, nothing like the slippery bastard they say he is.’
The DS chuckled. ‘You wait till the first time you come up against your new best friend in the witness box. Then you’ll see what he’s really like. Go on, get on with it; you’ve got a hot blonde waiting somewhere.’
Haddock nodded and bent over his keyboard, but he had barely typed half a page before his mobile played the opening bars of Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’. ‘Bugger,’ he whispered. He picked it up; the number on the outer screen was vaguely familiar. He flipped it open. ‘Sauce,’ he said.
‘Do you always answer like that, Detective Constable?’ Alex Skinner asked.
‘Unless I know it’s the chief on the line,’ he replied.
She laughed. ‘I’ve got some information for you. I’ve spoken to my colleague in our personal client department, and I can give you the details of Mr Zaliukas’s will.’
‘Thanks.’ He grabbed his notebook and a pen. ‘Go on.’
‘It’s pretty simple in outline. His property and all its contents, investments, cash, and valuables, all pass to Mrs Regine Zaliukas. His holdings in Lietuvos Leisure Limited and Lietuvos Developments Limited are to be vested in a trust fund for the benefit of Mrs Zaliukas and their children. That’s it, almost. There’s one other item; his shares in something called Lituania SAFI, of which this firm has no knowledge, but which looks like an offshore company of some sort, is to be transferred to a Mrs Laima Gerulaitis.’
‘Her?’ Haddock exclaimed. ‘Why the hell would he do that?’
‘Who is she?’ Alex asked.
‘His cousin’s wife. According to him, she didn’t like Zaliukas.’
‘What’s this company anyway? Can you tell me? My partner’s going to need to know.’
‘It owns the massage parlours. As it was explained to me, it’s a liability shelter. The directors and shareholders are guaranteed secrecy under Uruguayan law.’
‘Jesus! That’s pure Ken Green.’
‘But legal, yes?’
‘So far. It gives you an insight to Mr Zaliukas, though, and reminds me of one of my dad’s personal aphorisms: you can take the man out of the gang, but you can’t take the gangster out of the man.’
‘Seems not. Who’s the executor?’
‘Mrs Zaliukas.’
‘That’s no surprise. Now, what about the lady. . the widow, I suppose? Can we interview her, or will you give us her statement? It’s no big deal either way, to be honest. We’re probably in the process of wrapping this thing up even without it.’
‘Just as well, for we haven’t been able to get in touch with her. We have a mobile number for her, but she’s not answering at the moment. When we raise her, I’ll let you know.’
‘We could get the French police to trace her.’
‘They wouldn’t know where to start, and anyway my partner would rather you didn’t. She knows Mrs Zaliukas and would prefer to break the news herself.’
‘Fair enough. I’m cool with that. Anything else?’
‘Just one small point. The clause in the will transferring the offshore holding to Mrs Gerulaitis. . that was inserted only yesterday afternoon. That might indicate that my late client’s suicide wasn’t a complete spur-of-the-moment thing.’
Haddock smiled. ‘Hey, Alex,’ he said, ‘I’m supposed to be the detective here.’
Fifteen
‘How are you doing?’ Bob Skinner asked his wife. ‘I’m ready to head home if you are. Gerry’s gone already.’
‘I’m almost done,’ she told him. ‘If you leave now, by the time you get here I will be.’
‘How’s your day been?’ he asked. ‘How did First Minister’s questions go?’
‘Are you telling me you didn’t even watch it on television?’
‘I couldn’t. I got tied up in a meeting, then I had to leave to meet Alex.’
‘You were better off with her. It was pretty dull today, no flashpoints. The BBC political editor’s going to say that we boxed a draw, but the truth is there wasn’t a blow struck on either side. How about you?’
‘Nice lunch. My kid’s got an extra glow about her. It’ll last for a while, and then she’ll work out what her next ambition is and set off in pursuit of that.’
‘Marriage and children, maybe.’
‘That’s well below the horizon.’
‘The right guy will turn up one day, you’ll see.’
‘As long as he’s not a cop. .’
‘Bob! That business with Andy is history; get over it.’
‘I am over it. As for forgetting it, no danger. Now go on, finish off what you’re doing and I’ll pick you up in front of the Parliament building in fifteen minutes or so. Wait inside for me, though. It looks colder than ever out there.’
He hung up, stood, and slipped on his jacket. He was almost at his door, when there was a soft knock and it opened. ‘Got a minute?’ Neil McIlhenney asked.
‘Yes, but only the one. What is it?’
‘Tomas Zaliukas. I’ve just had a report from Becky Stallings. She wants me to sign it off to be passed to the fiscal. You started this off, so I thought I’d better run it past you.’
‘What does it say?’
‘Read it for yourself.’ The superintendent handed him a printout of Stallings’ email.
Skinner glanced through it, then read it for a second time, more closely. ‘No doubt about the suicide, then.’
‘No. The note on the computer more or less caps it. Plus, when we did a full search of the house we found a floorboard in Zaliukas’s study that had been taken up. There was a box of shotgun ammo hidden between the joists, and it wasn’t full.’
‘And the note points to the motive.’
‘That’s right; depression, over Regine leaving him.’
‘You know me and guesses, my friend. I’ve never minded following them up, but I bloody hate including them in submissions to the Crown Office. Young Haddock’s note says Alex told him that he made a material change to his will yesterday, Tuesday. One day later, that will’s in effect. In it, he left everything else to the wife and kids, except those massage parlour properties. Why not?’