‘How did she get out? It would be useful to know that. . and the name, of course.’
The interpreter took the girl’s hand once more, and spoke to her, softly. Her replies seemed to the onlookers to be hesitant, but finally she nodded and was finished.
‘All she can remember,’ said Mrs McStay, ‘is of another man coming to the house, and looking into her bedroom. But this man didn’t “do the thing” with her. Instead there was shouting, and noise; these are very confused recollections, you understand. Then she was outside, with the man, she thinks, but isn’t sure, although she does remember that it was very cold. After that she was in another house, as she puts it, with more people, kind people and then, finally, she was here. She likes it here, she says.’ There was another pause, during which the woman’s eyes seemed to mist over. ‘She wants to know, though, when is she going to work in the big house, like Uncle V promised.’
‘Uncle V?’ said Montell.
‘That was what the man in Tallin told them to call him. But one of the other girls, one of the older ones, had another name for him. That was why Anna giggled earlier. She called him the Snowman, because his shoulders were covered in white flecks from his hair, covered in dandruff.’
Twenty-nine
‘Let me get this straight, kid,’ said Bob Skinner slowly, into his mobile. ‘You are now running Lietuvos Leisure and Lietuvos Developments. Is that what you’ve just told me?’
‘That’s how it is. Regine Zaliukas and her children own both companies now, or will when probate’s completed on the will. She’s executor of the estate, and as such she has the power to appoint an administrator to run them on its behalf. And she’s appointed me. I thought she was kidding at first, but she wasn’t.’
‘Have you told your boss?’
‘Mitchell Laidlaw? Of course I’ve told him, and I’ve checked with Ronnie Drake.’
‘How did they react?’
Alex laughed. ‘Mitch’s first reaction was to rub his hands at the thought of all that fee income; then he told me to get on with it, for a couple of weeks, until Regine’s had time to come to terms with her husband’s death, and consider the future more calmly. Ronnie’s seriously pissed off that Regine didn’t ask her to take it on. Well, screw her. If she’d shown more enthusiasm about contacting Regine in the first place, she probably would have wound up in the frame. I told her as much too.’
‘Christ, Alex, listen to you. A partner for a day and you’re making waves.’
‘Like hell I am. I’m making a point. Ronnie Drake’s a spare wheel in this firm; it’s just as well she’s not long for it.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The private client department’s being hived off; in other words, we’re getting rid of it. Don’t worry,’ she added, ‘I’m not giving away any secrets. Our press people announced it this morning. The management board has been wanting to do it for a while. Willie Conn was the last of the opponents, and now he’s gone. .’
‘Mitch hasn’t said a word to me,’ Bob grumbled, ‘and I’m a private client.’
‘He will, though; meantime he asked me to tell you. You’ll be getting a letter as well.’
‘So I’ve got to look for a new lawyer?’
‘No. A very few key clients are being invited to stay on, and you’re one of them. This is office politics, Pops, part of my new world. But enough of it: I’m still waiting for you to tell me that you’re pleased for me.’
‘About what?’
‘About this new appointment,’ Alex exclaimed, exasperated.
‘I’m not sure that I am. The late owner was a known, if unconvicted, hoodlum. I thought he’d left that behind him, but now I’m not so sure. He died a sudden and violent death, which is under police investigation as we speak, for all that I told you yesterday it was a suicide. Now you want me to be pleased because my daughter’s taking control of his businesses?’
‘Pops, these companies are absolutely kosher.’
‘I don’t doubt it. But what about the people who work for them? You know nothing about them at all. This sidekick of his, Gerulaitis. How’s he going to take it when you swan in there and tell him that he answers to you from now on?’
‘He’s going to take it like a gentleman; in about half an hour, give or take a few minutes. I’ve fixed a meeting with him in his office.’
‘And if he doesn’t?’
‘Then he’d better be checking his contract of employment, for if he refuses to accept me, or to cooperate with me, I’ll have no choice but to fire him.’
Bob frowned. ‘Listen, love,’ he said, quietly, ‘I know you’ve never traded on my name, and that you can get quite spiky when it’s brought up, but just this once. . Since Gerulaitis is Tomas Zaliukas’s cousin, you can be sure he’ll know all about me. I want you to promise me that you will make certain that this bloke knows exactly who you are, and that he knows your name’s no coincidence.’
‘Father,’ she replied, severely, ‘you are being melodramatic. But, since I was put on earth to fill your life with light and joy, I’ll do what you ask; just this once.’
‘Good. You’ve made an ageing man happy.’ He sighed. ‘Now, Regine. She says she’s staying in France?’
‘Yes, for the moment. There’s nothing she can add to your investigation, other than to confirm that her husband seemed perfectly normal last time they spoke. But she also told me that the idea she’d left her husband is all balls. She was taking a short break in France with her kids, that’s all. I’ve left a message to that effect with Sauce Haddock’s DI, though she didn’t seem overjoyed to get it.’
‘Hers not to reason why,’ the chief constable murmured. ‘There’s the small matter of a funeral,’ he continued.
‘Which can’t happen until you lot release the body,’ his daughter pointed out.
‘As soon as I give the nod to the report to the fiscal, he’ll be able to OK it.’
‘And when will that be?’
‘When I’m convinced there are no worms left down there. Yours enigmatically, Robert Morgan Skinner. Bye, kid.’ He snapped his mobile shut, ending the call.
Thirty
Neil McIlhenney’s eyebrows almost formed a single dark line as he looked at Ray Wilding. ‘Sunshine,’ he said, quietly, ‘you’re quite high up the list for promotion to inspector. That’s why I’ve been happy to leave you in charge here while Sammy does his stint at the police training college. But if I find you’ve left me out of the loop about anything else, I will become distinctly unhappy.’ He took an A4 sheet from his pocket and held it in the air. ‘I get a call in my office from a journo who’s got my direct number. He asks me how we’re getting on with identifying the mystery girl. “What fucking mystery girl?” I say to him, and he directs me to one of our own media releases that I’ve never fucking heard of, let alone seen. I had to stonewall him, and now I’m having to come down here to sort it out. You know the rules; anything issued by our press office that affects my patch is copied to me by the originator. Alan Royston’s already had his balls kicked, and now it’s your turn.’
The sergeant folded in the face of the detective superintendent’s rare show of anger. ‘I’m sorry, boss,’ he said. ‘There was a push to get it out last night, so I guess I forgot about that. When they issued it this morning, well. . Sorry,’ he repeated.
McIlhenney nodded. ‘OK, point made, apology accepted. I know it wasn’t your mistake, Ray, that it was one of your troops, but it’s your can, and I respect you for not trying to duck out of carrying it. I’ll leave you to kick whatever arse requires it. But,’ he continued, ‘you said you tried to have this issued last night. Why wasn’t it?’
‘Royston said there was no point, that it was too late.’
‘Too late to try to identify a girl whose parents might be sitting at home worrying themselves to death about where she is? Did he really say that?’
‘Apparently so. But from what I hear, if her parents are chewing their knuckles anywhere, it’s in Russia.’