Sixty-eight
‘This is all a bit sudden, sir, isn’t it?’ DI Becky Stallings ventured, looking at Mario McGuire across the low table in Edinburgh Airport’s executive lounge.
‘Welcome to Bob Skinner’s world, Inspector. . and don’t call me “sir” when there’s just the two of us about. I’ve been answering to Mario all my life and I can’t break the habit. When the big man does decisive, nothing gets in the way. Still, this sets some sort of record, even for him; less than two hours after he gave the word, here we are waiting for our flight to be called.’
‘I don’t even know where we’re going,’ Stallings pointed out. ‘I know who we’re going to see, but when Ray asked me where, I couldn’t tell him. And I still couldn’t: you’ve got the boarding cards, remember.’
‘So I have, sorry.’ He took four slips from an inside pocket, and handed two over. ‘You’ll see that we fly to Charles de Gaulle and from there to Bordeaux.’
She glanced at the cards. ‘Business class?’
‘David Mackenzie does all the chief officers’ bookings through a travel agency. They get us a good rate, plus an upgrade, ’cos we’re polis. It doesn’t cost the taxpayer any extra, if that bothers you.’
‘I’ll take it if it’s going,’ she said cheerfully. ‘I’ve never flown in the posh end of the plane before.’
‘It won’t be that posh. A few extra chips with the meal and better wine. . for you at any rate.’
‘Don’t you drink?’
‘McIlhenney would fall over laughing if he heard you ask that. It’s not that. When we get to Bordeaux, about five thirty if we’re on time, we pick up a hire car and drive down the autoroute as far as Agen, about an hour, hour and a half, then across country to the place we’re going. It’s called Mezin.’
‘Won’t it be dark by then? French time’s an hour on from ours.’
‘No problem. The car will have satnav.’
‘How’s your French? Mine couldn’t order me a sandwich.’
‘Not as good as my Italian, but it’ll be OK for our needs.’
The DI sipped her coffee. ‘This might be an obvious question, but does this woman know we’re coming?’
‘Obvious but fair. The answer’s no, she doesn’t.’
‘Then how do we know she’s going to be there?’
‘The chief has checked that out, indirectly. He asked Mitchell Laidlaw, Alex’s boss, to call her and ask whether she’d be available tomorrow morning to receive some papers he has to send out to her. She said she would. It wasn’t a lie,’ he added. ‘He genuinely does need to send her some documents.’
‘I see. She’s there, but she’s not expecting us. I wonder how she’s going to react when we ring her doorbell, and flash our warrant cards.’
‘We can’t be flashing anything in France, officially. We should be checking in at the local gendarmerie, but until it has to be official, and let’s hope it doesn’t, we’re not going to do that. We’re just going to pay a private visit to the woman, that’s all; to check that she’s all right. How’ll she react? Regine’s a cool lady. She’ll handle it.’
‘You know her?’
‘I know her from seeing her around at Indigo; we’ve spoken a few times. There’s no reason why she should remember me though; that place is always packed.’ He glanced up at the information board. Their flight still showed ‘Wait in lounge’. ‘But what do you reckon, Becky? You’re a woman, what’s your take on her state of mind?’
Stallings frowned. ‘Never having met her, or even heard of her until all this lot started, I’m not sure I’m the person to ask. We’re not like bees, us gals, we don’t have a swarm mentality. But based on what I’ve read up about her. . She and Zaliukas were more than husband and wife, she was an important part of the entertainment side of his business. There doesn’t seem to have been any hint of marital problems. . Jack and Sauce haven’t come across as much as the whiff of a scent of a bit on the side. Yet the week before last, she took herself off to France, back to her old home village with their kids. She flatly denied Gerulaitis’s story that there was a break-up, but a few days later Tomas shot himself, leaving a note on his computer, saying, “I couldn’t live without Regine and my kids.” Sounds like they had indeed fallen out. Then, when she was contacted and told that he was dead, she didn’t quite say, “So what?” but she didn’t do what you’d have expected either, that is, jump on the first available plane and go home. It’s a reasonable assumption that whatever had happened between them, she was pissed off with him big time, to let it carry on beyond the grave.’ As she spoke, the information screen changed, telling them that their flight to Paris was ready for boarding.
‘But could she really have been that mad at him?’ she continued. ‘Apart from the suicide note, all we know about the separation came from Valdas Gerulaitis, not the most trustworthy witness. But what if that was all a smokescreen? We know that there was trouble in the massage parlour business. What if that got so big it made Tomas get her and the kids out of the way, before it all blew up. If that was the case,’ she said, as she finished her coffee and rose to her feet, to follow McGuire out of the lounge, ‘did the danger end with his death? That’s the question that’s sending us over there, isn’t it? It could be that when she opens that door and we’re there, she’s going to be very pleased to see us.’
Sixty-nine
‘I’m surprised we can get a mobile signal out of here,’ said Jack McGurk. ‘Alex Skinner wasn’t kidding when she told us this place was in the back of beyond.’
‘You’re in, though?’ Neil McIlhenney asked.
‘Oh yes, no problem about that. There’s just the one key, for a Chubb five-lever lock; not hard to match from the lot we took from Green’s office.’
‘What’s the place like?’
‘It’s quite a nice wee place. It’s called Moor Cottage. There’s a letter box on the road at the start of the drive that leads up to it, otherwise you’d never know it was here. The original building has two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and a living area, with a conservatory on the back, but he’s built it out at the back, with another bedroom, en suite. . complete with mirrored wardrobes, and a steam room, would you believe. . and an office. That’s where we are just now.’
‘Have you found what you’re looking for?’
‘Not so far. We’ve been though his desk, but there’s nothing of interest there, apart from a photograph we found tucked away in a drawer of Green with a bird.’
‘Ex-wife?’
‘It’s not Marianne, that’s for sure. Can’t say about the second Mrs G. Sauce thinks it might be his receptionist, but it’s a pretty bad image.’
‘Bring it back with you anyway. Did he have a computer there?’
‘No, but there is a broadband connection, so maybe he had a laptop that he used when he was out here.’
‘It wasn’t in his car,’ said the superintendent. ‘I’ve seen the inventory. It could be in his Edinburgh house, I suppose.’
‘No,’ McGurk replied. ‘I spent a good chunk of my Sunday going through that. I’d have found one if it was there.’
‘Well, what else have you got?’