197last week. I want to be with her when she sees her doctor. If it's malignant, she'll have to go in straightaway for treatment." "I'm sorry.""I would appreciate it if you kept this to yourself, which is the reason I've asked for you to stand in for me and not Phil. But keep me informed. As I said, I'll have my mobile turned on." Anna stood up."You have a good weekend?" Cunningham said as she picked up her briefcase."Yes, thank you." This was not the time to bring up the developments."Well. I'm glad you had a restful time; it's been hideous for me. I had bloody Langton giving me a grilling all of Saturday and then, when I got back, Sheila had the news about the tests. Still, the good thing is she has medical insurance ..."It was the first time Anna's heart hadn't jumped at hearing his name mentioned."Still, I think we are making progress, albeit at a snail's pace. I'll keep in touch." She passed Anna a file as she headed for the door.As Anna followed Cunningham out of her office, she couldn't help wondering just how much of a grilling Langton had given her. She also wondered if her name had cropped up, but she didn't ask. "I'll just look over your notes, then crack on." "Good."She watched Cunningham walk down the corridor and out of the building, before branching off to enter her own office. She remembered how she had felt when her father had been diagnosed with lung cancer. It had been a terrible moment. He had joked, warning her never to start smoking as he lit up one of his ever-present Silk Cut cigarettes. She couldn't reprimand him. It was a sad show of defiance and all she could do was wrap her arms around him and tell him that she would be there for him. The disease had taken its toll fast, and watching him waste away in hospital had broken her heart. As much as she didn't really like Cunningham, she hoped that she would not have to go through such an ordeal with her partner. Anna forced herself to get back to her work.The typed notes were a run-through of the case to date, nothing new. Anna had time to find herself a coffee before she stood by the board and began to write up her notes from the weekends trip to Oxford. The discovery of D'Anton s van was a plus; it had by now been towed to the forensic yard. She arrowed the connections to the antiques shop, then to Honour Nolan's farmhouse. She also arrowed the connection of the Mitsubishi with D'Anton, that he might have returned home while his wife was away. She then underlined the possibility that D'Anton could have been at the farm, and that tests would be made on the mud from his post office van and the Mitsubishi.Phil joined her. "Somebody didn't have time out this weekend!"Anna smiled, and finished writing on the board. By this time, the team had gathered and were talking quietly to one another; only Phil was paying close attention to the added details. Anna then asked for everyone's attention. As Cunningham was not available, she said, she was giving the briefing to update them all on the weekend. They listened attentively as she outlined the links, then opened the floor for a discussion. She did not refer to Cunningham's notes, as they related the possibility that D'Anton had been killed because of who, or what, he might have seen at the farmhouse."I think we need more pressure on Frank Brandon's widow. I also think we need to find out more about her finances. If, as we know, she does have ten million or more, then this must be checked out. If it was drug money paid into her various accounts over the years, we need the accountant to be requestioned. The fact that she has admitted that her ex-partner was Anthony Collingwood, one of the names used by Alexander Fitzpatrick, makes it possible that he is in the UK."Phil gestured that he wanted to say something. "But if, as we are led to believe, Fitzpatrick has megamillions stashed in the USA, why is he back here? Also, what is the connection to the drug squat in Chalk Farm?"Anna looked at the board. "I keep on coming back to the possibility that it was something or someone inside the squat he was after—that is, if we can prove that the man who accompanied Frank Brandon was Fitzpatrick." To date, Phil interjected, the people identified and murdered were all lowlifes. Why would a man like Fitzpatrick want to be involved with the likes of Donny Petrozzo, let alone Stanley Leymore, and even Julius D'Anton? D'Anton may have been a cut above the others, but not much: he was a junkie, living hand to mouth, buying and selling antiques.Anna turned back to the board. "Okay, I hear what you are saying, Phil, but D'Anton was at Balliol at the same time as Alexander Fitzpatrick; he dined out on the fact that he used to know him. By coincidence, he went after an antique table at a local fair in Shipston on Stour, then tried to find out where the table came from—a cottage not far from the farm where Honour Nolan lives. D'Anton s van breaks down; it's a really narrow lane with ditches either side, maybe he walks to the farm ...""And maybe sees Fitzpatrick?""Yes.""That is, if he is there, or even in the country.""Let's say that he is," Anna said tetchily.Phil continued. "D'Anton next gets to borrow a Mitsubishi—from the farm?""We don't know, but he is seen driving it.The table wouldn't fit into the back, remember.""So D'Anton, without his table, returns to London; his wife is off with her builder; he gets dumped in the Thames; then we find Petrozzo's body inside the Mitsubishi!"Anna chewed her lips. "We'll have more details as soon as the tests have been done on the samples of soil taken at the farm.""Yeah, but in the meantime, we're still waiting on toxicology reports—how long is that all going to take? Right now we have no confirmation on what killed Donny Petrozzo or our junkie friend from the Thames.""What about the boat. Dare Devil, seen at the Nolans' farmhouse?" This was Gordon asking.Anna said they would need verification of ownership, as it did not have the same name as the boat they knew to have been previously owned by Fitzpatrick. She again brought up the fact that the painting of the boat had been taken down from the study in the farmhouse."So what is that going to give us?" Phil again."That both Honour and Damien lied about how well they knew Fitzpatrick.""Even so, what does that give us? I mean, maybe they knew him a long time ago; he was with Honour's sister for years—if he is the man she calls Anthony Collingwood." Phil was getting rattled."How many Anthony Collingwoods are in the phone book?" Anna was starting to get angry herself. "Has anyone tried to trace him?"Pamela Meadows said that she had been running through the Anthony Collingwoods listed in the telephone directory, but to date they had all checked out as legitimate."Keep going. If Julia Brandon admits to living with him or someone using that name, there has to be some kind of record that he existed," Anna said briskly.Phil gave an open-armed gesture. "Why? Right now Julia Brandon is not a suspect for the murder of her husband. The fact she lived with someone doesn't give us anything, even though you believe that man could possibly be Alexander Fitzpatrick. Let's say he was: we have not a shred of evidence in our case that involves him. What we do have are three dead men.""And we've made a connection between all of them," Anna snapped, her patience at breaking point. "What we do not have is the identity of the man we know entered that drug squat with Frank Brandon, and the reason I am constantly bringing up Alexander Fitzpatrick is because there is a strong possibility it was him.""In your opinion.""Yes, in my opinion!""Why? Why does an international drug dealer, a man wanted around the world, a man known to have stashed away millions from his drug trafficking, want to be back in the UK? In addition, for me, the big question is still what the fuck is he doing with Frank Brandon in that shithole in Chalk Farm? All we've got are smalltime drug dealers. Yes, they do all link together, but none link back to your kingpin.You think he'd bother with this lowlife? That is, if he is even in the country? Far be it from me, but all you are bringing up is supposition without any firm evidence. I mean, I may eat my words when we eventually get the bloody forensic reports in, but I can't jump the hoop of coincidences with you."Anna took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay, if that is the consensus, let's concentrate on how we proceed until we do have the toxicology reports and the geographic tests. We are still hanging loose with a number of registration numbers of cars known to have been parked around the drug squat, so push for tracing those outstanding."Anna continued to outline the work for the team, tight-lipped. In the meantime, she would attempt to firm up her suppositions, and would start by requestioning Julia Brandon and her accountant. She caught the look Phil gave to two members of the team and her irritation boiled over: she said crossly that, to date, they should all pay notice to exactly what she had personally produced for the case. They broke up and a trolley of coffee was wheeled in. Phil kept well away from her.Anna returned to her office, furious. She sensed that part of the reason Phil had been deriding virtually everything she said was that he felt that he should have been handling the case in Cunningham's absence.Her office door opened and the man himself put his head around the door frame. "I'm having meetings with the Drug Squad—checking out what they can give us on the occupants of the squat, see if they have any leads for us. You want to come along?""No, I'm going into the West End to meet with Mr. Rushton, Julia Brandon's financial adviser."Phil gave a noncommittal shrug and walked out, as Gordon entered."I should have brought this up at the briefing; you're taking your time checking out that boat from the painting, Gordon.""I'm sorry. I've already done some digging. I've got a call into the Registry of Shipping and Seamen, they're in Cardiff. Apparently, all ships are registered and given a number which never changes. A registered ship must also have a name different from any other ship and these numbers are carved into the main beam of the ship.""For Christ's sake, Gordon, get on with it—see if you can trace