“What’s on your mind?” Varley said.
“A few things,” Lavine said. “Like we think he killed the other five guys, but why did he do it? We can’t put this to bed without knowing why.”
“The money,” Weston said. “Hamad worked at Tungsten. He could have had access to all kinds of records. We need a full workup on the guy. See what shape he was in, financially. Also, we need to follow up on the warrant. Find out exactly what his job gave him sight of.”
“I’m still not convinced about the money,” Tanya said.
“We can’t rule it out just yet,” Varley said. “Stay with it, Kyle. Anything else, Bartman?”
“Yes,” Lavine said. “Mansell. If he’s alive, we should find him. Something doesn’t add up. If Hamad had Mansell’s cell, I want to know how he got it. And when.”
“I see where you’re going,” Weston said. “Mansell contacted Mike. To set up the meeting. If he’d lost his cell, how did he make the call?”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” Lavine said.
“I can answer that,” Tanya said. “These other papers-they’re from Mansell’s phone?”
“They are,” Lavine said.
“OK,” Tanya said. “If we compare the two lists of calls, what do we see? Let’s start with my brother’s friend, Simon Redford, whose body you found. A call comes in to his phone from Hamad, the morning of the day he died. Four minutes later, Redford called Mansell. They talked for eight minutes. There was no further activity on either phone until later that afternoon. Then Mansell tried to call Redford ten, twelve, fourteen times. All were unsuccessful. And straight after the last try, he called this toll-free number. See that?”
“It’s the hotline number Mike set up,” Weston said.
“I guessed that,” Tanya said. “So this is what I think happened. Redford told Mansell about the call from Hamad, and how they were going to meet. Then maybe Mansell heard about another freerider being killed, or maybe he just got nervous when Redford didn’t answer his phone. Either way, he was spooked enough to call for help.”
“But why call us?” Varley said. “How would Mansell know the hotline number?”
“He got it from the flyers Agent Lavine told us about yesterday,” Tanya said. “You were away somewhere when we discussed it. Anyway, Redford was the third to be killed, remember. Then the next day, look, Mansell himself took a call from Hamad. After that there’s nothing till you guys found the number in Mike’s paperwork and started trying it yourselves.”
“So you think Mansell met with Hamad?” Varley said. “He was that stupid, after what happened to his buddy?”
“After what he thought happened,” Tanya said. “My guess is he went looking for answers. He got some, of a sort. And it only cost him his phone, not his life, unlike the others.”
“And if he didn’t have his cell, he couldn’t warn the other two,” Lavine said. “That explains how Hamad could still pick them off, one at a time.”
“Wow, back up,” Varley said. “How do we know it didn’t cost Mansell his life? I still don’t see a compelling reason.”
“Thinking about it, we don’t know,” I said.
“No, we don’t,” Weston said. “Yesterday, we assumed he’d survived because he called Mike. But based on that sequence from Tanya, he could have been killed any time after he set up the meeting. Especially if he ran into Hamad.”
“We have no proof Mansell ever made it to the alley,” Lavine said.
“And everything else would have unfolded the same whether Mansell made it or not,” Weston said. “Mike was in place ahead of time. Lesley’s guy stumbled across him by chance. David showed up. We just don’t know about Mansell, either way.”
“I’m sorry, Tanya,” I said.
“None of that’s conclusive,” Tanya said. “He could easily still be alive. We must keep on looking for him.”
“We’ll look,” Varley said. “But I want the focus on Hamad. What was behind his killing spree? Stealing payoffs? Or is there more to it?”
“We know Hamad took Mansell’s phone,” I said. “We should focus on that. Forget everything else.”
“Why?” Weston said.
“Because he didn’t take anyone else’s,” I said. “So there’s something special about Mansell’s phone. And if he was after Mansell’s money, why not take his ID, or something with his bank details?”
“He probably did,” Weston said. “We won’t know till we search his place and his work. He’ll have them stashed, somewhere. That’s why we need the warrant.”
“No,” I said. “We need to pull in Taylor. The boss we saw at Tungsten. He blanched when he saw the photos of his dead employees. We should show him the pictures from Mansell’s phone. We know he was hiding something. That might loosen him up.”
“Chat to him about holiday photos?” Weston said. “Sure. The dam will really bust open.”
“We don’t have cause to pull him in,” Varley said. “Not yet. So here’s the plan. Kyle-fast-track that paperwork. I want a team all over Tungsten, first thing in the morning. Bartman-get onto the NYPD. I want Mansell top of their missing persons list as of five minutes ago. David and Tanya-contact the cell phone providers. See if they’ve got any GPS data on either of those phones. Any questions?”
No one spoke.
“OK then. That’s it. Reconvene at noon. And Mr. Trevellyan-last night you took a gamble. It paid off, in a sense. You were lucky. But I don’t want you going off on your own again. Are we clear?”
I shrugged.
“Are we clear?”
“Depends on them,” I said, nodding toward Weston and Lavine. “I tried to get them involved yesterday, but they had forms to fill in.”
Weston and Lavine trotted away to start on their tasks, trailing out of the room behind Varley like a pair of obedient schoolboys. I stayed behind and started on the leftover coffees. Tanya watched me for a moment then excused herself and left the room. She was looking a little flustered about something.
“You OK?” I said, when she returned a couple of minutes later.
“I’m feeling a little paranoid, to be honest,” she said. “I thought I saw a couple of guys watching my place last night. And again this morning.”
“Really? What did they look like?”
“Well, they were male. Early twenties. Nothing really distinctive about them.”
“What about their clothes?” How were they dressed?”
“I don’t really remember.”
“Their height? Build?”
“I’m not sure. I got more of an impression than anything.”
“OK, well, I’ll stop by later, if you like. See what’s what.”
“No. Don’t worry. I’m probably just tired. I didn’t get much sleep.”
“Because of Mansell?”
“Partly. And I was a little freaked out, with Hamad getting shot. That kept me awake for a while. How about you?”
“I slept like a log. Nearly missed breakfast.”
“How could you eat breakfast, after what happened? A guy died, right in front of our eyes. We watched his lifeblood literally drain out onto the pavement. I was so close it nearly went on my shoes.”
“Tanya, he wanted to die. You saw him smile. He knew they’d shoot him if he went for his pocket. Suicide by police, they call it. Not the way I’d do things, but it was his choice. You’ve got to respect that.”
“Respect it? You’re warped. Anyway, let’s stop talking about it. I don’t want that picture in my head all day. And we should be getting on with this phone company GPS thing.”
“Why?”
“Because Varley told us to.”
“And?”
“David, why do you always go looking for trouble?”
“It’s hardly trouble. Being told off by Varley’s like being savaged by a piece of lettuce.”
“You’re so awkward. Why can’t we just do the job we’ve been given? Do you want to be the only one with nothing to say?”
“I’d rather have something useful to say. The whole GPS thing is nonsense. Varley just wants us out of the picture while he tries to wrap things up his own way.”
“Even if that’s true, is it a problem?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Because he doesn’t do things the same way as you?”