‘All right, we assume Tyler had the shares, and who knows what other bungs and percentages he might have through his mate Bates? So he says to Paxton, I won’t tell if you don’t tell. And the plans get pushed through.’
‘Until Danny Masseter finds out something, and goes to Stonax because he’s known as an eco-warrior,’ Mackay said. ‘And maybe his interest in the place is known about in eco circles.’
‘And maybe also because he knows he’s been in Dutch with the government,’ said Swilley. ‘Sorry, Emily – but Danny wouldn’t want to take it to an establishment figure, and he might well think your dad had a grudge and would be more willing to listen to him because of it.’
‘You don’t have to apologise,’ Emily said patiently.
‘And it just so happens,’ Atherton continued, ‘that he hit on the person who already knew more than he wanted to about dear old Waverley B.’
Joanna was shaking her head, though Slider knew it was more in despair that people could be so corrupt than in disbelief of the scenario. He knew it was a far cry from working things out to proving them, but it all felt right, and it covered all the aspects. And it was no chickenfeed they were talking about. ‘A development like that,’ he said to her quietly, ‘could be worth several billion. Well worth fighting for. But if the contamination story got out, it was all over.’
‘But then why didn’t Ed Stonax go public with it?’
‘Because he didn’t have all the information,’ Emily said. ‘Or the proof. And he couldn’t go public without the whole dossier – the one, presumably, poor Danny Masseter was preparing for him. He must have asked too many questions and made someone suspicious.’
‘So Tyler contacts his old friend and co-conspirator Trevor Bates, and says I’ll help you get out of jail free, if you’ll get rid of the problem for us,’ Atherton concluded. ‘Silence Masseter and Stonax before it all gets out, and make sure you get all the documents.’ Out of sight of the others, Emily pressed his hand in thanks for using the word ‘silence’ instead of ‘murder’, something she still found hard to say, even in her head.
‘And Bates thought he’d take the opportunity to get back at me,’ Slider said. ‘He thought he was invulnerable. He was too smart to get caught for the jobs he was doing privately for himself and Tyler. Dave Borthwick and a hit-and-run driver would stand up for those. And I was to go in a gas explosion – nobody’s fault at all.’
‘For God’s sake,’ Joanna muttered.
McLaren spoke up from the back through the last mouthful of Mars Bar. ‘Yeah, well, it’s all very nice but it’s just Goldilocks and the Three Bears, innit, unless we get some evidence.’
Swilley looked at him, impressed. ‘Blimey, Maurice, you come out quite sensible sometimes.’
‘It’s maybe not as bad as it looks,’ Slider said. ‘We’ve got Mark on evidence, as soon as we can catch him, and if the damage on the car matches the damage on the motorbike, we’ve got him for Masseter’s murder. Mark is Bates’s right-hand man, and if that’s not enough, we now know Bates gave him shares in Ring 4, so that ties him in with Bates. It was Tyler who gave Bates the government IT contract, so that ties them. And if Vollman Whatnot confirm that it’s Tyler who owns the BriTech shares, it gets them both tied in with the Waverley B development.’
‘But we’ve still got nothing on the pollution, and without that, there’s no motive for Stonax’s death,’ Mackay said.
‘Well, the evidence is out there, and if Danny Masseter managed to find it, we can,’ Slider said, though he didn’t sound happy about it. It could take for ever – and there was always the risk that tracks would start to be covered and documents shredded. Worse still, people who had answered questions might get shredded in the process. ‘We just have to hope Jimmy Pak can get into the encrypted files somehow. I’m willing to bet that’s where the evidence is. Meanwhile – ’ he hoisted himself off the desk – ‘we have to concentrate on finding Bates, which means finding Mark. No luck on the relatives, I suppose, Norma?’
‘No, sir. I can’t find any at all, never mind in the area. Could be he was an only child.’
‘So Bates is the only friend he has. And Tyler’s the only friend Bates has,’ Slider said. ‘Well, I think I’ve had about enough. We’ll call it a day and start again tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow’s Sunday, boss,’ Swilley said. ‘Do you want us in?’
‘Sunday’s a good day for legwork. People are at home, you can catch them there. Tomorrow is Find Bates and Mark Day. We’re going to visit every place they’ve ever been, every person they’ve ever spoken to, and find them if we have to wear our legs down to nubbins. I’ll OK the overtime with Mr Porson, so you can take that look off your face, McLaren.’
‘I haven’t got a look on my face,’ he protested.
‘Oh, no, you’re right, it’s chocolate,’ said Slider. ‘That’s it, boys and girls.’
They all moved away except for Joanna, Atherton and Emily.
‘What are we going to do?’ Joanna said. ‘With all our worldlies stuffed in the car and no home to go to?’
‘We’ll go to an hotel,’ Slider said.
Atherton and Emily exchanged a look. ‘It’s all right,’ she said to him.
‘It makes it look a bit official,’ he said nervously. ‘I don’t want to rush you into anything.’
‘If I remember rightly, I did the rushing. Come on, a friend in need and all that sort of thing.’
‘Shall we leave you two to talk code in peace?’ Joanna said.
‘We don’t want you to go to an hotel,’ Emily translated. ‘There are two bedrooms at Jim’s house, and I don’t mind sharing with him – or more specifically, I don’t mind you knowing I’m sharing with him. I know it makes me look like a fast hussy, but there it is.’
‘Who are we to judge?’ Slider said. ‘If you’re sure?’
‘I’m sure,’ they both said at the same moment, and looked at each other and smiled.
‘Well, thanks,’ Joanna said. ‘It’ll be a lot nicer than an hotel.’
‘I have to go and see Porson,’ Slider said. ‘Why don’t you three go on ahead and I’ll join you later.’
Porson listened gravely to Slider’s exposition. ‘It all sounds all right,’ he said, ‘and, my God, if you’re right this is going to cause a stink.’
‘It’s my betting that it won’t,’ Slider said sadly. ‘They’ll cover up for him, like they did before.’
‘No, laddie, he won’t get away with it this time. You’d have to spin like a dervish in a washing machine to get this one to come out straight. They’ll dump him hard and let him take his knocks, believe me. But we’ve got to have all the evidence, dot every tee, or it’s all deniable.’
‘If we can find out about those shares, to start with . . .’
‘I’ll do a bit of leaning. Anything else?’
‘Reading police – matching Mark’s car with the motorbike damage?’
‘More leaning. Leave it to me. Tower of Pisa job. I suppose Pak’s not come up with anything?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Well, he’s a good lad. He won’t stop until he does. For now, why don’t you go home? You look played out.’
‘Yes, I’m going now.’
‘Hang on, you haven’t got a home to go to, have you?’ Porson said, and he seemed to hesitate on the brink of something.
‘I’m staying with Atherton, sir,’ Slider said. ‘He has a spare room.’
‘Oh, well that’s all right,’ Porson said briskly, and turned away. ‘Off you go, then.’
Slider went, wondering uncomfortably whether the old boy had been about to offer him his spare room, and whether he would have welcomed Slider’s company.
Atherton did an enormous stir-fry for quickness’ sake, and the four of them sat around the table companionably, as if they had known each other for years, with the cats teetering on the backs of armchairs, trying to see over peoples’ shoulders, and purring like food mixers. Joanna hoped so much that Atherton and Emily could survive the end of the case and the realisations that were bound to come over her then, because they seemed so right together – as right as Joanna felt with Bill.