‘Progress at last,’ said Steven.
‘We have the Home Secretary to thank,’ said Macmillan. ‘She made it very plain to a number of very senior people that they should start checking their pension arrangements if they didn’t pull their fingers out.’
‘Good for her. Did you discuss the opening procedure?’
‘The final box is not to be opened until you and Five’s appointed representative are both present. The Royal Mail’s security man will do the opening.’
‘And then what?’
‘That, of course, will depend on what the contents are,’ said Macmillan. ‘But if, as we all hope, the packet posted from Scotland should still be there and found to contain what seems to be data sources — disks, memory sticks, whatever — they should be copied there and then and shared between ourselves and Five. Lab notes are to be photo-copied and shared.’
‘This requires the presence of suitable hardware,’ said Steven.
‘I thought of that,’ said Macmillan. ‘The Home Secretary has agreed that both MI5 and Sci-Med can take along one extra person with the skills and equipment to carry out the copying and sharing.’
‘Lukas,’ said Steven.
‘Lukas,’ Macmillan agreed.
‘I’ll call him,’ said Steven, ‘put him on stand-by. In fact, I’ll go over and see him, tell him what’s been going on. Was this all the special meeting was about?’ he asked.
Macmillan moved uncomfortably in his chair — only momentarily but Steven noticed.
‘There were a couple of other things,’ Macmillan said, making as if to get up.
Steven didn’t move and Macmillan sank slowly back down. ‘All right,’ he said, ‘we shouldn’t have secrets from each other.’
‘Would you like me to go?’ asked Jean.
‘No, I wouldn’t,’ Macmillan responded — a bit too loudly for Jean who was startled. ‘No, I wouldn’t,’ he repeated more softly. ‘You are an invaluable member of our team and contribute to it greatly.’
‘Thank you, Sir John.’
‘The Home Secretary’s main reason for calling the meeting was to inform us that Mrs Lillian Leadbetter has gone missing.’
‘The MP who broke the Moorlock Hall story?’
‘Yes.’
‘She was treated pretty shabbily by her fellow MPs when they discovered the public didn’t give a damn and the press followed suit,’ said Steven.
‘Exactly,’ said Macmillan. ‘Her husband says that she was angry at first but then became depressed, especially when colleagues started avoiding her and it began to dawn on her that her career might be over, just when she’d been led to believe that promotion was on the cards and a glittering tomorrow was about to unfold before her.’
‘Poor woman,’ said Jean.
‘Don’t feel too sorry for her,’ said Steven, ‘the whole thing was about her career, just as it is for those avoiding her now.’
‘Oh, Steven,’ said Jean.
‘Sadly, he’s right,’ said Macmillan. ‘The woman left a trail of wreckage behind her in her quest for advancement. She destroyed the career of medical director, George Groves, without a second thought,’
‘How long has she been missing?’ asked Steven.
‘Three days,’ said Macmillan, ‘and just before you say that’s not long, the Home Secretary called the meeting to appraise us of events in case things should turn out badly and there was a press frenzy.’
‘What does missing mean exactly?’ Steven asked.
‘Her husband came home and found her gone, no note.’
‘Car?’
‘She’d taken her car but no overnight bag — or any clothes as far as he could see although her briefcase had gone — but he says that it might have been in the car anyway. She was a bit careless about leaving it there.’
‘I take it someone brought up the possibility of suicide?’
‘Her husband was adamant that she wasn’t suicidal. He agreed that she’d been very low, but she’d been getting back to being angry again and was determined to “show these bastards” as she put it.’
Steven thought for few moments before asking, ‘Did he know what she meant by that?’
‘He didn’t elaborate, why do you ask?’
‘I was just wondering if it had been an empty threat or if she actually had some plan of action to get back at those she felt had wronged her.’
‘What could she do?’ asked Jean.
‘Who knows... a couple of barrels of gunpowder in the boot of the car and little boys could be celebrating Lillian Leadbetter Day in centuries to come. Penny for the Lillian, mister.’
Macmillan shot Steven a look that discouraged further black humour.
‘Maybe she’s gone to see her sister in Wales?’ Jean suggested, feeling the diplomatic need to move the conversation on.
‘Has she got a sister in Wales?’ asked Macmillan.
‘Er, I don’t actually know, Sir John, I was just sort of making a general suggestion as it’s only been three days and there may be a perfectly innocent reason for Mrs Leadbetter’s absence.’
‘Quiet,’ Macmillan agreed, ‘and we have plenty of other things to keep us occupied. Any progress?’
Twenty-Two
‘You did well,’ said Macmillan when Steven had finished telling him what Jane Lincoln and her friend had come up with, ‘but we’re sailing ever closer to the wind by withholding information from the US police.’
Steven was tempted to point out that the American police actually had the information in front of their noses but failed to see it, but didn’t. He knew Macmillan was right.
‘It’s just a question of how we go about it,’ said Macmillan. ‘Our own investigation is important too.’
‘I think we should get as much information as we can to further our investigation before handing anything over. I don’t honestly think we are delaying anything. If I were to notice something odd in the photographs next week instead of last week... would it really make any difference to a police investigation?’
‘I suppose when you put it that way...’ conceded Macmillan. ‘What did you have in mind for the time being?’
‘Dorothy,’ said Steven. ‘I’d like to tackle her head on, maybe even tell her everything we know and see what happens.’
‘Light blue touch paper and retire immediately,’ said Jean, remembering advice that used to be printed on firework wrappings.
‘That would be taking a step there’s no coming back from,’ said Macmillan. ‘We must be able to see a clear gain before we risk it.’ He looked to Steven to make the case.
‘We should be able to establish whether or not she had any direct involvement in the deaths of Paul and Carrie. If it turns out that she had, we immediately hand the whole lot over to the U.S. police and inform our own police of what’s been going on. As a quid pro quo, we could ask the US cops if they might give us anything they come up with on Father Crossan.’
‘You’ve obviously given this some thought,’ said Macmillan, ‘and if you conclude that she’s not guilty of direct involvement?’
‘We ask her what was going on between her and Crossan. Why was he in the lab after the fire? What were they arguing about?’
‘Well,’ said Macmillan, ‘You seem to have covered all the bases as our American friends might say, wouldn’t you agree, Jean?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘I think we can risk one more week.’
Steven decided it was too late to tackle Dorothy; he’d do that in the morning. In the meantime, he would go over to see Lukas in the labs in Crompton Lane to warn him that his services were about to be needed again.
‘Are you telling me that you’ve come up with Barrowman’s missing data?’
‘We’re hoping so.’
Steven told him about the secret Post Office box system.