‘Of course I do, sir, and I appreciate the man-power problems. We’ve always got them. But you’re paring back the murder squad to an absolute minimum, and with Berrin off sick, I think I should really be concentrating my efforts on the case.’ I resisted the urge to add, ‘You see what I’m saying?’ I still wanted to make DI again after all, and I’d more than made my point today.
‘This is very much a routine one, John, and it shouldn’t take you long. The bloke’s ex-wife phoned in this morning, says she hasn’t heard from him in days, and that he’s missed two family functions which is apparently not like him at all.’ He gave me the standard look of weary scepticism which greeted any family members’ description of someone’s actions as being ‘not like him at all’. ‘But the point is, he’s a big bloke, an ex-con and ex-soldier who works as a freelance bodyguard, so he’s not likely to have come to much harm. He’s probably just gone off somewhere for a few days but I want you to give it a quick once-over. Apparently, he does most of his work for a company called Tiger Solutions.’
I snorted. ‘What sort of name is that?’
‘A very foolish one. His ex says she’s already contacted them and they haven’t seen him for a week or two themselves, but I’d like you to speak to them when you’ve got a moment, and then give the ex a call and tell her what you’ve found out. If you can do it in the next couple of days it would be a big help.’
I knew there was no point in arguing. ‘Sure, I’ll do that.’
‘Your hard work’s appreciated you know, John,’ he said, fixing me with one of his managerial looks. ‘It all counts in your favour, I want you to know that, and I’m keen for you to make progress here. But do me a favour, eh? DI Capper told me about yesterday with Neil Vamen. Don’t go talking to him about anything unless you’ve got solid evidence implicating him, and you’ve checked it through with me.’ I nodded, and he let it go. ‘Now, remember, this missing persons case is very much a side issue, so concentrate on Matthews, and I’ll keep you informed of my discussions with DCI Peppard. And let’s try looking at it from some new angles. Lateral thinking, that’s what we need.’
I got to my feet and said I’d get on to things straight away. Thinking that Knox had probably never had a lateral thought in his whole life.
When I got back to my desk, my mobile was ringing. I didn’t recognize the number but picked up anyway. ‘Gallan.’
‘Hello, Mr Gallan,’ said a pleasant, youthful voice I didn’t know. ‘It’s Asif Malik here, SO7.’
‘Hello, Asif. Thanks for getting back to me.’
‘No problem. What is it I can do for you?’
‘I’m involved in a murder inquiry which may have a link with the area you cover, and I wonder if I could pick your brains about it for a few minutes. As you’ll appreciate, it’s not something I can talk about over the phone. Do you think we could meet up for half an hour? I’ll come to you.’
‘Can you tell me who it’s regarding, just so I know I’m the person you should be talking to?’
For some reason, I felt impelled to whisper into the phone. ‘The Holtzes, and particularly Neil Vamen.’
There was a short silence at the other end. Then, ‘I’m the right person. How about Wednesday?’
‘Fine.’
‘I’ll meet you at the Soul of Naples restaurant. It’s Italian.’ Like it’d be anything else. ‘That all right for you? It’s up near me.’
I laughed. ‘I’m usually limited to a sandwich on the run, so anything above that’s a bonus.’
‘Well, this place is good. I’ll be there at midday.’
‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’
He gave me the address and some basic directions, then rang off.
For a few seconds, I sat there staring at the mobile, hoping that somewhere among the morass of information Malik and his colleagues had undoubtedly gathered on the Holtzes there’d be something that would stop this case ending up in the growing ranks of the unsolveds.
At that point, however, I was not feeling optimistic.
Iversson
‘Kidnapping, Max? It’ll never work, and it’s too fucking dangerous.’
We were in the lounge of Elaine’s apartment, just the two of us, beers in hand. Elaine had gone out to give us the privacy to talk things through.
‘It will work, Joe, if we do it properly. Elaine says that-’
‘Is this her idea?’
‘Course it isn’t. It’s a product of a lot of thinking I’ve been doing. Now, all I want you to do is hear me out. If after I’ve said my piece you still don’t want to know, then fair enough, all you have to do is walk out of here and forget we ever had this conversation.’
Joe took a slug from his beer. ‘Go on, then,’ he said suspiciously.
‘Krys Holtz likes to go to a little gentleman’s club called Heavenly Girls which is down round here, not far from Farringdon Road. It’s a nice town-house in a posh street, which is mainly offices, and basically it’s full of top-drawer and top-price totty. Krys is meant to keep his movements unpredictable to stop any of his many enemies taking potshots at him, but word is that he tends to go to the clubseveral nights a week, and usually most Friday nights if he hasn’t pulled anywhere else. And sometimes even if he has.’
‘And where’s this information coming from?’
‘Elaine. She knows some of the girls down there. Apparently Roy Fowler used to manage it as well as the club.’ Joe pulled a face but didn’t say anything. ‘We might have one or two false starts but we should be able to survey the place all right without arousing suspicion.’
‘What about you? You’re a wanted man.’
‘I won’t have shaved for a few days, I’ll be wearing glasses, and anyway the street’s not particularly well lit or well used after dark, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem there. When Krys arrives all we do is wait for him to go in — apparently he usually travels with a couple of associates — then one of us goes to the door and gains entry.’
‘How does the person gain entry in the first place? Presumably they don’t let in any Tom, Dick or Harry.’
‘Someone’ll have to do a dummy run first to get an idea of the place. Whoever does it’ll use the name of one of the regulars, say that the bloke’s recommended it to him. Then once he’s been once, he shouldn’t have any problem going back a second time. So when he gets in the second time-’
‘If he gets in.’
‘He goes upstairs to reception, which is supposedly fairly quiet, and when he’s satisfied that everything’s all right, he pulls a gun, takes control of the reception area, and gets the receptionist to let the rest of us in. Then, when we’re up the stairs, we find out the room where Krys is doing his thing, and grab him.’
‘What about the men with him? What’ll they be doing all this time?’
‘They usually tend to be with their own women. They certainly don’t hang about guarding Krys. The beauty of it is that they’ll be really easy pickings. Caught with their trousers down, so to speak. We tie them up, disarm them, and then we’re out of there. By this time, we’ve hired a nice little place out in the country on a short let, and we keep him there until the ransom’s sorted out.’
‘And how the hell are we going to collect the ransom without getting ourselves killed in the process?’
I paused, not sure whether I still needed to convince myself of this bit. ‘We get his dad to deliver it.’
‘Who? Stefan?’ I nodded. ‘Max, we’re talking about a man who’s a virtual recluse. How are you going to get him out running errands?’
‘Because Krys is his son. One of his boys is in prison, and now he risks losing another one. From what I hear, they’re a close-knit family, and Krys, even though he’s meant to be one mean fucking bastard, is also the apple of his mother’s eye.’