Stalkers

Likewise, there are no comparisons in prints or DNA. We’ve circulated his mugshot throughout agencies abroad, but no hits so far.’

‘We should check the security consultants Goldstein amp; Hoff use when they send their execs overseas,’ Heck said.

‘Already have done,’ Palliser replied. ‘And it’s no dice. They’re all clean. Seems like Ian Blenkinsop made extra arrangements once he got to the Gulf.’

‘What about paperwork?’

‘We’ve found no personal documentation.’

‘Come on, Des … the bastard had access to different vehicles, different properties!’

‘All in the names of his men. Same goes for the boat hire.’

‘At least tell me Interpol and Europol are looking into the foreign angle.’

‘As much as they can, but there isn’t much to go on.’

‘How much do they need? Blenkinsop mentioned American colleagues, French, Russian …’

‘But he made no statement to that effect, and now he’s dead.’

‘Shit!’ Heck swore. ‘Silver knows! He didn’t just hint at it, he fucking boasted — said there were other Nice Guys operating overseas. Damn it, we should make him talk!’

‘And then you’d be just like him,’ Gemma said primly. ‘A sadistic criminal, a torturer, a psychopath. Look Heck, the main thing is he’s going down. If absolutely everything else fails, at least he’s bang to rights for the murder of Lauren Wraxford — we got her blood from under his fingernails and from his clothes. His dabs are all over the murder weapon.’

‘On the subject of Lauren, has anyone been to visit her mother?’ Heck asked.

Gemma nodded. ‘I did.’

‘Thanks,’ he said, subdued. ‘I appreciate that.’

‘So did she, I think. She sent you this letter.’ Gemma handed him a sealed envelope. ‘She wanted to express her gratitude personally.’

‘Her gratitude?’

‘For finding out what happened to Genene. And for providing Lauren with a friend when she needed one.’

Heck took the envelope almost gingerly. He didn’t think he could face opening it now. ‘Never been thanked before for getting someone killed.’

‘You didn’t strike the blow, Heck,’ Palliser said.

‘Why do I feel like this then … survivor guilt?’

Palliser was about to respond when a detective constable beckoned him through the glass partition. He excused himself and slipped out, leaving the other two alone.

‘I’m still waiting for my apology, by the way,’ Gemma said, folding her arms. ‘Just in case you were wondering.’

‘I know,’ Heck replied. ‘And I’m sorry.’

‘Heck … I don’t actually mind that you broke almost every law you joined the police to uphold while pursuing these people. But what I do mind — what I absolutely revile — is that you lied to me.’

‘I didn’t lie to you.’

‘You promised to keep me in the loop, and you cut me out at the first opportunity.’

‘I only left you out when I learned they had someone on the inside.’

‘You could at least have told me that much.’

‘Would you have believed me?’

‘You want the truth, I’m not sure I believe you now.’

‘Really?’ He laughed. ‘You mean we coppers are too good to become clients of the Nice Guys? How else did they get to McCulkin, our confidential informant?’

‘Look, if this guy Eric Ezekial had been shadowing your investigation, he might have seen you setting up meetings with McCulkin about other things.’

‘All respect, ma’am, he still must have been getting inside info. Once the Nice Guys learned I was looking hard at Klim — courtesy of their insider — they sent Deke to sit on O’Hoorigan. Obviously they had O’Hoorigan fingered as a weak link. Klim had told him all about this outfit while they were in Rotherwood together, and they couldn’t trust him not to tell us if he ever got lifted for something. Deke was shadowing O’Hoorigan rather than me, but when I turned up in Salford he had to act quickly. O’Hoorigan had to go and so did I.’

‘Well, as both Deke and O’Hoorigan are dead, we can hardly prove that.’

‘And what about Dana, how did they find out about her unless some bent bastard in our department told them?’

‘Heck, are you seriously saying that one of our lot can afford to lay out seventy-five grand every time he wants a sex-service?’

In a low, wary voice, he replied: ‘Someone at the very top could.’

At first she was baffled as to who he could mean. And then it clicked. ‘Oh no … no, no, no, Heck. No, we’re not even going there.’

‘Someone who did everything in his power to close this enquiry down.’

‘Don’t you say it!’

‘Someone who was once in the military himself. Perhaps that’s how he got to know them in the first place?’

‘Heck, I’m warning you …’

‘They used his exact terminology when referring to me!’

‘I’m not listening to this …’

But Heck was now in full flow. ‘Ma’am, you told me that Commander Laycock found out I was still investigating when that detective super from Manchester contacted him the morning after those GMP officers got hurt at the Salford hospital … but that it was a full day before Laycock came to see you about it. Why a full day? So he could pass on everything new to the Nice Guys first? So he could tell them who Lauren was — I don’t see how else Deke could have known she was Genene Wraxford’s sister. How about so that Deke could get to us before you did? … that was the same day we got lured out to Blacksand Tower, remember.’

Gemma regarded him incredulously, as if for a moment his crazy assertions were making a kind of sense to her. Then Palliser came back in, and the spell was broken. ‘Forget it!’ She waved the whole notion away. ‘I’m not listening to any of that.’

Heck shrugged. ‘You don’t have to listen to me. Whoever their insider was, his details will be in that filing cabinet in Eric Ezekial’s attic.’

Gemma glanced uncomfortably at Palliser.

Heck noticed this. ‘What?’

‘You haven’t heard about that then?’ Palliser said.

‘Obviously not.’

‘Well …’ Palliser cleared his throat. ‘Owing to the … shall we say confused issue of what exactly happened to Mr Ezekial …’

‘I fully explained that,’ Heck said.

‘Yes well, it wasn’t as easy explaining it to a magistrate. However, we finally managed it, and the search- warrant for Ezekial’s premises was issued this morning.’

‘And?’

‘The filing cabinet in the attic is empty.’

Heck rose slowly to his feet. ‘You are joking?’

‘Sit down, Heck,’ Gemma said, ‘before you fall down.’

‘What do you mean it’s empty?’

‘All these files you described, with the names and coded reference numbers. They’ve gone.’

Heck slumped back into his chair. ‘That proves there’s some bastard on the inside.’

‘Not necessarily,’ Gemma argued. ‘If there are any more of these Nice Guys knocking around …’