helping him with it?’
‘See what you can find out,’ Slider said. ‘Given that both of them are dead in violent circumstances, it’s tempting to think there’s a link.’
Porson listened with keen intelligence to the new developments.
‘Tyler,’ he said in disgust. ‘Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. A leper doesn’t change his spots. But Andrew isn’t wrong – you can’t prove any of it now.’
‘No, sir. But I’d like to know what Stonax was up to the last few months and whether it had anything to do with Tyler in any way. He’s been out of the country, but that doesn’t mean he’s been out of play.’
‘Hmm. And Tyler knew Bates. Well, birds of a feather gather no moss.’
‘We knew Bates had government connections.’
‘Yes. But if you’re right about this escape, it doesn’t begin and end with Tyler. There’s got to be collusion on our side too.’ He stared bleakly out of the window, still for once. ‘I should have taken early retirement. I’ve been in the Job too long. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a bent copper. Give me an old-fashioned, honest criminal any day.’ He sighed and pulled himself together. ‘Well, keep at it. Do everything you can, and I’ll back you up, but don’t throw the winds to caution. Remember however far you row out, you’ve got to row back. What are we going to do about Borthwick?’
‘We can’t let him go, sir,’ Slider said. ‘The press’ll be all over him like a rash, and he’s not the sort to keep his mouth shut.’
‘You think he’d be in danger?’
‘Whoever’s behind Stonax’s death, it looks as if they killed Masseter too, so one more wouldn’t turn their stomachs.’
‘You want to charge him?’
Slider hesitated. ‘We’ve got enough to cover ourselves, and I don’t suppose he’ll complain. He’s pretty docile. I just want to make sure he’s safe.’
Porson hesitated too. ‘It’s an awful lot of paperwork and man hours. I’d sooner spend ’em in a different shop. Look, it’s the weekend coming up. We’ll keep him till Monday and see what happens, make a decision then. Has he seen a brief?’
‘Yes, sir. Kevin Swan.’
‘Swan? Good choice. He’s sound enough.’
‘He understood the situation.’
‘All right. I’ll square the magistrates. But you’ll have to get a move on, because that only gives us another forty-eight hours, and still waters wait for no man.’
And I’m nowhere near a solution, Slider thought as he went away. He wondered what Bates was up to, why Pauline hadn’t called him back, if Joanna was all right. She’d be in rehearsal just now, so he couldn’t call her. Instead, when he got back to his office, he called Jimmy Pak.
‘I haven’t got anything to tell you,’ he said. ‘I’d have rung you if I had.’
‘I know,’ said Slider. ‘It’s just frustration. I needed to bother somebody.’
Pak laughed. ‘At least you know yourself. Self knowledge is the key to—’
‘No more proverbs, thank you. I’ve just had a skinful upstairs. Tell me what’s happening.’
‘I’ve got more respect for him than I thought. It’s really hard to crack. I’m trying every combination I can think of but no good so far. He must have been really cautious, or have something really important to hide.’
‘Both, I think. He knew he was dealing with pretty ruthless people.’
‘Right. Well, the safest password is a completely random sequence of letters and numbers. Breaking that is just chance. But people hardly ever use completely random sets because they can’t remember them. So they use birthdays, family initials, pets’ names, that sort of thing. If they do have a random set, they usually have to write it down somewhere. You’ve got access to his paperwork?’
‘Yes, all but the file that was stolen.’
‘If it was written down in there you’re in trouble. Otherwise, you’d better start looking for it. I’ll keep on trying, but it’ll speed things up if you can find it.’
‘I would like to speed things up. What am I looking for?’
‘A set of eight, numbers and letters mixed. Look in his diary, address book, personal papers, that’s the most likely place.’
‘Right. I’ll leave you in peace, then.’
‘Do that, man. Luck!’
‘Luck yourself.’
He passed on the instruction to the troops who were toiling through Stonax’s effects, and then sat behind his desk staring at the sea of papers with what felt like a brick of ignorance in his head. It was no good. He couldn’t even think. He needed to get out.
As he passed through the outer office he said to Swilley, who was nearest, ‘I’m going out for half an hour. Hold the fort, Norma.’
‘Boss, oughtn’t we to know where you’re going?’ she called after him. ‘Just in case?’
‘A man’s snout is sacrosanct,’ he called back over his shoulder.
The Kensington Park Road – always known as the KPR to local residents – had in Slider’s memory been a shabby, run-down street of peeling stucco, cracked windows and blowing rubbish, the fine old houses divided up into the lowest sort of bedsits. Now, since so much smart money had come to Notting Hill, it had been bought up and done up, and was exactly the right place for a man to set up in the burglar alarm, window lock and security camera business. Jack Bushman’s shop was just up from the Westbourne Grove turning, a discreet and narrow place with a smart fascia in green and gold, polished wood flooring and a retro wooden counter which Slider guessed played well with the locals. Solder Jack himself was standing behind the counter doing something to a piece of equipment that looked like the inside of a radio. His eyes sharpened as he saw Slider, but his welcoming smile did not waver and, most tellingly to Slider, the hands holding the piece of kit did not disappear under the counter.
‘Hello, Jack, how’s it going?’ he asked pleasantly.
‘Mr Slider,’ he said. ‘It’s going well, thank you.’ He was a tall man, well set up, with a big, handsome head topped with thick hair, swept back, in which there was the odd thread of grey. His face had the lines of experience in it now. It was the sort of firm, large-featured, fatherly face that inspires trust, especially in women, and a bit of age did it no harm at all.
He had been straight for – oh, it must have been ten or twelve years now, Slider reflected; and it was interesting that the thought of Jack knowing the inside secrets of all the locals’ security arrangements did not bother him. Poacher turned gamekeeper. But of course, Jack knew that he would be the first to be asked his whereabouts if anything went down, and there was nothing better for keeping a man straight – apart from his own intentions.
‘Just passing?’ Jack asked, his eyes taking in the Jiffy bag Slider was carrying and moving politely away to his face again.
‘It’s not an entirely random visit,’ Slider said.
‘Not trouble, I hope?’ Jack said, but it was without alarm. He had the calm eyes of a man with a clear conscience. His accent, Slider noted, had gone upmarket quite a bit too, obviously to fit in with his new clients.
‘It’s a lot of trouble,’ Slider said, ‘but for me, not for you. I’ve got something here that I wonder if you’d have a look at, tell me what you think.’
‘Always glad to help.’
Slider drew out the evidence bag containing the device from Valancy House, and passed it across the counter. Jack took it up and looked at it, turning the bag in his hands. ‘Can I take it out?’
‘As long as you don’t dismantle anything. It’s been tested for prints.’
‘Wouldn’t get anything useful off surfaces this small,’ he said with professional confidence. ‘But I’ll put gloves on anyway.’
He had a box of disposables under the counter. ‘How come?’ Slider asked.
‘Some devices it’s not a good idea to get grease and acid on,’ he said. Gloved, he removed the device from the bag, stuck a jeweller’s glass in his eye, and examined it minutely, using a pair of tweezers to move the wires out of his line of sight. ‘Very nice,’ he said. ‘Simple, but all the best devices are. What was it used on?’
