‘Yes, my mum’s remarried, to an American called Titus Armstead. He and Mum got married about twelve years ago, and she moved to America. Titus is retired now, and they live in Delaware; it’s a lovely place, very quiet.’
‘Mmm. So how did you keep in touch with Moses?’
‘By letter. At first he had a post-office box number, but after a few years he bought his houseboat and I could write to him there.’
‘Have you ever been there?’
‘No, but he showed me pictures after he bought it. It looks lovely.’
Skinner gazed at her, knowing that the moment when he would change her life was drawing near. ‘This job of his,’ he asked, ‘did you ever question it?’
‘No, why should I? It’s what he told me, and I always believe him.’
‘He never left the army, Esther.’
She stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean what I say. He did go under cover, that much was true, but not in the way he told you. He was in the SAS for a while, in Ireland, and then he went into Military Intelligence, into its most secret and sensitive branch. When I think about it, I reckon that’s what he meant when he talked to you about the rules. He went into a different world, one in which a new identity was created for him, to protect you and your family from the possibility of anyone ever trying to get at him through you. Moses Archer ceased to exist, and Adam Arrow was born.’
‘Adam Arrow?’ she whispered, incredulous.
‘Yes. That’s the name I knew him by.’ He chose his tense deliberately and watched her as it registered.
‘Knew,’ she repeated quietly, lining her fingers together in her lap.
‘Yes, I’m afraid so. I’m very sorry to have to tell you that he was killed on an operation a little while back.’
Esther Archer sank back into her chair and buried her face in her hands. Shannon started to rise, to comfort her, but Skinner motioned to her, staying her. ‘I’m very sorry,’ he repeated.
She wiped her tears, almost defiantly. ‘Thank you, Bob,’ she replied quietly and with dignity. ‘You know, if he had to die, I’m glad it was in the same service as our dad, and for the same cause. Now can I ask you a few things?’
‘Of course.’
‘Why am I hearing this from you, from a policeman, rather than from a fellow soldier?’
‘I was his friend, and that’s the most important reason. In the aftermath of his death some things have emerged about the operation that killed him and I’m looking into them. One of them is the continued existence of Moses Archer; that wasn’t supposed to happen, and I need to know who else knew about him, and knew where he was.’
‘Nobody outside the family; only Mum and me, and Elton and the boys, and Titus, I suppose.’
‘You’re sure of that?’
‘Nobody’s heard of it from me, I can promise you that.’
‘Good. It’s best there’s no link; just as Moses’ records were erased, none were ever created about Adam Arrow.’
‘Is anyone telling Mum?’
‘That’s your job, I think.’
‘Who killed him?’
He almost told her, but he bit it back. ‘He was killed in a fire-fight,’ was all he said.
‘I see. What happened to his body?’
‘Nothing yet; it’s still in a mortuary.’
‘Can we have him back, back here where he’s from, so we can look after him?’
‘I’ll arrange that.’
‘If it’s all so secret will you be able to?’
‘I know people who can. We’ll give you what they call a legend, a story to explain his death, a car crash in Australia, something like that. You’ll have to bury him as Moses Archer.’
She looked at him and smiled. ‘What else would I do, Bob? I never knew Adam Arrow, only my lovely little brother.’
Fifty-five
As McIlhenney drove inside the cordon that had been set up around the building, a plastic coffin was being slid into a dark blue mortuary wagon. The scene had been played out before in the Wild West; it never failed to draw a crowd. The superintendent looked around as he stepped out of his car, seeking out familiar faces, and seeing a few, older and more leathery, but probably no wiser for all the time that had passed since he and McGuire, in their uniform days, had forged their reputation as hard men by cracking their heads together.
‘Gary Starr’s board man?’ he asked Wilding, as he came towards him from the stairway door.
‘Yes, killed with a single shot to the head. There’s no exit wound, so Arthur Dorward reckons it was probably a hollow-point bullet.’
‘Initial thoughts?’
‘He knew his killer, and didn’t suspect him. There’s not much of a lock, but there’s a spy-hole in the door and a chain and a bolt on the inside. In this place, if you’ve got those you use them, so I reckon that Ming let the guy in.’
‘Neighbours?’
‘I’ve interviewed everybody on the stair, including the local cannabis supplier. Wise monkeys, the lot of them; saw nothing, heard nothing, couldn’t tell me anything.’
‘Who found the body?’
‘I did, with PC Drake. We came to pick him up. He called me this morning to tell me he could identify the bloke with the missing finger.’
‘Christ,’ McIlhenney exclaimed. ‘I wonder if he told anyone else?’
‘That’s been on my mind too, sir. Could the guy have found out somehow?’
‘Did he tell you anything about him when he called?’
‘He said that he’s involved in the management of a club. He was going to take me there.’ Wilding paused. ‘Sir,’ he asked, unable to hold back the question any longer, ‘why are you here and not DCI Mackenzie?’
‘Bandit’s on holiday; he’s taking ten days off.’ The sergeant looked at the ground. ‘He’s on holiday, Ray,’ McIlhenney repeated. ‘It was booked in before he was transferred. Understand?’
‘Yes, sir, I understand.’
‘Let’s go down to Queen Charlotte Street: I want to review where we are in this whole business.’
‘Are you setting up the mobile HQ?’
‘Here? We’d need to put a guard on it. We won’t get anything out of this place other than any forensic traces that Arthur’s lot turn up. Come on, I’ll give you a lift.’
Fifty-six
When Skinner and Shannon returned from Bakewell a note was waiting on the DCC’s desk. ‘
Dennis was behind her desk when they answered her summons. ‘How did you get on?’ she asked.
‘As well as can be expected,’ Skinner replied. ‘Moses told her he was a copper, but Esther had no idea what he really did. His continuing existence seems to have been kept within the family; apart from her, all the rest of them thought he was a civil servant.’
‘We’re not going to have a media problem, are we?’
‘I don’t see it, not if they get his body back for burial.’
‘We can’t authorise that, Bob: that’s a Ministry of Defence decision.’
