Black Cathedral

balance. You need a good result on this case in order to guarantee your survival…at least for the time being. So let’s skip the righteous indignation. We’re all whores at the end of the day. We all have our price. And I’m not going to pay for something I’m not happy with.’

Crozier looked her steadily in the eyes, noticing how unnaturally blue they were. ‘Whores? You might have spent time on your back getting to where you are today, but don’t judge everyone’s morals by your own.’

There wasn’t a flicker of emotion on her face. ‘No, Simon, from what I’ve heard, “on your back” isn’t your preference at all. When you get fucked it’s usually in a completely different position.’

Crozier walked a few steps away, determined not to display any anger. He hated himself for being in this situation. Perhaps spending more time at his house in France was going to be a good idea. Not full retirement, just a slowing down, spending less time amongst the sharks and the predators with whom he worked every day.

‘Jessica, I told you, I thought I was clear. Jane Talbot would put a team together to investigate Kulsay for you and that’s what she’s done. And in my opinion it’s probably the best team she could have assembled. What Jane didn’t say in her introductions is that every person on her team is a sensitive.’

‘Psychic you mean.’

‘That’s not a term I use. Conjures up images of seances and ouija boards — both useful tools in our line of work, but only the tip of a very large iceberg. Each member of the team has a special gift as well as their more practical talents. As well as being a skilled sound engineer, Kirby Grant is also a first rate dowser. A number of high-profile companies use her because she’s ninety-nine percent accurate, whether it’s water or oil, or even precious metals. And she is also one of the best physical mediums I’ve ever come across. Raj Kumar is an excellent photographer and an expert in all visual media, and he’s also a gifted clairvoyant.’

‘And Talbot?’

Crozier hesitated. ‘No. Jane has no gifts. But she is our control. It’s imperative to have someone on the team impervious to any psychic influence. Jane fulfills that role. She is also a brilliant psychologist and is able to dissemble the output from the others and rationalize it.’

Jessica Anderson’s eyes narrowed. She nodded her head slowly. ‘Okay, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. But I expect results, Simon, and I expect them quickly. If Talbot’s team falls short of the task and doesn’t deliver, I’ll demand your balls on a plate,’ she said.

‘I have every confidence that they’ll find the answers you’re looking for. I doubt my balls would be much use to you. From what I’ve heard you prefer your partners without any at all.’

‘Let’s cut the crap, Simon. This team had better deliver. I shudder to think how much all this is going to cost me.’

Crozier suspected that Jessica Anderson knew down to the last cent how much the investigation was going to cost, but he didn’t say so. It would be counterproductive to antagonize her further. ‘Is there anything else you’d like to say to them?’ he said.

She checked her watch. ‘No, I’ve a flight to catch at Heathrow. I’ve a reception to attend in Boston.’

‘Reception?’ Crozier said.

‘Well, a party really,’ she said. ‘Tomorrow’s my birthday.’

‘Then I wish you many happy returns,’ he said, and his complete and utter lack of sincerity was said with a skill practiced many times over.

‘Oh, I don’t think you do, Simon. I think you’d prefer it if I never returned at all.’ She smiled. ‘Keep me up to speed,’ she said. ‘Ciao.’

For once in his life Simon Crozier wished he were straight. He’d never met anyone like Jessica Anderson before. And then again, he wished to God he never had.

Jane stopped pacing the room as the door opened and Crozier came back in. ‘Problems?’ she said.

‘You could say that.’ He put his arm around her waist and led her to the far corner of the room. ‘A word in private,’ he said in her ear.

‘You realize this compromises our position?’ Jane said as Crozier dropped the bombshell sotto voce. The independence of the Department was the key to its success. To perform an investigation for a company or corporation could easily leave them open to charges of bias. It was like those surveys that seem to prove eating meat with your left hand increases the chances of cancer, and you worry about it, until you read that the survey is conducted by an organization with a vested, usually financial interest, in the results.

‘I know,’ he said. ‘I’m going to phone the Minister and demand an explanation.’

She looked at him steadily. ‘He can explain all he likes, but it doesn’t change the position. We’ve lost our autonomy.’

‘I wouldn’t say that, Jane. Once you’re on the island I don’t see how the KDC can interfere.’

‘Oh, wake up, Simon! I’ve only just met her, but I can see that if Jessica Anderson takes it into her mind to interfere, nothing on God’s earth is going to stop her. I’m sorry. I don’t think I can work under these conditions.’

‘Please, Jane. Bend, just a little.’ God, how he was beginning to hate the role he was in; reduced to begging.

She chewed her bottom lip as she thought about it. Finally she said, ‘Okay. I’ll take the team to Kulsay, but I’ll be relying on you to keep that woman off my back so I can do my job. If you don’t, then I won’t hesitate to halt the investigation and bring everybody home. Understood?’

‘Fair enough,’ Crozier said. He had no intention of complying. Jessica Anderson was not going to feature in his life if he could help it.

‘Right. I’ll tell the others once you go.’ She started to think about what she was going to say to the team.

‘That’s your call,’ he said, and turned to the room. ‘Right, everybody, gather round. Final arrangements. There’s a hotel booked in Peterhead for to night, and we’ve arranged for a boat to take you across to Kulsay in the morning. There you’ll be met by a representative from the KDC to transport you and your equipment to the Manse. Any questions? No? There is just one other thing, but I’ll let Jane brief you on that. I’ll just wish you all good luck, and let’s hope we get a result.’

Once he’d left the room the others looked at Jane questioningly.

‘Well?’ John McKinley said.

Jane sighed. ‘Jessica Anderson is our paymaster. The KDC is funding the investigation.’ The comment was met with a stunned silence. ‘Seems like you all share my reservations.’ She kept her tone as light as possible. The role of a leader as far as she was concerned was to achieve the task, and to do that she needed to take the others along with her.

‘It’s not the best news I’ve heard today,’ McKinley said.

‘No, but that’s the way the land lies, so I suppose we’d better make the best of it. Has anybody got anything else?’

Carter looked at the others and then spoke. ‘From what I’ve learned from these files,’ he hefted the buff- colored folders in the air, ‘once we get onto the island we’ll have no time to worry about who is or isn’t funding the investigation. There is going to be some serious work to be done. I’ve had time recently — a well-earned rest for those who haven’t heard the reason — to check some details of recent investigations. There are things that link Kulsay with a much wider picture. I still need to finish digging into it but if what I suspect is happening, then autonomy of finances isn’t going to worry anyone.’

Nobody spoke. They were still taking in what Jane had told them, and wondering if it really mattered, once the job began. Now Carter was confirming that view but giving them even more to be concerned about.

Jane saw the anxious faces and decided action was the best cure. ‘Okay, we’ll meet in the car park in…’ She checked her watch. ‘Fifty minutes.’

Without a further word they rose from their seats and filed out of the room, until only Jane and McKinley remained. Jane gathered her papers and slipped them into her briefcase.

McKinley unfolded himself from his seat. ‘Tell me, Jane, is there any point in me coming along?’

Jane frowned. ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’ She knew exactly what he was going to say.

‘You didn’t tell me that Carter was on the team. Don’t you think I’m up to the task?’

‘That’s not the case at all, John. I have every faith in your abilities. Robert’s coming along because it was a precondition of the Minister that he be included.’

‘And you don’t believe in the Jonah principle?’