nods that clearly said thank you. The tears emphasised the point.
Once back in Edinburgh, Steven went straight to police headquarters and told McClintock everything. ‘I’m telling you this because I want you to tell Santini. If it came from me it would look and sound like gloating — and it would be. I don’t much care for your boss but to be fair, there was little the police could have done in this instance.’
‘ Thanks for that,’ said McClintock. ‘But facts are facts and there has still been a bloody huge miscarriage of justice.’
‘ Fraid so.’
‘ Do you still want to talk to Verdi?’ asked McClintock.
‘ Please. Any progress?’
‘ Not yet. He’s still denying everything but we got permission to hold him for another forty-eight hours. He still doesn’t know about us having the snuff videos. We’re keeping them as our ace in the hole.’
‘ Mum’s the word,’ said Steven.
‘ Give me a moment,’ said McClintock. He left the room and came back a couple of minutes later, accompanied by a man in shirtsleeves. ‘Sergeant Wills will take you to him,’ he said. ‘I’m off to tell Santini.’
Despite the intensive questioning he’d been undergoing, Verdi still seemed sharp and alert, thought Steven as he entered the room.
‘ Shit, this is all I need,’ he exclaimed when he saw Steven. ‘What the hell do you want?’
‘ Just a few questions,’ said Steven.
‘ I’ll tell you what I told the rest. I don’t know anything about Tracy Manson’s death or any porn videos.’
‘ I’m not concerned with Tracy’s death; that’s a police matter. Same goes for the porn.’
‘ So what the hell do you want?’
‘ I want you to tell me about your association with John Merton.’
Verdi’s eyes narrowed at the name but he said, ‘Never heard of him.’
‘ Yes you have. He deliberately screwed up forensic evidence and then gave you the nod so you could expose the flaws in court and get your clients off — the ones who could afford it that is. Three of them to be precise, all big name criminals and all three acquitted.’
‘ Don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘ You do, Verdi, but I’m not even interested in them. It’s the Julie Summers case I want to know about.’
‘ Still don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Steven leaned closer and said, ‘You are entirely dependent on your people keeping quiet, aren’t you Verdi? They keep quiet and you’ll look after them and their families handsomely. Isn’t that the deal?’
Verdi said nothing.
‘ The trouble with that is that it falls to pieces when you go broke and that’s just what’s about to happen.’
‘ What are you talking about?’ snapped Verdi.
‘ The money, Verdi, the money that links you to an international criminal operation involving pornography, maybe even some of the money that the villains paid to you and Merton for getting them off. I know where it is and how to get my hands on it. The police don’t but I do.’
‘ Dream on,’ said Verdi as Steven sat back.
Steven took the card out of his pocket and read out the first number.
Verdi winced but kept his composure. ‘I take it these are your lottery numbers,’ he said. ‘Let me tell you, it’s a mugs’ game. You’d be better off buying Premium Bonds.’
Steven read out the second account number and then finally, the third.’
Verdi swallowed but didn’t say anything.
‘ Ring a bell?’ Steven asked. ‘Or should I say, sing a song?’
‘ What?’ croaked Verdi.
‘ Eleven letters, usually sings in Berkeley Square,’ said Steven. ‘How am I doing?’
The blood drained from Verdi’s face. ‘You’re serious?’ he said. ‘The police don’t know?’
‘ They don’t,’ said Steven. ‘I’m the only one.’
‘ How about a deal?’
‘ Tell me what I want to know and I’ll give you the card back.’
‘ Not a word to the police?’
‘ Not a word.’
‘ All right, I did have something going with John Merton.’
‘ How did you meet him?’
‘ We met at a club in the early nineties. Let’s say we had a mutual interest in young ladies.’
‘ And their exploitation,’ said Steven.
Verdi ignored the comment. ‘John was a computer buff. He convinced me that that was where the real money was to be made. All we needed was a few willing girls and some film equipment. I had a few friends who were in the sauna business so we pooled our resources and made a few videos. John distributed them via the net and they went like shit off a shovel. Then I found out what his day job was and we decided to help each other out there as well.’
‘ He faked evidence for you?’
‘ Fucked more like. He messed it up and I brought it to the attention of the court.’
‘ Tell me about the Julie Summers case. That was different.’
‘ Yeah, that was different. God help me, I don’t know too much about that. None of it was anything to do with me. It was John’s thing. He had some bee in his bonnet about the guy who was charged.’
‘ David Little?’
‘ That’s right. John maintained that he was as guilty as sin and was determined to see him go down for life. The DNA fingerprint evidence against Little was perfect but John said that some of the other stuff was a bit iffy. He asked me not to challenge it so I didn’t but that bloody case was just about the end of us.’
‘ How so?’
‘ Lee, John’s boss was a piss artist. He didn’t suspect anything about what had been going on until the Summers case. John could usually convince him that he must have screwed up but this time he kept on arguing with John about some gel pattern I think he called it. He refused to accept that he’d made a mistake. The drunken old bastard overheard John telling me on the phone about it in one of his sober moments and checked up on the phone number afterwards. He got in touch with Seymour and Nicholson to say that he thought that something ‘gravely unprofessional’ had been going on.
The old queens called me in and made noises about calling in the police. I had to point out that they had been sharing handsomely in the money I’d been bringing in to the firm and even if they didn’t go down with me, it would be the end of the line for dear old S amp; N. I put forward the alternative of my resignation from the firm with a bit of a pay-off and they went for it.’
‘ What about Lee?’
‘ I had a word with him.’
‘ What does that mean?’
‘ I told him that S amp;N were not going to take the matter any further so there would be no support for him from that direction. If he tried doing something on his own he would be exposed publicly as a drunk who couldn’t run a pie stall let alone a forensic lab. On the other hand, if he forgot about the whole thing he would be paid generously for his continuing silence. Guess which option he went for?’
‘ When did you last hear from him?’
‘ Funnily, a few weeks ago. He called me to say that some nosy bastard was asking questions about the evidence in the Summers case. I suppose that was you. He was up to high doh about it.’
‘ So you killed him in case he started talking about it?’
‘ Christ no, I didn’t give a damn about the Summers case. It was nothing to do with me. All I did was not ask a few questions.’
‘ Did you tell John Merton about Lee’s call?’
‘ As a matter of fact I did.’
‘ So you’re still in touch with him?’
