‘If they see him they’ll grab him.’
‘He told me not to tell you.’
‘He’s still naïve. He never could read you.’
‘Whereas you could?’
‘Sue, I’ve never bought your charm, not totally. I know that you’re playing this to your advantage. You’d knife me in the back the first opportunity you got.’
‘You’re smarter than Malcolm then. All he ever wanted to do was to lay me.’
‘And he never did, not even now when you’re available.’
‘I was always available.’
Ed Barrow had the measure of the woman, the woman who had put him in contact with those who would take what Woolston had discovered. Their promise that there’d be enough money for all of them had been the reason that he had consented to allow Woolston to be subjected to savagery, and now the woman was admitting that she’d sell him out if the opportunity presented itself.
‘Can I trust you?’ Barrow said.
‘I will do what is right.’
‘That’s not an answer.’
‘It’s the only one you’ll get from me. Malcolm is after vengeance, he’s quite mad, you know. He’ll stop at nothing to secure what he wants. You know what you have to do.’
‘Not Gwen.’
‘You always knew this day would come.’
‘I suppose so.’
***
Ed Barrow left the office soon after talking to Sue. He realised that she and those she was in contact with would not honour their agreement to leave his family alone. He knew he had to protect them. He needed Malcolm Woolston.
As he drove out of the car park, a police car pulled up in front of him. ‘Mr Barrow, you’re required down at the police station. Either you drive there, or you can come with us.’
Realising that there was no way out, Barrow drove to the police station, the police car following. Isaac had realised that his personal assistant’s assertion that he was not in the office when he was could only mean one thing: he had something to hide. Isaac intended to find out what it was.
‘Mr Barrow, you are here voluntarily,’ Isaac said in the interview room at Challis Street. ‘Do you require legal representation?’
‘No. I was busy when you called at my office, that was all. I asked Sue to cover for me.’
‘There are aspects of this case that we don’t understand.’
‘I’ve told you all that I know.’
‘Are you aware that Malcolm Woolston phoned us?’
‘No.’
‘He was lucid. He explained that his research was being diverted from peaceful purposes.’
‘He’s an idealist. How can any man live on the street for years, and then come back and start murdering people? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘He’s also worried that his family is at risk.’
‘They’re my family as well. His daughter has accepted me as her de facto father, you do realise this?’
‘We are aware of the close personal relationship that you enjoy with the mother and daughter. It does not explain why Malcolm Woolston sees you as a threat. Mr Barrow, are you a threat? Were you one of those that allowed Malcolm Woolston to be subjected to violence? Were you one of those who watched while the man suffered? Would you allow his wife and daughter to be harmed if it was beneficial to you?’
‘What are you trying to portray me as, some kind of monster? Where’s the proof? I’m a mid-ranking civil servant doing his job to the best of his abilities. I’m not to blame if one of my former team members goes crazy, fakes his death, lives on the street, and then starts murdering people.’
‘I agree that it seems unlikely,’ Isaac said, ‘but it doesn’t solve the case. Granted that Woolston appears to be a strange character, and if we find him, he will be charged with murder, but he seems rational. Arbuthnot was a shady character. You’ve met him?’
‘On one occasion in the office.’ Barrow was glad that his conversation with Helen Toogood had revealed that she had identified him from a photo.
‘You did not tell us that before. We’ll forget your oversight for now. What was his interest in your department?’
‘He came with Hutton.’
‘Arbuthnot was involved in arms trading. Did you know that?’
‘Not at the time.’
‘And you are agreeable for your research to be used for weapons?’
‘I don’t have an issue with that. We work for the government. How they use our results is up to them. Just because Woolston had an issue is not my concern. The only issue is the protection of my family. The research can go to hell if they’re threatened.’
Chapter 21
At 4 p.m. Sue Christie received a phone call. ‘This evening, you will leave your office at 6 p.m. You will walk home down Bayswater Road. When you reach number 128, you will see a rubbish bin. You will put the files in there. Is that clear?’
‘Malcolm, where are they?’
‘In my laboratory in the far corner there is a loose floorboard. It is covered with carpet. You will remove the carpet and use a screwdriver or something flat to prise up the floorboard. Under it you will find a box wrapped in plastic.’
‘After eleven years?’
‘It is still there.’
‘How do you know?’
‘It is my job to know.’
Sue Christie realised that there was only one way he knew that the files were still there. ‘You could have asked Helen,’ she said.
‘I want you to do it.’
‘Why?’
‘I want to know if I can trust you.’
‘Very well, but this cloak and dagger routine is banal.’
‘The alternatives are not.’
***
Malcolm Woolston sat calmly in his flat. He weighed up the situation so far. It was necessary to trust some people, dispose of others. If he had stayed hidden,
