is, however, denying any involvement in the Hulme kidnapping.’
She held her expression for a count of three. ‘How was that?’
‘Great, if that’s what actually happened,’ Lock said, skirting round the fountain outside Federal Plaza.
They hadn’t spoken since dinner at her apartment. For Lock, it had been a night spent with Paul, Carrie’s new squeeze, gloating at him from the sideboard. Even Angel the rescue dog had deserted him for the plusher confines of Carrie’s bedroom, where she’d nestled herself into the pillows and steadfastly refused to budge. Between then and now, Carrie had been busy trying to keep up as the Josh Hulme story unravelled at breakneck speed, while Lock too had been doing more digging. They’d played phone tag a few times but Lock wasn’t willing to trust anything he’d discovered to voicemail.
As her cameraman broke down his equipment, Carrie joined Lock at the fountain. ‘So what did happen?’
‘I don’t have all the pieces yet, but I can tell you one thing: Cody Parker didn’t have anything to do with the kidnap of Josh Hulme.’
‘The FBI don’t agree. They seem to think they have a pretty strong case. He’s lucky New York State doesn’t have the death penalty, if you ask me.’
‘New York doesn’t have it because of cases like this.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘What gets someone strapped into old Sparky, or a big syringe of potassium chloride these days?’
‘How come I feel I’m about to be on the receiving end of one of your little lectures?’
‘Humour me.’
‘OK. A crime which horrifies. Child murder, abduction.’
‘And in cases like that there’s one hell of an amount of pressure on the authorities to bring someone before the courts.’
‘Hey, it’s not like they picked Cody Parker from the phone book. They’ve got some pretty strong evidence.’
‘And I’d bet all of it is circumstantial.’
‘I can’t believe you’re standing up for this guy! You heard what I said a moment ago. He’s sure as hell guilty of digging up a little old lady and dumping her body in the middle of Times Square.’
‘And he should go to jail for that. For a long time. But what they’re doing,’ Lock said, glancing over at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, ‘is railroading him for the kidnap.’
‘So if Cody Parker didn’t do it, who did?’
‘Meditech.’
She burst out laughing. Lock held her gaze.
‘Oh my God, you’re being serious.’
‘OK, it wasn’t a collective effort. I’m guessing very few people even knew about it. I’m not even sure Nicholas Van Straten knew.’
‘But he’s the CEO.’
‘Precisely. Look, Carrie, the reason people think you’re nuts when you mention something like this is that they have a picture in their mind of some big boardroom meeting with Van Straten sitting in a high-backed chair stroking a white cat. Shit like this doesn’t go down like that. The company needed Richard Hulme back at work for them.’
‘So why not offer him, I dunno, ten million bucks?’
‘Because someone like Richard is every company’s worst nightmare.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘A guy with principles who can’t be compromised by a big set of zeros.’
‘So they kidnap his child?’
‘In my opinion, yes. Hulme was a problem to be solved. Someone did some out-of-the-box thinking.’
‘Don’t you mean out-of-the-stratosphere?’
‘The cover was already there. The kid goes missing, everyone’s going to be looking at the animal rights people. After everything that had gone on, who wouldn’t believe they’d be involved? Especially after their beloved leader got smoked right on the front steps of the company.’
‘And Meditech did that too?’
‘You’re looking at it the wrong way. You think Nicholas Van Straten ordered Gray Stokes’ assassination.’
‘Isn’t that what you’re suggesting?’ Carrie said.
Lock sighed. The truth was that it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him either. Yet neither did the official version. In fact, that made even less sense.
‘The thing is that a big company like Meditech doesn’t operate like the army. The way the army is, every task gets broken down into tiny little steps. That makes it idiot-proof, but it also means that no one can just go off and do their own thing. In a private company it’s different. They don’t give a shit about how something is achieved, all they care about is the bottom line. That’s how you get guys with security companies out in Iraq smoking civilians left and right. They’re all former soldiers but all of a sudden they don’t have a command structure, no one to stick their ass in a sling if they do the right thing the wrong way.’ He paused, rubbing at his stitches. ‘Suppose Meditech has someone blackmailing them, and the wrong person gets hold of that information, and they decide to solve the problem directly. And as soon as that line’s been crossed once. .’
‘So who was it who took Josh Hulme?’ Carrie asked.
Lock looked straight at her. ‘Someone with boardroom backing from Stafford. More than likely Brand.’
‘Are you sure? You and he never saw eye to eye.’
‘That’s true, but that’s not why I think he’s involved.’
‘Then why do you?’
‘Because Brand was sleeping with Natalya Verovsky. But he told her his name was Cody Parker.’
Forty-three
Josh Hulme sat huddled next to his father as the cruiser surged its way towards the dock, churning foam in its wake. Ahead of them lay the old Brooklyn Naval Yard, home to Meditech’s new research facility.
Richard gazed up at the hulking compound. A twenty-foot wall ran to the edges of his peripheral vision. Atop the wall, a solitary Stars and Stripes snapped tight in the wind. Beneath the flag two guards prowled a walkway. Both of them armed.
Richard pulled Josh in closer and kissed the top of his son’s head. ‘You OK, sport?’ He reached into his pocket, pulled out a packet of Scopace tablets. ‘If you’re feeling seasick, I can give you one of these.’
Josh waved him away. ‘Dad, when can we go home?’
‘Daddy has some work to finish up first.’
‘Today?’
‘Maybe in a week or so.’
‘But it’s almost New Year.’
‘I know, big guy, I know, but Daddy made a promise.’
In truth, Richard hated himself. Josh needed him. Needed him now more than ever. But without the undertaking he’d given Meditech, Josh wouldn’t be here, might not even be alive, so what could he do?
Stafford clambered down into the cabin of the cruiser. ‘Bit choppy out there.’ He settled on the bench seat next to Richard, tousled Josh’s hair. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be there in a minute or two.’
Josh stiffened and pushed away his hand.
‘Listen, can I borrow your dad for a second there, sport?’
Richard followed Stafford out on to the deck as the boat ploughed onwards.
‘Eighty million dollars. Beautiful, isn’t it?’
All Richard could see was a blank wall which ran maybe a thousand feet along a parcel of land facing the dock. The only notable thing was its height. A solid twenty feet. Maybe more.
Stafford slapped Richard on the back. ‘He’ll be OK.’
‘He’s not your son. You can’t possibly imagine what this has been like for us.’
