She thought about that for a second, then looked at him, nonplussed. ‘Where do you want me to start?’
‘How do you know Matias Gori?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know him,’ she said carefully, ‘but I know about him.’
Great, thought Carlyle, a pedant zealot, just what I need. ‘Okay, why are you interested in him?’
Once again, she thought about where to start. Normally, Carlyle thought, that means they’re getting ready to lie to you. But in the case of Monica Hartson, he was sure she was just trying to be precise. ‘We have a campaign…’
‘The Daughters of Dismas?’
‘Yes. We have been campaigning against the use of mercenaries in places like Iraq.’ Rooting about in her bag, she pulled out a couple of flyers and pushed them across the table.
Carlyle let them lie there. ‘Just tell me in your own words first.’
‘Well, we have this campaign… we are particularly focusing on mercenaries who were being funded by British taxpayers’ money.’
‘LA… something…’
‘LAHC, yes.’ She seemed to relax slightly, buoyed by the hope that the policeman might be at least a little informed. ‘The initials come from Luis Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga. Father Hurtardo was a Jesuit priest who was made a saint by the Pope a few years ago.’
‘So,’ Carlyle said, unable to resist teasing her gently, ‘these people have a religious background, like you?’
‘Not really,’ she said evenly, not rising to the bait. ‘LAHC has nothing to do with the Church, and it certainly has nothing to do with social reform. It is an American-registered company, but essentially owned and run by a group of rich Chileans with connections to the military. They take former commandoes and other special forces, and use British aid money to pay their wages.’
‘And that’s how you came across Gori?’
‘Yes. Gori is former Chilean Special Forces, from the thirteenth Commando Group, known as the Scorpions. His uncle is also the founder of LAHC. After the Scorpions, Matias became,’ she raised her fingers in the air to indicate quotation marks, ‘a “diplomat”. But he has very close ties to the mercenaries, some of whom he served with in the army.’
She glanced at Carlyle, who signalled for her to go on. ‘He has even gone out on missions with them. One of these missions, to a town called Ishaqi, north of Baghdad, ended up with the massacre of more than fifty men, women and children. According to witness reports, Matias Gori killed as many as a dozen of them himself. When we found out that he was working in London, we tried to get him arrested so that he could be tried either here or in Iraq or maybe at the War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague.’
Carlyle took a sip of his espresso. ‘And?’
Hartson looked angry. ‘Our lawyers say we need more evidence. That is why we tried to confront him directly.’
Oh, oh, Carlyle thought, the Women’s Institute takes on Rambo. Excellent idea. ‘When was this?’
‘Earlier this month there was a demonstration. We marched to the Embassy and lodged a petition with the Ambassador, asking for Gori to be handed over to the police for questioning.’
‘And what did the Ambassador say?’
‘We’re still waiting for a reply.’
‘And now two of you are dead.’
She looked at him blankly.
Shit, Carlyle thought, too late to sugar-coat the pill now. ‘Agatha and Sandra were both murdered; didn’t you know?’
The tears were already welling up in her eyes as she absorbed this shocking news. Carlyle made no attempt to comfort her, but gave her time to compose herself before he began running through a quick summary of the relevant events.
By the time he had finished, Hartson had largely regained her calm. ‘I’ve been away for a while,’ she explained. ‘I only got back to London yesterday.’
That may well have saved your life, Carlyle reflected.
‘Do you think,’ her voice quivered a little, ‘that Gori killed them?’
‘Maybe.’ Carlyle said. ‘I think so.’
Monica looked at him carefully. ‘Can you prove it?’
He smiled grimly. ‘That’s not the question.’
‘Oh,’ she said shakily. ‘What is?’
‘The question is — will I have to?’
‘I’m not sure I understand.’
‘Good.’
‘Will he come after me?’
Yes. ‘Maybe.’
She ran her hands through her hair and shivered. ‘Will I be safe?’
Maybe. ‘Yes.’
‘Will you protect me?’
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver, he told himself. ‘I will stop him.’
‘What should I do?’
‘Is there somewhere you can stay for a little while?’ he asked. ‘Out of the way, preferably somewhere outside of London.’
She thought about it for a moment. ‘I’ve got some friends up in Glasgow.’
‘Good, then this is what we’ll do.’ Carlyle programmed her mobile number into his private phone then took down the details of the people she would be staying with. ‘I will call you once a day. If goes to voicemail, I’ll leave a message.’
They walked back to the lifts in silence. Downstairs, by the front desk, Carlyle shook her hand again. ‘Thank you for coming.’
Monica Hartson gave him a wan smile. ‘I’m not sure whether I feel better for our conversation, or worse.’
‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘This is nearly over. Gori is a marked man. It will be done in a couple of days. Getting out of town is just an additional precaution.’
‘I hope so.’
‘One thing I was wondering, though…’
‘Yes?’
‘Why put yourself through all of this? Why go after someone like Gori?’
Hartson looked at him for a moment, as if deciding whether to tell him the whole story. ‘I was there,’ she said finally. ‘I saw what he did.’
‘What?’
‘We arrived in Ishaqi the day after Gori and his comrades had blown through,’ she said quietly. ‘I set up a Red Cross office under a makeshift awning by the side of one of the houses that hadn’t been burned out. I stood and watched a man in a black turban holding a hessian sack containing the remains of his son.’ She swallowed. ‘Only it wasn’t his son, just random scraps that had been recovered from around the place. The elders had already given away all the bodies, and even the limbs, to mourners who had got there first. Identifying anybody or anything was almost impossible. All that they could do was try and give each family something approximating the right number of corpses.’
‘Jesus.’
‘By the time this man arrived there were just a few pieces left. But he had to have something to take home. He just scooped up what he could and put it in his sack.’ Monica closed her eyes and stifled a sob. ‘The man went home to tell his wife that this was their son, so the family had something to bury while they said their prayers.’
Carlyle mumbled something that he hoped sounded sympathetic.
‘After that, I couldn’t get home quickly enough.’
