By All Means (Fiske and MacNee Mysteries Book 2) (22 page)

'I see that, but you've been working really hard on this and I just wondered whether, given your condition, you might want to avoid getting up at three o'clock in the morning to go to Edinburgh.'

Christ almighty, Vanessa thought, he's gone from old style to Neanderthal! She had to nail this here and now.

'Sir, I'm not ill, I'm pregnant.  I'm also a senior professional police officer in the middle of a difficult, high profile case.  I haven't decided when to take my maternity leave but I'm not taking it now.'

Esslemont seemed genuinely surprised, even shocked, by her response.  'I just thought you might welcome a good night's sleep before interviewing MacIver tomorrow.  I wasn't questioning your commitment or your ability to do your job.'

'With respect, sir, that's not how it sounded.  If I go home now, I can get five hours sleep and possibly a bit more on the way to Edinburgh.  We'll have MacIver back here by ten o'clock.  His lawyer will take a bit longer, so we might be able to fit in another session with Richard Fleming.  It's a lower priority, but it needs to be done.'

'I'll try to set that up for eleven.'

'Thank you, sir.  We really ought to get that sorted now that we're linking the murders to the Last and Mercury attacks.  We'll need to be sure that Fleming's connection to Mancuso, Last's security chief, was purely social. And we still don't know why Fleming was feeding information to Gilbertson.'

Vanessa hadn't set out to demonstrate that she was completely on top of her job, but that was the effect.  Esslemont got the message, wished her good night and success in Edinburgh, and turned towards his office.

*

By half-past-eight, Vanessa had finished her second interview with Mathieson.  It had been no more productive than MacNee’s questioning of MacIlwraith.  She had decided not to bring up what she already knew about the search history on his computers.  She had suggested to Colin that he should also hold back on this when questioning MacIlwraith.  They had preliminary analyses from Dongle and from the Strathclyde hi-tech unit, but she wanted to see the full reports before she confronted the suspects.  She also needed some early indication of what was on MacIver’s computers.  

When she was done, Vanessa checked with Fiona Marchmont and with the lawyer in the procurator fiscal’s office and then instructed the duty chief inspector to formally charge McIlwraith and Mathieson with conspiracy to murder.  She asked Fiona to see if she could arrange for their first court appearance to take place on Wednesday afternoon, ostensibly so that she could be present, but also because she wanted an opportunity to question Mathieson again when she got back from Edinburgh.   Colin MacNee would interview MacIlwraith again as soon as he had all the details from the computers.   Both Dongle and the Strathclyde people had said that their full reports would be emailed by eight o’clock on Wednesday morning.   Admin support would confirm their arrival to DCI Fiske as she travelled back from Edinburgh.

By ten to nine, Vanessa was sitting on the sofa in their flat while Neil Derrick made her a pasta.

‘I really need to get to bed.  I’m being picked up at half-past-three and a slightly surreal conversation with Esslemont earlier makes it even more essential than usual that I’m on the ball tomorrow.  It’s been some day!  Twins? Fucking twins!  Is there any history of twins in your family, because there certainly isn’t in mine.’

Neil paused in his stirring of the bolognese. ‘I don’t think so, but my mother is checking with her sisters and aunts.  And I’ve had a little surf around the internet.  Apparently…’

Vanessa interrupted him. ‘I know. If there’s no history, there’s a greater likelihood of identical twins, which would mean that the ideal outcome of a boy and a girl is less likely.   But, do you know what?  I don’t care!  I’m shocked, shaken and very happy.   I couldn’t believe how professional I was after I went back to the office after the scan.  That’s what made Esslemont’s “concern” so hard to take. As Chris Jenkinson said, pregnancy lays prejudices bare.  Big news, big case.  Let’s have that pasta, then all three of us are off to bed.  You can make it four if you like.’

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

At DCI Vanessa Fiske’s request, Harry Conival had called a press conference for 1430 hrs on Wednesday.  The timing allowed Vanessa to be in court at two o'clock to see all three men charged  and remanded. The call to the press conference was accompanied by a press release announcing that Paul MacIver, 32, of Edinburgh, had been arrested at his home that morning and brought to North East Constabulary Headquarters in Aberdeen.   He had been questioned by DCI Fiske and subsequently charged with conspiracy to murder both Peter Keller and Harvey Jamieson. Further possible offences were being investigated, but no other charges had yet been laid.   The press conference would be taken by DCI Fiske.  DI Colin MacNee, as the Senior Investigating Officer on the Keller case would also be there, as would Detective Chief Superintendent Campbell Esslemont, Head of NEC CID.

Before the First Minister made her statement to Parliament, at 12.30 pm, Paul MacIver had, indeed, been ‘named locally’ as the man arrested in Edinburgh's New Town early that morning.  The information had been posted immediately on most news media websites and there was febrile speculation about the political significance of the involvement of the First Minister’s most trusted adviser in two murders and, possibly, other serious offences. The investigating officers had so far said nothing publicly about why the men had been killed, and the announcement from Hedelco and Burtonhall about the release of the emails had led the smarter journalists, especially Ben Aaronson of the
Financial Post,
to conclude that they had contained nothing that the police would recognise as a motive for murder.   

Aaronson's conclusion, on the
FP
website, was clear and unequivocal:

The emails were posted on the Hedelco website as soon as they were released to the police investigating Peter Keller’s murder, largely to limit the damage to the company’s reputation, and to that of its secretive parent, private equity giant Burtonhall. US media had attacked them for obstructing enquiries into the death of a US citizen.  

By asserting ‘commercial confidentiality’ as their reason for withholding the emails from the police, the companies may have been stating nothing but the truth.   Whether it was the whole truth remains to be seen.   Things might be clearer if the emails to Ebright, the owners of the Vermont One oil rig, where Harvey Jamieson was murdered on the same day that Keller died, were made public.  For now, we must assume that, just as the Hedelco emails call into question the financial position of the Grampian Royal Hospital contract, the Ebright emails almost certainly show the precarious profitability of Vermont One.   The government inspectors are already heading for the hospital.  If the performance or safety of Vermont One were called in question, the possibility of Burtonhall pulling the plug on both of these substantial investments in Scotland would become very real.

As to the real motives for the murders, and any links there may be to other recent crimes in Scotland, police investigations continue.  The North East Constabulary press conference this afternoon may clarify the political ramifications of this complex affair.

*

When Vanessa entered the briefing room she saw even more reporters than had turned out for her press conferences during the Balmoral murder investigation some months before.  She was particularly aware of the line of cameras and microphone booms set up at the back, and she immediately spotted the logos of the BBC, ITN, Channel 5 and Sky News.   Two of the four major American networks were also there, as were all the usual suspects, local and national.

She and Colin MacNee sat at a table on the raised dais at the front; Esslemont took a seat at the end of the front row of seats; Harry Conival hovered about by the door through which the officers had come in.  As soon as the expectant hum had died down, Vanessa stood up and made an opening statement that did little more than rehash what had been in the press release.

She finished by saying, as usual, that she would try to answer questions as fully as possible, but that she might have to withhold some information in the interests of what was still an ongoing investigation.

Dozens of hands shot up.   Vanessa nodded at Jason Sime of the
G & T
, in recognition of the piece he had written for the Boston
Globe.
‘I think you should have the first go, Jason, as the local boy.’

Sime stood up, looking slightly embarrassed.  ‘It’s pretty clear from the Hedelco emails that there is no financial or commercial motive for the murders.   And I assume that you’ve ruled out the possibility of two muggings gone wrong on the same day.  We now know, that you’ve arrested and charged a very highly placed political figure.  Are we looking at a political motive for these killings?'

‘You know I try to resist descending into cliché, Jason, but I have to say that we are keeping an open mind on that.’

‘What’s the connection between MacIver and the other two men you’ve charged?  Do they know each other?’

‘We believe that there is a historic connection between them and we are investigating the possibility of more recent contacts.’

Vanessa pointed to another reporter.

‘Kevin Bennett,
Glasgow Banner. 
Can you tell us what contacts you’ve had with the First Minister in the course of your investigations?’

Vanessa glanced at Esslemont who gave her a look that suggested she should be careful.

‘Early in the investigation, the First Minister spoke, in her capacity as a local MSP, with the Chief Constable.   Also, at her request, we arranged for her to be briefed, daily, through the Justice Secretary, on progress with the various investigations underway.’

Bennett stood up. ‘The FM told Parliament that the Justice Secretary was being briefed about the Last Cairngorm and Mercury Fulfilment attacks.   Was he also briefed on the murders, and if so, are you connecting all of these crimes?’

Vanessa knew this was a good question. She considered quickly, but carefully, how to respond.

‘In the first instance, it seemed sensible to use the briefings to report any progress on the murders, given the FM’s constituency interest. More recently, we have begun to look at the possibility of the kind of connection you mention.’

Esslemont nodded.  It was going to come out as soon as the press began digging into MacIver and sniffing around the Major Crimes Unit at Govan, so it was as well to put it into the public domain now.

‘David MacKay,
BBC Scotland.  
Who briefed the Justice Secretary?  And was anyone else present during the briefings.’

Vanessa had been in this game long enough to recognise a question to which the questioner already knew the answer.  If she dodged it, the reporter would simply come back with a second question naming the people he knew to have been present.

‘The briefings were undertaken by a Deputy Chief Constable from Lothian and Borders and on all but one occasion the Justice Secretary was accompanied by a member of the First Minister’s staff.’

‘Was that member of staff Paul MacIver?’

Vanessa smiled.  ‘I’m sorry, but that’s one of the things I can’t tell you.’ 

From the back of the room, without invitation from DCI Fiske, a voice said, ‘Thornhill, freelance. Was the DCC from Lothian and Borders Grant Ingram?’

‘Yes.’

‘And isn’t he the ACPO lead on terrorism?’

‘Yes.’

The media now had their story.  There was a link between the murders and the Last and Mercury attacks.  The possibility of terrorism was in play. And they believed that one of the suspects had been given confidential briefings on the course of enquiries that had led to his arrest.  It was going to be very difficult, now, to separate the political and criminal aspects of the investigations.

*

'We've got means and opportunity, but we still don't have motive.  The Hedelco emails are no more use than those Dongle extracted from Jamieson's laptop.  I'm in no doubt that MacIlwraith and Mathieson committed the murders, but if we don't come up with a convincing motive, the case is weakened, possibly fatally.  Its circumstantial, and that will be a gift to the defence, even with the forensic evidence, such as it is, from their homes.'

Vanessa Fiske was opening the team meeting immediately after the press conference, and she wanted to use it as a brainstorming session to ensure that all possible leads and theories had been considered.

'What forensic have we got?'  This was Esslemont, who had decided, because of the political and media interest, to attend all the team meetings.

'Not a lot. Colin?'

MacNee got up and went to the whiteboard, where he would write the key points as he went along.  He always did this, because he always had, even if, as with the preliminary sweep of MacIlwraith's house, there was very little to report.

'The only potentially useful thing, so far as connecting the suspect to the murder is concerned, is the cardboard box with Cyrillic script that appears to have contained Pentothal, one of the drugs used to kill Keller.  The SOCOs found it behind a chest of drawers.  MacIlwraith says he knows nothing about it, which is a bit odd, given that it's got his fingerprints on it.  We also found a couple of surgical syringes, but they'd been cleaned and wiped. No prints, no residues.'

'Phones and computers?', DS Sara Hamilton asked.

'We got three disposable phones from MacIlwraith's place and' -- he looked to Vanessa for confirmation -- two from Mathieson's.  Three of them -- two of MacIlwraith's and one of Mathieson's -- had calls and texts to the same number.  The boss thinks it's likely that we've found that burner in MacIver's flat.'

Vanessa looked at Dongle Donaldson, who smiled and said, 'Right on the money, boss.  We recovered two burners and a BlackBerry from MacIver's place.  The Blackberry was issued to him by the Scottish Government, so is unlikely to incriminate him, but we're analysing it anyway.  One of the burners is certainly the number that the texts and calls Colin mentioned went to.  MacIver seems to have been more careful than the others:  all texts had been deleted and the call logs erased.'

'So that connects MacIver to the others, but not directly to the murders.'  Vanessa said.  'We need more and, at the risk of being boringly repetitive, we still need motive.'

'What else did you find at MacIver's place?'  DC Duncan Williamson, like his colleague, DC Stewart Todd, was a bit pissed off not to have been more directly involved in the arrests, and was determined to contribute something to the investigation.

Vanessa was sensitive to the need to be inclusive in the interests of staff morale.   'Sorry you and Stewart have been a bit deskbound on this one, Duncan, but one of the purposes of this meeting is to allow those of you who've not been directly involved to look at what we've got and, I hope, point to things we may have missed by being too close.'

Esslemont looked impressed by the management style that lay behind Vanessa's response, but said nothing.

'As well as his burners, three of them, we found two laptops, now in Dongle's custody for analysis, one Scottish government issue, one not. Also, some bank statements, showing unidentified substantial deposits to an account different from the one that his salary goes into.'

'Didn't I see in the case logs something to the effect that neither of the other two suspects has, to use an old-fashioned phrase, any visible means of support? No job. No benefits.'

'That's right. And we need to know who's been subsidising them.'

'Maybe MacIver's been bankrolling them from the mystery deposits to his second account.  How can we find out?'

'Good thinking, Duncan', Vanessa said, deciding not to mention that her mind had been going in the same direction. 'Speculative, but interesting.  I think we may have to call Andy Hanna in again.  That kind of forensic financial investigation is laborious and time-consuming and needs real expertise.  I've also got a residual concern about the position of Burtonhall in all this.  I don't think they're entirely off the hook, so Andy might be able to help with that, too.'