Dark Eyes of London (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sebastian Fleming was in a bad mood. Not that he was ever in a particularly good mood; but today was even worse. He made his journey into work without saying a word to John. He slammed the BMW door shut and stormed into the building. When he got to the floor where the CitiMarket offices were, he walked briskly to his office. Carol looked up from her desk as he marched past.

‘Good morning, Mr Fleming,’ she said, beginning to stand up. Ignoring her, he went into his office and slammed the door shut. Carol raised her eyebrows and carried on with what she was going.

Inside his office, Fleming took off his overcoat and threw it over the coat stand. Paced up and down a few times, then left the office and down the corridor where the main office was situated. He stood at the end of the corridor and gazed over the desks. One desk in particular was empty. His glance caught Gerald sitting in the conference room to the side of the office area. Gerald was on a landline phone. Fleming strode over to the conference room. There were a dozen or so staff working at the time; as Fleming made his way across the office, they all stopped work and watched. Gerald looked up from his call and saw Fleming coming over.

‘I’ll have to call you back. Sorry,’ he said, and hung up. ‘Good morning, Mr Fleming.’

Fleming did not respond. He merely pushed the conference room door shut behind him. ‘Where’s that Spicer girl?’ he snapped at Gerald.

Gerald was taken aback.

‘Amy? She - she must be late today. She’s not arrived yet. Hasn’t called in sick or anything.’

‘Yet,’ muttered Fleming, more to himself than to Gerald.

‘Yet?’ asked Gerald. He was getting confused.

‘I want you to tell me immediately she arrives, or calls in. Do you understand?’

‘Yes sir, I will,’ said Gerald, getting flustered.

Fleming turned and left the room. He turned round in the doorway. ‘Immediately,’ he repeated.

‘Yes, Mr Fleming, I will,’ Gerald said, but Fleming was already striding across the office and back to his own room. Frowning, Gerald got up and walked out to a young man working on a keyboard. The young man looked up.

‘You haven’t heard anything from Amy Spicer, have you?’ Gerald asked.

The young man shook his head. ‘No, I haven’t. She’s not shown up yet. Maybe there’s been a problem on the tube.’

‘Maybe,’ said Gerald, absent-mindedly. ‘Let me know as soon as you hear
anything
about her. Anything. Mr Fleming wants to know.’

‘Right you are, Gerald,’ said the young man, returning to his keyboard.

‘Okay,’ said Gerald. ‘We’ll start the team meeting in five minutes.’

He wandered back to the conference room, staring over at Amy’s empty desk and over to the corridor leading to Fleming’s office.

Fleming returned to his room, closing the door, behind him. He paced over to his desk. Sat down and pressed a button on his desk intercom.

‘Yes Mr Fleming, sir,’ came Carol’s voice.

‘Get hold of Ashley Merchant,’ Fleming said. ‘Tell her I want to see her now.’

‘Yes sir,’ Carol replied.

A couple of minutes later, the intercom buzzed again.

‘Yes?’ snapped Fleming.

‘I’ve got hold of Ms Merchant,’ said Carol. ‘She’s on her way up.’

‘All right. Send her in as soon as she arrives.’

‘Yes sir. By the way, Mr Fleming, I’ve put the files for the Munro account on your desk. You were asking for it last night.’

Fleming looked down at the desk, and an A4 sized blue folder. ‘Right, thank you. Don’t forget: send her in as soon as she gets here.’

‘Yes, Mr Fleming.’

Fleming released the intercom switch and sat back in his chair.  He turned to the blue folder and opened it. Better get on with the day job.

A couple of minutes later, the door opened and Ashley Merchant strode in. Fleming looked up at her. ‘You could always try knocking,’ he said. ‘This is my office after all.’

Merchant paused for a second, regained her control and said, ‘Carol said you wanted to see me. She said it was urgent,’ she added, sitting down.

‘Be with you in a second,’ Fleming said, finishing the page he was reading.

Don’t try any of that power game crap with me
, thought Merchant, then said, ‘I’ve just spoken with Gerald. He says that the Spicer girl hasn’t shown up this morning.’

Irritated, Fleming closed the file and gave Merchant his attention. ‘Does that surprise you?’ he asked.

‘Not really. We won’t see the little bitch here anymore.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve got Vine and Carter on it.’

‘And what are they going to do? They’ve hardly distinguished themselves, have they?’

‘We hadn’t anticipated a third party being involved.’

‘This man they spoke of. Who is he? A boyfriend?’

‘Possibly. We don’t know.’

Fleming sighed impatiently. ‘How many times have they been seen together?’ he asked.

Merchant frowned. ‘Just a couple of times, I think. In Hyde Park over the weekend, and yesterday outside her flat,’ she replied. ‘Why?’

‘How tactile were they?’

‘Tactile?’

‘Were they holding hands?’ Fleming asked, as if he was talking to a child.

‘I’ve no idea. Vine didn’t say,’ Merchant snapped back. ‘Is that relevant?’

‘Well, if they were holding hands, or having some physical contact, then he probably is a boyfriend. Which means he’s likely to be around most of the time.’

‘All our information is to the effect that she’s single. No boyfriend.’

‘Girlfriend?’ asked Fleming.

Merchant knew why he was asking that. ‘No girlfriend,’ she replied slowly, glaring at him. ‘In any case,’ she continued, attempting to regain the initiative, ‘his status doesn’t matter. Having another person around just complicates what happens next. The last ones were single and straightforward.’

‘Khan was married, wasn‘t he?’

‘Yes, but he was on his own at the time. Driving up north. And Lisa Kennedy was single and living alone -’

‘But Lisa Kennedy was a different case, wasn’t she?’

‘Yes. I suppose so. Anyhow, as I said, Vine and Carter are on the Spicer girl’s case.’

Just as Fleming opened his mouth to reply, there was a knock on the door and Gerald entered the office.

‘Sorry to disturb, Mr Fleming, but Amy Spicer has just called in sick. You said you wanted to know personally.’

‘What did she say was wrong?’ asked Merchant.

‘Theresa Danson took the call,’ Gerald replied. ‘Amy said she had sickness and diarrhoea. Will be off for a few days.’

‘I bet she will,’ Merchant muttered, causing Gerald to glance at her.

‘All right, Gerald,’ said Merchant. ‘Thanks.’

Fleming waited until Gerald had shut the door then said, ‘I told you. She won’t be back here.’

‘Not voluntarily, no.’

‘So, by being
on it
, what are Vine and Carter doing?’

‘All they can do at the moment,’ Merchant said, ‘is for one of them to stay where she lives.’

‘And hope she goes back? Alone?’

‘Partly, yes. But I’ve told them to knock on her neighbours’ doors. Pretend to be a relative or something. Say they’re
looking for her and do the neighbours know where she’s gone.’

‘Better get Carter to do that. If Vine knocks on someone’s door -’

‘I did tell Carter, yes.’

Fleming opened the blue folder again. ‘Well, let me know if anything happens,’ he said, not looking at Merchant. He heard her stand up and walk to the door. ‘Tell them not to screw up again,’ he said, still pretending to read the file contents. ‘For their sake. And yours.’

Merchant stood in the doorway and turned to face him. ‘For all our sakes, Sebastian. Including yours.’

Fleming looked up sharply as Merchant closed the door behind her.

Chapter Twenty-Six

‘She said no?’ asked Amy. ‘What reason did she give?’

Tom stared down at the phone. ‘She just said she wanted to let Lisa rest in peace. She didn’t want anybody raking over her sister’s stuff.’

‘But I thought you said that she agreed with you about the way Lisa died. Didn’t she want to get to the bottom of things?’

‘I thought so, yes.’

‘So we can’t get to look at Lisa’s stuff; what do we do now?’

Tom sat back in the kitchen chair and stared into space. He shook his head slowly. ‘I’ve absolutely no idea,’ he said. ‘No idea.’

*****

Sully Beecham looked up from his laptop. He was due to visit one of his team that afternoon to deliver a performance review, so was spending part of the morning at home preparing for the review. He was not expecting Jane to be at home as well, so had set the laptop and paperwork out on their dining table.

‘You not going in today, babe?’ he asked Jane as she pottered about in the kitchen.

‘Going in later,’ she said. ‘Some time owing I had for when I did some extra hours. Will be out of your hair soon.’

‘Fine,’ Sully said, returning to his screen. He could hear Jane in the kitchen, taking some washing out of the washing machine and putting it in the tumble dryer. Her mobile started ringing. He carried on working, expecting her to answer, but she carried on in the kitchen. Perhaps she couldn’t hear over the noise of the dryer.

He saved the file he was working on, sighed, and picked up her phone from the coffee table. He saw from the screen that it was Tom calling. He took the still ringing phone out into the kitchen and handed it to her.

‘Here,’ he said. ‘Your ex-brother-in-law.’

She gave him a strange look and took the phone, which by now had stopped ringing. She put the phone down on the kitchen table.

‘Aren’t you going to call him back?’ Sully asked. ‘It was him who called last night, wasn’t it?’

‘Yeah, I will call him back. When I get round to it.’

Sully shrugged and went back to the dining table. ‘Why don’t you call him back now?’ he suggested. ‘Before you go to work. Obviously he wants something.’

Jane huffed and snatched the phone off the table. ‘I’ll call him from in here,’ she said as she walked to their bedroom. ‘So as not to disturb you.’

‘Not disturbing me,’ said Sully. ‘Tell him I said hi.’

Sully continued with his review preparation but could not help overhearing part of the conversation Jane was having with Tom. She was starting to raise her voice - not a good sign - and appeared to be getting stressed. She shortly came out of the bedroom looking flustered.

‘What was that all about?’ Sully asked.

‘Nothing.’

‘Didn’t sound like nothing. I heard you keep saying no; what was he asking for?’

‘You were listening, were you?’

‘Not deliberately. But you were talking so loudly...’

Jane went back into the kitchen.

‘What did he want?’ Sully asked again.

‘I told you - nothing.’

‘Was it about Lisa?’

‘Who said it was about Lisa?’

‘Well, who else would it have been about? Tell me, what did he want?’

‘If you must know, he wanted to look through Lisa’s stuff.’

‘Did he say why?’

‘Said something about looking for something to prove her death wasn’t an accident.’

‘Oh, I see. But you don’t think it was, either.’

‘No, I told you. I don’t.’

‘So what’s the problem? Maybe he’s on to something. Can’t hurt to look through her stuff. He was her husband, after all.’

‘Was. Now I’m her next of kin.’

‘Still don’t see your problem.’

‘I don’t want him or anybody else raking over what happened. The inquest is over, the funeral’s over; let’s let her rest in peace.’

‘But surely if he can find out how and why she died, it’s for the good? Looking over some paperwork can’t hurt.’

‘He wants to go over her place as well. I can’t go through that again.’

‘But this wouldn’t be the same, would it? It’s Tom, not -’

‘I don’t want her memory disrespected, that’s all.’

‘But this will hardly disrespect her memory.’

Jane burst out of the kitchen. ‘Of course, you’d know all about her memory, wouldn’t you? You’d have your own memories of her!’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Sully asked, hoping that it didn’t mean what he feared it might.

‘You think I don’t know?’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘About you and Lisa.’

‘Me and Lisa?’

‘I bet it was one big joke for you.  Shagging one sister in the afternoon, then the other at night. Keep scores, did you?  Was she better than me?’

‘Janey, don’t -’

‘Well, she’s gone now. You’ve lost a lover, but I’ve lost a sister. I’ve no doubt you’ll get another whore to sleep with, but I’ll never get another sister.’

Jane went back into the kitchen and stood with her back to the door. Sully got up and followed her in.

‘How long have you known?’ he asked softly.

She turned round, her eyes slightly moist. ‘A few months,’ she said. ‘One day, I was feeling ill at work, I came home early and saw the two of you in there.’ She indicated to the bedroom.

‘It didn’t last for long,’ he said. ‘We only slept together three or four times. Then agreed it was over; a mistake.’

‘Well it’s over now,’ Jane said.

‘Come here,’ Sully said, holding his arms out. Jane stepped forward and he held her.

*****

‘Jane said she took Lisa’s personal effects,’ Tom said. ‘But surely that would be stuff like bank statements, passport; those sorts of things. I wouldn’t include any work she had taken home as personal effects.’

‘But if she saw Lisa had work stuff, wouldn’t she have returned it?’

‘Possibly. Who knows? She never said.’

‘So there’s more chance that if Lisa had anything at home, it would still be there? You do know her address, don’t you?’

‘Sure. But Jane’s got the door keys, remember?’

‘We could break in.’

‘We could what?’

‘Break in. It can’t be that difficult: look at my place. And we wouldn’t be stealing anything of hers.’

Tom ran his hands through his hair and laughed.

‘What’s funny?’

‘You.’

‘Me?’

‘In the space of twenty-four, thirty-six hours you change from vulnerable office girl to housebreaker.’

‘Is that what I am? Someone you feel sorry for?’

‘That’s not what I said. Yes, I feel some sense of responsibility for you. If I’d ignored that note of yours, than we wouldn’t be sitting here now, talking like this.’

‘All right. Point taken. But how else are we going to get into Lisa’s place? It can’t be that difficult to force a door open.’

‘I’ve no idea. I’ve never -’

Tom’s phone rang.

‘It’s Jane again,’ he said as he picked the phone up. ‘Hi Jane. Again.’

‘..........’

‘You will?’ He looked at Amy, furiously nodding his head. She sat up.

‘..........’

‘Well, yes; that’s great. When can -’

‘..........’

‘Tonight is great. Is it okay if we both come?’

‘..........’

‘Amy. Amy Spicer. She worked with Lisa. You saw her at the funeral. She has the same thoughts as us.’

‘..........’

‘No, I don’t have it.  Hold on - I’ll just get a pen and paper.’

Tom grabbed a pencil and yesterday’s
Metro
and scribbled down Jane and Sully’s address. ‘Right. Thanks, Jane. See you tonight.’

He ended the call and beamed at Amy. ‘She’s changed her mind,’ he said.

‘That’s great. What made her change it?’

‘Said after the first call, she talked to Sully.’

‘Sully?’

‘Her boyfriend.  Short for Sullivan. He lives with her. Remember, he was at the funeral.’

‘Yes, vaguely.’

‘Anyway, apparently, Sully talked her round to changing her mind.’

‘Well done, Sully.’

‘Absolutely. So we’re back in business. No need for breaking and entering. She said come round around eight.’

‘Brilliant.’

‘
Certainly gets us out of a corner. And if we find nothing, then at least we explored that angle.’

‘So what do we do in the meantime?’ Amy asked.

Tom walked over to the fridge and opened the door. ‘Do you enjoy shopping?’ he asked.

*****

‘See, it wasn’t that difficult,’ said Sully, as Jane ended her call. ‘You’ve done the right thing.’

Jane nodded. She smiled at Sully and went over to him, running her fingers through his hair as she stood behind him.

‘What are you -?’ he asked as she stepped over his legs and sat astride him. ‘Janey, I’ve got this -’ he started to say as she put her left index finger over his mouth. She leaned down and kissed him hard; not with any tenderness, but a purely physical action.

‘Does this mean I’m forgiven?’ Sully asked.

‘Almost,’ she breathed.

‘Honestly, I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt you.’

‘I know.’

I’m so sorry,’ he said again. ‘It was a one-off. It’ll never happen again. I swear.’

Jane looked down at him. ‘I know,’ she smiled. ‘But if it does, I’ll cut it off.’

Sully smiled at her and held her close. She put her arms round him.

He continued to hold her, a slightly bothered look on his face.