Safe House (41 page)

‘We should sit down,’ Erik said, gesturing to an extensive collection of sofas and armchairs. ‘It is more civilised, yes?’

‘You sit. We’ll stand. I prefer it that way.’

Erik considered my words, then brushed by me and dropped heavily on to a leather couch. He propped his elbows on his knees and clutched his head in his hands, his fingers clawing into his sandy hair. The water hissed and gurgled in the room behind him.

Now I knew why he’d told Lukas to leave. He hadn’t wanted his subordinate to see him like this.

‘Do you know the work your sister was involved in?’ Erik asked, once he’d decided where to begin.

I walked closer, until I was standing over him. Rebecca and Shimmin followed, keeping a little more distance.

‘She worked for the security services,’ I said.

‘I mean specifically.’

I shook my head.

‘She was proficient in close protection. Or so I was told. Six months ago she was assigned to protect Lena.’

‘Protect her from what?’

‘From threats to her life.’ He cleared his long fringe from his eyes. Smoothed it back over his head. ‘We were approached by representatives of British Intelligence. They told us that Lena was living in London. We knew this already, naturally. But they claimed her life was in danger.’

‘From who?’

‘From certain elements in Alex Tyler’s campaign group. Disaffected people. People who did not approve of Tyler’s relationship with my daughter. Your sister was to live with Lena on a temporary basis. Lena agreed to this. But only because she did not know I had been told.’

‘But Lena’s not British,’ I said. ‘Why was she given that level of help?’

‘I told you once that I am a rich man. You remember? I said that there are people who wish to hurt me. People who would prefer to take what I have rather than build something of their own.’

‘I remember.’

‘This is true of governments, too. I am a powerful man.’ He didn’t look it right now. Slumped on the soft leather cushion. Tugging at the roots of his hair. ‘I have oil. I
am
oil. This is a desirable commodity, yes? Essential to a country like the United Kingdom.’

‘So what, your daughter gets protection in return for oil contracts?’

He pursed his lips. ‘It is not really like this. It is more of an accommodation. An incentive. My company has a lot of oil. It sells some to the UK. They wish for us to continue to do this.’

‘
OK
.’

‘And so they wish to help me.’

‘Right,’ I said, and glanced towards Rebecca and Shimmin. Shimmin’s brow was furrowed. He was concentrating hard. Rebecca was more relaxed, standing with her hands in her pockets. Like none of this was particularly new or surprising to her. ‘So then what happened?’

‘Two months ago, your sister contacted me. She did it directly. This was unusual. Normally, I would receive information through her superiors.’ Erik clasped his hands together in front of his chest. ‘She said that she’d received orders to drug Alex Tyler and my daughter. She’d been told that new threats had been made against Lena, and that Tyler was suspected of being involved. British Intelligence wished to extract Tyler to question him. Your sister was to facilitate this. But Lena and Alex were inseparable. They had not left Lena’s apartment in many days. So your sister was told to drug them in order that Tyler might be extracted cleanly. Once they were sedated, she was to leave them alone in the apartment.’

Erik lowered his face. He watched his fingers knotting themselves together.

‘Your sister was suspicious of this,’ he said. ‘She did not understand why she was supposed to leave. So once she had carried out her instructions, she pretended to walk away, but in fact she doubled back and remained close by. Because of this, she saw two men exit Lena’s apartment. The men left
without
Alex Tyler. This is when she returned to the apartment and found that Tyler had been killed. She said she knew what had happened. She claimed that Tyler had been murdered in such a way as to make it appear that Lena was the real killer.’

I thought of the video footage. If Laura had been suspicious, then I supposed it was possible that she’d set up a hidden camera to record events after she left the apartment. Later, when she reviewed the footage, she would have seen everything.

‘Your sister believed that the men who killed Tyler worked for the security services. She could not explain this. She could not understand. But she was scared for Lena. And for herself. She decided to take Lena away, to hide her. Once they were safe, she would contact me again.’

‘And when was that?’

‘Three days later.’

‘Long wait.’

He nodded eagerly. As if it had been much too long. ‘During this time, I was contacted by somebody else. A man.’

‘Who?’

‘He would not give me his name. He told me that Alex Tyler’s body had been found. He said that the police suspected my daughter of killing him. He said that unless I agreed to pay him twenty million euros, he would make sure that Lena was found and arrested and convicted. But he said that if I paid him, he could prove that Lena was innocent. He would show that Tyler was killed by somebody else.’

‘Did he say who that somebody else was?’

‘He did.’ Erik pinned me with his eyes. ‘Your sister.’

I felt the ground go soft beneath me. It took everything I had to stay on my feet.

‘He said that she had purchased the vodka that was used to drug Lena and Alex. She paid for it in a local shop. They had CCTV footage of this. They would claim that your sister had taken the tape from the shop, and that this was why it was not available right away. They said that they had records of your sister obtaining a sedative and cyanide. They also had two drinking glasses from Lena’s apartment that were marked with the fingerprints of your sister, Lena and Alex. They would say that your sister abducted Lena and attempted to make it look as if Lena had killed Alex so that she could extort money from me.’

I thought I was beginning to understand what Laura had been afraid of. And why she’d come up with a solution of her own.

‘Of course,’ Erik said, ‘I knew something this man did not. I knew what your sister had told me and that she would call me again. I knew she wanted to help us and that Lena trusted her. I told the man I would contact him once I’d had time to think.’

‘And meanwhile Laura got in touch?’ Rebecca asked.

‘Yes.’ Erik shrugged. ‘Although to me she was Melanie Fleming. She called me and I told her what had happened. Anderson was on the call, too. Your sister was very clear. She said that we were being extorted by a rogue element in British Intelligence. The killing of Alex Tyler was not a government-sanctioned execution. She said that she did not know who she could trust, but she wished to help us. She wished to work with us to find out who was trying to harm my family.’

‘Where did she call you from?’

‘Here,’ Erik said. ‘This island. She told us that she had found somewhere to hide Lena. But she would need our help. We were to send two men to protect Lena when she was not there. When she was trying to find out who was attacking us.’

‘So you sent Pieter and Lukas.’

Erik nodded in a half-hearted way. His skin had tightened across his face. It had taken on a waxy texture.

‘Why not Anderson?’

‘Because Anderson was more useful to me looking into what was happening. Trying to identify who was behind this plot to hurt us.’

‘He wasn’t working with Laura,’ Rebecca said. ‘No way would she risk that.’

‘It was a parallel investigation.’

‘It was a mistake,’ Rebecca told him. ‘I bet that’s how they found out where Laura had hidden your daughter. I bet he screwed up. Pushed too far, or too fast, somewhere along the line. He wasn’t nearly as good as you thought he was. I wouldn’t be here if that was the case.’

‘This is just speculation.’

Rebecca threw up her hand. ‘Why didn’t you just pay? Twenty million euros. And you’re what, a billionaire? It seems to me that paying them would have been a pretty affordable way to keep your daughter out of prison.’

‘I could not pay them. If I did, they would come back for more.’

‘I doubt it. There weren’t many people behind this thing. Three, maybe four. Two of them we know about already. They’re the two who snatched Lena. And twenty million split three or four ways? That’d be more than enough for a comfortable retirement. They’d have no reason to come after you ever again. And that’s not all. If you’d paid, Laura could have left this whole thing alone and got far away. She’d have made it, too.’

Erik glared at Rebecca. Then he turned slowly from her and fixed his attention on me. ‘Your sister wanted to help us. She saw that what was happening was wrong.’

I could believe that about Laura. She’d always had a strong sense of justice. Even when we were kids. She hated it if I cheated in a game we were playing. It had always been just about the surest way I knew to make her mad.

The one thing I still didn’t understand was why she hadn’t given Erik a copy of the memory stick long ago. My guess was that she was afraid the whole thing might be blamed on her. That Erik would be prepared to clear Lena’s name at all costs. I guessed that was the reason she’d planned to fake her own death. Perhaps once she was secure in her new identity, she would have allowed the footage to be passed over.

Was I missing something else? I didn’t know, and I couldn’t think of any way to find out for sure. Whatever Laura’s reasons might have been, I couldn’t see how any of them could still apply. She was gone now. Untouchable. And so were at least two of the men who’d been part of the conspiracy. But Lena was still in danger. The risk to her had been multiplied many times over.

I closed my fist around the memory stick. Gave it a final goodbye clinch. Then I stepped forwards and passed it to Erik.

‘Take it,’ I said. ‘Use it to get your daughter back. Do whatever you need to. The password is
Chester
.’ I spelled it for him, just to be clear.

Erik nodded solemnly. I got the impression he wanted to say something, but the right words wouldn’t come.

Shimmin shuffled his feet at my side. He checked his watch. Jabbed a finger towards Erik.

‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ve observed. And now I’m finished observing. And you’re finished on the Isle of Man. I want you to pack your things, Mr Zeeger. I want you and your boy in the bathroom to be off my island before the end of the day. And I don’t want you coming back. Not with more thugs. Not with more questions. Not ever. Understand?’

‘And Anderson?’ Erik asked.

‘Forget about Anderson. Forget you ever knew him.’

Chapter Fifty-eight

I got back to my place to find Mum and Dad huddled around the supine corpse in my kitchen. Dad was holding the man’s slackened body up by his shoulders and Mum was wrapping a bandage around his head. She was wearing yellow rubber household gloves and pinching a safety pin between her lips. She mumbled a greeting to me around the pin, then used it to seal the bandage in place like she was administering first aid. The dressing was all bulked out. Another dressing was coiled around the man’s left shoulder, where the first bullet had hit.

Next to them was a plastic shopping bag. The man’s belongings and the Beretta had been packed inside. The bag was resting against a bucket of soapy water with a stiff-bristled brush floating in it. It dawned on me that Mum was planning to scrub the bloodstains from the walls and floors once we were gone. I didn’t know what to say. I’d never expected to find my parents in my home, working together to clean up after a violent shooting.

‘Hello, love,’ Mum said. ‘How did you get on with the Dutch gentleman?’

‘Fine,’ I mumbled. ‘I think.’

‘Take this, will you, son?’ Dad passed me the shopping bag, then adjusted his grip under the man’s armpits. ‘Is your van open?’ he asked.

I nodded, a little woozily.

‘Mick still with you?’

‘Yes, and he wants to talk to you.’

‘Fine,’ Dad said. ‘Ask him to come and give me a hand lifting this guy downstairs, will you? I’ll ride with him in the car. We’ll follow you and Rebecca.’

*

Rebecca drove my van with exaggerated care, taking it slow and steady. She didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention when we had a dead man sliding around in the back.

 I was slumped against the passenger door, my head propped against the window. Traffic was light. The school run had finished half an hour ago. It was over an hour until the first office workers would conclude their day.

We were driving towards a bank of dark rain clouds sweeping in from the west of the island. The air was cooling and a stiff breeze was picking up, ruffling the red-and-white tarpaulin that had been wrapped around the heavy straw bales positioned along Peel Road in preparation for the TT. I glanced in the side mirror and caught a glimpse of the dead man’s blue Vauxhall Insignia. It was impossible to tell how Dad was going to react to what Shimmin had to tell him. Even harder to know how Rebecca was going to respond to the questions I needed to ask.

‘We have to talk,’ I said.

Rebecca looked across at me. Above the dressing on her nose, the swelling around her eyes was beginning to dry. The blackened skin had started to crack. It looked more painful than ever.

‘Sounds serious.’

Rebecca was relaxed. Composed. Like this was just an average day for her. An ordinary journey with an unremarkable cargo.

Which is exactly what was bothering me.

‘You killed two men today.’

She pursed her lips. The top one was split. It was rimed in dried blood. ‘And you think I should be more upset?’

‘That’s part of it.’

She spread her fingers on the steering wheel. ‘It was them or us, Rob. When it comes down to it, I think I made the right decision.’

I shook my head. ‘That’s not entirely true.’

‘You would have preferred it the other way around?’

‘Of course not. But it wasn’t like you say. Take Anderson. You broke his jaw with the first swing of that wrench. He was going down. But you swung back and thumped him a second time. And it was the second strike that killed him.’