Gregory's Game (26 page)

But she had to try. ‘Katherine, how did you get away? How did you escape?'

Nothing, just the hands moving, clutching, grasping, releasing.

‘Katherine, can you tell me anything about where you were held?'

But it was useless. Katherine Marsh no longer even heard her. She was lost in some other place, unable to escape that dreadful moment. That utter, all-encompassing loss.

She was aware that Vin and the doctor were no longer alone in the side room. Vin knocked at the glass and summoned her forth. A man in a smart suit stood just inside the room. A big man, whose presence seemed to dominate, to fill the space.

Tess frowned at him.

‘You don't know me,' the man said. ‘But your boss does. You can check with him.'

‘And you've got a name?'

‘Charles Duncan.' He must have seen the flicker of recognition in her eyes. ‘I'm guessing I've been talked about,' he said.

‘In passing. So, what are you doing here?'

‘Going back with you to Pinsent. We've got work to do.'

‘We're not ready to go back yet,' Tess said frostily. ‘And I don't take orders from you.'

‘Your sergeant can handle whatever there is to do here, so grab your stuff and we'll be off.'

‘Tess,' Vin said. ‘Branch texted me while you were in with Mrs Marsh. He says you should go.'

Tess took out her own phone, and checked her messages. She scowled at Charles Duncan. ‘To do what?'

‘First off, to go and speak with your friends the Friedmans. It's time to work together, don't you think? The woman's back, safe. Now we've just got to find her little girl.'

A
nnie recognized the woman standing in her garden. She wondered how long she had been there; decided it could not have been more than a few minutes as the dogs had not barked before. They stood now, one each side of Annie, poised for action or welcome, whatever Annie should decide.

She opened the French doors and stood aside. Mae crossed the lawn slowly and waited to be invited in. Like a vampire, Annie thought. Needing permission to cross into Annie's world.

‘Why are you here?' she asked.

‘Because you're the only one of us that's stopped running. The only one I could find in a hurry – and I am in a hurry, Annie. Otherwise I'd never have come here.'

Annie studied the older woman for a moment before acknowledging that. Mae was showing her age, she thought. The face was tired and lined; she wore no make-up and the roots showed at her parting. That shocked Annie, brought home to her that Mae really was desperate. Annie had known Mae since she was thirteen or fourteen and the woman had never been anything less than immaculate.

‘What do you need?'

Mae relaxed, just slightly. ‘I need you to set up a meeting. I know he's been looking for me and that,' she smiled wryly, ‘is part of the problem. That brother of yours will get me killed yet, Annie.'

Brother Nathan. Mae had always called him that, referred to them as siblings, and Annie couldn't really disagree.

‘When and where?'

‘Nathan can choose, but make it fast, Annie. I don't have much time and I need to talk.'

Annie could see the fear in the woman's eyes. ‘Who's after you, Mae?'

‘Who isn't, sweetheart? But one of them will get me and it'll be soon.'

‘Tell me. I can pass a message on.'

Mae shook her head. ‘I want protection, Annie. I've got something Nathan wants. I know what happened to Ian Marsh's wife and child. I know where the baby might still be. And I know why Ian did it. That's got to be worth something, hasn't it?'

Nathan can't protect you, Annie thought. No one can. Not now. You're already dead, I can see it in your face. ‘Why Ian did it? What do you mean, Mae?'

‘He thought he could buy his way out of his mess. He'd got himself on the wrong side of Rico Steadmann, made promises he couldn't keep. He persuaded Bernie Franks to make it look like his wife and child had been taken. I think he did it to protect them – and himself – but it didn't work out that way, did it? Poor fucker didn't understand that Bernie was always one of Rico's boys.'

‘What does he have that Rico wants?' Annie asked, but Mae just shook her head.

‘Account numbers, details of Clay's old accounts, I think. I don't know for sure.'

‘Why would Ian Marsh have access to those? If they exist any more. Mae …'

‘I don't know. I only know what he told Steadmann. That he could get access. Maybe from Nathan?'

Annie didn't push further. It seemed that Mae had half a story – either that or she was playing more games.

‘I need a number,' she said.

Mae handed her a slip of paper and then turned to go. Behind her, Annie heard a sound that told her Bob was in the hall. Mae heard it too.

‘You're fooling yourself, you know,' she said as the door opened and Annie's husband stepped through. He halted on the threshold as he saw Annie was not alone. ‘You can't hide forever. Our life finds us.'

Annie shook her head. ‘It's not my life any more,' she said. ‘I stopped running, Mae. I'm not hiding. If something wants to come for me, it'll have to come here. This place is my fortress, my last stand if need be, but I'm done with running.'

‘You always were a fool,' Mae said softly. ‘But I loved you and Nathan, you know that.'

She turned and walked away, across the lawn and through the gap in the hedge that led up on to the bank and then to the footpath over the hill. Annie watched her go, the slip of paper clasped in her hand.

‘Who was that?' Bob asked. He came over to her and laid his hands on Annie's shoulders. Together they watched Mae disappear among the trees, and then Bob reached around her and closed the door. ‘It's getting cold,' he said. ‘Winter will be unforgiving this year, I think.'

Annie nodded, mourning for another small fragment of her past she knew would soon be shattered and gone.

C
harles Duncan had a better car than she had, Tess thought. And he drove faster than she would have done on the winding roads. Miffed and irritated, she didn't speak much for the first half hour or so – she was also a little unnerved by the speed at which he took the bends and was of a mind to let him concentrate on the driving. She occupied herself by checking through the news feeds on her phone.

‘What are they saying?' Charles Duncan asked at last.

‘That Katherine Marsh reappeared at ten-fifteen last evening. Barefoot and almost naked. The landlady of the Blue Monkey took charge and called the police and wrapped her in a blanket. That she was alone and evidently in shock. Most of the reports have Desiree Marsh dead and buried. A couple are speculating about child trafficking.' She looked across at Charles Duncan but he didn't react.

‘There's a lot of speculation about Professor Marsh. Most are rehashing the official line, that he's off staying with friends, but there's a lot of people starting to wonder why he's not been brought to the hospital. Then there's a whole load of stuff about search teams and asking for volunteers.'

Charles Duncan nodded.

‘Why did he run? Is he dead?'

‘Professor Marsh? He ran because he was being threatened. Alive or dead? I really couldn't say.'

‘That text message on Katherine Marsh's phone.
Time's up
. What did that mean? Time's up for what?'

‘Any ideas?'

‘There's no sign of them asking for money. Whoever they are.'

‘And your best guess is …?'

Tess let out an exasperated huff. ‘How the hell should I know? Was he selling secrets – he seems to have had the connections. Was this Nathan Crow involved? Bernie Franks? That Mae Tourino woman?'

Charles Duncan shook his head. ‘Nothing as complicated or as esoteric as that,' he said. ‘When it comes down to it, Tess, it's all about the money. Money and power, nice old-fashioned motives. Unfortunately, the players are anything but nice or old-fashioned. They all want to be ahead of the game, your Professor Marsh included. They all want more than they have – with the possible exception of Nathan Crow and his friends. Annie Raven I think genuinely wants a quiet life now. Gregory Hess—'

‘Who?'

‘Oh, an associate of ours and of Nathan's. I think he just wants to get back to that boat of his and sail off into the sunset. I'm not sure even Nathan Crow knows what Nathan Crow wants. Ian Marsh baited the hook and Nathan bit. I suspect he probably realizes that now and I expect him to be pretty annoyed, shall we say. I don't give much for Ian Marsh's chances if Nathan gets to him, or Bernie Franks, or Rico Steadmann – you recognize that name, I see.'

‘The name, yes. I've had no dealings.'

‘Lucky you. But you probably have, without knowing it. Steadmann has fingers in all the pies. Controls great chunks of the heroin coming in from Afghanistan. He's involved in people smuggling, the sex trade. He's a good all-rounder is Rico Steadmann.'

‘So what's the link to Ian Marsh?'

‘Complicated,' Charles Duncan said. ‘If you don't mind, I'll wait until we get to the Freidmans; then I only have to explain myself once.'

‘Alec's retired,' Tess said. ‘He keeps reminding me of that.'

Charles Duncan laughed. ‘But he has a direct link to Nathan Crow and Gregory Hess,' he said. ‘Something I and my associates no longer have. So he's going to have to un-resign for a while, I think. I need his help, Tess, and so do you, and I think Nathan Crow and Gregory could do with mine. This is all about the ends, not the means.'

N
aomi and Alec had the television on when Tess arrived. Tess watched as the rows of officers and volunteers paced slowly across the flat fenland landscape she had so recently driven through.

‘This is Charles Duncan,' she told them. ‘I'm sure he has a job title, but he's not shared that information.'

‘Home Office,' Charles Duncan said.

Naomi laughed and Tess felt a strange desire to join her. ‘Really,' Naomi said. ‘That's a pretty broad set of possibilities.'

‘You'd best sit down,' Alec said. ‘I'll put the kettle on.'

‘So what's the news on Katherine Marsh?' Naomi asked.

‘She's in shock; probably won't be able to tell us much for a while. She's cut and bruised and we don't know how far she'd walked but was half frozen when she was found.'

‘And nothing on the child? No news from the kidnappers?'

‘No,' Tess said. ‘Anything you might know that we don't?'

Alec placed the tray he was carrying down on the table. ‘No,' he said. ‘I don't think there is; just a message that Katherine Marsh isn't safe in the hospital. That her abductors may still try to get to her.'

Tess stared at him. She hadn't really expected a straight answer to her question but it seemed that Alec had decided the time for secrets was over.

‘Nathan contacted you?' Charles Duncan asked. ‘Or was it Gregory Hess?'

‘Funny,' Naomi said. ‘I never thought of him as having a last name. I suppose he has several to choose from.' She smiled sweetly in Charles Duncan's direction. ‘So, what's all this about?'

Briefly, Charles Duncan told them what he had told Tess on the way there and then elaborated.

‘About eighteen months ago we got a tip-off that an associate of Rico Steadmann's was looking for a deal. He'd been running from Rico for about five years by then, was broke and scared and I think just tired of running. We took a bit of convincing that he'd still got anything to offer us – after all, he'd crossed Steadmann five years before and so far as we knew had been out of the picture. But it seems he'd kept some of his associations and one of them persuaded us that he still had something to trade. So we fixed him with a cover story, a new job and a new address and he talked.'

‘Anthony Palmer,' Alec guessed.

‘The same. And the man who persuaded us to listen to him was Ian Marsh. Then eight or nine months ago the job up here came available and Marsh offered to rent him the cottage. No one thought anything of it. Until Anthony Palmer was killed.'

‘How did this Palmer cross Rico Steadmann?' Naomi asked.

‘You know anything about Steadmann?'

Naomi nodded. ‘Just before my accident I'd been working down in London. Serious Organized Crime Unit. Alec and I weren't together then and I seriously thought of relocating. I'd applied, and I'd got a good chance … Anyway, everything changed and that was that. But Steadmann is an interesting man. From an interesting family – if you like that sort of thing.

‘The family were refugees, came over here from Germany in 1941, escaped by the skin of their teeth. But after the war, Steadmann senior went back and tried to reclaim some of the property they'd had. There were rumours that he'd stashed bullion in the basement of one of the properties they owned. Anyway, whatever the truth, post war, their fortunes looked up. They'd got legitimate business in property, a chain of pubs, couple of hotels if I remember right. And illegitimate interests in just about everything else. But it was always very low key and the Steadmann family did a lot of good work – kids' charities and that sort of thing – and that kept their public persona sweet.'

‘By the nineteen sixties and seventies,' Charles Duncan took up the story, ‘the Steadmanns had been eclipsed by the likes of the Krays. The Steadmanns were never part of the criminal gangs that dominated back then. Rico Steadmann's father relocated the whole family. They settled in Leeds, became respected members of local society, and because of the links they maintained in Germany, both sides of the wall, were even of use to Her Majesty's government on odd occasions. By the late eighties, Rico had taken over, the Berlin wall was down, and they set about legitimizing their trade links and taking advantage of new markets that suddenly opened up with the fall of communism. We think that's when the likes of Gustav Clay started to take an interest. Steadmann knew people that Clay had to be careful not to know and a woman we know as Mae Tourino, among other aliases, acted as courier between Clay and Rico Steadmann.'