The Reckless Engineer (18 page)

CHAPTER 23

Sunday, October 24 — Nine Days Later

Jeremy arrived back at the McAllen mansion (Let’s face it, that was what it really was, adding Connor was a mere gesture, a polite afterthought) shortly after lunch and was happy to be greeted at the door by Jack and his three dogs and pup.

‘Hey, how are you, man?’

Jeremy extended his hand and was drawn into a warm hug in return. Some colour had returned to Jack’s cheeks and he seemed much more himself. The hint of the smile that women found so irresistible still lingered around the corners of his eyes and mouth, barely visible.

‘I’m much better, thanks, man. Look, Hunter’s back.’

Jack patted his third German shepherd on his head as Hunter jumped up and licked his face. Max, Molly and Bubbles made a fuss around Jeremy.

‘Hunter’s back, indeed.’ Jeremy gave him a cautious pat and thought to himself:
Ironically, in more ways than you know.

‘Good to see you again, Jeremy.’ Caitlin stepped forward next to Jack and touched her husband’s upper arm. ‘Jack is doing much better.’

‘Good to see you again, too, Caitlin.’ Jeremy smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek.

‘Come in, everybody’s in the sitting room.’ Caitlin gestured and led the way.

Jeremy was once again being invited into McAllen’s parlour. He followed with Jack.

‘Marianne and Peter are being questioned by the police as we speak. They’ve got the solicitors that Harry put Marianne in touch with there with them,’ Jack confided in a concerned tone.

Jeremy nodded and caught his eye to express that he shared his concern for them, not knowing quite the right thing to say about it in a McAllen household.

McAllen paused a recording of a news piece they had been watching on the large old-fashioned CRT television as Jeremy entered the sitting room. It was the same news report that he had watched the day before with Gavin.

‘Good afternoon, Jeremy. Everybody’s happy to see you again. Please meet my son, Ronnie. Ronnie, this is Jeremy.’

Ronnie was a tad taller than Jeremy was and somewhat chubbier. He carried himself tall and spoke with an air of haughty superiority.

‘Hullo.’ Ronnie nodded to Jeremy curtly and gave a quick obligatory handshake, then turned the recording back on. ‘This piece on the family and the company is very interesting, but hardly comprehensive.’

‘Yes, I caught it in the news last night myself,’ Jeremy agreed.

Ronnie would not have liked the fact it was mostly centred on the senior McAllens, his grandfather, Caitlin, and Jack in relation to BlackGold’s tremendous success, with Ronnie relegated to a footnote. They watched the rest of the news story in silence while Félipé served coffee and cakes.

‘I don’t like flat-screen televisions. It’s like watching a computer,’ McAllen explained at the end of the piece as he turned the TV off. ‘Now where is this young man who is going to take on Jack’s work at Marine?’

‘Sean. Sean Holden. He is meeting us in Portsmouth at 3:00 this afternoon. I am hoping Jack would come with me, or give me directions as to where we can meet his brother and set Sean up in his apartment.’

‘I am coming with you. God knows I need the fresh sea air, and the work keeps me sane. I need to take both Sean and you to BlackGold and brief you on the work you are going to take over at Marine.’

This was the first time Jack had spoken something substantial since Jeremy had seen him at the police station two Fridays ago. He sounded good.

‘Now, what are we going to do about McAllen BlackGold? My company has not being living up to its reputation on that news piece for the past three months. Jack and I have been discussing that we should like to ask you to take on the rest of the MWD tool design and development on a subcontract. Jack has briefed me that it is the firmware verification and some software development that is still outstanding in order for us to send it into production.’

McAllen made it clear he was addressing them as the Chairman of McAllen BlackGold.

‘I can take on that work, if that is what Jack wants.’

Jeremy was eager to land the project, but he needed Jack on board with him. His friendship with Jack came first. He also knew Jack held the patents to a large number of design innovations on the products.

‘Could you please, Jeremy, if you don’t mind? Have you got enough engineers?’ Jack asked.

‘Sean is going to handle the Marine work under my direction. I shall do the BlackGold MWD tool work myself, if that is what you want, Jack. I’ve got two new engineers at our offices who will take on my other clients, and three more are coming on board next week, all Phd qualified. I shall need about a month to train up the new ones.’

Jeremy badly wanted to secure the contract with McAllen BlackGold. So, okay, he lied a little about the manpower in his company; he needed to advertise for and hire at least two more engineers to take on the BlackGold contract.

‘It is the company policy, Jeremy, that I personally review every employee that we take on. I am delighted with you, but I should like to meet this young man, Sean, in person.’

McAllen was requesting Sean’s resume and to meet Sean in person. Jeremy’s respect for the old man grew.

‘I have their resumes on my laptop here, sir. I shall send printed copies back with Jack and I shall ask Sean to drive up and meet with you this week. Shall we say six o’clock any day of the week?’

‘Certainly. Could you ask him to come either Wednesday or Thursday? We shall give him a couple of days to settle into his new flat and the Marine work first.’

‘Let me call Sean and fix that right now.’

Sean asked for a Thursday appointment just so that he could have an extra day to brush up on some information about the McAllen devices to impress his new bosses.

‘Good, I would want to meet your other engineers also in due course. Carry on with the discussions with Jack and put the proposed contract before me by next Saturday, Jeremy. If everything goes well we shall have a new work contract in place between McAllen BlackGold and Radio Silicon next weekend.’

‘I shall agree the terms with Jack and Jeremy and draw up the contracts, Papa.’ Caitlin brought her skills to the table.

‘Good. Now, how is Harry progressing with Jack’s case?’ McAllen enquired.

‘Harry’s handling it well. He wants Jack to come down to our offices in London Tuesday to take a statement. He actually asked me to apologise for the Marianne Connor news stories. This is a very complicated situation and Harry had very little time to be able to get every variable under control last week.’

‘Yes, Harry called me about this. We allowed limited access to the family and the company for the news story we were playing when you arrived specifically to counteract such speculation. Harry proposed it as a good idea and he was right. That has got the reporters hovering around the house off our backs, as you can see. Harry has promised access to the family for another private interview in a month and he has announced that any reporter violating our privacy would be barred from that press interview. Harry is bloody brilliant at this. You can see it has worked like a charm. I am not being mercenary, but being in the news has not done McAllen Industries any harm. Our new sales enquiries have gone up by 16%, but we need to bring this situation under control before we spook our present clients who have been getting worried about the stability of the company. The best possible outcome is that Jack gets acquitted and we return to our normal work and family life without any further complications. I need Harry to make that happen.’

‘I am sure Harry is doing the best he can,’ Jeremy said.

‘Bringing you on board will go a long way towards calming our clients’ nerves, Jeremy. I plan to present Radio Silicon and your team as a well-managed, stable engineering consultancy that can absorb any development and support requirement we have.’

‘Papa and I have back-to-back meetings and conference calls scheduled with most of our prominent clients over the next couple of weeks to calm their nerves. Having you and Radio Silicon on board will be a lot of help.’ Ronnie gave him an approving nod and almost cracked a smile.

‘Thanks,’ Jeremy hid his nervous ambivalence about Ronnie behind a big smile. He knew from Jack’s stories that Ronnie was a double-edged sword.

He had been too preoccupied with his investigations to touch base with Harry for a couple of days. Where do Gavin and Caitlin fit into these plans? It was clear McAllen had no idea about Gavin’s presence in his daughter’s life. And then there was still the small matter of who murdered Michelle Williams and her unborn child.

‘Have the police been able to trace the private eye who has taken your money and vanished, Mr. McAllen, the one with the scorpion tattoo on the back of his neck and a skull on his right hand?’

‘I have not heard back from the police. They would have contacted me if they had traced him.’

‘Shouldn’t they be looking for him in Scotland, given that he is Scottish and that was where he first contacted you?’

‘I am sure the police in England and Scotland have procedures for coordinated action.’ McAllen frowned at Jeremy sharply. ‘Now, Jack, it’s nearly two o’clock. Should you not be on your way to BlackGold? Otherwise you might not have enough time to take Jeremy and young Sean through the Marine work.’

McAllen decisively cut short any further questions from him.

CHAPTER 24

Sunday, October 24 — Nine Days Later

‘It is good to get away from the McAllens. I’ve been feeling more trapped in there than I felt in jail.’ Jack stretched out in the passenger seat.

Jeremy laughed and decided against reminding him he was facing life in one. He was driving Jack to BlackGold where Sean would meet them. After briefing them on both Marine and BlackGold projects, Jack would drive the BlackGold SUV home. Jeremy had explained he had booked a hotel in Portsmouth for the night in order to get to Marine fresh first thing in the morning. He had told everybody that it was the Marriott located close to the Marine offices that he had booked.

‘What was that about a man with scorpion and skull tattoos, Jeremy?’

‘That was the private eye McAllen described to Edwards that he put on Michelle and you and who has taken his money and vanished.’

‘Do you think my father-in-law hired him to kill Michelle?’

‘I dunno. I wish we could go up to Scotland and “do some digging” on him ourselves.’

‘I don’t think I can leave England. I have to be back in the house within 24 hours.’ Jack fingered the electronic tag around his ankle.

‘Harry is sending one of his private investigators to Aberdeen. What’s the name of the pub that Caitlin used to frequent with Gavin in Aberdeen?’

‘The Rock and Oar near Wellington Street opposite the container yard. I’ve been there with Caitlin. Nice place. She loves it.’

‘Write down the name and the address for me, will you, Jack? There’s a notepad and a pen in the glove compartment. All this will help Harry’s private eye find Skull.’

They drove on for a while, Jack reminiscing about old times shared with Caitlin.

Jack eventually returned to the topic of the work they had to do that afternoon.

‘After we are done with the project briefing we shall take Sean to my brother’s flat. I have seen this one before. It’s a nice one-bedroom apartment and I have asked Stephen to put his best furniture in it. I can leave Sean and you with Stephen, right? I want to go over to Marianne’s to see if they are okay. Peter should stay with Marianne tonight. I don’t want her to be alone. Why don’t we meet afterwards for a drink to welcome our young engineer to the team? I really need the company and a night out.’

Jeremy was glad Jack was enjoying the ride. He was feeling comfortable enough to talk his thoughts out loud.

‘What was going on with Michelle, man? Were you actually going to move in with her?’

‘I was definitely going to raise the child with her,’ he said, thoughtfully, after a long pause. ‘Other than that I hadn’t figured out what I wanted or what I was going to do. Michelle and I actually saw a divorce solicitor about what part of the business and the property I could claim if Caitlin were to divorce me. Michelle was sure that Caitlin was about to file for divorce. Right now I’m only thinking about staying out of prison, keeping my head above the water. Only the BlackGold work gets my mind off it.’

He tried to imagine what Jack was going through, accused of murder, facing life in a dingy cell. He realised that keeping your mind so fully occupied on something you love such that not a single thought of your reality could invade was the only way to stay sane.

‘I’m going to start on a subsea exploration project prototype tomorrow—a swarm of cooperating underwater robots that can be deployed to scan, locate, and report on under-sea oil and gas reservoirs. I have filed the patents for the initial design and BP and Shell are keen for us to go ahead with the prototype. Ronnie is circling BlackGold like a vulture. It is the highest profit making groups of McAllen Industries and he has always wanted to grab it for himself. The only thing keeping him in check is Douglas McAllen, who knows Ronnie does not have the knowledge or the capacity to hack it. McAllen briefly handed the reins over to Ronnie when I resigned way back when Grant executed his attempted coup with Ronnie. Everything fell apart and stagnated around him until McAllen had to beg me to come back, at least as a consultant. Now I seem to have got McAllen all excited about this sub-sea robotics project.’

Who wouldn’t be? The idea was brilliant. Jeremy could not wait to get onto the design board with Jack himself.

‘I shall ask Harry to have his private eye look thoroughly into Ronnie’s recent activities while he is in Aberdeen,’ Jeremy promised.

He so badly needed the shadows over Jack to lift now; so badly wanted Radio Silicon to become a part of this exciting engineering venture. He wondered if he should make a trip up to Aberdeen himself and try to help the investigation along.

‘Is everything all right between Caitlin and you? The marriage, I mean? Do you know what she wants to do now?’

It was a shame that marriage was falling apart.

‘Caitlin withdrew from me a few weeks after the anonymous letters, Jeremy. She just left me alone, didn’t even try to talk about it or ask me anything even if I was late. I have blown it with her.’

‘Did you know that Michelle was calling Caitlin at home and haranguing her? The police have verified the calls from Michelle’s number. Caitlin thinks Michelle sent those anonymous letters too when she first found out she was pregnant.’

‘I know about the calls now. Not very classy of Michelle. Downright bloody vulgar, in fact. Michelle told me Sally had sent those letters at the time, which is why I fired her.’

So Michelle had broken down Jack’s relationship with Sally. Then she had broken down Caitlin’s relationship with Jack. And then she had taken Jack to a divorce lawyer.
Manipulative bitch.
After a little consideration, he spoke his thoughts out loud. They all needed to talk some sense around Jack.

‘Have you tried it on with Caitlin? Or have you at least tried to talk to her, to patch things up?’

‘I have, but Caitlin won’t respond; says that we just need to get through the case first. A comforting hug if I have a nightmare is all I get from her and that out of pure pity. I think things might improve if the case goes okay for me.’

I wouldn’t hold my breath
. Gavin had made it abundantly clear that they were sleeping together, every opportunity they had. Caitlin drove over to their nest in the Royal Atlantic every weekday.

‘I know you don’t want to ask me, nobody does, in case the answer is “yes”. But I did not kill Michelle. I was with her the night before. When she didn’t turn up for work Thursday morning, I tried calling her several times. When the calls went unanswered I drove over to her house. I had a key and I let myself in. She was dead on the couch, Jeremy, a box of chocolates next to her, her head tilted to the side. I did not give her those chocolates and I did not write that note, Jeremy. I know I should have called 999, but I knew what it would look like. I panicked. If she were just unconscious from the poison, the paramedics could have pumped her stomach.’

‘Unlikely,’ Jeremy advised. ‘The poison is a pretty deadly one. Even with a small dose organ failure and cardiac arrest would have been instantaneous.’

Jeremy watched Jack’s reaction in the mirror, but it was difficult to read his body language anymore. Jack had a permanent look of despair about him.

‘Was there a box of chocolates in the house the night before?’

‘No. I don’t remember her thanking me for one. So it must have been introduced to the premises between the time I left, about 11 Wednesday night, and the time I got there about 10:20 Thursday morning. Anybody could have slipped it in through the letterbox. Michelle would have thought it was a romantic afterthought from me. That was the reason for the note, to get her to believe that. Everybody knows I like Cavalier chocolates. Somebody is framing me.’

It all made sense, but it also made sense that Jack could have given the chocolates to Michelle himself and was lying.

They were approaching the BlackGold offices. Sean waved to them from where he had pulled over in his Ford Focus and followed Jeremy’s Audi into the office grounds.

Following an afternoon of heavy-duty engineering design, Jeremy helped Sean move into his new apartment while Jack spent an hour at Marianne’s. They had agreed to meet at a fine Italian restaurant for dinner, but Jack changed the plans, inviting them to come over to Marianne’s for dinner and to pick up two bottles of fine Italian red wine on the way.

Marianne served homemade pizza with garlic bread and a side salad; goat cheese stuffed mushrooms for the appetizer. Conversation flowed with an underlying sense of strain due to the on-going murder investigations. Marianne caught Jeremy alone in the kitchen to thank him for introducing the solicitor to her and to explain that both she and Peter had been questioned separately under caution at the police station and then released. Their house had been searched.

There was genuine happiness here underneath the trouble. Jack seemed to enjoy every minute of the company of his ex-wife and two sons and drank almost a whole bottle of wine. He took great pride in introducing his younger son Marc whom Jeremy was meeting for the first time. At the end of the evening Jack decided to stay over at Marianne’s overnight. Reminiscent of the old days he called Caitlin and informed that he was staying the night at the hotel with Jeremy because he had drunk too much alcohol, and that he would like to come in to BlackGold offices for work the following morning with Caitlin—it was time he faced his engineers.

‘She doesn’t care anymore, man. She does
not
care,’ Jack confided in Jeremy drunkenly after the call. Nevertheless he told Sean not to mention to anyone that he had actually stayed over at Marianne’s.

Jeremy returned to The Royal Atlantic, after taking ten minutes to put Otter’s makeup back on. He found Gavin in the lounge again, but he was curt and uncooperative. Jeremy had made Gavin drink the night before and made him reveal more than he was comfortable with. He avoided Jeremy’s questions tonight, hurriedly wished him good night, and retired to his room immediately.

This would not do. It is possible that Gavin could have killed Michelle and framed Jack for the love of Caitlin. Jeremy needed to know when he had first arrived. He also needed some records in case Harry needed to provide hard evidence to the court, particularly if the people involved decided to purge the evidence.

There was a new receptionist at the desk. Jeremy tried to open a conversation with her. While she was forthcoming with information about rooms open for reservation, she steadfastly refused to reveal any information about other guests. The hotel had a reputation as a decadent getaway for couples. No doubt they had been specially trained not to violate the privacy of its guests.

It was shortly past 9:00 p.m. The cigar that Kevin Cossack had given Jeremy was still in his inner jacket pocket. Jeremy got some tape from his case, taped it to the smoke alarm in his room, and lit it. Pocketing a USB memory stick, he turned the room light off and slid back downstairs into the guest restroom by the reception.

Within five minutes the smoke alarm went off. Jeremy heard the hotel emptying itself. He slipped out of the restroom and, as he passed the reception desk, crouched and slid under its counter. The guests and the staff were now gathered outside in the front lawn. As he had expected the receptionist had left the computer on with the search she had performed for Jeremy still on the screen. Still kneeling, out of sight from the other side of the reception counter, Jeremy attached the USB drive into a slot in the computer and copied the full hotel records onto it. In a minute he had completed the copy. Sliding the records into his pocket, he slipped back upstairs into his room and extinguished the cigar. He opened the windows and fanned the smoke out frantically. After five minutes of doing so the alarm finally stopped. Phew!

The records showed Gavin Hunter checking in to The Royal Atlantic about eleven weeks ago. Jack had mentioned that Caitlin had first withdrawn from him about this time. The anonymous letters had turned up just over fifteen weeks ago and Caitlin and Cossack had taken about four weeks to find Gavin.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day at AirWater Marine.