The Woodcutter (54 page)

‘Out of your hands!’ she exclaimed. ‘He was innocent, this man you feel some affection for – at least that’s the conclusion I draw from his inclusion in your picture gallery . . .’

He nodded and said, ‘Yes, indeed. I have always been very fond of Wolf.’

‘Yet you let him be sent down for a long sentence on the most disgusting of charges! Jesus, Childs, what do you do to your enemies?’

He gave her the sweet smile and said, ‘This is not the time or place to go into that. But as to those I’m fond of, I fear that from time to time in too many cases grim necessity has ordained that I should be complicit in their suffering far worse fates than poor Wolf.’

He was, she saw, deadly serious. Her head was in a whirl but she did not want to let this occasion to learn all she could about Hadda escape.

She said, ‘When Doll Trapp brought him to you, what did you do with him?’

‘I gave him a home and an education. He also received some special training, not that he needed much, his peculiar talent for scaling unscaleable obstacles was already highly developed. He could get in and out of almost anywhere.’

‘You mean you used him as a burglar?’ she asked incredulously.

‘On occasion. But more often it was a matter of leaving rather than removing something.’

‘Leaving what?’ she demanded. She didn’t want to know, but she had to ask.

‘Surveillance devices,’ he said. ‘And occasionally, other devices.’

‘Like bombs, you mean? You turned him into an assassin?’

‘I fear so. Just on a couple of occasions. I did not send him in blind. He was fully briefed. On each occasion the details of the file we were able to show him on the targets were sufficiently powerful to persuade him that this was in the public good, a necessary execution rather than a wanton killing.’

Sneering is not a response that psychiatrists find much occasion to practise, but Alva managed it as to the manner born.

‘You
persuaded
him! A boy, a naïve young man at the very most, in your employ, in your
care
, probably dependent upon you emotionally as well as economically! And you
persuaded
him to become a killer. I bet that called on all your Ciceronian skills!’

He said, ‘If I gave you the details, I think you yourself might be persuaded that the world was a better place and our country more secure for the deaths of these men. But your reproach is not unjust. I had become very fond of young Wolf in the time I had known him. Rest quiet, Miss Ozigbo. There was nothing sexual in it, not overtly anyway. Wolf, you may be pleased to hear, is unswervingly straight in his appetites.’

He paused as if to allow response and Alva thought of bursting out indignantly, ‘Why do you think I should be particularly pleased to hear that?’ But she didn’t. She was beginning to understand that Childs rarely used words casually.

He resumed, ‘So I myself had begun to have some misgivings about steering the boy down this road. I comforted myself with the thought that it was not too late to divert. Then a third occasion requiring his special talents presented itself. Definitely the last, I told myself. And I was right, but for the wrong reasons. Things went awry.’

‘Awry?’ echoed Alva, tiring of his prissy language. ‘You mean there was a cock-up?’

‘Yes and no. The target was killed. So unfortunately were some members of his family who were not expected to be there. His wife. And two children.’

‘Good God,’ said Alva aghast. ‘And this was down to Wolf?’

‘No, as I attempted to explain to him, it was down to grim necessity. These things happen. It is not a question of choice. As I told Wolf when last I saw him, only God can claim to be independent of accident and necessity.’

‘You’ve seen Wolf recently? And you don’t have any broken bones?’

‘You sound regretful, Miss Ozigbo,’ he said, smiling. ‘So there are occasions when you might approve violence?’

‘Never approve, Mr Childs,’ she said coldly. ‘But I’m a human being as well as a scientist. I have emotions. So, you were telling me how you took a young boy and broke him to pieces.’

‘Yes. And then as best I could, I put him back together again. I offered him the only prize that could compensate for the damage I had done. You will know what that was from his interesting interchanges with you at Parkleigh.’

‘You offered him Imogen Ulphingstone,’ she said.

‘In a manner of speaking. He’d told me all about his reasons for running away from home. I couldn’t, of course, guarantee that Miss Ulphingstone would accept his proposal, and indeed, having made a few discreet enquiries about the lady, I had serious doubts as to whether it would be to Wolf’s benefit if she did. But once again I had no choice. Had I offered Wolf anything else, he would have taken off, and God knows what would have happened to him.’

‘He might have been able to carve out a perfectly happy life for himself!’ she said. ‘At least he would have been away from your malign influence!’

Childs grimaced.

‘I’m sorry, I am being unnecessarily periphrastic. When I say God knows what would have happened, I am talking about details not outcome. A young man who had been privy to the sort of event I have just sketched out to you could hardly be allowed to run wild, could he? Loose cannons, if they cannot be tied down, must be tipped overboard. You must see that.’

‘You mean, he would have been killed? What kind of monster are you, Childs?’

‘The kind who saved Wolf’s life. It was clear to me from the start that as well as huge personal charm, he had a surprising aptitude for business. In America they value these assets rather more highly than we do here and I saw to it that he received there the kind of higher education that made the most of them. Now all he needed was opportunity, and of course money. The latter was easy enough. Reward for services rendered and still to render. He returned to England a personable young man with his first million already in his account, and a great future before him. All the tests the young woman had set him he had passed with flying colours. She, alas, kept her end of the bargain.’

‘You said, services still to render. Do you mean Wolf carried on working for you after he founded Woodcutter?’

‘Not in the capacity you fear,’ said Childs. ‘But in his capacity as international businessman, he was welcome in circles that we were glad to get intelligence from. And people opened up to him in a wonderful way. Oh yes, he earned his keep. In fact, as he was soon so successful he didn’t need to be underpinned by public monies, he proved to be huge value for our initial investment.’

‘But you were still willing to let this valuable asset be destroyed?’

‘Even if he had been saved, with the collapse of Woodcutter, he was considerably less of an asset. And there was no way that I could have prevented the defection of Imogen. His occupation gone, his wife untrue, he would have been as unstable as Othello. As I say, loose cannons must be tied down, and it was convenient in so many ways that the State did us this service.’

‘He’s not tied down now,’ said Alva. ‘Indeed. And after the apology, that is my second reason for intruding upon you today. The Woodcutter is running free. I am sure you have been experiencing some serious concerns as to what he may be planning to do.’

She said, ‘Yes, I have. But I’ve no reason to believe whatever he’s planning will have anything to do with his connection with Chapel. You say you’ve spoken to him. He must have made this clear, surely?’

‘Because I have no broken bones?’ He smiled. ‘True. But I’m not here in my ringmaster capacity, Alva. I’m here as a friend of Wolf’s.’

His use of her name was as shocking as anything else she’d heard from him. It signalled . . . she wasn’t sure what it signalled, but it put her on maximum alert.

‘His friend? You mean you want to save him from himself and scupper any plan he might have to take revenge?’ she mocked. ‘Of course it would be pure coincidence that this would probably involve protecting what sounds like another of your valuable assets, the unspeakable Toby Estover.’

‘Too late for that, I fear,’ he said.

The words trembled across her brain like a migraine.

‘What do you mean?’

‘There have been developments. You’ve probably been too preoccupied with your priestlike task of pure ablution to listen to the news, but if you had done so, you might have heard that the Nutbrowns’ country residence was raided this morning and Johnny and Pippa Nutbrown have been taken into custody. Naturally they have summoned their solicitor, Mr Toby Estover. Unfortunately, he is nowhere to be found. His car is in its reserved spot in the underground car park that serves his office block. But of Mr Estover himself, there is not a trace.’

‘Oh Jesus,’ said Alva, feeling the strength drain out of her muscles.

‘Please, don’t upset yourself,’ said Childs. ‘There’s no reason to think that Wolf is involved in the disappearance, not physically anyway. He works much more subtly than that, and I’m sure at this moment he is safely alibi’d three hundred miles away in Cumbria. No, the fate of the Nutbrowns and of Estover is nothing to cause us concern.’

‘You’re saying that Wolf has nothing to do with this?’ she asked incredulously.

‘Don’t be silly,’ he said, with the first signs of impatience she’d ever seen him show. ‘Of course I’m not saying that. But whatever connection there is will not be traceable, of that I’m sure. Forget these people, they’re getting no more than they deserve. And as I do not think they deserve death, I shall do my utmost to ensure their fate stops short of that.’

‘How nice to protect your conscience by making such delicate judgments!’ she sneered.

‘No, it is not my conscience I want to protect,’ he said quietly. ‘It is Wolf. Eventually I have hopes that we may be able to get his convictions overturned. I am not without influence. But the seeds of doubt must first be sowed. Meanwhile the best we can do for him is make sure he draws no attention to himself.’

‘You think it’s still possible to get the case reviewed?’ said Alva. Despite her resolve never to trust Childs again, she found she was letting him give her hope.

‘Anything is possible if you have the means to make it necessary,’ he said. ‘But let me speak plainly. Wolf so far has moved with stealth and care, but what I fear is that his final act might not be so meticulously planned, so remotely triggered as the first two. If Wolf seriously harms his former wife, he will certainly spend much of the rest of his life in jail. And that, I fear, might be the least of his worries. What such an act might do to his mental stability, you are better placed than I am to work out. This is why I have come to see you, Alva. I want Wolf to remain free, in body and in spirit. I think you want the same. What I can do, I have done. But I feel it may not be enough. He needs reasons other than any I can give him to stay his hand. If you think you can supply those reasons, then I beg you to make the attempt before it is too late.’

‘For God’s sake,’ cried Alva. ‘Can’t Imogen be taken into protective custody?’

‘To be protected from what?’ said Childs. ‘If the authorities get a hint that Wolf poses some kind of danger, it is he who will be returned to custody. Not that I would put money on them being able to find him if he decided to go to earth in that wilderness he so loves.’

‘At least you can keep a watch to make sure there’s plenty of warning if he looks like leaving home . . .’

‘I don’t think he has any intention of doing that. The good huntsman knows how his prey will react. He prepares his hide, and waits.’

‘I don’t understand,’ said Alva. ‘What do you think is going to happen?’

In an inner pocket of Childs’s immaculate jacket, a phone trembled.

Murmuring an apology, he took it out, looked at it with distaste, then placed it close to but not touching his ear and said, ‘Yes?’

He listened, said, ‘I’m on my way,’ replaced the phone in his pocket and stood up.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I must leave you. But in answer to your question, I think that in the very near future, Mrs Estover is going to find her home besieged by the media. The last time that happened she was able to take refuge at the Nutbrowns’ house, Poynters, in leafy Essex. That is no longer an option, so I believe that, both because it is a good place to hide and also because I suspect that’s where she will want to be, eventually she will head north to seek solace in the bosom of her family at Ulphingstone Castle. And from what I know of the lady, I would guess that Wolf will not need to go looking for her. She will come looking for him.’

4

They had transported the Nutbrowns to Cambridge Police HQ in separate vehicles with sirens ululating and lights oscillating in hope of outspeeding the media caravan. All they did of course was open up a traffic-free channel along which the motley gang of reporters and cameramen sped at supra-legal speeds a couple of hundred yards behind them.

In the station they were kept apart as they were booked in and fingerprinted.

Both refused to make statements until the arrival of their solicitor.

After two hours when Estover still hadn’t arrived, DI O’Reilly rang the lawyer’s London office to check if there were any known reason for the delay. He found the staff there in a state of mystified concern. Toby Estover’s car was in its reserved bay in the car park, but of the man himself there was no sign.

His wife, when contacted, confirmed that her husband had set out early to the office with the intention of dealing with a pressing matter there before driving north to Cambridge to represent the Nutbrowns.

O’Reilly then informed the Nutbrowns separately that it did not look as if Mr Estover was going to turn up and invited them to nominate an alternative, failing which they could, of course, accept the services of the duty solicitor.

On hearing this, Pippa Nutbrown gave her opinion of her absentee lawyer in such ripe terms that the DI observed drily that if he was even half those things, she was probably better off without him. Johnny Nutbrown asked what his wife was doing. In the end the man opted for the duty solicitor while the woman said that in order to get out of this shithole as quickly as possible, she’d answer just enough questions to let O’Reilly see what a dickhead he was being.