Authors: Chris Brookmyre
They were standing at an arrival gate at Edinburgh airport, waiting to intercept Gordon Ewart after he disembarked his flight from Heathrow. Catherine had made several fruitless attempts to contact him throughout the day; he was steadfastly ignoring the messages she was leaving on his mobile, and she had been consistently rebuffed by his secretary to an extent that made her suspect the woman was under explicit instruction to do so.
He would be in meetings all day, she said: that was why he was away in London. He was back down south in two days’ time, and had a full programme in between. Catherine didn’t even get offered an intentionally discouraging ‘how about a week on Thursday?’ The message was that he was incredibly important and immeasurably busy. But what was also implicit, and rather intriguing, was that he appeared to believe that if he stalled long enough, Catherine would give up and go away.
‘I feel like we’re paparazzi or reporters or something,’ Laura said, as the first passengers began streaming from the airbridge.
‘If we were reporters, they wouldn’t have let us down to the gate without a boarding pass.’
‘Can I still get duty free?’
Gordon Ewart was a senior executive for Cautela Group, on whose board his father still served as a director. It was a security-to-logistics behemoth, and Catherine was conscious that looking like a reporter might actually be worse than looking like a cop, given how skittish its senior management tended to be of late.
Cautela Group were the latest megafirm to be accused of ‘aggressive tax reduction’ strategies in the UK, a charge that carried all the more sting given how much of its business came from government-awarded contracts. Their suits wouldn’t be in the mood to answer questions from strangers, but Catherine had little doubt the firm would ride out the storm comfortably enough. Nothing succeeds like success, they said, but Cautela sat alongside the likes of Capita and G4S in proving that, for a connected few, nothing succeeds like failure also. It seemed no matter how many fuck-ups or embarrassments they were responsible for, the contracts just kept rolling in.
It probably helped if you had good government contacts. Such as having a former Tory cabinet minister and his son on the payroll.
She spotted Ewart striding briskly from the mouth of the airbridge, a tall figure carrying himself with absolute confidence. He was deep in conversation with another expensively suited middle-aged male, both of them bearing briefcases in one hand and their mobiles in the other.
They didn’t cast a look towards anybody as they marched in step, the thrusting gait of two men with places to be and who expected everybody else to recognise this and get the hell out of their way. Thus when Catherine and Laura stepped deliberately across their paths, they both flashed looks of annoyance at these impertinent females, but didn’t glance long enough to notice the badges.
‘Mr Ewart,’ Catherine began, but he waved her off brusquely and muttered something about having no comment to make.
Catherine fell into step and identified herself.
‘This is not
Dispatches
. I’m with Strathclyde Police. I need to ask you some questions about Stevie Fullerton.’
Ewart turned and glared at her in confused indignation, but he didn’t slow down.
‘You have got to be joking,’ he said. ‘You have really got to be fucking joking.’
According to Wiki he’d been a boarder at Strathallan. From the accent she guessed he hadn’t spent a lot of his holiday time beyond the periphery of his father’s house, never mind the periphery of his father’s constituency.
‘No, I’m not joking and this isn’t a bloody strippergram either. I am investigating—’
‘I know what you’re investigating. Jesus Christ, I thought this was sorted. I literally don’t have time for this and it would be in both our interests, believe me, were you to leave me alone
right now
.’
He strode on, his face flushed. His companion looked uncomfortable to be witness to this, Ewart no doubt furious at the embarrassment. He was showing no intention of stopping.
How about some more awkward, Catherine thought.
‘It’s concerning two different murder inquiries,’ she said loudly. ‘Three if we include Julie Muir.’
Yeah, that bloody stopped him.
‘You’d best go on ahead,’ Ewart told his pal. ‘I’ll catch you up later.’
The other man nodded and hurried away, glancing back and gesticulating with his mobile.
Ewart let him gain some distance then resumed walking just as briskly. No suggestion that they find a seat or a quiet corner: this guy wanted away, and he didn’t expect to be detained.
Catherine had been a cop twenty years, so she had to delve deep to remember what it felt like to encounter a police officer as a civilian. She recalled always being cautious and wary, polite and cooperative, ever conscious of the potential dangers when power met caprice. Most people she met were at least the first two, even the hardened crooks. The sense of entitlement emanating from this prick was quite staggering.
‘We’ve been speaking to a witness who told us that your relationship with Julie Muir was suppressed at the time of the investigation.’
‘Christ, are you detectives or archaeologists? And if you’re researching ancient history you must
know
it was suppressed, though that makes it sound far more conspiratorial than the truth. It wasn’t deemed relevant; or at least not sufficiently relevant as to be worth exposing my father to the fallout.’
‘When it comes to murder investigations, I’m seldom sure what is or isn’t going to prove relevant in the final analysis, no matter who gets exposed to “fallout”.’
His pace had slowed a little, Catherine reckoning this was so that it didn’t appear to onlookers that he was trying to get away; better that it just appeared he was chatting casually to two more suits, albeit cheaper ones.
‘Julie was murdered on her way to my parents’ house, but her intended destination was deemed incidental once it became clear what had happened. She never got there that night because of that fucking mong.’
Ewart bared his teeth as he said this, almost daring her to object to his terminology. His aggression was palpable, but was it principally aimed at Sheehan or Catherine?
‘I was interviewed and my relationship with Julie was made known to the investigation. Once Sheehan had confessed the Procurator Fiscal’s office concurred with the police that there was no need to bring me into the court case. My father’s position meant it would have been a sideshow everybody could do without. If my father had been just anybody, then no, I doubt such a courtesy would have been extended, but the fact is that my father wasn’t just anybody.’
‘What about your relationship with Stevie Fullerton?’
Ewart visibly seethed, gripping the handle of his briefcase as an inconspicuous outlet for his anger; just not inconspicuous enough.
‘Don’t you bloody people speak to each other? Because believe me, if you’re out on your own your feet won’t touch—’
‘Forgive me, Mr Ewart,’ Catherine told him. ‘There was an announcement over the PA, so I didn’t quite catch what you said, and I
know
I can’t have heard it properly because it sounded like you were threatening me.’
They had reached the domestic arrivals area. Catherine could see Ewart’s companion waiting for him near the automatic doors leading out to the car parks. Ewart clocked him too, and stopped walking. He turned to face the way he had just come. He didn’t want anyone who knew him to be witness to this discussion.
‘I came forward voluntarily,’ he said. ‘This was all supposed to be cleared up.’
‘You came forward voluntarily about what?’
Ewart sighed.
‘Fullerton had been phoning me, threatening to kick up a stink about my wild days. It was blackmail: sheer opportunism. Cautela had been all over the media and he must have thought I’d pay good money to avoid further bad publicity.’
‘Your wild days?’ Catherine asked, curious to see how much he would cop to. The more candid he was, the more it might suggest he was trying to divert attention from something else.
‘If you’ve spoken to a witness who knew about me and Julie, then I’m sure you already know what Fullerton was alluding to. My association with the notorious Nokturn nightclub: sex, drugs, Fullerton’s own gang connections. Throw in Julie as well and he thought he had a classic tabloid cocktail, light on detail but heavy on innuendo.’
‘So you contacted the police about this?’
‘Yes. And
before
Fullerton was killed, I hasten to add. I got in touch again after that happened, in case anybody was stupid enough to think I had a motive.’
‘You did have a motive,’ Catherine reminded him.
‘Hardly. I told him to fuck off. Called his bluff. He kept at it though: he thought
I
was bluffing. The bastard phoned my mother as well, hoping the potential embarrassment might milk her too. That’s why I went to the police. I made sure I was eliminated. Fullerton’s whole intention was to drag me into the sleaze, and I was damned if he was going to achieve it posthumously. This was all taken care of,’ he added impatiently, like she was being particularly obtuse.
‘Stevie Fullerton’s murder is my investigation, Mr Ewart. Nobody can eliminate you from that except me.’
He gave a humourless, scornful laugh and looked at her with open contempt.
‘What rank did you say you were, officer?’
‘Detective Superintendent.’
‘Then you ought to be asking yourself how far above your pay grade all this happened for it not to have seeped down to your level. And I’m guessing you’ll find yourself a lot lower still by the time this is all over.’
With that, he turned on his heel and marched off towards his business-class buddy by the doors.
‘A real charmer,’ Laura said. ‘Hard to see why he’s been divorced twice. I’ve never seen somebody so sure his arse was watertight. Who the hell has been telling him that it’s all taken care of?’
‘Especially if Fullerton had been calling the guy making threats shortly before his death,’ Catherine agreed. ‘Which makes me extremely confused as to why this is the first
I’m
hearing about these threats.’
‘I’d heard nothing either,’ Laura assured her. ‘His name never came up before Ciara Flanigan mentioned it. Hang on, though: Ewart said Fullerton phoned him – repeatedly. Why didn’t his number appear on Fullerton’s phone records?’
Catherine suddenly pictured the USB stick she had received, eventually, from the Intelligence bureau via Sunderland.
Via Abercorn.
Laura’s mobile rang. She glanced at the screen then held it up for Catherine to see.
‘I need to take this.’
Laura did a lot of listening, not so much speaking. She glanced across to Catherine every so often, eyes wide, palpably frustrated that her reaction was as much as she could immediately convey, but her expression implied it was worth waiting for.
‘That was Jasmine Sharp,’ Laura reported.
‘Your secret source.’
It had been Laura’s idea to bring Jasmine into play, figuring she might be able to wheedle a little more information via angles otherwise closed off to the investigation. However, it had been Catherine’s idea that Laura should pretend she was going behind her boss’s back, estimating that if Jasmine thought she was working at cross purposes to Catherine it would motivate her to dig all the deeper.
Catherine had taken a disproportionate and perhaps unworthy satisfaction in thus playing the girl, as it felt like she was evening the score. She harboured an enduring, powerful and instinctive suspicion that Jasmine had in some way screwed her regarding a previous case. She didn’t know quite how and she didn’t have any proof, but she was in little doubt that something about it reeked of deceit.
Jasmine might have an innocent face and look like she’d have difficulty staying upright in a stiff breeze, but she was a sneaky, duplicitous and thoroughly sleekit wee bitch, which was why Catherine had agreed it would be useful to have her
inside
the tent on this one.
‘She claims she can prove Fallan was set up. Sheila Fullerton told her that the story about Stevie and his crew attacking Fallan and leaving him for dead is bollocks. It never happened, so there’s no grudge, no motive – and that’s according to the widow. Jasmine also pointed out that the Land Rover just happened to scrape against the only freshly painted slab at the car wash, conveniently marking it for later identification.’
‘So what?’ Catherine asked, not yet sharing Laura’s sense of portent.
‘The witnesses said the slab scraped the Defender’s passenger door. Fallan’s is a left-hand drive.’
‘Yeah, they
said
passenger side,’ Catherine argued, ‘but presumably they just meant the left-hand side as it was facing the road.’
‘Presumably? Did anybody go back and check which side the gunman was sitting in those CCTV images? The gunman who had taken the precaution of wearing a skull mask and a hood, but was driving to and from a daylight hit in his own car?’
‘I didn’t notice what side he was driving,’ Catherine admitted. ‘In fact, I don’t think I even heard anyone mention that Fallan’s vehicle was a southpaw.’
‘How hard would it be to fit fake plates, or to scrape the side of your patsy’s Land Rover with, say, a half brick painted white? Then your hitman makes sure he bashes that nice white slab on the way out—’
‘Except the paint transferred from the brick wouldn’t chemically match the stuff on the slab,’ Catherine pointed out. ‘The paint on Fallan’s vehicle did.’
‘It would match if it came from the same tin: that’s what Jasmine’s saying.’
Catherine got out her mobile and dialled.
‘Zoe? Do you have the CCTV shots of Fallan’s Land Rover to hand? I need you to look at them and tell me which side of the vehicle the guy in the skull mask is sitting.’
‘Just a sec, boss.’
The line went silent for a few seconds, then Zoe picked up again.
‘The usual. Right-hand drive. Why?’
She recalled Abercorn’s words when challenged about the USB stick.
Look, Catherine, not everything I do is a fucking conspiracy, okay?