The Murder Exchange (19 page)

I sighed and shook my head. 'It was a stupid
move. You know, I was thinking this morning how
naive Benin was in the way he dealt with people,
but I was far more naive than him over this. I really

171
thought I could rattle Vamen, but in the end I've *
achieved absolutely nothing, except maybe to alert *
him to the fact that I might know something about
what's going on. And he's already made a preemptive
strike to get me off his back.'

'You did your best/ she said, giving me a '*'
supportive smile. 'Which is a lot more than a few of
the people round here.'

'Well, it didn't work,' I said, feeling sorry for
myself.

'So, what do you think happened? What's your
theory on Matthews and McBride?'

I'd thought about that a fair amount that day but
had yet to come up with anything concrete. 'I don't
know, Tina. If I had to indulge in a bit of conjecture ~
I'd say that Jean Tanner was Neil Vamen's mistress
and that she was also seeing Matthews on the side.
Vamen found out about what was going on and
had Matthews killed.' t

'And what about McBride?'

'This is where it starts not to make much sense.
From what the neighbours were saying, McBride
had visited Jean on a number of occasions, so it
makes me think that maybe he was seeing her as
well.'

'So she was seeing three of them? She gets
around a bit.'

I shrugged. 'Well, that's what it looks like.' i;

'And you think Vamen found out about McBride f
as well?'

I spread my arms wide in a gesture of defeat. 'I
don't know.'

'Because that all seems a bit coincidental, doesn't |

172
it? Him killing off two of his love rivals in the space
of a week. All over one woman who's hardly a
picture painting, is she?'

'You know what they say/ I said lamely. 'Love's
blind.'

'Not that blind.'

'I don't think I've ever come across a murder case
as complicated as this one. One where nothing
seems to really lead anywhere. Do you know what
I mean? There's no logic in any of it. I mean,
what about Fowler? If he's got nothing to do with
it, then where is he?' There followed a long silence.
We were a long way from any answers. 'You know,'
I said eventually, 'it's been such a long day, I can't
even be bothered to think about it any more.'

'Do you want to go for a drink? Finish up here
and grab a beer somewhere?'

I pondered her suggestion for all of one second.
The paperwork could wait. 'Why not? I could do
with one.'

We wandered round the corner to the Roving
Wolf and I ordered the first round: a pint of Pride
for me, a pint of Fosters for her. That was another
thing I liked about Boyd, she didn't have any airs
and graces. She might have been a college girl like
Benin but she was still one of the lads. The interior
of the pub was quiet at this hour with most of the
hardened drinkers and passing trade sat at tables
outside on the street, so we found ourselves a table
away from the bright rays of evening sunshine
streaming through the windows and chatted a
while, enjoying the fact that the working day
was over and there was nothing and no-one to

173

m pressurize us. She bought the second round and I *

realized I was enjoying things just a little too much.
She was good company, and single, too. I couldn't
help but think that maybe I ought to make an
exception to the rule I'd placed on myself never to "
have an office fling. That had been after an affair I'd 7 had with another WDC ten years earlier, when
Rachel had been little more than a baby and I'd
been getting the married man's yearning for something
new. It had all got very messy. The WDC had < demanded I choose between Cathy and her, and I'd
done the inevitable and chosen Cathy. The atmos- "
phere between the WDC and me, and in CID as a
whole, where everyone knew what had been going ,
on, had been sour for more than a year afterwards *
until she'd finally asked for a transfer and got it,
much to my relief. I might not have been married
any more but I still thought it best to keep to the
rule, remembering all too well the hassle of having >"* to work with someone you'd pay good money to
avoid.

So when Boyd asked if I fancied grabbing a curry
somewhere, I was pretty torn. But with the grim
memories of the previous night and Celebrity Stars %
in their Eyes still fresh in my mind, I concluded that
life was definitely too short to say no. Boyd
suggested a curryhouse she liked down near King's
Cross station and, while I would have preferred the |
continental ambience of Upper Street to the dodgier |
end of the Euston Road, I didn't make a fuss. To be * ;
fair to her, I ended up pleased with the choice. The
food was good, which I suppose it would have to |
be given its location, and I found myself relaxing in 1

174
a way I hadn't in female company for a long time.

As they cleared away the remains of the food, I
told her about Capper's reaction to my mention of
Heavenly Girls. 'Do you think he's been paying
recreational visits down there? He definitely knew
the place.'

She pulled a face. 'It wouldn't surprise me. He's
the sort you can imagine visiting toms. He's got
that perverted look about him, don't you think?
Like the sort of bloke you'd find in a peep show. I
bet he gets them to spank his arse.'

I laughed. That's your boss you're talking about.
I hate to think what you say about me.'

'Oh, it's worse. Definitely worse.'

'I bet it is as well. But I can tell you quite
_,uegorically that no-one's ever spanked my arse.
Even my mum was against corporal punishment.'

There's always a first time/ she said, with a coy
smile. The woman was definitely flirting. I wasn't
sure whether to be worried or pleased. She took a
packet of Silk Cut out of her handbag. 'Do you
mind if I smoke?'

'Be my guest.'

I watched as she lit one and took a long, relaxed
drag that gave me a fleeting reminder, even years
later, of how good a cigarette tastes after a decent
meal. 'What you've got to remember', she said,
blowing the smoke out above my head, 'is that if
Capper was, or is, a customer down there, then it's
possible that he knows Fowler.'

'I was thinking about that earlier, but I don't
really go for it. He's too keen for us to find him. He
keeps going on about it.'

175
I

'Ah/ she said, taking another drag (it's amazing j|
how elegant a woman smoking can look), Ijut *
there's always the possibility that he might have
been put in a compromising situation. If someone *
down there found out he was a copper, then they
might have been able to use it against him, and perhaps
it's that someone who wants to find Fowler.'

'And who do you think that someone might be?'

She shrugged. 'God knows.'

I shook my head. This was one complication too i
far. 'No, I think it's more likely he's just a pervert.' \,

She blew more smoke over my head. 'So do I, but JJ
nothing's set in stone, is it? Maybe it'd be worth- ;|
while watching what you say around him.' .1

I nodded, thinking that it was funny how when ~
you're talking to another copper, even one who's
female and attractive, you always end up back on
the subject of work. For once, I just wanted to
forget about it. I wanted to talk more about her. j
What she was interested in. What made
her tick. What she looked for in a man. And
whether she really was flirting.

But the opportunity had passed, and a couple of f minutes later she stubbed her cigarette out and said f
that she ought to be getting back. We split the bill
fifty-fifty and headed outside. Night was falling
and the lowlifes who inhabit King's Cross after
dark were coming out of the cracks in the pavement ^
and looking round for customers and victims. I
suggested we share a cab back but she told me she
was perfectly capable of getting herself back on the
Tube. 'I am a police officer, you know, John/ she
said dismissively.

176
'Don't say that too loudly round here.'

'And don't keep going on.' Her face broke into a
smile. 'Look, I had a good time tonight. We'll have
to do it again sometime.'

I nodded. 'Definitely.'

We had an awkward moment when we thought
about shaking hands, but didn't quite go through
with it, and then she said goodbye and headed off
towards the Underground, while I looked around
for a cab that would take me back to Tufnell Park.

Part of me thought that maybe I should have
tried to kiss her, or at least shown that I was
interested, but the other part kept telling me that
by taking a little pain now I was avoiding a lot
more down the line.

Iversson

'So how did you meet your ex-missus, then?' asked
Elaine.

It was Sunday morning and we were sitting up in
her bed, naked and drinking coffee. The clock on
the bedside table said half eleven and her right
hand was on my thigh, which made me think she
probably wasn't going to kick me out just yet.

'I was a double-glazing salesman.'

Elaine laughed. 'You? Now that I would have
liked to see.'

'It was just after I'd left the army. I was pretty shit
at it, to be honest with you. I mean, they taught you
all these ways to get the customer to sign on the
dotted line, get him fired up and interested and all

177
I

;

that, but in the end, as far as I could see, all I was m
doing was shifting windows. You know, people ,
either wanted them or they didn't. Anyway, my ex
was a secretary there and for some reason she took
a fancy to me.' _t_

'Well, you're not bad, Max.' \

"Thanks. You're too kind.' ,

'I know.'

'So we started going out, one thing led to
another, and somehow we ended up getting wed.
Christ knows how it happened. I still don't think
either of us cared that much about each other - it
was just one of those things. Anyway, it didn't last.
We went to Majorca on the honeymoon, it rained
nearly every day, she went on sex strike after I said ~
something about her mum she took offence to, and
it went downhill from there. I think we managed
about four months, no more than that. I got sacked i
from the company and she took it worse than me. I
was quite pleased, but with her it was a pride thing.
It made her look bad in front of her mates in the
office that her husband wasn't good enough to flog
double-glazing, and she really let me know it. In
the end I just thought, fuck it, we're never going to
work it out so I might as well make the break. So
one day, while she was at work, I packed up all my
stuff, which wasn't a lot, and walked out. I only
saw her once after that, and that was in the divorce
courts. She got half of everything I owned, which
was nothing. I got my freedom back. It was a fair
swap, I thought.'

'How did you get into the mercenary game?'
'My partner, Joe, he'd been doing it for a couple

178 f
of years. He was working for an outfit who were
always on the look-out for people with good
military backgrounds to send out to all these places.
I put a call into him, he put me in touch with his
boss, and three days later I was on the plane to
Sierra Leone.'

Where the hell's that?'

'Somewhere you don't ever want to go. A back
*.vnter shithole in Africa. And I'll tell you this, you
have to see the place to believe it. I was there four
months altogether, but I reckon I lost count of the
number of mutilated corpses I saw within four days.
We were working for the government, or what
passed for the government. To be honest, it was just
a bunch of young NCOs who'd overthrown the last
uiuku, and most of them couldn't run a bath, let
alone a country. We were meant to be helping the
Sierra Leonean army secure the area around
the capital city and capture the diamond mines
in the interior from the rebels, the RUE'

'So who were they rebelling against, the RUF?'

That made me chuckle. 'Anyone who wanted to
take the diamonds off them. That was about as
radical as they got. They might have said it was all
about creating freedom and democracy and all that
shit but, like most politicians, all they really cared
about was lining their own pockets. It's what most
of those wars are about. Some people have got the
diamonds and the money, some others want it.
Instead of sitting round the table and carving up
the proceeds, like they do over here, they get the
guns out and start shooting.'

'Did you ever kill anyone?' she asked evenly,

179

pulling out a pack of cigarettes and offering me
one.

I took one and let her light it for me. 'Would it
matter if I had?' I answered, hoping that she wasn't
the sort of girl to get offended by her new lover's
tales of mayhem and murder.

She shrugged, and looked me in the eye. 'It was
your job, wasn't it? That's what you're trained for.
No, it wouldn't matter.' It seemed she wasn't, then.

I leant back on the pillow and took a drag on the
cigarette as her fingers drifted across the hairs on my
belly. I got the impression she was horny again. This
girl had an incredible appetite.

'I shot at a lot of people/ I told her, 'and quite a
few of them fell down, but I couldn't ever say for
sure that it was me who killed them. There were
always other people fighting alongside me. But I.
suppose, probability wise, I must have taken out a
couple. It's not something I'm particularly proud of.'
'But you shouldn't be ashamed either. Sometimes
it's just a case of you or them, isn't it?' Out of the
corner of my eye, I was conscious of her watching
me as she spoke.

That's right. I don't regret anything I've ever
done. I shot at people who were shooting at me. I
never killed anyone in cold blood, and I suppose
you could argue that one way or another they all
deserved it. They were no angels. None of them.
Not the RUF, nor any of the others I ran into on my
travels.'