The Titanic Enigma (14 page)

Back in the hall, Jerry Derham had emerged from the living room. He was tucking away his cell phone. ‘This is now a crime scene for military investigators, and it won’t be made
public just yet,’ he said. ‘The police have been notified. The FBI are on their way.’ He gave Kate a sympathetic look. ‘Shall we get you and Lou home?’

Kate wiped away a tear from her chin. ‘Need to get cleaned up,’ she said and turned towards a downstairs bathroom.

Closing the door, for a second she could almost believe she was shutting off reality, but the thought was as fleeting as melting ice. If only life were that simple. She stepped over to the
washbasin and peered at her reflection in the mirror.

She could see her younger self there, the little girl who had stood on this very spot years before when she visited the Campions with her parents. Then she recalled the afternoon of her
mother’s funeral. They had buried her in a church not far from here, and her father, Nicholas Wetherall, George Campion’s closest friend, had accepted the Campions’ kind offer to
act as hosts for a small gathering after the service. She was ten, dressed in a dark-blue dress, pigtails tied with black silk ribbon. She had cried before this same mirror that day too. But then
she could leave the room and feel the embrace of her father and the love of her godparents. Now, all of them were gone.

Derham led them back to the car. It had stopped raining, but it was cold with an insipid dampness in the air. Before they could pull away, a Chevrolet compact drew up in front of the navy pool
car. Derham got out again and spoke to a couple of men in black suits. Kate and Lou sat in the back of the car immersed in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

‘It’s the Feds,’ Derham said, leaning in through the back window of the navy car, ‘. . . insist on talking to both of you.’

Lou went off to the house with one of the FBI agents, the other came around the car and opened the back door.

‘You mind if I talk to you here, Dr Wetherall?’ the agent asked. He looked at Goldman who was in the driver’s seat. He got the message immediately and stepped out. Kate watched
him and Derham walk back to the house. The agent slipped into the car and sat down where Lou had been.

‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ the man said, extending a hand. ‘Special Agent Mike Colm.’

Kate took his hand limply and met his eye.

‘How were you related to the deceased?’ Colm asked, pulling a notebook and pen from his wet jacket.

‘I’m not. They are . . . were my godparents.’

‘Can you talk me through what you know of what happened here.’

Kate was silent for a moment, turned to her right to look at the house lit up from inside. ‘Lou and I visited this morning . . .’

‘What time?’

‘We got here about two o’clock.’

‘So not strictly this morning,’ Colm said, gazing down at the notebook.

Kate looked at him and the man lifted his head. ‘Go on.’

‘We drove over from our lab in Norfolk. I wanted to show my godfather a document we had been studying.’

‘A document?’

‘Yes.’

‘What sort of document?’

‘I’m afraid I’m not at liberty . . .’

‘This is a double murder investigation, Dr Wetherall.’

‘I’m aware of that,’ Kate replied acerbically. ‘That doesn’t change the fact . . .’

‘Why were you consulting Professor Campion?’

‘Because my uncle’s area of expertise was pertinent to our research. George is . . . was . . . one of the most respected physicists on earth.’

‘And you and Dr Bates talked at length with the professor?’

‘We did. Then we had dinner.’

‘And you left . . . when?’

‘About eight thirty . . . nine.’

‘Which?’

Kate took a deep breath. And chose not to answer.

‘I realize this must be a difficult time for you Dr—’

‘Do you?’ Kate snapped.

It was Colm’s turn to fall silent.

‘I apologize,’ Kate said. ‘You’re just trying to do your job. OK . . . I remember we were pulling onto the highway and the clock read eight forty, so I guess we must have
left about eight thirty-five.’

‘Captain Derham reported that you were then driven off the road and ended up in the ER at Sentara Obici.’

‘That is correct. We were pursued by a white Cadillac. It rammed us. We were in a rented Toyota. Neither of us got the licence plate of the Cadillac.’

‘You then discharged yourself and came here with Dr Bates and Captain Derham.’

Kate nodded and looked away to see Derham approaching the car. Goldman and Lou behind him. Lou had the collar of his flying jacket turned up.

The captain tapped on the glass and indicated to the agent that he should open the window. It lowered and Derham leaned in. ‘That’s it for now, Agent Colm,’ he said, a hard
edge to his voice. ‘These people have been through quite enough . . .’

‘This is an FBI matter now, captain.’

‘No, it’s not,’ Derham snapped. ‘I’ve just had a call from the commander of the base, Admiral Davis. Right now he is in a conference with the Joint Chiefs of Staff
at the Pentagon. He has given me explicit instructions to terminate this little chat immediately.’ He glanced at Kate, who stared back hollow-eyed. Derham stepped back and held the door
open.

Colm did not move for a moment. ‘You can verify this officially?’

‘I don’t need to, Agent Colm. You either get out and let us be on our way or I have instructions to take you into custody at Norfolk Naval Base.’

Colm still refused to move and glanced at his colleague who had just approached the car behind the naval officers and Lou. Sighing, he slowly closed his notebook, returned it with the pen to an
inside pocket and stepped out. ‘Very well. I will have to contact my superiors also.’

‘You do that,’ Derham replied evenly.

Lou slid into the back of the car beside Kate, Goldman got into the driving seat as Derham lowered himself into the passenger side and the car pulled away.

They were soon out on the main highway, heading east back to the naval base. No one spoke for several minutes before Lou broke the silence. ‘Anything on Newman?’

Derham half-turned towards the back of the car and shook his head. ‘I have a dozen men on it. We’ve seized his office computer. The technician guy you met, Kevin Grant? He’s
going through the hard drive with a fine-toothed comb. Newman’s team are all being questioned. We’ll get to the bottom of it.’

‘Whoever killed the Campions must have been trailing us from the start,’ Kate commented.

‘They have been dead for at least three hours. I think whoever is responsible attacked the house immediately after you left.’

‘Which means there are at least three men involved.’

‘Four, minimum,’ Derham replied. ‘Lou . . . you told me you saw two figures near the crash. They couldn’t have been the same people who killed the Campions. There
wouldn’t have been time.’

‘Unless they went back to the Campions’ home after our car exploded.’

‘It’s possible. But I reckon a more likely scenario is that two of them followed your Toyota, two stayed back at the cottage. They wanted to cover all bases. Someone – Newman,
I guess – tipped somebody off about the papers from the
Titanic.
They realized you either handed them over to the professor to study or took them away with you. I take it you
didn’t leave them?’

‘They were in the car when it went up,’ Kate said. ‘I led my godparents to their deaths and they never did have the damn documents anyway.’

‘Kate, you can’t . . .’ Lou began.

‘I’m OK,’ she said gently as he went to put an arm about her shoulder. ‘I didn’t do it intentionally. But I’ll have to live with what happened for the rest of
my life.’

He took a deep breath and looked to Derham. ‘So, what now?’

‘I think both of you should get some rest. I’ll assign a couple of my men to your apartments.’

‘No, thanks,’ Kate responded. ‘Last thing I need. Can you take me back to the lab?’

‘You sure about that?’

Kate’s expression was hard. ‘I’ve always found that work is the best therapy.’

‘Very well, but I still want you two under guard, OK?’

‘Would it make any difference if I said no to that?’

*

The Institute of Marine Studies was an open campus, with no security gates, no armed guards – a fact that did not please Derham. He stopped the car close to the building
where Kate and Lou worked and stepped out with them. To their left, ten yards away, stood a multistorey car park. The whole place was very quiet.

‘You’re certain about this?’ He turned to Kate then Lou. ‘It’s past one o’clock. Place is deserted.’

‘The car hasn’t turned into a pumpkin,’ Lou quipped.

‘All right,’ Derham shrugged. ‘I want you at the base at 08.00, no matter what time you quit work tonight. And my guys should be here within the hour. They’ll take up a
spot around here, I guess,’ and he indicated a space in the car park. ‘You’ll be able to wave to them from the lab window.’

‘How nice,’ Kate retorted.

He took a step towards her and squeezed her shoulder gently. ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said softly, turned and shook Lou’s hand. ‘08.00.’

They watched the captain drive away, the car’s brake lights flicking on, then off. The car park lay silent.

‘So what are we working on?’ Lou asked and yawned.

Kate produced a faint smile, the first since she had woken up in Sentara Obici Hospital. ‘I love you, Dr Lou Bates . . .’ she said, shaking her head.

Lou looked at her askance. She gazed back at him.

A loud sound broke through the silence. A car with its lights off screeched around the corner of the car park and accelerated towards them.

It took Kate and Lou a few moments to realize what was happening and to react. Car doors swung open, three figures leapt from the car and charged towards them.

Lou grabbed Kate’s arm and they took off towards the multi-storey directly ahead. It was an ugly cube of concrete four floors high. Lights inside cast a faint lemon glow above the parapets
skirting each floor. A pair of blue doors faced the narrow road. Kate and Lou reached them in seconds, not daring to look back.

Praying the doors were unlocked, Lou pushed on the bar with his good arm. They flew inwards. Ignoring the pain in her side, Kate took the lead, sprinting into the ground level of the car park.
They heard voices, then a loud crack like a whip shooting through the night.

‘Christ!’ Lou exclaimed, ‘they’re shooting at us!’

They ran towards another door twenty yards to the left.

The men were through the main doors now. Kate and Lou could hear the echo of boots on concrete growing louder . . . Another crunch cut through the air, then a burst of gunfire from an automatic
weapon. Shards of wall flew into the air inches in front of Kate. She felt a stab of pain on the left side of her face, ignored it and produced an extra burst of speed.

They crashed through the door onto a stairwell and heard shouts from the first level of the car park as they tore up the stairs. The entry door on the floor below slammed against the wall.

Kate risked a glance back and saw three men in black balaclavas rush through the doorway and into the stairwell. Two of them were carrying assault rifles, the third a pistol.

‘Stop!’ the leader hollered.

Kate and Lou ignored them, yanked on the handrail and tore up two more flights of stairs. Reaching another door directly above the ground floor opening, Lou tore at the handle and they tumbled
out into a level of the car park.

A cloying voice in Kate’s head was telling her it was all futile. She shoved it aside. They had to keep going. There was no plan, but there was also no alternative but to run and run until
they could run no further.

There were only a few cars on this level . . . not many places to hide. They darted across the concrete, gasping for air, sweat running into their eyes.

The men emerged from the stairwell and fanned out. ‘Stop!’ The man leading the group yelled again. ‘This is your last warning.’

Lou pulled Kate down behind a car and a spray of bullets stuttered along the parapet, the sound reverberating across the cavernous space.

They heard the men come closer.

Kate touched her face and saw blood on her fingertips and felt a sharp sting run along her cheek. Her damaged rib was screaming at her. She and Lou rose together slowly, hands raised. They
stepped back unsteadily until they reached the parapet. The three men regrouped, guns poised. Through the gaps in the balaclavas, Kate and Lou could make out their eyes, their mouths.

‘So what was the point of that?’ the leader said.

They stared back like startled rabbits in the headlights of an approaching car, knowing there was nowhere left to run.

‘I want the papers.’

‘What papers?’ Lou stuttered.

The leader took a step forward. ‘Don’t be fucking cute.’

‘If you mean the photocopies, they were destroyed in the car,’ Kate said shakily. ‘Search us if you don’t—’

The shattering noise came a second before Kate and Lou expected it and the vibration of the air reached them a second later. Bullets exploded around them and they heard a series of dull thuds as
they found flesh.

The three men lay in a broken heap on the floor of the multi-storey car park, their blood rippling out across the concrete, black in the dim fluorescence.

Kate heard Lou gasp and they both glimpsed Jerry Derham slipping between two cars, a US Navy-issue M110 semi-automatic rifle in his hands. He ran forward, checked the men were dead, plucked his
cell phone from his pocket and snapped an order into it. Flicking it off, he reached Kate and Lou. Lou had his arm around Kate’s shoulder. A line of blood ran down her neck; it had stained
her blouse.

‘You both OK?’ Derham asked as he checked Kate’s wound and pulled back. ‘A scratch.’

Kate couldn’t take her eyes from the three corpses. When she did speak, her voice came as a rasp. ‘How . . . How did you know?’

‘I circled the block; wanted to make sure you got to the lab in one piece. I’ve learned I can’t let you out of my sight without something terrible happening,’ Derham
retorted.