‘Has somebody done something stupid, then?’
‘Oh, I can’t talk about it. It’s all a disaster. And then, on top of all that, I’m expected to drop everything to write some phoney report, which no one will ever use, to cover my boss’s unworthy backside. As if I didn’t have a mountain of real work to do!’
‘Yes, yes. He’s English, is he, your boss?’
‘Yes, very pukka, quite the English gentleman. “Just get it done, Tahir. Just see to it.” Hah!’
‘And what about Mrs Haygill. What is she like?’
This had been a line that Brock had suggested, following Reggie Grice’s hint. But for some reason the question seemed to throw Darr completely. There was a long silence, and then he asked, ‘ What did you say?’
Leon repeated the question, not sure what had happened. ‘I just wondered what his wife was like. Do you know her well?’ Darr was staring at him fixedly, and Leon began to ramble. ‘If she’s anything like my boss’s wife she treats the staff like private servants, you know? A chauffeur, a secretary… What’s wrong?’
Darr turned to his drink and didn’t reply for a moment. He looked at his watch, then at Leon, ‘Oh, I could tell you a few interesting tit-bits about her, don’t worry. But I must get going now. I’m late for another appointment. How long are you in town?’
‘A few days.’
‘Tell you what, if you’re stuck for something to do, I could meet you for another drink tomorrow night, and continue our conversation.’
‘Yes, great. That would be good.’
‘Do you have a card?’
Leon reached for his wallet, then stopped and said, ‘Oh, I ran out today. I need to get some more.’
‘I see. Well, let’s say nine o’clock tomorrow. All right?’
They shook hands and Leon breathed a huge sigh of relief and switched off the recorder.
‘Go all right, did it?’ Rupert asked as Leon got to his feet.
‘Excellent, yes. We’re meeting again tomorrow. See you then.’
‘Give my best to Mr O’Brien.’
And it was O’Brien, as they listened to the tape the next morning, who spotted what had gone wrong. ‘You said “Mrs Haygill”, you berk.’
Leon flushed. ‘What do you mean?’
‘No one had mentioned Haygill’s name until then. Darr had been careful not to give you any names, of CAB-Tech or UCLE or anything. He’s rumbled you.’
There was a deathly silence. Then Leon said, ‘Rupert could have told me, while we were talking before Darr came over.’
‘How would Rupert know the name of Darr’s boss?’ Wayne objected scathingly.
Brock said, ‘Is it possible that Haygill has been to the club, Wayne? Maybe you could speak to Rupert, and discuss our problem.’
They waited in uncomfortable silence while O’Brien tried to get hold of the barman on the phone. Kathy felt sick in her heart. Leon hadn’t looked once at her since they had come together, and she’d had a couple of quizzical looks from Bren as they’d listened to Leon’s voice on tape complaining about his faithless girlfriend.
Wayne returned, looking worried. ‘I can’t get hold of him. But look, I’ve been thinking, it’s just too big a risk. We should stop this now. If Leon doesn’t turn up tonight, Darr will never be sure and no harm will be done.’
‘But nothing will have been achieved, either,’ Bren objected. ‘We didn’t learn anything concrete, except that Darr’s pissed off with his boss. I think he’ll start getting down to specifics on a second meeting.’
‘It was intriguing what he said about writing a phoney document,’ Brock said. ‘That could be the protocol I asked Haygill for.’
‘Brock, my priority has got to be to protect Rupert,’ Wayne O’Brien protested. ‘There’s a lot of dodgy people go through that club, and he’s a very useful source. If Rupert tells Darr that he knew his boss’s name was Haygill, and Darr knows for a fact that he couldn’t have, then Darr will know that Rupert is as fishy as Leon here. He’s a regular at that place. If he spreads the word that Rupert spies for us, then Rupert’s finished.’
Brock nodded. ‘Yes, I see that, Wayne. Pity.’
He seemed about to debate it further, but Kathy broke in, agitated. ‘Apart from that, I think it would be wrong to go ahead with the second meeting anyway. For all we know, Darr may well be the one who engineered Springer’s murder and Abu’s death. It’s far too dangerous for Leon to keep this appointment now. The whole thing was a mistake in the first place. I was wrong to suggest it.’
They looked at her in surprise and she flushed, feeling that she’d been a little too vehement. ‘I just think it’s risky and a waste of time. We should get Darr in again and question him formally, so we can use whatever he says.’
Leon looked at Kathy for the first time, and as their eyes met she read the doubt, as if he couldn’t make her out.
Bren said, ‘Seems a shame. I thought Leon was doing pretty well. What do you think, Leon? You’re the one in the firing line?’
He hesitated, then said, ‘I think I’ve been wasting my time if I don’t go back. Yes, I think we should go on with it.’
He had to say that, Kathy thought. He felt he had to redeem his mistake, and probably thought that she’d said otherwise only so as to support O’Brien.
But Brock settled the matter. ‘No, Wayne and Kathy are right. The risks are too great. We’ll play this by the book. Thanks anyway, Leon. You did very well. I’m sorry to cut short your promising undercover career. Sounds as if you got a taste for it. Maybe you’ll be applying to join Special Branch, eh?’
Kathy caught Leon’s half-hearted attempt to smile at that, and watched him leave.
18
K athy was on her own in the office later that day when her mobile phone rang and the reporter, Clare Hancock, came on.
‘Hi, back on Brock’s team again are you, Kathy?’
It was a question that Kathy had postponed thinking about.
‘Only I was down at UCLE this morning, and I heard that you’re reinterviewing Haygill and his staff, is that right?’
‘Clare, I can’t discuss it with you, I’m sorry.’
‘Oh, come on, off the record. You’re talking to them, right?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does that mean you don’t buy the lone gunman theory any more?’
‘Sorry, Clare. Are you running out of ideas or have you got something for me?’
‘Oh, I’ve got lots of ideas, and trading with you didn’t do me much good last time. But let me run an idea past you, free of charge, and if you feel inclined you can give me a theoretical, off-the-record opinion. You remember how we were torn between the fatwa and Haygill for Springer’s murderer? Well, why not both?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I mean, Haygill orders the fatwa. He’s got some pretty heavy friends overseas. Maybe he decided Springer had to be stopped, and they obliged.’
‘Why would Haygill be so desperate to stop Springer?’
‘Yes, that’s the puzzle, isn’t it? No suggestions?’
‘No suggestions.’
‘Well… suppose Springer had found out that Haygill was doing something scandalous.’
‘Like what?’
‘Oh, I don’t know, practising human sacrifice, or eugenics or something.’
Kathy hesitated, then said, ‘You’d need to have some solid evidence before you printed anything like that, wouldn’t you, Clare?’
‘Well, it’s only an idea. What do you think of it?’
‘I couldn’t say.’
The reporter laughed and said, ‘That’s better than saying it stinks.’
‘Look,’ Kathy was losing patience, ‘instead of inciting another race riot with wild guesses, why don’t you let us finish our investigations?’
‘Because there’s something else here that hasn’t come out yet. I can smell it, and so can you. Why did Khadra kill Springer? You tell me.’
‘We’re working on it. I’ll let you know as soon as we’re ready to say anything.’
‘Trouble is, Kathy, I’ve always been so impatient. I don’t like waiting for other people to tell me when to move.’