‘Very domestic. And the Dell woman wasn’t embarrassed by all this coming out?’
‘Not a bit. She takes the view that if he’s not happy at home, then Doreen has only herself to blame if he has a bit on the side. The arrangement suits her, she said, her kids don’t mind, and that’s all she cares about.’
‘Why has it taken us all this time to find out that Stacey had an agent?’
‘Because she doesn’t mention the fact on her website, and because her father didn’t volunteer the information.’
‘And I can see why not. Did the boy give the impression that he didn’t mind about the two of them?’
‘Not a bit. He was cut up when he heard that Amy Noone was dead. He knew her, since she was going with one of the lads in Harry Paul’s band. But he didn’t seem perturbed by Gavin giving his mum a seeing-to, not a bit. Jacky’s an ambitious boy, with other things on his mind. He reckons that Upload. . that’s the band. . could be the start of a big-time career for him in music management, and he’s concentrating on keeping them going without Harry.’
‘Good luck to him. I think Harry’s folks would like that. They’d see it as a memorial to their son. His dad certainly would: he was totally behind the boy’s career.’
‘I know. Jacky said that he’s been in touch with him, to get his permission to bring someone else in to replace Harry in the band.’
‘Jesus, that’s a bit fucking callous. It’s less than two days since the colonel found out his kid was dead.’
‘I agree, but according to Jacky, he gave him his blessing straight away.’
The head of CID shuddered slightly. ‘I never cease to be amazed by the different ways people react to grief. The mother could barely speak to us; I don’t think she’ll ever be the same. With the colonel, it’s as if. . I don’t know.’
‘Denial?’ Steele suggested.
‘Maybe. Maybe his enthusiasm for the band is his way of keeping the truth at bay. Some people are still adamant that Elvis is alive.’
‘Yes, and that the lining of his coffin is all scratched to hell. Well, I know that Harry isn’t. I saw the pathologist open him up yesterday morning, straight after breakfast.’
‘Thanks for sharing that. .’ McGuire paused ‘. . and, incidentally, for taking the time to come and see me. I appreciate it, for I was going to come looking for you.
‘This is not good, Stevie. If we didn’t have a public panic before, the Amy Noone killing’s going to start one. Word’s leaked out already, and the media have made the connection. A neighbour told them her name, and sent them to her work. A near-hysterical hair stylist told them all the rest. Have you contacted her parents?’
‘Singh has. They divorced six years ago. The mother remarried and now lives in Gateshead. She and her husband will be on the way up by now. Dad was a drunk, who left them; he’s currently in prison in England for credit-card fraud.’
‘Okay. I can’t wait till she gets here before I speak to the media. Royston’s called them back in here for four o’clock.’
‘I’ll sit in with you, sir.’
McGuire frowned. ‘In other circumstances, I’d be saying, “Too bloody right you will,” but you actually found the body, so you and Montell are major first-hand witnesses. The press know that already, again from the neighbours; Alan Royston’s been asked to confirm it.’
‘Did he?’
‘He said that the body was discovered by police officers, unnamed, who called at the address in the course of enquiries into the three earlier deaths. There was no point in being evasive about something we all know to be true.’
‘No, I suppose not.’
‘Since then, I’ve spoken to Gregor Broughton, and he agrees that you should stay out of it. Otherwise you’ll spend the whole briefing saying, “No comment,” to some very specific questions. So you brief me instead. Is there anything about the investigation that I’m not aware of? For example, your run-in with Dottie Shannon?’
Steele raised an eyebrow. ‘How did you find out about that?’
‘You were seen heading for her office this morning with what was described as “a face full of hell”. I should tell you, Stevie, that nothing happens in this building that doesn’t feed back to me, either through Sammy Pye or Jack McGurk.’
‘I’ll bear that in mind, not that I was planning to keep it from you. It was something I had to sort out with Dottie, that’s all. She jumped on one of my guys and I wasn’t having it.’
‘It’s all sorted, is it?’
‘Yes.’
McGuire looked across his desk at the inspector. ‘That’s good. You see, I know that you have a history with her, and I wouldn’t want it getting in the way of anything important.’
‘It won’t, but how the fuck did Pye find that out? It was a while ago, and it didn’t cut across the job in any way.’
‘He didn’t find out, I did. She’s Special Branch, so she was vetted, thoroughly, by Neil McIlhenney. Your name came up, so I got told. You used to be a legend for the women, Stevie, till you settled down: a pure legend.’
Steele ignored the jibe; his brow furrowed. ‘Did. .’ he began.
‘Yes,’ said the head of CID, anticipating the question. ‘George’s name did come up, but I had it removed from the file.’
‘That was good of you: you didn’t need to do that.’
‘I have my moments. So why did Shannon dig up Montell?’
‘How did you know it was Montell?’ Steele shot back.
McGuire sighed. ‘Stevie.’
The DI grinned. ‘Okay, you have your sources,’ he said. ‘He was checking the e-mails on Zrinka’s computer. When he tried to run down one particular address it got referred all the way back to Thames House, and Dottie had a midnight phone call. I took exception to the way she reacted, so she and I had a wee discussion this morning.’
‘And that’s it?’
‘Yes. I knew whose address it was anyway: it was the DDC’s.’
McGuire’s eyes widened, and his manner changed. ‘How did you find that out?’ he asked sharply.
Steele smiled. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘Actually I was only ninety per cent certain, but you’ve just confirmed it. The e-mail screen-name was “robertmorgan”, all one word. When the big man was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal, his name was published in full in the citation: Robert Morgan Skinner.’
‘You sneaky bastard; you set me up there.’
‘I’m learning from my senior officers. And you can talk, sir. You knew exactly why I went to see Dottie. You were trying to find out how much I knew, that’s all.’
‘So you caught me. You’ve kept that information to yourself, yes?’
‘Too fucking right I have.’
‘Good man.’
‘I wasn’t too surprised, though: the boss has one of Zrinka’s pictures, and one of Stacey’s.’
‘Come again?’
‘It’s a fact: Montell told me. He’s pally with Alex, but you probably know that too. She has a Stacey Gavin original in her flat, a present from her dad. She told Griff that he has one himself, and that she bought him a Zrinka from off her stall. The e-mail was him asking Zrinka about buying a piece for Alex’s next birthday.’
‘Did she reply?’
‘She couldn’t, by e-mail. She could have phoned him, but we wouldn’t know that without checking her phone records, and I don’t plan to do that.’
‘You sure don’t,’ McGuire confirmed. ‘Has Montell figured out who the e-mail’s from?’
‘I don’t think so. If he has he’ll keep well quiet about it, unless he wants Alex to terminate their friendship on the spot.’
‘Good. We’re agreed, are we, Stevie, that we keep this entirely to ourselves as well?’
‘Who else knows about the e-mail check and the run-in with MI5?’
‘The chief and Brian Mackie, that’s all, and they’re both looking very hard in the other direction.’
‘What e-mail?’ said Steele.
‘Fine. So, when I face the media to confirm the Noone girl’s murder, what do I say?’
‘That we’re in no doubt about a link to the other two, and that we’re in pursuit of the man known as Padstow, who is at this moment our only suspect. You could also say that we don’t believe that there is a general risk to the public, as long as nobody does anything silly if they think they spot him. If you want to be controversial, you might add that Boras’s million would be no fucking good to anyone if they were dead.’