"You take a hair sample from Brew," said Skinner, 'as soon as you get him back to headquarters, and your case will be closed; trust me on that."
The American looked at him from the back seat. "This investigation has indeed been flawed from the outset, hasn't it, Bob? I'm sorry for the embarrassment it caused your wife."
"Don't be," he replied, grimly. "She put herself in the situation."
"Nevertheless. What am I going to do about Brady?"
"If he was mine I'd retire him, quietly. You've got a relatively small detective department, Brad. To get the best out of it, its leadership has to be exceptional, not just adequate… even if that means going down the ranks to identify someone like Richard here, then hauling him up the ladder, fast."
He grinned. "That's tomorrow's problem, though." He opened the passenger door, and put his right foot out on to the sidewalk. "I'm going to walk home from here; much as I'd like to, I can't be in on the action. It's your big moment, sheriff; get on in there and get your man."
Fifty-Nine
"Where does the name come from?" asked Stevie Steele. The man behind the desk looked across at him, as if his attention had been wandering before their conversation had even begun.
"Eh? Sorry, you took me by surprise," said Francis Dolan; he was a trim man, with sharp blue eyes and sun-bleached hair and could have been aged anywhere between fifty and sixty. "The company was originally a Scottish-Spanish partnership; it was set up twelve years ago and those are the names of the founders. We're no longer a partnership, though. Three years ago we incorporated and floated on the Stock Exchange; at that stage I went from partner to chief executive."
"Are the founders still involved in the business?"
"Sir Allan Gordon's still the chairman, but Alfonso Tubau cashed in his stake soon after the flotation, and retired to make wine on his farm near Sitges. Actually the incorporation was a neat way of divesting ourselves of the Spanish end; it never did very well. Since the closure of the Madrid office, our share price has risen steadily; we're doing so nicely that we've become a take-over target for an American firm."
"Welcome?"
"Not very. There have been feelers, but so far the board do not regard the price quoted as being acceptable."
"What if they raised it?"
"If they raised it by enough, and wrote in some safeguards for existing investors, the directors would have a duty to recommend acceptance. All that's academic, though."
"Because of the fire?"
Dolan pursed his lips. "Not quite. Because of the consequences, would be a more accurate summation." He frowned at Steele. "Tell me, inspector, are you prescient, or do you have insider knowledge?"
The detective stared back; it was his turn to be taken by surprise.
"Neither. Why?"
"Because when you called me and asked for this meeting, I was on the point of telephoning Sir James Proud and asking him to send a senior officer to see me."
"Am I senior enough then?"
"For the moment you are. You can decide whether to refer what I'm going to tell you up your chain of command. But first, maybe you'd like to tell me why you wanted to see me."
"Certainly," Steele replied. "I'm investigating the outbreak of fire at the Royal Scottish Academy on Saturday. It's being treated as a case of arson."
"As a witness," Dolan exclaimed, "I have to tell you that that was self-evident at the time."
"Can you describe what happened?"
"I described it to one of your officers in the aftermath."
"I know, but I'd be grateful if you'd do it again; it's not uncommon for things to be recalled that might have been overlooked in the panic after the outbreak."
The lean, tanned businessman shrugged, swinging to and fro in his swivel chair. "Very well, but there's still not much to tell. David
Candela was halfway through his speech when there was a whoosh, and the picture burst into flames."
"What happened next?"
Dolan smiled. "I suppose you might call it David's finest hour. For all his army background, I've always thought of him as a dry, lackadaisical character, but he took command on the spot and ordered everyone out of the building. "Clear the gallery," I remember him shouting. "Clear the gallery. No time for heroes." We did clear it too, damn quick. David ordered his staff to gather us together at the side of the building and hold us there until the fire engines arrived and the blaze was under control."
"Did it seem out of control?"
"Not at that point, but David was concerned that there might have been more than one device."
Steele nodded. "You can't argue with that thinking," he conceded. "Who called the fire brigade?"
"I'm not certain. It could have been the curator, it could have been David, it could have been anyone; I was legging it out of there by that time. We weren't outside for all that long. The fire was contained pretty quickly, from what I gathered, and the firefighters checked everything else. After that we were allowed back in for the champagne and whatnots, and to be interviewed by your people. Now that I think about it, I remember seeing you there."
"And that's it? Specifically, you don't remember seeing anyone doing anything out of the ordinary at the time the picture went up in flames?"
"No, not a soul. That really is all I can tell you."
"Fair enough. It doesn't take us any further, but to be honest, I doubt if we're going to get any further. So what about your fire, and your problems? At least you're still able to operate, from what I can see."
"On these two floors, yes we are," Dolan agreed. "One thing they get right in modern buildings is the integrity of each level in extreme conditions."
"How has your business been affected?" asked the detective.
"Before I answer that," the other man replied, 'let me explain a little of what we do, and of our structure. We are investment trust managers, pure and simple… more or less. We don't get involved in the unit trust end of the business; never have, never will. We offer services to high net-worth individuals, for whom we believe that ITs are a far more reliable and efficient vehicle. Unit trusts have their place; they're okay for smaller investors, but that's not our market. I have a friend who runs a restaurant, which he describes as strictly for fat people. That's us in a way; we're the fat cats' fund manager.
"Investment trusts are companies which exist purely to make money. The only business they have is buying and selling shares in other companies. As an investor in an investment trust, you're a shareholder in that company, and your shares will rise or fall in value as the investments held by the trust rise or fall. Their beauty as a vehicle is that they allow you to spread risk by holding a very wide portfolio without the hassle of monitoring and trading them all individually.
Their management charges are lower than units, and these days they're tax-effective because you can invest in them through Investment Savings Accounts.
"Tubau Gordon invests in three sectors; the UK, for proven, steady performance, European markets, which are developing rapidly, and the Far East, which may have lost some of its sparkle, but which remains pretty sexy in the long term, if a little riskier than it was. Each of those sectors operates as a separate business within a business. Each has its own staff, its own analysts and its own decision-makers, reporting back to a responsible director, who reports in turn to the main board, of which he or she is a member, and to me. Each business is… or was located on one of our three floors. The fifth floor, where we're sitting now, accommodates Tubau Gordon Europe, and the executive offices. The seventh floor houses our UK business. The sixth floor, which no longer exists, was where our Far East trusts were located." Dolan stopped and looked at Steele. "With me so far?"