‘It’s a possibility we have to consider. I know you gave a statement to my colleagues last night, but I’d like to ask you some more questions.’
‘Fire away.’
‘I understand that there was some conflict between Tony Jourdan and his son relating to this company?’
‘Yes. Although Guy founded Ninetyminutes, Tony was the biggest shareholder. There was a board meeting on Monday and they had a major disagreement over strategy. Tony wanted us to go into the pornography business and Guy refused. So Guy resigned.’
The policeman asked me plenty more questions about Guy, his father and Ninetyminutes, all of which I answered as honestly as possible. Then he asked me to go over my conversation with Tony at his flat the night before. He took careful notes.
‘In your statement last night you mentioned seeing a car waiting outside Mr Jourdan’s flat,’ he said. ‘Can you tell me a bit more about it?’
‘I don’t know. I’ll try.’
‘Do you remember what model it was?’
‘No,’ I replied immediately.
‘Are you quite sure? Think.’
Spedding was sitting back in his chair calmly, confident that I would be able to come up with something. So I closed my eyes, trying to picture the street sign and the vehicle in front of it.
‘Wait a minute. Yeah. It was some kind of hatchback. Oldish. A Golf. Something like that.’
‘Colour?’
‘Don’t know. Darkish. Black? Blue, maybe. No, it was black.’
‘I know you said you couldn’t remember the number plate. But can you remember part of the registration? The year prefix, perhaps?’
‘Yes. Yes, I can. N. It was N.’
‘Well done. What about the driver? Can you give even a vague description?’
‘I don’t know. I couldn’t see him clearly and I really wasn’t focusing on him.’
‘But he was male? White? Black? Young? Old?’
‘I see. Yeah, he was male. White. Wearing some kind of jacket. But no tie. Dark hair thinning a bit. Over thirty. Under fifty. That’s about the best I can do.’
‘Would you recognize him again if you saw him?’
‘Maybe. Maybe not.’
‘Could it have been anyone you know?’
‘No. Definitely not. At least, not anyone I know well.’
‘Are you quite sure you can’t remember anything more about him?’
The policeman’s friendly face encouraged me to be helpful. But there was not much more I could say. ‘I’m sorry. I know this is important and I wish I’d been more observant, but I had other things on my mind. Frankly, if the car hadn’t been obscuring the street name I wouldn’t have seen the man at all.’
Spedding nodded. He pulled out a sheet of paper, which was a diagram of the street. ‘Can you show me where the vehicle was parked?’
I placed an ‘X’ on the spot.
‘You say you heard the car start up. When was that?’
‘It was when Ingrid and I were walking round this corner here,’ I pointed to the diagram. ‘And Tony was coming out of his house here.’
‘Did you see it pull off?’
‘No. But once we were round the corner, I heard the engine rev up and then the thud and the scream. But by the time I’d run back to the street the car had gone.’
‘Well, we’re looking for it now. Our best hope is if we can find another witness.’
‘So you think it was intentional?’
‘I suppose there’s a chance it could have been an accident and the driver drove off — a hit and run. But on such a quiet narrow street it seems unlikely. I have one more thing to ask you. Do you mind if we examine your own vehicle?’
‘What for? It was outside my flat in Notting Hill at the time. Ingrid and I went by tube straight from work.’
‘Of course. But it will be useful to eliminate it from our enquiries. I’m sure you understand.’ I handed him the keys, told him where it was parked, and he left.
Very little work was done by anyone that day. Ingrid arrived about lunch-time, looking pale. And in the afternoon Mel rang.
‘Have you heard what’s happened?’ I asked her.
‘Guy called me an hour ago. He’s in Savile Row police station. He asked me to get him a lawyer.’
‘Christ! Do the police think he killed Tony?’
‘It’s not clear yet. But he’s obviously a suspect. He decided to do the smart thing and not talk to them without a lawyer. I’ve got hold of a good one who should be with him now.’
‘A detective came round here this morning. He was asking about Guy’s relationship with Tony. I’m afraid I told him.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Mel said. ‘They’d have found out soon enough. That’s not the kind of thing you can hide. If you had tried it would just have made them suspicious.’
‘Will he be OK?’
‘I’m sure he will. Unless they’ve got convincing evidence against him they’ll have to release him.’
‘Isn’t it terrible?’ I said. ‘About Tony.’
‘Yes,’ said Mel. ‘Although quite frankly I never really liked that man, as you well know.’
There was an awkward silence as I searched for a response to Mel’s honesty. I couldn’t quite admit out loud that I agreed with her. ‘Well, let me know if I can be of any help,’ I said eventually. ‘And tell Guy to call me when he gets out.’
‘All right.’
He did get out. He came straight to the office. It was eight o’clock and most people had gone home. He looked a wreck. Pale face, dark circles around his unsteady eyes.
‘So they let you go?’ I said.
‘Yes. Mel got me a good lawyer. The police were getting quite aggressive with me about my relationship with Dad. I just thought it made sense to ask for one. They don’t have any evidence against me, but they sure as hell are suspicious.’
‘Did you put them off?’
‘Yeah. They asked me where I was last night. Fortunately I was out drinking with Owen in a pub in Camden. I think they’ll be able to check up on that, so I should be OK.’
‘Did they tell you I saw a man in a car outside Tony’s flat? Right before he was run down?’
‘No. No, they didn’t. Have they found him?’
‘I couldn’t give them much of a description. But there was definitely someone there.’
‘I wonder who that was.’ Guy paused for a moment, but didn’t come up with any ideas. ‘They should leave me alone then. But the timing’s awful. Just after my row with Dad. I can see it must look really bad.’
‘How do you feel about it?’
Guy took a while to answer. ‘Numb. I feel numb. I mean, I’ve spent the last few days thinking how much I hate him. And then he goes and gets himself killed. It makes me... It makes me so bloody angry.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Angry at him. Angry at myself. Angry at the police for being so bloody stupid. But I know it hasn’t really sunk in yet. I still can’t quite believe I won’t see him again.’ He bit his lip.
Seeing Guy like this put my own feelings into perspective. My own guilt was nothing to his. I was in a much better position to cope.
‘Davo?’ Guy squinted at me.
‘Yes?’
‘Can you keep things together at Ninetyminutes for the next few days? Someone’s going to have to figure out what we’re going to do and I’m in no shape to do it.’
‘No problem. You take a few days off. Sort out your father’s affairs. Think about him. Spend time with Owen if it will help. I’ll mind the shop.’
Guy smiled. I was touched by the gratitude in that smile.
25
I did what Guy had asked me. I held Ninetyminutes together.
The staff were easy. This was a crisis and they performed well in a crisis. After the initial shock, they put their heads down and got on with the job. They knew Guy needed time, but they trusted me to sort things out.