‘His house?’
‘Send someone round, just to cover our backs, he won’t be there. Get a technician too – I bet that’s our scene. Come and get me.’ She rang off. She kissed Tom’s hair and told him to be good for Michael. She snapped shut the poppers on Charlotte’s babygro, scooped her up and took her into the back room where Michael was enjoying a game on the Xbox. ‘You have to watch her.’
‘Mum!’ He protested but he held his arms out anyway and Charlotte gave a little shriek of glee.
‘I’ve got my phone,’ she called as she pulled open the door, ‘send Tom up in half an hour.’
Richard reached her in record time.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Shap had just treated himself to a cold Guinness when his phone went.
‘He’s not going to show,’ Butchers told him.
‘How come?’
‘He’s the invisible man.’
‘If this is some sort of wind-up…’
‘It isn’t. We’re on our way to his place now. Boss wants you there pronto.’
‘Poland?’ Shap grabbed his glass and necked the top third.
‘Harper’s.’
‘You what?’
‘Now.’ Butchers cut him off.
Shap took to his feet and raced out of the building. Behind him the receptionist frowned in consternation. She was sure she hadn’t missed Mr Sulikov.
‘The date of birth he gave us,’ Richard said as she climbed into the car, ‘you were right. That James William Harper died aged five, back in 1967.’
‘Stolen identity. So Harper was just a cover for Sulikov all along. When things got hairy in Poland he comes over here and lives as Harper for the duration.’
‘They’re checking the airports now. Promised me it wouldn’t take long.’
At Harper’s house the officers who gained entry found the place deserted. The luminal light the technician carried showed extensive blood traces on the garage floor.
Janine stabbed at her phone when it rang. ‘Konrad Sulikov is listed on the last flight from Manchester to Berlin. Departing twenty-one ten,’ the voice on the other end informed her.
Janine checked her watch. It was five to. Her heart sank; no way would they make it. Sulikov would be seated by now. They’d be waiting for clearance to take off. ‘But there’s a delay,’ the voice continued, ‘one of the earlier flights had to be grounded and it’s had a knock-on effect.’
‘Yes! How long?’ Janine swore as Richard took a corner far too fast.
‘They’ve only just called them for boarding.’
She turned to Richard: ‘Terminal One.’ He nodded and increased his speed, the blues and twos, lights and siren, signalling their urgency to the rest of the traffic on the motorway.
She dialled Butchers. ‘Terminal One, Berlin flight. Shap with you?’
‘Just got here.’
‘Good. Alert Airport Police, he’s travelling as Konrad Sulikov, but tell them I want to handle this one personally,’ she ended the call.
Janine thought for a moment. ‘Everyone dealt with Harper,’ she began. ‘Sulikov was there in the background, the big bogey man. Marta, the others, they knew of his reputation – you saw what they were like when his name came up, but it was all hearsay, whispers. Talked up by Harper. No one here ever met Sulikov. Hang on,’ there was a flaw in the argument, ‘Stone saw Sulikov shoot Gleason.’
‘No, no,’ Richard argued, ‘he couldn’t see! It was dark; they were ambushed. Stone saw Gleason fall and he scarpered. He expected it to be Sulikov because they’d spoken on the phone.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Stone told me he occasionally got calls from Sulikov, fetch this, carry that. They had no need to meet and Stone assumed Sulikov was in Poland, like we did. Then he gets the call offering the pair of them easy passage across the Channel. Sulikov just happens to be in Manchester.’
‘Very convenient.’
Richard increased his speed as they reached the motorway and moved into the outside lane.
‘Harper’s the good bloke,’ Janine mused, ‘fair bloke, looks out for the girls whereas Sulikov is the ruthless boss, whose reputation goes before him. Lots of gangsters use different names, half-a-dozen passports; but he took it much further. He created Harper as an alternative identity, an insurance policy. He might not need to use it but last year, when they started looking into his people trafficking in Poland, Sulikov goes to ground and Harper comes to life.’
‘An exit strategy,’ Richard said.
Janine laughed at the jargon. ‘Presumably he can switch his accent on and off to suit the occasion, he’s bi-lingual,’ she said. ‘So as Harper he killed Rosa at his place. She’s about to run off, she’s pregnant, wants out.’
‘Maybe she threatens to blow the gaffe about everything, the brothel, the trafficking, the lot,’ Richard suggested.
‘Yes, I don’t think he planned it, though. It was all too messy. If he’d wanted her removed, he’d have organised a contract killing or something that left him unsullied. It’s more likely that they argued, Harper loses it, and flips. He strangles her. Then he has a body on his hands. He’s got to hide his tracks. He messes her face up, removes the tattoo…’ Janine’s stomach turned at the thought of Harper hitting Rosa’s face, desperately trying to obliterate her, ‘… parcels her up, weights and all. Then, as Sulikov, he rings Stone.’
Richard said, ‘He lies about it, says she’s OD’d. Harper drives the car to the industrial estate, leaves it for Stone. Then he goes home and reports his car stolen. He told Stone and Gleason to get rid of Rosa and torch the car. He expected that to be the end of it. No body; she’s at the bottom of the Mersey, and no car; that’s gone up in flames. Everything carries on as normal.’ Richard glanced at her; she nodded. She picked up the thread.
‘Might all have been hunky dory if the lads had got rid of the car straight away as Harper intended but the hit and run put paid to that.’
‘When that happens Harper wants shot of Stone and Gleason, they know too much… and we’re getting closer all the time. So he ambushes them and shoots Gleason.’
‘But Stone gets away.’
‘That’s when he booked the hotel!’ Janine shouted triumphantly. ‘Wednesday night,’ she hurried on, ‘he needed to distract us – send us after Sulikov, make the guy look real.’
Richard tapped the brake as a four wheel drive slowed in front of them. The car jerked throwing them both forward. ‘Christ!’ Janine said.
‘Sorry.’ Richard watched the vehicle in front move over and then he roared forward.
‘Naming Sulikov was the ace up his sleeve. We could have been sitting there still, like a load of wallies, waiting at the Midland for the man, while he’s airside, studying the in-flight mag and having his complimentary G &T.’ She turned to Richard, her face glowing with excitement. ‘And the way he made us drag it out of him,’ she hit the dashboard, ‘can you credit it? In fear for his life.’ She shook her head.
‘Give the man an Oscar.’
‘He’s bloody good,’ Janine said, ‘but we’re better.’
The car squealed to a halt outside the Departures Area. They raced in. They made their way through a mass of Mancunians, Scousers and Geordies returning from holidays in the sun. Dressed in thin cotton clothes, sporting red peeling noses or tans the colour of cheap wood dye, they pushed trolleys towering high with luggage and carrier bags of in-flight cigarettes. Children clung on or trailed wearily in their wake. A baby screamed relentlessly.
Heading for departures, Janine and Richard showed their badges and were waved through passport control. Glancing back she saw Shap and Butchers behind them. Gate 8 was one of the nearer boarding gates but even so a fair distance from the departure lounge. They ran along the travelators, only slowing as they came in sight of the boarding gate.