‘Luck, mate,’ I told him grimly, unimpressed by his flippancy, ‘will be getting Dawn back alive.’
‘Sure, I know. Sorry.’
‘Can you help us in this, discreetly? Whatever ransom the guy wants, Miles will pay it, but in the meantime, will you find out anything you can about him?’ I read him the mobile number. ‘We think he has a van too. Medium sized.’
‘Big enough to build a hidden compartment inside it? That’s a favourite dodge with kidnappers. There was once a guy who was stopped by the police with a victim inside his Transit. They opened the thing, looked inside, and still they didn’t know.’
‘Big enough for that, I guess.’
‘Mmm, right.’
‘Mike, can you look into this without telling anyone else?’
‘Of course I can. I keep having to tell you. I’m Special Branch; I can do what I fucking like. Leave it to Uncle Michael.’ I could almost see his reassuring smile. ‘What are you lot going to do in the meantime?’ he asked.
‘Miles is going to call his accountant and start liquidating assets.’
‘How much can he raise?’
‘Ten if he has to.’
‘Ten what?’
‘Don’t be gauche, Dylan.’
‘Ten mil, eh,’ he whistled. ‘It makes my scrotum tighten just to think about it.’
‘Think yourself lucky. Young Stephen Donn may not have one of those after Miles and I get hold of him.’
‘Let’s hope Miles has a couple of interesting new paperweights in due course, then. How about you and Springtime — I assume that Prim’s there — what are you going to do?’
‘Wait for the guy to send us another note, telling us what to do next.’
‘Aye, if he writes.’
‘Or for a phone call. .’
‘Aye, if he phones.’
‘Whatever. You just get on with your end as fast as you can. Okay?’
‘Okay. I’ll call you back when I have something.’
‘Call my mobile, okay? Don’t use the land-line, for-’
I heard Dylan sigh ‘-for security reasons. Just don’t insult me by saying it. Honest tae fuck, do you think I sailed up the Clyde on a water biscuit?’
He really has been in Glasgow too long, I thought, as I pushed the red button to end the call.
Chapter 48
We spent a hellish day, Prim and I, waiting for the doorbell or the telephone to ring, and watching Miles struggle to keep himself under control. At one point in the early afternoon, I really did think that the world’s fourth most famous person was going to come apart before my eyes.
I took him for a walk around the garden. ‘We’re all different animals,’ I told him, ‘and we all feel different things. But maybe this will help you. When I had my big crisis, two years ago, I got through it by finding something to focus on. I was angry, just like you are now, and in despair, but I built a mental shell out of my rage, and I used it to keep me on track, while I did the things I had to do.
‘So if I were you, I’d do my best to concentrate on Stephen Donn. Don’t think about anything else; most of all, don’t think about Dawn. What’s happened to her has happened. We don’t know what the outcome will be, but we’re doing everything we can to ensure that it works out okay. Pretty soon we’ll be told what to do, and when we are we’ll have some decisions to make.
‘When we do make them, we’ll have two objectives in mind. First and foremost, getting Dawn back safe, and, eventually if not at the same time, getting our hands on Stephen Donn.’
Miles stared at the ground in front of him as we walked. ‘I don’t know if I want to get my hands on Stephen Donn, Oz. I wouldn’t trust myself not to kill him.’
‘Well I’m going to catch up with him, sunshine. That’s the only picture I have in my mind at the moment. The bastard has chosen me as the focal point of all this mayhem, and I’m going to find out why. At the very least, I owe him a real doing for a wee hurt boy up in Fife, and he’s going to get it. You can hold my jacket if you like.’
‘Hey,’ my future in-law looked at me with a strange, sad grin on his lined face. ‘What happened to the harmless, amiable clown I met up in Oban those years back?’
‘The amiable clown’s still there, I hope. But he isn’t harmless any more. When Fate stamps on your toes there’s usually nothing to do save learning to live with the pain. But when it’s people who do it to you, then if it’s in your power, you hunt them down and do it right back.’
‘What about turning the other cheek?’
‘Do that, and you get your arse well kicked.’
In spite of himself, Miles laughed. ‘I promise you this,’ I told him. ‘I don’t know why but I’m certain of it. This time next week, we’re going to be finishing that movie. And think of the publicity it’s going to get when the telly and the tabloids get hold of the story.’
‘In that case we’d better catch Donn,’ he said, grim once more. ‘Otherwise before long folks’ll be saying I set the whole thing up myself.’
He punched me lightly on the shoulder. ‘Thanks pal. I know I was wobbling back there; I’m back on track now. I’m even thinking positive. You remember that guy Pep Newton?’
‘The sound man? Sure.’
‘He seemed to me to be buddies with Stu Queen. How would you and Prim like to go talk to him? I’ll stay here to man the phones.’
‘If he calls.’
‘Or wait for the mailman.’
‘If he writes.’
‘Ah, what the hell. If Donn has read the script, he’ll think it takes a couple of days to get serious money together.’
I nodded. ‘Okay. We’ll go and see Pep if you want. How should we play it, though?’
‘Tell him there’s some sound-editing needs doing and we have to find him?’
‘Do feature players usually go looking for staff?’ I asked, innocently.
‘They do if Miles Grayson sends them. Tell him that Geraldine’s gone off for a few days too. I’ll call her now and get Pep’s address.’
Chapter 49
Movie work may not be the most secure way to earn a living, but the top people are paid well and hired pretty well full-time; Pep Newton was one of the best. He was so good in fact that he had picked up, at an hour’s notice, an extra four days’ work on a music video, as we discovered when his fresh-faced blonde wife answered the door of their distinguished-looking apartment in Dolphin Square, not far from the Palace of Westminster.
Rather than get into a pointless discussion with her on the doorstep, I told her that it was nothing important, but that we’d come back in a couple of hours, at around seven. We killed the time in the Red Lion pub in Whitehall, playing Spot the Politician and listening to the sotto voce sounds of medicinal spin.
Pep was at home when we went back to the Square. He was surprised to see me, but pleased nonetheless, and he made just the right amount of fuss of Prim.
‘Come eat with us, Oz,’ he insisted. ‘Jenny’s done a pasta sauce and there’s always plenty. It’s just ready. Hey Jen,’ he called through to the kitchen. ‘Two more plates, okay, and stick some extra linguini in the pot; we got honoured guests. This is the guy I told you about; the actor who spread that fat bleedin’ Yank all over the control room wall.’
Mrs Newton’s face appeared round the kitchen door, smiling. ‘You’re the wrestling man? I didn’t realise that before. I read about you in the Mail on Sunday magazine. Didn’t you win the lottery as well?’
‘No,’ I answered, putting a hand on Prim’s shoulder. ‘We won the lottery; we picked three numbers each.’
Jenny whistled. ‘Life’s a bitch and then you’re rich, eh.’
‘That’s how it was for us, right enough.’
We joined them in their small dining room, at a round table. ‘Pep,’ I said, rolling strands of linguini on to my fork, ‘this is a trivial call, really. Gerrie’s away for a couple of days or she’d be doing this, but we were handy so Miles sent us. We need your mate, Stu Queen the sparks, back at the studio. He was stood down too quick last night; there’s some wiring work needs doing on the big set.