‘I wouldn’t trust a man who drives a car named after a condiment,’ said Terry. ‘Besides, he could have switched cars.’
‘Could’ve, should’ve, would’ve,’ said Carolyn. ‘And he didn’t know Cohen. If he didn’t know Cohen, why would he kill him?’
Terry poured more wine into their glasses. ‘I don’t know what more you want to do.’
Her mobile phone rang and she picked up her bag. She pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. ‘Speak of the devil,’ she said.
‘Cohen?’ said Terry, frowning.
‘Warwick.’
CHAPTER 50
‘Maybe she’s ignoring you,’ said Halpin. He puffed on his cigar and blew smoke up at the ceiling. He was sitting on one of the two massive white leather Italian sofas that dominated the Clerkenwell flat where Richards lived. Richards was pacing up and down in front of the cast iron fireplace that was almost as tall he was. The fireplace had once been in a stately home that belonged to a second cousin of the Queen and it had cost Richards a small fortune. They’d had to use a crane to get it through the window of the fourth floor flat. It was on the top floor, and Richards owned the three flats below. He had bought the flats one at a time, then acquired the freehold, but he only used the top flat. He was planning to convert the lower floors into a gymnasium, a sauna and a games room but was having trouble finding a designer who was on his wavelength.
‘You sure Dunbar gave me the all-clear?’
‘He said the sun shone out of your arse, pretty much.’
‘While I remember it, where’s the five grand?’
Halpin chuckled and took the envelope from his pocket and dropped it onto the coffee table. ‘I was just waiting for the right moment,’ he said.
‘Of course you were,’ he said. He held up his hand, telling Halpin to be quiet. Carolyn had answered the call. ‘Carolyn, how are you?’ he asked.
‘Tired,’ she said.
‘Rough day?’
‘A long day,’ she said. ‘I’m halfway through a bottle of wine as we speak.’
‘I don’t know how you can work such long hours.’
‘The alternative is unemployment, unfortunately. If you work on a soap you don’t get to choose your hours.’
‘So how about I take your mind off work this weekend? Come and have a drink on my boat.’
‘I’m not very good on boats, Warwick,’ she said. ‘I get queasy in the bath.’
‘It’s a gin palace at St Katherine’s Dock, near the Tower of London,’ he said. ‘We won’t be going anywhere. Just a couple of drinks and then we’ll go eat. There’s plenty of good restaurants around there.’
‘What’s the point of a boat if you never go anywhere?’
He laughed. ‘I do take it out sometimes. It’s big enough to take across the Channel, if that’s what you want. But mainly I just use it to entertain clients, pop up and down the river, show them the sights. Foreigners love it. But I just thought Saturday we could have a drink or two. Then have brunch. Are you up for it?’
For a few seconds there was silence. ‘Sure, why not?’ she said eventually.
‘I’ll pick you up,’ he said. ‘Tennish, is that okay?’
‘I’ll look forward to it.’
‘Terrific. See you Saturday.’
‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’ she asked.
Richards frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ll need my address.’
‘God, yes, sorry. Let me get a pen.’ He paced up and down. He didn’t need a pen because he already knew where she lived. ‘Okay, go ahead,’ he said. She gave him the address and he ended the call. He looked over at Halpin and winked. ‘Easy, peasy,’ he said.
‘So what’s the plan?’ asked Halpin.
‘I take her on the boat and slip her a mickey,’ said Richards. ‘I’ll put her in one of those metal trunks and then pop off to the club to establish an alibi. You can take the boat out and do what we did with Cohen’s body. Dump it in the North Sea at night.’
‘You’re sure about this?’ asked Halpin. He puffed on his cigar.
‘She’s suspicious or she wouldn’t have gone to that scumbag, Dunbar,’ said Richards. ‘Sooner or later she’s going to get suspicious again.’
‘Plus you might talk in your sleep.’
‘Ha ha ha,’ said Richards. ‘And get your feet off the coffee table, will you? Were you born in a barn?’
Halpin did as he was told. ‘Boss, I’ve been thinking.’
‘That’s a new one for you, mate.’
‘I’m serious, boss. It’s the truck driver.’
‘Reg, whatsit?’
Halpin nodded. ‘When they realise Castle has gone missing, there’ll be publicity. Lots of it. It’ll be all over the papers. Look what happened when Jill Dando got shot.’
‘That was a bit different. She was shot on her doorstep. With what we’ve got planned, no one is going to find her.’
‘They’ll look, boss. And the papers will be all over it. And when that happens, Reg is going to come forward. Stands to reason, right? He was one of the last people to see her.’
Richards nodded thoughtfully. ‘And he’ll tell them where he picked her up.’
‘Which means they’ll find Cohen’s house sooner or later. And they’ll realise Cohen is missing. So we’re vulnerable on two fronts. If Reg talks to the cops he’ll tell them about us. And even if that doesn’t ring alarm bells, they’re going to find out Cohen was your accountant.’
Richards sat down. He knew that Halpin was right. ‘Shit,’ he said.
‘So you can see where I’m going with this?’
‘Can you take care of it?’
‘I can, boss. Sure. But we’re going to have to be clever about it.’
‘I hear you,’ said Richards.
‘I’ll make it look like a robbery, maybe. And I’ll do it when he’s away from home. That way the Met won’t be investigating it. The further away the better.’
‘Do you need help?’
‘The fewer people who know what’s going on the better,’ said Halpin. ‘And it’ll be easy enough, he’s not going to be expecting it.’
‘When do you want to do it?’
‘The sooner the better. But it’ll depend on his schedule. Let me do some checking.’
CHAPTER 51
‘I don’t believe you just did that,’ said Terry. ‘What was going through your head? You think he’s a murderer and you’ve just agreed to go on a boat with him?’
‘The boat’s not going anywhere,’ she said. ‘I’ve been to St Katherine’s Dock before, it’s full of million pound boats for posers.’
‘Even so, darling. You’re playing with fire.’
Carolyn grinned. ‘I love it when you get all protective,’ she said.
‘I’m serious,’ said Terry. ‘Have you forgotten what you were like that night after you’d seen him kill Cohen? You were shaking.’
‘I’m not sure if it was him. Really. But maybe if I spend a bit more time with him I’ll get a better sense of what he’s like.’
‘And what if he knows you saw him?’
‘Then he’s a better actor than I am,’ she said. ‘And I’ve just been given a lifetime achievement award, remember?’
‘I just want you to be careful, okay?’
She raised her wine glass in salute. ‘I will be.’
‘You need to think about this, Carolyn. Suppose he saw you that night. And tracked you down. And now he’s trying to get close to you…’
‘He didn’t see me, I’m pretty sure of that. As soon as the security lights went on, I was out of there like a bat out of hell. I practically leapt over the gates.’
‘You told me you left your shoes behind.’
‘Yes, and they were Prada. They were lovely shoes but there’s no way he could have traced me that way. Everyone wears Prada these days.’