‘That is so cold-blooded,’ Ralph said.
‘Does that assume they knew Edwards?’ Frankie asked.
‘Maybe they did,’ Harrigan replied.
‘They wanted us to dig, you said, Commander.’ Parkin got to his feet. ‘That seems to assume they wanted this murder solved. That is, we have the means to catch them. I’ve never come across that scenario before in this type of context. It’s true that people who do this kind of thing often want to claim responsibility and give a motive. But there’s been no statement put out to that effect. Am I right?’
‘Not so far,’ Harrigan said. ‘But it hasn’t been that long.’
‘Long enough, unless they’re planning something else. Also, while people like this may want to draw attention to what they’ve done, they don’t want to be apprehended. If your theory is going to fly, you need to give us a reason for it.’
‘I didn’t say they wanted to be apprehended. I said they wanted us to dig,’ Harrigan replied in his detached voice. ‘My theory does fit with one undeniable point: the possibility that the killer or killers were expecting resistance to this investigation. That’s proven to be true. Someone has gone to great lengths to sabotage it.’
‘Again you’re implying we have two parties involved,’ Parkin said. ‘Do you have any evidence for that?’
‘It’s like I said before. We work through what we know, then we make a judgement. Jackie, is that it?’
‘There’s more. It’s to do with Beck.’
‘Let’s hear it,’ Harrigan said.
Parkin sat down again.
‘We checked his movements and telephone records. We know he got to Pittwater about ten to eight. Just before he arrived, he made a call on his mobile. He spoke for about fifty seconds. I think he probably left a message. It was the last call he ever made. At about 1 a.m. he got a call back from that same number but obviously he didn’t answer it. It went through to his voicemail where the call was disconnected without anyone leaving a message. That number called Beck another three times over the next eleven hours and then stopped.’
‘Someone was checking up on him,’ Ralph said.
‘I’d guess they wanted to know whether the contract had been signed,’ Harrigan said. ‘Could you trace the number?’
‘We rang but the number was discontinued. We’re tracing its history now.’
‘Anything else?’
‘One final thing. When we checked Beck’s wallet, we found this.’
Another image appeared on the screen, a black and white photograph showing a man with a woman carrying a baby, both standing in the midst of a ruined city.
‘It was the original and it wasn’t in good condition. On the back, it says in pencil Dresden 1946. We know that’s when Beck was born. I think that’s him with his mother and father. But if that is his father, then he either walked out on them or he died, because the dossier says father unknown. There was only his mother and she died in 1997.’
‘Do we have any names?’ Harrigan asked.
‘None for the father. His mother was married during her life but not until after Beck had left East Germany. There were no children from that marriage and the husband is still alive. There’s no record of any earlier marriage.’
‘If she knew who her son’s father was-and from this picture it looks like she did-she would have told her son, surely. When she died, if not earlier,’ Harrigan said. ‘Beck had that picture on him when he died.’
‘Yes. I think it meant something to him,’ Jacquie said. ‘That’s it.’
‘Good work.’
She smiled and sat down.
‘All right,’ Harrigan said. ‘It’s time to talk about Beck. Trev?’
‘First off, we searched his house. Frankie. Do you want to take us through what you found?’
‘The first thing is that someone got there before us,’ Frankie said. ‘Whatever they were looking for, they found it in a drawer in the lounge room because they didn’t even bother to close the drawer. They stopped right there and left.’
‘Did you find an LPS badge?’ Harrigan asked.
‘Not a whisker. Maybe that was what they took away.’
‘What do you mean, LPS badge?’ Parkin asked. ‘We know the minister was involved with that corporation. Was Beck?’
‘According to the CEO, Dr Calvo, he was briefly employed by them earlier this year,’ Harrigan replied. ‘The badges are security passes that get you in and out of their facility at Campbelltown. I was given one when I visited there a few days ago. It’s a sophisticated tracking device. You get to keep it as a memento, but once you leave it’s deactivated. If Beck was an employee, he would have had one. We know from other sources that he was, so what happened to his?’
‘Couldn’t he have lost it easily enough?’ Parkin asked.
‘Not if it was his key to the door. I think we should question whether he really was sacked as Elena Calvo says he was. Frankie, anything else?’
‘No, boss, we found zip,’ Frankie said. ‘Beck had a nice house with a lovely view of the harbour but there was nothing personal in there. We did find out a few things about him. He suffered from high blood pressure and liver disease, he had the meds to prove it. He liked the best. The clothes, the booze-there was a lot of booze, he obviously drank very heavily-it was all nothing but the best. There was money in the house and a lot of money in his various bank accounts as well. We’re tracking his financials now. There was a lot more information about him in the dossier.’
‘Ralph, do you want to talk to that?’ Trevor said.
‘Yeah, the dossier.’ Ralph moved to the head of the table. The image of the dossier’s front page reappeared on the screen. ‘We don’t know the name of the agency that owns this document, but now it’s out there in cyberspace, I’m sure they’ll find us soon enough.’
‘Stop there, Ralph,’ Harrigan said.
‘What is it, boss?’
‘What you just said. Now it’s out there in cyberspace, its owners will find us. Given what’s been put out on the net already, why wasn’t this document online as well?’
‘I’ll tell you,’ Parkin called. ‘Because it could identify them.’
‘That’s right. I think this will signal to someone out there who these people are. Okay, Ralph. What can you tell us?’
‘Mainly that this is a very long-standing document. It incorporates information from the various agencies who’ve been watching Beck since 1970. He had a long career as an illegal arms dealer dating from the late 1960s right through to the 1990s. He’s involved himself in theatres of war from South East Asia to Africa. He met du Plessis in the 1980s when he was working for the South African apartheid government. In 1990 he went back to Europe. The apartheid regime was on its last legs and he’d made too many enemies over there. By now the Berlin Wall is down. He became involved with the Russian mafia, wisely not for too long. His mother died in Berlin in 1997 and, like a dutiful son, he was there with her.’
‘You’re breaking my heart,’ Frankie murmured.
Ralph grinned. ‘That’s just one side of the story. In fact, Beck was a double agent, a very useful source of intelligence for the agencies who were watching him. He did business for himself and provided information to the British government at the same time. In exchange for which they left him alone and paid him. It’s a common enough arrangement. After his mother died, he went to London. And here the first part of the dossier is ruled off. The final note is: Minister’s direction is discontinue and hands off. It was a thirty-year connection. They closed it down without a murmur. There’s no indication they even debriefed Beck.’
‘No reasons given? Nothing?’ Harrigan asked.
‘Nothing that’s on this file,’ Ralph said.
‘Why would it go to the minister? Was Beck that important?’
‘He wouldn’t be,’ Parkin said. ‘Ministers don’t deal directly with operatives at that level. Somehow he must have drawn attention to himself.’
‘There’s no indication on file as to what he might have done,’ Ralph said. ‘Then five years ago, the dossier was reopened. Not because of Beck but because of du Plessis. Du Plessis was in London. At the time, he was wanted for murder in South Africa but the government there agreed to the agency keeping him under surveillance rather than arresting him. That warrant is still out against him. At the time, he was known to be involved in illegal diamond trading. The agency’s main concern was with the kind of activities financed by that trade, such as illegal arms dealing. The surveillance operation caught du Plessis meeting with Beck. It was the first time Beck had been on the radar for years. They met often enough for the agency to conclude they were in business together and they needed to watch Beck as well as du Plessis.