I asked Elizabeth if we had an appointment with SIO Regan tomorrow, and she said that of course we didn’t, and not to worry myself about it. I also reminded her that the minibus doesn’t run on a Tuesday, but she says Ron is going to drive us in, because he was feeling left out of things, and his Daihatsu is back from the garage.
I sense this is the big week for finding out who murdered Kuldesh. Maybe even for finding the heroin. Elizabeth seems to be putting all of her pieces in place. Does she know something?
Alan is in a mood because I was out all day. You can’t explain heroin and murder to a dog. Well, a sniffer dog, perhaps. He’s sulking in the spare bedroom, sighing every few minutes just so I know he’s there. I know he won’t be able to keep it up for long though. Let me call him.
And in he comes, tail wagging. All is forgiven.
‘SIO Regan please,’ says Elizabeth to the desk sergeant at Fairhaven police station.
‘Who might I say wants her?’ asks the desk sergeant, a woman in her early fifties.
‘You might say it is Elizabeth and Joyce,’ says Elizabeth. ‘Concerning the murder of Dominic Holt.’
‘You confessing?’ asks the sergeant, as she dials upstairs. ‘I have an Elizabeth and a Joyce for SIO Regan. Information about Dominic Holt.’
There is a brief wait, then the sergeant nods and says, ‘Thanks, Jim.’
‘She’s out, I’m afraid,’ says the sergeant, turning to them. ‘Perhaps you could leave your number?’
‘She’s out?’ asks Elizabeth.
‘Afraid so,’ says the sergeant. ‘That confession will have to wait.’
‘Well, that’s very peculiar, isn’t it, Joyce?’ Elizabeth motions to Joyce. ‘This is Joyce.’
‘It is very peculiar,’ says Joyce. ‘We watched her come in at’ – Joyce flips open a notebook – ‘10.23 a.m., and we’ve been watching the front door ever since, and she hasn’t come out.’
‘They have cars,’ says the sergeant. ‘And you shouldn’t be watching police stations.’
‘Oh, we were on public property,’ says Elizabeth. ‘On a little bench in the park.’
‘I brought a flask,’ says Joyce.
‘And only two cars have left the station since then, and she was in neither,’ says Elizabeth. ‘It’s – what time do we have now, Joyce?’
‘11.04,’ says Joyce.
‘It’s 11.04 now –’
‘11.05 now,’ says Joyce.
‘And we thought that would probably give SIO Regan plenty of time to have settled in, had her morning briefing. She’s probably having a coffee now, reading her emails.’
‘So we thought what better time?’ adds Joyce.
‘What better time?’ says Elizabeth. ‘So if you could ring up again, and make sure there hasn’t been a mistake? We would very much like to talk to her. The minibus returns to Coopers Chase at three p.m., and we have other chores today.’
The desk sergeant stands and rests her palms on her counter.
‘Ladies, fun though this is, SIO Regan is not here. There is more than one exit from this building –’
‘Yes, Ron was at the back exit,’ says Elizabeth. ‘She hasn’t left.’
‘And I’m telling you she has,’ says the sergeant. ‘So if you’ll leave me a phone number, I’ll make sure it is passed on to her. And, in the meantime, I would strongly advise against keeping watch on a police station, unless you want to get arrested.’
Elizabeth takes out her phone and takes a photograph of the sergeant.
‘Photograph taken, 11.07,’ says Joyce.
‘You take another photograph,’ says the sergeant, staring at Elizabeth, ‘and you’re under arrest.’
Elizabeth looks at Joyce, with one eyebrow raised. Joyce looks at her watch, considers for a moment, then gives the gentlest of nods.
Elizabeth takes another photograph.
Sayed looks down across the mountains. Everything on the valley floor is his, and everything on the northern slopes too. The slopes to the south are Pakistan. Who owns them, Sayed doesn’t know, but they have never been any trouble. That’s all you can ask. There is trouble enough these days.
He hasn’t heard back from Hanif since Wednesday. He was in Moldova, asking questions, and said he was heading to England, so he must have found something out. Sayed won’t feel completely happy until it is sorted. Of course he won’t. Shouldn’t even be up in this helicopter – could be bad luck, and it takes only one stray bullet to bring it down. But the alternative was a six-hour trip by Jeep and horse.
This is not a position he has been in before, and it needs fixing quickly. He will give Hanif another week or so. He knows he’ll be on the trail of the shipment. It’s not like he can just ring him and have a chat.
Hanif will speak to Mitch Maxwell, and Mitch Maxwell will speak to Luca Buttaci. Politely at first, and then less politely if he doesn’t get what he wants. Sayed does not like to be fooled or cheated. That way lies death.
Hanif will have to be punished too, of course, if they fail to find it between them. So he’ll be motivated at least.
From the open door of the helicopter, Sayed sees the fields where poppies will soon be blooming, and that cheers him a little. Because everybody knows that fields of red poppies in full bloom can signify just one thing.
Profit.
