I Am Pilgrim(134)

‘The victim – Mr Dodge – had been sitting in the library of the house, drinking alcohol and taking drugs – the toxicology report shows it – when the phosphorous star exploded and marked the start of the evening’s festivities.

‘He picked up a pair of binoculars – we found them just inside the railing – and walked down the lawn to watch the fireworks.’

The binoculars set an alarm ringing – my radar said there was something wrong – but I didn’t have time to think about it: I wanted to concentrate on what she was saying, and she was going at warp speed.

‘To get a better view of the fireworks, he either stood on the railing or swung himself over it. Disoriented by the cocktail of drugs and alcohol, on unfamiliar territory, perhaps confused by the constant explosions of light, he lost his footing on the crumbling cliff edge and couldn’t recover. He fell. Are you with me, Agent Wilson?’

I nodded.

‘We re-created the scene with a dummy of exactly his height and weight. One point eight seconds after he fell, he crashed through some bushes clinging to the cliff. You can see the broken branches, and we found several tufts of hair in the foliage. You may find this interesting: his trajectory was totally consistent with a man slipping.

‘Here are the records of those tests.’ She slid a small pile of technical graphs across the table.

‘We think he tried to grab on to a branch – there were lacerations on one hand – but he kept falling until he hit the rocks one hundred and four feet below. That’s a ten-storey building. Among many other injuries, he broke his spine in two places and died instantly.’

I nodded – that was what the State Department file had given as the cause of death. I had to admit it – she and her forensic team had done an outstanding job. God help us, I thought. I had no choice except to keep attacking.

‘There were security people on the estate,’ I said. ‘Plenty of people on boats. Some of them must have been close to the headland. Who heard him scream?’ I was just probing.

‘Nobody. Even if he did scream, the sound of the exploding fireworks would have drowned it out. Was that the question you were going to ask?’

‘No, actually, it wasn’t,’ I replied testily. ‘I wanted to know exactly who else was on the estate that night.’

‘That’s funny,’ Cumali replied, her voice freighted with sarcasm. ‘Exactly the same question occurred to us. Apart from the security detail, there was nobody. He was alone.’

‘How can you be sure?’ I asked. ‘It’s a huge estate.’

She gave me a withering look. ‘Six point nine acres in total,’ she said, opening another folder and taking out more photos. With them was a wad of blueprints.

‘The only people who rent it are hugely wealthy – as a result, there are one hundred and eight cameras which monitor and record the perimeter. The system was installed by one of the world’s leading security corporations – American, you’ll be pleased to know – and it’s impossible to step on to the grounds without being seen and recorded.’

She dealt out photos showing dozens of different cameras – cameras mounted on poles, on the sides of buildings, hidden in foliage. Some were fixed, others pivoted; all were equipped with infrared and night-vision hardware. Looking at them as an expert, I knew it must have cost a fortune.

She followed up with some of the blueprints. ‘These are the specifications of the system – you can see there isn’t an inch of the perimeter that isn’t covered.’

Next came a series of reports which showed that the cameras had been working perfectly. I didn’t look at them – I was sure she was right. Things were getting worse by the second. I might be able to delay her by a few days but, beyond that – well, it was looking impossible. ‘What about the cliff?’ I asked. ‘What was to stop somebody climbing up it?’

She sighed. ‘There is a small beach at one end – the German Beach, it’s called – which has a boat ramp, a salt-water pool and boathouse. It is part of the estate and attached to it is a guardroom.

‘Two men were inside and four cameras monitor the steps up to the estate and the entire cliff face. You want to know how good the motion-controlled cameras were? There was a slight blur recorded by one of them that took our interest – then I realized it had captured the victim’s body plunging past. One fiftieth of a second and it got it.’

I looked out at the frangipani trees, buying myself a moment, trying to gather my thoughts for another assault. ‘So you say Dodge was alone – except of course he wasn’t,’ I said. ‘There was the security detail. What was to stop one of them approaching from behind and tipping him into eternity?’