The Dunbar Case(54)
‘You’re snowing me.’
‘No. That’s what they say and I believe it. Anyway, they thought the proposition’d have a better chance with you coming from me.’
‘Who thought that?’
She shrugged. ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’
I’d been so astonished by this that I’d neglected my drink. The ice had melted. I took a long swig and Marisha did the same.
‘Ever feel manipulated?’ I said.
‘Manipulated and manipulating—I’m a journalist.’
And maybe that’s all you are, I thought, but I didn’t say so. Marisha took her drink into her study. I paced around as the light dimmed outside and the air cooled in the room. In the few days since Wakefield and Kristie had left I’d stayed in the flat and had got used to its workings. But I’d left Marisha alone to write while I checked my emails, rang Megan, did things. We hadn’t been in each other’s pockets. Plenty of chances for her to contact people and be contacted. Hector Tanner and who else?
I finished the drink and resisted the urge to have another. I needed a clear head for thinking. One thought was a repeat of what I’d had a couple of times before—Jack Twizell was a smart cookie and a game one. No comfort there—in my experience smart, brave men are usually at their smartest and bravest when they’re looking out for themselves.
Then I had another thought. What if Templeton wasn’t a rogue cop after all? What if all this was an act to get hold of Hector Tanner and clear up a nagging rumour about a lot of missing money? And resolve what had happened to a British backpacker?
~ * ~
Marisha came out of her study long enough to give me Templeton’s mobile number—different from the one I already had and which hadn’t answered the last few times I’d tried it.
‘Going to ring him?’
I nodded.
‘Good.’ She went back to work.
I knew what an upright citizen should do—go to Watson and have him set up the system they use to locate the source of mobile phone calls. Why didn’t I do it? Partly out of respect for Templeton’s intelligence and resources. For all I knew there were ways someone could know he was being tracked and Templeton might have sources still within the police force to keep him informed of what was being done to catch him. I couldn’t see a pair like Templeton and Tanner positioning themselves where a police raid would be effective.
I punched in the numbers.
‘This is Hardy.’
‘Just you?’
‘Just me.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Why?’
‘Just answer the question.’
‘No, we’re not going to play it that way. If you’ve got someone watching me, have him come in and I’ll give him a drink.’
Templeton laughed. ‘Okay. Your girlfriend’s put you in the picture, has she?’
‘Just barely. Speaking of girlfriends, I suppose you were sorry to hear that Kristie burned to death.’
There was a pause before he came back on the line. ‘You want to make this hard or easy?’
‘I don’t want it at all, but I feel partly responsible for Jack Twizell being in the shit and I’ve got scores to settle with you and Hector.’
‘This isn’t about settling scores. It’s about money.’
‘If you say so.’
‘I do. All you have to do is exactly what you’re told and everything will go smoothly. Twizell walks away, Hector and I take the money and you get on with whatever. Oh, and your girlfriend writes her book.’
It’s a funny thing, but as he spoke these words I knew it was never going to be anything like that. I didn’t know why, but I knew. The reference to Marisha was a sort of clue that the net was spread wider than he wanted me to believe.
‘This is the deal,’ Templeton said. ‘We meet up on the highway and go north up the coast. That’s all Twizell will say at this point.’
‘Terrific. How is Jack? Rough him up much?’
‘No, he has to stay fit. He’s got work to do. One other thing—you’re going into the cave with him.’
‘I’m claustrophobic.’
‘Too bad. That’s our condition. You bring him and the money out. I don’t want him disappearing into a cave system and coming out somewhere west of Woop Woop.’
‘What’s to stop you and Hector bumping us off there and then?’
‘We won’t. We’re not killers.’
‘Just thieves.’
‘That’s right.’