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The Invisible Code(42)

By:Christopher Fowler


‘Is there any way of proving it?’

‘That’s the problem, John, it’s just a feeling. Even in the cleanest flats you find alien matter and have to eliminate it piece by piece, but not this time. Two perfect long hairs, one placed where it couldn’t be missed, on the pillow, the other conveniently left in the laundry basket between shirts so I can easily date it. I could buy the evidence as it stands, but in my experience it just doesn’t feel right.’

‘So you think someone planted the evidence to discredit her?’

‘If there was someone in her husband’s circle who was determined to frame her, this would be a bloody good way to do it.’

‘With the motive of destabilizing Kasavian just as he’s trying to push through the UK side of the borders initiative.’

‘Exactly. The crazier the wife looks, the worse it reflects on his judgement. I’d start looking into his department, and see who’s got the most to gain by causing his downfall.’

‘Home Office Security is notoriously secretive. I very much doubt there’s any way of getting to their inner circle.’

‘Then I think you need to find a way before something else happens,’ Banbury warned.





18



LUCY



WHEN SHE TRIED Royal Oak Recruitment Services, Meera Mangeshkar struck it lucky.

The receptionist immediately singled out one employee. ‘Andrew Mansfield,’ she said. ‘A lovely man, but a real workaholic. He’s here nearly every weekend, never takes his holiday allowance. His ex-wife works nearby and they look after the children between them, two boys and a girl.’ She tapped the blurry photograph. ‘And that’s definitely little Lucy. She’s wearing her favourite yellow top. She’s – well, she’s quite a handful. Knows her own mind, that one does.’

‘Do you know if Mr Mansfield was working last Saturday morning?’

‘Oh, he’d have been here. We had a rush job on all last week. Lucy was probably with him.’

‘Could I see him?’

‘He won’t like being interrupted, but let me try.’ She rang Mansfield’s office and persuaded him to grant Meera an audience.

Meera called Colin and told him to come over. Together they headed for the fourth floor. The sight of so many tightly arranged cubicles made Meera feel claustrophobic. Fancy working in here every day, she thought. Give me the streets any time.

Mansfield could not have been older than forty, but looked as if he was about to drop dead. His grey suit matched his skin and hung about him like a flag. His shirt collar was a size too big, and his dark eyes were sunken and lifeless. He seemed to find it an effort to speak, and had already forgotten who his visitors were.

‘We’re from a central London crimes unit investigating two incidents that your daughter may have witnessed,’ Meera explained again. ‘It may be the case that she didn’t register seeing anything she considered to be out of the ordinary, so we need to talk to her in order to form a fuller picture of the events.’

‘Where did these “events” happen?’ asked Mansfield distractedly. His BlackBerry buzzed and he reached for it.

‘You can leave that for a minute,’ Meera warned. ‘One was on Saturday last around lunchtime, out in the square.’

‘She was here. She went downstairs to play with Tom Penry, one of my colleague’s boys. If you want to interview him, I can probably arrange that. You said there were two incidents.’

‘Yes, the other was in Coram’s Fields in Bloomsbury yesterday afternoon at around four p.m.’

Mansfield shook his head blearily, as if trying to clear it of clouds. ‘No, I don’t think I know—’

‘It’s a park just opposite the Brunswick Centre.’

‘Oh God, yes. She ran off to look at the animals. We’d stopped in the farmers’ market. I was dying for a cigarette and trying to take my mind off it, so I stopped at a bookstall. It was very busy there. Lucy was watching a man making pancakes. When I turned back I couldn’t find her.’

‘How long was she gone?’

‘I don’t know – five or ten minutes, something like that. She’s very independent, quite fearless, always going up to strangers and chatting. I try to stop her. She’s smart, though, a good judge of character.’

‘She’s still a little girl, Mr Mansfield.’

‘I searched the market, then remembered the park opposite. That joins on to Coram’s Fields, doesn’t it? There’s a petting zoo there.’

‘So you left the centre and headed there?’

‘There’s a crossing going all the way over from the Brunswick Centre to the edge of the park. I followed the railings down the side and then I saw her running towards me. She said something about seeing a friend. She makes stuff up all the time.’