Pix (Volume Book 24) (Harpur & Iles Mysteries) (24 page)

More threats. Shale wanted an end to this meeting. It was not good to be seen talking to Chandor and gazing conjoint towards the environmental sea like buddies. ‘I've got some other calls to make,' he said.

‘Two things forced me to accelerate my programme, and got me down here solo to put a proposal, Mansel,' Chandor replied. ‘One, obviously, the Laguna operation. This shows real possible peril for me – its flair and aptness. I can do without a further attempt, thanks, which I might not live through. But, then also its positive side, the cancellation. I take that as promising, Mansel.'

‘Where is all this supposed to have happened, for fuck's sake, the “Laguna operation”?'

‘In addition, I note the invite from Ralphy Ember to Low Pastures for you and your wife,' Chandor replied. ‘My information is, this never happened before. I couldn't say why – snobbery? Ralph's disdain? – but apparently that's how it was. What does it show? I'd say it plainly reveals an increased closeness. This could make conditions even trickier for me, couldn't it? Your cartel with Ember, looked on permissively by Iles, getting stronger, more solid. And so, I decide I should get in at once, before these new conditions have properly settled and cemented.'

‘Low Pastures?' Shale said.

‘You and your missus, acceptable guests at the manor house – unprecedented as I hear.'

‘I don't care what you fucking hear.'

‘I put a tail on Trove's girl, Meryl Goss, after she called on us, naturally. She could be stirring some delicate material and I wanted her monitored. Harpur's kids go off – go home, I suppose – but a couple of my folk follow
Meryl and her pal, the girl reporter, to the Monty. They'd presumably be looking for Ralph Ember as a font of gossip. Rumour reaches him via club members, and perhaps more than rumour. He's apparently not there and they decide to go out to his home. My lads follow. They get their car out of sight and watch from behind cover inside the grounds – plenty of shrubs and trees. The house is lit up and there seems to be some kind of occasion going on. The women – Goss and the reporter – get invited in, just the same. Obviously, we can't know what they discovered, if anything. After a while they come out and drive away in the journalist's Renault. My contingent follow again.

‘But Meryl Goss goes to a Bed and Breakfast in Quith Street and that seems to be the end of activities for the night. The journalist turns towards the middle of the city and is obviously also on her way to bed. Our lads decide they can restart the watch on Meryl Goss from the boarding house next morning but are curious about what goes on that night at Low Pastures – or they
make
themselves curious. They know I'm interested in Ember – am interested in
any
firm that seems to dominate. And, additionally, Mansel, these are two of the people I savaged recently for what they'd done at your rectory. Most likely they were scared of coming to me with nothing, scared of getting blamed for a second cock-up. So, they go back and put an eye on Ralphy's place again. Soon, they see the famous Jaguar arrive, chauffeur in place, cap on, and you and your wife come out from Low Pastures – you in a terrific suit, they said, and a great mauve shirt, aglint under an external security light. Ralph Ember also appears, to say goodbye. They feel they've got something to report now, don't they? And me, I'd agree. Significant. A suit like that.'

‘A social outing. Routine.' Shale had listened for any accidental hint from Chandor that he personally was at the rectory for all those unforgivable events, and perhaps in the party who followed Meryl Goss, also. He heard no evidence for either, but believed it about both. Manse wanted to focus his hate on some
body
, not on some firm. It seemed obvious to him that when Chandor spoke of the
suit and shirt this was mockery, not meant as a true compliment.

‘That kind of tarted-up mateyness with Ralph is in some ways a difficulty for me, as I've mentioned,' Chandor said. ‘But in some ways a plus, Mansel. I like to look for advantages in even the most dire events – seemingly dire. That's how I've progressed. It means Ember listens to you, respects your views. Well, certainly. It's probably always been so. I gather there are conferences between you and him at your house, as well as the regular beanfeasts for your respective mobs at the Agincourt Hotel. But this elevation to treasured guest level at Ralph's manor house emphasizes his recognition of your status and wisdom. As I see it, Mansel, you could talk to him about possible advantages in opening up your alliance to a third member – a third member with a store of very dynamic, very workable, very tested ideas, believe me. This wouldn't take anything from you, from either of you. It's expansion, not division. I've put in a lot of thought on potential development of the substances commerce here.

‘Yes,
you
speak to Ralph. It would be no good coming from me. He'd see it as a try at levering, as menaces, even. And if, despite your recommendation, Ember is unhelpful – well, I admit, that's possible. He's panicky but he can also turn stubborn, I expect. I've had a thorough look at the Monty layout, though, you know. All right, there's a poetic shield. And it's very . . . very . . . well, poetic – just a bit of decor, no protection except from some hasty amateur chancer who pops in at the door, is afraid to go further, and tries a shot or two. And this only if Ralph happens to be where he's supposed to be behind the bar. That's not how Ember would be done in a properly managed ploy if he remained obstructive. I suggest, Mansel, that what we have to ask about someone who believes a shield of that kind can possibly provide real protection, is whether he's capable of leading a major firm. Have his wits and judgement begun to go? Has the famous inclination towards panic become dominant in him? Can you afford association with such a one, and dependence, to a degree, on such a one?'

Harpur could tell his daughters wanted a major discussion. These sessions usually made him very uneasy, and he would have liked to dodge out, but the girls came suddenly and together into the sitting room at 126 Arthur Street and sat opposite him, in that planned way they had, undemure, dogged, foolable, of course, but not
easily
foolable. ‘Chandor,' Jill said.

‘This is a property firm on the marina, dad,' Hazel said.

‘Right,' Harpur replied. ‘You've spoken about it before. Featured in “the buzz”, yes?'

‘We went to see them,' Jill said.

‘Who?' Harpur said.

‘I told you – Chandor and his people,' Jill said. ‘Chandor himself and Rufus Somebody and Maurice Somethingelse.'

‘I meant, who went to see them?' Harpur said.

‘That's Meryl and the reporter girl, Kate, who's hoping for a story one day, and us,' Jill said.

‘Why were you with them?' Harpur said.

‘Oh, yes, we went along,' Jill replied.

‘Why?' Harpur said.

‘Oh, yes, we went along,' Jill replied.

‘Meryl had a list of property companies and she's called on quite a lot, showing the picture of Graham Trove and so on,' Hazel said. ‘She wanted the research to be thorough. We went to some with her. Plus, as you said, dad, she'd heard some talk about Chandor. So now she thinks it's Chandor for sure. She was going to give up and return to London, her holiday time being over. Instead of that,
though, she'll stay and do more inquiries about Chandor. She told her boss in London.'

‘She wonders if they'll keep her job for her, but she doesn't care, because of Chandor,' Jill said. ‘This is truly a mission. This is a matter of love for Graham Trove.'

‘She's nearly certain,' Hazel said.

‘Of what?' Harpur replied.

‘That this company, Chandor, was the one Graham came to – what he called his “contact” here,' Jill said. ‘The question is, what happened? Obviously, we'll try to help her.'

‘Help her what?' Harpur said.

‘Dig,' Jill said.

‘Dig?' Harpur said.

‘Dig into this Chandor, to find what's what,' Jill said. ‘Yes, he's the one I had the buzz about at school and down the bus station – drugs and that. Property only a mask. Maybe Meryl's partner, Graham, isn't too clean, either, or why does he go to Chandor? But she doesn't seem to know anything about this. We haven't asked her if Graham could be crooked. That would seem cruel.'

‘Chandor's name's Hilaire, would you believe?' Hazel said. ‘Like some writer.'

‘He seemed all right, and the people with him, but you can't tell, can you?' Jill said. ‘I mean, if they've got rid of someone, and if the property side is just a cover, they might put on a sweet face to fool us –
And would the children like a fizzy drink?
– that kind of eyewash to Meryl and Kate.'

‘I don't want you to talk like that,' Harpur replied.

‘Like what?' Jill said. ‘ “Eyewash”? That's what it was, most probably.'

‘ “Got rid of someone.” “Just a cover.” They're accusations based on nothing. And I don't think you should be involved, anyway,' Harpur said.

‘No, not based on nothing,' Hazel said.

That made Harpur worried – more worried. Hazel could sound very factual, very grave.

‘Don't think we should be involved in what, dad?' Jill said.

‘In what you call “digging” into the Chandor company,' Harpur said.

‘Do you think it's dangerous, dad?' Hazel said.

Yes, dangerous, dangerous. This was a firm that advertised how dangerous it might turn out to be by leaving bodies on stairs. ‘I just don't believe it's sensible,' Harpur said.

‘Why not? Because it's dangerous?' Jill said.

‘Because it's not your role,' Harpur said.

‘Whose role
is
it?' Jill said. ‘Yours? But you're not doing anything, are you?'

‘At this point, there isn't anything
to
do,' Harpur said.

‘At which point?' Jill replied.

‘Now,' Harpur said. ‘I've nothing to go on.'

‘Is that right?' Jill said.

More or less. He had Iles's intercepts and, possibly, Iles's view of things from Matilda Shale's bedroom and his obvious recognition of the man in Meryl Goss's photograph, which might mean Matilda's bedroom was more than possibly. None of this could be disclosed to his daughters, nor to anyone else. ‘Of course it's right,' he said. ‘We can't act without information.'

‘Someone's missing,' Hazel said.

‘That has been reported and the usual procedures are operating,' Harpur said.

‘Which?' Jill said.

‘Which what?' Harpur said.

‘Which usual procedures?' Jill said.

‘There are established, reliable procedures for tracing an adult missing person.'

‘But they're no good, are they, and
not
reliable?' Jill said. ‘He hasn't been found.'

‘Early days,' Harpur replied.

‘Meryl doesn't think so,' Jill said. ‘She's scared. And she's sure Chandor's lot know something.'

‘Why is she?' Harpur replied. ‘It's only because you've been giving her the “buzz” stuff.'

‘If you think it's dangerous, dad, doesn't that show there's something wrong about Chandor?' she said.

‘I didn't say it was dangerous,' Harpur said. No, he had made sure he did not say it.

‘But you think it is, don't you?' Jill said. ‘I can tell. Your voice is rough and sharp.'

‘Meryl believes Chandor had her followed,' Hazel said. ‘Maybe even followed her himself.'

Hazel's ace.

‘You see, dad? Why would he do that if there wasn't something dark going on?' Jill said.

‘We don't know that he did. What makes her think Chandor had her followed?' Harpur said.

‘She spotted someone,' Jill said. ‘How else do you find out you're being followed?'

‘Jill and I came home after that meeting with Chandor, but in the evening Meryl and Kate went to Ralph Ember's club, the Monty, because they'd heard he picks up a lot of gossip from his riff-raff customers,' Hazel said. ‘He wasn't there, so they went to his house.'

‘A dinner party going on there,' Jill said. ‘Ralph Ember introduces them to Mansy Shale and his wife. Naturally, Kate recognized Shale, anyway – another drugs prince, isn't he? She's a local paper reporter – knows the scene. Meryl says he's done up in a crazy old suit that someone bigger most probably wore for the Armistice celebrations in 1918, and a mauve shirt. Like an important occasion.'

‘But Meryl and Kate discover nothing,' Hazel said.

‘Except Ralphy invited Mansy to a dinner party at Low Pastures,' Jill replied. ‘Kate is surprised because the rumour around for ages was Ralph Ember would not let Mansy into the house, he being as crude as crude. She thinks something vital is happening. She believes she's on to what's called in the Press a “scoop”.'

‘Anyway, Meryl and Kate Mead leave,' Hazel said. ‘They're in Kate's car and making for Quith Street, where Meryl's staying. In her mirror Kate suspects she spots the tail. A Toyota. It stays well back, so they couldn't get the reg, but Meryl thinks three men aboard.'

‘It might be nothing at all,' Harpur said, ‘just people going in the same direction.'

‘Yes, it might, but it wasn't,' Jill said.

‘The Toyota stays with them and parks at the top of Quith Street when Meryl and Kate pull in at the boarding house,' Hazel said.

‘Meryl goes in. Her room's in the front and she takes a peep outside from around the edge of the curtains,' Jill said. ‘She thinks there was a man on foot hanging about on the pavement – like that scene in
Casablanca
on Movie TV when Paul Henreid and Ingrid Bergman are being watched. He's in the shadows but Meryl believes he could be one of the people from Chandor's office.'