Chapter 2

I woke early from an uneventful night. I peeked out of the window and Mo Man had gone. I expect that when I went back out, there would be someone else waiting to follow me. If that was the case, they could follow me back to the town house.

While I ate a healthy breakfast, I looked closely at the papers I had brought back with me. It was a roll of newspaper cuttings, all about different disappearances of teenage girls, a few from normal homes, but several were on the game, going off with men in a car and never being seen again. The papers went into the safe in the office and the key, with a number on a tag, went into my bag.

I unlocked the street door and was sitting at my desk when Lena came in with a coffee and cake from Canwood. She only did that if we were in the money. We sat and talked while we drank. I told her everything that had happened yesterday.

“What are you going to do, today, Maxie?”

“I’m going give the widow her keys back and then I’m going to look in the safe. What happens after that is dependent on what I find. The papers that he kept under his chair are all reports of missing girls. He was talking about perverts running the country. If they’re running a murder club, it would be enough reason to kill to keep it quiet. I’m going to call Hassam to take me to see the widow. Keep an eye out as I go and photograph anyone that you see who looks like they’re following me.”

I showed her the picture I’d taken yesterday.

“This is the guy who followed me yesterday, I think he’s five or a private operator. If he’s five, he’s being deliberately overt to put the frighteners on me. He’s yet to make contact to ensure that I’m warned off. He must have known about our visitor before he came to us. Or, they may have been watching the widow to see who turned up, seeing he was there with a tracker when Hassam was parked.”

I called Hassam to pick me up at the pizza bar for lunch again after his car had been serviced. I then called the widow to ask if I could return her keys this afternoon. If the followers were any good, they would have already bugged the phones at the exchange. I rang my salon and asked to speak to Janine. When she answered I asked if she could fit me in for a massage this morning. She made production out of checking her book and told me that I could get in if I was there before ten. That was the code that she understood.

I left the office as if I had no cares in the world, just another beautiful woman going to be pampered. I walked along Frith Street to the Groovy Salon and went in. I hung my coat on the stand near the door, where it was on view. I went to the back of the salon. Not many knew just how big this place was, as it was linked to another unmarked shop front on Romily Street. I had a small locker in a back room where I changed out of my short skirt and heels into a pair of blue jeans and sneakers. A polka dot sweater went over my blouse and I had a West Indian rasta beanie with my hair bundled in it. My bag went into a backpack, and I let myself out into Romily Street.

I had helped Janine with an early case of mine, which had allowed her to keep the shop, the side entrance, and the flats above each one. She knew that I would only ask for a favour when it was really needed. On top of that, her beauticians and stylists were the best around.

I walked to Piccadilly Circus Station and went down to the underground. There was one key on the ring that I hadn’t used. The numbers on it were for a luggage locker in Westminster Station. I got onto the train at Piccadilly, going via different trains until I reached Westminster, making sure I wasn’t followed.

I found the locker with the right number and the key fitted. Inside was brown paper bag, which I pushed into my backpack, firstly taking out another key that I had felt. The code on it was for another luggage locker, this time at Marble Arch, close to his London home. His problem wasn’t that he failed to think securely, it was that all his attempts to hide things were in a linear fashion. If I had been in his shoes, I’d have put things at random, as far away from my route home as possible.

I left the original key in the lock and walked away. Back on the underground, I went to Marble Arch and found the next locker. Inside was another paper bag with photos in it but no more keys. I made sure that I had everything in the backpack and took the tube back to Tottenham Court Road. I made a quick detour to the office, leaving the contents of the lockers with Lena, then walked back to Romily Street along Frith Street. I saw Mo Man on the corner, talking to another man, so ducked into a shop front, took out my phone and took a few pictures of them. There’s nothing like knowing more about your enemy.

They didn’t look twice at me as I went around the corner and let myself into the unmarked entrance of Groovy. I changed back into my clothes and packed my disguise into the locker. Janine gave me a quick touch-up and brushed my hair, so it looked like I had spent two hours being pampered. If the blokes outside were typical, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

I made a show of putting my coat on as I left the main entrance and walked back to the office, with the new man shadowing me from the other side of the street. In the office, I put my bag on the desk and asked Lena to tell me what we had scored.

“Dynamite, Maxie, luv. The papers are copies of real estate contracts for rental properties, all in the outer suburbs. None are more than a six-month period and some match the time periods and areas of those newspaper reports of missing girls. The pictures show why they wanted him dead.”

There were six pictures, all taken with either a spy camera or, I suspected, one of those tiny lenses on a flexible shaft that surgeons use. I remembered that the dead man had started out as a doctor. As I looked at the pictures, it became evident that they were all taken from the same vantage point, and from the height, I suspected that it may have been an old-fashioned keyhole. They all had the same picture, taken at slight intervals. All showed the Home Secretary standing behind another guy, probably a staffer, who was bent over the back of an armchair. They were both naked and it was obvious what they were doing, made more obvious from another cabinet minister standing very close behind the Home Secretary and making it a double banger.

From the looks of the furnishings, it must have been one of the offices at Whitehall. I sat down and thought about it.

“If they’re all gay, why the missing girls.”

“Girls have arseholes as well, Maxie. Unless they have friends, who are straight.”

“We can’t keep them, Lena. Run some scans for the computer, add the real estate papers and the cuttings, and transfer the files to a USB. Then take that home with you and put it somewhere safe. Burn everything and stir up the ashes before flushing it in the loo. Delete all the files and do a disc clean. We don’t want them checking the office and finding that lot. It’s too hot to leave intact.”

As she started to copy the items I went to my computer and transferred the pictures on my phone to it, then emptying the phone memory. I sent the two best ones of Mo Man and also him talking to the other guy to her computer. I wiped the pictures and emptied the recycle bin before doing a disc clean.

“You’ve got a picture of Mo Man and another guy he was talking to this morning. Add them to the USB after you’ve had a good look at the guy. I’m going to the pizza place around the corner to meet Hassam. He had to get his car serviced this morning and I expect they found a tracker under the wheel arch.”

“These geezers are sounding more serious with every passing day, luv. And it’s just one day since the toff visited. So, no detailed phone calls, act as if nothing is unusual.”

“That’s right. I’m going to have a look in the dead man’s safe at his London home. For the life of me I can’t think what else he may have that’s as hot as what he left scattered around at tube stations.”

I checked my lipstick and left her to do what she had to do and lock up. At the pizza place I ordered a pasta salad and sat to wait for Hassam. When he turned up, he was flustered.

“Got a different car today, Maxie. Lucky that my mate had one to spare. Mine got stopped by a couple of plain-clothes boys and they defected mine on the way to get it serviced. I expect that they took the tracker because I was told not to leave the seat as they checked the lights. They gave me what looks like a proper defect notice and told me to put in a new muffler and catalytic converter. What they didn’t show me was any ID, expecting that I would just accept their story.”

“Now, that is interesting. I rang the widow and told her that I was bringing her keys back. I’ve been followed today, and it will be interesting if I get followed tomorrow. They might have decided that I didn’t find anything by the way I’ve been acting.”

“If that’s the case, what will you do about the job?”

“I’ll keep digging, but if I haven’t got something concrete, I’ll report that I couldn’t find anything out. I have moved a little way forward, but I really can’t see how I can make anything stick. When you get the bill for the car, pop in and see Lena, she’ll give you a cheque.”

We had lunch and he took me back to Grosvenor Square. When the widow let me in, I asked her if I could have a look at the office because there was something niggling at my brain. She let me find my own way and I went into the office, closing the door. I swung the filing cabinet aside and used the numbers on the tag to unlock the tumbler, which allowed me to put the key in and open the safe.

The contents of the safe almost took my breath away. There were bundles of money from different countries. There was boxes of good jewellery, things that should have been kept at the manor. The smallest item was a piece of paper with a list of names, ten with ticks beside them. The Home Secretary had a tick beside his, so I expected that all those with ticks were probably members of this ‘Sect’.

I thought about what I should do now, and what would put the enemy off. I left the safe open, after putting the list into my panties, nicely hidden. When I went back downstairs, the other man from this morning was with the widow.

“Miss Fawcett, I’m DI Abbott from the Yard.”

He showed me his ID.

“What can I do for you, Inspector?”

“We have been watching this house to make sure the grieving family are not the victims of scams. I believe that you have been given the run of the dead man’s office. Do you have anything that you have taken today?”

“Nothing, Inspector. In fact, I was just about to report on something that I have found. The dead man has a safe in his office that I doubt he told anybody about. I found a key in a safe place at the manor and have just opened it to find some cash and some very good jewellery. Would you like to have a look?”

I led them upstairs to the office. I could tell that the man was not happy that his subordinate had missed this one. His manner was very much that of an upper ranking officer. While Helen looked at the contents, he wanted to know how I found it. I told him that I had found the key, with the tag, in a hiding place at the manor, and that it took me some time while I was having a massage this morning, to make a guess that there must have been a safe I had missed.

He nodded as I told him, looking at the way the safe was hidden.

“A very clever security item, don’t you think. You must have great powers of observation to have found that. Do you mind if I look in your bag, to make sure you have not taken anything?”

I opened my bag, and he had a good look. I could tell that he was halfway between being upset and relieved. He could tell, at a glance, that I couldn’t have hidden anything on me, seeing that my blouse was almost see-through, and my skirt clung to my hips.

“Tell me, Miss Fawcett. What was your brief that brought you here?”

“I was tasked with looking into the death of James Harding. My employer was worried that he had been unusually upset, lately. He gave me two things to look at. The first was the likelihood that the man was murdered, and the second was that he may have hidden away items. I have yet to ask the police about the first, and the second is here, in front of you. If this sort of collection was in any other man’s safe, I would think that he was preparing for a divorce by hiding away saleable items. It’s possible that he was just keeping them secure.”

Helen finished checking the boxes and turned to Abbott with a smile.

“I think that he was just keeping them secure, Inspector. I’ve seen these items before when his parents were alive. They were all his mothers’ and are worth a fortune. Thank you, Miss Fawcett, for discovering them, I had no idea that this safe was in here, they could have remained after I sold the house and moved back to the manor.”

She invited me to have a drink with her and bade the Inspector goodbye, ushering him to the front door.

“All right, Maxine. Are you sure that my husband wasn’t murdered?”

“The jury is still out on that one. I’ll keep digging quietly, as long as Abbott stays away. He’s as much a serving copper as I am. He was following me this morning. Act as if it’s all behind you and read the papers. If I turn up anything, you’ll know about it. If I turn up dead, you’ll know that I trod on one too many toes. In the safe at the manor, you’ll find more money and jewellery. The key to that one is on the ring.”

She asked me to wait while she went back upstairs. When she came down, she thrust a bundle of new notes in my hand.

“This is a reward for finding the missing jewellery, Maxine. With my undying gratitude. The collection in that safe was last valued at around three million, and there would have been hell to pay if I hadn’t been able to produce it for probate. Use the money as you wish but stay alive to find the people who killed my husband!”

I thanked her and put the cash in my bag.

“Tell me, did James have any special friends who could have been in the security business. He was quite clever in his concealments?”

“The only one who may fit was Allan Truscott. He was in the police but has a restaurant now. We used to go there for the odd meal.”

Outside, Hassam was waiting patiently. When I got in, he asked me where I wanted to go, and I told him to take me back to the office. Before I got out, I reached into my bag and peeled a hundred from the notes and gave it to him.

“This is for the last couple of days. Come back with that invoice and Lena will give you a cheque. If anyone asks you where you’ve taken me, tell them the truth. The Square, the manor, and the Square again. The opposition already know about them, and I gave them the reason why this morning.”

In the office I thought about Allan Truscott. He had been a lecturer at Hendon when I was a rookie copper. We had hit it off in more ways than one and I had the idea that he might remember me. I wasn’t going to call him on the office phone but looked up the number of his restaurant and went up to my flat to call him on a burner. Firstly, I took the list from my panties and looked at the names on it. The ticked ones included several politicians, and a couple of high-ranking members of the force. I could see why nothing had progressed with the investigation, and why all the missing girl cases were in the cold case bin. When I got through to Allan, I told him who I was.

“Maxie, darling. Long time no hear. It’s lovely to hear your voice, it gives me goosebumps. What can I do for you?”

“I would like to speak to you about a friend of yours, Allan, but it must, and I repeat, must, look like we are having a chat about old times, as I have a shadow.”

“Ah! One of the faceless men from the dark side. Look, I’m hosting a big dinner for old friends on Saturday evening, I’ll send you an invitation by email if you give me the address. Perhaps we can talk afterwards. I have a flat above the restaurant with a big bed that’s dying to see you. I’ll put the red satin sheets on it, just for you.”

“I see that you remember me, Allan. The red ones were my favourite back then. I’ll be there on Saturday.”

I gave him the email address and smiled as I turned the burner off. I had a date on Saturday, at a dinner in a posh restaurant. I had nothing to wear and some cash in my bag. It was time to go shopping. Back in the office, I told Lena to lock up and have a good weekend, giving her the list to scan and add to the USB at home before destroying it. She looked at the ticked names.

“Dicing with death with this lot, Maxie. Our toff didn’t know what a mess of bees he was playing with when he tried to knock over the hive. I’ll check that your insurance covers my accrued leave and entitlements before I go home. I’ll see you on Monday, should you live so long.”

“They can’t knock me off on the weekend, Lena. It’s my time off when I have fun. I’ll be out on Saturday night and may not come home until Sunday. I was given some cash from the widow for finding her lost jewels, here’s half; get yourself a new kaftan, or something. I’m heading for Knightsbridge to see if I can get something suitable for a dinner and is easy to remove.”

I gave her the money and put the rest back in my bag. I left the office and walked to the tube station at Oxford Circus, making sure that I checked in shop windows as I passed. I had Mo Man some way behind me. He stayed with me on the tube until I got to Knightsbridge and watched me go into a dress shop. I was looking through a rack of evening dresses as I saw him on his phone. After a couple of minutes, he put the phone away and strode off. I was sure that Abbott had given him the word that I was safe, for now.

I spent a lovely couple of hours looking at evening dresses, finally choosing one that revealed a lot about my character, leaving very little to the imagination. With it paid for, and in a bag, I carried on to a shoe shop to get heels that would enhance its effect on Allan, knowing the sort of woman he liked. He liked the sort of woman that I was, back then. I’ve mellowed a little since that time, but I was looking forward to reliving a little of my past. Hell!! Who was I fooling. I hadn’t changed, I just wasn’t getting laid so often.

Back in my flat, I hung the dress and sorted out the minimal underwear to go with it. Then I changed into a slip dress and went out again, around the corner to Ronnie Scott’s to see who was playing there tonight.

I relaxed and had a good evening, dancing with a very elegant man who was charming and looked rich. He bought me dinner and I heard about his company in the West Country. He told me that he was staying in the Soho Hotel. He was a good companion, a good dancer, and we had a lot of laughs. I knew that he must be married seeing the pale skin where a ring would sit, but it didn’t matter to me.

I told him that I wasn’t on the game, but enjoyed life as it was presented to me. He kissed me as we danced, and I felt him growing. It was close to eleven when we walked the short distance to the hotel and up to his very nice room, this being a five-star establishment.

I was thoroughly well reamed when I showered in his ensuite, dressed, and left about one. I walked back around the corner to my flat, the streets still crowded with people having a good time. Back in the flat, I douched and put on a nightie.

In bed, I thought about the evening. He had given me his card and I had given him one of my Max Force cards. He had laughed when he saw that I was a PI, and our next bout was almost rape, as I realised that he was probably taking out some aggression on the ones his wife may have set on him.

He had apologised for being rough and I had told him that it had been good. That’s when he told me about his difficult divorce and I held him tight as he told me that he had always been a player, thinking that he could have kept it from his wife. Twenty minutes later, he made long slow love to me, and it was beautiful. When I was about to leave, he told me that I was a wonderful woman and kissed me gently, before saying that he’d give me a call when he was next in town.

I told him that I would be happy to see him again. Finding a nice man who could get it up three times in two hours wasn’t someone you would dump, now, would you?

Marianne Gregory © 2024