The Heights. Parker Bilal
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Drake looked at Marsh. ‘Pryce used that to make a case against me. He argued that it was more than incompetence that had got our major witness killed.’
‘Implying you were in Goran’s pocket.’
Drake shrugged. ‘I had been too secretive. I kept her to myself. Nobody else knew where she was.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I knew there was a leak inside our team. Too many operations had gone wrong.’
‘So Pryce turned this into a way of taking you down? Does the man have no scruples?’ Marsh’s voice betrayed her anger. ‘You think he was on the take?’
‘If he was I could never prove it. Maybe he was just doing what he thought was right.’
‘You don’t believe that, do you?’
‘No,’ said Drake. ‘I think there’s more to it than that.’
Milo cleared his throat, eager to get back into the conversation. ‘If they identified the body, why was the case shut down?’
‘You’d have to ask Pryce about that. By then I was suspended from duty and facing an inquiry. Maybe we’ll get the answers now, with the head showing up.’
‘Don’t hold your breath,’ said Marsh. ‘Pryce has made it clear that we don’t have the resources to start digging up cold cases.’
‘The cuts,’ explained Milo, as if Drake didn’t already know. ‘We’re struggling to cope as it is.’
Marsh was drawing circles on the table with her index finger.
‘What is it, Kelly?’
‘Just the fact of this head turning up now, and the newspaper clipping. It almost seems like someone is trying to set you up.’
‘Yes,’ sighed Drake. ‘It does look that way, doesn’t it?’
‘Any ideas?’
‘Take your pick. Malevich is gone, but there are plenty of others still out there from that time.’
‘But storing the head like that, for so long. That’s pretty sick.’
‘I didn’t make this world, I only live in it.’
‘Well, that’s basically the reason I wanted to give you a heads-up.’
‘Appreciated. I mean that, both of you.’ Drake nodded at Milo. ‘You could get into trouble for this.’
‘It’s the right thing to do, chief,’ said Milo.
On the way out, Drake handed him a slip of paper. ‘Can I ask you a favour? Could you run that registration through the system?’
‘Who is it?’ asked Milo.
‘A solicitor by the name of Nathanson. Barnaby Nathanson. His offices are in Kingsland Road. I think it’s an Uber. Can you do that?’
‘Sure, I can get into their system and check it. Kingsland Road, you said?’
‘Around eight in the evening. I need to know where it took him.’
‘Shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Thanks, Milo. I appreciate it.’
Marsh held the door for him and then blocked his path. ‘You’re not using us for your private sector enterprise, are you?’
‘You scratch my back …’
‘So you’re going to look into the Zelda case?’
‘I’ll do what I can, but, Kelly, not a word of this to anyone, not even Wheeler.’
‘You’re not going to turn this into some kind of personal vendetta against Pryce, are you?’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ grinned Drake. Then he was past her and out of the door before she had time to reply.
8
The flat Howeida Almanara shared with Savannah Reeves was actually just off Drury Lane. Whichever way you cut it, this was a very nice neighbourhood. The building was a neatly faced red-brick structure on a corner. Not old, but not new either. Crane was buzzed in and climbed a wide staircase that appeared to have been recently refurbished. When she reached the second floor the slim woman was waiting in the doorway, her red hair tied back now with a black ribbon.
‘There is an elevator, you know,’ she said, as if the idea might never have occurred to Crane.
‘I have a tendency towards claustrophobia.’
‘Wow, that must really suck.’
‘I had a bad experience once.’ Crane turned the conversation back. ‘Nice place.’
‘Thank you,’ cooed Savannah.
The flat was untidy in the way that you might expect from two students with means. Crane surmised that they had a cleaning service which probably came in a couple of times a week to prevent things tipping over the edge into real chaos. Just two rich kids trying their best to look normal.
Crane allowed herself to be led around. Each of the girls had their own room. Savannah’s bed was covered with fluffy toy animals; bunnies with big ears and so forth.
‘The little girl in me that refuses to grow up,’ she laughed.
Howeida’s room was more austere and tidy. There were clothes in the wardrobe and dresser. A large, hard-shell suitcase big enough to pack a Shetland pony inside stood behind the door. Crane looked around quickly but saw nothing out of place.
‘What a great flat.’
‘Oh, we love it. We looked at a few others. But once we saw this we had to have it.’
Crane made appreciative sounds as the young woman led her through to the kitchen, where she made a valiant attempt at producing coffee from the stainless steel machine on the marble counter. Either she was nervous or she had no practical experience of kitchen appliances. Crane guessed she didn’t spend a lot of time making her own coffee.
‘Why don’t I?’ she suggested. Savannah’s eyes widened in amazement.
‘Oh, would you? I’m terrible with these things. I usually run downstairs to the café.’
‘Nothing to it. Why don’t you sit down and tell me about Howeida. How did you meet?’
‘Oh, wow!’ Savannah tugged the ribbon off her hair, releasing her long red locks. She settled onto a high stool like a model waiting for a photoshoot to get started. ‘I mean, like I said the other day when your partner was with you, we just hit it off. He’s not working with you today?’
Crane ran an eye over the coffee machine and went to work. ‘He’s working on another angle.’
‘Oh, right. Well, anyway, Howie and I, we just clicked right from the get-go. First day on campus, we just got to talking and we haven’t stopped since.’ She giggled in a self-conscious way. Crane asked what had brought her to London.
‘I’ve just always had a romantic thing for London. Don’t ask me why. I guess I read too many of those old novels as a child.’
Specifically, Savannah had come to London to do a masters in international development.
‘So, what did you and she get up to?’
‘Well, I mean, I’m from Virginia, I didn’t know anything about London,’ she gushed. ‘I’d never met anyone like her before. She just knew everything.’
‘She had a lot of contacts here? Family? Friends?’
‘Her family is just, like, so international? So there are aunts and cousins everywhere. Paris, Copenhagen, all over the States. So