The detective, p.29
The Detective, page 29
‘Not just special forces. It’s an elite counterterrorism unit in Israel, like the SAS. They often work deep behind enemy lines to root out terrorists – often Palestinian or Hamas. Look, I don’t know. I have known Wahid for years. He couldn’t have done it.’
‘Then who do you think did it?’
‘I don’t know. I can’t believe it was Gaby either, so, if you’ll excuse me, I must go back to the office with Wahid …’ He got up to leave.
‘Wait,’ said Tahir. ‘So, what happens to Aishtar now?’
Baker shrugged and sighed. ‘We try to recoup what we can. There are still a lot of smart people here. If we can persuade them not to flee the sinking ship, we can reconstruct the algorithm and rebuild the company, which will take some time. It depends how much faith our clients have in us. The dating division of the business is fine and still profitable. It’s the intelligence side we have to worry about – the government is our biggest buyer. If they continue to trust us, then we have a chance. But we need time. That’s why Wahid has stepped in. If anyone can steer Aishtar to a safe harbour, he can.’
‘Will you stay at the company?’
‘For a while. He’s asked me to take over the tech part of the business for now. But as you know, Ari had locked the algorithm to his McCain protocol chip and without that, it may be impossible. He is a genuine loss, a true visionary. And Yael …’
His voice went up and his fist clenched. I saw the agony on his face and noticed his eyes were also bloodshot. Whether through crying or lack of sleep, I couldn’t tell.
‘I must go now,’ he said, clearing his throat and glancing at his watch. ‘I have a stand-up with my team in two minutes.’
‘What do you think, boss? Do we have enough to take him in?’ I said as we walked out of Aishtar.
He sighed. ‘I don’t think so. If he wanted them dead, he didn’t kill them himself. The hitman theory will be hard to prove. I’ll get the authority for Rogers to look at his internet use and phone records. We’ll pull his financials and look for any odd payments. Ironic, since they appear to have all the tech to do this with no bloody authorisation as far as I can see.’
‘So you’re going to tell Rogers and the CPS?’
He nodded. ‘We have to. But I don’t think it will change their view. Gaby Fleishman remains our prime suspect. I’ll confront him with these letters – maybe he was trying to frame Wahid Masri because he removed him as CEO and put Sid Ram in his place – that could make sense. But check out the Zoom video again tomorrow to make sure there’s nothing we have missed. If Masri left, even for a minute, I want to know. Good work on finding the acrostic, but it doesn’t alter the outcome.’
This was getting murkier and murkier. As I thought back on what Baker had said, I realised I didn’t want him to rebuild the company. Having listened to Masri’s story, it seemed that the fewer tools there were in the hands of people who could use them for evil, the better. From Zyklon-B in the concentration camps to the flares in Sabra to the drones in Afghanistan, we seemed to come up with more and more efficient ways to slaughter the innocent. Merrion was right. While Aishtar’s technology didn’t kill us physically, it did something more profound – it killed our essence by stripping away all vestiges of privacy, leaving our deepest secrets and desires open to exploitation and judgement by anyone who had access to it. Was it really possible to close this Pandora’s box, or was I fooling myself? Again.
CHAPTER 36
Friday morning.
Tahir came by as I was sitting at my desk the next morning. ‘Protheroe isn’t in yet; want to join me with Gaby Fleishman? Let’s see what he says about the notes.’
Pleased to be back in the game, I followed Tahir to the interview room where Fleishman was waiting with his lawyer, a tall black man in, as Tahir had said, a smart suit.
‘Since my client has already been charged,’ said the lawyer, ‘I’d like you to recognise he is offering his complete cooperation.’
‘How are you, Mr Fleishman?’ I said. Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and overgrown stubble mottled his face, the cool, unshaven look now just unkempt. He clearly hadn’t slept. Our cells weren’t made for comfort.
‘Alright.’
He sat, shoulders hunched, looking defiant, yet patient. His muscles bulged under the too-small blue tracksuit he had been given when his clothes had been taken for forensic examination.
Tahir started. ‘This interview is being audio and video recorded.’ He laid out the AI notes on the table and said, ‘What do you know about these?’
Fleishman barely looked at them. ‘Same as I told you before, nothing.’
‘We’ve learned some more about them since we last spoke.’
‘Have you?’ A flicker of hope.
Tahir glanced at me, and I said, ‘They’re an acrostic. If you take the first letter of every word …’
‘I know what an acrostic is.’
He leaned over and read as I watched him, ‘This is to honor the victims that died in Sabra and Chatila camps.’ His eyes widened. ‘What does this mean?’
He passed the notes to his lawyer as Tahir said, ‘We were hoping you would tell us.’
‘Tell you what? Why would I want to avenge the victims of Sabra and Chatila? I’m Israeli.’
‘Honour, not avenge,’ said Tahir. ‘How do you feel about what happened there?’
‘It was a serious war crime.’
‘How is your relationship with Wahid Masri?’
‘With Wahid? Fine, why I … You think he wrote this? He grew up in Sabra. Is that what this is about? Did he plant the gun on me?’
‘If this is the theory you are now working on, you need to let my client go,’ said the lawyer.
I didn’t think Fleishman was lying. The bewilderment on his face when he’d read the message looked genuine. But we couldn’t take anything at face value in this case that was getting more complicated by the minute. And my instincts were not infallible. I’d screwed up in the past by trusting them too readily. We had to keep pushing.
‘Mr Fleishman, you resented Mr Masri for taking the CEO job away from you, didn’t you?’ said Tahir.
‘Resented him? Of course not. As I’ve told you before, Sid was a better CEO than I was and got a much higher value for the business than I would have. I’d rather have a smaller slice of a huge pie than a big slice of a tiny one. Wahid and I got along fine. Are you trying to say I came up with this complicated plan to frame him or something? Why would I do that? And even if I had, wouldn’t I have pointed out this phrase before you arrested me?’
He wasn’t wrong. But if Fleishman hadn’t written it, we were back to Masri. I needed to check his alibi for the first murder again – as far as I could tell, that was all his innocence hinged on.
I returned to my desk and ran the Zoom video. The recording was time-stamped to UK time, and I could see the 20.00 at the bottom of the screen. The main screen had a PowerPoint page titled ‘Aishtar Legal and Financial Structuring’ and the gallery of attendees contained five faces and three black audio boxes. Wahid Masri’s expressive face was in a window on the right, his library visible behind him. The Zoom window below him displayed David Baker in his kitchen. I looked closely, bringing my head to the screen to check it really was Masri’s home and not a Zoom background, then did the same for Baker. They looked genuine; didn’t have the telltale blurring around the edges I’d got to know so well over lockdown, communicating with people using backgrounds of beaches and the like. Masri had been at home, as he had stated. So had Baker.
The three other men on video were together in an office. Masri kicked off proceedings and then Baker made his presentation. This time I didn’t do any fast-forwarding and watched it all, still not understanding most of what was being discussed. A couple of other people I didn’t recognise joined on video and someone else on audio only. Baker finished talking at 20.27, then got up briefly and took a can out of the fridge in his kitchen, staying on camera all the while; there was a general discussion and one of the Americans started presenting ‘Legal Risks’ for the next twenty minutes. Masri actively took part in the discussions, and like Baker, was on video throughout. Someone else joined by phone, a black box showing +447809****19 and not a name, and the discussion continued for another two hours, Baker and Masri occasionally contributing. As I kept watching, something in the back of my mind niggled, but try as I might, I couldn’t get to what it was.
Saul Cohen joined at 22.10 and did a presentation on ‘Financing Options’. Baker did a fifteen-minute summing up at the end and at 00.12, everyone said their goodbyes and the meeting ended. I switched off the computer. I’d learned nothing new other than that everybody was excited about the sale of Aishtar, and it was do-able, and Masri had definitely been on the call throughout and couldn’t have been out killing Ram at the same time. Unless he’d hired a professional to do it for him.
I rose from my desk, then stopped. It all looked fine and … wait, had I imagined … I sat back down and restarted the video at 20.45. Masri and Baker were in their little video boxes, but someone else had joined by phone. Zoom didn’t show complete phone numbers, but what it did looked familiar – +447809****19.
Heart beating fast, I pulled out my notebook and checked. The burner phone we had caught Fleishman with was 07809 324719. Was this just a coincidence? Or had Fleishman phoned into the Zoom call?
Breathing hard, I fast-forwarded the video to find that the person on the phone had stayed in the Zoom call till 21.47, then disconnected. Why? If they were the killer, why were they on the call while murdering Ram? This made no sense at all. Was this Masri’s hired hitman? But why would he join the call? Why would Fleishman? Or was it just a freaky coincidence, since Zoom didn’t reveal the full number?
I went back and looked at the video again from a few minutes before the person had joined. A lawyer was droning on about a shareholder agreement and taking the group through it, point by point. This didn’t sound riveting enough to me for anyone to join just to listen in. But what did I know about the arcane legal hoops Aishtar had to jump through?
On the video, Masri said, ‘David, did you clear the competition issues with the UK lawyers?’
‘I did, yes,’ Baker replied. ‘They said it should be fine.’
‘Good, then let’s …’
That was odd.
I rewound and watched that part of the video again.
Something wasn’t right here.
I looked at that section a few more times, then at other interactions between Masri, Baker and the others later in the video. My excitement grew as I got to the section when +447809****19 disconnected. I took a few deep breaths, trying to remain calm, then paused the video. I pulled out a pad and started working through the timeline, opening Google Maps to test my theory. I put down my pen and stared at the paused video.
I was filled with elation.
That’s how they had done it.
The killer was even cleverer than I had imagined.
I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath. I had found one loose thread, pulled at it and the entire case had unravelled in front of me, like a poorly knitted jumper.
But the joy I felt at having identified the murderer was tempered by the realisation that if I hadn’t rushed through the video a week ago, I might have caught it earlier and prevented three killings.
But why? I now understood the how and the when, but why had they done it? I pulled out the notes that Anjoli and I had made and read them again. Slowly, the rest of it clicked into place. Yes. That must be it. It made sense.
And the AI notes! Something about those notes had also bothered me, and now I knew what it was. I looked at them once more. I was right.
Time to tell Tahir.
CHAPTER 37
Friday afternoon.
I raced out of the incident room to find Tahir in a meeting with Rogers and Protheroe. I rapped on the door, and Tahir waved me in.
‘I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but I need to speak to DI Ismail urgently,’ I gasped.
‘Can’t it wait, Kamil?’ said Rogers.
‘I’m sorry, sir. It’s extremely important.’
‘What is this about, DC Rahman?’ asked Protheroe.
I wavered for a second, wondering whether I should just tell them all and rub my kill in Protheroe’s face, then thought better of it. Tahir would want to know first, so he could tell Rogers.
‘If I could just speak to DI Ismail outside, please?’
‘Well, all right, but don’t be long. I don’t want to repeat our entire conversation,’ said Rogers, returning to Protheroe to continue their discussion before Tahir had even left the room.
‘This had better be damn important, Kamil. I can’t have the two of them make any stupid decisions while we’re out here,’ said Tahir after he’d closed the door behind him.
‘It is. I’ve been looking at the Zoom video again and—’
Tahir caught the excitement in my voice. ‘Don’t tell me you found something that implicates Wahid Masri?’
‘Wait.’
We got to my desk, and I said, ‘So Masri and David Baker were on the video throughout and we eliminated them, as they had a rock-solid alibi. But I noticed some odd things. First …’ I forwarded the video to the time when +447809****19 dialled in and said, ‘Check out that number.’
Tahir stared at the screen and said, ‘What? The number is hidden.’
‘The burner was 07809 324719. I think it’s the same phone.’
He looked sceptical. ‘Coincidence?’
‘That’s what I thought, but then I examined the video in more detail. Look at this section. Notice anything odd about it?’
I took him to where Masri had questioned Baker about the competition issues. Tahir studied the video again and said, ‘What do you mean?’
‘Focus on Masri first.’
He rewound. ‘What about him? He’s in a library of some sort asking the question. Looks like it’s real. Are you saying he faked it?’
‘No. Just check out Baker’s answer.’
‘What are you trying to … oh, I see what you mean. His lips aren’t moving, are they? But that’s normal. Sound and vision are always out of sync on Zoom when bandwidth is low.’
‘Yes, that’s what I thought, too, so I checked out the rest of the video. Baker’s video is absolutely fine – you can hear him and see his lips move when he speaks. Then his video goes off for half a second, comes back on, and Baker’s on screen as before, listening to the financial presentation. Look, he’s moving slightly, scratching his head. Then that mystery number dials in. Now look, Baker answers a question he’s been asked, but on the screen his lips don’t move. He’s listening again, then half an hour later he’s asked another question and the same thing happens. He answers, but his lips on the video are not moving. Then that number disconnects. Baker’s video goes off again for a split second, and when he is next asked a question, his lips are in sync. He does the presentation at the end and is fine. I didn’t notice before because it was recorded in gallery view – the video windows are so small.’
Tahir shrugged. ‘What are you saying, Kamil?’
‘This is the exact time when his video behaves oddly and when it stops.’ I showed Tahir the video of Baker going from his lips moving in sync to the same image where his lips didn’t move when he spoke, then the same in reverse, an hour later.
‘For fuck’s sake, Kamil, what are you getting at?!’
‘Can’t you see? It was Baker! He took a video of himself in front of his computer in the identical position he was in for the call. He then put up the video as a Zoom background image and dialled in on the burner. Everyone thought he was on the call, but he was talking on the burner. Then, an hour later, he swapped himself back, live, and switched off the burner.’
I stared at Tahir, triumph fizzing through my body.
‘Holy … shit,’ said Tahir. He fiddled with the video, then looked at the screen and said, almost to himself, ‘Bloody hell! David Baker …’
‘Yes. Look, I mapped it all out. Baker lives in Garnet Street in Wapping. It’s a twenty-minute walk from there to the Blind Beggar. He switches to his video background, dials into the call at 20.45 and walks to the pub, taking part in the conference call. He mutes the phone, follows Sid Ram and Gaby Fleishman out of the pub after nine. He kills Ram in Fieldgate Street around 21.20, then walks twenty minutes back home to reappear on video at 21.47 before the call ends. I checked. He doesn’t speak during the time of the murder but sums up the meeting in a little speech just before the end. Everyone thinks he was on the call throughout. It was a perfect alibi.’
Tahir considered this for a moment, then said, ‘Why? Why kill Ram? And why the others?’
‘Because if you want to hide a tree, you do it in a forest.’
‘Fuck’s sake, Kamil, stop talking Yoda.’
‘What if Ram wasn’t his actual target? Anjoli and I were scribbling ideas down about motives. We thought of a motive for Levy’s wife – jealousy, but she had nothing to do with the killings and had an alibi for Levy’s death, so we eliminated her.’
‘Yeah, she was at a party in London. I interviewed her with Protheroe.’
‘But who else had the same motive? David Baker! He loved Yael Klein, and she dumped him for Ari Levy. What if they were his intended victims all along?’
‘But why kill the others?’
‘If you want to hide a murder, you conceal it among more deaths. If just Levy and Klein had died, Baker would be the obvious suspect. Klein had broken up with him. He was jealous and angry. But this way …’
‘This way, he has no motive.’
‘Exactly.’
‘And how did he do the other murders?’
‘He left the restaurant on the night of Saul Cohen’s death and went home by Uber. He could easily have taken another cab or driven to Cohen’s and shot him. Cohen would have let him in without suspicion. And in Cambridge … he was in the same hotel, so no problem. He leaves in the morning, stashes the gun and phone somewhere and comes back. It’s him on the CCTV. Then he collects the phone and gun, returns to London and plants it on Fleishman after distracting Gooch and me with the car alarm. He must have spotted us watching Fleishman. The guy is as sharp as a brand-new razor blade.’
