Gawn sucked in her breath sharply in surprise.

  ‘All of them? Clinton, Andrews and Vanhoeven?’

  ‘Yes. All of them. All on the same day.’

  ‘That couldn’t be a coincidence or chance.’

  ‘No. Definitely not. Bako Travel is a small concern. You would need to know it was there before you would bother going to it.’

  She almost physically jumped in her seat. Bako was not a common name. It had to be part of the same organisation. It was a link. She didn’t rush to share this with Kuipers. The Bako investigation was not hers. It was Organised Crimes’ case and they wouldn’t welcome her briefing outsiders without consulting them first. She kept her voice even as she continued the conversation.

  ‘Have you made enquiries there yet?’

  ‘Yes. Of course. The girl in the office – there’s only one girl so you can see it’s not exactly a big business – claims she doesn’t know anything and, to be honest, I think I believe her. She takes the phone calls and makes the bookings.’

  ‘So the bookings were made over the phone?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And were they collected in person?’

  ‘No. E-tickets were issued.’

  ‘But they were all booked at the same time?’

  ‘She says she can’t remember but I would bet my pension they were. The business doesn’t have a big turnover. She’ll admit it eventually when she realizes how much trouble she could be in.’

  ‘And how were they paid for?’

  Gawn waited expectantly. This could be vitally important, a big breakthrough.

  ‘All were on Meyer’s account.’

  She couldn’t help slamming her hand down onto her desk in disappointment.

  ‘He was up to his eyes in this, wasn’t he? And we questioned him and got nothing.’

  ‘When you and Commissaris Jansen spoke to him you knew nothing about all this. You were investigating the possibility of smuggling. We suspected Meyer was involved in fencing stolen property but I think we’re all aware now it was much more than that. I have let your team investigating the Fleischer have all this info, of course, but I wanted to let you know too. You deserve that. If it hadn’t been for your thoroughness we would know nothing of any of this. We’d be investigating separate murders.’

  ‘And if Willem de Bek hadn’t had his heart attack we’d all be none the wiser.’ And if Jenny Norris hadn’t been prepared to follow her instincts, she added to herself.

  ‘Indeed.’

  Chapter 39

  When Harris walked over to Gawn’s office and looked through the glass he saw her sitting at her desk, her head in her hands. He hesitated. Was it something to do with the case or was she upset about something personal? Or was she in pain? He didn’t want to intrude but before he could move back out of her sight, she looked up and saw him. She waved for him to come in.

  ‘Everything alright, ma’am?’

  ‘With me, yes. With the case, no.’

  He waited for her to explain her comment. She filled him in on what she had learned from Grant and then from Kuipers. She was careful to make no mention of the Fleischer.

  ‘Bloody hell! They were all booked on the plane by the same person? We talked to Andrews in his own home. He seemed like an ordinary family man.’

  ‘Funny you should say that, Michael. Astrid de Bek was abducted and held and her finger cut off, and I think that had to have been to get her father to cooperate with them. So maybe, bear with me, I’m thinking out loud here, maybe Andrews was being pressured to help too.’

  Harris had been nodding in agreement while she was speaking. ‘You think Dawn McGladdery might have been kidnapped too?’

  ‘Let’s get the Guards to call out at the house and check she’s alright. Then we’ll know for sure.’

  Harris had a sudden thought. ‘If they’re investigating these Bako Investments people, McGladdery might be involved and they mightn’t want to show up at his house and tip their hand.’

  ‘Well, at least they could do a bit of surveillance and see if she puts in an appearance. We can but ask, Michael.’ Gawn lifted the phone ready to contact the Garda Síochána liaison officer whose name she had been given, when she looked up at her sergeant as he prepared to leave the room.

  ‘Have you looked at the CCTV stuff from the airport yet? Andrews told us his coat was stolen but we didn’t know then he was up to his neck in something. We need to see what really happened to him.’

  ‘I haven’t had the time to look at it yet, ma’am.’

  ‘Do it now, Michael, and let me know what it looks like. And, Michael, have someone take another look at Vanhoeven. He must be involved some way too, most likely through his drugs connection.’

  ‘Will do, boss.’

  Chapter 40

  It took several calls before she eventually got through to Superintendent Darragh O’Haire.

  ‘Superintendent, I’m Chief Inspector Gawn Girvin.’

  He didn’t let her finish but interrupted in his soft Irish brogue. ‘Yes. I remember you. We met. At that Cross-Border Policing event last year in Mullingar. Ernie Reid introduced us. You probably don’t remember me but I remember you.’ He laughed. Obviously he remembered the occasion well. All she remembered was a lot of boring speeches, hot air and idealistic rhetoric taking them all away from the jobs they should have been doing that day.

  ‘I’m afraid I don’t, sir.’

  ‘Oh well, not to worry. I suppose you’re phoning about Bako Investments.’

  ‘Yes.’ Her voice displayed some surprise that he knew why she was ringing.

  ‘Word travels fast, Chief Inspector. Your people making all sorts of queries about the company and their investors and then about Sean McGladdery, well you couldn’t expect it not to come to my attention.’

  ‘No. Of course not. We were wondering if you have any surveillance on McGladdery and his wife.’

  ‘And why would you want to know that now?’

  ‘We’re investigating William Andrews in relation to smuggling activities. He’s visiting his daughter apparently. That’s what we’ve been told anyway and we wondered if that was correct. We’re also a little concerned about Mrs McGladdery’s safety.’

  ‘Her safety?’

  ‘Yes, sir. We believe the gang has already abducted and murdered a woman in The Netherlands in order to force her father to smuggle for them and we suspect the same thing may be happening with Andrews and his daughter.’

  There was a pause while O’Haire was considering how to respond.

  ‘We’ve had Sean McGladdery under surveillance but not his wife.’

  She could hear paper rustling in the background and thought he must be looking through reports.

  ‘I’m just checking here. The last time we have a sighting of Mrs McGladdery is on Friday. She left the house on that morning, just before lunchtime. Our men were watching her husband so they didn’t follow her. Her father arrived down at the house later on Friday afternoon and as far as we know he’s still there.’

  ‘But she hasn’t been seen?’

  ‘There’s no report of her coming home.’

  ‘I take it you’re not prepared to question McGladdery or Andrews about the missing woman?’

  ‘We don’t even know she’s missing, Chief Inspector. She’s maybe gone away to visit friends for the weekend and she’ll be back tonight. If we rush in, they’re going to know we were watching them. We’ve nearly got everything we need but not quite. We need to hold off for another couple of days.’

  ‘Dawn McGladdery could be dead in a couple of days.’ She had spoken more sharply than she’d intended. She couldn’t help herself. She had seen these people’s handiwork up close.

  ‘From what you say about the woman in The Netherlands, she could be dead already.’

  Gawn was trying to muster her arguments to convince him to do something but he spoke again before she could.

  ‘The men behind Bako Investments have so many interests and they’re responsible for so much misery. They’re engaged in prostitution, people trafficking, drugs, even gunrunning. We want to nail the bastards and if I have to risk one life for the greater good, then I will.’ His tone of voice left her in no doubt that he was not going to change his mind. ‘The second we can close these people down, when I have the go-ahead to move on them, then I’ll look for Mrs McGladdery. Not until then.’

  For the sake of inter-force relations and to keep herself out of trouble, Gawn didn’t argue back. She thanked the Superintendent and asked that she be kept informed when they were going to make arrests. He didn’t promise that but said when they had made arrests, he would let her know and that she’d be welcome to travel down to Dublin and question whoever she wanted then.

  When she had put the phone down, she sat for a minute. She was powerless. In an ideal world she’d head straight down to Wicklow and knock on the door and ask to speak to Dawn. No way could she do that. She didn’t want to jeopardise An Garda Síochána’s investigation. If they were going to be able to close this gang down that was great. She just wasn’t happy that it might be at the cost of another young woman’s life.

  She was tired. She had managed to stay off her feet most of the day but her knee was throbbing now. Most of the others had already gone off duty. Only Michael Harris was still sitting hunched over his computer screen. No doubt watching the video footage from the airport.

  ‘Go home, Michael. That’ll wait till the morning. Start afresh then.’

  He beamed. ‘Thanks, ma’am. I have a date tonight. I was just wondering how I was going to break it to Chloe that ’I’d be late again.’

  ‘She better get used to it, Michael, if you’re serious about her and your job. That’ll be her life.’

  As she walked to her car, Harris passed her in the corridor. He was whistling. He had something to look forward to. She had nothing. Only another lonely night.

  Chapter 41

  As soon as she opened her front door, she knew he was there. The light was blazing but it couldn’t be a break-in. She trusted her expensive state-of-the-art security system. He knew the codes, of course. But she should have got a notification when it was disarmed. She glanced down at her phone in her hand and saw she had a missed text. She’d been too busy to notice. So, where was he? There was no music playing, no TV blaring and nothing cooking in the kitchen. Just as she was about to call his name, Seb appeared from the bedroom, looking sheepish. He obviously hadn’t expected her to be there and looked like a guilty schoolboy caught red-handed.

  ‘What’s with the monkey suit?’ she asked.

  He was dressed in his tux with a bright red bow tie fastened around the collar of his dress shirt. She ’couldn’t help thinking he looked handsome and debonair in a James Bond sort of way. She had sometimes caught women looking at him admiringly when they were together. The fragrance of the very expensive aftershave she had bought for him wafted across the room. He must have plastered a lot on, she thought to herself.

  ‘I didn’t think you’d be here yet.’

  ‘Obviously.’ She waited pointedly for him to explain.

  ‘I’m going to a big dinner tonight at Hillsborough Castle. A reception. It was only when I started to get ready I realised my gold cufflinks, you know the ones that belonged to my grandfather, well, I’d left them here.’

  ‘I see.’

  He took a step nearer to her.

  ‘Important event, is it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Going alone?’

  He hesitated before he answered her. ‘No. There’s a whole group of us going from the university.’

  She fixed him with her best interviewing stare. He was hiding something, she knew. He knew, she knew.

  ‘I didn’t invite you because I didn’t think you’d be interested.’ He could have added, you never are, but didn’t. They both just thought it.

  ‘Right. Of course. I’m not interested in sitting making small talk with people I don’t know and have nothing in common with. I’ve better things to do with my time.’ Like sitting at home all night alone drinking wine, she thought to herself. ‘Who is she?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Your plus one.’ She managed to put a lot of meaning into those three little words.

  ‘I don’t have a plus one.’

  She didn’t say anything, just raised one eyebrow and waited.

  ‘There’s a new girl in the department. We thought it would be a nice gesture to include her so she’s coming as my guest.’ He had emphasised the word ‘we’.

  ‘We?’

  ‘The other lecturers. My colleagues, you don’t know; have never met,’ he added. It was now his turn to make a point.

  ‘Just like you haven’t met my colleagues either.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Seb looked down and bit his lip. He seemed to suddenly remember something and, glancing at his watch, exclaimed, ‘I’m gonna have to go. I’m meeting everyone at seven for a drink before we go in.’

  ‘Have a lovely evening.’ The sarcasm was thick in her voice.

  He stepped forward until he was standing right in front of her. There were only inches between them and again she was aware of his aftershave.

  ‘Gawn I...’ But before he could get any further, she turned and opened the front door holding it open for him to leave.

  He seemed to hesitate, torn between kissing her goodbye and simply walking away. His eyes met hers and he hoped she could see in them all the words he couldn’t speak and she wouldn’t listen to anyway.

  Then he was gone. She slammed the door closed behind him.

  Chapter 42

  For two days it seemed as if they had been sitting on their hands, just waiting. An Garda Síochána hadn’t come back to them with any update. The Dutch hadn’t been in touch with any news.

  Clinton had been interviewed again. He was still adamant that the man in the picture at Victoria Mall picking up the bag was not the same man who had threatened him. Gawn had watched McKeown re-interviewing him and she agreed with the girl that Clinton was telling the truth. The photograph the Dutch had sent of Meissner seemed to confirm that. The photograph of Victoria Man was so fuzzy it could have been almost anyone but probably not Meissner. Anyway, Gawn was convinced now that that man was Sean McGladdery.

  Surveillance on Andrews’ farm confirmed there was no sign of him there. Harris had trawled the CCTV footage from the airport car park and identified the moment when two men on a motorbike had ridden past Andrews, pushed him to the ground and grabbed his coat from the top of his suitcase. They had then sped off onto the Sydenham Bypass and then on to the M2. He had followed their trail on traffic cameras up the hill out of Belfast as they headed north until they had turned off at junction 6 onto the B95 towards Antrim. Then they had just disappeared down a back road. Harris assumed they had a van or some other vehicle waiting and were able to put the bike inside and drive off. The plates on the bike were false. They belonged to a 2002 BMW car which had been stolen and left burnt-out outside Muckamore near Antrim. The bike had not turned up. It could be back sitting in its owner’s driveway with its original plates back on it and no one knowing it had been used for a little trip to Belfast.

  Gawn would have liked to question Mrs Andrews. She must know where her husband was and what he was up to. She would be able to tell them about her daughter too. At first, McDowell had vetoed any contact with the woman. They were to stay well away. He didn’t want to risk the joint investigation with An Garda Síochána and the chance of closing down Bako Investments and finding the Fleischer. But by Thursday morning he had agreed they could talk to her again under the pretence that they wanted a word with her husband about the theft of his coat, nothing else. Gawn and Harris were on their way out of the office to question her when Logan stopped them.

  The other line of enquiry they were pursuing was Vanhoeven. He had seemed to be totally uninvolved when they had questioned him at the airport. A South African who only visited Europe intermittently, they had never thought he had any connection to de Bek other than the serendipity of sitting near him on the plane. Now, knowing that his plane ticket had been bought through Bako Travel too, it seemed he must be part of what was going on. Their initial enquiries about him had all seemed straightforward. He was a well-respected businessman with no known links to criminal activity. Logan had been told to contact the authorities in Pretoria again and he stopped Gawn as she was about to walk out the door.

  ‘Ma’am. The South Africans got back to me… eventually. We’ve got ourselves another mystery man. Vanhoeven.’

  ‘Erin checked him.’

  ‘Right. She did. Paul Vanhoeven is one of the vice presidents of a big pharmaceutical company, Pharmatrax, right enough. All the information about him is on the company website. The police confirmed to her that he had no criminal record and the company confirmed he was in Europe for business and then visiting family in the Netherlands. She even talked with people at the university too and they confirmed he had been there checking on their joint research. It all fitted.’

  ‘But?’ She waited.

  ‘He’s dead, ma’am.’

  ‘What! Another one. Was he murdered too?’

  ‘No, ma’am. He was in an accident. The taxi he was travelling in was T-boned by a lorry in the Netherlands. The authorities in Pretoria have only just found out about it.’

  ‘When did it happen?’

  ‘Before he came here. I mean before the man we thought was Vanhoeven came here.’

  ‘A very convenient accident,’ Harris said.

  ‘No, I checked, Sarge. The Dutch traffic boys are adamant it was an accident,’ Logan said. ‘The lorry driver was way over the drink-driving limit.’

  ‘It was still very convenient, wasn’t it?’

  She was about to walk on when she turned back and, speaking over her shoulder, said, ‘I suppose Erin’s beating herself up about missing this.’

  ‘Well, you know what she’s like,’ Logan said. ‘She takes it all very seriously and very personally.’

  ‘Nothing wrong with that, Billy.’ Turning to Harris she added, ‘Remind me to speak to her when we get back. In the meantime, Billy, tell her to get back on to the university and check why they told her some cock and bull story about Vanhoeven being there. They’d met the man before. They must have known it wasn’t him.’

 

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