‘So this person,’ begins Ron. ‘Probably a fella, let’s face it. They’ve killed Bethany Waites?’
‘Here’s what it is,’ says Jack Mason. ‘The scheme was coming apart. Bethany Waites was all over it – you’ve got to know when to quit? Right?’
‘Crucial,’ says Viktor.
‘I figure I’m covered. Whatever she’s got, she hasn’t got it on me, so I can just shut it down and move on.’
‘But this partner of yours?’
‘My partner was more worried,’ says Jack Mason. ‘Left me in no doubt about that. I hadn’t made any big mistakes, but my partner had. He – I’m going to say “he” but don’t read anything into it, I’ve been in this game a long time – he was worried about me talking, about Heather talking.’
‘You’d never talk,’ says Ron.
‘Never have, never will,’ agrees Jack.
‘You’re talking now, Jack,’ says Viktor, very gently. Jack waves this away.
‘So,’ says Ron. ‘This partner of yours kills Bethany Waites?’
‘Before she caused more trouble,’ says Jack. ‘Killed her, drove to Shakespeare Cliff, pushed the car off. My partner wasn’t the type at all, but he panicked. Happens to the best of us.’
‘But why wasn’t the body in the car?’ asks Viktor. ‘I wonder if you have an explanation for that?’
‘Here’s the thing,’ says Jack Mason. ‘Here’s the big problem, the thing no one’s seeing. My partner comes to me, tells me he’s murdered Bethany Waites, tells me to switch on the news and see if it’s true. Which I do, and it is. I’m not happy.’
‘Who would be?’ says Ron.
‘Who would be, like you say,’ agrees Jack. ‘I’m angry, of course I am, fly off the handle a bit. No one needed to die, we could have walked away, and he gives me a little smile and says, no one’s walking away, and I think he’s going to kill me too. Which is a bit rich, but these things happen.’
Ron and Viktor both nod.
‘Then he says, “You wanna see the body”, and I’m “Wasn’t the body in the car?”, and he’s “No, the body’s buried somewhere safe.”’
‘Jesus,’ says Ron. The whisky is giving him a bit of a headache. The lights blinking out at sea now look cold and lonely.
‘And here’s what he’s done,’ says Jack. ‘He’s killed Bethany, and he’s buried her, and he’s told me exactly where. And, here’s the clever bit, I’ll give him that, he’s buried Bethany with a phone covered in Heather Garbutt’s fingerprints, which has a call history from one of my personal phones. And he’s shot her with a gun that’s buried somewhere else, also covered in Heather’s fingerprints.’
Viktor sits forward. ‘So Bethany is dead, she can meddle no longer. And your partner has framed Heather for the murder, and linked you as an accessory?’
‘You’re getting it,’ says Jack Mason. ‘He says to Heather, this fraud is going to trial. I need you to plead guilty, to admit everything, but not a word on who you were working for.’
‘Or I send the police in the direction of Bethany’s grave?’
‘Where all the evidence says Heather did it. So, do you want ten years in prison, or do you want life? It’s blackmail, buried six feet underground.’
‘And that’s been hanging over her the whole time she’s been in prison?’ asks Ron.
‘She never said a word, and she never made a penny,’ says Jack Mason. ‘She just sat and did her time, knowing that one false move and she’d be a murderer.’
‘All that waiting,’ says Ron. ‘Then someone kills her too. That’s, whatcha call it, bad luck.’
The men nod, like the three wise monkeys.
‘And what did he want from you?’ asks Viktor.
‘He wanted his money,’ says Jack Mason. ‘It was ten mill or so, and he couldn’t access it.’
‘And you could?’
‘Turns out no,’ says Jack Mason. ‘The rules changed back in 2015, everything had to be declared, hoops to jump through. And then other obstacles kept popping up, never really seen anything like it. Do you know much about money-laundering?’
‘Yes,’ says Viktor.
‘We washed it so thoroughly it was scattered to the winds. Heather was very good at her job. But when we needed it to start coming back the other way, as clean money, some of the things we needed to do to get it back were no longer legal. And some of the money had just vanished. We’d hid it so well even we couldn’t find it.’
‘So it’s still out there?’ asks Viktor.
‘Presumably,’ says Jack Mason.
‘Any chance you’re going to tell us who your partner was?’ asks Ron.
‘Course not,’ says Jack Mason. ‘I shouldn’t have told you as much as I have, but, if you can work it out, good luck to you.’
‘We’ll work it out,’ says Ron. He can hear the car approaching in the distance.
‘She shouldn’t have died,’ says Jack Mason. ‘It’s on me. And Heather shouldn’t have died either, that’s on me too.’
‘I’d like to disagree, Jack,’ says Ron. ‘But I can’t.’
Jack nods, and looks around him, at his house, his gardens, that view. ‘There was no need for any of it.’
The headlights of Ron’s Daihatsu sweep across the lawn. Bogdan is here. Jack rises to wish his friends farewell. But Viktor has a final question.
‘Why did you not just dig the body up yourself? Problem solved.’
‘I tried to find it,’ says Jack Mason. ‘Over the years. Believe me, I tried. I knew where it was, and I’ve dug and dug, but –’
‘Will you tell us where she’s buried?’ Viktor asks.
‘I’ve told you enough to be getting on with,’ says Jack. ‘You buggers can work it out.’
‘Your candour has been admirable,’ says Viktor.
Jack puts an arm around Viktor’s shoulders. ‘I can’t help thinking these revelations have taken the edge off your snooker victory this evening. And Ron’s shocking performance.’
‘Will we still be invited back?’ asks Viktor.
‘I can’t think of anything more fun,’ says Jack Mason. ‘A couple of mates, a glass of whisky, a game of snooker. Everything else is ego and greed. It’s taken me a long time to work that out.’
‘You still owe Viktor a tenner for winning though,’ says Ron.
‘Among my many debts,’ says Jack Mason with a bow. ‘Among my many debts.’
55
Elizabeth is wide awake and thinking.
Viktor had rolled back late this evening, full of news and whisky. Ron was elsewhere, which is becoming an increasingly regular occurrence. A quick council of war had convened at Ibrahim’s. Joyce and Alan had joined them, both excited to be out late.
The case had blown wide open.
So Bethany Waites hadn’t been in the car at all. She had been buried somewhere else by her killer, as an insurance policy. Buried with evidence linking both Heather Garbutt and Jack Mason to her murder.
It was a neat trick. No one was looking for the body; it was assumed that it had been swept out to sea many years ago. But if Jack or Heather ever felt inclined to help the police with their enquiries, the killer would just have to remind them that their future was in his hands. Or her hands. Keep quiet about my involvement, or face the consequences. But there would be a flaw somewhere. A fatal mistake.
As Elizabeth had walked home, she had felt a plan forming. Her eyes had also been alert for the Viking. It would be rather bad timing to be killed now, just when things were getting interesting.
They would get nothing further out of Jack Mason, Elizabeth was sure of that. Viktor’s work with Jack was done. So there were two options left open.
Take another look at the financial documents, knowing there was a partner involved. They had the name ‘Carron Whitehead’ of course, but nothing else to connect her to the murder. Then there was the name Robert Brown Msc. But were there others? Viktor would be back on the case tomorrow morning. He has yet to make much progress.