listening to him sitting in traffic,' he explains, pulling a battered pack of Lucky Strike from the glove compartment and lighting one. 'He's not that interesting.'
Lucas looks dapper as usual in a short-sleeved white shirt with not a crease in it (ex-soldiers are always good at ironing), and a burgundy silk tie with matching ParachuteRegiment tie pin, which he likes to wear in front of the punters, since he feels that it sums him up as a man of action, even though it's close to a decade since he wore the uniform. His charcoal-grey suit trousers are tailored and his black brogues smartly polished, although his cherished blond locks have grown just a little bit too wild and free. In my opinion, they need the services of a good barber to rein them in.
While Lucas smokes his cigarette and manoeuvres the BMW through the back streets of Islington, trying without much success to avoid the worst of the traffic, he asks me more about the details of the events I'm caught up in. So far, I haven't told him too much. There wasn't time when we were in his offices. Now, though, I figure that, having trusted him enough to ask for his help, I may as well trust him enough to say why, and I start talking. He interrupts repeatedly with questions which I do my best to answer. I tell him about Leah and the manner of her murder, and then the exchange of briefcases that ended in the deaths of four people.
He whistles through his teeth. 'And you shot two of them?'
I nod. 'It would have been three, but someone beat me to it.'
'You know, Tyler, if it ever comes to court, I'd avoid letting the jury hear that.'
'It was self-defence,' I explain. 'I had no choice. But, you know, after what happened to Leah, I'm not in the mood for showing a lot of mercy.'
'You really cared about her, eh?'
'Yeah,' I say simply, staring out of the window, 'I did.'
Seeing the expression on my face, Lucas decides to move on. 'And you've got no idea what's in the case?'
I shake my head. 'Just that whatever it is is being used to blackmail a businessman. I got the impression it was something . . .' I pause for a moment, trying to come up with the right words. 'Something very unpleasant.'
He raises his eyebrows. 'Really? Now I'm getting curious.'
'Also, the guy I was picking the case up from, he was someone from the regiment.'
Lucas looks surprised. 'From my time?'
'Yeah, I'm sure he was there when you were. He was a captain, first name Iain, I think.Medium height, thin face. About our age.'
'Ferrie,' he says decisively. 'His name's Iain Ferrie.'
'That's right,' I say, remembering now. 'I'm impressed. I never realized you had such a good memory.'
But Lucas is giving me a strange look. 'My memory isn't that good,' he answers. 'The only reason I know is because I've just done some work for him.'
14
'He came to see me twice,' explains Lucas. 'The first time he wanted a Land Registry search done on a property in Bedfordshire. That was back in May. I advertise sometimes in Army News , and he said he'd heard of me from there. I did all the relevant searches, and it turned out that the property belonged to an offshore company based in the Bahamas. He wanted to know the names of the directors. He was pretty adamant about that. Same way he was adamant that I kept things absolutely confidential. He didn't even want to involve Snowy. I got the directors' names - although as far as I could see they were just local Bahamian guys put there to make the paperwork all above board - and gavethem to him. He paid me, and that was that.'
'And there was nothing untoward about the company?'
He shakes his head. 'No, didn't seem to be. Nothing that struck me anyway.'
'And the second time?'
'That was a bit weirder. It was about a month ago. He said he wanted me to look into the murder of Maxwell and Spann in Paris.'
'Ferrie mentioned them to me this morning. He reckoned they were murdered by the same person who'd been hired to come after him.'
'That's right. Someone he called the
Lucas looks dapper as usual in a short-sleeved white shirt with not a crease in it (ex-soldiers are always good at ironing), and a burgundy silk tie with matching ParachuteRegiment tie pin, which he likes to wear in front of the punters, since he feels that it sums him up as a man of action, even though it's close to a decade since he wore the uniform. His charcoal-grey suit trousers are tailored and his black brogues smartly polished, although his cherished blond locks have grown just a little bit too wild and free. In my opinion, they need the services of a good barber to rein them in.
While Lucas smokes his cigarette and manoeuvres the BMW through the back streets of Islington, trying without much success to avoid the worst of the traffic, he asks me more about the details of the events I'm caught up in. So far, I haven't told him too much. There wasn't time when we were in his offices. Now, though, I figure that, having trusted him enough to ask for his help, I may as well trust him enough to say why, and I start talking. He interrupts repeatedly with questions which I do my best to answer. I tell him about Leah and the manner of her murder, and then the exchange of briefcases that ended in the deaths of four people.
He whistles through his teeth. 'And you shot two of them?'
I nod. 'It would have been three, but someone beat me to it.'
'You know, Tyler, if it ever comes to court, I'd avoid letting the jury hear that.'
'It was self-defence,' I explain. 'I had no choice. But, you know, after what happened to Leah, I'm not in the mood for showing a lot of mercy.'
'You really cared about her, eh?'
'Yeah,' I say simply, staring out of the window, 'I did.'
Seeing the expression on my face, Lucas decides to move on. 'And you've got no idea what's in the case?'
I shake my head. 'Just that whatever it is is being used to blackmail a businessman. I got the impression it was something . . .' I pause for a moment, trying to come up with the right words. 'Something very unpleasant.'
He raises his eyebrows. 'Really? Now I'm getting curious.'
'Also, the guy I was picking the case up from, he was someone from the regiment.'
Lucas looks surprised. 'From my time?'
'Yeah, I'm sure he was there when you were. He was a captain, first name Iain, I think.Medium height, thin face. About our age.'
'Ferrie,' he says decisively. 'His name's Iain Ferrie.'
'That's right,' I say, remembering now. 'I'm impressed. I never realized you had such a good memory.'
But Lucas is giving me a strange look. 'My memory isn't that good,' he answers. 'The only reason I know is because I've just done some work for him.'
14
'He came to see me twice,' explains Lucas. 'The first time he wanted a Land Registry search done on a property in Bedfordshire. That was back in May. I advertise sometimes in Army News , and he said he'd heard of me from there. I did all the relevant searches, and it turned out that the property belonged to an offshore company based in the Bahamas. He wanted to know the names of the directors. He was pretty adamant about that. Same way he was adamant that I kept things absolutely confidential. He didn't even want to involve Snowy. I got the directors' names - although as far as I could see they were just local Bahamian guys put there to make the paperwork all above board - and gavethem to him. He paid me, and that was that.'
'And there was nothing untoward about the company?'
He shakes his head. 'No, didn't seem to be. Nothing that struck me anyway.'
'And the second time?'
'That was a bit weirder. It was about a month ago. He said he wanted me to look into the murder of Maxwell and Spann in Paris.'
'Ferrie mentioned them to me this morning. He reckoned they were murdered by the same person who'd been hired to come after him.'
'That's right. Someone he called the
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