The Easy Sin. Jon Cleary

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СКАЧАТЬ no-o …’ Cragg all at once looked lost: not just for words, but as if the scene he looked out on, the rows of work-stations, had abruptly turned into a landscape he didn’t recognize. ‘No, I know it doesn’t sound like him – basically –’

      ‘Of course it doesn’t!’

      Malone motioned for Kylie to keep quiet. ‘Could he have been kidnapped?’

      ‘Why? Why would anyone want to kidnap him and ask for a ransom?’ Cragg frowned. ‘Jesus, everyone’s known for the past week we’re broke –’

      ‘Maybe one of your staff, or several of them, thought there was some money hidden that would pay for him?’ Sheryl had picked up a nod from Malone. Two interrogators were always better than one. It was Malone’s old cricket strategy, different-type bowlers from opposite ends. ‘Is there any money missing?’

      The last question was directed at Smith; he shook his head. ‘Too early to tell.’ Then he added undiplomatically, ‘There often is.’

      ‘Where would it be?’ Kylie had lapsed back into sullen silence, but now her nose pointed to the scent of money.

      Smith shrugged. ‘Anywhere in the world. I’m not saying there is any, but if there is our clients have first call on it. They are the major debtors.’

      Malone gave Cragg a hard stare, taking over the bowling again. ‘Did you know the state of affairs?’

      Cragg spread his hands, like a man pushing away cards he had been dealt that had no value. ‘I’m not a money man. I came in here two years after Errol had got it off the ground – he wanted my technical experience. I worked in Silicon Valley for two years – I came back here and I could take my pick of jobs. Errol made the best offer.’

      ‘You’ve got options?’ said Sheryl and again after a slight hesitation Cragg nodded. He seemed off-balance with the two-pronged attack. ‘On paper you’d have been wealthy. Did you sell when you saw the share price going down?’

      ‘What business is it of yours?’ He was growing angry.

      ‘We cover every angle,’ said Malone and waited.

      Cragg hesitated again, looked at Smith, then back again at Malone and Sheryl. ‘Well, basically, yes –’

      Then Malone saw the woman come in the door at the far end of the long room and pause by the reception desk. He was long-sighted, but it was a moment before he recognized Caroline Magee. She stared down towards the group, then turned and was about to disappear when Malone called out, almost a shout, ‘Mrs Magee!’

      ‘Mrs Magee?’ said Cragg. ‘Who’s that, his mum?’

      ‘He doesn’t have a mum,’ said Kylie. ‘It’s his bloody wife!’

      ‘His wife?’ Cragg looked at Kylie as if she had suddenly become an unwanted refugee. ‘He has a wife?’

      ‘I wonder if she controls any of his assets?’ said Smith and looked like a prospector who had just come on an unexpected reef. Then he saw Malone look at him and he smiled yet again. ‘Sorry. Just a thought.’

      Caroline Magee came leisurely down through the desert of work-stations. She has style, thought Malone; the sort of style Kylie Doolan would never achieve. She was dressed in a dark-green suit with a cream silk shirt under it; a heavy gold bracelet on her wrist and a thin gold chain round her neck were the only decoration. The dark auburn hair was sleek on her head and the large hazel eyes were cautious but confident. She smiled at Malone, ignoring the others.

      ‘Hello, Inspector. What do we have – good news or bad news?’

      ‘No news so far.’ Malone introduced her to Sheryl, Cragg and Smith. Kylie had stepped back a pace or two, as if into a frigid zone. ‘Has he contacted you?’

      ‘Not a word.’ Then she turned to Cragg. ‘Errol mentioned you, Mr Cragg. Said you held the company together.’

      Smith laughed; he was the most jovial accountant Malone had ever met. Cragg gave him a sour look, then said, ‘I think Errol was kidding, Mrs Magee. While I was holding it together, he was basically pulling it apart.’

      Caroline nodded agreeably. ‘That would be Errol. Wouldn’t it, Miss Doolan?’

      Kylie thawed, but only a degree. ‘He always treated me okay.’

      ‘One can see that,’ said Caroline, spraying freezer. Then she turned to Smith. ‘Will there be any debt?’

      ‘Oh, I should think so.’ Christ, thought Malone, I bet he goes to cemeteries and dances on graves. Perhaps you could spare me half an hour for a talk?’

      She returned his smile. ‘Forget it, Mr Smith. There’s nothing in my name nor with my signature on it. Did he have you sign anything?’ She drew Kylie in again from Antarctica.

      Kylie suddenly looked pinched, even sick. ‘Only for credit cards.’

      ‘Jesus!’ Cragg ran his hand over his head. ‘He’s left us all holding the can!’

      ‘Not me,’ said Caroline.

      Then Sheryl, who had been silent up till now, said, ‘Did he ever talk with you about places he’d like to go to, to live in retirement?’

      ‘Like Majorca? It’s a little crowded there, isn’t it? But then, it’s easier to get lost in a crowd, isn’t it?’

      Malone wondered what sort of man Errol Magee had been that neither his wife nor his girlfriend appeared too upset at his disappearance. But then as he and Detective Constable Fernandez had agreed, women were a mystery.

      ‘We’ll find him eventually, Mrs Magee,’ he said. ‘We sometimes have unsolved murders on our books, but when we know who the murderer is, we usually find him. No matter how long it takes.’

      ‘So you basically think he killed the maid,’ said Cragg.

      ‘We never use the word basically in Homicide, Mr Cragg. With us, it either is or it ain’t. Not basically.’

      ‘I don’t believe Errol killed Juanita,’ said Kylie.

      ‘Neither do I,’ said Caroline.

      They looked at each other as if they had heard disembodied voices. They will never be friends, thought Malone, but they’ll defend Magee if only because they want to get to him before we do. And he began to wonder if the women, separately, knew more than they were telling.

      Then the computer on the table behind Cragg began to print out a message. Malone stepped round Cragg and read it: There’s a call for you, Jared. They won’t speak to anyone but you.

      He looked towards the far end of the room. Louise had sat back from the computer on her desk and was looking towards them. Crumbs, he thought, they even talk to each other on the screens. ‘It’s for you, Mr Cragg. The phone.’

      Thanks,’ said Cragg sarcastically and picked up one of the three phones on the table. ‘Put them through, Louise.’

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