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‘Well, there you are. I’ll leave it with you,’ and Ashimov rang off.
4 (#ulink_a3789b7c-6773-5d9e-ab78-1fdac298e5db)
It was at ten the following morning that Patel, exercising his small terrier, found the body and the wheelchair on the beach. He called the Wapping police, and since Hannah had put a tracer on Mrs Morgan, she was notified at once at the Ministry of Defence.
Ferguson was in a Defence Committee meeting, but Dillon was in the office and she quickly filled him in.
‘So what do we do?’ he demanded.
‘Get down to Chandler Street fast and I’ll put a red flag on the case and take command. You come with me. You might be useful.’
They used a department limousine with a civilian driver, retired police. Hannah said, ‘It’s one hell of a coincidence.’
‘And you know how much I believe in those.’
Just then, Dillon’s mobile rang. ‘Sean? It’s Roper. I’ve got something interesting for you on Ashimov and also on the Wrath of Allah thing.’
‘Hold on to it for just a bit. Mrs Morgan’s turned up on a mud flat at the end of her street, and Hannah and I are on our way. We’re just about there. I’ll call you later.’
They took a turn, and then there they were. There was a police paramedic’s ambulance, the usual team, and a sergeant in charge who jumped to attention when Hannah showed him her warrant card and assumed command.
‘Not much of a scene of crime, ma’am,’ he said. ‘Plenty of mud.’ She and Dillon looked over the rail. ‘It’s obvious what happened. The gent who found her said she was always pushing herself in her wheelchair up and down the street to the Queen Street mosque. Come off the pavement twice before in the past and ended up in the gutter.’
Hannah said, ‘Right. Get her up out of there and deliver her to Peel Street morgue. I’m going to call in Professor George Langley. He’ll handle it.’
She walked away with her mobile and stood in a doorway. Dillon saw Patel lurking outside his shop and went over.
‘This must have been a shock for you?’
‘A terrible shock. It was a higher tide than usual last night. It’s amazing she wasn’t swept away.’
‘Are you surprised by what happened?’
‘Not really. She’d had a few close calls in that wheelchair and she was worse these days.’
‘What do you mean, worse?’
‘Couldn’t handle herself, confused, no memory worth speaking of. She didn’t know which way she was pointing. She was very upset when Henry went off to the States.’ Patel hesitated. ‘What was it all about before, you and the Superintendent and those inquiries?’
Dillon lied glibly. ‘Her son was only on a special tourist visa, but seems to have gone missing, and we had a request to check it out. A lot of people do that. Go as tourists and fade into the landscape.’
‘A lot of people do that here, too,’ Patel said.
‘The way of the world.’
Dillon went over to Hannah as she finished her call. ‘What next?’
‘I’ve spoken to Langley and he’s going straight to the morgue.’ A couple of paramedics carried Mrs Morgan past them in a body bag. ‘Poor old lady,’ Hannah said.
‘And nothing we can do. But speaking of doing things, Roper seems to have come up with some stuff about Ashimov and the Wrath of Allah thing.’
‘Good. I’ll speak to the General,’ which she did briefly and turned to Dillon. ‘He suggests we all meet up at Roper’s apartment, get filled in together.’
‘Sounds good to me.’ He shook his head. ‘I accept everything Patel says about Mrs Morgan and her wheelchair, about her incompetence and so on, her minor accidents – but it doesn’t explain what she was doing on the jetty in the first place.’
‘Exactly what I was thinking.’
Roper’s apartment was on the ground floor, with a ramp entrance to facilitate his wheelchair. The entire place was designed for not only a handicapped person, but one determined to look after himself. His equipment was state-of-the-art, some of it top secret and supplied by Ferguson.
Dillon and Hannah had been with him for perhaps ten minutes when Ferguson arrived and joined them.
‘So where are we?’ he asked Hannah. ‘With Mrs Morgan, I mean.’
‘I’ve pulled in Professor Langley, sir. He’s working on her now.’
‘He won’t find much, not in my opinion.’ Dillon told Ferguson all Patel had said. ‘So there you are. It’s highly suspicious, but I doubt we can prove it’s any more than an accident.’
Ferguson looked gloomy. ‘One thing’s certain. We can’t throw the fact that Henry Morgan is dead into the pot because we’re not supposed to know. So where does that leave us?’
‘With Yuri Ashimov, for one thing,’ Roper said. ‘Formerly the pride of the KGB.’ He punched his computer keys and photos of Ashimov emerged. One or two in uniform, others in a more social situation.
‘What’s he up to now?’
‘Head of security for Josef Belov and his outfit.’
‘The oil billionaire?’ Dillon asked.
‘That’s the man,’ Roper said. ‘Man of mystery, that’s his front. A billionaire many times over, and friend of Putin.’
‘So what on earth would Ashimov be doing around Mrs Morgan?’
‘It must have been something to do with the son,’ Hannah said. ‘Has to be.’
‘And the interesting question is, who sent Henry Morgan to New York with the intention of shooting the President?’ Dillon turned to Hannah. ‘You said Dr Ali Selim was clean as a whistle.’
It was Roper who broke in. ‘He is, as far as my researches show.’
‘Then why is he involved with a man like Ashimov? What’s the purpose?’ Dillon shook his head. ‘There has to be a reason.’ He turned to Roper. ‘What did you find out about the Wrath of Allah?’
‘It was an Arab militant group some years ago during the civil war in Lebanon. With the end of that war it seemed to disappear from view. Last year the Israeli Mossad tried to establish if it was an offshoot of al-Qaeda, but got nowhere.’
‘Well, it meant something to Henry Morgan,’ Ferguson said. ‘It may have disappeared, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. One of our greatest security problems is the way a few terrorists can hide themselves in the mass of an ordinary decent Muslim population. How can you tell the difference?’
‘Mao Tse-tung invented that strategy years ago and it eventually won him China,’ Dillon pointed out.
‘I’ve got something else for you, recently pulled out of my printer.’ Roper handed three photos across. ‘Greta Novikova. Supposed to be a secretary at the Russian Embassy, but in reality a major in the GRU. Used to be Ashimov’s girlfriend. Neat coincidence, her being assigned to London, isn’t it?’
‘Quite a lady,’ Dillon said admiringly. He slipped a copy into his breast pocket. ‘Maybe I’ll run into her.’
Hannah’s mobile rang; she answered and listened. ‘Fine, we’ll be there.’ She turned to Ferguson. ‘Professor Langley, sir. He can give us a preliminary.’
‘Excellent,’ Ferguson said. ‘You hang in there, Major. I’ll keep you informed.’
They filed into Ferguson’s Daimler, and as it moved away Greta Novikova eased out in her Opel and went after them.
George Langley was a small, grey-haired, energetic man whom they had all met in the pursuance of previous cases. Many people considered him the greatest forensic pathologist in London, and not much escaped him.
The Peel Street morgue was an old building, some of it Victorian, but the interior was modern enough. A receptionist led them into a white-tiled room with fluorescent lighting and modern steel operating tables. Mrs Morgan lay on one of them. The wounds from her examination had been stitched up.
‘My God, I never get used to this part,’ Hannah said softly.
Langley came in from the preparation room in shirt sleeves, drying his hands on a towel.
‘Ah, there you are, Charles.’
‘Good of you to be so quick off the mark, George. What have you got for me?’
‘Death by drowning. No suggestion of foul play. Strangely enough, no bruising. On the other hand, she was as light as a feather. Very undernourished. Her previous medical history isn’t good. The car accident, which reduced her to the wheelchair, was very grave. I’ve checked the records. I’ve also checked with her GP and she’s being treated for Alzheimer’s.’
‘So that’s it?’
‘I’d say so. It’s interesting that the man who found her, Patel, speaks of these minor accidents she suffered in the wheelchair. I notice a report by the scene-of-crime sergeant who went to see the imam at Queen Street. Sounded most distressed, said he’d implored her many times not to venture out alone, and usually sent someone to escort her.’
‘Which still leaves us wondering what she was doing at the end of the jetty,’ Dillon said.
‘I’ve had a quick look. Nothing out of the ordinary. The Alzheimer’s would make her subject to confusion, memory loss, considerable general stress. If she turned right, she’d turn the corner for the Queen Street mosque; if she turned left, she’d find herself on the jetty and only a few yards to the steps.’ He didn’t even frown when he said, ‘Are you looking for suspicious circumstances here, Charles? You usually are.’
‘No, no. It’s an unrelated matter.’
‘Unrelated, huh? Which brings you hotfoot, plus the Superintendent and Dillon? Highly unlikely, I’d have thought. However, I can’t help you with this one and I’ve other things to do. I’ll be on my way.’
They left and walked to the Daimler. Ferguson paused, frowning, and said to Dillon, ‘What’s that you usually say? About making it a we-know-that-they-know-and-they-know-that-we-know situation?’
‘I’d say you mean you want Dr Ali Selim pushed a little.’
‘Exactly. I’ll leave it to you. Blake’s at the American Embassy at the moment. We’ll all catch up later.’
‘Don’t you think I should provide a police presence for Selim, sir?’ Hannah asked.
‘No. Some things require the Dillon touch, Superintendent.’
They got in and drove away. Dillon said, ‘You’ve noticed the Opel saloon trailing us?’
‘Absolutely. Don’t forget to find out who it is.’
Ferguson dropped him off. Hannah was not best pleased and Dillon leaned down to her through the open window. ‘Keep the faith, love.’
‘Well, you keep your fists in your pockets.’
The rain increased and Dillon glanced at the Opel and decided to leave it alone. He went inside the mosque and followed a sign that said Office.
In the Opel, Greta Novikova called Ashimov on his mobile. ‘They were all at this Major Roper’s place in Regency Square – Ferguson, Bernstein and Dillon. They’ve now dropped Dillon at Queen Street. Why?’
‘I should imagine because Mrs Morgan has met an untimely accident and Mr Dillon is about to speak to Selim about it.’
‘What do you mean, accident?’
‘Her wheelchair appears to have deposited her in the Thames. These things happen. Stay there and follow Dillon when he comes out.’
Dillon found the office, knocked and walked in. There was no one at reception, so he tried the next door and found his quarry working at a desk.
‘Dr Ali Selim?’
Selim recognized him at once from a computer photo Ashimov had left him.
He managed a smile. ‘Can I help?’
Dillon decided to let it all hang out. ‘Oh, I think so, me ould son.’ He lit a cigarette.
‘Not in here. It is an affront,’ Selim told him.
‘I know, a terrible vice, but we all have them. I can see you know who I am, your face twitched, but then a guy like Ashimov would be right on the ball about me and my friends. We have a video of the two of you, by the way. That would go down big at the House of Commons, don’t you think? And I notice his girlfriend, Greta Novikova, is outside.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Well, in broad terms you do, and I could fill in the rest for you. Henry Morgan walks up a Manhattan street in the rain and disappears into oblivion, his mother goes off the jetty in Chandler Street and into the Thames. A very unfortunate family.’
Selim’s face had turned pale. ‘Get out of here. I’ll call the police.’
‘Oh, I don’t think you will, not with Ashimov on your back.’ Dillon dropped his cigarette in a half-filled cup of coffee by Selim’s right hand. ‘Say your prayers, son, you’re going to need them. Oh, and good luck with the Wrath of Allah.’
It was a long shot, but the shock on Selim’s face was obvious.
Dillon went out and paused on the pavement, looking across. Greta Novikova was taking a photo and she was badly caught out when he crossed the street quickly, opened the passenger door and got in.
‘Now look here…’ she started to say.
‘Oh, cut it out, girl. I know who you are and you know who I am.’ He produced a packet of Marlboros and took two out. ‘I bet you smoke, too. Most Russians do.’
‘Bastard,’ she said. But she almost looked amused.
He lit the cigarettes and passed her one. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Go? Where to exactly?’
‘My place in Stable Mews. Don’t pretend you don’t know where that is.’
She drove away, half smiling. ‘I bet Selim was messing himself in there.’
