Blood Substitute (20 page)

‘No, of
course
not,' Greenway said quickly.

‘It sounds as though you were very confident about getting the job,' I said.

‘Only insofar as I had an idea that if there was something illegal going on they'd seek either to employ a young dimwit to do their paperwork for them or a much older person they could write off as too ga-ga to understand anything else. I made out I was computer literate for letters and so forth and that was all. They didn't want me to get involved with accounts, someone else did that, but it didn't stop me from having a good nose around the whole IT system. They were so confident in themselves they didn't even use passwords. And, look, I won't pretend that I understand all that is there, far from it, because although there was no real security to the system it would appear that nicknames have been given to people and places so it means nothing to an outsider.'

Patrick said, ‘Let me get this straight: you applied for a job at the shop because you thought it dodgy on account of certain shifty-looking individuals. Personally, I think you can go in quite a few organizations and take issue with people's
appearances.
Surely there was more to it than that.'

‘Yes, it was Ballinger himself. He killed my neighbour's little dog when I was out for a walk with her, drove right up onto the pavement to get around another vehicle and ran over it. He almost hit the pair of us. Didn't stop, just paused long enough to shout obscenities through an open window at her for being in his way.'

‘You recognized him from someone you'd seen in the store?'

‘Yes, he was prowling and poking around when I was in there with Adrian one day previous to that when we were looking for curtain material. Such an odd-looking man. I asked an assistant who he was.'

I was still pondering present tenses in her previous response to a question and said, ‘You said just now that you don't understand all what is in the database and that it can't mean anything to an outsider. But surely it's lost, everything like that must have gone in the fire.'

‘No, it didn't. By that time – and I hadn't been there very long – I was more than suspicious after things I'd overheard in conversations and phone calls. It was why I wanted to see someone senior in the police, before I owned up to saving everything on to CD ROMs.'

I thought for a moment that Greenway would burst into tears with gratitude. He said, ‘You wouldn't by any chance have brought them with you?'

Miss Dean opened her voluminous, designer, pricey, handbag. I wasn't at all surprised she'd saved it from the fire. ‘Yes, indeed, they're here.'

The small paper bag and its contents were passed over and immediately delivered into the hands of a computer expert.

‘Tell us about Steven Ballinger,' Patrick requested when Greenway had come back into the room.

I had noticed that even while responding to Greenway's questions Miss Dean's gaze had kept straying to the other man present, with perhaps the smallest hint of apprehension in her expression. He can be intimidating even when not intending to be and I thought it time this was allayed.

‘
Please
,' I snapped at him.

He got the message and, although seated, performed a courtly bow, whipping off an imaginary hat. ‘Please,' he said with a grin.

Miss Dean smiled back at the pair of us. ‘I take it then that Ballinger really is some kind of desperado. I know there was a raid on a Bristol city centre police station and someone was set free. It didn't say on the news who it was and no one would tell me when I made my statement early this morning.'

‘It was him,' Patrick confirmed. ‘He's wanted to answer questions on various serious crimes in the area. What we really need to know is where he lives.'

‘I never knew his address. All his private correspondence was sent to the store. He told me that himself.'

‘And you have absolutely no idea where he went when he left work in the evenings?'

‘No, none. He never mentioned a family either.'

‘Please tell us all you do know about him.'

Miss Dean pondered for a few moments and then said, ‘Well, obviously, I was forewarned of the kind of person he could be and have to say I was nervous on the first morning. I was worried that he might recognize me even though he had given no sign that he did at the interview. But nothing untoward happened and I thought to begin with that I might have been mistaken in my identification of him as the man driving the car. He was actually rather disappointing; a very tall, thin man whose voice was squeaky until he shouted. He appeared oddly nervous of things – spiders, for example and if one was in his office I was called in to deal with it.'

‘Would you say that in some ways he was an ineffectual sort of person?'

‘Yes, that's a good question; he was. I think that with some men who are deficient in some way, they compensate – like those of short stature who wear metal tips on the soles of their shoes and strut around. Who knows what the problem is – unless it's his voice, of course – perhaps he's lacking … in hidden areas.' Here she smiled broadly at both men as if to assure them that they could not possibly come under this heading and then said, ‘Ballinger compensated for whatever problem he has, consciously or not, by flying into rages. Then the man who had driven on to the pavement and almost knocked down two women emerged.'

‘Go on,' Patrick said when she paused.

‘To re-cap slightly: nothing that happened initially at Slaterfords excited my suspicions. They were very careful about that. I sent out letters in connection with job applications and things like that, dealt with callers, most of whom were hopeful employees. There were other visitors who were whisked straight past me to see Ballinger. His office was next to mine. Things became interesting when there were arguments and he lost his temper. That is the thing I remember most about him, his dreadful temper. As time went by there always seemed to be rows going on. I could hear them through the wall and out in the main corridor. I came to think that the man was mentally unbalanced as he would fly into a rage over nothing.'

‘Were you ever frightened for your own safety?' I enquired.

‘Yes, a little. I hate it when people shout. I just kept out of the way or had an early lunch break.'

‘What sort of nothings set him off?' Patrick wanted to know.

‘I once heard him yelling that no one had told him that it was raining before he went out for something and he'd got wet. All he'd had to do was look out of the window. He seemed to have a lot of disagreements with a man called Bob.'

‘Do you know his surname?'

‘No, no one used surnames. Which was the first thing I found odd, but then again things are much more informal these days.'

‘Did you ever speak to this man yourself?'

‘No, he wasn't there very often. Oh yes, once. I wished him good morning.'

‘Did he reply?'

‘Yes, he did.'

‘Would you say he was a Scot?'

‘He might have been.'

Patrick said to Greenway, ‘Professional curiosity makes me want to ask James to come in for a moment.'

Greenway picked up the phone and a minute or so later the DCI arrived.

‘Good afternoon, Miss Dean,' he said.

‘Did he speak like that?' Patrick asked her.

‘Yes, just like that.' She gave Carrick a scrutinizing stare. ‘In fact you look like him, only younger.'

Patrick told her who he was and then said, ‘Would you mind if he stays or is that too many of us for you?'

She said that she did not mind at all and James seated himself.

‘So what was the general atmosphere like on a day-to-day basis?' Patrick asked. ‘How did these people behave towards you?'

‘When I first started working there the various men – no other women worked in the admin department except the accounts clerk – spoke to me in a very patronising way, as though talking to a child, possibly on account of my age. One of them was actually a bit sneery and made remarks about geriatrics taking over the planet. I retaliated by correcting all his grammatical errors when he was speaking to me and he soon gave up. They soon realized that I could string a letter together and didn't wreck the office photocopier so attitudes improved and on the surface all was fairly polite and businesslike. I didn't deliberately set out to be myself, or too clever, as I wanted to find out what was going on without creating suspicion.'

‘You were Ballinger's PA as well, I understand,' Patrick said. ‘What did that entail?'

‘I booked air and rail tickets for him, arranged hotel rooms and acted as a go-between for the members of staff at the store and Ballinger. By that I mean those who worked on the retail side. They were very grateful to me for that. Most of them were scared of those in charge.'

I found this revealing with regard to this lady sitting facing us. Either a bunch of crooks minded their Ps and Qs when she was around or she was much braver than we had first assumed.

Patrick said, ‘You said in your statement that Ballinger went to London quite a lot and also to Southampton. You also made holiday arrangements for him and his wife, Ella: a fortnight in Turkey. Were you asked to undertake any other duties?'

‘She wasn't his wife. And to answer your question, no.'

‘Who was she?'

‘A rather upmarket Croatian prostitute he was besotted with.'

‘Did he ask you to do anything else – different from that everyday kind of job?'

‘No.'

‘He didn't ask you to deliver parcels or packages to anyone?'

‘No, nothing like that.'

‘When Ingrid and I had a snoop around the store we noticed that all the doors in one area of the upper floor had padlocks on them. That's pretty unusual.'

‘I never saw what was kept in some of the rooms. Ballinger was security mad and has what my father used to call a “garden-shed mentality”. A big padlock looks more secure to him than modern electronic or dead locks.'

‘Is there anything else that you'd like to add that isn't in your statement?'

‘No.' She was looking nervous again.

‘Think,' Patrick encouraged softly.

‘No,' she said again.

Patrick got up from his seat and went over to the window. ‘Miss Dean, there's something worrying you and you're much too nice a person for me to have to get annoyed with you for not telling me what it is.'

I cleared my throat. ‘We think Ballinger is a murderer,' I told her. ‘One of his victims was a policeman.'

There was a painful silence, during which I tried to catch Patrick's eye and when I succeeded gave him a look that said he was
not
to get annoyed with her.

Not yet.

The silence continued and our witness visibly became more distressed. Then Carrick suddenly said, ‘That Scot you met, Bob. You're right, we are similar and that's because he's my father. He's an undercover cop and, right now, I'm not at all sure about his safety. Share your worries with us and it might mean we catch Ballinger all the sooner.'

‘Oh dear,' Miss Dean whispered. ‘It's not going to make catching him any easier but nevertheless something I wanted to tell you right from the start. It probably means I shall end up in prison. What is it called, “being an accessory”?'

Patrick sat down again. ‘How could that be?'

After another long pause she said, ‘Ballinger paid for one of our holidays to Italy.'

‘That doesn't make you any kind of accessory to crime,' Greenway said.

‘He said it was in recognition of the efforts I'd made,' Miss Dean continued as though no one had spoken. ‘I had a good idea he was a crook by then and I should have refused. But I didn't. I found myself absolutely delighted with the gift at the time, especially as the air tickets were first class. I've been disgusted with myself ever since.' It all became too much for her and she took a tissue from her bag and sobbed into it quietly.

Patrick does not normally go down on his knees in front of comparative strangers but did so now. ‘Thank God you accepted,' he said quietly. ‘For we now know that if this man suspects
anyone
around him of working for the law or closing in on him in any way he kills them – in ways that are quite unspeakable.'

It was clear that Miss Dean did not find his close proximity on the floor unnerving, or even unusual, and I began to admire her retired architect. She said, ‘But I shall have to stand up in court and admit it, won't I? My conscience will see to that.'

Greenway said, ‘There's no earthly reason why what you've just said should go further than these four walls and I can assure you that we're going to end up with an extremely complicated and protracted court case where a trip to Italy will seem an irrelevance. Ballinger will be too worried about saving his own skin to bring you into it.'

‘But the money must have come from
crime
,' she whispered, eyes brimming.

‘Look, Miss Dean, PAs always get perks, whatever the company and wherever the money comes from. Quite a few people in this country think all governments are run by crooks but civil servants still sleep soundly in their beds at night.'

I
should have known already, of course, but when Patrick told me that under no circumstances would I be able to go undercover with him on this job my disappointment was boundless. There was nothing vague in the instruction, nothing to which I could put my own slant, this was Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Justin Gillard ordering his working partner to go home and stay there for her own safety. The only concession he would make was that if he needed help of the kind I could provide, he would contact me. If it was at all possible he would contact me anyway. It was all I had. That Greenway was the instigator of the instruction went without saying.