The Verge Practice Part 10

'It's to do with their work. Their lives are so bound up in their work that it would have to be that. Deep down they all care more about how to detail the next staircase than whether their wives are being screwed.' She laughed and drained her gla.s.s. 'Mmm, that's quite nice, isn't it?'

'Have another,' Kathy said.

'Thanks. Does this make me a paid informant? A snout? A gra.s.s?' She laughed again, enjoying herself.

Kathy signalled to a waiter. 'Go on, then, how did the work drive him to it?'

Jennifer frowned as if trying to work out how to explain. 'This is not spelled out exactly. It's more like an undercurrent of belief or superst.i.tion that you pick up from time to time in the drawing office. And in a way it is s.e.xual, but not as straightforward as a lover.

'Did you notice the gender distribution at VP? Basically, there's a divide. The admin staff are mostly female, while the architects are almost entirely male. I don't know why it is. I've watched them recruiting and interviewing, and I never detected any bias, but not many women designers apply to work there, and those that come usually don't last. Maybe all architects' offices are like that, I don't know; but you'd think it would be a good profession for a woman, wouldn't you? I've wondered if maybe there's some kind of suppressed aggression or compet.i.tiveness at VP that puts women off. Anyway, whatever the reason, that's the general rule. But there are exceptions, like Miki, and before her Charles's first wife, Gail.

'I knew Gail Verge. I joined the firm the year before she left. I used to watch the way she and Charles worked together. Each evening, after the bulk of the staff had gone home, the two of them would tour the drawing office, going from board to board, or computer to computer. They would examine what each person was working on, and Charles would make notes and sketches on a pad of white paper he carried around with him, then he'd tear the page off and leave it for the designer to look at next day.

'But the thing I noticed as I watched them was that it was almost always Gail who took the lead. She'd stare at the work for a while in silence, then point at something and they'd have a discussion. Then Charles would nod his agreement and do one of his famous little spiky black sketches to show the guy what he had to do.'

The second gla.s.s of wine arrived and Jennifer paused while Kathy paid.

'I a.s.sume you'll get expenses to cover this, will you? The prices are scandalous here.'

'Don't worry,' Kathy said, trying to sound nonchalant.

'So you think Gail was the better architect?'

'I'm not sure. Maybe she was a more perceptive critic.

Maybe her judgement was better. I think that must be very important for them, don't you? I mean it's one thing to be very creative and come up with lots of bright ideas, but it's also important to be able to decide between them and pick the winner. She was a deeper thinker than Charles, and had a lighter touch. I think that they complemented each other's strengths. Maybe you should talk to her, she might give you a different angle on Charles. I've got her number here.' She gave it to Kathy.

'Anyway, she must have decided she'd had enough of living in the shadow of Superman and she walked out, and suddenly Charles was on his own. And it showed; maybe not to the clients on the outside, but to Charles's hot shot designers. There were whispers in the office that he'd lost his touch. At first we put it down to depression over Gail leaving him, but then it began to seem more than that, as if some kind of magic had left with her. The projects kept rolling in, bigger and bigger, and the discipline of the practice and its talent kept the show going, but something was missing. The rave reviews in the international magazines became more cautious and people began to say that VP was becoming mainstream.

'Then Miki came along, and Charles came to life again, and everybody was hoping that she would be another Gail, a fresh young queen to rejuvenate the tired old king. I mean, she could draw like an angel and she looked the part, as if she'd sprung fully formed from one of his sharpest buildings, and although she was so young she had confidence and authority.'

'I thought people didn't like her.'

'On a personal level, that's true. She was arrogant and ambitious and cold. But that didn't matter. The point was that she might restore Charles's magic touch, turn the good back into the brilliant.'

'Did it work?'

'No. After they were married Charles began to give her more and more freedom in their design work together. It seemed okay, people were encouraged. Then came disaster.

There's this building that n.o.body in the firm ever mentions now, the Labuan a.s.sembly. Fortunately it's a long way away and almost n.o.body goes there, but those that have all agree that it's an absolute pig-out of scale, clunky and derivative. And it was Miki's.'

'But what about Sandy Clarke? Where does he fit into this?'

'Sandy is the one who manages the teams who develop the production drawings for the buildings after Charles and his people have worked out the concept designs. You could say that Sandy's talent is to bring Charles's designs to life as faithfully as possible. When he realised what people were saying about the Labuan a.s.sembly building, he persuaded Charles to keep the architectural press away. Effectively he buried it.'

'How did Miki feel about that?'

'She was furious, but Charles knew in his heart that Sandy was right. After that he insisted on making all the major design decisions alone.'

'How did that affect their relationship?'

Jennifer shrugged. 'That was the end of the honeymoon. Things got tense.'

'What about the Home Office project, Marchdale Prison? Who designed that?'

'Charles, one hundred per cent. I would say that Marchdale is Charles's attempt to wipe out the shame of Labuan, his demonstration that he can still do it like in the old days. He was obsessive about it and took control of every decision, doing little sketches at night for the draughtsmen like he used to do with Gail. Mind you, to hear Miki talk about it sometimes, you'd have thought it was all hers.'

'Are you suggesting that as a motive for murder? Professional jealousy?'

'No. Everyone at VP knew whose work it really was.

But if you were to look at their personal relationship as a reflection of their working relationship, you'd have to say that when he killed her she was already dead for him.'

'You mean, she'd outlived her usefulness? That's a pretty horrible idea.'

'Yeah. It's not a motive exactly, but when you're looking for the thing that finally put the knife into her heart, you have to bear that background in mind.'

9.

That Wednesday evening Kathy sensed that something had changed between herself and Leon, although the feeling was so indefinite that she hesitated to make an issue of it. She had returned to the flat to find him working on his university a.s.signment on his computer, the rest of the table covered in textbooks and notes. He'd apologised stiffly, as if they were two strangers temporarily sharing a railway compartment and sensitive to territorial rights, and had begun to clear things away. She said it didn't matter and tried to make conversation about their day, but he didn't join in, pointedly returning his attention to the screen. Then her mobile phone rang, and she became locked in an interminable and one-sided conversation with Jay about the importance of having a woman chair for the committee, and of the women members acting as a caucus.

Later she went out to buy takeaway for them both, which they ate in silence. Eventually she said, 'You're not angry with me are you, Leon?'

'Why should I be?' he said, not meeting her eye.

'I don't know. Because I spotted the mix-up with Clarke's DNA?'

'No, of course not. I just . . . I've just got to concentrate on this work, okay?'

'Yes, of course. I can't help, can I?'

Suddenly he sagged as if he'd been punctured, the anger or frustration or whatever had been simmering inside him gone. 'No, thanks. I'm sorry, Kathy.'

'What for?'

He took a deep breath. 'For everything,' he said, and wouldn't elaborate.

Later that night, across the other side of town, Brock turned restlessly in his bed, sleep eluding him. He had always enjoyed the luxury of lying alone in a wide bed, the freedom to stretch and turn without disturbance, but lately this feeling had been replaced by an uneasy sense of loss and isolation. To take his mind off this he forced himself to recall the pages of the Verge sc.r.a.pbook which Suzanne's grandchildren had given him. He could picture most of them quite clearly, the images of success and scandal. As he finally slid towards slumber his brain focused on one of them, a colour magazine photograph of Charles Verge standing beside the nose of his silver glider, dressed in black leather jacket and jeans. In Brock's torpid imagination the picture seemed to come to life, Verge breaking into a smile and walking jauntily out of frame, to reveal behind him in the shadowy s.p.a.ce of the aircraft's c.o.c.kpit a second figure, a dark outline only, handling the controls.

Kathy woke to find herself alone in bed, the smell of toast and coffee coming from the other room. She found Leon propped against the door of the kitchenette, flicking through a paper he must have gone out to buy. The computer was alive and he looked as if he'd been up for some time.

'Hi,' he said, not looking up from the page. 'Want some coffee? Your horoscope says you're going to be doing some travelling.'

Kathy wasn't sure, but she thought she detected a note of hopefulness in his voice.

They were making progress. She could sense it in the animated murmuring around the room as they waited for Brock to start the team meeting the following morning. As they each gave their reports it was apparent that everyone had something to offer, some suggestive little bit of fresh information, though where it all led Kathy still couldn't make out.

First it was reported that Sandy Clarke had been asked for a new DNA swab, and this request had apparently been met with something like panic. 'Went white as a sheet,' the officer said with satisfaction. 'Then demanded to know why, and when I said routine elimination he wouldn't believe me, then said he'd refuse and call his lawyer, then finally apologised and did the doings. Something to hide, I reckon.'

Kathy described her conversation with Jennifer Mathieson, and her a.s.sessment of Clarke's att.i.tude to women.

'But she reckons that they couldn't have been having an affair without the office inquisition getting wind of it, so either they were very discreet, or it had only just started.'

It had not been possible to identify Clarke's car on the tapes retained from security cameras in the streets near his offices for Sat.u.r.day the twelfth of May. Statements made by his staff had confirmed that he was present throughout the day, supervising the team preparing for the presentation to the Chinese on the following Monday, although it was also said that Clarke had been absent for extended periods during the morning; he was mainly in his own office, according to his statement, working on correspondence and other paperwork. It would have been quite possible for him to have gone up to the Verge apartment during this time, or even to have left the building, if he had avoided the routes covered by the cameras.

But it was the group working under Tony, the Fraud Squad officer, who had the most intriguing material to offer. Tony stroked his notes with loving fingers and eased his neck a little in his stiff white shirt collar, with his customary air of an undertaker presenting his estimate of funeral expenses. 'We haven't been able to get access to his personal accounts as yet, chief. We should progress that today, with any luck. But a couple of things have come up that may be of interest.'

He cleared his throat, for theatrical effect Kathy guessed, as if he were about to offer a special on the oak casket.

'We ran his name through the accounts we have had access to, and came up with two payments from him of ten thousand quid each, to the account of Verge's daughter Charlotte, in July and August of this year.'

'Mmm . . .' Brock scratched his beard ruminatively.

'Understandable. Helping out the daughter of his old partner. She's had extra expenses lately with the new house, and a baby on the way.'

'True enough. Or the money might be intended for Charles. But it does raise the whole interesting question of who's ent.i.tled to what out of the Verge Practice. Talking to the accountants, it appears that on May the twelfth ownership of the firm was shared between the three equity partners, Charles Verge and Miki Norinaga and Sandy Clarke, in the ratio 45:25:30. Now only one of them is left.'

'What about Charles and Miki's successors?'

'The firm had an insurance policy to cover the sudden death of a partner. But Miki left everything to Charles, a.s.suming he outlived her, and so Charles now theoretically owns over two-thirds of the business. If he were to turn up dead, his estate-princ.i.p.ally his daughter Charlotte- would have his share paid out by the insurance company.

But he hasn't been declared dead, so his a.s.sets are in limbo.

Either way, dead or alive, Sandy Clarke effectively controls the firm one hundred per cent.'

Brock shrugged doubtfully. 'By all accounts business has been terrible since the murder. If you're suggesting Clarke had a financial motive to murder his partners, it hasn't turned out to be a very smart move.'

'Maybe that wasn't the motive, chief.' Tony's face took on a look of cunning. 'Maybe he had no choice.'

'How do you mean?'

'The accountants are only now getting around to finalising the books for the last financial year, and they've come across something interesting. In the twelve months leading up to last May, the Verge Practice made a series of payments to a company that n.o.body seems to know anything about: Turnstile Quality Systems Limited. The thing that alerted the accountants was the size and number of the payments, sixteen in all, amounting to a couple of million quid. When the accountants asked the bookkeeper at VP she knew nothing about the payments, which had been authorised directly by Sandy Clarke and not entered into the monthly accounts.'

'What does that mean, Tony?'

'Well, this only came up yesterday evening, so we haven't had time to do a proper check on Turnstile Quality Systems yet, but when we tried to phone them the number didn't work, so I took a drive out to their address, in an industrial estate in Neasden, number 27 Poplar Lane. It turns out that the last building on Poplar Lane is number 25, and n.o.body around there has ever heard of this company. The accountants wanted to take it up with Clarke, of course, but I told them to hold off until they get the all clear from us. The possibility is that he was using a dummy company to siphon money out of his own firm.'

'A couple of million? Surely someone would have noticed?'

'VP authorised well over a billion in payments to contractors last year, chief, and their own profits were very healthy. The invoices were VAT exempt, apparently, so there was no discrepancy in the VAT returns. They were bound to surface eventually, of course, but by then Sandy Clarke was the only partner left to worry about it.'

They discussed what they should do next, Brock allocated tasks and the meeting broke up. As she was leaving, Kathy found that she had a text message on her phone, postponing the committee meeting until the following Monday. Her first reaction was relief that she would have time to work with the team on the Verge case, but then irritation as she realised that all the important jobs had now been allocated. She hurried over to Brock and explained the situation.

'Oh, that's good, Kathy,' he said, sounding preoccupied and not overjoyed. She felt marginal, hanging around on the edges. 'And how is the committee going? I haven't had a chance to talk to you.'

'Pretty hopeless. Apart from a day's workshop on gay rights, we've spent the whole time quarrelling about who should be chair.'

'Maybe you should step in and take over.' He smiled at the idea. 'Yes, why not? This may be your opportunity.'

'I'd rather quit and work on the case full time. Is there anything interesting I can do today?'

'Interesting? Well . . .' he consulted the sheaf of papers on his clipboard, '. . . there's a lot that needs doing. There's a list of car numbers from the CCTV cameras needs checking . . .' He caught the look that crossed her face and stopped. 'Or . . . well, how do you fancy a trip up to Peter-borough? That's where the couple live who thought they saw Verge in Barcelona on the Monday after the murder.

We haven't reinterviewed them yet. It's always possible they may remember something else.'

A very long shot, Kathy thought, but better that than another list. So the horoscope in the paper had been right.

She hid her disappointment and took the details. After a couple of phone calls she had set up meetings with the couple and made for the door, pa.s.sing Tony and his fraud team. DI Bren Gurney was with them, chuckling at a joke someone had cracked. He looked alert and cheerful in the unfamiliar company of the Fraud Squad officers, and Kathy thought, that's where I should be, I've worked with SO6 before, then told herself not to be petty. She took the tube to Finchley to pick up her little red Renault and headed for the Great North Road.

Weaving among the trucks thundering north out of London on the A1 motorway, Kathy experienced a familiar sense of antic.i.p.ation, of heading towards a foreign country, the one to which she and her mother had moved after her father died-the strange and intimidating Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire where, after her mother, too, had pa.s.sed away, she had been taken in by her aunt and uncle. She thought guiltily that it was some time since she'd been up to see them, elderly now and frail in their little Sheffield terrace house. From Peterborough she'd be halfway there; she considered continuing north after she'd seen the McNeils, then dismissed the idea.

She followed the directions Audrey McNeil had given her, turning off the A1 at the first Peterborough sign and coming to an area of new detached houses on the outskirts of the city. From the welcome that Mrs McNeil gave her, she got the impression that the excitement caused by their possible sighting of the runaway had been thoroughly appreciated. Both women were prepared with doc.u.mentation; Kathy with a file of the earlier interview transcripts and the plans and photographs supplied by the Barcelona police, and Audrey McNeil with her own collection of holiday snapshots, city guides and souvenirs.

'It's a wonderful city, so exciting, so much to see,' Audrey enthused. She was in her early sixties, Kathy guessed, hair silvering and eyes sharp. 'Wonderful buildings, the street life, the food . . . Well, to be honest I think tapas is overrated, and Peter says I do a better paella than any of the restaurants we tried, but anyway . . .' She poured tea as she rattled on. 'I have a Barcelona bridge partner now. We get on like a house on fire. Play practically every day. A grandmother like me, and the same age.'

It seemed Audrey spent much of her days, and nights too, playing bridge on the internet. She handed Kathy her pictures of Barcelona, describing each in turn and eventually coming to the only one that seemed relevant.

'Now this is the Casa Mila, which is on the same street where Peter saw Charles Verge, the Pa.s.seig de Gracia. You see the sculpted shape of the balconies, almost like it's made of clay, or bones? It was designed by Gaudi, the famous Barcelona architect, who was run over by a tram. Peter is a great fan of Gaudi. He took pictures of all his buildings, including the great church of the Sagrada Familia of course, dozens of them.' She turned to another packet but Kathy stopped her and guided her attention back to the Casa Mila.

'That was taken from right outside the building?'

'Yes. Peter was insistent that we cross the street to try to get further back, to get the whole building in, but the trees got in the way and he didn't take that shot in the end. So we crossed back over again and continued down to a cafe near the metro station, and it was on our way there that we saw him.'

Kathy unfolded her plans and got Audrey to trace the route. 'We worked out that it must have been this block here that we saw him, going into the entrance on the corner, there.'

'Okay, now in your earlier statement it's Peter who really describes the figure you saw, and you agree with him.

I wondered if you could try to picture the scene again now and tell me what you saw.'

'Well, the trouble is that I took no notice until Peter said something like, "Oh, look at that chap over there, it's the famous architect Charles Verge", and then I looked and just caught a fleeting glimpse of him as he disappeared into the shadow of the entrance. I wouldn't remember it at all if Peter hadn't gone on about how important he was, and I got a bit irritated because frankly I'd never heard of him, not then. Now, of course, everyone has.'

'All the same,' Kathy persisted, sure she was wasting her time, 'could you close your eyes and picture the scene, and just replay it in your mind? Don't say anything, just try to visualise it, then tell me what you see.'

Audrey closed her eyes and sat motionless for a moment. Her lips pursed as if recalling the memory of her irritation with her husband, then her face relaxed a little and she made a gesture with her hand, as if tracing a movement in front of her. She opened her eyes and shrugged.

'Not much help, I'm afraid. I got a glimpse of someone dressed in black, that's all.'

'Black jacket?'

'Yes, I suppose so. Peter said afterwards it was a black leather jacket.'