Collecting a coffee on the way, he knocked on Jane Goodley’s office door. He waited to be called in. She was pouring him a coffee as he entered. Seeing him she asked if he still wanted the one she had made. “Yes please, I’ll drink them both.” Sitting down, he now had two cups in front of him.” Opposite him, she picked up a piece of paper, “you now have eDV clearance, only you, not Sally, I know it won’t make any difference, but I have been told she is not to be shown any information you look at, is that understood?” Dave confirmed he understood, “this will be reviewed every two days by the Home Secretary, as soon as you are finished on the case, it will be cancelled. It will also be cancelled if he thinks you are not getting anywhere.” “I can access all the information now, it would take me longer using my own methods, but I could still find it.” He was given papers to read and sign. “Normally there would have to be interviews and your background investigated more than it has been, but your clearance was needed in a hurry. Don’t fuck it up.” She asked where he wanted to start, “from twelve months ago going backwards, it should be fairly easy to search the online records. Would it be possible to speak to one of your IT guys to help set up a way to search, Sally would normally do it, but…”. A call was made, a few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Dave explained what he wanted, “most of the documents will be in one of the Office formats or maybe a PDF. I want a way where we can search an entire file by entering a keyword. For example, if I typed in elephant, then every reference to the word would be listed.” “It might take me a little time, but I will come up with something.” He had now drunk both his coffees, “Let’s go for a walk,” Dave looked across the desk, her face had changed, “I said, let’s go for a walk.” She was standing up, Dave said he wanted his jacket. When he returned she was ready to go. “Howard, I will be back within an hour.” Dave had no idea what this was all about, if she wanted to have a private conversation, there were plenty of breakout rooms in the building. He thought back to the previous day, there had been some hesitation then, was he now about to be told something.
They walked along Millbank, crossed the road and looked for a gap in the railings that led to the path along the Thames. She walked on until they found a bench in the sunshine. Jane Goodley sat down, Dave joined her but sat about a foot from her. “Move closer, I don’t want to have to raise my voice.” She looked straight ahead, he knew not to say anything, whatever she was going to say, would come in time. In the next few minutes, all she said was “David”, she repeated it before starting, “this has nothing to do with work, but at the same time it does.” There was another pause, Dave noticed the tissue in her hand, “I want you to do something for me, but I want you to tell no one. I know you will tell Sally, but that is OK. If anyone asks you anything, say you don’t know what they are talking about.” Dave wanted to say he had no idea what she was talking about, but kept quiet. There was a much longer pause this time, she dabbed her eyes and nose before carrying on. “I think,” again there was a long pause, “I think Alison is seeing someone else.” Now there were tears, she kept dabbing her eyes. He wanted to put his arm round her, but stayed where he was, facing the river. Waiting until the tears were less, he spoke for the first time, “I guessed she was.” Now Jane looked at him, “what do you mean, you guessed?” “I watched her, I saw how concerned she was when she first saw you, but as the days went on in the hotel and then at Chequers, I suspected something was not right. Yesterday, you wanted to say something as I was leaving, but changed your mind. I did wonder if the way she acted was a reaction to what had happened. I tried to look at her file yesterday, but I couldn’t, I will look later today.” How could he see that, what did he see in Alison, who he had only just met, that she had missed for months. “How long have you suspected?” “Over the last two months perhaps, she has been working longer hours and been less loving. I wanted it to be a really good night at the theatre, but it wasn’t to be.” “What do you want me to do?” “I want you to find out and tell me, I think either way, the relationship might be coming to an end. I have prepared myself for the worst.” “I want you to answer the next question honestly, if you have the slightest idea that what I ask might be true, say so. Do you think Alison is involved in you being kidnapped?” Jane answered immediately with a ‘no’. “She is clever, but she isn’t good enough to organise everything.” “What will you do if I find out she is seeing someone else?” “Cry, it’s what women do, then I will throw her out.” “What if I find nothing?” “Then the relationship will probably fizzle out.” “If that’s the case, then why do I have to find out?” “Because, I need to know, professionally, it’s not good, it would raise all sorts of questions, and, with my head the way it is at the moment, I’m not sleeping well at night.” “Why me?” “I believe I can trust you, you deal in facts, no matter how uncomfortable they may be, and, you get results. I will pay you privately, let me know at the end how much it is.” “I will put it down as an expense incurred during the investigation.” “When will you start?” “I have to speak to someone, providing they are free, it will be Monday morning or afternoon.” “Won’t you be doing it?” “No, Alison knows me, the person I use is very discrete. He will have a name and an image, he won’t know about you, or the purpose of the job. He will report to me, I will pass his findings on to you.” “Thank you, I understand why Sally is in love with you, she is very lucky.” “We had better get back, we have been more than an hour.” Walking, Dave asked if she had friends she could rely on, if it all became too much. “After all this time, most of our friends are joint friends, they will take sides.” “You could stay with us in Loughborough if it becomes too much of a burden.” She thanked him for the offer.
In the building, it was business as usual, eating lunch, he called Trevor, an ex policeman in Leicester, he was now a private investigator, taking work wherever he could, tracing partners was bread and butter to him. “Trevor, are you free next week, I have a job starting on Monday and lasting through until Friday morning, maybe into the following week, I don’t know yet?” “If the money’s right, then I’m available,” “£250 per day plus expenses, four days paid in advance plus another £1000 for your expenses.” “Can you make it £300 per day.” Dave knew he was trying it on, he always did, on every previous job he had always moaned about money. “If I pay you £300, then I will knock it off your expenses, it’s up to you.” “OK, when and where?” “Be at my house tomorrow afternoon 14:00, money and expenses then.”
While he had been out, there were two messages for him, one regarding the car, the other to say the search tool was ready. He went in search of Howard’s assistant, “Using the registration number, they were able to find out the VIN for the car, it was scrapped the week before in,” he looked down at his papers, “Lancaster at a scrapyard called Dawson Recycling.” Can you email it to me please. He knocked and waited to be called into Jane Goodley’s office for the second time that day. “Sorted, starts Monday.” There was a USB stick on her desk. “Let’s see if it works, find a large file from say a year ago. Using what was on the stick, he highlighted the file, entered ‘elephant’ in the text box then pressed enter, it returned no results, he did the same again, this time he entered ‘Jane Goodley’ in the box. It produced a list of her name, everywhere it was in the file, including sub folders. “It works,” Dave closed the program and took the stick. “You don’t look too good, why don’t you go home?” “No, I’d rather be here.” “Jane, can I say something, as a friend, rather than as a person working for you?” “You don’t usually ask.” “Whatever happens, don’t blame yourself for it. Not all relationships last, you can fall out of love as easily as you fall in love. It’s harder to realise and more difficult to get out of, but it can be done. Don’t stay here just because you don’t want to go home.” There was no reply from her. “I’ll be here for another hour or so, after that I will be gone until next week, I’m back on Thursday. I will be going through the files, we can discuss anything I find when I’m here again.” “Thank you for what you are doing.” He wasn’t sure if that was meant on a business level or a personal one. He printed off images of Alison, along with information Trevor would need. With it all in his briefcase, he waited for Sally. When she found him, he thought she looked exhausted. “I can hardly walk, not sure how I will play tennis tomorrow. I think I will need a long soak in the bath when we get home.” They stopped briefly at the hotel to pick up their suitcase, Sally stayed in the taxi while Dave went inside. St. Pancras was busy, he bought first class tickets, hoping it would be quieter. It wasn’t, nearly every seat was occupied as they pulled out the station. He wanted to tell her about the conversation with Jane, but decided to leave it until later. He drove Sally’s car from the station, she went upstairs as soon as she was in, Dave could hear the bath running as he made a drink. He sat on the toilet seat while Sally was in the bath, she listened with her eyes closed. “You thought there was something odd, I remember you saying it. She’s welcome to stay here for a while if it helps.” He left her to cook dinner, it was nearly 21:00 when they ate, Sally had put on one of Dave’s tee shirts instead of getting dressed, she was still wearing it when she climbed on top of him in bed.
She left in the morning before he was up, there was a shopping list on the kitchen table, Dave groaned when he saw it. Reluctantly he struggled round Tesco’s, it had all to be put away afterwards, if he didn’t know where to put something, he left it on the table for Sally. He had bought a cooked chicken for lunch, he sliced the breast, prepared the salad and waited for Sally to return. “I shouldn’t have played today, Olivia thrashed me, my legs were OK for a couple of games and then went.” “If Trevor wasn’t coming this afternoon, I could have given you a massage,” “get rid of him quickly then you can do it.”
Sally heard a knock on the door, she shouted to Dave who was in the garden, then answered the knock. Trevor was shown into the lounge, Dave had put the kettle on as he came in, he whispered to Sally, a few minutes later, she passed him an envelope, he put it with the folder he had ready. “Thanks for coming, the job is ideal for you, the partner of a friend of ours, we think is playing away. I want you to find out, I need photographs, dates, times, the other persons name and address if possible, the usual info you give to whoever has hired you. I want you to start on Monday, you don’t need to be there first thing, by lunchtime is fine, however you might want to go down on Sunday to get ready.” “Where is it, and who am I looking for?” “Dave opened the folder and passed over several photographs he had printed. “Her name is Alison Brookes, she works for one of the major banks, this is her work address.” “Where does she live, there’s no home address?” “I don’t want you going there, you can follow her until she is on her own. No further, understand?” Trevor nodded, “that’s it, plain and simple, report to me daily, I will be in London on Thursday and Friday, you should have enough information by then, we can meet where I am staying. Find a cheapish hotel, don’t go overboard on the expenses.” He passed over the envelope Sally had given him, “depending on how you get on, there might be more.” “What about my petrol to get here today?” Dave gave him a look that said, ‘don’t push your luck’. “She should be on her own going to work, you need to be there for lunchtime and when she finishes. You can call me at any time, if you need a meeting before I am down, I’ll arrange it. Anything else you need?” “More money if you have it. Get me the results and I will see. I need a list of your expenses for this one.”
He was gone by 15:00, Sally ran upstairs, she called Dave, she was in the bedroom undressing, “time for my massage.” The rest of the weekend was spent doing not very much, on Sunday they went for a walk, they were like a normal couple. Monday saw Dave start on the files, working on the newest, going back towards when Jane had taken charge. It was slow, most files had no reference to Manchester, those that did, he read the pages where it was highlighted. Often it was an address, occasionally a reference to an incident, but nothing looked like it could be linked to a kidnap attempt. There were a couple of files he thought needed further investigation, he copied these into a separate folder to be discussed when he was next in London. Trevor rang around 20:30, “How has it gone?” “I picked her up at lunchtime, followed her to a Starbucks, she met another woman, they had sandwiches and shared a cake, they were holding hands before they left, out on the street, they kissed before she headed back to work.” “Was it a friendly kiss or a more passionate kiss?” “A bit more than a quick kiss. I’ve got some pics, I looked like a tourist taking pictures of everything. She works in a travel agents, her name is Sarah.” Dave asked how he knew, “she has a name badge, first name only, I will find out her surname tomorrow. They met again after work, she was waiting for the target to leave, it was half an hour before she emerged. They walked along together like friends, near the tube station, they were arm in arm, inside the entrance, they kissed again, more like a snog. No pics, I will try tomorrow. I followed Sarah, she took a bus to Paddington, I have the address of her flat. Tomorrow, I will wait by the tube station, see if they meet before work.
Tuesday saw Dave and Sally make good progress, he had copied the program onto her laptop, anything she found Dave checked before deciding if it needed adding to the folder. Towards the end of the afternoon, she asked if this level of clearance would let her look at his file, before when she had looked, there were lots of blanks. “It will, but I’d rather you didn’t look.” Trevor phoned around the same time as the previous night, “Same as yesterday, I sat close enough to hear some of what they were saying, she is to say she has to work late on Thursday. I couldn’t gather much more than that, it was too noisy. I went back to her flat in the afternoon, it’s a Victorian house converted into flats, I waited until a courier called, I moved into position, as he was leaving, I slipped in, she has the ground floor flat, Sarah Dryden. They met up again after work, same as Monday. I was ahead of them, I waited in the tube station, got pics this time.” Dave said he had done well, Tomorrow and Thursday, do the same, on Thursday follow the other one after work, find out where they go and what they do. Wednesday was more of the same for Dave, in total there were around thirty files he needed to discuss on Thursday, they were booked into the hotel for Thursday and Friday night this time, he thought they would need to stay over for an extra night. He was at the MI5 building by 09:15, as soon as he had dropped off his briefcase, he poured a coffee and went to see Jane Goodley. They spent most of the morning going through the possibilities Dave had discovered. Each one proved to be negative. They broke for lunch, eating in different locations, he was with the rest of the staff, she ate in her office to catch up with outstanding work. Dave knocked before going back in. “We have to go further back, I want to look at everything from when you were a case officer,” “None of it is digitised, it will take days to sort out.” “It has to be done. I want to go down to records, can you call them saying I’m on my way.” As he was leaving, she finally asked the question, “David, any news?” “I will have a report ready on Friday afternoon, will you please meet me at the hotel around 15:30, we can discuss the findings then, I won’t be in tomorrow, I will be working from the hotel.” He was expected when he arrived, Records, was run by two men in their sixties, time was running out for both them and the files they looked after, the digitising of all the records was under way. When the last one was done, they would retire. He explained what he wanted, “It can be done, but it will take some time,” Dave wanted to know how long, “late tomorrow or Monday,” “Is it possible to have them sent off site, for me to examine them?” “No, there is a reading room here you can use,” “Are they able to be copied?” “You need to have written authority.” He picked up a phone on the desk and dialled Jane, “Miss Goodley, could you give the two gentlemen down here written authority for me to have records copied.” He explained he would be back on Monday, he asked for as many files as possible to be located by then.
He was late leaving, Sally was already in the room, she had showered, there were the remains of sandwiches she had ordered. “I had a weirdo sit next to me on the train, he got on at Leicester, the carriage was nearly empty, he sat next to me. He stunk of weed, I ignored him, he tried to chat me up. I told him, if he didn’t fuck off, I would kill him. He moved into the next carriage, at Luton, I saw two police come on and escort him off the train.” There was a smile on her face, Dave said for her to travel first class in future.” He ran a bath, “I want to soak before we eat,” he left the bath running as he undressed in the bedroom. Sally waited until he was in the bath, she came in, slipped off her dressing gown and joined him. She lay against him until the water began to cool. “I’ve booked dinner for 20:00, I hope that’s OK?” “I have to be down here all next week, they won’t let me take any records out the building. I can copy them, but the originals have to stay.” Sally picked up her phone, she called one of her colleagues, “I’ve swapped Thursday for Tuesday, I can come down as soon as I finish on Wednesday, that way we will only have Monday and Tuesday night apart.” During dinner Trevor phoned Dave, he excused himself and left the restaurant. “I can’t hear you Trevor, what are you saying,” a few seconds later, the noise had died down. “I’m in a fucking gay bar, I’ve had my arse pinched and some fucker has been trying to chat me up.” Dave was laughing. “Just go with it Trev, you might enjoy it.” “The two women certainly are, the other woman went home, changed and came out wearing a tiny skirt and a top that barely covered anything, she was in the bar chatting to other people when the target came in, fucking Hell, I thought they would never stop, they were all over each other. It’s difficult to take pics in here, photography is frowned on, there is a warning not to take pictures as you come in. I may be able to as I leave. Do you want me to follow either of them?” “Only until they go their separate ways, head to your hotel, phone me in the morning, we will arrange to meet, then you can go home.” He returned to the table and quickly ate the now cold food. Over coffee Sally asked him why he was smiling, “Trevor is in a gay bar, he’s had his bum pinched and been chatted up. The lighting in there must be rubbish if someone fancies him.” Sally laughed, the thought of him in a gay bar trying to avoid the advances was stuck in her mind. Dave said he needed her to be back here by 15:00, “Jane will be here thirty minutes later, I don’t know whether to see her in our bedroom or book a private meeting room.” “I think the private meeting room would be better, we can always go to our room if she is upset.”
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