McKay found nothing else of significance in Crawford’s house. He was conscious it was already growing dark. Crawford had left a couple of lights burning around the house on his mysterious departure, but McKay was reluctant to turn on more in case he attracted external attention. With a final check in each of the rooms, he left the house and returned to his car.
For several minutes he sat thinking, trying to decide what to do next. He looked again at the photographs he’d taken, squinting at the bank statements on the tiny screen of his phone. He really had no idea of their significance. He had little doubt that Forres and Prebble had been involved in criminality, but he was reluctant to say the same about Bill Emsworth without much more unequivocal evidence. The more immediate question was what, if anything, he should say to Helena Grant.
After a few minutes, having reached no conclusion, he dialled Ginny Horton’s number.
‘I’ve just finished at Crawford’s house.’
‘Anything?’
‘Still no sign of Crawford, and no more real clue as to what might have happened to him. But I have found one interesting thing.’ He explained to her what he’d found and its possible significance.
Horton was silent for a moment. ‘That’s very convenient, though, isn’t it? I mean, that those documents should be there waiting for you.’
‘That’s why I’m wondering how it got there. Whether Crawford left it behind accidentally or deliberately, or whether someone else put it there. Do you recall noticing it when we were in there before?’
‘We didn’t spend a lot of time looking round upstairs. Just checked that Crawford wasn’t there. I don’t recall noticing anything like that, but that doesn’t prove much.’
‘I’m in the same position,’ McKay said. ‘Crawford normally seems a stickler for tidiness, so it stood out to me today. But it was on a table behind the door. I could easily not have registered it the first time. But, as you say, it’s convenient that the material relates to Forres and Prebble.’
‘Not to mention Bill Emsworth. What are you planning to say to Helena?’
‘That’s the question, isn’t it?’
‘You’ve got to tell her, Alec.’
‘Aye, I know. But tell her what? I don’t have a clue what these statements actually mean. I’ve no grounds to accuse Emsworth of anything. This might just be an attempt to smear him by association with Forres and Prebble.’
‘But that’s not the only consideration, is it? Forres and Prebble are both dead.’
‘You mean Emsworth is in danger?’ It was a thought which McKay had been trying to push to the back of his mind.
‘There’s no way of knowing, is there?’ Horton said. ‘But if we do think there’s a possible risk, we’ve an obligation to let her know, surely?’
‘I don’t think I’ve got a choice,’ McKay agreed. ‘It won’t be the most comfortable conversation, though.’
‘What about Emsworth? Do we tell him directly?’
‘That’s a trickier one,’ McKay said. ‘If there’s something here we need to be investigating, then we don’t want to tip him off about that. But it’s all conjecture.’ He sighed. ‘Okay, I’ll head back in. Is Helena about?’
‘I’ve seen her around. Shall I tell her you want to talk to her?’
‘I’m not sure “want” is the word,’ McKay said. ‘“Need” might be more accurate. See you shortly.’ He ended the call. The darkness had thickened around him while he’d been talking, and the location suddenly felt very isolated. He looked back over at Crawford’s house which, apart from a couple of rooms at the rear, sat in darkness.
He started the engine and turned to pull back out onto the road.
‘What’s this all about, Alec? Ginny was being very enigmatic, and now you’ve dragged me all the way over here.’ Grant and McKay were in one of the small meeting rooms away from the main office of the serious crimes team.
‘It’s about Bill Emsworth.’
‘Bill? What about him?’
McKay slid his phone across the table. Grant picked it up and studied the image on the screen, then looked up at him in bafflement. ‘What’s this?’
‘It was among a pile of papers I found at Crawford’s house. They were all printouts of bank statements from offshore banks. Most of the statements related to accounts held jointly between Crawford and a small selection of his clients. Or people I assume are his clients. Three people, to be precise. Hamish Forres. Gordon Prebble. And Bill Emsworth.’
‘Is this some kind of pre-Hogmanay wind-up, Alec?’
‘I know I’ve a crap sense of humour,’ McKay said. ‘But even I wouldn’t pull that kind of stunt. It’s genuine enough. That I found them, I mean. I can’t vouch for the documents themselves.’
‘Crawford just left these documents lying around?’
‘That’s another question. It’s possible he did. But it’s also possible that someone left it there for us to find.’
‘Whoever was responsible for his departure, you mean?’
‘I’ve no real answers. Only a lot of questions.’
Grant was still staring at the image on the screen. ‘And these statements for Bill’s accounts are similar to those for the accounts for Forres and Prebble?’
‘Look, Helena, I’m no expert in any of this. They look similar. Even some of the same banks. The amounts here are smaller than in Forres’s and Prebble’s accounts, but the movement of funds is the same.’
‘Still pretty substantial amounts, though,’ she said. ‘By my standards, anyway.’
She was looking slightly shell-shocked, McKay thought, as if she had no idea how to respond to what he was showing her. ‘I’m not drawing any conclusions, Hel. I just felt I couldn’t not tell you.’
‘Shit,’ she said. ‘I mean, yes, you’re obviously right. Thanks.’
‘I need to get them checked out. See if we can find out what they’re telling us.’ He paused. ‘I thought I’d get an informal view first, before we set too many hares running.’
‘We’ve got to do things by the book, Alec. I’m already far too close to this.’
‘Until now, we’ve had no reason to have any concerns about Emsworth. Nobody can criticise you for that.’
‘But now we do have.’
‘It’s still very tenuous. We don’t know the provenance of these documents. We don’t know if they’re genuine. Even if they are, we don’t – or at least I don’t – have a clue about their significance.’
‘You don’t sound as if you’re even convincing yourself, Alec. But, aye, I suppose you have a point.’
‘There’s something else. The main reason why I felt I needed to tell you about this straight away. Whatever the provenance and meaning of these documents, we can’t ignore the fact that Forres and Prebble are both dead. That both were murdered.’
‘You mean Bill might be in danger?’
‘I’ve no idea. I’ve no more idea about that than about any of the rest of this. But we can’t ignore the possibility.’
‘Who’d want to harm Bill? He’s a writer. Nobody cares about them.’
‘If those documents are genuine, he’s a very wealthy writer. We don’t know why Forres and Prebble were killed. We don’t know what’s behind any of this. We can’t assume that Emsworth isn’t at risk.’
Grant was holding her head in her hands. ‘So do we tell him he’s at risk?’
‘That’s another question, isn’t it? If we do have any reason to investigate Emsworth’s finances, we don’t want to tip him off that we’re interested. I don’t know how we’d tell him he might be at risk without explaining why we think that’s the case.’
‘So what do we do?’
McKay had never heard Grant sounding quite so lost. She’d been through numerous tribulations over the years, but even in the most difficult periods she’d always sounded in control, decisive. Now she seemed to have no idea how to respond.
‘I’m so sorry about this, Hel–’
‘I don’t need your sympathy, Alec. I need your help. I’ve only just realised – I mean, now, literally this minute – how much I’ve really invested in this. In Bill, I mean. I really thought…’ She trailed off.
‘We still don’t know there’s any problem with him, Helena. This is all just precautionary.’
‘I still need to recuse myself from all this. I can’t be involved from here on.’
‘Look, Hel. Give me till tomorrow to see what I can find out. If it goes tits up, I’ll take the hit for it. If necessary, I’ll deny I ever told you any of this–’
‘I won’t let you do that, Alec.’
‘If you contradict me, they’ll just think you’re trying to protect me. Who are they going to believe? A lifelong pain in the arse like me or a fine upstanding cop like you? Seriously, Helena, I just want to help. And if it turns out that Emsworth really is a wrong ’un, then there’s not much I can do about that. But I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for no good reason.’
‘So what are you proposing?’
‘First, that you let me look into these bank statements. I know a man who owes me a favour who can give a view as to what these documents tell us. There’s no point in jumping to conclusions before we need to.’
‘What about Bill?’
‘When have you arranged to see him again?’
‘I was due to go over tomorrow for Hogmanay.’
‘My instinct is you just carry on as planned, if you feel able to do that.’
He could sense her hesitating, thinking about the implications of her position. ‘I don’t want to jeopardise what I’ve had with Bill unless I really need to. As you say, if it turns out that he really is involved in something criminal, that’s obviously a different matter. But I can’t just throw all this away for nothing.’
‘That’s the right answer, Hel.’ He hesitated. ‘I know how much this means to you. The truth is we don’t know what’s going on here. Whether Emsworth is culpable in some way, whether he’s a potential victim, or whether he’s really got nothing to do with any of this. Give me a chance to see if I can find out anything definitive about the significance of the bank statements.’
‘What about Bill? What if he is in danger?’
‘I can probably talk the neighbourhood team into keeping his place under observation without giving too much away. But that’s hardly high security. Other than that, I don’t know.’
‘Maybe I should go over there tonight. I’d know to keep alert and call it in if there’s any sign of any problems.’
‘Do you think that’s wise?’
‘I’ve no idea what’s wise any more, Alec. I feel torn in two. But if Bill’s innocent and I were to allow something to happen to him…’
‘It’s got to be your judgement,’ McKay said. ‘I’ll do as much as I can. And if you need me, just call. Any time.’ He rose to his feet. ‘I’ll see what I can do with the documents.’
She was still staring blankly. ‘Thanks, Alec. I appreciate your being straight with me.’
‘I’m not sure I’d appreciate it in your shoes.’
‘Well, you know what I mean. I’m not sure I’m exactly feeling grateful. But I appreciate it was the right thing to do.’
McKay smiled. ‘You’ll forgive me eventually.’
She smiled back, though he could tell it was a struggle. ‘You’ve done worse.’