THE MOST important thing about working with the police is to act like you’re working for them. Know your place. Sholto had always intended to ram that lesson home but didn’t get round to it in time, instead having to watch as he and Darian were dragged into battle with Challaid Police’s rotten anti-corruption unit and sort of won. Since then Sholto had been careful to make sure he mentioned the value of deference toward the good people of Challaid Police at least once a day, twice if the opportunity came along.
As they drove toward Meteti Road and Cnocaid police station Sholto said to Darian, “Just you remember not to get chippy with her, no matter what she says about Vinny.”
Sholto did what he always did when he was trying to talk and drive at the same time, which was to slow down, and he wasn’t winning any time trials to begin with.
Darian said, “You concentrate on the road now and I promise I’ll concentrate on keeping my mouth shut at the station if we make it there alive.”
“I don’t know why you always criticize my driving, it teaches you patience.”
As if to dispute the point an irate driver, which could describe most motorists in Challaid, who was stuck behind them, sounded his horn and Sholto was spurred to put his foot down. The drive to the station still took longer than necessary and the adventure of a flustered Sholto trying to reverse the Fiat into a narrow parking space in the station car park could rival any theme park for intensity.
Darian said, “That wouldn’t make a good impression, reversing right into some detective’s car. Might even be DS MacNeith’s.”
“You know, I’m becoming convinced that there are times when you’re not even trying to help.”
They went in through the back of the station and waited while a sulky desk sergeant called DS MacNeith to come down and retrieve her guests. When she did she looked about as thrilled as her colleague by their arrival, but showed them into a cold interview room where they sat across the desk from her like a couple of obviously guilty suspects.
She said, “So what have you found out about the car?”
Sholto said, “We found out that it isn’t a car anymore, it’s a pile of scrap metal and some reused parts. A man took it to a garage and had it broken up on Saturday, less than twenty-four hours after she went missing.”
“Do you have a description of this man?”
“Tall, white, late twenties, early thirties, probably local accent. That’s about it I’m afraid, not exactly pinpointing the target.”
She looked at Darian and said, “Do you think PC Reno could pass for early thirties?”
“He could, but so could tens of thousands of others in this city. There’s a chance it wasn’t the person who took her, if she’s been taken. It might be a third party the car was passed on to afterward. Some insurance setup, perhaps.”
At the mention of an insurance scam DS MacNeith gave a little twitch. Darian spotted it and said, “Are you looking at an insurance angle? Was there something to do with the insurance on that car we should know?”
“Not that you should know, but I’ll tell you. It was involved in a minor accident out on Kidd Street a couple of months ago, no one hurt, no great damage done. We didn’t connect the two events.”
“So she claimed insurance on the car?”
“Not on her own policy, that was the thing. The owner of the other car picked up the tab on his, or theirs, to be more exact. The car was owned by the Sutherland Bank, used exclusively by Harold Sutherland, one of the vice-chairmen, although our record of the crash shows one of his staff was driving it and he was in the back at the time. We’ve checked all her financial records and she made no personal claim on the car, although there was a receipt for the repairs the bank’s insurers paid for.”
“But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a scam here.”
“It also doesn’t mean there was.”
“Let’s say Harold Sutherland offered to pay all the expenses because his driver was at fault and she thought it would be a breeze to swindle him out of some money, pretend the car had been much more badly damaged than it seemed. Maybe she claims a fortune, he smells a decomposing rat and gets the bank security people to investigate so she does a runner. They can be scary bastards, those security people.”
“So who dumped the car for her?”
“A friend. A lover. Could have been anyone that was in on it with her.”
“I know what you’re thinking, Mr. Ross, you’re thinking that if she was trying to hoover the wallet of a Sutherland family member and ran away to hide of her own accord then the next person you want to speak to is a member of the Sutherland family. I know PC Reno hired you and he’s your friend, but take my advice as someone smarter than both of you. Don’t interfere any further in a police investigation. Some of us in this station have goodwill for Douglas Independent Research for forcing rehabilitation of the anti-corruption unit, but don’t assume it will stretch to the end of my tether.”
Sholto jumped in and said, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, we’re not going to chase Harold Sutherland, not at all. We’ll stay well out of the way of smarter people than us, won’t we, Darian?”
The kick under the table Sholto gave him was neither subtle nor necessary, and Darian said, “I won’t do anything to get in the police investigation’s way. You have my word.”
They left the station having delivered their update to DS MacNeith. Sholto led the way and neither of them said a word until they were back in the car and had driven along the side of the building and back out onto Meteti Road.
Sholto said, “I wish you wouldn’t lie to the police like that.”
“I wish you wouldn’t make me. And I wish you wouldn’t kick me.”
“Too good an opportunity to miss. So what are you already plotting?”
“I’m going to talk to Vinny and he’s going to help me talk to a Sutherland.”