Caroline Law was due feedback from me. But what did I have to tell her? Opinion on the missing doctor was mixed and none of it matched her vision of the brother she had raised and clearly idolised. Even Alile, the Malawian nurse who was prepared to go out with Law because she thought standing up to the hospital was brave, admitted he had a reputation for being a creep.
A creep with a conscience. An attractive combo, apparently.
Colin McMillan saw his colleague differently and wasn’t a fan. In the Cross Keys, he’d been at pains to stress his complaint about Wallace Maitland’s competency was made independently. It seemed important to him. He’d been irritated when I’d suggested otherwise. Later, I understood why. While he was prepared to concede Law was a good enough professional, even admiring – at least initially – the stand he’d taken after Margaret Cooper’s surgery went wrong, he hadn’t liked him and said so. Chalk and cheese. Two very different characters arriving at the same conclusion about a reckless colleague.
Andrew Geddes hadn’t come back on the credit cards used in London. I assumed because there was no new financial activity to report. And I’d fared no better on the seventh floor of Francis Fallon where James Hambley had been guarded and superior and told me little about Law but plenty about himself.
All in all, it boiled down to a whole lot of nothing.
Caroline Law wasn’t a woman who let the grass grow under her feet; she’d proved it before and did again now. The door opened and in she came with Dean as usual lurking in the background. Whatever her weaknesses, lack of assertiveness wasn’t one of them.
‘I’m disappointed. I expected to hear from you.’
No apology for barging in. No ‘Mr Cameron’. We were past that.
‘Take a seat. I was just about to call.’
I may as well have said the cheque was in the post.
‘We judge ourselves by our intentions. Unfortunately, the world judges by our actions. Are you any closer to knowing what has happened to my brother?’
‘I wish I had better news. Any news even. But Gavin seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.’
I brought her up to speed on everything I’d done, leaving out the criticisms she wouldn’t want to hear. It wasn’t enough to satisfy her. She wanted more and there wasn’t more.
‘So that’s it? That’s the end of it?’
‘No, I’m still working.’
‘The woman who accused him of raping her, who is she?’
‘Francis Fallon won’t comment.’
‘And you accepted that? Surely I’m entitled to be told?’
‘And you will be if it becomes a police case. We should be grateful it hasn’t gone that far.’
Caroline was a difficult lady to please. ‘Nevertheless, I’d prefer to know.’
We were off the point. I’d seen her in tears before; she was heading there again. Dean gently massaged her shoulders and whispered reassurance. Caroline couldn’t see his face. Just as well.
‘So what am I supposed to do? Pretend Gavin never existed? Forget about him?’
‘I’ll keep going. He might turn up. People do.’
‘And in the meantime?’
I didn’t have an answer for her.
She put her hand in her bag and threw something onto the desk.
‘What’s this?’
‘The key to the flat. Got it from the cleaner.’
‘I’ve already been there. We went together.’
‘Go again. I’ll come with you.’ Caroline was back in the land of crazy expectations.
‘Ms Law…Caroline…I don’t think you understand.’
She wasn’t listening. ‘It’s simple. Start again. From the beginning.’
‘Look. I said I’d keep going. But…’
She didn’t let me finish. ‘This may be just another case for you. For me it’s my whole life.’
Dean hadn’t contributed a word to the conversation. I wouldn’t be getting any help from that direction. It didn’t stop me trying.
‘Dean. Speak to her.’
He shook his head. I was on my own.
‘If it’s money, don’t worry. We’ll pay whatever it costs.’
‘It isn’t. It’s about false hope. I’m not done with the case. There are still a couple of avenues left to explore. You have to accept I can’t find what isn’t there. I’m not a magician.’
‘Yes, but…
‘Gavin might not want to be found. Or he’s on the run because the allegation against him is true. Maybe he did it. Are you ready for that? Ready to accept he’s a rapist?’
I was trying to shock her and succeeded. Dean nodded approval. I was doing them both a favour and he knew it.
I lifted the key. ‘Okay, but you’re not coming with me. And I’m warning you to prepare yourself. Your brother may just show up or I might find him. Either way it could be the beginning of a new nightmare. What he’s accused of is very serious and disappearing doesn’t look like the action of an innocent man, does it?’
At that moment, though she was getting what she wanted, Caroline Law hated me.
‘The hospital will protect its reputation at all costs. Don’t forget, Gavin’s the main witness for the Coopers against it and Maitland. Without him, the case will fail.’
Dean said, ‘Do you think Francis Fallon has something to do with this?’
‘Anything’s possible. I’m pointing out how complicated it is, and – however it turns out – there might not be a happy ending.’
Caroline’s expression wouldn’t have been out of place on Easter Island. Suggesting her darling brother was less than perfect marked me as an enemy. ‘I’m not a child. Please don’t treat me like one.’ She stood. ‘Dean, take me home.’
At the door, she fired a final question, dipped in acid. ‘Will I have to chase you for an update or will you let me know this time?’
‘I’ll be in touch.’
Two minutes later Pat Logue arrived. ‘That the sister? Her face could curdle milk.’ He drew air in through his teeth. ‘Be a brave man who’d take a broken pay packet home to her. Bring her tea wallah with her, did she?’
‘Partner.’
‘Yeah. Junior partner by the look of him.’
He sat down and drummed his fingers on his knee, obviously ill at ease. Pat Logue wasn’t backward at coming forward. I was used to these visits. Usually they involved money. An advance, as he liked to call it. This was a different Patrick.
‘I need to speak to you. Got a problem.’
My guess was he’d tossed a coin – and I’d lost. ‘Speak away.’
‘It’s personal. Man to man.’ He hesitated, reaching for the words and not finding them. ‘I’m havin’ trouble.’
‘Kind of trouble?’
‘With…the one-eyed snake.’
At first I didn’t understand what he was telling me. Then I did and held my hands up to stop him giving details that might scar a more sensitive mind. ‘Hold it! When you said personal I thought you meant it was a secret.’
‘It is.’
‘Patrick, I’m not qualified to help with this. You need to see a doctor. You and Gail have been married a long time, involve her. She’ll be sympathetic.’
‘Gail doesn’t know.’
I wasn’t following. ‘So if Gail doesn’t know how is it a problem?’
‘It’s in the early stages.’
Very early, if his wife hadn’t noticed.
‘Want to nip it in the bud before it gets a hold. Thought I could talk to you…you know…maybe…compare things.’
‘Whatever else, that won’t be happening. If there really is a problem, my advice is to discuss this with somebody who understands. No need to be embarrassed. Sexual difficulties are common.’
‘What will I say?’
‘Explain what’s going on. Describe the symptoms.’
He was brightening. ‘Just say it?’
‘Right.’
‘In my own words.’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Reptile dysfunction.’
Apart from mail on the mat inside the door, Gavin Law’s flat hadn’t changed. Based on the stale smell, nobody had been here. I opened a window to let air in and stood in the middle of the lounge, studying, for the second time, where Caroline’s brother lived. On my previous visit the décor had struck as a deliberate attempt to impress. Laid-back and up-market. The kind of place young women might find appealing and, from what I’d heard, there had been plenty of those.
I wandered through the empty rooms, opening drawers and looking in cupboards, discovering nothing. Wasting energy on a dead end so I could tell Caroline Law I’d tried. Great detective work, it wasn’t.
Ten minutes later, I was back on the street and heading to my car. It hadn’t been a complete bust. The mail included two letters from British Telecom: phone bills. When Law left he’d taken his mobile, and although he wasn’t answering now I was about to find out who he had spoken to in the hours before he dropped out of sight.
Pat Logue was halfway through a pint and gave a doleful nod when he saw me. Given his problem, I could have suggested he kicked the booze on the head for a while to see if it made a difference to his “reptile dysfunction.” Somehow that little experiment hadn’t occurred to him. Too radical.
In the office, I put Gavin Law’s mail on the desk and took another look. There were three circulars from charities, an electricity bill, two from BT and a card with a nativity scene and South African stamps from somebody called Sonia that hadn’t made it in time for Christmas.
I’d pass them on to his sister but not before I checked out the phone bills. The landline was unused – no calls had been made from it – the mobile was another story: a lot of calls though only to the middle of December. No bloody good. I buzzed the bar and asked Patrick to come up.
‘Something to take your mind of things.’ I passed the BT bills to him. ‘We can forget the landline. It’s the mobile traffic I’m interested in. Get me a record of every call between then and now.’
‘Doesn’t your pal normally do this for you?’
He meant Andrew Geddes.
‘Andrew isn’t in a good place right now. Better not to ask him for anything. You can handle it, can’t you?’
‘’Course. Just wondered why you were coming to me.’
On his way out I said, ‘And don’t worry about that other thing.’
‘Which other thing? Oh, you mean the horizontal hokey-cokey? All good things come to an end.’
‘Doesn’t have to be like that. Had an idea.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Cut back the drinking. Worth a try.’
He wasn’t impressed. ‘No offence, Charlie. I’m worried. So if you haven’t got a serious suggestion, say nothing. Know what I’m talkin’?’