Thaddeus Jones was seething; he was barely able to maintain his accent. ‘Mr Mann, Mr Sokolov, would you kindly explain to me why the body was disposed of in this way? Do you not watch the television? Read crime fiction? Bodies buried in woods are always discovered. Men walking dogs. Children. Gypsies. The Source assures me that the NCA are already involved. So, we are now faced with a most difficult tidy-up operation. Exactly why did you break from procedure? The nautical route has always proved to be efficient in the past, has it not?’
‘Mr Jones, we regret to say that neither of the boats was available, on account of them being already at sea for vacation purposes. And Mr Sokolov and myself were advised this ’ad to be an emergency disposal. Already dead. And in a bloody state, they said. So, we ’ad to do some quick thinking and, because of ’is time in ’iding, Mr Sokolov was familiar with the burial site. And ’ad it not rained so ’eavily and the riverbank ’adn’t fallen into the river, the local wildlife would of thoroughly seen to the remains before they was discovered. Badgers and foxes and the like. Voles.’
‘Yes, yes. Well, there’s nothing to be done now, other than to sit this one out. Have you made any progress with this computer man, Perrin? Confirmed that he is the administrator?’
‘We ’ave, Mr Jones. Apparently, Mr Robert Perrin’s official residence is down in Devon, but we’ve discovered that ’e spends arf ’is time living in Surrey under the hassumed name of Jonah Royston. And ’is other woman that lives in Surrey ’as this mornin’ informed us that Mr Royston is in ’orspital ’aving broken ’is skull.’
Thaddeus Jones tapped his fingers together. ‘Well, make sure it doesn’t mend until we’ve worked out what to do about him. Surrey, you say?’
‘Yes, Mr Jones.’