Midnight Runner - Jack Higgins [61]
Roper moved to a bench piled with electronic devices and got to work. Dillon found the whiskey bottle and two glasses and poured him and Quinn one each. They sat side by side on the window seat.
Dillon said, "What do you intend to do?"
"I intend to meet with Rashid and Dauncey."
"Are you certain about that?"
"Oh, yes." Quinn was calm. "Don't worry, Sean, I won't have a gun in my pocket, however much I'd like to. There are other ways."
Roper turned his wheelchair. "One pen and one tape." Before Dillon could move, Quinn took them. "Mine, I think. Many thanks, Major."
"My pleasure." He said to Dillon, "Let me know what's happening, won't you?"
T hey found Ferguson at Cavendish Place, and when they went in, Hannah was seated at his side, going through a batch of papers.
Ferguson said, "Things okay at Oxford?"
"Well, you could say it was a revealing experience," Dillon told him.
Hannah frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'll leave it to the Senator."
It was Ferguson's turn to frown. "Quinn?"
"Before I explain, I'd like to raise a question. Superintendent, you're a serving police officer. What you're going to hear now is evidence of criminal conduct, but it's my business. If you can't treat it in confidence, then I'd prefer you to leave--and no offense intended."
Hannah looked shocked, but Ferguson stayed calm. "The Superintendent is seconded to my department and is subject to the restrictions of the Official Secrets Act. What's said in here stays in here." He turned to Hannah. "Please confirm that."
Hannah looked troubled but said, "Of course, sir."
Ferguson turned back to Quinn. "So, what have you got?"
"In Alan Grant's mailbox, we found a pen."
"A secret recording pen," Dillon put in.
Quinn held the tape up. "Major Roper has just made a copy for me that enhances the sound quality. You'll find it interesting."
Ferguson said, "Superintendent?"
Hannah got up, took the tape from Quinn, and went and inserted it in the cassette player on the corner of the sideboard. When she switched it on, it was loud and clear.
"There are three pieces of candy in there, chocolates," Rupert Dauncey said. "Each has an Ecstasy tablet inside..."
When they were done, Hannah said, "That's one of the most cold-blooded things I've ever heard."
"A bastard of the first order," Ferguson said.
Hannah carried on. "With that evidence, the police will be able to arrest him at once."
"And charge him with what? Murder? No. Manslaughter? No. A good lawyer would claim that all Dauncey intended was to get my daughter into trouble to embarrass me. At the worst, he might be charged with contributing to her death, but I'm not even confident of that."
"But there's much more to it, Senator, you know there is."
"Of course I do. But with Rashid's resources, how do I know he'll get more than a slap on the wrist? Dauncey could say he was sorry, that his personal antipathy had taken things too far, and what kind of sentence would he draw? Come on, you tell me."
"I will," Dillon put in. "And you're right. The tape's damaging, but it's not enough."
"And I couldn't put any of the background into evidence, any of the history of the Rashids and the President. All the events involving you people are classified."
Hannah said, "So Dauncey and Rashid get away with it?"
"I didn't say that. If necessary, I'd have no hesitation in taking Rupert Dauncey's life myself." There was silence, and then he added, "But I have other ideas. I'm going to South Audley Street to confront them now. Dillon, are you coming with me?"
"I'm your man," Dillon said.
Ferguson sighed and got up. "Then I suppose I'd better come, too, as the voice of sanity." He turned to Hannah, "Not you, Superintendent. I have a hunch it would be better if you weren't there, Official Secrets Act or not."
L uke delivered them to the Rashid house, where a maid in a black dress and white apron answered the door.
"Is the Countess at home?" Ferguson asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Be kind enough to tell her that General Ferguson, Senator Quinn, and Mr. Dillon would appreciate