Show Me the Sky - Nicholas Hogg [80]
‘Roberts would’ve put Meg up to it. He must’ve been desperate before the Nash ID revelation. What he doesn’t know is that I have a bite, the tugging fish. If my wife or Roberts knew this I think they’d realise any form of persuasion was fruitless. I’m either reeling in Billy K or letting him drag me under.’
‘You just called Meg your wife.’
‘Ex. Don’t be like that, Anna.’
‘I’ve missed you, and I’m not sure the feeling has been reciprocated.’
‘It has, I promise. Just that, I have something here. Could be imagination. I might be chasing a ghost. Then again, maybe I’m breathing down his neck.’
‘Who, Jim?’
‘Billy K.’
‘You serious?’
‘Serious enough to be shot at.’
‘Tell me you’re joking.’
‘Well, it wasn’t Billy K holding the gun, unfortunately.’
‘I want to meet you at Heathrow. We’ll go away somewhere, on the coast, clear our heads.’
‘Not the airport.’
‘You don’t want to see me?’
‘I do want to see you, of course I do. But, well, for a start it’s odd that Roberts has left this wide open. I don’t understand his thinking.’
‘He doesn’t want the circus of the media. You said yourself.’
‘I don’t know. Something else.’
‘And so what if he is waiting for you? Tell him what you have. A lead. That’s dedication.’
‘I think they call it insubordination.’
‘You’ll come and see me?’
‘You know I will.’
‘Promise?’
‘You trust me?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘You trust me not to put you in danger, and that I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t myself?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I need you to do something.’
‘Break the law for you?’
‘Detective work.’
‘It’s about Roberts, isn’t it?’
‘Listen, I need to know what he’s planning so I stay a step ahead.’
‘And?’
‘Whatever Roberts is up to, he’s arranged it outside of the MET. Mining his account log would show nothing. We need his mobile history. No way you can access his records without his actual clearance, so you have to go directly for his phone. And I think I know how.’
‘Jim, are you serious?’
‘Just listen. If the world were crashing down around his ears he’d still play squash at the Officer’s Club on a Thursday afternoon – today. He’ll be on court 2 p.m. sharp. Take along passport photos and your MET ID. Join up as a member. But first go into my desk. In the bottom drawer there’s an old-fashioned card reader. When Roberts is in the morning operation’s meeting step into his office, find his gym membership card and swipe it with the reader. Take the print to Begum Electronics on Borough High Street, and they’ll transfer this information on to a new card. Anna, are you still with me?’
‘I should have you sectioned.’
‘You know the gifted are mad.’
‘Go on.’
‘Take this fake card to the gym. Sign up as a member at reception to get your own card. If you swipe the fake on entry the photo will come up as Roberts, so don’t. Then slip into the men’s changing rooms. Roberts’s locker is top row immediately right. Insert the fake, open the door and grab his phone, then whip out his SIM and copy the history.’
‘Good God, Jim.’
‘No sweat. If you get caught, use the excuse of playing me along, you know, drawing me into a trap for Roberts. He’ll buy that. You’re very believable.’
‘And?’
‘Beautiful.’
‘And?’
‘Intelligent.’
‘You can stop there. I’ll give you time to think of some more adjectives before we meet. Anyway, this call might be monitored.’
‘You’re a star. Really. Anna, I want this done with, Billy K case closed, so I have time for you, us.’
‘You better get that plane, then. And I better get some passport photos. Where to meet?’
‘I think you know where.’
‘Does this happen to be a little place by the sea?’
‘Where the waves comes crashing against the harbour wall.’
‘Tomorrow night?’
‘Tomorrow night.’
I have no checked luggage to collect, nothing. My half-empty holdall swings by my side as I walk past the