Page 143 of Better the Devil

‘Glad you cleared that up.’

Dave half-smiled, acknowledging the joke. ‘The guy you know, the bank manager, you reckon his bank has read access to this wallet?’

Fleck straightened up, raising his hands like he was offering his unconditional surrender. ‘No idea. Like I said, he didn’t actuallysayvery much. He couldn’t. He can’t. Not without us going through official channels. But if you’re asking if I got that impression? Yes. He said’—the sergeant corrected himself—‘heimpliedfunds were coming into the wallet, so if that’s the case, then presumably he can see it, aye.’

‘Right. That’s what I thought,’ Dave said. ‘But that doesn’t really match up with what I’m seeing. There’s a shitload in this already, but nothing new coming in.’

Fleck bent to study the screen again, eyes scanning left and right all the way down the page.

‘Multiple wallets, maybe?’ he suggested.

‘Must be,’ Dave conceded. ‘Which would mean…’

‘She’s hiding something,’ Fleck concluded.

‘Reckon you can try squeezing your bank manager fella a bit more?’ Dave asked. ‘See if he canimplyanything else?’

Fleck winced, not relishing the thought. ‘He was already pretty pissed off when I spoke to him earlier.’ He checked his watch. ‘Bank’ll be shut, but I should have his home number somewhere. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though.’

Dave scratched at his chin. ‘Maybe leave it and see what Hamza or Logan say?’

The sergeant liked that plan. ‘Good call.’

He straightened up and ran a hand through his thinning hair. It was still damp from the rain.

‘Anything else come up while I was out?’

Dave’s fingers resumed their dance across the keys.

‘No, not really. Oh! No, wait. Aye. Bosco Maximuke was abducted.’

‘Abducted?’ Fleck frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

Dave shrugged. ‘He was grabbed and bundled into a van by a couple of big lads, apparently.’

‘Jesus Christ! When? Do we know where they took him?’

‘Nope.’

‘Well… did they get a description?’

‘Aye,’ Dave said. ‘“Couple of big lads.”’

‘That’s it? That’s all we’ve got?’

‘No, we’ve also got “van,”’ Dave countered. ‘So, you know, that’s something.’

The sergeant looked over at the window, and at the city lights twinkling beyond it. ‘What the hell’s happening out there?’

‘Not a bloody clue,’ declared a voice from the doorway.

Ben Forde rushed into the room, waving a scrap of paper like it was a proclamation from God.

‘But maybe this’ll help us figure it out!’ He slammed the paper down on Dave’s desk. ‘Number plate. That’s who grabbed Bosco.’

‘Nice!’ Dave said, switching tabs on his computer and navigating to the DVLA database.

The phone on his desk rang before he had a chance to log in. Fleck snatched up the paper and hurried to another terminal, while Dave answered the call.