Page 45 of The Killer’s Mark

Poe sighed. Ignored the stupidity. Thought about what the NCA being here meant. They weren’t interested in Mark Buckby, that was for sure. He was a pornographer. Probably skirted around the edges, but he wasn’t a player. That left two people – Océane Blue and Vincent du Buk. Three if he included Esmerée. Susan had said that du Buk was clean but the FBI were heading up his murder as it fell under financial crime. The NCA was the British equivalent of the FBI. Poe doubted that was a coincidence.

He needed more information. Which meant he had to give a little. See where their questions led. Stupid interviewers – and Mutton Chops was clearly a stupid interviewer – gave away too much with their questions. Told you where their interests lay.

‘I won’t tell you who hired me,’ he said. ‘And I won’t tell you what Mark Buckby told me yesterday.’

‘That’s not your decision to—’

‘But I will tell you that when I was an hour out of London today, Mark Buckby called me. Said he’d spoken to someone about the case I’m working on and asked if I could meet him at his house. This person had agreed to talk to me. Buckby said he had new information. I got off the train at the first stop and caught the next train back to London. I got a cab from Euston and arrived at his just after four p.m. The door was unlocked so I let myself in. I found him in his kitchen. I immediately called the police and waited for them outside. And I agree, he had been tortured, and it was for information. A punishment beating would have targeted more parts of the body. This is all I can tell you, because this is all I know.’

‘What was the new information?’

‘He didn’t tell me.’

‘Who was the new source?’

‘He didn’t tell me.’

Mutton Chops snorted. ‘Yeah, that happens to me all the time, that does. I’m on my way home when a cryptic call from a pornographer gets me to ditch my nice cosy first-class ticket so I can haul my sorry ass back to London.’

‘Then you know,’ Poe said.

Susan Hawksworth hid a smile.

‘I’m calling the boss,’ the second man said. ‘Telling her Poe is involved in a sadistic murder. See if she’ll authorise his detention for ninety-six hours.’

Poe smiled politely. ‘She won’t.’

‘You seem very sure of yourself, Mr Poe.’

‘I am.’

‘Do you want to explain why?’

‘Because I’ve done nothing wrong. And since you know I’ve done nothing wrong, if you want to get an extension you’ll have to lie to your boss. And when I sue the NCA for wrongful arrest, it’ll be her I name, not you. I know your boss. She’s ambitious but she plays with a straight bat. I imagine she already knows you have me in custody.’

‘I doubt that very much.’

‘Do you know who I informed of my arrest?’

‘No.’

‘Then you don’t know anything.’

‘We are not letting you go until you’ve answered our questions.’

‘Then you’re not letting me go,’ Poe said. ‘Which puts you in an awkward position. You’re not letting me go and you can’t detain me.’

A fourth person entered the interview room. A small man. Had a stoop, like he used to carry coal for a living. He handed Mutton Chops a file and left the room.

‘That’ll be the MIT report on the taxi driver,’ Poe said. ‘Probably CCTV footage from the train as well. It’ll confirm everything I’ve told you. I wasn’t in London when Mark Buckby was killed, and unless you have evidence tying me to a contract killing, which doesn’t exist because that’s not what happened here, you have nothing to hold me on.’

Mutton Chops glanced at the top document. Poe caught a glimpse of it in the reflection on his colleague’s glasses. Reading upside-down and back-to-front was an underappreciated skill in Poe’s opinion. The document had an NCA header, so it wasn’t the MIT report on his movements. He couldn’t read anything else, but they didn’t know that. He decided to take a punt. Move things along.

‘Who’s Vincent du Buk?’ he asked. ‘And what’s Organised Crime Command’s interest in him?’

Mutton Chops looked up. Realised what had happened and glared at his colleague. He shut the file. ‘Idiot,’ he snapped. Then to Poe, ‘Vincent du Buk is not your concern.’

Poe gestured at the interview room. ‘I beg to differ. I believe you’ve made him my concern. So why don’t we pool our resources? See if we can fill in each other’s blanks?’