Page 56

“Archer, I said—” Whetford swallowed the rest of his tirade. “Sir.”

He came to his feet.

“What are you doing there, Whetford?” Halberd looked over Whetford’s desk, and James saw there was a book keeper’s book open, with a neat row of numbers down one column.

“Just looking over some evidence,” Whetford said and flicked it closed.

“Archer was quietly waiting for you to finish,” Halberd said. “But I’m hoping he has some updates after the panicked call I got from the Home Office yesterday. I was going to ask for a report later today anyway, so I might as well sit in on the briefing.” He sat down in one of Whetford’s visitors’ chairs without being invited and gestured to James to do the same.

“Home Office?” Whetford asked, and James guessed he hadn’t read his messages yet today. Too busy totting up the amount of backhanders he was getting from blackmailing the various crooks of London in his journal, no doubt.

“Would you like me to go straight to what DI Layman and I did yesterday, sir? Or would you like the full story?” James spoke directly to Halberd.

“Give me the whole context,” Halberd said. “I always find that better.”

Whetford looked like he wanted to demand to know what had happened yesterday, but swallowed his words.

“Certainly.” James inclined his head. “You may be aware that DI Layman and I are coordinating our investigations. He was assigned the murder of Harry Fingers during a robbery at a jewelers on Monday. I was assigned the mysterious murder of a man found in a house in Holland Park, which turned out to be Harry Fingers’ home. The murder weapon was later discovered to be the same in both cases. We’ve subsequently been working on two other incidences, one at another jewelers and one at a post office, which also involved the same gun.”

“I hadn’t heard that.” Halberd perked up. “Someone is on a crime spree.”

“Yes, it looks that way.” James cleared his throat. “And when my bagman and I spent some time at Harry Fingers’ office yesterday, we came across some delicate information.”

“That’s an understatement,” Halberd said. “Blackmail, I heard?”

“It seems that when Harry Fingers broke into a safe, he would take useful information, as well as jewels and money. And we found four packets of that information yesterday. Two turned out to be straight fraud or tax evasion, and one looks like photographs of gems and jewelry that Harry stole through the years, but the fourth was evidence the Russians are blackmailing a member of the House of Lords over an affair he had.” James hadn’t finalized the report yet, and he was glad to be having this discussion with Halberd, because he didn’t know what to include.

“Someone from the Home Office was called over to verify, I hear?” Halberd said.

“We didn’t want to make anything of it if it turned out to be fabricated, sir.” James was glad he and Layman had made the decision together.

“Quite. Very quick thinking,” Halberd said. “Shows cooperation between the services, as well. They owe us one, now, which is always good to have in the back pocket.”

“Was it authentic?” Whetford asked, and James could see he was too surprised to say anything else.

“Apparently.” Halberd answered on his behalf. “And Fraud’s been up to me to say the other two envelopes are dinkum, too. Quite the haul.”

“Unfortunately we found nothing that would help us with the actual investigation, though,” James said. “But we’re going back to Harry Fingers’ house again today, now we know where he likes to hide his important documents.”

“Excellent.” Halberd stood. “Whetford, you won’t mind if I ask Archer to send his report directly to me when it’s done, will you? Because some of this might be sensitive.”

“No, sir.” Whetford had also got to his feet, as had James.

Halberd clapped James on the shoulder. “Good work. Carry on.”

James stood in silence as Halberd left and moved back down to his office.

“Why did I have to hear that from Halberd, and not you?” Whetford hissed.

James pointed to his in tray. “There’s my update, sir. I sent it up yesterday late afternoon.”

Whetford looked down, and his lips formed a thin line. “Fine. Next time, call for something this high level.”

“I did try, sir, but I don’t think you were in.”

“Find a way, Archer. I don’t like looking like a flat-footed fool in front of Halberd.”

James inclined his head. “If that’s all, sir. I need to get going.”