The Profit Motive, page 29
part #2 of Sterling and Mason Series
“Ted said you were here.” He rushed to her chair, but she stopped him with a gesture.
“Don’t please. I’m only just holding it together…”
“Sorry. I hate to see you suffering.”
Daniel pulled a chair up to the desk and flopped into it. “Who’d have imagined Simon…”
Kate wanted to go home, lie down in a darkened room. “You said you wanted to talk before I saw him.”
“Does it matter now?”
“It does to me.”
Daniel took a deep breath and glanced at his hands. “He told me he’d had regression therapy. The treatment took him back to the accident… when Aunty Lorna—” He wrung his hands. “Do you need to hear this?”
Kate couldn’t speak, but nodded. Big tears dropped from the corners of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
“Simon claims you caused the accident and... sorry Kate…” Daniel’s expression beseeched her.
“I need to hear it, Daniel.”
“And you and Oliver agreed to blame him.”
Kate’s breath shuddered. “Why work with Red Dawn to hive off our production?”
“He thought you and Oliver would disinherit him. He wanted to get what he saw as his fair share—”
“That would never have happened.”
“I know, but Simon wasn’t thinking.”
“What I can’t understand is how he died.”
Daniel straightened the creases in his trousers. “He was devastated when Oliver got injured. I doubt he expected Quan Liang to do what he did. The guilt…”
“He told you?”
“Not in so many words. But you didn’t see him, Kate—”
“Zhang told me he killed Simon.” A surge of anger filled Kate with heat.
“Can you trust someone like him? I imagine he gets his kicks from tormenting people.”
Kate didn’t doubt Zhang had killed Simon. Each time she replayed the stabbing convinced her more. “No, he killed Simon.”
Daniel stayed silent for many seconds. “It could have been about money.” He looked embarrassed. “Simon asked me for a hundred grand in cash. I… I told him I didn’t have it. If I had…”
CHAPTER 44
Manchester
Siobhan returned to the car empty-handed, and disappointment clenched Adam’s stomach. She’d either not been able to get hold of Zhang’s phone or had thought better of it. He waited until she fastened her seatbelt.
“Couldn’t you get it?”
“Eddy’s got it, he’ll ring the number when we’re ready. He also confirmed the last call Zhang made on it was after Simon died.”
“I told you.”
“Hmm… doesn’t prove you’re right about who he called.” She started the engine. “It also looks like Kate’s off the hook. The PM shows you ruined Zhang’s shoulder pre-mortem but it could have happened how you claim.”
“So they’re not pursuing it?”
“The report we got from Wenzhou helped. Zhang sounds like a real ‘piece-of-work’,” she said, in a mock American accent.
Another bullet dodged: if they’d prosecuted Kate, he was sure Ludlow would do his best to pin something on him.
“There is something you won’t like. They found correspondence between Fang Jiao and Simon. He suggests they silence his father—”
“He said that?”
“The phrase he used was ‘expunge’.”
“That’s an unusual word to use.” Adam’s memory stirred. “I meant, did he say ‘my father’ or ‘dad’?”
“No, he called him Oliver.”
“We should ask Kate how he referred to his father.”
“I wouldn’t read anything into it. He might have found it easier to distance himself.”
Siobhan parked her car in a visitor’s space. Adam followed her into the reception, still clumsy on his crutch. He leaned against the wall and waited while she spoke to the old guy at the desk. His reaction on seeing her ID confirmed Adam’s view the man was ex-police.
“I’ll let Mr Daniel know you’re here then.”
“No need, just tell me where I can find his office.” Her nervous smile filled Adam with affection. She was sticking her neck out for him on this.
They followed the directions. Everyone they passed seemed subdued. Siobhan stopped outside the door with Daniel Thompson’s name on it.
She rang Eddy and said, “Two minutes,” then knocked on the door. No answer, so she walked in.
The office was far bigger than Kate’s. An ornate antique desk, with an elaborate leather chair behind it, dominated the right side of the room. On the opposite side, a seating area furnished with worn club chairs clustered round an antique fireplace about a century older than the building. They were studying the room when the door opened.
“What are you doing here?” Daniel demanded then, seeing Siobhan, smiled. “Hello, Daniel Thompson, pleasure to meet you.”
“Chief Inspector Quinn.” Siobhan took his hand.
Daniel blinked and his smile faltered for a second before he recovered. “I presume you’re here about the dreadful business with Simon, but I told the other chap—”
A phone chirruped from the depths of the desk.
“Are you going to answer it?” Siobhan said.
He stared at the desk. “They can ring back.”
“It might be important.”
The ringing stopped and Daniel smiled in relief. “So how may I help you, Chief Inspector—”
The ringing started again.
“You’d better take it.”
A look of panic crossed his face, but he walked to the desk, legs moving like a marionette’s with a novice operator. He hesitated before opening a locked drawer. The sound grew louder and died as he took the call. The blood drained from his face as he held out the phone to Siobhan.
“For you,” he whispered and slumped into the chair, as if someone had cut his strings.
Siobhan listened for a moment. “Thanks, Eddy, send them up.” She ended the call. “Can you explain why you were communicating with Zhang?”
Daniel’s features grew animated as ideas occurred then died. He stared into the distance, eyes unfocussed, then shook his head.
“Adam, what are you doing here?” Kate stood in the doorway.
“Ms Hetherington.” Siobhan acknowledged her before returning her attention to Daniel. “Mr Thompson, I’m arresting you on suspicion of being involved in the death of Simon—”
“No!” Kate screamed.
Adam started toward her but she glared at him, her back rigid and fists clenched. Siobhan finished reciting the caution to Daniel. Two uniformed officers appeared in the doorway and, at a signal from the chief inspector, led Daniel from the room. He mouthed ‘sorry’ at a stricken Kate who didn’t respond. Siobhan nodded to her and followed them.
Adam faced Kate. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything—?”
“No!” She blinked. “Thank you, Adam.” The familiar shutter descended, encasing her in armour.
“I’ll see you, then.”
“Adam.”
He stopped in the doorway.
“Could you tell Byron I won’t need him anymore? Ask him to send an invoice.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“And thank you, both of you.”
He gave an embarrassed wave. The lost girl looked back for an instant in what he suspected might be her last appearance. Siobhan waited at the lift and took his hand, giving it a squeeze.
Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
Jie lit a cigarette and stared at the report. It detailed the discovery of a Wenzhou man’s body in a back alley in Jiujiang. The manner of his death made Jie think of Zhang. The man had been dead a week, around the time Zhang disappeared. Jie knew if they checked the records for trains going from Jiujiang to the border, they’d find a man fitting Zhang’s description amongst the passengers. The idea of the killer escaping justice deflated him and he took a deep drag.
A knock at his door roused him from his reverie. “Come.” Tang looked immaculate in her new uniform. Jie stubbed out his cigarette and scrambled to his feet. “Inspector, congratulations.”
Tang took his hand. “Thank you, sir.”
“Sit, sit.” He removed a pile of papers from his visitor’s chair. “You’ll soon outrank me.”
Tang looked embarrassed. “Maybe... You heard about Rong’s promotion.”
The news had depressed Jie for a while, but he’d got over it. “At least he’s no longer in Wenzhou.” And with any luck he’ll never return.
Tang cleared her throat. “We’re having a small party to celebrate and I wondered if you, and your good wife of course…”
Jie smiled. “Nothing would give us more pleasure. Please—”
His phone rang and, giving a wave of apology, he answered it. “Wei?”
“Senior Inspector, Sammy Leung here.”
Jie exchanged greetings with Adam’s uncle. “Is everything okay?”
“Adam asked me to ring. Zhang is dead.”
The news made him frown. “So that’s where he went. What happened?”
“He attacked Adam and Kate with a knife. There was a fight, and she stabbed Zhang in the neck.”
“A hunting dog will eventually lose its life on the mountain.”
“Yes, and it’s not unusual for a general to meet his death in battle.”
Jie asked a few questions but Sammy’s guarded replies told him the fight hadn’t gone exactly as he related it. After promising to pass Jie’s regards on to Adam and his friends, Sammy ended the call.
“Bad news?” Tang said.
“On the contrary.” Jie told her. “So when’s this party?” They now had two reasons to celebrate.
Manchester
Kate couldn’t see the armed police guards outside Oliver’s hospital room and a surge of panic made her heart race. Then she remembered. She stopped outside the room and peered through the vision panel. Abigail sat at the head of the bed, holding Dad’s hand.
Kate pushed the door open and Abigail jumped, alarm making her eyes wide, until she gave a smile of relief. Grief had left its marks on Kate’s beautiful baby sister. They hugged in silence and, dragging a chair to the other side of the bed, Kate sat and took Oliver’s hand.
“How’s he been?” Kate said.
“Ask him yourself.”
The hand she held squeezed and Oliver’s eyes fluttered open. A surge of affection filled her with warmth. She studied the two most important people in her life. She’d always said she would do anything to defend her family. Now she knew how far she’d go. Nobody would hurt them again.
*****
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my Dad, Ephraim who taught me that men can and do read fiction and gave me his wholehearted support when I started writing.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing is by its nature a solitary activity but producing a book is a team effort.
I want to thank the members of my writing group, SMWW, here in South Manchester, whose continued support and feedback improves my writing.
Thank you to my editors Richard Bradburn who gave me valuable insight on improving the manuscript and C J Harter who applied the final polish.
The support and encouragement of my family and friends is also much appreciated.
And finally, thank you Tricia, for believing in me and encouraging me at every step, being my first reader and editor, and unstintingly giving me time when I demanded it.
A NOTE TO THE READER
Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my novel. I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Apart from letting authors know what we’re getting right – or wrong – reviews help other readers when they’re making decisions on what to read.
The idea for this novel came as a result of a business trip to Wenzhou in the 1990s. A potential supplier took me to ‘their’ factory which looked remarkably like the one an existing supplier had taken me to the previous day. The staff I’d met on my last visit looked suitably embarrassed, but I let my ‘host’ show me round. He even took me to a production-line making my own sunglasses. I subsequently discovered his factory left a lot to be desired, and declined to use him.
When writing about the police in China, I’ve taken a few liberties, including having a woman detective, Tang. At the time this was set, 2001, there were no female detectives in China. But this is my story.
Although the main characters are Adam and Byron, I hope you’ve enjoyed the company of the others. Let me know if you’d like to read more about any of them. I’m keen to hear from you. Please feel free to contact me through my Facebook page, via Twitter or through my website. If you join my mailing list you will be kept abreast of what’s happening with my writing.
David Beckler
MASON AND STERLING SERIES
This is the second novel in the Mason & Sterling series, although each story is a stand-alone which can be read without having to read any of the others, some of you might want to read the series in order.
Forged in flamesNovella set in 1996
The Money TrapNovella set in 1996
BrotherhoodNovel set in 1998
The Profit MotiveNovel set in 2001
Published by Long Stop Books.
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United Kingdom
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Copyright © David Beckler, 2019
David Beckler has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN:
First Edition: December 2019
David Beckler, The Profit Motive
