Endgame. Wilna Adriaanse
repeated?”
“I wasn’t on duty but from what I’ve heard she was pushed into a dark panel van, just as a car crashed into another one parked across the street. Apparently her bodyguards were in the other car. They say the car that caused the accident didn’t even try to stop, just sped off. Do you think that’s what might have happened?”
Nick shook his head. “I don’t have the faintest idea. Stranger things have happened, but people aren’t usually kidnapped just like that. Maybe it only looked that way.”
The man nodded. “I also think the guy has seen too many movies.” When he asked if he should make a booking for Saturday, Nick shook his hand and said he would confirm by Thursday.
On his way to the door, Nick turned. “What time did all this happen?”
“I think it was just after midnight.”
On the pavement outside, Nick tried to see if any of the surrounding buildings had CCTV cameras that covered the entrance. He saw one on the roof of a building a few hundred metres further along, walked until he was directly below the camera and tried to estimate how far its reach was. They would have to get hold of the footage, he decided.
“Fuck,” Clive said when they emerged from the lift an hour later and stepped into Allegretti’s living room. “I’ve clearly made a few wrong decisions in my life.”
“It just feels that way the first few times you come here.”
“I can picture myself sitting on this deck.” Then Clive saw the bar against the back wall and stopped in his tracks. “Hell. If you don’t want this job any more, let me know.”
“Didn’t your mother tell you all that glitters isn’t gold?”
Clive shook his head. “She was too busy teaching me how to duck when my dad hit me.”
Nick went straight to Patrice’s living quarters. He was glad to see the door was still locked. In the doorway, he looked at Clive. “Tell me what you see.”
Clive stepped into the room, then took his time looking around. He squatted and his gaze swept over the room. Finally he stood up. “I think there was one shooter and the shot was fired at close range, or there would have been more spatter. Both shooter and victim were probably standing up when the shot was fired. The wounded man lay here for a while before he crawled to the bathroom. Have you looked for the casing?”
“Yes. I found it.”
“Then I doubt it was a professional hit. A professional would have taken the casing along. It was a rush job,” Clive continued. “Not part of the plan.”
“If it was a kidnapping, why did they shoot Patrice in his flat and leave him alive?”
“Maybe he woke up and went to investigate. How long has he been working for Allegretti?”
Nick shook his head. “Patrice works for me. I’m very sure it wasn’t an inside job. Besides, if he was part of the plot, why did they shoot him?”
“He’d served his purpose.”
Nick shook his head. “He wasn’t involved.”
“You won’t be the first to make that mistake.”
Nick nodded. “That may be true, but I’m sure about Patrice.”
“We’re presuming there was someone else in the house. The logical explanation is that Allegretti himself pulled the trigger.”
“The more I think of it, the more I tend to agree. If it’s so, Allegretti must have been desperate. I told you he doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. It bothers me that there’s no record of anyone entering or leaving the premises. Allegretti is no fool, but he doesn’t have the savvy to outsmart a security system like this one.”
Nick led Clive through the kitchen, out through the back door and down the alley to the service entrance.
“The lock hasn’t been tampered with. Whoever came in or out had a key.”
“What is this gate used for?”
“The rubbish is taken out here. Rich people don’t like seeing their own trash. It’s also used for deliveries, and Patrice goes in and out this way, as does the cleaner who comes twice a week.”
“Does the cleaner have a key?”
“No, Patrice lets her in.”
Clive looked at the camera aimed at the gate. “And there’s no footage?”
“Nothing suspicious.”
They turned around in silence and walked back to the kitchen. Next they went through the entire house slowly, without touching anything.
When they reached the flat on the lower level, Clive asked if that was where Ellie had lived.
“Yes.” Nick told him about the night the alarm had been activated on the stairs and how she had flatly denied having left her room.
Clive gave a lopsided smile. “It was probably her. She’s very good at her job.”
“How is she?” Nick kept the question as light as possible.
“I don’t have contact with her. As you probably know, she’s on six months’ leave. After she was discharged from the hospital she left the city.”
Nick was about to say he found it strange that they didn’t have contact, but he thought better of it. It was probably not the best idea to tell your new partner that you thought he was lying.
He showed Clive Friday night’s camera footage. Besides the guards doing their rounds, the only movement in and around the house was when he had dropped Allegretti off just before one on Saturday morning.
While they were waiting for the forensic team Nick made coffee and they sat down in the living room.
“Why are some people never content?” Clive wondered aloud.
“Are you satisfied with your life?”
“I could do with more money, sometimes a little more time for myself, occasionally a little more sex.”
“That’s probably exactly how these people feel. Just a little more of everything.”
Clive nodded slowly. “I suppose you’re right, but from where I’m sitting they’ve more or less hit the jackpot.”
“And from where I’m sitting you’re not doing too badly either.”
Clive laughed. “You’ll have to explain how you came to that conclusion.”
“You seem to manage combining family life with this job. How many guys do you know who can say that?”
“Did you find out about me?”
“Don’t we all?”
“I know you were married twice. I don’t know who got the itch every time.”
Nick smiled. “Is it ever that simple?”
Before Clive could reply, the guards called from below to say there were two men who said they were expected.
They whistled in unison as they stepped out of the lift.
“Fu-u-u-ck!”
Nick looked at the two youngsters. When did they start employing schoolkids, or was he just getting old?
“Close your mouths,” Clive said and pointed at Nick. “Colonel Malherbe of Interpol. Phillips and Mossie. As you can see, I’m forced to take appies these days.”
At first glance, the new arrivals could be taken for twins. They were both fair-haired, wore spectacles, were the same height and had the same narrow faces and slight build. The only distinctive feature was the bum fluff on Phillips’s chin.
The three men