‘It sounds an awful lot like you killed her, Jack? Wouldn’t you agree?’
‘I would agree,’ says Jack. ‘But that’s just the point, isn’t it? More whisky, gents?’
Viktor and Ron both agree that’s exactly what the doctor ordered. Jack Mason pours the drinks, and settles back again.
‘You’re missing someone,’ says Jack. ‘Someone else involved in my little scheme.’
‘Man? Woman?’ asks Viktor, very casually.
‘One of those, yeah,’ says Jack Mason. If you want someone to resist questioning from a KGB officer, a Cockney isn’t a bad choice, Ron thinks.
‘So this person,’ begins Ron. ‘Probably a fella, let’s face it. They’ve killed Bethany Waites?’
‘Here’s what it is,’ says Jack Mason. ‘The scheme was coming apart. Bethany Waites was all over it – you’ve got to know when to quit? Right?’
‘Crucial,’ says Viktor.
‘I figure I’m covered. Whatever she’s got, she hasn’t got it on me, so I can just shut it down and move on.’
‘But this partner of yours?’
‘My partner was more worried,’ says Jack Mason. ‘Left me in no doubt about that. I hadn’t made any big mistakes, but my partner had. He – I’m going to say “he” but don’t read anything into it, I’ve been in this game a long time – he was worried about me talking, about Heather talking.’
‘You’d never talk,’ says Ron.
‘Never have, never will,’ agrees Jack.
‘You’re talking now, Jack,’ says Viktor, very gently. Jack waves this away.
‘So,’ says Ron. ‘This partner of yours kills Bethany Waites?’
‘Before she caused more trouble,’ says Jack. ‘Killed her, drove to Shakespeare Cliff, pushed the car off. My partner wasn’t the type at all, but he panicked. Happens to the best of us.’
‘But why wasn’t the body in the car?’ asks Viktor. ‘I wonder if you have an explanation for that?’
‘Here’s the thing,’ says Jack Mason. ‘Here’s the big problem, the thing no one’s seeing. My partner comes to me, tells me he’s murdered Bethany Waites, tells me to switch on the news and see if it’s true. Which I do, and it is. I’m not happy.’
‘Who would be?’ says Ron.
‘Who would be, like you say,’ agrees Jack. ‘I’m angry, of course I am, fly off the handle a bit. No one needed to die, we could have walked away, and he gives me a little smile and says, no one’s walking away, and I think he’s going to kill me too. Which is a bit rich, but these things happen.’
Ron and Viktor both nod.
‘Then he says, “You wanna see the body”， and I’m “Wasn’t the body in the car?”， and he’s “No, the body’s buried somewhere safe.”’
‘Jesus,’ says Ron. The whisky is giving him a bit of a headache. The lights blinking out at sea now look cold and lonely.
‘And here’s what he’s done,’ says Jack. ‘He’s killed Bethany, and he’s buried her, and he’s told me exactly where. And, here’s the clever bit, I’ll give him that, he’s buried Bethany with a phone covered in Heather Garbutt’s fingerprints, which has a call history from one of my personal phones. And he’s shot her with a gun that’s buried somewhere else, also covered in Heather’s fingerprints.’
Viktor sits forward. ‘So Bethany is dead, she can meddle no longer. And your partner has framed Heather for the murder, and linked you as an accessory?’