‘So what did Kooi have about him that made Leeson so keen to use him instead of someone else even though he made a mistake?’
‘I don’t know,’ Victor admitted, ‘but we need to work it out before Leeson brings it up. Otherwise, this is all over.’
TWENTY-FIVE
There had been a time when the humble public telephone was never more than a street or two away in any western city. Though those days were long gone, they hadn’t yet disappeared entirely. The next morning Victor found a pay phone near Charing Cross station and inserted a handful of coins into the slot, punching in the number with the knuckle of his right index finger.
Muir had requested to be present for the call. She’d wanted it played through a speakerphone, and recorded and traced. Victor had politely declined.
Electronic blips and clicks sounded through the receiver before the dial tone began. It rang for five seconds before the line connected.
A male voice he didn’t recognise asked, ‘How old was the Scotch?’
‘Twenty-four years.’
‘Which seat did you sit in?’
‘Right side rear.’
Silence. It lasted eighteen seconds.
Then Leeson’s voice said, ‘How nice to speak to you again, Mr Kooi.’
‘Pleasure is all mine.’
‘Thank you so much for calling.’
‘No problem,’ Victor said. ‘But I didn’t think I would be hearing from you again after how we parted company.’
‘Ah, yes. Please accept my apologies for the abrupt nature of that conversation’s ending.’
‘No problem,’ Victor said again. ‘I don’t imagine you are used to people saying no to you.’
‘Very true, Mr Kooi. Though there are salient facts you are not privy to at this moment that affected my response. I shall explain all in good time. But before we reach that point I do hope there are no hard feelings between us.’
‘I’m a hard man to offend. And besides, I make sure my professional life has no bearing on my emotional state. And vice versa.’
‘Is that right?’ Leeson asked, and Victor detected there was more to the question than just the obvious.
‘No hard feelings,’ Victor assured Leeson as he watched the world outside the phone booth. Not for curiosity’s sake, but because a phone booth presented the kind of confinement and risk Victor preferred to avoid.
‘Tremendous,’ Leeson said. ‘I’m so pleased to hear you say that, Mr Kooi, because I would like to offer you employment.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘You don’t seem particularly surprised to learn I want to hire your services.’
‘Like you,’ Victor replied, ‘I’m good at hiding what I’m really thinking.’
Leeson chuckled. ‘Touché.’
A series of horns sounded in the street. A black cab had performed an illegal U-turn, blocking traffic going in the opposite direction in order to pick up a fare.
‘What’s the job?’ Victor asked.
‘I prefer not to discuss such delicate matters on the telephone, as I’m sure you can appreciate.’
‘Yet we’re speaking on one now.’
‘I thought it both necessary and polite to communicate with you directly, so I might assure you of my intentions. I doubt you would have agreed to another faraway meeting after how the first ended. And emails can be so very impersonal when one doesn’t want to leave a detailed record of intent.’
Victor inserted some more coins. The call charges for a foreign mobile number were rapidly draining his credit. ‘Where would you like to meet this time?’
‘I thought perhaps you might like to suggest somewhere.’
‘So I can be assured of your intentions?’
Another chuckle. ‘Something of that ilk, yes. How would you feel about somewhere hot?’
‘The ambient temperature is perhaps the least important factor to me.’
‘Then why don’t we get some sun while we talk? I could use a little colour.’
‘Sure.’ He paused as if he needed to think. ‘How about Gibraltar?’
‘An especially fine choice.’
‘Glad you approve. How about next Tuesday?’
‘As you decided upon the location, I would prefer to elect a date and time.’ He paused briefly. ‘If that is agreeable, of course.’
‘I have no objection. But I’ll need twenty-four hours’ notice.’
‘Noted,’ Leeson said. ‘I look forward to doing business together, Mr Kooi. Goodbye.’
The line disconnected.
Muir waited in the dinosaur hall at the Natural History Museum in central London. For a while Victor watched her and those who came and went through the exhibits, paying particular attention to unaccompanied men and women who were neither young nor old. There were a lot of tourists and families, but no one who he made as surveillance. He hadn’t expected Muir to bring anyone, but he would never stop checking.
She took her time, reading every card, examining each exhibit because he’d told her