Epilogue
‘That’s about it, I suppose,’ Paul Mansell said, as he finished dictating his statement.
Melissa had been interviewing Paul Mansell for thirty minutes in one of the five rooms Brigadier Armstrong had commandeered that evening in the small airport’s main building. She stopped writing and looked him squarely in the eye. ‘And you’ve never seen this gunman before?’
‘No.’
‘Even though he’s probably your mystery client?’
‘As I’ve said already, I never met my last few clients. Cash only, in advance, through the post.’
‘So you’ve no idea why this man wanted to kill Rees Smith?’
‘None at all, he certainly didn’t explain it.’
Melissa shook her head. ‘Honestly, Paul, you’re no good at lying. Your body language is all wrong.’
‘I’m not lying, Melissa,’ Paul responded with a slight grin on his face.
‘DS Kelly to you. This is still official business.’
‘So when can I call you “Melissa” then?’
‘Not here, that’s for sure. Take me on holiday to Thailand and then you can call me anything you like.’
Paul gave a wicked smile in return. ‘Really? I might just do that. I’m going as soon as I can. What about you, are you free to go?’
Melissa sighed. ‘Don’t tempt me. The paperwork from tonight alone is going to take a month to complete.’
‘Leave it to Magee, come fly away with me to paradise!’
‘I can’t! I’ve got work to do. You stay here a few minutes, we’re not through with you tonight yet. Your stories aren’t entirely consistent with each other.’
Magee hadn’t yet finished interviewing Nick Price when Melissa came opened the door and stepped into the room. He caught her eye, only to be disappointed when she shook her head. He hung his head despondently. Was he never going to get the truth from anyone?
He sighed deeply and said, ‘Nick, for god’s sake, for the hundredth time, what the hell really happened up there tonight?’
‘And as I keep telling you,’ Nick replied as he massaged the back of his head. ‘I’m buggered if I know. Whoever that gunman was, he was insane, pure and simple. I really don’t know what he was playing at.’
Brigadier Armstrong leaned forward on his chair, looked into Nick Price’s eyes and asked, ‘And you’ll keep to that story?’
‘Story?’ Nick grunted. ‘It’s no story, it’s the truth. Some nutter kidnapped us all. God knows what his game was, but if it hadn’t been for Geoff we’d all be dead. He’s a hero, that man.’
‘But the knife we recovered,’ Magee interjected. ‘It’s got a carved handle, same as with the other killings. Geoff was the intended victim, so someone known to you must be responsible for the attack. You swear you didn’t recognize any of the Thai men involved?’
‘We’re going round in circles here, Magee. Watch my lips, I swear I did not recognize any of those bastards!’
‘Not even the one that was thrown out?’ asked the Brigadier for the tenth time in an hour. ‘The one we’re assuming is the killer that Magee‘s after?’
‘Never seen his face in my life.’
‘But he’s dead now, right?’ persisted Brigadier Armstrong. ‘You’re sure of that?’
‘I don’t know. I assume so. Geoff threw him out. We were about ten thousand feet up over the sea, so I guess he must be dead. Hard to see how he could survive.’
‘Bugger,’ Magee swore. ‘We’re still no nearer establishing who the killer is.’
‘Bugger indeed,’ added Brigadier Armstrong. ‘And I suppose there’s no chance of finding the body out at sea?’
‘Unlikely. If it ever washes up on a beach it will be unrecognizable.’ Magee took a deep breath. ‘Damn! This is no way to close a case. I need to identify the killer to determine motive and eliminate other suspects. Without a body, I’ve got nothing but conjecture.’
‘Sorry, gents,’ Nick replied with a shrug of his shoulders. ‘I don’t really care who he was, just so long as he’s no longer a threat to my family. Can I see my kids now, please.’
Magee turned to Melissa. ‘Have you finished getting their statements?’
‘Yes, sir.’
Brigadier Armstrong took a deep breath and said, ‘Right then, Mr Price. You are free to go. Sorry the debriefing took so long.’
‘No problem, Brigadier, sorry I couldn’t be of more help.’
Magee caught a glint in Nick Price’s eyes. There was more; that was painfully clear from his body language.
Brigadier Armstrong got up from his chair to leave and said, ‘Well, there’s nothing more for me to do here, Magee. It’s getting late and it’s been an eventful day. I’m dead tired. I’ll be off now.’
‘Thank you for all your help, Brigadier.’
‘You’re welcome. Oh, by the way, Magee. I’ll need to have a debriefing session with you. I’m far too tired tonight. Can you come to my office up in London, say Wednesday afternoon? Just after lunch?’
‘Of course, sir.’
The Brigadier looked at Nick Price. ‘Nice work by the way, Mr Price. In bringing the airplane down that is. A really cool landing for a novice in a crises, so the tower said. In fact, they found it hard to believe it was your first time. For an old machine like that, they said you seemed to possess a remarkable familiarity with the controls. Especially since you managed to disengage it from auto-pilot and head back towards Shoreham before calling the tower.’
Nick shrugged. ‘I had some practice, years ago. A friend had a similar model, I flew with him on occasion. Not that it helped much today. I was close to panicking. I reckon I’d have ditched it over water and jumped the last few feet if I’d been alone.’
‘Far riskier,’ replied Brigadier Armstrong. ‘It would have been like hitting concrete. Anyway, it was nice work. So I’ll say goodbye to you, Mr Price. I trust we won’t have the need to meet again.’
‘And why would we?’
‘Secrets and lies, my dear man. They have a habit of being exposed. Eventually.’
Nick Price feigned a look of innocence. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
But Brigadier Armstrong merely gave Nick Price an odd look, his eyebrow arching, and turned his attention to Magee. ‘Now then, Magee, I assume you’ll leave the press announcement to me?’
‘Of course, sir.’
Brigadier Armstrong looked at each of them in turn before saying in a serious tone, ‘Geoffrey Rees Smith died valiantly tonight rescuing his kidnapped daughters. Let’s not give the press any other version.’
‘He saved me and my family, as well, Brigadier,’ Nick responded. ‘I owe him that.’
‘You do indeed, Mr Price. Well, then, Magee, I’ll leave you to it.’
Magee looked menacingly at Nick Price.
Nick feigned a hurt look. ‘What?’ he demanded.
###
Other books by the same author
The woes of Nick Price continue in The Fourth Cart 2, a sequel to this book.
The Fourth Cart 2
One sunny afternoon, Nick Price took a stroll through Lumpini Park in Bangkok with his family and friends. At some stage, a joke was cracked, he laughed and placed a hand, intimately, on a young man’s shoulder. The event was unremarkable, except that twenty years later a witness testifies that the young man had been Khun Sa, the legendary drug lord from the Golden Triangle.
Set against the backdrop of civil unrest in Bangkok in May 1992, DCI Jack Magee visits Thailand to explore Nick Price’s murky past in the hope of identifying Khun Sa, unaware that he has been set up by the intelligence services like a goat to catch a tiger.
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