Private Games (Private 3)

Chapter 22

AT FIVE MINUTES to four that Thursday afternoon, Knight left One Aldwych, a five-star boutique hotel in London’s West End theatre district, and found Karen Pope waiting on the pavement, looking intently at her BlackBerry screen.

‘His secretary wasn’t putting you off. The doorman says he does come for drinks quite often, but he’s not in there yet,’ Knight said, referring to Richard Guilder, Marshall’s long-time financial partner. ‘Let’s go and wait inside.’

Pope shook her head, and then gestured across the Strand to a row of Edwardian buildings. ‘That’s King’s College, right? That’s where Selena Farrell works, the classical Greek expert that Indiana Jones wannabe told us to talk to. I looked her up. She has written extensively about the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus and his play The Eumenides, which is another name for the Furies. We could go and chat with her and then swing back for Guilder.’

Knight screwed up his face. ‘In all honesty, I don’t know if understanding more about the myth of Cronus and the Furies is going to help us get any closer to catching Marshall’s killer.’

‘And now I know something you don’t,’ she said, shaking her BlackBerry at him haughtily. ‘Turns out that Farrell fought against the London Olympics tooth and nail. She sued to have the whole thing stopped, especially the compulsory purchase orders that took all that land in East London for the Olympic Park. The professor evidently lost her house when the park went in.’

Feeling his heart begin to race, Knight set off in the direction of the college, saying, ‘Denton ran the process that took that land. She had to have hated him.’

‘Maybe enough to cut off his head,’ Pope said, struggling to keep up.

Then Knight’s mobile buzzed. A text from Hooligan:

1ST DNA TEST: HAIR IS FEMALE.

Chapter 23

THEY FOUND SELENA Farrell in her office. The professor was in her early forties, a big-bosomed woman who dressed the part of a dowdy Earth child: baggy, faded peasant dress, oval black glasses, no make-up, clogs, and her head wrapped in a scarf held in place by two wooden hairpins.

But it was the beauty mark that caught Knight’s eye. Set above her jawline about midway down her right cheek, it put him in mind of a young Elizabeth Taylor and made him think that, given the right circumstances and manner of dress, the professor could have been quite attractive.

As Dr Farrell inspected his identification, Knight glanced around at various framed pictures: one of the professor climbing in Scotland, another of her posing beside some Greek ruins, and a third in which she was much younger, in sunglasses, khaki pants and shirt, posing with an automatic weapon beside a white truck that said NATO on the side.

‘Okay,’ Farrell said, returning Knight’s badge. ‘What are we here to discuss?’

‘Sir Denton Marshall, a member of the Olympic Organising Committee,’ Knight said, watching for her reaction.

Farrell stiffened, and then pursed her lips in distaste. ‘What about him?’

‘He’s been murdered,’ Pope said. ‘Decapitated.’

The professor appeared genuinely shocked. ‘Decapitated? Oh, that’s horrible. I didn’t like the man, but … that’s barbaric.’

‘Marshall took your house and your land,’ Knight remarked.

Farrell hardened. ‘He did. I hated him for it. I hated him and everyone who’s in favour of the Olympics for it. But I did not kill him. I don’t believe in violence.’

Knight glanced at the photo of her with the automatic weapon. But he decided not to challenge her, asking instead: ‘Can you account for your whereabouts around ten forty-five last night?’

The classics professor arched back in her chair and took off her glasses, revealing amazing sapphire eyes that stared intently at Knight. ‘I can account for my whereabouts at that time, but I won’t unless it’s necessary. I enjoy my privacy.’

‘Tell us about Cronus,’ Pope said.

The professor drew back. ‘You mean the Titan?’

‘That’s the one,’ Pope said.

She shrugged. ‘He’s mentioned by Aeschylus, especially during the third play in his Oresteia cycle, The Eumenides. They were the three Furies of vengeance born from the blood of Cronus’s father. Why are you asking about him? All in all, Cronus is a minor figure in Greek mythology.’

Pope glanced at Knight, who nodded. She dug into her bag. She came up with her mobile, which she fiddled with for several seconds as she said to the professor, ‘I received a package today from someone who calls himself Cronus and who claims to be Marshall’s killer. There’s a letter and this: it’s a recording of a recording, but …’

As the reporter returned to her bag, looking for her copy of Cronus’s letter, the weird, irritating flute music began to float from her phone.

The classics professor froze after a few notes had played.