Page 93 of Between the Lies

CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE

Nina stepped away from the wall, a grin blooming on her face. Beside her, Billy snorted. ‘A while ago, I’d have been on a real incident board. Now I’m making one.’

Aye, if not for Robert showing some faith in the man, he would probably have found himself in a jail cell again. Just like without Robert’s faith in her, she’d have either fled the country and given up everything she’d worked for or been caught.

‘He’s a good man. Any woman would be lucky to have him.’

After all they’d been through, Nina didn’t just know it; she’d witnessed every reason that made Robert Muller exceptional. She trusted him; cared for him deeply. But when all this was over, when the killer was caught, would he want to stay with her? Especially when he rejoined the police.

Nina crossed her arms in front of her chest. Why the hell was she thinking about a future with a man? Besides, Robert might have no intention of pursuing something new. And nor did she, not until they resolved this case and knew for sure her next contract wouldn’t be with the prison service.

Nodding at her own thoughts, and at Billy, Nina focused her attention on the wall they’d spent hours sticking intel to.

This she could deal with. In the last couple of hours, Finn had helped her make sense of the numbers. He’d hit the nail on the head with his initial assessment. The first few images of the rosters did list passport numbers.

Billy, on the other hand, had tacked together a list of Shah’s businesses.

They now studied Finn’s list. On closer inspection, each passport number had been assigned another set of numbers, and these new sets of numbers recurred in the tables photographed in the latter images alongside a date. While those tables didn’t disclose anything new or give them anything to investigate, Finn was using his expertise to see if he could identify the people whose passport numbers these were. The work, tedious though it may be, had the potential to blow this entire thing wide open.

Billy strode up to the wall and tapped his finger on Shah’s name. ‘He was a prick, but I doubt he could’ve come up with all this. Selling vulnerable people the wrong goods – that’s what he did. But look at all that. Moving actual people across the country… hell, according to your notes, they’re being transferred across countries. That’s a lot of planning, and a shite ton of greased hands.’

‘It brings in a shite ton of cash too,’ Nina replied, sticking her hands into her jacket pockets. ‘During my research, I traced them back to Eastern European countries. Thanks to the war, there are many immigrants hoping to find a home in the UK, and these lawyers swoop in and promise them a home, only their methods are illegal. Isn’t that vulnerable people being sold a false dream?’

Billy huffed. ‘Arseholes.’

A crash came from the back office, followed by a curse, then Finn emerged from the back room. His tie now sat loosely around his neck. His hair stood up in spikes, and his shirt had wrinkled, especially at the elbows.

Nina raised an eyebrow. After she’d thanked him for his help, the man had asked for a quiet space and disappeared into the small office nook with his laptop. Busy trying to figure out the jumble in front of her, Nina had forgotten about him.

Now he strode towards them holding out a sheet of paper. ‘There’s no metadata on the hidden images. No matter how hard I try, someone’s wiped it clean. But I found something else. And they’d buried it good, but I found it.’

Nina checked the paper he was waving around. It contained names… familiar names. ‘Hold on, I remember these. Aren’t they partners at Malcolm and Associates?’

Finn grinned. ‘Someone went to great lengths to bury the website, erase as much as possible from the archives. You said this website disappeared after “that night”. I reckoned there was something fishy on it they didn’t want you to find.’

Finn set his laptop on the counter and pointed to the list in Nina’s hand. ‘The first man on your list is Dave Price.’ He pulled up an image on the screen. ‘You might think this is what he looks like; I did too. But then I noticed this shadow around the man’s shirt’s buttons. It’s going in the opposite direction to the other shadows.’

‘It’s a touched-up photo?’ Nina asked, hoping to move things along.

‘Nope.’ Finn snapped his fingers in front of her face. ‘That’s not a real image – stock or otherwise. This is what artificial intelligence thinks Dave Price looks like.’

Oh fuck!

Nina read the list of names again. ‘Are they all like that?’

Finn nodded. ‘All the images they put up on the website are fake. But those lawyers? They existed.’

Scrolling through more images, Finn ran her through each name. ‘They needed a valid registration number for each lawyer to pass off as legit for anyone looking them up. I cross-checked the names of the lawyers and uncovered a surprising puzzle. Ali Khan, Berta Adams, Dave Price and Liam Barker were all registered lawyers.Were. They’re dead.’

Nina’s mouth fell open. Talk about planning things to a T. ‘So that’s how they’re fooling people.’

Finn sighed. ‘Aye.’

‘Fuck,’ Nina muttered. The more they uncovered, the more Nina realised what a huge scale this operation functioned at. If they had any chance of bringing these people down, they needed more than notes and strands of evidence. Something like?—

The door to the pub burst open, and her knight in shining armour strode in. His hair was mussed, his clothes wrinkled, and he had a crazed look in his eyes, but that grin on his face gave her hope.

Another woman followed him inside, her eyes flitting across the room. Daisy made up the rear-end of the brigade. She kicked the door shut behind her then gestured to the other woman. ‘That’s Candace.’

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