Page 24 of Nobody's Hero
She slid a bag across the table. He opened it and smiled. Inside was his Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife. It was like being reunited with a limb.
‘I could have gotten you one of those,’ Bernice said. ‘You didn’t have to put it in the pouch.’
Koenig closed the bag and placed it by his feet. He said, ‘I have a history with this one.’
‘Where do you want to start?’ she asked.
‘Tell me about the academic Jane Doe abducted.’
Bernice opened a laptop and pressed a button. The wall monitor flickered into life. A stern-faced, grey-haired woman appeared on the screen. She was facing the camera and she wasn’t smiling. The picture looked like it had been taken for a mug shot or a passport. One of those photographs that came with a whole bunch of instructions. Her eyes seemed kind, though, Koenig thought. They twinkled. Made her look as though she was in on the joke and you weren’t. She looked like the type of person who’d own a cuckoo clock.
‘Margaret Wexmore,’ Bernice said. ‘Sixty-three years old. British.’ Now she’d started her briefing, Bernice rattled off the facts like a machine gun. Short, economical sentences. No wasted words, no filler. ‘Spent most of her life at the LSE. That’s the London School of Economics. This is her faculty ID photograph. I’m told she’s not usually this austere.’
‘What does she teach?’
‘Cultural anthropology,’ Bernice said. ‘She’s considered one of the leading academics on what happens when culturally different groups come into contact with one other.’
‘Sounds riveting.’
‘It took me three attempts to get all the way through her latest book,’ Bernice admitted.
‘Anything?’
‘Nothing that explains why she was abducted. She didn’t ruffle any feathers, didn’t write anything controversial. Her ideas were slightly different, but it’s cultural anthropology – most of what she talks about has already happened.’
‘Something in her personal life?’
‘Never married. No children. Owns a modest house in Camden Town. That’s in north-west London. Paid her mortgage off fifteen years ago and lives within her means. Holidays in Scotland twice a year. Occasionally gets offers to lecture abroad, but she turns down more than she accepts these days. No obvious vices.’
‘Health?’
‘There, Idohave new information. She has a rare cancer called thymic carcinoma. It was diagnosed four years ago, too late for a good prognosis. I did some digging, and it seems she’s been exploring her palliative options.’
‘How much time does she have?’
‘No clue,’ Bernice admitted. ‘But if she’s looking at palliative care, it can’t be long.’
‘Medication?’ Koenig asked.
‘She stopped taking it a couple of months ago. I think she’s resigned herself to dying.’
‘We can’t find her through her prescription then.’
‘You think she’s still alive?’
‘I do,’ Koenig said. ‘It looked like she got into Jane Doe’s car willingly. And if that’s the case, this wasn’t an abduction.’
‘I’ll show you the Speakers’ Corner film in a minute,’ Bernice said. ‘It wasdefinitelyan abduction.’
‘Jane Doe was disguised as a homeless woman,’ Koenig said. ‘It’s possible Margaret onlythoughtshe was being abducted. It’s why she initially struggled. But when Jane Doe identified herself, Margaret went with her of her own accord.’
‘Interesting theory,’ Bernice admitted after a beat. ‘Scotland Yard were working on the assumption that Margaret got into the car under duress. Regardless, I don’t see how that helps you find them. Jane Doe avoided almost every camera in London, and that’s no mean feat. She could be anywhere now.’
Koenig reached for another Danish. ‘I think I’d like to see the Speakers’ Corner video,’ he said.
Chapter 21
The video was a compilation of every CCTV camera that had caught the Speakers’ Corner incident. Kinda like the highlights reel on Oscars night. Some cameras covered other areas of Hyde Park, and Speakers’ Corner was on the periphery and out of focus. Other cameras were too far away. There was no aerial shot. And Jane Doe had avoided almost every camera in London until she’d been caught on the one at the Greek deli.