Poisoned Ground: A Hakim and Arnold Mystery (Hakim & Arnold Mystery 3) by Barbara Nadel Read Free Book Online

can’t assume that Phil Rivers is involved,’ the solicitor said. ‘Phil may or may not be Myerson & Jackson. Hopefully we’ll discover that when you find him. And for the moment, that is all I want you to do, Lee. Find him and tell me where he is, don’t attempt to engage with him yourself.’
    ‘Understood.’
    Lee had worked on and off for Derek Salmon for a number of years and so he knew that he understood East London and its people. But he was also a lawyer, which made him, by definition, dodgy to an ex-copper like Lee. If he found this Phil Rivers, one way or another, he’d find out if his Myerson & Jackson stunt was a one-off. With money in the millions on offer, he suspected that it could become habit-forming.
    ‘So you’ll take it?’
    ‘Yes,’ Lee said.
    The solicitor took a plastic wallet out of his briefcase and flung it across the table towards Lee.
    ‘That’ll answer most of your questions about Phil Rivers,’ he said. ‘Some homework for you.’
    Lee opened the wallet. ‘He local?’
    ‘North Woolwich,’ Derek said. ‘But his parents moved out to Southend ten years ago. Oh, and if you’re thinking that maybe he might have gone abroad, Phil doesn’t fly. Got a phobia about it.’
    ‘He can presumably get on a boat.’
    ‘Yeah, imagine he can. But Sandra reckons that if he can find a way to stay in the UK he will. She used to take him all over the world when they were married, but he hated “abroad” according to her.’ He shrugged. ‘How anyone can dislike St Tropez in the summer is beyond me.’
    ‘St Tropez?’
    ‘Sandra has a house there,’ Derek said. ‘And before you ask, Lee, she made her money from an online shopping site she has since sold on. Not bad for a girl from Shoreditch back in the days when it was a shithole.’
    ‘She’s older than Phil?’
    ‘When she met him he was working as a bit of extra muscle for a mate of Sandra’s dad. Remember Brian Barber?’
    ‘Oh, God.’
    Brian Barber had been an old-time old lag who had run his antiquated crime firm, based around clocking cars, out of a shabby lock-up in Canning Town. Brian, who had been old when Lee remembered him, had been dead for a good fifteen years. Broken by illness and the enhanced security in modern cars,he’d died a virtual pauper. If Sandra Rivers’ dad had been Brian Barber’s contemporary, then how old was she?
    ‘Sandra’s almost sixty,’ Derek said. The two men exchanged a look and then he continued, ‘So, all clear for now?’
    ‘I’ll get on to it,’ Lee said.
    ‘I’ll leave it with you.’
    When he left Derek’s office and went to pick his car up, Lee looked at his watch. It was five o’clock and he imagined that Mumtaz would be out of her meeting up at Ilford Hospital and that Vi would have left the station to go home. He imagined Vi’s anxiety as she packed a small bag to go into hospital the following morning and wondered whether he should phone her. Later.
    *
    By the time Mumtaz got home she was drained. Being in the institutional atmosphere of the hospital for so long – Shirley had given her what had turned out to be a thorough guided tour – had tired and depressed her. How she was going to cope emotionally being there twice a week, she didn’t know. She started first thing the next morning!
    Mumtaz had always believed that the mentally ill were the least regarded souls and what she’d seen up at Ilford had not changed her mind. It was particularly true on the chronic ward. As if the shabby clothes weren’t bad enough, the patients’ lack of curiosity had made her want to cry. That wasn’t good medicine.
    But when she walked into her living room she saw something that made her feel better. She’d been dreading packing up the china. Yet here was her stepdaughter, Shazia, doing just that.
    ‘It’s Wednesday,’ the girl said by way of explanation. Wednesdays were short days at her sixth form college and studentscould either go home to do some private study or take