nothing to with the passing of confidential information to the company in France. In fact he said that it was Miss Vasilescu who had asked him to enquire about my work and that, in his opinion, she was the one who must have passed the information.”
I broke in. “I only learned this yesterday when Liam arrived back from Edinburgh. As you can imagine I was hoping that there might be a way of getting back in touch with her to check this and was about to phone Sergeant MacLean when he phoned me.”
He took a few more notes. While he was doing this I asked him if the police were absolutely sure that it was murder. He told us there was no doubt about it.
“The details needn’t concern you but it has been confirmed that she was dead before she was put in the river and there is evidence of strangulation.”
While he continued to write I took advantage of the moment to raise a questioning eyebrow at Sergeant MacLean who gave a faint nod and said to us “Inspector Ross is aware of the fact that I told you both a bit about the girl’s background which came out after she cracked up the other day.”
Ross finished and took back control of the conversation.
“Yes. You can imagine therefore that we do have a lead for possible investigation. But I don’t see us having much success. If it’s the drug business, most of the traffic comes from down south and we’ve no leads up here. The girl lived on her own and nobody has come forward claiming they know her in spite of our requests.”
He turned to Liam. ”Can you give us the name and address of this Rémy or tell us how we can get in touch with him?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have his address. And I don’t even know his surname. All I can do is tell you that he hangs around the Saltire pub in the High Street in Edinburgh. We got that from Irina and that’s where we found him.”
He noted down the pub’s name and said he would try to get some help from Edinburgh to follow up.
“I seriously doubt that Rémy had anything to do with it,” ventured Liam.
“Nor do I, but we have to follow up all leads. He may be able to give us the names of people whom she knew. You never know.”
He put away his pen and made as if to leave.
“Thank you, gentlemen, for coming through. You’ve been a help. Before you leave there is something I can do for you, Liam, which might put your mind at rest about this patent business.”
He pulled a plastic envelope out of his pocket and handed it over to us. “We found this in Miss Vasilescu’s affairs. It seems to prove that she was the one who was responsible for your indiscretion getting back to France.”
Inside there was an envelope and a small piece of paper. The envelope bore a French stamp and was addressed to Irina Vasilescu. The piece of paper simply read, in printed letters, ‘Liam Bruce, Bioscope, Stirling University Campus, Ecosse’.
“That looks like proof enough that she had her instructions from France and your guy, Rémy, was telling the truth. I hope that helps. It’s of no real relevance to us because I can’t see that being the reason behind her death. After all, passing information is not a criminal offence.”
We both glanced at it.
“Looks like it,” I said as I handed it back. “Thanks for showing us that. It’s a relief to know that our theories are correct. Do you have any objections if I tell Mrs. Mackie at Bioscope?”
“No.” …..and then a thought occurred to me.
“Can you get fingerprints from that?” I asked.
“We will be doing so. The answer is ‘probably’. Although I’m not sure that would help us much in solving her murder. And, as her connection to Liam wasn’t a crime, I’d have no access to fingerprint records in France. I’d need a match to identify who sent it.”
The meeting broke up and we all headed for the door.
As we were leaving Ross delayed me for a second with a question.
“Mr. Bruce, might you be planning to dig any further into this patent
I broke in. “I only learned this yesterday when Liam arrived back from Edinburgh. As you can imagine I was hoping that there might be a way of getting back in touch with her to check this and was about to phone Sergeant MacLean when he phoned me.”
He took a few more notes. While he was doing this I asked him if the police were absolutely sure that it was murder. He told us there was no doubt about it.
“The details needn’t concern you but it has been confirmed that she was dead before she was put in the river and there is evidence of strangulation.”
While he continued to write I took advantage of the moment to raise a questioning eyebrow at Sergeant MacLean who gave a faint nod and said to us “Inspector Ross is aware of the fact that I told you both a bit about the girl’s background which came out after she cracked up the other day.”
Ross finished and took back control of the conversation.
“Yes. You can imagine therefore that we do have a lead for possible investigation. But I don’t see us having much success. If it’s the drug business, most of the traffic comes from down south and we’ve no leads up here. The girl lived on her own and nobody has come forward claiming they know her in spite of our requests.”
He turned to Liam. ”Can you give us the name and address of this Rémy or tell us how we can get in touch with him?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have his address. And I don’t even know his surname. All I can do is tell you that he hangs around the Saltire pub in the High Street in Edinburgh. We got that from Irina and that’s where we found him.”
He noted down the pub’s name and said he would try to get some help from Edinburgh to follow up.
“I seriously doubt that Rémy had anything to do with it,” ventured Liam.
“Nor do I, but we have to follow up all leads. He may be able to give us the names of people whom she knew. You never know.”
He put away his pen and made as if to leave.
“Thank you, gentlemen, for coming through. You’ve been a help. Before you leave there is something I can do for you, Liam, which might put your mind at rest about this patent business.”
He pulled a plastic envelope out of his pocket and handed it over to us. “We found this in Miss Vasilescu’s affairs. It seems to prove that she was the one who was responsible for your indiscretion getting back to France.”
Inside there was an envelope and a small piece of paper. The envelope bore a French stamp and was addressed to Irina Vasilescu. The piece of paper simply read, in printed letters, ‘Liam Bruce, Bioscope, Stirling University Campus, Ecosse’.
“That looks like proof enough that she had her instructions from France and your guy, Rémy, was telling the truth. I hope that helps. It’s of no real relevance to us because I can’t see that being the reason behind her death. After all, passing information is not a criminal offence.”
We both glanced at it.
“Looks like it,” I said as I handed it back. “Thanks for showing us that. It’s a relief to know that our theories are correct. Do you have any objections if I tell Mrs. Mackie at Bioscope?”
“No.” …..and then a thought occurred to me.
“Can you get fingerprints from that?” I asked.
“We will be doing so. The answer is ‘probably’. Although I’m not sure that would help us much in solving her murder. And, as her connection to Liam wasn’t a crime, I’d have no access to fingerprint records in France. I’d need a match to identify who sent it.”
The meeting broke up and we all headed for the door.
As we were leaving Ross delayed me for a second with a question.
“Mr. Bruce, might you be planning to dig any further into this patent
Similar Books
