Faraday 02 Network Virus (15 page)

“
Go ahead.”

“
Well, I rang the guy this morning. He told me he doesn’t smoke and neither did his wife. He got quite stroppy when I told him we were looking into his wife’s death. Apparently he thinks the inquest should have been the end of the affair.”

“
What about the missing boat?”

“
That’s the interesting bit. He said he knew nothing about it at first and was properly indignant about someone taking it without his permission. But when I asked him about what happened to his wife’s keys to the boat, he suddenly went quiet. The next minute he said sorry, he had to go into an urgent meeting and couldn’t help me any more.”

“
Suspicious?”

“
I thought so.” He leaned forward. “I’d like to take up your suggestion of talking to that Richard Harris guy. I wonder if he’d be able to find if Billiere made any unusual payments round about the time of his wife’s death?”

“
Go ahead and contact him while you’ve got the chance. I think he’ll be going back to London in the next few days.”

“
Well.” Paulson grinned self-consciously. “I was going to ask if you’d do it. I think he may regard me as hostile to him. I hope he’ll respond better to you.”

Charlotte smiled. “All right. I’ll give him a ring. I’ve got his mobile number. In any case I could do with asking him if there’s been any progress on the Adams Trust investigation.” *

She sat at her desk and entered the data on her computer to bring up his details. In a couple of minutes she was through to him.

“
Richard? It’s Charlotte Faraday. Are you still in Torquay?”

“
I go back to London on Sunday.”

“
Well, Richard, the purpose of ringing you is to see if you would be able to spare half an hour to come in and have a chat with Stafford Paulson and me before you return to the big city.”

“
May I ask what you want to talk about?”

“
Of course. I was hoping for an update on the Adams Trust. However the main reason is that we would like to get your advice on how to find out as much as we can about another rich guy who we suspect of possibly paying someone to carry out a crime for him.”

“
Really? Who is that?”

“
It’s a man called Alfred de Billiere - an unusual name. Have you come across anybody with that name?”

“
I can’t say I have.”

“
Never mind. We only want guidance at this stage about how we try to find out some more. Can you spare us a little of your valuable time?”

She could hear his grin over the phone. “I don’t see why not. But Susannah and I are going to Plymouth for a celebration this evening, so I would prefer tomorrow morning. Do coppers work on Saturdays?”

“
Just a minute.” She looked at Stafford. “Would you be happy with tomorrow morning?”

He nodded. “As early as possible.”

“
Did you hear that?”

“
Yes. Early would suit me too. How about nine o’clock? Do you want me to come to the station?”

Charlotte confirmed and rang off. She turned to Paulson. “OK let’s get everything set up ready to start these searches first thing tomorrow morning.”

The next few hours were busy.

As Charlotte was preparing to leave the phone rang. Paulson picked it up. He was silent, listening for a while. Then he said, “Yes, sir. She’s here, sir. I’ll just get her.”

He put his hand over the receiver. “It’s Lord Harry. Do you want to take it here or shall I get it transferred into one of the interview rooms?”

Lord Harry was the department’s nickname for the Deputy Chief Constable Harold Corbett, the big noise in Exeter.

“
No. I’ll take it here.” Charlotte had a good idea of what it was about. She picked up her phone. Good evening, sir.”

“
Good evening, my dear.” The DCC liked to keep up the fiction of one big happy family. “I haven’t had the opportunity to offer you my congratulations on clearing up the Cynthia Adams case so promptly.” *

“
It was a team effort, sir.”

“
I’m sure it was. Please pass on my congratulations to your colleagues.”

“
I’ll certainly do that, sir. Thank you for taking the trouble to ring me.”

“
Ah.” He struck a cautionary note. “I also have to talk to you about a less pleasant subject - the possibility of the death in custody of the suspect in that case. I expect you’ve been warned that Superintendent Lasham feels that needs to be investigated.”

“
He did ring to say he intended to have my guts for garters, sir”

“
Er - yes.” Corbett cleared his throat. “Well, I’m sure you’ll appreciate that I cannot allow myself to become involved in the detail of these matters.”

“
I should have thought you have the authority to instruct Superintendent Lasham about the correct way to handle the matter, sir.”

“
Unfortunately, Faraday, the superintendent had e-mailed the PCC before I became aware of what he was doing. I have told him of my feelings about that.”

In other words, thought Charlotte, he was tip-toeing carefully round the bullying Lasham.

“
I can tell you, Faraday, that I find the whole business quite distasteful. Nevertheless, now the wheels have been set in motion, we must play the game to the end.”

“
I understand, sir.”

“
Good. I’m sure you do. Now, the PCC are sending down a Chief Superintendent Vanessa Bolt to look into the matter. The purpose of this call is to inform you she will be here on Monday and she would like to interview you at about eleven. Can you manage that?”

“
Of course, sir.” As if she had any choice, thought Charlotte.

“
Very well. I’ve told her she can use my office as I will be going out about that time. I’ll introduce you before I leave, so I’d be pleased if you’d be prompt.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Thank you, Faraday. Goodbye.” The call was terminated.

“
What was that about?”

She gave him the details and passed on the congratulations from Lord Harry before she left.

- 18 -

If Charlotte had been aware of the meeting which took place in the remote car park on Haldon about an hour after her telephone conversation with Lord Harry it is likely she would have been most displeased.

Greg Mallinson was already at the meeting point when Lasham drove in. He was leaning back against the bonnet of his car and smoking his second cigarette since he got off duty. The superintendent drove right up beside him and wound down his window.

“
I hope this is worth my time coming here, Sergeant,” he said sternly. “I’m taking my wife to the pictures tonight and she doesn’t like to be late. Come on then. What’s happened in just over twenty-four hours since we last met that prompted your phone message.”

“
You’ve heard about the missing girl?”

“
Yeah. It was in this morning’s daily report and in all the local papers. Some teenager’s run off. I expect her boyfriend’s got her pregnant and she doesn’t want to tell her parents.”

“
You’ll never guess what,” said Greg. “She’s actually the daughter of the woman who got herself raped last Sunday.”

“
There you are then. Like mother, like daughter. I can tell you I’m closing down that rape case before we waste any more time on it. I had a word with a guy at the CPS and he said he doesn’t think there’s a chance of getting a conviction on the basis of the lack of evidence we have. As he said, the very fact that the woman took four days to report it, and she only did so when dragged along by her husband, would be seized on by the defence as an admission of consent.” He sneered. “In other words, she set herself up to get screwed and she can’t complain when it happened.”

Greg grinned. “Too right. That’s what I’ve said all along.”

“
Now, what about this girl? Has the boyfriend disappeared as well?”

“
No. There doesn’t seem to have been a boyfriend.”

Lasham sniffed. “Then it’ll have been an uncle or some other relative. Or maybe the father. Have they questioned the father?”

“
He’s disappeared as well.”

“
There you are then. It’s the father. The dirty buggers are holed up together in some seaside hotel. We should be able get him put away for at least five years for that.”

Mallinson scratched his chin. “I don’t think you’re right about that one, Super. The father’s a merchant seaman and he only got back from the Far East on Wednesday night. He was the one who dragged his wife into the station on Thursday morning early to complain about the alleged rape and his daughter went missing while they were in with DCI Faraday.” He took a quick breath. “No, I think I know who’s got her. It’s that pervert I told you about yesterday.”

“
You said he’s only just arrived in Torquay.”

“
That’s right. But everything points to him being the guilty party. He can’t offer an alibi for the time when she disappeared. In fact he was actually out on the streets, so say buying a paper, at the same time. He lives less than a mile from her house and he could easily have picked her up in the time he had available.”

“
Has he been interviewed?”

“
DI Paulson and I went to see him this morning. He was obviously shit-scared when we started questioning him. I reckon he knows all about it, although he wouldn’t admit it to us.”

“
Hmm.” Lasham considered. “What did Stafford say after you’d talked to this character?”

“
Well, I wanted to take him back to the station for serious interrogation but Stafford - er - DI Paulson said there wasn’t enough evidence and he didn’t think the bloke would have had the time to set up a snatch.”

“
Yes. Well, the man
has
only been here a week.”

“
I accept that,” Greg leaned forward enthusiastically, “but you know what a network these pervert buggers have, and the important thing is that his sister, who he’s staying with, admits that he also disappeared for over three hours on Tuesday afternoon. My belief is that he used those three hours to meet up with some of his oppos and line up a place where she could be put away so that they can practise their foul activities on her.”

Lasham was quiet as he considered the case Greg put forward, his hands gripping the steering wheel and his eyes staring unseeingly into the surrounding woodland.

At last he said, “Well, I suppose I could instruct Paulson to drag the bloke into the station and screw some sort of confession out of him.” He looked up at Mallinson. “But I can’t very well do that without letting on where my information came from and that would
not
be a good idea.”

“
Too bloody right,” agreed the sergeant. “Er - sir.”

“
I think I’ll have to pay a visit to the Torquay CID next week. Then I can find out for myself. But I can’t do it on Monday. I’ve got Faraday up in front of the PCC on Monday.”

“
Tuesday then, sir?”

“
Maybe. But meanwhile this little girl is suffering God-knows-what treatment from these perverts.” He leaned back. “I think there may be a case for a couple of rough-necks to go in there and beat the information out of him. Do you think you can arrange that without being directly involved?”

Mallinson felt the blood begin to course through his veins. “Yes. I think I can arrange that, sir.”

“
In fact you need to turn up while it’s happening, see off the bovver-boys, and take the bugger in for his own protection - once you’ve got the necessary information of course. Then you can go and rescue the girl and you’ll be a bloody hero.” Lasham allowed himself a dry laugh.

Mallinson thought that sounded very nice. “All right, sir. I’ll see what I can do.”

“
That should have the added advantage of getting the bugger - what’s his name?”

“
Sidney Pullman.”

“
Of getting Sidney Pullman off our patch. I can’t imagine he’d want to go back to live with his sister in a marked address when they let him out of hospital.” He smiled to himself. “You do that, Greg, and it’ll be a large tick in my personal box on you.”

“
Right sir. Thank you, sir.”

“
OK. Is there anything else?”

“
Not much, sir. I’ve been on house-to-house all day.” He looked up. “Oh, apparently some old buffer interviewed by John Prendergast reckoned he’d seen this girl get into some bloke’s blue car.”

“
Ha! Not you, is it, Mallinson? You’ve got a blue car.”

“
Oh, it’s certainly not me, sir. I’m not interested in skinny twelve-year-olds. I like something a whole lot bigger than that to get my hands on.”

“
I’m sure you do.” Lasham sniffed. “Well, I must be off. You know the arrangements if you want to get in touch with me.” He closed the window, started the engine and pulled away.

Greg Mallinson stayed leaning against his car for a while afterwards, planning his campaign against Sidney Pullman and luxuriating in Lasham’s approval.

- 19 -

Faraday and Paulson were both waiting when Richard Harris came in the next morning. He seemed a little hesitant when he shook their hands but Charlotte was anxious to put him at his ease.

“
Have you enjoyed the second week of your holiday more than the first?” she asked.

“
I have indeed.” He passed a hand across his forehead. “Although I must say I’m quite exhausted.”

“
Is Susannah a demanding lady?”

“
You could put it like that.” He grinned. “I think it’s the first time in more than ten years that she’s had a man available for more than a couple of hours.”