Faraday 02 Network Virus (18 page)

“
Yes.”

“
There’s nothing you wish to add? You agree that, although you were off-duty, you were the senior police officer at the scene?”

“
Yes. DI Paulson was also off-duty.”

“
But it was within his power to arrest the suspect. It was also within your power as his senior officer to give him instructions as to how to behave towards the suspect.”

“
That is correct,” agreed Charlotte. “However the situation unfolded so rapidly that I didn’t have the chance to assess the situation and give him alternative instructions.”

Lasham broke in, “That doesn’t absolve you of responsibility.”

“
I accept that. And I must say that, having had plenty of time to consider the events with hindsight, I do not think I would have given DI Paulson any instructions to change the action he took. He was acting to save the life of an innocent man from being terminated by a double murderer and I believe he acted correctly.”

There was further period of silence while the investigator finished noting down Charlotte’s comments. Then she looked up again.

“
I think that concludes my questions about your behaviour during the time when the suspect lost his life. However Chief Superintendent Lasham has today raised another query about your behaviour during the investigation into the Cynthia Adams murder. I have told him that I’m not sure whether the Commission will authorise me to look into this complaint. It concerns the behaviour of the above-mentioned Richard Harris during the original investigation of the murder a year ago. I assume you know what is meant here.”

“
I think so.”

“
Well, I have to say that I do not have the authority to require you to answer my questions on this matter. Nevertheless I will ask you if you are willing to answer them?”

Charlotte considered. “I will answer them, insofar as I can. But I may have to refer you elsewhere at some stage.”

CS Bolt’s eyebrows raised and she looked at Lasham. He responded with a shrug.

“
Very well,” she said. “I presume your comments will become clear during the questioning. I assume you were aware of Harris’s involvement in the initial stage of the investigation into the death of Cynthia Adams.”

“
Yes.”

For the next five minutes the chief superintendent led her through the events of that summer evening just over a year ago. *

“
It may be that, because of Harris’s actions, the police investigations dragged on for over a year and cost many thousands of pounds. And yet you made no attempt to charge him with hampering the police investigations or failing to offer evidence to the police at the correct time. Can you explain your motivation, DCI Faraday?”

Charlotte reached inside her jacket and extracted a copy of Garbutt’s letter which had explained Richard Harris’s behaviour and which she had had the foresight to ask him to let her take a copy of on Saturday when he came in to the office. She handed it over.

“
This is the reason, ma’am.”

CS Holt took the letter and read it. She reached the bottom then read it through a second time.

“
Ah. This is interesting. It’s marked ‘confidential’. Can I keep it?”

“
Mr Harris requested that circulation should be extremely restricted. If I agreed to hand it over, he asked that it should only be showed to you and to your superiors at the Commission.”

“
Very well.” Vanessa Holt nodded. “I have no problem with that.” She delved into her brief case, opened an inside pocket and put the copy letter away in it.

Charlotte had to hide her amusement at the open-mouthed bafflement shown by Lasham.

“
OK,” she agreed. “There is no point in continuing this enquiry further. Thank you for your straightforward answers to my questions. My report will be put before the Commission in the next few days. I’m sure you’ll be informed promptly if any further action is contemplated.”

They all stood up and DS Holt shook them both by the hand.

“
May I leave now?” asked Charlotte.

“
Certainly. I don’t want you to keep you from your duties any longer than necessary.”

“
Thank you.” She hurried out before Lasham could start his own questioning to try and find out more about the Richard Harris situation.

-22 -

Stafford Paulson rang Hugo Farmer and arranged to go and see him before lunch. On Charlotte’s advice he told the solicitor what he wanted to speak to him about so that the man could get the papers out and prepare for the interview.

Farmer was all affability when he greeted the inspector. “Congratulations on sorting out the Cynthia Adams case so promptly.” He shook him warmly by the hand. “I’m sure that must have gone down well with the powers that be in Exeter.”

“
It hasn’t done us any harm,” Paulson admitted.

“
And how are you getting on with Inspector Faraday?”

“
We’ve got a good working relationship.”

“
She’s a remarkable young woman.” Farmer looked him straight in the eye. “I suggest you make sure you get on well with her in the future. I’m prepared to wager she’s going places.”

“
Thanks for the advice.” Stafford grinned. The solicitor wouldn’t be aware of his firm intention to retire in three years time.

“
Now then, you want to ask me about Joanne de Billiere’s divorce petition.” Farmer sat down and pulled a stack of papers towards him. “What do you want to know?”

“
When did the lady come to you?”

“
Do you mean the first or the last time?” And he nodded in response to Paulson’s enquiring glance. “Oh yes, this had been going on for more than ten years. Alfred had apparently always had an eye for the ladies. When she first came to see me she had discovered that he had got some young secretary pregnant. She’d found out that he was setting the woman up with a house. She felt humiliated by the way he appeared to be sharing his largesse between two women.”

“
Blimey. I didn’t know the bloke had history.”

“
Oh, yes. On that occasion, when de Billiere found out Joanne had come to consult me, he promised he wouldn’t do it again and they made it up. He bought her an expensive new house, much better than he’d got for the other woman. I made sure it was registered in their joint names and she felt more secure. That was enough to make her back down.”

“
What did
you
think about that?”

Farmer shrugged. “Well, I hoped he would keep his promises. He was a very rich man and he appeared to be willing to spend a part of his wealth on his wife. I may say that Joanne was very impressed by his generosity and seemed to see it as a reaffirmation of his love for her.” He shook his head. “I was never quite so certain, but I hoped she was right.”

Stafford leaned back in his chair. “I presume, from what you say, that he reverted to type.”

“
Yes. Sadly for her, she found he’d been cheating on her again. Of course, because he worked long hours in London, he stayed overnight in his club. That gave him plenty of opportunities for straying without her knowledge. The next time - the next one she found out about, that is - was when one of his colleagues in the company made Joanne aware that Alfred was having an affaire with his wife.”

“
Poor woman.”

“
Be careful when you say that. I was her solicitor, so I represented her interests. But I didn’t necessarily approve of her behaviour.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Well, I discovered that this gentleman came down to discuss Alfred’s affaire with his wife and proceeded to stay with her for a week. Reading between the lines I got the impression that they started a torrid love affaire which continued for some time until Joanne told me she tired of it. It was then that she came to see me to start divorce proceedings again.”

“
How long ago was this?”

“
About five or six years. For the second time though, Alfred managed to persuade her to patch up the marriage. He bought her an expensive motor cruiser which I once again got registered in their joint names. He paid for it to be berthed in Torquay so that it was always available for her use. He gave her various other presents including a very expensive solitaire ring which she of course flashed about to all her wealthy friends.”

“
I see,” said Paulson. “I presume that she hadn’t actually started divorce proceedings at that stage.”

“
No, but she was far less willing to fall for his generosity this time. She accepted the presents and the generous allowance and the credit card which he settled each month, but she wasn’t fooled by it. You see,” he screwed his face up, “by then they didn’t really have a conventional marriage. They only got together at weekends - and then not every weekend. She went up to London infrequently to join him for special events. They didn’t have any children. I guess it was Joanne who couldn’t or wouldn’t since Alfred had shown he was capable of fathering offspring. And neither of them was bothering to be faithful any more.” He sniggered. “Do you know, she even let me know that she was available if I wanted to take advantage of the offer.”

“
Something which you obviously didn’t take up.” Stafford was amused that Hugo Farmer, who looked to him rather like an over-sized, pompous monkey, might have been the subject of Joanne’s amorous imaginings.

The solicitor obviously took himself seriously. “Not likely. Although I admit she was a very attractive lady for her age. However I don’t think it would have helped my standing in Torquay society to go through a messy divorce.”

“
So,” said the inspector, “it was no surprise when she came back to you for a third time. When was that, exactly?”

“
It must have been about two and a half years ago.” Farmer shook his head. “But this time it was different. She emphasised to me that this time she had definitely decided to go ahead and divorce him. When I asked what had made her so positive about it, she was evasive, but I had the strong impression that she had another man lined up to take over.”

“
Really? Who?”

“
She wouldn’t say. I have my ideas, but I can’t be sure.”

“
And who do you think it might have been?”

“
I’m sorry, inspector, but the man in question is an important member of local society and I would rather not say unless you can convince me that the information is important to your being able to find Joanne’s murderer. You’ll have to tell me if that is the case.” There was a brief pause. “Anyway, I pointed out to her that her evidence for a divorce petition was old and she had agreed not to proceed on the previous occasions on the strength of that evidence. However she told me that she was very anxious to proceed now. So we agreed that a private enquiry agent should be briefed to see what he came up with.”

“
Did you do that or did Joanne do it off her own bat?”

“
No, I handled it for her and the fellow reported back to me. It took three months but finally he obtained incontrovertible evidence that de Billiere was conducting an affaire with his Personal Assistant.”

“
She was performing a very personal service for him.”

“
Ha ha, yes. So when I told Joanne, she instructed me that I was to go ahead and prepare the papers.”

“
What did they say?”

“
They were simple enough. We presented the report from the private enquiry agent as evidence for divorce on the grounds of adultery and it named the woman - the full details. It was all quite incontrovertible. We claimed the house and the cruiser in Torquay and a single lump sum settlement of fifty million pounds.”

“
Fifty million!”

“
We’d have got it too. We were able to complete a satisfactory discovery on his personal holdings at that time and they were at least five times that amount. The couple had been married for over twenty-five years and most of his wealth had been amassed during the period of their marriage, so she was entitled to every bit of it.”

“
On the other hand it would have been difficult for Billiere to have come up with that much money without seriously affecting his business interests. What did he say when he got that claim?”

Farmer wrinkled his forehead. “As far as I know he never got it. It took me some time to obtain all the necessary information. I let Joanne have the final draft only about a fortnight before she died. I never received the draft back to file it.”

“
Do you think she might have shown it to him herself?”

“
Perhaps she did but it would have been very foolish of her. I warned her that anything he did to try and disguise his wealth would have to be carried out before we filed the papers. After that his holdings would effectively be frozen as far as the court was concerned.”

“
What does that mean?”

“
Simple. It would be no good him turning round and trying to pretend that part of his wealth had disappeared so that a lower settlement would be ordered by the court.”

“
I see,” said Paulson, “so you don’t think there’s any chance that she would have warned him.”

“
I’d made it very clear that she shouldn’t.”

“
That’s a pity. I’d hoped the divorce petition would be a motive for her murder.”

“
Surely not.” Farmer was shocked. “That’s going to be a difficult one to prove.”

Stafford was downcast. As the solicitor said, even though fifty million pounds was a very good motive for murder, they were still a long way from proving anything. However he had one more question.