Three Faces of West (2013) (5 page)

“I guess there must be CCTV in operation. I guess that’s the first thing the police will want to check.”

He was hoping to get some answers from Carol through her body language. But she came up with a surprising answer,

“The CCTV systems all run on different circuits, each office has their own camera system rather than from a central hub, to prevent any underhand action. But, I’ve just checked the CCTV tapes, but they are not there, they’re missing.”

Both West and Hudson looking on in astonishment both reached the same conclusion,

“Whoever killed our friend here also stole the tapes, to prevent detection. Sounds like a professional job.” Concluded West.

There definitely seemed to be more here than what meets the eye. Moving across to a small room at the end of the office triggered Carol’s emotions once again as West approached the wood panel door,

“There’s nothing in there. It’s just a small en suite bathroom.” She said with a preventative tone in her voice.

Glancing at her was no prevention. Opening the door and peeking inside confirmed what she claimed. Without stepping inside all Jack saw was a small marbled tiled room containing a bath with shower, sink and toilet, adorned towels and a rather expensive mirror. There did not seem to be anything out of the ordinary here, if there was the police would surely pick it up.

With the assistant looking on in the doorway, John himself was rather preoccupied as Jack was peering into the en suite. Looking around the light from the window just at that particular moment brightened as the Sun shone through the sky. The increased light flooding into the room highlighted a silvery object on the other side of the desk. The glint catching John’s eye, causing Hudson to step over to look closer made the object increasingly recognisable. The long thin handle with the short triangular blade on the end, making it obviously clear to John as Jack came over to join him. Both men instantly knew what it was,

“It’s a surgical scalpel.” Proclaimed John,

“Look at the blade,” Queried Jack. It was stained with blood, the texture and colour indicating it was still fresh, but only just. From what they could make out it was beginning to darken to a burgundy colour as it was beginning to dry out on the metallic object,

West instantly issued a note of caution, “Don’t touch it.” He warned, “Leave it there.”

They both rose to their feet, but in doing so their attention was focused on the carpet. It appeared scuffed, disturbed as if someone had been heavily walking on it. The marks seemed quite obvious in the light, one of those things where the more one looks at it the more obvious it becomes,

“Footprints,” Said Jack.

“And dirty ones by the look of it.” Replied John.

The darker scuffs on the carpet were fairly localised around the desk, and like the blood on the scalpel, fairly recent. It was a clear indication that these were not just any old wear and tear. Because they stood out though this drew the attention of the two men to further investigation, and it paid off,

“What is that?” Asked John.

He noticed a tiny fragment, black and hard embedded in the carpet. Jack proceeded to pick it up, sparking a protest from John,

“What the hell are you doing?” He asked

“What does it look like? I’m taking this fragment back.”

John looked shocked at Jack, why would he be removing evidence from a crime scene? Had he taken leave of his senses? Did West realise that he could be inadvertently implicating himself through contamination? Hudson wanted to find out, if it wasn’t for Jack cutting him off,

“Don’t worry; we’ll let Scotland Yard know of the existence of this. We shall say that we removed it for some kind of security lead or something of that nature.”

John looked on unconvinced, “I hope you’re right West.”

Rising to their feet again Jack thought on while observing out of the window,

“Do you think the motive for this was to look for something specific?” He asked,

“Probably, why do you say that? Was the reply,

“Well look around, the lack of disturbance around the room, the obvious focus on the slaughter of such a public figure, the theft of the CCTV records.”

His line of questioning was inevitably shifting toward the safe, and as John picked up on this he butted in,

“I think whoever was here wanted what was in that safe.”

“Precisely.”

John turned back toward Carol,

“Who was here normally? Don’t you think someone could have heard something?”

“I was on lunch, I came back but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary.” She went all defensive again, “I’m not prepared to say any more. I’d prefer to wait for the police, what justification do you have for questioning me? I saw you pick up that piece of stone.”

Jack cut in again. While the conversation has been going on, he was still looking,

“So the murderer was looking for something specific, but his watch is missing. Many criminals take so called trophies, and I think the watch was just that. No the perpetrator was definitely looking for something, but I don’t think they found it whatever it was.”

Jack was as intrigued as john as to what was in the small safe. Thinking for a second he finally came up with a plan,

“John, why don’t you take out assistant outside, seal off the office and wait for the police to arrive. You can inform them as to the nature of our visit as well as the evidence we have procured.” He said turning to Carol trying to calm her fears.

John agreed and the two of them disappeared out of the door leaving West alone in the office with just the lifeless corpse for company. Making sure that he really was alone, his attention turned toward the computer on the desk. It had been left on, which was a relief, no such time wasting second guessing passwords. The screen already opened at the desktop served as a perfect access point to start exploring through the system files.

Working quickly he tapped through the explorer menus and all the system files. Some were locked, password protected and that was of no great surprise, the computer was linked to a central government network, access to some parts of the system were denied due to security clearances. There had to be something here, something, even a hint of whatever the murderer came for. This was a high security building, someone off the street could not just walk in and commit a crime of this magnitude, there had to be a reason somewhere.

Clicking through all the files he eventually came across a window showing compatibility files. Engrossed in what he saw Jack did not notice that he accidently clicked the right button on the mouse which brought up an additional menu. On this menu there lay the breakthrough, a little button checked for hidden files. Playing on his instincts, West unclicked the button which changed the display immediately. Directly in front of him the window still appeared blank, for a second, then a file appeared. West clicked on it half expecting a password screen to appear, but it didn’t, the thing opened automatically. As the contents displayed in front of him, West’s eyes widened in astonishment. The contents of the file were not something he was expecting, but it was one of those pieces of political dynamite only seen by privileged eyes.

Reading through the file was engrossing enough, only disturbed by the noise of activity in the outer office. Reactively shutting down the file as he had seen enough, West quickly moved away just in time as the wooden door swung open allowing John and Carol to re-enter the room,

“The office is sealed off, by security. Our friend Inspector Waterson is on his way, he shouldn’t be too long.” Stated John.

Jack looked on with a glance to suggest that is what he hoped would happen. However it could just as easily have something to do with the information he had just come across. He turned his attention back to Carol in one last attempt to gain access to the safe. He felt more confident now he had some ammunition,

“Are you going to give us the access code to this safe?” He asked,

Carol still dug in, stubborn as before, “No why should I?”

“Because,” He declared, “I have come across some interesting information, regarding you.”

Carol looked distinctively uncomfortable, as if she had been found out,

“What sort of information?” She asked tentatively,

“A file on Mr Finnin’s computer. A hotel booking form in his name, but with yourself as a companion.”

Carol tried to deflect the accusation, “So, that does not mean anything.”

West anticipated this. He knew additional info while browsing through computer files to back himself up,

“Ah yes but you see this was for an engagement that was not scheduled on any official calendar. I came across such an itinerary while browsing through this system.”

“So what? It is not uncommon for PA’s to accompany their boss on business trips, not all are listed, some are impromptu.” Replied Carol,

West fired back, “But all are official.”

Throwing Carol somewhat, the non-verbal communication between the two suggested she knew what West meant. In truth he already knew, and was using the info he obtained in a kind of blackmail,

West continued, “Surely there should be some kind of record of any trip, even impromptu. Let’s face it if the truth doesn’t come out here, then the police will get the truth, and that will inevitably leak to the press, very embarrassing don’t you think?”

Lowering her gave and then her head, Carol knew exactly what West was talking about, and she was aware of the consequences. West decided to capitalise on this,

“Let’s cut to the chase, you were in fact having an affair with Mr Finnin yes? That’s what I found on the computer as a hidden file, a hotel reservation for you both, nothing in the itinerary, just another short notice official visit.”

Carol looked at her accuser in the eye but only very briefly. West decided to go in for the kill,

“If you divulge to me the code for this safe, this goes no further, you can deny all knowledge of the hidden file and we shall say no more about it. If not, then you can explain everything to the police. You’re not the first person to have an affair with a politician and you definitely won’t be the last.”

It was checkmate for Carol. She knew full well the implications of her affair, especially with her lover now dead. She may even be courted as a suspect; to the police crimes of passion are a more than sufficient enough motive to kill,

“I’ll give you the code.” She said in a resigned tone. Pulling out her thin black shiny mobile, it only took a couple of touches to bring up the code stored on the phone. Showing it to Jack, he raised his eyebrows in enlightenment as he strode over to the silver door of the safe. Tapping on the black keypad seemed a doddle for him now; at last he was going to satisfy his curiosity as to what the strong box contained.

Punching in the last number was too much for Carol. A beeping noise from the safe telling West he had gained entry piped her up into a scorned fury,

“You can’t do this! You have no right! I’ll tell the police myself! I saw you pick up that black thing off the floor; I’ll tell them you are hiding evidence! There’s got to be a law against things like that!!”

Running out of the room triggered a sense of urgency in the two men; John had already turned round to react when West barked an order to him,

“John get after her! Now, quickly!!”

He did not have to issue it twice, indeed before he even finished the sentence, Hudson was making for the door. He was fast, but she seemed faster, West could only observe from his position as John disappeared around the door frame. As soon as he did this West took the ample opportunity to open the safe to observe and examine the contents he longed to see.

It only took a few minutes to complete the examination and that was enough time before John came back around the door looking rather hot and tired. West noticed that he was alone,

“She’s gone.” Said Hudson breathlessly, “I can’t find her.”

John instantly knew that the safe had been opened, why would it not be? He decided to ask about it,

“What was in the safe? Something important?”

Jack evasively hesitated for a second, “It was nothing, just some official files that’s all.” Was the reply he received.

John wasn’t satisfied with this at all. Why would the assistant be so reluctant to give up the security code? What had Jack found? He felt he had a right to know,

“If it isn’t so important, why did we have a hard time getting the code?”

“I don’t know Hudson, it is of no concern.”

This wasn’t right; John could tell that Jack was hiding something. Nothing felt right about any of this, the terrorist attack, the robbery, the connection, the murder and now the cagey attitude of his partner. He wanted to probe further regardless, but in the background came the familiar sound of sirens of the impending police approach,

“We have no time John; the police are on their way. Time for us to go.” West excused,

“I don’t like this Jack. What’s going on? I have the same clearance as you; I’m not going to be kept in the dark.” Snapped John, frustration in his voice all the more evident,

Jack gave an order, “We have no time John, come on, there’s nothing we can do here. Time to go.”

As Jack left the office and the crime scene John quickly followed suit. He wasn’t certain about this at all, even to a point of mistrust of his ally. Piecing together all the parts of this giant puzzle just seemed to reveal more and more disturbing facts. It was beginning to get to a point of uncertainty not just of the event, but of each other, certainly that was the case from Hudson’s point of view. The same could not be said true for Jack as they made their exit.

Chapter 4:

Thames House, Central London, two days later, 8:00am. The offices of Section D had a particular feel to them. The atmosphere although professional, remained tentative at best. Even though it had been two days since the events that first brought light on the affair they were entangled in, John still couldn’t shake that feeling of skirting around the edges of the law in relation to Finnin’s murder. He knew that it was not a matter for him or for West, but he had that sinking feeling associated with improper behaviour. Harvey had been informed by report as by now, 48 hours later, the whole world knew thanks to the internet and the media.