“Eddie may have called Sarah himself, claiming to be Tom Thorbury and arranged the meeting at Stoney Street,” Evans said. “The poor girl probably thought she’d been headhunted. Sarah’s unlikely to have known Danny or Tom so Danny turns up as Tom Thorbury and we know the rest.”
“And that might give us something else to add to the list of charges,” Hinton said with undisguised pleasure. “After discussions with the CPS, I’m sure we’ll get the nod to charge Eddie with manufacturing and selling class A drugs. We should be okay on kidnapping and incitement to murder as well.
“We do, of course, still need to trace Carl Simpson-Divine and Louise and Charlotte Thorbury but the possible charges against them may be the subject of more detailed discussion. Eddie’s information may finally give us what we need to put Carl away but he’s complicated the issue of his mother’s involvement. It’s likely he sacked Silas Longthorpe because he was afraid of finding himself back on the street if he got bail and with the family solicitor out of the picture, he was able to implicate his mother in the Shoresby business.”
“I don’t believe Louise was manipulating Eddie Sir,” Turnbull argued. “Quite the opposite in fact. I think she’d have done whatever he asked. She must have drugged Paul Cahill on his instruction but in the end, he backed away from laying all the blame on her.”
“A crisis of conscience perhaps?” Hinton suggested. “Either way, Louise isn’t part of the murder enquiry and the more minor issue of charges against Biggerstaff and Malpas can be resolved in due course. Maxine is likely to be charged with money laundering. There’s plenty of evidence to support it but the CPS were less certain about Julian. They say it may be hard to prove he stole the watch.”
“Eddie may be willing and able to assist with the whereabouts of the Long Malden suspects,” Evans said. “And of course, there’s Tom as well. He might be able to help us trace Louise and her daughter.”
“Sounds good. I’ll speak to the media. You two can deal with the prisoner,” Hinton said to Evans and Marsh. “The rest of you can work on the search for the missing trio. You’re all in tomorrow. Tessa, I’ll be speaking to Eddie again first thing in the morning. I’ll need you to sit in.”
When the prisoner had been brought up from the custody suite, Evans and Marsh joined him in the interview room. “Thanks again for recovering the money,” Evans said to Paul as the detectives sat down opposite their former colleague. “We’ve managed to come up with a long list of things you could be charged with. After a quick chat with the CPS we should be able to slap enough on you for a remand in custody followed, in due course, by a lengthy sentence. But on the plus side, you’re still alive, unlike some.”
“I was in the grounds on official university business,” Paul insisted. “The caretaker can confirm that. I stumbled across the money and was taking it to the police. I’ve done nothing wrong which is more than can be said for you and your colleagues. You put my life at risk in order to draw a suspect into a trap which resulted in his death. All things considered, I don’t think any charges against me would be appropriate. In fact, I may have a valid claim for wrongful arrest.”
“The compensation wouldn’t quite match the value of Eddie’s drug money,” Marsh remarked. He looked at Evans. There was a rare smile on the Inspector’s face.
“Well that’s sorted then,” Evans said. “It’s not in your interests to reveal anything about your activities in the grounds which means there’s no reason for us to bring any charges. Like you say, your actions were undertaken with the best of intentions and I’m confident that we can count on your discretion. If it hadn’t been for you, we’d still be struggling to make sense of Simeon Gilbert’s presence in the grounds of Thorbury Hall. Tom Thorbury’s document box has helped to answer a lot of questions.”
“A little knowledge of history can be a useful thing,” Paul said.
With the deal agreed, Paul was released and Evans and Marsh made their way to Hinton’s office after the media briefing was completed. The Superintendent had put a positive spin on events and despite the death of the suspect, Hinton was optimistic about the prospects of closing the book.
“Alec and Dennis can go to Long Malden tomorrow to speak to neighbours and try to get a lead to help us trace Carl, Louise and Charlotte,” Hinton said. “You can visit Tom in the morning. He may be able to help us trace Louise and her daughter and give us an insight into the relationship between Louise and Carl. “I’ll speak again to Eddie with Tessa. Hopefully he’ll see the sense in assisting us over the possible whereabouts of his mother and sister.”
Chapter 61
“Come up Inspector. I’m on the first floor,” Tom Thorbury said through the intercom before letting Evans and Marsh into the luxury apartment block. They crossed the lobby and walked up one flight of the wide, richly carpeted stairway.
Mila Mertens was sitting in an armchair in the spacious but sparsely furnished lounge when her son led the two detectives inside. She acknowledged the Inspector’s nod with a smile.
“I heard about the shooting on the news. What happened?” Tom asked.
“The operation to capture our chief suspect ended badly, mostly for him,” Evans replied.
“Another death in the grounds of Thorbury Hall,” Tom mused. “Why was he shot?”
“He spotted one of our officers drawing his weapon and fired at him. Fortunately, he missed. He wouldn’t drop the gun.”
“And he was your killer?”
“Almost certainly.”
“But what was he doing in the grounds of the hall?”
“That’s something we can’t reveal at this stage. There’ll be more news in due course.”
“I see. Take a seat gentlemen,” Tom offered, indicating the small sofa in the middle of the room. “I inherited this apartment from my father,” he said, sensing their surprise at the contrast between the cheap sofa and the scale of its surroundings. “The contents included some of the original furniture my grandparents rescued from the hall and placed in storage. Father reclaimed it when he bought the apartment after the separation and I sold it all two years ago to raise the capital I needed for the business. The replacements are purely functional.”
The detectives sat down and looked up at the young entrepreneur. “What can I do for you?” Tom asked.
“Louise and Charlotte aren’t at home,” Evans replied. “They may have gone into hiding. We’ve got Eddie in custody. He was making and dealing drugs and they both knew about it.”
“And you think I can help you find them?”
“We thought you might be able to give us a lead,” Marsh said.
“There’s the family villa in Spain,” Tom advised. “Other than that, there’s nothing I can suggest.”
“Where exactly is it?” Evans asked.
“Somewhere in Catalonia.”
Tom walked across to a desk in the corner of the room and removed an address book from one of the drawers. After leafing through the book he scribbled on a note pad, tore off the sheet and handed it to Evans. “I believe Louise spends a lot of time there,” he said.
“Eddie told us his mother was a friend of Carl Simpson-Divine. Does the name mean anything to you?” Evans asked.
Tom shook his head and looked at Mila. “I’ve never heard of him,” she said.
“Nor me,” Tom said, “It’s hardly a name I’d forget. Who is he?”
“A notorious criminal who managed to launder enough money to buy a house in Long Malden.”
“It would be a surprise to me if Louise had time for anyone like that.”
“A brief fling perhaps?”
“Louise isn’t the flinging type. If Mr Simpson-Divine was making a bid for respectability, he’d have wanted to ingratiate himself with his neighbours in Long Malden. Louise may have known him and Eddie may have believed they had a close relationship but that doesn’t seem credible to me.”
“So we won’t find him in Catalonia?”
“Probably not, unless he has a villa
there as well. What will happen to Eddie?”
“He’s admitted to the drugs. There may be other charges too. I think he can look forward to a long prison sentence.”
“That’s a shame although it’s obviously no more than he deserves. Eddie could have made something of himself. People were always saying how clever he was. Will Louise and Charlotte be facing any charges when you find them?”
“They’ll certainly have some explaining to do,” Evans replied.
“I never imagined we could sink this low,” Tom said as if sharing a collective responsibility for the actions of his relatives. “This is a sad end to the story of the Thorbury family. You’re probably the only one who knows enough to write it.”
“Rest assured Tom, that isn’t going to happen. The true stories never get written. And anyway, you’ve got plenty of time to create a happier ending.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Tom said. “Perhaps if father was still alive none of this would have happened and Eddie would be pursuing his interest in chemistry at Oxford.”
“Your father was still quite young when he passed away,” Evans said. “Had he been ill for long?”
“His death was sudden and by his own hand,” Tom revealed. “The family’s demise was a humiliation he could no longer bear.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Evans said, looking at Mila.
“I was very fond of Arthur,” she said.
“Well despite the earlier confusions, we appreciate your help. We’ll follow up the Catalonia lead.”
“I hope my former mother and half sister aren’t in serious trouble. They may think too highly of themselves at times but they aren’t bad people.”
“We’ll have to see how things work out,” Evans replied. He took out the Thorbury family photograph he’d retrieved from DC Turnbull and held it up as if paying homage to a sacred object. “I have to admit, without your documents we may still be floundering on this case. This and some other things from the box have proved invaluable. I’ll return the photograph in due course,” he promised before tucking it securely into his inside pocket. “We may need to speak to you again at some point. Good luck with the business.”
“Thank you Inspector. You know where to find me,” Tom replied.
“One other thing,” Evans said as he and Marsh were leaving. “You said you didn’t know Maxine Biggerstaff but perhaps you’re aware that you have a cousin called Elizabeth.”
“Yes, of course. Little Lizzie. I do remember she hated being called Elizabeth. I should have realised. She’s changed her name to Maxine then?”
“Yes but it gets worse as far as the lack of realisation is concerned,” Evans stated buoyantly.
“I’m beginning to worry Inspector. No doubt you’re about to enlighten me.”
Evans looked at Marsh and allowed him to explain.
“Charlotte denied asking you to help Simeon get the job at the bank. We’ve since discovered it was Maxine pretending to be Charlotte. She guessed you’d be more inclined to help Charlotte as you’d want to stop her pestering you.”
Tom Thorbury smiled. “So little Lizzie has duped the hard-nosed businessman. I’m not quite as perfect as I thought. I’ll have to mark that down as a lesson learned and soldier on,” he concluded.
Back on the street, Evans took a call from Tessa Turnbull. “Eddie says Louise has a villa in Spain Sir,” she said.
“We know about the villa Tessa. Tom has given us the details. Did Eddie say anything which might help us trace Carl?”
“Not really. He thinks he may have gone abroad but he couldn’t say where. On the plus side, there’s good news from Little Howton. Our colleagues there have made arrests at the academy.”
“That was quick. What’s the story?”
“It’s to do with an on-going investigation into spread betting. It seems Alec and Dennis pointed them in the right direction.”
“More success for Chris Hinton’s goons. They’ll be running the risk of promotion if they carry on like this.”
“I was wondering Sir, is it okay if I go to the hospital to see Gary? I’m sure he’d be pleased to get an update on the case.”
“We’re on our way back Tessa. If you hang on for ten minutes, we’ll go with you. By the way, do either of you speak Spanish?”
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