The Jackson Case

by Diana Xarissa

  “I assume that keeping you all too busy to ask questions was part of the job of the local accomplice,” Janet said.

  “I’m not sure I believe that there was a local accomplice,” Stuart replied. “I can’t believe anyone else on the committee was involved in stealing that money. We worked together for over a month and they all seemed as dedicated to the project as I was.”

  “How well do you know them?” Janet asked.

  “I’ve known Fred for years,” Stuart told her. “He was a very successful businessman. That’s why he was able to sell his tickets to the men who spent too much last night.”

  “Who suggested adding him to the committee?” Joan asked.

  “I don’t know,” Stuart replied. “Norman had a list of names that he’d been given by someone. That’s where he got my name. I tried everyone on his list and then added Fred as well. Someone else might have suggested him, but it might have been my idea. I simply don’t recall.”

  “What about the others? How well do you know any of them?” was Janet’s question.

  “I don’t know Alvin well,” Stuart admitted. “I’m not terribly fond of him, either. He’s retired, but he tries to act like he’s twenty-five. His girlfriend probably is twenty-five. He was responsible for all of the young people at the party last night. They all ate and drank a lot and none of them bid on a single item.”

  “He sounds like he could use some extra money,” Joan remarked.

  “Maybe, but can’t we all, really?” Stuart replied. “I’m not fond of the man, but I don’t think he’s a criminal, either.”

  “What about Winifred Godfrey?” Janet asked.

  “Winifred? He’s no criminal,” Stuart laughed. “I’ve known him my whole life, really. He grew up in Doveby Dale, worked as an estate agent for his career, and retired as soon as he could. He’d always been interested in history, but once he was retired, he turned it into a passion. He spends most of his time in the archives in Derby, going through old papers and taking extensive notes. I can’t see him having any use for extra money, really.”

  “Everyone can use extra money,” Janet said. “Even if it’s just to upgrade one’s lifestyle.”

  Stuart shrugged. “Maybe, but Winifred seems happy enough. The local historical society is his baby. He puts hours and hours into producing their newsletter every few months, mostly writing all of the articles himself. He keep talking about putting a book together as well, but I understand that’s a more expensive undertaking.”

  “Well, there you are,” Janet said. “Maybe that’s what he wanted the money for.”

  “Maybe,” Stuart said doubtfully. “But he’d be last on my list of suspects.”

  “So who is first?” Joan asked.

  Stuart opened his mouth and then shut it again. After a minute he took a deep breath and then blew out a long sigh. “I suppose it would have to be Alvin,” he said eventually. “But I really don’t believe it.”

  “Is it possible that the local accomplice wasn’t on the committee?” Janet suggested. “Are there other people who helped with the event?”

  “You and Joan,” Stuart said dryly.

  The women both chuckled. “But we can’t have been behind it all, as we didn’t even know it was happening until last Monday,” Janet pointed out.

  “I don’t think anyone, other than the committee members, knew about it much before that,” Stuart said. “I don’t know if Norman and Julian really did talk to Simon about it or not, but they claimed that they spoke to him in the very early planning stages.”

  “I can’t see Simon Hampton being involved in all of this,” Joan said.

  “Why not?” Stuart challenged. “I hear that he’s having trouble collecting from his insurance after the fire damage, due to the circumstances. Maybe he’s not as well-off as everyone seems to think.”

  “We can add him to the list of suspects,” Janet said. “But I’m putting him at the very bottom of the list.”

  Stuart nodded. “It does seem far-fetched,” he admitted. “But I’m grasping at straws. I hate the thought that one of the committee members was involved.”

  “And you can’t think of anyone else who knew about the event in the early stages?” Janet asked.

  “No, not really,” Stuart said. “I will give the idea some more thought, though.”

  “Maybe they didn’t use a local contact this time,” Janet suggested. “That’s got to be a possibility, right?”

  “Where did they get my name from, then?” Stuart asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Janet said.

  “You said they had a list,” Joan remarked. “Surely the accomplice was one of the men on the list.”

  “He must have been,” Stuart said. “But I can’t believe it.”

  “Fred was the only one not on the list, right?” Janet asked.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Stuart replied. “There were two other names, but they both declined.”

  “Maybe one of them was the accomplice,” Janet said excitedly.

  “Don’t think I didn’t consider that,” Stuart said. “But one of them has been on holiday in America since the end of March and the other one declined due to ill health. He’s actually been moved to a care home in the last few weeks. He’s not doing much more than watching telly and annoying his children, as I understand it.”

  “But clearly he needs money,” Janet said. “Maybe he was the accomplice, but he had to drop out due to his health. Maybe that’s why things fell into such disarray.”

  “I mentioned him to Robert,” Stuart told her. “I’m sure he’ll investigate, but I can’t see him being involved. His health has been bad for some time now.”

  “At least we can add him to the list,” Janet said. “Right under Simon Hampton.”

  “I’d put him above Simon,” Stuart said. “Only because he has a more pressing need for money that could be satisfied by a much smaller amount that what I suspect Simon needs.”

  Janet nodded. “Maybe I should be writing all of this down,” she said.

  “There’s little point,” Joan said. “Working it all out is Robert’s job, not ours. It’s an interesting mental exercise, but ultimately that’s all it is.”

  “I had a thought, though,” Stuart said. “I was hoping you might be willing to help.”

  “With what?” Janet asked.

  “I thought maybe, if we got the committee together again, we could work out who the accomplice was,” Stuart said.

  Janet and Joan exchanged glances. “That sounds dangerous,” Janet said. “Whoever it was must be feeling guilty, and I’m sure he’s afraid of being caught as well.”

  “That’s why I thought we should get the whole group together, rather than speak to them one at a time,” Stuart replied. “Surely there’s safety in numbers.”

  “What if they were all in on it?” Joan asked.

  “Surely not,” Stuart said. “For one thing, I doubt Norman and Julian would want to split the proceeds that many ways.”

  “What makes you think they’d all want to get together?” Joan asked.

  “I thought I would ring them and suggest a meeting so that we can work out what happened,” Stuart said. “I thought I would tell them that I’m convinced that there wasn’t any local accomplice this time and that I needed their help to prove that to the police.”

  “It might work,” Janet said.

  “But I’d really like to have the meeting here again,” Stuart said. “If you don’t mind. Mary is very upset and I’d hate to upset her further,” he added.

  “I don’t mind,” Janet said. She and Stuart both looked at Joan.

  “I suppose it’s okay,” Joan said. “When were you planning to have this meeting?”

  “Tomorrow? Maybe around eleven?” he suggested.

  Joan nodded. “Our guests both want breakfast early, so we could do that,” she said.

  “Excellent,” Stuart exclaimed. “I’ll go and start ringing up the committee members.”

&n
bsp; “There is one condition,” Joan added as Stuart got to his feet.

  “Oh, what’s that?” he asked.

  “We need to notify Robert that the meeting is taking place,” she told him.

  “Oh, but I thought we could ring him after it’s over,” Stuart said.

  “Robert specifically cautioned Janet and myself about talking to any of the suspects,” Joan said. “I won’t go behind his back like this. If you don’t want to tell him what you’re planning, I’ll ring him myself.”

  Stuart frowned. He looked over at Janet, but she simply shook her head. Whatever her thoughts on the matter, she could tell that Joan wasn’t going to be swayed.

  “Okay, you can ring Robert,” Stuart said. “I’ll go and ring everyone else. If I don’t see you between now and then, I’ll be here tomorrow around half ten.”

  “You needn’t tell the committee members that Robert will be here,” Joan said as they walked the man to the door. “That’s one of the reasons I offered to ring him instead of having you do it.”

  “They may not want to attend if they know,” Stuart said. “Maybe I won’t mention it.”

  “We’ll see you tomorrow,” Janet said.

  As soon as the door was shut behind him, Joan headed for the phone. Susan Garner, Robert’s civilian assistant at the station, was the only one in the office. Joan left a message, asking Robert to ring her back. When rang about two hours later, Janet answered the phone.

  “Joan wanted to talk to me,” he said.

  “I’ll have her pick up,” Janet replied. When Joan was on the line, Janet didn’t disconnect.

  “I just wanted to let you know that Stuart is going to be having a committee meeting here tomorrow,” Joan said. “He’s hoping he can work out who the accomplice was by talking to everyone all together.”

  Robert sighed deeply. “Why does everyone want to play amateur detective all the time?” he muttered. “Okay, thank you for letting me know. What time is this little gathering?”

  “Eleven,” Joan told him.

  “I’ll be there at ten,” Robert replied.

  Chapter 9

  Robert was true to his word, knocking on the door at Doveby House at exactly ten o’clock the next morning. Janet let him in, and then led him to the kitchen where Joan had the kettle on. They ate biscuits and drank tea while they talked.

  “I’m still not convinced that this meeting is a good idea,” Robert said.

  “Stuart is very upset at the thought that someone on the committee would have helped Norman and Julian,” Janet said. “He wants to have a chance to talk to everyone himself.”

  “I don’t think the accomplice, if there was one, is dangerous,” Robert said. “If I did, I wouldn’t have let this go ahead.”

  Stuart arrived at half ten, clearly upset. “I don’t want tea,” he told Joan as he sank into a chair next to Robert. “I’m too worried to eat or drink anything, quite frankly. When I think back to how flattered I was when Norman rang me to ask me to be on the committee, I could scream.”

  “You need to calm down,” Robert said. “The meeting is going to be difficult enough without you on edge.”

  The other man nodded and then took a long deep breath. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll try a cup of tea.”

  Joan made him his drink and everyone sat quietly while he took a few sips. “That is better,” he said after a moment. “I’m sorry. The fundraiser took up a huge amount of my time and energy for the last month and I’m quite devastated with how it all turned out. I keep blaming myself for not suspecting anything.”

  “I didn’t suspect anything, either,” Robert pointed out. “And being suspicious is my job.”

  Janet chuckled. “They were very convincing,” she said. “Remember, this was the fifth or sixth time they’d done the same thing. You weren’t the only ones taken in by them.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Stuart said. “I just feel stupid, I suppose.”

  “As do I,” Robert told him. “I’m hoping we can work out who the accomplice was and maybe he can help us find Norman and Julian.”

  “Surely he won’t want to betray them,” Joan said.

  “He might, if it means a lighter sentence for him,” Robert said. “Having said that, none of the accomplices in any of the other cases were able to help. We’ve no reason to suppose that our accomplice will be any different.”

  “Julian and Norman were very careful, then,” Janet said.

  “Very. In all of the other cases we can tie to them, as soon as the events were over, they paid off their accomplices and disappeared. The accomplices never had any more information about the pair than what they’d told everyone. One had a special phone number for Norman, but that had been disconnected the day after the event as well.”

  Janet shook her head. “They really know what they’re doing, don’t they?”

  “They do, but now that we can tie several cases together, we’re doing everything we can to make their job more difficult,” Robert said. “Every constabulary in the country is going to be getting a full profile on the two men and their operations. We’re hoping that publicizing the cases will make it much harder for them to continue operating.”

  “It might work,” Joan said. “If enough people see the publicity.”

  “As long as enough police constables see it, it should have an impact,” Robert said. “If I’d seen something about it before our event, I would have asked a lot more questions, that’s for sure. Small village constables usually know what’s going on in their localities. They should be able to intervene if Norman and Julian try to set up shop.”

  By five to eleven, everyone was feeling nervous. Stuart and Robert moved into the dining room while Janet and Joan piled biscuits onto plates and boiled a fresh kettle. Alvin was the first to arrive.

  “Yes, good morning,” he said in a distracted tone as Janet welcomed him. He didn’t say anything else, just headed straight for the dining room.

  Fred was only a minute behind him. “Ah, lovely to see you again,” he told Janet. “I wish these were happier circumstances, of course.”

  Janet walked him to the dining room and then returned to the sitting room to wait for Winifred. Joan was in place next to the kettle, ready to make hot drinks and eavesdrop.

  Winifred was only a few minutes late. He answered Janet’s “good morning” with a “hurumph” and then stormed off to the dining room.

  “And it’s lovely to see you again, too,” Janet called after him. She was ninety-nine per cent certain that he couldn’t hear her when she spoke, but it still made her feel better. When she walked into the kitchen, she could hear raised voices from the dining room.

  “It’s highly irregular,” Winifred was saying. “This is a closed committee meeting, not yet another inquisition by the police. If Constable Parsons wants to talk with us, there’s a place for that, and it isn’t at our committee meeting.”

  “As some of what we have to discuss is a police matter,” Stuart said, “I thought it would be helpful to have the constable with us. He’s agreed to give us a short briefing on the case.”

  “Has he?” Winifred asked. “Has something happened, then?”

  “Why don’t we wait and let Constable Parsons answer that later?” Stuart asked.

  “Why don’t we have the constable talk first?” Winifred suggested. “Then he can go and get on with his work while we have our committee meeting.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’d rather wait a short while, if no one minds,” Robert said. “I’m waiting for a phone call that might change what I have to tell you.”

  “What sort of phone call?” Winifred demanded.

  “Why don’t we get on with our meeting and let Constable Parsons explain everything at the end?” Stuart said. “Let’s start by working out exactly how much money each of us is owed at this point.”

  “I never got paid for the flyers and tickets,” Alvin said. “I have the receipt here.”

  “Thank you,” Stuart said. “I pai
d for the hall rental, for the wine, and I gave some money to Todd and Ted for the food. They are still owed some additional funds, however.”

  “I didn’t end up paying for anything,” Fred said. “I do hope you’ll be able to recover your money, at least.”

  “The police will have to find Norman and Julian for that to happen,” Stuart said.

  “Did everyone pay for everything with cash?” Alvin asked.

  “I don’t know,” Stuart said.

  “I’m sure I saw a few people writing out cheques to pay for auction items,” Fred said.

  “They should stop the cheques, in that case,” Stuart said. “Hopefully, they’ve seen the news about the theft and have already done that.”

  “If they stop the cheques, they should give back the items they bought in the auction,” Winifred said. “Otherwise they’re getting them for nothing.”

  “Really, they should stop the first cheque and then write a second one directly to the charity,” Stuart said.

  “But if they write it to one of us, we can get paid back for what we spent in putting together the event,” Winifred said.

  “I don’t have you on my list,” Stuart said. “How much are you owed and for what?”

  “I’m not sure I want to say,” Winifred said.

  “Why not?” Stuart asked.

  “I paid for a few things along the way, but I had intended to tell Norman to consider it all a donation,” Winifred told him.

  “But we should still have an accounting of what was spent in putting the event together,” Stuart argued.

  “It isn’t enough to worry about,” Winifred replied. “I’m more interested in what we took in. How much did those two manage to steal?”

  “Unfortunately, along with the money, they stole all of the paperwork from the event,” Stuart said. “We don’t have any idea how much they got away with.”

  “We should be able to work out a rough estimate,” Fred suggested.

  “I’ve tried to do that for the police,” Stuart said. “I have copies of what I put together for them. I’d like you all to take a look and see what you think.”

  Janet looked over at Joan, who shrugged. They both knew that the numbers on the sheet Stuart was handing around were greatly inflated. He was hoping that the accomplice, on seeing the very high estimate, would get angry that he hadn’t received his fair share.