‘Very perceptive of you, Milner. We’ll make a copper of you yet,’ Tom said, with a slight laugh. ‘The club is 110 years old and, during that time, has clearly had some very privileged and famous members. I agree with you that they were trying very hard to make it seem that Mr Burton’s membership, and, more importantly, his shareholding, was entirely normal. However they spin it, the appearance of an East Ender with seemingly bags of new money to buy his way into such an exclusive club, and the history and tradition which goes with it, cannot have been well received by everyone.’
‘How do you know it’s 110 years old?’ asked Milner.
‘It says so on this,’ he answered, producing one of the club’s scorecards. ‘The West London Golf Club. Founded in 1909.Not only that, but the whole ambience and décor of the club smacked of tradition. I don’t know about you, but I felt as though I was almost stepping back into another time.’
‘And how do you know that they have had some very famous members?’ asked Milner. He was keen to know, but he also suspected this would allow DCI Stone an opportunity to, once again, provide him with the benefit of his extensive policing experience and observational skills. He wasn’t disappointed.
‘Didn’t you look at the photographs on the wall as we walked down the corridor?’ replied Tom, in a way which suggested that they were almost impossible to miss. ‘There were lots and lots of them, and they were all former club captains. I could only see a few, but even I could recognise some of the names and faces. Businessmen, military officers, as well as a few famous politicians. The West London Golf Club is clearly not your local municipal pitch and putt course.’
Milner didn’t know whether or not he was supposed to comment. Tom made the decision for him. ‘You see, with policing, it’s important to use all of your senses. But especially your eyes.’
‘I’ll try and remember that, sir,’ said Milner, thinking that that was classic DCI Stone. A compliment quickly followed by a put-down.
When they arrived back at the station they were met by DC Bennett. ‘How did it go at the golf club? Did you both join?’
‘Somehow I don’t think we could afford to join,’ answered Milner.
‘Or that they would want us,’ added Tom quickly. ‘Especially DS Milner. He’s far too young.’ He waved the two of them into his office. ‘Anyway, what’s been happening here whilst we’ve been away looking at how the other half live? Any news?’
‘Yes. A few updates. Firstly, I received Mr Burton’s latest bank statement. There doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Certainly no large cash withdrawal; just regular small amounts. If he was hoping to run away with a woman then he hasn’t used this account to help pay for it. And he certainly wasn’t planning to go anywhere too exotic.’
‘I assume that was his personal bank statement,’ said Tom. ‘What about the business one? He must need some source of funds. We know he’s not the type of person who lives a frugal lifestyle.’
‘Still waiting for that, I’m afraid, but hopefully I’ll have that soon as well.’
Milner spoke again. ‘Let’s assume, for the moment, that he has gone off with another woman. What if she is the one who is providing the funds?’
‘Very good point,’ said Tom, reflectively, and then, almost to himself, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
‘As you always say, sir, no one has a monopoly on ideas,’ answered Milner, inwardly smiling.
Before Tom could respond, DC Bennett said, ‘Some good news, though, as far as CCTV is concerned. I’ve been making some local enquiries and, this morning, one of the Burtons’ neighbours contacted me to say that not only do they have CCTV, but he also personally saw Mr Burton driving his car away from his house just before 2.30 pm. The techies are working on accessing the CCTV footage. I should have it sometime tomorrow.’
‘Good,’ said Tom, choosing to ignore Milner’s earlier comment. ‘That’s something, I suppose. Let me know when you’ve set it up.’
Tom now turned to face Milner. ‘I think you should go and visit those other two golfers he played with before they left. Also, see if you can get hold of a full list of club members, together with their shareholding.’ He paused briefly. ‘I’m still a bit puzzled, despite his cash injection, as to why Mr Burton was allocated so many shares.’
He then turned towards DC Bennett. ‘And I think you and I should meet a friend of yours. Mr Burton’s business partner. What’s his name?’
‘Craig Blackwell,’ answered DC Bennett.
‘Yes, that’s right. Why don’t you call him and set up the meeting?’
Both Milner and DC Bennett left the office, leaving Tom alone. As he sat there, by himself, he suddenly realised that he had not thought about Commander Jenkins and Charles Cope at all during the previous few hours. Whilst a man’s disappearance was probably not the biggest investigation he had ever worked on, it had provided the relief and distraction he had needed. But now everything came flooding back and, however many times he thought through all of the possible outcomes, he always kept coming back to the inescapable conclusion that whatever happened was unlikely to be beneficial for him personally.
Chapter 11
‘I’ve got something to tell you,’ said Mary, with more than a hint of both excitement and nervousness in her voice.
Tom had, once again, left the station early, or at least earlier than he normally would. The distraction of Mr Burton’s disappearance had proved to be short-lived and he just couldn’t clear his mind of what the future would bring. In a way, remaining at the station simply reinforced this apprehension, and so he had decided to leave for home.
He had arrived back before Mary and had started to prepare dinner. It wasn’t something he would normally do. In fact, the number of times he had cooked dinner he could almost count on the fingers of one hand. And, in truth, he had a very limited repertoire when it came to meal options. Something involving chicken and rice was always a safe choice, and that was what he was currently preparing.
‘At least take your coat off first,’ replied Tom, suddenly intrigued by what she had to tell him. At the same time, though, he was slightly disappointed that she had made no comment about him cooking dinner.
Mary took off her coat and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Yummy. That smells nice. Is it chicken?’
‘Well, I thought I would surprise you,’ he replied, not knowing if she was being sarcastic or not. ‘What is it you want to tell me?’
Mary seemed to take a deep breath before saying, ‘I had a phone call earlier today.’ She hesitated, almost as though she couldn’t carry on.
Tom decided to help her out. ‘Well, that’s not so unusual, unless it was from, say, the Queen.’
‘It wasn’t the Queen. It was from Paul,’ she answered in a breathless voice.
Tom and Anne had married when they had both been fairly young, and quite early in Tom’s career, and their marriage had quickly been followed by the birth of their son, Paul. As his police career had developed, Tom had found himself prioritising this more and more over his new family. Inevitably he and Anne had started to drift apart until, finally, they had decided to split. In truth, it had been Anne who had made the decision, unable to continue in such a one-sided marriage.
After the initial pain of their split, Tom had realised that it had probably been for the best. It wasn’t that he didn’t care for Anne and his son; it was more that he didn’t truly love her and, despite Paul, didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with her.
He continued to see his son, but it was nonetheless made clear to him, by Anne, that Paul’s future upbringing was down to her alone. This was dramatically brought home to Tom when, a couple of years later, she informed him that she would be emigrating to Australia. She had a sister who lived there, and it was this sister who had suggested Anne might want to start a new life there for herself and Paul.
This was, without a doubt, the most traumatic time in Tom’s life, and it was only then that the true consequences of his
actions really hit home. After Anne and Paul’s departure, Tom had thrown himself fully into his career and, although he’d had the occasional relationship, it was his work which had provided the distraction and relief he needed.
As the years had gone by, he had thought less and less about them, almost as though he was deliberately trying to blot them completely out of his memory. Occasionally he received news about them, and it was on such an occasion he’d heard that Anne had remarried.
Recently, though, he had found himself thinking more and more about them both, but especially Paul. He’d also come to realise that Anne had been right all along. It had been selfish and inconsiderate of him to have put his career before his family.
As he approached the end of his career, these thoughts became stronger and stronger. Just a couple of years ago, when he was, both personally and professionally, at one of the lowest points of his life, he had suddenly realised just what he had given up by prioritising his career over his marriage. At that particular point he had nothing to show for the previous almost thirty years of his life. He lived alone, had no close family, and his career was just about to end in ignominy with colleagues feeling sorry for him. But then he met Mary, and everything changed.
Well, almost everything. He still didn’t have any immediate family.
Just for a moment Tom couldn’t speak. Finally, though, he simply said, ‘Paul? Do you mean Paul, my son?’
‘Yes, Paul, your son,’ answered Mary, with a slight laugh, relieved that Tom’s initial response had not been one of anger.
‘But why?’ he asked, still clearly shocked. ‘Why did he call you?’
‘Why don’t you sit down?’ she suggested.
Tom dutifully sat at the kitchen table and then Mary sat next to him.
‘I know you must have lots of questions,’ she said, ‘but, please, just hear me out first. There will be time for those questions afterwards.’
Once again, she took a deep breath before continuing. She now knew Tom well enough to know how he hated surprises. She had thought carefully about how she would explain this to him but, even so, was still aware that it could all backfire.
‘Recently you’ve started to talk more and more about Paul. If you remember, it wasn’t that long ago you wondered what he was doing, was he married and even if he had any children himself. So I decided I would try and contact him.’ She looked at him and then took his hand. ‘I knew you wouldn’t do it, so I thought I’d do it for you.’
This was probably the moment of truth for Mary. Either he would become angry with her for taking such a huge step on his behalf or he would accept what she had done.
She waited for him to respond. Time seemed to stand still while she waited for a reply. Just as she was about to continue, he said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m a bit stunned by what you are saying.’
Mary was relieved that the tone of his voice suggested he was surprised in a pleasant way, rather than shocked and angry, and this tone continued when he asked, almost with a hint of trepidation in his voice, ‘And did you contact him?’
‘I did, yes,’ she replied. ‘It wasn’t easy, and it took a couple of weeks, but, today, he called me when I was in the shop.’
‘But how did you find him?’ Tom asked.
‘I found him via Facebook. I know you think Facebook is just so that people can talk about how wonderful they are or engage in mindless gossip, but sometimes being on Facebook does have its benefits. Anyway, eventually I found him. When I first entered his name, I think about fifty people came up. But one profile stood out, from what you had told me about him. Born in 1988, in London, but moved to Melbourne when he was still very young. So all I had to do then was message him and ask if he was the person I was trying to find. Fortunately, he responded and gave me his email address.’ She hesitated. ‘I say all I had to do, but it wasn’t really quite as simple as that. I thought long and hard about whether it was the right thing to do.’ She paused, allowing a space for him to say something. When he didn’t, she carried on. ‘We exchanged a few emails. I told him a bit more about you and me, and—’
Before Mary could finish, Tom interrupted her. ‘What did you say about us?’
‘I told him how we were living together, how long we had been together, where we were living and that we were planning to get married,’ she answered. ‘He was genuinely interested to hear what I was saying.’ Without giving him the opportunity to comment she continued. ‘By the way, I think you should know that you are a grandad. Paul is married, and they have two young children. A boy aged eight, Sam, and a seven-year-old girl, Emily.’
This time she did allow time for what she had just told him to fully sink in.
‘I’m a grandad? I can’t believe it,’ Tom said. He had suddenly become quite emotional – something Mary had rarely seen in him before – and so, once again, she gave him some more time.
‘What did you say about me?’ Tom asked at last, in a slightly hesitant voice.
Mary smiled. ‘Well, you might be surprised to know that he actually knew quite a lot about you already. It seems that the investigation you were involved in a couple of years ago – the one where Philip King murdered all of those people – not only made the UK media but also reached Australia.’
‘So he realised who I was?’ asked Tom.
‘Actually, he didn’t. It was his mum who recognised you and then told him. It seems he then couldn’t get enough information about you.’
‘Anne?’ he asked, with surprise and interest. ‘Do you know how she is?’
Mary’s demeanour suddenly changed. ‘I’m afraid she died last year from breast cancer. I’m sorry.’
‘Dead?’ Tom was visibly shocked. ‘She was younger than me.’
‘Apparently she had been diagnosed a few years previously. After treatment she was considered to be in remission but, unfortunately, the cancer reappeared, in a more aggressive way. I’m sorry,’ she said again.
‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for,’ he quickly said.
‘I know, but I’m still sorry that it was me who had to tell you. I know it’s been a long time, but Anne was, at one point, your wife and mother to your son.’
Mary was right and Tom, genuinely shocked by what she had just told him, could not speak. Although he hadn’t seen Anne for a very long time and when they had split it had been quite messy, she had still been his wife who, at least during the early stages of their marriage, he had loved. There were suddenly lots of questions buzzing around in his head, but he just couldn’t get them out.
Mary, once again recognising Tom’s mental turmoil, took the lead. ‘And there’s another thing.’
Tom looked directly at her. ‘There can’t be anything more surprising than this. Finding out that you have two grandchildren, after all of this time, would be difficult to beat.’
‘What about if I told you that you will soon get the chance to meet them?’ she said, a huge smile appearing on her face.
Not for the first time over the past few minutes, Tom was genuinely stunned, and all he could say in response was, ‘Meet them?’
‘That’s correct,’ Mary said. ‘That was one of the reasons why he called me today. To let me know that they – all the family – will be here, in the UK, the week after next. Apparently, they had always planned to visit the UK at some stage, when their children were old enough. I think our recent contact just accelerated that process.’
‘Where will they be staying?’ asked Tom.
‘Tom, I think you’re now getting ahead of yourself. We didn’t get into that level of detail. I’m sure he will let us know once he’s finalised the travel details.’
‘Yes. Sorry, you’re right. To be honest, my head is still buzzing.’ He paused before adding, almost to himself, ‘I can’t believe that this has happened.’
Mary took hold of his hand again. ‘I’m so relieved that you seem to be happy about it. I honestly thought that you would be angry that I’d done all of this without telling you.’
&
nbsp; ‘Really?’ he asked, with slight indignation. ‘Why would I get angry?’
Mary smiled. ‘Well, let’s just say that, in the past, you haven’t always been appreciative when someone has done something for you without your knowledge.’ She didn’t allow him time to comment. Instead she said, in a more serious tone, ‘Just enjoy the time you will have with Paul and his family. Given what you’ve been through lately, I think you deserve it.’
Tom simply said, ‘As ever, you are probably right.’
Inside, though, he couldn’t help thinking that life wasn’t always fair and, anyway, he had always subscribed to the law of unintended consequences.
Chapter 12
The following morning Tom and DC Bennett were both in Tom’s office. After the events of the previous night it was almost a relief to be back discussing more mundane things.
Once the shock of what Mary had told him had dissipated, Tom and Mary had spent most of the rest of the evening discussing the various practicalities and implications of his son’s visit. As the evening had gone on, though, Tom had found himself becoming more and more apprehensive. Mary had been right. He didn’t like surprises. He liked to be in control of events rather than letting events control him. It was his emotional safety net. All of that was true, but he had to admit, at least to himself, that he was also excited. How could he not be? After all, he was about to see his grandchildren for the very first time and his son for the first time in almost thirty years.
‘I’ve set up the footage from the CCTV, sir,’ DC Bennett said. ‘It starts at the time Mr Burton has just left his house to go to golf. It’s not crystal clear but still good enough to pick him out.’
‘Let’s take a look, then,’ replied Tom.
DC Bennett pressed the play button on the machine and immediately a quite grainy picture appeared on the screen. At the bottom of the screen was the date, together with a time counter.
‘Here he comes,’ said DC Bennett. The time was apparently 8.01 am. As the car reached the middle of the screen, DC Bennett pressed the pause button and a head-and-shoulders image of Mr Burton could be seen in the driver’s seat. He allowed Tom time to study the image before cancelling the pause mode.
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