Damned by Logic

by Jeffrey Ashford

  Ansell’s thoughts, already contused, swirled and collided. ‘Are you trying to say it was Georgie?’

  ‘That is what I believe.’

  ‘It can’t be,’ he said wildly. ‘If I had known he was in the box, d’you think I wouldn’t have taken it ...’

  ‘To save Melanie?’

  He forced his thoughts to calm. ‘You can’t find out who murdered my wife, so you try to put the blame on me. You bought another ape, had it sent here, wrapped it up in the back copy of a national newspaper ...’

  ‘You overestimate our resources and the ingenuity we are allowed to employ. Inside the ape was a bag in which were seven stones. We have asked an expert to examine them and if they are diamonds, to identify their source. If he tells me they are uncut diamonds which came from Sierra Leone, we will be able to trace their route from their source to the port – almost certainly Beirut – where Melanie took delivery of them and which you smuggled ashore here in the UK, for her.’

  Ansell was silent.

  ‘Is there anything you wish to say?’

  ‘I did not kill Eileen, I was in Oxford.’

  ‘Your denial and assertion are noted. After I have handed you your copy of the recording of this interview, you are free to leave. But you will please return as soon as possible with your passport.’

  ‘I’ll try to flee? As ridiculous as all the other possibilities.’

  Glover addressed the tape recorder, gave the time the interview ended, started the rewinding of the tapes.

  Ansell was handed one of the two tapes in a stout envelope.

  ‘As soon as you like with the passport,’ Glover said curtly.

  Ansell left.

  ‘You’re wondering why I didn’t arrest him,’ Glover said challengingly.

  ‘Yes,’ Belinda answered.

  Glover put the master tape in an exhibitions bag, wrote the identifying details. ‘We still need the experts’ evidence that the stones from the ape are diamonds and came from Sierra Leone in order to make the case against him as near watertight as we can.’

  ‘You do accept there’s room for doubt, then?’

  ‘I’ll accept defence counsel will do their best to find room. Our job is to make certain they fail.’

  ‘But ...’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘You want to remind me again that he isn’t the kind of man to threaten his wife so fiercely she dies?’

  ‘He’d have pleaded, not threatened to throttle her if she wouldn’t tell him the truth.’

  ‘He could have pleaded all night and she wouldn’t have told him.’

  ‘If she’d collapsed, he’d have called for medical help. Can we prove he was not in the hotel in Oxford at the time of his wife’s death?’

  ‘Proving a negative is always difficult, sometimes impossible.’

  ‘A ticket was needed to pass into or out of the hotel’s underground car park. Has anyone checked the control unit to see if a car or cars left at a time which would allow him to leave the hotel and drive to his house and kill her? Have the bank staff been questioned to discover whether it was he who deposited the ape? Did you notice his expression when you told him he’d been entrapped by the Caine woman? He was really suffering from self-contempt.’

  ‘Having to accept he had been picked up by a woman who drugged his commonsense with sex in order to make him do what she wanted is hardly cause for self-satisfaction.’

  ‘From the way she must have gone about things, wouldn’t nine men out of ten have leapt into her bunk?’

  ‘If married?’

  ‘Twice as quickly.’

  ‘You understand our job is to expose guilt, not conceal it?’

  ‘Are you trying to suggest something?’

  ‘That your interest in Ansell’s guilt or innocence is not bounded by the required standards of investigation. I am going to suggest Sergeant Frick relieves you of any further part in this case.’

  ‘You demand success, not truth?’ She turned and took a pace towards the door.

  ‘Draper.’

  She turned back.

  ‘Justice is our only target. If the stones are not diamonds, we will re-examine the case from the beginning.’

  She left. Am I being one bloody fool? she asked herself. I name David a man of honour – yet he gets hooked by a tart. Why have I been touting his innocence? I instinctively and briefly liked him when we met as guests at the party, then things soured; a liking which returned when I was detailed to make contact with him again. There is no feasible rationale to explain why one should like a dishonourable man; one turned into a smuggler by his own passions; one considered to have frightened his wife to death ... How can I risk allowing instinct and emotion to override the moral code.

  She went into the CID room, sat at her desk. The computer had been left switched on and the screen was showing slowly revolving circles. Her thoughts equally began to circle and with only a very small part of her mind on what she was actually doing, she began to type.

  Trent entered in a rush. ‘Have you heard the latest? The chief constable’s retiring and they think Abbotts may take over. Can’t decide whether that’s bad or disastrous news.’

  ‘Don’t bother, it’ll only be canteen cod’s wallop.’

  He came to a halt by her desk, leaned forward to read what was on the screen. She hurriedly pressed the delete button, but didn’t have the cursor in the correct place, so Trent was able to see some of what she’d been writing.

  He read out loud: ‘“There sits a fool who once more sought, yet knowing love oft comes to naught ...” Is this the start of a bodice-ripping novel?’

  ‘A seventy-year-old spinster’s lament.’

  ‘Yours?’

  ‘I read it in a magazine.’

  ‘And you have sympathy for her?’

  ‘From the way she writes, she may have had the misfortune of meeting you.’

  ‘I’ve just again been blasted by the skipper. What’s got him in another lousy mood?

  ‘Probably because I told him he was wrong.’

  ‘You still haven’t learned a superior is never wrong, just misunderstood?’

  ‘He’s waiting for confirmation the diamonds came from Sierra Leone before he arrests Ansell for the manslaughter of his wife and leaves the CPS to decide whether to increase the charge from manslaughter to murder.’

  ‘So why argue against that?’

  ‘The character of the man.’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘Ansell.’

  ‘What’s there to argue about him? Shagged himself silly with Miss sexy Melanie Caine all the way around the Mediterranean, wanted to keep her in his sights, but needed to know where his wife had supposedly burned the ape if he was to succeed. The wife wasn’t going to help him feed his passion, so in his excitement he scared her stiff. It’s as simple as B following A and C following B.’

  ‘I’m surprised you’ve managed to get that far down the alphabet.’

  ‘Your tongue would make a razor feel blunt.’

  ‘As you told me when I explained I was going to keep my pants on and not whip them off for you.’

  ‘It was a case of unjust suspicion.’

  ‘Advice to a non-starter.’

  ‘How about a second chance now I’m older and wiser?’

  ‘You never had a first chance. Sod off and try to find some work simple enough for you to attempt to do.’

  He left. If a woman didn’t quickly play, she wasn’t worth the effort. So why did he hopefully still pursue her? He dismissed as nonsense the glimmer of an answer.

  That evening, Barbara rang. ‘How are things, David?’ she asked.

  ‘I suppose I’m still living,’ Ansell replied.

  ‘Are you eating properly?’

  ‘I try to remember to use a fork, not the knife, with peas.’

  ‘You’re beginning to sound like your old self.’

  Why not? All that had happened to disturb him was the death of his wi
fe and the as yet unspoken allegation he was responsible for that.

  ‘Are you eating enough?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I want you to come and have lunch with us tomorrow so that I can be certain you are.’

  ‘Thanks, but no can do.’

  ‘The Leonards will be here and you get on so well with them. It’s not right for you to be on your own.’

  ‘Most of the time, I’m not. The police are keeping me company.’

  ‘How d’you mean?’

  ‘They seem to think I know more about what happened than I should.’

  ‘You don’t mean ... They can’t think ...?’

  ‘A policeman thinks whatever he thinks he should.’

  She was silent for a short while, then said, ‘I suppose ... I mean, I can understand that you’d rather not meet people when for you things have become even more difficult. You’d find it so difficult to ... But the moment the police stop stupidly bothering you, you must come over here.’

  She said goodbye. He replaced the receiver. How long before his friends and acquaintances learned from her that the police were certain he had murdered Eileen because of another woman?

  TWENTY

  A clear sky and a gentle wind from the south provided a pleasant December morning. Anne placed a bowl of porridge and a small tin of Golden Syrup on the table.

  Glover looked up from the newspaper he had been reading. ‘Aren’t you having any?’

  ‘Off my menu since I finally had to accept how many calories there are in a spoonful of porridge.’

  ‘It’s the syrup. Try salt instead.’

  ‘If you’ll do the same.’

  He read.

  She sat, buttered a slice of toast. ‘By the way, did I remember to mention Shirley’s going skiing early in the New Year?’

  ‘Since when did she learn to ski?’

  ‘She hasn’t which is why she’s going. There’s a place in Austria which is known for its beginners’ slopes and the skill of the instructors.’

  ‘Male or female instructors and skill in what?’

  ‘It’s our Christmas present to her.’

  ‘For how many Christmases?’

  ‘Have another spoonful of syrup, it might sweeten you at the expense of a couple of extra pounds around the tum. The trip is not expensive because it’s a package; the hotel won’t be luxury and après-ski will be jeans and a can of coke.’

  ‘Who else is going?’

  ‘Pamela, Brenda and a few others.’

  ‘Are the others, boyfriends?’

  ‘If you’re going to start stamping, I’ll go on up and tidy the bedrooms.’

  ‘So Eric is one.’

  ‘Do you know what my father said when I told him I was going to marry you?’

  ‘Over the years, you’ve mentioned several versions. Which one is this going to be?’

  ‘You were too young, too early into your career, and too self-confident. He was totally wrong, as all fathers are.’ The coffee machine hissed. She stood, crossed the kitchen, poured out two cups of coffee, added milk and sugar, carried the cups to the table, sat. ‘Darling, when are you going to take a break from work?’

  ‘When I can.’

  ‘We were due to go on holiday in the autumn, but had to cancel because of something or other.’

  ‘The Jameson job. As soon as the pressure eases, I’ll apply for what’s due and we’ll go somewhere.’

  ‘When’s that likely to be? When all the criminals also go on holiday?’

  The emailed report was finally received on Thursday. Glover read it, put it down, looked up at Frick standing in front of the desk.

  ‘If we’d written it ourselves, we couldn’t have put it more to the point. We’ll question Ansell this afternoon. Tell him to be here at three.’

  ‘You’ll arrest him?’

  ‘Unless he can convince me the diamonds got into his strongbox by magic.’

  ‘What d’you think the CPS will decide on, guv?’

  ‘I’m still not going to guess. They’ll have to reach a decision after considering several tricky questions. Did Ansell intend to use whatever means were necessary to make her tell him where she said she’d burned the ape? Was he careless as to the effect his threats might reasonably be expected to cause or was his intention to frighten her into telling him? Had he sufficient knowledge to understand extreme fright can occasionally cause death? Did he understand the need to cover himself by leaving the alarm system switched off?’

  Ansell, hearing their approaching footsteps, moved out of the small alcove and met Glover and Frick by the front desk.

  ‘Thank you for coming along,’ Glover said.

  ‘Had I thought I had an option, I would have stayed at home.’

  ‘If you will follow me.’

  They went into one of the interview rooms. Ansell had learned the routine – sitting on opposite sides of the table, switching on the recording unit, the preliminary establishing of place, date, time, persons present.

  ‘Before we continue,’ Glover said, ‘do you wish to have your solicitor present, as is your right.’

  ‘Why should I need him?’

  ‘You do not wish to be represented?’

  ‘I have just said not.’

  ‘It is desirable to have a definite expression of intention.’

  ‘Then I repeat, I do not need a solicitor to represent me.’

  ‘Very well, Mr Ansell. We have received further information regarding the matter in hand, but before I deal with that, I should like you to confirm certain facts. Were you a passenger on MV Helios when she made a Mediterranean cruise which began on the ninth of June?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘While on it, did you meet Melanie Caine?’

  They watched him as he remained silent.

  ‘I will ask again. Did you meet a fellow passenger whose name was Melanie Caine?’

  He accepted he could no longer deny that. When last questioned, desperate to prove his innocence, confused, he had betrayed himself. This time as well he didn’t have to concern himself with feeling humiliated in front of DC Belinda Draper. ‘Yes,’ he finally admitted, gaining a strange, brief pseudo-relief from the admission.

  ‘A fact you have denied on several occasions?’

  ‘Because to admit it could make it seem I had been involved in her barbaric murder.’

  ‘Were you in any way involved in her death?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Because of your close friendship with Melanie Caine, did she at the end of the cruise ask you to take ashore a facsimile Barbary ape?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you not wonder why she did not take it herself?’

  ‘She said she had no room in her luggage because of all the clothes and gifts she had bought during the cruise.’

  ‘She could have carried it in her hands since the ape is not large.’

  ‘She must have thought that would make her look rather absurd. And ...’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘If I had to return it to her, I would have every reason to see her again.’

  ‘You suggest she might have thought you would otherwise not have done so? Did you disembark with her?’

  ‘I couldn’t find her before I went ashore.’

  ‘Neither your luggage nor you was searched by custom officers?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Melanie Caine was strip-searched. Did that not make you wonder why?’

  ‘I did not know she had been.’

  ‘She did not tell you at a later date?’

  ‘I did not see her again.’

  ‘You had not agreed to meet after you had both passed through customs and immigration?’

  ‘She didn’t want to.’

  ‘Did that concern you?’

  ‘It puzzled me.’

  ‘You weren’t worried it was a brush-off?’

  ‘Not when she said she’d phone to say when and where we could meet.’

  ‘You did not think perhaps she
did not wish to be seen with you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It did not make you wonder if there was something more than foam in the ape?’

  ‘Of course it didn’t.’

  ‘You arrived home and inadvisably left the ape on your bed. Your wife and Mrs Morley saw it there and Mrs Morley noticed the scent and blonde hairs, suggested to your wife you had had an affair on the ship?’

  Ansell did not answer.

  ‘Did Melanie Caine later contact you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘She phoned.’

  ‘Where were you?’

  ‘At home.’

  ‘You had given her your number? You weren’t worried your wife might query who she was?’

  ‘I gave her my mobile and home numbers and a cover story – what to say if my wife answered the call.’

  ‘Why did she phone you?’

  ‘To say I must return Georgie to her immediately.’

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘Went upstairs.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘To make certain my wife who’d previously gone up wasn’t listening to the conversation.’

  ‘On the extension phone?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You’ve told us you’d arranged things to hide the real reason for the call.’

  ‘She’d have known from my voice that something had happened.’

  ‘Did Miss Caine indicate who was threatening her?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘When the call ended, what did you do?’

  ‘Went up to the bedroom to make certain Georgie was there.’

  ‘You expected your wife to have moved it?’

  ‘No. It was because ... I was very frightened by the call and told myself ... It’ll sound ridiculous ...’

  ‘What did you tell yourself?’

  ‘That if I touched him, she’d be alright.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘I asked Eileen where she had put Georgie.’

  ‘What did she answer?’

  ‘She said she’d burned him.’

  ‘Did you ask her where?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But she wouldn’t answer?’

  ‘No, but I was certain it had to be in the garden.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Obviously she couldn’t have had a bonfire elsewhere without creating interest, perhaps alarm.’