The Cold Hand of Malice

by Frank Smith

  Ormside shook his head, and Molly picked up her handbag and slung it over her shoulder. ‘In that case, I’d better make a start,’ she said.

  ‘Before you go, it might be a good idea to check the statements of the people whose homes were vandalized in case they did mention the card shop,’ Ormside said. ‘Save yourself some time.’

  Molly patted her handbag. ‘I did when I first came in this morning,’ she told him. ‘None of them mentioned the shop, so if there’s nothing else, I’ll be on my way.’

  The grizzled sergeant looked thoughtful as he followed Molly with his eyes as she left the room. ‘I think you should be very nice to that young woman,’ he said softly to Tregalles as Paget moved away to study the boards once more.

  ‘Why?’ Tregalles asked suspiciously. ‘What do you know that I don’t?’

  Ormside shrugged. ‘Just a thought,’ he said. ‘I won’t be around to see it, but if she goes on the way she’s going, you could be working for her one of these days.’

  The flashing light on the phone told Paget that it was the direct line from Control. ‘A Mr Beaumont is asking for you, sir,’ said a female voice when he picked it up. ‘He says he is returning your call. Shall I put him through, sir?’

  ‘Please,’ said Paget, and a moment later exchanged introductions with Henry Beaumont.

  ‘I assume this has something to do with the unfortunate death of Simon Holbrook,’ Beaumont said, coming straight to the point. ‘How can I help?’

  ‘I have here copies of a series of emails taken from Simon Holbrook’s BlackBerry, and I would appreciate it if you could enlarge on what they seem to be telling me. Would I be right in assuming that you were negotiating some sort of amalgamation between Drexler-Davies and Holbrook Micro-Engineering?’

  There was a lengthy silence from the other end before Beaumont said, ‘I’m afraid that is confidential information, Chief Inspector, and I’m not at liberty to discuss it with—’

  ‘Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear, Mr Beaumont,’ Paget interjected. ‘I was hoping to deal with this particular matter in an informal way rather than put you to the trouble of travelling here to answer questions and making a formal statement. And since Mr Holbrook is dead, I assumed that confidentiality would no longer be an issue. Would tomorrow be convenient?’

  Once again there was a long pause before Beaumont responded. ‘I must apologize, Chief Inspector,’ he said smoothly, ‘but sometimes we become overcautious in this business of ours, and we tend to treat everything as confidential. But as you say, that may no longer be a consideration in this case. What, exactly, would you like to know?’

  ‘Henry Beaumont has been trying to persuade Simon Holbrook to come back to work for them ever since he left Drexler-Davies, but Holbrook has always refused, insisting that he wanted to be in control of his own company. But suddenly all that changed, and it was he who approached Beaumont early to mid January saying he was prepared to consider a deal.’

  Paget was in Alcott’s office, briefing him on the latest developments in the Holbrook case.

  ‘They had several secret meetings, and it was all but wrapped up, according to Beaumont,’ Paget continued. ‘In effect, Holbrook Micro-Engineering was to become a subsidiary of Drexler-Davies, and the reason Holbrook gave for the sudden about-face – he said – was because Laura was leaving the company. He told Beaumont that he knew it would be extremely difficult to find someone with the same strengths and credibility in the marketplace that she had, and said he had neither the time nor the energy to go through all that again. He said all he wanted was to be left alone to get on with his own research without having to bother about all the things that a company like Drexler-Davies could do for him in finding markets and dealing with clients. But he still wanted some autonomy, which was why he proposed bringing his company in as a subsidiary, a separate entity, over which he would have some control at least. That way, he said, they would both benefit. Drexler-Davies would have a valuable addition to their Research and Development division, and he and his people could get on with what they did best, knowing that their products would be marketed aggressively.’

  Alcott frowned. ‘Holbrook actually said that his wife would be leaving the firm?’ he said. ‘And he first proposed this in January?’

  ‘Right. Just a few days before the first burglary that we are attributing to him or to someone doing it on his behalf.’

  ‘How is it that we are only hearing about this deal now? Surely there must have been some buzz among the staff?’

  ‘Beaumont says that Holbrook wanted it kept completely secret until the deal was done. As it is, Beaumont has already assigned a new manager to come down here and take over. I asked him if that would affect any of the present staff, and he said the new manager would be bringing in a transition team, and some of the present staff could be culled during the “rationalization”, as he put it.’

  ‘Which is business-speak for redundancies, I take it?’ Alcott said.

  ‘Something like that,’ Paget agreed.

  ‘So what would happen to Goodwin if the deal had gone through?’

  ‘I asked Beaumont that, and he said they might be able to use her during the transition, and there would probably be a place for her in the new organization, but it would be nothing like the position she holds now.’

  ‘So, chances are Holbrook would not have told her what he was doing. But do you think she knew?’

  ‘I’m sure she didn’t – at least not when I first spoke to her. She was working flat out trying to keep the place together and find someone to take the place of Laura, and she was very protective of Holbrook. I think she sees the company as partly hers, and I think she would have found the prospect of abandoning the idea of remaining an independent company devastating. But if it was she rather than Susan Chase who killed Laura for him, then found out later what he intended to do with the company, it could be a powerful motive for killing him, especially if she also learned that he’d been sleeping with Susan Chase all along.’

  ‘Could she have found out more recently?’

  ‘It’s certainly possible. Holbrook carried the BlackBerry in his jacket pocket rather than on his belt, and Goodwin was always in and out of his office, so yes, it is quite possible.’

  Alcott pursed his lips as he thought about that. ‘So what’s going to happen to this deal with Beaumont now that Holbrook’s dead?’ he asked.

  ‘It died with him,’ Paget said. ‘In fact, Beaumont told me he thought it a bit suspicious when Laura was killed, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe that Simon was involved. He said he spoke to Holbrook about it at the funeral, and Holbrook assured him that it was nothing more than a tragic and unfortunate coincidence. Now, of course, he is no longer interested in Holbrook Micro-Engineering as a company, because its main asset was Holbrook himself and the reputation he had for invention and innovation. But he’s not above picking off some of the top technicians, in fact he’s already spoken to some of them about coming to work for Drexler-Davies and, as he put it, made them an offer they’ll find hard to refuse under the circumstances.’

  ‘Not a man to look a gift horse in the mouth, obviously,’ Alcott observed. ‘So, are you trying to tell me that you now think it was Goodwin who did the killings and she’s setting up Chase to take the fall?’

  ‘All I’m saying, sir, is that this raises some questions, and I’d like to find the answers, because there could be more than one motive for murder.’

  ‘Could be,’ Alcott said dismissively, ‘but from what you’ve told me, the preponderance of evidence points to Chase. She even admits she was there at the time Starkie says Holbrook was killed, for God’s sake! I know you seem to think it’s all too pat, but there are times, Paget, when things are exactly as they seem, simple and straightforward, so let’s not make them any more complicated than they really are.’

  ‘A Dr Barraclough called while you were with Mr Alcott,’ Ormside said when Paget returned from lunch. ‘He said to tell you t
hat the operation on Susan Chase’s knee has been scheduled for four o’clock this afternoon, and barring complications, she will probably be discharged tomorrow morning. He said we should check with him in the morning for the actual time.’

  ‘Did he say anything about her mental state?’ Paget asked. ‘Delayed shock?’

  Ormside shook his head. ‘No, never mentioned it.’

  ‘Good,’ said Paget. ‘In that case, let’s make sure that someone is there to bring her in. Anything else?’

  ‘Ooohh, yes,’ Ormside said in a way that suggested he’d been saving the good news. ‘Forensic hasn’t finished with Miss Chase’s car yet, but they thought we might be interested in what they found tucked away in the bottom of the glove box, so they sent it over.’ He took a sealed polythene bag from his desk drawer. He handed the bag to Paget. ‘Laura Holbrook’s rings,’ he said. ‘They were screwed up inside that wad of tissue in there. I’ve checked them against the pictures the insurance people gave us, and they’re the ones all right, so I’m afraid that blows young Forsythe’s theory right out of the water.’

  Paget held the bag up to the light. Even inside the plastic bag the stones seemed to have a fire of their own.

  ‘They also faxed us a list of what they’ve found so far,’ Ormside continued. ‘Dog hair all over the inside of the car, probably from Chase’s own dog, but Forensic can check that out. No sign of anything that looks like the weapon that killed Mrs Holbrook, but lots of fibres that need to be checked against the ones found in some of the houses that were burgled.

  ‘Lots of glass from the broken windows inside the car,’ Ormside continued, ‘but nothing to indicate why they were broken. No dents or scratches that might suggest an accident, so I suppose we’ll just have to wait for Chase to tell us what happened.’

  Paget handed the bag containing the rings back to Ormside. ‘Make sure they are properly logged in,’ he told the sergeant. ‘The last thing we need is to lose the only tangible piece of evidence we have – especially something as valuable as these.’

  ‘I spent most of the day working for you,’ said Grace as she and Paget sat down to dinner that evening. ‘Going through Susan Chase’s flat and the shop,’ she elaborated. ‘I can’t say I found anything particularly incriminating, although there was certainly evidence that Simon Holbrook has been spending quite a bit of time there. There were jackets, trousers and shirts on hangers in one of the closets; underwear and socks in one of the drawers; shoes, aftershave, toothpaste and other things of his in the bathroom, plus a few odds and ends in the laundry basket.’

  ‘You’re sure they all belonged to Holbrook?’ he asked, only half facetiously.

  ‘They match the clothing in his house, and the aftershave is the same. Even so, I sent hair from the comb and the shower to Forensic for verification. And the reason I think the affair has been going on for some time is because I found two ticket stubs from a play at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre dated January fourteenth in one of his pockets. Don McIntyre, one of our financial analysts, has been going through Simon and Laura Holbrook’s papers – it was Don who found the email messages to Beaumont on Simon’s BlackBerry the other day – so I asked him to check Holbrook’s credit card statements for me. The February statement shows he stayed in a double room at the Crowne Plaza that night; he had a meal at Simpsons, presumably dinner for two by the size of the bill, breakfast in the hotel the following morning, and lunch on the way home on the Sunday in Tenbury Wells.

  ‘I asked him to check Laura’s business diary, and he told me she was away in London that weekend, so I’d say there’s a good chance that Simon’s companion in Birmingham was Susan Chase.’

  ‘Could have been anyone,’ Paget said, playing devil’s advocate.

  Grace grinned. ‘I thought you might say that,’ she said, ‘and you’re right, it could have been anyone. Except Susan is a bit of a pack-rat – at least when it comes to things with a romantic attachment – and she had the programme for that performance tucked away in a drawer along with other little mementos of their time together.’

  ‘Good.’ Paget nodded approvingly. ‘That’s exactly the sort of hard evidence we need to show their relationship,’ he said. ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Nothing that ties her directly to the murder of either one of the Holbrooks. No bloodstained clothing; no weapon; nothing like that. She has some beautiful clothes, but I couldn’t find anything made of a similar material to that mentioned in Forensics’ report on the fibres found in the vandalized houses and in Laura Holbrook’s bedroom. In fact there was nothing to suggest she ever wore anything like that. There were lots of shoes, twelve pairs to be exact, but none of them were trainers, and the girls in the shop said they had never seen her wear anything but stylish shoes, even when she took the dog for a walk.’

  Grace set her knife and fork down and leaned forward, elbows on the table. ‘Are you quite sure it was she who killed Simon?’ she asked. ‘I’ve never met the woman, but having gone through her things, and in talking to the girls in the shop downstairs, my impression of her is of a rather gentle person. She’s certainly a romantic. She has stacks of Mills & Boon and Harlequin romances in her bedroom.’

  ‘On the other hand,’ he countered, ‘it could be argued it’s because she’s a romantic, living in a dream world, that she was prepared to risk everything for her lover by getting rid of his wife so they could live happily ever after, as the fairy tales say,’ said Paget. ‘But when she realized that her lover was likely to cave in under questioning and blame her for everything, she killed him. It wouldn’t be the first time that love has turned to hate.’

  Grace looked doubtful. ‘I’m not sure that would get you very far in court,’ she said. ‘But you haven’t answered my question, Neil. Are you convinced she killed both of them?’

  ‘I’m not sure I can answer the question,’ he said. ‘The evidence against her is pretty strong, but I must confess I have niggling doubts about some of it. However, with any luck at all we should be interviewing her tomorrow, so perhaps I’ll have an answer for you then.’

  Twenty-Eight

  Tuesday, March 24

  ‘Chase is to be discharged from hospital between ten and eleven this morning,’ Ormside told Paget. ‘The doctor says everything went well. Apparently it wasn’t a particularly severe fracture, but she’ll be on crutches for a while.’ Ormside consulted a slip of paper. ‘He said to tell you she’ll be experiencing some pain later on in the day when the painkillers begin to wear off, and while there is no medical reason why she can’t be questioned, she has been under considerable stress, and we should bear that in mind.’

  Paget smiled. ‘Did he, now?’ he said. ‘It sounds to me as if Susan Chase has made quite an impression on Dr Barraclough. Anything else?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know how much this means now, considering the evidence we have against Chase,’ the sergeant said hesitantly, ‘but Forsythe has spoken to all of the people whose homes were broken into, and every one of them visited the gift shop on a Saturday when Peggy Goodwin was there. Which means we have an explanation for how Goodwin would know when the houses would be empty, but we don’t have the same for Chase. So which one do we go with?’

  ‘That’s what I hope to find out today,’ Paget told him. ‘But until I’ve talked to Chase, I’m keeping my options open.’

  Susan Chase, looking paler than usual, appeared to be calm and composed as she faced Paget and Tregalles across the table. She sat sideways in her chair, her right leg stretched out in front of her to keep it well out of harm’s way. A uniformed WPC had helped Susan to her seat, propped her crutches against the wall, then taken her own seat by the door. The recorder was activated, and names, date and time were entered by Tregalles.

  ‘Before we begin,’ Susan broke in quickly as Paget started to speak, ‘I would like to say that I did not kill Simon, and I have no idea who did, but if I am to be charged, I will not talk to you without my solicitor present.’ There was a slight tremor in her
voice, but her eyes held those of Paget as she spoke.

  ‘Whether or not you will be charged depends very much on you,’ Paget told her. ‘We do need to ask you some questions regarding the death of Simon and Laura Holbrook and, depending on your answers, you may be free to go or you may be charged and detained. And you are quite within your rights to have your solicitor present if you so choose.’

  ‘I see.’ Susan chewed on her lip as her eyes searched his face. ‘Does that mean I can call my solicitor at any time?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Susan drew in a long breath and let it out again. ‘Then let’s get on with it,’ she said tightly.

  ‘First, for the record,’ said Paget briskly, ‘you have only just come out of hospital after having an operation on your knee, and your doctor there has declared you fit for questioning. But tell me, Miss Chase, are you in any pain or discomfort?’

  Susan grimaced. ‘Except for having to hobble around on crutches, no,’ she said, ‘but the sooner we’re finished here, the better.’

  ‘Duly noted,’ Paget said. ‘Now, tell me, when and where did you last see Simon Holbrook?’

  Susan’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. ‘Thursday morning in his house,’ she said huskily, ‘and I told you that the other day.’ She fumbled in her handbag for a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. ‘And he was asleep when I left him.’

  ‘What time was that?’

  ‘I told you that as well. It would be about five o’clock.’

  ‘Did you leave the door locked or unlocked?’

  ‘Locked. It locks automatically. It’s a spring lock.’

  ‘And where did you go?’

  ‘Straight home.’

  ‘This was not the first time you had spent the night with Mr Holbrook, is it, Miss Chase? In fact I believe you have spent most nights together since the death of his wife – your sister. Is that correct?’