A Case Of Murder (Kendall Book 6)

by John Holt

  * * *

  Chapter Seventeen

  Cork

  With breakfast over, O’Rourke started to clear the table. “So what have you got planned for today,” he asked. “I think it’s going to be good weather for a change.”

  “We are off to Cork,” Kendall replied. “Mr. Mallory and his wife have offered to take us.” He looked at his watch, it was twenty past nine. “They should be here quite soon now, to pick us up.”

  “Cork is it,” O’Rourke repeated. “Ah, well now, don’t forget to be visiting the Blarney Stone will you?”

  Mollie smiled “Oh, I’ve heard of that. Kendall doesn’t need to visit it,” she said. “He has enough of the old blarney already. I think he created it.”

  O’Rourke smiled. “Ah, to be sure there’s more Irish in him than he’ll be saying. And another thing, you really ought to see the Ring of Kerry before you go home.”

  “The Ring of Kerry,” said Kendall. “What’s that?”

  “A prettier sight you’re never going to see on this here earth,” O’Rourke replied. “Miss Adams you will love it.”

  “Sounds good,” said Kendall. “We’ll have to see what time we have left. In the meantime, Mollie is going shopping, and I’m going to jail.”

  Mollie said nothing, but merely smiled.

  * * *

  Nine thirty on the dot, Anthony Mallory and his wife, Catherine, pulled up outside of O’Rourke’s. Kendall and Mollie were already waiting in the entrance lobby.

  “Well here we are,” said Mallory, holding the car door open. “Thought you might like to sit in the back with Catherine, Mollie, and talk about all the money you were going to spend.”

  Mollie smiled, got in, and took her seat next to Catherine. Kendall took his place in the front seat. Mallory re-took his seat. “Seat belts,” he called out. “It is a legal requirement that we all buckle up.” He looked around to make sure everyone was safely secured. “Right, are we all set?” When he was satisfied all was well, he put the car into drive, signaled, and pulled away. “Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

  * * *

  “Cork is the second largest city and the third most populous city in Ireland,” explained Mallory, as they drove south. Any second now Mollie fully expected Kendall to take out his guide book, and thankfully remembered that she had removed it from his coat pocket, and placed it into a drawer back at the hotel room.

  “What about shops?” Mollie asked. “Is it a good place for shopping?”

  “Oh you won’t be disappointed,” said Catherine, “There are department stores on Robert Street, and tiny boutiques to suit all tastes. And then there’s the Merchants Quay Shopping Centre, with Dunnes Stores, Marks and Spencer and Debenhams.”

  “Don’t forget the Mahon Point Centre,” added Mallory. “Mollie you’ll have more than enough to see, don’t you worry.”

  “What about the prison?” asked Kendall.

  “The prison is in the centre of the town,” Mallory explained. “It’s very old, and was originally an army barracks run by the British. It’s pretty grim, and straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. But they have recently constructed a new prison, which should be opened quite soon. Then I expect the old one will be demolished. And a good riddance too.”

  “And it isn’t that far from Merchant Quays,” added Catherine. “So you can drop us off at the shops, and then go on to your smelly old prison.”

  Mallory smiled. “And we’ll meet up at The Liberty Grill for lunch.”

  “Good idea,” said Catherine. “It’s one of our favourite restaurants, and it’s not too far from the Quays.”

  * * *

  Fifty minutes later, Catherine and Mollie had been safely dropped off at Merchant Quays, and Kendall and Mallory arrived outside of the prison.

  “I’ll leave you here,” said Mallory. “As I said I’ve some business to attend to. I’ll be back at about one, and then we’ll join the ladies for lunch. How’s that sound?”

  It sounded good thought Kendall. “One o’clock then,” he said as he got out of the car and made his way to the prison entrance. He stopped and looked up at the building. Grim wasn’t the word for it. It didn’t do the building justice. He looked away, and continued on his way.

  Mallory watched him for a few moments, and then drove away.

  * * *

  “The name’s Kendall, Tom Kendall. I’m here to see Brian Charters,” Kendall explained to the guard at reception.

  The guard looked up and nodded. “Yes, Mr. Kendall, we’ve been expecting you,” he said. “Constable Donovan gave us a call.” He paused, and placed a large book in front of Kendall. “If you’d just sign in, sir, I’ll get someone to take you along. We have a special room prepared for you.” The guard handed Kendall a pen.

  Kendall signed the book, and handed the pen back. The guard picked up a telephone and dialed a number. “Mr. Kendall is here.” He placed the handset on the cradle. “He won’t be long,” he said. “You can wait over there.” He pointed to a row of chairs on the far wall.

  As Kendall sat there he realized how right Catherine had been. The prison building was smelly and old. For some reason visions of the Count of Monte Christo, and the prison on Chateau D’If came to mind. He started to smile, and shook his head.

  “Mr. Kendall,” a voice called out, interrupting his day dreaming. “If you would just follow me.”

  Kendall stood up and followed the officer into a long corridor. The guard stopped for a moment, locking the door behind Kendall. He then walked forward to another door. He opened it for Kendall to pass through, and once again stopped to lock it. He then carried on along the corridor.

  He suddenly stopped. “Here we are, sir,” he said. “This is the room, Charters is already inside.”

  The guard unlocked the door and ushered Kendall inside. A prison guard was standing by the door. Seated at a table in the centre of the room was Brian Charters. He looked pale, his breathing laboured and his hands were shaking.

  He stood up. “Mr. Kendall, it’s good to meet you,” he said moving slowly forward, his hand extended. “My cousin told me that you were coming.”

  Kendall took hold of the proffered hand and shook it. “It’s good to see you,” Kendall replied. “Pity it’s not under better circumstances.”

  Charters nodded. “Please sit down,” he said politely, pointing to a chair. Kendall looked at the guard standing by the door. The guard said nothing. Kendall nodded and sat down.

  “He said that you would be able to help me,” Charters said as he sat down.

  Kendall shrugged and heaved a sigh. “That remains to be seen,” he said. “I said I would investigate, and see if I could help. I made no promises.”

  “I didn’t do it, Mr. Kendall,” Charters said slowly and deliberately. “You must believe me.”

  Kendall heaved a sigh. “It’s strange but they all say that Mr. Charters. I didn’t do it; it was two other guys; I was nowhere near the place at the time.” He shook his head. “If I had a dime for every time I heard that, or something similar, I’d be a wealthy man.”

  “But I didn’t do it, really,” Charters insisted.

  Kendall shook his head. “In my experience very rarely do people admit to wrong doing. You know in all my years with the New York Police Department, and then as a private detective, I can’t remember one single person actually admitting their guilt, not one.”

  Kendall paused and started to smile. “Even old Charlie Randall,” he continued. “He was caught trying to steal money from a cash machine, with a line of people behind him, and two police officers not more than ten feet away. Even he denied it. Said it started to come out of the machine, and he was simply trying to put it back. He got five years.”

  “You might be right, Mr. Kendall,” said Charters. “But I didn’t do it. It was all a ghastly mistake.”

  “Alright, Mr. Charters, let’s say I agree with you. You didn’t do it, you’re innocent,” said Kendall. “I believe you if that makes you f
eel any better, but believing, and agreeing, don’t make it so. We need to convince the police, and more importantly, the Court.”

  “What do you mean, Mr. Kendall?” Charters asked.

  Kendall nodded his head. He waved his hand in a circle. “The people here, the guards, and the warden, our friend standing over there, they aren’t going to simply unlock the door, pat you on the back and say off you go now, just because I believe you, are they? We still have to prove it. That’s the hard part.”

  Charters was clearly disappointed. “But Bill, my cousin, said that you could help,” he said, almost pleading.

  “Your cousin, the Chief Inspector, is a good man,” said Kendall. “I’m flattered that he has so much faith in me. But I’m no miracle worker. I still need facts, evidence. Most of all I still need proof.”

  Charters nodded and looked down at the ground. He suddenly looked very tired and tried to smile. “You’re right of course,” he replied. “So where do we start?”

  “Let’s start with the night you found the body shall we.”

  Charters nodded. “Well it was just a normal everyday night,” he started to explain. “Nothing special or unusual.”

  “Was sort of a night was it?” Kendall asked.

  “What sort of a night,” repeated Charters. “Well it wasn’t a bad night. We’d had a lot of rain the previous few days. But that day there had been no rain. In fact it had been a fairly hot day. It had cooled a little by the evening but it was still mild, for the time of year. A few clouds in the sky, and a light breeze coming from the south, but not too bad.”

  Kendall nodded. “Alright, carry on.”

  “Well we left the house at a little after six thirty,” Charters continued. “As normal.”`

  “We?”

  “Katy and me,” Charters replied. “Katy is our three year old Border Collie.”

  Kendall nodded once again.

  “Anyway as I say, we left at a little after six thirty,” Charters continued. “It was a few minutes later than normal, not much. I usually took Katy for her walk at that time.”

  “So where did you go?” Kendall asked.

  “We took our usual route,” said Charters. “Out of the house and turned left, and down to the end of the road. Turned right into the High Street, past the post office, past O’Rourkes. That’s where you’re staying I believe.”

  “That’s right,” said Kendall. “Go on, so you went past O’Rourkes, what time would that have been?”

  “Oh, that would have been about twenty to seven,” said Charters. “From O’Rourke’s, we crossed the street, and into the Park, straight through and on to the coast Road, and down to Carrick Cove.”

  “What time did you arrive there?”

  Charters thought for a few moments. “It must have been a few minutes before seven.”

  “How do you know that?” asked Kendall.

  “Because shortly after we arrived I heard the clock tower strike seven,” Charters explained.

  “Did you see anyone on the way?” asked Kendall.

  Charters nodded. “Well, Billy King was in the park, on his way home. He works in the city. He must have been working late.”

  “Did he see you?” asked Kendall.

  Charters nodded once again. “Oh yes he waved over to me, and I waved back.”

  “He never said anything to you?” said Kendall.

  Charters shook his head. “Oh no, he was twenty or thirty yards away, going in the opposite direction. I think he was in a hurry.”

  “So what time was that?” Kendall asked.

  He shook his head. “I’m not exactly sure,” he replied. “But from the park to the cove would be about ten minutes I guess, so about a quarter to seven, something like that.”

  Kendall nodded. “Did you see anyone else?”

  Charters nodded. “Yes I did. As I crossed over the street, heading towards the park I saw Mrs. Mulvy,” he replied. “She had been shopping at Quinn’s.”

  “Quinn’s supermarket, you mean,” said Kendall.

  “Supermarket is a bit of a grand term for what is really just a local corner shop but that’s what he calls it.”

  “Did she see you?” Kendall asked.

  “Yes she did, because I waved to her, and she waved back.”

  “Did she speak to you?”

  Charters shook his head. “Oh no, she was on the other side of the street.”

  “Do you know what time that was?” asked Kendall.

  “I guess it was a few minutes before seven.”

  “Right, is that it?” said Kendall.

  Charters shook his head. “Just as I arrived at the beach I saw Derren Lynch. It looked as though he was coming from his boat yard. He’s been working late most nights for the past few weeks. He runs a small business you know. He repairs boats, and take people out on day trips, you know, out to the islands. He’s always busy, but especially so at this time of year.”

  “Yes I know,” agreed Kendall. “He keeps offering to take me out but so far I managed to avoid it.”

  Charters heaved a sigh. “Yes that’s Lynch alright,” he said. “Pushy, never takes no for an answer.”

  “That was my impression as well,” said Kendall. “But I understand that you and he were quite good friends.”

  Charters shook his head. “Good friends, did you say? Hardly,” he replied. “Why do you say that?”

  “I understand that you spent a lot of time at his boatyard,” Kendall answered.

  “Who told you that?” Charters asked.

  Kendall shook his head. “That’s not important,” he replied dismissively. “So did you?”

  Charters started to smile. He nodded. “Yes, it’s true. I guess I was there a lot.” He paused for a few moments. “It was Keiron wasn’t it? He told you.”

  “I’m curious,” Kendall continued, ignoring Charters’ comment. “You have just indicated that Lynch was hardly a friend, and yet you still spent time, a lot of time, at his yard.”

  Charters nodded once again. “Correct.”

  Kendall shook his head. “I’m puzzled,” he said. “Why? Do you have an interest in boats, is that it?”

  Charters said nothing for a few moments. “Well I guess I do have an interest, especially if I think that they might have been used in drug smuggling.”

  “Interesting,” said Kendall. “Go on.”

  “It’s quite simple,” he replied. “We know that drugs have been coming in to Killmacud for some months now. And we are sure that they are coming in by boat.”

  “And you thought it might have been Lynch’s boat,” Kendall suggested.

  “It was a possibility,” Charters replied. “But I had no proof. It could have been anybody’s boat.”

  “So you thought that you’d check out Mr. Lynch,” said Kendall. “Did you find out anything, anything significant?”

  Charters looked down and shook his head. He sighed. “Nothing,” he replied. “Not a thing.”

  “What did you expect to find?” Kendall asked.

  Charters shook his head once again. “I didn’t know what I expected,” he replied. “I was just hoping to find something, anything I guess. Some white powder maybe; or some incriminating papers perhaps.” He paused for a moment. “You know I was so sure that it was him. I just thought there would have been something.” He heaved another sigh. “Nothing. Not a thing.”

  Somehow Kendall thought that would be the answer. After all if anything had been found it was unlikely that Charters would be languishing in a prison awaiting trial for murder, and Lynch still going around offering fishing trips.

  “But why Lynch?” Kendall asked.

  Charters sighed, and shook his head slowly. “Simple, he had a boat.”

  “But there must be lots of people who have boats,” said Kendall.

  Charters smiled and nodded. “True, but he was local,” he replied. “I was convinced that it was someone local.”

  “Okay, we’ll leave it there, for now,” said Kendall. �
��Let’s get back to the night of the murder. So you got to the Cove. What happened then?”

  “Well I let Katy off of her lead,” Charters replied. “I always let her off at the Cove, she likes a run along the shore. So she goes running. Then I notice her lying down by what I thought was a big rock. I walked over and, well it wasn’t a rock. It was a man.” Charters paused for a moment, and brushed a tear from his eye.

  “Go on,” Kendall coaxed gently.

  “I bent down to see,” Charters continued. “He was dead. He had been stabbed, several times. I saw the knife, and, I don’t know why but I picked it up.”

  “Then what happened?” Kendall asked.

  Charters shook his head. “The next thing I know is that Constable Donovan is standing next to me, asking a lot of questions. Then the ambulance arrives.”

  “Had you called for it?” Kendall asked.

  Charters shook his head. “The ambulance you mean. No, I never called for it,” he replied. “I mean, why should I?”

  Kendall heaved a sigh. “Well I don’t know if there’s anything helpful there, Mr. Charters, but we’ll see,” he said as he stood up. Incidentally do you know anything about a company by the name of Anglo-Irish Commodities?”

  Charters thought for a moment and then shook his head. “Sorry I’m afraid not. Should I?”

  “Oh I guess not,” said Kendall. “Anyway I’ll come again if I can. Best get gone now, I’ve a few people to talk to.”

  “Please Mr. Kendall, I know it’s difficult for you,” Charters said. “But I am reliant on you, I’ve nowhere else to go.”

  Kendall looked at the prison guard who merely frowned, and walked to the door. He opened it and waited for Kendall to pass through. Kendall stopped, and turned. “Keep positive,” he said. “I’ll be seeing you.”

  * * *

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mulligan

  As Kendall came out of the main gates of the prison, he took a deep breath of fresh air, and said a silent prayer. He turned back to look at the grey walls of the prison, and shook his head. He had just spent less than an hour behind that high wall. How anyone could spent years in such a place did not bear thinking about. He looked up at the sky. The earlier sunshine had gone, and it was now as grey and overcast as the building he had just left. The heat of the day had gone, and the weather had suddenly turned cold, and threatened rain once again.