by Sally Rigby
‘It’s not a problem. What did she say?’
‘She thought Sarah was clutching at straws but did say she felt sorry for the woman. Which is an improvement on her feelings before. I’m hoping she won’t mind if I contact Sarah now.’
‘She must still be very angry about what happened to you?’
‘Of course she is. It will take years for us to recover from the losses, if we can at all. We’ve sat down and made some preliminary budgets. Our top priority is keeping the house.’
‘Prior to you finding out about the Ponzi scheme, would you say you had a good relationship with your brother?’
He cleared his throat. ‘Obviously, because I invested money with him.’
‘That doesn’t necessarily compute. You might have invested with him because you thought he was good at his job and put your personal feelings aside.’
‘Did you like him?’ Birdie asked.
Seb nodded his approval at her getting straight to the point.
‘Everyone liked him. He was outgoing, funny, popular, and a smooth talker. That’s how he persuaded Sarah to go out with him. Before that she was with me.’
He exchanged a quick glance with Birdie. That was news to him. Did he still have a thing for Sarah?
‘I didn’t know that.’
‘Not many people do. When we started dating Donald was at university. He arrived home for the summer holidays and totally won her over. I didn’t have a chance …’ A pained expression crossed his face. ‘That doesn’t mean I’m not happy with Celia. Of course I am. When Sarah and I were together, we were young. It’s all water under the bridge, now.’
Really? Did he still have feelings for Sarah?
‘When Donald died, how did it affect you?’ Seb asked.
‘He was my brother. It was a terrible shock.’
‘Was there anything going on between you, did you have a falling out before he died?’
‘No more than usual … I mean … We were brothers and sometimes there were issues.’
‘I’d like to discuss your investments with Donald. It seems perfectly understandable that you made the first investment. But why invest again if it meant using all of your money and leaving you with nothing. It doesn’t make sense. You’re an accountant and know better than to spread yourself so thinly.’
He slumped in his chair. ‘I can’t stand this any longer. It’s been eating me up inside. I’ll tell you because it’s going to come out sooner or later, the way you’re investigating.’
Seb leaned forward in his chair. Now they were getting somewhere.
‘Continue.’
‘There was a reason for the second investment. I made the first because I thought it was prudent and would give me a healthy return. Which it did. But the bottom dropped out of the financial market and Donald couldn’t keep on top of everything. He came to me and asked for a further investment into his scheme. I had no idea it was a Ponzi scheme. He neglected to tell me that. I said no because we couldn’t afford it.’ He let out a long breath.
‘Then what happened?’
‘He blackmailed me. Me. His own brother. Can you believe it? His own flesh and blood.’
‘What did he have on you?’ Birdie asked.
‘He knew about the affair I’d had with my secretary a year ago and threatened to tell Celia.’
‘How did he find out?’
‘He saw us together in a pub and asked me. I admitted the truth, thinking I could trust him, and he promised to keep my secret. I believed him. Then the moment he needed money he made those threats. Dead or not, I’ll never forgive him for that.’
‘Why didn’t you tell Celia yourself and then he’d have had no hold over you?’ Birdie asked.
‘I couldn’t. It would destroy our marriage. It had happened once before, fifteen years ago. Celia found out and gave me another chance. She said if it happened again that was it. If she’d found out about this, my marriage would have been over.’
‘Did you tell Celia about the new investment?’ Seb asked.
‘Not until after Donald had died, and we’d lost all the money. I had no choice.’
‘Did you tell her about the affair then?’
‘Absolutely not. It would have only added to the awful situation we’re in.’
‘When you invested, did you assume it was a legitimate scheme and that you’d be getting dividends on your money?’ Seb said.
‘Yes. And when there were none, I asked him to return the money. But he just laughed and said no.’
If he blackmailed his brother to invest, did that mean others were blackmailed?
‘Do you know if Donald had engaged in blackmail before?’
‘If you’d have asked me before he did it to me, I’d have said no way would he stoop that low. He did sail a bit close to the wind occasionally. But as for blackmail, no. He had some morals. Or so I thought. I believed he did it to me because I was his brother. You do things to family you wouldn’t to other people.’
‘Are you familiar with his friend Tony Yates?’
‘I met him a few times. They went to university together. We’ve never socialised, but I do know him. Was he being blackmailed, too?’
‘We don’t know.’
He glanced at his watch. ‘My next appointment is due here any minute. You’re not going to say anything to my wife about the affair, are you? It only lasted a short while and the woman in question has left the company.’
‘No, but it may come out if the suicide verdict is overturned and the police are officially involved. In that instance, I will be handing over all the information I have.’
‘If that happens, I’m finished.’ He rested his head in his hands, and they left his office.
‘At last, we’re finally getting somewhere,’ Birdie said once they were back in the car.
‘He’s certainly given us more information. If he was the one to arrange for me to be attacked he must be a bloody good actor because he seemed genuinely shocked.’
‘I agree. Do you think Donald was blackmailing others as well as his brother?’
‘It’s quite likely, that’s why I want to interview Tony Yates again. His investment was not only large, but he’d never gone in with Donald before and it was also fairly close to when Edgar invested.’
‘What about Andrea Wood?’
He frowned. ‘You think she might have been blackmailed, too?’
‘She invested a large sum of money around the same time the others did. Coincidence?’
‘I agree it’s worth investigating further. Let’s interview Tony Yates first. He works here in the city. He’s a quantity surveyor and has his own practice.’
‘Another person with his own company. Then again, they’re the ones who can invest large sums of money.’
‘Donald’s investors weren’t all like that. Some, like Bert and Pearl, invested money from the sale of their houses.’
They drove to Yates’s workplace and hurried to the reception.
‘Sebastian Clifford to see Tony Yates. Is he around? I’m a friend of his.’
‘I’m sorry, he’s off today. I believe he’s at home.’ She covered her mouth with her hand. ‘Oh. I shouldn’t have said that.’
‘It’s okay, I won’t say anything. Thank you.’
They left the building.
‘Do you know where Yates lives?’
‘Yes, a village called Clipston, near Market Harborough, which I’m sure you must be familiar. His address was in Donald’s records.’
Chapter 30
18 May
Birdie drove them into Clipston village along the windy Naseby Road until they reached the large L-shaped barn conversion, set back from the street, belonging to Tony and Pauline Yates. A separate three-car garage had been built next to it.
‘Nice house. Being a quantity surveyor must be very lucrative,’ she said, as she pulled into the circular drive and stopped outside the front of the house.
The door was answered by a tall, elegant woman in her
fifties, with dark hair cut into a short bob with a fringe, and wearing a blue and white dress patterned with geometric shapes teamed with a pair of white trainers.
Birdie stood up tall, but the woman was still intimidating.
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘I’m Sebastian Clifford and this is my colleague. I’m looking for Tony Yates, is he available?’
‘I’m his wife, Pauline. I’ll get him for you.’ She disappeared for a few minutes, leaving the door open so they could peer inside. The large entrance hall had a flagstone floor and on the wall to the side hung a massive painting of the woman with, who Birdie assumed, was her husband Tony.
‘Look over there,’ she whispered, giving Clifford a nudge.
He turned and stared. ‘Hmm,’ he muttered.
‘I think, yikes might be a better response,’ she said. ‘You couldn’t hide your spots on a painting that large?’
‘Shhh,’ he said, nodding his head.
Heading towards them was the couple, with Pauline leading the way.
‘What do you want?’ he said, an angry expression on his face, as he glared at Seb.
‘Tony,’ his wife admonished. ‘That’s no way to speak to our visitors.’
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘How can I help you?’
‘We have some further questions, if you don’t mind?’
‘What about?’ his wife asked, looking at Seb and then back to her husband.
‘Mr Clifford came to see me at work to ask about Donald Witherspoon’s suicide.’
‘Him,’ she spat. ‘What’s this all about? Are you from the press and doing some exposé on him? If so, you can keep our name out of it. He’s made us suffer enough. We don’t wish to be ridiculed by everyone we know. We’ve managed to keep what he’d done quiet, so far.’
And if they were reporters, the silly woman was giving them even more to write about. Birdie could just imagine the heading.
Naïve victim of Ponzi scheme monster fails in attempt to keep hidden their downfall.
‘No, we’re not part of the media,’ Seb reassured her. ‘His wife had questions regarding the suicide verdict, and she asked us to look into it.’
‘Why are you speaking to Tony? He had nothing to do with his death.’
‘He was a close friend of Donald’s and we thought he could give us an insight into him as a man.’
‘A friend. Is that what you call the bastard? You don’t steal money from a friend …’ She paused, staring at Seb’s face. ‘What happened to you?’
‘I was mugged in Market Harborough on Saturday night.’
‘Mugged, and you end up looking like that. Were they on something? I’ve said for a while that place is going downhill. That’s why we live out here.’
‘May we sit down somewhere?’ Birdie asked, curious to see more of the house to find out if there were any more portraits of the pair of them.
‘Yes,’ Tony said. ‘We’ll go into the day room.’
They followed him through to the large rectangular room with beams going across the vaulted ceiling and a large open fireplace on the far wall. Birdie and Clifford sat on two tan leather easy chairs and Pauline and Tony sat next to each other on the matching sofa.
‘I discovered during my investigation that Donald had been blackmailing one of his investors and I wondered if he’d approached you, Tony?’ Seb asked.
Nothing like getting straight to the point. Why didn’t he lead into it gradually?
‘What a ridiculous thing to suggest,’ Pauline said, answering for her husband. ‘What could he possibly blackmail us about? We’ve done nothing. Tell them, Tony.’
‘Pauline’s right, Donald didn’t try to blackmail me. The only reason I helped him out was because he was a friend in trouble and desperate for money.’ He glanced at his wife; trepidation etched across his face.
Was he telling them the truth? Or was it just he was scared of admitting it in front of her?
‘I wish you’d asked me first, though,’ his wife said, turning to him. ‘I’d have said no because it was too risky. And I would’ve been proved right because now he’s gone, along with his business and our hundred thousand pounds. What if he’d taken our entire savings, where would that have left us? We’re lucky to have the business and enough to cover our losses.’
Seb stiffened beside Birdie. She was sure Tony had given Witherspoon two hundred grand, and judging by Seb’s reaction she was right.
‘What else could I do, Pauline, he was my oldest friend?’
‘A fair-weather friend, if you ask me. He rarely came to see you and when we went out with him and his wife, it was all him him him. He wasn’t interested in anything you were doing. Do you remember the time we had a problem with some shares we bought? We went to him and he said he couldn’t help us, even though he had all the right contacts. Wouldn’t help, more like.’
‘He had his reasons.’
‘Hmmph.’ She folded her arms tightly across her chest.
‘He came to me and I was in the position of being able to help, but there’s no point in rehashing it now. It’s over.’ He turned from his wife to address Seb. ‘If you’ve come across a case of blackmail why are you still investigating? Shouldn’t you be going to the police?’
‘Actually, I am the police,’ Birdie said.
His eyes widened. ‘So, now it’s a police matter. Does that mean you definitely think it wasn’t suicide?’ he asked her.
‘That’s not what I said. I’m here to help Seb with the investigation and now we’ve uncovered one case of blackmail we need to find out if it was a one-off or something Donald Witherspoon regularly engaged in, before we make any decisions regarding the verdict,’ Birdie said.
‘I can’t help you …’ He started coughing. ‘Could you get me a glass of water, Pauline? I’ve got a tickle.’ He continued coughing, unable to talk.
‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ she said, jumping up from the sofa and hurrying out of the door.
Once she’d left the room, his coughing subsided. ‘I don’t want you talking about these things in front of my wife, she’s upset enough as it is about the money we’ve lost. Not to mention, as I’m sure you’ve worked out, she doesn’t know how much I lent Donald.’
‘I sense there’s something else you’d like to tell me,’ Seb said, leaning forward in his chair.
Was he being blackmailed, too?
‘There is, but not here. Meet me later at the Fox and Hounds in Great Bowden. Come alone, I don’t want the police involved.’
‘I’m not here in my capacity as an officer, as I’ve already told you,’ Birdie said.
‘I don’t care. If you want to know more, make it just you,’ he said, staring directly at Seb.
‘That’s fine,’ Seb said, nodding. ‘What time shall we meet?’
Yates looked at his watch. ‘Give me an hour. I’ll make up an excuse to go out. But—’ He clamped his mouth shut as there were footsteps on the floor outside the room.
‘Here’s your water,’ Pauline said, walking in.
‘Thanks,’ he said, taking a sip from the glass she’d handed him.
‘We’ll be going,’ Seb said, standing.
Birdie did the same.
‘I’m sorry we can’t help you further,’ Tony said. ‘Donald was a good friend, and I helped him out because he was desperate. I’m sorry to learn about the blackmail, but there was nothing like that between us.’
‘Thank you for your time and assistance, we appreciate it,’ Seb said.
‘I’ll see you out,’ Pauline said.
They followed her to the door and left.
‘Very interesting,’ Birdie said once they were back in the car and driving down the road. ‘I bet he was being blackmailed and his wife doesn’t know. And, by the way, he was scared of her. It was written in his eyes.’
‘That makes two of them,’ Seb said.
Birdie frowned. ‘Two of who?’
‘Edgar and Tony are both wary of their wives.’
&nbs
p; ‘Do you think it’s connected? Did Donald blackmail them because he saw them both as soft targets?’
‘Maybe. I’ll know more once I’ve met with Tony.’
‘I’m not happy with you going alone. What if he’s the one who arranged for you to be attacked and knowing I won’t be with you he sends someone along to finish you off?’ She shuddered at the thought.
‘That makes no sense, because not only does he know that you’re aware of the meeting, but he knows your occupation. I don’t believe it’s going to be a dangerous situation. I’ll be perfectly safe.’
‘Says the man with a smashed in face. Do you think he could’ve sent those guys to beat you up? Because I do.’
He gave a sigh. ‘I don’t know. Anything is possible, but the fact that he wants to meet in a pub fairly close to where he lives doesn’t seem like someone wanting to silence me. Plus, if he’d have wanted to do that, he’d need to silence you as well, yet he didn’t want you there. I genuinely don’t believe he’s out to get me.’
‘Even so, it would be good to have me close by. What if I stay in the car and wait for you outside? If you’re not out by a certain time, or you don’t send a text letting me know you’re okay, I’ll come in looking for you.’
‘I’m perfectly capable of going to meet him alone. I’m feeling a lot better.’
‘That’s not what I mean. This is just a precaution. Anyway, how can you go on your own if you can’t yet drive?’
‘I’m sure driving won’t be an issue now. We’ll go back to Heygate Street, so you can collect your car, and then I’ll drive to Great Bowden to meet Tony.’
‘Only if you’re a hundred per cent sure because I really don’t mind waiting in the car while you meet him.’ It was his decision, but she really wished he’d change his mind.
‘Don’t you have work to do?’
‘Yes. I suppose I should go in, or Sarge will start breathing down my neck again. Although as far as he’s concerned, I’m still investigating the mugging. Which reminds me, I still haven’t done your official statement yet. We must do it soon, in case he asks to see it.’
‘Tomorrow. Definitely.’
She drove them back to Market Harborough and pulled into a parking space outside the front of the house he was staying at.
