by David Beard
‘We’ve got to interview Wilde again, Dexter.’
‘Sooner the better. I’ve got so much bloody catching up to do. I haven’t touched it for ages. Super will soon be having a go. I need some peace and quiet for a while.’
‘I’ll leave you to it, Dexter. You have given me tons of that stuff to do as well.’
They re-entered the station feeling despondent but as soon as Smalacombe returned to his desk, Sheldon button holed him.
‘Got a minute, sir?’
‘Better be good, Barry. Things are not going well.’
‘We have solved one imponderable.’
‘Imponderable? You’re sounding more like my new sergeant.’
‘She taught me the word, sir. Samantha Peckham is not Crossworth’s daughter.’
‘Call the sergeant in…’
‘She’s not here.’
‘Yes she is; she came back with me.’
‘She was on the phone, sir and then she left.’
Smalacombe shook his head.
*
Emily phoned the Counters when she returned as there was something puzzling her: she knew they were friendly with Heather Lynley but how friendly and more importantly why? She spoke to Olivia who had just returned from her shopping mission to buy sugar and pectin. The short conversation persuaded her to retrace her steps and visit the farm immediately.
Olivia Counter invited her into the kitchen which was still a mixture of organised areas and chaos. Most of the bowls had been washed and put away but the worktop at the side was now filled with fruit and her recent shopping items. The finished products had been moved to a shelf on the dresser where the neat, pristine jam jars, filled with a dark red preserve, now with covers and carefully labelled, had been given permanent residence; at least until they were to be used by a grateful family.
‘Let me wash my hands, Sergeant and we’ll go into the front room.’
Emily waited for the usual offer, which came as Olivia picked up the towel, ‘Cup of tea?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Wouldn’t you like to try my red currant jelly? I have made some raspberry jam as well.’
‘Homemade raspberry jam!’ Emily exclaimed, ‘Oh, I can’t say no to that and yes, tea as well.’
She ushered Emily into the front room with a large French window facing south, which made it a light and airy space. She settled on the couch whilst the snacks were prepared. Olivia arrived with it all on a tray, which she placed on the coffee table.
‘Wow! Cream Tea!’ Emily exclaimed again. ‘This is even better.’
‘I made the scones this morning, Sergeant but I bought the cream this afternoon, I’m afraid.’
‘Emily please! Can’t wait.’ Soon she was tucking into it all. ‘This is lovely, Olivia; in fact the best thing I have eaten for some time.’ Even better than her breakfast on the moors she considered. ‘Tell me, cream first and then the jam? Is that how it should be?’
‘Well of course, you’re in Devon. In any case, just think a moment, in normal circumstances would you spread the jam and then put the butter on top?’
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ she savoured her snack and said no more until the scone had been digested. Olivia sat quietly enjoying her own endeavours in the same manner.
Emily sipped her tea and decided to get down to business. ‘Olivia, you are Heather’s elder sister.’ She wondered how they had overlooked this relationship. It was the sort of basic research that the team should have explored.
‘I am, and before you ask, my husband was worried about that. He discussed it with me when I returned. He didn’t mention it to you because he assumed you knew. After all, he considered that’s why you were here. He wasn’t withholding information.’
‘I’m not concerned with that, Olivia. We knew you were good friends but when I returned to the station I did another check and then I spoke to you on the phone and you confirmed your relationship. Were you close to Heather?’
‘Yes. We hail from Bedfordshire and when I finished uni I took a teaching job down here. I rented a cottage just down the road,’ she waved her hand vaguely in a southerly direction. ‘Heather also trained as a teacher, as you know, and she was very taken up with my lifestyle at that time, so when she graduated she came here too and took a post at Tiverton. She moved in with me and we shared the cottage until she got married to Michael. I eventually married George and moved here.’
‘That’s why she has connections here.’
‘She entered into the community and stayed with it as well.’
‘Who owned the cottage you rented?’
‘Herbie Battle. He was good to us; well good to Heather. I don’t think we need to go into that.’
‘You didn’t continue teaching?’
‘I’m a full time farmer’s wife. I do all the accounts and paper work and in farming there is probably more of that than you have to do.’
‘Oh, I doubt it!’
‘We won’t get competitive about that. I was very close to Heather. She confided in me always. I have been a mess since she was……oh dear…’ She collected her thoughts and took a deep sigh. ‘I haven’t been able to think straight. I stared at the wall for the first few days. It is why I am so busy with this,’ she pointed to her jam making equipment. ‘I decided I had to get occupied and take my mind off it all. I was preparing to contact you, now that I am rational again. I’m pleased that you have beaten me to it.’
‘When did you last see her?’
‘On the Thursday before she…,’ Olivia hesitated again and couldn’t bring herself to reference the murder, ‘…died. Look, I have a huge amount to tell you. She met her nemesis a few months ago. It was triggered by our photo voltaic cell calamity.’
‘What I don’t understand is how could Henry Crossworth stop it? It is a district council matter and the parish council really have no authority on such planning applications. In any case the only acceptable objection can be the visual impact.’
‘No doubt you have had the same reply from others, but Crossworth never accepted no as an answer. I’m pretty sure there was corruption. There is no other way he could rule the roost as he did. But, there is more.’
‘Heather knew about this?’
‘Well, of course. We discussed it. His action has cost us thousands; we were furious. With the solar company, we applied for a forty acre layout; I guess George has told you the returns involved. It would have transformed our business. What finally upset her, and us, was that shortly after our application Jimmy Wilde was applying for the same thing but with another company, owned by guess who?’
‘I have checked some of this out, Olivia. Your husband advised us of that but he didn’t seem to be clear about other things.’
‘He isn’t. It is something Heather and I talked about at length but we kept most of it to ourselves. It could destroy George if he knew all that I do.’
‘Crossworth did have interests in a solar panel company. Are you saying that he stopped your venture in order to get permission for his own firm? The visual impact at the Wilde’s farm would have been much the same as yours. That endorses your views on corruption.’
‘Exactly! We don’t blame Jimmy Wilde for this; in fact we are still on good terms. It was clear that the district council could only give permission for one large solar farm in this area and that is why Crossworth opposed us.’
‘Why only the one?’
‘It was the county’s policy to spread it around.’
‘If he had the influence you suggest, couldn’t he have got around that too?’
‘It suited him. Think about it. That way he could corner the market: the condition may have been on his insistance. Anyway, the final straw for Heather was still to come. Jimmy came to see us one day. George happened to be out and Heather was here. He was curious about our deal with the solar energy group and when I told him of our deal he was outraged. Crossworth was offering a deal worth less than a quarter of it. Crossworth knew that this was Jimmy’s only o
pportunity and he was screwing him. The Wildes backed out and very angrily.’
‘That answers a number of questions. But surely there are central government regulations about this?’
‘Not when you can afford an army of lawyers there isn’t. Times are changing now, I know. Central government is reconsidering these terms so I think we have missed the boat forever; thanks to Crossworth.’
‘So, Heather finally understood Crossworth’s greed, which had no boundaries.’
‘It didn’t matter who he hurt provided he won the day and gained the bulk of the money on offer. This was too close to Heather; she knew he was a ruthless businessman but it had never encroached on her before. She fell out with him big time.’
‘Can we go back to her nemesis?’
‘Indeed. You are well aware of her lifestyle. We were completely the opposites in that regard. The break with Crossworth was a milestone; they had been together on and off for years and it had taken all of this time for her to discover what a thoroughly nasty person he was. It traumatised her. She was upset that she had been so unobservant and she considered her private life had been wasted. She realised, as fifty approached, that she should reconsider her lifestyle.’
‘There were other things too. She became agonised over her break with Giles Sable and she was filled with remorse because she had destroyed him; his private life, his finances and his career. She felt the need to make amends. She didn’t want to restart a sexual relationship but she decided to try and support him somehow and re-establish a friendship. It was not easy.’
‘Are you sure about this? There were no emails between them. There is nothing of this on her phone records. We’ve been checking Sable’s phone accounts. He hasn’t been contacting her either.’
Olivia shook her head slowly. ‘I know and it’s weird. For reasons I don’t understand, she was very wary of contacting him this way and when she did contact him she always did it through the Wilde’s phone or media or occasionally from here.’
‘Ah, I see, because his sister is married to Ian, the son. Calls to and from there would not be suspicious. We have noted that she rang the Wildes regularly. I was thinking it was about the solar panels.’ Emily declined to elaborate on other things of which she was aware. ‘Clearly, she didn’t want anyone to know she was meeting Sable again,’ Emily reasoned.
‘Well, I knew! She was just trying to build bridges but I don’t know why there was so much secrecy.’
‘Heather was a mathematician I believe.’
‘Yes, we both were. It’s in the genes, so was dad.’
‘There is one other thing. Did Mrs Wilde have an affair with Crossworth?’
Olivia thought for a moment, ‘There was much gossip at one time. I always assumed she had, but I really don’t know.’ She suddenly thought of something else, ‘Oh, and before you ask, I never did.’
‘Well, thank you Olivia…’
‘Do you want another scone?’
‘Why do you ask me such difficult questions? Of course I do, but you do realise I will have to ride my bike an extra ten miles this weekend to keep my weight down.’
Emily reported back to a disgruntled Smalacombe.
‘Where the bloody hell have you been?’
‘You told me you needed peace and quiet so I didn’t wish to disturb you.’
Smalacombe calmed down, ‘Samantha is not Crossworth’s daughter.’
‘Well, well, well.’ Emily moved on to explain where she had been and delivered all of the news with some relish.
Smalacombe was greatly relieved. ‘We really are on the road to sewing this up, what with Barry Sheldon’s revelations.’ He thought for a moment. ‘The Wilde thing and the phone are significant.’
‘They are. I reckon the secrecy thing is much more than keeping Crossworth ignorant of her renewed relationship with Sable. I am coming to the view that she was looking into something illegal, affecting Crossworth, and it was in order for people like us to have no knowledge of this relationship either. Nothing can be traced on the phone bills.’
‘Good point! I will get the team on to this. I have arranged for us to see Whitecroft tomorrow. Sable has been arrested and he is here.’
‘I don’t know if this is relevant but a name has cropped up again. The cottage they rented was owned by Herbie Battle and he had a fling with Lynley.’
‘We need to see him, Emily.’
‘Dexter, I’ve been thinking. The publican told us that on the Friday Crossworth had dinner with a hairy bloke.’
‘Exactly. That’s why we are seeing him tomorrow. Good day; let’s hope it is even better tomorrow.’
*
Emily arrived home exhausted. It had been a long day but whatever she felt like she had resolved to concentrate on her husband’s welfare. Hector was in his shirt sleeves preparing their meal.
‘Looks good,’ she said.
‘It’s nothing special; Dover sole, parsley sauce, potatoes and beans from the garden.’
‘Oh, that’s a first,’ she referred to the beans, ‘how would Masterchef view it?’
‘Bit iffy, I suspect, but sod them, what about you?’
‘Right up my street, love,’ She went over to him, hugged him tightly and they kissed. ‘Oh, darling I don’t deserve you.’
‘The boot is on the other foot believe me. You are so busy and I understand.’
‘But, so are you.’
‘I know, but I can keep regular hours.’
‘Will you be able to put up with this forever?’
‘I will put up with anything as long as I am with you.’
‘Shall we put off the parsley sauce for a while? I can think of something better we can do.’ She broke away from him, held his hand tightly and they climbed the stairs.
CHAPTER 13
The morning began preparing for the interview with Whitecroft.
‘What answers have you come up with during last night, Dexter?’
‘With the point you raised yesterday, I’m pretty sure Heather Lynley was financing the hacking.’
‘We will need to do another check of her accounts…’
‘And look at Sable’s again. Why else would she keep her relationship with him a secret?’
‘She had to be sure that Crossworth had no knowledge that they were on good terms once more.’
‘And we couldn’t trace it. We must bear this in mind when we interview Whitecroft but keep it all to ourselves.’
Willie Whitecroft arrived with his solicitor just in time for the scheduled interview. Emily went through the formal details with them, switched on the recorder, announced who was present, why and the time. Neither officer was sure if Whitecroft would cooperate or remain non-committal, which was his entitlement. Whitecroft, on the other hand felt confident and decided to answer every question bar one if it was posed. To be silent on that one would create a misguidance and assumed guilt so his plan, unbeknown to his brief, was to indulge in a half truth if it cropped up.
Emily began the proceedings, ‘Mr Whitecroft, we have handed your solicitor our report on our investigations, which makes it very clear to you what we know. So, may I begin by asking you, did you spend the Friday lunchtime before the murders at the Dog and Bone with Henry Crossworth?’
‘I did, we had much to talk about, in particular my new role at A Gate Services.’
‘Let us be clear, had you been working in Crossworth’s interests rather than Rollisade and Sons for some time?’
‘Yes. Henry mistrusted Conrad; he was sure he was behind the hacking and he wanted a…what do you call it?……A mole! I served that purpose.’
‘Wait a moment,’ Smalacombe interrupted, ‘You said you have a new job at A Gate Services.’
‘I have just explained, Chief Inspector; I have been working for Henry for some time. I was not sacked but asked to leave and take up a job at the head office.’
‘That is not what you told us when we interviewed you before. You also gave the impression that you despised C
rossworth.’
‘Well, I had been asked to leave Rollisade. Henry advised me to say nothing and I felt that was all that was relevant. Look, I was in his good books, I got on well with him but you must never drop your guard when dealing with a ruthless businessman such as him.’
‘You said Rollisade was organising the hacking?’
This was the difficult bit for Whitecroft and it had arisen very early in the interview. It was not in his interest to give the whole story and he decided to be selective with his answer.
He began, ‘At Rollisade, all invoices, purchases or sales are handled by the ledger clerks except for ones concerning new customers or suppliers and all invoices above a value of four thousand pounds. All of those have to be verified by myself. A short while ago, I discovered that three invoices for three thousand eight hundred pounds had been passed through the purchase ledger over a period of three weeks. They were from a firm I did not recognise and it was based in Luxembourg. We have no suppliers from there. Samantha Peckham was the clerk and I tackled her about it. She told me that the first invoice was handed to her by Conrad. She was in no position to challenge her managing director and she did what she was ordered to do. The others arrived by post, unusual these days. The invoices always listed the charges for consultancy work.’
‘So, she wasn’t fiddling the books?’
‘No. The firm was ITIT. I assumed it was something to do with IT; seems reasonable but how come I didn’t know? I was barred by the bank from gleaning more knowledge of the firm and I discussed it with Henry. We resolved that this was payment for the hacking but we didn’t have sufficient information to pass on to you what we suspected Conrad was doing. It was something we had to get to the bottom of ourselves. Henry was convinced that this account was a cover for Sable and Rollisade was organising it.’
‘Then why didn’t he dismiss Rollisade immediately?’
‘Henry didn’t want Conrad to know he was on to him; so he gave him notice under the pretence of other things. He wanted him out in any case. Henry was sure that Sable was doing the dirty business with the computer. He had hired a private detective to chase things up and this guy found out a great deal.’
