Faraday 02 Network Virus

by Michael Hillier

  “I suppose you’d say that. When I told him to stop he just carried on undressing me and kissing me. Then all of a sudden I realised he was having sex with me. I suppose he would say that it wasn’t really rape. But I didn’t agree to it happening and I tried my best to stop him - not that I was very good at it.” She sighed. “However I can’t complain because Tracey came out of it.”

  “He got you pregnant that first time?”

  “Yes. He wasn’t wearing a contraceptive and I wasn’t on the pill.”

  “Was this the man who is now your husband?”

  “Oh, no. Freddie was already married. Gary was a sort of arrangement that he made for me when I told him I was going to have a baby.”

  “Didn’t he realise he was probably wrecking your life?”

  “I don’t think he saw it that way. He accepted that he’d got me into trouble and he felt it was his responsibility to care for me and this was his way of doing it. He was very rich so he bought me a house. He found a man who was away a lot of the time to be my husband. It was my fault I didn’t grow to like Gary.”

  “So that’s how you’ve been living your life ever since for twelve, maybe thirteen years.”

  “Yes, just over thirteen. But I’ve nothing to complain about. I have Tracey and she and I are very close. Gary gives me an allowance. It’s been a bit tight in the last few years which is why I started working at the Red Garter. But I have a house and I’m secure and I only see Gary for a few weeks every year, which suits me fine.”

  James was silent for a long time, thinking about her story. “My experience is so different to that,” he said. “In our family it always seemed to be my mother who made the decisions. My father was often away on business, mainly in London, but he usually made sure he was back for the weekends. Of course he provided everything the family needed. She only had to ask. So I’m not used to men who think of themselves first.”

  “It sounds as though you had a happy childhood.”

  “Oh, we did. When my father came home he was always welcomed as head of the family. But we all accepted that the home was mother’s territory and so she made most of the decisions around the house.”

  “Is your father still alive?”

  “No. He died about five years ago. But he left mother well cared for and my older brother and I had both left home and got our own careers by then.”

  “Do you miss him?”

  “I think Phil, my brother, does. But I was always closer to my mother, being the younger son.” He changed the subject back to her. “I presume your husband’s always known Tracey wasn’t his daughter.”

  “Oh - yes.”

  “Didn’t he object to that?”

  “He’s never said so. I was about six months pregnant before we met and it didn’t put him off then, so he has no reason to complain. I think Freddie must have paid him very well to take me on. And I used to be thought of as pretty.”

  “Used to be -? You still are extremely pretty - among your other attributes.”

  That shut her up. She didn’t know how to respond.

  Meanwhile James was carrying on down his own track of thoughts. “What about Tracey? Does she know who her real father is?”

  “I’ve never talked to her about it. I think she accepts Gary as her dad. She isn’t very close to him, but I think that’s because she doesn’t see much of him.”

  “And what about you? Would you have selected Gary as your husband if you’d had the choice?”

  She didn’t reply. When he stole a glance at her she was staring through the windscreen.

  “Well, would you?” he prompted.

  She shook her head. “I suppose I wouldn’t.”

  “So this Freddie guy hasn’t done you a lot of good. It would have been much better if he’d left you on your own with your daughter and the house he had provided. Perhaps some man you really liked would have come along and fallen for you and married you and adopted Tracey. Instead of which he’s tried to control your life for you.”

  “Perhaps.” She turned on him, her eyes full of tears. “Can we stop talking about it please? I want us to concentrate on finding Tracey. She’s all that matters at the moment.”

  “OK. Sorry.” Chastened, he changed the subject. “So, where do you want to go next?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” She hit the dashboard with her balled up fists. “We’ve been to everywhere I can remember that Tracey liked.”

  “You’ve got to face it, Marion, that if somebody’s abducted her they will have taken her to a location they had chosen. She will have been hidden somewhere - maybe in somebody’s flat or the cellar of a house. And that could be anywhere.”

  “Oh, I can’t bear the thought of it. She may be tied up somewhere or locked up in a room in the dark. She hates the dark. She’ll be terrified.”

  “But why would anybody want to take her? Do you think they’re trying to get a ransom?”

  “I haven’t got any money worth talking about.”

  “This chap Freddie has. Would he be willing to to pay somebody to get his daughter back?”

  She looked at him. “I suppose he might be. She is his only child. I don’t think either of his wives has had any children.”

  They had reached a country pub and James turned into the car park. “What about Freddie himself? Would he kidnap her so that he could have her with him?”

  “I don’t think so. He’s never shown that much interest in her. Besides, Tracey doesn’t know he’s her father. I’ve never told her anything about Freddie.”

  James switched off the engine. “All right. Well, reverting to my previous suggestion, do you know if he’s been approached about a ransom? Can you contact him to find out?”

  “I suppose I could. I know the name of his company. But who would have known that Tracey was his daughter? He made it a condition of giving me the house that I was never to tell anyone that he was the father. And once I married Gary everybody obviously assumed he was. Only he and I know the truth and I’ve already explained that he didn’t have a motive. He’d also probably lose money if he crossed Freddie. Besides, she disappeared before we left the police station.”

  “The other person who might have known is his wife. Did she know about your having her husband’s child?”

  “Yes, and she made a hell of a fuss about it. I know because he once told me that it had cost him a fortune to keep her quiet.”

  “So you’d better tell Freddie to check up on her.”

  “Oh, it won’t be Joanne. She drowned in an accident about two years ago. She fell off Freddie’s boat one night and they didn’t find her for nearly three weeks.”

  “So it’s not her. But there must be someone else. Try and think of somebody who knew about Tracey’s real father. And you really ought to contact this Freddie bloke. Does he even know his daughter’s missing?”

  “All right, I will. You’re quite correct,” she agreed. “I’ll try and ring him when we get back this afternoon.”

  “That’s good. Now, can we stop for lunch? I’m starving.” He opened the car door.

  During lunch she asked him. “When did your mother ring you and give you your telling off?”

  “On Saturday morning.” He put another forkful of food in his mouth and chewed for a minute before he continued. “I’d already been feeling very bad about what I’d done to you. It was her call that made my mind up.”

  “You acted quickly to get back from Germany by this morning.”

  “I went straight round to the colonel’s quarters and asked to see him to explain the situation.”

  “That must have been interesting.” She leaned forward across the table towards him. “What did you say to explain your behaviour?”

  He looked a little shame-faced. “I didn’t tell him all the truth. I told him I’d started making love to you because I thought you were willing. When you tried to stop me I carried on. I said I thought you’d accepted it. I told him it was your husband, who had suddenly arrived back from abr
oad, who made you report it as rape four days later. I told him I wanted to resign my commission and return to England to face the charges.”

  “What did he say to that?”

  “He told me he didn’t want me to resign without convincing myself there was no alternative. He gave me four weeks’ leave of absence and told me to get a good lawyer. In his opinion it was only your word against mine and he thought the police would decide not to bring any charges. He told me he was often approached by soldiers in the regiment who had been in a similar situation and they nearly always escaped prosecution.”

  “Did you tell him you’d thrown me on the bonnet of the car and raped me from behind?”

  “No.”

  She shrugged. “Well, except for that I suppose the story’s not so far from the truth. Now you’ll be able to go back and tell him that I’ve withdrawn the charge and you don’t need to resign your commission, That’ll be a happy ending for everyone.”

  “I’m sorry, Marion.” He put down his knife and fork. “I realise that you’re the one who has suffered in all this. But I promise you, as some sort of compensation, that I will use my leave of absence to do everything I can to help you find Tracey. For the next three and a half weeks I will be at your disposal.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes swimming with tears. “Thank you, James. As far as I’m concerned the rape happened in another life. You are my non-existent brother who has turned up to help and it means I’m not alone in my search.”

  “Is that what you’ll tell your husband?”

  “If necessary. If he turns up.”

  “Will he believe it?”

  “Who cares? He’ll just have to accept it since he left me alone when I needed someone more than ever before.” She stood up. “Now, if you’ve finished, let’s get on with the search.”

  However they had no more success in the afternoon and it was already late in the evening when Jimmy returned her to 47 Blandford Crescent.

  “I’ll collect you at nine tomorrow,” he promised as he drove away leaving her to enter the empty house with a new sensation of loneliness.

  - 30 -

  Lionel Hillman hadn’t sounded enthusiastic when Paulson rang him to arrange an informal interview but the inspector was in no mood to be fobbed off.

  “I’ll come straight round before you get busy,” he said and Hillman had to accept that.

  When Stafford walked into the palatial offices above the car showrooms the immaculately groomed receptionist took him straight into Hillman’s office. The two men had known each other for many years and the businessman clearly considered himself to be Paulson’s social superior. He showed none of the caution most people displayed when being interviewed by the police.

  “Morning, Stafford.” He rose from his leather-upholstered executive swivel chair and shook the inspector firmly by the hand. “To what do I owe this visit?”

  Paulson decided on the roundabout approach. “I hope you were pleased about having the mystery of your wife’s unfortunate death solved.” *

  “What? Well, of course I was.”

  “After all, it can’t have been pleasant for you to have to believe that she committed suicide, which had been the conclusion of the inquest.”

  “No. No, of course it wasn’t.” Hillman showed no sign of having thought about it before. “No, I’m very grateful to you.” He nodded, “A very good bit of police work that was by both you and that new woman. What’s her name?”

  “DCI Charlotte Faraday.”

  “Charlotte - that’s right.” He raised his eyebrows. “How do you get on with her?”

  “We have a good working relationship. I think that together we make up a good team. We’re now investigating the unexplained death of Joanne de Billiere.” He was watching Hillman closely but the man didn’t show any immediate reaction.

  “Really,” he said. “I thought her death had been explained at the inquest.”

  “That was only a presumption arising out of a lack of evidence. We now think the presumption may have been incorrect.”

  Paulson allowed the silence after his remark to drag out.

  At last Hillman asked, “Is that why you’ve come here this morning?”

  “It is. We have been asking questions of a number of people in connection with Joanne’s death and your name has come up more than once.” Stafford knew he was exaggerating inexcusably but he wanted to put Hillman on the defensive.

  The man shook his head. “I can’t imagine why my name should come up in your investigations.”

  “Forgive me,” said Paulson, “but I was aware that you had been a widower for more than a year at the time of her drowning. I also understand that she was filing for divorce for the third time in about ten years and her solicitor tells me that she had told him most positively that she wasn’t going to be bought off by her husband this time as she had on the two previous occasions. He believes she had a replacement husband in mind.”

  He paused but there was no reaction from the other man. “I have also found out that you were observed visiting Joanne on her boat, the Sarah Jane, on a number of occasions. Putting the various pieces of evidence together we believe you were involved with Joanne to some degree.”

  Hillman was quiet for a while, then he let out a breath. “Wow,” he said, “You have been a busy little detective, Stafford.”

  “Do you smoke, Mr Hillman?”

  “Do you want one?” He reached towards a silver box on his desk.

  “No thank you,” said Paulson. “I don’t smoke, but I see you do.”

  “Only occasionally. Why?”

  “What brand do you smoke?”

  “Mainly cigars - cigarillos.” He squinted at Paulson. “What’s this all about, Stafford?”

  “Do you buy cigarettes?”

  “Sometimes. Mainly to offer round.”

  “What brands do you buy?”

  “Oh, usually something likely to be generally acceptable - Marlborough or something like that. Now, look here, Inspector, am I being accused of something?”

  “Do you ever buy Gauloises?”

  “What?”

  “Gauloises. They’re a French brand. Do you like strongly flavoured cigarettes?”

  “No I don’t. I think cigars are more subtle, much more pleasant to smoke.” He wagged a finger at Paulson, “Now - I’m not going to answer any more questions until you tell me what this is all about.”

  The inspector paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. “Very well, Mr Hillman. I can tell you that evidence has come to light that suggested Joanne de Billiere was entertaining some man on the Sarah Jane the afternoon or early evening before she died and we believe that man was a smoker of Gauloises cigarettes.”

  “Entertaining some man! You’re making Jo out to be some sort of -,” he blustered, “Some sort of easy lay. Let me tell you that she did not entertain all sorts of men on the Sarah Jane as you are suggesting.”

  “She entertained you.”

  “Yes, and I was the only one.” He sighed when he realised what he had said. “Yes, all right. I might as well admit it. Jo and I had been seeing a lot of each other and we were talking about marriage. After all, I was alone, as you pointed out, and she was virtually on her own. She hardly ever saw her husband and she’d got evidence that he was carrying on with his PA. Neither of us had any close family who would object. So we thought we fitted together very well. We decided we might as well approach our retirement together, rather than remain separated and lonely. Don’t you think that was reasonable?”

  “So were you on the Sarah Jane with her on the afternoon or the early evening when the boat put to sea and she ended up drowned?”

  “No, I wasn’t. I had to suddenly go up to London and stay overnight. I expect, if you look back through the hotel records, you’ll be able to find proof of that.”

  “All right,” said Paulson. “We’ll come back to you if we think that’s important. So when did you first find out that Joanne had gone missing?”<
br />
  “I don’t know exactly. I remember I’d tried to ring her from London. We were in fairly frequent telephone contact with each other at that time. But I couldn’t get through to her. She wasn’t answering her mobile but that wasn’t unusual. She often forgot to take it with her or else it was in her handbag and she didn’t hear the ring.” He paused to reminisce. “I think it was soon after I got back that I realised something awful had happened. I couldn’t get in touch with her at her home. She hadn’t left any messages. So I went down to the marina that afternoon and the boat wasn’t there. When I went up to the office they told me the story about the Sarah Jane being found beached on Slapton Sands. And Joanne just seemed to have disappeared.”

  He shook his head. “By then I was going frantic with worry. I rang her husband and he said it was the first he’d heard about it. He said he couldn’t come down to look for her for a few days because he was very busy. I thought it was a bit cold-blooded of him. However he did send down a private enquiry agent. This bloke and I spent the next two weeks looking everywhere we could think of, searching for her.” He fell silent.

  “It must have been a difficult time for you.”

  “Then her body was found washed up in Pudcombe Cove. I was the one who first identified her, although Alfred had to come down the next day to formally do it.”

  “I take it you already knew Alfred de Billiere?”

  “Yes.”

  Hillman’s face had closed as if he intended to say nothing more, but for Stafford Paulson it was just getting interesting.

  “How long had you known him?”

  The man shrugged. “Oh, for years. We’d met as couples with our wives a number of times at major events in Torquay. And when I was mayor he made sure he kept in touch at regular intervals. We also had a number of joint business contacts.”

  “Did you meet him when he came down to identify the body?”

  “Yes,”

  “What did you say to him?”

  “I don’t remember.” He looked at the inspector sharply. “What do you mean?”

  “Mr Hillman, you knew Joanne was planning to divorce her husband and marry you. Did Alfred de Billiere know about this?”

  “I - er - I don’t know.” He hesitated. “I think perhaps he did.”