‘How did he think that you were going to be able to pay the mortgage?’
‘I don’t mean to be rude, Chief Inspector, but do you have a rich father? Mine is very rich indeed, but actually has no interest in anything at all other than making money. I simply told him that Sir Hugo had decided I was invaluable, and had doubled my salary. He wasn’t sufficiently interested in what I do to even query it. He just said something like ‘jolly good, dear’ and carried on reading The Economist.’
Tom had a clear picture in his head of that scene, but it still didn’t answer the question.
‘So how did you think you were going to be able to carry on paying the mortgage?’
‘Sir Hugo had told me that he was very impressed with me. He wanted me to do some personal, highly confidential, work for him. He said he would pay me a little extra each month. In cash.’
‘What did he mean by ‘a little extra’?’
‘A few thousand.’
This was like pulling teeth. Surely by now she had realised that he was going to find out - however long it took?
‘How many is ‘a few’, Jessica?’
Jessica had the grace to look slightly sheepish. She shuffled a little in her chair. Then raised her chin defiantly.
‘He asked if eight would be enough.’
‘Eight thousand pounds! A month?’
‘Yes.’
Jessica’s chin was still raised, but her cheeks were flushed with what Tom could only assume was embarrassment. Quite right too, he thought.
‘What did you have to do for the money, Jessica? You are going to have to tell us. Were you his mistress?’
‘I’ve already told you that I wasn’t. If he’d asked me, especially in the early days, I would have gladly said yes. And I can assure you that I most certainly would not have expected to be paid for it. But unfortunately he never did.’
‘So what did you do, Jessica?’
‘I’d rather not say. I’m sorry, but it was confidential.’ Jessica’s obdurate expression was exasperating Tom.
‘Jessica, Sir Hugo is dead. Whatever you did for him that was worth so much money - it may have a bearing on his death.’
‘It doesn’t.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘It just doesn’t’
It was at times like these that Tom could understand why some policemen lost it. And then it hit him. There was one other good reason why a man might pay a woman a lot of money on a regular basis.
‘Okay, you won’t tell us what you did. Is that because of the terms of the will?’
‘What do you mean?’ Jessica asked with a frown.
‘You know he left you some money?’
‘Brian mentioned it, yes. I haven’t got the details yet, but Brian says I should be more than happy.’
Jessica was in danger of being smug again.
‘Did Brian also tell you that there are some conditions attached?’
Tom was pleased to see that this news wiped the smile off her face.
‘No! What conditions?’
‘The money - a very generous sum - is to be given to you over a period of time, and during that period you cannot say anything about Sir Hugo that would bring his name into disrepute.’
Ajay looked at Tom sharply. He obviously wondered why Tom had told Jessica this as it might prevent her giving them information. But Tom had a plan, and thought he was beginning to understand Jessica quite well. He could feel a tingle of excitement.
‘Well, those conditions will be no problem at all. Nothing Sir Hugo did could bring his name into disrepute.’
Tom was leaning forward in his chair. This was it. He just knew it.
‘What did you know, Jessica?’ he asked in a soft voice. ‘What did you know about Sir Hugo that you have promised not to reveal?’
‘There was nothing - how many times do I have to tell you.’
Jessica’s face was set in stubborn lines, and Tom felt his excitement fading.
‘So why won’t you tell me what the money was for, why does it have to remain a secret if it’s not because of the terms of the will?’
‘Because it’s none of your business, and not in any way relevant to your enquiries. He didn’t want anybody to know. He was quite modest about his generosity, you know.’
Tom managed to keep his face impassive.
‘When did it start then, and was there was some specific trigger for this… generosity.’
‘I’ll tell you when it started. I won’t, however, tell you what I did. I’m not a terrorist, so I believe I have the right to silence.’
Tom sighed. God preserve us from knowledgeable suspects, he thought.
‘Let’s start there then, shall we? Tell me when it started, and what prompted it.’
Jessica was clasping a green suede handbag on her knee, and she was turning the handle over and over between her fingers. Two deep frown lines had appeared between her eyebrows, and Tom knew that he had rattled her - but whether he’d rattled her enough, he wasn’t sure.
‘Well there were a few things that happened all around the same sort of time a couple of years ago. It started when two of the rescue girls turned up at the office, looking for one of their friends who had apparently gone AWOL. I turned them away, of course. I knew Sir Hugo was very strict about the girls not keeping in touch with each other, and I was very cross with them.’
‘Didn’t you think that was rather a strange rule?’
‘Not at all. He only had their interests at heart, and if he thought it was for the best then I supported that decision. Anyway, it was only a day or two later that the doorbell rang. I was the only one in the office apart from Sir Hugo. Rosie had gone out - ostensibly because we had run out of pens, or something, although it took her an inordinately long time to buy them if I remember correctly. I opened the door, and this young girl pushed past me. She said she wanted to see “Hugo” - not “Sir Hugo”. I thought that very odd. Then I recognised her. I’d been looking at her file that very day. She looked very smartly dressed, though, and that had me fooled for a few moments. I tried to stop her but she pushed past me and straight into Sir Hugo’s office. She slammed the door. Of course, I went after her, but Sir Hugo told me everything was okay and I could go.’
Jessica paused and took a sip of water. Nobody spoke. Tom could see that she was reliving the moment, and although he was dying to ask her the question at the forefront of his mind, he had to let her finish talking. She wasn’t looking at him; she was clutching the glass and gazing into the distance as the scenes of that day came back to her.
‘I heard shouting coming from the office. Shouting. Sir Hugo never shouted, but he was clearly extremely angry about something. It didn’t last long, though. After a few minutes, she came out smiling and left. Sir Hugo came out a couple of minutes later and had a word with me. He asked me never to mention that she had been there, and he wanted to know if I had overheard anything.’
Much as he didn’t want to interrupt the story, Tom had to know.
‘And did you?’
‘Not really. Nothing significant. She seemed to be talking about a pool, of all things. I heard her mention it twice, but that made no sense to me. I knew that Annabel had been on at him about an indoor swimming pool for ages, but I couldn’t see how the two things were related. Anyway, Sir Hugo said he was going home to Oxfordshire, and not to expect him back for a few days. He didn’t want to be contacted. I thought that was the last of it, but when Rosie eventually deigned to return to the office, she said she’d seen Sir Hugo driving away and there was a girl in the car with him. He must have decided to give her a lift, even though she had been extremely rude. And that was it. That was when it started.’
‘Who was the girl, Jessica?’
‘I believe her name was Alina Cozma.’
Tom took a sharp breath. This was the very girl that Danika Bojin had originally gone in search of. And he didn’t believe in coincidences.
‘What did Sir Hugo say? Did h
e ever explain?’
‘Sir Hugo didn’t need to explain anything to me, Chief Inspector.’
Why could this girl not give a straight answer, Tom thought. But for once, she volunteered some information without being asked.
‘I don’t know if it’s relevant but it was shortly after that that Sir Hugo asked me to look into bodyguard companies for him. He didn’t always have them, you know. And then just days later we had another most unexpected visitor. Lady Fletcher came to the office. It was very unusual, but he was extremely pleased with how I handled that. He said I had demonstrated loyalty, commitment and discretion.’
This must have been after Danika had visited her at home, Tom realised.
‘What was the purpose of her visit?’
‘She wanted to see the records from the charity, with a list of all the homes that the girls had been sent to in the past five years. She wanted contact numbers, and so on. She also wanted to know if I had a record of any of the girls that had gone back to the streets, or gone back to wherever they came from. I’m quite good at anticipating what Sir Hugo would want, and I didn’t think he would would be happy for her to go through the files, so I refused.’
‘How did Lady Fletcher respond to this?’
‘She stated categorically that this was work she was doing on behalf of her husband, and the records needed to be made available to her. I knew that he wouldn’t have asked her to do this without telling me, so I refused to give her anything, and she left.’
‘Did you tell Sir Hugo about her visit?’ He already knew the answer, but thought he should at least confirm it.
‘Of course. He was very angry that she’d been, but absolutely delighted with me. It was a couple of days after that that he offered me the extra work. And the money. He said that confidentiality in a PA is of paramount importance, and he had to know that he could trust me with his darkest secrets. It was a funny thing to say, because I would have done it for nothing, but he said that his trust in me was worth eight thousand pounds a month.’ Jessica paused. ‘So I went house hunting.’
Tom thought about this for some minutes.
‘Jessica, I need you to think very carefully about this. You are not stupid, and it must have occurred to you that you were being paid a huge amount of money in return for your confidentiality. And now he appears to have bought your on-going silence. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?’
‘You really don’t understand do you, detective chief inspector. He was an amazing man, with depths you wouldn’t even begin to comprehend.’
Contrary to Jessica’s view, Tom thought that he was beginning to understand those depths very well indeed - and they were a good deal darker than she obviously realised. But nothing could stop her eulogy.
‘The thing that I have sworn to keep secret from the world is just one more example of the enormous philanthropy of this man. And I will not tell you. It was a solemn promise.’
Recognising that at least for now this was a dead end, Tom moved on.
‘About the will, Jessica. In return for your on-going silence, your mortgage is going to be paid off in full over a period of one year. Did you know that?’
Jessica nodded, mutely. She may not have known the specific terms of the will - but she did know how much.
‘That gives you a very clear motive for murder, I’d say. You haven’t told us where you were at the time Sir Hugo was killed. I believe you thought it ‘unnecessary to account for your movements’. Isn’t that right? We don’t know what you did for the money, and you won’t tell us. I can therefore only assume that you were blackmailing him. That would make sense, wouldn’t it? So I suggest you go home now, and give that some thought. I want you back here again tomorrow morning. Ajay - make the arrangements, please.’
Tom rose abruptly and left the room, leaving Jessica looking stunned and more than a little frightened.
*
It was apparent to Tom that Jessica really had worshipped Hugo Fletcher. That, of course, could provide a motive for murder, but he didn’t think so in this case. She was adamant that she wouldn’t reveal why she was getting so much money, but Tom was equally determined to find out. The trouble was that nothing much fazed her, and keeping her in an interview room for twenty-four hours wasn’t going to achieve a thing.
But the news about Alina Cozma was seriously interesting. Tom tried to pull it all together in his head. Alina goes missing. Danika and Mirela go to see Jessica and she shows them the door. He could well imagine that scene! Danika goes to see Laura. Alina turns up and she and Hugo have an argument. That in itself was seriously odd, of course. Then Laura goes to find out about the girls - and gets equally short shrift from Jessica. Hugo finds out, employs bodyguards and gives Jessica a little job to do. A little job that is worth eight thousand pounds a month - in cash. And now Mirela is missing. Tomorrow he was going to find out about these missing girls from Jessica. That had to be the priority.
He was just about to pack up and go home, when Becky called him from Oxfordshire. She sounded tentative.
‘Tom, there’s something that I want to mention to you. I’m not sure it’s relevant, but it’s been eating at me for a while, and I thought that I should at least run it by you.’
‘Go on, Becky. It doesn’t matter if it’s bollocks - you know that. Every suggestion’s a good one.’
‘Well, I was in the kitchen talking to Stella, and she happened to mention how gorgeous Laura and Imogen were at school. Then she mentioned their full names. Laura Kennedy, and Imogen Dubois. It niggled away at me for a while, until I remembered something. My photographic memory kicked in, if a little slowly. When I was looking through the names of the passengers on the Eurostar from London to Paris, there was an Imogen Dubois. I was certain I was right, and obviously anybody called Imogen had received a little more attention than the rest. I checked back, and there it was. I know it can’t mean anything because the name on her passport is Imogen Kennedy. But it just seemed to be a bit of a coincidence.’
‘It’s a hell of a coincidence, Becky. Well done. Have you actually seen her passport and checked the name?’
‘Yep. It was the first thing I did. The name on the ticket always has to match the name on the passport, of course, and her passport is definitely in the name of Imogen Kennedy. I contacted the passport authorities just in case, but there are no British passports in the name of Imogen Dubois. I’m also getting the tickets checked, to see if we can find out when they were purchased, and whose name was on the credit card. I’m waiting for them to get back to me.’
‘Okay. Good thinking, Becky. Pity about the passport, but keep on it. I don’t like coincidences. I’m going through a few things here, but I’ll try and get back out there tomorrow.’
‘Well when you do, prepare to be amazed!’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Wait and see!’
Realising that it couldn’t have anything to do with the case, he was no more than mildly intrigued. And he wasn’t to know that when he next visited, any sense of amazement would be the last thing on his mind.
*
The next morning Tom decided to try once more to unnerve Jessica by changing the line of questioning completely.
‘I think the time has come for you to make the records that Lady Fletcher was so interested in available to me, don’t you? The ones that relate to the charity girls; the ones you refused to show her.’
To Tom’s surprise, Jessica smiled.
‘Unfortunately, that won’t be possible.’
Tom leaned forwards. He had a feeling he’d been out manoeuvred.
‘What do you mean, Jessica?’
‘Shortly after the incident with Lady Fletcher, Sir Hugo decided a clear out was needed. He asked me to shred the details of any of the girls who had left their families. We only keep records of those who the charity is still maintaining now.’
‘So how does the charity account for all its work, then?’
‘We keep numbers, but not ident
ities. I gave all the files to Rosie for shredding. I’m not being difficult, you understand. I’m simply unable to help you.’
Tom was acutely disappointed. The combination of Laura’s silence about Danika, the fact that Alina and Mirela were both missing, Jessica’s unwillingness to give Laura information, and Hugo’s insistence that the records were shredded made him even more certain this was significant.
‘Jessica, I want you to think about everything we’ve discussed, and I want you to reconsider your vow of silence. You may think that what you know is insignificant, but I think you’re wrong. And you still need to convince me that you weren’t blackmailing Sir Hugo.’
‘Am I not right in thinking that the burden of proof rests with you, Chief Inspector?’
More than anything, Tom wanted to wipe the smug smile of this woman’s face. But something had been niggling away at him for a while - and then it came to him. Laura’s surprise at the twenty thousand pounds that Hugo had been withdrawing. She obviously was expecting something - just not that amount. Jessica accounted for less than half of it though - so what was the rest for, and what did Laura know about it?
‘You mentioned before that Sir Hugo was a very generous man. We can see that by the way he treated you. So tell me, Jessica, does your secret have anything to do with him giving money to other people on a regular basis? People who might be blackmailing him?’
Jessica’s mouth set in a firm line, signifying her refusal to speak. But Tom hadn’t missed the flash of surprise in her eyes.
*
Putting Jessica to the back of his mind, Tom went in search of the DCS. He knocked briefly on his boss’s door, and popped his head round. James Sinclair was on the phone, but when he saw Tom he waved him in, said his goodbyes and hung up.
‘James, can you spare me a minute, do you think?’
‘Certainly. I could do with a progress report. What have we got?’
Tom pulled up a chair to the desk and sat down, crossing his legs comfortably. For him, nothing beat mulling over the detail with somebody as experienced as his boss.
Tom filled him in on their unsatisfactory interview with Jessica.
‘Do you think she was blackmailing him?’ James asked.
(2011) Only the Innocent Page 29
