“You can. Or you could just use your eyes.”
Julia and Cain walked slowly up and down the rows of filing cabinets.
Cain called Julia over at one point. “These files from 1963 have been disturbed.”
Julia nodded. “And I’ve just seen some from 1984 which have been opened recently. Open the drawers, let’s see what’s inside.”
Cain opened the drawer marked 1963, he cringed at the squeaking noise. He pulled out the nearest file and opened it. Julia and Cain scanned the contents together. Julia pulled more files out and flicked through them.
“These are all details of life insurance policies that people took out. Look at the bottom, you can see the name of the sales rep who sold the policy.”
Cain held one up. “Victor Westholme sold this one.”
Julia looked at her file. “He sold this one too.”
A quick look through the rest of the files showed that Victor Westholme had sold many policies.
Julia frowned. “This doesn’t tell us anything at all. There are hundreds of files in here. Let’s move on to 1984. Dad said the scandal occurred in the early 1980s.”
Julia’s heart sank when she opened the first drawer that was labelled 1984. “Cain, all the files have gone.”
Cain checked the drawers below and above. “These are all here. They contain details of claims and more policies. Why do you think someone took the particular files away?”
“Something’s happened in the past. Something to do with Victor Westholme and Karl Rayburn.”
“Ooo! Do you think this Victor Westholme had a grudge against Karl and came back to this office and murdered him?”
“I don’t know.” Julia put one hand on her hip. “We can’t go looking through all these files. I wonder where Victor Westholme is now?”
“You can look online,” Cain suggested. “Search for complaints concerning him and Inkwell’s Insurance. You might have to go far back in your search, don’t just look at the first few pages on Google.”
“Good idea.” Julia closed the drawer and looked at the fingerprints in the dust on top of the filing cabinet. “Do you think I should contact DI Clarke? They might be able to lift some fingerprints off here.”
“What would you tell him? For all we know, some member of staff could have been down here looking for the files. You don’t want to get anyone into trouble for no reason.”
“That’s true.” Julia tapped the side of the drawer. “Okay, I’ll do some investigating at home.” She saw the concern on Cain’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to say goodbye to Fred. I liked seeing him every day.”
Julia turned him towards the other side of the basement where the lifts were. “Come on, you can exchange telephone numbers with your new friend. Have you told him about your holiday yet?”
Cain’s face lit up. “No, I haven’t!” He set off at a brisk walk towards the lift. “Hurry up, Julia!”
Julia left Cain chatting with Fred as she left the office building for the last time. Cain assured her that he would get the bus home. Julia said farewell to Fred but noticed that he still looked tired. And there was something else, another emotion that Julia couldn’t identify.
An hour later, after a modest meal, Julia settled herself down in front of her laptop and began a thorough search. Cain was right about having to go back several pages.
Julia found all the information that she needed about Victor Westholme. She also found out about the scandal that Inkwell’s Insurance had covered up.
Tears rolled down her face as she slowly closed the laptop. She reached for her phone and called DI Clarke.
Chapter 32
Twenty minutes later, Julia tapped gently on the locked revolving doors of the Inkwell’s Insurance building. Fred looked up from behind the reception desk and waved to her. He shuffled over and opened the side door for her.
“You’d better have a seat, lass, I can see that you want to talk to me.” Fred led her over to a set of sofas which were situated at the other side of the reception area. Julia sat on one sofa and Fred sat opposite, creaking a little as he lowered himself.
Julia didn’t know where to begin. She was so glad that Cain wasn’t here, she didn’t want him to hear what she was going to say. She was about to speak when Fred held his hand up. “Hang on, young Cain is back. He nipped out for a bit of food for us, pizza I think.”
Julia’s heart sank right down to her feet as she looked back at the door she’d just come through and saw Cain’s cheery face looking in at them.
Fred stood up and walked over to the side door to let Cain in. Julia felt like running over and telling Cain to jump on the very next bus and go home.
Cain stepped into the building and held two boxes up. “I got a plain one, and a spicy one, Fred. I didn’t know which one you would prefer. I got some garlic bread too.” He looked over at Julia, not at all surprised to see her there. “Hiya! There’s enough for you.”
Cain made his way over to the sofas and placed the boxes on the table that separated the sofas. He glanced at Julia and said quietly, “I know. I worked it out.” He sat down opposite Julia and Fred soon joined him on the same sofa.
Fred chuckled and indicated his head towards Cain. “We’ve had a right good natter, haven’t we Cain. I’ve told him all about my youth and my marriage to Thora. And he’s told me about his past. I didn’t know he’d been in prison.”
Cain’s voice cracked slightly as he said, “Fred was interested in my time in prison. He wanted to know what it was like.”
Julia could only nod. She didn’t have the courage to speak yet.
Cain leant forward and opened the boxes. “Help yourself, Fred.”
“In a minute. Looks like we’ve got another visitor. Help me up, Cain.”
Cain stood up and pulled Fred to his feet. A few moments later, DI Clarke joined Julia on the sofa.
“When I tell you to stay at home, Ms Blake, I expect you to do so. I told you to leave everything to me.”
Julia gave a small shrug. “I thought Fred might need some moral support.”
Fred eased himself back into his seat and took the slice of pizza that Cain was holding out. He said, “Thanks for your concern, but I’ll be alright. Cain, why don’t you tell them what I’ve told you about my past while I eat this pizza.”
Cain nodded and finished chewing the food that he had in his mouth. Julia didn’t know how he could eat at a time like this. Cain said, “Fred told me about his time in the army and how he met his wife. She sounds lovely.” He shared a smile with Fred. “Thora, that’s Fred’s wife, insisted on getting life insurance for each other once they were married. She also took out an accident insurance policy for Fred because of the work that he did.”
Fred added, “I think I told you that I was a builder. There was a lot of physical work involved, a lot of heavy carrying and manual graft. Accidents happened quite often.”
Cain carried on, “Fred heard about Inkwell’s Insurance from the radio. Their adverts said that a sales rep would call round to your house and tell you which policy would be perfect for you. So that’s what Fred and Thora did.”
Julia finally spoke, “Was it Victor Westholme who came to see you, Fred?”
Fred nodded. “It was. He seemed like a smashing chap. He knew exactly what cover we needed. I thought it was a bit pricey but Thora convinced me it was for the best. Mr Westholme even had the paperwork ready for us, just in case we said yes straight away. We paid our premiums regular as clockwork every month. We took the policies out in 1963.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “That was delicious. Can I try the spicy one now? Thank you.”
Cain handed him a slice of pizza and then carried on talking. “Fred had an accident in 1984. Part of an unstable building fell on top of him. He hurt his back and …” He looked at Fred as if asking his permission to continue. Fred nodded. Cain said, “Fred lost part of his left leg, from the knee downwards. Thora told him to make a claim for the accident. She sa
id their policy would cover it and provide them with an income because Fred wouldn’t be able to work for a while.”
Fred placed the crust of his pizza into the box on the table. “That was lovely, Cain, but a bit too spicy. Let me continue with my tale. We contacted Inkwell’s Insurance and told them about the accident but they couldn’t find any policies for us. I told them to look again. I said that we’d been paying premiums for years. The poor lass at the other end of the phone started to get upset because I started shouting at her. I couldn’t help it, an awful feeling of doom was hovering over me. The poor lass checked and checked for a policy but she couldn’t find anything. I spoke to the supervisor who tried to fob me off but I wasn’t having any of it. I told them that a Victor Westholme had sold me the policy and that I’d been paying premiums for years. I told them about the life policies that me and Thora had taken out. Again, they said they hadn’t any record of our policies.”
Fred paused for a moment and picked up a napkin. He dabbed at his eyes and tried to smile.
Cain took up his story. “Fred went to see some solicitors who said he had a strong case because he’d kept all of the paperwork. But Inkwell’s Insurance had better solicitors and more money. They said that Victor Westholme had worked for them, and that he’d sold bogus policies and kept the premiums for himself. They claimed that his antics had nothing to do with them, and that they were completely unaware of what he’d been up to.”
Julia let out a gasp of outrage. “That’s terrible! But how did they get away with it, you had all the paperwork.”
Fred gave her a sad smile. “They argued back and forth for years. It seems that Victor Westholme left their employment years ago even though my premiums were still going straight into his bank account. The stress of it all took its toll on my lovely Thora. She aged before my eyes. We had so many plans for the future. Not only did we buy life insurance from Victor Westholme, we bought pension policies too. They were completely useless. We were broke. I’m convinced the stress of it all sent my lovely Thora to an early grave. Someone had to pay for that.”
Julia said quietly, “Is that why you killed Karl Rayburn?”
Chapter 33
Fred sighed. “I did kill him. He was the one who organised the cover-up. He was young and ambitious then and would do anything to impress his bosses. He even met up with me and Thora a few times and tried to buy us off. He’d given money to Victor’s other victims but we were having none of it. Inkwell’s Insurance had employed Victor Westholme and it was their moral duty to be accountable for his actions.” Fred shook his head. “I blamed Karl Rayburn, we were just problems, not people to him.”
Cain passed Fred another slice of pizza but Fred waved it away.
Julia said, “I found some information online about Victor Westholme. When he left Inkwell’s Insurance he moved on to other companies and did the same again to people. When the scandal came out in 1984 it seems he changed his name. I couldn’t find any further reference to him after that.”
DI Clarke spoke making Julia jump. She’d forgotten he was there. “Following Ms Blake’s call to me earlier this evening I made my own enquiries about Victor Westholme. It seems his past caught up with him and he was murdered by one of his criminal associates who wasn’t happy about how Victor shared his money out. Victor Westholme was murdered five years ago.”
Fred nodded. “I heard that too. I was angry with Victor, but I was furious with Karl Rayburn. The cover-up was all his fault. When my Thora died I tried to get a job here, I wanted to confront him. I even changed my name in case he recognised it. But I didn’t get anywhere until I applied for this position. Not many people want to work night shifts. He didn’t even recognise me in the interview, didn’t even remember my name. That’s how little he thought about Victor’s victims.” He gave a bitter laugh. “I think he actually felt sorry for me in the interview. I didn’t need his sympathy.”
“Was it you who looked through the files in the basement?” Julia asked.
“It was. I needed a lot of ammunition before I approached Karl Rayburn. I found my claim details from 1984 with some handwritten notes from his manager that told Karl Rayburn to get rid of this problem. I couldn’t find our original policies from 1963, but I already had copies of my own.” Fred turned to Cain. “I am sorry I made you jump the other day when you were in the basement. I was looking for files when you two came down. I knew the drawers squeaked so I made that terrible racket to scare you away.”
Cain picked up another slice of pizza and said, “That’s alright. Julia was more scared than me.”
Julia ignored Cain’s comment. “When you had all your evidence, did you approach Karl Rayburn in his office on the night that he died?”
“I did. He had a lot of visitors that night. Joe went to see him, and so did Lorraine. I had to wait a while before the office was empty. I went in and reminded him of my past. The colour ran from his face but then he laughed. He actually laughed! He said it didn’t matter now, he said I couldn’t prove any of it and that it was too long ago. I told him how much I’d suffered. I hadn’t been able to go back to building work because of my leg.” Fred stopped and wiped his eyes again.
DI Clarke said, “Do you need a break?”
Fred shook his head. “I’d rather get it all out. I haven’t told anyone this and it’s been weighing heavily on my mind. In Karl’s office I sat down and told him about my injury, about my back and leg. He gave me a look that was full of disgust and said I was probably making it up. So … I rolled up my trouser leg and showed him my wooden leg. I could see I’d got his curiosity by then. I unscrewed my leg and held it up. He came round to my side and looked closer. And then …” Fred swallowed. “I was overcome with anger. I told you it was the anniversary of Thora’s death that day, and the thought of her not being with me sent hate rushing into my heart. I shoved my wooden leg into his chest. It’s got a sharp bit on the end and it went straight into his chest. Do you want to see my wooden leg? I made it myself.”
“No, thank you,” Julia said.
“Yes, please!” Cain added.
DI Clarke said, “A quick look might help.”
Fred rolled up his trouser leg and took off the lower part of his leg. The top part of the wooden leg had a small metal spike in the middle. He passed the leg to Cain.
Cain touched the spike and said, “It’s just like the heel of a stiletto shoe.” He turned the leg around. “Oh, Julia, look at this. It’s got Fred’s special mark, the one he told us about.”
Julia nodded and felt tears springing to her eyes. She saw the F and the T entwined and felt incredibly sorry for Fred and Thora.
Fred took the leg back. He hesitated and looked towards DI Clarke. “Do you need this? It’s a murder weapon. I’ve got a spare one at home, it’s not as good as this one. Although this one squeaks when I walk, I need to sort that out.”
Julia said, “I wondered why you made a creaking noise when you walked.” She remembered something. “And that’s why it didn’t hurt you when Lorraine stood on your foot the other day.”
Fred looked at his wooden leg. “Thora laughed so much when I made this. She was so proud of me and how I managed to carry on working when I lost my building job. She was the love of my life and Inkwell’s Insurance as good as murdered her. I didn’t set out with the intention of killing Karl Rayburn. I know he didn’t deserve it. I just couldn’t help myself.” He held the leg closer to the inspector.
DI Clarke shook his head. “You keep it for now. I’ll take you home to collect your spare then I’m afraid I’ll have to take you down to the station to make a full statement.”
“That’s okay.” Fred put his leg back on. He looked over to Julia. “I’m very sorry for causing you so much trouble this week. As soon as I’d killed Karl I wanted to confess. But then I heard you coming out of the lift and I ran out of the room and hid. As time went on I found that I didn’t have the courage to say anything. I feel terrible for leading everyone astray. You suspected
everyone else, didn’t you?”
Julia nodded.
DI Clarke said, “If Ms Blake kept herself out of police investigations then she wouldn’t have put herself in such a position.”
“I did try!” Julia burst out. “Didn’t I, Cain? I kept trying to keep out of it but things just happened and I ended up in the middle of it.”
Cain looked towards DI Clarke and added in a joyful manner, “It’s the curse, she can’t help it. Can I come with you to the police station? I’d like to keep Fred company.”
Fred patted his knee. “Thanks, lad. I’d like that. Will you come and see me in prison?”
“Of course I will. It’ll make a change for me to be a visitor.”
DI Clarke got to his feet. “Cain, you are more than welcome to come with us. Ms Blake, you should go home. You look like you could do with a good sleep. I hope we won’t meet again any time soon.”
Julia stood up. “I hope so too.”
“We’re going on holiday soon,” Cain stood up and joined in the conversation.
“Good.” The inspector nodded. His mouth twitched slightly as he turned to Julia and said, “You can take a holiday from murder, Ms Blake.”
Julia said nothing. That was exactly what she was planning to do.
A note from the author
I’ve always loved mystery stories. When I was young I used to read Enid Blyton books, then as I got older I progressed to Agatha Christie. My favourite TV programmes are Murder, She Wrote, Lewis and all Agatha Christie ones. I’d always dreamed about writing my own stories but I never had the courage to do so. But one day, I decided to just go ahead and do it! Sometimes you have to just leap, and hope you don’t fall off the side of a mountain.
This book has been checked for errors but if you do spot anything I would love it if you could email me to let me know what you’ve found – thank you.
Murder Makes A Claim (Julia Blake Cozy Mystery Book 8) Page 12
