Underneath The Arches

by Graham Ison

  ‘I’ll get straight to the point, Mr Fox,’ said Hayden. ‘I’ve heard the distressing news about your raid on the charity’s depot at Epsom yesterday when Tinsley was arrested —’

  ‘I expect you have,’ said Fox with a smile.

  ‘I’m absolutely shocked at what I heard from Skinner, who, incidentally, is in overall charge of the operation. I need hardly say what a devastating effect this will have on the reputation of the Hayden Trust.’

  ‘I imagine so,’ murmured Fox.

  Hayden appeared to deliberate. ‘I was wondering, that is to say, we were wondering …’ he began tentatively, indicating his solicitor with a gesture of the hand. ‘We were wondering whether there was any chance of keeping it quiet … for the sake of the charity, of course.’

  ‘Naturally,’ said Fox. ‘But your solicitor will tell you, I’m sure, that once Tinsley gets into the witness box, he can more or less say what he likes. And the evidence that will have to be adduced to secure a conviction must of necessity identify the Hayden Trust.’ He smiled, first at Hayden and then at the solicitor.

  ‘Supposing he were to plead guilty, Mr Fox?’

  ‘In that case,’ said Fox, ‘only the brief facts need be given, I suppose. Rather depends on the judge. Some of them want it all dragged out, you know.’

  ‘I see. Would you have any objection to my solicitor interviewing this awful man Tinsley? He’ll be acting for him, you see. Not that I hold any brief for Tinsley, you’ll understand, but purely for the sake of the charity.’

  ‘No objection at all, Mr Hayden.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you.’ Hayden moved closer to Fox, turning has back towards his solicitor. ‘That letter I showed you, Mr Fox,’ he said lowering his voice, ‘from Number Ten. D’you remember?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Fox. ‘I remember.’

  ‘I’m told that it’s to be announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June. Only heard it unofficially, of course, but you’ll understand that if this business about the depot at Epsom gets out, it could ruin everything.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Fox, ‘I imagine it could.’

  *

  ‘Funny thing happened yesterday, Vince,’ said Fox as he strolled into the interview room.

  ‘Really?’ said Carmody who failed to see any humour in anything which had occurred in the preceding twenty-four hours.

  ‘Oh yes.’ Fox offered Carmody a cigarette. ‘Quite by coincidence, we raided a slaughter down at Croydon and then arrested old Harry Dawes. Bang to rights. There, Vince, what d’you think of that?’

  Carmody laughed. ‘Serve him bloody right,’ he said.

  ‘I don’t blame you for saying that, Vince,’ said Fox. ‘D’you know, he even had the audacity to try and put it all down to you?’ Behind Fox, Gilroy stared at the ceiling.

  ‘He did what?’ Carmody was unable to control the fury in his voice. ‘The bastard.’

  ‘He’s not you know. During the course of our enquiries, we examined his birth certificate and he definitely had a father. But I do understand the sentiments of your comment, Vince, dear boy.’

  ‘You ain’t heard nothing yet,’ said Carmody. ‘I want to make a statement.’

  ‘What about?’ Fox gave a convincing impression of being mildly surprised.

  ‘About bloody Dawes. I know my name’s on the door, but he’s the one who was really running that outfit down at Hounslow.’

  Fox scoffed. ‘You don’t expect me to believe that, surely?’

  ‘Well, you’d better, copper, because I’m going to give you chapter and verse.’

  ‘Oh well, if you insist.’ Fox shrugged and turned to Gilroy. ‘Better turn on the machine, Jack. Vincent here wishes to broadcast to the nation. In the meantime, I’ll go and have another chat to the quartermaster. If he’s finished talking to his brief.’

  *

  Alec Tinsley was slouched in a chair in the neighbouring interview room when Fox walked in. ‘Did you manage to get a bet on that horse at Lingfield, Alec?’ he asked. ‘I see it came in at five-to-one.’

  ‘What, in here? Some bloody hopes,’ said Tinsley.

  ‘Oh?’ Fox sounded surprised. ‘Obviously gaolers are clean-living young men these days,’ he said. ‘I understand that Mr Hayden’s solicitor paid you a visit this morning.’

  ‘Yes, he bloody did,’ said Tinsley angrily. ‘Saucy bastard wants me to plead guilty. Even offered me two grand to do it.’

  ‘Sounds reasonable,’ said Fox. ‘After all, you are guilty, aren’t you?’

  ‘Maybe, but so’s that bloody Skinner.’

  ‘Did you mention Skinner to your brief?’

  ‘No. I thought I’d wait and mention him to you.’

  ‘You did that yesterday,’ said Fox, ‘and I had a talk with him, here. Seemed quite a nice chap. Couldn’t understand how a trustworthy fellow like you should suddenly go bent. Hotly denied his involvement, of course. I got the impression that he may sue you for slander.’

  Tinsley leaned forward, an earnest expression on his face. ‘I was in the army too long to put up with that sort of crap,’ he said. ‘And I’m not having some toffee-nosed bastard like Skinner trying to swing this lot on me.’

  ‘So what did you have in mind, Alec, old son?’

  ‘I’m going to tell you all about it,’ said Tinsley, and sat back with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

  *

  When Fox got back to his office at New Scotland Yard, there was a message asking him to see Commander Myers.

  ‘There’s a file for you to see, Tommy,’ said Myers as Fox entered the commander’s office.

  ‘Another one?’ asked Fox gloomily. ‘I’ve got them stacked up in my office.’

  ‘Well, you will go marauding about the capital arresting people,’ said Myers. ‘You’re supposed to stay in your office and deal with the paperwork, you know. Now that you’re part of the management team.’

  ‘The management team?’ growled Fox. ‘What d’you think I’m running, sir, a bloody department store or something? I joined this job to nick villains, not to push paper. And there’s no management team in my set-up. I’m the guv’nor. I make the decisions and I take the can back when it all goes wrong.’

  Myers shook his head wearily. He knew that he would never convince Fox. ‘Talking of things going wrong, Tommy, how’s the Dawn Sims murder enquiry going? The Commissioner’s getting a bit anxious about it. Apparently the Home Secretary’s been on to him as well.’

  Fox shrugged. ‘We are pursuing our enquiries with vigour, sir,’ he said.

  ‘You mean you’re not getting anywhere?’

  ‘You know how to be cruel, guv, don’t you?’ said Fox.

  Myers grinned. ‘This is the result of the complaint made against you by Stedman, Tommy,’ he said, handing the file to Fox.

  Fox glanced briefly at the last entry on the minute sheet and grinned before laying the file on Myers’s desk. ‘I should bloody think so too,’ he said. ‘But I’m surprised that Commander Willow managed to get all the way down to Parkhurst.’

  ‘Oh, why’s that?’

  ‘Well, they call him the eternal flame at One Area Headquarters, guv.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘He never goes out,’ said Fox and strode back to his office.

  ‘There was a call for you, sir,’ said a DC who was just emerging from Fox’s office. ‘I’ve left a note on your desk. Would you telephone Lady Jane Sims.’ The DC seemed impressed.

  *

  ‘Tommy, I’m so glad you could come. I hope I’m not making a nuisance of myself.’ Jane Sims had invited Fox to her flat for supper. She had told him that she was feeling a bit low-spirited and needed cheering up.

  ‘Not at all.’

  ‘I was afraid that you might be tied up with some crime or another.’ Jane poured out drinks and sat down opposite Fox.

  ‘Good heavens no,’ said Fox. ‘Why should you think that?’

  ‘Well, isn’t that what happens? I’m always hearing about
policemen who have to break appointments with their wife or girlfriend because something’s cropped up. Supposing that Dawn’s murderer had been arrested just as you were leaving? You’d’ve had to rush off and deal with it, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘Certainly not,’ said Fox, taking a sip of his whisky. ‘I’d have had him banged up in a cell and dealt with him in the morning. You’ve been watching too much television, my girl —’

  Jane smiled. ‘I’ve only prepared something simple,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid that I’m not a very good cook.’

  Fox glanced across at the black glass-topped dining table and was glad to see that there were no candles on it. Staged, candle-lit suppers did not appeal to him. But the napery and glassware were obviously of good quality. ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ he said.

  ‘I really enjoyed seeing Starlight Express the other night,’ said Jane. ‘It was kind of you to take me. I’ve felt down in the dumps what with Dawn being killed, and then Daddy dying. And now James has gone back to America, I feel rather lonely.’

  ‘Go out and spend some money,’ said Fox. ‘Buy yourself some clothes. That’s the way women cheer themselves up, isn’t it?’

  Jane looked at Fox with a pensive expression. Despite having asked Fox for supper, she was, once more, wearing jeans and a sweater. ‘Does that mean that you don’t like the clothes I wear, Tommy?’ she asked.

  Fox hadn’t liked the way she had dressed for their evening out, but he didn’t think that this was the time to say so. ‘Whatever makes you think that?’

  ‘When you picked me up to go to the theatre the other night, I got the distinct impression that you thought my outfit was dowdy.’ Jane smiled at him and took a sip of whisky. ‘Perhaps you’d open the white wine,’ she said.

  ‘Of course. In the fridge, is it?’ Fox stood up and walked through to Jane’s tiny kitchen.

  ‘I can’t really be bothered with clothes,’ said Jane from the sitting-room as Fox searched around for a corkscrew.

  ‘Well, you should.’ Fox drew the cork from the Chardonnay. ‘You’ve got the body and the colouring that deserve stylish clothes.’

  In the sitting-room, Jane felt a frisson of excitement at the compliment, but did not respond to it. ‘I never know where to go,’ she said. ‘I always seem to be too busy to bother.’

  Fox placed the wine in the cooler on the dining table and sat down opposite Jane. ‘What d’you mean, too busy?’

  ‘What I say. I’m a partner in a busy architectural practice, Tommy. I’m on the go most of the time.’

  ‘Never let the job get on top of you, that’s my policy and always has been.’ Fox stood up and took Jane’s glass. ‘Get you another?’

  Jane nodded. ‘Yes, please.’

  ‘Take a day off,’ said Fox as he poured out more whisky, ‘and spend it in Harvey Nichols or Harrods. Or in some of those boutiques in Kensington. Whatever you do, Jane, don’t let yourself go, just because your father’s died and Dawn has been murdered.’ He grinned as he handed her her glass. ‘And you can tell me to mind my own business if you like, but that’s what I think.’

  ‘You know, Tommy,’ said Jane, smiling at him, ‘there are times when you sound just like a policeman.’

  *

  The statements which Carmody and Tinsley had made were on Fox’s desk, along with a cup of coffee, when he arrived at the Yard the following morning. Lighting his first cigarette of the day, he sipped slowly at his coffee and read through the statements. Carmody had put all the blame for his unfortunate predicament on Dawes, and Tinsley had done the same for Skinner. Only Skinner remained at large, but Fox decided that that situation would be remedied forthwith. He sent for Evans.

  ‘Denzil, pop out and nick Peter Skinner, will you. Better get a warrant for conspiring with others to handle stolen property.’

  *

  Peter Skinner was one of those men who was full of bravado until the chips were down. Then he crumbled. He made none of the demands to see his solicitor that Fox’s usual customers made, neither did he claim not to know what Fox was talking about. Nor did he decline to say anything. In fact, Skinner couldn’t wait to unburden himself.

  ‘I’m only a pawn in all this, Chief Superintendent,’ began Skinner, the moment that Fox walked into the interview room.

  Fox nodded. ‘I imagine so,’ he said. ‘Who, then, is the king?’

  ‘Hayden.’ There was no hesitation in Skinner’s response. No false honour-among-thieves that so many villains kidded themselves existed.

  Fox gave Skinner a pitiful smile. ‘You surely don’t expect me to believe that a distinguished entrepreneur like Freddie Hayden is up to any sort of villainy, do you, Mr Skinner?’

  Skinner shook his head and smiled, presumably at the thought that a policeman like Fox could be so easily taken in. But then he had only recently met Fox. ‘Believe me, Mr Fox,’ he said, ‘the great Freddie Hayden is among the worst. I know that he’s been to garden parties at the Palace, and it’s an open secret that he’s in the running for a knighthood, but he’s the most immoral, unscrupulous bastard I’ve ever met.’

  ‘If that’s the case, and it’s a big if, how did you get embroiled in his wrongdoing?’ Fox lit a cigarette and gazed at the plump executive through a haze of smoke.

  For a while, Skinner remained silent. ‘You’ve met Hayden, I take it?’ he said eventually.

  ‘Yes, I have. Twice.’

  ‘Then you’ll have met his secretary, Toni.’

  ‘Yes. Good-looking girl, I seem to recall.’

  Skinner nodded. ‘Very,’ he said. ‘Well, Toni and I have been having an affair. It’s been going on for about two years now. The trouble is that if my wife gets to know about it, and it comes to a divorce, she’ll take me for every penny I’ve got and —’

  ‘Is this all relevant, Mr Skinner?’

  ‘Very much so. Hayden found out about it. I don’t know who told him, but I suspect Hooper, the chief security officer. He’s always in and out of Hayden’s office, so Toni has told me. Anyway, Hayden sent for me about a year ago. He told me he knew all about Toni and me, and threatened to tell my wife and to sack me. Trotted out some drivel about it being immoral and unacceptable for one of the charity’s trustees to be conducting an extra-marital affair.’ Skinner laughed bitterly at the thought. ‘That was pretty rich, coming from him.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Meaning, Mr Fox, that he’s well known for having a bit on the side. Toni said that he’s always pawing her in the office and making indecent suggestions to her. Nothing would have given me greater satisfaction than to sort the bastard out, but that would have meant both Toni and I getting the sack. And frankly, we could neither of us afford for that to happen. Toni’s a widow with a teenage daughter and she’s the breadwinner. If I’d lost my job as well, I couldn’t have helped her.’

  ‘So what did Hayden say?’

  ‘He more or less blackmailed me into doing some creative accounting for him.’

  ‘In what way?'

  ‘He obtained supplies for his charity from somewhere. I don’t know where they came from and, although I suspected that they may have been stolen, I could never prove it. Tinsley handled that side of it, you see. My job was to lose it in the accounting. In short, Hayden would obtain the stuff, but the accounts of the charity would show that he’d paid full price for it on the open market. Very simply, he’d pocket the difference.’ Skinner looked at Fox with a level gaze. ‘As an accountant,’ he said, ‘I can tell you quite categorically that the Hayden empire is on the point of collapse.’

  ‘Can you prove what you’ve been saying?’ asked Fox.

  Skinner grinned. ‘You bet I can,’ he said.

  ‘How?’

  ‘There are a number of tapes in my desk at home. The sort of micro-tapes that are used in dictating machines. I taped two or three of my conversations with him. Secretly, of course. After the first threatening interview, I thought that one day I might just finish up in a place like this.’ Skinner gl
anced round the interview room. ‘And I wanted to make sure that if that happened, I would be able to convince someone like you that I’d more or less been blackmailed into doing what I did.’

  ‘Well, well,’ said Fox. ‘How very cunning of you. I think that the next thing we need to do, Mr Skinner, is to send someone to your home to rescue those tapes, don’t you?’

  ‘The sooner the better,’ said Skinner.

  TWENTY THREE

  THE TAPES, WHICH FOX HAD sent DI Evans to seize from Skinner’s comfortable detached house in Wimbledon Park, had proved to Fox’s satisfaction that Hayden had known exactly what was going on in the charity that he hoped was to earn him a knighthood. There was ample evidence, too, of Hayden’s blackmailing threats, and Skinner had been telling the truth when he had said that Hayden had promised to expose his extra-marital fling with Toni Foster. And Hayden had been neither subtle nor lacking in crudity in the way in which he had delivered those threats.

  The appropriate books of the charity had been seized and Detective Chief Superintendent Ray Probert of the Fraud Squad had assigned a detective inspector to examine them, with the help of Skinner, in the hope of proving what the accountant had alleged.

  Fox and Gilroy strode across the entrance hall of Hayden’s head office building and made straight for the bank of lifts.

  ‘’Ere, where d’you think you’re going?’ said the security guard, rising from his chair and reaching for the telephone.

  ‘He’s going to see your guv’nor,’ said DC Tarling as one of his hands closed over the security guard’s and the other laid his warrant card on the desk.

  ‘Blimey, guv’nor, what’s going on?’ asked the security guard.

  ‘Well, they haven’t come to make a donation to Mr Hayden’s charity, that’s a dead cert,’ said Tarling.

  Fox and Gilroy alighted from the lift on the second floor and made their way to Freddie Hayden’s suite of offices. ‘Good morning,’ said Fox breezily to Hayden’s secretary. ‘We’ve come to see your boss.’

  For a fleeting moment, the secretary looked puzzled. ‘Ah,’ she said, ‘you’re from the police, aren’t you?’

  ‘Indeed we are, Mrs Foster.’