“Fine,” said Rachel, “if it helps us solve our murder and your smuggling it can only be a good thing.”
“One other thing to take into account,“ said Andrew. “The major is a serving officer in the US army. We believe she holds both British and American passports, if, or rather when, we arrest her for the murder of Captain Austen they want to be kept fully informed, just as we would if the Americans arrested a serving British officer.”
“Just keep me in the picture, both of you. I don’t want any surprises or calls from foreign embassies for God’s sake.”
“Certainly Ma’am,” said Mick.
Andrew sat at his new desk and logged into his laptop, “seems to be fine,” he said.
Emma showed him how the incident room secure network was set up so that any member of the team, of which Andrew was now part, could add information or view anything anybody else had added.
“Can anybody else look at the other stuff on my laptop, because there’s some fairly sensitive Military documents on there.”
“No,” replied Emma “only the stuff you choose to put on the secure network.”
Andrew took various items out of his holdall including the cheque books, paying in books and Building Society passbook.
“You might find these interesting, they’re not all in Phillip Austen’s name.” Then he spent the rest of the morning looking at what information was on the network then added some more information of his own, including Karen Hennessey’s service record which his American contact had sent him.
“Do any of the documents you have received from the Americans give her next of kin, in particular a current address?” asked Mick.
Andrew said “that they had an address for her mother, Sylvia Hennessey, near Newmarket. The problem is that her parents were divorced five years ago and the address was on a U.S. army base so it was most unlikely that she still lived there. Her father died about four years ago. Her will names her mother as sole beneficiary.”
“Bob, any progress on tracking down an address for Karen Hennessey’s mother yet?”
“Nothing in Newmarket, I’m widening the search to include neighbouring towns.”
“It occurs to me, “said Andrew “that if Phillip Austen was staying in a hotel in Cambridge, isn’t it probable that Karen Hennessey was staying near to Stevenage, otherwise why have their meal there?”
“Could be that Stevenage was a halfway meeting point,” suggested Bob.
“Widen the search but concentrate on this area rather than Suffolk and Cambridge,” said Mick.
“I have to go into the registry office first thing tomorrow to register my father’s death so looks like you can have a lie-in tomorrow Andrew, I’ll collect you from the Royal Oak about ten thirty.”
“I live about half a mile from there Boss, I can pick Andrew up,” said Emma.
“If you don’t mind Emma that would be a big help. I’d like a team meeting tomorrow at say eleven thirty, let’s see where we are and what the priorities are.”
“Andrew do you want the use of a private office to make your call to Bloemfontein?”
“Yes please, if you don’t mind.”
Mick took him next door to the main CID office and showed him into a meeting room in the corner, sliding the engaged sign across as he closed the door. Andrew took out the piece of paper with the contact details and dialled the number. The phone was answered fairly quickly but the accent was so strong that he could barely understand what was being said. He gave his name and asked to speak to Colonel Pieter Swanepoel.
There was no response from the man who had answered the phone, just a clicking sound and then to his relief another voice came on.
“Colonel Swanepoel speaking.”
“Good morning Sir,” began Andrew. “My name is Lieutenant Andrew Jordan of The British Royal Military Police. I believe my superior, Brigadier Fredericks, spoke to you.”
“Ah yes, apparently we have some smugglers operating out of Bloemfontein.”
“It would appear so yes. I have a full report here, rather than read it out over the phone, could I e-mail it to you and you can get back to me when you are in possession all of the facts?”
Colonel Swanepoel gave Andrew his e-mail address, which was the same one that he had written on his contact note from the Brigadier, and said he would ring Andrew when he had digested the information and had spoken to a couple of his officers. After getting Andrews telephone number he rang off.
*
Mick looked at the latest information Andrew had just put on file and one piece of information caught his eye, Karen Hennessey’s middle name was Dawn, her initials were K.D.H. He quickly checked the spreadsheet he had set up with the dates and initials “BINGO,” he shouted, “K.D.H appeared seven times.”
“Listen everybody, we’ve matched one of the sets of initials, Andrew can you check the dates and see if there is anything significant, perhaps you could check Captain Austen’s diary and his bank statements and see where he was on the these dates. Can everybody put a copy of that list of initials in a prominent place and shout out if you spot any other initials on the list.”
They spent the rest of the day going through the mountain of information they had and generally making comments about various items they came across, some comments were pretty irrelevant but just occasionally somebody would say something which Mick made a note of.
About five Mick said, “I think we’ll get off Andrew and get you booked in to your hotel.”
“I’ll pick you up about eight-thirty in the morning,” said Emma,
“Fine,” replied Andrew.
Mick drove Andrew to the Royal Oak and carried his case for him to the reception, as soon as he was sure that there were no problems he bade Andrew goodnight. Mick drove home in good spirits, He felt they were beginning to get somewhere with the investigation, he also felt a strange sense of relief now that his father had died, no more visits to the hospice and no more dreading the phone ringing at unusually early hours, his father no longer having to endure the pain.
*
He got home and Sue asked him if he had thought about registering the death.
“I’ll go in first thing in the morning.”
“I’ll make a start on writing all of the letters tonight.”
“Let’s do it now and then go out for a meal. I fancy a couple of pints and a steak.” Sue wrote the letters in Mick’s name as he was the next of kin and Mick signed them.
“What do you think we should do about clearing the flat?” she asked.
“I think that can wait until after the funeral.”
They walked down to the Black Bull for a drink and a meal, chatting about nothing in particular, they had pretty well exhausted all of the serious topics.
“I spoke to Helen at lunchtime, she sent her condolences. She also said if we want any help clearing the flat she and I can take all of his clothes and the smaller things like crockery, pictures, mirrors and suchlike to the charity shop she works in two days a week. She also said that they will collect furniture providing it’s got the label saying it’s fire resistant.”
“I think we ought to let Peter have a look first to see if there is anything he wants, he’s driving a Transit van these days so transport won’t be a problem.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
On Tuesday morning Mick parked in the multi- storey in the town centre and walked to the registry office carrying the envelope with the Doctors certificate in it. He was shown to a cubicle which afforded some privacy and the woman asked him a series of questions, filling in a large form as she did so, she then asked him to check his answers and if he was happy, to sign the form.
“Is that the Doctors certificate?” she asked looking at the envelope Mick had placed on the desk.
Mick opened the envelope and gave her the certificate, she added a couple of things to the form and said if he could wait in the room off the entrance foyer, she would bring him the death certificate in about fifteen minutes.
Mick said, “Is five OK?”
“Yes,” she replied.
*
Mick got back to Hatfield and just as he was parking the car, Rachel Bond came out of the building.
“Morning Ma’am,” called Michael.
“Hi,” she replied “how are you?”
“O.K. Ma’am thank you.”
She asked about the funeral and so on and then she said there was something she wanted to ask Michael about Lieutenant Jordan.
“I notice that you don’t address him as Lieutenant, always Andrew.”
“That’s right Ma’am, when I first met him when he picked me up at Dusseldorf Airport I remarked on the fact that he wasn’t in uniform and when I called him by his rank, he asked me not to do it. They are acutely aware of the security implications if total strangers can identify them as serving members of the armed forces. They’ve had over thirty years of it, with the I.R.A., and then Al-Qaida.”
“Of course, I should have realised” she said, Mick could swear she was blushing slightly, probably with the embarrassment of making such an elementary mistake.
“Is he settling in OK?”
“Yes Ma’am, as I said he’s a ‘people person’, it’s as if he’s always been with us.”
“There is a pool car he can have use of, but only during the day unfortunately so you or one of you team will have to get him to and from the hotel.”
“I’m sure D. C. Stavely will be only too happy to oblige Ma’am,” said Mick with a smile.
“I might just pull rank on her,” came the reply accompanied by an even wider smile.
*
Mick rang the undertakers and arranged to go and see them the next day at eleven. He thought about what sort of service they should have, if service was the right word as it would not be religious. What sort of music should they have? He had been to similar funerals before and it was usually a mixture of classical music with one of the deceased favourite songs. He immediately made a mental note to rule out ‘my way’. He remembered his father singing along to a Perry Como record called something like ‘I love her so’, perhaps something by him would be suitable with a couple of pieces of classical music. He would wait and see what the undertaker had to say, after all he is the expert.
*
At eleven thirty Mick called everybody together for the team meeting.
` “OK,” he began “We’ve got a huge amount of information about Captain Phillip Austen and thanks to Andrew and his contacts in the US army intelligence, we’ve now got a name for the major. Our primary concern is to find Major Karen Hennessey and bring her to justice with sufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
This case is somewhat unusual for us as there is a secondary issue that will overlap to a very large extent with our investigation, I’m talking about the smuggling of diamonds from South Africa to Phillip Austen in Germany.
My very clear brief from upstairs is to get an arrest and conviction for the murder but we are to give Andrew every assistance to enable him to get a result on the smuggling where British Army personal are involved.
Andrew, would you like to give the team your thoughts on where your priorities are and what your ultimate objectives are?”
“Yes, thank you. We are fairly confident that Phillip Austen was the driving force behind the smuggling along with his brother Simon who lives in Bloemfontein.”
“Obviously we can’t arrest and convict Phillip Austen as he is no longer with us, but my brief is to establish if any other British Army personnel are involved and if so to arrest them and gather evidence for a conviction.”
“I have additional issues to consider. Firstly Major Hennessey is a serving officer with the US Army stationed in Germany with both British and American Citizenship.
As her crime was committed in this country you have all the authority you need to arrest and convict just as if she were any other nationality working for any other employer. The question of where she would serve her sentence is not the concern of anybody in this room. However I need the help and co-operation of the US Army intelligence people so a certain amount of diplomacy is called for. Fortunately I have a good contact in Larry Gardner, it was him that gave us the Majors name.
The second issue I have to deal with is the fact that the initial crime of smuggling was committed in South Africa. That crime, whether it was the theft of diamonds from the mine or an official in the mine itself trying to avoid the tax and Export Levies that the South African Government imposes, is not my concern. What I want are the names of the people involved in getting the diamonds from Germany to wherever they were destined for.
I am almost certain that Phillip Austen was the organiser at the European end of things whist his brother looked after the South African end. I am in contact with the police in Bloemfontein and they will investigate the crime there and no doubt arrest Simon Austen and others. They will pass on to me any information they find that will help us with our investigations.
We have a book that Phillip Austen kept with a list of initial and dates. Karen Hennessey’s initials appear seven times on that list. It’s my belief that that list contains the initials of couriers that Phillip Austen used for onward transmission, possibly to Amsterdam, Antwerp or London.
Inspector Joyce and I discovered a considerable amount of financial documentation in his flat in Germany, evidence of him having several bank accounts, not all in his name. This could indicate his method of paying these couriers from the proceeds of selling the diamonds to unscrupulous dealers.”
“Any questions?” asked Mick.
“It appears that there are two lines of enquiry that we have to focus on,” said Bob. “Firstly we have to track down Karen Hennessey and secondly assist Andrew in finding the couriers.”
“I think that’s a fair summary Bob.”
“In that case it would seem that you and I should concentrate on finding Karen Hennessey whilst Andrew, with Emma’s help and expertise with computers, should concentrate on wading through the financial records to get a lead on the couriers.”
“That was my thinking as well Bob. Andrew are you happy with that?” He nodded and said that he was.
“Emma, any thoughts?”
“Purely on a practical level the white boards we have on the wall currently have information covering both of those lines of enquiry. Wouldn’t it be better if we separated them out, with one board with the information for Karen Hennessey and the other for the couriers? Any information that affects both lines of enquiry can go on both boards.”
“Not just a pretty face is she,” said Andrew.
Emma visibly blushed and Mick said, “That’s a good idea Emma, you and Bob can do that, you take the board behind your desk and Bob can take the board on his side of the room.”
*
Emma and Bob spent the afternoon re-organising the white boards and Andrew started to go through the bank statements, the cheque books and Building Society passbooks. He made a list of the various account holders names, there were three bank personal accounts in Phillip Austen’s name, one with HSBC in Portsmouth, one with a bank based in Germany and one based in Holland. There was a building society account with the Leeds Building Society and a Post office saving account.
There were also bank accounts in various company names, four in total with two in the UK, one in Germany and one in Holland. He then started the laborious process of setting up spreadsheets to track money paid in and out. After a while a pattern began to appear, money would be paid into one of the German banks, then after varying periods of time it would be transferred to another bank, then a third, sometimes in the UK, sometimes Germany or Holland.
The amounts were never the same and never round numbers. There were no single transactions over five thousand pounds or six thousand euros.
Eventually money would finish up in the UK bank accounts and would be used to buy the shares through the broker in Guilford.
Pres
umably this elaborate paper chase was designed not to cause suspicion, if no single incoming transaction was large enough for that bank to have to notify the authorities.
Mick remembered what the neighbour in Guildford had said about Phillip Austen having served in the police before joining the Army – in the fraud squad. Perhaps that was where he had learned about using multiple bank accounts and moving money about in the way that he had.
Mick spent the afternoon looking at various documents on Phillip Austen’s laptop, making a note of any individual or company’s initials. He was particularly looking for people who might have worked with or have known Karen Hennessey.
At about six Andrew and Emma left, Bob said he wanted to finish something off and Mick wished him goodnight.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Mick drove in to work on the Wednesday morning thinking about how was the best way to find Karen Hennessey’s mother, Sylvia. For some inexplicable reason there was no current address for her next of kin, presumably her mother, recorded on her most recent personnel file sent from Germany.
“Was she still alive even?” he said to himself.
Bob was trying the electoral roles but that was a long, tedious job and ultimately fruitless if she was using her maiden name or had remarried.
“I wonder if we could find a record of her marriage to Patrick Hennessey. They knew Karen Hennessey’s date of birth so assuming they got married in the two years before at the outside and assuming they got married in Bury St Edmunds near to where her mother lived, that should narrow it down quite a bit,” thought Mick.
*
As soon as Mick got in, he logged on and started a search on the internet for births, marriages and deaths, looking for marriages of men called Patrick Hennessey in nineteen sixty eight give or take a year in the Newmarket or Bury St Edmunds area. He found five but only one to a woman called Sylvia, Sylvia Shaw on ninth April nineteen sixty nine in Newmarket.
The Paderborn Connection Page 11
