“Good morning Lieutenant Gardner, Inspector Joyce here, Andrew tells me you might have some information for me?”
“Good morning sir, yes, we searched Major Hennessey’s quarters as Andrew requested and found several items which might be of interest to you. Firstly we have her bank statements going back two years, there are several entries where she is purchasing foot passenger Eurostar train tickets from Brussels to London, presumably driving to Brussels from Ramstein on Saturday morning and returning Sunday evening. On the same day, always a Sunday, there is a credit card payment to a hotel in Birmingham.
Secondly there is a notebook with several names and addresses, two of these are in Birmingham. The others are mainly in the south of England with some in Cambridge and Suffolk. Thirdly there is documentation for the sale of her car, a red Audi TT. Finally there are some handwritten personal letters from somebody who signs herself “Judy”, who appears to be a lifelong friend. There was a letter from Karen Hennessey addressed to Judy Simkin in an address in Northamptonshire, waiting to be posted.
I’ve also made discreet enquires to establish who her close friends were here in Ramstein, although I have to say there aren’t many, she seems to be a bit of a loner.”
“That’s great Lieutenant, can you email me the names and addresses and then send copies of everything to the Police Station here in Hatfield?”
“Sure, Andrew has given me the address, I’ll do it right away.”
“Right Bob I’ll contact the Police in Birmingham to let them know I will be going there in the morning to check out the addresses in Karen Hennessey’s note-book. Can you follow up those leads on the addresses in the south? I’ll come back via Northampton and check out Judy Simkin’s address as well.”
Later that morning Captain Wright rang Andrew.
“Morning sir, did you get anywhere with that list of names?”
“Yes I did Andrew. You were right about that private at Sennelager, he’s still based there and goes away for a couple of days every month. His mates say he has a girlfriend in Frankfurt. One other name has come up, a Lance Bombardier in the Royal Artillery at Hohne. I’ve got somebody checking him out but I’ll send both of their files over to you and I’ll keep looking for the other two.”
“Andrew do you or Emma have any special dietary requirements, vegetarian or anything?”
“No Michael, living with Army cooking for all these years tends to make one grateful for anything edible. Emma seems to eat anything as well, I don’t know where she puts it all, there’s nothing on her.”
Bob looked up but didn’t say anything.
Mick wrote down the pertinent facts about the Birmingham connection to the case including the two addresses in Handsworth and then rang the West Midlands Police in Birmingham.
“Good morning” he began “my name is Detective Inspector Michael Joyce of the Hertfordshire Police. I am currently investigating a murder that took place in Stevenage, I have a suspect and two names and addresses in Handsworth have come to my attention. Could I speak to a senior officer about visiting Birmingham tomorrow morning to pursue my enquiries please?”
He was put through to Detective Superintendent Chauhan.
“Good afternoon Inspector, I understand you wish to come here in connection with a murder enquiry?”
Mick ran through the basic facts of the case and said he was interested in two names and addresses in Handsworth.
“Both those addresses are fairly upmarket and although I don’t personally recognise the names, they sound like they’re from the business community. What time will you be here tomorrow Inspector?”
“Is ten thirty OK?”
“Certainly, I’ll run a few checks before you get here, see if we have anything on them”
“Thank you Sir, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Mick spent the rest of the day reading and re-reading several files. He rang a contact of his in Northampton and asked him if they had anything on Judy Simkin at an address in Oundle.
“I’ll get back to you” was the reply.
*
Mick left in plenty of time to meet Mr Makepeace at seven thirty. He and Sue ate their evening meal, Mick said that there were no special diets needed for Saturday night. Whilst Sue cleared the table, Mick got his notes out together with the C.D.
Donald Makepeace arrived promptly, he and Mick sat at the dining room table while Sue made coffee for everybody and then sat down with them. He got out a notepad and started writing. Mick was surprised he didn’t have a form to fill in, everybody else seemed to have these days.
“OK,” he began “Funeral Service of Bernard Joseph Joyce, Enfield Crematorium Tuesday the twentieth of September at two thirty. You’re following the hearse from the Funeral Parlour so I will meet you at the Crematorium. I’ll start by welcoming people and saying a few words along the lines of ‘we’re here today not just to mourn the passing of Bernard but also to celebrate his life.’ Then I’ll introduce your first piece of music.”
Mick produced the C.D. and gave Donald the details of the three pieces he had chosen.
“Shall I play it now?”
“Yes please, I’ll just check the timings and fit my contribution around it. Mick played the first piece, Adagio in G Minor. As the music played, Mick gave him the notes he had made, his father’s date of birth, the details of his parent’s marriage together with the birthdays of his brother and himself. He told him about his father’s army service during the war, in nineteen forty four and five in Belgium, Holland and Germany.
He told him about where they had lived and where his father had worked.
“That’s fine Mr Joyce, I can pad that out nicely, I’ve had many similar background stories.”
Mick thought that summed his father up, typical upbringing and background, pretty ordinary, nothing exceptional, could be padded out to make it sound more interesting.
He then played the second piece, ‘And I love you so’ by Perry Como. Mick explained that it was one of his father’s favourites, they used to listen to Family Favourite’s on the radio on Sunday lunchtimes and he was fascinated by the places people wrote in from requesting music for loved ones.
Mick then played the third and final piece, ‘Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana.’
”It’s one of my personal favourites,” explained Mick “and strangely it seems to finish with a full stop, seemed appropriate for a funeral.”
Mr Makepeace said he had pretty well all that he needed, he would ring if there was anything else.
Mick and Sue said goodnight and showed him out.
“Just as a matter of interest, when did you get interested in classical music, I don’t remember you particularly liking it when we were first married” said Sue.
“I guess it was when I first joined C.I.D. I was with a Sergeant who was into it in a big way and he would play it when we were sitting in the car for hours on end on observation duty. It was also about the time of the World cup when “Nessun Dorma” was even played on radio One. I often listen to it when I’m driving to and from work, you get to know the composers you like after a while.”
“Sue, I’ve not done anything about flowers yet, I think I’ll ring Carol and see if she can sort something out.”
Mick rang the number, one of the first he had entered into his contacts list.
“Hi Ronnie, is your better half there?”
Ronnie passed the phone over to his wife and Mick said “Hi Carol, can I ask a favour? Could you arrange for flowers to be sent to the funeral directors?”
“I assume you mean from you and Sue?”
“Well, yes.”
“How much do you want to pay?”
“I don’t know Carol, what’s the usual price people pay for flowers for their father?”
“About ninety to a hundred pounds.”
“Yes that’s O.K., can I ask you to do that for me please ?”
“Yes of course Mick, give me the address of the funeral directors and what you want writ
ing on the card.”
“Just something like” ‘in memory of Bernard Joyce from Michael and Sue.’ I’ll leave the exact wording to you.”
“I was planning on coming to your dads funeral with Ronnie, is that all-right?”
“Of course it is, we’re not having anything formal but I’d love you to come back to our house afterwards.”
She obviously said something to Ronnie and then she said “we’d love to Mick, thank you. The funerals at half past two isn’t it?”
Mick confirmed that it was.
“Sue have you seen anything in the paper about dad’s funeral?”
“Which paper did they put it in?”
“I don’t know said Mick,” he just said the local paper.”
“Well that would be the Enfield Independent, we don’t have that. I’ll ring Molly, she lives in Enfield.” Sue rang her friend from work Molly who said “yes it was in last night, I’ll bring it in tomorrow.”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
On Thursday morning Mick set off for Birmingham and made good time until he left the M6 for the last leg into town, the traffic was nose to tail and he got to the Police station with minutes to spare, he hated being late when meeting a senior officer.
He signed in at the desk and was taken up to Superintendent Chauhan’s office. After the usual exchange of pleasantries Mick got to the point. He quickly ran through the events since that Sunday morning in Stevenage when Captain Phillip Austen’s body was discovered. He ran through the course his investigation had taken including his trip to Germany and the discovery of the diamonds being smuggled from South Africa. Finally the discovery, thanks to Lieutenant Jordan’s contacts with the US Military police, of Major Hennessey’s name.
“Sounds like you’ve been busy Inspector “said Superintendent Chauhan.
“I have indeed but luckily I’ve been assisted by a Lieutenant Jordan of The Royal Military police whose knowledge and contacts in Germany have been invaluable. He’s been temporarily assigned to the Incident room in Hatfield so we can work together.”
“I have a very clear brief from my deputy Chief Constable that my primary task is to solve the murder of Captain Austen, but it was recognised quite early on that it would be extremely difficult to keep that separate from investigation into the smuggling of diamonds from South Africa. Lieutenant Jordan’s equally clear brief is to establish if British military personnel are involved in any criminal activity.
He has passed everything we have to the South African Police and they, in conjunction with the South African Revenue Service, have raided at least two addresses and have arrested several people in connection with the illegal exportation of uncut diamonds to Germany. They have passed quite a lot of useful information to us obtained during the raids and arrests.
When the US Military Police searched Major Hennessey’s quarters they found various bank statements, notebooks and suchlike which list her contacts, she appears to have been one of Captain Austen’s couriers getting the diamonds from Germany to England.”
“You think the two in Birmingham were passing them to people in our jewellery quarter I assume?” said Superintendent Chauhan.
“No, all of the contacts in the UK are in areas with a large Indian Community, namely Birmingham and Harrow. There are also contacts in Frankfurt and in Antwerp, also cities with large Indian Communities. It is our belief that couriers from these four cities receive the diamonds from Germany and then take them to Mumbai, one of the largest jewellery manufacturing centres in the world.”
Superintendent Chauhan sat there for a moment taking all of this in.
“My family come from Mumbai Inspector, I still have relatives there”.
“As do many in the Indian communities who have made Britain their home. They travel to Mumbai regularly for family occasions, weddings, funerals and so on. In short, the perfect cover for smuggling small packages through a busy airport,” replied Mick.
“I’m sure the authorities regulate the importation and manufacture of diamonds into Mumbai very strictly Inspector.”
“I’m sure they do Sir, but, with respect, not nearly closely as the security surrounding the jewellery manufacturers in Britain, Holland and Belgium. In any event, any industry dealing with small items of considerable value is bound to attract criminal elements.”
“So you think that these two people in Handsworth are smuggling diamonds into Mumbai?”
“It’s a distinct possibility, yes.”
“So what are your intentions then, to raid these two addresses and arrest them?”
“Not exactly, no. As I said, my very clear instruction is to find and arrest Major Hennessey for the murder of Captain Austen. In the course of my investigations I am to pass on any information I come across to other agencies as appropriate to make enquiries into other criminal activity.
I therefore think I should pass everything I have to the West Midlands Police to arrest criminals based here but, just as we did with the South African Police, on the understanding that when you make arrests you make all reasonable attempts to find out the whereabouts of Major Hennessey and pass that information on to my team at Hatfield. I have here the complete file on the case to date, this same file has been passed to the Royal Military Police in Britain and in Germany, the South African Police, the South African Revenue Service in Bloemfontein and the American Military Police in Germany. I updated it last night so it includes everything we now have. My immediate superior is Chief Superintendent Rachel Bond and the senior officer with the overall responsibility is the Deputy Chief Constable if you wish to discuss it with them sir.”
“I will run it past my superiors Inspector and let you know if they have any issues. Thank you for coming here this morning, I’m sure we’ll talk soon.”
*
Mick left Birmingham and headed for Northamptonshire, turning over in his mind what had been said at the mornings meeting. He decided he’d better have a meeting with Rachel as soon as possible to make sure that he was keeping to the brief that had been spelt out to him. He hated the politics, why couldn’t they just let him get on with his job in his own way.
He stopped at the motorway services and rang Bob.
“Morning Bob, any messages?”
“Your contact from Northampton rang, there is nothing at all on Judy Simkin.”
“How are you getting on with those addresses in the south?”
“Nothing on file, I may have to go to them in person to get anywhere boss. How was Birmingham?”
“I’ve left it with the West Midlands Police in Birmingham much the same as we did with the South Africans, I just hope they’ll be as helpful. Can you put me through to the boss?”
He was put through to her extension but she was in a meeting so Mick spoke to her assistant.
“Morning Sandra, I need a meeting with the boss as soon as possible. I’m heading for Northamptonshire at the moment but should be back in by four if she can fit me in.”
“I’ll put you down for four thirty.”
“Thanks, bye.”
He drove to the market town of Oundle, very picturesque he thought, lots of mellow stone cottages. He found the address in the centre of the town but there were double yellow lines outside so, not wanting to draw attention to himself, he parked in a small public car park. He walked up to the house and rang the doorbell.
The door was opened by a woman in her mid-forties he guessed, fairly short and plump but dressed in stylish, good quality clothes.
“I don’t buy anything at the door.” she announced.
Mick produced his warrant card and introduced himself.
“Good afternoon, are you Miss Judy Simkin?” he asked.
“Mrs Simkin actually, what’s this about?”
“I’m hoping you can help me with an enquiry we’re making into a friend of yours, Miss Karen Hennessey?”
Her face showed no reaction at all.
“You’d better come in,” she said.
“You know Miss, or
rather Major, Hennessey is based at the US base in Ramstein in Germany. The US Military Police have requested our help, apparently Major Hennessey went on leave nearly a month ago and is long overdue. They found your address in her quarters and asked us to check if you knew her whereabouts.”
“Have you seen or had any contact at all with her recently?”
“Yes, I saw her two or three weeks ago. She came up for the day, we had lunch and spent the afternoon chatting. She told me that she had left the army and was coming back to England.”
“Do you know where she is living now?”
“She’s renting a cottage in Suffolk somewhere, I’m afraid I don’t have the address. She said that it was only a short term let and she would let me know when she had found somewhere more permanent.”
“Did you see what car she was driving by any chance?”
“Well I did, but I’ve no idea of the make or model. I think it was white if that helps.”
“Do you have a telephone number for her?”
“Yes just a minute.” She looked up the number in her address book and read out the phone number, a mobile number.
” What’s the last address you have for her?”
“The US base at Ramstein,” she replied.
“Just as a matter of interest, how do you know Karen Hennessey, I was told that she hadn’t lived in the U.K. for over thirty years.”
“My mother and hers were close friends when they lived in Newmarket, they started work at the bank on the same day. When they moved to America Karen was about ten or eleven and we became pen-friends, although I haven’t actually seen her more than half a dozen times in the last thirty years.”
“Thank you very much for your help Mrs Simkin, if she contacts you with her new address would you give me a ring please” said Mick tearing a page out of his notebook and handing it to her after writing down his mobile phone number. He couldn’t give her one of his printed cards of course in case Judy Simkin rang her and said the Hertfordshire police wanted to speak to her.
The Paderborn Connection Page 15
