“Is Karen in any sort of trouble?”
“I don’t honestly know, we’re just doing what the US Military asked us to, as a matter of courtesy so to speak. All they have told us is that she is absent without leave.”
She let him out and he went straight to his car and called Bob.
“Bob, I’ve just come from Judy Simkin’s. She says Karen Hennessey’s renting a cottage in Suffolk, she didn’t have the address but gave me a mobile number. Give this priority, don’t ring the number, obviously, but try and put an address to it. She could have got the phone before she rented the cottage but try anyway, she should have notified them of change of address for payment purposes.
Also get onto the property rental agencies, we’re looking for a let to a single women in the last month but don’t give Karen Hennessey’s name, wait for them to give it to us. She may have a friend in the letting agency. I’m just about to leave Oundle so I should be back in the office by three.”
*
When Mick got back Bob said that he’d had no luck with the mobile, Emma said that the number is almost certainly a ‘pay as you go’ so no contract or address. Bob said, however, that he might be onto something with the letting agencies. He had a list of over twenty likely agents although there were more that seem to specialise in summer holiday lets, he would work through that list if they drew a blank with the first list.
Bob had managed to get some help from the C.I.D. office so with Emma and himself, there were four of them making the calls. In the last two hours they had spoken to everybody on the list and had a short list of nine recent lettings, they have all promised to get back to us by tomorrow at the latest with the address and the name of the tenant.
“Well done Bob, we’ll make a detective of you yet.”
“Thanks boss.”
*
At four thirty Mick went up to see Rachel.
“How are things progressing Michael, any news since your last briefing?”
“We didn’t get anywhere at her mother’s house in St Albans but I now have a more promising lead. The American Military Police searched her quarters in Ramstein and came up with an address of a friend of hers in Oundle. I went there earlier this afternoon and the woman there confirmed that Karen Hennessey had visited her two or three weeks ago and is now renting a property in Suffolk although she didn’t have an address.
We have contacted the most likely agencies and have a list of nine properties let in the last month to a single woman. We should have all the addresses and any other information, previous addresses, references etc., by tomorrow so I’m feeling more confident that we are closing in on her.”
“That’s excellent Michael,” she said.
“We also had two addresses in Birmingham that we think she visited recently, probably to pass on diamonds passed to her by Phillip Austen some weeks ago. We think the two people in Birmingham were couriers whose job it was to take the diamonds onto Mumbai.
In accordance with your brief Ma’am I have passed all of the information we have on that aspect of the case to a Superintendent Chauhan in Birmingham for the West Midlands Police to pursue. I think he was under the impression that I would go to the two addresses with a couple of local D.C.’s to make the arrests, he was a little taken aback when I presented him with the file and merely asked him to keep me informed after he had questioned them and to hopefully get a lead on the whereabouts of Karen Hennessey, a serving U.S. Officer. He said he would have to consult with his superiors so you might get a phone call Ma’am.”
Mick went back to the incident room to find Andrew and Emma deep in conversation.
“Everything all right you two?”
“I’m not sure,” said Andrew
“I’ve just had a phone call from Brigadier Fredericks, he wants to see me at Southwick Park at one o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Mick made a quick phone call and told Andrew he could have the pool car overnight and all the next day providing he returned it by six p.m.”
“Thanks Michael, that’ll be a big help.”
Just as he was about to leave his phone rang, an internal call from Rachel.
“You were right Michael, I’ve just had your Superintendent Chauhan on. He has read your report and got approval from his superior to take the case forward. He actually thanked me for passing the file to them and promised to find out all he can about Major Hennessey’s current whereabouts and pass on any information to you. Just thought you’d like to know.”
“Yes, thank you Ma’am, actually something has happened whilst I was with you earlier. Andrew Jordan has been summoned to Southwick Park tomorrow for a meeting with the Brigadier.”
“Ok Michael, thanks. I’ll pass that on to the Deputy Chief Constable.”
Mick left and drove to Enfield to the Funeral Parlour where he had made an appointment with the undertaker to see his father in the chapel of rest. He was shown into the room, Mr Mitchell pulled the heavy velvet curtain across the doorway and Mick was alone with his father. He looked at him for a good few minutes, he looked very peaceful lying there in his coffin, the undertakers had certainly done a good job. He couldn’t think of anything to say, it seemed slightly surreal somehow so he simply said good-bye dad, and left.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
On the Friday morning Mick was anxious to get the addresses of the possible rented properties that Karen Hennessey might be living in and told Bob to chase the letting agencies up. By ten o’clock they had six responses, none of them in the name of Karen Hennessey.
“That leaves us with three outstanding Bob.”
“If we draw a blank there boss I’ll make a start on the holiday letting agencies.”
The three remaining letting agencies rang back before ten thirty but none provided any lead to her, much to Mick’s annoyance and frustration.
Mick’s phone rang, it was Inspector Kuzak from West End Central.
“Morning Inspector Joyce, I just thought you’d like to know that the lad we arrested for assaulting your Military Policeman with a knife has pleaded guilty so it’s very unlikely that your D.C. or the Lieutenant will be needed in court.”
“Thanks for ringing Inspector, I’ll pass that on to them.”
He spent the rest of the morning reading through the information he had received earlier that morning from the American Military Police following their search of her quarters. As Larry Gardner had said on the phone, there were several bank statements, documents relating to her salary and living allowances and certificates relating to her professional qualifications. There were also some loose papers with scribbled notes and telephone numbers.
He noted from the most recent bank statement, dated two days before she left Ramstein, that she had withdrawn most of the balance in cash. In the copied pages of the little notebook Mick found the addresses and phone numbers that Larry Gardner had mentioned.
“Bob, did you check out these addresses in Cambridge and Suffolk as well as the ones in the south?”
“I thought you just wanted the ones in the south checking boss.”
Mick swore under his breath and picked up the sheet of paper with the copy of the relevant pages of her address book. There were two in Cambridge and three in the Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds area. Mick thought about the best way to tackle this, if he simply rang the numbers, what could he say? He ran the risk of alerting her to the fact that somebody was checking out the names in her address book.
He decided that the best course of action was to go to each of the addresses in Suffolk first, which is where she had told Judy Simkin that she was living, and gather as much information as he could, registration numbers of cars parked outside and so on.
Just after twelve Mick set off for Newmarket and soon found the first address, a terraced house not far from the centre of the town.
“Hardly what you would call a cottage,” thought Mick.
He parked a hundred yards or so away and walked along the street until he got near to the address he was interested in. Th
e houses were well maintained although built about a hundred years before according to the dates displayed carved into stone panels set into the upstairs walls. There was no obvious clue as to whether or not the house was rented, all Mick could do was to make a note of the two or three car registrations parked in the street nearest to the house.
He found the next address, just on the edge of town heading north just off the Ely road. This was more promising, not exactly a cottage but a small bungalow. The garden was very well maintained with herbaceous borders in full bloom and neatly manicured lawns. Mick had second thoughts about it being more promising, it didn’t really look like the sort of place a single woman would rent at short notice, more like a retired couples place. He made a note of the car registration number in the drive and set off for the third address in Bury St Edmunds
He found it without too much trouble in a village about three miles from the centre of town and this one was definitely a possibility, a bungalow probably built in the twenties or thirties, small garden mainly laid to lawn, whitewashed walls and a washing line with sheets and towels together with some women’s clothes hanging out to dry. There was no sign of life and no car parked in the drive.
Mick rang Bob, “Bob, any news?”
There wasn’t so Mick asked him to check out the address of the bungalow,
“Check with the council and see if anybody has recently registered for council tax, that sort of thing.”
He drove around for a bit, generally getting a feel for the area when he spotted a poster advertising an ‘Antiques and Collectors Fair’ on Sunday from twelve o’clock till five. He then drove back to Hatfield, arriving after four o’clock.
“Any joy Bob?”
“They’re getting back to me boss, hopefully today.”
“Have you heard from Andrew Emma?”
“He’s on his way back boss, should be here soon, traffic permitting.”
Mick picked up the papers from Larry Gardner and looked for any mention of the bungalow and just as he was about to give up he spotted the copy of the scrap of paper with a telephone number.
“Bob, what’s the dialling code for Bury St Edmunds?”
Bob said that it was 01284. It was the same as the number on the scrap of paper.
“I wonder if she has rented this place privately rather than through an agency, can you put an address to this phone number Emma please?”
*
Ten minutes later Emma had an address, an accountants in Bury St Edmunds. Just as she was giving Mick this news, Andrew walked in.
“Everything O.K Andrew?” said Mick.
Andrew looked at Emma then said could he have a word in private with Mick, or Michael as he always called him. They went into the small meeting room off the main C.I.D. office.
They sat down and Andrew leaned forward and simply said “I’m being made redundant at the end of December. In practice I will be on ‘gardening leave’ until then but the Brigadier has asked if I would be prepared to carry on here and take the investigation as far as possible and the hand it over to Captain Wright in Bielefeld before Christmas. I will need to return to Paderborn anyway to tidy a few things up and give notice on my flat and clear out my personal possessions.”
“I don’t know what to say Andrew, how do you feel about this?”
“Well obviously I’ll do everything I can to finish what we started although I’m not sure about the timesca…”
“I mean on a personal level Andrew, it’s been your life for twenty years. Will you continue to live in Germany do you think?”
“Probably not, I’ll be getting quite a reasonable redundancy package and to be perfectly honest with you I don’t really have any concerns about money, I’ve saved an awful lot over the years and my father is quite wealthy. My divorce was fairly amicable and we lived in rented accommodation so there was no hassle about property or anything like that. I’ll spend the next few weeks contacting the agents that the military recommend for officers in my situation. Anyway how’s the search for the major going?”
“I think I have a strong lead on a rented cottage in a village near Bury St Edmunds. The problem is that she might have rented it privately rather than through an agency so on the basis that she might well know her new landlord personally, I can’t afford to alert her beforehand. I intend to go down there on Sunday to an Antiques fair when there will be a lot of strangers in the village and scout around.
Are you and Emma still OK for tomorrow?”
“Yes, we’re looking forward to it.”
“You stay here, I’ll send Emma and you can give her your news in private.”
Mick rang Rachel and asked to see her urgently. She told him to go up to her office straight away which he did.
“What’s the latest news Michael?”
“Well I’ve narrowed our search down to a rented property in a village near Bury St Edmunds.” He explained about his visit that afternoon and his intention to go there on Sunday to scout around under the cover of the visitors attending the Antiques fair. “If you would Ma’am I’d like you to speak to the senior officer in the area and ask him to have two or three officers with transport on standby on Sunday afternoon to accompany me if I identify her with a view to making an arrest.”
She reached for the phone and asked her assistant Sandra to get Chief Superintendent Doughty of the Suffolk Police. Two minutes later the call came through
“Good afternoon Simon, Rachel Bond here.” After the usual small talk she got to the point.
“A situation has arisen Simon which I’m hoping you can assist me with.”
She outlined the events of the previous few weeks culminating in the closing in of the murder suspect who they believed was living in a village near Bury St Edmunds. She explained that Detective Inspector Joyce was going there on Sunday afternoon and if he identifies her and judges the situation to warrant it, would like to arrest her immediately and was therefore requesting the assistance of the Suffolk Police to take her to the nearest police station and hold her there for a couple of hours until we can collect her and bring her back to Hatfield. Mobile phone numbers and contact details were exchanged, Rachel thanked him and passed the information to Mick.
Mick then quickly recounted the conversation he had just had with Andrew Jordan
“That’s a shame, I rather got to like him.”
“Yes ma ‘am, he’s very popular.”
*
Mick went back to the incident room and told the rest of the team what the plan was. Both Andrew and Emma expressed a wish to accompany him but Mick said he wanted everything very low-key until the actual arrest, if she gets wind of the fact that we are taking an interest in the bungalow she might go to ground and we will be back to square one. It was agreed that if she was arrested on Sunday, Mick would ring them and they would come into Hatfield. Mick drove home on that Friday night, his mind racing, a mixture of nervousness and excitement.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Saturday was warm and Mick and Sue were able to sit on the patio enjoying breakfast. Mick had told her the night before about his intended trip to Bury St Edmunds on the Sunday which she accepted without comment. After twenty five years married to a policeman, the last twenty in the C.I.D., she knew that it came with the job.
Over breakfast he told her about Andrew’s situation. She said how sorry she was and was he still coming that night for dinner, Mick confirmed that both he and Emma were definitely coming and looking forward to it. Sue asked what he was going to do, stay in Germany or come back to England, the same question that Mick had asked him the previous afternoon. She asked what he was going to do for a living and Mick said that he was comfortably off and could afford to take his time deciding on his future.
“My company has an advert on the staff bulletin board for a Chief Investigating Officer, do you think he would be interested?”
“I don’t know” replied Mick, “what would an insurance company want a Chief Investigating officer for?”
“You’re not serious Mick are you? Fraudulent claims are a massive problem for us. And don’t forget that our head office is in Munich, somebody who is fluent in German and has years of experience as a Military policeman in their Investigation Branch has to have an advantage.”
“Well he might be interested obviously but let him take his coat off and have a drink before you start to interview him.”
They chatted about the funeral, Sue said that she might buy a new black suit, she could make good use of it for work afterwards if she brightened it up with some pastel coloured tops. Mick smiled and said she would look good whatever she wore. She replied that the idea was not to look good but to dress respectfully.
Mick mowed the lawn and weeded the borders, thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and fresh-air. There was always something about new-mown grass that lifted the spirit. Spurs were away that Saturday so he planned to have a lazy day after his spell in the garden. Sue had decided what that night’s meal was going to be and went into town to go shopping, but not before she had rang her boss at home and asked him about the advertised vacancy.
About six Mick went to have a bath and to listen to the second half commentary on the Spurs match which had kicked off at five. Spurs were losing one-nil but as Mick lay there thinking about what the next few days would bring, he suddenly became aware that the commentators and pundits were eulogising about Spurs wonder goal. The match finished one-all and Mick got out of the bath, shaved and dressed in his favourite Chinos and pale blue polo shirt.
He had heard Sue come in whilst he was in the bath and as he walked into the lounge she was on the computer, printing off an e-mail, together with a five page attachment.
The Paderborn Connection Page 16
