‘Well I’ll tell you one thing,’ Tommy said with a wide smile, ‘if we get anyone in for questioning I’m quite happy for you to take the lead.’
This made Kate smile too. She was grateful that he had found a way to lighten the moment.
‘Thanks Tommy.’
‘No problem, anyway it looks like the court order has finally arrived so what do you want to do? Shall I to give the clinic a ring and arrange an appointment?’
Kate gave this some thought.
‘How do you fancy surprising them and just turning up? It might make it a bit harder for them if they are hiding something.’
‘Okay, sounds like a plan to me,’ Tommy replied.
‘While we’re on our way I’ll ring Miss Smyth-Stortford and make sure that she’s going to be around later on,’ Kate said.
Tommy was wondering what he’d let himself in for as he followed her towards the car park. However, one thing he was fairly certain of, he wasn’t going to be bored.
After Amrit had taken away the breakfast things Mac returned to work. Even though he knew there was stuff missing from the case file Mac was appalled when he discovered how important some of the information could have been to the original investigation. He opened up a new document in Word and started making notes as he went along. He knew it would take ages to go through all the new material and then even more time to analyse it.
There was possibly days more work ahead of him now. While he felt he should have been cursing Joe Ibbotson for his sloppiness he was a little surprised to find that he had a smile on his face. He knew the work was just what he needed right now.
Tommy pulled up outside the high wrought iron gates of the Al-Faran Clinic. He wound down the window and pressed the intercom button. He’d already discussed what they should do with Kate. They’d agreed on saying as little as possible and see what happened.
‘The Al-Faran Clinic, can I help?’ a woman’s sing-song voice asked.
Tommy showed his warrant card to the camera.
‘Police, we’re here to see Dr. Al-Faran.’
There was no response for a few seconds.
‘Do you have an appointment?’ the woman asked.
‘No,’ Tommy replied.
There was a much longer silence before the woman spoke again.
‘Very well, Dr. Al-Faran will see you. Someone will meet you in the car park and show you the way.’
The huge iron gates swung silently open.
‘Almost a shame,’ Kate said. ‘I was seriously thinking about your idea of turning the blue light and sirens on and waking the whole clinic up if she’d said no.’
Tommy had been joking when he said that so he glanced over to see if Kate was serious. He found that he couldn’t tell.
They drove down a long single track road that eventually swung around to the right and revealed the huge Victorian stately home that had now become the Al-Faran Clinic. Two men met them outside the house and directed them to a parking space. They waited until Kate and Tommy got out of the car, watching their every move.
‘Can I see your warrant cards please?’ one of the men said.
Kate and Tommy handed them over. The man passed a device over them and handed them back.
Some sort of scanner, Kate surmised.
‘Please follow me,’ one of the men said tersely.
The other one waited for them to move and then fell in behind them. Kate looked at the man leading them. Like the one behind he was well over six feet, dressed in a dark grey suit, crisp white shirt and black tie. The suits were made to measure but, even so, they couldn’t disguise the muscles beneath. She glanced over her shoulder. The man behind still watched their every move.
Very high priced muscle, Kate thought.
The house was high priced too. It was a rambling Victorian manor house in the gothic style from which fake mediaeval turrets and Elizabethan style chimneys sprouted. The ornamental stonework covered the front of the house like grey sugar icing.
They were led towards the side of the house and through a quite ordinary green door.
The trademen’s entrance, Kate guessed.
A few yards down a dim hallway another door was open. The first man pointed at them to go in. They did. Once they were inside the man shut the door. They could both hear the sound of keys jangling and a lock being locked.
‘He hasn’t just locked us in, has he?’ Tommy said in surprise.
He went and tried to open the door. It was locked.
‘Friendly here, isn’t it?’ Kate observed as she looked around the room.
This didn’t take her more than a few seconds. The room was small and dingy and only contained a low green filing cabinet with two drawers, a generic desk and three chairs. There was no window.
‘We’re in quarantine,’ Kate said. ‘They obviously don’t want us mixing with the paying guests.’
Kate pulled out the drawers of the filing cabinet. They were both empty.
‘Well I hope they remember we’re here if there’s a fire or…’
Tommy’s words were cut short by the sound of keys and a lock unlocking. The door opened and a woman in her early forties strode in.
She wasn’t tall by any means but stride in she did. She acted like she owned the place and that’s probably because she did. She gestured at Kate and Tommy to sit down and then sat down herself.
‘Good morning, I’m Dr. Al-Faran,’ she said in a soothing contralto voice.
She sat and gazed at her visitors with a perfect poker face. Kate thought that she looked neither happy nor sad, annoyed or at peace, she just looked.
‘An appointment would have been nice but as you’re here,’ the doctor said. ‘DS Grimsson, we’ve met before, haven’t we? You were with DCI Ibbotson if I remember correctly. How is he?’
Kate was surprised that she’d remembered her name.
‘He’s retired now, some months ago,’ Kate replied.
‘So,’ Dr. Al-Faran said as she pointedly looked at her Hublot watch. ‘How can I help?’
Kate looked at her for a few seconds. The doctor was of medium height but she held herself taller. Her skin looked slightly tanned and her hair, cut short, was jet black. She wore a tailored black wool blazer with black slim legged trousers.
Stella McCartney, Kate guessed.
Underneath the blazer she wore a black cashmere top. All in all she was wearing as much as Kate earned in a month. There was obviously money to be made in the rehab business.
Kate decided on the full frontal approach and she watched the doctor closely as she said, ‘We’re re-opening the Ashley Whyte case.’
She was certain, well almost certain, that the doctor flinched when she said this but, if she had, she recovered herself quickly.
‘Oh dear I’ve been trying to forget about that, it was such a bad business,’ she said with a mournful expression.
For some reason Kate didn’t buy it.
‘Can I ask exactly why you’re re-opening the case?’ the doctor asked as she looked at her iPhone.
Did Kate detect a slight tremor in her voice? Was she looking at her phone to avoid eye contact?
‘We’ve found some new evidence,’ Kate replied blandly.
The doctor looked up.
‘New evidence? Nothing to do with the clinic I hope?’ she said with some concern.
Was she really just concerned about the clinic though? Kate thought.
‘I’m afraid I can’t say. Before I state the real reason for our visit I was wondering if is there was anything you’ve remembered that might be of help since we last spoke?’
The doctor shrugged and then shook her head.
‘No, I’ve told you everything I know.’
Kate produced the court order and passed it over to the doctor. She opened it and read for a few seconds. She looked up and smiled.
‘I can tell you now that I won’t be complying with this,’ she said passing the paper back to Kate.
‘Well we’ll just have to con
fiscate all your IT equipment and we’ll find the names of all your patients that way,’ Kate said.
The doctor’s smile widened.
‘Try it,’ she said.
The doctor’s phone rang. She listened for a few seconds.
‘Okay do that,’ she said and put the phone down. ‘That was my lawyer who is right now filing for an interim injunction against your court order. In about ten minutes you’ll be able to light your cigarette with that.’
Kate thought the doctor looked very confident and, she had to admit, she probably had grounds.
‘Anyway even if you did take all our computers away you wouldn’t find what you’re looking for. All our IT equipment is highly encrypted.’
‘We have people who could break that encryption,’ Kate said with more confidence than she felt.
‘I doubt it,’ the doctor replied with a smirk. ‘Anyway even if you did you’d still find nothing. If anyone breaks our encryption all the data will be wiped, there’ll be nothing left to see anyway,’ she said as she pushed the court order back towards Kate.
Tommy had been watching the exchanges carefully. It was like a game of verbal tennis he thought. At the moment the doctor was slightly ahead.
‘However, if you’ll drop this nonsense, I’m still willing to cooperate, except for anything that might identify any of my patients that is.’
Kate picked up the court order.
‘Okay we’ll be in touch,’ Kate said as she stood up.
The doctor offered Kate her hand and Kate shook it limply. She’d turned to go when the doctor spoke again.
‘Oh by the way, did DCI Ibbotson ever identify that man?’
‘Man, what man?’ Kate replied.
‘Oh the man that Ashley saw a day or two before she left here. Didn’t DCI Ibbotson tell you about that, dear?’ the doctor said with a look of pretend concern.
‘No, he didn’t,’ Kate replied through clenched teeth.
‘Oh well I suppose he had his reasons. Anyway Ashley met this man at the back door. It’s very secluded and some of our guests use it to leave and enter the clinic. We have a CCTV camera there for protection and it caught it all. I’ll send it to you if you like, I’m sure it’s still around somewhere.’
Game, set and match, Tommy thought.
‘Please do,’ Kate said as she fished a card out of her pocket and gave it to the doctor.
The doctor took the card, smiled at the two of them widely and left the room. The two men were waiting for them in the hallway and they shepherded them back to the car.
Tommy could feel the steam coming out of Kate’s ears as they walked along in silence. She didn’t say a word until they’d left the grounds and were back on the main road.
‘God, I hate that bloody woman!’ she screamed.
‘Feel better?’ Tommy asked.
Kate looked over at him and smiled.
‘Yes I do actually. She’s very clever though, isn’t she?’
‘She certainly seemed to be well prepared for our visit.’
Kate fell silent. Tommy could hear the wheels in her head whirring. He waited until she’d finished thinking.
Kate was picturing the doctor in her mind, especially the moment when she said she was re-opening the case.
‘At this moment I’ve absolutely no idea what’s going on back there,’ she said. ‘But I’ll tell you something, whatever it is, I’m going to find out.’
Tommy glanced over and saw the intensity of her look. He was suddenly glad that they were both on the same side.
Chapter Thirteen
‘Was that okay?’ Amrit asked as she took the lunch tray away.
‘Okay? No it wasn’t,’ Mac said with a smile, ‘it was sublime that’s the only word for it. You should open a restaurant, I’m sure you’d get a Michelin star in no time.’
Amrit smiled. She liked a man who liked his food and even more if it was her food that he liked.
‘I’ll come by with a cup of tea in a while,’ she said before she went out of the door.
Please God she says yes when Bridget asks, Mac prayed before he returned to his laptop. He knew he’d miss her if she didn’t. Having her around to talk to at any time of the day was a blessing and then there was the food of course.
He checked his emails first and was delighted to see one from Martin at the top of the list. He opened it up and read it carefully. He gave it some thought and then read it carefully once more.
Now that was very interesting!
They drove past streets full of massive well-kept Victorian detached houses, each seeming to have the latest BMW in the drive, before entering a small estate consisting of several low blocks of neglected sixties flats. They looked out of place, a little island of destitution surrounded by a sea of wealth and prosperity.
Kate wondered if the builders had gotten the postcode wrong when they’d built them.
‘It’s Compton House we’re looking for isn’t it?’ Tommy asked as he peered out of the windscreen.
‘Yes that’s right. Look, there it is on the left,’ Kate replied.
It looked just the same as the other blocks of flats, grey, square and stolid, six storeys high and showing its age. What was supposed to be have been a security door, one that only opened when the intercom was used, was half hanging off its hinges and was now permanently open. The lift wasn’t working either.
‘She’s number fifty six,’ Kate said, ‘I suppose that means the fifth floor.’
Tommy noticed that she didn’t look all that happy at the prospect of climbing up five storeys worth of stairs. Tommy led. He took the steps two at a time and made it quickly up to the fifth floor. Kate arrived some time later and was blowing.
‘God have I gotten unfit!’ she said as she leant against the wall. ‘You’re hardly breathing hard.’
‘I run long distance, five thousand and that. I don’t get that much chance nowadays but I try and keep it up as best I can.’
‘Oh keep it up Tommy, please do, otherwise you’ll end up as useless as me.’
As they walked on Kate wondered what had happened to her. She was even more unfit than she’d thought, a few flights of stairs and she was done in. She used to play football for a local women’s team but she stopped doing it because her new husband thought it was a man’s game and not for a little woman like her.
She decided that she’d have a look around and join a team as soon as she possibly could.
Tommy stopped outside the door to number fifty six. It had been repainted not too long ago but that couldn’t hide the fact that repairs had been made. Someone had smashed the door open and not too long ago.
‘It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting of someone called Adeline Smyth-Stortford,’ Tommy remarked as he looked down the rubbish strewn hallway.
‘Same here,’ Kate replied. ‘The last time I saw her she was living in a house with two garages and an indoor swimming pool. I wonder what happened to her?’
There was no bell so Tommy knocked the door.
‘Who is it?’ the frightened voice of a young woman asked.
‘Police,’ Tommy answered.
‘Hold your warrant card up to the spy hole,’ the young woman said.
Tommy did as he was ordered. The door snapped open and snapped shut just as quickly once they were both inside. They followed the young woman into a squalid living room that was virtually empty except for the broken sofa that she sat on and hugged herself. She wore an old tee shirt that was stained and a baggy pair of track suit bottoms. The last time Kate had seen her she’d been head to foot in the latest designer clothes.
Kate looked at Tommy and held her finger to her lips. Tommy understood that he was to let Kate do the talking.
‘Adeline? Do you remember me?’ Kate asked as she sat down beside her.
She glanced up at Kate, ‘Yes, you’re the police lady with the red hair. You were with a man before, I didn’t like him.’
‘What happened? How come you’re living here?’<
br />
Adeline’s eyes flickered around the room.
‘I’m not living here, I wouldn’t call it living, would you?’ she replied bleakly as she looked around the dingy room.
‘Possibly not, so what happened?’
‘Daddy stopped my allowance, didn’t he? I thought that the money would just be there, it always has been before. I just put my card in and there it was, as much cash as I wanted. Then one day there wasn’t any cash and the bloody machine ate my card. I couldn’t believe that he’d do that to me. I mean he’d said he would loads of times but I never thought he’d actually do it,’ she said as the tears started to roll down her cheeks.
‘Why did he do that?’ Kate asked softly as she lightly held Adeline’s hand.
‘My younger sister Jemima told him something. He said it was the last straw but I thought he was only joking again.’
‘What was the something that Jemima said?’ Kate gently probed.
Adeline pulled her hand away from Kate and looked down at the floor. She started rocking backwards and forwards.
‘What was it Adeline?’ Kate gently insisted.
‘She always was daddy’s favourite so he believed her when she told him.’
‘Told him what?’ Kate prompted.
‘She said that I’d tried to get her on drugs,’ she said in a barely audible voice.
‘And did you?’
Adeline glanced up at Kate and gave her a look filled with shame.
‘Yes,’ she whispered as the tears flowed again. ‘I didn’t want to but I had to, I was behind…’
‘Do you mean that you owed money to the people who supplied you with drugs?’ Kate asked softly.
Adeline nodded.
‘Adeline were you dealing drugs yourself?’
Adeline thought about it for a moment and then nodded again.
‘We can help you,’ Kate said even more softly. ‘If you tell us who you’re working for we can keep you safe.’
Adeline shook her head and stood up. She walked up and down the room, clearly agitated.
‘I can’t tell, I can’t,’ she said still shaking her head. ‘I don’t want to end up like…’
She stopped and looked at Kate knowing that she’d already said too much.
23 Cold Cases (The Mac Maguire detective mysteries Book 5) Page 10
