Prime Justice

by M A Comley

  “I really can’t answer that yet. We need to find out more before we can confront him.”

  She gasped. “You don’t think he killed my mother, do you?”

  Lorne shrugged. “It’s not something I can answer either way at present, Rebecca, and that’s not just me shielding you from the truth.”

  Rebecca buried her head in her hands and sobbed.

  Lorne knelt beside her. “Please, don’t get yourself worked up. I’m being honest with you. I’m not trying to upset you further, love.”

  “I appreciate that, Inspector. I honestly do. I just feel such a fool. I didn’t expect it of him. How stupid of me not to have realised what he was like sooner. I’m mortified. Feel so desolate and alone right now.”

  Lorne rubbed her arm. “Look, if you ever need to talk, I’m only on the end of the phone, okay?”

  “That’s very kind of you, but you’ve got enough on your plate trying to track down my mother’s killer without me bending your ear.”

  She returned to her seat and smiled. “I know, but the offer still stands. You’re going to have a lot to contend with over the coming months. If you feel things are getting on top of you, just ring me.”

  “Are you referring to dealing with the will?”

  “Yes. Do you foresee any problems there?”

  Rebecca frowned. “I hadn’t really thought about that. I’m an only child, so I’m presuming everything will come to me. Although, if I had the choice, I would forgo the house and the money just to have Mum back, of course.”

  Lorne knew what it was like to grieve a parent’s loss and tackle the trauma of dealing with the deceased’s estate. It was never easy, but essential nonetheless. “Of course. I’m sure everything will turn out well. Will you stay here in the house?”

  “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to live with all the memories. I think I’ll find it too hard to cope with. I’ll have to wait and see. Maybe take a fresh look at things once I know Mum’s killer is locked up behind bars. It’s a shame corporal punishment no longer exists. It certainly should do, especially when the vile creatures extinguish a life the way he or she has.”

  “In an ideal world, I would totally agree. We battle the frustrations daily. I wish the courts would hand down heavier sentences. The fact that deterrents are no longer in existence is burdensome to coppers. Anyway, I better get to the station now. Time’s marching on. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. Thank you ever so much for dropping by to see me, giving me the condemning news about Robert. It’s going to take me a while to get over hearing about that.” She shook her head and stood up.

  Together, they walked to the front door. Lorne turned to give Rebecca a friendly hug. “Ring me if you need my help at all.”

  “Thank you. I will. Let me know if you stumble across anything new regarding either matter we discussed, Lorne.”

  “I will.” Lorne raced down the steps to her car.

  The gardener, who was tending to the rose bushes in the flowerbed close to her vehicle, nodded briefly and went on with his pruning.

  When Lorne arrived at the station, Karen was particularly keen to see her. “Let me grab a coffee, and I’ll be with you in a tick.” She dropped fifty pence into the vending machine and returned to Karen’s desk. Propping her backside on the desk next to hers, she asked, “What have you got for me, Karen?”

  “It’s about Amanda Oughton’s inheritance, boss. She had a sizeable sum transferred into her account two weeks ago.”

  “How sizeable?”

  “Over a hundred grand.”

  Lorne whistled. “Wow, that’s very interesting. Has she withdrawn any money since?”

  “No, nothing.”

  “Okay, let’s keep an eye on her account. Report back if there’s any movement. Tell the bank to contact you immediately if any funds are moved. Make them aware that the woman is missing, but not to put a stop on the account. Anything else?”

  “I’ll get on to the bank now. Otherwise, nothing else, boss. It’s all been relatively quiet.”

  “Okay, I’ve decided to call another press conference today. Can you arrange that for me, for just after lunch perhaps?”

  “I’ll sort it out after I’ve rung the bank, boss.”

  “I’ll be in my office, tackling the usual crap until about eleven, then I want us to recap everything that we’ve uncovered so far.”

  Karen nodded. “Shall I bring the board up to date?”

  “That’d be a great help, thanks. See you later.”

  Lorne went through to her office and sighed heavily before she tackled her daily mail. Karen popped her head around the door a few minutes later to inform her that the conference had been arranged for two that afternoon. After dealing with the urgent mail, she put the rest aside and began to make notes, ready to address the team. Ten minutes later, feeling fired up, she left her office and asked the team to gather around.

  Karen was on a call, her eyes wide with excitement when she hung up. “Wow, you’re not going to believe this.”

  “Try me.”

  “You asked me to keep an eye on Amanda Oughton’s bank account, boss. Apparently, the woman rang last night asking for fifty thousand pounds to be transferred into a George Rogers’s account.”

  “What? Don’t tell me the bank bloody transferred the money?”

  Karen’s eyes rolled up to the ceiling. “Half of it. It didn’t show up on the system when I rang them earlier, some sort of delay. The good thing is there’s a limit as to how much can be transferred at any one time.”

  “So this man is now in possession of Amanda Oughton and twenty-five grand of her money. Holy crap that doesn’t bode well. We should have contacted the bank before, but we didn’t know this man’s motive was money back then.”

  “Maybe I should have mentioned it when I first rang, told them to be aware of suspicious withdrawals or transfers.”

  “No, this is not down to you, Karen. It’s my fault. I’ll get on to head office, see if they can stop the money or something. Fat chance, I know, but damn, what a bloody fuck-up. Okay, I was going to go over the case again, however, I think our priority has to be tracing this George Rogers now.”

  The team nodded their agreement and returned to their computers. Karen was the first to come up with something interesting. “Obviously, I have his bank account details, boss. Want me to ring them?”

  “No. I think I’ll go down there in person. Give me the details. AJ, you can come with me.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Lorne was still fuming on the drive over to the bank. AJ had the sense to keep quiet during the trip. She slammed the car door and marched in through the main entrance of Barclays Bank. Lorne stormed up to the help desk, flashed her warrant card at the young redhead, and demanded, “I’d like to see the manager right away. It’s important police business.”

  “Let me check the diary, see if he has anyone with him at present.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I’m demanding to see him whether he’s in a meeting or not. This is a life-or-death situation, and I will not be fobbed off.”

  The woman’s face flushed. She turned to look over her shoulder and signalled for a tall, older blonde to join them. “Miss Roach…”

  “Hello, Miss Roach. I’m DI Lorne Warner, and this is my partner, DS Jackson. As I’ve just explained to the young lady, it’s imperative I see the bank manager immediately on police business. One of your customers is trying to extort money from a lady he has abducted. I need to put a stop on that man’s account ASAP. Are you willing to help me?”

  Roach glared at her. “I’ll be right back.” She walked away.

  Lorne winked at AJ before following the woman, AJ close behind her.

  Miss Roach spun around and placed a hand on Lorne’s chest. “No, you must wait here. You can’t go any further.”

  “Unless you want a charge for obstructing the police over you, Miss Roach, you’ll remove your hand and show me through to
the manager’s office immediately.”

  Lorne could tell the woman was grinding her teeth in anger. “Very well. But if I lose my job over this, I promise you that I will raise a complaint against you.”

  “Hey, it’s a bloody everyday occurrence for me. Now, how about we stop with the friendly chit-chat and get down to trying to sort this problem out?”

  Miss Roach walked another ten steps then thumped heavily on the manager’s office door. He bellowed that he was busy. Lorne pushed the woman aside and barged into the room. The manager, a man in his mid-to-late forties appeared mortified. His shocked gaze travelled between Lorne and the young man sitting opposite him.

  “What is the meaning of this intrusion? How dare you…”

  Lorne and AJ flashed their warrant cards again before Lorne stepped forward and grabbed the young man’s arm, urging him to stand. “If you wouldn’t mind excusing us for five minutes. That’s very kind of you.” She pushed the man out of the room and slammed the door shut in Miss Roach’s disbelieving face.

  The manager reached for his phone. Lorne slammed her hand down on top of his. “There’s no need to ring anyone. Let me explain why we’re here.”

  “Well, I wish you would. I don’t appreciate members of the general public barging into my office like this.”

  “Hardly members of the general public; we’ve explained who we are.”

  “Then why are two police officers standing before me? Have I done something wrong?”

  “Not you personally. In a nutshell, we’re dealing with an abduction case. A woman, Amanda Oughton, appears to have been abducted by one of your customers. We have reason to believe that twenty-five thousand pounds was transferred from her account last night into a George Rogers’s account at this branch. Apparently, another twenty-five thousand is due to be transferred today. I want that transfer stopped—and the other refunded if that’s possible.”

  He shook his head. “If the money has already been transferred, apart from temporarily suspending the man’s account, I could reject the second transaction, but I won’t be able to do that without the correct paperwork to hand.”

  “We don’t have time to do things by the book, Mr. Godwin,” she said, noting the name engraved on the plaque on his desk. “I’ve been in this situation before and know that you have the capabilities to stop any account without the necessary paperwork sitting on your desk. I’m sorry for bursting in here like this—all I’m doing is trying to prevent something serious happening to this woman. If I fail, the guilt will be intolerable. Are you prepared to have this woman’s plight on your conscience? There is a grim possibility that this man has already murdered two other women in this area. Please help me out here.”

  The man gulped noisily. “Of course, I’ll do my very best to help, if you’ll promise to action the paperwork I need. I must cover my back with head office. They’re sticklers when it comes to things like this.”

  Lorne nodded. “I accept that. Bloody paperwork is the bane of my life also, Mr. Godwin. If you can prevent Rogers from obtaining that money for a day or two, hopefully that will give us time to apprehend this man.”

  Godwin sat back and bounced a few times in his executively sprung chair. “Forty-eight hours—that’s all I can give you.”

  Lorne let out the breath she’d been holding in. She reached across the desk and shook the man’s hand. “Thank you. I promise I’ll get the paperwork back to you ASAP. I appreciate your help and apologise for barging in here like this. I’m just trying to save a woman’s life.”

  “Apology accepted. I hope you find this woman soon.”

  “One last thing before we go. Can you give me the address you have on record for George Rogers?”

  “I’ll get Miss Roach to give you the details. Good luck, Inspector.”

  Lorne and AJ rushed back to the reception area. Miss Roach was hanging up the phone when they arrived. She turned to her computer and scribbled on the pad beside her before handing the address to Lorne with a fake smile. “Mr. Godwin told me to give you this.”

  Taking the piece of paper, Lorne nodded. “Thank you. We appreciate your help.”

  “Jesus, I didn’t think he was going to agree to that,” Lorne said as she and AJ left the bank. “Remind me to go storming into other places like that in the future, if we obtain those kinds of results.”

  AJ sniggered. “You’re brilliant, boss. I can understand now why Katy loves working with you.”

  Lorne wrinkled her nose. “You say the nicest things. Right, we should head over to Rogers’s address, see what we can find there. Ten, Shoreditch Road, Islington, here we come. It’s close to where I used to live.”

  AJ was chewing his lip. “Not wishing to speak out of turn, boss, but do you think we should show up on his doorstep out of the blue like this? Won’t it scare him into killing the woman? Shouldn’t we wait for an Armed Response Team to join us at the location?”

  “You’re correct to think along those lines, AJ. I wasn’t going to announce myself, if that’s what you thought. Let’s go over there and put the house under surveillance for the next half an hour or so, before we decide what to do. You drive while I ring Karen, get her to action the paperwork for the bank.”

  The house was situated in a row of terraced houses. The street was in one of the roughest areas of North London. AJ pulled up just past the house, and they surveyed the area for the next twenty minutes, barely speaking a word. “I think we’re wasting our time here. The place looks derelict to me,” Lorne declared.

  AJ nodded. “I’m inclined to agree with you. What about knocking on the neighbours either side?”

  Lorne briefly contemplated his suggestion then shook her head. “What if he’s in there, watching us watching him?”

  “Never thought of that, boss. So, where do we go from here?”

  For once in her life, Lorne was at a loss what to do next for the best. All she knew was that she couldn’t just sit there and do nothing when a woman’s life was in jeopardy. “Stay here. I’ll have a discreet nose around the back. If I don’t return in the next ten minutes, call for reinforcements.”

  “I can’t let you go in there alone, boss. Let me go instead.”

  “I admire your chivalry, AJ. However, I have more experience out in the field. I’ll be fine; I promise not to put myself in harm’s way.” She smiled and left the vehicle. Hurrying, she crossed the road, proceeded up the street away from the suspect’s house, then dipped down an alleyway that led to the rear of the properties. As she made her way back to the house, several dogs started barking, but within minutes, she was standing outside the rear gate. She pulled one of the recycle boxes sitting outside a neighbouring house to the bottom of the gate and peered over the top. Old mattresses and broken doors littered the garden, and Lorne’s nose twitched at the smell. Why haven’t the neighbours complained to the council? They have departments that will clear up this kind of mess.

  She heard the latch move on one of the gates behind her and hopped down off the box as an elderly woman placed a black bag in her rubbish bin.

  “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Lorne said in a hushed voice as she approached the woman. She pulled out her warrant card as if to assure her that she wasn’t there to cause trouble.

  “What are you doing skulking around back here?”

  Lorne pointed at the suspect’s house. “I wanted to see if there was anyone at home. Do you know the owners?”

  “Nope. They moved out years ago. Don’t think anyone lives there now, since Mrs. Martin died and her husband sold the house. He’s gone into one of them horrible retirement homes.”

  “That’s sad. Thanks for your help.”

  The woman nodded and returned to her own garden. Lorne rushed around the front of the property and decided to knock on the neighbour’s door. The first house she knocked at proved to be fruitless, but when she tried the next one, an elderly gentleman came to the door, accompanied by a yapping Yorks
hire terrier at his ankle.

  “Can I help?”

  When Lorne produced her ID, he leaned close to view it with his poor eyesight. Lorne groaned inwardly, thinking that the man probably wouldn’t be able to help in the slightest if his eyesight was deteriorating. “I’m wondering if you know who lives next door.”

  “No one. Not since Rod went into that home. Poor man was devastated when he lost his wife. Why are you asking?”

  “We have reason to believe someone may be using the address for criminal activity.”

  “What kind of activity?”

  “Well, if you’re not aware of anyone staying here, it’s likely that they’re just using the address to gain what they need,” she replied, not really wanting to go into too much detail with the man.

  “I see, I think. Some kind of fraud, is it?”

  Lorne smiled and nodded before he slammed the door. She rushed back to the car. “Let’s get out of here. Waste of our time. No one has been at the property for years.”

  “Damn. So how is this guy able to use the address, especially to open a bank account? I thought there were tough restrictions put in place for that not to happen nowadays.”

  “There are. I suppose where there’s a will. Either way, our frustrations are frigging mounting on this one. Time to do another appeal to the public. I’m going to use the CCTV footage we have of this man. Perhaps someone will recognise him and give us his real name.”

  A few hours later, Lorne cleared her throat, and the press pack quietened down immediately. “Thank you all for attending another appeal so soon. I don’t usually do this but felt it was necessary, given the circumstances. We have learned that a young woman’s life is in danger. She was abducted from the Duke of Wellington Pub in Sevenoaks on Tuesday of this week. We’re desperate to trace this woman and need your help to do that.” Lorne pointed at the large still photo standing upright on the desk beside her. “The lady, Amanda Oughton, was last seen talking to this man at the Duke of Wellington Pub. This, unfortunately, is the only picture we have of this man. So I’m pleading with you to take a good look. Do you recognise him? Perhaps there are other women out there who have been approached by this man in recent weeks. Are you one of them?”