Nothing But Lies

by Lyndon Stacey

  ‘No. I’m more into water sports – anything in, on or under it, really.’

  ‘So, what’s your line of work?’

  ‘Er, construction,’ Harrison said, and as Daniel’s gaze dropped instinctively to his hands, he added, ‘No, not the actual building part, more the surveying and planning.’

  ‘Like your father,’ Daniel suggested, taking a punt.

  ‘Same company. Did you know him?’ Not a blink. It seemed his parentage was an open secret.

  ‘No. Only of him. Newspapers and suchlike.’

  ‘Yeah, he was pretty hard to miss,’ Harrison said with a note of pride. Someone hailed him and with a word of apology to Daniel, he turned away to greet them.

  Tamiko was leaning close to the picture of the prize-giving, frowning.

  ‘This is not your brother, is it?’ she asked Boo.

  ‘Ye-ah.’ Boo sounded surprised. ‘It was six years ago, but he hasn’t changed that much. Of course, he’s in Australia now.’

  ‘But the man I saw at your house …?’

  ‘Oh – I see. No, that was my other brother – er, my half-brother, Ricky. He was staying for a few days, but he’s gone home now.’

  Daniel had been watching her closely.

  ‘Where is home?’ he asked.

  Boo rounded on him with a quizzical look. ‘For Ricky? Dorset – Bournemouth, actually. Why do you ask?’

  ‘Sorry. No reason. Just naturally nosey.’

  Her eyes narrowed, but Inga forestalled any further comment by asking her if she’d heard from Steven lately.

  ‘Not for a month or two,’ Boo told her. ‘You know what men are. You knew he’d married?’

  Inga shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t,’ she said. ‘But I’m not surprised.’

  ‘Yes, he met her when he’d been out there a couple of months and they got married last year. He’s running a jumping yard and she’s riding for him.’

  ‘That must be nice.’ Inga’s smile was brittle and Daniel felt sorry for her.

  ‘Boo? Hi – I thought it was you!’ a slightly husky female voice exclaimed with obvious pleasure, and Inga moved aside to allow the newcomer to join the group. ‘I haven’t seen you for an age and you didn’t return my call.’

  ‘It must be at least a fortnight,’ Boo joked. ‘Sorry about the call, it must have slipped my mind. How are you, anyway?’

  ‘I’m good. Busy as always. How’s Spencer?’

  ‘Oh, you know. Up and down.’ The words were spoken lightly but the shadow of pain that crossed her face was unmistakeable. ‘He keeps fairly cheerful.’

  ‘He’s amazing. Well, you know where I am. If there’s ever anything I can do.’ The woman was of slightly more than average height, fairly stockily built and wore her fair hair very short. This, combined with a straight nose and determined chin, gave her a slightly mannish look, not greatly mitigated by her choice of clothing. Daniel guessed she was in her late-thirties and mentally filed her as probably ex-forces.

  He smiled and put out his hand. ‘Hi. I’m Daniel.’

  ‘Chris.’ The woman’s grasp was firm, as he had expected. She looked round at the others.

  ‘Sorry,’ Boo said, belatedly. ‘This is Chrissie Haynes, who saved my bacon a few months ago when I ran out of fuel on the way back from a show. Chris – Daniel, Tamiko, Natalie and Inga.’

  ‘All I did was drive to the nearest petrol station with a can,’ Chris laughed. ‘Not exactly heroics!’

  ‘But it was a foul night and no one else had even bothered to stop,’ Boo said.

  ‘You weren’t on your bike, obviously,’ Daniel said.

  ‘My bike?’ She looked bewildered.

  ‘Yes. Didn’t I see you somewhere, recently, on a motorbike?’

  ‘I think you must be mixing me up with someone else,’ she said.

  ‘Maybe,’ Daniel said. ‘Sorry. So, what do you do?’

  ‘Chris does clever IT stuff,’ Boo said. ‘When she’s not riding or rescuing stranded people.’

  ‘So, you’re a rider, too?’ Daniel said.

  ‘Well, after a fashion,’ she said. ‘Nowhere near Boo’s league. I actually hadn’t ridden in years when I met her, but we got talking and she encouraged me to start again. She kindly said I could borrow one of her horses and we’ve been riding out together occasionally, ever since.’

  ‘Nothing kind about it,’ Boo retorted. ‘It’s nice to have the company now Spence doesn’t come out so often. By the way, Tamiko and Natalie ride, too.’

  ‘Not at the moment, obviously,’ Natalie pointed out, gesturing at her plaster cast. ‘But I have a jumping yard. Inga is my groom.’

  ‘Oh, and this is my eldest, Harrison,’ Boo said as her son reappeared at her side.

  ‘Hi,’ Chris said.

  ‘Hi.’ Harrison looked at her with narrowed eyes. ‘Haven’t I seen you before?’

  ‘Oh, God! Not another one,’ his mother protested.

  ‘No, I have. You did some work at TKC, didn’t you?’

  ‘TKC?’ Chris repeated blankly.

  ‘My father’s company; Travers-King Construction. A couple of years ago, wasn’t it? I remember seeing you around. Internet security or some such, isn’t it?’

  ‘Oh, yes. Of course. I did. I remember now.’

  ‘Really?’ Boo asked. ‘You never said. That must’ve been when my husband was alive. Did you meet him?’

  ‘D’you know, I never made the connection,’ Chris told her. ‘How mad is that? I suppose I’ve had so many other contracts since then, it just didn’t occur to me. I may have met him. I meet so many people in my job.’

  A stir amongst the crowd nearest the door made everyone turn that way and the babble of conversation dropped to a hum of anticipation. Watching Chris, surreptitiously, Daniel thought she looked profoundly grateful for the interruption.

  There was a cheer and a burst of clapping and a powered wheelchair appeared in the doorway. The guest of honour had arrived and all else was forgotten as everyone in the room gravitated towards Marcus Stenhouse and Daniel’s party were separated from Boo and her son. Still keeping an eye on Chris Haynes, Daniel saw her drift towards the bar. She interested him. When he’d mentioned the bike, she’d pretended surprise, but he was an old hand at reading faces and he was pretty sure that what he’d seen was wariness.

  After a couple of minutes and on the pretext of fetching drinks for the ladies in his party, Daniel restored Natalie’s crutches to her and followed Chris Haynes. She didn’t look overjoyed at finding him next to her at the bar. He gave his order to the barman and then asked her conversationally, ‘Does Boo know you’re friendly with Stella Travers-King?’

  ‘Travers-King?’ Again the wariness.

  ‘The woman I saw you talking to in Bath.’

  She frowned slightly but responded in the same casual tone he had used.

  ‘Oh, was that her name? No. Why on earth would I? All I did was buy a bracelet from the woman on eBay.’

  ‘But knowing Boo as you do, you must have made the connection.’

  ‘Not until now. She called herself King when I contacted her about the bracelet. What’s it to you, anyway? I don’t believe I caught your surname.’

  ‘Whelan,’ Daniel said. ‘Daniel Whelan.’

  The barman placed the drinks on the bar and Daniel handed over a note.

  ‘And how do you know Boo,’ Chris asked. ‘I don’t believe I’ve ever heard her speak of you.’

  ‘I don’t imagine you have. I don’t really know her. I’m a friend of Tamiko and her partner, temporarily driving the horsebox while Natalie is out of action. I only met Boo a couple of weeks ago.’

  ‘So, why all the questions?’

  ‘Just naturally nosey, I guess,’ Daniel said with a smile and a wink, pocketing his change and picking the drinks up from the bar.

  Any hopes that Daniel may have had that the arrival of its main player would hurry the fundraising event to its conclusion were soon extinguished. After all the greetings had bee
n exchanged, the raffle took place in what seemed like slow motion and then the auction began. Had it just been Daniel and Tamiko, they could have slipped out whilst this was getting underway, but Natalie had set her heart on bidding for several lots and so they had to stay to the bitter end.

  Shortly after the auction started, Daniel saw Chris Haynes make her way to the door, and telling Tamiko he was going to look for the Gents, he followed her out into the foyer. It had been a possibility that she was bent on the same purpose, but as he paused in the doorway, he saw her disappearing through the outer door to the car park. Again he followed, this time moving into the shadows at the side of the building. All cars leaving the well-lit car park had to pass close to the hall and he had a fancy to see what Ms Haynes was driving. A few minutes later, he was back with the others.

  On the way home, Daniel asked the question that had been on his mind since their earlier conversation with Boo.

  ‘So, did you ever meet Boo’s half-brother, Inga?’

  ‘Not that I remember,’ she replied. ‘I don’t think he was ever spoken of. But I was never really involved with the family, as such. Steven lived near Salisbury and I used to meet him there mostly.’

  Back at the cottage, when the horses had been seen to and Tamiko had gone to bed, Daniel begged for the use of Jo-Ji’s computer again.

  ‘I’ll start charging you soon,’ Jo-Ji joked. ‘Time you were dragged kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century and got yourself a smartphone or a tablet.’

  ‘I’ve got a smartphone – well, semi-educated,’ Daniel joked. ‘But I can’t get a reliable signal in this neck of the woods, and besides, it’s so bloody fiddly. I’m not the world’s best typist, as it is, but trying to do anything on my phone takes forever.’

  ‘No probs. I don’t mind, really. Fancy a beer?’

  Daniel did, but he had checked his email, answered one from his son and was again searching the genealogy site when Jo-Ji made his reappearance.

  ‘Sorry. Got side-tracked. The cat brought a mouse in and let it go. I’ve had to pull the dishwasher out and everything.’

  ‘Find it?’ Daniel asked, his attention still on the screen.

  ‘Eventually, and then instead of being grateful, the bloody thing tried to bite me! Anyway; here’s your beer.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Doing your family history?’ Jo-Ji asked, looking at the screen.

  ‘Not mine. Boo Travers’.’

  ‘Who’s she? Should I know her?’

  ‘You might know of her. She’s the wife – widow – of the businessman who disappeared. You remember, we were talking about him the other night.’

  ‘Oh, yes. Dennie Travers. So why the interest?’

  ‘I don’t know. Something’s just not right.’

  ‘Oh, is this something to do with the bloke you saw at the show?’ Daniel had mentioned the encounter with the Scotsman, but Jo-Ji hadn’t seemed particularly interested.

  ‘Yeah, partly. I don’t know – I can’t put my finger on it. I just get the feeling she’s in trouble.’

  Jo-Ji put his head on one side.

  ‘Do you fancy her?’

  ‘What, Boo? No. That is, I hadn’t thought about it. She’s attractive, yes, but that’s not what this is about.’

  ‘OK. If you say so,’ Jo-Ji said with a half-smile.

  ‘And it’s not only McAllum. There’s some mystery about her brother – the one Tami saw that time. Now Boo claims he’s her half-brother, but looking at her mum’s records, she married at seventeen and, as far as I can see, stayed married until she died eleven years ago.’

  ‘OK. Stayed married on paper, but you don’t know what happened in real life. They could have separated and she might have had a dozen other kids.’

  ‘Boo said his name was Ricky. I’ve looked for a Rick, Ricky or Richard Allen born to a Carol Anne Allen or Lightfoot – which is her maiden name – within the likely period, and come up with absolutely zilch. The trouble is, he could have taken his natural father’s name, in which case I’m stuffed.’

  ‘Or he could be a half-brother on her dad’s side,’ Jo-Ji pointed out. ‘If he had an affair and the kid took his mum’s name, you likewise won’t have a hope in hell of finding him.’

  ‘I know, it’s a bugger, isn’t it? It’s all so bloody complicated!’

  ‘A chap at work’s doing his family tree – bores us rigid with it – and he’s always complaining that he can’t find records he’s looking for, even when he knows they should be there,’ Jo-Ji said. ‘But even if this Boo is lying – does it really matter? Lots of families have dirty secrets. I doubt she’s a master criminal.’

  ‘No, probably not. It’s just bothering me.’

  ‘You’re bored,’ Jo-Ji stated flatly.

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Daniel said quite truthfully. ‘Tell me about Dennie Travers again.’

  Jo-Ji sighed. ‘This is why you were such a good copper,’ he said. ‘You’re like that bloody dog of yours. Once you get on a trail, you won’t stop till you find your man. OK. Local businessman; partner in Travers-King Construction, based in Bristol; drowned after falling overboard from an expensive yacht during a party to celebrate his wedding anniversary, if I remember rightly.’

  ‘His wedding to Boo, that would be.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘So his family would all have been there.’

  ‘I imagine so.’

  ‘Whereabouts did it happen?’

  ‘Off the Kent coast. That’s why I don’t know all the details – it wasn’t our baby.’

  ‘How long had he been married?’

  ‘I’ve no idea.’ Jo-Ji sounded exasperated. ‘You’ve got the computer – look it up in the newspaper archives if you want all the gory details. I’m sure there’ll be plenty; it’s the kind of thing they love. I’m going to bed. Back to work tomorrow.’

  ‘OK. Thanks Joey. And thanks for the beer.’

  ‘More in the fridge if you want it,’ Jo-Ji said as he went out the door.

  Intent once more on the computer, Daniel didn’t even hear the door shut.

  Following Jo-Ji’s suggestion, he entered ‘Dennie Travers overboard’ on Google and within a fraction of a second was faced with pages of search results. Pulling a notepad and pen close, he opened the first newspaper article and set about making notes.

  Half an hour later he sat back, took a swig of his beer and reviewed what he’d learned. Just over two years ago, Dennie Travers, aged forty-nine, had chartered a forty-metre motor yacht to host a party to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of meeting his eventual second wife, Belinda Travers, to whom he had then been married for three years. With no expense spared, he had taken his family and over sixty guests out to the exact spot where he had apparently proposed to her on their return from a Caribbean cruise.

  At eight o’clock in the evening, shortly after toasting each other – one of the papers even had the name and price of the indecently expensive champagne – Dennie had apparently tripped and gone overboard whilst fooling about on deck with his eldest son, Harrison.

  Upwards of thirty shocked partygoers witnessed his fall, but even though the alarm went up immediately and an inflatable lifeboat was launched within minutes, Mr Travers had disappeared. It was reported that the sea was choppy and the sky overcast, that night. Currents were known to be particularly strong in the area and it was believed that Dennie might well have hit his head as he fell and been unconscious when he went into the water. His son, who was one of the crew of the lifeboat, was said to have been distraught. Coastal lifeboats and a helicopter were sent out but the currents and the onset of night hampered the search.

  Daniel tapped the pen on his teeth, wondering whether Cal had been on the boat, but moments later, he admitted that that suspicion was unfair. As far as he knew, John McAllum had been a friend of Dennie Travers’ younger days. He had no reason to suspect that the Scotsman harboured any grudge against the businessman, even if he perhaps felt that Denn
ie had got off lightly for the crime they had both committed. Thirty odd years was a long time to wait to get even, and if their relationship had soured because of that long-ago incident, it was hardly likely that Dennie would have invited the man on his celebratory voyage.

  Whatever the case, all the papers seemed clear on one point; it had been Harrison who had been closest to his father when the accident had occurred, so whether or not his ex-army partner-in-crime had been on the boat seemed irrelevant. Unless you believed that he was, for some reason, in league with Harrison Allen …

  Speculation was pointless, and, as Jo-Ji had observed, did it really matter? It wasn’t his concern.

  In spite of this, a few moments later, Daniel was busy scrolling through records for the marriage of Dennis Travers and Stella King, which when found, gave his age at time of marriage as twenty-two, and hers as twenty-nine. Both their fathers were listed as deceased; Stella’s described as a company director, Dennie’s as a banker.

  A general search threw up newspaper reports of the wedding, which had been a lavish affair by all accounts. In the absence of her father, the bride had been given away by her grandfather, Aubrey King, who was apparently the founder of King Construction, as it was then. Dennie Travers had taken on his wife’s name and presumably, at some point in the future, King senior had bestowed upon his grandson-in-law a partnership in the company. It seemed the youthful miscreant had done very well for himself.

  Using his age and name, Daniel then searched for a birth record for Dennis Travers, even though the on-line results would provide no details of his father. In the event, it told him more than he expected. There was only one Dennis Travers in the four-year search window the site used. Dennis S Travers had been born in Aldershot fifty-two years previously and his mother’s maiden name was also listed as Travers. Presumably the father was no longer in the picture, or perhaps, Daniel thought cynically, Edith Travers simply hadn’t known who the father was. Aldershot was, after all, a garrison town.

  If Dennie had indeed gone off the rails during his teens, it was not altogether to be wondered at; single mothers had not been socially accepted in those days and the boy might have had a difficult time growing up, especially if his mother had acquired something of a reputation. It was not surprising that he had invented a deceased banker as a father for the purposes of his marriage certificate. It was all supposition, Daniel had to admit, but it had the ring of truth about it.