Call to Arms
Page 15
‘We did.’
‘He gave them to me for my birthday. I couldn’t believe it – it was obvious they weren’t a cheap knockoff. I was embarrassed, to be honest. His birthday had been four months before that, and all I could afford to get him were some books and a nice cashmere scarf I’d seen online.’ She pulled a paper tissue from the pocket of her coat and blew her nose. ‘Anyway, once I got over the shock, I quite liked the idea of being spoilt like that. I was working that night – it was a Friday – and it was fun flashing them under the noses of some of the women. You should’ve seen their faces.’
‘When did it go wrong? We heard that you and Jamie had an argument sometime after he gave you the earrings.’
Her bottom lip trembled. ‘It was a while after he gave them to me. He was already back in Afghanistan. I don’t know why, but I thought I’d better get them valued. I’ve never owned anything like it, and my mum mentioned to me that we ought to look at getting them put on the home and contents insurance. I’ve never been so shocked in my life. They were worth a fortune. Of course, then I started worrying about how he’d afforded them in the first place. I knew he didn’t earn much in the Royal Logistics Corps, so it didn’t make sense.’
As tears welled in the woman’s eyes, Kay pushed a fresh box of tissues across the table to her.
Amber nodded her thanks, composed herself, and then continued.
‘I confronted him in the pub one morning after he’d returned to England. I didn’t think anybody had heard us – I waited until his friend had gone out to his car. I’d been psyching myself up all day to speak to him, and he was on his way back to the barracks, so I was almost out of time. He told me that I shouldn’t worry about it, but there was plenty more money where that came from. He said that people depended on him. He said that he wanted to make a life for us together, and that wasn’t going to happen on army pay.’
She dabbed at her eyes. ‘Of course, by then everyone had heard the rumour about the drugs bust at the barracks. I put two and two together, and realised he’d probably been involved, so I asked him. He didn’t deny it – he almost seemed proud of the fact that he had outsmarted everyone. I was livid. I threw the earrings back at him and told him he had to stop, that he had to tell his commanding officer what he knew about the smuggling operation, but I think by then it was too late. He seemed terrified. I’ll never forget it. He said, “I can’t back out. They’ll kill me”.’
Thirty-Seven
Several hours later, Kay held her head in her hands and shivered as the cassette tape whirred in the machine.
There was nothing wrong with the heating now – the contractors had finally fixed the fault, and the room temperature was returning to normal. Instead, it was the voice emanating from the loudspeakers that sent a chill down her spine.
DCI Simon Harrison had been a detective constable at the time of Jamie Ingram’s death, and as she progressed through the recording of him interviewing Glenn Boyd the day after the motorcycle accident, bile rose in her throat while she listened to the man who used her to trap Jozef Demiri, and nearly got her killed in the process.
She could hear the sneer in his voice as he questioned Boyd about Jamie’s riding skills and put it to him that he had been speeding without due care and attention for the road conditions.
Boyd seemed to accept Harrison’s suggestion, and Kay cursed under her breath at the detective’s poor witness interview techniques.
Earlier, Amber Fitzroy had waited in the relative warmth of the reception area while her statement had been typed up, and Kay had asked her if she had plans to stay in the area for a couple of days, in case the investigating team had further queries.
Amber had agreed willingly to Kay contacting her again if she needed to. ‘I’d made arrangements with Mark for him to get his mum to look after the kids before I left because he couldn’t get time off work. I’m staying at the Hilton in Bearsted for a couple of nights – I thought I might see if I could call in to see Michael and Bridget while I’m here.’ She dropped her gaze. ‘I can’t believe it’s been ten years. I really should have contacted them before now. The problem was, I never really knew what to say to them after Jamie died. He never got the chance to introduce me to them when he was alive, and I was too embarrassed by that to go to Jamie’s funeral. I want to apologise to them.’
A thought had struck Kay at the woman’s words. ‘One of Jamie’s friends mentioned that he was planning on asking you to marry him.’
A sad smile had crossed Amber’s lips. ‘It’s true. He told me as much that last time we argued.’
‘Did his family know?’
‘I don’t think so, no.’
After making sure Amber signed her statement, and swapping mobile phone numbers with her, Kay had excused herself and returned to the incident room, collecting copies of the tapes from Harrison’s previous investigation and returning to the interview room in the hope of listening to them without being disturbed.
She sighed, and threw her pen onto the table as the interview with Glenn Boyd finished. Ejecting the tape, she returned it to its plastic case, and lined it up alongside the others.
After two hours, she was none the wiser about Jamie’s drug dealing business, his buyer, or his killer.
She rocked back on her chair and rubbed the back of her neck. She knew she should rest; her thoughts were going around in circles, and she needed to take a break. Checking her watch, she was surprised to see that it was already six o’clock.
Gathering up the paperwork and the box of tapes, she made her way back to the incident room and dumped the cassettes on Debbie’s desk.
‘Any luck?’ said the police officer, sliding the box out of her way.
Kay shook her head. ‘I thought I might have missed something the first time around. I was wrong.’
‘Ah, well. Worth checking, I suppose.’
‘Guv?’
Kay glanced over her shoulder, to see Carys waving her over.
She held up a manila folder as Kay approached. ‘I finished those searches about Giles Stockton.’
‘Please, tell me you found something.’
‘I hit the jackpot,’ said Carys, a broad grin on her face.
Kay sank into a spare chair as she took the folder. ‘What do you mean?’
‘A little under eleven years ago, Stockton was pulled over at a routine traffic stop on the A26 west of Wateringbury.’
‘Drink driving?’
‘No – but the attending officer reported Stockton was in an agitated state, and being evasive when questioned. They searched the car, and found some cannabis in the glove compartment.’
Kay’s heart skipped a beat. ‘How much?’
‘Enough for personal use only, but he was expected to appear before a magistrate six weeks later.’
‘“Expected to”? What happened?’
Carys leaned over and tapped her finger on the final paragraph of the pages she’d printed out. ‘The charges were dropped two weeks before he was due in court.’
‘What? How?’
‘Someone intervened and requested that the matter be reviewed. A new detective was tasked with the job, and the charges were then dropped.’
Kay’s eyes narrowed. ‘Who was the investigating officer?’
‘Simon Harrison.’
Thirty-Eight
‘How the hell do those two know each other?’ said Kay.
‘I was thinking about that, and then I wondered if perhaps it’s something to do with that event at the Hop Farm,’ said Carys. ‘The one we know Stockton attended with Jamie Ingram.’
‘Do you think that’s the first time they met, or did they know each other beforehand?’
Carys shrugged. ‘There’s nothing else in the system.’
‘All right,’ said Kay. ‘Get onto the Hop Farm. Request a copy of all attendees that were there that night. The place has been doing events like this for years, so I’m hoping they keep all the records on their system for marketing purposes.’
�
�Will do.’
Kay rose from her seat and checked her watch. ‘Great work, by the way. Call them in the morning – there’ll be no-one there now who can help you, and I want you back here early to follow up your theory. Let me know as soon as you have anything.’
‘Thanks, Kay. No problem.’
Kay wandered back to her desk and texted Adam.
She had one more thing to do before heading home, and she was determined to make some headway in the investigation.
* * *
Rebecca Sharp opened the door moments after Kay rang the doorbell, and smiled when she saw the detective.
‘Hi, Kay. Is Devon expecting you?’
Kay wiped her feet on the mat and waited while Rebecca closed the door. ‘No – sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you both. I wondered if I could have a quick word with him.’
‘I won’t be dishing up dinner for another forty minutes. Come on through – he’s in the office.’
Kay followed Rebecca through the house and into the couple’s dining room, which Sharp had transformed into an office for himself.
He rose from his chair, his hand outstretched. ‘Everything okay?’
‘I wondered if I could have a word?’
Rebecca smiled, and turned on her heel. ‘I’ll leave you two to it.’
‘Sorry, Bec. I won’t keep him long,’ said Kay.
Sharp waited until the door closed behind her, then gestured to Kay to take the spare chair under the window.
‘Thanks.’
‘What’s going on?’
Kay took a deep breath before continuing. ‘Did you know that Jamie Ingram and Giles Stockton knew each other?’
His brow furrowed. ‘No, I didn’t. How did you find out?’
‘Carys found a photograph taken of the two of them at an event at the Hop Farm. Some sort of charity event. Do you know if Jamie introduced Giles to Natalie before he died?’
‘No. As far as I was aware, Natalie met Giles a couple of years after Jamie’s death at a friend’s party in Wateringbury.’
‘You’re absolutely sure?’
‘Yes. She was over the moon about him when they met – she insisted on introducing him to me and Rebecca at the same time as her parents. We were having lunch together at the farm, and she brought him over as a guest.’ He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. ‘Why?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m not sure at the moment. We’re still looking into it, and I don’t understand it all yet. Were you aware that Simon Harrison had got Giles Stockton off charges of cannabis possession a few months before Jamie’s death?’
Sharp’s mouth thinned. ‘I wasn’t with the police then, as you know. And, no – I didn’t.’
Kay rose from her chair, unable to sit still. Leaning against the door, she cast her eyes over the commendations and photographs from Sharp’s military career and subsequent rise through the Kent Police ranks.
‘The thing is, Devon, I have three people who are all connected – Jamie, Giles Stockton, and Simon Harrison. I have a supplier – Jamie, with his army colleague Carl Ashton; I have a potential buyer in Giles, and I have a crooked detective who might have covered for them. What I don’t have is a motive for Stockton or Harrison to kill Jamie. What could they possibly have gained by doing that?’
Sharp straightened, and he cleared his throat. ‘Maybe you need to look at this a different way. Maybe it’s not about who had the most to gain, but who had the most to lose if Jamie was out of the way.’
Kay pushed away from the door and picked up her bag. ‘Thanks, guv. I think it’s time we formally interviewed Giles Stockton.’
Thirty-Nine
Kay pushed through the door to the incident room the next morning with a renewed focus.
She placed her take-out coffee cup next to her desk phone and switched on her computer before removing her coat and hanging it over the back of her chair.
The rest of the team began to filter in as the clock on the wall drew closer to eight o’clock, and an hour later, the room was filled with the buzz of activity as different investigations were progressed.
Carys leapt from behind her desk moments after her computer beeped with the sound of an arriving email and headed towards Kay, her excitement palpable.
‘The Hop Farm sent over the guest list for that event Jamie Ingram went to,’ she said, handing Kay a printout. ‘Simon Harrison is on there as well.’
Kay scanned the list until she saw his name. ‘That’s brilliant, well done.’
She handed back the printout, and called across the room to Debbie.
‘Did you manage to get hold of Giles Stockton?’
‘He’s booked in for interview in about twenty minutes,’ the uniformed officer said. ‘He’s bringing his solicitor with him.’
‘Thanks, Debbie.’
‘How do you want to approach this?’ said Carys.
‘With care. He’s already confirmed to us that he met Jamie at that event, so we need to get that on the record. I want to find out how they first met, and why those charges were dropped against him. Then, I need to find out what the connection is between him and Simon Harrison.’
The phone on her desk began to ring, and she leaned across to answer it.
‘We’ll be right down.’ She replaced the receiver, and turned to Carys. ‘Stockton and his solicitor are here. I’ll lead, but give me a signal if there’s something you want to ask him.’
They made their way down to the reception area, signed in Stockton and introduced themselves to his solicitor, a man who Kay hadn’t met before, but immediately took a dislike to after shaking hands with him and having her fingers crushed.
She glared at the back of his head as Carys led them through to the interview room, and then waited while they took their seats.
Carys switched on the recording equipment before Kay read out the formal caution.
Kay pushed across the photograph of Stockton with Jamie Ingram at the Hop Farm. ‘Please confirm for the record that this picture shows you with Jamie Ingram.’
‘That’s correct.’
‘When was this taken?’
‘About six months before he died, at a private fundraising event.’
‘How did you meet Jamie Ingram?’
‘At a Chamber of Commerce meeting. We were approached by the woman organising this fundraiser, and agreed to attend. Jamie’s father wasn’t interested – not his thing, he said. My father was still alive back then, and donated one of the raffle prizes. A day out at the races, if I recall correctly. All good fun.’
‘You say that Jamie’s father wasn’t interested in attending. Did you know Michael Ingram at that time?’
‘No – I was simply paraphrasing what Jamie told me at the time.’
‘What did you and Jamie discuss at the event?’
He snorted. ‘Honestly, Detective, I can’t remember. It was years ago. Can you remember what you talked about ten or eleven years ago?’
She ignored the question. ‘Did you socialise with Jamie a lot?’
‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t even know this photograph existed until you showed it to me.’
‘Do you try to avoid being photographed, Mr Stockton?’
The solicitor cleared his throat. ‘I fail to see what that question has to do with your current enquiries.’
Kay kept her gaze levelled at Stockton, refusing to react to the solicitor’s protests. Instead, she opened the folder she had brought with her, and slid Stockton’s original charge sheet across the table to him. She tapped the page.
‘You were arrested for possession of cannabis before Jamie died.’
Stockton flung his hands up in the air. ‘This is outrageous. Those charges were dropped before it even got to court.’
‘Yes, and I’d like to understand the reason why.’
‘I don’t know – you’ll have to ask Harrison.’
Kay smiled as Stockton’s face paled when he realised his mistake. She took the charge sheet from him, and r
eturned it to the folder before closing the flap and resting her hands on it.
‘How long have you known Simon Harrison?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Stockton’s fingers played with the knot of his tie, the colour returning to his face.
‘Two weeks before you were due to appear at Maidstone magistrates’ court facing charges of cannabis possession, Simon Harrison conducted a case review that resulted in those charges being dropped against you. How much did you pay him?’
The solicitor slammed his hand on the table and leaned forward. ‘You had better have evidence to support that accusation, Detective.’
‘It’s okay, Andrew.’ Stockton turned his focus back to Kay. ‘I didn’t pay anyone, and I have no idea why the charges were dropped. What I do know is that I am truly grateful that I got a second chance. I made a stupid mistake and it nearly cost me my career.’
‘Are you in the habit of taking drugs on a regular basis, Mr Stockton?’
The solicitor rose from his seat and placed a hand on his client’s shoulder. ‘Don’t answer that.’ He turned to Kay, a sneer on his face. ‘Detective, are you going to charge my client with something?’
Kay shook her head, but kept her gaze levelled at Stockton. ‘No. We’re done. For now.’
* * *
‘How did it go, Kay?’
Barnes joined her at the window of Sharp’s office and jerked his chin at the retreating figures of Giles Stockton and his solicitor as they walked to their cars.
‘We’ve got him, Ian. He’s on the record now acknowledging he knew Jamie Ingram for about six months before he died. Then he slipped up, and confirmed before I asked him that Simon Harrison arranged to drop the cannabis possession charges against him.’
‘Where does that leave us?’
She bit her lip while the solicitor shook hands with Stockton before he climbed into his vehicle and drove out of the police station car park.
Stockton remained standing next to his vehicle, his hands in his pockets as he glared at the back door to the building.