Where There's A Will: Inspector Stone Mysteries #1

by Alex Carver

“More interesting,” Reid said in a satisfied tone, “is the maid, Gabby Johnson, who has a very relevant record.” Getting to his feet, he approached the large screen that dominated the left side of the briefing room’s main wall so he could bring up the information from his terminal. “As you can see, four years ago she received an eighteen-month sentence, suspended for a year, for her part in the kidnapping of a young boy; her partner in the kidnapping, who was also her boyfriend, received an eight-year sentence, later reduced to four years on appeal. He served twenty-nine months before being released on license. His license expires in three months and, according to probation records, he still lives with Gabby Johnson.”

  “Have you got anything else on them?” Stone asked, hoping that this would turn out to be a major lead. Gabby Johnson had been at the Keating residence when the kidnapping took place, and the three kidnappers were male, but Stone knew that the maid could still have been involved; she could have provided information to her boyfriend, and whoever he was working with, assuming they were the ones behind Alice Keating’s abduction.

  “Not yet, sir; I’m trying to get the records of the case to see if there’s something in there, but so far I’ve found nothing about any known accomplices who might be the other kidnappers. I’m also looking into people Rowan Manning was in prison with. It’s going to take some time to get it all together and go through it, though,” Reid apologised.

  “What about the former employees from Griffin Games’ headquarters?” Stone asked. “Have you had any luck with them?”

  “Nothing so far,” Reid admitted. “None of them have records, at least nothing worth mentioning; I’m still trying to trace them all, though, to be sure of their whereabouts at the time of the kidnapping. Of the seventeen names on the list, physical descriptions eliminate six of them; another five are eliminated because they’re female, that leaves six to be checked out. I’ve got two constables working on that right now; they’ve been able to confirm the whereabouts of three of them, they’re no longer potential suspects.

  “Once I’ve heard back about the last three, sir, I’ll get my report on your desk.”

  “Good work, Art.”

  32

  Stone was in his office, reading the reports from his various teams, when he received the summons. He had spoken to the DCI after the briefing earlier, so he couldn’t imagine what his superior needed to see him about urgently - if there had been any developments, he should have been notified before the DCI.

  “Nate, we’ve got a problem,” Collins said without preamble.

  Another one, Stone couldn’t help thinking - after an armed robbery, a hit-and-run, and a kidnapping in less than a week, he could only wonder what else had happened. “What sort of problem, sir?” he asked.

  “I understand Detective Grey told you he couldn’t find DS Mason earlier.” Stone responded in the affirmative. “Well he’s been found; it seems he was on the way to work when he witnessed a purse snatching – he left his car and gave chase; unfortunately, during the chase he fell down the steps of the East Walk Underpass, broke his leg and knocked himself out. While he was out of it, someone, presumably the purse snatcher, took his wallet and mobile, not to mention his keys, warrant card and cuffs.

  “Which is why we’ve only just found out where he is. Once he woke up, he was able to tell people who he is, and let us know where he is. He’s going to be out of action for about two months, perhaps longer, which, I’m afraid to say, means you’re going to have to take over the investigation into the festival robbery and the hit-and-run, while running the kidnapping.”

  “That’s not going to be easy, sir,” Stone said. He didn’t like the thought of trying to run two important investigations simultaneously.

  “I appreciate that, Nate, but there’s nothing to be done about it,” Collins told his inspector. “Both the festival robbery and the Keating kidnapping are too important to leave to a junior officer. I’m sure between you and Stephen you’ll manage.” He had confidence in Stone. “You’re both very good officers, and you’re making good progress with the kidnapping.”

  Stone recognised the compliment for the flattery it was, still, he accepted it with a nod of gratitude. “I’ll do my best, sir,” he said. “As will Stephen.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Now, you’d better check in with Grey, I believe he’s made some progress with the festival investigation.”

  Stone nodded. “Yes, sir, he called me earlier. He had a couple of witnesses come forward first thing this morning with a description of the car used in the hit-and-run, they were able to provide the license number of the vehicle, apparently.”

  “I know; things have progressed beyond that, however. I don’t know the details, you’ll have to check with Grey to get them, but I do know he’s been busy while we tried to locate Mason.”

  “Before you go,” Collins stopped Stone as he was heading for the door. “You should know, I was forced to release Ben Logan earlier, his solicitor was kind enough to point out that he had been in custody for twenty-four hours. I reviewed the evidence, but there wasn’t enough to charge him, or to justify keeping him for any longer.

  “I realise he’s almost certainly the second person from the festival,” he said quickly to forestall a protest that Stone showed no sign of actually making. “But right now there’s no evidence to back that up. I hope you also realise that there’s only five or six hours left for you to find enough evidence to charge Jerry Logan, and David Ashford; if you can’t they’ll have to be released as well.”

  “Surely there’s enough circumstantial evidence to justify holding Jerry for another twenty-four hours,” Stone said, “even if we can’t yet charge him.”

  Collins looked dubious. “I’ll review the evidence an hour before he has to be released,” he said. “But right now, I’ll probably order his release, unless you can come up with something more definite than you currently have – the identification of Jerry Logan from his tattoo is far too tentative, while the lack of a confirmed alibi means nothing, since you can’t prove he was involved with the robbery. “As for Mr Ashford – you have no evidence against him whatsoever.”

  Stone accepted that with a nod. “I’ll see what I can come up with between now and seven. Since Mason didn’t make it to work this morning, I believe Jerry Logan and Mr Ashford are still waiting to be questioned; I’ll make that a priority while Inspector Evans is able to keep an eye on things at the Keatings’, he should be able to handle anything that comes up until I can get there.”

  33

  While Burke was interviewing Julia Harris, who had recovered enough to be spoken to, Stone spoke to Grey. He listened without comment for half an hour while the younger detective told his superior about his visit to Paul Quilty. Only when Grey had finished his narration did Stone say anything.

  “The best thing you can do, Christian, is contact the DVLA directly; if Mr Quilty was telling the truth, you need to have someone at the DVLA check their records manually, it’s possible the transfer of title has simply been held up for some reason – it wouldn’t be the first time. There might have been a clerical error, something wrong with the paperwork sent in, or any number of other reasons why our system isn’t showing the transfer of title.”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll get straight on that,” Grey said with a nod. “Do you want me to do anything else?”

  Grey’s eagerness to help with the investigation made Stone feel very old, and wonder when he had become the slightly jaded and pragmatic inspector he was now. “Yes, when you’re finished with the DVLA, I want you to take a photograph of Jerry Logan and show it to Michael Powell, the eyewitness from the festival, and your two hit-and-run witnesses from this morning, Stone told him. “With luck they’ll be able to identify him positively.”

  Stone wondered at the smile that appeared on the younger man’s face, but before he could ask about it, he was given the answer.

  “I’ve already been to see both Lisa Grubb and Megan Drake with a photograph of Jerry Logan, s
ir,” Grey said, his demeanour revealing how pleased he was to have pre-empted his superior’s instructions. “I took copies of the mugshots taken yesterday evening when he was brought in for questioning; the pictures we have on file need updating – they don’t show the eagle he’s got on the side of his neck now.”

  Stone congratulated Grey on his initiative. “Were they able to identify Jerry Logan from the pictures?” he asked. He was tempted to cross his fingers while he waited for the answer.

  Grey nodded. “Yes, sir; Megan Drake was only about sixty percent certain it was him, but Lisa Grubb was positive, she recognised him straight away from the photographs.”

  “That’s good news. That gives us enough to charge him, though it still leaves us lacking evidence against his brother.” Stone was pleased. “Since Stephen’s still at the hospital, why don’t you sit in with me while I question Jerry. It’s doubtful he’ll say anything that will incriminate his brother, but he might just let something slip that will make it easier for us to get a conviction against him.

  “One thing, Christian,” he said before they headed for the interview room, where Jerry Logan was waiting with his solicitor. “The next time you go to question a possible suspect, no matter what they’re suspected of, but especially if it’s armed robbery or another violent crime, take backup with you. If Mr Quilty had been one of the blaggers, you could have found yourself facing someone with a sawn-off shotgun, and I would now be trying to explain to your next of kin why you were there alone. I really don’t like making next-of-kin calls, so I’d rather you didn’t put me in a position where I have to.”

  Suitably chastened, Grey nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  34

  “Before we begin this interview, inspector,” Harrison Neale, Jerry Logan’s solicitor, said the moment Grey finished setting up the recording system. “I wish to protest the way in which my client has been treated; Mr Logan has been in custody for almost twenty hours now, and this is the first time anyone has shown any interest in questioning him. His brother, as I’m sure you’re aware, was released several hours ago, without charge, when he reached the end of his twenty-four hours in custody and you failed to find any evidence to connect him to the crimes you believe him guilty of.”

  Stone let the solicitor finish his protest and then he spoke, “I’m sorry that Mr Logan has had to wait so long to be questioned, Mr Neale; when he was first brought in, he was judged to be under the influence of alcohol, and the decision was made to let him sober up overnight before being questioned. Unfortunately, the officer who was to question him this morning is indisposed; since that’s the case, I’ve been assigned to take over the case.” He gave the solicitor a chance to respond, and when he didn’t, Stone got on with the interview. “Mr Logan, you understand you have been arrested on suspicion of armed robbery, and of dangerous driving, of leaving the scene of an accident, and of failing to report said accident – an accident that left an elderly gentleman in a coma.”

  Jerry regarded the inspector silently for a short while before nodding curtly.

  “For the record,” Grey said, “Mr Logan has just nodded.”

  “The robbery I mentioned,” Stone went on, “took place on Sunday night, at approximately one-forty-five, and the hit-and-run occurred approximately half an hour later; can you tell me where you were at those times, Mr Logan?”

  “Sure, I was with my brother and our friend, Ash, the guy was arrested with me yesterday by that idiot DS.”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  Logan looked round at his solicitor, who gave a barely perceptible nod, and then answered. “We were all at Ash’s place, we were there from about one, perhaps a little after, until the next morning.”

  Stone accepted that with a nod. “Is there anyone, other than your brother and Mr Ashford, who can confirm where you were?” he asked.

  Logan said with a nod, “Before we got to Ash’s we stopped at a takeaway a street or so away.”

  A smile played about Stone’s lips when he heard Logan’s answer. “Both your brother and Mr Ashford said the same thing when they were questioned,” he told the younger man and his solicitor. “We checked it out when Ben told us his alibi; do you know what we learned?”

  Logan shook his head. Outwardly, he looked as relaxed and unconcerned as he had previously, there was worry and doubt in his eyes, however. He might not know what had been learned but he knew it couldn’t be good.

  “We found that none of the staff at Nando’s, that’s the takeaway, remember either you, your brother, or Mr Ashford, not even when shown photographs of the three of you. We also found that you don’t show up on the footage recorded by the CCTV at the takeaway, or any of the cameras that cover the streets you and your companions might have taken to get from The Horse and Jockey pub to Mr Ashford’s house.” Stone let that sink in. “Your alibi is worthless, Mr Logan, worse than worthless, it’s an out and out lie. Might I suggest that you do yourself a favour, confess, tell us the name of your partner, and where we can find the money, the guns, and the car you used; if you do, I’ll do my best to ensure you get the fairest deal the CPS can offer.

  “Before you say no, I suggest you speak to your solicitor. If you’d like, I can give you some privacy.”

  Logan’s conversation with his solicitor lasted for a quarter of an hour, and then Stone and Grey returned to the interview room. Stone looked expectantly at Logan, but it was Neale who answered him, and the answer was not the one he had thought it would be.

  “My client declines your offer to incriminate himself, inspector,” Neale said. “Your opinion that his alibi is worthless, simply because you can’t verify it, is merely that, an opinion; you have not, so far, presented either myself or my client with any evidence linking him to the crimes you are accusing him of. Unless you can provide such evidence, I suggest you let Mr Logan go; you can either do so now, or in a few hours when your twenty-four hours is up.”

  “How about an identification, Mr Neale,” Stone said. “Would you consider that evidence linking him to these crimes? Because your client has been identified as being at the scene of the robbery.”

  Neale’s smile broadened, and became more of an arrogant sneer. “My client told me about his being identified at the scene of the robbery, inspector, apparently you mentioned it the other day; I hardly think a witness statement from someone who saw a tattoo similar to the one my client recently had done on his neck, a tattoo I am assured was selected from a catalogue, which means it is far from unique to my client, is sufficient evidence to link Mr Logan to the robbery. It is not, in my opinion, sufficient to hold Mr Logan, let alone charge him, and it certainly isn’t sufficient to get a conviction.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, an identification of Mr Logan’s tattoo is not enough.” Stone paused for a moment, and then he went on. “How about two witnesses, though, from different crime scenes, who both identified Jerry Logan from photographs they were shown; we have one witness who was almost run down by Mr Logan as he and his partner left the field where the Rock Radio Music Festival was held, and we have a second witness, who identified both Mr Logan and the car he was driving just a street away from where Mr Bollard was run down. This second witness is able to testify that your client was driving very recklessly.

  “If that isn’t enough for you, Mr Neale, we also have fingerprints, matched to those we have on record for Mr Logan, Jerry I mean, from the scene of the robbery. That should give us a better than evens chance of getting a conviction, don’t you think.” Stone sat back and crossed his arms, a small look of satisfaction on his face as he gave Logan and his solicitor a full minute to think about his words. “Would you like to reconsider my previous offer now?” he asked. “If you confess, and tell me who your accomplice was, I’ll make sure you get full credit for cooperating when it comes to sentencing.”

  Logan’s answer amounted to two words, the second of which was ‘You’.

  35

  The investigation into the festival robbery and h
it-and-run was far from over; it was a relief to Stone, however, to be able to charge Jerry Logan and have him recalled for a breach of his license, to await trial in prison. It was an important first step. Now, they had to find the car, which was likely to provide them with the evidence they needed to prove Ben Logan was his brother’s partner in the robbery.

  Ashford, he believed, was the brothers’ alibi, but the CPS weren’t willing to charge him, and so he was released, after being interviewed in case he could or would provide any useful information.

  With those two interviews out of the way, and the robbery case advanced, Stone was now on his way to speak to the Keatings’ maid, Gabby Johnson, in the hopes of making progress in the kidnapping. Grey had been eager to come with him and be a part of this interview, but Stone had instead assigned him to help DC Reid check out the former employees of Griffin Games.

  Stone found Burke already at his destination when he pulled up outside of Johnson’s house. “How did it go with Julia Harris and the chauffeur?” he asked, joining his partner. He didn’t suppose Burke had learned much, if he had he would have called in with the information, but there was always a chance.

  Burke shook his head. “Neither of them could tell me anything we didn’t already know. In both cases, it was all over with too quickly, apparently, for them to take in too much in the way of details. In Julia’s case, all she saw was masked faces and gloved hands, though she was able to tell me, after a bit of pushing, that she saw white wrists above the gloves of the man who reached into the Bentley for Alice.”

  “Not all that helpful,” Stone remarked; he hadn’t expected much, so he wasn’t disappointed, though he had been hopeful. “But it does tell us that at least one member of the trio is Caucasian, that’s better than nothing.”

  He turned away from his partner then, and made his way up the path to Gabby Johnson’s front door.

  “Hello, inspector,” Gabby Johnson said, showing no surprise at finding the police on her doorstep. “I wondered when you’d come to see me.”