DCI Isaac Cook Box Set 2

by Phillip Strang

  ‘I didn’t put it there.’

  ‘Your fingerprints are on the paintbrush that our crime scene examiners found in the laundry. Your continual denial does you no credit. We have sufficient proof for a conviction.’

  ‘Are my client’s fingerprints on the gun?’ the lawyer said.

  ‘No. The gun is clean,’ Isaac said.

  ‘Then you only have circumstantial evidence, not proof.’

  ‘No jury will accept that Mr Knox did not know the gun was in his flat, sealed behind a false façade, his fingerprints on the paintbrush, a pot of paint as well.’

  ‘My client will maintain his innocence.’

  ‘If that is what he wants. We’ve Archie Adamant in the other room. No doubt he’ll be more than happy to blame someone else.’

  ‘Mr Knox, why do you continue to deny this?’ Larry said. He could see Knox wavering, wanting to indicate to his lawyer that he was ready to confess, the lawyer pressing on his client’s arm to stay still and to let him deal with it.

  ‘My client has no more to say.’

  ‘He’s guilty, we can prove it, and if he doesn’t talk, then Adamant is going to place all the blame on him,’ Isaac said.

  ‘Very well, I killed Helen and Holden. I didn’t want to, but Adamant, he was insistent,’ Knox said.

  ‘You could have refused.’

  ‘I wanted to.’

  ‘Then why?’

  ‘Adamant knew about my cheating him on the money the club was making. He threatened me with the Aberman solution.’

  ‘You knew about Ben Aberman in the garden?’

  ‘I knew he was dead. I was never sure where he was buried, although I suspected it was the garden. Gus said it was, but with him, I could never be certain.’

  ‘Why weren’t you certain?’

  ‘Gus wasn’t the brightest, and maybe Adamant had told him to tell me, a warning.’

  ‘This is the older Adamant?’

  ‘Yes, Gerald. He was a tough bastard. Always nice to your face, the sort of man who’d help old ladies across the road. But the man had an evil side. He’d have enjoyed watching Aberman suffer, and then Ugly Pete shooting him in the head.’

  ‘Were you there?’

  ‘Not me. I didn’t have anything to do with Aberman’s death.’

  ‘Tell us about Archie Adamant.’

  ‘He’s worse than the father. Gerald was likeable, but the son’s not. The son, he phoned me up, tells me that that Helen had murdered his father in cold blood. He wants revenge.’

  ‘Did he care that much about the father?’

  ‘Archie, I doubt it.’

  ‘How do you know all this?’

  ‘A week after Aberman died, Helen phoned me up. She had left the club by then. We met a few days later.’

  ‘You’ve known all these years?’

  ‘Not all of it, but over the years other bits of information have fallen into place. Helen, she’s confused, not sure what to do. We meet over a few weeks, formulate this plan.’

  ‘The death of Gerald Adamant?’

  ‘Helen, she’s a great actor. She knew she’d need to get close to the man, to make him suffer for what he had done.’

  ‘Did she love Aberman?’

  ‘He treated her well.’

  ‘Why did she phone you?’

  ‘You don’t get it, do you? Aberman’s dead, Helen’s still alive and so am I. Neither of us doubts that Gerald Adamant is capable of arranging someone’s death. We start spending more time together, end up sharing a bed. After a couple of months, the heat goes out of the romance.’

  ‘Romance?’

  ‘Not the best word,’ Knox said. ‘We’re thrown together by a mutual problem. There’s no one else we can confide in, and don’t say the police. If we had told you, we’d still be on the street, and Adamant would have dealt with us. The original plan wasn’t to kill Gerald Adamant, only to discredit him, expose him for what he was.’

  ‘What changed?’

  ‘Helen saw beneath the veneer. She realised that if he knew he had been engineered into marriage, he would react. She phoned me up the night of his death, told me that she has a task to complete. I told her not to, but she wasn’t listening. She hung up the phone. The next day, it’s in the newspapers and on the television that Adamant’s dead, and Helen’s been arrested for murder.’

  ‘Her death benefited you as much as Archie Adamant.’

  ‘Helen phoned me up two days before she died. She tells me she’s going to tell all she knows out of love for Holden, and for me to distance myself from London. I panicked, knowing full well that Adamant would start eliminating any potential witnesses, anyone who knew the truth, the same way his father had with Aberman. I met Archie, he told me I had to remove the threat.’

  ‘And you agreed?’

  ‘I had no option.’

  ‘There’s a flaw in your testimony,’ Isaac said.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘According to Daisy, the man she arranged for Gwendoline to take to the room in the hotel was a regular customer of hers.’

  ‘I’m keeping a watch on Helen. I see her meet Holden in Bayswater. They look more than friendly. I see them head to the hotel, the concierge inside keeping a close watch of who’s going in, who’s going out. I know Daisy’s into prostitution, and she uses the hotel.’

  ‘You’d been there with her?’

  ‘Once or twice. We go back a long time, and I get a special rate. I phone her up, tell her that I need to meet her in the next ten minutes. She’s not available, refers me to the other woman, not as attractive as Helen, not as agreeable as Daisy, but I’m not there for romance.’

  ‘Why didn’t you kill Gwendoline?’

  ‘I kill out of necessity, not pleasure. The woman Daisy supplied is unknown to me.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘The woman collapses on the bed after I drugged her, and I leave the room. Holden’s not locked his door.’

  ‘You enter the room?’

  ‘Old man Holden is going for his life. He doesn’t see me. Helen, she’s underneath. They’re both naked. Helen looks over at me. She realises why I’m there. She attempted to let Holden know what’s going on, but there’s no time. I shot him first, then her.’

  ‘How did you feel after murdering them?’

  ‘Sickened. I liked Helen, even thought it was love once, and, as for Holden, I had nothing against him. I did what was necessary.’

  ‘It sounds callous,’ Larry said.

  ‘I come up against scum every day. I’m one myself. Sometimes you have to do what you know is wrong. That was one of those occasions. After that, I walked out of the hotel and phoned Adamant.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Not a lot. He wants to stay behind the scenes, not talk to murderers.’

  ‘Barry Knox, you’re a self-confessed murderer. Are you willing to sign a confession?’

  ‘I have no option. I’m only sorry that Helen died.’

  ‘Daisy and the other prostitute?’

  ‘I’m sorry about them, but Daisy, she figured it out after a few days, phoned me up. I went over to her place, tried to reason with her. To her, Helen was a saint, and I had killed the woman.’

  ‘Gwendoline’s flatmate?’

  ‘I fancied meeting up with Gwendoline again. Macabre, I suppose, but the woman had been unconscious when I killed the other two. I phoned her up, she didn’t know it was me. My hair was longer, I even dyed it. We’re getting along fine until she remembers. After that, she’s out of that room fast.’

  ‘That’s when you went to where she lived?’

  ‘She panicked, dropped some papers out of her handbag. I can see the address, so I go out there. I knock on the door, another woman answers. She sees me there, recognises me from another time.’

  ‘You’d used her services?’

  ‘Once or twice. I knew I had to deal with her. I take her into her bedroom, pretend that it’s purely professional. She’s lying there preten
ding to be coy as I go through the seduction routine. I reach into the pocket of my jacket, pull out the gun and shoot her. Another one dead. Believe me, it becomes easier after the first couple.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘I get out of there.’

  ‘Someone shot Slater and his receptionist,’ Isaac said.

  ‘It wasn’t me. I’d met Slater a few times, and I knew he was involved with Aberman’s death, and that he and Gerald Adamant had a special relationship. Apart from that, I know no more. From what I read, it needed a professional shooter to execute the shot, is that correct?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I’m okay at close range, but with long distance, I’m not good. The army tried to train me as a sniper, so I know. You’ll need to look elsewhere for their murderer.’

  Chapter 28

  Archie Adamant was not going to be as easy to crack as Barry Knox had proved to be. The man sat in the interview room; to his side, Geoffrey Westfield, Queen’s Counsel. The legal man looked composed and well in control of the situation. Isaac did not like the look of him, knowing full well that he was going to cause trouble regardless of whether the client was innocent or guilty.

  ‘Mr Adamant, we have received a written confession from Barry Knox,’ Isaac said after the formalities had been dealt with.

  ‘Let me make it clear,’ the QC said. ‘My client, Mr Adamant, is a highly respected member of the community. He is not used to being brought to a police station in handcuffs. A formal complaint will be lodged.’

  ‘That is your prerogative,’ Isaac said. ‘However, there are serious allegations against your client. Allegations that hopefully he will be able to answer to our satisfaction.’

  ‘Very well, proceed.’ Isaac recognised an attempt by Westfield to commandeer the proceedings. He was not going to let it happen.

  ‘Mr Adamant, we can prove that your father, Gerald Adamant, was a criminal.’

  ‘Prove or hearsay?’ Westfield interjected.

  ‘Prove. He is no longer here to answer for his crimes, but his son is. Mr Adamant, you were a character witness for your father’s third wife, Helen. Is that correct?’

  ‘It is. I, and my brother and sister, never doubted her sincerity, her acting in self-defence. Our father was becoming unreasonable, unpredictable.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s in the records. He was starting to get old, he had a medical condition, and he didn’t like it. Helen was there for him to deny the ageing process.’

  ‘Did he marry her for love or for lust?’

  ‘Both. None of us objected.’

  ‘You did at first.’

  ‘We didn’t know who she was, although our father was smitten, more so than he had been with any woman for a long time.’

  ‘You must have known her history.’

  ‘Not then, and out of respect for our father, we did not hire private investigators to check.’

  ‘Why? A woman, young and provocative, entered into your house. Aren’t you suspicious?’

  ‘We were, but we’re not a poor family. If he wanted to squander some of his money on her, it did not concern us, as long as she made him happy.’

  ‘Did she?’

  ‘Yes, but this is well known. She proved to be the ideal wife, loving and caring, devoted to the causes he held dear to his heart.’

  ‘This is all very well,’ the QC said, ‘but why is my client here, and why the handcuffs? He’s not been charged with any crime.’

  ‘We had been forewarned that Mr Adamant was about to leave the country. In fact, there was a plane waiting for him not more than ten miles from his house.’

  ‘Is that an issue?’ Adamant said.

  ‘Not in itself, but the flight plan had been lodged at the last moment, and it was an executive jet on hire to you.’

  ‘I often use executive jets.’

  ‘We will be checking the financial records of your businesses and those of the charitable trust. Will we find any anomalies?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘We will also be questioning your brother and sister. Will they corroborate your story?’

  ‘They will, although Howard, he doesn’t want to become involved, and Abigail, she’s not interested.’

  ‘We’ve arrested two men in connection with the death of Ben Aberman. One of those men will state that your father gave the order for his murder.’

  ‘I don’t believe it. My father was a good man who helped others.’

  ‘He was not there when it happened. He was a man who controlled from a distance. Are you such a man?’

  ‘No. I have taken over my father’s interests, business and charitable, that’s all.’

  ‘Successfully?’

  ‘Not as successfully as my father, but both are sound.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘My father was a unique individual. People instinctively liked and trusted him. I do not have the ready ease he had. It’s my personality, and I can’t change it. I can only do what I feel is best for the Adamant family.’

  ‘Even if that includes murder?’

  ‘I must object,’ Westfield said. ‘You are not accusing my client of any crime, only questioning him. Where’s the proof that he’s done anything criminal?’

  ‘There are enough bodies. Mr Adamant is not the person, nor was his father, to commit any act of violence personally. That is always left to others. We can put forward a strong case showing that Gerald Adamant was behind the death of Ben Aberman. We can also show that Helen Langdon was aware of who killed Aberman and that she executed a plan to marry your father, and to ultimately kill him.’

  ‘That’s rubbish. You never saw the two of them together. I did. Helen loved my father. The verdict against her at the trial was erroneous. All three of us knew it, but they dragged up her past history, and she was damned.’

  ‘My client is not here to answer questions regarding his father,’ Westfield said.

  ‘We have a statement from Barry Knox, a man who has admitted to killing Helen Langdon, James Holden, and two prostitutes. He has stated that you were the person behind the scenes, giving the orders.’

  ‘For two prostitutes? What for?’

  ‘They’re collateral damage. One of them had figured out what was going on, and the flatmate of the other woman had identified Knox as the murderer. We can prove his guilt, and he has given us a full confession. Mr Adamant, yours is not so easy. You’ve inherited the skill of staying out of sight from your father,’ Isaac said. ‘Both Detective Inspector Hill and I were in Slater’s office when he and his receptionist were killed. Knox did not commit those murders, although you, Mr Adamant, are a good shot. Did you kill Slater, realising that he was getting scared, or he was the only one who could positively identify you?’

  ‘Objection,’ Westfield said. ‘This is conjecture, not proof.’

  ‘We will obtain the proof. There is enough evidence to overturn Helen Langdon’s acquittal. It will show her guilty of the murder of the man who ordered Ben Aberman’s death. We can also prove that Slater was at Aberman’s house when he signed the documents ceding his clubs to a company associated with your father. Mr Adamant, your defence is based on your father’s reputation. Within the next few months, that reputation will be shattered.’

  ‘It’s a tragedy what you are doing. My father helped a lot of people around the world.’

  ‘And that excuses him from prosecution?’

  ‘No, but you are wrong, and as Westfield said, it’s conjecture, not proof.’

  ‘A father’s reputation destroyed, even if you can prove it, does not alter the fact that a person is innocent until proven guilty,’ Westfield said.

  ‘The lofty pedestal of the father will be destroyed. It will be more difficult to prove that innocence, and we will have Knox accusing your client.’

  ‘Is that it?’ Westfield said.

  ‘For the present,’ Isaac said. ‘There is one other issue. We will be conducting a thorough search of the Adamant family home and its surro
undings.’

  ‘For what?’ Adamant said. ‘This farce has gone on long enough.’

  ‘Knox did not kill Slater and his receptionist; however, you, Mr Adamant, are a crack shot. We have records of you competing in various competitions in this country.’

  ‘I would request time to confer with my client,’ Westfield said.

  Isaac adjourned the interview.

  ‘What do you reckon?’ Goddard asked outside the interview room.

  ‘Guilt by association, that’s all,’ Isaac said. The three police officers were taking the opportunity to discuss the case.

  ‘We need his conviction,’ Goddard said. ‘Any chance of an arrest?’

  ‘We can hold him based on Knox’s statement. The proof is up to others.’

  The interview resumed, Adamant looking more at ease. His QC leant forward over the table. It was meant to intimidate; it did not work. ‘My client wishes to make a statement,’ he said.

  Adamant cleared his throat. ‘I, Archibald Adamant, am not responsible for the accusations levelled against me. My father, Gerald Adamant, a respected member of society, did, at all times, conduct his business affairs in accordance with the laws of this country. He has committed no crime. If he purchased certain clubs, they would have been part of a portfolio, as my father had no interest in places of disrepute. His wife, Helen, was a woman of good character, who myself, Abigail, my sister, and Howard, my younger brother, held in the highest esteem. The charges levelled against her were spurious and took her past lifestyle into account. She loved my father, he loved her. She acted in self-defence and served four years in jail before being acquitted. That acquittal was due to the efforts of James Holden, a believer in the rights of the poor and downtrodden. He arranged her release from jail, the overturning of the original conviction, and her rehabilitation into society.

  ‘The fact that she was in a hotel room with the man when they were both violently murdered does not impact on our fondness for the woman. Why she and James Holden were killed is unknown to me. I was not responsible for issuing a directive to Barry Knox, the manager of the Dixey Club. I knew the man, as I also knew Slater.

  ‘Barry Knox was, and still is, a character of disrepute. I know he had been using the club for prostitution as well as for the sale of drugs. Helen knew this as well, a possible reason for Knox to kill her. I was arrested and brought here in handcuffs. I object to this, and a formal complaint will be lodged. At no time was I planning to leave this country on a permanent basis, and I, as a free citizen, am able to choose my mode of transport as befits my status and my finances. I maintain that I am innocent of any charges levelled against me.’