“What are we going to do about my flat and car?”
John lent forward putting his arms on the table and told her exactly what was to happen that evening. She could not think of anything more ridiculous under the circumstances, but was coming to the conclusion that he knew what he was doing plus her Father trusted him so, ‘hey ho’. He asked to use the phone just one more time and she just waved her hand in surrender as if to say, ‘Yeah, whatever’ and went for another short walk to the ridge to admire the view again.
This time her thoughts turned to Tennyson and she remembered his words: ‘You came and looked and loved the view, long known and loved by me, Green Sussex fading into blue with one grey glimpse of sea’ and she could see exactly what he meant.
When he had finished the call, she walked back and he gave her the phone saying, “Don’t let it out of your sight for the time being, we don’t want it tampered with again. The charge should last a few days and can be boosted from the car power socket if need be. Now to Barnham.”
51
Friday 10th June 2011
They went back to the car and John put the little silver box back in its protective foam and then put the wooden box back in the boot wedging it between the other bags holding it securely in place. Alison pulled her seat belt tight, pushed herself as far back into the seat as possible and had hold of the grab handle with her left hand and the edge of her seat with her right ready to be slung about as they retraced their tracks down the pot holed road. John drove so slowly along drifting nonchalantly from side to side missing the majority of the holes that it hardly caused the cars suspension to consider operating. When they reached the main tarmacadam road, she relaxed and let go of the handle and the seat knowing full well that her caution had been superfluous and seen by John. Both were inwardly laughing.
On the way, they spoke about the murder and Alison was of the opinion they were struggling until John just happened to mention the bird box. She looked hard at him as he drove and confirmed her assessment that he was the most infuriating person other than her Father that she had ever had the misfortune to come across. He didn’t appear to ever take an insult to heart which often had the effect of annoying a protagonist even more. Like her Father, she hadn’t seen him lose his temper or even hear him swear other than a few mealy-mouthed expletives that wouldn’t bother a nun. She would have loved to have emulated their traits but thought it may be an attribute that came with age. John told her of the night he spent in the barn and mentioned the headlights of the two vehicles slowing to practically a halt by the bungalow.
She scowled at him. “Are you really such a dinosaur? Have you ever heard of the internet? Don’t you know what a flash download is?”
“I’m proud to be regarded as a dinosaur. Did you know they were on the Earth for millions of years longer than we humans have been its occupants? Yes, I do know what a computer is and I have a rough idea of how it is connected with a modem to communicate with the internet. Not a clue what a flash download is though. Pray, enlighten me.”
Her eyes bore into the side of his head as he stared forward ostensibly concentrating on his driving. Then Alison explained in words not quite of single syllables how it worked.
To push her explanation home, “Just imagine. A camera could be placed, for example, in a bird box, and it could record a timed video file. Normally a day or two would be recorded at a time. A person with a laptop would approach, for instance in a vehicle. Then as long as the right electronics were paired and when the receiving equipment calls for it, it would send it wirelessly as a ‘flash’ download to the receiver’s computer. To be sure of receiving the full video, a vehicle carrying the receiving equipment would have to stop or pass by very slowly. Say for illustration, at the end of a drive.”
Her voice had risen towards a slight crescendo as she spoke. “Do I detect some sarcasm there?”
“Oh yes, you unquestionably do!”
Still looking at him as he drove, she said, “You probably wasted your whole night in that barn.”
He glanced at her and said, “Has that made you happier?”
“Bloody ecstatic!”
“It’ll make you even happier then knowing I’ll be in the barn tonight.”
“I’ll be dancing for joy!”
She was smiling so much that when they arrived at the bungalow Jimmy could not help but notice and comment. They all went inside to wait for the engineer and Alison stole a long glance down the garden from the conservatory. She saw the bird box but the hole just looked black with no camera visible.
No shivers from her now.
52
Friday 10th June 2011
The engineer arrived and asked, as instructed, explicitly for Jimmy who identified himself with a flourish of his warrant card and with an air of superiority, implied he was the person ‘running the show’. They all crowded around the alarm control box and input key pad with trepidation.
As he was the expert he was afforded more room and looking at the key pad, he said, “Does anyone know the code?”
None knew the actual code and Jimmy again exerted his authority by declaring that he had been assured that as an expert it was something he could establish. Unfastening a small metal case full of tools, Joe, the engineer, removed the front panel of the alarm control box using a key from a bunch of about thirty that were rattling about in the bottom of it. Dropping the panel on the floor, several irate but frightened spiders made a dash for cover. Now playing slightly for those present, he looked at the electronics and hummed and ha’d to himself and rubbed his chin as if calculating a major mathematical conundrum.
Then as if it had come to him in a vision from above, he said, “Yes,” and started tapping the keys on the key pad. Within a minute he rattled off four numbers which Jimmy recorded as the code.
Had the truth be known, Joe knew the ‘back door’ code of the alarm the minute he saw the box affixed to the outside of the bungalow as he drove up the drive. With that knowledge, he knew before he even walked into the kitchen that he could find the code that was programmed. Joe was an expert with alarms and often got called by the Police for help and was aware that he was the first choice for any callout and was determined to maintain his premier status. Still milking what he considered his silently appreciated applause he stared at the electronics inside the box.
“Yes. Dear me!” Taking a small insulated screwdriver from his case and placing the point into the innards of the control box, he said, “Look.”
Jimmy, John and Alison all strained to see what he was pointing at. Before they spotted anything, Joe appeared to be speaking rhetorically.
“Well. What do you make of that?”
He didn’t have to wait long. Jimmy jumped straight into his trap.
“What?”
“That wire is disconnected. Plain as day. It has been deliberately disconnected. Can’t come undone by itself.”
They all kept scrutinising the inner workings of the box. The harder they looked, the less they saw.
“No moving parts, no strain on the wire. Fancy that!”
All three kept studying the wiring indicated and could just make out a small wire that looked exactly as they believed it should have looked.
“Strange.” More chin rubbing. “Been disconnected and then the wire cut back to the sleeve.”
John was now sure it had something to do with the panic alarm in the lounge and said so. Joe had now seized command.
“Come on,” and set off with John in his wake and led the way into the lounge. He picked up and armed the panic button with a key from his pocket and told John to press it only when he called and not before.
Joe had hijacked absolute management now from Jimmy who just stood gawking at the innards of the control box. He was none the wiser as to what he was seeing and the longer he stared, the more confused he became. It could have been the workings from a doorbell or the latest space craft for all he could decipher. Joe was a portly man having lived a sedentary lif
estyle but his fingers were long and thin and were extremely dextrous. They were in the box swiftly working now on the practically invisible wire and connecting it to its appropriate station. John stood in front of the fire where George had gasped his last breath holding the panic alarm as Alison walked in.
“God knows what he’s doing with that alarm. By the way, you look a right lemon standing there holding that.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime” and she sat down on the sofa. Two minutes later, John heard the engineers yell: and pressed the button.
A piecing oscillating siren erupted from the alarm control box temporarily deafening Jimmy who was still standing right next to it. Joe had expected and anticipated the racket it would make and hurriedly punched the code into the key pad to silence it. He joined John and Alison in the lounge and re-armed the panic button and again reiterated his instruction to John to press it only when he called. The yell came and John pressed the button: nothing, not a whimper.
“Yes is the answer to your question. It is the panic button wire” shouted the engineer who knew he would be making a statement and knew the Police were prompt payers who never quibbled at his allegedly exorbitant bills. So, Joe was happy to help as best he could and remain the engineer of choice for Sussex Police.
Jimmy had regained a bit of his hearing having been momentarily deafened due to his proximity to the internal bell and asked Joe if the external alarm bell had activated as it should have.
Joe with some disdain said, “Didn’t you hear it? It was loud enough.”
John and Alison walked back into the hallway as Joe was crouched down tidying up his tools in his case. Thanking him for his help John asked him when he thought the alarm was last serviced.
Still with his attention directed at his case, Joe said, “I can only say that it was in 2011 by someone called ‘Gary’.”
All three stared at the back of Joe’s head and Alison said, “How on earth do you know that?”
Joe stood up and pointed to the front panel of the control box which was still lying on the floor and said, “When an alarm is serviced, the engineer should put their contact number, date and sign and print their name on a pad. There’s a piece of paper stuck on the inside of that panel with all the service dates and engineers details. The last one is incorrectly completed by ‘Gary’ who serviced it this year. No proper contact details, name or date. Simple.”
Alison picked up the panel using gloves and handling it only on the very edge turned it over to find the paper stuck firm. A list of sixteen previous engineers were recoded correctly and the last was ‘Gary’. Joe expressed sadness that a member of his profession was unable to follow basic procedures by filling out four easy boxes. There were sixteen people that had managed it and even the most illiterate engineer could surely have looked at how they had achieved it and used their efforts as a guide.
Then, “Mind you, he couldn’t be very competent if he’d left that wire like that.” Both John and Alison were not at all surprised at ‘Gary’s’ competency as both were now forming an opinion.
Jimmy and the engineer sat at the dining table and at his dictation, Jimmy wrote the statement which was a detailed account from the arrival to the present time and the incidents between as recalled by Joe.
John and Alison went into the lounge and down to the conservatory where Alison said in hushed tones, “I can’t see it.”
“It would be a useless bit of kit if you could. You don’t need to whisper by the way, I have checked and there’s nothing in the house.”
Alison asked him how they were going to be able to trace ‘Gary’ if indeed it was his true name. John was not too sure, and told her he knew there was no paperwork relating to the burglar alarm inside the house.
He mused aloud, “Has it been deliberately removed? Possibly. Is Gary the person who put the bird box up? Possible. Did he undo the wire? Likely. Why? Did he kill George? No idea.”
She looked at him and said, “For once, we’re both on the same wavelength. There is just one other question I’d like to add: are the murder and my burglary related in any way?”
“No. I can categorically say no.”
John was still discussing the case with himself but loud enough for Alison to hear, “Did he pay for the service by cheque? Look at bank account. Did he use a credit card? Check what we know or credit agency. Go through all burglar alarm engineers listed with yellow pages or Thompson’s for a ‘Gary’. Jobs for Paul. Check internet. Job for Alison. Sit in cold barn all night to see who drives slowly by. See if someone sets off ‘trembler’. Job for an idiot.”
“I completely concur with all that. Now is it too soon to go and get some decent food.”
53
Friday 10th June 2011
They sat in the car on the drive once he had pulled past the spruce with the ‘eye’ in the bird box, and both looked at the Sat Nav as Alison was given a lesson on how it worked. John told her that Ian was working on some new equipment for her car which would be a lot more modern and sophisticated than the stuff in his. Claiming her little Fiesta only had a small glove box, she couldn’t work out how Ian could conceal the Sat Nav.
John’s simple answer was, “Just because something is in plain sight does not mean it’s visible.”
Alison was bemused. ‘Another stupid statement’ she thought. ‘Pointless pursuing it’ but she just couldn’t help herself.
“Whose quote is that then? Holmes, Maigret, Poirot, or some other fictional character?”
“No. It’s mine. Feel free to use it if you want.”
“You’re so bloody insufferable. I think you’re as bad as my Dad.”
She learnt quickly, manipulating the Sat Nav with ease. Throughout the country, the younger generation seemed to be so much savvier with modern technology. They picked it up like they were born to it whereas the older generation had had their moments many years earlier and were now quietly proud it was their children’s turn. John not being actually old, just a dinosaur and proud of it.
Both saw that Simon was approaching Arundel on the A27 and appeared to be moving quickly towards Chichester. He was going to be in position a lot earlier than expected. She expanded the view and saw Ian’s car was moving about near the M20 and John searched for and found her Dad’s car travelling along the A3 towards the M25.
“You can speak to him if you want.”
“No thanks. I don’t need a lecture now.”
She asked about the box with the aerial and how it worked to which he said he had “No idea. I turn it on, green is safe, amber is a tracker and red a listening device. It only works accurately up to five yards. The paddle up to about two feet. It’s all getting old. There’s a couple of small magnetic tracking devices called either a ‘sticky’ or a ‘lump’ in the box which you slap on a car, then it shows up on the Sat Nav as red just like the ‘trembler’. Trouble is the magnet’s not that powerful, and a knock like a pot hole could dislodge it. Ian can fix a proper tracker which can’t be seen and won’t come off. I really need a new car and the updated gear that you will have but I’m happy at the moment with what I’ve got. Mind you, that’s where the best bit of kit comes in.”
She couldn’t stop herself from asking although she knew it was a set up question.
“What’s that then?”
He took the toffee hammer out of the door pocket offered it to her and said, “This of course.”
“Modern technology it isn’t. So what do you do with that? Break up frozen chocolate?”
“If you get close enough to put the ‘sticky’ on, you give the rear nearside light cluster a gentle tap with the pointed end and then you can see a bright white light at night, and when the vehicle brakes: anytime. Makes it easier to follow.”
Alison looked as stern as she could and explained to him he was suggesting various illegal actions including criminal damage and use of unauthorised equipment and reminded him of the gun in the pub. Looking as shocked as he could, he claimed ignorance of all
and stated he would amend his ways: next month. Tucked tightly under his seat and out of view to inquisitive eyes or groping hands of any searcher was an identical gun to the one in the ‘green room’. John decided the time was not yet right for Alison to know that fact.
Joe the engineer had completed his statement with Jimmy and was now in his van behind the Vauxhall in the drive. The van was an old diesel like Dan’s was that rattled constantly especially when it was idling. The row it made precluded the use of a horn. He was hoping to get home to Brighton as soon as he could for an evening out ‘on the town’ with his wife on his future revenue from Sussex Police. No need to harass with a superfluous horn as the Vauxhall pulled off up to the road and swung right and towards Barnham and he went left towards Littlehampton and eventually, Brighton.
John pointed out the entrance to his night time habitat in the barn as they discussed where a person would leave a vehicle if they were going to remove the bird box, bearing in mind they would need a ladder. Both had differing positions and both would be wrong.
54
Friday 10th June 2011
They drove back at a leisurely pace to the yard at Chichester where John parked in his usual place which always seemed to be vacant for no evident reason. Walking up to the office, Alison pestered him for the use of the anti-bugging box which he steadfastly refused citing, ‘it may be an unauthorised device’ which riled her beyond belief. As they entered the incident room, she was stridently threatening John with a range of hideous assaults after preferably days of indescribable torture. Prodow was sitting at Paul’s desk waiting for the kettle to boil and burst into a booming laugh at the threats he’d heard issued.
“He’s finally got to you: not bad holding off for a couple of days. You have promise. Most just want to kill him in about twelve hours.”
She went redder than she had ever been and didn’t know what to say spluttering something about not meaning the menaces. Prodow was still chuckling and told her not to apologise as it was just water off a duck’s back to John: and then offered to make them both tea.
An Urgent Murder Page 16