Generations of Love

by Wendy Pulford

  ‘I’m going to see Simon Kingsley on Friday,’ Peter informed them, ‘and I’m taking all this stuff with me. I want his take on the legal side of the whole thing. I’m going to suggest that we bring in the Ravens for guidance on the bigger picture.’

  ‘I think this is something that needs to be dealt with as fast as possible, Peter,’ cautioned Dougie. ‘If Clarke is called in to be interviewed about the murders, any others involved on the fringes are going to hear about it and start reacting to cover their tracks. We want to keep the element of surprise. Also, I’m still concerned about who might still be involved within the force itself. If word gets about that we’re bringing people in for questioning, they’ll be on the alert.’

  ‘I take your point, Dougie. I’ll impress that on Simon. Christa has offered to have a look at back copies of newspapers to see if fresh eyes can pick up anything else. She’s a great girl.’

  For the first time that evening the other two noticed a smile lighten the serious young face. Luigi regretted having to make his next statement, and spoil that small moment of pleasure.

  ‘I have been thinking that you will have to keep to your usual pattern of visiting Franklin, although I’m sure at the moment it’s the last thing you want to do. He, of all people, mustn’t be alerted.’

  Peter looked from Luigi to Dougie. ‘I know. I’ve thought about that too. I’m not sure how I can carry it off at the moment, but I’ll have to try.’

  Dougie nodded in agreement. ‘That’s another reason for moving all this on as fast as we can. He’s canny, he picks things up. You’ll have to be on your guard, Peter.’

  Luigi considered that Dougie’s warning was not overstating the situation.

  ‘Have you any idea when Clarke might be interviewed, Dougie?’ questioned Peter.

  ‘It’s not in my hands, I’m afraid. As far as my superiors are concerned we’re just opening up an old case, and there might not be so much urgency attributed to it, however much we might want the opposite.’

  ‘It will buy us a bit more time to see what we have and where we can take it in a legal sense, I suppose.’

  Dougie reached for his coat and prepared to leave. ‘I’ll keep in touch. I must say I feel a lot better now something’s being done. I feel more like a detective again.’ With an embarrassed smile, he left.

  Peter and Luigi looked at each other.

  ‘All this was a heavy weight on his mind, Peter.’

  ‘It’s enough to make you think you’re going crazy – wondering who you can trust. Jerry was right: at times it all sounds unbelievable, until you remember some of the cold, hard facts.’

  Luigi accepted the offer of another coffee and they sat together at the table. He sensed Peter had something on his mind.

  ‘Tell me about my parents, Luigi,’ Peter said. ‘Tell me all you know about them; as people, I mean. I know the big story, but I don’t know the… little things, the feelings.’

  They sat together for several hours and Luigi’s emotions began to overwhelm him as he recalled the young couple and their interaction with each other. He sensed that Peter needed, now more than ever, to know them as real people; and this was borne out by his comment just as Luigi was preparing to leave.

  ‘I so wish I’d known them both, Luigi. Now this has happened, I don’t regard Lionel Franklin as family any more, so I’ve no one else.’ He forestalled Luigi’s immediate denial. ‘Yes, I know I have another special family that cares for me, and I’ll always be grateful for that… but do you understand, Luigi if I say that it’s not quite the same?’

  Luigi almost blurted out his news, but that would not help just yet. At the moment, Peter’s emotions were too ravaged to accept further revelations; and as yet, Michael was an unknown quantity. No, for the moment Luigi considered he would keep his own counsel.

  ‘I understand, Peter, but at the moment you have to be stronger than you have ever been. If we are to get justice for all those involved, you of all people must keep calm and reasoned. Alex has given you the tools with which to carry on his fight, and he would want you to do all in your power to avenge his beloved Catherine and the robbing of their lives with you. Do you understand?’

  ‘I understand Luigi, and I’ll make him proud of me.’

  Luigi patted the young man on the back. ‘I’m sure you will, Peter.’

  *

  With a rather thoughtful frown, Lionel Franklin put down the phone and started to make some notes. He had just been informed that Clarke’s former expert had died, and there was a rumour he had been arrested by the police the previous day. Clarke’s man had never been implicated in any activities over the years, so what were police interested in? Had he decided to give away some information just before his death?

  Although patchy, Franklin had managed to keep some sort of useful presence available to him in the Met over the years. The effort to promote Rankin to the top spot had not worked out to their advantage, but he had cultivated other outlets, and now it was time to call in some of those favours. He had to know what the police were interested in, and whether any incriminating details had been passed on.

  He would make some phone calls from the lobby tonight.

  CHAPTER 22

  Peter’s meeting with Simon Kingsley was long and difficult. He realised that to a dispassionate outsider much of his story would appear melodramatic, but Kingsley’s immediate reaction was still disappointing. However, Peter was determined, and continued to press his point until Kingsley agreed to take the papers home with him for the weekend and read through them. He promised Peter some sort of answer on Monday.

  ‘To be honest with you, Peter, I did have some misgivings about your parent’s affairs in relation to your mother’s inheritance, the terms of the Wills that were made, and then being asked to retain your father’s possessions for safe-keeping. So much so, in fact, that I put a stop on any of the firm’s papers dealing with your parents from being destroyed without my express permission. Whether or not that will prove to have been a good course of action will depend on what I determine we can do with any of your new evidence. After this length of time though, Peter, things will be difficult. You appreciate that, of course.’

  ‘Yes, I know Simon, but something must be done. I can’t let it all wither away to nothing after so much work and heartache.’

  ‘If we can clear your father’s name, that will be a major result. Anything else… well, we’ll have to see, Peter.’

  Feeling a little despondent, Peter headed for Christa’s apartment. He needed her cheerful common sense to lift his spirits.

  After listening to his news, her immediate reaction was not the one he had been expecting. ‘I suppose his attitude isn’t surprising. If you have a legal mind you can’t go leaping about with excitement at every tall tale someone brings you, without looking at all the facts. You of all people should know that.’

  ‘Yes, of course I know that.’

  Realising, too late, the sharpness of his tone, he knew he was taking out his frustration on her when she had, after all, spoken the truth. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. ‘I’m sorry. I suppose I’m just too involved. I’ll have to wait until Monday. It’s going to be a long weekend.’

  He noticed her studying him, her bright head on one side.

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘Is Rob home at the moment?’

  Surprised by her question, Peter racked his brains. ‘I think Sarah said this was his weekend at home. Why?’

  ‘I’m going to suggest that tomorrow we make up a foursome. You, me, Rob and any girl he fancies – or Amy if she’s free – do some shopping in town and then have a meal or go to a show. I think we could all do with cheering up. What do you think?’

  Peter was by no means stupid. He knew why she was making the suggestion, and he felt a warm sense of pleasure inside him at her caring attitude.


  ‘I think it’s a splendid idea. I’ll get off home now and see what I can arrange.’

  *

  Monday came sooner than Peter had anticipated. Sitting at his desk he thought over the last two days. The whole weekend had been a resounding success, and he found it difficult to remember when he’d enjoyed himself more. He was still smiling at some of Rob’s antics when the phone on his desk rang.

  It was Simon Kingsley. Peter’s stomach churned as he waited to hear his verdict.

  ‘I’ve read your papers and I think we ought to do as you suggested and arrange with your barrister contacts for a full discussion.’

  Peter breathed a sigh of relief. He could sense from Simon’s business-like tone that he was considering some sort of action.

  ‘I’ll get in touch with Jonathan or Anthony Raven right away.’

  ‘Let me know when you’ve done that, and I’ll get these papers to them. They will need to read through them, as I have done, before they can give us any useful indication of their thoughts.’

  ‘I don’t want them lost by any sloppy courier service, Simon.’

  ‘No, I’m aware of that, Peter. I’ll go round in person.’

  ‘That’s fine. I’ll get onto it right now.’

  Peter put the phone down and looked out of his window for a moment. Was something going to come from this at last? Calming his thoughts, he picked up the phone again.

  He was lucky, and was put straight through to Jonathan Raven. He outlined in broad terms the reason for his call, and asked if they would be prepared to help him.

  ‘Subject to a perusal of your papers, we’ll see if there’s anything we can do, Peter. Have them delivered, and we’ll set up an initial meeting for, say, Wednesday afternoon, so that we can have a discussion as to what might, or might not, be possible.’

  ‘Would it be a useful idea,’ Peter suggested, ‘if all interested parties could be present? I might see if, as well as Simon Kingsley, perhaps Dougie Johnson and maybe Luigi Gandoni could also attend? It would give everyone a chance to make their own comments.’

  Jonathan Raven agreed. ‘I’ll leave you to arrange that, Peter, if you will.’

  Now, thought Peter, that left him with the ticklish problem of trying to arrange time off work for himself.

  *

  The six men in the Ravens’ conference room were enjoying a welcome break for coffee. It had been a good meeting so far, thought Peter. Both Jonathan and Anthony Raven had read through his father’s paperwork, and Peter had the impression that they were treating the matter in a serious fashion.

  Dougie’s informal statements detailing the initial enquiries at Fulham, and his meeting with Fowler in the church, had also been perused. Jonathan Raven had questioned him further about his views on the investigation of the murders.

  ‘I gather from Simon’s notes, and your own statement, that you were unhappy with the way matters were conducted at the time, Sergeant Johnson.’

  ‘Yes, indeed. I felt that everything was rushed, and certain of the conclusions drawn were, in my view, suspect. As we all know, bloodstains and fingerprints can be arranged if needs be; and according to Fowler’s instructions, they were. My comments regarding the non-evaluation of Catherine’s physical abilities, and Alex’s apparent self-inflicted wound, in my view still stand. At the time, the supposed facts of what happened were assumed on the basis of the obvious evidence found, and as we are now aware, the whole incident was staged. My opinion continues to be that the evidence was laid out on a plate in such a way that it was accepted, and, of more importance, encouraged to be accepted, by all concerned without any further enquiry.’

  Jonathan Raven queried, ‘You are, therefore, suggesting that pressure was brought to bear on all parties concerned to have the matter disposed of as soon as possible, with the least investigation possible?’

  ‘That is my view. As I have admitted, I was encouraged to join in with this idea, and to my eternal shame, I went along with it.’

  ‘From what you’ve said, your reasoning on this was quite understandable at the time.’

  Anthony Raven joined in the conversation then. ‘You say that the instructions to remove your files came from the Acting Commissioner – Rankin, wasn’t it? – carried out by a Superintendent who was unfamiliar to you? If my memory serves me correctly, the young Constable told you that a Superintendant had arrived at the Fulham property to take charge of the investigation there, and perhaps commandeered the bank statement evidence. If this person was perhaps one and the same, could we assume that his orders stemmed from Rankin? Perhaps we need to take a closer look at Rankin himself, with particular relevance to the terms of your other investigation.’

  Peter watched Dougie stare at the other man for a moment.

  ‘Are you suggesting that Rankin was in on the whole thing, under orders, and used his position to short-circuit the investigation?’

  Anthony Raven just shrugged his shoulders, and said nothing further.

  ‘Holy…’ Dougie stopped his comment just in time. ‘This seems to get worse and worse.’

  Just before the coffee break was called, the discussion touched on the box of papers. Kingsley still seemed sceptical, as if the whole idea was far-fetched, but again Peter had the feeling that the Ravens were more inclined to accept the possibilities.

  Peter was looking down into his coffee cup, thinking about what had been discussed so far, when Luigi came over and sat next to him.

  ‘Christa told me last night that Lionel Franklin has asked you to visit him.’

  ‘Yes, he has. It had to happen some time. I’ll have to put my playacting face on, although I’m not sure I have one.’

  ‘Take some guidance from our two learned gentlemen about that. I have the feeling they are past masters at it. I’ve watched them so far and they don’t give much away.’

  Anthony Raven then called everyone back to the table.

  ‘Both Jonathan and myself feel that strenuous effort must be made to overturn the inquest results in view of the new evidence, and we will liaise with Simon here and Sergeant Johnson with a view to achieving that. We feel it would be useful if enquiries could be ongoing to find these supposed forged bank statements, but also a review should be made, if possible, of Alex Hartman’s finances in general so that the bribery allegations can be addressed.

  ‘Sergeant Johnson, a question for you, please. If, as appears, the bullet wound to Alex Hartman’s head was the shot from the murderer, but Hartman fired his own gun, where do you suppose that bullet went?’

  Dougie thought for a moment, picturing the scene in his mind. ‘From the trajectory, I would assume that it went into the wall near to the front door of the property. If it buried itself in the plaster it could even still be there now. Someone might have redecorated during the years, not taking any notice of a small hole.’

  ‘Mmm. It just makes you wonder how easy it might be to make that discovery. One more string to our bow… Not that I’m suggesting anything, of course, you understand.’ The innocent smile accompanying the words was explanation enough.

  ‘It would indeed, Mr Raven,’ said Dougie with an answering smile.

  ‘Turning to your other matter, this Mr Francis intrigues me. Who is, or was, he and why did he drop out of sight? Alex Hartman told you no more about him than you have already been able to tell us, Sgt Johnson?’

  ‘No. Nothing. Not even a physical description or where the office was that Alex visited. To put out a search for the name of “Francis” in the Civil Service employment records of the time would, I suggest, be a problem; and we can’t be sure that Francis was his real name anyway. My view is that he was as frightened as I was, or that he was suspected and ended up as the others did. I just don’t know where to go on that one.’

  Luigi spoke into the following silence. ‘Excuse me for interrupting, but I wondered if anyone working at
the time for Sir John Fraser, like his secretary, might know if he ever contacted anyone by that name, or had any other clue?’

  ‘Indeed, Mr Gandoni. A good point. It’s possible that the secretary might well have retired by now, Sergeant Johnson?’

  ‘I’ll make some enquiries on that.’ Dougie made a note.

  Jonathan Raven addressed Peter. ‘Lionel Franklin was very keen on you being tutored by an old friend at Cambridge, I understand, Peter.’

  ‘Yes, a Professor Donaldson. They had studied together.’

  ‘What was Donaldson like as a tutor?’

  Peter was rather nonplussed at that question, and for a moment wondered how to answer it.

  ‘I found him a bit brusque. He had some pretty dogmatic opinions about things; in fact, most things. As a group we had several heated arguments, not always about interpretation of the law, but politics as well. He appeared ultra left wing by persuasion, I would have said. I wasn’t that interested. I was studying law, not politics. Why do you ask?’

  ‘I just wondered who Franklin and Donaldson might themselves have been tutored by at college, and whether any of their fellow students, or the like, ever found their way into the Civil Service or government. This Francis person, as I understand it, mentioned to Alex Hartman that he thought the whole scheme might have emanated from someone close to political circles. He overheard part of a telephone conversation, I gather, but didn’t let on who was involved.’

  ‘That’s as I understood it from Alex; and you’ve got a point there.’ Dougie made another note and then looked over at Peter. ‘I don’t suppose that, from any talks with Franklin, you have any idea?’

  ‘No, he hasn’t said much about his own time at college.’ Peter cleared his throat. ‘I’ve been asked to go and see him. I’ll have to, of course, although I’m not looking forward to it. I suppose I could try asking him a few discreet questions.’

  ‘I think you might have to, Peter.’

  Jonathan Raven smiled at him. ‘If you want any advice on how to deal with it, just pretend you’re someone else. Make believe you’re in one of those Hitchcock-type court dramas and you’re playing the lead role. I’ve no doubt your father had to have his poker face on during some of his investigations.’