False Diamond--An Abbot Agency Mystery

by Veronica Heley

  ‘Subsequently, he sold the diamond to pay off Ginevra and calmed Dilys with the story that he was settling affairs with an old girlfriend who later died. Dilys accepted this. But he still had to pay off his debt for the diamond, so he skimped and saved at home to do so. Proof: his house hadn’t been painted or updated for years, and although the boys were given the usual toys, Dilys and Bernice were clothed from charity shops.’

  ‘And Ginevra?’ said the inspector.

  ‘Was still hanging around. Successful blackmailers don’t demand too much at any one time, but keep coming back time again. It looks to me as if Ginevra started her boutique about then, using the money from the diamond plus what she could get from Clodagh … who was a sleeping partner, though not a bedtime one, you understand? Ginevra used Ricky, the photographer and motorbike owner, for fun, but he didn’t live with her. He was her bit of rough on the side. He doesn’t show up on the boutique’s website in pictures, but if you look closely you’ll see the photographs there and on her Facebook site are attributed to him. I expect you can find him easily enough.

  ‘Three children were born to Benton and Dilys. Benton had Dilys well under his thumb but was still strapped for cash, and he was beginning to realize that running Holland and Butcher was not going to lead to a place in the sun. He’d continued to pay court on the side to the old man’s chief accountant and that was when he had a vision of Shangri-La, because she was responsible for switching large sums of money around the world to minimize tax for Holland Holdings.

  ‘I don’t know whether he proposed the theft himself, or she wanted to repay him for favours received, but the end result was that a very large sum of money went missing from Holland Holdings’ account in the Cayman Islands. I don’t know how she’d proposed to hide the theft, perhaps by confusing transfers of money round the globe, or fudging the accounts somewhere …? Unfortunately for the conspirators, this irregularity was observed by the deputy chief accountant, a man named Adamsson. He made a fuss. At first old man Holland couldn’t believe that his favourites had been cheating him. He threw a wobbly and dismissed the whistle-blower … but the damage was done and he began to suspect he’d been diddled. Mr Holland went back a long way with his accountant. He didn’t want to hand her over to the police, partly because that would send the wrong signals to his investors. I think he did what most people would do under the circumstances. He told her to repay the money and he would take no further action.

  ‘But Madam Accountant had already paid Benton his cut – probably by transfer to a new account in the Cayman Islands – and Benton had divvied up with Ginevra. I am assuming she was in on this from the beginning, or at least knew what he was up to. I suppose, Inspector, that you’ll be able to find a paper trace of what went on between the three of them in the Cayman Islands? I don’t like to think of the accountant’s frame of mind. She probably pleaded with Benton to return his share and he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, because he’d already passed a chunk of it on to Ginevra. So she topped herself.

  ‘When old man Holland first understood he’d been robbed, he’d no reason to suspect that Benton was involved except that he’d been a protégé of the accountant’s. But once suspicion had been planted in his mind he soon discovered the hole in the accounts was larger than a volcanic crater, which brought his sister Sybil screeching over from the States, demanding that something be done about it, immediately. At that point they roped Leon in, to work out what had gone wrong and how to put it right. Leon was at a loose end, and for various reasons, decided to help but to go undercover to do so.’

  Leon washed his face with his hands. Wiping away a smile?

  Bea continued. ‘Benton began to panic. Perhaps his “deal” with the accountant might not be uncovered, but his comfortable lifestyle was at risk because, although he’d once been old man Holland’s blue-eyed boy, he’d failed to make H & B profitable. He could see his luck running out. He’d been trying for some time both directly and through Max to get me to take over the running of H & B so as to pull it round and make it into a profitable company. I’d failed to take the bait. He’d been using his fists on Dilys and Bernice as a matter of course, and he probably thought I’d be as easy to cow. He tried slapping me around, but that didn’t work, either. The chief accountant had committed suicide and, at any moment, Mr Holland would discover his involvement with the affair of the missing money.

  ‘He was making love to another woman – no, not Ginevra, and not another accountant, and for the moment you don’t need to know who it was – and he’d promised her they’d run off to live on a desert island. Only, Dilys was in the way. If he could get rid of her, he could sell the house, put the children into boarding schools and go off into the blue with his new love. But his attempts to stage Dilys’s suicides failed and got me further involved. Once she’d been whisked out of the hospital by person or persons unknown, I jumped to the conclusion that Benton had done away with her, so I phoned him to say that unless he produced Dilys alive and well, I’d go to the police. An empty threat as the police weren’t interested in what I had to say about false suicide messages written in the wrong lipstick on the mirror. Crucially, Benton was out when I phoned, and Ginevra took the message.

  ‘Now, neither Benton and Ginevra knew where Dilys was and they couldn’t produce her. What to do? They panicked. They decided to lure me to a quiet part of town where I could be ambushed, perhaps beaten up, perhaps killed. I believe it was Ginevra’s partner Ricky who took Benton on the back of his motorbike and did his best to scare me off. Fortunately for me, that ploy failed because my taxi driver took me to the nearest manned police station. That was on Saturday night.

  ‘That same night the three of them, Benton, Ginevra and Ricky, met at his house. Yes, I think there has been at least one other visitor to that house. Neither Benton nor Ginevra smoke. Smoked. But I smelt cigarette smoke when Ginevra opened the door to us when Leon and I called there on Monday. Does Clodagh smoke? I’ll lay odds that Ricky does.’

  ‘I’ll find out,’ said the inspector.

  ‘Benton couldn’t come up with any fresh ideas. He said Ricky must keep following me till he could get me alone. Ginevra agreed. And that’s what Ricky did on Sunday, reporting to her by mobile phone, and not to Benton. Fortunately, I was well protected. Now consider Ginevra’s position. Benton had given her a share of the financial scam and that was fine, but he was going to become a liability if I carried out my threat to go to the police. She knew him well. Would he keep her out of it, if he were arrested? She thought not. She was Benton’s wife but not the mother of his children, who were nothing to her. Less than nothing. So that morning I believe she suggested that while Ricky was taking care of me, Benton should take the kids out into the country with a picnic lunch. Perhaps she said she’d meet them at a favourite picnic spot with their lunch. I don’t know that she did meet them there, but if I’d been her, I would have done so, because I’d have wanted to make sure that Benton and his children drank the drugged soup.’

  ‘Wait a minute. How did Ginevra get there?’

  ‘She had a van for work, didn’t she? When you find it, you can check for signs of mud or whatever which might show where the van was taken on Sunday. Aren’t there CCTV cameras on the motorway? I’m sure you can trace her journey. Ginevra asked Clodagh to give her an alibi in case anything went wrong. I don’t know what excuse she gave, but Clodagh agreed. The two of them were supposed to be stocktaking. That actually raised my suspicions because you usually stocktake as soon as possible after Christmas, and this was the end of January. If they have used a computer to do the stocktake, I expect it will give you the actual date on which they did it – and it won’t have been this last Sunday. I have no idea how much Clodagh knew of what was going on, but I think she’d break down pretty quickly if she were confronted with a charge of conspiracy to murder.’

  Maggie cleaned Pippin’s face and hands, to his intense displeasure. ‘To kill the children, though!’

  ‘It costs mone
y to bring up children, and they weren’t hers,’ said Bea, with an ache in her voice. ‘They stood between her and money, so they had to go.’

  Silence.

  The inspector stirred. ‘Anyone have any ideas why she should do a bunk now?’

  Leon held up one finger. ‘Ah. I think that’s my fault. Dilys has been fretting about some bits and pieces of jewellery that were her mother’s. She wasn’t sure that Benton had renewed the insurance policy, and she was afraid their empty house might be burgled in her absence. I didn’t tell her that Ginevra had moved in. I said I’d call and collect them for her. Also, I thought it would help if I could scare Ginevra into leaving.

  ‘As I arrived, I noticed a For Sale sign had been put up in the garden, and a man in biker’s leathers – Ricky, I assume – was putting some black plastic bags and cardboard boxes out for the dustmen to take. Ginevra let me in. There were two dirty plates and two wine glasses on the table. And, yes, a saucer with some cigarette butts on it, no lipstick. Ricky is the smoker. I told Ginevra why I’d come. She said she’d put all Dilys’s things out for the dustman to collect next day, but that I could take them if I liked. She said Benton’s stuff had gone to a second-hand clothes shop. I said she’d no right to do that as the house and everything in it now belonged to Dilys. She fired up, said Benton had left everything to her and not to Dilys. I said Benton might or might not have left his personal effects to her – though the lawyers could argue about that one – but that the deeds to the house were still lodged with the company’s lawyers and the house was in the company’s name.’

  Bea gaped, as did Maggie. ‘Was that true?’

  ‘I checked. As a wedding present, Dilys – not Benton – had been given a repairing lease on the house at a peppercorn rent. The house is still owned by Holland Holdings, who can cancel the arrangement if the property is not kept up properly … which it hasn’t been. Benton had not asked Dilys to turn the lease over to him, because it would have meant his having to spend money on the house. This instance of cheese-paring on Benton’s part has actually turned out well as it means Dilys has a home to return to.

  ‘When I explained this to Ginevra she was furious, spat out a lot of abuse. Ricky blustered, threatened to alter the shape of my face. So my chauffeur and I took the black plastic bags containing Dilys’s things out to the car and left. I found the box which Dilys said she kept her few bits and pieces of jewellery in. Every earring, every necklace, every brooch had been smashed, probably with a hammer. Nothing terribly valuable. The pearls she’d been given for her eighteenth, a gold locket which had been her grandmother’s, that sort of thing. I was … shattered. I’m going to try to get the things restored, but they’ll never be the same again.’

  Bea breathed out a long sigh. So finding this destruction was what had made him take to drink last night? He really was the joker in the pack, wasn’t he?

  The inspector nodded. ‘Ginevra must have realized that if she couldn’t sell the house, she’d got as much as she was likely to get, and called it a day. We’ll pick her up at the airport, I expect.’

  But they didn’t. It seemed she’d disappeared into thin air.

  Preparations for Maggie’s wedding

  By way of apology, Leon had a huge basket of fruit from Harrods delivered to Bea, together with an invitation for supper. She declined. She resolved to put that troublesome man out of her mind even though events kept thrusting him back.

  For one thing, Bernice and Maggie were on the phone to one another at least once a day. Bernice wanted to be a flower girl at Maggie’s wedding. She’d thought this up all by herself, and Sybil had bought her an exquisite dress to wear, so whatever Maggie said about this being a quiet wedding for immediate family and friends, the Hollands would have to be invited … which meant a spruce-up for Bea’s house in which they planned to host a small party after the church blessing.

  The Hollands sent Maggie a magnificent cheque for a wedding present, which deprived her of words for quite half an hour.

  Then Maggie’s mother returned from her winter cruise and objected to all the arrangements that had been made. She tried to carry Maggie off to a select dressmaker to be fitted with a puffball of a dress with bare shoulders instead of the sleek coat dress she’d already picked out, and stated that this arrangement could not even be considered … and as for that …!

  Hot words were spoken by the bride, by the bride’s mother and even by Zander. Tears were shed by the bride and her mother, so that Bea had to intervene, suggesting a compromise here, a softened refusal there, and a graceful acceptance of some of the least important suggestions.

  The celebratory meal was moved to the penthouse in which Maggie’s mother lived, the guest list expanded: ditto the menu. This larger party wouldn’t be such a relaxed occasion, but it was a compromise which they could all live with.

  One blessing; Max and Nicole were not going to be around for the celebration, as they had taken Pippin off for a winter holiday in the sun. The tabloids sported pictures of the happy family, who were expecting another addition, etc.

  Leon continued to send Bea a bouquet of flowers and an invitation to supper every few days. Bea binned the invitations and passed the flowers on to the girls in the office. One day there was no invitation, but a handwritten note from Leon excusing himself from attendance at the wedding, due to pressure of business. So that was that. Wasn’t it?

  Bea told herself it was no more than she’d expected.

  Maggie developed pre-wedding nerves but Bea got her to the Registry Office in time. Two hours later Maggie danced down the aisle at church for a blessing on her marriage, while her mother cried neatly into a hankie, and Bernice threw rose petals around with abandon and total disregard for those who had to clear them up afterwards. The wedding breakfast started off rather stiffly, but people relaxed as soon as sufficient champagne had been poured down their throats. Sybil wore yet another fabulous fur coat and a hat decorated with feathers. Bea wore grey and caught herself wondering why Leon had opted out of the occasion.

  In the Business section of The Times the following day Bea read that Holland Holdings had been split into two. Old man Holland would retain chairmanship of the overseas division, while Leon – pictured with colourful managing directors of various of his companies – took over the rest.

  At the weekend CJ took Bea out for a meal, saying he’d heard that almost all the money stolen from Holland Holdings had been recovered, and that the stock market had been favourably impressed by the new CEO for the British division while reserving judgement on old man Holland’s continuing to rule his overseas empire. She did not invite him back for a nightcap.

  Still no one could find Ginevra, which was unsettling to say the least.

  Midweek, Inspector Durrell arrived in time for supper. He said that Forensics had painstakingly fingerprinted Benton’s car, and although Ginevra had sworn she’d never been anywhere near it, they’d found her prints on the radio button and on the back of a wing mirror. In addition, although they hadn’t yet found where she’d bought the pills she’d used to kill Benton and the boys, they had found the empty packaging in a neighbour’s dustbin and identified her prints on it.

  Polishing off a large helping of pheasant pie, the inspector also reported that Ginevra’s business partner Clodagh had been appalled to find herself implicated in murder and had admitted she’d given Ginevra a false alibi. The police had also traced Ricky, who was indeed a professional photographer. When arrested, he admitted that he’d seen nothing wrong in helping his friend Ginevra ‘sort out’ Mrs Abbot who, she said, had owed her a lot of money.

  Inspector Durrell asked if Mrs Abbot would care to give witness against Ricky, and Mrs Abbot said that since Benton was dead and she was busy with a number of new clients, she’d prefer to let the matter drop.

  Days passed without any more news.

  Surprise! Sybil Holland rang to speak to Bea one afternoon. ‘You have a minute, Mrs Abbot?’ A throaty voice, used to command, but f
or some reason prepared to ask a favour.

  Bea grinned to herself. This would be about Bernice. Maggie had reported – with some amusement – that Sybil considered Bernice spent too much time on the phone to Maggie. Sybil had ordered Bernice to stop phoning Maggie. The child had taken no notice, so Sybil had confiscated her phone. Bernice had got round Maria and used the house phone instead. Then Leon had intervened – apparently, he did his best to spend time with the child – and had given her a phone of her own.

  So what did Bernice’s great aunt want now? ‘What can I do for you, Sybil?’

  ‘My great niece is fascinated by Maggie’s tale about having to catch the toast as it flies out of the machine. She wants to see it for herself and has asked if she may buy you a new one.’

  ‘That’s very kind of her, and you know she’s welcome to visit at any time. As for the toaster, it’s already been replaced.’

  ‘Oh. Right. She’s doing well at her new school. Mature for her age.’

  According to Maggie, Bernice was looking after her mother, instead of the other way round.

  ‘Dilys, you see,’ said Sybil, every word being pulled out of her with pliers, ‘is not doing so well.’

  ‘It’s early days, and you’ve provided the best possible care for her.’ A statement, not a query.

  ‘We’ve offered to buy her another house, or to take her on a world cruise. She has a therapist, and a flat for herself and Bernice in the guest quarters, but she wanders around like a lost soul.’

  Dilys hadn’t been a very strong character in the first place, and what had happened to her would have crushed a grown man.

  Bea said, ‘She was kind to me when I was poorly. Is there anything I can do?’