“I see,” said Paulson. “I presume that she hadn’t actually started divorce proceedings at that stage.”
“No, but she was far less willing to fall for his generosity this time. She accepted the presents and the generous allowance and the credit card which he settled each month, but she wasn’t fooled by it. You see,” he screwed his face up, “by then they didn’t really have a conventional marriage. They only got together at weekends - and then not every weekend. She went up to London infrequently to join him for special events. They didn’t have any children. I guess it was Joanne who couldn’t or wouldn’t since Alfred had shown he was capable of fathering offspring. And neither of them was bothering to be faithful any more.” He sniggered. “Do you know, she even let me know that she was available if I wanted to take advantage of the offer.”
“Something which you obviously didn’t take up.” Stafford was amused that Hugo Farmer, who looked to him rather like an over-sized, pompous monkey, might have been the subject of Joanne’s amorous imaginings.
The solicitor obviously took himself seriously. “Not likely. Although I admit she was a very attractive lady for her age. However I don’t think it would have helped my standing in Torquay society to go through a messy divorce.”
“So,” said the inspector, “it was no surprise when she came back to you for a third time. When was that, exactly?”
“It must have been about two and a half years ago.” Farmer shook his head. “But this time it was different. She emphasised to me that this time she had definitely decided to go ahead and divorce him. When I asked what had made her so positive about it, she was evasive, but I had the strong impression that she had another man lined up to take over.”
“Really? Who?”
“She wouldn’t say. I have my ideas, but I can’t be sure.”
“And who do you think it might have been?”
“I’m sorry, inspector, but the man in question is an important member of local society and I would rather not say unless you can convince me that the information is important to your being able to find Joanne’s murderer. You’ll have to tell me if that is the case.” There was a brief pause. “Anyway, I pointed out to her that her evidence for a divorce petition was old and she had agreed not to proceed on the previous occasions on the strength of that evidence. However she told me that she was very anxious to proceed now. So we agreed that a private enquiry agent should be briefed to see what he came up with.”
“Did you do that or did Joanne do it off her own bat?”
“No, I handled it for her and the fellow reported back to me. It took three months but finally he obtained incontrovertible evidence that de Billiere was conducting an affaire with his Personal Assistant.”
“She was performing a very personal service for him.”
“Ha ha, yes. So when I told Joanne, she instructed me that I was to go ahead and prepare the papers.”
“What did they say?”
“They were simple enough. We presented the report from the private enquiry agent as evidence for divorce on the grounds of adultery and it named the woman - the full details. It was all quite incontrovertible. We claimed the house and the cruiser in Torquay and a single lump sum settlement of fifty million pounds.”
“Fifty million!”
“We’d have got it too. We were able to complete a satisfactory discovery on his personal holdings at that time and they were at least five times that amount. The couple had been married for over twenty-five years and most of his wealth had been amassed during the period of their marriage, so she was entitled to every bit of it.”
“On the other hand it would have been difficult for Billiere to have come up with that much money without seriously affecting his business interests. What did he say when he got that claim?”
Farmer wrinkled his forehead. “As far as I know he never got it. It took me some time to obtain all the necessary information. I let Joanne have the final draft only about a fortnight before she died. I never received the draft back to file it.”
“Do you think she might have shown it to him herself?”
“Perhaps she did but it would have been very foolish of her. I warned her that anything he did to try and disguise his wealth would have to be carried out before we filed the papers. After that his holdings would effectively be frozen as far as the court was concerned.”
“What does that mean?”
“Simple. It would be no good him turning round and trying to pretend that part of his wealth had disappeared so that a lower settlement would be ordered by the court.”
“I see,” said Paulson, “so you don’t think there’s any chance that she would have warned him.”
“I’d made it very clear that she shouldn’t.”
“That’s a pity. I’d hoped the divorce petition would be a motive for her murder.”
“Surely not.” Farmer was shocked. “That’s going to be a difficult one to prove.”
Stafford was downcast. As the solicitor said, even though fifty million pounds was a very good motive for murder, they were still a long way from proving anything. However he had one more question.
“This man you suspect was Joanne’s new intended - do you know what his reaction was to her death?”
“I’m sure he would have been upset, but I didn’t discuss the matter with him.”
Paulson tried a shot in the dark. “So you never discussed it with Lionel Hillman?”
“What? I told you, Inspector, that I only suspected that Joanne intended to make her future with a new man and I certainly didn’t tell you who that was.”
Nevertheless his expression told Stafford that his question had hit the mark. So, although he didn’t get very much from the solicitor, he left feeling he had widened the scope of the enquiry into the death of Joanne de Billiere.
- 23 -
When Charlotte got back to the office she phoned the headmaster of Tracey’s school.
“Mr Johnson? I have received information from other sources to the effect that Karen Tilt was not telling me the truth when I talked to her on Friday morning. As a result I would like to ask her some further questions if I may.”
There was a short silence, then he asked, “Is the girl in trouble?”
“The questioning to date has been on an informal basis, so she won’t have a problem if she agrees to tell the truth from now on. But, if she refuses, I may have to bring her to the station for formal questioning. Then she would be in trouble if she still obstructed our enquiries.”
“I understand.” He took a breath. “What do I say to her?”
“I would prefer to explain the situation to her myself. I promise you I will not threaten her or bully her in any way. I would expect you or her form teacher to be present to satisfy yourselves that I am treating her with sympathy.”
“Do you want to speak to her this afternoon?”
“If possible.”
“Unfortunately I won’t be here. But I’m sure my deputy, Mrs Harding, will be able to make herself available. She might be a better person to deal with you in any case. I’ll check her availability and I’ll ring you back with a suitable time.”
When he rang back a few minutes later it was to say that three-o’clock would be suitable, being the start of the last teaching period of the day. The meeting would still take place in the head’s office.
“I suggest you and Mrs Harding have a brief chat first. Then she can collect Karen for interview without prior warning, if that’s the way you want to play it. Her form room is on the ground floor of the main building which is just across the quad from the old building.”
“All right. Thank you. Oh, I would also like to have a chat with one of your prefects - a lad called Jason Smart - after I’ve talked to Karen.”
“Certainly you can. All the sixth form activities take place in the old building.”
So Charlotte turned up at half past three and met Gwyneth Harding, a busy little Welsh lady, in the head’s study.
“S
o our Karen’s been telling fibs, has she?” the deputy head asked. “I can’t say I’ve taken to the girl. I think she’s a little minx. It will do her good to be taken down a peg or two.”
“Tell me.” Charlotte found she could chat freely to the friendly woman. “Have you heard anything about her name being coupled with a prefect called Jason Smart?”
“Now, it’s strange you should ask me that. I remember noticing she danced a lot with that lad at the Easter Ball.” She waved a hand. “Karen makes sure she gets noticed plenty, particularly when she’s bagging a prefect.”
“Well, we’ll see what she has to say. Then we may have an interesting chat with young Jason.”
“Right, I’ll go and get the girl.” Mrs Harding bustled off.
She returned a few minutes later with Karen Tilt in tow. Charlotte was seated in a comfortable chair facing the door and noticed the girl blanch when she saw her there.
“Sit down, girl,” instructed the deputy head.
“Hello, Karen,” said Charlotte. “You remember the chat we had on Friday morning?” She paused but the girl said nothing. “Do you recall that you told us that your chat with Tracey Bostock on Monday lunch-time took place around the corner from the tennis courts and was about whether she had been seeing your boyfriend? What’s the boy’s name?”
Karen swallowed. “It wasn’t anybody important.”
“Was it by any chance a prefect called Jason Smart?”
The girl’s mouth fell open but she said nothing.
“Well, was it?” Gwyneth Harding was less patient than the policewoman. “Was it Jason Smart? Yes or no?”
“No.” Then, as the teacher leaned forward. “Well, it might have been.”
“Don’t you remember?” asked Charlotte.
“Not really.”
“Don’t give us such a load of rubbish, girl,” the deputy head burst out.
Charlotte raised a hand to calm the excitable Welsh lady. “You see, Karen, we’ve been told by another source that you and Tracey were seen at the time in question talking to Jason Smart at the entrance to the old building.” She leaned forward. “That’s correct, isn’t it?”
The girl nodded miserably.
“And after that Tracey accompanied Jason into the prefects’ common room where she was talking to him for several minutes. Can you confirm that to me?”
Another nod.
“And what were they talking about?”
“I don’t know.” She showed her first sign of spirit. “I wasn’t there, was I? I was left outside.”
“But I think you do know, Karen.” Charlotte stressed her next comment. “Karen - Tracey Bostock has been missing now for four days and four nights and I believe you have a good idea of what’s happened to her. If she’s being badly treated or if she’s in danger you will bear at least a part of the responsibility for that. Do you want to live with that knowledge?”
“I don’t know what’s happened to her - honest I don’t.” The girl was wide-eyed in her attempt to convince the detective. “I don’t think her talking to Jason had anything to do with her disappearing.”
“So what did they talk about in those minutes they spent in the prefects’ common room?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me. You’ll have to ask Jason.”
“So why were you involved? Were you sent to fetch Tracey?”
“Yes. Yes, that’s right.”
“Were you told why?”
“No.”
Mrs Harding broke in. “I don’t think you’re telling us the truth, Karen. Don’t you realise how much trouble you’ll be in if Tracey is discovered hurt or worse and later on you are found to be involved.”
“I’m not involved. I swear it.”
“But why did Jason want to talk privately to Tracey?”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
“We will do that as soon as we’ve finished talking to you.” Charlotte didn’t want to pressurise the girl too much at this stage. “But before we let you go, I have another question for you. I’ve been told, in the crude vernacular, that Jason is ‘having it away’ with you. Is that correct?”
“What if it is?” Karen was suddenly defiant again. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“What age are you, Karen?”
“Me? I’m sixteen.”
“What age are you?” That was Gwyneth Harding, stressing every word.
“Well, I’m virtually sixteen.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Um - er - sixteenth October.”
“When you’ll be sixteen. So now you’re fifteen,” said the deputy head with relish.
Karen looked miserable.
Charlotte decided the girl had had enough. “OK, Karen, thank you for what you’ve told us. If anything bad has happened to Stacey I may need to take a formal statement from you. Then you and at least one of your parents will have to come to the station and be formally interviewed. If that happens I advise you to make sure you tell the absolute truth, because if you are found to be lying at that stage you may be charged with committing a criminal offence. Do you understand?”
The girl nodded unhappily.
“Very well, you may go back to your class. However if you think of anything else that you should have told me it would be very sensible if you rang me and let me know as soon as possible. Here’s my card with the phone numbers on it. The mobile number will come through direct to me.” She handed it over.
Karen got to her feet.
“Go on, girl. Get out.” As soon as the door closed behind her Mrs Harding burst out with, “The minx. She thinks she can get away with anything just because she’s a pretty girl.”
Charlotte couldn’t help grinning at her. “My thoughts exactly. But I have to be careful how I talk to youngsters.” She took a breath. “Now perhaps we can see Jason Smart. It will be interesting to see what he has to say for himself.”
“I’ll go and get the little blighter,” said Gwyneth, ignoring the fact that the prefect was the best part of a foot taller than she was.
She bustled off and returned with him a few of minutes later.
“Here he is,” she announced. “Sit there, Jason,” pointing to one of the chairs. “This is DCI Faraday. She is investigating the disappearance of Tracey Bostock last Thursday. She has some questions for you.”
Charlotte noticed the lad seemed to be supremely self-confident. “Shouldn’t I have a solicitor present?” he asked.
“We can handle it that way if you wish,” she replied. “In that case you would have to accompany me to the police station and we would conduct a formal recorded interview in front of two police officers. You would be able to have one other person present on your side -a solicitor if you wish, since you are over the legal age. You would be informed of your rights and the fact that legal action could be taken against you if you provided any false information.” She paused. “However I was intending to have an informal chat with you at this stage which would not be on record. We would only resort to a formal interview later if it appeared necessary. The choice is yours.”
She waited for his reply.
After a moment he said, “Yes. Well, all right. The informal approach suits me at the moment. However I reserve the right to withhold information at this stage which I think might be damaging to my interests.”
Charlotte heard Gwyneth’s sharp intake of breath but her only thought was that he was obviously a bright lad. So she decided to change the direction of her questioning.
“I understand an attractive girl in the fifth form called Karen Tilt is your girlfriend. Is that correct?”
“I wouldn’t call her my girlfriend.”
“What would you call her?”
He shrugged. “She’s a girl I’m friendly with. I have lots of girlfriends.”
“Are they all as friendly as Karen?”
“What do you mean?”
Charlotte could tell that he knew exactly what she meant but she would have to spe
ll it out for him. “I’ve been told that it’s common gossip around the school that you are ‘having it away’ with Karen. Do you understand the term?”
“That’s just school gossip. Most of them don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“Do you deny it?”
“Deny what?”
“Come off it,” burst in Mrs Harding. “Have you had carnal knowledge of Karen Tilt or have you not?”
Jason recoiled but he didn’t let the question disconcert him. “That is a question I decline to answer on the grounds that I don’t wish to damage the girl’s reputation.”
“Well, the girl as good as admitted it to us a few moments ago,” said the deputy head. “I presume you are aware that, for all her pneumatic charms and her willingness, the girl is still under the age of consent.” She wagged a finger at him. “You’ll be in deep trouble, my lad, if the DI decides to take action against you.”
There was a long silence and Charlotte noticed Jason appeared to look a little worried for the first time.
At last she said, “The point of my asking you about your relationship with Karen is that she was observed bringing Tracey Bostock to meet you in the prefects’ common room on Monday lunch-time. Will you please tell me what you discussed with her for the several minutes that you were alone there with the girl?”
“No.” He folded his arms. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“I don’t feel I can discuss somebody else’s business with you unless I receive their prior permission.”
“I see. Who is this person? We can contact him or her together and obtain their consent.”
“Likewise,” he said. “I can’t give you his name without receiving his prior approval.”
There was another sharp intake of breath from the deputy head but Charlotte decided to jump in first.
“Jason Smart,” she said, “I must warn you that we can go the official way if you wish. In that case I will require you to report to Torquay police station at a time I shall choose - probably nine o’clock tomorrow morning. You may bring a solicitor with you or, if you wish, I can provide one to represent you from the police panel. You will be formally interviewed and at the end of that interview you will be charged with any offences which arise, such as having sex with under-age girls and obstructing the police in their attempts to solve the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Tracey Bostock. You appreciate that you might be tried and sentenced in your given name for either of these offences and that it would certainly wreck your chances of further education and your future career prospects. I must say I think you would be very unwise to decide to follow that path.”
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