“I didn’t know about the payments.” Her eyes had filled with tears. “But he said he’d arranged it with Gary so that I had no need to worry. Of course I was still deeply in love with him in those days. I thought he was a lovely man. Although he’d virtually raped me when I was nineteen and that resulted in Tracey being born, yet he was very loving and kind to me and always so generous to both of us.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Charlotte. “If he was so loving and kind, why didn’t he divorce his wife and marry you?”
“Oh, he wanted to. But he couldn’t divorce her because she had originally brought the money into the marriage which he’d used to build up his financial empire and he was afraid she would be able to claim it all back and put us out on the street.”
Charlotte shook her head at the other woman’s naivety but Marion hurried on.
“I honestly believe that I was the one he really loved. Look at all he did for me. He gave me this house. He made sure I had enough money to bring Tracey up properly. He kept coming to see Tracey and me whenever he could get away/.”
“And he arranged for Gary to be your husband.”
“Yes.” Her face fell. “It seemed all right at the time. He said it would ensure that I kept my good name. And Gary used to be quite polite to me. But I wonder now.”
“So when did it all stop?”
“I suppose it was about three years ago.” She shook her head. “I didn’t really mind. By then I’d begun to realise that I’d had enough of this half-life. I knew he would never find a way of marrying me. Tracey was growing up and - well, you can’t carry on being in love with somebody you only see for a few days a year, can you? So when he stopped coming it was almost a relief.”
“But how did you feel when his wife died? If it had happened a few years earlier you might have expected to become the new Mrs de Billiere, might you not?”
“Oh, by then I was pleased that I wouldn’t be asked. I’m just an ordinary sort of woman. I’m not cut out to be the wife of a big businessman. I wouldn’t like that sort of life at all. I had realised for some time that he had somebody else lined up, so it was no surprise not to be asked. ” She looked directly at Charlotte. “And there was something about the way it happened that I didn’t like.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know exactly. Of course it was the big topic of conversation in the town for several weeks and I felt horridly as if I was involved in some way.”
Charlotte leaned forward. “Can you be more precise, Marion. This could be important. What exactly was it that made you feel involved? You didn’t have any contact with Joanne, did you?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Charlotte. But I can’t tell you any more than that. I forget exactly what was going on.”
“Who did you talk to about it?”
“That’s the thing. I couldn’t say anything to anyone except Gary.”
“He was home at the time, was he?”
“I think he must have been.” Her face puckered up. “Oh, I don’t want to think about it, or about him.”
“Well, you’re not likely to see him again for quite a few years. The courts don’t like crimes that involve youngsters and may affect their future development.”
“Didn’t I read somewhere that committing a crime and being sent to prison are grounds for divorce?”
“They certainly are, but I don’t think you’ll have a problem getting him to agree to a divorce.”
Marion was silent as she thought about it.
“Forgive me asking,” said Charlotte. “When Alfred stopped coming to see you, did you transfer your affections elsewhere?”
“Oh, no. Not while I was married to Gary. As far as he was concerned it was all right with Freddie but he wouldn’t have liked me to be spending time with anybody else.”
“Unless that other person was paying him twenty thousand a year.”
“Is that what Freddie was paying?” She smiled oddly. “I suppose he must have thought I was worth it. I must say that every time he came he used to take me out and buy me expensive outfits and all sorts of - well, you know the sort of thing men like to see you in.”
Charlotte decided to change the subject. “And what about your brother James - is he upstairs sleeping it off as well?”
“Oh - no.” She looked at her guiltily. “No. He’s not here at the moment. He - er - he should be back about nine. Why? Did you want to see him?”
“Marion, be honest. He’s not your brother, is he?”
“What makes you say that?”
Charlotte laughed. “You’re not a very good liar. And then there’s this coincidence of him having the same name as the man who raped you. I think you ought to tell me the truth.”
“Charlotte, I want to withdraw the complaint I made about being raped. I only did it because Gary pressured me into it. I’m sorry if I’ve wasted your time. Have I committed an offence?”
“Don’t worry about that, but why do you want to withdraw? Didn’t it happen as you described it?”
“Oh, yes, but I think I was partly to blame. Although I didn’t mean to, I think I encouraged him.”
“Look, Marion, just because you were wearing a revealing dress, it doesn’t give any man the right to force you to have sex with him.”
“Oh, I know that, but he’d had a nasty shock - his best friend had been killed in Afghanistan - and we’d both drunk too much and I didn’t stop him putting his arms round me as he took me to the car. I think he was expecting me to let him have his way on the back seat. I believe it was only when I stopped him from kissing me that he suddenly found out that I wasn’t going to let him go all the way and so he turned rough in his frustration.”
“Marion, that’s still rape. Whatever excuses you make for him, this James raped you. How do you know he hasn’t done it to other women?”
“Oh, I’m sure he hasn’t.”
“And this man I saw you with yesterday is the one who raped you?”
She nodded. “After you’d been to see his mother she rang him up in Germany and gave him a right telling off. She said she was horrified by his behaviour and that he may have traumatised me for life. So he went straight in to his commanding officer and got leave of absence to come back and face the consequences. But first of all he came to see me to apologise. If he goes to court and is found guilty it will wreck his career and his life, and it will all be because of a few minutes stupidity. I couldn’t do that to him. So I said that, if he helped me find Tracey, I would forgive him. And he did.”
“Marion,” said Charlotte in despair, “you’re prepared to forgive a man who has violated you. I just don’t understand it.”
“Charlotte, when Tracey went missing I realised what was most important in my life. I’ve had this mixed-up life for the last thirteen years, so a man forcing me to have sex with him is much less important. That’s what Freddie did the first time he took me out. In a way that’s what Gary did every time he came home.” She shrugged. “What’s one more time when I’ve got Tracey back unharmed?”
The DCI took a deep breath. “OK, if that’s the way you feel. I haven’t had any kids of my own, but I hope I will one day. Perhaps I’ll feel the same when I do. Until then I have to accept your choice of priorities. You’ll have to come to the station to make a statement of retraction, but that can wait a few days until things have quietened down.”
“Thank you for being so understanding, Charlotte.”
“Hmm, I don’t know about that.” She paused. “Now, I’m going to change the subject. Before I leave there’s something I want to ask you. It’s about Gary and the Sarah Jane.”
Charlotte went into depth about how much Marion’s husband knew about the boat and its operation and where he had been when Joanne de Billiere died. In so doing she managed to unlock Marion’s memory about what had happened at that time. When she left it was with a certain satisfaction about what she had been told.
- 38 -
When Charlotte arrived back at Torquay Police Station the front desk told her that there was an urgent message for her to ring Lord Harry in Exeter.
“OK. I’ll contact him from my office.”
The rest of the team were there trying to catch up on the paperwork after the frantic activity of the last week.
“I’ve got to ring Lord Harry,” she told Paulson as she made for her desk. She picked up the phone and direct-dialled his number. The phone was answered immediately.
“Ah, Charlotte. Good. I want you to come up here straight away.”
“What is it concerning, sir?”
“Several things. Can you be here within the hour?”
“Of course, sir, but we recovered the missing schoolgirl and caught her abductor yesterday, sir. We have to interview him this morning and maybe take him to court.”
“That can wait a couple of hours, Charlotte. This can’t.”
“OK, sir,” she said resignedly. “Traffic permitting, I should be with you in an hour or so.”
She hung up and turned to Paulson. “Sorry, Stafford. I’ve got to rush off to Exeter. The interview with Bostock will have to wait a couple of hours. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Well, he’s not seeing his solicitor until ten. These law boys don’t seem to hurry themselves. I guess it’ll be late morning before we can get our hands on him again. I’ve got plenty to do meanwhile.”
“Good. I suggest you ring Richard Harris and see if the information we’ve now got about Bostock will let us get the details of that account.”
Fifty minutes later she walked into the Harold Corbett’s palatial second floor office.
“Ah, charlotte, come in and sit down. A lot has happened since you were here on Monday.” He leaned forward. “First the good news - the PCC has decided not to investigate any further the complaints made against you in connection with the death of Giles Adams or the release of Richard Harris. I hope you are pleased about that.”
“Well,” she admitted, “it is a relief. What does Chief Superintendent Lasham say about it?”
“Ah, now here we come to the bad news. Unfortunately Mark had a mild seizure of some sort last night. He’s been advised by the doctor that he’s been under too much stress and he must take a break from police work for at least six months.”
Charlotte thought to herself that she could take any amount of bad news like that, but she simply said, “Oh, dear.”
“Apparently the last straw was an interview he had yesterday afternoon with Sergeant Mallinson. Of course he feels very badly about staff who have let him down.”
“And I expect his friendship with Charles Hawardine will have stressed him as well.”
“Really.” The DCC raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Who is Charles Hawardine?”
“He’s a gentleman I’ve just arrested for filming paedophilia and procuring young girls to perform sexual acts in front of the camera.”
“Oh, my goodness, how disgusting.” He allowed himself a slight smile. “You seem to have unearthed all sorts of rogues since you came to Torquay a scant three weeks ago.”
“Sorry, sir.”
He sat back in his chair. “Don’t be silly. I’m delighted with your clear-up rate. The word will soon get out that there’s no future in breaking the law in South Devon. The thing is that losing Mark, albeit only on a temporary basis, will put pressure on the Divisional CID. I have spoken to the chair of the Police Committee and he says there is no question of us drafting in a replacement from outside.” He smirked. “Sir Oswald even reminded me that we were over the top on detective appointments since I took you on.”
He held up a hand to stop her responding. “Don’t worry. I pointed out to him what a success you’d been since your arrival and he couldn’t disagree with that.” He shook his head. “But he insisted we must cope with our existing personnel.”
Charlotte sat and waited for him to continue.
“You realise that the CID now has three DCI’s of which you are the youngest. There is also Charlie Taylor in Plymouth and Bert Tregarrick in Truro.”
“I’ve met Charlie. He seems a very experienced guy.”
“Yes, he is. Well, as the senior man, he’s the one I’ll have to bring in to HQ. I’ve already told him he starts up here on Monday.”
Charlotte nodded.
“However the point is that Plymouth is a very busy patch - international port, home to the navy - all that sort of thing. And he covers a chunk of Cornwall and some of North Devon. He’s got two DI’s but he doesn’t think they can cope on their own.”
Here it comes, thought Charlotte.
“Ahem, since Torquay is technically over-staffed, I’ve decided that we’re going to need your services down in Plymouth. Now that we’ve taken the pressure off poor old Stafford, he should be able to cope well enough on his own and you’ll be much more valuable to us down there.” He beamed at her. “You can introduce this marvellous new computer program to them. That should set the locals back on their heels.”
Charlotte sighed. “When do I have to start, sir?”
“I thought you could go down on Friday and Charlie could show you the ropes before he leaves. What do you think?”
“Friday is tomorrow, sir.”
“Well,” he sounded surprised, “so it is. Is that a problem for you? You’ve got the rest of the day to bring Paulson up to speed and you can clear your desk on Saturday morning.”
“But Stafford has just lost his sergeant, sir.”
“Yes, of course, so he has.” Lord Harry stroked his chin as he thought about it. “Got any suggestions?”
“First of all, what is happening to Sergeant Mallinson, sir? I presume there is no thought of his returning to Torquay.”
“No. No, he’s been dealt with.”
“Has he been charged?”
“Er - no. There were mitigating circumstances.”
“What?” Charlotte couldn’t contain her astonishment. “What were those circumstances?”
“Er, well. I’m not in a position to tell you a lot. It appears that Mallinson didn’t decide to take the action that he did on his own. He thought he was acting on advice from above.”
“From above?” She took a breath. “I can assure you that he arranged the assault on Sidney Pullman without the knowledge of either Stafford Paulson or myself.”
He raised a hand. “Calm down, Charlotte. There is no suggestion that either of you were involved.”
“I should hope not. So who was giving Mallinson instructions over our heads?” Of course she knew at once who it must have been.
The DCC shook his head. “You will realise that I can’t tell you that, Faraday. Please take it from me that the whole matter has been dealt with. Sergeant Mallinson has received a severe warning and has been moved to a location where he will be carefully monitored in future. The other - um - person involved is also - er - beyond contact now. That is all I’m prepared to tell you.”
“What if Pullman or his sister makes a complaint?”
Corbett actually shrugged. “If something like that happens we will have to deal with it in our own way.” He looked severely at her. “However it would not be a good move for either you or Paulson to encourage either of them to make a complaint.”
Charlotte took a breath. She realised she was sailing a bit close to the wind on this one and now was the time to back down. “I’ll tell Inspector Paulson what you say, sir.” She thought Lasham’s seizure was now fully explained.
“So, do you have a suggestion for the new DS in Torquay?”
“Personally I think Constable John Prendergast is ready for promotion and would make an ideal replacement. Can I speak with Stafford Paulson and telephone you if he agrees with my suggestion?”
“Has he enough experience?”
“I believe so. He also has the advantage that he has taken to the new computer program like a duck to water. If Stafford agrees, I believe he would be a real asset to the department.”
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p; “Of course he would need to be replaced in his turn.”
“Again, I’ll ask Inspector Paulson if he has anybody in mind in uniform branch who might be suitable, subject to Superintendent Blackwood’s approval, of course.”
Lord Harry smiled. “I think you’re becoming a bit of a diplomat yourself, Faraday.” He seemed to relax with this decision. “All right then, I’ll leave you to discuss it with the appropriate officers and you can ring me with the outcome for me to rubber stamp. Meanwhile I’ll ring Charlie Taylor and tell him you’ll be arriving about ten tomorrow morning.”
- 39 -
Richard Harris’ response to Paulson’s request to investigate Gary Bostock’s account was prompt. Within the hour he was on the phone.
“Hello, Stafford. I can call you Stafford, can’t I, now that we’re fighting on the same side, so to speak?”
The inspector rather gruffly agreed.
“Good. Well, your information about this Bostock fellow seemed to be a real open-sesame to his numbered account for the Swiss. It’s clear that Bostock has been receiving a steady flow of funds from de Billiere for the past thirteen years or so - more than half a million in total.”
“Good God!” Paulson sat down heavily. “He’s been doing all right then.”
“He certainly has. The interesting thing is the pattern. He received an initial payment of fifty thousand pounds with which he opened the account. That was in 1998. Then there were two or three payments a year for about ten years. They started at about five thousand, gradually rising to ten and then twenty thousand until about three years ago when they stopped. Then, two years ago, there were three big payments in a period of about six weeks which totalled just over a quarter of a million. There’s been nothing more paid in since then.”
“Can we prove it’s his account?”
“Yes. I can get the bank to send me copies of the signatures they obtained when the account was set up.”
“So our Gary Bostock is a rich man.”
There was a brief laugh at the other end of the phone. “I’m afraid not - not as far as this account is concerned anyway. There’s been a steady trickle of withdrawals, sometimes two or three a month in the last couple of years. Now there’s nothing left in the account except a couple of hundred.”
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