Kendall - Private Detective - Box Set

by John Holt

  Kendall looked up and started to rub his chin. “Okay so I admit that it sounds a little farfetched,” he replied. “I actually think that the boy friend was brought in, by Mary, in her car that night. He was let out over by the woods, and later he committed the robbery.”

  Devaney looked at Kendall for a few moments. He started tapping his fingers together, but said nothing. Once again he looked over at the files on his desk. He then looked back at Kendall. “All right, Kendall, I’ll string along with you, for a while,” he said. “What makes you think that?”

  Kendall shook his head. “I’m not really sure,” he replied. “Perhaps I don’t have a proper reason. Perhaps it’s just a hunch. Can you help me?”

  “But I thought you had it all tied up,” Devaney said.

  Kendall smiled. “There are just one or two loose ends, that’s all,” he replied.

  “One or two loose ends, I see,” said Devaney. “So what is it you need to know?” he asked.

  Kendall started to smile. “I need to know about that accident,” he replied. “And anything you can find out about Jack Warner.”

  Devaney heaved a sigh. “Okay, but I can’t think why,” he replied.

  Kendall looked at the pile of files waiting to be dealt with. “Perhaps you’ve nothing else to do,” he said. He started towards the door. “I’ll be seeing you.” As he reached the doorway he stopped and turned. “Thanks Devaney,” he called out. “You’re a big help.”

  Devaney looked up from his desk. “It’s nice to know that we are appreciated,” he called back.

  Kendall smiled. “Oh you are,” he said. “You are.” He waved and quickly turned, and went out of the room.

  * * *

  The following day Kendall received a telephone call from Devaney. “I’m sorry Kendall,” he said. “I’ve searched and searched, and there’s nothing.” He waited for a reaction. There was none. “Kendall are you there?” he asked.

  “I’m here,” Kendall replied. “Go on.”

  “There’s nothing to tell you. I checked the State records, County Records, and Central,” Devaney continued. “There is no mention of a Jack Warner anywhere. There is no report of his death, and there is no mention of the accident.”

  Kendall gave a sigh of disappointment. “You looked through May and June, like I said?” he asked.

  “Kendall I checked the whole year,” Devaney replied. “From January right through to December, and there’s nothing. There’s not a word.” He paused for a moment. “I don’t think the guy ever existed.”

  Kendall remained silent for a few minutes. “You mean to say that during that whole year there were no accidents on that stretch of road,” he said finally.

  “Oh there were accidents all right,” Devaney corrected him. “Two to be precise, both occurred some miles from your spot, though.” He paused, and Kendall could hear papers being shuffled. “The first one involved a truck carrying skimmed milk. The driver fell asleep at the wheel. The vehicle runs into a tree, milk everywhere.” He paused once again. More papers were being shuffled. “Here we are,” he continued. “The second involved an old Chevy. The driver loses control in the rain. The car comes off the road, and ends up in a ditch. The car’s a complete write off. Nobody got killed.”

  “And that’s it?” asks Kendall.

  “That’s it Kendall,” Devaney replied. “Sorry, but do try to get your facts right in future will you.”

  “Right,” Kendall replied slowly. “By the way, how do you know about these accidents?” he asked. “I mean they weren’t serious were they?”

  “Although there were no serious injuries, both drivers ended up in hospital with minor cuts and bruises,” Devaney explained. “Any accident involving a hospital is recorded. Well Kendall that’s it sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”

  Kendall sighed. It was not what he was expecting. It was not what he had hoped for. He wasn’t sure of what it meant, if anything. One thing though, for some reason Mary was not being entirely honest. In fact she was not being honest at all. So it seems that our friend Jack Warner never existed. Kendall’s theory had just gone out of the window. “Then why did she stop her car over by the woods?” he asked.

  “She stalled that’s all,” said Devaney. “There’s no big mystery.”

  Kendall shook his head. “And what about the blanket?” he asked.

  “What blanket?” Devaney asked.

  “A blanket was found on the driveway, just about where Mary had stopped her car,” Kendall explained. “That blanket.”

  “Who knows,” Devaney replied. “It could have been there for days.” He paused for a few moments. “Kendall you’re supposed to be a detective,” he continued. “You work it out.”

  “Oh that’s fine Devaney,” Kendall replied. “Thanks. I’ll see you around.” He replaced the handset on the cradle. He shook his head, and started to write in his pad. “Why would Mary lie? He underlined it, twice.

  So Mary’s boyfriend was only in her imagination, then. So who did she visit that night?

  Chapter Thirty

  So Many Pieces

  Kendall had his feet up on the desk, his head lay back, and his eyes were shut. He wasn’t asleep. Oh no. He was just resting. At least that would have been his opinion had he been conscious. He would have said that he was merely thinking that was all. His eyes were shut tight to prevent any unwanted factors making their way in. To stop unwanted outside influences entering, and cluttering the brain. So that he could concentrate more fully on the problems at hand.

  Mollie sat at her desk, looking at him. She knew that he was asleep, no matter what he said. He was sound asleep. She sighed. She was bored. She wanted to discuss the case, to talk about what they had discovered. She sighed once more. She didn’t really have the heart to disturb him, did she? Didn’t she?

  “So what about this blanket then?” Mollie asked loudly enough to wake the people at the other end of the corridor.

  Kendall’s eyes opened wide, and he swung his legs on to the floor. He looked at Mollie, and smiled. “Exactly, you’re absolutely right.” He rubbed his eyes, and stretched. “Sorry what did you say? I didn’t really hear you. Concentrating so hard you see.”

  Mollie nodded her head. “Were you asleep?” she asked.

  “Asleep,” repeated Kendall, as he tried to stifle a yawn. “What are you talking about? Why the very idea. Of course I wasn’t asleep.”

  Well you had your eyes closed,” Mollie retorted. “You were asleep I know you were.”

  “I wasn’t asleep,” Kendall repeated, rubbing his eyes. “I was merely thinking. Now what did you say?”

  Mollie shook her head, and gave a sigh. “You were asleep,” she whispered under her breath. “I said, what about the blanket then?”

  Kendall looked blank. “Blanket?” he repeated. “What blanket?”

  Mollie sighed once again. “You were asleep, I knew it. I asked about the blanket in the car, the blanket that Ann Wheeler had found; the one that belonged to Mary Dwyer.” She took a breath. “That blanket.”

  “Oh that blanket,” Kendall replied. “You know I think that the blanket had to have been on the back seat of her car. Not in the front.” Kendall suddenly sat forward. “I believe that there was somebody in the back of the car and the blanket had been used to hide whoever it was.” Mollie looked at him, but said nothing. He smiled. “It’s been done before, and I expect it will be done again.”

  Mollie nodded. “You mean the murder of Governor Reynolds, don’t you?” Kendall nodded. “So you think she brought someone in that night,” Mollie continued. “Maybe it was the boyfriend, Jack what’s his name.”

  “Warner,” said Kendall. “Jack Warner.”

  “So he was the outside help,” said Mollie. “And Mary was the insider, not Wheeler.” Kendall smiled broadly, and nodded in confirmation. “Case solved,” Mollie announced. Kendall said nothing, but suddenly he was no longer smiling. “I said case solved,” Mollie repeated.

  Kendall sh
ook his head. “No, not yet,” he replied. “There’s something very wrong somewhere.” He shrugged his shoulders, and started to drum his fingers on the desk. “We still have the kidnap of Carl Simmonds to think about, and we still have the murder of Eve Simmonds,” he continued. “I am convinced that somehow they are connected with the robbery.”

  “And we also have Eve Simmonds standing at the open doorway, staring into the darkness and waving to someone.” He shook his head again. “No we are a long way from solving this one I’m afraid.”

  “Perhaps she was waving at Jack Warner,” she suggested. “She probably knew him and recognized him, that’s all.”

  “No, that can’t be right, Mollie,” Kendall replied. “Nobody up at the Hall had ever seen him, that’s what Dave the security guard told me. And besides if she had seen him, and she did know him, why didn’t she mention it to the police at the time?” He thought for a few moments, and suddenly remembered something. “And don’t you remember what Ann Wheeler had said?”

  Mollie thought for a few moments. “That’s right, she said that she thought she had seen Carl Simmonds that night.”

  Kendall sat in complete silence. He started to doodle on to the sheet of notepaper lying on the desk. After a few minutes he suddenly stopped, and looked down at the paper. He had drawn the same circle over and over again. “That’s what I’m doing, just going round and round in circles and getting nowhere.” Then he angrily drew a thick line through the centre of the circle, the pencil cutting deeply into the paper and tearing it. “They are connected,” he announced loudly. “They have to be, it’s not just coincidence.”

  * * *

  “They have to be connected,” Kendall repeated, as he tapped the desk. The telephone suddenly rang. He picked up the receiver on the third ring. “Kendall Detective Agency,” he said. He looked across to Mollie and smiled. “How can I ..” He was interrupted by the voice on the other end. Kendall remained silent for a few moments listening. “Hi,” he continued. “Thanks for calling.” He paused once again listening. “It was?” he said. “That’s great.” There was another pause. “Thanks for the call.” Another slight pause. “Thanks. You have a nice day too.” Kendall slowly replaced the handset on the cradle, there was a huge smile spreading across his face.

  “Well what was that all about?” Mollie asked.

  “I went to Jerry’s bar again the other day,” Kendall explained. “Jerry wasn’t there so I left a photograph for him to look at with one of the waitresses.” Kendall looked at Mollie, and nodded his head. “That was Jerry, with the confirmation that I was right, once again.” He started to laugh.

  Mollie looked at him and glared. “Right about what?” she asked.

  “Right about Jack Warner,” he replied.

  “Jack Warner?” Mollie repeated. “What about him.”

  Kendall started to rub his hands together. “Jack Warner,” he said. “The man that Mary was going to marry until sadly he was allegedly killed in a car crash, was in reality none other than,” he paused deliberately adding to the tension.

  “Come on,” Mollie yelled. Who was he?

  “He was none other than Carl Simmonds,” Kendall replied smugly. “Just as I had suspected.”

  Mollie looked at him. “Carl Simmonds,” she repeated simply. “So it was Carl that Eve waved to that night, as we thought.”

  Kendall nodded. “That’s right. She must have seen him in the distance, and recognized him, and just waved to him.”

  Mollie looked puzzled. “It’s strange though, didn’t she think it odd? I mean Carl Simmonds strolling along the lawn at, what was it shortly after three in the morning.”

  Kendall nodded. “She probably did think it odd,” he replied. “Unless, that is, she was actually involved with the robbery herself. In which case she would have expected to see him wouldn’t she?”

  Mollie shook her head. “No, that can’t be right,” she said. “We know that Carl, or Jack as we thought, was brought on to the property by Mary Dwyer.” Kendall nodded. “So it was Mary and Carl who were in league together, not Eve.” She thought for a few moments. “So when she realized that there had been a robbery, she must have suspected that Carl was involved.”

  Kendall nodded once again. “Probably,” he replied. “In fact I would say almost certainly.”

  “So why didn’t she report the whole thing to the police?” Mollie asked.

  Kendall smiled. “That’s fairly obvious, isn’t it?” Mollie looked puzzled. “Think about it,” he continued. “A few weeks after the robbery Eve Bradley married Carl Simmonds didn’t she?”

  “That’s right,” Mollie replied. “Of course she did.” She thought for a moment or two longer. “I wonder if she knew about Carl’s involvement with Mary?”

  “I don’t know whether she did at that time,” Kendall replied. “Probably not I would guess. But she probably realized a little later on.”

  Mollie sat for a few moments thinking deeply. She suddenly looked up at Kendall. “What about this divorce thing?” she asked. “I mean who was divorcing who? She said that she was divorcing him, her father says that it was actually the other way around. Who is telling the truth?” she continued. “And what effect does it have on our thoughts about the possible motive.”

  Kendall shrugged. “You know I don’t know who was telling the truth. All the way through this case we have been lied to by someone, or not told the whole story by someone else, or deliberately mislead.” He shrugged his shoulders once again. “Who can you trust? Who is telling the truth? Who is lying?” He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. “We certainly know that Carl Simmonds is a liar. All of that about New York, and the kidnapping, is more than enough proof. It seems to be that whoever was actually planning on the divorce is perhaps a little irrelevant. Either way I believe that we still have a good enough motive for Carl Simmonds to be the murderer of Eve Simmonds.”

  Mollie looked puzzled. “Can you just explain that to me,” she said.

  “Let’s just say that she was planning on divorcing him,” he said. “In that event he could lose a large amount of money. Definitely a good enough reason for murder I would suggest.” He paused and took a breath. “Now let’s consider the other possibility. Let’s say that he was the one who wanted the divorce, for whatever reason, perhaps to go with Mary, or maybe someone else. Whatever, it doesn’t really matter. He wants the divorce, and she refuses. That’s another good reason for murdering her. So you see the motive stands up either way.”

  Mollie smiled and nodded her head. “Heads you lose, tails I win.”

  “That’s right,” said Kendall, and he started to laugh.

  * * *

  “So let’s recap shall we?” Kendall said, as he placed a blank sheet of notepaper in front of him. “Let’s see what we have. Or should I say what we don’t have.” He held up one finger. “One, we have an alleged kidnapping.” He wrote it down on the sheet of paper. “Which was not a kidnapping at all.” He continued writing. He held up a second finger. “Two, we have an alleged kidnap victim.”

  “Being held in New York, against his will,” offered Mollie.

  “Right,” said Kendall. “But he wasn’t being held captive, and he wasn’t in New York. All of the time the alleged victim was living just a few short miles away in a luxury villa on the coast.”

  “In Key Largo,” added Mollie.

  “Right,” said Kendall once again. “In Key Largo.”

  Mollie looked puzzled. “But how did you know that he hadn’t been kidnapped? She asked.

  Kendall smiled. “Well there were a number of things really. The first thing that got me thinking was something that Russell had said. He was to contact me again a few days later, with further instructions, he said. He was talking about Simmonds.” Kendall shook his head. “Simmonds makes a telephone call, with instructions to Russell, more than that he actually states that he will call again a few days later.” He paused. “Simmonds is, apparently, being held against his will, held
captive waiting for a ransom pay off. Yet he can still make a call, and still give instructions.”

  “That makes no sense whatsoever,” said Mollie. “How would he know that he would be able to make that call?”

  “Precisely,” said Kendall. “That was the first little suspicion that I had. Then there was something you said, about kidnapping and hotels.”

  “If you had kidnapped someone, would you be staying in a hotel anyway?” Mollie replied. “I remember.”

  “That’s right. And we both agreed that we wouldn’t,” Kendall said. “And finally, no one knew that Simmonds would actually be in New York. He was due to go to Chicago. He only switched at the last minute, or so we were led to believe.” He paused and nodded. “No, there is no way that Simmonds was actually kidnapped. That was just one big elaborate deception.”

  “So that’s two,” Mollie said. “What about number three?”

  Kendall thought for a few moments. He nodded and held up a third finger. “Three, we have Mrs. Simmonds allegedly seeking a divorce. According to her father, and Carl Simmonds, that was a deliberate lie.” He quickly wrote everything down. He looked up. “I wonder why she lied about that?” he murmured.

  Mollie looked at him. “Did you say something?” she asked.

  “I said I wonder why Eve Simmonds lied about the divorce.”

  Mollie thought for a few moments. “Well maybe she did not want to admit to us, or anyone else, that she had made a mistake. She didn’t want to be seen as the one who had failed in the marriage. She wanted the blame to be all on Carl, and not her.” She paused for a moment. “Headstrong, remember.”

  Kendall rubbed his chin, and nodded his head. “Just like her father,” he said. “Makes sense.” He nodded his head once again. “Right, where were we?” he asked.

  “Four,” Mollie replied. “We were up to number four.”

  “So we were,” replied Kendall. “Four, we have ……”

  “Four, we have an alleged suicide,” Mollie suggested.