Kendall - Private Detective - Box Set

by John Holt

“It did not seem consistent with someone tripping over, and falling to the ground,” Kendall explained. “There should have been other injuries, either to the hands or knees. Something… but there was nothing.”

  “Then there was the position of his hands,” Mollie said.

  Angela looked puzzled. “His hands?” she repeated. “What about them?”

  Kendall took another drink of his coffee. “They were lying underneath his body,” he explained. “They should have been outstretched, in front of him.” Angela still looked puzzled. “It would be a perfectly natural reaction to put your arms out, trying to save your face,” Kendall continued.

  Angela nodded her head. “Oh, I see,” she replied.

  “It was certainly beginning to look like it could have been murder,” Kendall continued.

  “An examination of the car Richard had used that day, confirmed it,” added Mollie.

  Kendall smiled and nodded. “We found blood stains on the driver’s seat head restraint,” he explained. “That blood was Richard’s. We also found bloodstains on the door. That was from the cuts on Richard’s neck. The police also found fingerprints on the car door. Those prints turned out to belong to John Vickers.”

  He paused and picked up his cup. He shook his head. It was empty. “More coffee anyone?” he asked.

  Mollie glared at him, and got up. She walked to the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a fresh pot of coffee. “And don’t forget Joe’s evidence,” she said as she placed the tray on the desk.

  “That’s perfectly right,” said Kendall. “He saw the whole thing you know.”

  Mollie shook her head. “Poor Joe,” she said. “He didn’t realize what was happening, but he saw two men carrying somebody, Richard, across the car park. He saw them lay the body down, by that wall.”

  “The wall where they later found him,” Mrs. Dawson added quietly. Peter reached forward and put his arm around her.

  “Once I had concluded that it was murder, the question then was who did it, and why,” Kendall said.

  “Suspicion immediately fell on to the two so-called witnesses,” said Mollie, as she started to pour the coffee. “Witnesses who had suddenly disappeared.”

  “Sent away on a business trip,” Kendall explained. “Sent away by Clark himself.”

  “So was that what put you on to Trenton themselves?” asked Peter.

  Kendall shook his head. “That’s difficult to say,” he replied. “I suppose I had my suspicions once I had concluded that it was murder. After all he had died in Trenton’s car park. The two witnesses, who were now suspects, actually worked for Trenton. And finally, Richard had been visiting the company.”

  He shook his head. “Then the doubts came back. For a while there I was beginning to wonder if I was right. I mean had Richard really been murdered because of something that he had found out about Trenton Pharmaceuticals; something of such consequence that it would result in his death? It was beginning to sound a little unreal.” He paused and took a deep breath.

  “Then there were other nagging doubts. Had Richard’s murder really been arranged by Clark, it somehow seemed unlikely. I had to be barking up the wrong tree. There had to be another answer. After all, Clark was a highly respected man. He was chief executive of the largest pharmaceutical company in the country, possibly the largest in the world, who knows.” He paused for a moment. “I just had to be wrong. Those two men had murdered Richard maybe, but it was really nothing to do with Trenton. Maybe it was a simple case of robbery.” He shrugged his shoulders. “And then the requests started to come in, the warnings.”

  “Stop harassing Clark,” Mollie explained. Kendall nodded. “Keep away from Trenton Pharmaceuticals.”

  “That’s right. Back off,” said Kendall. “Trenton had friends in high places including the state governor.” He shook his head. “It was then that I knew with absolute certainly that I was right. Trenton, and in particular, Clark, were deeply involved in the death of your son.”

  “So why was my son actually murdered?” Mrs. Dawson asked.

  Kendall smiled at her, and shook his head. “It was apparent that Richard had been killed because of something that he was working on at the newspaper.”

  “The epidemic, you mean?” suggested Angela.

  Kendall nodded. “Well, certainly the epidemic was part of it,” he replied. “He had been working on that since the first outbreak. But it was more than that.”

  “To answer the question fully we need to go back five years, to August 2005. At that time Trenton Pharmaceuticals were testing a new drug in Costa Rica.”

  “In Punta Rojas?” suggested Angela.

  “That’s right,” said Kendall. “Punta Rojas. The only thing is, Trenton denied it at the time, and no more thought was given to it.” He shrugged. “Not until this current outbreak, that is. Punta Rojas once again.”

  “So is that what put Richard on to Trenton?” asked Angela.

  Kendall shook his head. “I can only guess at that, I’m afraid.” He paused for a moment. “But I think he must have been struck by the co-incidence.”

  “What do you mean, Mr. Kendall?” Angela asked.

  Kendall shook his head. “Let me say from the outset that I’m not one for co-incidence. I just don’t believe in it. I think Richard was the same.” He paused and shook his head once again. “Richard was methodical. He worked things out.” He looked at Mrs. Dawson. “Remember what you said about him checking things, and re-checking?”

  “And double checking,” offered Peter.

  Kendall nodded. “That’s right, and double checking. Richard never left anything to chance. For him, everything had a reason, a meaning. He didn’t believe in co-incidence, or just one of those things.” He paused once again and took a drink of coffee. “This current epidemic started in Punta Rojas. Richard knew that name. He remembered it from the email that he had received all of those years before.”

  “That one from Carlos,” Angela suggested.

  “That’s right,” said Mollie. “That email mentioned Trenton Pharmaceuticals.”

  “It specifically asked Richard to find out what Trenton was doing in Punta Rojas in 2005,” added Kendall.

  Peter sighed and shook his head. “But there was nothing in it, was there?”

  Kendall shook his head. “Apparently not,” he replied. “Not then, anyway. Then a few days later he received another email telling him to forget all about it. So he filed everything away, and forgot about it. But then, when this recent epidemic started and Punta Rojas is mentioned once again, Richard began to wonder. Was there a connection, or was it merely one of those things. Was it just co-incidence?”

  “And we know the answer to that, don’t we,” said Mollie.

  “That’s completely right,” said Kendall. “So Richard began investigating Trenton once again. Oh, sure, they had denied all knowledge of Punta back in 2005, but Richard was no longer convinced. Just maybe there was something. Your brother had been to see Trenton Pharmaceuticals on a number of occasions, correct?”

  Peter thought for a few moments. “Three or four times, I think.”

  Kendall shook his head. “According to his diary he went twice. Once on the seventh, and again three days later, on the tenth, the day he died.”

  “The day that he was murdered you mean,” whispered Mrs. Dawson.

  “The day that he was murdered,” Kendall agreed.

  “But why murder him?” asked Peter.

  Kendall nodded his head, and heaved a sigh. “Richard had found something out about them,” he replied. “Something that they wanted kept quiet.”

  “The photograph,” Mrs. Dawson whispered slowly.

  Kendall looked at her, and smiled. “Precisely. The photograph.”

  Peter looked at him, puzzled. “Photograph,” he repeated. “What photograph?”

  “The photograph showing a camp site of some kind,” Kendall replied. “A camp site in Punta Rojas, we found out later. On the back it merely gave the date, 2005
, and the word Trenton.” He paused for a moment, and gave a little chuckle. “The strange thing was that Richard had sent that photograph to his mother, as a post card from Niagara Falls this year.”

  Peter shook his head. “Niagara Falls, why would he do that?” he asked.

  ”Why indeed,” said Kendall. “Perhaps he needed to bring it to somebody’s attention without arousing suspicions. But I think it was too late. I think that by that time Trenton were already on to him. They just needed to know exactly what he knew, and what he had done about it.”

  Peter still looked puzzled. “And precisely what had he found out?” he asked. “What was it that led to his death?”

  Kendall shrugged his shoulders. “Actually the photograph unfortunately told us very little. A place and a date, and that was all apart from the reference to Trenton. So it seemed to suggest that Trenton was up to something in Punta Rojas, in 2005, but what that something was we had no idea. We made enquiries with the Costa Rican authorities, and drew a big, fat blank. They were of no help.”

  “They couldn’t tell you anything?” Peter asked.

  “Couldn’t or wouldn’t,” Mollie answered.

  “Wouldn’t, I would say,” said Kendall. “Then you received that email from Luis Ramone, and little pieces started to drop into place. You know the rest.”

  Peter nodded. “Why did Trenton tell you that Richard had died the following day at the hospital?” he asked.

  Kendall smiled. “It simply gave more credence to the accident story. Dying the following day did not sound like a murder, you see,” he replied.

  “But didn’t Clark know that the hospital and the coroner would know the truth about when he died?” Angela said. “I mean they knew that Richard was dead at the scene, didn’t they?”

  Kendall nodded his head. “That’s right, but Alan Clark thought that because everyone else was saying that it was an accident, they would just accept that Richard had died the following day. And besides, even if they didn’t, even if they knew that he had died on the actual day, it was a simple error, and it still made no different to the overall story.”

  “So what happened about Richard’s papers at the newspaper office? How come they all disappeared?” Mollie asked.

  “That’s simple,” Kendall replied. “Richard had taken them all to Costa Rica and given them to Luis Ramone for safe keeping. He did not want Trenton to find anything out. That’s why there was nothing at his home either.”

  Mollie sighed. That made sense. “So what about the epidemic?” she asked. “The Rican flu virus?”

  Kendall looked at her. “What about it?

  “Well,” she said. “The virus in 2005, how many died then?”

  Kendall shuffled through his notes. “Ah, here we are,” he said. He quickly scanned the page. “Twenty died in total.”

  Mollie nodded. “Dreadful,” she murmured. She looked up at Kendall. “It’s dreadful, but twenty deaths is not that great is it? I mean, in comparison with a global epidemic. Why didn’t it spread? I mean this latest one has found its way into several countries, but that one didn’t.”

  Kendall nodded his head. “Well, I’m no expert on the subject, but I think it didn’t spread for one very simple reason.” He took a deep breath. “It was under the control of Trenton Pharmaceuticals. It was restricted to that one small area in the Javea Valley. No one was allowed in, or out. Not until the incubation period was over.”

  Mollie nodded her head. “Oh, I see,” she replied, but she still looked puzzled. “So why did this new one suddenly appear after so long?”

  Kendall shook his head. “Well, that’s a bit more difficult, and really needs a pharmacist to give a proper answer.” He looked at the file on the desk in front of him. There was the photograph of those tents in the Javea Valley. He looked at Mollie. “In a way, the virus never actually went away. It has been with us ever since 2005.” She looked puzzled. Kendall started to tap the photograph. “There were fifty-eight people in those tents,” he continued. “We know that twenty died, leaving thirty-eight. Fourteen others contracted the disease. They did not die, and are still alive today, although they have very serious medical conditions, including problems with the heart, lungs, and liver. Their life expectancy is low to say the least.”

  Kendall looked back at the file. There were photographs of every single one of them in there. He closed the file. “The remaining twenty-four were apparently fine. They developed none of the symptoms. Apart from one who was killed in a car crash in 2006, they are all alive and well today.” Kendall shook his head and sighed once again. “However, no one realized it at the time, but they were all affected. They were all carriers of the disease.”

  “Carriers?” said Angela.

  Kendall looked at her, and then looked at Mollie. “Do you remember what Luis Ramone had said to us?”

  She nodded. “A carrier could have the disease inside their body, and not know it,” she said trying to remember exactly what he had said. “The virus could just lay dormant, possibly for years. Then suddenly it becomes active once more for some unknown reason, and the infection could start all over.”

  Kendall nodded. “That’s right,” he said. “The virus remained in their bodies completely unknown to anyone. It stayed there, dormant for five years, and then suddenly it was re-awakened, and began the infection process once again, spreading rapidly.” He paused and looked at Peter. “Your brother was close to the truth. Luis Ramone had given him a lot of information. Clark suspected as much, and arrangements were made for one more meeting.”

  “The day of Richard’s murder,” said Mrs. Dawson

  Kendall nodded. “Richard arrived and told Clark what he knew, and threatened to go to the authorities with his story. The meeting finished and Richard returned to his car.” He paused. “I should say his neighbor’s car, the one that he was using that day, the one that he had borrowed. Unbeknown to Richard, someone was waiting in the back seat of that car.”

  “John Vickers,” said Mollie helpfully.

  “John Vickers,” repeated Kendall. “Richard got in and started to buckle his seat belt. It was then that Vickers struck. It was the blow to the side of the head that caused the contusions. It was that blow that killed him.” Kendall paused and looked at Mrs. Dawson. “His head fell to the side, and that’s when the side of his neck was cut on a piece of wire on the head-rest. They were minor scratches only. He was probably dead after the first blow.”

  “At this point, Clive Norris came over and the two men lifted Richard out of the car, and carried him over to the low wall where he was later found. As they started across the car park, Norris looked up and saw Joe Louis pruning his roses. Louis looked over and waved at Norris.”

  “Poor Joe, he never exactly knew what he had seen,” said Mollie. “It didn’t sink in did it? It didn’t mean anything to him.”

  “That’s right, Mollie,” said Kendall. “But Norris and Vickers couldn’t take the chance. Just in case he started saying anything. Arrangements needed to be made to show that he wasn’t even there on that day, thereby discrediting anything that he might have said.”

  “So why was he killed?” asked Mollie.

  Kendall shook his head. “As long as he wasn’t talking to anyone he was considered harmless,” he replied. “Besides, there was the proof that he wasn’t even at the Trenton building that day. There was no problem.” He paused, and looked down. “Then he came to see me,” he continued. “That sealed his fate. Clark just could not take the chance any longer. No, he had to be silenced.”

  “So what had Joe seen?” asked Peter.

  Kendall shook his head. “There’s the real sad thing,” he said. “Joe had seen two men carrying another man across the car park. It meant nothing to him. He had seen someone lying on the ground, lying very still. So what? Once again it meant nothing to him.”

  Kendall paused and took a deep breath. “But then things started to happen. First the paramedics arrived, then the ambulance, and finally the police
. There is activity everywhere. Something exciting is going on, something important. Joe wanted to be part of it, to feel important. He starts to talk, ramble I should say. Either way there was a risk, he had to be silenced. So another little accident was arranged. A hit and run. The driver of the car was none other than Clive Norris.”

  “What about that other young man?” Mollie asked. “Martin something or other?”

  “Summers,” said Kendall. “Martin Summers.”

  “That’s right,” said Mollie. “Why did he kill himself?”

  Kendall shook his head. “He didn’t. Norris killed him.”

  “Why?” asked Peter.

  “Simple. The usual reason, to keep him quiet,” said Kendall. “Summers worked in the laboratory developing the vaccine. He had found out about the problem with Batch 942/D. He knew that something had gone wrong. He suspected that it might have been the reason for the epidemic.”

  Mollie nodded. “I see,” she said.

  “So why did Trenton do it, anyway?” asked Angela.

  Kendall nodded his head. “Money… as simple as that,” he replied. “We need to go back five years to August 2005. At that time Trenton were in deep financial trouble. They had invested billions of dollars into research and development, and were relying on their new drug Dioxycill being a great success. But they needed it to be in the market place quickly. The FDA had stopped all tests in America until additional safeguards had been put into place, safeguards that would have been extremely expensive. Trenton could not afford the additional expense. Clark decided to take a gamble, and test the drug in Central America, where controls were, shall we say, less stringent.”

  “So he went to Punta Rojas,” suggested Mollie.

  Kendall nodded. “That’s right, Punta Rojas, in Costa Rica; the Javea Valley to be precise. Plans were made, and the set up established. Luis Ramone was involved in setting up the campsite. He was the one who told Richard about batch 942/D. Richard thought that batch 942/D was the actual vaccine, but he made a mistake, it was only an ingredient, a small part of the drug. 942/D was meant to be an enzyme, a protein. But something went wrong, and there was a mix up in the laboratory. Batch 942/D was actually a toxin; in other words, a poison. The volunteers duly arrived. They were all infected and the tests commenced. They were all treated with Dioxycill. Of course, no one realized that it contained the toxic 942/D. Then things went dreadfully wrong. Naturally, instead of curing them, the poison brought about their deaths. It wasn’t planned that way, and certainly Clark did not want it to fail. But simply, the drug did not work. People started to die from the virus they had been injected with.”