The Charlton Affair

by MJ Doherty

  “Yes, just checking you can still make it,” Darren replied.

  “See you soon,” Sally ended the call and returned to the list, isolating the name of Stephen Morrow and plugging it into the police database. Only three listings came up. Two of them were in Brisbane and the other in the northern Queensland city of Cairns. Ruling him out, she took careful note of the Brisbane addresses of the other two and logged a job to have them attended upon by officers to see if they were the muscular gym-going type she was seeking.

  Chewing on her pen, she wondered if Phillips would hear from the hapless Tim Everett soon.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Amanda sat with Darren in his office waiting for the police to arrive. With Charlie's guidance they had agreed Amanda should share almost everything she'd discovered so far, without exposing how she'd come by some of it. Amanda was gratified the police were finally opening up the investigation and shifting the focus off Michael. She knew she could only get so far with her limited resources.

  Darren's PA buzzed him to say Detective Sergeant Middleton and a colleague of hers had arrived.

  "Come in," Darren offered after he greeted Sally and Phillips and introduced them to Amanda. Darren led them to his conference room and asked his PA to take orders for refreshments.

  Amanda already had some documents and a laptop set up on the large table.

  Eyeing the documents, Sally said, "We'd love to know what you've got."

  "Perhaps we should canvas the bail issues first," Darren suggested politely.

  "I'm opposed to any changes at all," Sally replied firmly.

  “My client is no longer your prime suspect," Darren replied.

  "He's still a suspect. He's still the subject of serious charges. We don't want any message leaking out that we're pursuing other avenues. This is to your client's benefit," Sally countered. "Presumably he wants his wife to be safe, right?"

  "The thing that would benefit my client the most is for the charges to be dropped. If that can't be done, then his bail conditions should be removed entirely," Darren replied.

  Sally started to protest but Darren held his hands up, cutting her off by saying, "I get where you're coming from. I really do. I don't want to tip off the killer either. But it's not right to restrict my client when you don't actually think he did it. You'll need to find another way around it. You know the court will agree with me. Let's not get into a shit-fight over this. It'll be much easier of we work something out."

  "I tell you what," Sally replied, "You give us your information, and we'll reassess things then." Her face revealed that she was unmoved by his arguments.

  Darren looked at her searchingly for a moment before saying grudgingly, "Fine, we'll trust you. After all, presumably we all want the same thing here."

  Amanda thought, what a hard-arse that woman is.

  Darren nodded at Amanda and she stepped forward and started taking the police through her findings. Phillips took notes while Sally asked questions.

  When Amanda was taking Sally through a photocopy of Honore Charlton's dairy, Sally demanded, "Why won't you give us the original dairy?"

  Darren leaned forward and said, "It only goes to background. We're trying to help out here. Don't forget that if you hadn't spent all that time barking up the wrong tree, you'd already have all of this. That diary belongs to my client. He is happy to produce the original for the court. If you need it that badly, you can agree to relax his bail conditions and I’ll ask him to hand it over. You could seize it I suppose, but you’d have to get an order that allows you to take things from my safe custody register…”

  Sally backed down. Everyone in the room knew that no Judge would ever give Sally a warrant to search a solicitor’s safe custody register when the solicitor was prepared to produce the item to the court and had already provided copies of it to police. Sally said nothing for a moment and then politely asked Amanda to continue. Amanda could see that it really irked Sally to have been beaten to so many clues and items of information.

  Amanda finished her presentation.

  Darren said, “Can we discuss the bail issues now?"

  Sally replied, "You've been helpful, but you haven't given me enough to really get moving. The banking information and all the other stuff leads to Stillman. The money angle gives him a motive too. But nothing you've provided leads us any closer to finding him, if’s he’s even still alive.”

  Amanda replied in a frustrated voice, "It's your job to investigate. You can't penalize Michael because you picked the wrong man and now you can't find the right one."

  Sally did not change her position, “I’m not going to agree to relax his bail. I know you'll just make the application, but it takes two days for the court to bring it on. And you have to prove a change of circumstance. That's at least two more days for me of no media.”

  Darren challenged her, “We'll have no trouble proving a change of circumstance. His mental state will suffice and if not that, then the fact that Marita Sanchez is dead and he isn’t going to be charged for that.”

  Sally remained defiant, “Two or more days of no media could make all the difference.”

  “You’ll lose at court. And then you’ll look really shitty in the media. Even worse, we’ll put up everything we know if we have to use it to get those bail conditions relaxed or removed.”

  Sally frowned.

  Darren said, “Look, why don’t we compromise. You agree to what we want. We’ll delay the application for an extra day?”

  “I’ll see if the Inspector will agree to some changes and you’ll give us a week,” Sally came back with.

  “The Inspector won’t give a shit and you know it. It’s Ronnie Marsh, isn’t it?” Darren didn’t wait for Sally to confirm it before adding, “He’s the type who only wants results. If Michael’s not your man, he won’t care about bail. We agree now on what we want and the application will be made in four business days, next Wednesday.”

  “You can drop the reporting. You can have phone contact only with the wife. You can’t have the travel restrictions dropped, not with him having all that money overseas. Five business days, next Thursday. That gives us another week to find Stillman without him knowing we’re after him.”

  Darren held out his hand for Sally to shake, “Done,” he said.

  Sally shook it.

  Amanda was no stranger to how police did things. Unfazed by the negotiations, she started to pack up her material. Sally turned to her and said, “If you find out anything more about Stillman’s money in the Caribbean, please let me know straight away.”

  “Sure,” Amanda replied.

  Darren walked the police out while Amanda returned to his office to wait for him. He came back shortly.

  “Well, we got what we wanted. At least Michael can call Phoebe now,” Darren said when he came back.

  “And hopefully they’ll be able to find Stillman soon,” Amanda said, but her face betrayed her doubts about it.

  Darren looked at her and said, “At least they’re looking for him now. But you need to keep following things up, don’t just leave it to them.”

  “Don’t worry, I will. Speaking of that, can you get one of your police mates to run the plates from those photos I took at the Bowen Hills gym?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you really think Michael might have paid someone to kill his wife?” Amanda asked him. She was convinced of his innocence and wondered if Darren truly felt the same way.

  “No, but Middleton might. I just don’t want to give her any more false trails to follow. She needs to be chasing down who and where Stillman might be, instead of following some bozo at the gym on the off chance Michael gave him money via his mistress.”

  Amanda nodded, thinking that she would need to go back to basics again to find some clue to where Stillman might be. There must be something I’ve missed.

  *****

  Phoebe was excited when she picked up the keys to her new apartment on Saturday morning. Mark had dropped her off a
t the South Brisbane estate agency that morning and returned to New Farm. Now she was walking through the Southbank Parklands towards her new apartment building. Mark was going to meet her there soon with her boxes from New Farm. She walked slowly through the crowds enjoying the gorgeous day and the cafes and other attractions. She was looking forward to setting up her new life. The delivery people would be coming throughout the day with the large items and the white-goods. As she looked over at the Brisbane River and the view of the city center on the other side, she recalled the conversation she’d had with Amanda the previous evening. She’d been gratified when Amanda called to say she could have telephone contact with Michael from next Thursday afternoon onwards.

  “But how?” Phoebe had asked Amanda.

  “We did a deal with the police to have the bail conditions relaxed,” Amanda replied.

  “Does this mean they don’t think it’s him?”

  “It means they’ve agreed to look for Stillman, although they’re maintaining the charges against Michael,” Amanda explained.

  “That’s not fair,” Phoebe complained. “If they don’t think it’s him, they should just drop the charges and leave him be.”

  “I agree. And Darren and Charlie would ordinarily force them to that, but we think, and Michael agrees, that we should give the police a little more time to find Stillman. It wouldn’t be good to tip off the killer by dropping the charges against Michael so soon. Anyway, Charlie will be in court next Thursday to secure the changes to the bail conditions. It’ll be quick because it’s being done with the other side’s consent. You won’t need to be there.”

  “Thanks for letting me know. By the way, I’ve heard nothing back from Grand Cayman yet.”

  Amanda replied, “Is there anyway you can push that?”

  “No, not really,” Phoebe sighed. “While I’ve got you, I should let you know my new address.”

  “What?” Amanda had said, totally surprised.

  “Yes, I’m moving into my own apartment in Southbank over the weekend,” Phoebe replied happily.

  “But aren’t you worried about safety?” Amanda spluttered, horrified.

  “This place is really secure, don’t worry. And tell Charlie not to worry either.”

  “She’s going to hit the roof when I tell her,” Amanda replied.

  Phoebe remembered feeling warm inside when she heard Amanda say that, even though she didn’t think there was any need for concern. As she walked under the trees, she anticipated the time when, hopefully soon, Charlie would be able to come over to her new unit to share her newfound privacy. She didn’t notice the burly individual who followed her carefully, not letting her out of his sight.

  *****

  Roman directed traffic in Phoebe’s new apartment with his customary flair, sending the bed deliverymen to the correct room and the people delivering the washing machine to the laundry. He supervised the installation of the machine and the erection of the bed in the correct space, even testing it with his weight before letting the men leave. Knowing that Phoebe was still sore, he set about making the bed for her, using the linen set he had given Phoebe as a housewarming gift.

  Mark was out getting coffee for everyone. Roman fervently hoped he would return with bakery items, too. Just as he was putting the finishing touches on the bed, the door buzzer sounded. He could hear Phoebe asking who it was. It turned out to be the removal company with the load from the Hamilton house. After taking Phoebe’s keys and swipe card, Roman made his way down to the underground car park to swipe the truck in and direct them where to unload.

  When Roman returned to the unit, he happy to see that Mark had come back, heavily laden with coffee, danishes and croissants. Phoebe went down to the car park to swipe the lift to allow the men to bring up the first load. When she arrived back she gave her swipe to the removals men and joined Roman and Mark at the kitchen bench, dividing up the delicacies.

  Roman smiled at her sadly, “Sweets, I really wish you weren’t doing this,” he said, carefully wiping buttery croissant flakes from his face with a paper napkin.

  Phoebe looked up at him, “It’ll be fine. I promise. Please don’t worry. This place is like Fort Knox. And I really need to get on with my life, Roman. I’m so grateful for all the help you’ve given me, but I need to stop depending on you.”

  Mark smiled lovingly at his partner, “Darling, the lady has her mind made up,” he said gently.

  Roman’s shoulders slumped. He wondered why neither of them seemed to understand that it was the absolute worst idea for Phoebe to move out at the moment. She’s in denial and he actually supports her right to make really dumb decisions, he thought sourly. Oh well, all I can do is be a good friend and help out. The door buzzer sounded again. Roman thought it might be the refrigerator arriving and got up to investigate.

  *****

  Amanda sat outside the Bowen Hill’s gym in a hired car with Charlie’s laptop on her knees. She had been there since mid-morning and it was now after lunch. Sanchez and his large friend were nowhere to be seen. As she kept one eye on the gym entrance, she scrolled though Roman’s Facebook page. After an hour of solid work on the page she came up with nothing of interest to the investigation, but had learned a great deal about Roman. He was incredibly well connected. She was mildly surprised to find he supported a number of charities and causes. Finished with looking at Roman, she clicked the link to Mark Mitchell’s page. She was astounded at what she saw. She immediately dialed Charlie.

  “Charlie, you’ll never believe it,” Amanda said with dread, when Charlie answered.

  “What?” Charlie replied.

  “Mark Mitchell is an expert in networks.”

  “Bloody hell! I thought he was a business consultant. At least that’s what Roman said he was.”

  “He is. His platform is business development. He designs complex solutions for business improvement. Some of his clients are major players. But his own background is in networks engineering according to the bio on his site,” Amanda replied.

  “And he’s very muscular.” Charlie said, her voice sinking.

  “And Phoebe’s been right there with him all this time.”

  “It can’t be him! He’s had plenty of opportunity to get at her and nothing happened!” Charlie’s voice sounded horrified. She groaned in sheer frustration and disbelief, adding, “No way. It makes no sense. He looks too young to be Stillman.”

  “I agree, he’s probably not Stillman, unless he’s had cosmetic surgery. But he is a muscular man who’s an expert at IT,” Amanda reiterated, adding, “He needs to be checked out, even if it’s just to rule him off the list.”

  Charlie conceded, “You’re right, of course, but I can’t do that to Roman. Not when I don’t really believe it could be Mark.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  Charlie hesitated, before responding, “I guess I can’t. This is horrible.”

  “If he’s not Stillman or not being paid by Stillman or Michael, there’s no real harm done.”

  “I’m not so sure about that, but I’d hate myself if something happened, unlikely as it seems.”

  Amanda replied, “Phoebe’s safe for the moment at her new flat. But then again, I guess Roman and Mark are with her today, helping her move.”

  Charlie said, “I’ll call Darren now and get him to pass it on to the police straight away.”

  “Of course. In the mean time, I’ll try to think of something to keep her out of harms way,” Amanda replied, her mind doing overtime to come up with a solution, “I can go over there if you like?”

  Charlie replied, “It’s OK, I hired a guard last night to keep an eye on her, after you told me she was moving out. My guy’s reporting to me on the hour. At the moment she’s in the new flat. The movers have been and gone and the fridge has just arrived,” Charlie said smugly.

  Amanda was relieved, but a little taken aback by the extremity of Charlie’s actions.

  “Stay on the gym thing. I know, strictly speaking, it shouldn
’t be our concern but let me know if they show up,” Charlie said before ending the call.

  Amanda sat in the car, wondering why she was uncomfortable with the idea of Charlie hiring personal security for Phoebe. She knew Charlie was deeply affected by Phoebe. She wasn’t actually surprised she’d hired a guard. It was the fact that Phoebe didn’t know about it that bothered her. Everyone was so intent on covering Phoebe in cotton wool and looking after her. Sometimes they forgot she was an adult woman capable of making her own decisions.

  Delving deeper, she realized that it wasn’t Phoebe she was upset for, it was herself. Her husband John often did to her what Charlie was doing to Phoebe. He made decisions for her benefit without consulting her. Sometimes it was as simple as him booking them a weekend away fishing without asking her. She hadn’t realized how annoyed she was about it until now. She knew he only meant the best, but it was insulting.

  Just then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Putting the laptop down and making sure she stayed as still as possible, she focused on the car that had just pulled up at the gym. She saw Sanchez’s large friend get out of his car and grab his gym bag before going inside. Amanda prepared herself to wait patiently. This time she was determined to follow him when he left. Charlie needed her to investigate everything, even though the results might be prejudicial to her client.

  The last thing Darren or Charlie needed was evidence that connected Michael to the muscular guy, but Charlie wanted her to follow up every lead for Phoebe’s sake. Amanda agreed. It wouldn’t be a proper investigation if she ignored things because they were inconvenient. She didn’t have long to wait. The big guy left the gym within thirty minutes.

  *****

  Even though it was her day off, Sally sat at her computer researching the connections in Phoebe’s life. She was supposed to be at the shops getting some fresh seafood for a family barbeque that afternoon. Her husband had taken the kids to little gymnastics, as he did every Saturday. I’ll just finish this and then I’ll go, she promised herself.