Dead and Gone

by Bill Kitson

  Nobody enjoys a visit from an external auditor, and with Shires Financial being a relatively small institution, they relied on the services of a freelance operator. This policy served two purposes: it was cost effective in that the group wasn’t committed to a large annual salary plus benefits, and there was also no risk of the auditor and staff forming a cosy relationship.

  Sir Stuart was concerned that there might be something amiss within the group. The bank, the building society, the insurance and estate agency divisions had all turned in healthy profits, as had the credit card operation, but he was uneasy nevertheless. He couldn’t identify the cause of his worry, but his instinct had been proved reliable far too often for him to risk taking the chance of ignoring it.

  When Patricia Wain didn’t turn up, Crawshaw waited until an hour after her scheduled arrival time before phoning the hotel where he’d reserved a room for her. He was more than a little surprised to learn that she had failed to check in. And when her mobile went straight to voicemail, his surprise turned to unease.

  His anger had dissipated in the face of concern when he was unable to get a response from her home phone number. Crawshaw knew where Patricia’s husband Julian worked, so when he contacted the man’s employers he was able to obtain Julian’s mobile number.

  This time his call was answered immediately. Julian’s concern was all for his wife, but Crawshaw had the additional worry that he had given Patricia access codes to the group software. If those codes fell into the wrong hands, there was no telling what damage could be caused.

  Julian told Crawshaw that he’d spoken to Patricia the previous evening when she was in York, but that she’d failed to ring him from her hotel later as promised. ‘I thought she’d simply forgotten, or fallen asleep. I know she was very tired.’ As he was speaking, Julian remembered what Patricia had said about being followed. His alarm escalated. ‘I’m going to contact the police.’

  ‘Hello?’ Jackie Fleming frowned, wondering if she’d misdialled. ‘Clara, is that you?’

  ‘No, it’s Tina Silver speaking.’

  ‘This is Detective Superintendent Fleming. Is Mike Nash there?’

  ‘He’s in the outer office. I’ll get him. He’s allowing me to work in here where I don’t get disturbed.’ At that moment the door opened. ‘Hang on, he’s here now.’ Tina held the phone out. ‘Superintendent Fleming for you.’

  ‘Good morning, Jackie,’ was all Nash said. For the next few minutes he listened as Fleming explained the reason for her call. After a while Nash started scribbling notes on the back of a large brown envelope that was lying on the desk. From her seat, Tina managed to decipher the words Nash had jotted down. They made little sense, and she wondered what the connection was. Mitre, Crawshaw, Wain and Shires. What did that all mean?

  Tina glanced up from the envelope and saw Nash standing with the receiver in his hand, his mind obviously elsewhere. ‘You haven’t put the phone down,’ she prompted him.

  Nash took no notice. He seemed oblivious to her presence, to his surroundings, totally absorbed in whatever was going through his mind. Tina waited, aware how irritating it could be when one’s train of thought is disturbed. It was one of the reasons she preferred to work in seclusion.

  Nash turned and stared at her, or was he looking through her? At the same time he realized he was still clutching the handset and replaced it on its rest. ‘A woman has been reported missing by her husband. She failed to check in at her hotel yesterday evening, where a room had been reserved for her. This morning she was supposed to attend a meeting in Bishopton, but didn’t turn up. The man she was meeting alerted her husband, who called us.’

  ‘She might have gone off with someone else. It does happen, I believe. I think it’s called adultery.’

  Nash smiled slightly, but shook his head. ‘I don’t think so, not in this instance. The meeting she was supposed to attend was with the chairman of Shires Financial Services, Sir Stuart Crawshaw. The woman is an internal auditor who was scheduled to start an audit of their branches and services today.’

  He picked up the envelope and stared at the back for a second, before turning it over. For a moment he couldn’t recall what the envelope was doing on his desk. Then he remembered. ‘These are credit card statements. I removed them from a murder victim’s house because I was curious about them. There might be some connection to the fraud. He had scrawled a load of figures on the statement but I didn’t have chance to work out what their significance was, if any. In fact, I’m not sure I’d have been able to, but you might.’

  He handed her the envelope. ‘When you get time, try and make some sense of them, will you. I need to recall Mironova and Pearce. Looks like we’ve a manhunt on our hands. Or a womanhunt, to be strictly correct.’

  Nash was about to return to the outer office when, out of curiosity, Tina pulled the credit card statements out of the envelope. She glanced at them, then looked up. ‘Hang on, Mike. The statements are from Shires Credit. Isn’t that part of the group you just mentioned? Where the missing woman was going?’

  ‘That’s correct. It started life as a building society, then converted to a bank and financial services group following deregulation.’

  She examined the pencilled figures on the first sheet. ‘It looks as if Ormondroyd was trying to calculate the amount they had charged him, to see if it tallied with the interest rate. Let’s have a look.’

  Nash watched as she turned to her laptop. She barely seemed to glance at the figures on the sheet, but within seconds, she said, ‘There’s a discrepancy. Only a small one, admittedly, but the amount Shires have charged for the number of days multiplied by the outstanding balance doesn’t match the interest rate. The other thing that’s wrong is the dating of the credit to the account.’

  She held up the statement. ‘Look there. That date in biro must be when he paid it. But look at the following month’s statement when it hits the account. It says “Internet banking” alongside the date and amount, so we can safely assume he sent the money electronically. That should mean his account would be credited the same day, or the following day at the latest. However, the credit doesn’t appear on the statement until three days later.’

  ‘Might it have been made over a weekend?’

  Tina took out a diary and flicked through the pages. ‘No, according to the written date, the payment was made on a Monday, but the date it was credited to the account is a Thursday.’

  ‘It could have been a glitch in the system.’

  She held up the statements. ‘Not if the rest of these come up with similar discrepancies. I know the amount doesn’t seem much, but if you multiply it by the thousands of bank customers whose credit cards don’t get paid off in full every month, suddenly the sums start to look significant. Certainly an amount worth stealing. Especially if the scam has been going on for years without anyone noticing. The missing woman was about to conduct an audit. I bet part of her remit was to check the credit card operation. You may think that’s a coincidence, but I don’t.’

  Nash nodded. ‘My colleagues will tell you that I don’t believe in coincidences. I take your point about the timing of her disappearance, but there’s a flaw in your logic. How would the thieves know what she was going to do? Unless Crawshaw was in on the scam, or unbelievably indiscreet. When Jackie Fleming spoke to him, he told her that the meeting and her audit were kept top secret. Even his secretary wasn’t aware of what was going on.’

  ‘There is a way they could have learned about it. Ask Crawshaw if he supplied her with codes to access the company’s software.’

  ‘What good would that do?’

  ‘If it had been me setting up a program to systematically extract money from a company’s computers, I would have built in a fail-safe alarm that alerted me when anyone accessed that part of the software.’

  ‘Like the bear traps you mentioned in the email scam?’

  ‘That’s exactly what I mean.’

  ‘You also said that scammers like these usuall
y stick to the same MO. Does that mean you think the same person is responsible for both frauds?’

  ‘It seems highly probable. It would be far too coincidental for two people using the same methods to be operating in this area at the same time. And as you don’t believe in coincidences, I think we can count that out.’

  ‘I’d better get the others back here quickly. We must try and find this woman as fast as possible. I think I’ll get Fleming over here too.’

  As he was making the phone calls, Nash was troubled by a stray thought. It was something that had been said during his conversation with Tina, but for the moment he was unable to pin it down.

  chapter twenty

  Jackie Fleming arrived as Nash was updating Mironova and Pearce. Tina Silver emerged from his office as the briefing ended. ‘I’ve checked the rest of Ormondroyd’s figures,’ she told the team. ‘He was being overcharged every month, and the credits were applied to the account late each time. No question about it, there is a deliberate fraud being carried out at Shires Credit. And if that’s the case, I’d bet there are others taking place elsewhere within their systems.’

  Fleming’s alarm was mirrored in the faces of all the detectives. ‘What other fraud could there be?’

  ‘Oh, believe me, there are plenty of areas where they could be operating. We haven’t started checking the accuracy of the overdrafts yet, or foreign currency transactions.’ She looked at the confused expressions on their faces. ‘OK, let’s suppose you’re on holiday in Spain. The easiest way to pay for something is with your card. Can you remember what the exchange rate was? By the time you get your statement you’ve been back home a few weeks. The rate shifts every day, so how do you know the rate they charged is correct?’

  ‘You think Neil Ormondroyd may have discovered the fraud and somehow the thieves learned that he was on to them?’

  ‘Quite possibly, if he tripped one of their security devices.’

  ‘That could be why he was murdered,’ Fleming said.

  ‘I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t,’ Nash agreed.

  ‘Which means,’ Fleming continued, ‘that the motive for Linda Wilson’s murder might well have been the same. Either that or she was a convenient scapegoat. The MO was identical.’

  Fleming heard Nash gasp, and turned to look at him. ‘The same MO,’ he muttered. ‘That was it. That was what I was trying to remember.’

  ‘Sorry, Mike, you’ve lost us.’

  Nash didn’t answer Jackie directly. He looked at Tina. ‘When you described the email scam, you told us the initial email was only sent to provoke a response, correct?’

  ‘More or less. They were setting the victims up for the second email, which was where they were trapped into a response that made it possible for the crime to take place.’

  ‘And you also said that online fraudsters almost always stick to the same MO, right?’

  ‘Pretty much. But I still can’t see what you’re driving at.’

  Nash looked round, and it was obvious the others were equally puzzled. ‘OK, here’s what I think. What if the whole of the Bishopton Investment fraud was only like that initial email? In other words, what if it was designed to provoke a response?’

  ‘I still don’t follow you, Mike,’ Jackie said.

  Nash could tell by Tina’s expression that she was beginning to understand. He switched his gaze to Pearce. ‘Viv, do you remember our meeting with Jonathan Farrell? He bragged about the number of new clients he’d obtained as a result of the report he did on Bishopton Investments. What if the whole of the B.I.G. fraud was set up simply to achieve precisely that end result? Diane Carlson told us that she and Peter Macaulay had been asked for references on Farrell’s company several times. After he compiled that report, Farrell got to supply software to Shires Group, Good Buys Supermarkets, Dales Sports and a lot of other local companies. Most of them have a financial services division of one sort or another. Good Buys have their own store cards, and Dales Sports supply goods and holidays via an online catalogue with extended payment terms. If customers of all those companies are being overcharged, the returns would be far greater than the Bishopton fraud produced.’

  ‘You think Farrell engineered all that? But how could he be certain that Peter Macaulay would insist that he was the person chosen to compile the report on B.I.G?’ Clara objected.

  ‘Peter Macaulay would have no choice in the matter if he was being blackmailed over his extramarital affair. I think we have to put Farrell at the top of our list of suspects.’

  ‘It’s a short list. He’s our only suspect,’ Viv pointed out.

  ‘There is a way of confirming he’s involved,’ Tina intervened. ‘If you can persuade Crawshaw to give me the codes for Shire Finance, I could trace the originating computer without springing any bear traps.’

  ‘Sorry to appear thick,’ Jackie complained, ‘but could someone please explain these bear traps that you keep going on about.’

  Tina told her, adding, ‘Bear traps is the name they were given when we started installing them. The difference being, that we were using them as a defence mechanism against our systems being hacked.’

  ‘Tracing the originating computer could take ages,’ Clara pointed out. ‘That poor woman could be dead already, and if it takes a few days to identify who might be holding her prisoner and where, her chances of survival will be practically nil.’

  ‘Clara’s right; finding her has to be our main priority, but we need a way of narrowing the search down.’

  ‘How do you propose to do that, Mike?’

  ‘I think I know,’ Pearce interrupted. ‘If Mike’s theory is correct, and they stick to the same MO all the way through, my guess is that they will do what they did before and use one of the houses in Macaulay Property Holdings’ portfolio. One that is currently unoccupied.’

  ‘Good thinking, Viv. If we find vacant properties similar to the one they used when they killed Linda Wilson, that should give us the location. It has to be somewhere remote; somewhere they can be sure they won’t be seen, and somewhere that’s currently empty. There can’t be many that fit all those criteria.’

  ‘The problem is, how do we set about identifying the property without alerting the kidnappers?’

  ‘We could try asking the letting agents.’

  ‘That wouldn’t work if Farrell has an associate working there. Someone with access to the keys, for instance.’

  ‘I can think of a quicker, more effective way, and one that’s totally safe.’

  They looked at Tina. ‘I can access the letting agents’ website and see which houses are empty. I could even get a description which would tell us if they’re suitable.’

  ‘What about those bear-trap things?’

  She gave Fleming a disdainful look. ‘I was part of the team that more or less invented bear traps. I feel pretty confident I know enough to get round them.’

  ‘OK,’ Nash said. ‘I vote we give it a shot. Meanwhile I think we should put an announcement in the local paper. Something along the lines of “Have you seen this woman?” and a few lines about her disappearance and how mystified we are.’

  ‘Why do that, Mike?’

  ‘Because the kidnappers will be expecting to read something like that.’

  Fleming looked at Tina. ‘How long will this take?’

  ‘Twenty minutes; half an hour at most. I expect Farrell will have only done a cosmetic job on Wilson Macaulay’s software. Sufficient to stop anyone else, but open enough for him to walk in and out at will, so to speak.’

  As they waited for Tina to work her magic, they assessed the current state of the investigation.

  ‘When we do go to raid a house, I want plenty of backup,’ Fleming insisted. ‘I’ll ask Gloria if we can have a tactical unit from York. We’ve already got one body; I don’t want any more.’

  ‘I agree. You and I, plus Clara and armed uniforms. That frees up Viv, if that’s OK with you. I’ve work for him to do in Netherdale.’

  Fleming
nodded. ‘And don’t forget you’ve got Lisa Andrews too. She came back off leave this morning.’

  ‘This might take both of them, plus Tom Pratt as well. Here’s what I want you to do, Viv. I need all you can find out on Farrell’s background, plus see if Tom’s had any success discovering anything about this woman, Hope Morgan, Peter Macaulay has been screwing. It seems she’s not who she purports to be. So far, all we have is a neighbour’s description, which could fit dozens of women.’

  ‘Couldn’t Dr Silver do that?’ Fleming interrupted.

  ‘I’d prefer her to concentrate on the fraud. We need some idea of how extensive it is.’

  They didn’t have to wait as long as Tina had predicted before she emerged from Nash’s office. At the same time, the printer alongside Pearce’s desk began to whir, then spewed out several sheets of paper. She marched across and plucked them from the document tray before handing them to Nash. ‘There are three properties that seem to fit the requirements,’ she told him. ‘One at Bishop’s Cross, one at Kirk Bolton and one at Drover’s Halt. All the other empty houses are in the town centre. I discounted them.’

  ‘I suggest we start at Bishop’s Cross,’ Nash told Fleming. ‘That way we don’t have to keep doubling back on ourselves.’

  ‘Viv, when you get to Netherdale, ask Lisa to follow this Morgan woman. If we find out where she works, who she sees, it might give us some clue as to her identity. Her real identity, I mean. Also, when you and Tom are on the computer, cross-reference all the potential suspects in this case against the name Mark Tankard and see if that brings anything up.’

  He turned to Tina. ‘Farrell’s company website lists their major clients. Can you have a look through the list and see which of them could be vulnerable to online fraud? There’s one other thing; do you think it would be possible to find out where the money creamed off from the Shires credit cards goes to? You mentioned tracking an originating computer earlier. Does that include giving a location for it?’