Cherringham--The Body in the Lake

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Cherringham--The Body in the Lake Page 6

by Neil Richards


  She smiled back politely. “Sadly, I’ve got two teenagers to bring up, Lee — fun’s not so high on my priorities these days.”

  And with that, we’ll change the subject, thought Sarah.

  “You’ve had your police interview I suppose?”

  She watched him frown.

  “Waste of bloody time that was.”

  “You couldn’t help them then?”

  “What do you think? Think I’m going to just say — it was Lord Repton in the library with the spanner?”

  He got up and poured himself some water from a cooler in the corner of the office, then came over and sat opposite Sarah on a small sofa.

  “So then — what do you think did happen that night?” she said.

  “Know what? I think Laurent just… fell in the lake. He was well pissed. I mean, I can put it away with the best of them, but jeez… Laurent was chucking down brandies even while he was sitting in the hot tub.”

  “And you don’t think Simon had anything to do with it?”

  “Ah, now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that. The two of them did have quite a barney.”

  “You know what it was about?”

  “I didn’t then. Most of it happened later on in the bar, I gather. But from what I’ve heard since, Laurent suddenly wanted out of the whole deal.”

  “And you don’t know why?”

  “Not a clue, I'm afraid. One minute all brothers in arms, next minute shouting his head off and storming out.”

  “What was he saying before he went off?”

  “You do like asking questions, don't you,” He shook his head. “No idea really. To be honest — deux bieres, s’il vous plait — that’s my limit. Full-on slanging match? I didn’t understand a word.”

  “But you must have seen who was he shouting at?”

  “Who wasn’t he yelling at? Me, Marie, June, Harry — as I said, totally pissed.”

  “Er — Harry was there?”

  “Sure.”

  “And Simon?”

  “Yeah, him too. The ‘Famous Five’ we called ourselves. All for one and one for all… least when it came to the twinning deal.”

  “So what happened when Laurent stormed off?”

  “We had a bit of a laugh to be honest, opened another bottle of bubbly, which none of us needed.”

  “He didn’t come back?”

  “Not as far as I know.” Lee looked away. “Last I saw of him.”

  “Did you stay long in the hot tub?”

  “Had another drink — then I went to bed.”

  “And the hot tubbers left?”

  “Umm… June. Harry. Marie.”

  “Simon?”

  Lee looked up. “No. Simon went off to find Laurent. You know; gracious host and all that.”

  “But he didn’t come back?”

  “Well, how would I know? You did hear me, yes? Like I said, I’d gone to bed.”

  Sarah sat calmly trying to line up everybody’s accounts of that night in her head.

  None of it fitting together.

  And maybe — no one telling the truth.

  “Do you know why Simon did go after Laurent?”

  “French mayor angry. Le deal in jeopardy… Maybe, Simon had most to lose I guess.”

  “In what way?”

  “Simon’s got plans, hasn’t he? A big resort hotel just outside St. Martin, that’s what I heard.”

  Interesting. And Sarah could guess where that money came from.

  “You think he invested some of Lady Repton’s money on the basis of the twinning going ahead?” said Sarah.

  Lee sat back, and Sarah watched as he seemed to be weighing up what to say to her. Then he leaned forwards again.

  “Hang on.” Lee nodded as if had just shrewdly figured out a problem. Then a finger wag at Sarah. “You’re working for Simon, aren’t you?”

  “No. Not at all. For Lady Repton — as a favour.”

  “Hmm.”

  For the first time, Sarah felt she might be getting close to what had really happened.

  He knows something, something important…

  “Lee, if you’ve got information, you have to tell me. It’s bound to come out in the end.”

  A long pause. Lee weighing things. Seductiveness gone, caginess in.

  A deep breath, then he leaned close.

  “All right,” he said. “But you didn’t hear this from me, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “You know the twinning’s important — for all of us — for business reasons, yes?”

  “Sure. Makes sense. You, Cecil, Simon, Harry, you all stand to benefit.”

  “Exactly — the whole village, really — if the twinning goes ahead. But do you know why — and how — we all benefit?”

  “Business, I suppose. Opportunities.”

  Lee laughed.

  “I like that. Opportunities. That’s about the measure of it. But here’s the thing: opportunities don’t come free in the real world, Sarah. Sometimes you have to pay for them.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said, though in truth she was beginning to. This whole twinning thing was a financial web.

  And Laurent had been about to cut all the strands.

  “Laurent Bourdin had his hands in the till. Every construction, every land sale, every deal that went on in that pretty little town of his — he took a cut.”

  “Bribes?”

  Lee nodded.

  “What sort of money are we talking about?”

  “Oh tons. Twenty grand. Thirty. Fifty…”

  “From everyone?”

  Lee shrugged.

  “And you all paid up?”

  “Not me.”

  Was that the truth?

  “But the others did?”

  “So I hear.”

  Sarah paused while this information sank in.

  “Did you tell the police this?” she said.

  “Come on! You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “It does give Simon a real motive.”

  Lee shrugged.

  “I like Simon. Yes, he’s a bit of an upper class twit, sure. But underneath all that he’s okay. For a twit.”

  Sarah nodded. “So why did you just tell me all this?”

  “Because if you’re going to help him, and his grandmother, you need to know everything that was ‘in play’. He sure as hell isn’t going to tell you himself.”

  Sarah nodded slowly. Lee got up — he wasn’t going to tell her any more.

  “Anyway,” said Lee, looking at his watch. “I’ve got a nine-thirty appointment, so if you don’t mind; I’ve got cars to sell.”

  “Yes. I need to get back to work, too,” said Sarah, getting up.

  They shook hands and Lee escorted her out to the garage forecourt, then, with a wave, went back inside.

  A cold breeze blew outside, and Sarah pulled up the collar of her coat. She went over to her car, climbed in and put the heater on.

  But before she pulled away, she sat still, watching the traffic whizz by on the main road, thinking through what she’d just discovered.

  Up to now she’d found it impossible to see why Simon Repton would possibly want to murder Laurent.

  But this information changed everything.

  What Lee just told her was completely damning of Simon.

  Had she and Jack got it all wrong?

  Was Simon really the killer?

  It suddenly seemed that way …

  11. Dinner and Questions

  Sarah heard the knock on the door. She had only arrived home a few minutes before, and Jack was here already.

  He had proposed meeting at The Angel, but she needed to make sure Daniel and Chloe were sorted with their schoolwork.

  Being a mum came first, and Jack knew that.

  She opened the door.

  Jack held up a bottle. “Brought some wine, if that’s okay. Something called a ‘baby Barolo’.” He looked at the label. “Italian.”

  She smiled as he walked in.
“Sounds good to me. Nothing special for dinner tonight, you know. Just last night’s lasagne doing a repeat performance.”

  “And that sounds perfect to me.”

  He put the bottle on the table, and just stood there for a second. Such a big guy, in that small kitchen. But she always had the feeling that Jack enjoyed these visits to her little home, with her two kids.

  Something he missed.

  And the kids — they always enjoyed when the American detective came over — NYPD!

  “Corkscrew?” he asked.

  “Top drawer,” she said, opening the oven door to check if the lasagne had started bubbling.

  Then Chloe ran in, waving a paper in her hand. “Mum! This is the trip I told you about! Can you look at it?”

  “Evening, Chloe,” Jack said.

  Her daughter spun around and smiled. “Oh — hi Mr. Brennan!” Then quickly back to Sarah.

  Sarah knew what the paper was all about.

  “It’s got all the info on the trip there. Can we think about me going?” Sarah took the paper, then looked at Jack.

  “The school orchestra is sponsoring a trip to your hometown, Jack. They’re going to play some concerts, see the sights.”

  “Wow. Sounds exciting.”

  Sarah nodded, checking the cost in bold at the bottom of the page.

  “And pricey.”

  Chloe was wide-eyed with the possibility. But — no doubt — it was a lot of money.

  “I’ll save all my babysitting money. I swear. And I’ll even look for more babysitting.”

  Sarah nodded. “I… we… will think and talk about it.”

  A little light went out of Chloe’s eyes.

  “It sounds like a great trip, Chloe.” Sarah added. Then: “I’d love you to go.”

  Chloe nodded. Sarah knew she would be as good as her word about saving all that money.

  And Sarah supposed she could cut a few corners as well.

  “Could you tell Daniel that dinner is ready?”

  Then Chloe did what every kid would do.

  Top of her lungs.

  “Daniel! Dinner!”

  Daniel and Chloe had cleared the table, then vanished back to their rooms.

  The wine had been rich, delicious.

  Really special, Sarah thought.

  “Hope Chloe can do that trip,” Jack said. “I could give her a lot of tips on what to see and do.”

  “I hope so, too.”

  Jack hesitated. Then: “If there’s anything, er, I can do to help that little project along, let me know. Always been a big supporter of educational field trips.”

  She smiled at that. So… Jack.

  Then, sitting at the cleared table, he dug out his notebook, and flipped it open.

  “Shall we see what we got here?”

  “We need a notebook, Jack?”

  “Case like this? Everyone with a motive, it seems. My memory isn't what it used to be so thought I’d better do this ‘old school’.”

  Then he began going through the roster of those at the twinning reception, the dinner, the hot tub nonsense afterwards.

  “Do a timeline of the evening — and everybody has a different story.”

  “They’ve all got something to hide,” said Sarah.

  “One thing’s for sure. Nobody wanted that deal to go down. And everyone had a financial interest.”

  “Some pretty dire, I guess,” Sarah said. “I think Lee’s got cash problems up at the garage.”

  “Harry Howden’s in up to his neck too, I’d wager.”

  “So, Lee, Harry… And Marie’s got some secrets — I’m sure of it. You know there’s an emergency parish council meeting tonight?”

  “Really? Guess the village elders can’t let a mere floating corpse get in the way of a good deal. Can you find out what happened?”

  “I’m sure I’ll be able to — whatever it is, they’ll want it in the newsletter. June Rigby is in charge of council minutes. I’m sure she’ll call.”

  Sarah reached for the bottle, and started to pour another glass for Jack.

  “No. You go on, though. I was thinking about this, with everyone with a motive, that we’re still missing something. Just a hunch.”

  “I've come to pay attention to those.”

  “Like that island. Laurent going out there. I mean, why?”

  Sarah’s mobile phone trilled.

  “Hang on,” she said. “I’ll let it go to message if it’s not—”

  She slid the phone out.

  “It’s Tony.”

  “Tad late to be calling. Must be something up.”

  “Tony, Jack’s here, mind if I put you on speaker?”

  “Sure. Absolutely.”

  “Hi Tony,” Jack said. “We were just talking about what we’ve learned. Which — I'm afraid — isn't much.”

  “Jack, Sarah… Lady Repton just called. In tears! Absolutely sobbing.”

  “Why?” Sarah said. “What’s happened?”

  “Simon has been formally charged with the murder of Laurent Bourdin. They found evidence tying him to the crime — and it is now most definitely a crime.”

  Sarah looked at Jack. Just as he was talking about pieces being missing, and now this.

  “Tony,” Jack said. “Did Lady Repton say what they found?”

  “Yes. A tyre iron. Bloody, with Simon’s prints all over it. The murder weapon, apparently.”

  “That’s not good,” Sarah said.

  But her eyes were on Jack. He looked away, thinking. She guessed that he hadn’t been expecting this, and his face seemed to register that somehow it still didn’t make sense.

  “Jack, Sarah… you’ve talked to Simon, and some of the people there that night. Do you think he could have done that?”

  “Honestly Tony, I don’t know the man,” Jack said. “Other than that one chat. But if you had asked me before this news, I would have said no. Scared, yes. Greedy? You bet. But a killer?”

  “Where are they keeping Simon?” Sarah asked.

  “They’ve moved him from Oxford to Bullingdon Prison. I doubt they’ll give him bail.”

  “Can anyone see him?” Jack said.

  Tony hesitated. “I imagine so. I’ve sorted out a good lawyer for him. I’ll have a word.”

  Sarah leaned close. “And me too.”

  Jack smiled at that. Then: “We may learn something that, if Simon cooperates, could have us helping him… unless he really did it.”

  “I’ll get word to his lawyer tonight and make the arrangements. I'm going to dash over to Repton Hall; see what I can do to calm Lady Repton. You know, she never seemed to care much for her grandson. But blood is blood, isn’t it?”

  “In this case,” Jack said, “blood’s also the evidence. Thanks Tony, we’ll let you know how things go.”

  “Wonderful. And thanks to you two as well.”

  “So, you’re going to prison with me, Sarah?”

  “Are you kidding? I’ve never been inside a real prison.”

  Then, a voice from behind.

  “That is so cool, mum!”

  Daniel. He loved the fact she and ‘Mr. Brennan’ did detective work.

  Because that’s what it is.

  Just like the TV shows he watches.

  “Cool? Guess that depends on which side of the bars you’re on,” Jack said.

  “You’ve been in lots of jails, Mr. Brennan?”

  Jack laughed. “Only as observer. What is it they say on that space in Monopoly?”

  “Just visiting,” Daniel said.

  “Right.”

  “Daniel, homework?”

  Daniel raised a hand as if he was just about to get around to that.

  “Nearly done.”

  “Then off you go.”

  He nodded, heading back to his room. And she thought, not for the first time, that despite the divorce, the visits with their dad, their lives changed, Daniel and Chloe seemed to have come through it okay.

  At least that’s what she hoped.<
br />
  “Eager to visit a jail, are we?” Jack said.

  “Too right. And also ask Simon about what we’ve learned.”

  “Yes, that will be interesting. And his answers might just save his life. If…”

  Jack didn’t finish the thought.

  “If what?”

  “If we figure out what it is that’s missing, what we’re not seeing here.”

  He stood up. “When shall I pick you up?”

  “Nine. At the office. Then I really need to be back by lunchtime for a call on a big new pitch we’re doing. Have to make money for Chloe’s trip to the Big Apple.”

  “See you then,” he said. He started for the door. “And oh — you might want to pick yourself up a notebook as well.”

  12. Simon’s Story

  Sarah raced out the door of her building, leaving the ever-capable Grace in charge of three big projects.

  “No problem,” Grace had said.

  Truth is, she probably could run the place on her own!

  Jack sat in his Sprite, cap and sunglasses on, as if he’d just walked out of an advert from the early sixties.

  “Sorry,” she said, popping into the passenger seat. “Last-minute details.”

  Jack smiled “That's fine. We have plenty of time. Shall I use the nice Garmin lady to get us there or—”

  Sarah shook her head as Jack backed out.

  “No. Just head towards Oxford, and we’ll pick up the Bullingdon road on the other side. If we hit traffic on the ring road, I can get us on to some side roads.”

  “They're always fun.”

  She turned to Jack. She had news, and was curious how he would react.

  “Jack, I got a call this morning. Early.”

  He turned, a nod… and she continued.

  “June Rigby.”

  “Ah, right. The last of the hot tubbers, huh?

  “Chair of the Parish Council, I think you mean. Very serious woman our Ms. Rigby; there’s talk of her having larger political ambitions beyond Cherringham.”

  “Hmm. We haven’t talked to her yet. So the call?”

  “Well — she gave me the rundown on the emergency meeting last night. More like a circus, apparently.”

  Jack gestured to a fork off. “Turn here, right?”

  “Yes. So, apparently accusations were flying, some council members very unhappy discussing twinning with a murder charge in the air.”

  “Does sound a tad avaricious.”

  “But June said that Lee, Harry, and quite a few others insisted. And not only that, Marie Duval said that she was authorised to sign the deal that very night. In fact, she sounded — at least according to June — ready to pull the plug if that didn’t happen.”

 

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