by R L Stephens
Chapter 11
“Yes?” Libby asked when she opened her front door and saw two smartly dressed men standing there. One was middle-aged with a slight receding hairline, but jet black hair and an equally black moustache. The other man was younger, perhaps ten years younger than his companion, but was at least three inches taller and clean shaven. His blonde hair was cut short, but had definite shine to it that seemed to catch the dim hallway light. He stood to the left of the older man and slightly behind him as if he was somehow subservient to him.
“I'm Detective Inspector Peters and this, “the older man said indicating the younger man, “is DS Illingworth.” As he added the younger man’s name he then pulled out a small wallet and opened it wide so that Libby could see the photo ID of a police warrant card that confirmed that he was who he said was.
“Ok,” Libby said wondering why the police had come knocking on her door at almost 8 pm at night when she was just winding down after a very long day at work. “How can I help you? “ She asked wearily, hoping that they would just tell her what they wanted and go away.
“Can we come in ma’am?” The man you said his name was DI Peters said and he stepped forward toward the doorway just as he finished his sentence. Libby wasn’t inclined to let them in, no because she was hiding anything or had anything against the police personally; it was just that she was very tired and just felt like slumping in the sofa before getting changed for bed.
“What do you want?” She asked as politely as she could muster, and thought it probably sounded ruder than she intended.
“It would be better if we came in ma’am,” DI Peters said taking another inched step toward the doorway and Libby suddenly felt a wave of concern come over her as she had heard from time to time about people pretending to be police officers in order to trick their way into someone’s home before doing horrible things. “Please, this won't take long,” DI Peters said in a polite but assertive manner that had been honed over the year’s just situations like this.
“I suppose so,” Libby said as she yawned and stepped out of the way of the two police officers, letting them entered her felt. She then closed the front door behind and made her way across the room to the chair that was just on the other side of the sofa. “Please have a seat,” she said to them gesturing to the sofa with a wide arc of her arm. “Can I get you anything to drink?” She then asked as she stood by chair that looked as though it was from the same suite as the sofa.
“No, no thank you,” DI Peters said answering for both of them as they sat down on the sofa, with DI Peters sitting closest to where Libby was now also sitting. DS Illingworth opened his notebook and had a pen in hand ready to take notes. If these they were impersonating police officers then they were being committed to the deception.
“How can I help you?” Libby asked tucking her right leg under her other one.
“I believe you know a Mr. Harry Wright?” DI Peters said coming almost right to the point and in a tone of voice that made it sound more like a statement rather than a question.
“Yes, he works for the same bank as I do,” Libby said wondering what they could possibly want with Harry. “Is he all right?” She then asked suddenly concerned for man she had started to develop feelings for, but hadn't seen since their date that had ended badly.
“I understand that you’ve become quite friendly with him and I was hoping that you could perhaps tell me,” DI Peters then said as his colleague made notes.
“Yes I mean we spent a few lunch times’ chatting and went out for a meal together,” Libby said seeing no reason to lie about what she had hoped would be a burgeoning relationship.
“Yes, yes your work colleagues mentioned something about,” DI Peters said in such a way that Libby thought he was insinuating something.
“I don’t know what you're suggesting,” Libby said rather getting a little annoyed that this man was trying to suggest that there was something inappropriate about their relationship.
“Nothing, just that it had been noted that you were quite friendly,” DI Peters said diplomatically trying to get Libby back on his side so that she might be more inclined to answer his questions honestly.
“When was the last time you saw?” DI Peters then asked moving thing along a little quicker in the direction he was trying to go.
“Erm, almost two weeks ago,” Libby said, “just after we’d had dinner together.”
“Did he seem alright when he left?” DI Peters asked.
“Yes, well no,” Libby said changing her mind as she remembered what had happened. “We came back here after the meal for a coffee and he just kind of freaked,” Libby added remembering Harry’s reaction when she tried to kiss him and trying not to mention the exact details as she felt rather more than a little embarrassed about it.
“’Just freaked?” DI Peters asked repeating what Libby had just said. “How do you mean?”
“Well,” she started to say and a little awkward smile flashed across her lips monetarily. “Do I have to tell you everything?” She asked hoping to be able to avoid actually having to say it.
“I think it's best if you do,” DI Peters said in a kindly, comforting voice. “Best to get these things out in the open,” he then added trying to make his voice as soothing as possible in order to cajole the truth out of her.
“Well I sort of lent over to kiss him and he freaked,” Libby said feeling very awkward about having to say this about someone she had otherwise considered to be a very nice man.
“Was he violent at all? Did he try to err force himself on you?” DI Peters asked and this time his voice was more knowing that anything else as if he had heard similar stores quite often in the past.
“Oh god no,” Libby with disbelief, “Harry is nothing like that.” Or at least he never seemed like that, Libby then added to herself not wanting to believe that such an apparently kind man was capable of anything of the like.
“Well we’ve seen men attack women before because they’ve been rejected or had their masculinity threatened,” DS Illingworth said, speaking for the first time and briefly looking up from his notebook. His attention was then quickly refocused on the little notebook again after a stern look of warning from his boss.
“Not Harry,” Libby said. “He just sort of freaked a little and then stormed out,” he added honestly and openly. “What do you want with him anyway?” Libby asked with a confused look on her face.
“That was the last time you saw him?” DI Peters asked trying to keep things focused.
“Yes, almost two weeks ago,” Libby said sounding more than a little frustrated at having to repeated herself. “He's not been in since. Someone from his team said he’d had to take some time off for personal reasons,” she then added remembering the conversation she’d had with an odious man named Robert Gehlert.
“Yes that’s what we’ve been told as well,” DI Peters said, “and that you were the closest person to him.” Again Libby picked up a slight insinuation in DI Peters’ voice that more than implied that she knew more than she was saying.
“You still haven’t told me what this is all about,” Libby said, sounding as if she were getting annoyed with all this dancing around the issue.
“We’ve also been to his flat and his landlord hasn’t seen him for a couple of weeks either,” DI Peters said. “He's not owing any rent at the moment so the landlord, a Colin Baptiste, didn’t think that there was anything wrong,” DI Peters then added and Libby glared at the man as if to say ‘so what's the problem’ but she didn’t say anything, just looked rather confused.
“So Harry’s gone on holiday,” Libby said when she’d had a moment to digest this latest piece of information. “That’s hardly a police matter Inspector,” Libby added, getting a little worried now as she had tried to call Harry a couple of times on his mobile and he hadn't returned any of her messages.
“It's a little more serious than that, ma’am,” DI Peters said in a serious to
ne of voice that was still laced in a syrupy coating of politeness.
“How so?” Libby asked now looking very worried as however he’d reacted after their date she still regarding Harry as something of a friend, or someone she wanted to be friends with. If only he would explain why he reacted as he did she would probably have been able to forgive him, and maybe even been able to help him with whatever issues he seemed to have.
“We would like to talk Harry Wright in connection with a potential insurance fraud and identity theft,” DI Peters said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice that had lost any sense of its previous politeness and now had a hard quality to it. “Also it had come to our attention recently that Harry Wright died almost two and half years ago,” DI Peters added then news that had prompted their sudden interest in Harry Wright and as he said this Libby’s mouth feel open in dismayed shock.