Saxon (26 page)

‘Two, I’ve got two – two boys. Why, what the fuck’s it got to do with you?’

‘It isn’t about me, Keith. What are they going to do if you are killed? We should end this now – sure, you’ve made some big trouble for yourself, but at least nobody’s been seriously hurt up to now.’ Saxon took a few steps closer, but stopped dead when Jenner suddenly put the gun into his mouth. ‘Keith,’ he shouted, ‘get wise for once – what are your children going to think of you when they hear about this on the television. What will happen to them at school when all the other kids take the piss about their dad blowing his head off? Do you want that to happen to them? I don’t think you do – you’re not that sort of bloke are you, Keith?’

Jenner held the gun in his mouth for what seemed like an eternity, and then slowly he removed it and gazed at it with a look of disbelief as he pointed it at the ground.

Parker walked forward, still pointing his gun at Jenner’s chest. Gently, but with a firm tone he told Jenner to put the gun on the ground and then to take three steps back. Jenner
complied. The two armed-response officers quickly moved forward, pulled Jenner to his knees and then flat on his face, and handcuffed him.

Saxon stood in front of him as he was helped to his feet. ‘Keith Jenner, I am arresting you for murder. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you under-stand?’

Jenner’s jaw dropped. ‘But you said he was okay – you fuckin’ lied you bastard.’

‘Sure did,’ said Saxon. ‘But I can live with that – not really as serious as murder though, is it?’

The solicitor representing Jenner was late. Saxon was irritated by the time he turned up. He didn’t seem to fit the usual mould that solicitors seemed to pop out of. To Saxon, Mr Christian Haines was more barrister material. He seemed to be a bit grand – even stately. As usual, he spent some time with Jenner before the interview was started.

An hour after Jenner was brought into the police station and processed in the usual way of photographs and dabs, he was taken to the interview room. Saxon left him sitting there long enough with his solicitor to become even more apprehensive than normal.

Eventually, after Saxon decided that Jenner had simmered enough, he strode in with Parker following behind. He sat and faced Jenner but did not look directly at him – he sat in silence reading from a file on the table in front of them.

Haines became agitated and started to drum his fingers on the table. ‘Oh really, Commander Saxon, can we make some progress here. I don’t think these delaying tactics are really necessary.’

Saxon ignored him for another minute, and then he suddenly looked up. ‘Okay, Jenner, for your information the man you murdered this morning was married, with three grown-up
children, and two grandchildren,’ Saxon said, withholding his emotions as much as he was able.

‘That was a mistake – an accident, I didn’t mean to do it.’ Jenner was looking down at the table in front of him, sounding like a spoilt child.

Saxon slid out a sheet of paper that had been hidden inside a folder on the table. ‘Says here that Mr Philip Barnard – that’s the name of the gentleman you murdered this morning, in case you didn’t know that – had been hit several times about the head, with a baseball bat, and then stabbed with a large carving knife. I see here,’ he paused while he read the sheet again, ‘that you stabbed him twice in the chest. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but that doesn’t sound much like an accident to me.’ Saxon raised his voice, ‘Once, maybe we would have just slapped your wrist and sent you home – but no, that wasn’t enough for you was it? You just had to make sure the poor sod was dead didn’t you?’

Haines put up his hand and glared at Saxon. ‘I don’t think we need to shout, do we, Commander?’

Saxon didn’t take his eyes off Jenner. ‘Answer the question please.’

‘He got in the way,’ mumbled Jenner, sullenly.

‘He got in the way – I see, and did the other gentleman, Mr Varnham, also get in the way?’

‘I lost my temper. I do that sometimes – I just can’t control myself when I blow.’

Saxon managed to calm himself. ‘Why were you in such a hurry when you left the house? You know the lane is narrow and has a lot of dangerous corners. Why the big rush?’

Haines moved closer to Jenner and whispered in his ear. ‘You don’t have to say a word, Mr Jenner.’

Saxon threw in a passing comment. ‘Oh, by the way, we know that you were looking for something – but we found it days ago.’

‘You found the book?’ replied Jenner quickly.

Saxon’s trick had paid off. ‘So, that’s what this is all about, the
book. Oh yes, and we are steadily but surely going through all of the names, one by one.’

Jenner looked across at Saxon with a knowing look. ‘If you’ve got the book, you won’t need me to tell you any more, will you?’

Saxon, still trying not to give away the fact that he didn’t know fully what the names in the book represented, added, ‘It will help your defence if you cooperate more.’

Jenner sat back and folded his arms. ‘You’ve got no fuckin’ idea what the book is all about – you think it’s just a load of names, don’t you?’

Saxon didn’t respond.

‘You and your sister were in it together, weren’t you?’ added Parker, with even more bluff.

Saxon continued to use the same tactics. ‘We know that you and Barbara were not as estranged as you would want us to think. We found plenty of evidence in the house – and then there’s the fact that you have been watched for the last six months, and I suppose I should add…Well, no maybe I will keep that bit of information to myself, because if you refuse to help us, I can bring it up in court and the jury will not be at all lenient. You’ll go down for a very long time – and Liz, your slag, as you so politely call her, will probably go off with some other thug.’

Haines, who was making notes, paused and threw his pen down.

‘I really must protest, I don’t think that sort of attitude is called for, do you, Commander?’ Saxon didn’t answer.

Jenner turned to his solicitor, and they conducted a whispering session for about a minute. Parker leant over towards the tape recorder. ‘For the record, Mr Jenner is whispering to Mr Haines.’ Then he looked at them both as if to infer that it was not permitted.

Saxon started to drum his fingers on the table. ‘Please can we get a move on? If you wish to confer with your client, Mr Haines, then we can stop the interview for half an hour and resume when
you have got yourself up to speed.’ He knew that would hurt.

Haines showed no emotion. ‘Commander, I will take you up on the offer – half an hour it is then.’

Saxon walked out of the room, leaving Parker to make the relevant comments to the tape recorder. He then followed Saxon and found him waiting along the corridor.

They walked out onto the fire escape and found a shady spot. Saxon smiled and gently punched Parker on the shoulder. ‘Good move, Parker; I think you have the makings of a fine detective.’ Parker, not quite realising what the compliment was for, took out his cigarettes and offered one to Saxon – who took it eagerly. There was a moment of silence as they topped up their nicotine levels. Then Parker had to speak.

‘Which bit, precisely was the good move, sir?’ he said hesitantly.

‘Don’t be a twit – the bit about him and his sister, being in it together. I must admit, that angle hadn’t occurred to me…’ he paused, ‘…yet, at least. Anyway, he now thinks we know a lot more than we do. In fact, let’s face it, Parker, we know sod all. Let’s keep bluffing – he may end up telling us everything, whatever everything is.’

‘What do you suppose they’re planning in there, sir, maybe a plea?’

‘If they are, then they won’t get far. That bastard in there murdered a man because he was driving his tractor too slowly down a country lane. He’s going down for murder. We can pretend to go along with the idea of him taking a lesser charge, but however we do it, Shithead is going to be off the streets for a long time.’

They returned to the interview room. Jenner and Haines were shouting at each other. Saxon’s appearance was enough to make them stop. Parker moved to start the tape. Haines asked him to wait a second or two, and then looked over the top of his glasses.

‘Commander Saxon, before we make this interview formal,
my client is willing to give you as much information as he is able. He also regrets greatly the events of earlier today and feels that he is in need of psychiatric treatment to help him curb these uncontrollable outbursts of temper. Mr Jenner has remarked to me that his memory of what happened this morning is already becoming a bit of a blur. Therefore, if a plea of second-degree murder, on the grounds of diminished responsibility were to be accepted, then he would benefit more from the justice system if he was committed to a secure hospital where he could receive treatment.’

Jenner looked up at Saxon with pleading eyes. Saxon half smiled as if he was sympathetic to him. But shook his head slowly, giving the impression that with a little more persuasion he may be tempted to change his mind.

‘Mr Haines, you of all people should know I can’t go around making that kind of promise. Besides, your client may just tell us everything we already know. He probably can’t help us very much at all. Now, I think we should stop all this time wasting and get on with the interview before everything becomes a total blur, don’t you?’

Jenner had started to shift around in his seat as he saw his chance of avoiding prison floating out through the window.

‘Wait,’ said Jenner quietly, ‘I’ll tell you everything.’

Saxon leant forward and cupped his hand as if he were slightly deaf. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear you.’

Jenner increased the volume. ‘I said, I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but I need guarantees.’

‘You are in no position to ask for anything, Jenner, or have the events of this morning blurred into total insignificance? If you help us, we can make recommendations, but that’s all. We’ll see what we can do if you help us sufficiently – do you understand? We can only do so much, but you’ll be in a better position if you cooperate fully. Now let’s get moving,’ he said sternly.

Parker flicked the switch, and he and Saxon sat back to listen.
They waited for Jenner to compose himself. ‘Well, first of all Barbara and I met up once every two months for the handover of the stuff.’

Saxon looked up. ‘Stuff, what stuff. Please be specific for the tape please?’ he said, gesturing towards the recorder.

‘The drugs – coke mostly, some grass but some shit as well, lots of E, in fact, fuckin’ shedloads of the stuff. A friend of hers gets it from another friend. He’s got a small fishin’ boat. It gets passed from boat to boat out in the Channel, so if one of them was checked by Customs and Excise, chances was that by that time, the stuff – the drugs, would have been passed to another boat. It was wrapped in heat-sealed plastic bags, which were wrapped in even more bags, lots of them anyway, and they was washed each time, it’s done like that so the sniffer dogs can’t even tell if the stuff ’s been on the boat in the fuckin’ first place.’

Saxon couldn’t help smiling. In one day, he had caught a murderer and stopped a fairly substantial drug route into the country. ‘Of course, you can supply me with names, Mr Jenner?’

‘Only one – the bloke who owns the boat, Alan Turner, I never heard any other ones.’

Saxon scribbled the question: “Find out if the drug squad knows anything about this”, on a piece of paper and slid it to Parker. He nodded to acknowledge it, got up and left the room.

Saxon continued, ‘I thought you hated your sister.’

‘I had to make you lot think I had nothin’ to do with ’er, didn’t I? For all I knew, you might ‘ave been on my arse.’ Jenner was sweating heavily, sending splashes across the table every time he shook his head. Saxon slid his seat backwards – out of range.

‘What quantities of drugs are we talking about?’

‘As much as you can get in a horse box – one of them double ones. You know the ones what takes two horses.’

‘So then, what happened after your sister picked up the drugs from her fisherman friend? Did she distribute any of the stuff, or was that one of your little hobbies?’ Saxon tried in vain to hold
back the sarcasm.

‘She supplied some to ’er friends. You wouldn’t believe how many so-called respectable people are users, believe me. I picked up most of it and took it up to London. Don’t ask me for any names – if I tell you, I’m as good as dead.’

Saxon decided to leave that little task to the drug squad. ‘So tell me, why the rush this morning, why were you in such a hurry to leave Anvil Wood House?’

‘Barbara had a pile of money for me that I was supposed to pay the dealer in London with. It has to be in the house somewhere, but I looked everywhere and I couldn’t fuckin’ find it. I was frightened when I left the house and I was seriously thinkin’ about doing a runner. If you owe these people money and you don’t come up with the dosh, they kill you. Simple as that.’

Parker entered the room and asked Saxon to follow him out into the corridor. Saxon suspended the interview, telling Haines that he would be back in a few minutes. Parker was looking pleased as he gave Saxon his news. ‘Drug squad have no information regarding this at all. They had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, and they were, understandably a bit cagey at first, wanting to know everything now. But I told them it was early days yet and when we have more information, we’ll get back to them.’

‘Good, they can’t have him until I’ve finished with the bastard. Then they can do whatever they want with him.’

They returned to the interview room. Saxon started the questions. ‘Does the name Jake Dalton mean anything to you?’

‘No, never ’eard of him. Should I ’ave?’

‘How about Clive Marks, he’s a doctor?’

‘Now you mention it, yeah, ’is name rings bells. Babs was always sayin’ that she mustn’t forget to get his stuff to ’im on time, otherwise he got really pissed off.’

Saxon struggled to hide his glee. ‘Did Barbara ever say why
Dr Marks needed drugs?’