The Paderborn Connection (16 page)

On the Friday morning Mick was anxious to get the addresses of the possible rented properties that Karen Hennessey might be living in and told Bob to chase the letting agencies up. By ten o'clock they had six responses, none of them in the name of Karen Hennessey.

“That leaves us with three outstanding Bob.”

“If we draw a blank there boss I'll make a start on the holiday letting agencies.”

The three remaining letting agencies rang back before ten thirty but none provided any lead to her, much to Mick's annoyance and frustration.

Mick's phone rang, it was Inspector Kuzak from West End Central.

“Morning Inspector Joyce, I just thought you'd like to know that the lad we arrested for assaulting your Military Policeman with a knife has pleaded guilty so it's very unlikely that your D.C. or the Lieutenant will be needed in court.”

“Thanks for ringing Inspector, I'll pass that on to them.”

He spent the rest of the morning reading through the information he had received earlier that morning from the American Military Police following their search of her quarters. As Larry Gardner had said on the phone, there were several bank statements, documents relating to her salary and living allowances and certificates relating to her professional qualifications. There were also some loose papers with scribbled notes and telephone numbers.

He noted from the most recent bank statement, dated two days before she left Ramstein, that she had withdrawn most of the balance in cash. In the copied pages of the little notebook Mick found the addresses and phone numbers that Larry Gardner had mentioned.

“Bob, did you check out these addresses in Cambridge and Suffolk as well as the ones in the south?”

“I thought you just wanted the ones in the south checking boss.”

Mick swore under his breath and picked up the sheet of paper with the copy of the relevant pages of her address book. There were two in Cambridge and three in the Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds area. Mick thought about the best way to tackle this, if he simply rang the numbers, what could he say? He ran the risk of alerting her to the fact that somebody was checking out the names in her address book.

He decided that the best course of action was to go to each of the addresses in Suffolk first, which is where she had told Judy Simkin that she was living, and gather as much information as he could, registration numbers of cars parked outside and so on.

Just after twelve Mick set off for Newmarket and soon found the first address, a terraced house not far from the centre of the town.

“Hardly what you would call a cottage,” thought Mick.

He parked a hundred yards or so away and walked along the street until he got near to the address he was interested in. The houses were well maintained although built about a hundred years before according to the dates displayed carved into stone panels set into the upstairs walls. There was no obvious clue as to whether or not the house was rented, all Mick could do was to make a note of the two or three car registrations parked in the street nearest to the house.

He found the next address, just on the edge of town heading north just off the Ely road. This was more promising, not exactly a cottage but a small bungalow. The garden was very well maintained with herbaceous borders in full bloom and neatly manicured lawns. Mick had second thoughts about it being more promising, it didn't really look like the sort of place a single woman would rent at short notice, more like a retired couples place. He made a note of the car registration number in the drive and set off for the third address in Bury St Edmunds

He found it without too much trouble in a village about three miles from the centre of town and this one was definitely a possibility, a bungalow probably built in the twenties or thirties, small garden mainly laid to lawn, whitewashed walls and a washing line with sheets and towels together with some women's clothes hanging out to dry. There was no sign of life and no car parked in the drive.

Mick rang Bob, “Bob, any news?”

There wasn't so Mick asked him to check out the address of the bungalow,

“Check with the council and see if anybody has recently registered for council tax, that sort of thing.”

He drove around for a bit, generally getting a feel for the area when he spotted a poster advertising an ‘Antiques and Collectors Fair' on Sunday from twelve o'clock till five. He then drove back to Hatfield, arriving after four o'clock.

“Any joy Bob?”

“They're getting back to me boss, hopefully today.”

“Have you heard from Andrew Emma?”

“He's on his way back boss, should be here soon, traffic permitting.”

Mick picked up the papers from Larry Gardner and looked for any mention of the bungalow and just as he was about to give up he spotted the copy of the scrap of paper with a telephone number.

“Bob, what's the dialling code for Bury St Edmunds?”

Bob said that it was 01284. It was the same as the number on the scrap of paper.

“I wonder if she has rented this place privately rather than through an agency, can you put an address to this phone number Emma please?”

*

Ten minutes later Emma had an address, an accountants in Bury St Edmunds. Just as she was giving Mick this news, Andrew walked in.

“Everything O.K Andrew?” said Mick.

Andrew looked at Emma then said could he have a word in private with Mick, or Michael as he always called him. They went into the small meeting room off the main C.I.D. office.

They sat down and Andrew leaned forward and simply said “I'm being made redundant at the end of December. In practice I will be on ‘gardening leave' until then but the Brigadier has asked if I would be prepared to carry on here and take the investigation as far as possible and the hand it over to Captain Wright in Bielefeld before Christmas. I will need to return to Paderborn anyway to tidy a few things up and give notice on my flat and clear out my personal possessions.”

“I don't know what to say Andrew, how do you feel about this?”

“Well obviously I'll do everything I can to finish what we started although I'm not sure about the timesca…”

“I mean on a personal level Andrew, it's been your life for twenty years. Will you continue to live in Germany do you think?”

“Probably not, I'll be getting quite a reasonable redundancy package and to be perfectly honest with you I don't really have any concerns about money, I've saved an awful lot over the years and my father is quite wealthy. My divorce was fairly amicable and we lived in rented accommodation so there was no hassle about property or anything like that. I'll spend the next few weeks contacting the agents that the military recommend for officers in my situation. Anyway how's the search for the major going?”

“I think I have a strong lead on a rented cottage in a village near Bury St Edmunds. The problem is that she might have rented it privately rather than through an agency so on the basis that she might well know her new landlord personally, I can't afford to alert her beforehand. I intend to go down there on Sunday to an Antiques fair when there will be a lot of strangers in the village and scout around.

Are you and Emma still OK for tomorrow?”

“Yes, we're looking forward to it.”

“You stay here, I'll send Emma and you can give her your news in private.”

Mick rang Rachel and asked to see her urgently. She told him to go up to her office straight away which he did.

“What's the latest news Michael?”

“Well I've narrowed our search down to a rented property in a village near Bury St Edmunds.” He explained about his visit that afternoon and his intention to go there on Sunday to scout around under the cover of the visitors attending the Antiques fair. “If you would Ma'am I'd like you to speak to the senior officer in the area and ask him to have two or three officers with transport on standby on Sunday afternoon to accompany me if I identify her with a view to making an arrest.”

She reached for the phone and asked her assistant Sandra to get Chief Superintendent Doughty of the Suffolk Police. Two minutes later the call came through

“Good afternoon Simon, Rachel Bond here.” After the usual small talk she got to the point.

“A situation has arisen Simon which I'm hoping you can assist me with.”

She outlined the events of the previous few weeks culminating in the closing in of the murder suspect who they believed was living in a village near Bury St Edmunds. She explained that Detective Inspector Joyce was going there on Sunday afternoon and if he identifies her and judges the situation to warrant it, would like to arrest her immediately and was therefore requesting the assistance of the Suffolk Police to take her to the nearest police station and hold her there for a couple of hours until we can collect her and bring her back to Hatfield. Mobile phone numbers and contact details were exchanged, Rachel thanked him and passed the information to Mick.

Mick then quickly recounted the conversation he had just had with Andrew Jordan

“That's a shame, I rather got to like him.”

“Yes ma ‘am, he's very popular.”

*

Mick went back to the incident room and told the rest of the team what the plan was. Both Andrew and Emma expressed a wish to accompany him but Mick said he wanted everything very low-key until the actual arrest, if she gets wind of the fact that we are taking an interest in the bungalow she might go to ground and we will be back to square one. It was agreed that if she was arrested on Sunday, Mick would ring them and they would come into Hatfield. Mick drove home on that Friday night, his mind racing, a mixture of nervousness and excitement.

Saturday was warm and Mick and Sue were able to sit on the patio enjoying breakfast. Mick had told her the night before about his intended trip to Bury St Edmunds on the Sunday which she accepted without comment. After twenty five years married to a policeman, the last twenty in the C.I.D., she knew that it came with the job.

Over breakfast he told her about Andrew's situation. She said how sorry she was and was he still coming that night for dinner, Mick confirmed that both he and Emma were definitely coming and looking forward to it. Sue asked what he was going to do, stay in Germany or come back to England, the same question that Mick had asked him the previous afternoon. She asked what he was going to do for a living and Mick said that he was comfortably off and could afford to take his time deciding on his future.

“My company has an advert on the staff bulletin board for a Chief Investigating Officer, do you think he would be interested?”

“I don't know” replied Mick, “what would an insurance company want a Chief Investigating officer for?”

“You're not serious Mick are you? Fraudulent claims are a massive problem for us. And don't forget that our head office is in Munich, somebody who is fluent in German and has years of experience as a Military policeman in their Investigation Branch has to have an advantage.”

“Well he might be interested obviously but let him take his coat off and have a drink before you start to interview him.”

They chatted about the funeral, Sue said that she might buy a new black suit, she could make good use of it for work afterwards if she brightened it up with some pastel coloured tops. Mick smiled and said she would look good whatever she wore. She replied that the idea was not to look good but to dress respectfully.

Mick mowed the lawn and weeded the borders, thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and fresh-air. There was always something about new-mown grass that lifted the spirit. Spurs were away that Saturday so he planned to have a lazy day after his spell in the garden. Sue had decided what that night's meal was going to be and went into town to go shopping, but not before she had rang her boss at home and asked him about the advertised vacancy.

About six Mick went to have a bath and to listen to the second half commentary on the Spurs match which had kicked off at five. Spurs were losing one-nil but as Mick lay there thinking about what the next few days would bring, he suddenly became aware that the commentators and pundits were eulogising about Spurs wonder goal. The match finished one-all and Mick got out of the bath, shaved and dressed in his favourite Chinos and pale blue polo shirt.

He had heard Sue come in whilst he was in the bath and as he walked into the lounge she was on the computer, printing off an e-mail, together with a five page attachment.

“What on earth are you doing sweetheart?”

“No time like the present as my mother would say. I spoke to John at the office about that advert, he said Andrew sounds just the sort of candidate they were looking for, all they had had so far were ambitious juniors with no experience of life. He's e-mailed me the application form. I'll leave it to you whether or not you give it to Andrew, any way I must get ready, they'll be here soon. I bought a black suit by the way.”

*

Andrew and Emma arrived just after eight and Mick opened the door and showed them in. Sue came out of the kitchen and greeted them warmly “Please come in, I've heard so much about you.”

Mick offered them both a drink, Emma asked for a white wine spritzer, Andrew joined Mick and Sue in Gin and Tonics. They sat chatting, Sue asking Andrew about Germany and did he know the Harz Mountains, which he did, particularly Braunlage which he had visited often. Sue stood up and asked to be excused, Emma said did she want any help and the two women went into the kitchen.

“How did Emma take your news Andrew?”

“Actually I think she was rather pleased, not about me losing my job obviously, but about me coming back to England to live.”

Sue announced that dinner was ready and they went into the dining room, Mick and Andrew sat opposite each other as did Sue and Emma.

“Chablis OK for everybody?” asked Mick.

“You have a lovely place Boss” said Emma. “I love the décor, subtle shades of cream with some beautiful pictures on the walls,”

“Thank you Emma, but I can't claim any credit, it's all down to Sue.

“What's your flat in Germany like Andrew?” asked Sue.

“Clean, tidy, practical, pretty soulless really I suppose. Still I have to live somewhere.”

“Michael tells me that you might be coming back to England soon.” Mick stood up and went around the table topping up peoples glasses, which Emma declined.

“Could I possibly have a glass of water please?”

Mick went to the kitchen and came back with a carafe of mineral water and a clean glass.

Andrew looked at Emma and then Sue,

“Yes I'm looking to give up the flat and come home.”

The subject of Andrew coming home was not raised again and the evening continued with light hearted conversation and talk of holidays, foreign travel and the like then Andrew asked Sue what she did.

She glanced at Mick and said “I'm the manager of an insurance company, it's a fairly specialised form of insurance to do with import and export of industrial equipment. In fact our head office is based in Munich.”

“Really” he said “Do you speak German?”

“Just a few words, the people I deal with at the head office can nearly all speak English.”

The evening passed very amicably and Andrew and Emma left after eleven. Mick saw them out and told them to drive safely,

“Good luck tomorrow Michael, and hopefully we'll see you in the afternoon” said Andrew.

When they had gone Mick said “I thought you were about to interview him for that job at one point.”

“I wouldn't do that Mick, not after you asked me not to. I just wanted to test the water so to speak, John will no doubt ask me about him on Monday.”