Unravel a Crime - Tangle With Women (28 page)

“
You won’t need me for that.”
Grinned Durkin. “You can use this office though. I shan’t be too far away. Just
shout if you need me.”

For the rest of the day
Brakespeare and Lisa did just what she had suggested. Lisa worked very quickly
and her deft hands soon sorted both sets of files into chronological order.
Then she took the one set containing Redshaw’s correspondence, and Brakespeare
the other containing the national correspondence, and they compared pages to
ensure that there was no correspondence missing from either.

At lunch, Durkin offered to
take them round the corner to what he described as the ‘best pub in the Black
Country’, but both graciously declined. Brakespeare knew from dealing with the
Police, that lunch would have been of the mainly liquid type; of no assistance
to their powers of concentration.

“
We’ll work on and try and get
the job done today” Brakespeare said by way of excuse.

As they read the
correspondence, both became excited at what they found. Lisa’s eyes shone. “I
can’t believe this,” she said. “No wonder this wasn’t included in the Exhibits.”

“
No, but if the C.P.S. read
this, as they must, then why did they launch the prosecution. No, that’s a
silly question. Clive Masters of course.”

“
Could it be a malicious
prosecution?”

“
Don’t know. We’d have to show
that there was manifestly no basis on which to charge Newberry, - Durkin says
that of course, and that there was malice in the decision to prosecute A not
guilty verdict wouldn’t be sufficient. “

“
Well we’re seeing that there
was no basis.”

“
Yes, but how can we show the
malice? O.K., we may believe that Masters is behind all this, but whose going
to make a statement saying that?”

“
But isn’t the criminal
offence of making false allegations covered under the common law offence of
perverting the course of public justice.

“
Where did you get that from?”
gasped Brakespeare.

Lisa gave one of her coyer
smiles. “I have been looking at the law books in order to keep up to speed.”

“
You’re ahead of me. Anything
else?”

”
Consideration could also be
given to an offence under section 5(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1967, which
covers wasteful employment of the police, better known as wasting police time.”

“
Maybe that’s what Durkin is
after.”

“
Although he probably doesn’t
know it yet.”

“
No, but he will when you tell
him, won’t he.”

Lisa raised her eyebrows
questioningly. Brakespeare nodded affirmatively.

“
We’re lucky he’s around.
Usually the Police put up the barriers in situations like these. The guy needs
a break. We’ve got to help him, it’s only fair.”

“
Then, I suppose if we give
him something to go on, he might just be able to help us,” said Lisa, slowly.

“
You mean a rearguard action
against Masters?”

Lisa smiled a wicked smile.
“The Fifth Column”.

Brakespeare leant across the
desk towards her.

“
You know you really ought to
qualify. You’re ahead of me on this. You are a good lawyer.”

Lisa looked back. “I’ve got a
good teacher.”

They gazed at each other
across the table.

They were still like that when
Durkin walked into the room. He took the situation in but said nothing, as both
quickly pretended to resume their task.

“
We’re almost done. What we
need is this lot copying.” said Brakespeare to the policeman, indicating the
two piles of papers.

“
No problem, but…” and Durkin
sat on a vacant chair. “What have we got? Anything?”

“
My colleague here thinks that
she may have something for you to go on.”

“
Really?” Durkin became
visibly enthusiastic. “What is it?”

Lisa repeated what she had
just said to Brakespeare.

“
Christ” said Durkin. “Do you
think that there is really enough evidence to start looking at charges against
the National.”

“
Well, this is what we’ve
found.” Said Lisa, and methodically went through the substance of the
correspondence for the policeman’s benefit.

There was a silence as she
finished. Durkin looked slowly from one to the other.

“
Bugger me, why didn’t I look
at all that? Oh, sorry Miss”

“
Different mindset?” asked
Brakespeare.

Durkin looked puzzled.

“
When you looked at the
papers, you were trying to see if you could build a case. We’ve been looking at
them to find the holes in the case.”

“
And you wouldn’t have
expected Mr. Black to have been so unreliable.” added Lisa.

“
Bloody well didn’t. But it
proves I was right don’t it. There is no case.”

“
Well, that’s what we hope the
Judge will think.”

“
And if he throws it out,
you’re vindicated.” Lisa smiled her most beguiling smile at Durkin as she
spoke.

“
Yeeees.” Said Durkin slowly,
and sat back in his chair.

Lisa leant towards him. ”
Perhaps we could work together?”

Brakespeare looked anxious,
wondering what she was about to say. Durkin looked interested. “What do you
mean. I can’t help you defend your man. I’m a copper.”

“
Directly, no. Indirectly,
yes. You asked if there was enough evidence to look at charges against the
National. Well there may be, but not just yet. Even if Black was up to no good,
that does not mean that the National was involved. However, I expect”, she
looked directly at Brakespeare, “that our defence will be that the fact that
Black appears to have had a dual capacity, and a close business link with the
National means that he cannot be regarded as an independent. There may be more
to his connections with the National”

Durkin nodded, warming to her
line of reasoning.

“
Now if you want to go back to
your Chief Constable, and ask permission to make further enquiries….”

Durkin broke into a broad
smile.

“
You mean run a sort of
spoiling exercise for you; get the C.P.S. worried.”

“
If they get to hear about
it.”

“
Oh, they will. Mr. Black will
tell them after I have questioned him.” Brakespeare said.

“
Well you need to speak to the
Chief about that. At the moment he’s a witness, so you can’t really arrest him
and interview him under caution.”

“
So what can I do?”

Lisa leant forward and
reaching across and patted Durkin's thigh. “Speak to this Jonathan Skinner. See
what they have to say. Get a statement confirming that they had approaches from
Redshaw Linden and Steele. See if you can find out how close the relationship
between the two companies was. In particular try and find out whether it was
Black trying to match the price that Skinners clients were prepared to pay, or
whether Black was setting the prices in order to get a sale.”

Brakespeare could see that
Lisa was having the same positive effect on Durkin as she did on him. He decided
to contribute to the conversation.

“
That way, Black is bound to
get to hear of what you are doing, and we can see what happens.”

“
We’ll see if he becomes
destabilised.” Said Lisa.

“
Christ Jonny, you should
never have left the C.P.S. The Police could do with you.”

“
Thank Lisa as well”, said
Brakespeare. “We’re a team.” He glanced towards her and was pleased to see the
glance appreciated and returned.

“
Do you want me to keep in
touch.”

Brakespeare hesitated. “What
if you get caught. I’m not sure that it’s a criminal offence for a Police
Officer to assist a defence; it probably isn’t, but it might be a disciplinary
matter. Better go through Joe Gargan.”

Durkin thought. “Bugger that.
Thing’s can’t get any worse. If the case against your Mr. Newberry collapses,
then, well….”

“
The Police might get a
prosecution out of it”

“
And I might get a last
promotion from the Chief before I retire. That would work wonders for my
pension.”

“
So it’s a deal?” asked Lisa.

Durkin grinned wickedly and
pressed his hand on her thigh. “It’s a pleasure to work with you, Miss.”

“
We’re a team, we’re a team.”
Lisa repeated excitedly on the journey back to Worcester.

She seemed to have lost all
her previous inhibitions. She chatted excitedly about the case and patted
Brakespeare’s thigh, as she had Durkin’s, in order to emphasise what she was
saying, except that with Durkin she did it consciously and deliberately. Now
she seemed to be doing it as second nature,

Brakespeare found himself
wondering if the team was going to be a purely professional one for long.

No time seemed to have passed
before he swung the Fiat through the gates of College Yard. Hitler now knew him
well, and always touched the peak of his cap in salute as Brakespeare entered
or left the Cathedral grounds.

He pulled into his usual
parking space to the left of the Cathedral door. Lisa carried his brief case,
as if to demonstrate the leading position that she had now taken in the case.

She still was talking volubly
as they climbed onto the raised pavement and walked towards the office door,
moving from side to side without inhibition as she walked, and bumping into
Brakespeare; whether it was deliberately in order to make physical contact, or
whether she was carried away by what she was saying, Brakespeare did not have
time to find out.

“
Just a moment”, said
Brakespeare as he looked ahead and stopped walking.

“
What?” asked Lisa, and then
stopped dead too.

The outer door of the office
was closed, and yet it was only 5.00 o’clock. The door always remained open
until at least 6 o’clock, when Mortimer, who was always the last to leave, went
home.

“
I didn’t know that they were
closing early.”

“
Me, neither, but never mind I
have the key.” She rummaged in her hand bag as they started walking again. As
they reached the door, Lisa put her key into the lock and opened the door.
Behind the glass inner door, they could see that the hall lights were on.

“’
Curiouser and curiouser’,
said Alice” Lisa volunteered.

As they walked into the hall
the office seemed deserted. They looked into the reception area. There was no
sign of Tracy.

They stood still in the hall
to listen. The office was silent. Then there came the sound of a door opening,
and Mortimer called.

”
Hello, Jonny is that you?”

“
It is.” replied Brakespeare,
and he and Lisa began to climb the stairs as Mortimer appeared at the top.
“Something happened? It’s like the Marie Celeste in here?”

“
You’d better come into my
office. You too Lisa.”

Mortimer was sombre.

As they walked into the
office, the other occupant, Dick Ridley stood up.

“
I’m so sorry” he said at once
towards Lisa.

Her face became ashen.

“
Dick” said Mortimer, with a
warning look to his partner. “Lisa, Jonny , sit down.” He pulled out two chairs
for them to sit on, and went behind the desk to his own chair.

Lisa stared at him. “It’s
Gordon, isn’t it.”

“
What?” asked Brakespeare.

“
I’m sorry. Lisa, Jonny, I’m
afraid that Gordon passed away this afternoon at about four o’clock. I tried to
reach you at the Police Station, but unfortunately, you had already left.”

Lisa gave a loud sob, and then
crumpled in her chair. She made no sound, but her shoulders shook and tears
streamed down her face. Before he knew it, Brakespeare had put his arm round
her to comfort her.

Mortimer continued. “I’m
afraid that he died in hospital after falling into a coma this morning.”

Lisa’s sobs became vocal. As
if to indicate to her that she was not alone in her feelings, Mortimer added.
”I’m afraid that as the news went round the office, it was unfair to ask anyone
to continue working, and so I sent them all home. Margaret is particularly
affected.”

There was a silence, broken
only by Lisa’s sobbing. Brakespeare was unsure as to whether to say anything
other than the expected platitudes. Not having met the man, he found himself
more curious than sad he was also concerned with what this might mean for him.
This was neither the time nor the place to discuss that.

“
Oh, dear.” was all he could
say.

“
Yes, oh, dear indeed, Jonny.
I appreciate that this affects you also.” said Mortimer as if he had read
Brakespeare’s thoughts. “But we’ll talk about that later.”

He looked at Lisa and
softened. “Lisa, there’s nothing I can say is there. I know how….”