Reckless Endangerment(57)

Fiona Douglas stood at the window and watched as the police car pulled off the drive. ‘What did they want, Frank?’ She turned to face Digby, her arms folded and a suspicious expression on her face. ‘Have you been out kerb-crawling again?’

‘Certainly not. And you know that that was a case of mistaken identity. The police were collecting car numbers that night. Everybody’s car number. But you’ll never let me forget it, will you?’

‘What did they want, then?’

Digby paused before answering. ‘Er, they wanted to know if we’d seen a hit-and-run accident in Bow Street outside the Royal Opera House last Monday,’ he said eventually. ‘But I told them we hadn’t seen a thing.’

‘What the hell made them think we were at Covent Garden last Monday? Is there something you’re not telling me? What have you been up to, Frank?’

‘Nothing, darling, and I don’t know why they thought that,’ said Digby lamely. ‘I suppose the police have access to all sorts of records these days. They’re probably interviewing everyone who had tickets to Swan Lake. After all, I did book them online.’

‘What, all two thousand of them?’ asked Fiona sarcastically. ‘But I don’t suppose you mentioned to them that we didn’t see it anyway. Or that you cancelled at the last minute because you told me that you had to see someone who wanted to place a large wine order for their restaurant. An order that didn’t materialize. So, where the hell were you?’

‘Well, I was—’

‘O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!’ quoted Fiona, and turned on her heel. ‘I’m going to take a shower. Alone!’

It wasn’t until Dave had steered the car on to the A413 that Kate mentioned the interview with Frank Digby.

‘What d’you reckon, Dave?’

‘Same problem as with all the others, guv. If his DNA shows that he’s the father of Sharon’s unborn child, it merely means he joins the merry band of men who had sex with her. It doesn’t mean he murdered her.’

‘Did you notice the perfume that Fiona was wearing?’

‘I’m no good at identifying perfumes. All I know is that they cost an arm and a leg.’

‘It was Lancôme Trésor.’

‘Is that important, guv?’

‘It’s the perfume that Sharon Gregory was wearing when she was found at the Dickin Hotel.’

‘A coincidence?’ asked Dave.

‘Could be. Anyway, we’ll see what Max Riley has to say,’ said Kate. ‘And he’s the last of the names on Sharon’s contact list. I don’t know where the hell the guv’nor will go after that.’

‘He’ll think of something,’ said Dave, and accelerated to overtake a dithering pensioner wearing a flat cap and doing twenty-five.





FOURTEEN


After Kate and Dave had left to interview more of our ‘suspects’, I spent some time going over the statements we had accrued so far.

I hadn’t been at it long before I was interrupted by the arrival of a detective inspector from the Serious Organized Crime Agency.

‘Good morning, sir. I’m DI Ken Sullivan from SOCA.’

‘Take a seat,’ I said, pushing aside the pile of statements, ‘and tell me what I can do for SOCA.’

‘Gordon Harrison, boss.’ Sullivan was obviously from a northern force where ‘boss’ was an informal alternative to ‘guv’.

‘You’ve got my interest. What about him?’

‘I picked up that you’d put his name on the PNC, and I’m interested to know whether it has any relevance to the current enquiries my agency is making.’

I explained briefly how we had come to interview Harrison, but were still undecided about whether he had been involved in the murder of Sharon Gregory, or indeed had been her accomplice on the night of Clifford Gregory’s murder.

‘But what is SOCA’s interest in him?’ I asked.

‘Drug smuggling,’ said Sullivan. ‘He has a Romanian girlfriend called Krisztina Comaneci.’

‘Yes, that much he told us, Ken. He actually said that she was his partner.’

‘In more ways than one,’ said Sullivan. ‘We believe her to be a courier, taking heroin into Romania from the Czech Republic. All we’ve learned so far is that Harrison imports antique statuary from Romania, and we’re pretty sure that those items contain the drugs that Comaneci obtains. The story is that she legitimately buys these so-called artefacts and brings them back to the UK.’

‘But hasn’t customs examined them at the point of entry?’ I asked.