Next in Line (William Warwick, #5)(24)

‘You know very well the Hawk doesn’t approve of lunch breaks,’ said William as he sat down at his desk and waited for the phone to ring.





CHAPTER 10





‘IN THEORY, THIS ONE SHOULD be an open-and-shut case,’ declared Sir Julian as he paced around his office clutching the lapels of his jacket as if addressing a jury. ‘However, in practice,’ he paused before continuing, ‘there are one or two anomalies the Crown is unable to ignore.’

Neither Grace nor Clare interrupted their leader while they took notes.

‘Let’s begin with the facts of the case. The defendant, Miles Faulkner, escaped from police custody while attending his mother’s funeral and, some months later, staged his own funeral to convince the police he was dead.’

‘Mrs Faulkner even offered to supply his ashes,’ said Clare, ‘but I explained to her that we haven’t yet mastered how to identify someone’s DNA from their ashes.’

‘Faulkner would have been well aware of that – otherwise he wouldn’t have offered them on a silver platter,’ said Sir Julian. ‘However, what he couldn’t have anticipated was a vigilant policewoman’ – he paused and looked down at the notes on his desk to check her name – ‘Detective Constable Rebecca Pankhurst,’ he continued, ‘who spotted Faulkner’s lawyer, Mr Booth Watson, in a departure lounge at Heathrow, waiting to board a flight for Barcelona. DC Pankhurst interrupted her own holiday so she could join him on that flight without him being aware of her presence. Thanks to the cooperation of the Spanish police,’ said Sir Julian, still perambulating, ‘Scotland Yard were able to track down Faulkner, who was living in a large, secluded country house a few miles outside the Catalan capital.

‘He might have evaded the police yet again had it not been for an equally resourceful Detective Inspector, who ironically ended up saving Faulkner’s life. However, that’s the point at which it stops being an open-and-shut case. I’ll leave you to bring us up to date, Clare,’ he said, before turning to his daughter, ‘while you, Grace, as my junior, can act as devil’s advocate and try to think like Booth Watson.’

‘I presume by that you mean devious and amoral, while exuding oily charm when it comes to addressing the jury.’

‘Couldn’t have put it better myself,’ said Sir Julian.

‘I have already interviewed both DCI Warwick,’ began Clare, avoiding saying ‘your son’, ‘and DI Hogan. Hogan claims that while Faulkner was attempting to escape, he locked himself into his own safe and would have suffocated if he hadn’t come to his rescue.’

‘That much I believe,’ said Sir Julian. ‘But I fear the rest of Hogan’s story sounds less credible. However, please continue.’

‘DI Hogan went on to report that Faulkner was still alive but unconscious when he pulled him out of the safe. With the help of a Lieutenant Sanchez of the Spanish national police, who performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, Faulkner regained consciousness and asked to be taken back to London so he could consult his own doctor. He then fainted.’

‘That’s the bit I find less convincing,’ said Sir Julian, ‘and I’m sure Booth Watson will find several holes in DI Hogan’s evidence once he gets him in the witness box – and will then grandstand when it comes to how it was possible for Hogan to commandeer Faulkner’s private jet, and then fly him back to London without his express permission.’

‘But Inspector Hogan was able to supply us with the name of Faulkner’s physician in Harley Street,’ said Grace.

‘I suspect that Hogan is a risk-taker, who took a punt on Harley Street and got lucky.’

‘Unfortunately, neither Lieutenant Sanchez nor DCI Warwick were able to confirm the exchange between Faulkner and Hogan,’ continued Clare, ‘and, at the time, they took Hogan at his word. It wasn’t until they’d got Faulkner back to England, and he was locked up once again, that DCI Warwick began to consider the consequences of their actions.’

‘We should remember,’ said Grace, ‘that Faulkner was responsible for the tragic death of the Inspector’s wife, so Hogan’s judgement might well have been, to use a legal term, temporarily impaired.’

‘Booth Watson won’t be bothering with temporarily, once he gets Hogan into the witness box,’ said Sir Julian. ‘He’ll start by raising the subject of kidnapping, which I don’t think you’ll find is recommended procedure in the Metropolitan Police handbook.’

‘And that will be before he turns his attention to the theft of a Frans Hals self-portrait, worth at least half a million,’ added Grace, ‘that the general public will have the chance to view at an exhibition to be opened by the Princess of Wales.’

‘An exhibition that will take place at the Fitzmolean Museum,’ said Clare, ‘where coincidentally DCI Warwick’s wife just happens to be the keeper of pictures.’

‘Booth Watson won’t consider it a coincidence, and you can be sure that “the keeper of pictures” will be words he repeats ad nauseam while addressing the jury,’ said Sir Julian. ‘Is there any good news?’

‘That problem could well resolve itself as the trial doesn’t begin until after the exhibition has closed,’ said Clare, ‘and the painting will have been returned to its rightful owner.’