A Stolen Shadow, page 18
While the laptop was in my possession, I saw the email from Francesca begging Spencer to meet her at the cottage she had just bought. It was the perfect opportunity. Knowing Spencer had turned his phone off when he was with Lottie, I replied on his behalf so she would stop trying to message him. I then went in his place. I parked a little way up the lane and waited for her to arrive. Anyone seeing my vehicle would think nothing of it. They would assume I was visiting one of the local farms.
Afterwards, I moved her body towards the hedge so she was hidden from view. I managed to take the sabre back to the theatre by hiding it beneath my coat. I did this in case Francesca was found before I had chance to kill Spencer. I needed an insurance policy. I knew the sabre would be easy to identify as the murder weapon, so I placed a hair I found in Spencer’s dressing room in the handle to point the finger at him. That was also the reason for me placing it on the prop table for him to pick up. At the very least, I hoped to confuse you.
It was very simple to poison Spencer. I prepared the mixture at the dispensary using the same bottle and food colouring as Susan. When she was distracted looking after the children, I put the sabre on the prop table, the laptop in her bag and switched the bottles. I hid the original bottle in the fire bucket. I am providing you with these details I know you have not released as proof of my guilt and to show that I am not simply trying to get Stanley “off the hook” (I am sure that thought may have crossed your mind, Chief Inspector).
My original plan had been to leave a suicide note in Spencer’s dressing room, after he collapsed onstage. In this note he would confess to the murder of Francesca. However, I had not anticipated your presence at the performance. You and Sergeant Chang visited Spencer’s dressing room before I could plant the note.
As your investigation began to focus on the practice, I knew I needed to act quickly. When Lottie confided in me about the methadone, I persuaded her to come and speak to you. I thought you would arrest Stanley but added my story about him stealing the sabre to be sure. The hours you wasted questioning him would give me enough time to leave the country.
Rest assured that my sister and I only took enough money to enable us to complete our studies. The rest of Spencer and Francesca’s ill-gotten gains will be used to try to make amends for some of their cruel and selfish actions.
Please accept my apologies once again, Chief Inspector.
Yours sincerely,
Rohan Kapoor
Chapter Ten
Across 9 (9 letters)
Eve can partly generate revenge
“Wow!” exclaimed Jimmy, who had been reading over his shoulder. “He thought of everything. Where do you think he is now?”
“Probably out of the country as he said. Tom has put a call out to the airports but I’m not optimistic. You’d better tell George to call off the search and, Tom, you go and tell the two officers in the car over there to get back to the station.”
Shadow watched Jimmy and Tom hurry away, then he wearily trudged back to the station himself, torturing himself thinking of all the clues he’d missed and how he’d allowed Rohan to misdirect him. When he arrived at the station, he found Cornelius waiting for him, red in the face and sweating profusely despite the cold.
“Busy morning, Cornelius?” he asked as the solicitor began mopping his brow with a large spotted handkerchief.
“I don’t know what it is and quite frankly I wish I’d never agreed to act for Spencer bloody Knight.”
“What happened at the bank?”
“First, I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to convince them of who I was, then I had to explain to someone, who looked like they’d only left school yesterday, what had happened. Anyway, according to them all the transactions were made yesterday via online banking and whoever did it passed all the security procedures and the only reference they gave was ‘to settle creditor’s account’, then they gave me a list of all the accounts the money had been paid into. Not the account details, you understand, only the names, but I thought hurrah! This should give Shadow a motive and lead him to the killer, but what do you make of this?”
He handed Shadow a handwritten list, the words slightly smudged with the perspiration from the solicitor’s hand. Shadow began to read.
Mr S A Beresford £250,000
Mr Len Horning £250,000
Miss Susan J Edmundson £100,000
Town and County Vets £300,000
West Tours Ltd £5,000
Marquess of Granby £600,000
“These amounts roughly equate to what each party lost because of Spencer and French.”
“Really?” replied Cornelius, who was still trying to catch his breath.
“Yes, but I don’t see why he did it. What’s the point? They are bound to have to pay it all back.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“A young man called Rohan Kapoor. I have a signed confession from him for both murders.”
“So, congratulations are in order.”
“Hardly. He’s left the country probably yesterday after making these payments.” He frowned. “It seems a lot of hard work if the recipients have to return the cash.”
“Actually, that’s where it gets even stickier. You see the payments were scheduled. That is, they were set up on Sunday to go out today, and on Sunday Spencer was still alive.”
“I know, but Rohan admits to taking the laptop,” he said, thinking out loud. “Does that mean they all get to keep the money? What about paying inheritance tax?”
The solicitor held up his hands. “I’m really not sure, Shadow. In fact, I’m not sure of anything at the moment.” Then he pointed to the list. “And what’s the Marquess of Granby? A pub?”
“I believe it’s our killer’s idea of a joke,” replied Shadow. “I remember him telling me his uncle was also a kind man. I imagine you will find that account may be traced to India. It’s probably been closed already.” He looked back at the list. “There’s nothing here for Major Armitage.”
“Actually, Francesca had failed to update her will, so everything she had goes to him,” the solicitor explained as he fanned himself with his hand.
Shadow nodded. It seemed Rohan really had accounted for everything.
“And he’ll be allowed to keep his inheritance?”
Cornelius threw his hands up in the air. “Who knows? I would say yes, probably. I am quite happy to declare my ignorance. I can honestly say in all my years of practising law, I have never encountered a situation quite like this.”
Shadow nodded sympathetically as Jimmy and Tom entered the station together.
“Ah, there you are, Tom. Can you take Mr Rutherford to make a statement?” he asked. “Is that okay with you, Cornelius?”
“I’ll go anywhere as long as I can sit down and have a cup of tea,” replied the solicitor as Tom led him down the corridor to the interview rooms. “And when this is all over, you owe me a very large Scotch, Shadow.”
“What was all that about?” asked Jimmy. Shadow handed him Cornelius’s piece of paper.
“It seems Rohan tried to reimburse those who lost money because of Spencer and Francesca.”
“What about this last amount?”
“I think that’s the account Rohan used for himself, although it’s rather more than he suggested in the letter. I don’t know about the Marquess of Granby; it seems like he’s been playing at being Robin Hood. Phone the two Janes and ask them to look into it, will you?”
No sooner had Jimmy dialled the number than Stanley walked up the stairs from the custody suite. Before Shadow could say anything to him there was an excited squeal and Lottie rushed across the reception area and threw her arms around her father’s neck.
“Where did she come from?” whispered Shadow, but Jimmy was too occupied speaking on the phone and happily watching the reunion.
“Dad! I’m so pleased they let you go and guess what?” gushed Lottie. “An agent has been in touch. He’s a friend of the Dawsons. They were so impressed with my performance that they sent him a copy of the recording. Only the first half, obvs, but this agent really liked it and said he wants to represent me.”
Shadow smiled and shook his head at her excitement and the selfishness of youth, but Stanley didn’t seem to mind that his own ordeal had been forgotten. He planted a kiss on her head and said, “That’s wonderful, love. Let’s get home and you can tell me all about it.”
Shadow was about to try to explain that Stan would get home to find his bank balance had increased substantially when Len Horning hurried through the door. His face was nearly as flushed as Cornelius’s had been and was clashing horribly with the yellow jacket that he’d teamed up with bottle-green cords and polo neck.
“Thank heavens you are here, Chief Inspector. The strangest thing has happened. You will never believe me when I tell you.”
“Your bank account has been credited with two hundred and fifty thousand pounds from Spencer Knight’s account.”
“Yes! But I swear his death had nothing to do with me.”
“We know that, Mr Horning. We have a full confession from Rohan Kapoor.”
“Rohan killed Francesca and Spencer?” asked Lottie, her eyes wide in surprise. “I don’t believe it!”
“Are you sure, Chief Inspector?” asked Stan, looking equally stunned. “He’s such a nice lad. Can we speak to him? Check he’s all right in the head?”
“As I said, we have a full written confession from him, but I’m afraid you can’t speak to him, as he isn’t here. We believe he may have left the country at around the same time the money was being transferred into your accounts.”
“Oh, I am pleased,” said Lottie then flushed. “I mean I know it isn’t good for you, Chief Inspector, but I would hate to think of poor Rohan languishing in a cell.”
She seemed unconcerned that her friend had admitted killing the man whose death she had been so upset about.
“When did you last see him?” asked Shadow.
“It was after we left here. We went over to Harkers. Rohan bought me a drink and a sandwich then dropped me off at home. I found the note Dad had left and I felt awful. I called Rohan but there was no answer. I thought it was weird he didn’t call back, but it makes sense now.”
“Chief Inspector, you said accounts, plural,” interrupted Len.
“Yes. I understand that two hundred and fifty thousand pounds has also been credited to Mr Beresford’s account.”
“Blimey!” exclaimed Stan.
“So I can keep it? All that lovely dosh?” pressed Len, suddenly looking a lot more cheerful.
Shadow held up his hand. “As I’m sure you’ll appreciate, this is a very unusual situation. The executor of Spencer’s estate will be consulting with the bank regarding the best course of action, so I would caution you not to make any extravagant purchases until we have completed…”
He didn’t bother to finish his sentence. Len, Stan and Lottie were already out the door, hugging and kissing each other with Len loudly declaring the drinks were on him.
“Well, they seemed happy and at least something positive might have come out of all this,” said Jimmy cheerfully after ending his call. “And good news for Lottie. It sounds like she’ll make it without Spencer’s help. It goes to show true talent shines through. Everyone said she was easily the best actor in the pantomime.”
“She was, although when it comes to playing a part convincingly, I think Rohan could give her a run for her money. He had the harmless, hapless, helpful young man down to a T.”
“How did you work out it was him?”
“I read Kitty’s statement.”
Jimmy’s face fell. “Did I miss something?”
“No, you weren’t there when Rohan told me his laptop had been stolen. It was my fault. I should have paid more attention to the children’s statements and read Kitty’s sooner.”
His sergeant reached over and patted him on the shoulder.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Chief. He fooled us all. Tom’s shocked and we both feel bad that we vouched for him. You might have been more suspicious of him if we hadn’t. Angela and Mum won’t believe it either.”
Shadow nodded, but if anything, his sergeant’s sympathy made him feel worse. It wasn’t often he felt defeated by a case, but Rohan had been one step ahead of them all the time. Why? Was he distracted by Maggie being away or worrying about the rising river or was his heart simply not in this case because he found the victims so unsympathetic? He should have looked into Rohan’s background and not simply accepted everyone telling him what a nice guy he was and how he had no possible motive to murder the victims. Had he subconsciously shared the killer’s belief that the world was a better place without Spencer and Francesca in it? He gave his head a sharp shake. That was no way to start thinking. Only a few days ago he’d told Jimmy they weren’t there to make moral judgements. He wasn’t going to give up. There was still a chance they could catch him. He turned to Jimmy, who was fiddling with his phone and no doubt filling in Sophie on the morning’s events.
“You had better get on to Interpol. Give them all the information we have and tell them to focus their search on India or Brazil.”
“Brazil?”
“Rohan told me he was going to work in some sort of animal sanctuary there. There’s a chance it might be true, I suppose.”
“How would we organise extraditing an Indian national from Brazil?”
“With great difficulty, and I’m sure Rohan knows that too.”
He left Jimmy to contact Interpol while he collected Cornelius’s statement from Tom, then trudged back up to his office. He would have to inform the chief constable that they had a full confession but had managed to lose the killer. Mercifully, apart from the press office nagging, headquarters had been remarkably quiet, and it was with some relief that he heard the chief constable’s secretary tell him that she was unavailable.
He set about writing his report while he waited for her to return his call. About an hour later, Jimmy arrived with an update.
“There’s a record of a R Kapoor taking a KLM flight from Manchester to Rio yesterday evening. No definite confirmation that it was him though, and it’s already landed, so…”
“The chances of catching him are close to zero,” finished Shadow. It was as he’d feared. “Anything else?”
“Yes, Chief. The Janes looked into the Marquess of Granby account, and you were right. It was emptied and closed this morning. They haven’t been able to find the number or the locations of the accounts – just the references Rohan used. About a hundred grand was transferred to an account with the reference R Kapoor, but the rest, over half a million, was sent to an account with the reference Nueva Vida Manta. I remembered what you said about an animal sanctuary in Brazil and thought it might have something to do with manta rays, but then Jane said it wasn’t Portuguese but Spanish.”
“Which Jane?” asked Shadow.
“The slightly shorter one. Jane Silva, her dad’s Portuguese. He moved back there and opened a hotel when he and Jane’s mum got divorced but she goes out there all the time.”
Shadow held up his hand before he learnt any more about half of the finance team’s family arrangements.
“Did she happen to tell you what those Spanish words mean?”
“Yes, chief. ‘Nueva Vida Manta’ means ‘new life blanket’, but that doesn’t make much sense. I still think it has something to do with rescuing or rehabilitating animals.”
Shadow sighed. Unlike Jimmy, he was struggling to imagine Rohan transferring his skills from tending to a pampered whippet to rehabilitating large tropical fish.
“So now we have to trace a bank account, possibly for a sea-life sanctuary or possibly some sort of cloth manufacturer, somewhere in the Spanish-speaking world?”
“I know it doesn’t sound great when you put it like that, Chief, but I’m sure the Janes will come up with more details and I’m going to keep looking into manta rays. There can’t be that many rescue centres for them.”
“I agree, but even if we find where the money went, it doesn’t follow that we will find him. The story about going to work in South America could simply have been another red herring.”
“No, I think it’s like you’ve said earlier. The best lies always have a nugget of truth. If we find that half million, I bet we find Rohan.”
As Jimmy practically jogged out of the office to continue his mission, Shadow wished he could share his confidence. His growling stomach told him it was lunchtime. In the past, he had been reliably informed that the chief constable spent her lunch hour jogging around Northallerton. It was probably safe for him to nip out and get something to eat.
The pale wintry sun was trying its best to break through the wispy clouds as he headed towards the Shambles pie shop. Making his way back with a pork pie in one pocket and a steak and ale in the other, he paused as he passed Bettys shop window. Their display was always eye-catching but today his attention had been caught by several boxes of shortbread biscuits, cut and decorated to look like various animals. There were cats, dogs, butterflies and ponies. They reminded him that there was someone he needed to thank. He stepped inside, purchased two boxes of the pony biscuits and glanced wistfully through to the restaurant before leaving and quickly heading down Stonegate.
He arrived at the Minster School to find the children careering around the playground making the most of the dry weather on their lunch break. Muffled up in a thick coat and hat with her hands wrapped around a large mug of tea, Angela was supervising them. She raised her hand in acknowledgement and came over to the gates when she saw him.
“Hello, Chief Inspector. What brings you here?”
“I brought the dwarves, I mean the children, some biscuits to thank them for their help. It turned out to be invaluable.”
“That’s very kind of you. They’ll be thrilled. Thank you very much. Would you mind leaving them at reception? I can’t leave my post.” She lowered her voice. “I still don’t know what I’m going to tell them about Rohan. I couldn’t believe it when Tom told me. I thought he was so lovely.”
