CODE TO MURDER, page 21
Ben gave the faintest of smiles.
“I don’t know, Julie. Even this Anderson investigation . . . I fear I am out of my depth with all this technology stuff as a whole, never mind AI.”
“Never underestimate the mind of a detective, Ben. AI will help us do lots of things better, not just the bad guys. But what it can’t interpret is emotion and people, and that is where good detectives will never be replaced – and I include you in that.”
“Thanks, Julie. We’ll see.”
Julie was concerned. She had never seen Ben as self-critical before. But then she didn’t know everything he was going through.
“Anyway, on the face of it, Williams does seem to be the guilty party,” said Julie. “But you said if the note is genuine – do you have doubts?”
“I don’t know is the honest answer, Julie. It looks genuine and I’ve already checked the signature against the one on the appraisal form and it looks real, but we’ll get forensics to check it out. You’ve already got forensics checking out the car and if Williams’s body does show up, we’ll see if it shows anything untoward. If a body doesn’t show up, things will still be left hanging.”
It was also bothering Ben that there was somebody hacking into the systems and trying to get the laptop. Why would Williams have wanted it so badly? Maybe he wanted to see the development code and documents to help get his head around it? He did say he thought stuff was missing from the code, but Ben wasn’t totally convinced.
“Until we find a body and conclude this note was genuine and it was a suicide, I want the team to continue investigating on all fronts. I’m going home to have a chat with Ian shortly – he mentioned the other night that the company he works for has clients and specialists in the commodity-trading sector, and he himself specialises in IT security, so I want to pick his brain. I’ll also see if he knows how that email to Mrs Anderson could have been sent – let me know if you get anything from forensics. She’ll no doubt be worrying about it and waiting for further instruction from us.”
Back in the main office, the phone rang and Kevin answered it. He shouted over to Emma. “Emma, remember that builder who took a shine to you and wanted to give you his phone number?”
“Don’t start, Kevin, I’m too busy for your jokes.”
“No, seriously, he’s on the phone and wants to speak to you.”
“This better not be a joke, Kevin. Hello, DC Emma Roy speaking.”
“Eh, hello, this is Andy Scott. I saw you when you came looking for Billy Hendry at Wilson’s yard.”
“Hi, Mr Scott, what can I do for you?”
“I should have said something before. I’m sorry I didn’t, but Hendry is a scary bloke.”
“What is it you should have said, Mr Scott?”
“Well, it’s like this: Hendry wasn’t working in Polmont that day, he was working at The Heartlands Hotel in Stirling. He and I swapped jobs as he wanted to be closer to home for an early finish – said he had something on that night.”
“Did Mr Wilson know?”
“No, he didn’t. We did it between ourselves and adjusted the timesheets.”
“Why are you telling me this now? Has something else happened?”
“Well, Mr Wilson found out. Someone from the hotel phoned and complained about shoddy work. I wasn’t going to take the blame for that and so I told him what we’d done and Hendry has been sacked. I got a warning. I also saw in the papers about what happened at The Heartlands and thought I should tell you. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit worried he’ll come after me – he’s a bit of a nutter.”
“Okay, Mr Scott, thanks for phoning. We’ll pick Hendry up and I’ll send someone to get a statement from you.”
“Did you get the jist of that, Kevin?”
“Yep.”
“I’d better let Julie and the DCI know.”
They were both still in Ben’s office. Emma told them what had happened and said, “We’ll go and pick him up, sir.”
Ben thought for a minute before something dawned on him.
“Emma, before you go, can you load up the CCTV footage from the hotel on the Monday and go to the point where Phil Martin came down in the lift? I seem to remember there was a guy in work clothing, with tools on a belt, who came down at the same time. I assumed he was hotel maintenance staff, but now that I think about it there was building work going on at The Heartlands that day.”
They all gathered around Emma’s screen as she pulled up the footage.
“Okay, this is the bit now.”
As the footage showed the lift opening, Kevin shouted.
“That’s him, that’s Hendry!”
“Okay, Kevin, take some uniform and go get him. Beware of the big dog!”
Emma was relieved she hadn’t been asked to go. She didn’t want another canine encounter.
CHAPTER 58
When Kevin headed out to find Hendry, Julie took the chance to review the Cameron files again. She had been making some good progress. She flicked through them and again stopped at the photo of Cameron’s body. Something occurred to her.
“They can’t be . . . can they?”
She loaded up the video doorbell footage from the night of the murder.
“They’re the same. They’re his.”
Emma looked up and turned towards Julie.
“Everything alright, Sarge?”
Julie stood up. “I need to pop out, Emma. If the DCI comes looking for me, tell him I won’t be long.”
Julie went to the property store and searched for the bag containing the Cameron evidence she was looking for. Upon finding it, she had a quick look and then rushed over to see Joan Scott.
“Are you okay, Julie? You seem a bit out of breath.”
“I am, I’ve been rushing over here to find you. I need a favour.”
Julie explained her thinking, ending with, “I know it’s a bit of a long shot, but I need it urgently.”
Joan had heard about Ben’s day at the fatal accident inquiry and hadn’t liked what he’d been put through.
“No problem, Julie. I’ll phone you as soon as we have something.”
CHAPTER 59
Pettigrew was sitting at his desk. He was thinking about Williams and pondering whether the River Forth would spill out his body that day. He and Millar had come from visiting Williams’s estranged wife – she was still distraught. They had been separated for six months but it didn’t matter. When his young son came toddling into the room while they were talking, it tugged at Pettigrew’s emotions.
Two children now without fathers.
He tried to console himself by thinking at least the life assurance payout from the company would help them. But it didn’t really make him feel any better.
Recent events left him wondering whether the messages might now have stopped. But still one came.
Lawyers frantic, brokers despair.
Every click monitored in the neon glare.
The countdown nearing its scaring layer.
No algorithm can be fooled, no snare.
Five days to go. I stand, but not alone.
What does this mean? Lawyers – are they going to hang me out to dry somehow?
Pettigrew’s frustration was building. He was getting more and more annoyed. Every day another message – it was becoming too much to take.
“Aaaagh,” he shouted and banged his hand on the desk.
A young software engineer was passing Pettigrew’s door and glanced in through the window to see what was happening, but catching the look on Pettigrew’s face, she walked swiftly on.
They are still coming. Was I wrong? Surely not? Who else could it have been?
But still no ransom request or anything.
Only five days left.
Pettigrew flinched, a shiver going down his spine.
He then read the message again, looked up from his screen and stopped. He was thinking about something.
He lifted his phone and dialled.
“It’s Pettigrew,” he said. “Just checking you remember our agreement? You keep shtum about what you did . . . good, as long as you remember. And have you been sending messages or anything to my system? . . . And you’ve not got any employees who’ve gone rogue, trying to make a bit on the side for themselves? . . . Well, you better not have.”
He ended the call.
CHAPTER 60
Ben headed home and sat with Ian to see if he could give him any advice about the case. First off, he told him about the email Mrs Anderson had received, apparently from James.
“Could this really be from her dead husband? Is there a way he could have sent that?” asked Ben.
“In theory, it could be,” said Ian. “You can set emails to be sent on a specific day or time. So, he could have done this before he was killed.”
“But he would have to have been sure something was going to happen to him. And why is it all of a sudden coming now, weeks after his death?”
“That’s true, Dad. He wouldn’t want it being sent to his wife if nothing happened. He either must have been certain something would, or he had something in place that meant it would only be sent out if something did or did not happen.”
“I’m sorry, Ian, I’m not with you.”
“Well – and remember I’m only speculating here – but suppose he drafted the email and it was ready to go on a timer, maybe to be sent ten days later. Each night, he could go into his emails and he could delay the timer by a day. If something happened to him, like if he were killed, then he would no longer be able to delay the timer, thus the email would eventually be sent,” said Ian, adding, “Of course, we can’t know exactly how long he set the delay for, and why.”
Ben’s guess was that Anderson may have thought it would take time for the police to discover how he’d died and wanted to be sure the email didn’t go out before this was known. In the email, it implied a second email would come only if his wife replied that his death had been suspicious, which again would take time to ascertain.
Ben had another question. “Right, so I get how he could have sent the email in the first place, but could he have organised another email to be sent afterwards? For example, only if his wife replied with a specific subject line?” asked Ben.
Ian confirmed it was definitely possible and explained how marketing companies did it all the time, using automated response emails that are only released based on certain actions. So as soon as his inbox receives an email back with that subject, it would automatically send out another email he has already written.
“So he could have set this all up in advance? Wow,” said Ben.
“To be clear, I can’t say he definitely has, all I’m saying is that it’s technically possible.”
“No, that’s understood, Ian. I just needed to know it was possible. If we can get access to his emails, we can check out exactly what he may have set up. The other thing I wanted to ask you about was commodity trading and the companies that operate in that sector. You mentioned the other night your company has clients in the sector?”
“Yes, we do, quite a few actually. There’s a lot of money in that sector so they need very secure systems and slick software to complete the transactions quickly and efficiently.”
“So what services does your company provide for them, Ian?”
“Lots of things. We have the IT security side, which I’m involved in, making sure their IT systems are secure, robust, have data resilience built in, proper backups and infrastructure in place in the event of any cyberattacks and so on.”
“So do you guys do this ethical hacking thing?”
Ian laughed, “Yes, we can do that ethical hacking thing, Dad, if we get asked to.” He continued, “Within our company, we have a multidisciplined team. We have forensic accountants, who understand accounting software, and we offer audits to see how efficient systems are. But when the need arises, we also offer audits and investigations that look specifically for fraud or any kind of breach of financial regulations. The team has worked with the police on some occasions, too. We have a good reputation, and because the commodity-trading sector is so specialised, we get contracted by the police to go in and report back to them, and also act as expert witnesses in court.”
“I didn’t know that, you’ve never mentioned it before,” said Ben.
“Be fair, Dad, I’ve not been with the business long and it is a good sized organisation. Lots of opportunities for me, I hope.”
“They must be paying you well. Is that another new watch?” asked Ben.
“The latest smartwatch, Dad. You know what I’m like with gadgets.”
“Thinking about it, given the nature of the commodity-trading businesses and the large sums of money, I guess they may often be targets for hackers, and dare I say internal fraud,” said Ben.
“That’s a reasonable assumption. Wherever there are large sums of money, someone is always looking to take a share of it for themselves.”
“This has been very, very helpful, Ian,” said Ben enthusiastically. He felt things were finally falling into place.
“So, if I wanted to hire your company to do some investigating for me, I would be able to do so?”
“Yes, we have all the relevant badges and accreditations police authorities tend to look for. I can put you in touch with the appropriate people if you want, just let me know. We’re not cheap, though.”
“Hmm, another business looking for a share of the big bucks for themselves, eh?” laughed Ben. “Right, I need to get back to the station – lots to do.”
“Before you go, Dad. I was talking to Mum and she said she mentioned letting Julie know what the doctor said, so she could help at work – only if you needed it, of course. I think it’s a good idea. She wouldn’t say anything to anyone.”
He knew Ian and Julie were close and had even dated for a short while before Ian got a job offer in London.
“I’ll give it some thought,” said Ben.
CHAPTER 61
Before going back to the station, Ben decided to take a detour and go to see Mrs Anderson. It was a warm and sunny day, and when he arrived she was sitting alone on a large bench in the front garden, looking a bit lost in thought. She didn’t seem to notice Ben as he walked through the gate.
“Hello, Mrs Anderson,” said Ben.
She looked up, startled, and said, “Oh, hello, Chief Inspector. Sorry, I was miles away. To be honest, I kind of wish I was.”
Ben smiled. “I have a few things to talk to you about. Is it alright if I sit down beside you?”
“Of course,” she replied.
Ben explained what had happened with Mike Williams and where they were at so far.
“Did you know Mike Williams?” asked Ben.
“I met him at the company Christmas party, but that was all. I knew he worked for James, who told me he was a bright guy but lacking in patience and still had a lot to learn. Are you seriously telling me he killed James over a stupid appraisal? I can’t believe it. How could anyone do that?”
“At this stage, we’re still trying to keep an open mind until we recover his body and run forensic tests.”
“But it looks pretty much like it, given the note,” said Mrs Anderson.
Changing the subject, Ben said, “We’ve had some time to look at the email you received from James, and I’ve sought advice from an IT expert, who confirmed it is possible James could have drafted the email and set it to send on a timer. I think we need to go to the next stage by responding to James as he suggested, to see what we get back. How do you feel about that?”
“I am a bit afraid of what will come back, but at the same time I need to know,” she replied.
“Is it okay if we go inside and send the email now?” Ben asked gently. Sending the email would speed things up, but in parallel he would seek permission for digital forensics to access the account James Anderson had sent it from.
Mrs Anderson nodded and they went inside and sent the email with ‘Suspicious’ in the subject line.
“Promise me you will let me know when something comes back, no matter what it says,” requested Ben.
“I will, Chief Inspector,” she replied.
“There is something else I want to ask you about, Mrs Anderson. Eight years ago, Colin Smith fell to his death in Glencoe on the trip with James and Richard Pettigrew. I remember you told me James and Colin were close and James took it badly. Did James ever tell you anything about what happened?”
“He didn’t tell me much about it. Only that Colin lost his footing and fell. James was like a closed book on it; he couldn’t bear to talk about it. I put it down to grief – they were very close. I tried to get him to go to counselling, but he was having none of it. He used to wake up in the middle of the night having nightmares about it, and shouting ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ but he would never tell me anything specific about the dreams; said he couldn’t remember. It seemed as though James felt guilty about what happened. I don’t know why, given it was a tragic accident. Survivors guilt, I assumed.”
“Okay, Mrs Anderson, thanks for sharing that.”
“Why are you asking about it now?”
“Just trying to cover all bases and leave no loose ends. On a different matter, can you tell me if James wore a watch?” asked Ben.
“A watch?” queried Mrs Anderson, intrigued. “Well, yes. He wore a smartwatch. He used it to monitor his steps, his health, even his sleep. Why do you ask?”
“He wasn’t wearing a watch when we found him at the hotel.”
“Someone must have taken it – he hardly ever took it off.”
“That’s what I suspected,” said Ben. “Can I also ask – and I apologise for having to do so – but do you know if James set up what is called a legacy contact on his phone? Sorry, I should perhaps explain what it is—”
“No need,” she said, “I know what it is. James set me up as his legacy contact and he was mine. He was thorough like that. He wanted to make sure we would both have full access to all our photos and emails and things in the event of something happening to one of us. It was important to him, to both of us,” answered Mrs Anderson.
