Chapter 12
Thursday, April 22nd. 11:35am.
Hartley’s mobile rang.
‘Hello’
‘Do you ever want to see you wife alive again.’
‘Err, yes. Of course I do.’ he replied, not really knowing what else he could say.
‘Who is it?’ mouthed Cunningham.
Hartley shook his head and put a finger up to his lips. ‘Shh.’
‘Well do as instructed and she’ll be released.’
‘But…’ Hartley started to speak but was immediately interrupted.
‘It’s alright; we know what you’re wondering about.’ remarked the caller. ‘Why did we kidnap her when we already had the diamond?’
‘Yes. Why did you take her? She’s of no use to you now, is she?’
‘Oh yes your dear wife is going to be plenty of use to us, in more ways than one.’ He paused, and then continued, ‘Firstly she’s our insurance, making sure neither you nor the police do anything stupid. Because if you do, she’s dead. And secondly, err, well, you don’t need me to tell you the rest, do you.’
‘What?’ Hartley sounded alarmed as his mind started to work overtime.
Yes he knew of Nicole’s indiscretions. Yes he was well aware of her sexual appetite, and some of the kinky ways she wanted to have sex. Of course she would be in her element, fucking more than one bloke at a time. The more the merrier, she would say. He was also well aware of her desire for as much wealth as she could get her hands on. But. To be involved with such a grand scale robbery, involving murder, evaded even Hartley’s imagination.
She’d got more money than most of her socialite friends. She never wanted for anything, and that included an open relationship. She could do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. So, why would she be associated with something like this?
‘I presume that you’ve seen the video,’ the caller remarked, clearing his throat sarcastically.
‘How do you know about that,’ questioned Hartley, ‘I’ve only just discovered it in her bag.’
‘Your nearest and dearest has just told me about it, thinking it might buy her some time. She say’s the only reason she did it, was to blackmail him.’
‘So, what… so what do you want from me? You’ve already got my wife as well as the diamond.’ stuttered Hartley.
‘That’s simple.’ Came the reply.
‘Let the Police have that disc. I’m presuming that there’s at least one of them actually there with you now.’
‘Yes there is, and he’s already seen it, and all that does, is show my wife’s indiscretions.’
‘Exactly. And considering there are no other leads for them to follow, she’s most likely their prime suspect. But even if they do take her in for questioning, they’ll be wasting their time.’ the caller continued. ‘The only thing they could try and prosecute her for is attempted blackmail. And considering her intended victim is dead, they’d be laughed out of court.’
‘So what is it that you want?’
‘I know you won’t be able to answer my next question freely, so just cough if the answer is yes. Can that police officer hear our conversation?’
Hartley sighed.
‘So he can only hear what you’re saying.’
Hartley coughed.
Cunningham glared at him and mouthed, ‘What’s going on?’
Hartley just shook his head.
‘Right then. Just let him have the DVD, and as soon as were out of the country, we’ll let your Nicole go.’
The line went dead.
‘Who was that, and what did they want?’ questioned Cunningham.
Hartley relayed the bits about Nicole’s proposed blackmail, and then said.
‘But I still can’t understand why the CCTV system didn’t record anything. It was only checked over yesterday, and everything seemed alright then. And if it had been in operation, we’d have the culprits bang to rights.’
‘Who’s the company that services the system, we’ll get them back. Maybe their engineer will be able to shed some light on why it isn’t working.’ Cunningham’s suspicion was more than obvious.
Hartley lifted an invoice out of the top draw of his office desk, and handed it over.
At the top of the letter head was their business name. ‘Instaview Surveillance.’ With the statement ‘CCTV & Security Specialists.’ Printed underneath. The phone number lay just below the heading.
Detective Cunningham gave the number to one of his officers, and instructed him to get the same engineer, to come and examine the system again.
‘What do I do now?’ enquired Hartley.
‘Wait,’ insisted Cunningham, ‘just be patient and wait.’
Three quarters of an hour had elapsed, before Benny the CCTV engineer arrived.
He was already in the throws of his son being held prisoner, and knew more than anybody outside the robber’s circle about what had actually gone on. So he had to keep his cool. Benny had to be seen as being genuine. His son was his main priority.
‘So,’ he said as he was led into the office by Cunningham, ‘what seems to be the problem. I was only here yesterday, and everything was fine then. I even double checked the cameras and the hard drive, because Mr Granger seemed to be a bit on edge.’
‘Could you take another look,’ requested Cunningham, ‘it looks like the recorder isn’t working at all. There are no video’s that can be replayed, so, as far as I can tell, it’s kaput as a recording device. Its only use is as a DVD player.’
Benny walked over, picked up the remote control and pressed the play button.
Nothing.
He pressed rewind, and then play again.
Still nothing.
All the footage that was being displayed was a black and white speckled screen with no images.
‘Yes,’ he remarked, ‘there’s definitely something amiss. I’ll have to go into settings and see what I can find.’
Benny lifted his small toolbox and placed it at the side of the monitor. He opened the top to reveal his work tools. He manoeuvred it round, so that the mirror that he’d fastened inside the lid, would give him a good view of what was going on behind him.
‘Excuse me Detective Cunningham,’ said one of the uniformed officers, ‘but could you come and take a look at this?’
During the brief interlude where nobody was taking any notice of what he was doing, Benny managed to unplug the pen drive that he’d set up to record everything, and slipped it into his toolbox without being spotted.
‘How’s it going?’ asked Cunningham when he returned about fifteen minutes later.
‘I can understand why it didn’t record,’ remarked Benny shaking his head, ‘because all the setting have been altered. Somebody must have been messing around with the remote, and cancelled the continuous recording feature. Because it’s working now that I’ve reset it.’
Cunningham glanced at Hartley, seemingly confused.
‘Do you know who would have wanted the system disabled? And if so why?’
‘I haven’t a clue,’ he replied, ‘the only people that come in here are members of staff. The only others that have used it was us, when we played that video.’
‘You’ve used it to play a DVD?’ interrupted Benny. ‘When?’
‘A couple of hour’s ago.’ remarked Cunningham, ‘Just before we sent for you.’
‘Well that shouldn’t have affected the recording sequence. But if you’ve been messing around with the remote, you could have accidentally erased any data that was on there.’
‘But we checked the playback before watching the DVD.’ remarked Hartley.
‘Sir.’ interrupted one of the uniformed officers.
‘Yes.’
‘Forensics are requesting that the premises be cleared, so they can get all the finger prints that may be present, and further DNA samples.’
‘Right.’ answered Cunningham.
‘Take everyone down to the station for further questioning, and seal the shop off. And when the forensic report is ready, I want it on my desk immediately.’
‘Excuse me,’ asked Benny, ‘but can I go back to work now?’
Without even thinking about his answer, Cunningham replied.
‘Yes, I don’t think I need hold you up any further.’
Benny didn’t hang around.
As casually as he could, he collected his tools and headed for his van.
Jumped in, started the engine, and made as quick a getaway as he could, without appearing like he was in a rush to leave the area.
The shop was cleared, and the usual yellow and black police cordon tape put in place.
Cunningham, whilst still trying to piece things together, without much success, wandered around the shop for a while, not really knowing how he was going to make any headway with the investigation.
All he could hope for was, that forensics would come up with a fingerprint, or a DNA sample that could create a lead.
‘Excuse me sir,’ said the sergeant, ‘are we alright confiscating this desktop unit? We might be able to discover why it didn’t record any footage during the robbery. Something that the engineer may have missed.’
‘That’s fine,’ replied Cunningham, ‘do what you have to. But keep me informed at all times.’
Benny, however, had no time to lose.
He rang work to say that due to the police call out to Granger’s Jewellers, he would be running late, and requested that another engineer fulfil his remaining maintenance calls.
Once work had authorised his absence, he went straight home.
He knew that the house would be empty.
Keith was being held captive. His other two children would be at school, and Caroline would be out doing the shopping.
Made his way straight through to the lounge and picked up his laptop.
Once booted up, he plugged in the USB pen drive that he’d used to redirect the recording.
‘Bingo.’ he said out loud. ‘Gotcha.’
Even though he knew his stuff where CCTV and recorders were concerned, Benny was still made up with the footage that he’d managed to capture.
Not only did he have video evidence of Mrs, Grangers promiscuity, he also had footage showing Chandler’s murder and, the theft of the diamond.
The faces and voices of those involved were clearly identifiable, and there was more than enough evidence to convict every single one of them.
He held all the aces.