Lane's End by Jill Paterson Page A

Inspector.

 
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 6
     
     
    ‘From the look on Ben Carmichael’s face when I pulled back the sheet covering Peter Van Goren’s body, I’d say he knew the victim.’ Betts pushed himself from the filing cabinet and sat down in front of Fitzjohn’s desk.
    Fitzjohn took his glasses off and placed them down in front of him before he rocked back in his chair. ‘Mmm. There was definitely a reaction there, but it might simply have been the sight of the corpse. After all, it’s not an easy sight for you and me, Betts, let alone the uninitiated.’
    ‘But is he uninitiated, sir? I’ve read up on Ben Carmichael and seen some of his work. He’s one of the best known photojournalists in the world. He’s covered the Iraq war, Afghanistan, in fact, the worst trouble spots there are. You’d think he’d have seen a lot of violence and death.’
    ‘No doubt he has,’ replied Fitzjohn. ‘But does one ever get to the point where being confronted with death isn’t a shock to the system?’ Fitzjohn looked at his young sergeant before he continued. ‘Okay. Let’s take Ben Carmichael’s apparent shock at seeing the corpse as a sign that he did know the victim. It would explain the reason he’s our victim’s beneficiary and why Van Goren asked after him at the cocktail party last Friday evening. But…’ Fitzjohn held up his right index finger. ‘On the other hand, if Ben Carmichael is telling the truth, and he didn’t know Peter Van Goren, then there has to be a connection of some kind that hasn’t surfaced yet. In other words, a reason why Van Goren left Ben Carmichael his entire estate.’
    ‘We just have to find out what it is,’ added Betts.
    ‘Yes, and that’s why we need as much information as possible on Van Goren.’
    ‘I’ve got Williams working on that, sir.’
    ‘Williams?’ Fitzjohn shot a look at Betts. ‘I thought he’d been moved permanently to Kings Cross Local Area Command.’
    ‘He had, but Chief Superintendent Grieg requested he be transferred back here to Day Street, sir.’
    ‘How does Williams feel about that?’
    ‘He seems okay with it,’ replied Betts with a shrug.
    Fitzjohn’s thoughts went back to his own secondment to Kings Cross Police Station the previous autumn where he had met up with Detective Senior Constable Williams. At the time, Williams’s transfer appeared to have transformed him from a man of sullen disposition, into an ebullient character. Not only had he received a promotion to Senior Constable, he told Fitzjohn, but he had also been released from Day Street Station and the oppressive Chief Superintendent Grieg. Was it all a sham? Had Williams been the mole that Fitzjohn suspected Grieg had planted at Kings Cross at that time? If so, his problems with Grieg could only get worse with Williams now back at Day Street.
    Pushing the thought aside, Fitzjohn rose from his chair and started to pace the floor. ‘Let’s go through everything we have so far, Betts. We need to plan where we go from here.’
    Betts took his notebook from his inside coat pocket and studied it. ‘Well, firstly, the hosts of last Friday night’s cocktail party, the Carmichael’s and the Hunt’s, as well as all the guests, deny knowing the victim, Peter Van Goren. Probably not surprising since Van Goren didn’t appear on the guest list. Secondly, it was recorded that a number of the guests witnessed Richard Carmichael arguing with the victim during the course of the evening.’
    ‘And then there’s the fact that those we have spoken to who did know the victim, such as Van Goren’s housekeeper, Ida Clegg, and his solicitor, Raymond West, have only known Van Goren since the early 1980s,’ put in Fitzjohn. ‘Why is that, do you think?’
    ‘Perhaps previous to that Peter Van Goren lived overseas,’ offered Betts. ‘After all, to me, the name Van Goren sounds Dutch. Maybe he migrated to Australia in the 1980s.’
    ‘Mmm. It’s certainly a possibility.’ Fitzjohn