French Leave (30 page)

Piercey nodded. ‘When I questioned those two they mentioned the camping, which they'd regarded as a Boy Scouts' jamboree rather than as an SAS proving test. Ha! I'd like to see them have a go with guys from the Regiment. They'd eat 'em for breakfast.'

‘What did they say about the stuff being sold at the club?' asked Max.

‘Played innocent, but agreed that Jake and Zoe handled the financial side. No hint of where all the cash went. We'll confiscate the ledger or record of takings, and quiz them on that.'

‘We had little more success with Zoe,' said Simpson, glancing at Heather who had accompanied him. ‘She resorted to tears when things got too hot for her, and she wasn't putting on an act.'

‘I think it was the discovery of Carr's body in the river she couldn't take,' added Heather. ‘I'd guess the charming Jake had regaled her with stories of aquatic creatures eating eyes, tongue and other delicacies, and gases making the body swell until it burst open. She repeated some of what Sharon said, but claimed J.S. had made life exciting by suggesting the idea of the club.'

‘When we asked about the bagful of CDs she had when Phil met her in the restaurant she threw a wobbly, and her mother began laying down the law about police brutality. We had to leave,' Simpson said heavily. ‘People watch too many TV detective dramas these days.'

There was a mixed reaction to Tom's announcement that he would be going with them on the three-day holiday, but it would now be delayed for a couple of days. Happy that their father would take part in the water sports – he always made it more fun, allowed them to do things their mother forbade – the girls nevertheless protested over the delay.

‘
Why
can't we go tomorrow?' demanded Gina.

‘Because I won't be free until Wednesday.'

‘Can't you work harder and leave earlier?' asked Beth across the supper table.

‘Well, I could stay in my office through tonight and tomorrow morning, but then I'd sleep solidly when we got to the lake. No fun with you three.'

His youngest daughter's face puckered into a familiar disapproving expression. ‘Why d'you
always
have an answer like that?'

Tom laughed. ‘Because I have a daughter who
always
asks questions like that.'

‘Oh,
Dad
!'

‘If you're coming does it mean I can bring Hans?' asked Maggie.

‘No,' Nora ruled firmly. ‘For once we're going just as a family. I've had my share of carting all your friends around with us.'

She gave Tom one of those looks married couples use to signal messages only the partner can translate, and he accepted that the time had come to break the news to their children. He gave a slight nod and laid down his spoon.

‘Blackies, there's been a development regarding Jake Morgan's club. I'm afraid its existence breaks military regulations on trading on the base, so we've had to close it down.'

There was a chorus of protest; three voices drowning each other out with their individual complaints. Tom let it continue for thirty seconds, then silenced them. ‘The law is the law. Didn't you all agree with that a few years ago when I explained that my job is to see that everyone on this base behaves correctly, the way you do at school and here at home? You understand that without laws or rules there would be chaos? I said then that without traffic lights and road signs, cars and lorries would crash into each other all the time. Without laws
people
would be crashing into each other. Right?'

They all nodded reluctantly. ‘Jake and his friends have been taking money from members illegally. Those new DVDs and CDs you bought were
not
unwanted presents, so the money wasn't passed to anyone else. Jake, Tim, Scott and Zoe kept it themselves, which meant they were officially trading. Anyone trading on the base has to have a licence to do so. There are also regulations about premises where trading takes place, and a back garden summerhouse doesn't meet them.'

‘Does that matter?' asked Maggie petulantly.

He studied her. A pretty girl with long, dark hair and a fast-developing woman's body, which occasionally dismayed him with its implications of vanishing childhood. ‘You saw that tree across our driveway two weeks ago. Suppose you and your friends were in Jake's summerhouse when a tree fell on it. It's so frail it would collapse and crush you all. Would you think regulations didn't matter then?'

She was adolescent enough to want the last word. ‘We wouldn't be there in a storm like that one was. The club was
fun
. Why does the law always stop fun?'

‘It stops people from doing some horrible things which are definitely
not
fun.' He cast a quick ‘help me' glance at Nora, but she had rules of her own and gave him another of married couples' silent messages which translated as ‘nothing doing'.

‘Jake is going home in two weeks to take up a theatre job, so the club would have closed soon, anyway,' he reasoned. Then he offered some good news. ‘Any money you spent there will be refunded.'

Another mixed reaction, and triple cries of, ‘Must we give the stuff back?'

‘Yes. Anything that was shrink wrapped.'

The telephone rang. Nora rolled her eyes expressively at him as she went over to take the call. Saved by the bell? She held out the receiver. ‘Max!'

‘Sorry to interrupt your evening, Tom. Captain Morgan has Sergeant Rogers and Corporals Pinner and Jackson with him. They want to talk about our closure of the club run by their kids, and the confiscation of stock and ledgers. I want to finish this report on Carr's death tonight. Will you handle this?'

‘Only too glad to. On my way,' he replied, giving Nora a knowing grin.

Kenneth Morgan led Tom to a rear office where Malcolm Rogers, Cliff Pinner and Simon Jackson were standing in an uneasy group. Morgan was not the breezy character Tom had interviewed earlier, but he still exuded authority.

‘I was expecting Captain Rydal to deal with this personally,' he said as Tom nodded to the three NCOs.

‘He's dealing personally with a soldier's
death
, sir,' he replied with subtle emphasis.

‘Well now, gentlemen, let's sit down. This is an unofficial meeting. No need to stand on ceremony.'

Tom put him right immediately. ‘Captain Morgan, if you intend to discuss our closure of the club run by your children in your summerhouse, I must caution you that I'm here in my official capacity. Anything said in this room could be used as evidence by SIB.'

Morgan looked annoyed. ‘That's why I expected Captain Rydal to handle this. On a man to man basis.'

‘Let me first make you aware of what we already know about the activities of Jake, Scott, Tim and Zoe. Then you must judge how this meeting will continue,' Tom said, sticking to the rules. ‘We have a witness who says a soldier known as John Smith set up a scheme whereby he took orders for CDs and DVDs, which your children would then roam around town acquiring. For this, they would receive sixty per cent of the sale price. After this had been up and running for several weeks, supply outstripped sales. At that point, Jake Morgan took over the business and ran it from a garden building on this property, selling to children on the base those items he, Zoe, Tim and Scott continued to acquire from stores in town. These items, still in shrink wrap, were sold as unwanted presents brought in by members. The youngsters who bought them were not aware that they were participating in illegal transactions.'

He glanced at the fathers in turn. ‘That is why we've shut down the club and are inspecting the books.'

There was a lengthy silence while he waited for some response. The NCOs all looked towards their commissioned host, who eventually sorted his thoughts and became their spokesman.

‘The instigator of this business, as you rightly quoted, was Private John Smith, who talked vulnerable youngsters into doing something they didn't fully understand. I've been told Smith subsequently deserted, which gives indisputable evidence of the kind of character he was.'

As nothing more was forthcoming, Tom gave his opinion on that. ‘Sir, Jake's intelligence and ability has earned him a coveted place with the Youth Theatre.' He turned to Malcolm Rogers. ‘And I'm told Zoe is expecting to enrol at RADA when you return to the UK shortly. I don't think a jury would consider them vulnerable youngsters who don't fully understand right from wrong.'

Morgan did a swift about-turn. ‘Mr Black, our kids are about to embark on their careers. They're bright and talented enough to go far, make a valuable contribution to society. Taking an official attitude towards this slight transgression would cloud their overture to adult life.' He grew persuasive. ‘They're going through the transition from sixth form to university. They're lively, healthy, they're full of the normal teen restlessness. Don't they all run wild at that age? Many have a gap year and travel overseas, getting up to all kinds of crazy antics. They're not
criminals
, they're just letting off steam. Our grandfathers knocked policemen's helmets off, and drank bubbly in the fountain in Trafalgar Square. Our fathers raced their MGs along Brighton's Strand or put chamber pots on church spires.' He gave a chuckle, albeit a rather forced one. ‘Our kids saw this as a lark, nothing more.'

Tom knew all about youthful escapades. He had indulged in some himself. Nevertheless, he said, ‘Shoplifting is
stealing
, sir. Selling stolen goods is an additional crime, especially when they're sold to genuinely vulnerable youngsters who're unaware of the felony they're compounding.'

Sergeant Rogers, who was looking very worried, put forward his case. ‘I had no hint of what my girl was doing, I swear. And that goes for the rest of us. We'd have put a stop to it pronto. I've given Zoe a lecture she'll not forget in a hurry, and I'll personally recompense any child whose money she has taken. Captain Morgan's right about our kids starting off their careers with a record. They're not criminals, just high-spirited youngsters.'

Corporal Pinner nodded. ‘Scott's got his mind set on the RAF next year. I've had a real go at him, pointing out that he's likely spoilt his chances of that, and he's prepared to do anything to put things right.'

‘And our Tim,' said Corporal Jackson. ‘Short of walloping him, I've left him suffering and scared. He's a good lad, sir, but easily persuaded. If you take this business the whole way it'll do him and the others a real blow. Like Sar'nt Rogers, I'll make up any money kids have lost at the club.' He glanced at the other three fathers. ‘We were none of us aware of what our kids were up to or we'd have come down hard on them right away. What they did was stupid and they bloody know it now, if they didn't before. But, as Captain Morgan said, it was that Private Smith who put them up to it.'

‘Unfortunately, the dead are unable to mount a defence, so we have to regard that claim as open to question,' Tom told them, knowing these men were deeply concerned for their own careers. Having a son or daughter with a criminal record was not exactly a bar to promotion, but it could suggest that failure to control a child was hardly a recommendation for the ability to command men.

He got to his feet and the others hastily did the same. ‘I'll report all you've said to Captain Rydal. When he's had time to consider what action to take, he'll contact you.' Knowing that there was little SIB could do to present a case against the four youngsters, he softened the atmosphere slightly. ‘I'm sure the facts that your children have confessed, and that all monies taken at the club will be repaid, will influence his decision. Thank you for making all this known to us. Goodnight, gentlemen.'

Out in his car Tom wondered whether to drive now to Section Headquarters, but decided it could wait until the morning. Max was busy on his report of Carr's death, which was mostly a mixture of guesswork and unsubstantiated accounts by a series of people who heartily disliked the man. Except Sharon Miller, who had had a love-hate relationship with him.

Turning on the ignition, Tom was about to pull out from the kerb when a brightly-coloured old banger came around the corner and swung into the drive with a roar. Jake Morgan gave Tom an American-style salute as he passed.

His father's been fighting his corner for the past twenty minutes, thought Tom, but there's one cocksure young bastard who'll never regret
anything
he does.

After contacting Lewes police to check on the progress in the Dan Farley case, and inform them that he expected to be in the UK for two weeks starting on Friday, Max called Livya's landline, then her mobile. Both on voicemail, so he resorted to e-mail. After changing the wording three times, he decided to end by putting a reference to his opportunity to do the business properly, on one knee with a bottle of champagne chilling in readiness. He sent it, then settled to his unwelcome report.

When he eventually reached his room he began thinking about the decisions he and Livya must make during his leave; decisions that would set their future together on the best course. Compromises would have to be made, but he was certain they could find a workable solution. He checked his laptop. Nothing from Livya, and both her phones were still on voicemail. Somewhat wryly he reflected that, unlike his marriage to Susan, complaints about long working hours would not be just one way.

When his phone rang as he was drying himself he heard not Livya's low, slightly accented voice, but Clare's clear, crisp tones.

‘Saw your light on so I knew you'd finally got in.'

‘Oh, hi,' he muttered, thoughts on an entirely different woman as he waited to hear her reason for calling.