The Scent of Death--A Sukey Reyholds British police procedural (16 page)

‘As to motive,' he said, ‘I was coming to that. You say Rainbird could be “a pain in the backside at times” – could that be on account of his extensive knowledge of music?'

‘Not so much his knowledge – as I've already told you, I'm well aware of that and I respect it – so much as his way of letting us all know about it. Eric Bowen's just the same; neither of them is a qualified musician, not—'

‘Not with a string of degrees like you, for example?'

‘Well, yes.'

‘So it will surprise you to learn that Lance Rainbird held a degree in music from the Open University?'

Freeman's jaw dropped. ‘I had no idea. He was obviously a real lover of music with a very wide knowledge, but … what a strange chap … to keep it a secret. You'd have thought …'

‘He'd want to boast about it, to let everyone know.' Freeman nodded. ‘It was a surprise to us,' Rathbone continued, ‘but we have reason to believe that this was typical behaviour on his part. From the string of qualifications you claim here –' at this point Rathbone picked up a copy of Freeman's prospectus – ‘you obviously have no such inhibitions.'

‘That's not boasting, it's all about PR. People who are being asked to spend their time and part with their money need some sort of guarantee that they're going to get value for it.'

‘Ah yes, and this impressive string of letters is their assurance that you are a suitably qualified person to help them to a greater understanding of music and get more enjoyment out of it?'

‘Of course.'

‘Maybe they wouldn't be so impressed if they knew that you were never actually awarded those degrees.'

The effect on Freeman was striking. It almost seemed to Sukey as if he had become physically smaller. He put a hand to his mouth and his eyes widened in mingled astonishment and dismay. ‘How in the world did you find out?' he asked.

‘It wasn't difficult,' said Rathbone drily. ‘We have our methods.'

Freeman made a little gesture of despair. ‘I needed something more than my existing CV to get this business off the ground. I did a lot of searching on the Internet and I found these American universities offering distance learning courses. I thought I could do that while I was approaching retirement and it would be something extra to put on my prospectus.'

‘As it happened you didn't qualify for any of the courses, but you claimed the qualifications anyway, thinking no one would ever find out.'

‘I knew it was a risk but I took a chance on no one taking the trouble to check.'

‘But Rainbird did, and he was trying to blackmail you, wasn't he?'

Freeman sat bolt upright and his jaw dropped. ‘What in the world gave you that idea?'

To Sukey, the man's look of bewilderment appeared genuine, but evidently Rathbone was not impressed. He leaned forward and said, ‘I put it to you that Lance Rainbird told you he had discovered that you were not entitled to the qualifications you claim on your prospectus and wanted money to keep quiet. You weren't prepared to submit to blackmail so you lured him into the garden at a time when no one else would be around and—'

‘No!' Freeman leapt to his feet and the uniformed officer standing behind him moved forward and firmly pressed him back on to his chair. ‘This is crazy … you've got it all wrong,' he continued. ‘It wasn't like that – he just …' As if realizing that he had been on the point of giving himself away, he broke off and pressed his lips firmly together.

‘All right, it wasn't like that,' Rathbone continued. He waited for a moment before saying quietly, ‘So tell us how it was, then.'

‘I'm not saying another word without my solicitor's advice.'

‘That's your right, sir. Would you like us to arrange for a duty solicitor to advise you, or …?'

‘I'll call my own, if you don't mind.'

After Freeman made his call he said, ‘My solicitor has an appointment with a client in an hour's time. He will be here at three o'clock.'

‘Very well. If you would like to have some lunch this officer will arrange for your choice of food from the canteen to be brought here while you await your solicitor's arrival.'

Freeman's solicitor, whom he introduced as Dennis Nugent, was about the same build as his client, but he had a leaner, paler face and his steady, direct gaze as he took his place beside his client reminded Sukey of DCI Leach. Once the formalities were over he said briskly, ‘Inspector Rathbone, I am sure we can clear this matter up very quickly. My client admits that he has made certain misleading claims on his prospectus – claims that he assures me will not appear on the new edition which will be printed shortly. He does, however, categorically deny that Mr Rainbird informed him that he knew of the deception or asked for money – or made any other demands – as a price for his silence.'

‘To make sure you are fully in the picture, Mr Nugent,' said Rathbone, ‘I'll ask Detective Sergeant Armstrong to inform you of the relevant question and your client's answer.'

Reading from her notes, Vicky began, ‘DI Rathbone said to Mr Freeman, “You lured him into the garden at a time when no one else would be around”, at which point the witness jumped to his feet and said, “You've got it all wrong … it wasn't like that, he just” – and then he said he would say no more without your advice.'

‘Thank you,' said Rathbone. ‘So perhaps,' he went on speaking directly to Freeman, ‘now you have your solicitor's advice you are prepared to explain exactly how it was that you lied to us about being in the grounds talking to Rainbird when you were supposed to be checking your equipment.'

‘All right, I did arrange to meet him,' said Freeman, ‘but I was a few minutes late because I got chatting to some people who were having coffee so I was a bit pushed for time and we only had a few minutes together. We agreed we'd arrange to meet again to discuss details and I went back indoors. I swear he was alive when I left him.'

‘So what was the purpose of your meeting?'

‘He offered to give me some advice. He said it was confidential and he didn't want to risk our conversation being overheard.'

‘What was the nature of his advice?'

‘I told you, it was confidential.'

‘Are you saying you were prepared to go to this clandestine meeting without an inkling of what it was about?'

Freeman fidgeted in his chair. ‘I think I'd like to have another word with my solicitor in private.'

Rathbone stood up and spoke into the microphone. ‘Very well. Interview suspended at three thirty.' To Freeman he said, ‘You may have ten minutes.'

When they reassembled Rathbone said, ‘Right, sir, you arranged to meet Mr Rainbird. Exactly where was the meeting to take place?'

‘In a place we both knew. Whichever of us got there first would be standing near the cypress tree close to the edge of the lake.'

‘Which of you suggested that particular place?'

‘I did.'

‘Any particular reason?'

‘It was just a convenient landmark, that's all.'

‘Of course, you both knew the grounds reasonably well, having been there on at least one previous occasion. But there hasn't always been a heap of large chunks of cut timber, has there?'

‘Not that I remember. What difference does it make?'

‘The difference is that in the hands of a strong man – such as yourself, for example – a heavy piece of timber could easily fell a slighter man, who could then be pushed into the water and left to drown.'

‘That's an outrageous suggestion!' Freeman shouted.

‘Please, Inspector,' Nugent intervened, ‘it is obvious that whatever your witness happened to observe he or she did not see my client attack Mr Rainbird or you would have produced them. I must insist that you come to the point without any more beating about the bush.'

‘Very well, I would like your client to explain the nature of this advice.'

‘He has assured me that it has no bearing whatsoever on the death of Mr Rainbird.'

‘I am not prepared to accept his assurance,' said Rathbone, ‘and I would remind him that since Mr Rainbird's death one person has been murdered and another has died under circumstances which are not yet fully explained. We do, however, believe that these deaths are connected and that your client is in possession of information which would be of help to us in our enquiries.' He turned to Freeman, ‘I must therefore insist that you reveal this advice, otherwise I shall have no alternative but to detain you for further questioning.'

Freeman gave a resigned sigh. ‘All right then, I'll tell you.'

‘R
ight,' said Rathbone, ‘let's have the full story – and make it the truth this time.'

‘Lance rang me up a short while before the Dallington Manor party weekend,' Freeman began. ‘He'd already booked and paid and I thought at first he was calling to say he couldn't come after all. My events are very popular – especially the parties – and sometimes I have a waiting list so if anyone drops out and they let me know in good time I can offer their place to someone else, but it wasn't anything like that. He said he'd recommended my events to quite a few people in the past – he mentioned regulars like Trixie and Stan Day, the Harlands and some others – but he was sorry to say he didn't feel he could recommend me any more unless I made certain changes to the wording on my prospectus.'

‘What changes did he want you to make?'

‘Can't you guess?'

‘You tell me.' Rathbone's tone made it clear that he was not prepared to accept anything but direct answers.

‘All right,' said Freeman with evident reluctance, ‘he'd found out – he didn't tell me how – that my degrees were, well, I wasn't entitled to them. He said he'd keep my secret if I had a new prospectus printed without the degrees, but he wanted something else.'

‘So he was blackmailing you. How much did he want?'

‘It wasn't exactly blackmail … I mean, he wasn't asking for money. He isn't … wasn't … hard up, he had a good job and as you probably know he drove a brand new BMW.'

It was clear that Rathbone was beginning to lose patience. ‘Yes, we are aware of the make of his car,' he snapped, ‘so please get to the point. If it wasn't money, what the hell did he want?'

‘He wanted me to employ him – professionally, that is – to handle my accounts. He said he could help me reduce my tax liability.'

‘Mr Freeman,' said Rathbone, ‘are you seriously expecting us to believe that the pair of you went through all this subterfuge simply to discuss a straightforward matter of business?'

‘It's the truth,' said Freeman stubbornly. ‘Lance insisted on it. I've always found him … a bit odd in some ways. I think we touched on this aspect of his character the first time we met and the word “autistic” was mentioned. I'm sorry, but there's nothing else I can tell you.'

‘There's a great deal more you can tell us. You can start by repeating exactly what passed between you during that conversation down by the lake.'

Freeman glanced at Nugent, who nodded. After a pause, during which he sat with knitted brows, Freeman began speaking, slowly at first but with increasing confidence as memory returned. ‘As far as I remember,' he began, ‘I started by apologizing for turning up a bit late but he brushed that aside. He said he understood why I felt it necessary to have some qualifications when advertising my courses, but insisted that I remove those fake degrees from my prospectus. I assured him that I'd have new ones printed without them, and then he went on to say he could save me money if I trusted him with my accounts.'

‘Did he say in so many words that if you didn't agree he'd tell all the punters at this event that you were a phoney?'

‘No, he didn't.'

‘You expect us to believe that was all he wanted in return for not divulging something that could ruin your business … make you a laughing stock?'

‘You can believe what you like. I don't remember every precise word, but that was the gist of what he said.'

‘So what did you say in reply?'

‘I was in a bit of a hurry so I just said that was fine; I promised to get in touch when I got back home and we'd discuss details. I then went straight back to the Orchard Room … as I've already told you more than once,' he added wearily.

‘It must have troubled you that he was still in a position to influence you … or that he might make some further demands on you,' said Rathbone.

‘On the contrary, it crossed my mind that maybe the reason why he was being so secretive was that he didn't want his employers to know what he was proposing – in other words, he was hoping to make something on the side and was relying on me to be equally discreet.'

Rathbone gave a short, staccato laugh. ‘You have the effrontery to ask me to accept that gave you some sort of influence over him?' He leaned forward and locked his eyes on to Freeman's. ‘I put it to you that you have been telling me a cock and bull story from start to finish, that having unmasked you as a phoney Lance Rainbird was blackmailing you for substantial sums of money and rather than pay up you felled him with one of those lumps of wood and left him unconscious in the water to drown.'

‘Really, Inspector …' Nugent began, but it was Freeman who responded.

‘You're the one who's telling the cock and bull story and you haven't got a shred of evidence to back it up,' he shouted angrily. ‘What I've told you is the truth, and I'm not saying another word.'

As if he had not been interrupted, Rathbone continued. ‘Having disposed of Rainbird you were then threatened with exposure by John Grayson, the man who called himself Romeo. He happened to be sitting unobserved in the seat under the cypress tree and witnessed what happened, so you had to get rid of him. You found an opportunity to tamper with the brake pipe of his van while he was entertaining members of your party and so caused the accident that killed him.'