‘I’ve already admitted that I was there.’
‘Not with a rifle, you didn’t. It’s visible and pointed towards where Sean Garvey died,’ Isaac said.
‘I’ll deny it.’
‘Deny all you want, but we have proof. Not only that you were intimately involved with Amanda Upton, but that you were in Canning Town, a rifle at your shoulder, at the time Garvey was shot. Why did you kill Janice Robinson?’
‘I didn’t. This is ludicrous.’
‘It appears, DCI Cook,’ Jameson said, ‘that you are clutching at straws. I doubt if a video other than professionally made would show the necessary clarity to convince a jury.’
‘It wouldn’t,’ Isaac admitted.
‘Then my client will leave this police station today.
‘Not so fast,’ Larry said as he pushed another folder across the desk. ‘Why, Mr Rees, did you keep the house that you shared with your first wife?’
Jameson looked at the photo inside, looked over at his client and then at the two police officers. ‘What does this mean?’
‘Mr Rees, living a quiet life in Kingston upon Thames, the model neighbour, never intended to act in a manner there that could raise suspicion. That’s why he kept his weapons at the old house, not in the bedroom as we expected, but in a concreted pit under the floorboards. As can be seen, there are several weapons: rifles, pistols, and knives. If you look at the photo on the fire escape and the gun that’s displayed in the picture, you’ll see the similarities.
‘Our crime scene investigators are on the way there, and the rifle will be with Forensics within the hour. No doubt, a professional would have cleaned it thoroughly after it had been fired, but we have the bullet that killed Garvey. Within hours, we will know that we have indisputable proof, and all the conjecture as to what was coincidental and what wasn’t will be put to rest.’
Jameson looked over at Isaac. ‘I will take instructions from my client,’ he said.
‘Mr Rees will remain in the cells. As far as we are concerned, your client is the murderer of Sean Garvey.’
‘I’m innocent,’ Rees protested. Jameson took no notice.
‘One last question before we terminate this interview.’ Isaac said. ‘The cells are not the most comfortable. You’ve been sitting down for a long time. That limp, an old war wound?’
‘Serving my country, not like you harassing innocent people.’
‘Mr Rees, you are not innocent. We can prove Sean Garvey, and the knives at your house will be checked against the knife wounds inflicted on Amanda Upton and Janice Robinson. What did Amanda Upton have on you? Professing love, found out some secrets about you that you wanted to stay that way?’
‘My client will say no more,’ Jameson said.
***
Three murders were solved, one of them with enough proof for a conviction.
Rose Winston and her belief that the man had limped had been proven to be accurate, even though almost everyone had discounted the fact.
One avenue that would need to be explored was the possibility of Gareth Rees opening up, telling what he knew, looking to reduce his prison sentence.
Isaac did not feel confident that the man would say much more, and if he had been involved in secret operations overseas, then he might well have people who would prefer him free or dead.
Wendy, after a good night’s rest, was at Mary Wilton’s. With someone charged with her daughter’s murder, it was time to confront her again. Bridget had examined Rees’s laptop, found the usual, proof of Amanda’s and Rees’s business involvement, but little more. And no encrypted files that would lead to Ian Naughton.
Isaac laid out a plan to Chief Superintendent Goddard. Both men had a shrewd idea of how politics and secrecy worked, having felt the brunt of them before.
‘Are you sure about this?’ Goddard said.
‘If Rees was court-martialled, a mock trial possibly, it’s because of a major transgression. But the man didn’t serve time in a military prison, he acts with impunity afterwards, changing his name at will. And then there are the contacts overseas, the reason he could set up Amanda Upton in business,’ Isaac said.
‘Are you suggesting that I make it known that if Rees starts talking, he’s likely to reveal facts that other people don’t want to be known; actions instigated by the British government.’
‘We’ve experienced the neuroses of people in power. Anything, no matter how obscure or trivial that paints them in a bad light, and they're all over it with a veil of secrecy. And as we know, people start to die.’
‘We end up with unsolved murders against our record.’
‘Even when we know the guilty party. We can get Rees this time for Garvey, not a chance for Amanda Upton unless he decides to talk.’
‘Lord Shaw?’
‘He was the commissioner of the Met before Davies. He’s a man who’s guided your career,’ Isaac said. ‘He’s also a man who has the right contacts.’
‘Leave it with me,’ Goddard said. ‘Nothing to lose, not now, and I’m damned sure I’m not about to allow our police records to get another black mark against them for failing to solve a crime.’
***
Mary Wilton sat quietly as Wendy updated her. The events of the last few weeks had aged her. Even though she had been in her mid-seventies when they had first met, she had been well-dressed and lively, but Wendy thought the woman now looked terminal, as though she did not have long for this world. The former brothel was cold and austere.
‘I’m selling up,’ the woman said. ‘What with Amanda and the upcoming court case, I’ve just had enough.’
‘We know who killed your daughter,’ Wendy said. ‘Not that we can prove it, not yet.’
‘Gabbi’s former husband?’
‘Yes. You knew
