Deadly Lies Read online

  ‘No it bloody well isn’t.’

  Tom nodded. Though Grant had ordered him home to rest for a few hours, Tom had barely slept. He trailed behind Grant to the second interview room, recognising the steely determination which had settled on his boss’s face. He didn’t envy the person who got themselves on the wrong side of Grant today.

  Harry Hardman jumped when they entered the room. ‘Gosh, you gave me a fright.’

  Grant glowered. No kid gloves this morning, Tom thought.

  ‘Do you know anything which can help me find the children?’ Grant asked, fixing his stare on Harry.

  The young man was startled. ‘What? I’d have come to you if I did.’

  Harry wore jeans and a baggy shirt over a thin frame. He had a sullen air about him, Tom thought.

  ‘What can you tell me about the family rift?’

  ‘There’s not much to say. I mean Dad and Uncle Ronnie fell out years ago. It was over money Uncle Ronnie lent to Dad.’

  ‘Please don’t make me drag this out of you word by word. With two little girls missing and the clock ticking, I’ve much better things to do with my time. Like your father, I understand you had business troubles too and Ronnie Hardman refused to bail you out?’

  ‘Yeah, only that was ages ago.’

  Grant cracked his knuckles and Harry hurriedly continued talking.

  ‘I mean, it wasn’t my fault. Me and two mates set up a burglar alarm installation company. It was legit and things went well. Then we expanded to include renovations on buildings. I thought Uncle Ronnie could help by sending contacts my way and all that but he was pretty reluctant about it. Anyway, things started to go south. We sort of overstretched ourselves and had to borrow heavily from the banks and I hoped Uncle Ronnie would lend me a hand and he didn’t.’

  ‘He wouldn’t lend money or he wouldn’t give you advice?’

  ‘Neither. I was let down by my partners and they scarpered. And Uncle Ronnie was family and he let me down too.’

  ‘I see.’ Grant glanced at the file in front of him. ‘It resulted in a custodial sentence.’

  Harry’s expression turned sulky. He nodded.

  Tom had read the details. Harry received a short prison sentence for bankruptcy. A prison sentence for bankruptcy was unusual. It meant Harry’s business affairs had not been above board. In the court notes, it said Harry borrowed money fraudulently and set up a second business to try to bail out the first. No wonder Ronnie hadn’t wanted to get involved.

  Harry’s attitude came across as whining. The man thought Ronnie owed him something and should have been willing to step in. But why? He was Harry’s uncle, he wasn’t Harry’s keeper.

  ‘And neither you nor your father have had much contact with Ronnie and Joan up until now?’ Grant asked.

  ‘Not them, no. We always kept contact with cousin Alice though,’ Harry said, ‘because when I needed help Alice put in a good word for me with her dad, or she tried to. She’s the only one I got on with. Poor Alice. Uncle Ronnie always thought so much of himself but he was mean.’

  Grant cleared his throat. ‘Thank you for coming in, Mr Hardman. I’ll be in touch if there’s anything else.’

  Back in the team cubbyhole, Grant turned to Delaney. ‘Observations?’

  ‘It was interesting how neither of them mentioned Jack. Alice was the one who had all their sympathy.’

  ‘Yes. I’d say Jack Glover is getting a lot of negative attention.’

  Just then, Grant’s day took a turn even worse as DCS Fox paid a visit. She rarely came down to the team space, which they affectionately called the cubbyhole, though goodness knows what Fox called it.

  She marched straight up to him.

  ‘Progress?’ she snapped.

  ‘Jack’s business associates and Philip and Harry Hardman have been interviewed. Harry Hardman is the most likely candidate. He seems to believe his uncle owed him. Thing is, a grudge against Ronnie isn’t sufficient grounds for kidnap. It would be a huge step and frankly I don’t see Harry as having the nerve for it. Even if he did, has he got the brains to pull it off? We’ll see what the background checks pull up though I’m not hopeful.’

  ‘Why do I feel this is going nowhere? The press are gnashing their teeth. And so am I. Anything on the pyjama?’

  ‘Nothing so far, sorry ma’am.’

  ‘Sorry ma’am my arse. We’ve passed the twenty-four-hour mark! Find them or I’m throwing you to the press and they can rip you to pieces themselves. Anything from the public response?’

  ‘We’ve had a string of suspected sightings. No pattern and they’re scattered across the UK. Constables are following up. I double-checked but there are none so far I’ve flagged as priority and McGowan has ruled out the Badawi girls. They were both seen at their universities early morning and they’re too far away to have been directly involved in the snatch. And both sisters have short hair so they’re not a match for our mystery woman who was seen in Joan Hardman’s street.’

  Fox leant her knuckles on a desk giving a good resemblance, he thought, to an orangutan. ‘Shit.’

  He knew she was thinking the same he was. That the longer it dragged on the smaller the chance was of finding the girls.

  ‘Shit exactly. Ms Silver is back at the Glover house and I’m sending Delaney over there now.’

  Fox narrowed her eyes. ‘You think there’s more there, don’t you?’

  She knew him better than he realised.

  ‘Just what we don’t need,’ Fox said. ‘Questions about the family. If you’ve got something on them I want to hear it.’

  ‘Nothing definite. But both parents are hiding something and I’d bet my life on it. I’ve one more person to interview – Daniel Pearson, the man accused of embezzling funds.’

  ‘The clock is ticking, Grant.’

  She really didn’t need to tell him that.

  ‘We’re going flat out. Something’s got to give soon and if it doesn’t, we’ll need to prepare the family to do a press appeal.’

  A press appeal would be a harrowing ordeal for Alice and Jack though sometimes it brought information from the public which would not have come by any other means.

  Fox was grinding her teeth and Grant wondered if she was about to repeat the lame dog comment. He really didn’t need it. Time to make a speedy exit.

  ‘Don’t give up hope,’ he said. ‘I need to see the accountant as quickly as possible.’

  ‘Then bloody well get over there.’

  At the edge of his awareness, Grant registered the temperature had picked up, which was a sign real spring was on its way. It would soon be lambing time which was his favourite season because he liked to see new life coming back into the world. His pleasure from it likely came from the long list of murder cases he’d worked. It also explained how Grant enjoyed holding babies – a fact his wife never failed to remark on.

  Grant drove like fury. Daniel Pearson lived on the outskirts of Himlands Heath and down a narrow lane. Grant took in the details of the property. The roof of Pearson’s cottage looked in need of repairs and so did the fencing. If Pearson had been embezzling funds from Hardman Construction, as Joan claimed, he certainly hadn’t invested it in his house.

  Pearson was slow to answer the door. Grant remembered Joan mentioned Pearson had health problems and he wondered what those might be. The door opened to reveal a man in his sixties, roughly the same age as Ronnie. Pearson was tall and thin, with wispy sandy-coloured hair. He was slightly stooped and his complexion seemed sallow.

  ‘I’m Detective Chief Inspector Grant. May I come in?’ He’d deliberately not called ahead.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘The Glover children, Lisa and Emily, have been abducted. You must have seen it on the news.’

  The man’s mouth fell open, then he pressed a hand to his stomach. ‘Goodness, I don’t know what to say. How terrible. Please come through and no, Inspector, I wasn’t aware. I don’t watch much television these days.’

  Pearson took
Grant through to a lounge which smelled faintly musty as if the cottage didn’t get much fresh air. The low ceiling had wooden beams hanging with cobwebs and it could have looked quite charming if it had been kept fresher and in a better state.

  Grant resisted the urge to swipe the armchair clean before he sat down. He’d had years to suppress those sorts of impulses.

  ‘I’m here to talk about the Hardmans and the Glovers,’ Grant said.

  Pearson seemed surprised. ‘Oh?’

  ‘The family have indicated there’s history between you. Would you care to fill me in?’

  ‘Okay but wait… you’re not thinking I could have anything to do with the children, are you? That’s preposterous.’

  ‘Mr Pearson, I need to work quickly. If you could simply fill me in on your view of past events and whatever happened between you?’

  ‘Yes of course, I mean, if Alice’s children are missing then I’m very sorry. As for Jack Glover, I don’t think you’re going to believe what I tell you though I swear every word is true. That man is an abuser and a violator and he should have been in trouble for what he did but he got away with it because he’s a liar and a cheat who happens to be married to Ronnie’s daughter. Ronnie let that blind him to the truth.’

  Grant’s impatience stirred and he stamped it down as best he could. Keep it cool. Get the details and trust your instincts. And don’t miss a damn thing. ‘If you could start at the beginning, sir?’

  ‘Sorry, I’m not very well.’ Pearson indicated his stomach. ‘I’ve had part of my intestines removed and now I’ve got a damned ostomy bag instead of a bowel. I guess you understand what that means. It keeps me alive but it’s changed my life.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘No you don’t, except it doesn’t matter. I’d been with Ronnie since the beginning. He took me on when he first needed an accountant and I stayed with him while the business grew. We were friends or so I thought. Then along came Jack and he fell for Ronnie’s daughter, or likely it was Alice who fell for Jack because that man’s a real snake charmer. That’s why it took me so long to work out what was going on. It started one day when I went into the main office and one of the young secretaries was crying. The office manager, Maude, was looking after her. When I asked what was wrong, this girl, who was half Jack’s age, told me Jack had tried to kiss her.’

  Grant felt a frisson of excitement as his instincts kicked in. This was important.

  ‘Anyway, I dismissed it and that’s something I’ll never forgive myself for. Maude didn’t believe it either or she thought the girl was exaggerating although Maude thought the sun shone out of Jack’s arse so it made sense she didn’t want to think badly of him. The young woman handed in her notice a few weeks after and I didn’t think any more of it. Then a few months later, I walked into Jack’s office and I could hardly believe my eyes because the piece of shit was trying to get his hand up a woman’s skirt. Now, there was no denying it because I saw it. And I saw how upset and uncomfortable the woman was which told me this was not something she wanted nor had she invited.’

  Grant’s attention was razor sharp as he made hmming noises, encouraging Pearson to continue.

  ‘We’d taken her on as a receptionist while our own was on maternity leave. This time I didn’t let it go. I got Jack on his own and he started spewing out the lies – he minimised the whole thing and said she had led him on and when I spoke to the woman she clearly didn’t want to lose the work and she didn’t want to take it any further. Again, I was a fool because I didn’t take it up with Ronnie. I thought warning Jack would be sufficient – that me witnessing his vile behaviour would be enough to stop him.’

  ‘Did either of the young women go to the police?’

  ‘Not as far as I know. Our own receptionist came back from maternity leave and the temp left. I thought I’d made it clear to Jack sexual harassment was not to be tolerated and then one day, and it was a few months afterwards, someone left an anonymous note on my desk. It was written on a scrap of paper and it was a person’s name and it said I should speak to this person about important matters concerning Jack’s behaviour. I don’t mind telling you when I read it my blood went cold. I’m not making excuses but you’ve got to understand Jack was the golden boy – he was Ronnie’s son-in-law, Alice was pregnant with their first child, everyone in the office thought he was the best thing since sliced bread.’

  ‘What was the name on the note?’

  Pearson gave a small burp. ‘Apologies, my digestion is terrible. The name was Zofia Kaminski. She’d worked as an admin assistant at Hardman and when I went to see her what she told me made me physically sick. She told me Jack Glover had tried to rape her at the Christmas party.’

  Oh God this could be it. This could be motive. ‘That’s a serious allegation.’

  ‘You’re telling me. I remember sitting in Zofia’s kitchen and she folded her hands on the table and stared me straight in the face and I could see her lips trembling. Imagine the courage it must have taken for her to tell me. And to this day I’ve no idea who left the note. I’m no expert, Inspector, but I believed Zofia. And then even worse happened and you’re going to think me naïve and I definitely was because I intended to tell Ronnie and I stupidly felt it right to inform Jack first about what I was going to do.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘It was an absolutely idiotic decision on my part. You’ve got to understand Ronnie was the big boss and everyone took directions from him. Hardman Construction belonged to him – it was his baby. I was sort of the unofficial second in line mostly because I’d been around the longest except when Jack got promoted he always tried to sideline me. And then there was Maude, the office manager, and she reported straight to Ronnie and like I said, she thought Jack was wonderful and wouldn’t hear a word against him. I went to Jack first because I thought it was the right thing to do, the gentlemanly thing, if you like. What a fool I was. When I confronted Jack about the rape allegation he denied it of course, and Ronnie was away on a business trip. I told Jack I would be informing Ronnie as soon as he got back.’

  ‘And what happened?’

  ‘What do you think? Jack got to Ronnie first. Jack told Ronnie he’d discovered I was cooking the books and had been stealing money from Hardman Construction for years. Ronnie believed I’d betrayed him and he was furious. He suspended me on the spot and I can still remember the hurt and hatred on his face when he did it. Of course, I tried to defend myself and to tell Ronnie about the attempted rape and Jack. He wouldn’t listen. Ronnie thought I was trying to discredit his son-in-law. He didn’t want to know about Zofia, he didn’t want to investigate amongst the women staff, Ronnie just wanted me out. And then this happened.’ Pearson pointed to his stomach.

  ‘You became ill?’

  ‘I wasn’t sick. Six years ago at the same time this was all going on, I had a break-in and the man had a knife and he got me in the belly. I spent the best part of twelve months in and out of hospital.’

  ‘Was this the property where you had the break-in?’

  ‘It was and I’d have liked to move out only this place is so cheap to run. I still have nightmares about confronting him. That was the second most stupid thing I’ve done in my life.’

  ‘Burglars don’t often wound their victims. You must have startled him.’

  ‘That’s what the officers said at the time. I got him in the corner with the poker and that’s when I found out he was a vicious bastard. I’ll never forget his smile when he put the knife in. It was like something out of a horror movie. ‘You think you’re better than me, but you’re not,’ he said to my face. The man was a maniac. How I wish I’d never tried to tackle him.’

  ‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing,’ Grant said.

  ‘He was a known felon, a man called Riley. The police caught him and he got nine years for it. Not that it did me any good him going to prison. I had no job, I’d lost my reputation and Ronnie made sure to put the word around so no one would take me on. I lost my health an
d my dignity because now I have to walk around with a disgusting bag full of you-know-what which I have to empty every few hours. In fact, six years ago I pretty much lost everything.’

  ‘And you never tried to put the record straight with Ronnie Hardman?’

  ‘I tried several times and he refused to speak to me. In the end I gave up. Ronnie is a very stubborn man. That’s the part which hurt the most – we’d worked together for over twenty years and then Ronnie took Jack’s word over mine. I’m pretty certain Jack must have moved money around so it looked as if I’d been siphoning off funds. Ronnie never understood the money side. It would have been easy to make it look bad for me and Jack was clever.’

  ‘You’re saying Jack set you up.’

  ‘I’m sure he did. To get the heat off himself. I never took a penny from the company and that’s the honest truth.’

  The lounge clock dinged the hour and in the quiet afterwards, Grant could hear Pearson’s wheezy breathing.

  ‘Do you have contact details for Zofia Kaminski?’

  ‘I used to have. She sent me a card when I was in hospital. I think she moved to London after.’

  Pearson got up and rummaged in a desk drawer, then he wrote down the details.

  As Grant accepted the paper, he couldn’t help thinking Daniel Pearson had a pretty strong motive for getting back at both Jack and Ronnie. Still, his health meant he couldn’t be the abductor.

  And then there was Zofia Kaminski, what would she have to say about it? Grant’s copper’s instinct was kicking off big time. At last. This was the break they needed. Grant knew he was onto something.

  18

  In the morning, Maria was allowed to give the children food. She carried the tray carefully. She had prepared toast and strawberry jam, which was Lisa’s favourite, and there were scrambled eggs. Half an hour earlier Maria had deliberately made a monster breakfast for him with a pile of sausage and bacon. It had left him bloated on the sofa, and though he tutted when the tray went past, he didn’t protest.