Chapter Twenty-Four
16:45 hours
‘Mr Pfeiffer, sir, how are you?’
Robert Pfeiffer looked at the two gentlemen standing before him. One was good-looking and dark-haired the other good-looking and blond and awfully like Robert Redford. He hadn’t noticed that before.
Mr Pfeiffer smiled. ‘You mean since the couple of hours or thereabouts since you’ve been gone?’
‘Have a few more questions.’ Love looked round the shop. It was fairly busy. ‘Sorry to interrupt with your duties,’ he said pointing to the jigsaw Mr Pfeiffer held in his hand.
‘That’s all right,’ Mr Pfeiffer said. ‘Just stocking some shelves.’
‘Is Heinrich about?’ Love asked.
‘He’s in the stockroom.’
‘Nice bike parked round the back, is it his?’ Stuart said.
‘You mean the black Yamaha?’
‘Yes, that’s the one.’
‘My twenty-first birthday present to him,’ he said. ‘Although I suppose I should say it’s from us both.’ He placed the jigsaw puzzle on the shelf and bent down and retrieved another from the large cardboard box in front of him.
‘Both?’
‘From my wife and me,’ he said over his shoulder.
‘Your wife doesn’t work in the shop?’ Stuart said, glancing about. Anna Brown, Mr Pfeiffer’s weekly staff had since arrived and was serving behind the till.
‘My wife? Heavens no,’ Mr Pfeiffer said, and laughed. ‘You wouldn’t catch Jill serving in here.’
‘Something against shop work?’ Love said.
‘She feels her talents are better needed elsewhere but don’t tell her I said so.’
Love smiled. ‘Is she at home?’
Mr Pfeiffer glanced at his wrist. ‘At this time I would say she’s doing her good work down at the Legion right now dispensing good advice and coffee to those who care to listen. She has her timetable and she sticks to it and she expects all within her life to do the same.’
‘She’s a charity worker?’ Stuart said.
‘Yes, she helps others “less fortunate than us” but honestly I don’t see what good having coffee mornings, lunches and evenings, and speaking at the local WI really does.’
‘I get the feeling you don’t take her charity work very seriously,’ Stuart said.
Mr Pfeiffer turned round to face Stuart and Love. A jigsaw of a country scene in four hundred pieces in his hand. ‘Her heart is in the right place and she means well… but… how can I put it?’
‘You humour her.’
‘I suppose I do.’
‘Why is that?’
‘Look, what is this all about? Asking questions about my relationship with my wife.’
Love smiled. ‘We’re just doing our job, Mr Pfeiffer, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you, it’s how we work.’
Stuart picked up one of the toy cars. ‘This looks fun,’ he said. ‘I bet they’re a good seller.’
Robert Pfeiffer took it from Stuart’s hand and placed it back on the shelf. ‘Yes, they are, now if there is nothing else.’
‘But there is,’ Love said. ‘Would you please get your son, Mr Pfeiffer, we’d like a word with him.’
Mr Pfeiffer opened his mouth to protest then thought better of it. He didn’t want to make a scene in his shop. ‘Anna,’ he called. ‘I’m just escorting these two gentlemen through to the stockroom I’ll be back in a minute.’ He looked from Love to Stuart. ‘If you’d care to follow me?’
Mr Pfeiffer led the two detectives to the end of the aisle, turned right, passed by a woman who couldn’t make up her mind between a toy soldier and a Lego airline pilot, and through the door into the back. He opened it, stepped inside. ‘Heinrich?’
A figure dressed impeccably in his white polo neck jumper and faded blue jeans which Stuart was now even more convinced had been ironed, turned round from where he was standing making notes on his iPad.
Stuart grinned. ‘How does that work out for you?’
Heinrich glanced at the gadget in his hand. ‘Fine, if you know what you’re doing.’ He looked at Love.
‘Hello, Heinrich, we’d like to ask you a few questions if we may.’
‘Well, I’ll leave you to it I’m out the front if you need me,’ Mr Pfeiffer said. He turned and left the room. Love wasn’t sure to whom he was addressing.
‘Nice bike you have,’ Stuart said.
‘Yes, I got it for my twenty-first birthday.’
‘And when was that?’ Love asked.
‘July.’
‘I imagine the insurance is pretty hefty.’
Heinrich turned his gaze on Stuart. ‘My parents help me out with it.’
‘Pretty fast bike,’ Stuart said.
‘It can be.’
‘Like my wife’s Mini Cooper, it’s very quick.’ Stuart stared at the younger man. ‘From a stationary position at least.’
‘Where were you on Monday, October 29th between the hours of 08:15 and 08:50?’ Love said.
Stuart reached into his pocket and flipped open his black leather notepad. He pulled out his Montblanc and waited.
Heinrich shifted his gaze from Stuart to Love. ‘When?’
‘Monday, 29 October,’ Love said again.
‘I was putting in an order of flowers.’
‘Couldn’t that have been done telephonically?’
‘No, Detective Love, I had to see the actual blooms to ensure they were up to standard.’
‘But I understood your supplier never lets you down.’
Heinrich shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He looked relaxed. ‘It doesn’t hurt to practise perfection.’
‘Absolutely nothing wrong with aiming high,’ Stuart said. ‘Is that what your mother taught you, Heinrich?’ It was a long shot but he thought he’d give it a try.
Heinrich stared at Stuart. His face completely blank. His eyes showed no emotion. He didn’t even blink. ‘My mother is a perfectionist and she’s a great woman.’ Charming words but somehow the way they were delivered belied their meaning.
Love glanced at Stuart as he scribbled something on his notepad. ‘But it must be hard to continuously live up to,’ he said. ‘I mean, I imagine it’s pretty tough trying to live your life by someone else’s rules.’
A faint flush began to creep into Heinrich’s cheeks. ‘She was a disciplinarian when I was a child growing up because she believes children shouldn’t be spoilt. They shouldn’t get everything they want just because they ask for it.’
‘Oh, I agree totally,’ Stuart said. ‘I have a six-year-old and she’s already learnt that everything in this world is not here for her taking.’
Heinrich smiled. ‘I see you understand, Detective Le Fanu.’
‘I do understand, and I also understand that the way discipline is dispensed is also important. My wife and I, my wife especially, happen to be firm, Heinrich, but we’re fair.’
‘Does that sound like your upbringing?’ Love said.
‘It does,’ Heinrich said.
‘And I also understand that some individuals will take offence at the slightest given thing.’ Stuart looked up from his notepad. ‘And bear a grudge for years and years until one day… they just snap.’
Heinrich looked down at the iPad in his hand. Suddenly, he smiled. ‘You wanted to know where I was on Monday morning?’
‘If you wouldn’t mind,’ Love said.
‘After the florists I made my way here. I took my time, running the bike in, until I got to work.’
‘At what time?’
‘Still well before nine o’clock,’ he said.
‘The name of the florist?’ Stuart said.
‘Fleurs in Brent Cross.’
Stuart glanced at Love. ‘I use a good farm shop in Kensington Church Street just round the corner from where I live.’
Heinrich stared at Stuart.
‘How much before?’ said Love.
Heinrich slowly turned his attention to Love. ??
?I can’t say exactly but it must have been around quarter to nine.’
‘We can always check the security cameras if you’re unsure of the time,’ Love said. He thought of the snowstorm back at the office but Heinrich wasn’t to know that, besides, they might get lucky.
‘Wouldn’t do you any good,’ Heinrich said. He punched a few keys on his iPad, waited a moment then looked up. ‘I came in through the back entrance over there,’ he inclined his head to the back of the shop. Love and Stuart both looked over to gaze upon a sturdy-looking steel door. ‘We don’t have a security camera out the back or inside the shop only security mirrors.’
‘No security via the hospital?’ asked Stuart.
‘The shop is independent of the hospital, actually, a shop was established here first and the hospital followed. This is private ground and nothing to do with the hospital per se. That’s why we can get away with selling a small selection of cigarettes. The medical personnel are our best customers.’ Heinrich smiled. ‘Hypocrisy,’ he said. ‘Don’t you hate it?’
Love dropped his gaze. His mind was working overtime. ‘Do you have a camera?’
‘Do I have a camera?’ Heinrich said. ‘Not that I see how this is relevant but no, I do not have a camera.’
‘Do you like taking photographs?’ Stuart said. ‘Perhaps with your mobile?’
‘No more than anyone else. Why?’
Stuart smiled, snapped shut his notepad, slipped it and his pen back in his pocket, and said, ‘No reason, Heinrich.’
Love stared at Stuart. He turned to Heinrich. ‘Thanks for your time and sorry to have bothered you.’
‘It’s no bother,’ Heinrich said courteously. He walked over to the door which led back into the shop pulled it open and waited.
‘There is one last thing,’ Love said. ‘Do you have your grandfather’s pistol?’
Heinrich smiled. ‘Certainly not, Detective, that would be illegal.’
Love walked over to where Heinrich was standing. ‘Only if it works or is used as a weapon,’ he said stepping into the shop.
‘Thank you,’ Stuart said as he walked past Heinrich.
Love turned briefly and nodded.
The door was closed firmly behind them.
‘What now, talk to the mother?’
Love and Stuart were walking back to Stuart’s Jaguar in the car park. They’d taken another look at Heinrich’s bike just to see if it had any distinguishing features that would make it stand out from the crowd.
Anything at all.
It had none.
‘I’m not bloody well in the mood,’ Stuart said. He pulled up the collar of his overcoat against the brisk wind that had started up. He hated the wind. It seemed to go right through him chilling his body to the bone. He shoved his hands in his pockets even though he was wearing gloves. ‘That was just one bloody disaster, Love, we’ve got nothing on him, he knows it, he’s laughing at us and there’s nothing we can do.’
‘You baited him,’ Love said. ‘What was that all about?’
‘I could see we were getting nowhere so yes, I baited him. To draw him out. To make him slip up. The bastard,’ he added under his breath.
‘Good move on your part but could be dangerous,’ Love said. He pulled the zip on his Donegal. Christ but was it ever cold. Maybe it was time to get his Reefer jacket out after all.
Stuart stopped dead in his tracks. ‘I’m well aware of what it means and we’re not going to get anywhere if we dance and sidestep our way round him.’
‘Shannon still with her grandmother?’
‘All this week and from today possibly longer.’
‘What about Emma?’
‘She’s on her way home right now and that’s where I’m going after I drop you off back at DSBD to pick up your car,’ he said. He pulled out his hands and removed his gloves, dropped one, picked it up, got his keys from his pocket aimed it at the shiny black sleek-looking Jag in front of them, pressed a button, the car beeped then clunked delicately.
He pulled open the door and jumped in. Love did the same.
‘But I don’t mind the slight detour if you want to go straight home and check on Julie. You haven’t managed to see her all day.’
‘I’ll do that,’ Love said. ‘Thanks, mate, and perhaps you can pick me up… what, an hour later to come back to the office?’
Stuart turned his head as he negotiated his car out of the parking space. He switched the paddle shift into “D” touched the pedal the car purred and it rolled forward. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard.
‘I’m not sure if I am coming back, Love, not if my wife is going to check in at an hotel.’
He pronounced ‘hotel’ the French way with a silent H.
‘Sure, I understand.’
‘Who knows when I’ll get to see her again because I can’t visit her once she’s there,’ he said as he looked both ways. It was clear and he pulled out into Landor Road. ‘It’ll be too dangerous.’
‘You’re right.’ Love looked straight ahead as Stuart maneuvered the vehicle. A moment later, he pressed a silver button and a blast of lukewarm air filled the car. Love pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘You’d better drop me off back at HQ so I can pick up my car.’
‘Absolutely, no problem.’
‘We’ve got nothing on him, Stuart, and we’re not even sure at this point in time if he’s our man.’
Stuart slowed down, he indicated left and came to a stop at the traffic lights. He turned into Stockwell Road a moment later. ‘I know that, Love, that’s why I had to bait him.’
‘We’ll get a couple of DCs to cover your house perhaps he’ll slip up and we can catch him.’
‘I’d appreciate that on a personal level as I’ll still be living there.’
‘Let’s hope it works,’ Love said. ‘For the moment it’s all we’ve got.’ He looked out the side window. People were battling against the wind and losing by the looks of it. They looked frozen. Love rubbed his hands together grateful for the warm comforting heat of the car. He turned to glance at Stuart. ‘Forget about the car and drop me home.’
‘What’s up?’ Stuart half turned to Love before facing forward again.
‘I’m going to put a call through and get the heating fixed on my Volvo.’ As he spoke he pulled out his mobile and pressed a number.
A second later, he was asking to be put through to Motorpool. It rang and a moment after that, a voice came on the phone.
‘Hello?’
‘Jim? It’s Love.’
‘Hello there you old Yank, still driving that heap on wheels?’
‘Still driving it,’ Love said, and smiled. ‘That’s why I’m calling. Can you get one of your guys to fix the heating on it?’
‘When by?’
‘Tomorrow, if possible.’
‘Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘It’s unlocked and parked in the underground in DSBD’s parking area.’
‘Consider it done.’
‘Thanks, Jim, appreciate it.’ Love ended the call and sat still for a moment. He tapped his mobile on his knee when finally he turned to look at Stuart. ‘What about interviewing his mother as soon as possible?’
Stuart shook his head. ‘I see that we have no choice,’ he said. ‘She might give us something.’
‘Let’s set that up for tomorrow morning. Catch her first thing before she goes out doing her good deeds,’ Love said.
He had no idea what kind of woman to expect. Some type of control freak to hear her son and husband talk. He was ready for just about anything.
Thirty-one minutes later, they’d got caught in a bit of rush hour traffic in Whitehall, Stuart was pulling up outside Love’s elegant but somewhat scruffy apartment in Gaisford Street. ‘I’ve always liked this area,’ Stuart said.
‘Yeah, it’s a good place to live has a real village atmosphere thing going on,’ Love said. He unbuckled his seat belt. ‘And it’s a dog lover’s paradise.’
‘Most i
mportant,’ Stuart said, and smiled.
‘You better believe it,’ Love said as he got out of the car.
Stuart pressed a button and the passenger window smoothly disappeared into the door. ‘Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow morning?’
Love looked over the top of Stuart’s car. He saw a neighbour walking her dog and no doubt on her way to Rochester Terrace Gardens. She saw Love and waved. Love smiled and nodded in return. He bent down to speak through the open window. ‘Yeah, all right, mate, make it eight o’clock and we’ll go straight to see Mrs Pfeiffer.’
‘Yeah, why not,’ said Stuart. ‘No doubt Mrs Starchy Knickers would have already put in half a day’s work by that time.’ He grinned.
‘Starchy Knickers?’ Love said, smiling. ‘Well, if her husband and son leave home around that time to get to work for half past eight,’ he paused as if going through the forty-odd minute journey in his mind, ‘actually it would be earlier and if she’s as dedicated or despotic as we’ve been led to believe.’
‘I’m with you there, Love. I’ll see what information I can put together on her later tonight.’
‘Just look after Emma and do what you have to do.’ He stepped away from the car, waved once, turned round and disappeared inside the building.