‘He was worried he might have been to blame for Richard’s death.’
‘But, how could he be? He was in London. He wasn’t even here.’
‘He and Richard were working on something together, and the police need to speak to Josh.’
Jenkins had asked Laura not to tell Shirley about Arthur as they didn’t want him to be alerted. If Shirley knew she would probably say something and word could get out.
‘What about?’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t say,’ Laura said regretfully.
‘Is Josh in trouble?’
‘I don’t know?’
‘But he can’t be,’ said Shirley, the panic rising. ‘I can’t lose him as well.’ She started to sob.
Laura called Josie in to her office. Josie saw Shirley’s obvious distress.
‘Josie, I need you to look after Shirley for a while,’ she said.
‘Of, course,’ said Josie putting a comforting arm around her, and shooting a questioning look at Laura. Laura didn’t reply but as she left her office she heard Shirley say between sobs, ‘The police want to talk to Josh.’
***
Jenkins had agreed to talk to Josh at the cottage and not to take him down to the station. At the moment all he wanted was to find out exactly what the photographs were, and to understand the scale of Arthur Connolly’s misdemeanour. He had asked Laura to go with them as she had already built up a rapport with Josh. Josh was over the age of seventeen and so didn’t need a responsible adult present during the interview, but Jenkins knew he would get more sense out of Josh if Laura was there. The boy was feeling guilty over Richard’s death and might just clam up.
When Todd arrived, the three of them walked up to the cottage and Laura knocked on the door. As before, it eventually opened slightly and Josh peered round.
‘Hello, Mrs Jessop,’ he said nervously.
‘Hello, Josh,’ she replied. ‘May we come in?’
He opened the door and stood aside to let them in. Laura made the introductions and then said, ‘The inspector would like to ask you a few questions about what we talked about. I can stay with you if you would like.’
‘Yes, all right.’
‘Hello, Josh,’ said Jenkins. ‘I only want to talk to you about the laptop your stepfather found. Nothing else at the moment, although I may have to come back later to follow up on a few things.’
Josh looked to Laura for support.
‘Just tell the inspector what you told me, Josh.’
‘Richard brought this laptop home one night. He’d found it after a meeting and he wanted me to see if there was anything on it.’
‘What did you find?’
‘There was a lot of everyday stuff that wasn’t particularly interesting, but then there was this big file that was password protected.’
‘And you opened it?’
‘Yes, eventually.’
‘And tell me what you found, with as much detail as you can remember.’
‘It was photographs of girls, young girls.’
‘How old do you think they were?’
‘Probably ten or eleven, I suppose.’
‘And how many were there?’
‘Hundreds. I didn’t open them all, they were pretty disgusting.’
Josh looked at Laura.
‘Josh, I don’t want you to be embarrassed,’ she said. ‘It’s important that you describe as much as you can remember. Do you want me to leave?’
‘No, I’d rather you stayed, but they were awful pictures.’
‘Were they all individual girls?’ asked Jenkins.
‘No, some of them had two or three girls together and some of them had men in, older men.’
‘And how were the girls dressed?’
‘Sometimes in frilly dresses, sometimes in school uniform and sometimes not at all.’
Jenkins felt he had the confirmation he needed to pursue this. These were obviously not normal pictures. He just had one more question.
‘And Mrs Jessop said you thought they were pornographic. Why did you think that?’
‘Because of what the pictures showed. You know.’
‘I’m afraid I need you to tell me, Josh,’ the inspector said gently.
‘They were doing things to each other. The men were naked as well, and they were having sex.’
Josh looked down to the ground.
‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done it,’ he blurted.
Laura put her hand on his arm.
‘Josh, the important thing is that you’re now trying to put right what you did. Just hang on to that thought. What’s happened has happened. You can’t change that, but you can make sure you do the right thing now.’
‘You’ve done well, Josh,’ added Jenkins. ‘We’re going now. Will you be all right?’
Josh nodded.
‘Josh, your mum knows the inspector was coming to see you. I think you need to talk to her. I’ll ask her to come home,’ said Laura.
Josh looked thoroughly miserable and panic-stricken.
‘I can’t tell her, I just can’t,’ he said.
‘I think you have to,’ said Laura. ‘It will be so much better if she hears it from you.’
‘It would be helpful to us if you and your mum don’t tell anyone about the pictures for now. Can you do that?’ asked the inspector.
‘Yes,’ said Josh. ‘Yes, of course.’
As they walked back to school, Laura asked, ‘What now?’
‘Well, now I have to get that laptop,’ said Jenkins. ‘I need to go and see Mr Connolly with a search warrant.’
‘And then what will happen?’
‘It’s difficult to say,’ replied Jenkins. ‘It rather depends what we find. Let’s hope he hasn’t been spooked by what’s happened to Hart, and got rid of the evidence. I’m afraid it looks as though he has been involved in something very distasteful, and he’ll probably go to prison for a long time.’
‘When will all of this happen?’
‘With a bit of luck, we can get over there before the day is out.’
‘So soon?’
‘We can’t hang about. There’s a risk that Josh and Shirley will tell someone and that Arthur will get wind of it.’
‘Of course, I do understand,’ said Laura. ‘It’s just a question of being prepared.’
***
That afternoon Laura prepared herself to talk to the Senior Management Team. By tomorrow morning they may have yet another crisis on their hands. Not only has the caretaker been murdered, the Chairman of the Governors has been arrested for child pornography. Could it get any worse?
At about three o’clock Josie rang through.
‘I’ve got the Chairman on the phone,’ she said.
Laura hesitated as multiple thoughts raced through her brain. Had the police been to see him already? Was he ringing to blame her for telling them? What could she possibly say to him? No, the police wouldn’t have been yet. This was just an ordinary call. She had to behave normally.
She swallowed and said, ‘Put him through, please.’
‘Hello, Laura,’ he said. ‘I just thought I’d check up on how things are going as you hadn’t rung me.’
No, of course she hadn’t rung him. There was no way she could begin a conversation with him knowing what she knew.
‘Hello, Arthur,’ she replied. ‘I’m sorry I haven’t rung you. It’s been quite manic here, and we’ve started the Speaking Tests today for the A levels. And there wasn’t anything definite I could tell you.’
Well, that wasn’t a lie, she thought.
‘Any news about Richard’s murderer?’
‘I believe they’ve arrested someone but they haven’t charged him,’ Laura replied.
‘That sounds hopeful,’ said Arthur.
‘Well, it’s still early days. You often hear of people being released without charge, so I don’t suppose we should make any assumptions just yet.’
‘No, I suppose you??
?re right,’ Arthur agreed. ‘I’ve got the photographs from Tuesday afternoon sorted out if you want me to pop in with them.’
‘Oh, gosh. I’ve got a meeting straight after school and tomorrow I’ve got a full diary,’ said Laura thinking quickly. ‘How about Monday?’
‘Yes, that’s fine. I’ll drop in when I’ve taken Jenny to her yoga class.’
‘I’ll see you then,’ Laura said, relieved that the call was over.
Chapter Thirty
That evening Laura arrived home, and Robert welcomed her with a kiss.
‘You look tired’ he said.
‘It’s been a day from hell,’ she said. ‘Would you mind if I go and have a shower and try to get my thoughts in order before I tell you what’s been happening?’
‘No, of course not,’ Robert replied. ‘The meal will be about half an hour and I’ll pour you a glass of wine.’
Twenty minutes later Laura was sitting at the breakfast bar sipping her wine, while Robert finished cooking. He knew about Josh’s discovery from the previous evening’s conversation, and that Laura would be seeing the inspector today so he hadn’t been surprised that she had had a bad day.
Laura relayed the conversation she and the inspector had had.
‘I was quite surprised that he wasn’t angry with me for withholding information,’ she said. ‘He actually said I’d done well to get Josh to open up.’
‘Well, I suppose you’ve saved him a lot of time. He had no idea about all the blackmail, had he?’
‘Well, no, but that’s only because I hadn’t told him,’ Laura laughed. ‘It’s not that he missed it. He thinks he’s solved the murder, if he can make the connection to this man he’s arrested.’
Laura realised she was defending the inspector.
‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘he did seem to understand about the school’s reputation and how something like this could damage it.’
Laura told Robert about the inspector’s interview with Josh and the outcome.
‘And then, Arthur telephoned and I had to try to act as normal as possible knowing that the police were probably on their way over there to arrest him.’
‘That must have been difficult,’ said Robert with a twinkle in his eye. ‘You acting normal.’
Laura laughed. He could always make her laugh.
‘Poor Shirley was in a dreadful state,’ she continued, subdued again as she thought of poor Shirley.
‘I can imagine. What will happen to Josh?’
‘I really don’t know. I suppose he could face criminal charges.’
Over dinner Laura told Robert about her SMT meeting. They had all been totally shocked. Amy, of course had some idea of the blackmail activities of Richard with Josh’s help, but she had no idea of the discovery about Arthur. The others were totally in the dark. Laura hadn’t divulged any of the information about the other victims, or even their names. She was still hopeful that this would not be necessary.
At about 9.30 the telephone rang. Robert answered.
With his hand over the mouthpiece he said, ‘It’s Jenny.’
Laura closed her eyes and swallowed, and then held out her hand for the phone.
‘Hello Jenny,’ she said.
‘Laura, they’ve arrested Arthur,’ Jenny said in a panicky voice.
‘Oh, that’s terrible,’ Laura said not really knowing what to say. ‘What happened?’
‘They came about 7 o’clock with a search warrant and said it was in connection with their investigations into Richard Hart’s murder. How they can imagine Arthur is involved in that I can’t imagine. Anyway they searched Arthur’s study and took his lap top and the hard drive from the desk top, and they wanted all his photographic stuff and went through all his papers. And then they took him away with them. He looked so bewildered.’
Laura could tell Jenny was in a terrible state. Her voice was jerky and the worry was evident. Poor Jenny was in obvious shock.
‘Is there someone with you?’ she asked. ‘You shouldn’t be alone.’
‘My sister is on her way over. She’ll be here in a few minutes. And I telephoned our solicitor who went straight to the police station.’
‘You’ve done all that you can,’ said Laura. ‘I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?’
‘No, I just wanted you to know. I really don’t know what the police can be thinking. And why would they take his computer?’
Laura knew that Jenny had been involved with criminal law for many years, and was probably imagining all sorts of scenarios. Unfortunately she also knew that Jenny was going to be hurt terribly by what was going to happen. She felt so sorry for her.
As she put the receiver down, Laura burst into tears.
‘Oh, Robert,’ she sobbed. ‘What a terrible mess. What have I done? What is going to happen?’
‘You must not blame yourself for this,’ Robert said as he got up to hold her tightly in his arms. ‘Arthur has to pay the penalty for what he as done.’
‘Yes, I know,’ agreed Laura. ‘But Jenny will be heartbroken. How can the world have changed so much in such a short space of time? We knew none of this a week ago, and now our lives have all been turned upside down.’
***
At the police station, DI Jenkins was getting ready to interview Arthur Connolly. A quick look at the laptop showed that Arthur had had the presence of mind to delete the photographs, but Jenkins was sure the evidence would still be there.
He and Todd entered the interview room where Arthur and his solicitor were waiting.
‘Mr Connolly,’ began Jenkins. ‘Do you know why you are here?’
‘You said it was in connection with Hart’s death,’ said Connolly in a subdued tone.
‘It has come to our attention that Richard Hart had discovered information about you that he was hoping to use as blackmail.’
‘I see.’
‘Was he blackmailing you?’
Arthur thought carefully. He was still basically an honourable man even though he had committed a crime. It was better to make a clean breast of things now, and pay the price.
‘Yes, he was,’ he agreed.
Arthur proceeded to tell the inspector about the images which he had stored on his laptop. He had accumulated them over a period of time, and he gave as much information as he could so that Jenkins could pursue the other men involved. He had never met any of them, but there were half a dozen like-minded men who communicated regularly with him. Of course, they didn’t reveal their true identities but Arthur was sure the inspector could track them down.
Jenkins was surprised to have the confession so easily. If truth be told, it threw him off track. His mind wandered as he thought about the next stage of his enquiry and unravelling the intricacies of the paedophile ring. He needed to find out more before he could decide the extent of Connolly’s involvement.
‘Mr Connolly,’ he said, ‘I appreciate your desire to help us with our enquiries. You will appreciate we need to pursue this further. In the meantime I’m going to give you police bail until we’re in a position to decide what the charges against you will be.’
Jenkins did not believe Arthur Connolly posed a flight risk. After all, he was an old man. He had strong links, a stable family home and he had made a clean breast of it all.
‘Todd,’ he said. ‘Will you do the necessary and then make sure Mr Connolly gets home.’
Jenkins looked at his watch. It was 1.30am on Friday morning. Hardly worth going home again!
Chapter Thirty One
The following morning Jenkins called at the station on his way to the school. He knew he would have to let Laura Jessop know what had happened, but he wanted to see if there was any news from forensics about the murders.
Todd looked up from his desk as he entered the incident room.
‘Sir,’ he said, ‘Forensics have found something.’
‘Ah, just what
I wanted to hear. What have we got?’
‘Well, the baseball bat only had one set of prints, that of Logan’s driver Josh Barker. And it had been wiped clean of blood, but they did find some minute traces.’
‘Any match?’
‘Yes. To Harry Westbury.’
‘Well, isn’t that interesting?’ said Jenkins with a smile.
‘Thought you’d be pleased,’ said Todd. ‘And it gets better.’
‘Well come on then, spit it out.’
‘In the boot of the car there was some dried blood from two different sources. Harry Westbury and Jason Burton’.
‘Excellent! So we can tie Logan to Westbury and Burton and we have the video evidence directly linking Logan to Burton’s murder. Nothing linking them to Hart yet?’
‘No sir, they’re still looking.’
‘Right, well I’m off to the school this morning. You’ve got plenty to do. I shan’t be long.’
***
Laura was looking out of her office window when the inspector pulled into the drive.
‘Josie can you organise some coffee please,’ she called through.
Laura knew what the visit was likely to be about, and a strong cup of coffee was entirely necessary.
When Jenkins entered her office a few minutes later, she said ‘Good morning, inspector. I gather you had a busy evening.’
He looked at her quizzically.
‘Jenny called me,’ she said by way of explanation.
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Yes, it was busy, but quite profitable.’
He explained what had happened.
‘So he admitted it then?’ Laura said with some surprise.
‘Well, I suppose he realised we had the evidence although he had tried to remove the images from his laptop. Luckily he isn’t very well versed in the workings of computers.’
Just then Jenkins’ mobile phone rang.
‘Excuse me,’ he said to Laura.
He listened intently to the voice on the other end, frowning as the caller continued to speak.
‘I’ll be there in about half an hour,’ he said finally.
He turned to Laura saying, ‘I’m sorry. I shall have to go. I’ll get back to you later.’
‘Of course,’ said Laura.
***
Thirty minutes later Jenkins drove up the drive of Arthur Connolly’s house in Rothbury. Luckily it was a large drive as there were numerous vehicles there.
As Jenkins got out of his car, Todd approached him.