A Damned Serious Business by Graham Ison

Author:Graham Ison [Ison, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2018-01-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

It took two or three days of hard work to put together the report on the Kerr affair for the Director of Public Prosecutions, most of which was done by Tipper with the aid of an experienced detective sergeant. It was a tortuous business. The statements had to be collated, and the story that each told had to be embodied in the report with accurate marginal references, so that the DPP not only had a complete account of the investigation, but could check whether the witnesses had anything relevant or important to say if and when the case got to court.

Gaffney, meanwhile, was studying the transcripts of the intercepts on Gisela Hunter’s telephone and mail which Hector Toogood was at pains to send to the Yard daily. The only thing of significance arising out of that and the surveillance maintained by Dave Wakeford’s team was that despite his original protestations, Foster, the impressionable young man from the Foreign Office, was still seeing her at regular intervals. Furthermore, a telex message had informed Gaffney that Foster had been fined two hundred pounds by the Richmond magistrates, and disqualified from driving for a year.

Tipper was scathing about Foster’s obsession with the woman, but agreed with Gaffney that there was no way to prevent him from seeing her. ‘If he wants to destroy his career,’ Tipper had said contemptuously, ‘that’s a matter for him.’

Nevertheless, the two detectives decided that another interview would do no harm. ‘A little jerk on the reins’ Tipper had called it with unconscious ambiguity.

*

Tipper braked to a standstill a few yards short of Fancourt Mansions, switched off the engine and turned out the lights. They didn’t have long to wait. The surveillance team had rung in when Foster had arrived, and Gaffney knew from the diplomat’s previous visits, almost to the minute, when he would emerge.

‘Just look at him,’ said Tipper as they watched Foster walking down the road towards them. ‘Like a cat who’s just had the cream. Even if we didn’t know what he’d been doing, we’d’ve guessed.’

Gaffney wound down the window as Foster drew level with the car. ‘Mr Foster.’

Foster stopped and stared at the detective, concern clearly etched on his face as he recognised Gaffney. ‘Oh, hello,’ he said lamely.

‘We’d like a word with you. Get in.’

Foster glanced quickly back towards Fancourt Mansions and then got into the back seat of the police car. ‘Look, I . . .’ he began.

The two detectives had turned to face the diplomat, their elbows resting casually along the backs of the seats. ‘What exactly are you playing at, Mr Foster?’ Gaffney spoke quietly, almost conversationally, but there was menace in his voice.

Foster looked from one to the other. ‘I doubt if you’d understand,’ he said cuttingly, ‘but I’m in love with Mrs Hunter – Gisela – and I intend to marry her.’

‘Then you’re a bigger berk than I thought you were,’ said Tipper brutally. ‘Incidentally, did she pay your fine?’

Foster didn’t answer immediately, uncertain about police sources of information.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.