Cold Winter's Morning by Alan Bexley

Author:Alan Bexley [Bexley, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sibley & Woodgate
Published: 2019-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

The cold drizzle blew in through the open sides of the multi-storey car park. Frank and Helen sat in the car looking out.

‘This is the first meeting I’ve had in a car park. It’s like one of those spy movies,’ Helen said.

‘It’s what she wanted,’ Frank said. He checked his watch. ‘Any time now.’

‘But she’s a building society manager,’ Helen continued. ‘Why the cloak and dagger?’

‘I’ll find out. Remember you stay in the car,’ Frank said.

‘Spoilsport.’

It was so gloomy in the multi-storey car park that the strip lights were on although it was the middle of the morning.

‘Could do with the heater on,’ she said.

‘You should have worn your coat.’

Helen was wearing a dark jacket with a scarf. She wrapped her arms around herself and shook.

A woman bundled up in a high-collared, padded coat walked towards the car, stopped and raised a hand.

‘Now, there’s a proper coat,’ he said, as he unclipped his seat belt and opened the driver’s door to get out.

‘Shut the door,’ Helen whispered.

He approached the woman and said, ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Frank Grey from CID.’ He held out a hand and they shook.

‘Over here,’ she said.

She led him to a parking space in the shadow of a stairway. They stood side by side looking out at the ranks of parked cars.

‘What is it you want to tell me?’ he asked.

‘I know all this is rather melodramatic,’ she said. ‘But I’m concerned for my safety after what happened to poor Vicky.’

‘You’ve got my attention.’

‘It’s about the Francis Holdings Trust account. It contains tens of millions of pounds.’

‘That’s what our sources have told us,’ he said.

‘Right, what your sources won’t say is the money belongs to the Morgan family. Hence my need for secrecy.’

‘Very interesting. I won’t lecture you but I’m sure you’re aware of your legal obligations as far as the proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering are concerned.’

‘The proper police departments know of the funds,’ she said. ‘But I was betting they wouldn’t automatically share that information with your investigation.’

‘A correct assumption.’

‘What no one knows except me, and one other employee, is that Vicky was skimming small amounts of money from the Trust’s fund for her own use. I’m worried she was killed because the Morgans found out. She covered her tracks well, but a routine check following her death has thrown up anomalies. She used a fellow employee’s login to try and cover her tracks. The fool had written his password on a Post-it Note and stuck it to the bottom of a drawer in his desk. On the immediate records the trick worked but when I checked the more detailed audit trail, there was a mismatch between the login and the screen used. I think she hoped smallish irregular amounts would go unnoticed. I found this out only yesterday.’

‘Thank you, this information is useful.’

‘I liked Vicky. She had her flaws but none of us are perfect. I’m telling you this off the record and won’t testify in court. Just wanted to point you in the right direction.

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