Chapter 20

Phut, phut and the shots hit true in the centre of James’s forehead and he slumped forward onto the side of the desk with just a small trickle of blood onto the stacked up papers. His glasses slipped off onto the floor. Mr Jones unscrewed the silencer and put the gun into his jacket pocket and the silencer into his inside jacket pocket as he pulled out his phone. He pressed the last number on the call list and said, “I’m in James Munroe’s office. That problem is resolved. The documents you want are hidden somewhere in the lady’s house. The lady and her man are elsewhere so the house is empty. I’m going there now and will rip the house apart until I find them. Then I’ll deal with the lady.” There was an acknowledging reply then he hung up.

He walked around the desk, swung the chair to face James then grabbing him under the arms pulled him into a sitting position in the chair. Swinging the chair back to face the desk he straightened James with his head lolling to one side and smoothed the jacket still clinging to the chair back. Reaching down he picked up the glasses and put them back onto the end of James’s nose.  Opening the drawers he shifted through the papers until he found a deep black box in the bottom right hand side. Flicking open the lid he counted all the notes, one hundred forty two fifty pound notes which he put in his pocket and left the box on the desk. Not enough but he figured this went a long way towards everything James owed him. He moved back around the desk to the door and out into the hallway shutting the door behind him.

Passing Julie’s desk he thought there was no need to shoot the lady. She was nice and would not remember enough to make a difference and besides he’d done enough to add to his police portfolio. He was becoming notorious but obscure. They only knew him as Mr Jones and he smiled. All the lady could say was Mr Jones was here and he liked that thought. As he passed her he said in a very relaxed voice, “James asked me to tell you to hold all calls for about fifteen minutes then he would like coffee. Is that ok Julie?” and smiled.

And she replied, “thank you Mr Jones and have a good day.” And he smiled at the thought of her entering the study holding the tray with coffee and sugar and milk and some of those shortbread biscuits James liked. Then seeing James with his head lolling to one side with the two holes leaking a bit and realising he was dead. He pictured her screaming and dropping the tray with all the coffee and cream and sugar and biscuits flying all over. Then running through the reception into the street shouting and screaming and crying and all of those thoughts he found almost as satisfying as if he had shot her.

 

The traffic coming out of London was unusually light and it took just about an hour and a half heading into the sun to arrive at Aubrey Place. As expected it was quiet and being remote Mr Jones was confident he would not be seen so felt he could move around freely. Nonetheless he saw no point taking unnecessary chances so parked down the lane a bit. From the boot he picked up a small bag of tools. Finding a gap in the boundary hedging he managed to avoid walking down the driveway and crossed the front lawn.

Looking at the front of the house he saw the alarm box and the phone line snaking down the wall and entering through the window frame to the right of the front door. Being isolated he suspected there would be a remote monitoring service so taking a pair of wire snips from the bag he cut the wire. Then around the side to the kitchen door. Picking the two locks was not difficult although the dead lock took longer than expected. Opening the door he heard the alarm sound and went back to the front corner where he could watch the driveway. After twenty minutes the alarm stopped. He waited a further five minutes then being confident there was no one checking and being sure any monitoring service had not received an alarm activated signal he returned to the back door and went through the laundry room into the pristine kitchen.

He pulled open the fridge door and looked at the well stocked contents and thought, “that old man, that butler he sure keeps a well stocked fridge.” Pulling out a pack of smoked salmon, he checked the date and using a Japanese knife from the counter-top block sliced it open. Then threw the knife so it stuck in the door exactly where he had aimed it and chuckled. The wall cupboards slid along one wall and after a couple he found crackers in a box. Picking out two wholemeal grains and slapping a piece of salmon in between. With the sandwich in his hand he moved through to the sitting room. A long cream and comfortable looking sofa filled one side along the wall. He took a bite of the cracker sandwich and moved past the sofa through to the garden room and to the french doors to the terrace. Clicking off the catches and unlocking the doors he threw them open letting in a cool refreshing breeze. The day was becoming humid and the house stuffy from being shut up. Briefly he stood outside and looked at the pool but just shrugged a sort of not too impressed shrug and went back inside to try and decide where Aubrey Beauchamp would hide something that was valuable.

There were a lot of rooms and he did not know how many bedrooms and attic rooms. He had seen the dormer windows. He discounted the kitchen, that was the butler’s domain and most of the bedrooms and attic rooms and settled on the sitting room, study and maybe any outbuildings. He took another bite with crumbs sprinkling onto the rug in the sitting room and pulled a tissue from his pocket and dabbed his lips.

He moved to the study, opened the door and went to the desk. Then moving around the desk he stood looking out of the window trying to imagine Aubrey Beauchamp sitting there with a handful of papers and looking for somewhere to hide them. Somewhere safe but somewhere that they would be found. He turned around and looked at the large room with the walls full of books, floor to ceiling. Then looked at the desk and the four drawers each side and the long one in the middle and thought not in a drawer. That's a fool’s place and scanned the book shelves and saw the photo albums and heard the loud sound of two cars coming up the long gravel drive with all those stones rattling around the wheel arches.

 

 

“Well that’s about it Guv’nor,” Donny was saying, “this Jones fella came here to the cottage. He’d followed the butler.” Then hearing Lilly shout something about Rome he said, “hang on Guv…..” and he listened to what Lilly was saying, “seems Mrs Beauchamp has remembered something about photos and Rome. That could be it Guv. He could have hidden the documents in the photo album.”

The Guv’nor said, “What about the team I’m setting up Donny? Where shall I send them?”

“To Aubrey Place Guv. This cottage has been blown so there’s no point staying here anyway. We’ll pack up here and head over to the house. Check out the album and hopefully….”

“What about Mr Jones?”

“We’ll have to take our chances with him until the squad arrives. Being surprised is one thing but I can handle him if it’s a face off so we’ll be fine.”

Lilly saw Donny put away his phone and said, “it’s the album of Rome photos Donny, I’m sure of it. Why else would he say that to me? He'd want me to know if he’d hidden something and that’s a good place.”

Donny said, “We’ll head over to your house, it’s not safe here now anyway. Let’s get packed up and we’ll be ready to move about one. Max, I’ll take Lilly. Can you take Gloria and Bobby?”

 

Just after one they were heading through the lanes with the full sun making a glare on the windscreen and heating up the cars. When it was getting too hot inside Donny said, “sorry Lilly this crate’s got no aircon,” and wound down all the windows with the wind starting to blow her hair about. It was about a quarter to two when they pulled into the driveway and threw the stones around going up the drive.

Donny pulled up by the steps with Max behind. Max got out of his car with his keys in his hand and unlocked the front door and swung it wide. He stopped and said, “the alarm isn't buzzing. I’m sure I set it when I left.”

“You positive?” Donny said as he pushed past Max into the long hallway. It was quiet. “The keypad’s flashing. The alarm’s been triggered.”

“You feel that draft,” Max looked towards the sitting room, “the garden room doors are open. The front door being open is pulling the air through the house.”

Donny moved further down the hall with his hand up, slightly behind him waving at Max to stay back. He pulled out his gun. Bobby and Gloria followed  through the door into the start of the hallway. Donny turned and put a finger to his mouth. He wanted quiet. To hear any movement.

The sitting room door was on the left. Checking the room was clear he went through into the garden room. Max went past him but Donny let him go. He was sure Max knew what he was doing.  They were on the terrace. With the awning back the blinding sunshine was stifling the air.

Donny said to Max, “I need to check the other side of the house and upstairs. Get the others and bring them out here.” Max nodded and as they all reached the terrace he had fully extended the awning with its shade cast fully over the table and surrounding area.

 

Hearing the cars Mr Jones moved quickly out of the study, across the hall, through to the sitting room where he could see out of the front bay window. He cursed as he saw Donny’s car closely followed by the butler and moved through the garden room into the garden going down to the far end of the pool. The pool house sat neatly at that end with its own small terrace and sun loungers. Quite a large building, oak framed with a tiled roof and wide tri-fold doors facing the pool. They will check the house first he thought so quickly picking the lock went inside to the far end of the doors where he would be hidden behind the reveal but had a reasonable view towards the house. He saw Max come out first and kind of snarled at the old man and cursed for thinking he had seemed like a doddery old butler. For an old guy he was quick and knew all about that gun. Ex military he thought. It’s the only explanation. That shot….it was deliberately high. He could have picked him off no trouble and would have he was sure but for that other one, the one with the blond girl. He was in the way for a clear shot. Who was he, that other one. Not a copper, that's for sure. No copper would have a hairstyle like that. A friend? Maybe a friend of the old lady. Sweet on the blond though and that made him brave. Uncharacteristically brave, he thought.

He saw Donny come out and the two of them checked around the whole terrace area. He’s good is that copper. Perhaps a touch sloppy for his liking but still good. He wasn’t phased when he had stood in the doorway at that cottage and he gave up the gun without a fuss. He was confident of his ability and Mr Jones thought he would have struggled to get the lady out without a fight. He saw the two of them in conversation and saw Donny move back inside and the three others come out. Then Max winding out the awning. The other guy had his arm around the blond and the old lady went and sat at the table. The detective is checking the rest of the house thinking they will all be safe out there with that old butler. He thought he was right to get out. Any confrontation inside when the detective was alert would be messy and the outcome unpredictable.

He saw movement across an upstairs window. The detective. Then saw the blond and her fella talking and pointing down the garden. The butler was talking with the lady. Why had they come here? he thought. That cottage was not safe anymore, the detective would know that. Why not take them all to a safe location then that detective would be unencumbered to complete a search. Here he had to worry about their safety. The butler and the lady talking, that had meaning. She knew where the documents were hidden. That must be it, he thought. That’s why they’ve all come here. There was no time to take them anywhere knowing he was looking. That detective thought he had to be quick. And he was right. He would have found them in that study somewhere amongst all those books. Those albums, that’s where they were, somewhere with those albums where someone would always look. A book could stay untouched for years but an photo album…. he was sure of that now.

He watched the girl and her fella walk down the side of the pool looking in the water, laughing and talking. They were about three quarters of the way to the pool house when the detective returned and said something to the Butler. Then looked up and seeing the girl and fella beside the pool shouted at them and waved them to go back. The man looked back towards the terrace and the detective shouted again.

Mr Jones came out of the pool house crouched low and moving quickly keeping the couple between him and the detective. He heard the detective shout again and the man waved and was still looking at the terrace. He drew his gun and the girl, hearing his shoes clacking on the poolside slabs, look his way and put her hand over her mouth in surprise as though she was stifling a scream. Then she must have heard the detective shout again because he saw her look round towards the house. She let go of the fella’s hand and turned to start running back to the terrace but he was too quick. He pushed the fella out of the way and grabbed her around the neck pointing the gun at the detective. The man lay sprawled on the floor looking at the back of Mr Jones. Mr Jones saw the butler move to shield the old lady who was sitting at the table with a face drained of blood and a look that said she was too scared to move.

 

Donny had moved quickly through the rest of the downstairs rooms then up the stairs and into each room checking everywhere methodically and professionally. He returned to the terrace after only about ten minutes confident that the house was empty. But he was not relaxed and remained alert. He returned and saw Max talking to Lilly. Max glanced up with a questioning look which Donny replied with a simple it’s all clear nod.

“What are those two doing,” pointing at Bobby and Gloria hand in hand by the pool.

“Gloria wanted to look at the pool and gardens,” replied Max.

“I think we should stay together,” then Donny shouted and waved a come back sort of wave, “Bobby, Bobby,” and Bobby looked up, “Bobby come back.”

Donny saw Mr Jones leave the pool house and he raised his gun but Bobby and Gloria were between him and Mr Jones. He shouted, “Bobby look out, behind you,” but Bobby just looked at him and waved.

Donny saw Gloria look towards the pool house and see Mr Jones. He shouted again. She turned and looked at him with a face full of fear. She started to run towards him but Donny saw Mr Jones push Bobby over and grab Gloria around the neck and point his gun at him.

 

“Stay still,” said Mr Jones in a loud voice full of menace, “don’t make a move. I suspect you know where the documents are. That’s why you’re here after all, isn’t it. We’ll all go and find them while I keep hold of this lovely lady.” He was shuffling Gloria along the poolside towards the terrace. She was struggling a bit but he had a firm, surprisingly strong hold of her. “Stop that wriggling,” he whispered in her ear. “You’ll get hurt.” And she went limp making him half carry her.

“Let her go,” said Donny, “and I’ll get what you want and you can leave. No tricks.”

“Let’s not play those silly games Mr Detective. You will give me what I want anyway so why should I let her go? I’ll have to ask you to drop that gun.” He had almost reached the end of the pool and Donny was about to put the gun down..

Had Mr Jones forgotten about Bobby? No one will ever know. Laying on the ground Bobby watched Mr Jones shuffling towards the terrace talking with Donny holding Gloria tightly. He saw his gun was pointing at Donny and not Gloria and started to stand up. As he stood he made just the slightest sound with his trainer scuffing on the stone slabs. It was enough to alert Mr Jones. Who turned his head. Looked at Bobby and said, “silly man,” as he swung his arm round to point his gun at Bobby. Gloria felt his movement loosen his grip. She kicked out catching Mr Jones’s shin. He drew a sharp breath of pain loosening his grip some more. She ducked, broke his grip and fell to the floor. Without any hesitation Donny fired three shots in quick succession. Bang, bang, bang hitting Mr Jones three times in the chest. The force of the bullets threw him backwards. He swung round and fell headlong over the edge of the pool to float face down in the water in a deepening red swirl.