At the end of the interview, Swan thanked the Frenchman for his time, waiting for him to go out of the room, then shook his head to Morris, indicating that after hearing of the way that the Nazis had treated him, it was unlikely, that Lempiere would be a suspect.
Colin Denning then entered, was directed to a chair, and gave his account of the events, Swan listened carefully, as Denning told him that he was responsible for the closure of the blast doors, informing the men, he remembered Powell walking down to the Gantry with the team, mentioning him carrying his clipboard, but as he was ordered to close the doors by the Firing Officer, he had assumed that he had walked back up to the Control Block, having carried out his safety checks on the rocket.
Swan questioned Denning on who else had been in the Blockhouse with him.
Denning explained. ‘Because of the excitement regarding the test, Mr Swan, and everyone wearing their protective suits, including hoods on their heads, it was difficult to tell who was who.’
Swan then dismissed Denning, and again gestured to Morris that he should also be omitted. He sighed. ‘This is not going to be easy, Ian. Especially when we now know, that every member of the Blockhouse team, were covered head to foot in their suits.’
Morris waved his pen in front of him, nodding in agreement.
Swan called for the next witness. Tom Hampton strode in and sat down. Swan introduced himself and DS Morris, then began. ‘Mr Hampton, please could you start by telling me what your responsibilities are here?’
Hampton relaxed, then in his thick Scottish accent he replied, ‘I’m generally responsible for monitoring the rocket’s internal temperatures, during firing.
‘And is that what you did during this test?’
‘Aye, Mr Swan. I sat at Station Two, and watched the temperature gauges for each engine.’
Swan nodded appreciatively. ‘Now, take yourself back to the events, prior to the test. What were your movements, before entering the Blockhouse?’
Hampton thought for a few moments. ‘I was walking down to the Gantry, with Mr Patterson and Mr Baxter. We were all saying, how we were desperate for a smoke, but obviously, with the Black Arrow now fully fuelled for the test, there was no chance of that. Anyway, we just walked straight into the Blockhouse, and took up to our stations.’
‘Okay, did you happen to see Mr Powell, at any point, prior to the test?’ ‘
‘Aye, I remember waiting at the entrance to the Blockhouse for a few minutes, and saw Mr Powell walking down the ramp from the Control Room, talking to Mr Gruber.’
‘And is that the last time you saw him?’
‘Aye, it was, God rest his wee soul.’
Swan thanked him for his time, shook his hand and watched the big man exit the room, then turned to Morris. ‘Well Ian, that all fits in with what the others said, so I think that we’re none the wiser at the moment. Let’s see if Mr Baxter, can tell us anything that we don’t already know.’
Paul Baxter, knocked on the Firing Officer’s door, and Swan invited him in. ‘Thank you for coming, Mr Baxter. Please sit down.’
Swan asked his questions and Morris listened intently to Baxter’s answers, recording them on his notepad. The Detective Sergeant, started thinking to himself. This enquiry was not going well, almost all witnesses had been interviewed, and their stories all seemed to tally up. There was no fresh evidence to go on, and it was feeling like they were getting nowhere.
He wondered if his boss was here, what would have been going through Dugdale’s mind about all this? Would he have been more forceful with the witnesses?
Swan was just bringing the interview to a close. ‘One more question, Mr Baxter. You said that you were looking through the Gantry observation window at the time of the countdown?’
Baxter looked at Swan directly. ‘Yes, I was, Mr Swan.’
‘Did you see anyone outside?’
Baxter looked oddly at the SID man. ‘Well, no there wouldn’t be would there? Not during a test firing. Everyone would be secure in the Blockhouse, and the sirens sound every two minutes up to the firing, warning the personnel to get underground. It’s all on an automatic timer, we just follow the procedures for the test.’
‘Of course,’ agreed Swan. ‘Sorry, just one more question. Do you recall seeing Mr Gruber inside the Blockhouse, at any point during the test?’
Baxter thought for a few seconds. ‘I think he was there. He’s responsible for monitoring the fuel mixing, so he must have been there.’
Swan then snapped back at him. ‘But you only think that you saw him? You can’t be more certain than this?’
Baxter shrugged. ‘Sorry, Mr Swan. We all had our hoods on and everyone has their own responsibilities, so I can’t really be sure.’
A few minutes later, Swan dismissed the site’s fuelling supervisor, shaking his head at Morris to indicate that Baxter could also be ruled out.
He then rose from the chair. ‘I don’t know about you, Ian, but I could do with some coffee.’
Morris smiled. ‘Me too, Alex. This has been thirsty work.’
Swan sighed. ‘In that case, we’ll have a break for coffee, then see our Mr Gruber.’
Swan exited the room, walked down the corridor and noticed Loretta Wilkins typing as he approached.
She looked up from the typewriter and smiled at him. ‘Hello, Mr Swan. What can I do for you, sir?’
Swan smiled at her. ‘Sorry to disturb you, Miss Wilkins, I was wondering, if it would be possible to have some coffee brought through to us?’
Loretta moved in her chair. ‘Of course, Mr Swan. Would you like anything else? I have brought in one of my mum’s homemade coffee and walnut cakes. It’s Mr Hallett’s favourite, and there should still be some left, providing this lot haven’t scoffed it, all already.’
Swan smiled.
‘Yes, that would be nice, I do feel a bit peckish, and I’m sure, Mr Morris does too.’
Chapter 17
Inside the Incident Room at Battersea Bridge Road Police Station, Arthur Gable stared at the blackboard, having since added some more items to it. He looked over at Whittaker.
‘I don’t know Fred, this all sounds a bit fishy. We know Ruger met with Kappelman, sometime after he left the conference at the Science Museum, and as we’ve already checked with the taxis, I think that we can assume that he must have got the number 19 bus, from South Kensington, which stops at the bus garage directly opposite Battersea Church Road, where Kappelman lived. Now the question is, did these two men follow him from the museum, or were they already waiting for him at Kappelman’s residence? We already know, he was either chased down to the river, or was taken there by these two men under duress. In which case, it would have been the ideal place to question him, as Alex suggested, kill him and then dump his body.’
Whittaker nodded. ‘You may be right, Arthur. The low-lying mud would keep a man’s body covered for ages. So, what are you getting at?’
Gable took his chalk and gestured to the board. ‘Well, what we need to establish now, is why both Ruger and Kappelman were targets?’ He shook his head. ‘There’s still something, we’re missing.’
Whittaker glanced at the board and raised his hand. ‘Hang on Arthur, the word you just used, target? You don’t suppose that this could have been a professional hit, so to speak? Is it possible these chaps were just the trigger, and someone else was behind it?’
Gable reached for his packet of cigarettes. ‘You know Fred, I think you might just have something, there.’