‘Thank you very much,’ said Vogel. ‘That would be most helpful.’
He meant it too. Although the privacy he had promised Bella Fairbrother comprised only the rather austere station interview room.
Wellington police station, an unprepossessing concrete building dating back to the 1950s, was now the on-the-spot headquarters of the investigation, and thirty or so of the fifty officers promised by Hemmings, under the MCIT umbrella, were now working out of the station. They were never all there at the same time, of course, but there was still not a lot of room. And the station’s regular staff, three uniformed constables and five police community service officers, were not impressed at being effectively squeezed out of their usual work space. Half the time there wasn’t room for them to park their cars in the station’s small car park, or even in the road outside.
Photographs and charts continued to be collated and arranged on every available wall, but the main work was undertaken by the officers working on their own laptops, linked to the Police National Computer. It was a full-time job for the officer in charge to keep up with it all. And much as Vogel was a hands-on copper who liked to get out and about far more than most of his rank, it was indeed a great help that Bella Fairbrother was coming to him that morning and he did not have to go to her.
He was studying the various reports and interviews recorded by other members of the team when Karen Crow called.
‘I know it’s only a formality, but I thought you might like to know that we have now officially identified Sir John Fairbrother through his dental records,’ the pathologist told him. ‘We’re just waiting now for the nurse’s dental records to come through from the Philippines, and then, from our point of view, the case will be closed. The condition of the bodies is such that there really is nothing more we can do.’
Vogel thanked her and returned his attention to his laptop. It was a shame, but everything Karen Crow had said was only what he had already assumed. There was no way pathology could be expected to offer any further help to the investigation from the examination of the victims of such a catastrophic fire.
Bella Fairbrother was as good as her word. She pulled her little Mercedes to a halt in the road outside less than forty minutes after she and Vogel had spoken on the phone.
Vogel happened to glance out of a convenient window just as she arrived. He watched her climb out of the car and walk briskly towards the station door. She still had the confident swagger about her which he’d noticed when he first met her at the Mount Somerset. In Vogel’s experience that was almost inevitable in those who enjoyed both considerable wealth and extensive power.
The front office was not manned that day. Vogel walked swiftly through and opened the station door for her. She looked mildly surprised. Vogel liked surprising people.
He ushered her straight into the interview room, gesturing for her to sit down to the side of the desk which was the main piece of furniture. There was recording equipment in the little room, but Vogel would not be using it as this wasn’t a formal interview. Vogel sat down opposite her. They were quickly joined by Dawn Saslow, who took the third chair.
Vogel politely thanked Bella for coming.
‘I really need to go over a few things with you, and then Dawn will take that statement,’ he began.
Bella nodded her assent.
‘There have been some developments which you may or may not know about,’ Vogel continued. ‘Are you aware that George Grey, your father’s employee who was injured on the night of the fire, has walked out of the Musgrove hospital where he was being treated and that we have so far been unable to locate him?’
‘Yes, I do know about that,’ assented Bella. ‘I saw it on the regional news last night. He was described as someone the police believe could help them with their enquiries. I took it to mean you thought he might have started the fire, or at least been involved in some way. Is that so, DI Vogel?’
‘It is far too early to make any such assumption, Miss Fairbrother,’ replied Vogel. ‘We are still investigating and accumulating evidence. But we certainly regard George Grey as a person of interest, and we need to find him and talk to him as a matter of some urgency. I wondered what you could tell me about Mr Grey and his wife?’
‘Me?’ queried Bella, sounding surprised. ‘Why would I know anything about them? I’ve never even met the Greys.’
‘Never?’ queried Vogel.
‘Never. I told you, DI Vogel, I’ve been estranged from my father for over a year. And whilst I have encountered him once or twice in the City, which would be almost inevitable, I haven’t been back to Blackdown during that time. I doubt he’d have let me through the door if I had turned up here. And, actually, it was some months before that when I was last here. The Kivels were still employed then, still living in The Gatehouse. Everything seemed normal and appeared to be how it had always been. I had no idea that my father was planning to get rid of them after all those years and move in the Greys. If indeed he was planning it. It could have been some spur of the moment thing. It was just like my father to make some sort of snap decision for reasons which he would probably not disclose to anyone. He wasn’t a man who thought he had to give reasons for anything he did. He always did exactly what he wanted, and hang the rest of the world.’
Vogel found himself blinking away behind his spectacles. Bella Fairbrother’s apparent display of emotion over the phone earlier had clearly been temporary. Her attitude to her father had definitely not softened.
‘So, you had no idea why he sacked the Kivels?’ he continued doggedly.
‘No idea at all.’
‘People locally seem to think the sacking was in some way connected with his illness,’ said Vogel. ‘Do you think that might be the case?’
‘Like I told you, I really wouldn’t know. You may find this hard to believe, but I didn’t even know he was ill until after the board had been told. They naturally assumed I knew, of course. My father eventually got his solicitor to tell me. His solicitor! Even harder to believe, don’t you think?’
‘Did you not then try to get in touch with him directly?’
‘Yes. I phoned several times. Each time I got his message service, and he never called back.’
‘Did you ever consider just coming to see him?’
‘Mr Vogel, I didn’t even know for sure where my father was. And in any case, he had made it quite clear he wanted nothing more to do with me. I wasn’t going to beg.’
Vogel certainly believed that last remark. He could not imagine Bella Fairbrother begging anyone for anything.
‘Were you told what your father was suffering from, and just how ill he was?’ Vogel asked.
‘Oh yes,’ replied Bella. ‘I was also told that my father was hoping to live for at least a year or two more, and that the drugs he was taking were making it possible for him to continue to function in business. But that he wanted me to know that he had made every provision for the continuation of the bank, and a private provision for me from his personal fortune.’
‘What did you make of that?’
‘What I made of that, Mr Vogel, was that my father had decided to cut me out of the bank and do his best to make sure I had nothing more to do with it. A private provision from his personal fortune, indeed. I have never wanted his damned money, detective inspector. Nor have I ever needed it. I have demonstrated again and again that I can succeed at the highest level in the world of commerce, without him or anyone else propping me up.’
Vogel stared at her in silence for a few seconds. This was a formidable woman, all right. Even when she was sitting down Bella Fairbrother sat up so straight that she looked tall. Everyone understood about walking tall. Bella Fairbrother, although of average height, sat tall. And she had a way of making everyone around her feel rather on the small side. Even Vogel, who was comfortably over six foot.