Chapter 24 #2
“That’s right, Chief. BH 874. Made it easy for the county to look it up. It’s a Jowett. As for the owner, they confirmed what Miss Sutcliffe guessed, it’s Vaughn’s.”
“Vaughn’s! No surprise, really. He’s known to have been hanging about Cherry Trees, first to sell it, then to try for news of Mrs. Gray.”
“DC Pennicuik talked to some of the neighbours again, and managed to get a bit more out of them than they’d offered to the uniformed officers.”
“Well done.” Alec’s nod of approbation turned the young detective’s ears bright red.
Ernie Piper, not so many years his senior but much more experienced, resumed his report.
“Several of them had noticed the car parked outside Cherry Trees for extended periods, longer than the business of selling the house would account for. One had seen it a couple of times, in the evening, driving up the street, slowing in front of the house, then dashing on. She thought it was driven by a woman. Right, Pennicuik?”
“That’s it, Sarge. She was pretty certain.”
“The Jowett is actually registered to Myra Vaughn, Chief, not her husband.”
“Is it, indeed. What, if anything, do we know about her?”
“Only what Mr. Underwood found out from Vaughn’s employer, Mr. Langridge.
She’s older than he is and she’s the one with the money.
The car is available to Vaughn when needed to show a property to a client, which is not often as most of their business is in High Wycombe.
Mr. Langridge hasn’t met her, though he hired Vaughn on the recommendation of her brother, a highly respected local accountant. ”
“That would be the partner in Miss Chandler’s firm, correct? What’s his name?”
Ernie, as always, had the information at his fingertips—or rather, on the tip of his tongue as he didn’t have to consult the notes in front of him. “Mr. Spencer, of Spencer, Mott, and Davis. Davis is the partner Miss Chandler answers to.”
“So the inspector talked to Davis?”
“Yes, Chief, but you’re getting ahead of me.”
“Sorry. Do it your way or we might miss out something vital.”
“DI Underwood asked Mr. Langridge whether Vaughn was a satisfactory employee. Langridge said, on the whole, yes. Mr. Underwood thought he was being evasive and pressed a bit, but he wouldn’t say any more except that Vaughn is very good at hooking buyers and tenants, which is, after all, their business. ”
“What sort—” Alec paused, as the inspector returned.
“I got through right away,” he grumbled, “only to find Mr. Parry’s gone to a meeting in Aylesbury. At least he can’t say I didn’t try. What were you asking?”
“Piper said you thought Langridge wasn’t telling the whole story about Vaughn. I wondered what kind of man he is?”
“Hail-fellow-well-met. I should think he was good at the business in his time but he’s now too stout to budge from behind his desk without much huffing and puffing.
In fact, while I was there, his secretary brought in a paper that urgently needed signing, and simply leaning far enough forward to put his name to it was a hard job of work. ”
Langridge sounded like an easy job for Tom Tring, Alec thought. He and his missus could go in with vague enquiries about looking for a place in the country and move on to the shortcomings of the younger generation. “He refused to explain his reservations about Vaughn?”
“I didn’t push it. We can always go back.
But as it happens, I got a clue to Vaughn’s failings at Miss Chandler’s firm.
I talked to her boss, Mr. Davis. He speaks very highly of her, incidentally.
They wouldn’t have hired her if she hadn’t had an excellent reference from the partner in Yorkshire who encouraged her to qualify as an accountant. ”
“Did Davis say why her previous boss didn’t keep her on?”
“He couldn’t talk his partner into it. Partly because she’d started there in a lowly position so he didn’t think she’d have the authority, partly just what Davis described as typical Northern stick-in-the-muddishness, just as the ladies told us.
Mind you, I gather Davis had trouble with his own partners, but he persuaded them it was the forward-looking, go-ahead way to get a march on their competitors. Full of clichés, our Mr. Davis.”
Alec and Ernie Piper laughed. Pennicuik ventured a tentative smile.
“And what did he have to say about Vaughn?” Alec asked.
“Nothing direct, though I was pretty direct with him, given Miss Chandler’s hints of a connection.
He admitted that Langridge is a client, who’s presently having his books audited.
He wouldn’t confirm that Miss Chandler is handling the audit, nor that Langridge requested the audit because he suspects the books have been cooked. ”
“They’re trying to keep Vaughn in the dark,” Ernie suggested.
“That’s how it looks to me,” Underwood agreed. “Maybe trying to keep his wife’s brother in the dark, as well. Assuming he’s been cooking up the books, could Mrs. Gray have found out?”
“You’re thinking blackmail?” Alec suggested. “Conceivable, though I can’t imagine how she’d have found out.”
“It might’ve been obvious, Chief, from what he said when they talked about the price of the house. I don’t know how it’d work but if he’s skimming a bit off the top … Miss Chandler’s the one to ask.”
“If she’ll answer. I’m more inclined to consider an affair gone wrong. You haven’t interviewed him yet, I take it, Inspector.”
“No, sir. His work is the perfect excuse to keep out of our way. His wife was out, too, when I called at their house. I left a note with the maid setting an appointment for six this evening. I hope you’ll join me. Unless you’d rather do it yourself?”
“No, the two of us should impress him with the necessity of cooperation. What about Mrs. Vaughn? We’ll need to talk to her, as well.”
“I hope she’ll be there. If not, we’ll have to catch her tomorrow. But if he doesn’t turn up, we’ll find him one way or another and bring him into the station. We need to have a chat with Mr. Vaughn.”
“Good enough. Which leaves Cartwright.”
“How about all four of us waiting at the school gate when the children get out?” Underwood grinned. “I don’t mind giving the slimy bastard a bit of a scare.”
“It’s an attractive thought.” Alec considered. “But on the whole, better not. We don’t want all the children hanging about asking questions. If we lurk behind the yews in the graveyard, we can watch the school until they have left, and then go in.”