Twisted

Chapter 13

It was seven p.m. and Reid was sitting up on the platform, Chief Superintendent Douglas beside him, and the briefing room was filled with detectives and uniform officers, some seated and others standing lining the walls, all chatting about the long hard day they’d had.

Douglas spoke in a loud voice. ‘Right, ladies and gentlemen, let’s have a bit of silence now and get this meeting underway so we can all be brought up to speed on the Amy Fulford investigation.’

The room went instantly silent as Douglas indicated for Reid to stand and address the officers.

‘Thank you, sir. Okay, first up, have any of the interviews with neighbours resulted in any useful statements or information we can work on?’

One officer raised his hand and Reid nodded to him to speak up. ‘A neighbour across the road from Mrs Fulford said that there had been considerable activity around the garage and numerous boxes were seen being loaded into the Lexus by Harry Dunn, Mrs Fulford’s driver.’

‘When exactly was this?’ Douglas asked.

‘Earlier today, sir, just after Mrs Fulford returned home from the press conference. The neighbour said the double garage doors were open so he could see everything clearly. The housekeeper Agnes Moors was also present, and they had been packing up boxes and bin bags for some considerable time, before the garage was closed and the Lexus driven off by Dunn.’

‘It’s odd behaviour but well after Amy went missing,’ Reid remarked.

Douglas sighed. ‘It may be something or nothing, DI Reid, but nevertheless needs to be checked.’

‘Yes, sir. Did the neighbour see Mrs Fulford in the garage?’ Reid asked the officer.

‘Only briefly. I did ask him if he knew Mrs Fulford, but he said he had very little to do with her and though polite she was not very friendly. He knew Marcus Fulford moved out two years ago and he had not seen or had any conversation with him since. However, when he was there he was always pleasant and had often chatted to the neighbour. He was unable to give details of regular visitors, or any vehicle regularly parked in the front of the house.’

‘What about Amy? Did the neighbour know her and when did he last see her?’ Douglas asked impatiently.

‘He knew who she was and would say hello if he saw her, but never engaged her in conversation. He last recalled seeing her about two weeks ago getting out of the Lexus in her school uniform.’

Statements from all the neighbours surrounding Mrs Fulford’s property virtually said the same thing. Not one of them was friendly or associated with the family. Basically it was apparent that neither Lena nor Amy made any effort to be neighbourly.

DI Reid listened and like Chief Superintendent Douglas was becoming impatient as nothing appeared to have any important connection to Amy’s disappearance. It was hard to believe how lacking in attention or interest Mrs Fulford’s neighbours could be.

‘Right, what about the team that visited Marcus Fulford’s neighbours? Who was in charge of that?’ Reid asked.

A detective put up his hand. ‘The couple living next to Marcus Fulford knew who Amy was, but were unable to recall ever having a conversation with her. An elderly lady occupying one of the flats below had likewise seen but never spoken to Amy and rarely if ever left the apartment as she was very infirm. She suggested that perhaps the reason for not noticing the comings and goings was that her sitting room was at the back of the property and she always had her TV turned up as she was very deaf.’

The detective’s remark caused some laughter in the room, but Douglas was not amused. ‘Get to the point, officer. Did any resident see Amy Fulford at or near her father’s flat on the Saturday – or Sunday for that matter?’

‘No, sir.’

‘So the house-to-house in Mayfair takes us no further forward either,’ Douglas remarked.

‘Did any of them have anything of interest to say about Marcus Fulford?’ Reid asked, hoping that there would be something positive.

‘Only the man who occupied the flat above, divorced ex-Guards officer who said he knew Marcus reasonably well as he had been on very good terms with Simon Boatly, the owner of the flat. He described Boatly as from a wealthy aristocratic family and was eager to give some rather lurid details about Mr Boatly and the “lovely girlies” he often had coming and going…’

‘What exactly did he mean by “lovely girlies”?’ Reid asked.

‘He was sort of non-committal at first, but when I pressed him he suggested that Boatly may have paid for their company.’

‘You mean prostitutes,’ Douglas said in a blunt manner.

‘Yes, sir, but from the description maybe more like high-class call girls,’ the officer said.

Douglas shook his head in bafflement. ‘They’re still prostitutes, Detective.’

The detective then generated a few laughs, even from Douglas, when he mimicked the gentleman’s posh army accent: ‘Absolutely gorgeous totty, old chap. Dear Simon’s a bit of a party animal and I must say I wouldn’t have minded a bit of the action on manoeuvres myself, but I never even got a bloody invite!’

‘Did he say anything about Amy?’ asked Douglas, bringing the laughter to a stop.

‘He recalled meeting Amy on the stairs a few months ago when she was with her father. At first he wondered if Marcus had the same predilection as Boatly for young girls, but Marcus introduced her and he discovered she was his daughter.’

Reid looked around and then they moved on to Detective Wey. He had been assigned to examine Marcus Fulford’s finances.

‘Marcus Fulford is bankrupt and running up quite extensive debts. He was paying Simon Boatly rent every month by direct debit, but he’s currently behind by six months. His previous business ventures appear to have been financed mostly by his wife and have been a litany of failures. He’s been surviving on benefits for the last eight months.’

‘Other than the location of the Mayfair premises there were no signs of luxurious living in the flat,’ Reid added.

DC Wey continued. ‘I also spoke with Mr Jacob Lyons, a very expensive and renowned divorce lawyer, who is representing Marcus. He wasn’t very helpful, underlining client confidentiality as the reason for not disclosing many details about his fees and how Mr Fulford paid. He did say Marcus would be asking for alimony, plus a share in the sale of the Richmond property which is in both their names, so maybe the fees will come out of that.’

‘Usually it’s the wife who would attempt to gain a secure financial settlement, but nowadays equality reigns,’ Douglas said as if having some personal experience of such matters.

Reid asked Wey what Lena’s divorce lawyer had to say and he described Mr Henshaw as a completely different type of man to Lyons.

‘He was a gentleman, and although mindful of client confidentiality, intimated that the divorce was not as amicable as had been implied to us by the Fulfords. Marcus Fulford wants a substantial settlement of half the value of the house and a big monthly alimony payment. As yet no settlement has been agreed, but if Marcus gets what he wants he’ll never have to work or claim benefits again.’

‘Were they both telling the truth about the time and place of the meeting?’ Reid asked.

Wey nodded and said that both Henshaw and Lyons confirmed the fact, but Henshaw added the meeting ended acrimoniously shortly before lunch.

‘Okay, moving on, what do we know about Mrs Fulford’s bank and business accounts?’

DS Lane spoke next. He had been through lengthy Customs House papers, bank statements, and business transactions as well as speaking to an accountant, who was very helpful ‘off the record’. His last comment seemed to please Douglas who smiled as he was an ‘old school’ type of police officer, who was happy to cut corners where necessary.

‘On paper she’s in a very strong financial position, however, the numerous different companies are at present in reality robbing Peter to pay Paul, but once the dust has settled on Kiddy Winks she stands to make huge profits.’

‘How much?’ Douglas asked.

‘Millions… which may explain why Marcus wants a big payoff, but if the new venture fails she could, within six months, be in a critical situation financially as her outgoings are high. To maintain supplies for her cottage industry endeavours requires a number of staff and she owns two small vans and has drivers who make the deliveries and collections, not to mention sales assistants and a receptionist.’

‘Does that leave much in her business account?’ Reid asked.

‘Currently just over quarter of a million, but this fluctuates because of the salaries and rents due, and she has to pay in advance for orders. She pays herself a monthly salary of ten grand from the business into her own private account, which currently has a hundred and twenty thousand in it, and from this she pays the domestic staff’s monthly salaries and all the household bills.’

‘What about the house in Richmond?’ Wey asked.

Lane shrugged his shoulders. ‘It appears Marcus has never paid a penny towards it, even though it’s in both their names. The accountant remarked that the Fulfords were not exactly War of the Roses but might possibly be in rehearsal for it.’

There was some laughter round the room then Reid asked about Amy Fulford’s financial situation and DS Lane said that he had checked into it. ‘She’s in far better shape than her father, with ninety thousand in a trust account and five thousand in a current account.’

There were a few gasps, whistles and remarks around the room that such a young girl should have so much money, but DS Lane explained that the trust fund had been left in a will by Mrs Fulford’s father and could not to be touched until she was twenty-one. Her current bank account was topped up monthly with five hundred pounds on direct debit by her mother. Most significantly, and alarmingly, there had been no movement in Amy’s current account since her disappearance, but she had made a couple of substantial payments to her father. One, six months ago, for two thousand, and another more recent for one thousand.

Reid drummed his fingers on the tabletop. ‘Any details of wills made by Mr or Mrs Fulford in respect of who the beneficiaries would be for the house and business?’

Lane nodded. ‘Mr Henshaw’s company drew up a will for Mrs Fulford that stated the contents, house and assets all go to Amy should she die, and nothing was left to Marcus.’

‘But if Amy was deceased, also Lena, Daddy could get the lot… could be a motive?’ Reid added, and there were nods of agreement round the room.

Next it was the turn of the officers who had made enquiries along the Fulham Road, at Fulham Broadway Tube station and the bus depot. Due to the football match at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium, extra buses had been laid on. They had questioned drivers around the time it was believed Amy might have caught a bus, but no one was able to identify her from the photographs. CCTV from all the buses and Tube station entrances had been seized and was still being viewed, but as yet there were no sightings of Amy. They had also seized CCTV from various shops along Amy’s possible route, but none of the shop owners could recall her.

Barbara Burrows raised her hand and announced that there was one possible sighting she had discovered from her enquiries. Everyone sat up to listen with interest.

‘It’s from a security camera from a private house at the end of Harwood Road and taken on the Saturday afternoon Amy went missing. It being close to Fulham Road and the football ground, drunken fans going to or leaving a match sometimes cause damage to cars parked in the residents’ bays outside their houses, and some cars have been broken into. They installed the camera facing towards the street and their Mercedes as a security measure and to identify the culprits.’

Reid leaned forward impatiently. ‘Good work, but is it ready for us to see, Barbara?’ he asked brusquely.

‘Yes, sir,’ she said and all eyes turned to the screen as Barbara inserted the disc into the DVD player.

Although the picture was colour it was poor-quality and a rather grainy image appeared on the large screen. Numerous groups of men wearing bobble hats and scarves were seen passing by on their way to the match. Eventually a slim young girl came into shot and the room fell silent as Barbara hit pause. It was almost too good to be true as the girl stopped right beside the Mercedes and everyone in the room agreed it was Amy Fulford. Now they could see exactly what she was wearing on top of the maroon jumper. It was a bomber jacket in dark leather with a mock fur collar. She wore a mini-skirt, not leggings as they had first believed, and knee-high boots. It was obvious that she must have changed again before leaving the Newmans’ house. Her head was bent down and it looked as if she was texting someone on her mobile. She also had a small shoulder bag and as Barbara pressed play they watched as she put the mobile into her bag and zipped it closed. Suddenly there was a clear shot of her face as she tossed her long blonde hair back, before continuing on her way out of camera shot.

Reid asked Barbara to play the footage again and commented that it was a very important sighting, which they could run on Crime Night and which might produce fresh witnesses.

Another group of officers had been assigned to seize and view CCTV from around Marble Arch and Park Lane. Numerous CCTV and top-level security cameras were positioned in this prestigious area, such as by the Dorchester, the Grosvenor and Marriott hotels and the exclusive car sales garages. There was the possibility Amy had caught a bus as far as Park Lane and then walked to Green Street, but as yet they had not discovered any footage or found anyone who recalled seeing her.

It had been a long day for everyone, and most of them had been on foot for nearly all of it. Reid stood up and said he had made some developments that made for uncomfortable hearing but might possibly shed a different light on the inquiry. According to all the statements from family and staff, their missing girl was described as shy, studious, very naïve and a model teenager with no hang-ups or boyfriends. Reid now elaborated on what had come to light in Marcus Fulford’s flat, from the pornographic videos and magazines to the unpleasant peephole into her father’s bedroom.

The possibility that their missing girl was sexually active, or even being sexually abused, could no longer be ignored.