Incident by the A1081 (eBook)

Chapter 2

Nicole Benson’s flat, London

Nicole’s flat was on the second floor of a small apartment building. By the time Roy and Townsend arrived there, a police car had been stationed on the street, and there was a constable checking to make sure that only legitimate residents and visitors were able to gain access to the building. Some of the residents, carrying groceries or pushing babies in strollers, did not seem enthused about having to prove the legitimacy of their presence to the police, one or two even complaining about having to ‘produce our papers’. That was to be expected, as the police well knew. A white-coloured van, which Roy recognized as a forensics van, was parked near the police car.

Roy arrived in the police car, trying to make his presence as unobtrusive as he possibly could. The constable outside gave his credentials a quick glance and let him through. The building itself was unremarkable. It was on a crescent type of street, affording a modicum of seclusion to its residents.

Inside, one could see that the building was well-maintained and had that upmarket look. Walking to the flat, they found the door open. A forensics expert from the police lab, covered in white overalls, gloves, and face mask, was working with a black light, trying to determine if there was any blood residue anywhere.

He spoke up when he saw Roy.

“No blood anywhere in here. Looks undisturbed as far as I can tell.”

Roy nodded. He had on his latex gloves, as did Townsend. He looked around at the flat.

It was a small, one-bedroom flat. The living room and kitchen were designed as an open concept. A plasma TV was prominent, its location such that one could watch from the kitchen while working. A two-seat sofa and a couple of chairs were placed on a rug. The TV was mounted over an electric fireplace. On the mantlepiece were photographs that Roy surmised as Nicole with her brother Andrew, her father, and her mother. There were a couple of other photographs showing Nicole with some friends, most likely from college.

Roy moved to the bedroom. There was a double bed with a wood frame. It was well-kept, the sheets made up in the manner one sees in a hotel. Beside the bed was a night stand, with a small reading lamp. There was a chest of drawers, small enough that it fit in a corner of the bedroom.

Roy went through the night stand and the clothes drawers. There was nothing noteworthy. He moved to the bathroom. On the sink counter was a bottle of paracetamol. A couple of bracelets were placed to one side, stacked on top of each other.

The closet contained a mixture of formal clothes, jeans, T-shirts, and shorts and a mixture of shoes that included running shoes, hikers, stiletto heels, and the like. All of this was neatly arranged. The kind of wardrobe one would expect of a young woman.

“There’s nothing to see here,” Roy agreed.

“She seems to have been a very tidy person,” remarked Townsend.

The living room and kitchen were meticulously kept. Beside the television was a small desk. On one side of the desk was a small storage unit with two drawers. The drawers contained a couple of external hard drives, some CDs that had been written on with a permanent marker, and other assorted items. Roy asked the forensics tech to bag the items. On the desk there was a diary. Roy picked it up and quickly leafed through it. It looked to be more of an appointment reminder, with some notes on the margin. This was bagged as evidence.

“I don’t see that anything happened here. It looks undisturbed, as you said earlier,” Roy remarked to the forensics tech.

“I’ll take this to the lab,” said the tech. “It may take a while to look at the CDs and the hard drives, especially if there’s encryption.”

“Get me a status as soon as you can,” directed Roy, as he concluded his search.

“Keep the tape and notice on,” Roy instructed the constable, “we may need to get in there again.”

“The landlord was asking about when the flat would be available to rent again,” queried the constable.

“Once we are done with it. Ask him to put a claim for lost rent. At the moment, I don’t have an answer for him,” replied Roy.

“I didn’t see a laptop or computer in the apartment. Looks like the one we found in Barnet is the only one she was using,” he remarked to Townsend.

“That was a nice flat. This neighbourhood is pricey as well. Looks like a young lady that had a whole life ahead of her,” said Townsend.

“Interrupted tragically,” retorted Roy.

Office of William Roy, Victoria Embankment

Once in his office, Roy opened the safe meant for storing his firearm and deposited his Sig. He had just closed it when Townsend and Gilmour walked in.

Roy had asked Gilmour to be present for the initial assessment. His knowledge of the neighbourhood and the victims could prove significant.

“What do we know about Rick Benson?” Roy asked Gilmour.

“He was a well-known lawyer. Comes from a rich family. Handled mainly criminal defense, though sometimes some civil matters as well. He’s had some high-profile cases over the years, and he’s had a very high success rate. Well-to-do, as you can imagine. He’s well-connected politically as well. Donated quite regularly to local causes.”

“Was he active politically?”

“I wouldn’t say politically active. He got involved in causes that he believed in.”

“Anything particularly controversial in his beliefs or his support?” inquired Roy further.

“I don’t recall anything controversial. His biggest cause was the reform of the criminal justice system, especially where youth are concerned,” replied Gilmour.

“If he wasn’t a political partisan, it’s hard to imagine that this is a political assassination. Anything like a feud or vendetta that may have resulted in today?”

“Not that we know of. Then again, dealing with these criminal types, you can never say. But not something that was out in the open.”

“Any problems with his clients or in his personal life?”

“Well, there was the divorce. I believe there was some lingering bad feeling. One other thing I can think of is his car accident. He hit a cyclist some time ago. This happened near Windsor. It looks like the cyclist was injured and required hospitalization. The criminal case against Benson for DWI [driving while impaired] was dismissed due to a technicality, and later there was some kind of civil settlement. There could be some bad blood remaining.”

Roy nodded.

“Have you contacted the ex-wife?” he asked.

“Yes, we have. Her name is Stacy, maiden name Morgan. Moved to Clapham after the divorce.”

“How is she doing?”

“She’s very shaken. Still in a state of shock. We contacted her earlier and dissuaded her from coming to the crime scene.”

“Well, we will need to get a statement. The sooner the better.”

“She has agreed to meet with us tomorrow morning. She’s in no shape at the moment.”

“As a starting point we will need to find out more about the business dealings of the victims. We need to go through the Mr. Benson’s papers, get a list of current clients and clients in the past who may have had a grudge or at least some disagreement.”

The files and papers from Benson’s study were a mix of financial papers, appointments, meeting details, and client information. Roy knew it would take a while to go through all the material and then discern what was relevant. Despite Rick Benson being a successful lawyer, it was quite likely there would be a few clients who were not satisfied with the justice they had received.

Roy’s mobile rang sharply; it was Alicia Bowman.

“Roy,” said Bowman, “I was calling to find out how you are proceeding so far.”

“We’ve released the bodies. Forensics has completed the collection of evidence. Nothing to identify the assailant or assailants so far. At the moment, I am going over some of the material we have collected.”

“And you have all the warrants and manpower you need?”

“Yes. That has been taken care of. Of course, we are aware of the client confidentiality issues and I’m expecting a court overseer. We won’t be looking at any of the client files without authorization. At the moment, we are planning to look at public records and the evidence from the crime scene.”

“Very good. I would like you to come to my office tomorrow morning. We will discuss the details personally. Incidentally, there is another matter that I need you working on.”

“We have an appointment with the ex-wife tomorrow, mid-morning.”

“Ok, let’s meet at 7 o’clock at my office then. Sorry, Roy, this just came up, and it’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of matter. We need you to put on your CTC [Counter Terrorism Command, Roy’s previous assignment] hat for this.”

“7 o’clock is good. I’ll be there,” he affirmed and hung up.

He knew that Alicia Bowman was an early riser and, on many days, could be found in her office at the crack of dawn. He wasn’t surprised with the suggestion.

“Thanks, Sergeant,” he addressed Gilmour, “as you heard, I have a meeting with DCP Bowman tomorrow morning. If you can arrange to meet Ms. Morgan at 10 o’clock, that would fit in nicely. Is it Ms. Morgan, by the way?”

“That’s correct. She’s using her maiden-name. Never really changed it.”

“In the meantime, I would like background...