Chapter 6

Back in our office I told her that it was her show now. I stressed that she had the knowledge and had to get the confidence if she wanted to move up in the force. I reminded her that she was ahead of most officers by being on good terms with her Chief Super and also on a first name basis with the AC, even if his first name was Sir.

I told her that what we wanted now, was any video from businesses in Skegness, between the Tesco and the Fairy Dell. She would need to go back out and talk to shop owners between the two places. We knew what we were looking for, now we had good pictures of the van, as well as a solid window, between ten twenty and midnight. She gathered up her things and made sure she had everything on her belt that she should have and was off to do serious detecting.

While she was away, I connected the hard drive to the computer and downloaded the inside and outside sequences we needed. A bit later, Strachan put his head in the door and asked where Cathy was.

“I’ve sent her out to get security video, if there’s any still left, of the night of the murder, sir. We now have something else to add, next time we have a meeting and she’s looking for the final nail in Beyers’ coffin.”

“Show me, now.”

He closed the door and pulled a chair up next to me as I explained what he was about to see, showing him the outside view first, from the time the Rover pulled up, to the time the van pulled away. I pointed at the item left behind and showed him the evidence bag with the keys.

“Bernice had the Rover from the yard. It was left in the Tesco carpark, and we had it in the pound until the caryard paid to get it out. It’s still at the car yard and I’ve told them not to touch it as we’ll be coming by for it.”

I then showed him the interior sequence which clearly identified Bernice and, now I had a chance to see it quietly, also showed Beyer in full-face.

Strachan breathed, “Got the bastard!”

“I think so, sir. We will need to set up the arrests, so no-one gets spooked. We also need to raid his house and search it to see if we find the other finger, or anything else that will incriminate him. The van should yield some proof that Bernice was in the back. Oh, and we also have to find where they got the drug, that’s something usually held by vets but there’s a lot on the black market. These days.”

“Exactly, there’s a bit of detail to go. Tell me, Polly, do you think that Cathy can be as good as you at this stuff?”

“Sir, Cathy has had the proverbial epiphany in the last few days. Previously, she was working in a job that paid her a wage. She has taken the bit with this one and is fast on her way to being a crime fighter. She’s shown good aptitude with the things I’ve asked her to do, and, by the time we wind this up, she’ll be showing me a thing or two after I’ve taken her through all the searches I’ve done, so that she can be the one on the stand, giving evidence. With something this big, the last thing you want is a civilian contractor laying it all out and getting pilloried by the press.”

“Quite so. When she gets back, give me a call and I’ll get the team together, again.”

“Will do, sir.

After he left me, I went through my notes to see what Cathy would have to find for herself. It would, I expect, take a week. I sat and thought about my future. Here I was, doing real police work, again. It was exciting, it was fulfilling, and it was making me use my brain in a way the PI business didn’t. It would be nice to continue this, but I expect that I’ll be back in my little office in Boston, very soon. That was the thing. While Cathy thought she would go back to her mundane job, but was, instead, likely to be doing meaningful work, I, on the other hand, had been doing meaningful work and was likely to end up back in my mundane job. There were only so many unsure children out there and the bigger companies didn’t like a woman looking into their business.

When Cathy came back, she uploaded a couple of USB sticks onto my computer, and we looked at them together. One was from the front of the Ivernia Hotel, that showed their car park and a bit of the road. It showed the van going by at eleven ten, so they must have stopped somewhere quiet to search Bernice for the items they were there for. The other was from the front of the Laurels. They had a camera that overlooked the beach so that potential guests could see for themselves what the weather might be like. Just off to one side, you could clearly see the Fairy Dell, and, as we watched, a van parked just where I had on the first day, and two guys dumped poor Bernice in the water and drove away, the time shown was eleven twenty. This was gold and we were lucky that it hadn’t been destroyed. Cathy told me that it had been kept, at first, because of the cloudless night sky and the clear picture of the moon. The weather had been ideal for the freezing temperature, that night.

I got her to create a presentation, helping her when she faltered. It showed the movement of the van from that first sighting, through the other road cameras, to Tesco and then the Fairy Dell, followed by the pictures of it going back to Hunstanton, all time stamped.

“This will be the basis of your final presentation as you move forward. I expect that there’ll be a big meeting of the top brass, along with the prosecution branch. I think that, later on, there may be another one in front of a few MP’s. By the time you get to court, you’ll be thoroughly sick of it, but the main thing to remember is that it puts Bernards’ killers in jail.”

When we were ready, I called Strachan and asked him to gather the usual crowd in the conference room, where Cathy would show them what she had found. I told her that I would take any notes for later and we had a good luck hug and went to show them what a couple of girls could do.

Strachan had decided that it was time to open up the circle, so we walked into the room to see Dawlish and George, Carson, and Roberts, Thredbolt and Jessica, as well as the Chief Superintendent who was in charge of the prosecution office. Strachan gave us time to set up and opened the proceedings after ensuring that the door was closed, and no recording was being done.

“This will be a surprise to a couple of you here. What you’re about to see is the culmination of some weeks of hard work, and inspired research. Cathy Chatterton, could you please give our new faces a precis of the case, as it proceeded.”

I was proud of her; she didn’t faint on the spot but stood and went to the front and started with the words, “On February the fourteenth, a body was found, face down, in the Fairy Dell Paddling Pool.”

She had been present at all of the meetings and had absorbed it. Her presentation went smoothly until the point where she revealed the name on the photocopied wallet contents. That’s when the prosecutions officer had to be given a glass of water. He was totally entranced as she took us through the Sheffield job and the kidnappings, without revealing any of the names. She named the five Sheffield suspects and picked out Terry to highlight his possible involvement in burying the bodies at Heacham. She then took us through the likely movements of Bernice on the day she died, and then we were at the point where our little show put the icing on the cake.

As the pictures of the van were shown, she paused on one where the sun showed the two men clearly. We had blown that one up and it showed Beyer and another guy. She then said that Bernice had received a call just after seven and that she had left her companion and gone off. Then it was the outside vision from Tesco showing her pulling up and going in, followed by the van pulling up and Beyer going in. We had left that going until you could see the driver get out and go behind the van. Then it was the meeting, inside the store, and she paused it as Beyer turned, facing the camera. After that, it was back outside to see Bernice disappear behind the van and then the two men getting back in. I was watching Strachan as she then pointed out the keys on the ground and showed us the same keys in the evidence bag, letting Thredbolt know that the Rover was at the caryard, waiting for us to look at it.

“What you’ve just seen is an abduction. Thanks to the miracles of security vision, we now move on to the murder, itself.”

There was the short clip with the van going by, and then we had the vision over the Fairy Dell. There was a collective intake of breath as we saw the van park and the two men pull the body out of the back and put it in the pool. She paused the vision at that point and looked at us.

“This is the actual time of the murder, ladies, and gentlemen. The cause of death was drowning, the victim so full of a sedative she could not do anything about it. This was cold-bloodied murder.”

She restarted the vision which had the van driving off and the still pictures of its route back to Hunstanton. I was so proud of her; it was classic stuff, and she will stop them in their tracks in a courtroom.

When she walked back to her seat, there was a new spring in her step. I stood to give her a hug. Strachan stood in front of us and asked if there was anyone who had problems with what we had just seen. The prosecutor said that it was an open and shut case and that he would be happy to take it forward if the top brass were happy with it. Strachan told him that we already had the ear of the AC, and he would be able to put together an audience.

The prosecutor wanted to know what charges we were looking at. Strachan looked at Carson, who said it would be murder, conspiracy to kidnap and murder, bank robbery and about a hundred charges of violating the Company Law, having carried out business under a false name for over forty years. Whistler would be also charged with the murder, the kidnappings, and the bank robbery. The prosecutor suggested that the murder case would be relatively easy, seeing the evidence we now had. As far as he was concerned, nothing was circumstantial. He thought that once a guilty verdict was in, we could then put forward the other cases.

Strachan made sure that everyone was on the same page and that Carson knew what else to look for. He then told us to make sure nothing gets out and to pull together our evidence to, in his words, “Put those bastards inside!”

Over the next two weeks, I worked with Cathy to recreate my searches, explaining all of the reasons for each step as she took notes. By the time we had finished that, Carson had discovered that Whistlers’ daughter was into horse riding and that the vet in the area had suffered a break-in, late January. They couldn’t tell what had been stolen as the office was torched and almost totally destroyed. Drug gangs from Norwich were the chief suspects.

He also had clear pictures of our Terry, which matched the ones we had of the driver. We were getting close to the end game. The Rover, when brought into the garage, only showed that it had been driven by Bernice. She must have been certain that she would be paid and had done nothing to give her a fall-back. It had been returned to the caryard, who promptly moved it on to another yard some hundreds of miles away.

The Sheffield police had pulled the other two lads for questioning. Their report showed both being almost happy to be arrested, having lived much of their lives in the fear of the others coming back to get them involved with something new. They had both made statements, clearly stating their parts in the bank job, and had even been happy to give the officers pictures of the five friends, while still at school. The picture showed Cuthbertson as he was then, and we could see that there hadn’t been much alteration of his face before he re-appeared.

His family were not much help. Both parents were now dead, and his remaining sister could only remember him calling around to take any photos that she had of him. She said that he had gone to the family home, while everyone was out, and destroyed all pictures that were in the albums that showed his face.

We did get the medical records of when he was in hospital, and the arm was broken just above the wrist, with Gerald confirming that this was where Beyer would rub. What we didn’t have was any clue of where he was after leaving home, or where he got the cheap face job. Cathy had the bright idea of looking at the area where he started the Beyer story, the burial place of the real Jurgen Beyer. By this time, I was just a bystander and mentor, and could see that she had grasped the methods when she started with the request of the birth certificate.

With the date of when it was issued, and the address that they sent it to, we could shrink the search area and, finally, found a private clinic that had done cosmetic surgery on Cuthbertson, with all those records added to the growing file.

I had been visiting Angela, whenever I could, and had been helping her with what needed to be done. The shed had been released to her, along with all of the bank accounts and property of Bernice Motors. The TR6 now lived at her home and the Herald and Mayflower were garaged at the shed. She had contacted a car auctioneer who had come to have a look and was arranging to ship all the cars, and the spares, to his warehouse prior to a sale. He was very happy the see the two Mark 4’s, suggesting that wedding car companies would go mad over them.

Believe it or not, but Angela had transferred all of the good underwear to her own bedroom drawers, along with a lot of the outfits. She had given me a couple of suits that I had said I liked, and the bondage stuff had gone to rubbish. The furnishings had all gone to a charity that put them into homeless shelters. When the shed had been cleared, she put it on the market for lease. She knew that we were building a case but had no idea who we had in our sights, that would be a surprise for later. She was happy though, in the end, that we had enough to move forward and that she had been vindicated.

In the meantime, Cathy was in demand to give her presentation to various people, moving up the ladder. She did one at Geralds’ house, for Gerald and Margaret, along with the Commissioner and his main legal officer. Strachan and I were there to answer any questions. The Commissioner looked as if he was being taken for a fool until we got to the actual footage of Beyer and Bernice leaving Tesco, to the part where she is dumped. He had been to many parties and events with Beyer and this, he knew, would be a very hard time for himself and a lot of other influential people.

Two weeks after that, we were in London, where the Commissioner had put together a group of politicians that were part of the Beyer circle. It included the Police Minister and the Minister for Home Security. Before we gave the presentation, the Commissioner reminded all of the new attendees that if any word of what they were about to be told got out, the whole lot of them may be taken in for questioning. He was so forceful, they agreed to keep it to themselves. After the presentation, you could tell that they would all act surprised and would back us up. Anything else could be political suicide.

We already had Beyer and Whistler under surveillance and had put the word out to hold them if either of them wanted to leave the country. When we were all happy that nothing would be shot down in a courtroom, the talk turned to the arrest. Whistler was straight-forward, a swoop on his house by an armed team, arresting him and taking his wife and daughter to the local station so that the house, and outbuildings, could be searched. Beyers’ house would be also visited and sealed at the same time. The only thing to decide was when Beyer would be arrested.

Gerald was the one who came up with it. I could see that he wanted it to be somewhere public and in the glare of the media coverage. The place that he suggested was a large hall in London. The time was to be a Saturday evening in a month, where the business fraternity would be gathering for a dinner, one to give an award to Beyer. Our politicians would be there, and it would be just the sort of affair that Beyer would love. It was hastily arranged, the hall and caterers booked, and the press alerted.

Invitations were sent out, mainly to the companies that he had been dealing with, along with the politicians and the Commissioner. We had a table near the back, that night, for Cathy, Strachan, Thredbolt and Angela. Strachan brought his wife, while Angela brought Steve, her colleague. The Commissioner and AC were there, at the top table with their wives, as befitting their friendship with our target.

It was a glittering affair, the men all in dinner suits and the women in long dresses. Both Angela and I wore something from Bernices’ collection, with the hope that she would be looking down on us with a smile. The evening went along the usual path, until we got to the end game. The Commissioner and Gerald went up on the stage and Gerald announced that we had now reached the high point of the evening. The Commissioner asked the highest ranked person there, the Minister of Police, to join them to make the award.

The Minister asked Beyer to come up on the stage, and he left his table to some applause. When he was there, alongside them, he had some notes in his hand. The Minister then asked Gerald to say a few words. Gerald stood at the microphone and said, clearly, the words he had been itching to say.

“Jurgen Beyer, or should I say Malcolm Cuthbertson, I arrest you for the murder of Bernard Williamson, on February the thirteenth, this year, at Skegness. Anything you say may be taken down and used in evidence.”

At that, two, armed officers came out from behind the curtains and quickly handcuffed Cuthbertson, who was stunned. They marched him towards the door, and he started shouting that it was all a mistake and that heads would roll. It could have been said that you could have heard a pin drop. Actually, there was a loud thump as his wife fell off her chair in a dead faint. The Minister took the microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you that this is not a stunt, I have seen the evidence against Cuthbertson and can tell you that he is going to prison, no doubt of it. We have teams arresting his accomplice as we speak, and a team is now in his business office. All of you who used his accountancy services will be treated fairly so as not to damage your companies. We have confirmed evidence that the man you knew as Jurgen Beyer is, in fact a person called Malcolm Cuthbertson who used the proceeds of a bank robbery to change his records and start his company. I don’t have to remind you that any directorships or other dealings he had will be subject to future misrepresentation and possible fraud charges. There will be a press conference tomorrow, at Scotland Yard. I’m sorry that the night didn’t turn out as you may have expected. Enjoy the desserts and thank you for coming.”

The Commissioner left the stage and came over to our table.

“That’s the hard bit done. Thank you all for your work on this. There are going to be some who would support him, but we had most of his circle here, tonight, and, by the looks of those leaving, I guess that he is going to be crossed off a lot of Christmas card lists.”

We all stayed for the desserts, a full table in an otherwise empty hall. The service was impeccable! Angela, who had been as surprised at the outcome as anyone, hugged us all before leaving with Steve on her arm. Before we left, the AC asked Strachan if he could put together the team at Skegness on Monday morning, as he wanted to thank everyone, personally. Margaret hugged us all before they strode towards the cloakrooms. We finished our glasses with a toast to the team and went off to our hotel rooms, supplied by a grateful Commissioner. Before I left, I looked at the notes that Beyer had been holding, now littering the stage. They had several mentions of him being a self-made man. That was now known to be the total and undeniable truth.

Sunday, the press conference was packed, and the basic evidence was offered, just that we had absolute proof that the man they all knew as Beyer was a fraud, and that there was irrefutable proof that he, and an accomplice, had murdered someone. The team was kept away from the spotlights to do our job. Today, there will be TV vans heading for Skegness and the cafes will do a roaring trade. I knew, from previous cases, that the various police officers involved will be hounded for information and that it all needed to be carefully conserved.

I was back in my own bed on Sunday night, thinking about my own future. I would have to be careful going into the station, so that I don’t get linked to the case. The others would have to fend for themselves. I would take a small bag to bring back my personal effects when I clear my desk. I was happy that we had made the arrests, but sad to see the back of that lovely computer and its links with the world when I left it behind.

It didn’t turn out how I expected, however. I managed to go in the main doors, hiding my lanyard, and found Cathy already in the office. I hugged her and told her that she would be the one at the pointy end, from now on. No more PA in the back room.

When we assembled in the conference room, I was surprised to see the Minister there, along with the Commissioner, AC and Margaret. When we were seated, with another WPC handing out the teas and biscuits, Gerald stood and gave us his heartfelt thanks for our work, which, he then revealed for the first time for many in the room, that caught the murderer of his own daughter. He told us that he had explained his links with the subsequent kidnap and murder cases to the Commissioner and had offered his resignation.

The Commissioner then stood and told us that Gerald’s daughter will not be part of the ongoing cases, and that we had enough with the four cases we did have to make the charges stick. He would allow the AC to retire, on a full pension if he still desired, with the approval of the Minister, who nodded. He stayed on his feet and then shocked everyone, especially me.

“I have been extremely impressed by the way this case has been brought to near fruition, and Chief Superintendent Strachan has briefed me on everyone’s input. I have discussed this with the Minister, and we have agreed that it was extremely brave to go with this case, seeing the high profile of the suspect. There will be promotions coming through the system but there is one thing that the Minister and I agree on. We want to reinstate Detective Sergeant Ibbotson to the force, as a Detective Inspector in charge of a research unit, here in Skegness, with a newly promoted Detective Sergeant Cathy Chatterton, to be our bloodhounds on their computers. The Minister has approved the funds to set it up with the best equipment we can get. This case has shown what can be achieved with the right equipment and lateral thinking. Will you come back on board, Polly?”

I stood and they all looked at me, Cathy with a huge smile.

“As long as Cathy leads in this case, sir, I thank you for the faith in us and I’ll be happy to re-join such a good team as we have here.”

That day, I went back to Boston to see a real estate agent about putting the office and my apartment on the market. I was to start my new job on the following month. I would be spending the time looking for somewhere nice in Skegness. On an Inspector’s salary, I could afford to buy, and I had a good friend in the banking business, who could help me get a mortgage.

Marianne Gregory © 2023