The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1851 by Angharad Copyright © 2012 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

“Did you get all that on tape?” I asked him.

“No.”

“What? I put my life on the line and you...”

“Recorded it digitally, not only that but I’ve sent it to your computer and my own.”

“I didn’t know you could do that?”

“Yeah, easy enough.”

“Oh,” I paused in my ignorance. “Do we have enough to get him?”

“Not by itself, but enough to give the police a chance to get another warrant for a search.”

“They didn’t find anything last time.”

“That doesn’t mean they won’t this time and operating as a money lender without a licence is illegal, hopefully that will give them a chance to investigate the murders and pin it on him this time.”

“That’s why I did it.”

“Oh, I thought you wanted a break from your dissertation, so a bit of mayhem would provide a little rest.”

“You what?” I shrieked and he burst out laughing.

“The look on your face, Cathy, is priceless.”

“Huh!” I exclaimed, and pretended to look out of the window. Back at home, and a cup of tea later, my heart had stopped racing as the adrenalin rush subsided. I called Mr Fowles and explained what we’d done. He wasn’t pleased but was interested in hearing the recording. While I went to get the girls, James sent him a copy. He called back a short time after I’d got home with the girls to say it was very interesting and he had applied for a warrant and this time they’d go through his house with a fine tooth comb.

I told Si and Sammi when they sat to eat dinner and Sammi smirked. “Okay, Missy, what’s that all about?”

“I took my laptop with me and worked on what I’d downloaded from his computer.”

“Hey, I’m not paying you to work for my bloody wife and her harebrained schemes,” complained the official lord and master–but nobody took any notice of him.

“And?” I prompted.

“I discovered a form of encryption I’ve never seen before. Once I got through it, I was able to access his other computer, wherever that is.”

“And?”

“It shows his accounts are rather different, all the properties he owns, rents, loans and so on.”

“But the police won’t be able to do that, besides he’ll have cut the connection before then.”

“Ah, I thought of that so I planted a bug in his system which they will be able to open and find I downloaded it all on to his office computer.”

“He’ll complain that they planted it, won’t he?” suggested Si.

“No, because it’ll be dated before tomorrow.”

“It’s still circumstantial evidence,” said Si.

“Yes, but it could be enough for them to get a conviction,” James offered, almost licking his lips in anticipation of the raspberry roulade David had just brought to the table.

“It will have customs and excise tearing his place apart and apart from the murders, trading without a licence, they’ll have him for tax fraud as well.” Now it was my turn to smirk, “Well done that girl, they won’t find a link to you will they?”

“Um–no, I downloaded it from his second computer, so it will look as if he did it.”

“What if they find the second computer?”

“I–um–,” she blushed, “–stuck a rather nasty virus on it, no one will find anything after that.”

I looked at her in amazement.

“It wipes the hard drive and then overwrites it a hundred times with a code that is nonsensical and impenetrable, it messes up the magnetic element of the disc corrupting it...”

“Almost as much as its owner, how poetic,” I exhorted.

“The accounts show how much he paid the two guys who set fire to the house.”

“What?” Simon gasped nearly choking himself.

“He obviously thought he was secure to do so, his book-keeping is excellent, the authorities should enjoy going through them.”

“Unless he disposes of his office computer,” James looked a little pensive.

“Why should he do that? They’ve had it before and found nothing. It’s what he shows the accountant and the tax man. He won’t know there’s anything on it to incriminate him until it’s too late,” Sammi explained.

“What if he checks it tonight?” Asked James.

“It won’t show, it’s a hidden file, so the police will find it but I doubt he will.”

“He could arrange to burn down his office–things tend to spontaneously combust when he’s around,” I voiced my concern.

“I can’t stop him doing that, I’m afraid, any more than I can stop him running away.” Sammi looked uncomfortable, this was outside her sphere.

“He doesn’t know who we are yet does he?” asked James.

“He knows who I am, Marple told him, so I was up-front with my identity.”

“The wire by itself isn’t enough to get a conviction unless the police find stuff to corroborate it and that won’t happen without the computer. However, they have to dig deep and keep looking until they can go for a prosecution and nail the bastard. I don’t think he’ll do a runner, he’s brazened it out before and it worked, he’s got so much invested here, he’s much more likely to stay.”

We discovered the next day that the police did raid him and took away his computer from the office, our hopes were raised. He of course called his lawyer and was stood bail of a quarter of a million pounds. I didn’t think it was enough and was proved right, he skipped the country the next day, headed, it was suggested for South America via Spain or Portugal. I felt cheated, I wanted him to go down for several life sentences, but then we don’t always get what we want do we?

A week later Simon came home with a smile on his face and nudged Sammi, “Tell her,” he said.

“Tell me what?”

“Your loan shark.”

“My personal one–that’s you,” I teased him. His look would have killed me had I been susceptible.

“Cortez, Interpol traced him to Brazil and asked the local police to arrest him. There was a bit of a shoot out and he was killed.”

“Are you sure?” I asked not quite believing it.

“They did fingerprints apparently and they match.”

I wasn’t so sure even though DCI Fowles came to tell us the news. He was happy enough. I just thought it was too convenient, but hopefully, dead or alive, Brazil is a long way from Pompey so we should be safe.