Frame-Up (35 page)

Willis briefly lets his eyes roam over the scene, while Garland jumps
up from his seat and shouts: "Detective Inspector, arrest this woman for
breaking and entering and assaulting me."

Willis raises his eyebrows, casts a quick look at the gun sitting on the
desk, and then his gaze turns on me. Somes pulls handcuffs from a back
pocket and approaches me, her intentions obvious.

"Miss Walker, I place you under arrest for —" she announces
pompously

"Detective Inspector," I interrupt her, "call off your bloodhound,
unless you want me to teach her another lesson in karate."

A fleeting smile crosses his face. "OK Somes, cool it. Miss Walker
would hardly have called me here if she doesn’t intend to cooperate."

Somes stops short — her reptile eyes even colder than usual —
holding the handcuffs in her left hand, still ready to jump me, should I
make a wrong move.

In the meantime, Garland resumes shouting: "I demand that she be
arrested. Can’t you see she broke the window, broke my nose, threatened
to shoot me unless I opened the safe and then rifled through its content?"

"Let’s talk calmly about what happened here, Mr. Garland. Once I
have the facts, I will take appropriate measures."

"Can’t you see she’s —" Garland launches into another tirade, but
Willis holds up his hand, saying: "Please, Mr. Garland, let us do our job.
First, who was shot and by whom?"

This time, Garland keeps his mouth shut.

"My brother over there, Carlo Walker, was shot in the arm by Mr.
Garland," I say. "I don’t know whether it was intentional or by accident."

Garland grabs the opportunity to shout again: "She smashed the
window. I shot in self-defense."

"And how come you had a gun in your hand before I smashed the
window?" I question. Turning back to Willis, I continue: "It may be
useful if you first heard from me what happened here tonight and then
hear Mr. Garland’s side and question him."

The latter interjects again: "It’s all lies what she is going to say —"

"Please, Mr. Garland, we will get to the bottom of this. You will get
your turn," Willis interrupts sternly. "Go ahead, Miss Walker."
 

"My brother is a drug addict. He was invited by my ex-boyfriend, Gary
Buxton, to a luncheon where Buxton introduced him to Mr. Garland. A
few days later Mr. Garland approached my brother, offering him one
thousand pounds for a small service, namely sign a document, the
application for opening the account for I-Consolidated with UBS. His
signature is similar to mine. I happened to learn about that last Friday
when Carlo mentioned that Mr. Garland owed him more money. Since I
didn’t want my brother to get into trouble with the police, I arranged for
him to fly to Milan to be with his mother. Unfortunately, he didn’t take
that flight and I immediately suspected that he was going to approach Mr.
Garland and demand money —"

"Why didn’t you immediately report this to me?"

"First, I figured that Somes would be able to convince you that my
brother is the accomplice that so far has eluded her search, and second,
I saw this as an opportunity to trap Mr. Garland. So today at five I began
spying on his house. My brother came around five thirty, but then went
away again, I presume because Mr. Garland refused to let him in."

Willis cut in: "Is this correct, Mr. Garland? You refused to open the
gate?"

"Yes, it’s all lies what she says. I don’t know this fellow. I’ve never
seen him."

Again, Willis only raises his eyebrows.

I continue: "I shadowed my brother, because I knew he would not give
up that easily. He returned to the house an hour later. For some reason the
gate was open and he entered —"

Again Garland interjects: "They scaled the fence. The security alarm
went off three times. This is private property. They trespassed."

"Didn’t the security firm investigate?" Willis questions.

"They did, but claimed it was only falling branches."

"May I continue?" I ask.

Willis nods again. "Yes."

"So, when my brother entered, I followed in too, but away from the
driveway and went to the only lit windows of the downstairs. I saw Mr.
Garland sitting at his desk and speaking on the phone. I placed a
microphone in the partially open window and got my tape recorder going.
Mrs. Garland ushered my brother into the office shortly afterward. The
conversation between the two is all on the tape. At one point, my brother
threatened to tell me, his sister, about his role. I saw Mr. Garland open the
left-hand top drawer of his desk and remove this gun here. I was afraid
that he was going to shoot Carlo, so I grabbed a brick from the side of the
path and threw it into the window to create a distraction, and then entered
via the other open window. I knocked my brother off his feet — that’s
when Mr. Garland fired the gun — and then brought Mr. Garland down,
taking the gun from him."

"You see, she admits assaulting me when I was only defending
myself," shouts Garland.

I ignore his interjection and go on: "I then forced Mr. Garland to open
his safe and place all its contents on the table. Among his papers I found
two folders, these two, which prove that Mr. Garland purchased the
Sanvino shares and then sold them two days later. You see, he is
obsessive about keeping complete records on any financial transactions
and I was counting on this. I also found a copy of the application form to
open the I-Consolidated bank account, as well as information about a
numbered bank account with Bank Schwabe of Liechtenstein."

"These are not my documents," Garland shouts again. "She put them
there to incriminate me. That’s why she forced me to open the safe."

"I’m certain yours are the only fingerprints on them," I reply,
removing my skin-colored nylon gloves with deliberate slowness,
noticing Willis surprised look. "So, Detective Inspector, here is all the
evidence, including the tape recording. In fact, our conversation is till
being recorded. I’ve done the job for you. Mr. Garland is yours."

Another smile flits across Willis’ face. "So it seems. We’ll investigate
this thoroughly, I can assure you. In the meantime, all of you will have to
accompany us to the Snow Hill Police Station, where formal statements
will be taken and recorded." Turning to me, he says: "You reported that
you called the ambulance service. I presume they have already looked
after Mr. Walker’s injury."

"Yes. They left fifteen minutes before you arrived, but they said that
he needs to be taken to A and E to stitch up the wound."

"Police Sergeant Henley will take him there and then bring him to
Snow Hill too."

He orders Somes and Henley to place the folders I indicated, the tape
recorder, and the gun, and the spent cartridge they find next to the desk,
into plastic bags. I pocket the microphone, and then follow Somes out to
the car. In the entrance lobby I hear Willis talk to Mrs. Garland. Her eyes
are dry. She hugs her husband briefly when Henley leads him out.

Henley and the other officer take Carlo away, while Garland and I
share the backseat of Willis’ car. Somes sits in front. The only words
spoken are by Garland.

"I insist on the presence of my lawyer for any interrogation."

Sunday, 10:25 p.m.

At the station, Willis first listens to the first half of my tape recording up
to the point where the window is shattered. Then he interviews me again.
I repeat more or less word for word what I said in Garland’s office. It is
recorded. While we wait for it to be typed up for me to sign, he confirms
that he will apply for all charges against me to be withdrawn. He adds
that it is unlikely I will be charged with breaking and entry.

"Sir, why did you send Somes to my place Saturday afternoon?" I
question after that.

"How do you know she was there? You never showed up?"

"I saw the black sedan with the unmistakable unpainted patch outside
my building, and then called my land line number. Somes couldn’t resist
and answered."

"So you were Anne Fields and decided to give us the slip. I could have
you charged for that."

"Sir, the bail conditions do not prohibit me from spending the night at
a friend’s. So I didn’t violate them."

"No, strictly speaking, you are in the clear. I forgot to mention that you
were to spend each night at your place," he replied with a somewhat
embarrassed chuckle.

"And the reason you wanted to take me into custody again is because
Gary Buxton claimed that my brother was the accomplice Somes was
looking for."

"How do you know?"

"Because my brother told me that it was Buxton who gave him
Garland’s home address, and Buxton promised me that if I didn’t retract
my statement about him confirming the Sanvino rumor he would pay me
back. Sir, you may find it revealing to discover from where Gary Buxton
got the thirty to forty thousand pounds to finance the Porsche he started
driving recently."

"Is this a guess or do you have evidence?"

"I would call it a compelling inference."

He chuckles again and then writes a reminder in his notebook.

"There was though a second reason for arresting you again. Buxton
also told Somes that you have a Swiss passport, hence you could abscond
at any time. Why didn’t you tell me that?"

"Because you never asked."

"Right," he replies, pressing out a short laugh, "one learns new things
to watch out for every day. One final question. What was that remark
about teaching Somes another lesson in Karate?"

"Do I have to answer this? The matter is closed for me."

"Only off the record."

I briefly recount what happened in my apartment. He seems amused.

It takes almost two hours for Carlo to come from the hospital and give
his statement. Since he heard my description of the events and, in
particular, my statement repeating his own to Garland about the gate
having been open, I’m pretty sure he stuck to the same line. That small lie
doesn’t disturb my conscience. Willis does not charge him with any
offense, but warns that a charge of forging a document might ensue. He
orders him to remain in London under my supervision until further notice.

Henley brings me my British passport, as well as Fausto’s empty tape
recorder, and makes me sign a form. He then drives Carlo and me back
to my apartment. I’ll have to call the hotel tomorrow about no longer
needing the room and asking them to hold my sports bag until I pick it up
in a day or two.

Back in my own quarters, I first give Carlo something to eat and two
aspirins. Once he is safely in bed, I call Fausto, although it is past
midnight by that time.

The first thing he says is: "Cecilia, you really are something else. I
watched you from behind the bushes until the police arrived, just in case
you might need my help. Then I left and took away any evidence of our
entry. I continued watching from beyond the fence."

I tell him what happened with the police. "And here are some
important pieces of information for you. The bank where Garland has
stashed away the two million pounds is Bank Schwabe in Liechtenstein.
You got that? Schwabe. I now leave it to you and Signor Carvaggio to
retrieve that money from them. I’m certain you have your ways for doing
that. Just don’t scare Garland’s girls. They are innocent."

"I won’t; promised." He pauses for several seconds.

"Yes, Fausto, is there something else?"

"Cecilia, will you share the promised farewell dinner with me before
I leave London? I very much would like that."

"Yes, I think this would be a fitting end to our cooperation. How about
this coming Wednesday —"

"Why only Wednesday?"

"Because I want to take you to my favorite restaurant in town and it’s
not open on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I’ll also get you to meet my
fidanzato
. Anyway, you might want to stick around for a few days more
and talk to Detective Inspector Willis about how the police plan to
recover the money. You simply claim to be a representative of Ventura
Holdings, sent to London to inquire about the recovery of the money. If
they ask whether you know me and whether we have met, say yes. The
police might have observed us meeting. Simply say you asked me for
information."