Revenge (9 page)

"This is insane!" Jackie cried, staring incredulously from Penelope to Shona as they recounted the incidents of the
p
ast few days. "I find it
difficult to believe."

"Well, believe it!
" Penelope snapped, struggling into her jacket and tying her scarf around her neck. "It's very real to us."

"I'm not saying that I don't believe you," Jackie replied defensively. "I'm just having trouble getting my head around the situation."

"I think everyone should calm done," Shona sighed. "Bickering with each other isn't going to solve our problems."

Jackie and Penelope's relationship was strained at the best of times. They were pleasantl
y polite to each other but
were far from clos
e. It was blatantly obvious
they couldn't stand each other and so Shona tried he
r best to keep them apart. She
could see a lot of similarities between the two women and she put their animosity down to a simple personality clash
.
Penelope didn't like Jackie's slightly smug, know-it-all attitude and Jackie disli
ked Penelope's vanity and rather dramatic approach to life.
However
, it was inevitable
they would meet from time to time and unfortunately, this was one of those times.

"I'll drive you to the
police station," Jackie offered
.

"You must be exhausted," Shona protested. "You've already driven four hours this afternoon and you said the traffic from Dublin was hell."

"I'll be fine," Jackie shrugged off her sister's concerns. "I've had a strong cup of coffee and now I'm ready for anything. Besides, you two could do with the moral support."

"Come on, let's get going," Penelope interjected, leading the way outside to the garage where Jackie's car was parked. She carefully locked the hou
se and set the alarm. "I think we
've had enough surprise visitors for one lifetime," she said. "I certainly don't fancy the thought of having an unwelcome guest waiting for us when we return later."

"I'll second that," Shona quickly agreed, shuddering at the very idea.

The identification parade was set up at Wes
t
port Police Station. Four men and five women were in the line-up, including Savanna
h Kingston and Daniel William
s
.

"That's Daniel," Penelope whispered behind the tinted glass. "He's second from the left."

"Are you sure?" Detective Leary asked.

"I'm absolutely positive," Penelope nodded. "I'll never forget his face."

"Savannah Kingston is third from the right," Shona piped up.

"Yes, that's her," Penelope agreed.

"Okay, ladies, you've been very helpful," Detective Leary smiled pleasantly at them. "I'll contact you both as soon as I have any further information."

"What happens next?" Shona demanded.

"We'll question
Ms. Kingston and Mr. Williams
and we'll
be in touch with you
soon. They'll be brought before the district court tomorrow morning and we'll have to wait to see what happens from there. My advice to you both is to go home and try to get some rest."

They followed him back out to the reception area where Jackie
was waiting impatiently,
then he returned to his office and closed the door behind him. He sat at his desk and considered the events that were beginning to unfold. It had been a long day but intriguing at the same time. He knew there would be an extensive police inquiry and he was already looking forward to the challenges ahead.

The police had no doubt that Daniel
was every bit as complicit as Savanna
h in the scam, but they couldn’
t hold him. They released him after two days and he immediately got on the next flight back to England, wondering what his next step would be.

Back in Ireland, Savannah didn’
t have the opportunity to plan anything.
She
was brought before the district court
in Westport where she was charged with
handling stolen prop
erty and was remanded in custody.

This was not the end of Detective Leary's enquiries. Now, he had to get to the bottom of the case. Why had the office of M&R Photography been broken into and what had prompted Savannah Kings
ton to approach Penelope Garrett and claim
there was a contract on the live
s of the three wealthy business
women? Savannah had photographs of the women as well as Mark McNamara so there had to have been some s
ubstance to her dramatic claims.

Daniel had neatly sidestepped the consequences but the police were still keen for Savannah to provide them with some of the answers which they were lacking. She was furious t
hat Daniel had been released. “I
've been set up and plotted against! It hasn't all been down to me. Why am I the only one
left here to face the music?” she wailed
. Detectiv
es wanted to keep her close so
she was remanded in custody on theft charges.

Nothing about the case made any sense to the police who were tasked to investigate the extortion attempt. Nobody could understand how Savannah had obtained the photos and why she claimed to be having an affair with Mark.

Meanwhile, Mark was back to being the model husband and was spending most of his time with Rebecca.

Daniel seemed to have disappeared. He'd moved out of the flat he'd been sharing with Savannah and hadn't left a forwarding address or contact telephone number. It seemed that he wanted to put as much distance between himself and Savannah as possible.

However, Savannah wasn't about to let him slip away that easily. She still had plenty of reliable contacts in
London
and
was prepared to use them to track down her former lover. She asked a mutual friend to send him an email, deciding to set a trap for him. She said
she'd be back in London soon
and would love to meet
him
. Her plan was to tip off Scotland Yard once the meeting was
arranged. There was no way
she was going to be the only one facing a prison sentence. Daniel replied quickly, just a single line
; “
I dreamed about you last night. I can
't seem to get you off my mind.”

Clearly, he hadn’t fallen
fo
r her plan. Perhaps he knew
it was highly unlikely that Savannah would
walk away as easily as he had, e
specially after he had convinced the police what a conniving monster she was. Eventually, Savannah had the satisfaction of knowing that she wouldn't be the only one to face the music. Scotland Yard finally tracked him down but once again he would charm the authorities with his story of coercion. He agreed to c
ooperate fully with the police;
more than happy
to make sure Savannah bore the brunt of whatever punishme
nt was heading their way. He
proved to be a part
icularly informative witness and
revealed details that began to close the net, not j
ust on his lover, but also on “devils-revenge.”

Chapter 7

The police investigation continued and intensified over the following months, gathering pace as each new piece of evidence emerged. When Savannah Kingston was initially arrested, police had no idea that Mark McNamara was in any way involved. Savannah had told the investigati
ng officers in her early intervie
ws that she'd been having an affair with Mark McNamara. However, she later retracted her statement but Detective Leary was intrigued as to how she knew his mobile phone number from memory. He wondered how she seemed to have so much detail about Mark McNamara and his wife Rebecca. It was information which wouldn't have been easily at her disposal.

Detective Leary was determined to explore every
possibility and over the long months of the investigation his
team carried out Herculean work.
T
he police in Ireland liaised with Interpol and Scotland Yard. Irish investigators were made aware that Scotland Yard was carrying out their own investigation, independently of the McNa
mara/ Kingston case, relating
to a similar incident in the United Kingdom, which involved Savanna
h Kingston and Daniel Williams.

The
months passed and it seemed that Mark had gotten away with his evil plan. The computer had disappeared without a trace and the police had no solid proof whatsoever of his involvement with Savannah, although they were deeply suspicious of him.

Rebecca was standing by him for now and life appeared to be
continuing as usual. Nobody seemed to believe
the claim that he and Savannah were having an affair and he insisted that he had been the intended victim of an elaborate fraud.

Then Mark's world suddenly collapsed. Scotland Yard conducted a search of Savannah and Daniel's flat in
London
, searching for documents which would provide them
with a link to the website which advertised Savannah Kingston’s
dubious services. They left with a plastic folder in which someone had thoughtfully stored an enticing range of documents.
There were emails from Mark and internet booking forms for trips to Ireland and France. Whoever had been corresponding had been very conscientious about keeping records. There was far more in the folder than Scotland Yard actually needed.

They notified the police in Ireland who advised Mark that the
y wanted to formally talk to him
. Mark was in bed when detectives arrived. He didn't hear them immediately when they let themselves into the unlocked door of Cois Farraige shouting his
name. He came out of his bedroom in his p
yjamas just as they were charging ups
tairs. A police officer stayed with him while he dressed, despite his protestations that he was perfectly happy to go to the station himself.

He didn't seem to quite grasp the dramatic change in circumstances. It was eventually explained to him that as a suspect it was no longer up to him to go to the police
of his own accord
. So
began an interview process which proved to be intensely
frustrating for everyone concerned.
Mark McNamara had an impeccable record and had never come to the attention of the police p
reviously. There was no way
he could have been familiar with the system in which suspects were interviewed. Any expectations by police who were involved in interrogating him that he might crack under pressure were well and truly dashed as he showed no sign of yielding, despite being put under intense scrutiny in several interviews.

Mark stuck to the story he'd told Rebecca in the aftermath of the robbery. It was a
story about a man called
Henry Whitington-Smyth, who from Mark’s
vivid description bore
more than a passing resemblance to a young Gregory Peck. A cynical observer
would have thought that Henry Whitington-Smy
th was not just an alibi but an idealised alter ego.

He
describe
d
in detail how Mr. Whitington-Smyth
came to
visit him in Dublin after they’
d been corresponding by email for several months.
Police thought it was suspicious that Mark claimed he had been i
n regular contact with Mr. Whitington-Smyth
, yet he was unable to provide a telephone number, email address or postal address for him.
Mark told the police that his emails and address books on the computer had been erased. However, it wasn't until some days aft
er the computer had been stolen
that his profile was deleted
from the missing computer. Investigators
thought
Mark had deleted the prof
ile, in the mistaken belief
it could not be retrieved later.

Mark had advised that Henry was helping him put a
portfolio
together for potential
photography clients in London.
However, nobody had eve
r heard of the enigmatic Henry Whitington-Smyth. How could Mark
hav
e brought someone to the office
and yet nobody else saw him?

Apparently,
Henry had asked to use the computer.
Somehow he’d
managed to hack the computers; setting
Mark up like a rat in a trap. Mark
skillfully wove an alibi that ticked every box in the case the police would eventually put together. He d
escribed their drive around Dublin, explaining how they’
d taken the scenic route
along the coast out to Howth Head
. He told of a quick visit
to Cois Farraige where Henry
needed to use the bathroom and had been shown to the en
-
suite off the master bedroom. The scene was
drawn with an imaginative eye and
with great attention to detail. He kept his story just close enough to the truth to keep in sync with what could be brushed away as mere coincidence and he stuck resolutely to it.