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Authors: Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
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though. Older son, Stefan, twenty-six, he does have a record, possession and handling stolen goods and a lot o’ driving offences, going back to joyriding age twelve. Nothing on the daughter, Judy, twenty-four. She’s on welfare an’ all, got two kids, living with a bloke in Birmingham, according to Terry Cleaver at Ealing.’ Acton came under the Ealing Borough command.
‘So what has Jack Kroll been up to?’ Atherton asked for them all.
‘They’ve tugged him several times on suspicion of illegal dumping,’ said McLaren. ‘Dun’t sound like much, but it can be big business. Also he’s a bit too close to a bloke that owns a scrap metal yard, who they think is behind a load o’ lead thefts in West London, going all the way out to Hounslow. Cleaver says he thinks Kroll is shifting the stuff on his lorry, may even be knocking it off under cover of doing building jobs.’
‘Well, he certainly sounds tasty,’ Slider agreed. ‘None of that gives a connection to Lionel Bygod, however.’
‘Except his wife,’ said Atherton. ‘Anything on her?’
‘No, she’s clean,’ said McLaren, ‘but Acton’s been keeping an eye on her, anyway. She’s seen hanging around with the female her son Stefan lives with, by the name of Mirela, or Mary, Dudnic. This Dudnic’s got form as long as your arm for drugs and prostitution, and she’s coming up in court on a charge of dealing next month.’
Slider twiddled his pen thoughtfully. ‘All very nice, but what motive does that suggest for killing Bygod?’
‘We don’t know,’ Atherton said reasonably, ‘that something valuable wasn’t stolen from the safe. By someone who didn’t have to break in and who knew the safe would be unlocked – or maybe knew where the key was kept.’
‘If she was going to rob him, why would she wait ten years to do it?’ Slider asked.
‘Some sudden need,’ Atherton said.
‘Well, it’s pure speculation,’ Slider said, ‘but given that she did have the key, it’s worth having a closer look at them. Trouble is, we don’t have an exact time of death, so we don’t know when they need an alibi for. Still, check out what they were doing for the whole of that day. Are Kroll’s fingerprints on record?’ McLaren nodded. ‘Right then,’ he said to Gascoyne, ‘check if any of the unidentified ones in the house are his. And check for the son Stefan and Mary Dudnic as well. We’ve no particular reason for suspecting them but it’s best to clear as you go, otherwise this sort of thing is apt to come back and bite you later.’
The crowd drifted away. Atherton was last out. He said, ‘On the basis that the stupidest answer is usually right in these cases, you’d have to put your money on Mrs Kroll and her key. But I’d still like to know more about the mysteriously reticent, strangely out of his place ex-solicitor.’
‘Go to, with my blessing,’ Slider said. ‘I can’t join you in hoping for complications – a solid case against the prime suspect would be a joy – but he certainly seems to have been an oddball.’
‘Fortunately, one with an odd name,’ said Atherton, ‘so it ought to be easy enough to find stuff on him.’
He was almost out of the door when Slider called, ‘You might look in his address book for the Nina who called him and left messages.’
‘According to Mrs Kroll,’ Atherton qualified gloomily.
FIVE
Driving Miss Crazy
M olly Shepherd lived in Overstone Road – just a stone’s throw from Bygod’s place, Connolly noted – but she taught at a school in South Ealing, and Connolly sought her out there.
It was a plain, dull, 1970s’ building, three storeys high with enormous picture windows, the liberal educationists’ reaction to the high, narrow windows of the Victorian school buildings that everyone had been educated in until the Second World War. The Victorians had assumed that if children could see out, they wouldn’t concentrate on their lessons. The liberal educationists thought that
‘So what has Jack Kroll been up to?’ Atherton asked for them all.
‘They’ve tugged him several times on suspicion of illegal dumping,’ said McLaren. ‘Dun’t sound like much, but it can be big business. Also he’s a bit too close to a bloke that owns a scrap metal yard, who they think is behind a load o’ lead thefts in West London, going all the way out to Hounslow. Cleaver says he thinks Kroll is shifting the stuff on his lorry, may even be knocking it off under cover of doing building jobs.’
‘Well, he certainly sounds tasty,’ Slider agreed. ‘None of that gives a connection to Lionel Bygod, however.’
‘Except his wife,’ said Atherton. ‘Anything on her?’
‘No, she’s clean,’ said McLaren, ‘but Acton’s been keeping an eye on her, anyway. She’s seen hanging around with the female her son Stefan lives with, by the name of Mirela, or Mary, Dudnic. This Dudnic’s got form as long as your arm for drugs and prostitution, and she’s coming up in court on a charge of dealing next month.’
Slider twiddled his pen thoughtfully. ‘All very nice, but what motive does that suggest for killing Bygod?’
‘We don’t know,’ Atherton said reasonably, ‘that something valuable wasn’t stolen from the safe. By someone who didn’t have to break in and who knew the safe would be unlocked – or maybe knew where the key was kept.’
‘If she was going to rob him, why would she wait ten years to do it?’ Slider asked.
‘Some sudden need,’ Atherton said.
‘Well, it’s pure speculation,’ Slider said, ‘but given that she did have the key, it’s worth having a closer look at them. Trouble is, we don’t have an exact time of death, so we don’t know when they need an alibi for. Still, check out what they were doing for the whole of that day. Are Kroll’s fingerprints on record?’ McLaren nodded. ‘Right then,’ he said to Gascoyne, ‘check if any of the unidentified ones in the house are his. And check for the son Stefan and Mary Dudnic as well. We’ve no particular reason for suspecting them but it’s best to clear as you go, otherwise this sort of thing is apt to come back and bite you later.’
The crowd drifted away. Atherton was last out. He said, ‘On the basis that the stupidest answer is usually right in these cases, you’d have to put your money on Mrs Kroll and her key. But I’d still like to know more about the mysteriously reticent, strangely out of his place ex-solicitor.’
‘Go to, with my blessing,’ Slider said. ‘I can’t join you in hoping for complications – a solid case against the prime suspect would be a joy – but he certainly seems to have been an oddball.’
‘Fortunately, one with an odd name,’ said Atherton, ‘so it ought to be easy enough to find stuff on him.’
He was almost out of the door when Slider called, ‘You might look in his address book for the Nina who called him and left messages.’
‘According to Mrs Kroll,’ Atherton qualified gloomily.
FIVE
Driving Miss Crazy
M olly Shepherd lived in Overstone Road – just a stone’s throw from Bygod’s place, Connolly noted – but she taught at a school in South Ealing, and Connolly sought her out there.
It was a plain, dull, 1970s’ building, three storeys high with enormous picture windows, the liberal educationists’ reaction to the high, narrow windows of the Victorian school buildings that everyone had been educated in until the Second World War. The Victorians had assumed that if children could see out, they wouldn’t concentrate on their lessons. The liberal educationists thought that
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