Read Online The Power of One by Jane A. Adams - Free Book Online

came through from the front office, pulled up a chair and claimed his coffee and Andy took up a position by the door so he could keep an eye on the outside world while being included in the briefing.
    Mac brought everyone up to speed. Hale and the papers they had taken from the flat; the fact that Hale had claimed the second man on the boat as one of his own and that Lydia de Freitas had clammed up ever tighter than before.
    â€˜You should have let Mrs Martin wear her down,’ Sergeant Baker decided. ‘I don’t know of many people who can resist that woman. Maybe you should give her details to that Hale bloke. Chief interrogator to Her Majesty’s Forces.’
    Mac laughed but he was aware too that Baker was probably right. Had he not interrupted, Rina would probably have the whole story by now, but that was hardly the point, was it? Rina was a civilian. She should learn when to leave well alone, shouldn’t she?
    â€˜From what I’ve seen of Mrs Martin, I’m inclined to agree,’ Kendal said. ‘Though I suppose we really shouldn’t even be thinking about it. This Hale, Mac. Did he give a rank?’
    Mac shook his head. ‘No, I don’t believe he did. He was adamant that Superintendent Aims knew all about him and so it seemed, when I called in to ask.’
    â€˜Well, Aims has certainly been briefed,’ Kendal confirmed. ‘Being his usual officious self, he’s keeping us plebs in the dark as to what that briefing told him.’ Ostentatiously, Kendal tapped the side of his nose. ‘Need to know and all that and apparently all we need to know is that we’ll have an officer from the MOD assisting us in our enquiries. He should be joining us later today.’
    â€˜Do we have a name?’
    Kendal consulted his notebook. ‘Jackson,’ he said. ‘Abe Jackson. Sounds American. Do we have Americans working with the MOD? Who knows? Anyway, I’m told he’s a military man, a redcap originally, now on secondment. I did ask what the military police had to do with a civilian operation. I mean, you wouldn’t find them bending over backwards to assist us if we were on their turf. However, Superintendent Aims seemed to think that was
need to know
as well.’
    â€˜Which,’ Mac commented acidly, ‘probably means that no one thought he needed to know either.’
    â€˜Very likely. Mac, just what is going on here? We’ve got a man shot aboard his yacht, together with another man who may or may not be MOD but is almost certainly a minder of some kind and now various government departments running interference on our investigation.’
    â€˜Not to mention two people too afraid to confide in anyone,’ Mac added. ‘Though one of the big questions in my mind now is what Lydia was about to tell Rina.’
    â€˜You’ve got more than one?’ Sergeant Baker queried. ‘And here’s those experts saying we men can’t multitask.’
    Mac chuckled. ‘Andy, where’s all the stuff from Paul de Freitas’ flat?’
    â€˜In the corner, back of DI Kendal.’
    â€˜Ah.’ Mac got up and rummaged in the box. All of this would have to be gone over later, see what needed to be shipped out to documents for further analysis. ‘Two more things actually.’ He dropped a couple of evidence bags on to the table, slid the contents of one out and, after donning a pair of gloves, unfolded it carefully. ‘This was slipped, like a bookmark, in to one of Paul’s books. He seemed to have a habit of using torn paper from magazines and the like.’
    â€˜Lots of people do that,’ Sergeant Baker commented.
    â€˜True, but this was in a first edition. Would you really want to risk marking a collectible book with newsprint?’
    â€˜Maybe Hale’s lot just put it back in the wrong place,’ Andy suggested. ‘We know they searched the place.’
    â€˜Maybe, but I happen to