دیدار از طرف پلیس

Chapter two

A visit from the police

Jennifer did not sleep well that night. She woke up feeling tired and unhappy. When she arrived at Dr Gibson’s surgery, she looked into the waiting-room.

It was nearly full. Another busy morning, she said to herself. Just then she heard the doctor’s car outside. He hurried in and went into his room.

Three hours later he finished with his last patient. Jennifer brought a cup of coffee and put it on Dr Gibson’s desk. He said thanks and she turned to go.

‘Er - just a minute,’ he called after her, ‘I want a word with you.’ He sounded a little cross. ‘There was a phone call for you this morning - about an hour ago. You were busy at the time so I answered it.’

‘Oh, who was it?’

‘Let me see - I wrote it down somewhere.’ He began to move the papers on his desk. ‘She said that she was a friend of your brother’s.’

‘My brother? But why did she want me?’

‘Ah, here it is.’ He gave Jennifer a piece of paper. On it was a name - Wendy. ‘She didn’t leave a number. She’ll call you again at home.’

Jennifer looked at the name. Wendy?. Wendy who? she asked herself.

‘Thank you, Dr Gibson,’ she said.

‘And tell her, please, no phone calls during surgery hours.’

‘I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.’ Jennifer wanted to explain that she did not know this Wendy but decided not to. A few minutes later Dr Gibson shouted goodbye to her and Jennifer was alone.

She knew a few of Richard’s friends but nobody called Wendy. But Richard changed his girlfriends as often as his shirts! Jennifer did not try to remember all their names.

At the end of the day Jennifer arrived at her flat and was going up the stairs when she heard voices above. Two men were standing outside her door.

One of them came up to her. ‘Miss Walton?’ he asked. ‘My name’s Detective Barrett. I’d like to ask you a few questions, please. Can we come in?’

She turned the key in the lock and pushed open the door, and all three of them went inside and sat down.

‘It’s about Mr Richard Walton. He’s your brother, I think,’ Barrett began. He spoke softly but he had a hard voice, cold and unfriendly, and his light blue eyes never left Jennifer’s face. ‘When did you last see him?’

Jennifer told him.

‘And before that?’

‘I’m not sure - about three or four weeks ago.’

Those light blue eyes were still on her. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

‘You didn’t see him last weekend, then?’

‘No.’

‘Try to remember - did he come here last Saturday? In the evening?’

‘No.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Yes, of course I’m sure.’

Barrett’s voice became a little louder. ‘You didn’t meet him in some other place? At the airport perhaps?’

‘No, I didn’t. I haven’t seen him for nearly a month, I tell you. Until last night, I mean.’

‘Last night’ Barrett said after her. ‘Tell us more about last night. You took a man to hospital. from Maxim’s restaurant.’

‘Yes.’

‘A friend of yours?’

‘I never saw him in my life before. He fell and hurt himself. They said that he had a bad heart so I went to the hospital with him. That’s all.’

‘You never saw him before? You surprise me, Miss Walton.’ Barrett was watching her carefully. ‘You didn’t know that he was Mr Joe Kelly, your brother’s boss?’

‘No, I didn’t.’

‘Really? You didn’t know him? Very strange, don’t you think?’

All these questions - she was feeling angry now. She stood up and went across to Barrett. ‘Look, Detective Barrett, I’m getting tired of this.

What’s it all about? You want me to answer your questions and you don’t tell me why. What’s the matter - I want to know. Is Richard in trouble?’

Barrett held up his hands. ‘All right, take it easy.’ He gave a little smile but his eyes were cold and he was still looking hard at Jennifer. The other detective said some-thing quietly to Barrett. Then Barrett went on, ‘Your brother - what do you know about his girlfriend?’

‘His girlfriend?’

‘Yes, Wendy. He works with her at Joe Kelly’s.’

Wendy! The mystery telephone call at the surgery that morning! Jennifer tried to hide her surprise. She looked first at Barrett, then at the other man. Then she said coldly, ‘Richard doesn’t talk to me about his girlfriends.’

‘He’s told you about Wendy, I’m sure. They’re very friendly, the two of them. They went to Germany together.’ He turned to the other man. ‘Last weekend, wasn’t it?’

The second detective moved a little nearer and spoke quietly to Barrett. ‘She doesn’t know anything about this. You’ll have to explain it to her.’

Barrett turned to Jennifer again. ‘We’re looking for some stolen jewellery, from Germany. And we believe that your brother knows something about it. You won’t like this, Miss Walton, but your brother works for a criminal, a thief, and one of these days he’s going to find himself in trouble.’

‘But my brother lost his job yesterday. He told me last night. So he doesn’t work for this man anymore.’

Barrett smiled. ‘Perhaps he doesn’t or perhaps he wants people to think that he doesn’t work for Kelly.’ He went on. ‘If you don’t want to see your brother in prison, tell him to keep away from Kelly. And from beautiful young girls like Wendy.’

Jennifer looked at him and said nothing.

Barrett stood up. He looked at the other man and they both moved to the door. Jennifer followed and opened it for them.

‘Good night, Miss Walton. Thanks for your help.’

They walked to the top of the stairs. Jennifer waited for a few seconds, then went inside and closed the door.

Oh Richard, she thought. What is happening? What are you doing? Why can’t you stay out of trouble?

She telephoned Richard’s flat, but there was no answer. So she went to bed, and worried half the night about her young brother.

The next day, Saturday, she worked only in the morning. When Dr Gibson’s surgery finished, she went home to have lunch.

Then she planned to go round to Richard’s flat and talk to him. But when she got into her flat, the telephone was ringing. She ran across the room and answered it.

‘Hello, is that Jennifer Walton?’ someone asked. It was a girl’s voice.

‘Yes, Jennifer here. Who’s speaking?’

The caller was silent for a second or two, then said, ‘You don’t know me, but I’m a friend of your brother’s. Are you free just now? I need to see you. It’s important.’ She went on quickly. ‘I’m just round the corner from your flat. Can I come up? I’ll be there in three minutes.’ And she put the phone down.

Jennifer was waiting at the door when her visitor arrived. She looked at her in surprise. She knew that face. It was the young girl from Maxim’s, but without the gold ear-rings today.

The girl was also surprised. ‘I saw you at Maxim’s on Thursday night,’ she said. ‘You took Joe Kelly to hospital. Are you Jennifer, Richard’s sister?’

‘Yes,’ said Jennifer. She looked at her visitor, and began to put two and two together. ‘And you must be Wendy.’

‘Yes,’ the girl said.

Jennifer stood back, and the girl went inside. They sat down and Jennifer looked at the girl coldly. So this was Richard’s girlfriend who worked for the criminal, Joe Kelly. She had a beautiful little face and looked very unhappy, but Jennifer did not want to like her.

‘What do you want to see me about?’ she asked.

‘It’s difficult to explain,’ the girl began. She looked unhappily at Jennifer’s unfriendly face. ‘You see, Richard has told me about you.

He says that you’re very kind you always help him. He gave me your phone numbers and said.’ She stopped, and Jennifer waited. ‘He said that I could ask you for help.’

Jennifer smiled to herself. Always the kind big sister, she thought. She looked at the girl’s small, worried face.

‘Well, go on, then,’ she said more kindly. ‘Tell me all about it. I hope that Richard’s not in trouble.’

‘You see, I work for Joe Kelly,’ Wendy began. She talked for a long time, and Jennifer listened carefully.

This was Wendy’s story.