"So, what did you find out from Marie?" June asked Sam.
"Well, she never thought that Richard did it. She says that nobody would have a reason to kill her brother, especially not Richard. Apparently Richard, Angus, Gina and Marie grew up together, so they all knew each other pretty well. Did you know that Richard and Marie had a son together?" Sam asked.
"No, I didn't realize that. How old is he?"
"He's 23. Richard only saw his son once, just after he was convicted. He saw Marie in hospital and then killed himself a couple of weeks later. How did you get on with Jack Marshall?" Sam inquired.
"Well I don't know. Smithy reckons he got a lot from the interview but I'm not convinced. He's sticking to his story that it was Richard who did it." June filled in.
"So what does Smithy think he's got from the interview?"
"There are a few holes between the statement he's given us today, and the one he gave originally."
June and Sam were interrupted as Smithy came over looking both pleased yet irritated.
"What've you got for us then?" Sam asked.
"Up until now there has never been a link between Jack Marshall and Angus Darling. I was looking at Marshalls' record, he was suspected of illegally lending money to a number of people. Nothing was ever proved because no-one was prepared to make a statement against him."
"So what's this got to do with Darling?" June asked.
"Well, about seven months before his murder, Angus bought the computer shop he worked in. At the moment I don't have anything to back my theory up but…"
"But you think he could have borrowed money from Marshall to pay for it." Sam stated. "That's a good theory, but at the moment that is all it is. We need to try and find out how he paid for the shop. Smithy, would you mind if I swapped and worked with you on this lead?"
"No course not."
"Ok June, talk to Gina and see if there's anything more she can tell you and if you could find out who owned the shop before Angus…"
"Right. What will you two do?" She asked.
"We'll go down to the computer shop on Church Street."
"Is it still there?" Smithy asked.
"Yeah. It's a lot bigger now than when it started. I'm not sure who owns it but they set up computer systems for businesses and offer a repair service." Sam explained.
"How do you know this?" Smithy asked looking as if he had missed something along the way.
"Do you ever pay attention Smithy? Remember a couple of months back, we had that bug in the system and it brought nearly every computer in the station down; when we were told it would take a few days before we could get someone from our own computer service to come out, we hired someone from that shop to come fix it." Sam filled in the rest.
"Oh yeah I remember that. We had to close the whole of custody for the day. Caused absolute chaos." June commented.
"Let us know how you get on June when you find out who owned it before hand. We'll meet back here in a couple of hours. I think the DCI wants a full briefing by then."
The three officers parted company, each heading to do their own investigating.
June sat in Ginas' office discussing the computer shop and what they had come up with so far. Gina told June as much as she could.
"I remember Angus saying he wanted to buy the shop. Originally Angus and Richard were going to buy it together but Richard couldn't afford to. Angus understood and no more was said about it." Gina told June.
"Do you know who owned the shop before Angus bought it?"
"Harold Harrison if memory serves me right. He was getting on a bit and was planning his retirement. He passed it onto his son George but he didn't keep the best of health. Originally when Harold owned it he sold general house hold items. The shop was a little dated; after all it had been running since the 1930's. When George took it over he updated it. He started selling electrical items like TV's and radios etc. It wasn't until the year before Angus died that they started selling computers. Richard and Angus used to work there after school and then full time when they left. As I said, George didn't keep the best of health and he didn't have any family to pass the business onto. Angus decided to buy it from him. Angus dealt with the computer side of things. Computers hadn't taken off properly by then but Angus felt that, that side of the business was doing well." That was as much as Gina could remember. She didn't have much to do with the Harrison family and their shop.
"My father wanted Richard to take over his business. Richard on the other hand didn't. My father owned a chain of bookies across the east end of London. Richard was always worried that he would turn out to be just like our father."
"Thanks Gina. I'll let Smithy and Sam know. Do you know who owns it now?"
"Yes, of course I do. He's my nephew. After Angus died Marie took over the business, she didn't want to sell it so she hired someone to run it for her. That's how she met William, it was him she hired."
Sam and Smithy looked round the shop. It was clearly very successful. There was about half a dozen people in buying one thing or another. There was a young guy wandering round the shop making sure everyone was ok. On seeing them he walked over to where they were.
"Can I help you with anything?" He asked.
"We're looking for the owner of this shop." Sam said.
"Well you're in luck, you're looking at him."
"Well I'm DS Nixon, my colleague is Sergeant Smith, we're from Sun Hill. Would you mind telling us your name?"
"I'm Mark, Mark Gold." He replied, offering his hand to the officers.
"Mark Gold, you wouldn't be Richard Gold's son would you?" Sam asked.
"The very same. Did you say you from Sun Hill? Don't suppose you know my Aunt, Gina Gold? I think she's an Inspector there."
"Yeah that's right. She's a good friend of mine actually." Smithy told him.
"Could we go some where more private please? We have something we would like to discuss with you." Sam said.
"Yeah sure. I'll take you upstairs; I live in the flat above." Mark replied and walked them up to his flat.
He settled them in the living room and brought through some drinks for them all.
"So what is it that you've come to talk to me about?" He asked.
"We've reopened the murder investigation into your Uncles death and your fathers' conviction. Some new evidence came to our attention a couple of days ago. We don't believe that Richard murdered anyone. We're working on the bases that he was set up for it. Up until now we haven't been able to establish a link between Angus and one of our suspects. However, we think Angus may have borrowed money from this suspect to buy this place." Smithy explained cautiously. He wasn't sure how Mark would react and he didn't want to let slip something that could ruin any chance of a conviction.
"You'd probably have to talk to my Mum or William about that. I don't know much about the business before William took over as manager."
"That's fine. We wouldn't expect you to remember something like that. What we were hoping for was for some old paper work or something confirming the sale of the place." Sam said.
"Well my Mum has all the paperwork. She doesn't really have much to do with the business but occasionally she helps with the finances." Mark explained.
"Well that's a great help. We'll keep you posted with any new information."
"Thanks. I never got to meet either my Uncle or my Dad, so please find the person who's responsible for their deaths. Say hi to Gina for me."
"We will. Thanks Mark, you've been a great help." Sam said as she headed for the door.
Gina was going through all her reports and paper work that she had accumulated over the last couple of days. Her phone started to ring and she answered it expecting it to be Alex or Smithy.
"Hello?"
"Hello Gina. It's Marie. Just thought I would give you a call, see how you were getting on."
"Marie, hi. How are you? I haven't spoken to you in a while. Suppose they've spoken to you about the investigation."
"Yes, two of your sergeants came round earlier. I wanted to know if you wanted to meet up for a cup of coffee or something."
"That would be nice. I'm kind of snowed under here, would you mind coming to the station? We could get something in the canteen."
"Yeah sounds great. I'll see you in an hour."
Gina ended the call. Seeing Marie just now felt like a good idea. She would know exactly how Gina would be feeling, as she would be having the same thoughts and feelings as her. Gina settled herself back to her paperwork and tried to take her mind off the investigation.
On their way to Marie Murrays' house, Smithy's phone started to ring. It came up with a number he didn't recognize.
"Hello, Sergeant Smith?" He answered looking confused, but his expression changed when he realized who the voice belonged to.
"Ok, I'll come over straight away." He said as he hung up.
"Who was that?" Sam asked.
"It was John Campbell; he's the Gov'ner at Longmarsh prison. He's asked if I can come to Longmarsh right now. Sounded quite important. We're not too far from there now. If you take a left just here it will take us onto the road leading to Longmarsh."
Sam did as she was told and aimed the car for Longmarsh prison. They agreed to go to Marie's house straight afterwards.
They sat in John Campbells' office waiting for him to come in. When he came in he was holding two files. He placed them on the desk in front of the two officers.
"I remembered something that may help with your enquiries. A couple of months before Richard was banged up; two known associates of Jack Marshall were brought in. They'd been arrested for armed robbery. There were more involved but they were the only two caught. Alistair Peters was one of the armed robbers; Ewan Franklin was the getaway driver. When Richard was brought in Alistair made his life hell."
"Alistair Peters wouldn't be related to Andrew Peters by any chance?" Smithy asked.
"Yeah that's right, they're brothers. Andrew was suspected as a part of the armed robbery but it was never proved. Anyway, that's the files for both inmates. You can take them away with you and read them. Again, if you need any help with your enquiries…"
"We know where to come. Thanks again John, you've been a great help. We'll bring the files back as soon as."
The two officers left and headed for Maries house.
"This is DS Baines. Unfortunately DS Fraser had to deal with another case so Baines has been put onto this case instead." DI Franks explained to Jack.
"Ok. Is he up to speed on the case?" Jack asked feeling harassed. Mickey had just phoned him to say that Andrew Peters had lost a lot of blood and was being taken into theatre. It wasn't looking good and there was a strong chance that he could die. If he did die any evidence and information would die with him.
"Ok well I'm just about to start the briefing so if you want to walk this way…" Jack said as he led the DI through to the briefing room.
At the briefing all the officers explained to each other what they had found. Smithy and Sam came back to the station after getting no reply from Marie. Terry came back from the hospital for the briefing leaving Mickey waiting for news.
Smithy and Sam had had the biggest breakthrough. Establishing some sort of a link between Marshall and Angus helped the others reflect on the information they'd been given.
Terry explained about Robert Sanderson. He had looked him up on crimint when he returned to the station. Sanderson had been involved in the armed robbery that Alistair Peters and Ewan Franklin were involved in. Peters and Franklin had been the only two identified by the victim of the robbery, but many more were suspected including Marshall.
"Ok everyone. You've done really well today so keep up the hard work. Go home and get some rest and come back tomorrow refreshed." Jack sent his officers home. They all looked exhausted.
"Anyone up for coming to the pub?" Phil asked his colleagues.
Most agreed to go for a couple of pints. Smithy decided to head down to Ginas office and see how she was coping.
He walked round to her office and filled her in with all the details from the briefing and the day's events.
"Well, I've had enough for one day." Gina said as she stood up and switched off her computer.
"Yeah me an all. I'll see you tomorrow Gina." Smithy said as he headed for the door to her office.
"Bye." She shouted after him as she headed for the female changing rooms.
