Chapter 8 – New Day New Leads

After a fitful sleep from which he awoke almost once every hour, Jack had got up, washed, dressed and been picked up by Florence for another day of work on the murder case.

'I should think we'll get the post mortem results today' he commented.

'Yes we should. It looks like the stakeout won't be necessary though'

Jack looked up to where Florence was nodding and saw George standing outside the police station, along with Commissioner Selwyn Patterson. The latter walked towards Jack and Florence in his usual intimidating manner.

'Good day Inspector, Detective Sergeant Cassell'

'Good morning Commissioner' they both responded before looking back and forth between him and George.

'I understand from Officer Myers that you have been wanting to speak to this young man in connection with the Heather Munro murder case?

'That's correct' confirmed Jack.

'Well, let's go inside as there's something we need to explain'

'Yes, I guess you do!' Jack looked at Florence in bewilderment as they followed the Commissioner and George into the station. Dwayne and J P looked up from their desks as the four of them sat around the table they had sat at the day before. The Commissioner began

'Before we go any further, I would like to introduce you to Detective Sergeant Fidel Best of the St Lucia police force. I believe some of you already know him'. At this prompt, George aka Fidel took off his wig and glasses to reveal a familiar face.

'Fidel?! Is it really you?!' gasped Dwayne, and ran to give his former partner a man-hug.

'Good to see you old man!' said Fidel hugging him back.

'Wow is this my predecessor?' asked J P

'It is indeed' confirmed Dwayne. 'J P, Serge, Inspector, this is Fidel who did J P's job before being promoted and relocating to St Lucia to work as a detective'

'It's…nice to meet you' said a startled Jack.

'Pleasure' said Florence, still wondering what was going on.

'Now, you see' the Commissioner began again 'Detective Sergeant Best here has been working undercover, investigating crimes believed to have been committed by Patrick and Gemma Buchanan on St Lucia. When the Buchanans came to Sainte-Marie, the Sergeant's home island, he had to take on a different identity to prevent being recognised and risking the Buchanans realising he was onto them. It was thought that acting as a tourist would be best'

'I'm sorry for not telling you who I really was sooner' added Fidel. 'I almost did yesterday after giving you the information I had about the behaviour of the Buchanans on Sainte-Marie but I thought I'd better clear it with my Detective Inspector and the Commissioner first'

'OK, but why was the investigation not passed on to us? In any case I would have thought we should at least have been told there was an undercover operation going on?!' said Jack.

'I only heard about it early this morning, Inspector' the Commissioner said, looking at Fidel.

'Again, I'm sorry you weren't told sooner' said Fidel, 'but as the travel itinerary of the Buchanans was not known by any police force I was sent on from St Lucia to follow them to wherever they were going. Unfortunately they realised they were being watched when they got to Dominica and managed to get away. I was tipped off on Saturday that they had arrived in Sainte-Marie so I bought the wig and glasses and got on the next flight without giving it much thought. I went to see the Commissioner yesterday before and after the couple's concert but he was not in his office'

'Um…Sunday!' shrugged the Commissioner, before continuing. 'Now, the St Lucia police believe Mr and Mrs Buchanan performed concerts over there and claimed to have written a number of songs that were actually written by other people. They then sold what we believe to have been pirate copies of their CDs and charging the full price. They also apparently changed the CD that was playing at one of the venues to their own one and forced the venue to pay them royalties. A lot of people were cheated out of money and made complaints'

'I was at their concert yesterday and have now actually witnessed them doing similar things here' continued Fidel. 'I suspect from the exchange I partly overheard after Heather's concert that she might have been aware of at least some of their misdeeds – that could have been what Patrick wanted assurance on that Heather had not repeated'

'Well, if Heather did know then that would certainly give the Buchanans a solid motive to murder her. Their musical career would be over if she reported them!' said Jack.

'And it does sound like they are in the habit of tampering with background music and would be familiar with sound systems so it wouldn't be surprising if it was Gemma that turned up the volume' said Florence.

'So shall we bring them in for these fraud and copyright theft charges and question them about what Heather knew?' asked Fidel.

'Yes I would think so' said the Commissioner 'I will let you surprise them at their accommodation, Sergeant Best, since that is your case. Then Inspector Mooney and Detective Sergeant Cassell can take over regarding the murder motive'

'Got it' they all nodded. The Commissioner turned to Jack.

'Now it goes without saying, Inspector, that we need to get this case solved as quickly as possible. There has been talk about an international music festival starting which would bring over many more musicians and singers from abroad, but I'm sure you'll understand how reluctant these musicians might be to come here if they thought their lives were going to be in danger? And how unlikely the Arts Council would be to grant funding for this if they thought the performers coming over were all criminals?'

'Of course, I understand'

'I'll be going now. I'll leave you to your reunion and I'll be waiting for you in the lobby of the Marina Hotel to back you up, Detective Sergeant Best. You probably want to come as George initially' The Commissioner got up and left the station.

'So Fidel, how are Juliette and the little ones?' asked Dwayne excitedly.

'Doing fine. Juliette has settled into life in St Lucia and is working as a childminder. Rosie is now six and at school and loving it. Little Julio has just turned two and is a little tearaway!'

'They sound adorable' commented Florence.

'Tiring though' Fidel assured her.

'I love your daughter's name – my wife is also called Rosie' said J P.

'Thank you. Well if you're married I guess you have done the right thing and avoided taking any relationship advice from Dwayne!' joked Fidel.

'Hey, I have a girlfriend now!' retaliated Dwayne.

'Really?' said Fidel, wide eyed.

'Yes, see?' Dwayne showed Fidel a photo of him and Darlene on his phone.

'She looks lovely, well done man!'

'Well, I'm sorry to have to break this up' said Jack, 'but Florence and I need to go over to the Community Centre to ask some more questions. I guess we'll see more of you in the next few days while we complete this investigation, Fidel?'

'Yes, I would think so. I'll be either at the hostel or the library if I can be of any more help'

'Well it's been great seeing you again' said Dwayne. 'I hope we'll all get a chance to go for a drink together before you leave?'

'I hope so!' He turned back to Jack. 'Um Inspector…can we speak outside?'

'Sure' he replied and the two of them went out onto the porch.

'Inspector' began Fidel, 'Um…I just wanted to apologise if I led your daughter to believe I was interested in her. I will speak to her myself but wanted to say sorry to you too. I was trying to blend in as a typical young man on holiday on the island but perhaps I went too far. As you will have gathered I am actually a married man with a family'

'I see' sighed Jack. 'Well as it happens I warned her off you last night after we discovered there was no George Lambert on the flight from Paris on Saturday and we thought you might have more to hide. She was very disappointed as she did seem to really like you, but she's a strong girl and will get over it'

'I hope so. She deserves someone special'

'She'll be working in Catherine's this evening and has a break around eight thirty if you would like to see her then to explain?'

'Thank you, I'll do that'

Jack went back into the station while Fidel put on his wig and became George again, and headed away.

'Well, is the post mortem report in?' Jack asked.

'Yes it is' replied J P. 'Here we go…time of death confirmed as being between twelve and four am on Sunday morning. Cause of death is as expected, not the result of a blow to the back of the victim's head but carbolic acid poisoning. It is likely she was hit by a narrow wooden object and this could have hastened her death'

'Carbolic acid?' commented Jack 'That's used medically and also found in household cleaners, isn't it?'

'Yes, disinfectants, antiseptics, adhesive dyes, even perfumes have it' confirmed Florence.

'And my mum used to use it to clean my cuts and grazes when I was a boy' said Dwayne.

'But a large concentration would be required to poison someone quickly as in this case' asked Jack.

'Yes I imagine it would have had to come from a larger supplier' said Florence.

'There's a couple of warehouses down by the harbour' advised Dwayne. 'One dealing in industrial cleaning supplies and the other in lab chemicals'

'Well, you and J P can head over there and find out if they sold anything containing phenol to any of our suspects'

'Yes sir' the two officers replied.

'Is there anything else, JP? The glass and cups? The CD player?'

'As you thought there was no trace of the acid in the glass or any of the cups or the crisp packet so none of these were used to administer the poison. Several fingerprints were found on the CD player though, including those of Herve Picard and Claire Rostant. The most recent ones appear to be Claire's'

'Well that's interesting considering Claire now appears to have a confirmed alibi courtesy of Detective Sergeant Best. No sign of Gemma Buchanan touching it?'

'No sir'

'OK, well let's get on with our assigned tasks and get this solved' Jack concluded and he and Florence headed out to the Defender while Dwayne and J P got on the motorbike and sidecar.