"Before you continue, I have to use the bathroom, Ben. I won't be long."
"No problem. Mind if I put some other music on?"
"Not at all, go ahead, pick something you like."
The chance to stand and stretch a bit is very welcome. I'm not only tired, I'm also stiff. Gail has a wide range of music in her collection so I easily find something I like and put it on. When she returns from the bathroom, I'm back on the sofa, leaning back, listening to the quiet music I chose. She cocks her head and listens for a moment, then smiles. "Good choice." She sits back down next to me. "So, tell me about what Mr. Gills had to say."
"Right, Mr. Gills..."
***
"Ah, finally. I thought you were letting me rot in here, Sergeant," Gills joked when I entered the room, followed by Davies. "Couldn't someone else have taken my statement already?"
"Probably, yes. But there are some questions I have to ask you first."
"Shoot."
"Mr. Peters accuses you of stealing the coins he was blackmailing you for from him."
"Ha – and you believe that?"
"Well, we have a theft report by Mr. Peters, stating that the coins in the folder you took along today were stolen from him. We checked, they're the exact same coins. If you didn't steal them, how did they come into your possession?"
"I... found them."
"Found them. When and where?"
Mr. Gills hesitated. "When I was repairing his loo... ten, no eleven days ago."
"You were doing repairs at Mr. Peters place eleven days ago and found the coins then? Where did you find them?"
Mr. Gills looked very uncomfortable now. "Well, they were behind the bathroom cabinet. I needed to turn off the water and the main tap was behind it. They sort of fell into my hands. And well... can you steal what isn't really there?"
"How do you mean?"
"I thought the bastard had reported the theft to you? Did you check the date? He reported them stolen a week before!"
I checked my notes, he was right. The report was dated a week before Mr. Gills claimed to have been in Mr. Peters house.
"And how did you know of that, Mr. Gills?"
"Look, we're a small village. Talk like that gets around easily. I told you, Bianca works at the grocery. She hears a lot of gossip and I hear it from her."
"So instead of informing Mr. Peters that his coins hadn't been stolen but had simply been misplaced..."
"Misplaced?! Don't you listen? Hidden! He just wanted the insurance money for them!"
"And how would you know that?"
"Oh, come on, Sergeant. Who misplaces his coin collection behind the bathroom cabinet? No, he had hidden them so no one would find them. He's a bit short on money, told me himself, said I'd probably have to wait a bit before he could pay my bill, that he was waiting on money from the insurance. He told me! And then I find his 'stolen' coins."
"And then you wanted to be his accessory to insurance fraud?"
"Accessory? Nah, I didn't want to help him."
"But you blackmailed him. You'd keep quiet about it for a share of the insurance money. And to make sure he played along, you kept the coins."
He stared to the side defiantly.
"You were meeting him this morning, Mr. Gills. You should have brought the coins and he your share of they insurance money. Only it didn't work out that way, did it? Mr. Peters tells me you didn't bring the coins so he got angry and took your camera instead, hitting you with his umbrella in the ensuing struggle."
"So what – he didn't bring the money, either! And anyway, I never would have reported it. But that bloody paper-boy had to call the police and suddenly you stick your nose into everything."
"It's my job to do that, Mr. Gills. To clear up crime. And I'm placing you under arrest for theft and blackmail."
***
"Ooph, things really tend to get complicated around here."
"Yeah."
"Insurance fraud, blackmail and counter-blackmail... why are people so greedy?! He could just have sold part of his coins if he needed money."
"He can probably tell you a hundred reasons why that was no option for him, Gail," I say before stifling another yawn.