The Inspector Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries - Books 1-4 by David Carter (best finance books of all time .txt) 📕

Hector, Jan, and even Mrs West. Walter glanced at Karen and nodded and she jumped up and went over to the monster, as everyone still called the Hytec Constructor System, despite Mrs West pleading with them not to.

Karen touched the screen and a computer generated happy face appeared that said, ‘Good morning, team!’

‘Good morning, monster,’ all the younger ones said in unison.

Mrs West stared at Walter and shook her head and clicked her tongue and glanced at the false ceiling.

‘Get on with it!’ said Walter.

Karen began.

‘Sadie,’ she said, and a facial photograph of the dead Oriental girl, or was it woman, came on the screen. Karen prodded a touch control with her silver nailed finger and the photo magnified thrice. ‘For want of a better name.’

‘Well she ain’t sexy Sadie any more, is she?’ said Gibbons.

‘Oh please,’ said Mrs West.

‘Sorry, ma’am.’

‘The deceased,’ continued Karen, and they all stared up into those forcibly opened eyes, dead eyes, literally so, seemingly staring down at them, as if staring at them from the other side, wherever the hell that might be. ‘So far, unidentified, no fingerprint record, no immigration scan, no recognised fingerprints from the Chinese embassy, no one reported her missing, no clues as to her identity or place of residence, an unknown woman of unknown nationality, who came, so far as we know, to an unknown end.’

‘Sad really,’ said Jenny.

‘Yes, it is,’ said Walter.

‘She must be someone’s sweetheart, lover, daughter, sister, someone must know her,’ continued Jenny.

‘Correct!’ said Walter, ‘and that is why we are going to find out who she is, and where she lived, and what happened to her. Jan and Jenny, how did you get on yesterday?’

Jan and Jenny went to speak at the same moment. Jan ceased, deferring to Jenny who had longer been part of the team, but she hesitated.

‘No, you go ahead, Jan,’ she said.

Jan Popieluszko bobbed his head and smiled and stood up and began. ‘We spent the day visiting Chinese and various other Oriental businesses. We showed the pictures to as many people as possible. As you said, some of the bosses were not so keen to talk, but the general workers, many of whom could not speak English, were curious. They did at least seriously look at the pictures. Some of them said they might have seen her years ago, but no one we found said they definitely recognised or knew her.’

‘Did you visit all the businesses?’ asked Walter.

‘No,’ said Jenny. ‘About half.’

‘You can carry on with that today.’

They both nodded.

‘We’ve also had some leaflets printed showing her face and asking for assistance,’ said Walter, nodding at a big pile of printed papers on his desk. ‘Take some of those with you, and that goes for all of you. Give them out wherever you can. They are no good to anyone sitting around on that desk.’

‘Sure, Guv,’ said Jan.

‘I have managed to raise funds to put up a reward for anyone who can identify the girl,’ said Mrs West.

‘Excellent,’ said Walter.

‘How much?’ asked Hector Browne.

‘£10,000.’

‘That’s not much,’ he said.

Mrs West pursed her lips and glared at him and said, ‘Would you like to make a contribution to boost it a little?’

Hector shook his head and said, ‘No thank you, ma’am, sorry.’

Walter nodded at Karen again and she took the meeting in a different direction.

‘Jessica Stone,’ and a reel of twenty pictures of the striking girl shone down from the monster, pictures from the catwalk, pictures at some glossy magazine shoot, pictures at Wimbledon on the arm of one of the Barton brothers, pictures from the Brit awards with various musos, all bright-eyed and out of it, pictures from her portfolio, and despite the fact that many of the photos showed her with other celebrities, hanging out with other supposedly glamorous people, the eyes were always drawn first to the images of Jessica Stone.

‘Missing, presumed kidnapped and abducted, from, and I can hardly believe I am saying this, from Guv’s house,’ and Karen mischievously prodded the monster and an aerial pic of Walter’s home filled the screen.

The front gate was open, the lawn needed cutting, and the curtains looked as if they needed some attention.

‘All right,’ he said, ‘there’s nothing to see there.’

‘You’ll know by now,’ interrupted Mrs West, ‘that a London protection officer was shot dead in Inspector Darriteau’s front room. We are not investigating that case per se, that is being handled from London, but nonetheless if you do discover, or hear, or come across in the course of your work, any information regarding that killing you will tell me, or Inspector Darriteau, immediately. Understand?’

Everyone muttered ‘Yes ma’am,’ and she nodded at Karen to continue.

‘Jessica Stone was taken away by two men and bundled into a Japanese people carrier, dark green, middling condition, number plate reported to begin: HUF. So far, we can’t find it on any CCTV.’

Walter spoke next. ‘Gibbons and Browne. I want you to find that people carrier. Do what you have to, but find it.’

The young guys nodded.

‘There is another matter that’s come to hand,’ said Karen.

‘Like what?’ asked Gibbons.

She glanced at Walter and he nodded her on.

‘We now have a missing person on our patch. A twenty-three year-old man by the name of Donald Rushnell,’ and she tapped the screen and his colour picture appeared, and she tapped it again and magnified it. Good looking boy, Walter recalled her saying, but not really, and then she said, ‘He’s been missing for four, five, days now. Lives with his parents at Waverton,’ more tapping and a splendid aerial shot of Remembrance came on the screen taken in sunshine, looking much better than it did in reality. ‘We do not believe there is any connection between the cases, but who knows, there could be.’

Walter took up the story. ‘Yesterday evening I went to the finance office where Donald works, it’s a company called Lion Loans & Finance, spoke to the manageress, a Mrs Cresswell. It appears the guy seems a bit of a loner. Behind his back some