Where There's A Will

Chapter Twelve

Stone got the preliminaries out of the way and then got started on the interview with Ben Logan.

"As you've already been made aware, Mr Logan, we are investigating an armed robbery and a hit-and-run, two incidents we believe are linked – incidents we have reason to believe you were involved in. You're currently out of prison on license, so perhaps you would like to take this opportunity to tell us everything, in which case things may go easier for you when it comes to sentencing."

Ben grinned. "Whenever you guys say something like that, I know you ain't got shit and you're fishing. You'd think you'd learn. I've been behaving meself since I got out: signin' on, lookin' for working, checkin' in with probation."

"Acting like an idiot outside the Horse and Jockey," Stone added. "You and your brother both. I suppose you know you could already be back inside, if your probation officer hadn't given you a break, undeservedly, I'm sure.

"Where were you on Sunday night?" he asked.

"Depends what time you're talkin' 'bout," Ben said. "I were a few places on Sunday."

"How about between half one and three in the morning. Where were you then?"

"At a mate's place," Ben replied after a brief hesitation. "Got there bit afta twelve. Picked up takeaways on the way from the pub, and by 'bout half one we was all pretty much out o' our heads. He had a coupla six packs in the fridge and some tequila - we finished them off while playin' Call of Duty."

"Who's we?" Burke asked.

"Me, Jerry, and Ash."

"Ash who?" Burke couldn't remember an Ash being on the list of known associates for the Logans.

Ben glanced at his solicitor but answered without consulting him. "David Ashford."

"Where can we find him?" Stone gave Ben a hard look when he didn't answer. "You know how this works, Ben, this isn't your first time here; if you want to use Mr Ashford as your alibi, we need to be able to speak to him. It'll also help if you can tell us what takeaway you visited so we can see if anyone there remembers you."

"Ash lives on Cutler Street, seventeen. I forget the name o' the takeaway, it's the kebab place on St Peter's Road."

"Does Mr Ashford have a criminal record?" Stone asked, drawing the first response of the interview from the duty solicitor tasked with representing Ben Logan.

"I fail to see what possible relevance Mr Ashford's criminal record, if he has one, has to do with him providing an alibi for my client."

"Well, firstly, Mr Valentine, if Mr Ashford has a criminal record then it calls into question any alibi he might provide for Ben here, and secondly, as previously mentioned, your client is out on license. One of the conditions of that license is that he avoids contacting or associating with known criminals, specifically anyone he has been convicted with at any time in the past; the only exception, of course, being his brother." Ben couldn't be kept from having contact with his family, but Stone would have preferred it if he was. "So, does Mr Ashford have a criminal record?" Stone asked for a second time.

This time Ben did consult with his solicitor. They spoke in hushed tones, their heads close together, for about a minute and a half before Valentine responded to the question. "To the best of my client's knowledge, Mr Ashford was convicted of handling stolen goods when he was twenty-one, for which he served a short prison sentence, but hasn't been in trouble since. Mr Logan's parole officer is aware of the friendship, and has spoken to Mr Ashford, and is satisfied that the association does not breach Mr Logan's license."

"Fair enough," Stone said. He would check on that, but left it for the moment. "You said your brother was with you at Mr Ashford's place on Sunday night, can you explain how, if that's the case, he came to be identified as one of the two people who robbed the Stag Inn's pavilion at the Rock Radio Music Festival?"

Ben smiled. "You said yesterday the person seen had a tattoo similar to what my brother had done, that ain't no positive identification. Why don't you just admit it, you're fishing; you ain't got nothing, and you're hoping I'll say summat you can make your case with. Give up."

There was a contemptuous look on Ben Logan's face, and Stone enjoyed seeing it disappear as he said, "That may have been the case yesterday, but now we have fingerprints, confirmed as your brother's, that place him in the pavilion."

Before Ben could respond there was a knock on the door of the interview room.

"What is it?" Stone asked of Grey once he had suspended the interview and left the room.

"The DCI wants to see you, sir."

"Does he know I'm in the middle of an interview?"

"Yes, sir; he said it's urgent," Grey told him. "He wanted to see you immediately. Mason's already with him."

Bemused, Stone re-entered the interview room. "Take Mr Logan back to his cell, Stephen; we'll have to finish this interview later, something's come up." He closed the door on the protests from Valentine, leaving his partner to deal with the solicitor.

"You wanted to see me, sir," he said when he entered the DCI's office. He hoped there was a good reason for his interview being interrupted – he couldn't imagine that Mason had come up with something to complain about that would be considered sufficient to disturb an interview, but he also couldn't think why else the DCI would want to see both him and Mason.

"Yes, Nathan." Collins waited until Stone had taken the seat next to Mason before he said anything more. "I've got to take you off the armed robbery and the hit-and-run. A situation has arisen," he said quickly when he saw that Stone was about to protest. "Something important."

"What kind of situation?" Stone asked, wondering what Mason could possibly have said that would have convinced Collins to take him off either case, let alone both.

"There's been a kidnapping," Collins said, surprising Stone.

"What sort of kidnapping?" Stone asked when he had recovered. "A snatch and grab on some kid on the way home from school?" It was the right time of day for that kind of thing.

"Early details are limited, but it looks more serious than that. I want you to go out to Pine Street and take charge of the investigation; I'm putting Justin in charge of the armed robbery case."

Mason couldn't conceal his pleasure at that news, though under that pleasure his demeanour suggested that he would have liked to be put in charge of the kidnapping, which was likely to be the more high-profile of the two investigations.

"So make sure he's up to date with everything before you go."