Chapter 5

“An update for you. Our friend Ferguson from the university tripped himself up, and ended in our hands as a criminal suspect. A colleague told him we had a witness to his entering the Chemistry building during the night before the explosion, so we accused him of breaking and entering with intent to cause an explosion. That rocked him back, but he then claimed he had a key, given him by a member of staff, and so he was not breaking in.

He probably thought this would save him, but it actually put him in deeper. The detective demanded to know why he had a key, and which member of staff had given it to him. He claimed it was the department’s technician, so that he could enter and check on his experiments at any time. The detective was well educated and suspicious of the story, so challenged him on the need to enter surreptitiously at dead of night, when there was no evidence of anyone else entering prior to the explosion which conveniently destroyed his experiment. The circumstantial evidence pointed to him as the culprit.

He then claimed that the technician was a friend, and so allowed him to enter at any time, and there were times he needed to know that his experiment was still functioning properly, and that this involved set times. The detective then asked, “Did he also tell you how to disable the intruder alarm system, against all standing instructions?”

Seeing that he was getting in deeper, he clammed up at that point, stating that he had done nothing illegal. He later admitted that he did not know the name of the Chief Technician That is where we now are. I think it unlikely the technician would hand over a key to a student, even if they were friendly. Secret copying of the key is more probable.”

Reg agreed. “His story doesn’t seem to add up, certainly, but you can’t prove he copied the key, either, can you?”

“No. You have to get the key to copy it, and all the keys are kept in a locked key cabinet. It is a bit frustrating. We seem to have half a story, but don’t know what the other half is, or even if the first half is true!”

“Well, thanks for the update, Terence. It is encouraging to know you guys are still working on it.”

The call concluded with pleasantries, and Reg put the phone down. His cup of tea was almost cold, so he asked Jessica to empty his cup in the kitchen sink, and pour him a fresh cup. He returned to the university accounts, running down the list of departmental accounts included. He noticed that one set related to the Chemistry Department, so the recent phone call got him interested and he started browsing the accounts of the Chemistry Department.

He perceived that the accounts were signed off by the Chemistry professor, whom Reg considered to be a bit other-worldly, and not too interested in the nitty-gritty of administration and accounting.

This suggested that the accounts were prepared for him by the Chief Technician, who would handle all the supplies coming in and accounting for their usage in the building.

Taking that into consideration, Reg scanned the figures for chemistry department supplies of all kinds, to see if anything stood out. It didn’t, then he had a thought: what if something had been going on for more than two years? There would be little change between the two years they had here.

Reg went back over the Chemistry department accounts, looking to see what was being purchased, and in what quantities. Needless to say, there were many bills for chemicals, but they were only listed as chemicals, for the use of the department. In the accounts these were simply the date, quantity of chemicals supplied, and the total of the bill. There was nothing to say which chemicals were being purchased, just ‘chemicals’. This was frustrating.

Reg got his phone out, and dialled to the university, asking for the Finance Officer, explaining that he was the Managing Director of Recovery Enterprise Group, who were looking at the university accounts. He was put through fairly quickly.

Reg introduced himself in his business capacity as Robertson the Managing Director, and referred to the two years of accounts. The finance man was familiar with this.

“That is correct. We considered it essential that you see two years, to ensure adequate comparisons.”

“We appreciate that helpful approach, but it has left us with a query that only you can assist with. It pertains to the purchasing of chemicals for the Chemistry Department.”

“A normal set of accounts for a chemistry department. What was your concern about them?”

“Can you provide the figures for several years prior to that? Just the figures for purchase of chemicals. That is our only query so far.”

The Finance Officer saw no problem, and said so.

“The figure for total expenditure on chemicals for each of the previous, what, five years?”

“Five years should be adequate, thank you.”

“Can I email them to you?”

“Certainly. My email is ‘md@R.E.G.com.uk’”

“Okay, I’ve got that. You should have the figures later today, sir.”

“Many thanks. Your assistance is invaluable. I shall reference that help in our report to the university.”

“It will be very welcome here.”

They finished the call, and Reg went back to his browsing of accounts, still wondering what he was expecting to find. In part of his mind, he was thinking precursor chemicals for the powerful explosive, if production at the university was higher than expected. On the other hand, the Chief Technician might be a simple embezzler, buying excessive amounts of certain chemicals and reselling them elsewhere at a profit to him; or he could be incompetent, buying too much simply because he was offered a special price if he bought in larger quantities. That used to happen with carbon copying paper, Reg had read, and some organisations ended up with masses of unused carbon paper that was no longer required; all down to pressure selling techniques where a salesman was rated according to his sales.

Reg thought again, and looked for the number of the chemistry student he had spoken to after the blast. Eventually finding him through the admin records, he got him on the phone and asked the relevant question.

“Did you find that during your studies, supplies of necessary chemicals were adequate, or what?”

The student thought back, and replied, “Actually, we always seemed to be low on chemical supplies, but I didn’t query it, as it was nothing to do with me directly. The department staff would look after the supplies question. They were probably waiting for a delayed delivery at the time, I imagined, though why that should be the case is a puzzle. Perhaps they were being late in paying their bills, and that was the supplier’s response: delayed delivery.”

Reg laughed. “That would make sense, I agree. Thanks for your input to a puzzle I am looking at.”

“Glad to help, man. Got to get back to my class now. I came out to answer this call.”

“My apologies. Go now, and thanks again.”

This was another factor for Reg to consider. For the last two years, considerable sums were spent on chemicals, but students were under the impression that there was a shortage. That implied a diversion of chemicals either through embezzlement or misappropriation for other purposes. Could the Chief Technician be working with Fitzgerald to produce explosives for sale to criminals? Alternatively, was the man selling chemicals for his own pocket, and Fitzgerald had discovered this, extorting the building key from the man? There were too many possibilities; Reg needed facts, and he didn’t have enough to derive a solid conclusion.

He moved to the accounts for other departments, to see if anything struck him as unusual. He found himself bored out of his mind, so called the kitchen to suggest it might be time for a lunchtime snack. Holly seemed offended.

“A snack? We have a decent lunch almost ready for you, Mr Robertson!”

“I apologise, Holly; I was not aware that lunch was so advanced. I had lost track of time.”

“That is all right, Mr Robertson. Lunch in twenty minutes, sir.”

“Thank you, Holly; you are good to me!”

He at first wondered at her formality, then guessed that one or both Robsons were with her, so she was being very business-like. He approved. The Robsons were much improved, but good examples never go amiss. He would need to ask Frances about her assessment of the Robsons. He suspected they would be going home soon, to grateful parents.

By the time his wives got home from the university, Reg had at last skimmed all the figures for every department of the university, and was feeling exhausted. All the differences had appeared to be accounted for by normal variation, year by year, except for a puzzling reference to a trust fund that did not appear elsewhere in the summary accounts. He would ask the others to check that out.

He managed to stand up from his chair and walk to the door when Jessica opened it for the others. This got him kisses from everyone, pleased at his effort to show willing. Jessica insisted that she should get to kiss him as well. Prudence was not best pleased.

“Jessica, you had all day to kiss our man. This is our first chance!”

Jessica smiled sweetly and responded, “I have been very restrained towards our husband during the day, Prudence. I did not want to appear too greedy, so now I am allowing myself to join my friends.”

“Oh. Well, in that case, you are forgiven, Jessica.” They exchanged a kiss to show all was well.

All the girls asked about his day; what he had achieved, and how his wound had felt. He surprised them by saying his wound did not bother him much. He had forgotten that this would be an invitation for more strenuous lovemaking thereafter, but would soon find out.

They were just settling down to have their dinner when Freda got a call on her mobile phone. It was Jenny, her father’s secretary.

“Freda, in case you see something on the news, your father is okay!”

Freda blurted out, “Why should he not be okay, Jenny?”

“There was an attempt on his life, but he escaped injury. He is shaken up, but otherwise unharmed. He asked me to let you know before something appears on the news.”

“But what happened, Jenny?”

“We are not sure. He was coming out of the Inns of Court when a man with a knife rushed him. There was an off-duty policeman right behind your father, and he pulled Hubert and pushed him to the side, while he tackled the knife-man. The man dropped the knife, and ran through traffic and got away.”

“The policeman was there by chance?”

“He was. He had been giving evidence in a civil case, so wasn’t in uniform. His quick reactions saved Hubert. As luck would have it, a journalist was coming out from the court a minute later, and saw a little of what happened, so he interviewed your father and got the story. Who knows how far the story will be spread in the media? So that’s why we wanted you to hear that he is okay.”

“Thanks for letting me know, Jenny. Give my love to Daddy, and tell him thanks for letting me know right away.”

She closed the call and sat down at the table with a sigh of relief, but white-faced with shock. The others asked what had happened, and she explained the call.

“The main thing is that Daddy is fine apart from being shaken up from the attack.”

Reg gingerly got up and came round to Freda, to give her a hug and kiss of reassurance.

“It is great that he is unhurt, Freda. Did he recognise the man with the knife? Was it one of the criminals he put behind bars?”

“I never thought to ask, Reg! I was in shock and not thinking straight, sorry.”

“It is all right, my love. It was just an idle thought of mine: you know what I am like.”

“Your idle thoughts can be worth listening to, darling. I will ring Daddy tomorrow and ask him if he has any clues about the attacker. He should be able to say whether he had a beard or not, hair on top or bald; tall or a midget, fat or thin; there are lots of basics that he should be able to tell the police. We can get that from him, so that if such a man appears at our door, we know to be wary.”

“Why should we expect him to come to our door, Freda, when we don’t know who he is? And how would he know anything about us?”

“Reg, we don’t know for sure that Daddy knows the man, or that the man knows Daddy for that matter. I am just thinking of all the possibles, and trying to protect our family. Isn’t our family worth protecting, even if we don’t know anything definite?” Freda sounded distraught, and Reg relented.

“You are quite correct, my darling wife. Family comes first, and protection against the unknown is still protection worth having. What do you suggest we do?”

“I don’t know for certain. This house is well protected now, with the security improvements, but answering the door could still be a risk to consider, plus some of the girls go out running.”

“O.K. As far as the door is concerned, nobody answers the door without checking the spyhole to see who is outside. If in doubt, call others to help. Never open without being sure of what you are risking.

The running is not as dangerous as you might expect. Elizabeth is not known, and the Robson girls will hopefully be ready to go home soon. Sidra is clearly of a darker skin tone, so easier to identify, but why should she be linked to us in anyone’s mind? To put your mind at rest, we will get Sidra to go through the self-defence course run by Tom. If it is for university students only, we’ll get him to visit us and train Sidra and Elizabeth here; we can afford it. How does that sound?”

Freda was mollified by this reply.

“Very well. That seems to cover my concerns. Thank you, darling.”

Erika interrupted, “Well, now that little matter is settled, let’s get to the important topic: who gets to fuck Reg tonight?”

This gained her a raucous laugh from the other wives, but all glances went to Frances, who responded, “Tonight is a repeat of last night, but in reverse order. Reg is still not fit enough to perform as normal.”

This was greeted with nods of understanding, and a few pretend sighs of relief. Prudence whispered loudly, “Thank God! I thought I was going to miss out!”, to a chorus of giggles.

Reg declared to her, “You can miss out if you want, Prudence. I’ll miss you, though.”

She shot back, “No you won’t miss me; I’ll make sure you are on target!”

This caused further merriment and some more ribald remarks at the end of the dinner.

Freda’s father phoned her the next morning. He was aware of her concern for him, he told her, but said not to worry.

“But Daddy, when someone attacks you, we have a right to be concerned. Is there any information about the attacker? Reg suggested that between you and the off-duty policeman, you would have some idea of his description.”

“Quite so, Freda. A uniformed officer was called and took our statements yesterday. He was anxious to get a description of the attacker, and what kind of knife it was. I had no idea about the knife; it all happened so quickly! The policeman who tackled him had a better idea of the knife, but it was not left at the scene. That surprised me, but then one of the passers-by told the police that the fallen knife was grabbed by a teenage boy, who ran away with it and disappeared.

So, we had no knife to go on. However, on our descriptions, we agreed that he had an Asian look to him. That worried the police, in case it was a terrorist attack on the judiciary and not personalised, but the off-duty man said there was no religious yelling to indicate that possibility, and the attacking man was quickly frightened off. His opinion was that a fanatical terrorist would not run away in such a situation.

That reminded Reg of Jessica’s husband, for he was certainly upset at Hubert’s representations on behalf of Jessica, and of course he fit the general description of the attacker, and was not Muslim according to Jessica.

Hubert explained to his daughter, “I had to admit that I did not get a proper look at his face yesterday, so could not identify him specifically, but I did suggest that Sadaf’s whereabouts might be of interest to the police. We shall see what comes of that.”

“I’ll let Jessica and Reg know, Daddy, just in case there is a connection. Keep safe now. Are you at work today?”

“Unfortunately, yes. There are too many court cases that I have prepared for in detail, so cannot pass them to another barrister at short notice. One of the downsides of the job.”

“Daddy, that is all very well, but if you are not feeling at your best, you can’t perform at your best. Be careful with what you say in court, Daddy.”

“My little girl has matured! You are quite right, Freda, so I shall take special care to watch what I am saying. I think you will do well if you get a good legal degree, my girl.”

Freda pouted before telling her father, “I intend to, Daddy! Reg wants all of us girls to gain good degrees, as well as being good mothers of his children. I think we will manage both.”

“You have a good man there, Freda. Now I have to get to work. Goodbye, my sweet.”

Freda reported the full conversation to Reg before dashing off with the others to the university. Reg was left to do his own thinking while Elizabeth and the Robsons went off on their daily run.

He wondered if the attacker might have had some link to the Fitzgerald guy who had been troublesome. Freda’s Dad had been instrumental in tracking down the student and interfering with his attempts to get a manufacturer working on the new explosive. Still, that seemed to be a long shot, for the guy’s own lawyer had willingly volunteered the information, not having had it bludgeoned from him by Hubert Dangerfield.

No, if Hubert was a specific target, then from Reg’s viewpoint Mr Sadaf would be the instigator if not the perpetrator. Some other unhappy victim of Hubert’s legal expertise might be a possibility, but it looked like Mr Dangerfield did not consider other convicted criminals jailed by his activity to be probable.

If one assumed it to be Sadaf, his motive had to be the money he lost to the court. Attacking Hubert would not provide clues as to the whereabouts of Jessica and Sidra, but revenge was a powerful lever to action. He would have known from his own lawyer who was the legal expert working for Jessica. He would have not known why Jessica had such a powerful barrister on her side, but his financial losses could easily be put down to Hubert Dangerfield’s ‘interference’.

Okay, assume it was Sadaf, presumably the police would discover that he was either not at his normal employment, or was ‘on holiday’ and able to get to London. The courts were simple to find, and it was only a matter of recognising Mr Dangerfield. Once he had the name, it would not be difficult to find a photograph of his target. For the moment, it would be best to leave it to the police detectives to track down Sadaf.

He cursed as he recalled that he had failed to get his wives to go over the university accounts last night. It would be back to him again, he thought with regret. What was the trust fund that was mentioned in the accounts? He dug the accounts out and looked until he found it: The Development Fund. Why a Development Fund? That seemed unnecessary, unless there were plans to expand the university in some way. He need information.

He rang the university again, and asked for the Finance Officer. He again had to adopt his MD persona to get through.

“In going through the accounts I came upon a reference to a Development Fund. Would you care to enlighten me about that Fund?”

“The Development Fund? That goes back a bit. It was established to build up a fund that the university could draw on for applying for grants where we would have to provide a matching sum. It is a common arrangement where the external funder wants us to show we can do some of our own funding. Why do you ask? It seems odd.”

“No more odd than it appearing within your annual accounts. There is no statement of the cash sums held in that account. I would have expected to see that. In fact, why didn’t your auditors not ask that very question?”

“Oh, I see. That did come up a few years ago. The Development Fund has a different auditor, so we explained that was why the Development Fund accounts are not included. Our auditors accepted that statement, and so have not queried it since. They just add a note at the end, saying that the Fund is audited separately.”

Reg probed further. “So the nub of it is: you have a separate account for that Fund, audited separately?”

“I presume so; I have not checked on that, myself. I have only been in post a couple of years.”

“So who are the current auditors for that fund? I may need to have a chat with them.”

The Finance Officer paused before replying, “I would need to go look that up, and get back to you.”

“Please do.” Reg gave the man his phone number to return the call.

After about twenty-five minutes the Finance Officer finally rang Reg. He sounded apologetic.

“I regret to say, Mr Robertson, but the auditor’s appointment was not renewed after the first year. It seems that someone decided that an auditor for that one fund was not needed. Presumably the assumption was that the Fund would be covered by our normal accounts. Unfortunately, that assumption was incorrect; the other auditors were under the impression that the Fund continued to have its own auditor. It seems the auditing of the Fund’s accounts slipped through a crack in the system.”

Reg hummed and hawed before suggesting, “It might be a good idea to let me have these accounts for all the years the Fund has existed. Can I leave you to sort that out, and get me a certified copy of the accounts of that Fund.”

The man was apologetic in the extreme. “Certainly. I shall get my staff on to it today. I shall have the university’s Chief Accountant certify the accounts for you.”

Reg stopped him at that point. “Can I make a suggestion? Have the certification done by someone outwith the university’s financial structure. Perhaps a maths professor, or such? It would avoid any question about where this lapse occurred, should there be an investigation.”

“Oh, I see your point, though I trust we can sort this error out without going to that extreme.”

“I am sure you are right, sir. I just want everything to be seen to be done correctly, so that your own position in the matter is secured.”

Reg knew he was pushing the man a little, but felt it was worth it. The Finance Officer agreed to Reg’s ‘wise’ suggestion, and rang off. Reg was left to ponder why things were so lax. He got the impression that the Finance Officer was happy to see things go smoothly, and studiously avoided any sign of unwanted financial concerns. Reg reckoned that if there had been a major slip-up, the Chief Accountant in turn would be anxious to cover over any irregularities that showed up.

This thought brought his mind back to the question of the Chemistry Department purchasing of large quantities of chemicals and the students’ perception of a shortage. They could not both be right; there was indeed something amiss.