Chapter 14

"Interview commencing at zero nine fifteen with Inspector Richard Williamson, Sergeant Liam Wheeton, Mr Oliver Prutton, and his representative Euan Duffy."

The bearded legal representative held up his hand and looked at the Inspector. "My client has indicated that his willing to cooperate with the Police investigation but has expressed a desire that the Police ensures that this cooperation is noted and recognised. Can you please reassure my client that this will happen?"

The Inspector nodded. "Any cooperation will be recorded and will be explicitly noted in court, if required."

Oliver rubbed his nose and pursed his lips together. "Well you know most of it. I was roped in by Jamie. Him and this girl wanted to do a job and they needed plans that I got them. And then they wanted access cards and codes and then they promised to leave me alone. But their accomplice got nicked and I was told I had to do it."

"Please note the clear coercion, officer," the duty solicitor pointed out and both Police officers turned up their noses at him and allowed Oliver to continue.

"Well I had to set off the car alarms as a distraction and Jamie sprayed something onto their satellite to mess with the pictures. When we did that Emma let us in and we went down to the vault. The code we had wasn't right and it set off some alarm but the owner came down to check and he turned it off and took out a briefcase. We were hiding behind statues. When he left, Emma typed in the right number and the vault opened."

"How did she know the right number?" the Sergeant asked and Oliver gave a brief smile.

"She watched Doszak type it in. Well we got out and made off to a farmhouse. I got a third of the money, some jewellery and one of the three statues."

"Where is the money?"

Oliver shrugged. "It was in Vicky's room. I sort of found her and she promised to let me stay for a night. It was in a bag."

The Inspector pulled up a small hold-all from the floor in a clear plastic bag and Oliver nodded.

"So where is it? This was empty, except for the statue."

Oliver scowled. "It was full of money. Full of it."

Richard Williamson looked at his partner and they began to probe Oliver's story, opting to have a break for ten minutes after an hour.

"So he is lying?" The Sergeant asked and the Inspector snorted as he waited for the vending machine to dispense his drink.

"I don't know. He seemed very certain about the money and the amount."

"But we searched the whole house and found nothing."

The Inspector took a deep breath and picked up the red-hot drink swearing at the thin plastic. "I'm aware of that. He had the statue, he got that from the vault."

"Which is the only thing reported stolen. Maybe he didn't have anything else and just wanted to bargain."

The Inspector sighed. "No, there was something in his voice, he meant what he said. The question is, where is it all now?"

"Jaroslav? I mean, we know he would have sent his own people to try and track them down."

The Inspector shook his head again. "No. 'Cos if Mr Doszak sent people it wouldn't be to just find them, it would be to take them out. Whatever he stole, he has balls. Not many people would steal from Jaroslav Doszak."

"Which is probably why the vault security was so bad, he thought no-one would dare."

The Inspector had to suppress a smile. "Probably. Learnt the hard way though, didn't he?"The Sergeant smiled and allowed the Inspector to continue. "Right, let's go and find out a bit more about where Jamie and Emma are heading," he suggested and took a swig from his tea that was still to hot to drink and strode back down the corridor towards the Interview Room.

"Dhere she is," Dmitri muttered in his Russian accent and the two men got out of the dark 4x4, pushing the startled student up against the wall in a nearby alleyway. Vicky squealed but Andrei held a weapon to the throat of the girl who whimpered.

"What do you want?" Vicky cried and Dmitri looked at her.

"Dhere is zee money?" Dmitri barked and she shook her head.

"I don't know," she muttered and the two men looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Where is it?" Andrei asked. "We cut you up, we no care."

"I don't know," Vicky wailed. "The Police searched my house and they found nothing. I don't have anything."

Andrei snarled and Vicky shook her head; she was scared and worried as she had not seen these men before. They clearly knew about her brief liaison with Oliver prior to his arrest but she didn't want to be involved in Oliver's mess.

"What makes you think I have it?"

Andrei took a deep breath and he looked at Dmitri. "Cos Oliver he no have it when Police come," she was told and Vicky shook her head.

"So, he ain't gonna give me some money to look after. He not mentioned it," she told them and Andrei looked at Dmitri.

Realising that they were momentarily distracted, Vicky pushed them away and pulled a lanyard on her bag. She had to put her fingers in her ears as an excruciatingly loud noise pierced the calm of the street and echoed around the alleyway.

She looked at their shocked faces and aimed a kick into the groin of Andrei and then backed away down the alleyway as Andrei collapsed onto the floor screaming in agony.

Vicky turned her back to the two men and ran away, the piercing sound going with her as she desperately sought to put some real distance between herself and the violent henchmen.

"Inspector," a young man called and ran the length of the corridor.

"Easy," Richard called and watched as the man dodged a WPC and skidded to a halt breathlessly. He liked the energy and enthusiasm of the latest batch of police officers as they reminded him of when had just joined the force 25 years previous, but always worried that he would see an accident sooner rather than later caused by their recklessness.

"That statue, the really expensive one, Oliver Prutton had," he panted. "It isn't."

"Isn't what?"

"The statue."

"What?" The Inspector took a deep breath and looked at him. "What statue isn't what?"

"The statue isn't Mr Doszak's statue. It's not made of Gold and is a copy."

"A copy?"

"Very good one, but not real. It's just been analysed and they've sent the report through."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

The young officer was clearly annoyed by his Inspector's lack of belief and held out the fax for him to read. The Inspector whistled and passed it to his Sergeant who glanced at it and then at the Inspector. "So you think Jamie or Emma swapped it at the farmhouse?"

The Inspector shook his head, deep in thought. "No. But someone did. We know Mr Doszak bought the statues five years ago. So unless he bought fakes or if he swapped it."

"But if Jamie wanted to double-cross him, get away with all three of them, could he have done it in the farmhouse?"

The Inspector snorted. "I can't see it. Jamie looked after Oliver, so it would be Emma. Emma could have swapped them after the raid."