‘Good afternoon, Mr. Fox. Do come into my office and take a seat.’
‘Thank you Wilson, and good afternoon Mrs. Page. As you are both well aware it is the alternate Wednesday and from what I can see you have made very little progress. This has been going on for several months now and the only thing that seems to have happened is I keep getting bills from you. You must have clocked up fifteen thousand at least. All I asked you to do was provide me with proof that my wife, Lady Jane, is having an affair and, if not, then what she is up to. It can’t be that difficult. I was told you were the best private investigators in London but I haven’t seen much evidence of it.’
The partners looked at each other and John Wilson responded. ‘I’m sorry Mr. Fox but she seems to be very good at covering her tracks. Let me recap and if there is anything I miss or new information you have please interrupt.’ Mr. Fox nodded. ‘We know her Ladyship meets her cousin Melanie every other Wednesday evening. She goes to her flat in St. John’s Wood and they go to a nearby wine bar. Usually arrive there about nine and leave around eleven. They go back to Melanie’s flat. Then one of several things can happen. She leaves a few minutes later in a black cab. She has met a Uber Taxi at the exit from the car park under the flats and we believe on another occasion she left wearing her cousin’s coat and a scarf. Unfortunately we haven’t yet managed to find out where she goes.’
‘Seems to me she is playing games with you, Wilson. This is 2018 and we live in an age of electronic tracking, drones and facial recognition. How difficult can it be for you to keep tabs on someone? Besides, I don’t think you realise the seriousness of my situation. My wife comes from a very wealthy family. My father was a bank manager so I had a comfortable upbringing but we were paupers compared to her family. Jane has backed a few of my ventures but there are always strings attached. You could say she treats me like a small child who is only allowed to spend their pocket money on certain things. Enough is enough and we both know this marriage is over. I don’t intend to leave it without a decent percentage of her personal wealth which I know is considerable. Therefore we have to show she is the guilty party. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘Good. Could she know that we are investigating her? What about the following morning. Can’t you find out where she goes all night?’
‘The problem we have is that she returns home to your house in Hampstead at different times the next morning. Anything from ten thirty to one o’clock or even later. Sometimes on foot and other times by black cab. We have spoken to three of the cab drivers who have dropped her off and they have all picked her up from different places. One outside London Zoo, one from the Shard and one from Elephant and Castle. She always pays in cash. Look at these sets of colour photographs. The ones taken at night are not the best, I agree, but there are a couple taken in the wine bar. The ones taken of her arriving home the following mornings are good quality. There are two distinctive things we have noticed. Can you spot them?’
‘Let’s have a look. I should be comparing the evening ones to the following morning?’ Wilson nodded. ‘She’s wearing a different outfit in the morning. Not a suitcase or anything to carry a change of clothes in. Can she have another place where she is living?’
‘That’s a possibility I investigated,’ said Sheila Page. ‘There is one piece of new evidence we picked up two weeks ago. She arrived at London City Airport on Thursday morning.’
‘Where from?’
‘Manchester.’
‘Manchester? However did she get to Manchester if she was in London at eleven or eleven thirty the night before?’
‘That, Mr. Fox, may be the final piece, or one of the final pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.’
‘So what have you found out?’
‘We know she wasn’t travelling under her own name. We are trying to trace all the people on the flight but that is not easy. Again she was only carrying her handbag. You mentioned the costs mounting up, so the question – is do you want us to continue with that line of enquiry?’
‘I’ll give you another two weeks.’ He stood up to leave and as he got to the door he turned. ‘And with regard to your fees, if you give me what I need you will get double, if not I’ll call it quits.’
11:45pm the same evening.
Lady Jane climbed aboard the first class carriage of the Caledonian Sleeper.
‘Good evening Mrs. McDonald.’
‘Good evening Brian, I trust you are well?’
‘Yes thank you madam. Mr. McDonald is in number five. The train leaves in five minutes.’
She knocked on the door of the compartment and, after the expected ‘come in’, opened it and stepped into the room with a double bed and ensuite shower. ‘Is this the Edinburgh train?’
‘Hello Jane, lovely to see you.’
‘And you darling. I wish we could have done this every week, the fortnights seem so far apart.’
‘I know. I feel just the same. And now this is the last time. I’m really going to miss you.’ He reached for the bottle of champagne cooling in an ice bucket and expertly opened it.
‘Me too. But it may be for the best. Someone was watching me outside my cousin’s flat about half an hour ago. And the last couple times I have got home on Thursday there has been someone hanging around near the house. It’s a bit of a giveaway when they hail the cab I got out of, talk to the driver, give him some money and then don’t take the cab. So perhaps it’s for the best. What are you going to do with your Wednesday’s in future?’
‘That’s easy. As the junior partner in McDonald and McDonald, Solicitors and Commissioners for Oaths, I shall be pulling my weight again. It is good having my older brother as senior partner as he lets me off the leash from time to time. It suits him being tied to Edinburgh as his children are now demanding teenagers and, as I’m single and fancy free, I don’t really mind him having a bigger share of the year end profits, so its win win all round. What about you?’
‘Definitely pastures new. A couple of possibilities in the Caribbean. I’m leaving for Barbados next week.’
‘So it’s definitely over between you and Mr. Fox?’
‘Yes. We were married as teenagers and had the three children by the time I was twenty five. The last one is at Uni so I now feel I can go. Perhaps I could have done it before. He probably would have but that’s the difference between us. He’s new money and I’m old money. He seems to think my family money is ours, whereas I like to treat it as mine. I shall keep the flats I own. My cousin, the one I meet up with every fortnight, manages them for me, arranges the lettings, maintenance and all the admin stuff. She also looks after a few for other people she knows. All low key but she does very nicely. I’ve got a couple of small hotels to look at, about ten rooms, high end. If I find something I like I’ll need a good lawyer. Interested?’
‘I certainly could be. Do you think Mr. Fox really is on our trail?’
‘I expect he is, probably using some swanky expensive private investigators. On my way home last time I saw a chap at Docklands airport I was sure I’d seen near my house. I’m flying back to Heathrow direct in the morning, then the tube. Not my favourite, but needs must, I don’t want to give him an inch. Edinburgh to Manchester and then a different flight to Docklands is more convenient, and Heathrow is not my favourite airport, but I don’t want to risk that chap being at Docklands again. By the way, could you thank your secretary for the clothes she buys for me? And thank you for bringing them each time. What do you do with my cast offs that you take home?’
‘I wash them and take them to the local hospice shop. I get a few strange looks from the ladies behind the counter. That’s after my secretary has first pick. She says I don’t pay her enough to shop where she buys your clothes. Which is probably true. I’m really, really going to miss you.’
‘Me too, James. I might keep my fake Mrs. McDonald driving licence which I use as identification when I buy the airline tickets, just for old time’s sake. After all it did cost me fifty pounds. Any chance of a top up before we er...’
‘Of course. Here’s to you and us and the overnight sleeper.’
‘Yes, cheers. And to think it all started in a wine bar in Piccadilly when I absentmindedly put my bag down on a table and a gruff Scottish voice said very loudly, ‘You can’t put that there!’
BACK
‘Thank you Wilson, and good afternoon Mrs. Page. As you are both well aware it is the alternate Wednesday and from what I can see you have made very little progress. This has been going on for several months now and the only thing that seems to have happened is I keep getting bills from you. You must have clocked up fifteen thousand at least. All I asked you to do was provide me with proof that my wife, Lady Jane, is having an affair and, if not, then what she is up to. It can’t be that difficult. I was told you were the best private investigators in London but I haven’t seen much evidence of it.’
The partners looked at each other and John Wilson responded. ‘I’m sorry Mr. Fox but she seems to be very good at covering her tracks. Let me recap and if there is anything I miss or new information you have please interrupt.’ Mr. Fox nodded. ‘We know her Ladyship meets her cousin Melanie every other Wednesday evening. She goes to her flat in St. John’s Wood and they go to a nearby wine bar. Usually arrive there about nine and leave around eleven. They go back to Melanie’s flat. Then one of several things can happen. She leaves a few minutes later in a black cab. She has met a Uber Taxi at the exit from the car park under the flats and we believe on another occasion she left wearing her cousin’s coat and a scarf. Unfortunately we haven’t yet managed to find out where she goes.’
‘Seems to me she is playing games with you, Wilson. This is 2018 and we live in an age of electronic tracking, drones and facial recognition. How difficult can it be for you to keep tabs on someone? Besides, I don’t think you realise the seriousness of my situation. My wife comes from a very wealthy family. My father was a bank manager so I had a comfortable upbringing but we were paupers compared to her family. Jane has backed a few of my ventures but there are always strings attached. You could say she treats me like a small child who is only allowed to spend their pocket money on certain things. Enough is enough and we both know this marriage is over. I don’t intend to leave it without a decent percentage of her personal wealth which I know is considerable. Therefore we have to show she is the guilty party. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘Good. Could she know that we are investigating her? What about the following morning. Can’t you find out where she goes all night?’
‘The problem we have is that she returns home to your house in Hampstead at different times the next morning. Anything from ten thirty to one o’clock or even later. Sometimes on foot and other times by black cab. We have spoken to three of the cab drivers who have dropped her off and they have all picked her up from different places. One outside London Zoo, one from the Shard and one from Elephant and Castle. She always pays in cash. Look at these sets of colour photographs. The ones taken at night are not the best, I agree, but there are a couple taken in the wine bar. The ones taken of her arriving home the following mornings are good quality. There are two distinctive things we have noticed. Can you spot them?’
‘Let’s have a look. I should be comparing the evening ones to the following morning?’ Wilson nodded. ‘She’s wearing a different outfit in the morning. Not a suitcase or anything to carry a change of clothes in. Can she have another place where she is living?’
‘That’s a possibility I investigated,’ said Sheila Page. ‘There is one piece of new evidence we picked up two weeks ago. She arrived at London City Airport on Thursday morning.’
‘Where from?’
‘Manchester.’
‘Manchester? However did she get to Manchester if she was in London at eleven or eleven thirty the night before?’
‘That, Mr. Fox, may be the final piece, or one of the final pieces to the jigsaw puzzle.’
‘So what have you found out?’
‘We know she wasn’t travelling under her own name. We are trying to trace all the people on the flight but that is not easy. Again she was only carrying her handbag. You mentioned the costs mounting up, so the question – is do you want us to continue with that line of enquiry?’
‘I’ll give you another two weeks.’ He stood up to leave and as he got to the door he turned. ‘And with regard to your fees, if you give me what I need you will get double, if not I’ll call it quits.’
11:45pm the same evening.
Lady Jane climbed aboard the first class carriage of the Caledonian Sleeper.
‘Good evening Mrs. McDonald.’
‘Good evening Brian, I trust you are well?’
‘Yes thank you madam. Mr. McDonald is in number five. The train leaves in five minutes.’
She knocked on the door of the compartment and, after the expected ‘come in’, opened it and stepped into the room with a double bed and ensuite shower. ‘Is this the Edinburgh train?’
‘Hello Jane, lovely to see you.’
‘And you darling. I wish we could have done this every week, the fortnights seem so far apart.’
‘I know. I feel just the same. And now this is the last time. I’m really going to miss you.’ He reached for the bottle of champagne cooling in an ice bucket and expertly opened it.
‘Me too. But it may be for the best. Someone was watching me outside my cousin’s flat about half an hour ago. And the last couple times I have got home on Thursday there has been someone hanging around near the house. It’s a bit of a giveaway when they hail the cab I got out of, talk to the driver, give him some money and then don’t take the cab. So perhaps it’s for the best. What are you going to do with your Wednesday’s in future?’
‘That’s easy. As the junior partner in McDonald and McDonald, Solicitors and Commissioners for Oaths, I shall be pulling my weight again. It is good having my older brother as senior partner as he lets me off the leash from time to time. It suits him being tied to Edinburgh as his children are now demanding teenagers and, as I’m single and fancy free, I don’t really mind him having a bigger share of the year end profits, so its win win all round. What about you?’
‘Definitely pastures new. A couple of possibilities in the Caribbean. I’m leaving for Barbados next week.’
‘So it’s definitely over between you and Mr. Fox?’
‘Yes. We were married as teenagers and had the three children by the time I was twenty five. The last one is at Uni so I now feel I can go. Perhaps I could have done it before. He probably would have but that’s the difference between us. He’s new money and I’m old money. He seems to think my family money is ours, whereas I like to treat it as mine. I shall keep the flats I own. My cousin, the one I meet up with every fortnight, manages them for me, arranges the lettings, maintenance and all the admin stuff. She also looks after a few for other people she knows. All low key but she does very nicely. I’ve got a couple of small hotels to look at, about ten rooms, high end. If I find something I like I’ll need a good lawyer. Interested?’
‘I certainly could be. Do you think Mr. Fox really is on our trail?’
‘I expect he is, probably using some swanky expensive private investigators. On my way home last time I saw a chap at Docklands airport I was sure I’d seen near my house. I’m flying back to Heathrow direct in the morning, then the tube. Not my favourite, but needs must, I don’t want to give him an inch. Edinburgh to Manchester and then a different flight to Docklands is more convenient, and Heathrow is not my favourite airport, but I don’t want to risk that chap being at Docklands again. By the way, could you thank your secretary for the clothes she buys for me? And thank you for bringing them each time. What do you do with my cast offs that you take home?’
‘I wash them and take them to the local hospice shop. I get a few strange looks from the ladies behind the counter. That’s after my secretary has first pick. She says I don’t pay her enough to shop where she buys your clothes. Which is probably true. I’m really, really going to miss you.’
‘Me too, James. I might keep my fake Mrs. McDonald driving licence which I use as identification when I buy the airline tickets, just for old time’s sake. After all it did cost me fifty pounds. Any chance of a top up before we er...’
‘Of course. Here’s to you and us and the overnight sleeper.’
‘Yes, cheers. And to think it all started in a wine bar in Piccadilly when I absentmindedly put my bag down on a table and a gruff Scottish voice said very loudly, ‘You can’t put that there!’
BACK