Хилари Боннер - Death Comes First

‘I’m damned sure that bastard is the real villain, boss, and we have to make sure he doesn’t get away with it,’ he told Nobby Clarke after he had filled her in on his telephone conversation with Bill Mildmay.

At the same time another lead was being explored by the technical department. Henry Tanner had called Stephen Hardcastle on his mobile shortly before being shot. The tech boys had now been able to pinpoint where Hardcastle had been when he took that call.

He had not been in his home overlooking the harbour, as he had maintained when questioned following the shooting. Stephen had either been in Traders’ Court or adjacent to it. Vogel was of the opinion that his precise location had been on top of one of the buildings overlooking Traders’ Court.

This evidence established that Hardcastle had lied, and that he had been at the scene of the crime shortly before Henry Tanner was shot.

‘We’ve got enough to arrest him now, surely, boss,’ said Vogel excitedly.

DCI Clarke agreed.

At 4.30 a.m., Vogel, Clarke, Bolton, and a team of uniforms, including an armed response unit, arrived at Stephen Hardcastle’s Bristol waterside apartment. Given the close association with firearms Hardcastle was now known to have, Vogel and Clarke were taking no chances.

They were admitted into Conqueror House by prior arrangement with the caretaker. Hardcastle’s flat was on the first floor.

‘Go on, Vogel, you take the honours. It’s your collar,’ said Clarke.

Vogel led the way, taking two stairs at a time. This wasn’t something he would usually do, but he couldn’t wait to arrest Stephen Hardcastle. He thought the man was despicable. And arrogant with it.

Vogel hammered on the door of number 15. There were two armed response men right alongside him. They told him to stand to one side of the door. Behind them lurked a team carrying an enforcer, the heavy steel battering ram used by UK police to force entry if necessary.

It wasn’t necessary. Although, it did seem a long time before Vogel heard Hardcastle unlocking the door from the inside. He had been on the verge of ordering the two PCs carrying the enforcer to break it down.

The door opened slowly. Hardcastle was standing in the hallway looking bleary-eyed. But if he had been taken by surprise, as surely he must have been, he made a pretty good fist of concealing it.

‘Can I help you, Detective Inspector Vogel?’ he asked pleasantly.

Hardcastle was wearing only a pair of white boxer shorts, which, contrasting with his ebony skin, helped show off his muscular physique. He made no attempt to cover himself.

‘My my, both of you,’ he remarked in his Etonian drawl, registering the arrival of DCI Clarke. ‘And you’ve brought some of your friends too. How lovely. But I’m afraid you’re a little early for breakfast.’

This was some cool customer, thought Vogel. But he too kept his cool as, stony-faced, he began the customary caution.

‘Stephen Hardcastle, I am arresting you on suspicion of having perverted the course of justice, theft, and the attempted murder of Henry Tanner,’ Vogel declared. ‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’

Hardcastle remained smiling. If a little stiffly.

‘Prove it,’ he said.

Vogel and Clarke proceeded to do just that. It took time. There were a number of fruitless interviews with Hardcastle, who barely gave an inch at any stage.

And during this period, whilst on police bail, Stephen Hardcastle finally achieved his ambition. Henry Mildmay, now unable to remain in charge himself, made Hardcastle a partner in Tanner-Max, or what remained of it, and handed over the running of the company to him.

This incensed Vogel, who became more determined than ever that Hardcastle be brought to justice.

The weapon used to shoot Henry Tanner was never found. Neither were any computers carrying information pertaining to illicit gun dealing, other than the laptop owned by Charlie Mildmay. However, records were found of Hardcastle having purchased through Amazon the previous year a laptop which could not be accounted for. It wasn’t much, but it was something. The laptop was still under its manufacturer’s guarantee. Hardcastle claimed he’d lost it. He’d left it on a train. It hadn’t been insured.

The IT boys did their wizardry on Charlie’s laptop. Using advanced techniques now available, they were able to ascertain, from pressure on the keys, that Hardcastle had frequently used it. The problem was, he had never denied doing so. Both he and Henry had admitted to hacking into the laptop in order to check up on Charlie after his disappearance.

The police had more luck with the powerboat. They now knew that Hardcastle’s Goldfish had left Instow on the night that Charlie had set off on his supposedly fatal voyage the previous November, thanks to the emergence of a witness who had initially been reluctant to come forward. Once given assurances that his wife need not hear about his extra-marital adventures at the marina on the night in question, he had given a statement.

And it was already known that Hardcastle had taken the vessel out hours after Henry had been shot.

Forensics were able to prove that the envelope containing Charlie Mildmay’s fateful letter to his wife had been opened before she received it. Both the letter and its envelope bore the fingerprints of Stephen Hardcastle and Henry Tanner.

Most of the evidence was circumstantial, but eventually the CPS made the decision to charge Stephen Hardcastle with all the offences for which he had been arrested, namely: perverting the course of justice, theft and attempted murder.

Eight months later, in January 2015, Stephen Hardcastle stood trial before Bristol Crown Court.

Vogel had been able to ascertain beyond any reasonable doubt, after meticulous dissection of all available records and a certain amount of intercourse with criminal contacts, that no arms or defence materials of any kind had been siphoned off from Tanner-Max and sold on to any criminal elements within the UK.

It was, however, possible to prove that a number of firearms that had been in the custody of Tanner-Max, including at least two Dragunov SVUs, had found their way to ZIPA in Zimbabwe. And Hardcastle’s family links with ZIPA were also easy to prove.

Tanner-Max records showed that a third Dragunov could not be accounted for. The prosecution argued that this was the weapon Stephen Hardcastle had used to shoot Henry Tanner, and that he had disposed of it by taking his powerboat out to sea and throwing the rifle overboard.

Hardcastle denied that he had ever been in possession of the rifle, and he also denied that he had ever received any training in the use of firearms, even of the most unsophisticated nature.

But police in Zimbabwe, anxious to discredit ZIPA, had supplied tangible evidence that Stephen Hardcastle was a regular visitor to their country and had undergone such training with the militant breakaway group.

The prosecution sought to prove that Hardcastle had both opportunity and motive. Janet Porter was a witness for the prosecution. She told the puzzling story of the letter, from the allegedly dead Charlie, which had been withheld from Joyce Mildmay.

Mark Mildmay also gave evidence for the prosecution. He claimed that he had known nothing of the arms brokerage activities of Tanner-Max, over which his grandfather, father and Stephen Hardcastle had presided. His mother had told him that his father had claimed these arms deals were a covert activity on behalf of the British government. He said that did nothing to alter his opinion that the international sales of arms by sovereign nations was morally repugnant. Such was his disgust with all aspects of arms dealing, particularly with regard to chemical weapons, that he had relinquished all claim to Tanner-Max and had now moved to London, where he would, in the near future, be embarking on a new career in banking.