Jeffrey Archer - Only Time Will Tell

I knew if the police did become involved, half of Bristol would think Clifton was still inside that hull and the union would demand it was opened up. If that happened, I wasn’t in any doubt what they’d find.

I rose slowly from my chair and walked across to the safe on the far side of the room. I entered the code, turned the key, pulled open the door and extracted a thick white envelope before returning to my desk. I picked up a silver letter opener, slit open the envelope and took out a five-pound note. I even wondered whether Tancock had ever seen one before. I placed it on the blotting pad in front of him and watched his piggy eyes grow larger by the second.

‘Nothing is going to bring back your friend,’ I said, placing a second note on top of the first. His eyes never left the money. ‘And anyway, who knows, he might just have done a bunk for a few days. That wouldn’t be considered unusual in his line of work.’ I placed a third note on top of the second. ‘And when he comes back, your mates will never let you forget it.’ A fourth note was followed by a fifth. ‘And you wouldn’t want to be charged with wasting the police’s time, would you? That’s a serious offence for which you can go to jail.’ Two more notes. ‘And of course you’d also lose your job.’ He looked up at me, his anger visibly turning to fear. Three more notes. ‘I could hardly be expected to employ a man who was accusing me of murder.’ I placed the last two notes on top of the pile. The envelope was empty.

Tancock turned away. I took out my wallet and added one more five-pound note, three pounds and ten shillings to the pile: £68 10s in all. His eyes returned to the notes. ‘There’s plenty more where that came from,’ I said, hoping I sounded convincing.

Tancock walked slowly towards my desk and, without looking at me, gathered up the notes, stuffed them into his pocket and left without a word.

I went to the window and watched as he walked out of the building and headed slowly for the dock gate.

I left the safe wide open, scattered some of its contents on the floor, dropped the empty envelope on my desk and left my office without locking up. I was the last person to leave the building.

‘DETECTIVE INSPECTOR BLAKEMORE, sir,’ said Miss Potts, then stood aside to allow the policeman to enter the managing director’s office.

Hugo Barrington studied the inspector carefully as he entered the room. He couldn’t have been much more than the regulation minimum height of five feet nine inches, and he was a few pounds overweight, but still looked fit. He was carrying a raincoat that had probably been bought when he was still a constable, and wore a brown felt hat of a more recent vintage, indicating that he hadn’t been an inspector all that long.

The two men shook hands, and once he was seated, Blake-more took a notebook and pen out of an inside jacket pocket. ‘As you know, sir, I am following up enquiries concerning an alleged theft that took place on these premises last night.’ Barrington didn’t like the word ‘alleged’. ‘Could I begin by asking when you first discovered that the money was missing?’

‘Yes, of course, inspector,’ said Barrington, trying to sound as helpful as possible. ‘I arrived at the docks around seven o’clock this morning and drove straight to the sheds to check how the night shift had got on.’

‘Is that something you do every morning?’

‘No, only from time to time,’ said Hugo, puzzled by the question.

‘And how long did you spend there?’

‘Twenty, perhaps thirty minutes. Then I came up to my office.’

‘So you would have been in your office at around seven twenty, seven thirty at the latest.’

‘Yes, that sounds about right.’

‘And was your secretary already here by then?’

‘Yes, she was. I rarely manage to get in before her. She’s a formidable lady,’ he added with a smile.

‘Quite,’ said the detective inspector. ‘So it was Miss Potts who told you the safe had been broken into?’

‘Yes. She said that when she came in this morning, she’d found the safe door open and some of its contents scattered on the floor, so she immediately rang the police.’

‘She didn’t ring you first, sir?’

‘No, inspector. I would have been in my car on the way to work at that time.’

‘So, you say your secretary arrived before you this morning. And did you leave before her last night, sir?’

‘I don’t recall,’ said Barrington. ‘But it would be most unusual for me to leave after her.’

‘Yes, Miss Potts has confirmed that,’ said the detective inspector. ‘But she also said – ’ he glanced down at his notebook – ‘“I left before Mr Barrington last night, as a problem had arisen which needed his attention.”’ Blakemore looked up. ‘Are you able to tell me what that problem was, sir?’

‘When you run a company as large as this,’ said Hugo, ‘problems arise all the time.’

‘So you don’t remember what particular problem arose yesterday evening?’

‘No, inspector, I do not.’

‘When you arrived in your office this morning and found the safe door open, what was the first thing you did?’

‘I checked to see what was missing.’

‘And what did you discover?’

‘All my cash had been taken.’

‘How can you be sure it had all been taken?’

‘Because I found this open envelope on my desk,’ Hugo said, handing it over.

‘And how much should there have been in the envelope, sir?’

‘Sixty-eight pounds and ten shillings.’

‘You seem very certain of that.’

‘Yes, I am,’ said Hugo. ‘Why should that surprise you?’

‘It’s simply that Miss Potts told me there was only sixty pounds in the safe, all in five-pound notes. Perhaps you could tell me, sir, where the other eight pounds and ten shillings came from?’

Hugo didn’t answer immediately. ‘I do sometimes keep a little loose change in my desk drawer, inspector,’ he said finally.

‘That’s quite a large sum to describe as “a little loose change”. However, allow me to return to the safe for a moment. When you entered your office this morning, the first thing you noticed was that the safe door was open.’

‘That is correct, inspector.’

‘Do you have a key for the safe?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Are you the only person who knows the code and is in possession of a key, sir?’

‘No, Miss Potts also has access to the safe.’

‘Can you confirm that the safe was locked when you went home last night?’

‘Yes, it always is.’

‘Then we must assume that the burglary was carried out by a professional.’

‘What makes you say that, inspector?’ asked Barrington.

‘But if he was a professional,’ said Blakemore, ignoring the question, ‘what puzzles me is why he left the safe door open.’

‘I’m not sure I’m following you, inspector.’

‘I’ll explain, sir. Professional burglars tend to leave everything just as they found it, so that their crime won’t be found out immediately. It allows them more time to dispose of the stolen goods.’

‘More time,’ repeated Hugo.

‘A professional would have closed the safe door and taken the envelope with him, making it more likely that it would be some time before you discovered anything was missing. In my experience, some people don’t open their safes for days, even weeks. Only an amateur would have left your office in such disarray.’

‘Then perhaps it was an amateur?’

‘Then how did he manage to open the safe, sir?’

‘Maybe he somehow got hold of Miss Potts’s key?’

‘And the code as well? But Miss Potts assures me that she takes her safe key home every night, as I understand you do, sir.’ Hugo said nothing. ‘May I be allowed to look inside the safe?’