The Murder Exchange by Simon Kernick Read Free Book Online

long time getting the message.
    Without a word she turned and walked over to a
telephone pinned to the wall in the corner, and
dialled a number. I was a bit pissed off because I'd
been preparing for this interview for close to a day
now. We'd talked to Fowler once but only briefly to
ascertain his position within the nightclub, what his
relationship was with the deceased, and whether he
could throw any light on what had happened. He'd
come across as very keen to appear as helpful and
    49
as friendly as possible, but hadn't actually
managed to tell us a great deal. Predictably, he'd
denied knowing anything about Matthews's
involvement in drug dealing. He'd claimed that as
Arcadia's owner he didn't tolerate drug use on the
premises but was aware that it did occur. 'I'm looking
at ways to combat it,' he'd said, and had talked
about installing cameras in the toilets. That's
where most of it goes on, I'm sure/ he'd added - a
fairly logical assumption. Neither Berrin nor I had
found the interview very helpful, mainly because
there was something not quite authentic about
Fowler's answers, and since then it had come
to light that he had a conviction for conspiracy to
supply Class A drugs in the late 1980s and that one
of his co-conspirators at the time had been Terry
Holtz, the late brother of a notorious local crime
figure. He'd also been done for driving under the
influence of cannabis a couple of years back, and
the club had been raided on two separate occasions by the Drugs Squad in an effort to take out suspected
dealers, the last time eighteen months ago,
although it had to be said that on neither occasion
was any contraband found. More promisingly,
there was also a rumour doing the rounds that,
although Fowler's name was on the deeds of the
club, he wasn't what you'd call the real owner. That
man, it was claimed, was one Stefan Holtz,
the same local crime figure whose brother Fowler
had once been involved with.
    The feeling in the station's CID was that the
motive for this murder was almost certainly drug
related and that it might possibly be something to
    50
do with a disagreement between Fowler and
Matthews. Since Fowler apparently owned the
club, and was almost certainly lying when he said
he didn't tolerate drugs on the premises, and
Matthews appeared to have been the chief dealer, it
was probably down to an argument about something
mundane like the split of profits. All this was
conjecture, of course, but DCI Knox, the head of the
investigation, specialized in conjecture. Me,
though, I wasn't so sure, not least because I didn't
think Fowler would have used an obscure poison to
rid himself of a troublesome business partner. But I
did think there were plenty of questions he could
provide an answer for, particularly regarding the
pncsible involvement of the Holtzes, and I was
keen to hear them.
    But it seemed I was going to have to wait a little
longer.
    'He's not there,' said Elaine Toms, coming back to
the papers on the bar. 'Either that or he's not
answering.'
    'Have you got his address?' She nodded, and
wrote it down on a piece of paper. I took it, thanking
her, and put it in my pocket. It was local. 'And
what's your position here, Miss Toms?'
    'I told you, I've already been interviewed about
the murder.'
    'Well, we're talking to you again. I'd just like to
refresh myself of your account.'
    'It was a DID talked to.'
    'DI Capper. Yes, I know. Now, if you'll answer the
questions.'
    'Have you got any ID?'
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She was trying to be difficult but I wasn't going
to argue about it, so I took out my warrant card and
showed it to her, as did Benin. She inspected them
both carefully, paying particular attention to mine.
'It's not a very good photo of you,' she told me.
    With me, the camera always lies,' I said. 'Now,
your position?'
    'I manage the place.'
    'And how long have you been here for?'
    'Just over a year. I joined last July.'
    'You knew Shaun Matthews pretty well, then?'
    She sighed theatrically. 'Yeah, I knew