Tuesday 4:00 pm

 
Bill gathered his team in the briefing room in Scotland Yard. Cecilia Lee and Sergeant Davies were at their desks. Hawkins and Petersen were standing near the door clutching coffee cups, Constables Karen Jones and Bob Linsell sat on the couch that was meant for visitors. A tall, good-looking young man, in his mid-twenties, wearing a leather jacket and skinny blue jeans, was leaning against the wall next to the door — looking rather out-of-place.

 Bill began by saying, “It’s a long time since we’ve had three murders to deal with at the same time, two of them very high profile. Let’s run over what we know—and feel free to interrupt if you have to.”

 “One—we have a young solicitor savagely stabbed at a Chelsea Bistro early on Friday morning.

 Two—a Member of Parliament is shot at Chelsea Football Ground on Sunday afternoon.

 Three—the Governor Bank of England is stabbed to death in his Chiswick home last night.”

 Bill paused and looked around at his team, letting the gravity of the situation sink in.

 “Before I go on, I need to introduce you to the young fellow standing next to the door. This is Scott Barrington, who’s joining our team, fresh from Hendon.”

 Scott gave his new colleagues a smile and brief wave.

 “We asked Hendon to recommend their best graduate. Now you may be thinking, Barrington, is he …? Yes, he is. Scott is the grandson of our Superintendent, but Barrington Senior is very insistent that Scott should not be treated any differently from any other new recruit. Now back to business.”

 Bill continued, “We don’t know if the three murders are connected. I found out that all three victims were Free Masons. The masonic relationship between Styles and Broadbent is significant, but I don’t think that the murders have anything to do with the Free Masons. Sir Geoffrey’s driver told us that his boss was also a Free Mason, although Sir Geoffrey didn’t take it seriously, he just felt he needed to be a part of it because many of his contacts were Masons. He didn’t attend meetings.”

 Hawkins chipped in, “I just found out that there is a match between the DNA and prints found on a spoon at the Bistro and that from the vomit and the tissue at the Stamford Bridge shooting. It looks as if the murders were committed by the same person. There’s no DNA nor fingerprints match on the records though.”

 Bill pointed at Cecilia Lee, who had her hand raised.

 “Go ahead, Cecilia. What do you have?”

 “Not much really,” she said. “I have been looking at the CCTV tapes from the Bistro killing and the Stamford Bridge shooting. Nothing suspicious to report. Too many people at Stamford Bridge.”

 Bob Linsell chipped in, “I know someone at Sky Sports. She sent me all the tapes they have from Saturday’s game. There’s something I thought looked suspicious. Take a look at the big screen, perhaps Cecilia will recognize this guy from the Bistro tapes.”

 The pictures on the screen showed the Tottenham players arriving at the ground. Tony could be clearly seen talking to the substitute goalkeeper.

 “The murderer can’t be a Tottenham player,” said Petersen.

 “Don’t be dumb, Jeff. He was posing as a player to get into the stadium without being searched. Look at that bag. That’s big enough for a rifle,” said Cecilia.

 Bill interrupted. “Good work, Lee, Linsell. Now we have to find out who the hell he is. Anything else?”

 “We located Mimi, the dog, sir,” said Constable Jones. “Somebody found her on Chiswick common — she’s at Battersea Dogs Home now. I think Mrs McGregor, the housekeeper is going to adopt her.”

 “It’s a pity Mimi can’t talk, it would save us a lot of time,” said Slade. “Hawkins, did you get anything useful from your visit to the B. of E.?”

 “Not really,” replied Hawkins. “Sir Jonathan was very set in his ways, about to retire in a couple of months, and apparently he was in the early stages of dementia.”

 “What about the gold?” Said Barrington.

 Everyone in the room looked at the newcomer as if he had said something out of turn. In reality, they were surprised that he had the confidence to insinuate that Hawkins had left something out.

 “Well,” said Hawkins, “it doesn’t seem to be relevant, but some gold bars were picked up from the Bank this morning. It was unusual because they were picked up by a member of the public rather than a bank.”

 “The Deputy Governor said she was against it, but the Governor was insistent. It was eight million pounds worth of gold,” said Barrington.

 Hawkins looked exasperated. “She also said that all the paperwork was in order. Nothing illegal was going on.”

 Sergeant Davies interrupted, “Sir, there’s a phone call from one of Sir Geoffrey’s partners. “Apparently, there’s a Russian woman at Sir Geoffrey’s office demanding to speak to Sir Geoff’s driver, Big Mike.  He thought we ought to know.”