Daisy and Bernard (The Blind Sleuth Mysteries 3)

Chapter 16

Bernard was waiting in his wheelchair by the area railing in front of Daisy's place. He looked anxiously down into the light well, where Collins was knocking at the front door, ringing the chimes, and peering inside through the chinks between the curtains of the windows. "Any sign of life, Collins?"

"No Sir. I'm afraid she's still not at home."

Bernard had been coming repeatedly to Daisy's door since Thursday, since the morning after Jonathan had been arrested. Normally, when he visited Daisy at her place, he would order a wheelchair transport from his usual taxi company, the driver would go down and ring at her door, then Daisy and the driver would carry him down the short flight of stairs. No problem. But for several days now, she had not been at home. He'd had to take the taxi back to his own place without seeing her. He had no idea where she could be. So this time, on Monday, he had asked Collins to go there with him in the police van. "I tell you, she seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth."

"Let's ask the chaps from the surveillance detail... Someone must still have been there after the arrest..."

"Yes, let us check with them at the Yard..."

They boarded their van and drove off. Now that Jonathan had been arrested, only hours after his presence in Battersea Park had been reported, Bernard and Collins were back in full swing, handling the aftermath of the case at headquarters.

It was easy enough to find out who had been monitoring Daisy's place on Wednesday night. And even though the surveillance people had been on the lookout for Jonathan, it turned out that they had seen the blind lady get home late that night, and then leave again a short while later. She had not been carrying any luggage, just a shoulder bag, nothing unusual, and she had not been seen since then. But of course, they had been called off before the end of their shift, due to the arrest of the suspect.

"All right, Collins. Another line of inquiry: look for any signs of life after Wednesday night, Thursday morning. Phone calls; credit card or bank transactions... You know what I mean."

"Yes. I'll have a look Sir."

A couple of hours later, the constable was able to report that on Thursday 'Mrs Hayes' had withdrawn a sizeable amount of money from her bank account. "In fact, the maximum allowed. And apart from that, no signs of life."

"Very well. It is now clear that she has fled ... She would even have had the time and the opportunity to go abroad... Can you please check that for me?"

"Well, I seem to be spending an awful lot of time on the lady's case, if I may say so. What's going on Sir?"

"Check the airports and the ferries first. I'll explain later."

After a few hours more, the constable came back to his superior's office and reported a negative result. "We may assume that Mrs Hayes hasn't left the country, Sir. And I did a sweep of the hotels on the computer. Even though Daisy Hayes is a pretty common name, there were no matches between Thursday and last night..."

"Very well, Collins, thank you. Now close the door and I'll tell you what is going on... But first you must promise me complete secrecy. Not a word to anyone."

"Ah... Do I understand correctly that I should not disclose this to the police or the authorities?"

"Precisely! Do I have your word?"

"Word of honour Sir. Now I'm really getting curious."

"The thing is, Collins: I've made a huge mistake with Daisy, and I'm desperate..."

"Yes? Go on!"

"To make a long story short: I have discovered how Martin McCullough was able to blackmail Daisy into helping him in 1967. It is because in the fifties, Daisy had hired his services to kill a man."