Alex Warren Murder Mysteries Collection: The Complete Series

Book summary

Discover the gripping 'Alex Warren Murder Mysteries' by Zach Abrams, now available in a complete collection. Follow D.C.I. Alex Warren as he tackles perplexing cases involving a range of crimes, from an unusual murder involving an ivory tusk to a distillery CEO's mysterious death. As the body count rises and secrets come to light, Alex and his team race against time to solve each case, while balancing personal challenges along the way. Dive into this tartan noir crime fiction series filled with twists, suspense, and a relentless pursuit of justice.

Excerpt from Alex Warren Murder Mysteries Collection

Alex was already seated at the table when Mary returned followed by Quentin. He strode into the room, and whether it was to try to assert himself or purely from force of habit, he took the seat behind his desk.

Alex showed no reaction and didn't even look across. Instead, he called over, “If you'd like to join us at the table, please. We have all the equipment set up to work from here.”

Quentin was nonplussed. Here he was, a director and part-owner of the business, in his own office and being instructed what to do by an outsider. He didn't know how much authority the police had under the circumstances and he was torn between complying with the request or making a stand and risking having to make a humiliating climb-down. At least none of his staff were close-by to hear or see what was going on.

“Of course, of course, just a moment,” Quentin relented. He lifted and shuffled some papers on his desk, then placed a couple of items into a drawer. It was done as a face saver, to indicate he'd sat at the desk for a purpose. He then stood, walked across to the table and sat down facing Alex but was unable to meet his gaze.

“Good afternoon, Mr Burns. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but I'm sure you must understand these are exceptional circumstances. We need to speak to potential witnesses first and, of course, also the widow, your sister.”

Although the apology was half-hearted, Quentin took it with good grace and acknowledged with a nod.

“You've seen Georgina? How was she?” he enquired, trying to sound sincere and showing concern for his sibling.

“Probably what you'd expect, shocked by the news but holding up fairly well.” Alex lied but was curious to see Quentin's reaction; however, he showed none.

“Now how can I help you, Officers?”

“If I can start with the formalities and then by asking where you were last night and up until we met you this morning.”

Quentin provided his personal details and confirmed he was at home the previous evening with his wife and children. As was his habit, he departed from his house at seven-fifty this morning, arriving just after eight o'clock, then was alerted by Sandy to what had been discovered.

“Will we be able to corroborate what you've told us?”

“Yes, I'm sure Fiona, my wife can confirm what I've said. I was working in the office on a new promotion for a `Whisky Live' event in London. I didn't leave until about seven and then went straight home. Security will have a note of when I left. The boys were out and I dined with Fiona at about eight. We watched some television and then went to bed. I was up at seven and, as I said, drove in around eight. I brought Sam in with me.”

“You said the boys were out. What time did they get home?”

“They were both out with friends. Frank was home at about eleven; I saw him come in. Sam was later, after I went to bed. I think it was about half past one. I heard the door close.”

“A bit late wasn't it when he was to be up early for work the next day.”

“Not a bit of it. He's a young man and full of energy. He regularly stays up late and is still up, full of beans, the next day. It doesn't affect his performance. Frank's just the same.”

Alex considered how Sandy had described Sam's ability. Maybe it was just sour grapes, resenting the privileged classes, but maybe he was right and Sam's performance could hardly have deteriorated.

“Do you know where the boys were?”

“Yes, Frank had gone to the cinema and Sam was round at his friend's house, a lad by the name of Billy Farquarson. He lives quite close-by. I believe they were playing cards.”

“Okay, we can check on all of that. I'd like you to tell us a bit more about Hector. I take it you first met him through your sister?”

“No, that's not right, quite the reverse actually.”

“What? You mean you introduced them?”

“Not exactly. I first came across Hector back when I was at University. We met at the student union. I was at Strathclyde doing a BA at the Business School. Hector was at the Caly, Caledonian University, but it was a while back before it had university status. Glasgow Polytechnic it was then. He was doing an HNC or an HND or something like that. I don't think he ever completed it.

“We met in the bar and at gigs on a few occasions. I wouldn't say we were close friends but we got on okay.

“After that I didn't see him for a number of years. Again it was in a bar, strangely enough. I was hosting a dinner at Minsky's restaurant at the Hilton. I was there early, in the Connich bar with some business contacts and Hector was there too; he was waiting to meet up with someone. We got talking and he told me he had a company which made specialist packaging and he had a product line for the whisky trade. I told him he should come and talk to us and I took his number and set up a meeting for him to see me along with Callum McPherson. Callum has responsibility for buying and I look after the marketing so it made sense to see us at the same time.

“Anyway, he seemed to have some good ideas and we gave him a trial order and it worked well so we kept him on. As it turned out, his products and ideas were really good but his organisational skills were a mess and he kept letting us down.

“I didn't realise at the time that he'd met Georgina in the office and they'd started dating. If only I'd known, I'd have warned her off, but the first I knew was when I heard she was pregnant.”

“How do you mean `warned her off'?”

“Hector was okay as one of the lads but he didn't have any respect for women. He treated them like crap. He was fun to be with and he was fortunate enough to be quite good looking and had the gift of the gab. He never seemed short of a bob or two either so he had no problem picking up the girls or finding a new one when he'd let the last one down.

“The chances are Georgina wouldn't have listened to me anyhow, but I didn't get the chance. She was smitten by his charm and the result was she got pregnant. She trusted him. She was young, wasn't on the pill and she was inexperienced. Hector had claimed to use protection but I'm not so sure. I think he might have baited her. Well, when she found out she was expecting, he claimed to be delighted and he offered to marry her and that was that.”

“I gather your father wasn't too happy.”

“That's a bit of an understatement. He was furious. At one stage, I thought he was going to disown Georgina, but gradually he came round. I don't think he ever liked Hector but he brought him into the business after Hector's company went bust. He paid off his creditors, I think it cost him about thirty grand to do it, and he let Hector take over running the office, which had been Georgina's job. I say running the office but he didn't have much idea. Fortunately, we had Patrick Gillespie to keep things right.”

“I gather that Georgina and Hector had a serious falling out some years ago.”

“Ah, you know about that then?”

“We'd like to hear what you can tell us about it.”

“I've already told you what Hector was like. He treated women like shit, but he claimed he was a changed man after he met Georgina. He kept up the pretence for a while but not that long. He'd have all sorts of excuses to be away from the house, meetings with friends, family, or there were Clubs he attended. In reality, he was away chasing skirt. I had a pretty good idea what he was up to, but he was fairly discreet and there was no evidence. Of course, Georgina had her head in the sand. She would hear nothing said against him, not to begin with at least.”

“But that all changed?”

“Yes, that all changed. I thought it a bit strange at the time. He seemed to become bolder with his dalliances, almost as if he wanted to be caught. The crunch came when he asked Georgina to get involved in some of his sordid activities. He wanted her to join him in an orgy; he was as blatant as that.

“She was shocked and, of course, refused. Only then did she start to believe the rumours and check into them. She was horrified and she wanted to throw him out. I tried to support her and get rid of the bastard and I expected my father would have done the same. If anything, I was worried he'd have taken a gun to him. Not that I'd have been unhappy to see it, but I wouldn't have wanted him to go to prison as a result. Father surprised us all; he supported Hector. He told Georgina she'd just have to accept it. Since then, they've lived separate lives but stayed together in the same house. That must have been more than ten years ago now.”

“Not a very comfortable way to live?”

“No, but I suppose they got used to it.”

“And how did you get on with Hector? You had to keep working with him.”

“To start with it wasn't very pleasant and there was a lot of hostility, but fortunately I didn't have much to do with him. What I do is pretty independent of admin as we have our own inside sales staff. There is the export documentation and currency planning, but I usually spoke to Patrick about that. Hector wouldn't have dealt with it himself, anyway. Over the years, we learned to accept each other and work together.”

“And what about Georgina?”

“She had been dreadfully hurt and she became very bitter because of it. I tried to be supportive, but when she wasn't able to throw Hector out, she didn't want to know. She sort of climbed into a shell and blamed everyone else for everything. It was months before she'd even talk to me. Gradually, she came back into the real world.”

“What happened when your father took ill?”

“You mean when he had his stroke three years ago? It was terrible. He was devastated by it. It affected his speech and his mobility. We thought we'd lost him. He was in hospital for weeks, but gradually, he clawed his way back. He was never the same, of course, but he got back his movement. At first he needed help to get about but now he can walk by himself with a zimmer or a stick. He has his speech back too, a little slow and a bit slurred, but he's so determined and he's managed it by sheer willpower.”