Catering with Benefits (1) - 45. He Said, He Said

Andy was welcomed back to work by his colleagues and he concentrated on catching up with the workload that had built up in the days he was away. By late morning he had not seen or heard from Price, so he asked Alma if she had seen him. She said she had not but if Andy wanted to see him he should ask Miss Prism. Andy then said to Alma, “I need you to do me a favour and I don’t want you to ask for any explanation or tell anyone else”.

“Sounds mysterious, but OK, what do you want?”

“I need to know if Mr P is in but I don’t want him to know it’s me asking. Can you do that for me?”

“Sure, I’ve got some paperwork for his office, so I’ll take it up and casually find out from Miss Prism”.

Alma walked into Prism’s office and was welcomed, “Good afternoon Alma, how are you today?”

“I’m fine, thanks Miss, and you.”

“Oh good, it’s quite here today. What brings you up here?”

“I have these special orders that need Mr. Price’s approval because they are over my limit. Can I leave them with you?”

“Sure, but you did not need to come up yourself.”

“I felt like a break from the studio and we haven’t had a chat for so long, I thought I would bring them up myself.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“How’s the boss today?”

“That’s why my day is so quiet, he’s not in. He rang earlier and had me cancel all his appointments. He said something about insurance and the police.”

“That sounds serious. Is that all he said?”

“Yes, maybe there was a robbery.”

“Mmm, it’s been nice chatting to you Miss. I had better get back on the floor; busy, busy, busy”.

Alma called Andy and asked him to join her for lunch at their favourite nearby coffee shop. As they sat down Alma said, “I know you asked me not to ask why you wanted to know about Mr. Price’s whereabouts, but as you live at the Potts Point apartment, how come you don’t know where he is?”

“Haven’t been there since Wednesday night; I’ve been staying with Thomas and Jared”

“Why what happened?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment but first what did you find out about Mr P?”

“He’s not in the office today and something seems to have happened that you should know about. Miss said he was talking about insurance and police. Do you know anything about that?”

Andy told Alma the whole story about the argument and his leaving and then asked “So, why is he talking to the police?”

“I don’t know much really, that’s all Miss seems to know.”

“I’ll call Thomas and see if he knows anything.”

Thomas told Andy, he had not heard anything about Price other than he had not come home to Castle Hill, so he supposed he was still at Potts Point.

When Andy and Alma got back to the studio, Jane, who was filling in for Alma while she was at lunch, told Andy that he was required to go to Mr. Price’s office as soon as he returned.

“I’m worried Alma, what’s going on?”

“Do you want me to come with you?” asked Alma.

“Yes please.”

As they walked into Prism’s office, Andy saw a uniformed police officer waiting in the office. He did not say anything just sat watching as Andy and Alma were ushered into Price’s office. As well as Price, there was also another man, who was writing in a notebook as he listened to Price. As they entered Price said, “Alma, why are you here, this has nothing to do with you, please leave now.”

“Yes sir, sorry, I just came to support Andy.”

“That won’t be necessary” and as Alma left, Price said, “officer this is Mr Murphy.”

“I am detective Steve Garner. Please take a seat.”

“Yes sir, but I don’t understand what this is all about.”

“Mr Murphy, I understand there was an incident at Mr Price’s apartment last Wednesday evening in which you were involved. Is that correct?”

“Yes sir, but...”

“Just answer my questions please; you can make other comments later. Mr Price alleges that during a discussion, you became violent and damaged a lot of his very valuable property. Is that correct?”

“Definitely not sir, I didn’t damage anything at all! Mr Price caused all the damage when he was throwing things at me.”

“I see. What do you say to that Mr Price?”

“He’s lying, look how nervous he is, he’s clearly trying to hide what he did.”

“Mr. Price, I will ask you the same as I asked Mr Murphy, please just answer the questions and leave the comments for now.”

“Don’t tell me what to do in my own office.”

“Mr Price, I am here at your request to conduct an investigation, please let me conduct it in my own way.”

“Very well, are you going to arrest him?”

“I will ignore that comment for now. Can either of you tell me the nature of this discussion or argument?” Both sat silent.

“Mr. Price, since you made these allegations can you tell me first.”

“Andy works in the studio here and has been living rent free in my Potts Point apartment for many years. I told him last week he would have to start paying rent. He got very angry and started yelling at me.”

“I see, and why did you allow Mr Murphy to live there rent free for some many years?”

“He was a sort of caretaker. I only use the apartment occasionally. My home is in Castle Hill.”

“Mr Murphy, was this the nature of your arrangement with Mr Price?”

“I didn’t see it that way; we had a closer relationship than that. I wanted to end it and that’s why Mr Price became angry.”

“What do you mean by a close relationship?”

“An intimate relationship Sir.”

“Mr Price, is that true, did you two have an intimate relationship?”

“Absolutely not, I’m a married man, well respected in business and social circles. These accusations are absolutely preposterous.”

“Ok, let me get this straight. Mr. Price, you claim Mr Murphy was a caretaker tenant and that was the extent of your relationship. Furthermore you claim that Mr Murphy became violent when you asked him to pay rent and damaged your property as a result of his violence. Is that correct?”

“Exactly.”

“During this violent exchange, Mr. Price did you throw anything at Mr Murphy?”

“No, of course not, why would I damage my own valuable art works?”

“Well Mr Murphy, your version is that you two had an intimate relationship, you wanted to leave and Mr. Price became violent and threw various items at you. Is that correct?”

“Yes sir that is the truth.”

“Well gentlemen, we have an impasse. As your versions vary so much, and in the absence of any further evidence, I don’t think there is much more that I can investigate here. No serious crime seems to have been committed, unless it can be proven that Mr Murphy damaged your property Mr. Price.”

“Do I have to go over your head, officer to get this matter prosecuted?”

“That is your right if you wish to do so Mr. Price.”

“You haven’t heard the end of this officer and neither have you Murphy.”

“I will be leaving now gentlemen, so I suggest to two either settle your differences peacefully or keep away from each other. I don’t want to be called back about assault charges. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes sir.” answered Andy.

“Abundantly clear.” added Price.

As Steve Garner left Price’s office he noticed Alma still waiting. He went to speak to the uniformed officer but before he could say much he heard yelling coming from Price’s office and said, “Constable, would you please attend to that disturbance and if you feel you need to arrest either or both of them you have my support.”

“Yes sir, right away.”

Garner then turned to Alma and asked “Is there a private office where we can have a chat madam?”

Alma looked at Prism, who answered, “You can use the interview room next door.”

“Thank you Miss Prism, and just for the record can I have your given name?”

“It’s Miss.”

“You mean Miss is not your title, but you first name, like mine’s Steve?”

“Yes Sir, that’s correct. It confuses a lot of people.”

“Me included, now Miss er..” Garner said as he looked at Alma.

“Alma Prentice sir.”

“Ms Prentice would you please show me the way to the interview room?”

In the interview room Garner asked Alma, “When you first arrived today you said you were here to support Mr Murphy. Is that correct?”

“Yes, detective, Andy’s a good friend and colleague and still upset about the incident.”

“That being so, then I suspect you would know the nature of the relationship between Mr. Price and Mr. Murphy.”

“Andy er.. Mr Murphy is a jewellery design artist here and Mr. Price is the owner of this business, and therefore his employer.”

“I’m aware of that, but what I want to know is what relationship they have outside the office?”

“What do you mean Sir?”

“Don’t play coy with me Miss Prentice. If Mr Murphy is such a good friend of yours then you must know why he lives at Mr. Price’s apartment and what relationship they have.”

“Didn’t they tell you Sir?”

“Yes they did; two entirely different stories. Now I want from you, the truth.”

“Sir Mr Price is my employer and it is not my place to talk about his private life.”

“Miss Prentice, do I need to remind you that this is a police investigation, so you need to tell me anything you know that may be relevant. So I will ask you directly, do Mr. Price and Mr. Murphy have an intimate relationship?”

“I believe they do Sir.”

“Good, now we’re getting somewhere. Is that intimate relationship the reason that Mr. Murphy lives at the apartment?”

“I understand that is so, Detective.”

“Good, and do you have any knowledge of what happened at the apartment last Wednesday evening?”

“I only know what Andy told me today.”

“Is that the story that Mr. Price was the attacker?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you Miss Prentice, please take my card and if you think of anything else relevant please contact me. Otherwise that is all for now, you may leave. I will just sit here for a few minutes and finalise my notes.”

As Alma left she saw the constable waiting outside the office. He went in and told Garner he had stopped the two arguing and told Mr. Murphy to leave Mr. Price’s office.

“Good, just give me a few minutes with my notes and then we can go back to the station. Garner’s phone then rang, “Steve Garner....what’s his name...is he there now...thanks we’ll go straight over.” as he hung up he said to his constable, “We’re going back to the Price apartment building. Apparently the security office has something to show us.

“Right Sir”.

***

“I am Detective Steve Garner and this is Constable Lee, what have you got for us Mr. Kazokas?”

“Last Thursday morning our cleaner found a broken vase in the level 7 foyer. She cleaned up the pieces and brought it all to my office. We assumed it must belong to one of the apartment owners. There are four apartments on that floor, so rather than go door-knocking and disturb the tenants, I decided to review the CCTV footage of the foyer. Then when I heard there had been an incident on Wednesday night that was under police investigation, I thought it might be relevant.”

“You have CCTV inside the building?”

“Yes, there are a few cameras in the ground floor entry, some in the car park and one in each floor foyer.”

“So do you have something relevant to the Price apartment?”

“Yes, I have it cued up for you on this screen. The time stamp is 19.48. Now watch this.”

As they watched the silent footage, Garner was surprised at what he saw and exclaimed “Ah! got him constable, thanks for that Mr Kazokas, can you make me a copy of that please I will need it to complete this investigation.”

“No problem sir, I already have it here on a USB stick for you and the broken vase is in this bag.”

“Great service Kazokas.”

“I used to be a police officer before I left to go into private security.”