Arthur of the Red Robe Read online

  Things were looking up for Rod at first. He went into partnership in a club, but was soon in bother with the law for receiving and was sentenced to 12 months but let out after 6. After release, he decided to return to Tyneside and Barbara was all for it. The club scene in the North East was less aggressive than in London, and most customers were looking for a good night out with proper entertainment, a bit of gambling, nice food and wine. And there were also the working men’s clubs, where members really just wanted good beer, good singing acts, and exotic dancers but nothing too over the top. Rod was soon running a couple of clubs—no one seemed to know where the money came from.

  Also on the club scene was another ‘Geordie’ (the people of Durham County and Northumberland are known as Geordies) called George Nelson, and Geordie is the diminutive for George in Geordieland! George had also had a bit of trouble with the law when he was younger but now kept on the right side of it. He ran a club in Newcastle called Hadrian’s Wall, because it was actually built almost next to a section of the ruined Roman wall that ran through Newcastle. Geordie Nelson wasn’t a business man—he was more of a working men’s club sort of bloke. Rod was the smooth operator and could maximise profits, to suit himself, mostly.

  Anyway, he and Rod soon became acquainted, in the sense that they knew they should try to get on and cooperate on entertainers and suppliers and the like. Another reason Rod took an interest was that George had a showgirl who knew how to attract blokes into the clubs. She had what it took and he could see possibilities for her, for himself and the business. He soon established that Geordie and Dorothy were purely business colleagues and that she wasn’t giving any sexual favours or selling them, come to that. She was a bit of a tough nut to crack, but he persevered and soon they were a definite item. Rod filled her with his ideas for a club empire but needed investment from somewhere to give him a leg up. Dorothy knew Rod was a womaniser, but she couldn’t resist him and his dreams. She felt that she could keep him for herself—his wife didn’t seem to make any difference—and anyway, she could soon prise him away from that relationship.

  Fortuitously, it was at this stage that the Valente brothers were looking to move into the North East. They had soon ascertained that the two main players were Rod Stone and Geordie Nelson. Initially, they made overtures to Geordie but soon realised that although he was someone they could rely on to look after the day to day running of clubs, he just wasn’t the type of chap who could grow the business. Rod Stone was their man, and they invited him to London for preliminary talks, followed by a visit to the North East where Rod showed them the existing clubs that he controlled, plus the two Geordie managed. He also took them to see a number of social clubs which he thought had potential—not particularly for ownership, as they were usually some sort of co-operative—but for controlling the Directors.

  Rod and the Valentes eventually agreed on share ownership and targets, but Rod also stipulated that he wanted Dorothy as a co-director. One potential stumbling block was Geordie Nelson. They wanted his clubs so they decided to offer to buy him out but also to offer him a role with a decent salary. He would continue as Operations Manager for his two clubs but Rod would be Managing Director. Geordie wasn’t very happy at first, but when he sat down to think about it, he realised that he only owned his business, not the buildings, so he was getting the best of both worlds, a reasonable job and money in the bank. But he was never happy with working for Rod, whom he saw as an interloper.

  Dorothy was delighted with every aspect. She’d been living in a fairly modest, small flat in Newcastle, but now Rod helped her buy a very nice terraced house in the West End of the City. She wasn’t bothered about being on her own as Rod would probably be visiting her most days and she could also keep an eye on him at work. As their relationship developed, Dorothy just couldn’t work out how Rod kept it all from Barbara, but she wasn’t going to rock the boat yet! Eventually, she hoped to prise Rod and Barbara apart.

  With his new empire, Rod started showing off his glamorous lifestyle, a flash new car which he kept at home plus a runabout which he left at Dorothy’s, which he said she could use if she learned to drive. But she was quite happy at first getting the bus down to Newcastle City Centre, or the train to Gateshead or South Shields if she was needed there. Rod didn’t really operate from one office, although Calypso Leisure Clubs Ltd did have a registered office in Newcastle. Dorothy looked after secretarial duties from her house whilst staffing and day to day operations were all in the hands of individual club managers.

  Rod was always conscious about driving around at night and thought it would be nice to employ a chauffeur who could be at his beck and call for other jobs. He wanted someone who could also keep an eye on certain things for him—for instance, he didn’t want Dorothy straying in any way. He needn’t have worried about the latter because he was at Dorothy’s several nights and even days sometimes, and they were always at it, so Dorothy just didn’t have the energy for anything on the side.

  ***

  Barbara jumped up from the bus seat and pressed the stop bell. She’d changed her mind as she thought how stupid she’d been. Rod was her husband, for God’s sake, and she was sick of all the other women, but now it was right under her nose. Presumably everybody knew about his shenanigans—all her friends, even. No! She’d had enough. She crossed over the road to the stop for the bus in the opposite direction and it soon came along.

  Dorothy’s house was in a street called Bentinck Road, just off Westgate Road in Newcastle. It was quite easy to ‘stake out’—an expression Barbara had got from American gangster films. There was a bus shelter at the end of the road, and she could easily see if there were any comings and goings. Nothing happened for a while, and then she realised that she needed a pee. She didn’t dare squat down behind the bus shelter in broad daylight so she crossed over Westgate Road to Newcastle General Hospital and made their toilets just in time.

  She was back at her stake-out position in about eight minutes, just hoping that she hadn’t missed anything. As she watched, a bus came along and stopped—and Dorothy got off! They looked at each other and Dorothy said: “Hello, Barbara, what a surprise, what are you doing here?” Now, although they’d met before at one or two company functions, Dorothy thought that Barbara mustn’t know anything about her relationship with Rod otherwise she’d have been banging on her door a couple of years earlier.

  Barbara said: “Can I have a chat with you?” to which Dorothy nodded as they crossed the street and walked the 30 yards or so to Dorothy’s front door. Dorothy was very surprised, thinking if Barbara had found out about her and Rod, she was keeping very calm. She didn’t seem at all like a woman who’d discovered that her husband had had a mistress for several years. In silence, Barbara followed Dorothy into the living room and was asked if she wanted a drink, a cup of tea or something stronger, perhaps. But no, Barbara got straight down to business.

  “Dorothy, I’ve been suspicious about Rod and you for a couple of years, as you’re an attractive woman and he’s always been a womaniser, so I’ve sort of accepted it. I haven’t come for a row because I know he can’t keep his cock inside his trousers. As long as he kept the whole thing private—but now it’s got out of hand so that people think I’m an idiot who has no idea what her husband is up to. Sometimes I’ve had rows with him coming in late and all that but I’ve usually got over it… until now, that is! One mistress I’ve tolerated, but two? No way!!!”

  A look of incredulity came across Dorothy’s face and she said: “What do you mean, Barbara?”

  There was silence for a few seconds, then Barbara replied: “Dorothy, Rod is also shagging your sister Jane!”

  At that moment, a 3ft chasm could have opened between them as Dorothy shouted: “What? Jane? I don’t believe it! How do you know?”

  “I found various invoices and even a rental agreement for a flat in Jesmond. I confronted Rod and he just stormed out. So I went to the address and sure enough, it was your sister alright, but her bi
ggest worry was you, as she was terrified that you would find out.”

  “That f****** whore! The bitch! I’ll kill her, I’ll kill her!”

  Barbara said: “That’s exactly what Jane said you would do! But Dorothy, it’s not Jane that should be killed, it’s Rod. Castrated first, then dragged through a field of nettles and shards of glass! It would give me the greatest pleasure to cut his willy off!”

  “Do you know what, Barbara? I think you’re right. Maybe not castration and death, but he needs to be taught a lesson. The trouble is that currently we depend on him for our lifestyles—especially you, and although I’m a director at the company, he’s very much in charge.”

  “There must be some way of teaching him a lesson and getting our own back on him,” said Barbara.

  “Barbara, I’m going to tell you something that no one else knows.” Barbara’s ears picked up at this. “He’s been fiddling the Valentes for at least 2 years! I think the Valentes may already have suspicions because he’s been taking more and more out of the company over the last few months to fund his lifestyle and THREE women. It must have shown up in the accounts. And he’s been losing at his gambling.”

  All Barbara could say was, “That robbing, thieving, womanising bastard! Why don’t we let the Valentes know—they’d sort him out?”

  “The trouble is they might sort him out for good,” came Dorothy’s reply.

  “Well,” said Barbara, “that might be the best solution! It would have nothing to do with us. You would probably still have your job. I would get a very tidy insurance pay-out. Jane would get nothing!!!”

  Dorothy said: “The question is: How are we going to let the Valentes know? We both know them. Which one of us should contact them?”

  “Well, wouldn’t it be best for you to do that, Dorothy? You could say you’ve uncovered discrepancies in the books and they would then make discreet inquiries.”

  “Do you know, Barbara, I think you’re right!”

  ***

  After Barbara left, Dorothy sat down to have a good hard think about things. Rod was due that night, but she didn’t want him to suspect she was up to something. Although her period wasn’t due for a couple of days, she would say it was early as she couldn’t bear the idea of him shagging her when he might have come straight from Jane. If he came round, she would just get some fish and chips from the local chippy and she had wine in, anyway. In the end, he didn’t come round—he went home to try to sort it out with his wife!

  So, Dorothy, who’d had a few glasses of wine by now, decided to set the ball rolling and she phoned Richard (really Ricardo) Valente at his home in London. Richard answered: “Hello, Dorothy—this is very late for you. What can I do for you?”

  “Richard, I’m afraid I have to tell you that I think Rod is stealing from the company!” She was astounded at the frankness she used.

  At the other end of the phone, Richard was completely taken aback by what he had just heard and answered: “But, Dorothy, Rod is the M.D. of Calypso Leisure Clubs Ltd! What do you mean, he’s stealing?”

  “He’s altering the accountancy figures, so that those that are forwarded to you are substantially less than the actual figures.”

  “Dorothy, this is a very serious accusation.” As he was saying this, he was thinking that Dorothy was Rod’s mistress, and she must have had really good reason to shop him. But he didn’t go into this. He needed to get to the bottom of the accusation and said that he would be coming up with his brother Joe the day after next. He didn’t want Rod to know and asked Dorothy to arrange for him to see evidence and to fix it with Geordie to see his accounts. Dorothy was happy with this, as she knew where to get documentary evidence. She also knew that Geordie hated Rod and would be able to fill in the gaps.

  “So Dorothy, how long have you known about this?”

  “Well, a few months I suppose, but I didn’t know what to do.” Yes, thought Richard, I bet you didn’t, as a lot of Rod’s extra ‘earnings’ were probably being spent on you! Inside, he was absolutely fuming but kept his cool as he was going to get to the bottom of this and get his own back if anyone had actually been stealing his money.

  Therefore, Richard and Joe Valente would be coming to the North East, without the knowledge of Rod. This wasn’t unusual as they’d done it before, but surely it would make Rod uncomfortable considering his creative accounting.

  Gerry’s Memoir – Part 3

  Geordie Nelson hated Rod. Yes, he was getting a monthly salary, but he wasn’t a director like Rod and, of course there was Dorothy. He didn’t object to Dorothy as she was a real pal to him and she worked hard. But Rod was an incomer who just swanned around, pretending to be important and looking for chances to screw any new woman from the shows, or anywhere really. He was fond of waitresses and bar-staff and would often be ‘behind the scenes’.

  When the Valente brothers arrived, they met Dorothy and Geordie in Newcastle. She’d already filled Geordie in about what she knew and what was said during her phone call to Richard Valente, and he saw this as his chance to get his own back on Rod. Geordie didn’t have a huge Rover Saloon or a big house in South Gosforth. He had a reasonable house in Newcastle but nothing flash! He looked after his two clubs well but didn’t fiddle the books. Despite having a police record, he was now straight and would continue that way—well, except for getting his own back on Rod Stone.

  The Valentes told them that they had got their Finance Director, Phil Jones, to look at the submissions from Rod over the last couple of years to see if he could see any patterns in the payments or obvious omissions. Phil had a chequered history and had himself been involved in company fraud—after all, his bosses were of Sicilian stock—so he knew what to look for. He’d also brought in a couple of specialist financial bods to help him as they needed a result ASAP. The Valentes were going to stay overnight and they had already informed Rod that they were coming to talk to him about expansion and refurbishment plans. They hoped this wouldn’t make him suspicious.

  During their second day, Richard Valente received a message from Phil Jones to the effect that they had indeed found significant evidence of funds going missing. Richard phoned the London office and Phil gave him the low down. Richard and Joe got the next train back to London and on the journey back, they had come to the conclusion that they needed to get rid of Rod somehow. After getting Phil’s report, they decided that they would have to bump Rod off—there was no other way! He’d been stealing tens of thousands from them to live his life of excessive luxury. Two mistresses! Even Richard and Joe had only ever had one at a time. But it would have to look like an accident.

  Richard said: “Of course we need to keep our distance from it all and bring someone in who is professional and can move in, do the job, and quietly disappear. And we both know who they are, don’t we?”

  “Bill and Ben!” came Joe’s reply.

  “Yes, but we’ll need someone up North to look after them and drive them around, and I reckon George could sort somebody out or even do it himself.”

  Joe expressed some doubts as to whether George was the man, but Richard was certain that he was, if he was willing, and they agreed to make the necessary contacts. Bill and Ben were the names of two of the Valente’s underworld contacts, one of whom lived in Spain, but who could come over at the drop of a hat. The other lived in London but was totally unknown to the police. The Valentes decided to phone George the next day. Despite his earlier intention to stay ‘clean’ George was now all for it. He was confident he could sort it out and no one would know of his involvement. A basic plan was agreed whereby they would meet up with Rod and waylay him, knock him out and then push him and his car over a cliff. As Rod was a big lad, one of them would have an automatic pistol so that he knew they meant business! It seemed a reasonable plan, and of course the Valentes weren’t unfamiliar with such goings on!

  ***

  The whole post-mortem was incredibly macabre. After Rod’s clothes had been removed, the policemen present took de
light in remarking on the size of his penis—but what would you expect? It was early January, snow was on the ground—and he was dead! Other comments were made such as: “Your old man’s no good to you now,” and, “You’ll never get it up in hell.”

  The pathologist, Dr Bernard Porter, started by describing the location of the bullet holes, then he simply sliced open the abdomen of the corpse from top to bottom, removed the organs one by one, placing each one in screw-topped jars, which were then labelled with the case reference, date and time. Then the mortuary technician simply used an aluminium cup to scoop out the blood that had pooled in the now-empty abdominal cavity. Samples of the blood had already been taken so after the volume was measured, it was just poured away.

  Dr Porter then took a scalpel and sliced around the rear perimeter of the scalp from ear to ear so that he could just pull the scalp forward over the face to reveal the skullcap. The technician proceeded to use a fret saw to saw around the perimeter of the skullcap, and then the skullcap was simply lifted off revealing the brain. With incredible dexterity and a couple of scalpel snips on each side, Dr Porter simply lifted out the brain, with an accompanying slurping noise. It was placed in another glass jar.

  During the whole procedure, Gerry just stood in awe of what he was observing. All of the organs would be examined to see if there had been any failure, which might have contributed to death before the bullets entered. They would also be analysed at the Forensic Laboratory for the presence of any drugs or poisons. Gerry was thankful that this would be done by some other department at the lab. Dr Porter had already had a preliminary look at each organ to assess if any evidence of major trauma was present. But he was confident that death was caused by shooting and he would specify which bullet was the actual cause. There were two bullet entry holes in the body, with one exit hole as it had travelled right through.