Read Online FORGET ME NOT (Mark Kane Mysteries Book One) by John Hemmings - Free Book Online Page A

you’d be good
enough to contact me when you have the documents I requested to
hand. It’s been nice meeting you. I’ll try to get things moving
along as swiftly as I can.”
    As I drove home I realized that the
investigation might not turn out to be as straightforward as I’d
anticipated.
     
     

Chapter Seven
The Plane Crash
    “So you drew a blank, then? I don’t suppose
that’ll impress your new client much.”
    Lucy was being her usual reassuring self. She
was still miffed about the fee, although I had been able to mollify
her to some extent by giving her the check for my retainer to
bank.
    “Greg’s a realist, not a fantasist,” I said.
“He understands the difficulties. What would you have done,
tortured her to make her talk?”
    “I wouldn’t have put up with that nonsense.
Why not come straight out with it and accuse her of not being who
she claims to be?”
    “Because she may well be who she claims to
be. I’m approaching the matter at the moment as something my client
suspects may not be the truth. Even he admits he might be
mistaken.”
    “But you’ve just told me that you think his
suspicions may be justified; in view of your less-than-productive
interview with her.”
    “That’s true, but it’s still no more than
suspicion. Suspicion isn’t proof. Even suspicion plus suspicion
doesn’t amount to proof. You see the trick is to probe. To try to
get her to tell me something that I can prove is false; maybe
several things. Then I’ll have her on the back foot. That’s why I
want you to check about the plane crash. It’s a gem, you see,
because whether it’s true or not it takes the investigation
forward.”
    “How’s that?”
    “If it’s not true, and I can prove it’s not
true, then I would have sufficient reason to confront her with the
lie. People seldom lie for no reason after all. But if it is true
then the report of the crash will probably provide me with details
of her parents that I don’t have. You know, ‘Richard and Joyce
Granger, of such and such a place, aged so and so were tragically
killed on such and such a day…Richard Granger was employed by so
and so from such and such…’ That sort of thing. It will provide a
lot of useful leads. If I knew where her father or mother worked,
where they lived and so on, I could discover a wealth of
information.”
    “If it’s not true it would virtually prove
that she’s a fraud.”
    “Not necessarily. A lie about one thing
doesn’t necessarily prove a lie about something else; but it’s part
of the way there.”
    “I was thinking about those polygraph tests,”
Lucy said. “I know why they don’t use them in court.”
    “And you’re going to tell me, whether I like
it or not?”
    “They’re too easy to fake.”
    “Are they?”
    “I could fake one easily.”
    “I hope you’re never in a situation where
you’ll need to put it to the test.”
    “No, listen. They work like this, right?
First they ask simple questions to which everybody knows the answer − like what’s your name? − so they can test that the machine’s working
properly, then they move on to questions about the crime; like did
you commit the murder? Or were you involved in the robbery? If the
suspect says ‘no’ and it’s a lie, their blood pressure goes up or
something.”
    “Yes,” I said patiently.
    “So, if I wanted to answer ‘no’, and it was
an untruthful answer, but I didn’t want my blood pressure to go up
I would ask myself a silent question in my head to which the
truthful answer would be no before I gave the answer. Like ‘is your
name Mickey Mouse’.”
    “And the point of all this is?”
    “I’m smarter than the average bear,” she said
in a passable imitation of Yogi, the cartoon character.
    “Well we won’t be using any polygraphs in
this case.”
    “Just as well, because by the sound of her
Susan would be able to fake it.”
    “I’ll bear it in mind for the future.”
    It was not uncommon for Lucy to spin off