by L M Krier
‘How are you getting on with his computer? Is it giving up any secrets yet?’
‘Oh yes, he’s not got a clue about computer security at all, so it was easy. He thinks hitting delete means it’s all gone for ever.’ Steve’s tone immediately gained confidence when he was back to talking about one of his specialist subjects. ‘He’s been buying drugs online, and doing his research to choose which ones to buy. He never clears his search history, either, so it’s all there.
‘He’s gone for a veterinary drug which is banned from general sale in several countries, including here, because it’s dangerous, easy to overdose on and the after effects can be very nasty. It’s also proscribed everywhere for human use. It’s not designed for it and is considered risky even in low doses.
‘It’s used to anaesthetise larger animals and farm animals, like horses and cattle, in particular. It knocks them right off their feet, literally, so it’s the drug of choice in emergencies.
‘One of the risks with it, with animals, is that as they’re coming round they tend to get very panicky and can be violent. I believe, with horses, they deal with it by putting something over their head and eyes, like a coat, so they don’t struggle quite so much. Which might, possibly, explain the victim’s violent episodes, if they occurred as she was coming down off the drug.
‘It’s also addictive, and he would know that, from his research. So another part of the abuse was probably not to keep her topped up regularly, causing bad withdrawal symptoms.’
A long speech, for Steve, without hesitation. When he’d finished, he looked again to Ted first for any comment, a flush of colour rising up from his neck when Ted told him, ‘Excellent, Steve, good work.’
‘So when was he drugging her and for what reason?’ Mike asked.
‘I could take an educated guess at that one,’ Jezza put in. ‘I know some domestic violence victims stay with their abusive partner, for reasons of their own. But not all of them do. Some of them make a break for it. Some even get lucky and find a refuge which can take them. They may even manage to break free forever and go on to get their lives back on track.
‘He must have been worried, every time he went out to work, that he would come back to find her gone, having taken the boy with her. Knocking her out whenever he left the house would ensure she would be in no fit state to do that.
‘No wonder she went hysterical whenever she came down from the effects. That would be not only the drug itself, but you can imagine her frustration and sense of panic to realise he’d spoiled her escape plans yet again.’
‘How was he getting the stuff into her, though?’ Mike Hallam asked. ‘Is it injected? Only Dr Sinclair didn’t flag up any signs of needle marks and surely there would have been something to see. I can’t imagine her sitting there calmly and letting him do it, so if she struggled, wouldn’t that tend to leave bruises?’
‘It is mostly injected into animals,’ Steve told him, still speaking with confidence. ‘He’s been buying it in liquid form which can be given orally, so my guess is that he was simply slipping it in her food or drink and she wasn’t noticing. Perhaps she simply thought that sleeping so deeply was her body’s reaction to the tensions it was under. Trying to heal itself through sleep. Or perhaps he’d convinced her that she really was seriously mentally ill.’
Jezza nodded her agreement at that.
‘That sounds plausible to me, Steve. And it must really have heightened the terror, her finding herself so often powerless to do anything and not truly knowing why.’
Claire Spicer, the civilian investigator who was principally involved in the scam and not directly working on the possible murder case, spoke up.
‘I know that no one can know or judge what goes on in another household, but could she really not have been aware? Would she not have started to get suspicious? Perhaps even to the point of not eating or drinking anything when he was in the flat?’
Jezza visibly bristled in an instant at her words.
‘No one outside a home or family can possibly know what goes on inside it.’
‘No, sorry, I appreciate that,’ Claire told her. ‘It didn’t come out right. I’m lucky enough for it never to have happened to me, or to anyone I know, so I’m having difficulty imagining how it would have been and how I would have reacted in the circumstances.’
‘We really can’t know what was going on,’ Mike said. ‘He might possibly have been encouraging, or even forcing her to drink. Perhaps telling her she was dehydrated and would feel much better if she drank more water, for instance.
‘Steve, how long does the drug stay in the system? Will it show up post-mortem?’
For the first time Steve’s confidence wavered.
‘I’ve not got quite that far in my research yet, sarge. Not enough to give a definitive answer. It’s next on my list. As soon as I have the info, I’ll add it to what I have up to now and make sure it gets circulated.’
‘So does this latest lead mean we’re getting closer to showing intent to kill, boss?’ Jo asked. ‘I’m struggling at the moment to find an innocent explanation for knocking your wife out regularly with an illegal cattle drug. I’m assuming this was a fairly regular thing?’
‘Going by the amount he’s been buying, then yes, definitely a regular thing I would say,’ Steve confirmed.
The team members were all quiet for a moment, thinking of the implications. Then Maurice muttered, ‘The bastard,’ ignoring Ted’s look.
‘I don’t know that it advances us much on intent to kill,’ Ted answered Jo’s question. ‘But it no doubt opens the way up to some significant charges, at least. Let’s see what you’ve got by way of a case at the end of the day tomorrow and I’ll talk to someone at CPS about what charges to throw at him. Even if they’re only holding charges until we get a bit more.’
‘Are you driving home, or can I ply you liberally with enough booze to get you to hand over the tapes?’ Ted asked Kevin Turner as they took a seat together in the bar of The Grapes with the first round of drinks, which Ted had paid for.
‘Even if I go on a bender it still won’t be enough to buy yourself out of trouble on this one. I can have fun with this for a long time yet. Anyway, it will have to be just the one for me this evening. I’ve promised to take Sheila out shopping when I get home so it wouldn’t go down well to have me staggering up the drive stinking of booze and unfit to be driving. What about you? Time off for good behaviour tonight?’
‘Trev’s at karate this evening. And Big Jim’s coming in to join me later for something to eat. It seems he’s missing work already.’
Kevin gave an exaggerated sigh, smiling at his words.
‘Bloody coppers, eh? We moan like buggery about the hours when we’re working, then as soon as we stop, we want to go back to it.’
True to his word, Kevin only stayed for the one drink. He passed Big Jim coming in as he was leaving and stopped for a few words.
Ted and Jim got drinks and took them through to the small back room, as Dave had agreed, where they chatted while they waited for him to bring their food. They’d both decided on the special, the steak pie. Ted filled Jim in on the details of the various cases while they waited for the food to arrive.
‘It’s a bugger getting a successful murder conviction on these domestic violence cases, Ted. You know that as well as I do. Unless you have independent witnesses, it’s often next to nigh on impossible to show intent.
‘Sometimes the signs are there and people spot them. Anyone who would knock their wife about is a special sort of lowlife, in my book, and there are often flashes of it in their attitude to other women. God knows, Margery gave me every possible excuse to treat her badly, the way she was constantly carrying on. Not even behind my back, sometimes, it got that blatant towards the end. But I swear I never once lifted a hand to her. Not once.’
‘There have been cases though where something like this has come out and everyone says they would never have guessed, never suspected a thing. Do you believe
that, or are some men much better at hiding that side of their nature than others?’
Jim took a thoughtful pull of his pint before he replied.
‘Well, I suppose I’m living proof that you can know someone very well without really knowing anything about them. I thought I knew Mickey Wheeler inside out and that we were friends. You know that the shock of finding out about his gambling addiction, and him knowing all those years that my daughter was alive and well, damn near killed me. So I suppose it’s possible.
‘What do your blokes do? An engineer and a security guard? Be thankful you’ve not got a copper. If anyone would know how to cover their tracks over something like this, one of our own would.’
* * *
He strode into the kitchen without so much as a greeting and dropped the glossy brochures on the table.
‘Those are the ones I’ve chosen for him, in order of preference. First choice at the top. You can look at them, but that’s as close as you’re getting. I’m not having you do anything at all to wreck that lad’s chances. God knows, he’s got an uphill battle to get where he wants to go with your weak and pathetic genes pulling him down all the time. The one thing he’s got going for him is my influence and the brains I’ve given him. I just hope it’s going to be enough.’
She paused in her preparation of the evening meal, wiped her hands on a towel and reached out a timid hand to pick up the top brochure.
‘Could we perhaps all sit down together and look at them all, after we’ve eaten? Perhaps to see which one he likes the look of?’
She was trying to keep her voice neutral. Not to say anything which he might take as her daring to criticise him. She was simply anxious that such an important decision as her son’s future schooling was not one he took alone without consulting her.
His face screwed into a sneer and he put on the whiny voice he always did when he was mimicking her and the way she spoke.
‘Which one he likes the look of? What have looks got to do with anything, for god’s sake, you half wit. He can’t possibly know what’s going to be the best choice for his future education, and you certainly don’t. I’ve selected what’s best for him. At least I’ve brought the bumf for you to look at. Think yourself lucky.’
He moved suddenly closer, with surprising speed, grabbed one of her arms so tight it made her wince and cringe.
‘Don’t bother serving up any of your usual pigswill for me tonight, either. I’m going back out. I only stopped by to bring you those, and to make sure the boy has his nose to the grindstone to get the grades he’s going to need. I’m on a promise, so don’t expect me back until late, if at all.
‘And think on, you’re as much use to the boy as a chocolate teapot, with where he wants to get to. Time for you to take a long, hard look at yourself and ask if you’re anything more than a millstone round his neck as he starts to spread his wings and chase his dreams.’
Chapter Sixteen
‘I’ve just this minute had the lab reports on substances found in our victim’s blood,’ Ted told the team as they got together at the end of the day for updates before the weekend. ‘It makes very interesting reading. I’ve copied everyone in, but I can give you the broad outline now.
‘First off, Steve, well done with the computer records. The lab were most impressed. It’s not a drug they’ve come across before so they had to do a lot of research. Not licensed for use in Britain, as you said, not even for veterinary use. Certainly not for use on people. There were only faint traces remaining and as it wasn’t something they would have routinely checked for, it could easily have been missed entirely if you’d not been through the computer and picked up on it.’
Steve put his head down, visibly flushing, but he looked pleased at the praise, despite his embarrassment.
‘I’ve only had chance for a very brief call with CPS about this latest development, and we’re going to need to put all of this new information to our suspect before we know where we can go from here. But this is clearly a significant development.’
‘First thing he’s going to claim, no doubt, is that his wife bought the stuff herself, using his card,’ Jo put in.
‘He can try that, although he is on record as saying he got it for her from the internet. He’ll almost certainly want to go back on that once he hears this, by saying he found the drug for her to try, but she became dependent on it so kept ordering more, with his card.’
‘We certainly haven’t found any record of her having a credit card of her own,’ Mike put in. ‘Not wishing to make a judgement on that, but it could perhaps indicate more controlling by the partner. It’s not uncommon in domestic abuse for one person to keep control of the purse strings.’
Mike was speaking from bitter experience. When his wife had been ill, he’d had no access to his own money much of the time.
‘Sir, it won’t be infallible, but credit card statements were found at the flat. I could try going through those and cross-checking them against his shifts at work, if we can request those. Like the DI said, no doubt he’ll claim he left his credit card at home and his wife must have been using it.’
‘Would anyone really leave their credit card at home these days?’ Jezza asked. ‘Occasionally, maybe, if you changed clothes or handbag, if you carry one, and you might forget to transfer it. But repeatedly? That doesn’t sound likely. Does he have a car for work, or use public transport? If he has a car, he must need to put fuel in it sometimes, for one thing. So why would he go out without his card?’
‘He does drive,’ Mike replied. ‘He’s a car owner. The shifts he works don’t always coincide with available public transport so he’s an essential car user. And yes, I agree with Jezza. It would seem unusual to me for someone to go out without their credit card.’
‘Maurice might, if we were all going to the pub and he didn’t want to pay for a round,’ Jezza couldn’t resist teasing her friend.
‘And given how unusual a drug this seems to be, I imagine, Steve, that our suspect must have spent quite a bit of time researching to find out about it?’ Jo ignored her and carried on.
‘A lot of research, yes, sir. This one wasn’t the cheapest, either, not by a long way. He’d also been searching to find what the side effects and after effects of any of the heavy duty tranquillisers were. He did his homework thoroughly before starting to buy.’
‘More evidence of pre-meditation there, boss?’ Jo queried. ‘Setting himself up with his defence in advance, with this story of her being violent and attacking him?’
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ Ted cautioned. ‘Although I’m struggling to think of any plausible excuse he could offer for buying an illegal drug. There must be an offence there, for a start, for us to charge him with. It will do as a holding charge, if nothing else, while we investigate further.
‘Right, enjoy your weekend, everyone, those who have some time off. Jo, can we have a quick get together? Mike and Rob too, please, about cover?’
The four of them adjourned to the office which Jo and Mike shared. There was more room there than in Ted’s.
‘I’m going to work on a bit this evening. It’s Mrs Skinner’s last day and I wanted to give her the present in person. She’s looked after us well, for a long time.
‘I’ll be in at some point tomorrow, too. I have a lot of paperwork to sort before Monday and like I told you, Jo, I’m strictly off the radar on Sunday. So have you got enough cover for both days?’
‘All sorted, boss,’ Jo told him. ‘I’m on call for the whole weekend. I’ll come in at some point both days, but I’m at the end of the phone as needed. I need to drop various sons at different sporting fixtures, but I’m never more than a phone call away. Mike’s in charge tomorrow, Rob on Sunday, so we’ve got it covered. And seriously, unless you have a pressing need, there’s no reason to come in tomorrow.’
‘Budget figures, wanted for Monday, if you’re volunteering, Jo?’
Jo laughed and held up his two index fingers to form a cross, to w
ard off the mere suggestion.
‘Whenever you mention such delights it reminds me why I’m quite happy to stay at the level I am and play Robin to your Batman.’
Ted was head down over his desk putting the finishing touches to his figures when his office door opened without a knock and Mrs Skinner walked in. She gave a start of surprise to find him still working at his desk.
‘Oh, I’m sorry, Chief Inspector, I didn’t realise you were still here. Do you want me to go and clean the other offices first, if you’re busy?’
‘No, come in, please, Mrs Skinner,’ Ted said, getting to his feet as he spoke.
He never forgot his father’s teaching about it being polite to do so, and doing it for both of them, as his dad could no longer get out of his wheelchair unaided.
‘I was hoping to catch you. It’s your last day, I hear? I’ll be very sorry to see you go.’
‘I didn’t want to stop. I love my work. It’s all I’ve got left now, really.’
To Ted’s consternation, her voice broke and she started to cry. He moved round the desk and pulled the spare chair out for her.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. Please, sit down for a moment. Would you like a cup of tea? I was about to make myself one.’
It wasn’t quite true. He’d been hanging on until she arrived but had then intended to leave. Trev had been to something with his English students but wouldn’t be late home and Ted had promised to try to be there in time for them to eat together.
‘I don’t want to put you to any bother. And I’m not allowed to take a break when I’m working, Chief Inspector. I’ll get into trouble.’
‘It’s your last day, Mrs Skinner. What can they do to you? And I think you deserve a break. Tea, or coffee? And please, call me Ted. You’ve known me long enough. Not to mention covering up my little outbursts of temper.’
‘This will sound strange, but whenever I clean your office, I always look at those little sachets of green tea you have and wonder what they taste like. I’ve never bought a box, in case I didn’t like them. But could I try a cup of that, please?’