Deadly Encounter

by M A Comley

  “Mum, listen, for goodness’ sake. He was at the new house when the accident occurred. Simon found him lying unconscious and thought he’d fallen off the scaffolding, but Dad woke up and said that two men attacked him.”

  “No! Why? Your father has never harmed anyone in his life. Why would anyone want to hurt him?”

  Sally hesitated before she answered. Yes, why would anyone hurt him, unless… Darryl! I wouldn’t put it past him to do something like this. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s disrupted our lives from inside. “I don’t know, Mum, not at this stage. I just wanted to make you aware of what’s going on. Simon has taken the rest of the day off and accompanied Dad to the hospital in Bury St Edmunds. The paramedics said that taking him to hospital was just a precaution and that he should be home by the end of the day. He’s got a concussion.”

  “Oh my, poor Christopher. How lucky we are to have Simon in our lives and for him to have found your father when he did. A blessing in disguise, for sure. I’ll just wait to hear from either you or Simon then. Please, keep me in the loop, Sally.”

  “Of course, Mum. Try not to worry too much. He’s in the best hands now.”

  “I’ll try. Goodbye, dear.”

  Sally sighed and hung up. She looked up to see a concerned Jack standing in the doorway. “Is your mum all right?”

  “Scared shitless, but apart from that, yes, she’s fine. Sit down, Jack.”

  “What’s up? Apart from the obvious? You look serious.”

  Sally ran a hand over her face and tucked her hair behind her ear on one side. “I had a thought when I was relaying what had gone on with Dad to Mum. What if Darryl was involved in this?”

  Jack shook his head in disbelief. “How? You’re clutching at straws. Think logically about this. How would he know that your father was going to that address?”

  Sally picked up a pen and threw it across the desk. “I know that logic should be telling me how foolish I am, but I can’t shake this feeling that he’s behind this. You’ve got to admit the coincidence can’t be ignored. I see him at the prison one day, and the next, my father is knocked unconscious by two thugs. You know he has form regarding this, Jack.”

  “I know. And if this had occurred outside your father’s house, I’d be inclined to agree with you, but it didn’t. How would Darryl know that your dad was going to be at that house in Thetford today at that specific time?”

  She rested her chin on her hands and stared at him. “I know what you’re saying, but I still have more than a niggling doubt that he’s behind this.”

  “He can’t be. Believe me, no one would want to point the finger at him more than me. It just isn’t plausible, Sally.”

  “I hear you. I was wondering if you’d do me a favour.”

  Jack frowned. “If I can—you know that. What do you need?”

  “I need you to go and see Darryl, warn him off.”

  Jack shook his head. “If it’s truly what you want me to do, I will, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

  Sally slumped back in her chair. “But it would make me feel so much better.”

  “Think it over for half an hour, weigh up the pros and cons of me storming in there and accusing him. If you still feel the same way, then, yes, I’ll shoot over there. My guess is that you’ll think it’s a daft decision.”

  “All right, smartarse, I trust your instincts on this one. Let me just ring Simon and then we’ll go over things with the team.”

  Jack smiled and left the room.

  Sally rang Simon’s mobile.

  He answered on the first ring. “Hi, I’m just moving to somewhere more private, two ticks.”

  “How is he?” she asked impatiently.

  “He’s doing okay. I was just going to ring you, in fact. His memory is less hazy now. He said he turned up at the property, was about to inspect the roof when two men approached him. They had a nasty streak, told him to get off the site. When he refused, they struck him with a bar and laid into him.”

  “Did they just walk in off the street? Were they the owners of the house, or the previous owners? It doesn’t make any sense, Simon.”

  “I know. My take on it is that they were a couple of developers keen to get their hands on the property.”

  “What? Why?” Sally blushed, ashamed that she’d almost sent Jack on a wild-goose chase to warn Darryl off.

  “I suppose this property-developing lark is becoming a cut-throat business. The property your dad and I were interested in could be a real money spinner. We could be talking about making a profit of around a hundred thousand pounds, just on this one house. There are going to be others out there who are also interested in making that sum of money.”

  “Bloody unscrupulous bastards. Why don’t they thrash it out in the auction room like normal people? Why did they have to put Dad in hospital? What if they had killed him? They could have struck him in the wrong place with that pole and killed him. Would it really be worth these men facing a murder charge just for a profit on a house?”

  “I hear you. Hey, I really and truly believe this is a one-off. Your father is adamant he wants to pursue our venture. He’s willing to also try and identify the men. If word gets around that we’re not scared of thugs like these, then they’ll soon back off, love.”

  “Gosh, I hope you’re right. In my experience, these types tend to dig their heels in.”

  “We’ll see if your dad has a change of heart once he’s out of hospital. I think he’s as stubborn as you, though, and not likely to back down to these monsters.”

  “If he can identify them, that’ll make our job much easier. Okay, you better go. Thanks for the update and for taking time off to be with him. I’ll ring you later, love you.”

  “Ditto. Speak soon.”

  Sally pushed away from the desk and left the office. Needing to refocus her mind on work, she approached Jordan. “Do you want to run through what case you’ve chosen to explore?”

  “Stuart and I thought we would look into the case of Paula Thompson from Norwich. She was convicted eight years ago of murdering her husband, Don.”

  Sally tilted her head, intrigued that her colleagues had chosen to delve into a woman’s case and not another male’s. “How?”

  “Poison. They found the evidence sitting in the bathroom cabinet.”

  “How strange. So she didn’t even try to hide the evidence? Doesn’t sound very killer-like behaviour to me.”

  “Which is what struck us as weird and drew us to the case. All right if we plod on with it, boss?”

  “Of course. Good luck. Run things past me as they appear, all right?”

  Sally stood in between Jack’s and Joanna’s desks. “That leaves the three of us to deal with the Gillan case. What else have you managed to gather while Jack and I were out, Joanna?”

  “I found out that the family doctor died of cancer last year.”

  “How sad. Okay, what else?”

  “I went through the file again, focusing on the friends and family members. Managed to track down most of them, boss. The only one I haven’t found yet is Craig Gillan’s brother, Kenny.”

  “Hmm… keep trying, the more relatives we speak to the better”

  “I will. Here are the details you need about the work colleagues who were questioned at the time of Anne’s death. I can’t believe they all still work there after all this time—that’s remarkable in itself. Makes it easier for you to question them, I suppose.”

  “Great news. Maybe the firm is a good employer and the staff know where they’re better off. A stable job is hard to come by today,” Sally replied, scanning the list.

  “When do you want to start questioning them?” Jack asked.

  “Well, the funeral is happening tomorrow. We need to attend that first before we can contemplate going to the factory. Maybe some, or most, of these people will be at the church.”

  “It would be good to monitor them at the scene, especially when emotions will be running high. Do we know if C
raig is going to be there?”

  “I’ll ring the governor after our meeting. It would be a shame if he wasn’t. It might shock the other attendees, though.” Sally ran a hand over her face. “Not sure myself if he should go, to be honest with you, but then if Anne’s parents have no objection to Craig being there, I don’t see why anyone else should kick up a stink. If he turns out to be innocent, then he has every right to be there. My worry is that if we ultimately find him guilty of killing her, we’re going to suffer a massive backlash for allowing him to attend the funeral for one last gloat.”

  “It’s a tough call,” Jack agreed. “But then his human rights are going to come into play on this one, aren’t they? He was married to her for over ten years, after all.”

  “I’ve not experienced anything like this before. I’ll see what the governor has to say about it when I ring him. Anything else, Joanna?”

  “Nothing as yet, boss.”

  “Okay, keep digging for Kenny’s whereabouts. I’ll be in my office, making some calls.” Sally rushed back to her office and rang the prison. “Hello, Governor Wilkinson, this is DI Sally Parker. We met the other day.”

  “Ah, yes, I remember, Inspector. What can I do for you on this bright June day?”

  His jovial banter caused her to falter for a second or two. “Umm… I’m ringing up to check if Craig Gillan will be allowed to attend his wife’s funeral tomorrow.”

  There was a long pause before the governor responded. “Do you think he should? I told his daughter that I was mulling the decision over. It’s not just Craig’s feelings we have to take into consideration here, Inspector. I don’t have to remind you at this moment in time the man is serving time for his wife’s murder. Can you imagine the uproar that is going to create if he shows up?”

  “I appreciate that—I truly do, sir—however, there is every indication that Craig is innocent of this crime. Could you live with yourself knowing that you denied him his human rights to be at the burial of his wife when we prove his innocence a few weeks down the line?”

  “It’s a quandary that I’ve been contemplating for days, Inspector. There’s no easy answer either way, is there?”

  “I don’t envy your decision. Have you come across this scenario before?”

  “Once or twice, but never in such a complex case. The other cases were to do with convicts attending their siblings’ funerals. We allowed Craig to attend both his parents’ funerals, don’t forget.”

  “I heard. I do appreciate the predicament you’re in, believe me.”

  He sighed heavily. “I’ll need to run it past my superiors and get back to you.”

  “I can’t ask for more than that. Will you let me know before the day is out, Governor?”

  “I’ll do my best. You know how evasive our senior officers can be.”

  Sally laughed. “That, I do. Okay, I’ll wait to hear back from you then. Goodbye for now.” She couldn’t help but feel disappointed and let down that the governor didn’t have the balls to make the decision himself. After all, he had daily dealings with the prisoner; his superior officers didn’t. She would just have to sit and wait for them to hopefully come to the right conclusion.

  A full three hours later, the governor confirmed that Gillan would be allowed to attend his wife’s funeral. That was when Sally’s stomach really tied itself into knots. What if Anne’s friends object to him being there? Maybe it would be worth having a police presence there in case things kick off. She called the desk sergeant and asked if that would be possible for eleven o’clock the next day. He told her he could supply two uniformed officers for the occasion. That was good enough for Sally, and she quickly accepted the offer.

  The end of the day loomed. Between them, she and her colleagues had made good progress on the two cases. She dismissed the team for the evening and rang Simon. “Hi, are you still at the hospital?”

  “Yes, they’ve just told me that they’re keeping your dad in overnight as a precaution. I’m just setting off home now.”

  “I want to see him. Will he be up to having a visitor?”

  “Honestly, he looks done in. I’d leave it for tonight, love. I’ve been here all day and I think he’s looking forward to some peace and quiet this evening.”

  “Okay, you win. Tell him I love him and that Mum and I are thinking of him and I look forward to seeing him tomorrow.”

  “I will. I’ll duck out of giving him a peck on the cheek, if that’s okay, though.” Simon sniggered.

  “Idiot. I’ll ring Mum and let her know. She’ll be worried out of her mind.” Sally hung up and immediately dialled her mother’s number. The phone was answered before it had completed the first ring. “Hi, Mum, it’s me. No need to panic. Dad is fine. They’re keeping him in overnight as a precautionary measure. Simon has been with him all day. He says dad is tired now and eager to have a rest.”

  “Oh, thank heavens. I thought you were about to give me more bad news. Are you going to visit him? I should be there with him.”

  “He’s in safe hands, Mum. I offered to go, but Simon insisted that I shouldn’t as Dad is exhausted. I feel bad about it, however, if that’s what Dad wants, I guess we’ll have to abide by his wishes. How are you?”

  “A nervous wreck. It’s awful sitting here staring at the phone, waiting for it to ring. I’ll be better this evening, knowing that he’s okay and having a good rest.”

  “Do you want me to drop by?”

  “No, you look after Simon this evening. Please tell him how much I appreciate what he’s done for your father today. Lord knows how things would have panned out if he hadn’t been around to save the day.”

  “I know. I’ll pass that on. Hey, look after yourself tonight, make sure you eat a proper meal. Dad will be home tomorrow. I’ll drop by after work to see him, okay?”

  “Yes, I’ve been busy baking. I’ve made myself a small casserole. Don’t worry about me, dear. See you tomorrow.”

  “Ring me if you need me. Love you lots.”

  “Thank you, dear. Love you, too.”

  Sally hung up, collected her handbag and coat from the coat stand, and headed back out to meet the rest of her team. “Are we all set?”

  They descended the stairs together and went their separate ways in the car park. Jack walked Sally to her car. “Is your dad all right?”

  “Yeah, he’ll be home tomorrow. I’ll drop by and see him then. He’s resting now. Simon has been a godsend today. Not sure what I would have done without him.”

  “Let’s hope your dad can identify the men who did this to him. The sooner they’re off the street, the better. Bastards. Fancy doing that to an old man… er, sorry, no offence.”

  Sally laughed. “None taken. I totally agree. Dad’s not a spring chicken. They could have easily dealt a fatal blow, morons. Let’s get the funeral out of the way tomorrow, and then I’ll see if Dad can come in and go through the mugshots with us. Don’t forget to dress appropriately in the morning.”

  “Crap, good job you reminded me. I would have turned up in my jester’s suit, otherwise.” Jack smirked.

  Sally punched his upper arm. “Prat. Goodnight, Jack. Glad you’re still with us, even though you give me a mountain of grief at times.” She opened her car door and shot inside before he could retaliate. She saw his lips moving as he said something, but she pretended not to hear him.

  In the end, he waved his hand at her in frustration and turned his back. She drove away with a smile on her face. The smile turned into an angry frown once she got caught up in the traffic, though, and she started to reflect on what her father had been subjected to. If I catch you guys, I’m going to string you up by the knackers!

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The weather turned nasty on the morning of the funeral. Sally and Jack, dressed in black suits, joined a few of the mourners as they waited in the entrance to the church for the hearse to arrive. The people surrounding them were telling anecdotes of Anne’s life, and Sally strained her ear to hear what was being said, s
eeing if she could glean any gossip or facts about what type of character Anne was, and if she had any secrets they should be aware of. What she did overhear were a few names mentioned that Joanna had highlighted for them to interview.

  As the hearse pulled up outside the church and the pallbearers assembled, the group fell silent out of respect for the deceased woman. The mourners stepped inside the church and took their seats before the coffin was brought in and placed at the front of the church. Sally and Jack sat in the last row, surveying the mourners. As the pallbearers stood back from the coffin, Sally heard a shuffling noise at the entrance. She dug Jack in the ribs when she saw Craig standing there, a prison officer on either side of him. She was appalled to see that he was cuffed and still had the chains attached to his ankles. Sally shot out of her seat and approached the officers. She produced her ID. “Morning, gents. I’m DI Sally Parker. I’m the officer in charge of reinvestigating Mr. Gillan’s case. Is there really any need for him to be trussed up like this? He’s hardly going to run off, is he?”

  The older of the two officers bristled and pulled back his shoulders. “I suggest you do your job, Inspector, and let us get on with ours.”

  “Has Governor Wilkinson told you to treat your prisoner in this way?” Sally asked quietly, trying hard not to grind her teeth out of annoyance.

  “We’re doing as instructed. Accompanying the prisoner to a funeral.”

  “His wife’s funeral.”

  The older man leaned in with a menacing look in his eye. “You mean the woman he killed in the first place?”

  Sally smiled calmly. “We’ve reopened the case after discovering grave inconsistencies in the original investigation. Please consider taking the leg chains off, at least. This might be an innocent man, officer.”

  “Either you get back to your seat, Inspector, or we take the prisoner back to the van and return to the prison. The choice is yours.” His eyebrow hitched, and he gave her a toothy grin.

  With a curt nod, Sally withdrew her notebook and jotted down the numbers on each man’s lapel so she could make a formal complaint to the governor later.