Shut Up and Drive: DI Ted Darling Book 4

by L M Krier

  A doctor had been called and she was already waiting. He handed Jezza over to her care and sprinted up to his office to make phone calls, taking the time to make himself some green tea. He had no idea when he would be able to get anything to eat or drink during the course of the evening ahead, so he wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

  His first call was to Trev. 'Hi, it's me. I'm going to be late tonight, I've no idea how late. We've had another attack, so I don't know what time I'll get back.'

  'Is the victim …'

  'Alive, injured, but I don't think it's a serious wound. She's with the doctor now. I'll tell you all about it when I get back, if you're still up.'

  'Wake me up if I'm asleep, if you need to talk about it. I'll cook you something I can heat up quickly for you when you get home.'

  'I'm not remotely hungry at the moment,' Ted sighed wearily. 'Not sure I can even think of eating, certainly not yet awhile. It's a bad one. I'll explain everything to you when I see you, whenever that is.'

  His next call was to the Ice Queen to put her in the picture. 'I'll come in,' she said at once. 'If something like this has happened to one of our officers, I should be there to show support.'

  'Debs, knowing what our Jezza is like, she won't appreciate any kind of fuss,' Ted replied, wondering as he said it why he had used the familiarity. He was just too tired and too distressed to think of being formal.

  'Well, please send her my best wishes, and if there is anything at all I can do to help in any way, Ted, you only have to call me again.'

  Ted gave a small smile to himself as he ended the call. Personal feelings, rank, old awkwardness, everything was forgotten in the face of something like this happening to one of the team. He felt a moment's affection for the Ice Queen.

  Maurice had just arrived when Ted went back downstairs, still carrying his mug of tea. He had a bag with him, Jezza's clothes, Ted imagined. He knew Maurice, the father of two girls, would probably have known what to bring. They went to stand together near the room where Jezza was being examined by the doctor.

  'Bloody awful business, Ted,' Maurice said. It seemed that something as traumatic as what had happened to Jezza was drawing them all closer, blurring ranks, making them seem like a family, not work colleagues. 'How's she bearing up?'

  'You know our Jezza. She's insisting on putting on a feisty front, but she's clearly devastated. Thanks for coming, Maurice. I know she has no family, but I didn't know whether if she had any friends nearby. Do you happen to know?'

  'To be honest, from what Steve and me have been finding out, I'm not sure she has many friends. I think that prickly shell keeps most people away. That and the problems with Tommy, restricting her social life, poor lass.'

  'How is Tommy? Will he be all right with Steve? I've no idea what time Jezza will be able to go home, nor whether she'll be up to dealing with Tom when she gets there.'

  Maurice chuckled. 'I left Steve and Tommy playing some sort of game or something on the computer. I'm not sure if either of them even noticed I'd gone, and Tommy certainly didn't pick up on the fact that Jezza was going to be late. He and Steve are fine together, for hours at a time. They get on really well, especially when a computer's involved.'

  At that moment, the door opened and the doctor ushered Jezza out, by this time wearing nothing but a clean, new coverall and paper slippers. Her clothes had been taken away for forensic testing. She looked pale and shaken, her battered face swollen and looking sore.

  'Eh, bonny lass,' Maurice said as soon as he saw her, holding his arms out to her. Jezza rushed forward to be engulfed by his hug while he gently soothed her as he would one of his own daughters.

  'I've finished everything I want to do now, Inspector, so DC Vine can be questioned whenever you're ready. The knife wound is superficial. I have cleaned and dressed it with Steristrips, but it will require looking at again in a day or two,' the doctor told Ted, then added, 'Jezza, remember, we can either arrange to refer you to St Mary's for tests or you can see your own GP, when you feel ready. Goodbye, and good luck.'

  'Jezza, if you feel up to it, we should arrange for you to be interviewed next, get all the information while it's still fresh in your mind.'

  'Believe me, boss, it's not something I'm going to forget in a hurry,' she said dryly.

  'Sorry, that was incredibly tactless of me,' he said contritely. 'Let me see what specially trained officers are available.'

  'Bollocks to that, boss, I'm happy for you to interview me. And I'm happy to make it a taped interview. I know how much easier it makes it on everyone. But before I do anything else, I want to take a shower and get some clean clothes on. Did you bring everything, Maurice?'

  'Well, my lasses are a good bit younger than you and I'm used to packing for them, but I think so. I couldn't find your Disney princess stuff but I think I've got most other things you'll need. I put a towel in, too.'

  'You're a star, Maurice, and a good friend,' she said lightly, kissing him on the cheek, taking the bag and disappearing off to the back of the station, where there was a shower.

  Maurice watched her appraisingly as she went. 'Typical Jezza. She's taking it too lightly, putting on too brave a face. Steve and I will stay over at hers tonight, whether she wants us to or not, just to make sure she's all right.'

  'You're a good man, Maurice,' Ted told him warmly. 'Why don't you get yourself a drink while we wait? I imagine she'll be quite some time. I need to make a few phone calls and then see if there's a support trained officer available. Whatever Jezza says, I'd prefer to have someone there who knows what to say. I just open my mouth and put my foot in it all the time.'

  'Boss, it's fine. You're fine. It's you Jezza wants to talk to.'

  Ted looked hesitant. 'I'll just see if someone else is available. Just to be there. For form's sake. And in case I get it badly wrong. Can you wait here for Jezza, then see she gets a drink and let me know when she's ready to talk?'

  Ted was pleased to discover that Susan Heap was on duty and had been called back to the station when he had rung through with news of the attack. She had done the victim support training so she would be the ideal person to have with him while he interviewed Jezza. Now he'd heard what Jezza had told him, he understood why she had been reluctant to go on the course. It would clearly bring up issues she was not yet ready to deal with.

  He called Mike Hallam next for an update and was pleased to hear that Jezza's car had already been found.

  'Undamaged, keys still in it, just parked up in a quiet road on the other side of Heaton Chapel,' Mike told him. 'A passing patrol car just happened to spot it. The officers had had the call to look out for it. They're arranging to get it brought in for examination, but they say it looks fine.

  'Rob's been to interview the writer woman. He said to tell you thanks for warning him that she was Dances with Wolves. Those big dogs scared the crap out of him. Anyway, we've got her statement in the bag.

  'There's not much else we can do here now. Uniform are staying on to secure the scene and SOCO are still working on site, but I think we'll stand down now, boss, if that's all right with you? We'll just call at the supermarket on the way back, on the off chance there might have been witnesses to the abduction.'

  'Yes, wind it up there, Mike, and we'll see you in the morning. I'm just going to interview Jezza formally, and Maurice is here, looking after her.'

  'How's she doing? I mean, I can't even begin to imagine, but is she holding up all right? How's the knife wound?'

  'She's a bit too bright, I would say, Mike. The doctor says the wound isn't serious. She's putting on too brave a face at the moment, which is worrying. Maurice and Steve are going to stay with her and Tommy tonight, to make sure they're all right, so they may well be in late tomorrow morning.'

  Susan Heap had arrived back and was setting up an interview room for them. Jezza had finished her shower and arrived back looking remarkably relaxed, wearing the sweat pants, hoody and trainers which Maurice had found for her, smelling of
soap, shampoo and toothpaste.

  'Not at all sure I'm comfortable with the knowledge that you've been rummaging round in my underwear drawer, Maurice,' she said lightly, 'but thanks for that, and for the rest of it. You brought me just the right stuff.'

  Maurice was right. She was very brittle behind the façade she was putting up. He had made her a hot chocolate drink, his stock answer to all moments of stress, which she cradled in her hands as they all sat down in the interview room.

  Jezza took a large gulp of her drink, then began, 'I've thought of something about him. Something distinctive. Like the others said, it struck me that he didn't really have any kind of regional accent, which is a bit unusual. He could have blended in anywhere. Certainly nothing I could recognise, and I'm not bad on accents, from the drama training.

  'But when he was telling me what to do, he said if he saw me trying to signal for help in any shape, form or way, he would see it and then he would hurt me.'

  She saw the blank looks of the others and went on impatiently, 'Shape, form or way! Nobody says that. Everyone would say way, shape or form. Someone might recognise that, might know someone who says it that way round. Maybe it's a regional peculiarity. It might lead us somewhere.'

  Her face was full of hope as she looked from one to the other of them. Her eyes were shining, and Ted realised it was partly due to tears threatening to fall. She was close to falling apart, he could see. What she was offering them was so tenuous that he couldn't actually see at the moment how they could use it. But she so desperately wanted it to be of use. He tried to formulate the right words.

  'That's great, Jezza, it's something to go on, more than we've had before.' His words rang hollow, even to his own ears.

  'Well, I'm bloody sorry I didn't spot a distinctive tattoo, or manage to get a look at his driving licence while he was raping me!' Jezza shouted angrily, then her voice broke and the sobbing began.

  'Perhaps we should take a little break, sir?' Susan suggested tactfully, nodding at Ted and Maurice to leave, while starting to console the now shaking and weeping Jezza.

  'I knew I'd make it worse,' Ted said glumly, as he and Maurice went outside. 'I'm just not sure what we can do with the information. We can hardly put out a media appeal for anyone who knows someone who says shape, form or way, instead of way, shape or form, can we? We'd be flooded with calls, and not just from Honest John. Is it really that unusual?'

  'It might help, though, boss. I've never consciously thought about it, but it's certainly not how I would say it. We could at least give it a go, even if it only throws up Honest John.'

  Like most police stations, they had a local confessor, who rang up to lay claim to any crime he got wind off. Their own one was nicknamed Honest John because of his habit of punctuating his sentences with, 'Honest, it was me.' In reality, he was a sad and lonely depressive, housebound because of his clinical obesity, with no criminal record of any kind, despite his frequent confessions.

  'And stop beating yourself up, boss,' Maurice told him. 'Don't take it personally. She needed to let go, she was too wound up. Better to let it all out now, with Susan, than trying to bottle it all up until later. We can do something with the info. All our heads will be a bit clearer by tomorrow. We're all in shock. With the team all together, we can think of what to do next.'

  Susan put her head round the door then and said, 'Jezza's ready to carry on.'

  When they went back inside, Jezza gave them both a wan smile and squeezed each of their hands as they sat down with her.

  They went slowly and patiently over everything that Jezza could tell them. Then Ted told her the car had been found safe and was being recovered back to the station for testing. Jezza shuddered visibly.

  'I'm not sure if I ever want to see it again. I just need to get Tommy's present back from it, as soon as possible.'

  'Don't let him win, Jezza,' Ted told her earnestly. 'Do like one of the others did. Get the car cleaned, valeted, steam-cleaned, whatever it takes. But keep the car. Don't let him take that away from you. For now, Maurice is going to take you home, then he and Steve will stay over, so you're not on your own tonight.'

  'I'll not be in tomorrow, but I should be in the day after, with any luck,' she said confidently, back to the Jezza they knew.

  'I don't think so, DC Vine,' Ted told her firmly. 'You need to see a doctor and get yourself signed as fit to work before you come back. See that you do, please. And take your time. You've been through a terrible ordeal. Be nice to yourself.'

  Ted couldn't remember when he had last felt low and dispirited as he did going home, once Maurice had taken Jezza back to her flat. It was all he could do to start the car, drive the short distance back to the house and put it away in the garage.

  It wasn't quite as late as he had feared. Trev was watching a foreign film, layered in softly purring cats, as usual. He looked up as Ted came into the sitting room, brushed cats aside to make some space and held out an arm for his partner to come and join him on the sofa.

  'Food, talk or hugs first?' Trev asked quietly.

  'No idea,' Ted sighed. 'I just want it all to be over, and to get this sick bastard put away. But we're still going round in circles, getting nowhere fast.' He paused, then said, 'It was Jezza, this time.'

  He didn't often talk much about work at home, although he knew he could trust Trev completely. This was just something too big to handle on his own. He would need his partner's support more than ever. It was only with Trev that he could begin to discuss his feelings of helplessness and inadequacy, with no result even in sight. Only Trev knew how much he was still hurting about the loss of Tina last Christmas and how all this was stirring up those barely-healed emotions.

  'God, that's awful. Poor Jezza. How is she?' Trev asked as he hugged him close. 'And how are you? I know how hard you take things. Talk to me.'

  Ted was an excellent listener but was never good at talking, especially about his own feelings. He would never share with anyone, even Trev, all of what Jezza had told him that evening. But he did need to talk. He needed to try to make sense of how useless the case was making him feel. He started, hesitantly at first, but he did manage to vocalise some of his sense of frustration and failure.

  When he seemed to have said all he could manage, Trev kissed him gently and said, 'You should try to eat something. I made leek and potato soup. Have a bit of that. Then you need to sleep, if you can. Get an early start in the morning, come at it with fresh eyes. It will be all right, Ted.'

  'That's what I kept telling Jezza. It'll be all right, we'll get him. The trouble is, just at the moment, I have no idea how.'

  Chapter Nineteen

  Ted slept fitfully on and off and woke early, anxious to get back to work to see if he and the team could finally make some progress.

  After he'd showered and had a light breakfast, he phoned Maurice to see how Jezza was.

  'She says she slept, boss, but I'm not sure I believe her,' Maurice told him. 'She insisted on getting up, so I've just made her eggy bread for breakfast. It's the girls' favourite.'

  'That sounds good, I think I might come round,' Ted said wistfully, realising that his own round of wholemeal toast lacked the same comfort factor. 'Is she going to be all right, on her own? Has she got anyone she can call to be with her?'

  'She's called a friend who has to be in work this morning but says she'll be able to travel over this afternoon, then she can spend the night. You know Jezza, boss, she keeps saying she's fine, she'll be all right on her own. I don't know whether to believe her or not.'

  'Well, if she's in the least bit worried about being on her own, either you or Steve stay with her, and the other come in. And tell her that from me. I'll hopefully see one or other of you at the nick shortly. Thanks, Maurice.'

  As soon as he disconnected the call, his phone rang and it was the Ice Queen.

  'What is the latest news on DC Vine?' she asked.

  'I've just checked with DC Brown. He says she seems fine, but it's hard to t
ell with Jezza. She likes to put up a front.'

  'I'd like to have a word with you and your team this morning, please. Can you let me know as soon as everyone is in?'

  'Will do,' Ted said, as she was still being reasonably informal. She'd spoken twice without calling him Inspector, as she usually did almost every sentence. It wasn't quite as relaxed as their almost intimate conversation of the previous evening, but it was less stiff than she was capable of being.

  For some reason, Ted couldn't get the image of eggy bread out of his head as he left for work. His father used to make him something similar, covered in sugar and cinnamon. He decided to make a detour via a supermarket to pick up something sweet and sticky on the way in, as well as making a few enquiries.

  He went to the store where Jezza had told him she had been abducted the evening before. They hadn't yet started in-depth enquiries there, looking for witnesses, although Mike and Rob had called in, and an area car had patrolled round the car park, on the lookout for anything suspicious.

  Ted went to the customer service desk, showed his warrant card and explained that they would need to see any CCTV coverage of the car park for the previous day, up to and including the time Jezza was abducted. He made an appointment for someone to go in and talk to the manager later that day.

  As he was leaving, he turned back and asked, 'What do you have that tastes a bit like eggy bread? You know, French toast? With cinnamon?'

  The young woman on the desk gave him a strange look as if she suddenly doubted he really was a policeman. Then she clearly remembered her training and how she should always try to help the customer, no matter how strange their request.

  'What about a cinnamon Danish?' she asked helpfully. 'We have them on that aisle, just over there.' She pointed in the right direction, clearly not sure if Ted would be up to finding them on his own.