by L M Krier
'We're going to need to take you into surgery as soon as possible, Mr Darling, to get control of this bleeding. There's also some nerve and tendon damage, which is going to need repair. We can hopefully sort everything out at the same time. Try not to worry, it's all relatively straightforward,' he said, then left the cubicle.
Fiona could see from Ted's face that he was worried. He looked anxious, confused and rather vulnerable. She patted him gently on his good arm and repeated, 'Really, try not to worry. We'll take good care of you.'
The curtains opened again and Trev strode in, dressed in his motorcycle leathers, filling the small space with his presence, as he always did.
'Hey, you,' he said softly as he moved straight to the bedside, with just a brief but courteous greeting to the nurse. Even in times of crisis, Trev's impeccable manners seldom deserted him. 'It's going to be fine. I'm here now.'
Watching the two exchange a hug of great tenderness, Fiona thought to herself, 'It really is true what they say. Why are all the nice ones always either married or gay?'
Chapter Thirty-two
Ted opened his eyes and blinked a few times, trying to focus and to work out where he was. Trev saw that he was stirring awake and moved closer to the bed, bending to kiss him lightly on the forehead.
'Hello, sleepy, are you fully back with us this time? You tried to wake up about half an hour ago but you weren't making much sense. I'll let someone know you're properly awake now.'
He leaned over to press the call button at the same moment that Ted struggled to sit up and said, 'I need to go and interview Danny.'
'No chance,' Trev laughed. 'In case you haven't noticed yet, they've got your arm strung up to the ceiling. It's to stop post-op swelling, they told me. They had you on the table quite a while, stitching you all back together. You're as good as new now, but you're going to have some impressive scars.'
Ted's eyes were taking in more now and he saw that Trev was right. His heavily bandaged left hand was suspended in some sort of sling. There was a drip on a stand running into a cannula in his right hand. He could go nowhere, trussed up as he was, even though he desperately wanted to.
There was a light tap on the door and a nurse came in.
'Hello, Mr Darling, how are you feeling now?' she asked, moving over to him to make her checks.
Ted still wasn't sure how he was feeling but, after consideration, he said, 'Very thirsty.'
'You can have a few sips of water, but don't go mad. It might make you feel a bit sick but that's perfectly normal, it's just the anaesthetic. Do you know where you are now?'
She helped him to take a few mouthfuls from a beaker of water. His mouth and throat felt like sandpaper and the liquid was an enormous relief.
'Stepping Hill, I imagine? But when can I go home?'
She laughed at his optimism. 'Not just yet, I'm afraid. You've only just woken up after a fairly major operation. You're in a recovery room at the moment. We'll leave you here tonight so you can hopefully get a good night's sleep, then we'll be moving you onto the ward in the morning.
'You've had some pain relief, which will also be making you feel a bit groggy, but don't be afraid to ask if you need more. Don't be a martyr. I'll leave you for now.' She looked at Trevor and added, 'I would suggest you just stay another ten minutes, then leave him to rest. You can give him another small drink before you leave, but not too much.'
'What time is it?' Ted asked as she left, leaning back on his pillow and feeling utterly exhausted.
'Past midnight. They had to do quite a bit of embroidery on your nerves, so it took a while. But hey, you got the bad guy.'
'I need to talk to Mike Hallam,' Ted insisted.
'And you will,' Trev assured him. 'Just not now. He and Jezza were in earlier but I sent them away. No sense all of us sitting around waiting for you to wake up. I've been texting them updates. Jezza sends her love.
'Right, now I know you're safely back in the land of the living, I'm going to go home and leave you to get some sleep. I'll come back as soon as I can tomorrow, but I have to go into work first. My brilliant idea of taking on extra work didn't allow for you doing something like this. I'll bring in whatever you might need when I come back.'
'I'll be home tomorrow, I'm sure. Just bring me some clothes to go home in. My work suit may be a bit of a write-off. Oh, and can you make sure the garage knows to hang on to the car for me? I'm going to need that for going back to work.'
Trev shook his head in mock despair. 'Are your handcuffs in your coat pocket? If so I'm going to attach you to this bed so you have to stay there until the doctor says you're fit for discharge.'
Ted slept more deeply and for longer than he expected to. He barely stirred as he and his bed were wheeled out of the recovery room and parked at one end of a ward early the next morning. He did wake up for a cup of tea at some point, although it was not his preferred green tea. At least it was liquid.
His doctor came round during the morning to check on him and assess his progress, but it was not the news Ted was wanting to hear.
'We need to keep you in for at least a couple of days yet, Mr Darling. I need to be sure that any swelling is under control, and that there is no risk of infection. I'm afraid you'll just have to bear with us for now.'
Ted must have dozed off again because he awoke with a start at the sound of a familiar voice saying, 'Now then, boss, what have you been up to?'
He looked up to see Maurice Brown, sitting in a wheelchair, smiling at him. The chair was being pushed by another familiar face, a man who greeted him with, 'Hello, Mr Darling. How are you feeling now?'
'Hello, Oliver,' he greeted the hospital porter he had met through an earlier case. 'I'm all right, thanks. Thank you for bringing Maurice to see me.'
'You're welcome, Mr Darling. You've always been very kind to me. Right, Maurice, I'll go on my break now. I'll be back in fifteen minutes,' Oliver Burdon told them and went happily on his way.
'Jezza told me what happened,' Maurice explained. 'I'm only down the far end of the ward but I can't get about very well by myself yet. I bribed Oliver with the price of a coffee and a cake to wheel me up here.'
'Let me guess. A white chocolate chip cookie?' Ted asked, remembering the man's preference for white chocolate. 'Can you get hold of Mike Hallam to come in and see me, Maurice? I'll go crazy if I don't know what's happening with the case and I don't know where my mobile is to call him myself.'
'You need to take it easy, boss,' Maurice cautioned him. 'A big operation knocks the stuffing out of you more than you realise. I'm still as weak as a kitten, but they say I can probably go home in a couple of days. At least I've got young Steve to fetch and carry for me.
'I'll text the sarge for you if you like, but Danny's in custody, where he can't do any more harm. You'd be better off just resting a bit, get yourself fit again.'
'Mike will need to get my statement, though. Wounding me is another charge we can stick on Danny, to make sure he gets as long as possible behind bars.'
'Boss. Ted. Look, you've done your bit. Now just let Sarge and the team take over. I'm no medical expert, but you don't look to me like someone who's about ready to leap back into action and lead a case,' Maurice told him patiently.
He must have kept his promise though, as Mike Hallam appeared just after lunch for afternoon visiting time.
'I'm under strict instructions not to stay too long and not, under any circumstances, to tire you out, boss,' Mike told him as he sat down.
'From the nursing staff?' Ted asked.
Mike laughed. 'No, from Maurice and from Trev, which is much scarier. How are you doing?'
'I'm fine, really,' Ted said dismissively. 'I just want to know how the case is going, and give you a statement. What's Danny saying?'
'Not denying anything. The duty solicitor is trying to persuade him to stay quiet but like you said, it's as if he just wants it all to be over. We'll put him up in front of the bench tomorrow when we've finished questioning him, and get a remand in custo
dy. I can't see his defence even wasting time trying to oppose bail.
'We've got plenty to hold him on for now, boss, so why don't I wait until you're out to get your statement? You look tired out. Have a rest, while you can. Everyone sends their best wishes. Jezza sends her love and even the Ice Queen asked me to pass on her regards.'
Ted realised just how weak and tired he was when he didn't even bother to pull his sergeant up on calling their senior officer by her nickname, which he would normally have done.
'What's happening with the dog place?' he asked, anxious to hear more positive results.
'That's all sorted too, boss,' Mike reassured him. 'Almost all the dogs have been seized and taken to a nicer place. They did let her keep a couple, including some ancient farting thing, according to Rob's fiancé, but the RSPCA will be monitoring her closely in future.'
Ted spent an intensely frustrating two days and two more nights in hospital before he was told he could go home. Only visits from Trev, his mother, his team members and other friends stopped him from climbing the walls. He was totally unused to periods of inactivity, or to the feelings of complete helplessness which being strung up like a turkey brought him.
He spent a lot of time dozing, interspersed by welcome, but brief, visits. On one occasion he opened his eyes to the growling voice of his great friend DCI Jim Baker saying, 'Bloody typical, Ted. If you didn't want to come to my engagement party, you only had to say so. No need for all of this.'
Professor Bizzie Nelson also came up from her post-mortem suite in the bowels of the hospital, to sit and chat with him for twenty minutes or so.
'Apart from the hand, Edwin, how are you doing? The genuine version, please, not the sort of flannel you may reserve for young Trevor or your team. How are you doing emotionally?'
'We should have got him earlier, Bizzie,' Ted told her. 'Certainly before he went on to attack Jezza, and Maurice.'
'Only you can know what more you could have done. Try to stay detached, look at how you handled the affair then ask yourself honestly – was there anything else you could have done, with the information at your disposal.'
'I should have done something more, Bizzie,' he said stubbornly. 'I don't know what, but I should have.'
Trev had arranged to go and pick up Ted's new car for him so that, when he was told he could go home, Trev could come in during his lunch-hour to pick him up and take him back.
'I can't stay, unfortunately, and Annie's working this afternoon, too, so I need to be able to trust you, without a babysitter,' he told him sternly. 'No going out anywhere, no doing anything. Just rest and relax a bit. I know you're going to phone Mike the minute I'm out of the door, but just keep it brief, all right?'
Ted kissed him and said, 'Thanks for caring. But you know I can't just sit here twiddling my thumbs all the time. Especially as I only have one working thumb to twiddle, at the moment.'
'I mean it, Ted. Seriously. Give yourself some time to heal. I'll be back as soon as I can. Oh, and Shewee sends her love. I managed to convince her she couldn't use you as an excuse for skiving off school and racing up here.'
He probably hadn't even reached the top of the short cul-de-sac they lived in before Ted was on the phone, asking for an update.
'Boss, it's fine, we're on top of it. Danny's in custody, we're all over the paperwork. Everything is under control. Just put your feet up for a bit, while you have the chance.'
He rang off, leaving Ted feeling redundant and unsure what to do with himself. He was just about to switch on daytime television, in desperation, when the doorbell rang. This time he wouldn't even have minded if it had been Jehovah's Witnesses, he was so much in need of some sort of distraction.
Instead, he found the Ice Queen on his doorstep, brandishing a paper bag from a cake shop.
'I come bearing sticky buns,' she told him with a smile, so unlike her formal work demeanour. 'I thought you might be in need of sustenance after a couple of days of hospital food. Shall I make tea to go with them? Just point me to where everything is.'
Ted smiled back as he indicated the way through to the kitchen. 'I think I can manage to make tea, even with one hand out of action. Do you mind sitting in the kitchen? I have to warn you, you will be assaulted by cats with absolutely no manners.'
She sat down at the table and asked, 'Is that some sort of initiation test? If your cats approve, I can't be quite as glacial as my nickname would suggest?'
True to his warning, six felines suddenly appeared, interested in checking out the new arrival. Senior cat, Queen, jumped straight on to the table to sniff at the visitor, then sat down and began to wash herself.
'You passed the test,' Ted told her, awkwardly picking the cat up with his one functioning arm and putting her back on the floor, then switching the kettle on.
'How are you feeling now? I imagine it's painful, but I understand the prognosis is good?'
'I might have some slight reduction in use, according to the surgeon, and some scarring, but it should be just about as good as new. I have to exercise it, to help the healing. I'm signed off for the week, but I should be back in next Monday. Green tea all right?'
She nodded, then said, 'There will have to be an enquiry into what happened, of course. I expect you realise that. It's just a formality, but as ever, we need to look at what lessons can be learned, how procedure may need to be overhauled.'
'Procedure?' Ted echoed bitterly, putting her mug of tea in front of her slightly more forcefully than he meant so that some of it slopped onto the table and he had to mop it up. 'I walked straight into an armed and dangerous man who then came at me with a knife. What was I supposed to do? Reason with him? Run away?'
'Ted, as I've told you, repeatedly. I'm not your enemy. I don't make the rules, I just try to apply them as fairly as I can. As I said, it's just a formality. There is no question of apportioning blame. It's just about trying to apply best practice, to see what lessons can be learned. Cake?'
Ted shook his head as he sat down opposite her. Eating was the last thing he felt like doing.
'You know what? Forget me coming back on Monday. The team are managing fine without me. They don't need me. I think I'd like to ask for a couple of weeks leave, starting from when my medical certificate runs out. I feel I need to get away for a bit. Do some serious thinking.'
'I see.' She took a sip of her tea. 'Ted, you are an excellent officer, one I hold in the highest regard. The reason your team is managing so well is that you have trained and led them to become an outstanding unit.
'Young DC Vine came to see me, with a dossier she has been working on about Heather Cooper. I was most impressed with her work. You helped that young officer achieve her potential where many others before you had failed. There is an investigation ongoing, by other officers within the division, into the activities of Ms Cooper and I have passed the file on to them.
'You have the potential to go further in your own career, should you chose to do so, and it would be with my full backing. I am happy to agree to your extended leave, but I fervently hope that the thinking you intend to do does not involve considering a career change. There will always be a place for you in any team for which I am responsible. I hope you will remember that.'
After she'd left, Ted made another phone call. Then, to the best of his ability with his limitations, he put a meal together ready for when Trev got home. The Ice Queen had left both the sticky buns behind, as their conversation seemed to have robbed her of her appetite, too. They would make a dessert for them without Ted having to do anything.
Ted was waiting in the hallway when he heard Trev's motorbike arrive, and opened the door for him, greeting him with a hug and a kiss.
'How was work?' he asked. 'I made us a bit of supper. It's not much, but the Ice Queen called and left sticky buns for afters.'
Trev looked at him shrewdly. 'That's nice. But what is it you really want to tell me?' he asked, as they went through to the kitchen and sat down.
'Would you mind if
I went away for a bit? Just a week or two? Instead of going straight back to work? I just need a bit of a break, time to get my head together. I phoned Jack Gregson. You know he's been on at me to visit him, ever since he left.'
Jack Gregson had been Ted's sergeant before Mike Hallam. He had to leave the force after a totally unexpected diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. His marriage had not survived the strains of his job, and he had now gone to stay in Wales with one of his daughters, who lived alone.
'I'll have to go on the train, of course. I won't be up to driving by then. I promise to text you every day, but I can't guarantee we can always talk. The reception there is dodgy sometimes. I'll miss you. I just need some time to clear my head.'
'I'll miss you too, of course. But if this is something you need to do, then it's fine with me.' He was studying Ted intently, his vivid blue eyes troubled. 'Ted, you are coming back, aren't you?'
'I will always come back. To you.'
About the author
L M Krier is the pen name of former journalist (court reporter) and freelance copywriter/copy editor, Lesley Tither, who also writes travel memoirs under the name Tottie Limejuice. Lesley previously worked as a case tracker for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Shut Up and Drive is the fourth book in the DI Ted Darling series of crime thrillers which began with Baby's Got Blue Eyes and continued with Two Little Boys and When I'm Old and Grey. Book Five in the series is scheduled for release later in 2016
Contact details
If you would like to get in touch, please do so at:
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to all those who helped with this fourth book in the DI Ted Darling series – Book Five in the series will be coming soon.
Beta readers Jill Pennington, Emma Heath, Kate Pill. Additional editing Alex Potter, Alison Sabedoria.