‘Too right.’
***
Wynona stepped off her motorcycle, removed her helmet, and sat back on the seat. She rolled a cigarette and lit up. Two patients stood to the right of the hospice door smoking and chatting. Wynona removed her leather jacket and locked it under her seat and attached her helmet to the side strap. With her police cap off center she strode into the hospice and smiled at the lad on reception.
‘I’m looking for Linda Cooper.’
‘Are you family?’ He pushed back on his chair and crossed his legs. The pale blue didn’t suit his olive complexion, but he’d manned up with sharp starched creases.
Wynona showed him her badge. ‘This is a police inquiry. Are you going to hinder my investigation?’
‘Well no, but… Well, management said not to give out her room number. Not to anyone, but family.’
‘Yes, but that doesn’t include me, does it?’
‘Well yes, I think it does.’ He brushed his hand through his dark locks, scratching at his head, before patting and fussing at each strand.
‘No, it doesn’t. She’s here for physio, isn’t she, so just give me her room number. Let me sign your book and we’ll get on with our own business.’
She leaned close to the man’s face and he moved his chair against the wall. Wynona swiveled the computer screen and scanned the information.
‘Oh look, there she is. Room 26.’ Wynona turned to the notice above recepion. Ward two Rehab was to her right. ‘Ward two, room six. I’ve got that right?’
The man nodded and pointed toward the rehab unit.
‘Thank you nurse,’ she said. ‘This will be our secret. Won’t it? I don’t want you getting into trouble with management.’
A nurse confronted Wynona as she entered the ward, but nodded when she flashed her badge. ‘These are strange times,’ the nurse said. She brushed her gray skirt and readjusted the white bib. With a glance at her watch she pointed down the hallway. ‘Cops in a little rehab unit like this does seem a little over the top for a wee girl with a sore shoulder. Soldiers one night, and a man in a Black suit on another night. And now you with your badge and blue uniform, and me trying to get pills into that girl between visits. Very strange, but you’ll find Mrs. Cooper down at the end of the corridor in room six. They’ve taken the copper off her door, but I’ll need your badge number and name before you leave.’
The nurse set off in the opposite direction, pushing her silver trolley into the left wing. She nodded at a girl in a navy blue uniform who joined Wynona in the corridor. They both stopped at room six.
‘Are you a visitor? Just, it isn’t visiting hours.’
Wynona smiled, expecting the girl to see her cap and understand she wasn’t a visitor.
‘What you want with Linda? Maybe you could help her with her exercises.’
‘Just a couple questions,’ Wynona said. She read the girl’s name tag. ‘Sarah. You’re the physio, are you, Sarah? How’s she doing?’
The girl smiled again. She had a big smile with dark eyes that sparkled. ‘She’s doing fine. She’s hard work, but they always are, aren’t they? Are you a relative?’
‘No, I’m a police officer.’
The girl looked at her cap and laughed. ‘Of course you are. I’m so stupid sometimes. Daft as a hairbrush, me old mum used to say, bless her. I’ve never known what that meant except my mum thought I was, well, slow. Is Linda getting a minder again?’
‘No, I’m just following up on some stuff. I need five minutes with her if that’s okay?’
She shook her head and laughed. ‘Of course it is. I was about to do some exercises with Linda before her parents get here. We always meet around now.’
‘Does she get any other visitors?’
‘No. Well, there was a soldier and a girl who keeps smoking and drinking in her room on a Friday night. She must be a sister because it’s strictly ‘family only’ visiting for this young lady. She’s trouble she is, but not half as difficult as Linda. Linda don’t like exercise, bless her. But apart from the sister and her parents, there is no one. I believe her brother calls, but he’s not been to see her. He works overseas doing I don’t know what, but I think it’s government stuff. Top secret.’ She placed a finger to her lips and her eyes widened as she nodded.
‘What about the soldier? How often does he come to visit?’
‘Oh, just the once that I know of. He was well creepy. He caught me staring at him and he smiled and tapped his leg with this cane he was using to walk with. It was wooden. The leg, I mean. Who has a wooden leg?’
‘Name.’
‘Oh, I don’t know. I didn’t talk to him.’
‘But didn’t he have to sign in the visitor’s register?’
‘Probably. Everyone has to sign the book for Linda. You could ask.’
Wynona knocked on the door. ‘Can you give me five minutes?’
‘Sure, I got lots to do, and she hates doing her exercises. Bless.’ The girl shrugged. ‘People don’t get it, but if you don’t do your exercise your body doesn’t heal.’ She shrugged again and turned to the next door. ‘Simple really.’
‘Yes.’ The voice answering Wynona’s knock sounded angry. Wynona entered the hot, dark room. The window curtains had been drawn on the night. A glass door showed small, dull lights in the garden outside her room. A single bed separated a bedside table and a lounge chair. A small television perched on the over-bed table and a soft tune played. Linda lay on her side with her back to the door.
‘You just window shopping, or you going to speak?’ Linda rolled onto her back and gripped the over-head ring and pulled herself up in bed. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m a police officer.’ Wynona showed her badge as she stepped to the foot of the bed. ‘You’re a hard girl to find.’
‘Didn’t realize I was lost,’ she said. She grimaced as she tried to cross her arms on her chest. ‘What now? Have you caught the mother fucking bastard that did this to me?’
‘Who would that be?’
‘Ben Dead-to-me Jackman. That’s who.’ She stared and pursed her lips, daring Wynona to show dissent. ‘I’ll never be able to use this arm again. No matter how many damn exercises I do.’
‘Are you saying Ben Jackman shot you?’ Wynona stepped to the window, leaning against the sill. ‘You haven’t been clear on who shot you before. I thought the shot came from outside the house and Ben was inside the house.’
‘No, he’d left. He was right angry with me for marrying Marvin. He never got over that. Do you know what I’m saying? It itched at his groin for years, that did. And then he goes mad and batters Marvin and he then comes looking for me. He tried to set me up in that church yard, telling me he had something for me. Right, like I’m that stupid. You know what I mean. And he had a grave dug ready to bury me. You tell me you caught the motherfucker, or he’s dead. I can live with dead. Do you know what I mean?’
Wynona stepped away from the window and poured water into the cup on Linda’s bedside table and offered it to her. ‘You look parched. The heat in this room is drying your skin, dear.’ Linda refused the water. ‘I don’t want to take up too much of your time, dear,’ Wynona said standing over the bed. ‘So we need to get this job done. I promised my dad I’d be home early tonight too, so getting the facts down straight would make him a happy man. You know he didn’t want me following him into the force, no way.’
Wynona sat on the bed, shuffling up close to Linda’s side. She felt at Linda’s pajamas, rubbing the soft cotton between her fingers.
‘He walked the beat all his life, my dad did. Friendly but firm, the good citizens of Ostere called him, but no way was his little girl walking the streets. No, so I took the office job. I’m just a plastic copper really. I do the back office stuff and sometimes get out, fill me lungs and help take down a bad guy, but not often. My dad don’t like the force no more, because he reckons the Man made a mistake letting the boys carry weapons. Once they fitted side arms to their hips, the Man cut their numbe
rs. The Man thought a gun made up for two coppers. My dad didn’t agree with that. But he and I like to see justice being done, so I go the extra mile. Work outside my remit. My sergeant doesn’t mind. He takes the credit for any bad people I catch, so it works out well. My dad thinks I’m typing up reports, but here I am, listening to you feed me shit. Did I tell you I don’t play the game?’
Linda tried to sit up, but still lay awkwardly and fearful of Wynona’s proximity. Wynona drank from the plastic cup of water. She patted her lips with a tissue from the box on the table, before leaning closer to Linda, her hand petting the bed covers.
‘The gun that shot you didn’t have Mr. Jackman’s prints on it. But it did have Leroy Jones’s prints and he had powder burns and that was because the gun was still in his hand when we found him. Leroy Jones is a well-known felon once residing in the East End of our fair capital. He was a killer for sure, and a sad, sadistic bastard that deserved to die. You know he was wanted in the city for murder and extortion, but he’s dead and no longer a concern to you. Ben Jackman, we believe was in the house, with you, and provided you with first aid. That’s how the crime scene plays out. That’s what statements and evidence suggest.’
Wynona unclipped her tie and loosened the top button of her shirt. She took a tissue from the box on the over-bed table and wiped her neck and dabbed at her brow. On the bedside table a bottle sprouted a bunch of wilting carnations.
‘So what have you got to say? Can you give me a statement about how you got shot? I need to know some background as to why the massacre occurred at your house. It’s not an everyday occurrence in Lower Ostere, is it? And so many bodies and not a lot of guns found, but a ton of bullet casings on the ground, bullets in the wall, and one in you. I’m also going to need some background on Mr. Jackman so I can better understand his actions. You do understand he’s wanted for the murder of your husband?’
Wynona pulled out her phone and scrolled through the menu looking for the record facility. ‘You don’t mind me recording this, do you? I’ll also need a written statement, but that can wait.’ She set her phone flat on the over-bed table and moved closer to Linda’s shoulder. ‘How are you? That’s a serious bandage you got on your arm.’
‘Yeah, it hurts. Loads.’ Linda watched every move Wynona made.
‘Good, I mean not good. Do you believe Ben could’ve battered Marvin to death?’
‘That’s what that monk said.’
‘Right, but do you believe Mr. Jackman did it?’
‘Yeah.’
‘And you want to see him hang for that crime?’
‘Well, he won’t hang. We don’t do hanging, do we?’
‘The Man is bringing the death penalty back. His preferred method… Well no, a recent poll suggested the country’s preferred method of execution is hanging. So yes, he’ll hang if convicted of Marvin’s murder.’
Linda touched her shoulder with care and grimaced. She sighed and looked towards the curtained window.
Wynona waited for a response, but it wasn’t coming. ‘Do you hate Ben? Do you think he killed the coppers?’
Linda remained silent.
‘Have you seen Ben shoot a gun? It was good shooting with powerful weapons. I got the impression… I mean, I don’t know the accused, but I haven’t found anything, nor heard anything that suggests he was into guns or knew how to get a gun, let alone shoot one.’
Linda sighed again and picked up her phone to check for activity.
‘Do you want to see him hang when you know he’s not capable of the crimes he’s accused of? Do you understand that you and I would not be talking today if Ben hadn’t stayed with you and treated your wound?’
‘Yeah well, the motherfucker didn’t stay with me, did he? I was scared. Jesus I thought I was going to die. Do you know what I mean?’
‘But you didn’t because he applied first aid. He stopped the bleeding and only left you when he heard the sirens. He only left you because he thought you’d turned on him over the Black Hat booty. Isn’t that right? Ben thought you’d give evidence against him.’
Linda nodded her head and reached for a tissue. ‘Yeah, I guess so. What happens with the bag?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, the bag was Marvin’s, right? So it should come to me, me being his widow.’
‘The bag, the booty, is that what we’re talking about?’
‘Yeah, Ben stole it from Marvin. It was in my house and Ben and that other vagrant nicked it. That’s mine, that is.’
‘There is no bag. No reward. No booty. You’ve lucked out there.’
‘That’d be right. My life’s a mess, officer. Serious. And I can trace it back to Ben bloody Jackman and the day he ran out on me and Marvin so he didn’t have to do his bloody military service. I’d have never married Marvin if he’d stayed. Then I wouldn’t have got shot and I wouldn’t have this bloody arm to worry about.’
‘Wouldn’t you like to see him again? I’m not saying it would make your life right, but doing right by him might kick your life back on track.’
Linda dabbed at her eyes and nodded. ‘Maybe.’
‘Now what can you tell me about the soldier, the man we believe killed your husband Marvin Cooper.’
‘My chicklet didn’t kill Marvin. Marvin was a loser. All that money and he decides to get all righteous and tries to turn over the Black Hats. Serious? Him and his sad old man deserved what they got.’
‘Who’s Chicklet?’
Linda turned to the television and pointed the control at the set, pushing the volume to its maximum. The small speaker in the television crackled and the tune distorted. Wynona grabbed the over-bed table and wheeled it against the wall. She sat on the bed and placed her hand on Linda’s injured shoulder.
‘What are you doing? That’s quite tender that is. Do you know what I mean?’
Her face screwed as Wynona leant her weight on the bandage. ‘How tender?’
‘Well it’s healing, but a bullet got lodged in there not so long back.’
She screamed as Wynona pushed off her shoulder. Linda shifted across the bed and hid the injured shoulder with her left hand. Wynona turned the television set to a lower volume and stood at the top of the bed.
‘Is Chicklet’s name Peter Cooper and uncle to Marvin Cooper your dead husband?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good. Good. Marvin’s body suffered injuries inflicted by a wooden weapon. Splinters of wood lodged in his face. Your Chicklet uses a cane on occasions, doesn’t he?’
‘Lots of soldiers use canes. The war buggers with people’s legs and posture. He used to walk with crutches.’
‘We have witnesses placing your Chicklet at the scene of the crime.’
‘By who? A gang of deadbeat vagrants all running from conscription. Why don’t we lock them all up, or better still ship them off to the bloody war on terror and get them defusing IED’s. Oh let me guess, one of them being Ben dead-to-me Jackman.’
‘No, he isn’t one of the witnesses. He’s the accused. But the witnesses are credible and their statements place your Chicklet at the scene and the weapon in his hand. Motive will be easy, won’t it? You two were desperate for the booty Marvin stole from the Black Hats.’
Linda laughed and then grimaced as a jolt of pain shot through her shoulder and arm. ‘Marvin? Steal? That’s a laugh. His old man, the sneaky old fart, stole. He just left what he stole with Marvin before he died.’
‘He’s dead, is he?’
‘Well, yeah. He was old.’
‘We don’t have him on record as being dead. He’s missing for sure, but not dead.’
Wynona sat back on the bed and Linda moved further away, her hand protecting her shoulder. ‘Do you care to share what you know about Cecil Cooper with me when we write up your statement?’
‘Well, I was only guessing. I don’t know nothing about his dad. Honest. Only what Marvin told me and that’s nothing.’
Wynona stood and paced the small room. She stopped at
the door, swiveled, and approached the glass door. She stared at the soft lights in the garden. ‘So you’re going to give him up.’
‘I haven’t seen Chicklet since the night I got shot. He ran out on me.’
Wynona turned to face Linda. ‘So he wasn’t in here visiting you?’
Linda’s dark eyes widened the whites bright in the dark room. She watched Wynona pace the floor. A film of perspiration coated her forehead. She rubbed at her shoulder as the pale fluorescent light flickered and buzzed. Footsteps passed the door.
‘Where’s he hiding, Linda? You hide him from us and we’ll take you from here and lock you up. And where we hide your sorry arse you won’t get clean sheets or physio.’
‘My father won’t let that happen.’
‘Your father won’t know about it. By the time he finds someone who knows someone to get you out, your fanny and arse will be red raw. Your arm will have dropped off and you’ll wish you’d bowed before me and given me head.’
Wynona sat back on the bed, turned up the television, and punched Linda on the shoulder. The scream was short and sharp. Linda rolled away from Wynona’s attention, clutching at her arm and whimpering. Wynona grabbed her phone, scrolled through the menu, tapped angrily and held the phone so the camera focused on the bed. She reached across and pulled Linda into shot and spoke into the phone.
‘PSO Wynona Webster interview with Linda Cooper, re: Ben Jackman. Are you Linda Cooper?’
‘Yes.’
Linda scowled at the phone. ‘Are you giving a statement of your own free will?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you know who killed Marvin Cooper, your husband?’
‘Yes.’
‘And the name?’
‘Peter Cooper.’
‘And do you know Peter Cooper’s address?’
She shrugged and smiled. ‘Yes, but you don’t want to be finding him. He’s best left alone. You go poking him; he gets real angry. You know what I mean?’
‘Just tell me the address.’
‘Do you know the road to Lowlands?’
Wynona nodded.
‘He’s got a spread about fifty klicks outside a town called Bloxhelm. It’s a bit inhospitable and he lives rough with a motherfucking army. So good luck going in and getting him.’
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