by L M Krier
‘I see. And Mr Marston, when the situation developed into a hostage one, you authorised Chief Inspector Darling’s presence at the house?’
‘I did, sir. But at no point did I authorise him to remove his body armour, which is in direct contravention of the regulations.’
‘Sir, the decision to take my vest off was mine and mine alone.’
Much as Ted disliked Marston he didn’t expect the Chief Super to carry the can for any decisions he had made.
‘I see,’ the ACC repeated. ‘In which case, Chief Inspector, you and I need to talk further, in private. Mr Marston, I’ll leave you to finish your debrief and I look forward to your report as soon as possible. Chief Inspector, come and find me in my office when you’re done here. Are you independently mobile?’
‘No, sir, I came up with my Superintendent.’
‘Very well. I’ll try not to keep you too long, in that case. And what of Bacha now? Where is he and what’s happening with him? Time is of the essence, I imagine, with a limited time to hold him for questioning before you either charge him or will have to release him. It seems as if you haven’t a great deal to go on yet.’
‘He’s been transported to Stockport, sir, and I’ve put DS O’Connell and DC Ahmed on to questioning him. Forensics are all over the car and the house and they know the deadline is tight so they’re working on it flat out.’
‘And are those two officers up to the task?’
‘I believe so, sir, and I will go and oversee them, as soon as I’m finished here.’
‘Then we’d better get on. Thank you, everyone, as you were.’
All assembled, even Marston, had made to rise as the ACC got up to leave, but he waved them down as he left the room.
The last thing Ted wanted to do now was to spend hours going over what had happened, what didn’t happen, what might have happened. He also found himself pondering anxiously what the ACC was going to say to him in private. He may have got a good result but he had broken all kinds of rules in doing so. He could possibly get the book thrown at him.
Marston wanted every I dotted and every T crossed before he ended the meeting. Ted got a surprisingly sympathetic look from his Super and a promise to wait for him while he went to his meeting with the ACC.
There was no secretary on duty on a Sunday so Ted knocked and waited to be told to enter. He got an idea of the serious trouble he was in when the ACC looked up and said, ‘Remain standing, Chief Inspector.’
‘Sir.’
‘Tell me in your own words why you took the decision to ignore regulations and go into that room with a suspect armed with a knife, having removed your body armour, rather than waiting for the trained negotiator to arrive. A person you knew was on the way because they had been summoned at your request.
‘Sir, I went to the house to attempt to get more detailed intelligence on the situation. I thought that, because of my appearance, I might seem less intimidating than AFOs in full gear and I might even be able to calm things down. I could see immediately that the situation was becoming critical and that the suspect was losing self-control, so there was a real and present danger to life.
‘It was not my intention to remove my body armour, but the suspect insisted on that. I carried out a further risk assessment and decided that, being ex-SFO, I had the skills necessary to manage the situation and to have a realistic chance of success.’
‘Precisely, Chief Inspector. Ex-SFO, with the emphasis on ex. When did you last do any update training connected to that role?’
Ted’s hand went up to the side of his face in an involuntary gesture, touching the sore and inflamed area Green had inflicted on him the day before.
‘Yesterday, sir. My Superintendent agreed to me doing a crash update course with a Special Forces trainer, to help me prepare for today, just in case.’
The ACC lowered his head to look down at his desk. Ted couldn’t swear to it, but he thought he saw the ghost of a smile before his face was hidden. Then he looked up again, his expression serious once more.
‘I could make a disciplinary out of this, you realise? But having listened to what you’ve said, I think there is a more appropriate way of dealing with this. Something I know you will dislike sufficiently for you to consider your actions carefully in the future, should anything similar arise.’
Whatever was coming next, Ted knew he wasn’t going to like it.
‘I’m minded to put you forward for a Chief Constable’s commendation for bravery. I know others have tried before me, and failed. This time, you are going to accept. You are also going to attend the black tie reception to receive it. There’s one scheduled for next month, so I’ll get you added to the guest list, with your partner, as it’s open to Other Halves. And you are going to pose, smiling nicely, for any publicity photographs required. That should give you pause for thought next time you decide to rip up the rule book and play heroics.
‘Right, we’re done here. Go and sort out this suspect, now you have him under lock and key.’
‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.’
As soon as Ted left his office, the ACC put a call through to the Chief Constable. He was at home and on call, and had been waiting for news.
‘Like a lamb to the slaughter, Chief,’ the ACC told him. ‘He thought he was accepting the commendation to avoid a disciplinary, so he was happy to accept. You’ll finally get him at your black tie reception, and have some photos of him to show how inclusive the modern police force is.’
Both men were chuckling as they ended the call.
Seeing Ted’s glum face as he slid into the car next to her, the Super asked, her tone solicitous, ‘It didn’t go well, then, with the ACC?’
‘He’s putting me forward for a Chief Constable’s commendation and I have to accept it and go to the reception and everything.’
She paused the car before pulling out from the car park on to the road, so she could turn and look at him.
‘You really are a very strange man, Ted. From the look on your face, I thought at the very least you’d been put on restricted duties pending an investigation. This is actually good news.’
‘Is it?’ Ted said glumly. ‘I hate anything like that. Mind you, Trev will love a black tie do.’
‘Speaking of Trevor, there was something I wanted to mention to you, if you wouldn’t consider it impertinent. You’ll almost certainly have thought of it yourself, but it was something which was going through my mind during your heroics today. So I thought I would raise it with you, if you would excuse the apparent intrusion into your private life.’
‘Go on,’ Ted said guardedly, intrigued, in spite of himself. The Ice Queen was not one to make any kind of intrusion, or at least, she never had, to date.
‘I’m sure I wasn’t alone when I say that there was a brief moment there, earlier on, when I was not sure if you were going to emerge from that house alive. So I thought it was worth mentioning to you that if you were to die in the line of duty and Trevor was your partner, not your husband, he wouldn’t get any of your pension, nor a lump sum payout. I’m sure you must have considered that already, but I just thought I’d flag it up.’
He was quiet for so long she asked anxiously, ‘I do hope I haven’t crossed a line?’
‘No, not at all, I appreciate your concern. I have asked him to marry me, several times. He just doesn’t believe in it. Thinks we’re fine as we are. And that’s true, we’re a lot more solid than a lot of married couples I know. But I do think about the financial thing. A lot. I’ll talk to him again. Because you’re right. He’s entitled to have my pension, as my next of kin. We just need to make it formal, as things stand at the moment.’
Rob and Sal were doing a good job with Bacha. He was trying to stay tight-lipped, on his solicitor’s advice, but would make occasional attempts to ask for some sort of a deal, if he provided names of all the gang members he knew, in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Jo was watching the interview on a monitor, noting down anything which n
eeded more checking or could help them progress the enquiry.
‘How did it go, boss? What happened in the end? We only got snatches from the radio, and from the two officers who delivered him. They said they’d heard the arresting officer was some high-kicking bloke in plain clothes, so I’m presuming that was you?’
‘Something and nothing really,’ Ted shrugged it off. ‘With the hostage situation, the shooters couldn’t do much so it needed someone with close combat skills. No biggy. Anyway, we have plenty from this morning to hold him on and forensics are working flat out on the car, the house and his clothing, so we might finally be getting somewhere.’
‘What about the rest of the gang? When are they going to be rounded up?’
‘That’s up to Mr Marston and the ACC, but there’s nothing to be gained by leaving them at large for any longer now we have Bacha in custody.
‘I’m going to try to get away at a reasonable time today if I can. I don’t seem to have seen much of Trev, certainly not this weekend, so I’d quite like to take him out for a meal tonight.’
‘No worries at all, boss. I’ve got this, and knowing you, you’ll keep your phone on so I can always contact you if necessary. You go, have a good time. Oh, and boss? You perhaps don’t know it but I know Neil Smith well. We trained together. So I will find out how much of a biggy it was.’
‘Right, you, tell me all about it, and don’t leave any details out. I want to know what you were thinking of, putting yourself at risk like that. And remember, I can always tell if you’re trying to lie.’
Trev had greeted him with a hug when he got home, one which effectively immobilised him, unless he used his skills to detach himself. It made it even harder for Ted to be economical with the truth, which is what he would have preferred.
‘I don’t know what they said on the radio but it was really nothing all that dramatic at all. A suspect with a knife holding a young girl hostage. I just went in and disarmed him.’
‘Just like that?’
‘Just like that. Now, I need a shower and a change of clothes if we’re going out to eat but first I wanted to ask you something. I want us to get married.’
Trev released him from the hug and stepped back so he could study his face.
‘Ted, we keep going over this. I don’t want to do the whole marriage thing. You’re just about accepted for having me as a partner. It would change everything, me being your husband. And what about Jim? You know he could never cope with that and he’s your best friend.’
‘But you know that if anything should ever happen to me on an op like today’s you wouldn’t get a penny of my pension, unless we were married.’
‘Honestly Ted, that is about the least romantic proposal I’ve ever heard. Do you really think I’m only interested in your pension?’
‘You want romantic? I can do romantic. I’ll do the full down on one knee thing, if that’s what you want. I just don’t want you to miss out, if ever anything did happen to me. The person I’m with is entitled to that pension, but the current rules say I have to be married to them. So would you at least think about it? Please?’
‘So you want me to do the whole ‘will you take this man, and his police pension, for your lawful wedded husband’ thing? It makes it all seem so mercenary. I think what we’ve got is special. I don’t want to change it. If we do get married, we might spoil it. Just like mentioning it, like this, has a bit spoilt my appetite for what I thought was going to be a nice evening out together.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. Look, let me just get showered and we’ll go out. Forget I brought it up so clumsily and spoilt the mood. Please?’
He could tell Trev was thawing, so he threw in the clincher.
‘And I’m going to be taking you to another black tie occasion soon. The ACC put me forward for a commendation and I’ve accepted.’
Trev looked at him suspiciously.
Well, you look like Ted, but who are you really? My Ted has never accepted a commendation in his life.’
‘I was a bit backed into a corner. I didn’t quite follow operational procedure, so this is my punishment.’
Trev was shaking his head in disbelief.
‘I do honestly sometimes wonder what I see in you, thinking you’re hard done by being forced to attend a formal reception and accept an honour that you deserve.’
‘I know. I’m hopeless. But I do love you, you know that. I’m sorry I screwed up my latest proposal, but let me take you out for a meal, and I’ll try to make it up to you. I just need that shower first, then I’m all yours for the evening.’
‘I could do with a shower, too. Why don’t we share, to save on water? Then we’ll see if I’ve worked off my big lunch and have enough of an appetite to go and be piggy again.’
Chapter Twenty-one
Bill was back on duty at the front desk when Ted signed himself in on Monday morning. Fire regulations meant a record had to be kept of who was on the premises at all times, and when they left, even in a relatively small station.
‘Here he is, the hero of the hour,’ Bill greeted him. He certainly looked a lot better than he had the last time Ted had visited him.
‘Shut up,’ Ted told him mildly. ‘I was doing my job, nothing more. And how the heck do you know anything about it? How are you, anyway? You look better than you did. Sorry I couldn’t get up to see you again, it’s been manic.’
‘Oh, I wasn’t expecting any more visits from a highly commended senior officer,’ Bill told him with a wink, although his own uniform sported a few medal ribbons, including one for bravery. ‘And surely you know by now there are no secrets at all in the force. Everyone knows about your flagrant disregard for regulations yesterday.’
‘I’m never going to be allowed to live this down, am I?’ Ted asked, as he headed for the stairs.
He was in ahead of the team, as he often was, wanting a few quiet moments at his desk to catch up before they got together for the morning briefing. He kept an eye out for when they were all in, then went out into the main office to join them. As he did so, every team member present rose to their feet and began to applaud.
‘Behave yourselves and sit down,’ he told them, but he was smiling as he said it. He hated fuss, but it meant more to him that his team applauded him than any award the Chief Constable could give him. Unless Trev stopped him, that would go straight up into the loft with his many shooting trophies from his Firearms days.
‘I told you I knew Neil Smith well, boss,’ Jo reminded him. ‘I got the full, unabridged version from him of what you did and how you saved that young girl. We’re all proud of you, and those of us who have kids of their own are especially grateful.
‘Neil also told me enough about a certain amount of rule-bending which we may just have to remind you of in the future, when you’re chasing any of us for procedural misconduct. And if we get chance after work today, we’d like to buy you a drink. If we all club together, we might just about be able to afford one of your ginger beers.’
‘Thanks, everyone, I appreciate it, but don’t count on it today. We’ve got a lot to get through. Rob, give us a quick update on Bacha, then you and Sal get back to him, if he’s had his rest period. The Super has already said she’ll give us a twelve-hour extension to hold him if we need it while we’re waiting for something from forensics. We can certainly charge him from yesterday, but make sure it’s clear to him and his solicitor that there are likely to be more charges to follow.
‘Océane, any mobile devices, laptops or whatever coming from the scene will be your department and will take priority over anything else. We’re looking, of course, for any links between Bacha and Kateb, or any other known associates. You have the list of names. I’m assuming some of his interactions, at least, will be in French, so that’s definitely one for you, please.
‘The knife that was taken from Bacha at the scene had been cleaned but forensics found blood traces on it. They’re working on matching those to our victim, Mrs Ashworth’s, blood.�
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‘You mean the knife you took off him, boss? After taking off your body armour?’ Maurice asked innocently.
‘All right, everyone, listen up. That subject is now closed and off limits, please. Unless anyone fancies being confined to their desk doing filing for the rest of the week?’
He looked round at the team as he spoke. They knew the boss was easy-going, but they also knew that when he spoke like that, he meant it. Ted was just glad Jezza wasn’t in. She would no doubt have enjoyed teasing him about his heroics.
‘No? Good. So let’s get on. Time is pressing. I can’t yet tell you when Mr Marston is planning to start rounding up the rest of the gang. No doubt he’ll be calling a briefing at some point today, but that’s probably dependent on what we get out of Bacha.
‘Some of the rest of you may well be involved in other arrests. Virgil, you need to stay close to home again, just in case Jezza needs you in a hurry.
‘I want to use my own team members to talk to the family in whose home Bacha was staying; all of them. Megan, in particular, I’d like you to interview the youngest daughter, please. I’m sure she’ll find it much easier talking to someone like you. We’ll need to arrange appropriate adults to be with the daughters. Clearly not their parents, in case of co-witnessing.’
‘Boss, do we know why that piece of shit had the young lass in his bedroom?’ Maurice asked, scowling. The father of twin girls, his mind was working overtime on the implications.
‘All we know from the scene is that Yasmine, the youngest daughter, was sleeping in her parents’ room, on a fold-up bed just inside the door, while Bacha had her room, next door. It seems Bacha was awake and alert and may have seen the AFOs moving into position, so he grabbed the girl as a human shield.’
‘With the father in the bedroom? Why didn’t he do something?’
‘There’s nothing to be gained by making judgements when we don’t have all the facts. At this stage, that side of things is not relevant to our enquiries. As soon as I know, from Mr Marston, who’s doing what, I’ll assign further tasks to you all.