by L M Krier
Now he’d been rumbled, there was no chance of Ted returning his holster to the wardrobe without Trev noticing. He took off his jacket and undid the harness, putting it on the hall table.
‘Nothing dangerous. They just needed an SFO to go on board an aircraft and arrest someone. The suspect wasn’t armed or anything, but I just had to carry a concealed weapon as a precaution.’
Trev was still looking at him suspiciously.
‘Really. It was all just routine. Nothing for you to worry about. It won’t even get me another commendation.’
Ted was trying to make light of it. If Trev hadn’t noticed the holster, he wouldn’t even have mentioned it to him.
‘I promised you I’d give up Firearms and I have. I’d do anything for you, you know that. Surely you believe it, after last night?’
Trev was softening in his attitude.
‘I was so proud of you, last night. And your poor voice. But my god, it makes you sound sexy, talking husky like that. Almost as sexy as seeing you wearing your holster. Put it back on. I like it.’
He picked the harness up off the table and thrust it towards his partner, taking his hand and pulling him towards the stairs.
Ted was sitting with his mother between him and his partner, with her friend Aldwyth on the other side of Trev. They were in the witness area of the Crown Court in Manchester’s Crown Square. His mother’s attacker had opted to exercise his right to ask for a full jury trial at the Crown Court, rather than a hearing in the magistrates’ court with sentencing in the higher court. It meant it could go on for some time.
All four were holding hands, Annie clutching tightly to those of Ted and Trev, her face pale, drawn and anxious. Because the accused had stated his intention to plead not guilty, she would have to face him in court and give her evidence. She was dreading it.
Ted was still hoping for common sense to prevail and for the accused man to change his plea to guilty at the last minute. He had no doubt that his barrister would be strongly recommending him to do so. The sight of a man of his size and bulk, in comparison to Ted’s small and slight mother, would be likely to sway a jury. He could face a stiffer sentence for not admitting the offence, amounting to wasting the court’s time, and for not showing any remorse or accepting responsibility for his actions.
They were early, as Ted usually was for everything work-related. He’d explained to his mother that someone from the CPS would come and find her soon to explain the procedure. He’d also warned her there was a chance that she might come face to face with her attacker outside the courtroom, but that he and Trev were there to see that she was not intimidated in any way.
It was some time before one of the Crown Prosecutors, whom Ted knew well, came hurrying along the corridor, accompanied by a barrister, in wig and gown, who would present the prosecution case to the presiding judge and members of the jury.
‘Hello, Ted, I didn’t know this was a case you were involved in,’ Suzy Lewis said as Ted stood up and shook her hand in greeting. ‘I think you know Evan Hughes?’
‘This is Mrs Jones, the victim in this case, who also happens to be my mother.’
‘Ah, that explains it,’ Suzy smiled. ‘We’ve just heard from the defence that they’re changing the plea to one of guilty. The jungle drums must have been at work with news of your involvement and that perhaps made common sense prevail. This is good news for you, Mrs Jones, as it means you won’t have to give evidence in court, although Mr Hughes here will still read your Victim Personal Statement to the judge before the defendant is sentenced. The jury will be released, now there’s a guilty plea. It will just be the Recorder who will listen to the presentations and pass sentence.
‘And on that subject, I have even better news. We have the Hanging Judge today and he is more than a little annoyed at having his nice smooth schedule disrupted for the day by a change of plea at the very last minute. Oh, and I heard on the grapevine that the defendant turned up wearing a Britain First T-shirt. His barrister sent out for something to cover it up. I do hope someone mentioned that in His Honour’s ear.’
Ted knew that the Crown Court Recorder in question, a man by the name of Shield, had gained his nickname through his zero tolerance and fondness for maximum sentences whenever possible. It looked as if his mother’s attacker was going to be spending quite some time at Her Majesty’s pleasure.
All four of them were now on their feet as the barrister spoke.
‘Mrs Jones, I’m so sorry you’ve been put through all the stress and anxiety of anticipating the trial. I will now do my most persuasive best to see that your attacker gets sent down for as long as possible. And he really has done himself no favours at all in already incurring the wrath of His Honour, who is now likely to want to make an example of him.
‘Now that you’re no longer required as a witness, you are perfectly at liberty to leave. Or, if you prefer, you can take a seat in the public area of the courtroom to witness justice at work.
‘Please excuse us now, while we go and prepare to do battle on your behalf.’
Annie looked anxiously towards her son for advice as the two prosecutors walked away.
‘Up to you, mam. If I was you, I’d want to see him sent down. Trev and I, and Aldwyth, will be right there with you, supporting you.’
She smiled at them all.
‘Well, let’s go and do it, then. Then we can put the matter to bed and go and get a cup of tea somewhere. My treat.’
‘Mam, if you want a cup of tea near Crown Square, it better be my treat. It’s daylight robbery.’
The four of them sat together, still holding hands, as the brief proceedings unfolded. Annie’s attacker was looking unconcerned, smug even, clearly expecting nothing more than a light sentence and a rap on the knuckles.
Hughes was a good prosecuting counsel, with the perfect voice to sound compelling and sincere, capable of putting meaning and emotion into his words. Ted had helped his mother to write her Victim Statement and to hear the barrister read it was a moving experience. Annie had to take a hand back from Ted to wipe her eyes at one point.
The Hanging Judge had the perfect poker face. It was impossible to read him. Ted knew him well and guessed he would not be at all impressed at the idea of a physical assault on a smaller, older woman by someone as oafish as the defendant in front of him. Once he’d listened to all the submissions, he asked for the defendant to stand.
‘Owen Davis, you have admitted to making a totally unprovoked attack on a woman going about her own business and posing no threat whatsoever to you. As has been described to this court, you are considerably taller, a lot younger and much heavier than your victim.
‘You claim, in mitigation, that your intention was never to cause her any harm, simply to push her because you were annoyed with her. You were annoyed because you believed, wrongly, that she was speaking Polish, rather than her native Welsh tongue, and you blame Polish immigrants for having taken your job, although you yourself have acknowledged that they are prepared to work longer hours for less money than you.
‘You have not once, at any stage of this enquiry, expressed the slightest remorse for your actions, nor offered any form of apology to Mrs Jones, your victim. On the contrary, you have continued to protest your justification for your behaviour. Furthermore, you have wasted a considerable amount of court time by your determination to plead not guilty, only changing that plea at the last possible minute.
‘We have heard that, because of your unjustifiable actions, your victim, Mrs Jones, has decided to leave her home of nearly forty years to move back to Wales, where she can at least feel safe when speaking her own language. This has resulted in her losing close contact with the son who has only recently come back into her life after a long absence. And still you have shown no remorse, nor made any apology.
‘In light of all of the above, and particularly after having heard your lamentable existing criminal record, I am sentencing you to the maximum amount of time which the law permits. You wi
ll go to prison for five years.’
Suzy Lewis turned her head slightly to flash a beaming smile towards Ted and to make a discreet fist-pump gesture, before the court was ordered to rise as His Honour the Hanging Judge swept out, no doubt pleased with his efforts.
Ted’s mother was in tears of relief, now it was all over. Ted put an arm round her as he guided them all out of the court building.
‘I’m so pleased it went well, Annie,’ Trev told her, giving her a hug and a kiss. ‘I really do need to get back to work now, though. Ted’s taken the day off, so you make good use of him. Don’t let him go sneaking off back to the station. Get him to take you somewhere nice for lunch, and I’ll hopefully be seeing you again very soon. He’s promised to take some time off so we can get away and we’re going to come down to Wales to see you. Mind you, he doesn’t always keep his promises, where work’s concerned.’
‘Hey, you,’ Ted laughed in mock offence. ‘I sang in public for you, didn’t I? And that was worse than any arrest I’ve ever made.’
‘Why don’t I cook us all a nice meal tonight? You three go and have a lovely trip out somewhere and a light lunch, then Ted can pick the two of you up again later to bring you to supper.’
He kissed all of them then went on his way to the bike dealership which he now owned jointly with a business partner, thanks to Ted funding the bank loan to buy into the concern.
‘You are so lucky, Teddy, bach. He is such a lovely young man, and it’s obvious how much the two of you love one another.’
‘I know. I don’t deserve him. Right, ladies, where shall we go? What about Lyme Park, mam? We can get a decent lunch there at the hall.’
It was another week before Ted felt he had made sufficient inroads on all the paperwork for the various cases to risk asking for time off. He was hoping to take five weekdays and to include the weekends at either side, but he knew it was asking a lot.
His Super was surprisingly supportive of the idea.
‘You’ve been working some extremely long hours over the course of this operation, Ted. And with two excellent arrests to your credit, not to mention a commendation coming your way, I think it would be churlish in the extreme to put any barriers in your way with regard to taking some time off at this point.
‘Your team have once again proved their worth, and now that Jim Baker is a bit more mobile once more, I’m sure that, between us, we can manage to hold the fort in your absence.’
Jim was getting back to his old self, now the plaster cast was off and he had a lighter support on his injured ankle, making him more mobile. The pain was less, too. He and Ted had caught up over lunch one day in The Grapes. Ted was pleased things were back to normal between them.
Jim had laughed to hear of Ted’s encounter with the traffic officer with attitude and chewing gum, on his way back from the big night out.
‘And will you follow it up? Speak to his boss, or see him yourself?’
‘Oh yes,’ Ted told him. ‘I don’t like behaviour like that. It gives us all a bad name. But not yet a while. Might as well let him sweat a bit longer.’
‘You can be a bit of a sadist sometimes, Ted. Did you know that?’
Ted had invited his team members to have a drink with him in The Grapes on the Friday evening before he was due to go away. He wanted to let them know they were appreciated. He’d suggested Trev should come over later to join them, and that they should have a bite to eat there together afterwards, to save either of them having to cook.
They’d booked a live-in Animal Aunt to look after the cats while they were away. She would arrive first thing on the Saturday morning, so they could get away in good time. They would take the car, rather than the bike. Going for a full week, and knowing how Trev loved to change clothes every day, sometimes more than once, they’d never manage to transport everything they needed for that long on the bike. They also wanted to take their riding gear, in case they could find somewhere suitable for both their levels of ability.
Unusually, it was Ted who had made time to sort out all the arrangements. He’d booked them a guest house, not all that far from where his mother was staying with Aldwyth, where the management hadn’t turned a hair at the booking for two men in one double room. Trev was surprised when Ted insisted they each pack a decent suit. His usual preference was for casual clothes for everything, especially when on holiday.
‘I just thought, with Annie moving away, it would be nice to splash out and take her and Aldwyth out somewhere really special for a meal. Somewhere they wouldn’t normally choose for themselves. I know we’ll still be in touch, but it’s not going to be the same as having her living not far away. A nice evening out for us all to remember, all dressed up to the nines. She’d like that.’
He was rewarded with a hug from his partner.
‘That’s a really lovely thought, especially as I know you don’t like dressing up. Annie will love it, and so will I. Which means I’ll have to show my appreciation, again.’
Chapter Twenty-eight
The team were enjoying the get-together, relaxing, laughing, forgetting about work. Ted couldn’t resist talking shop with Jo, making sure he covered all eventualities before he took some time off. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his team, especially now he had Jo to deputise for him. He was just a good copper, who found it hard to switch off.
‘You can always call me, at any time, Jo, if you need to double-check anything. I’ll have my phone with me all the time.’
‘Boss, seriously? I have a feeling your Trev might kill me if I do. We’ll be fine. The Super is actually quite approachable, surprisingly, and the Big Boss is getting back on his feet. I’m touched that you’ll miss us so much but there’s no need. You go and have a good time. You’ve not seen much of your Trev with Croesus taking up so much of your time. The two of you deserve a break.’
Ted looked across the bar-room to where Trev was talking and laughing with Rob and Sal, no doubt about big bikes, as usual. He felt the usual sudden emotion, almost like a physical pain in his chest, whenever he looked at his partner. He was going to make this holiday the best time they had ever spent together. He was determined not to let anything spoil his plans.
Once the team members started drifting away, Trev joined Ted at the bar and draped a possessive arm around his shoulders.
‘Are you ready to eat now? I’m starving. Shall I grab a table? What’s the special tonight, Dave?’
‘Steak and ale pie with chips. How does that sound, gentlemen? And Ted, your table’s all ready whenever you are.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ Trev told him, looking round the bar. ‘Have we got a special table, then?’
‘Come with me,’ Ted told him, taking his arm and leading him through to the small private room at the back, where he’d met up with Green.
It wasn’t much of a place, not very glamorous, but Dave had done them proud. There was a clean white linen cloth on the only table in the room laid up for service, and he had carefully arranged the three red roses Ted had ordered, in a glass vase as the centrepiece. Ted guided his partner over to the table and pulled a chair out for him to sit down.
‘This is nice. Is it a special occasion that I’ve forgotten about? Or are we celebrating your commendation in advance?’
Ted suddenly felt awkward, uncertain, not sure if he was about to make a complete idiot of himself. He had invested so much in this moment.
‘I thought it would be nice to have a bit of a romantic meal together, just the two of us, to start our holiday. Besides, I wanted to try again.’
‘Try again?’
Ted took one of the red roses out of the vase and moved closer to his partner. Then he got down on one knee.
‘Trevor Patrick Costello Armstrong, will you do me the honour of marrying me? Please?’
‘Ted, I love you, very much. I just don’t want anything to change.’
‘It won’t, I promise you. We’ll go on as we were, as we’ve always been. I’ll need to update my personnel f
ile, so you get my pension, but that’s confidential. We won’t tell anyone else. Well, except my mother. She’s coming to the wedding. With Aldwyth.’
Trev was looking at him suspiciously.
‘The wedding? You mean you’ve planned it all? That’s why you wanted us to take suits? Ted, for goodness sake get up, you’ll ruin your good work trousers.’
‘Say you’ll marry me first. Before Dave comes in with our food. Please?’
To his intense relief, Trev burst out laughing and said, ‘Yes, all right, then, you soppy sod. Get up, for the love of all that’s holy. I will marry you, but only in secret. I don’t want it broadcast. And I want you to promise that it really won’t change anything between us. You do realise Shewee is never going to speak to us again if she’s not invited to the wedding?’
Ted got up and kissed him, handing him the rose, before sitting down opposite him at the table.
‘It’s fine, I’ve invited her and she’s coming. I phoned her school and arranged the time off for her, and Henry is driving her up. It’s nothing very exciting, just a hotel reception room, us two and the four guests, with a nice meal afterwards. And nothing will change, I promise, except on paper. We won’t tell anyone else, unless you want to. No rings or anything, except just for the ceremony. But it does mean that you will be provided for, if ever anything happens to me, and that puts my mind at rest. Thank you.’
‘And you’ve arranged all this, without a word to me? You devious little detective. I’ll never be able to trust you again. Does Dave know?’
‘Heck, no. He just thinks we wanted a romantic dinner at the end of a long and difficult case. I sorted it all out with mam when we went to Lyme Park after the court case. She’s over the moon.’
‘What if I’d said no again?’
‘Then I’d have looked like a proper dickhead.’
They were interrupted at that moment when Dave appeared, carrying their food, steaming hot pies which gave off an inviting aroma, with a side order of chips. He placed them on the table with a flourish, together with a decent bottle of French wine for Trev and a soft drink for Ted.