Det Annie Macpherson 01 - Primed By The Past

by Speake, Barbara Fagan

  Annie opened the menu again. ‘Just the salad bar for me and the appetiser portion of the shrimp. I find the entree portions too big.’

  The waitress approached with water just as Annie finished her sentence and took their orders right away. They both went up to the salad bar together. Hegarty finished before Annie, but politely waited for her before they walked back to the table together. More polite than Paul ever was, she thought, fleetingly.

  In the meantime, the waitress had left a Coors Light for Hegarty and a glass of white wine for Annie. The first moment or two was awkward. Annie wasn’t sure how to get into a conversation with him. It was less formal than an interview and certainly not a meal out between two friends. Her purpose was to obtain information, but in the kindest way possible. In the end, Hegarty broke the ice.

  ‘I must apologise for my rudeness back at the hospital, Detective Macpherson. It was the shock of seeing Angie like that. She’s my big sister, always capable, always in charge. Our dad died when I was really little and I only knew my mother and Angie growing up. Well mostly it was Angie, to be honest. Mom never got over dad’s death and was often depressed, taking to her bed for days at a time. Angie got me ready for school, made sure I got there safely, cooked our meals. In some ways she was more of a mom to me.’

  Annie didn’t say anything, willing him to continue.

  He hesitated as he ate some of his salad, ‘I didn’t realise how hungry or how thirsty I was.’

  ‘Me neither. Look why don’t you call me Annie. Detective Macpherson sounds too formal.’

  ‘As does Captain Hegarty. Everyone calls me Charlie. And now that we’re on first name terms, can I order you another glass of wine when the waitress comes back? I’ll be ready for another beer by then.’

  ‘Thanks, I could drink another,’ replied Annie as she picked up her wine glass and enjoyed the crispness as it went down her throat. She was warming to Captain Charles Hegarty.

  An hour later, Charlie opened the door of her taxi. ‘Should I call you tomorrow after I’ve seen the doctor?’

  ‘Aye, the station number and my cell are on the card. I’ll be in the station early. Good night Charlie.’ Annie put her seat belt on in the back of the taxi and gave her address to the driver. Ten minutes later she put her key in her apartment door.

  26

  ‘I can’t believe they just came into work like that, bold as brass, and interviewed me. What are they playing at?’ Jim Moorcroft was sitting at the kitchen table while Jackie served up spaghetti bolognaise. He hadn’t been in the house ten minutes and had poured them both a glass of wine before the meal. As usual, he and Jackie hadn’t travelled home together.

  ‘I never saw them come in, but then again, I was working in the claims section today. No one said anything there, so it obviously hadn’t got around the building. And that’s why I was home earlier than you, for a change.’

  ‘I know, I know, but Jack, you should have seen how everyone in our section looked at me. I know what they were thinking: What have you done to Angela? Shit, she’s my friend, more like a sister than anything else. I feel so angry.’ He distractedly put too much Parmesan on his meal.

  Jackie knew that wouldn’t help and she wasn’t surprised when he pushed the plate away. She could feel herself getting tense, wondering if he would just take it to the sink and put the whole thing down the garbage disposal. It wouldn’t be the first time that a meal she’d prepared became the butt of his anger and then the rest.

  Fortunately, Jim pulled the plate back and picked up his fork.

  ‘What exactly did they ask you?’

  Now Jim had to be careful. Jackie didn’t know about the arrest or any of the details of what he went through. She knew he’d been married but he always played that down, never going into detail. He just said they’d grown apart. Yeah sure, grew apart, when he couldn’t bear looking at her, knowing she was sleeping with someone else. What a bitch. Deserved what she got from him. ‘They just went over what they’d already asked me, but it was the tone and the fact that I was the last one to see her before the assault. And they found my fingerprints on a glass in the kitchen.’ Jim was only playing with the spaghetti being more interested in the wine.

  ‘Did they? So, did you go into the house when you dropped her off or when you picked her up? You and I are there so much. I bet my prints are all over the house too. Surely, they can’t make much of that.’

  ‘That’s just the thing. When they asked me, I said no. But now that I think about it, I probably did go in when I picked her up. I think I had some water, but like you said, we’re there so much I couldn’t quite remember. And it was their tone. It got me confused. I know I didn’t go in when I dropped her back, I’m sure of that.’ The wine glass was in his hand again.

  ‘Maybe you satisfied them. I bet you don’t hear from them again.’ Jackie started on her meal, hoping her words would have the desired effect.

  ‘I bet they interview you again, though, to try and take my alibi apart. They’ll want to know when I got home, whether I seemed distracted or not, that kind of thing.’

  Jackie was surprised. ‘But don’t you remember? The first time they talked to us in the hospital, I told them that I’d gone to bed before you were back. I can’t change the story now Jim, without it looking suspicious. That might be even worse for you.’

  ‘What do you mean, it might be worse for me! You don’t really think I had anything to do with Angela’s assault, do you? You’re looking at me like that bitch of a detective did today. I’ve had enough!’

  The noise of the wine glass smashing as he threw it against the wall drowned out Jackie’s attempt at a reply. He slammed the door as he stormed out.

  As usual, she was left to pick up the pieces, wondering how much more of this she could take.

  27

  Gus frantically answered his cellphone, not even glancing to see who the caller was. ‘Carol!’

  ‘Hi Gus. Sorry, it’s me, Sandra. Where are you?’

  ‘Have you found her?’

  ‘Not yet, but I’ve only been to the coffee shop. Fiona has just come in, so I thought that when you get here we could have another walk around town.’

  ‘I’m just on the main road now: should be with you in about twenty minutes. There’s a roadblock because of the accident. I’ll tell you about it when I get there.’ Gus had to pay attention to his driving now, as his nerves were really getting to him. All he could say was: ‘Please God, please,’ which he repeated over and over in the car.

  Sandra put the shop phone down and Fiona looked at her quizzically. ‘I have an awful feeling about this.’ But before Fiona could respond, a customer came up to her with a question. Carol was a stickler for the customer coming first and had drilled into both of them that any conversation between them ended when a customer approached.

  Sandra made her way into the small back kitchen, labelled Staff Only. As she made herself a coffee, she wondered if there were any problems in Gus and Carol’s marriage. Carol had been behaving a bit strangely of late. What if she had decided to go missing on purpose? What if she simply wanted to start again some place else? But then she questioned whether she was reading too much into this. After all, the thought had only occurred to her because of a programme she’d seen on TV weeks back about adults who go missing and start new lives somewhere else. Something about that had appealed to her as she watched the documentary. Frankly, she would be jealous if Carol succeeded in doing it. Sandra’s reverie was broken by the door opening. It was Fiona.

  ‘So what’s going on? Do you think it was Carol’s car in that accident?’

  ‘I don’t know, but let’s not speculate in front of Gus. He sounded in a state of panic on the phone. I’m sure the police will have more information. Someone in the coffee shop said she’d heard there were two cars, but how people kn
ow that, I have no idea.’

  ‘I haven’t heard anything,’ Fiona said, as if she was always missing out on something.

  ‘Anyway, like I said, Gus will be here soon. Are you OK if we leave you here while we take a look around town, see if anyone has seen her this morning?’ Sandra didn’t want any hassle when Gus got there. Fiona was only a student on her summer vacation, working in the bookshop to get some money for next term. Not the most reliable summer help they’d had, either.

  ‘Sure, but it’s not like Carol not to be here. She’s the most conscientious person I know. I think something’s happened to her.’

  ‘Well, keep that thought to yourself, whatever you do,’ Sandra answered.

  It was nearly a half hour before Gus arrived, breathless. ‘There was nowhere to park. I’m three streets over on a parking meter. Any news?’

  Sandra and Fiona just looked at him. Neither had seen someone so flustered before.

  ‘No, but let’s take a walk around. We’re bound to bump into people who have seen her, if she’s been in town today.’ Sandra grabbed her handbag before Gus had a chance to answer and nodded to Fiona on the way out. ‘If you need me, call my cell.’

  Their first stop was the coffee shop again, at Gus’s insistence. He knew that his wife was a creature of habit. Sandra slightly resented him not taking her word for it, as she’d already questioned the staff who knew both Carol and her by name.

  ‘There’s a small dress shop she often mentions,’ said Gus on the way out. ‘Hanbury’s?’

  ‘It’s just around the corner.’ Sandra led the way and Gus peered into all the other shops as they passed. The view into most was pretty good, but Sandra knew that it was a pointless exercise. From their conversations, Carol mostly shopped outside town in the large shopping mall. Sandra thought it a bit hypocritical that Carol expected people to frequent the bookshop to support local shops but used the mall herself. So, not surprisingly, they drew a blank. Gus was getting more and more agitated. They tried three more shops in the promenade before making their way back to the bookshop.

  ‘I’m going to the police.’

  ‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Sandra wasn’t sure what she could add, but felt that she had to offer.

  ‘Thanks, but I’m sure they’ll contact you if they need to know anything about her work that I don’t know. I’ll keep in touch if I find out anything.’

  As Gus left the bookshop, he couldn’t help but think how differently this day was turning out from the one he had planned. He had a further thought on the way to the police station. He stepped into the pharmacy and enquired as to whether a woman had purchased a pregnancy kit that morning. He didn’t want to, knowing how she valued her privacy, but he used Carol’s name. The girl behind the counter knew his wife and confirmed she hadn’t sold her one. Then discreetly she questioned the other assistants who hadn’t either. Another blank, and he had run out of ideas. Now he feared the worst.

  The desk sergeant showed him into a small interview room. As he waited for one of the officers to interview him, he felt like the walls were closing in on him. He had all he could do to keep it together. Only once had he ever been in trouble with the police. As a teenager, he had stupidly tried to buy beer under age and the liquor storeowner called the cops. Even now, he shuddered remembering how scared he was when his dad came down to the station. The roasting he got from him was worse than from the cops. Thankfully, he didn’t have long to wait.

  ‘Mr Wojinski, I’m Officer Brent.’ The man offered his hand and Gus shook it.

  ‘I understand that your wife has not turned up for work and that you have been looking around town for her.’

  ‘Look, I’m frantic. I can’t get a hold of her on her cellphone. I have heard that there was a major accident of some kind on the route she takes to work and I am petrified that she was one of the cars involved. I’ve driven the route myself and the State Trooper I spoke to over an hour ago said to come here and report her missing, if I couldn’t find her in town. I just want to find out what cars were involved in that accident so I know whether my wife is alive or not.’

  ‘Let me take a few details.’ After making a note of Carol’s name, their address her place of work and the car details, the officer added: ‘If you wait here, I’ll see what I can find out.’

  28

  Annie woke suddenly, unsure whether she was dreaming or a phone was actually ringing. She stretched out an arm, groping for her cellphone. Eyes barely open, she couldn’t see the caller ID.

  ‘Annie?’

  ‘Mum, what’s the matter? What time is it?’

  ‘Sorry, dear it’s just after 10:00 in the morning here. I keep forgetting we’re so far ahead of you.’

  By now Annie had switched on the table lamp and had swung her feet over the side of the bed. Her heart was pounding. She knew if her mother was so distracted as to forget the time difference between the two countries, then something was seriously the matter.

  ‘What’s wrong, Mum? What it is?’

  ‘I’m in the hospital, dear, Andrew is being admitted. I had to call an ambulance a few hours ago. I heard him fall out of bed. He had another one of his fits, but he didn’t come out of it like he usually does and had a second one.’

  Annie interrupted her mother. ‘Mum, what are the doctors saying?’

  ‘Nothing as yet. He had another major one in the ambulance and is still unconscious. They’re trying to control it.’ Her voice broke and the sobbing started.

  ‘Mum, is anyone with you? What about Auntie Lil?’

  Margaret Macpherson didn’t cope well with stress, even though she had taken care of Andrew his whole life. Annie knew she never really slept through a night and was always half awake listening out for Andrew, almost like a new mother. Thirty-five years of listening out for him would be enough for anyone, but Margaret was too stubborn to consider Andrew going into any form of supported accommodation. ‘As long as I can take care of him, I will’ was her view. She wasn’t getting any younger, but Annie knew that it was no good starting on that conversation now. Besides, they’d had that discussion too many times in the recent past. Annie had harboured the constant fear that there would be some trauma while she was in the States and too far away to be any use to her mum.

  ‘She and Uncle Alasdair are on their way now. She’ll stay with me tonight if I need her to. I don’t think Andrew will be coming out today, although I haven’t spoken to the doctor yet. I’m sorry, Annie, I shouldn’t have called you until I knew more. I just didn’t know what else to do.’

  Annie could hear the sobbing again.

  ‘Mum, try and stay calm. The doctors will need to talk to you. You did the right thing calling the ambulance. He’s in the best place. Let them take care of him.’

  ‘I know, dear, but I couldn’t bear to lose him, not after your father.’

  ‘Mum, don’t do this. Andrew is a fighter; he’s come through worse than this. I’m more worried about you.’ It was true, Annie sometimes thought she was going to lose her mother as well as her father. His death was so sudden and unexpected and yet her mother was the one who was slowly being worn down from all the years of taking care of her son. ‘Please Mum, you have to think of yourself too. Go and have a cup of tea and something to eat. I’ll call you back in about an hour. Auntie Lil should be with you by then.’

  ‘OK, dear.’

  ‘But Mum, call me before then if you speak to the doctors.’

  Annie put the phone down and looked at the alarm clock. It was just past 5am. Exhaustion hit her again and she put her head back on the pillow. Two hours later, the sound that awoke her was the alarm clock going off. Her first thought was guilt that she could have gone back to sleep after the distressing call from her mother, but then fear that it had been two hours and she’d said she would ring back in an hour. Wh
at if the worst has happened?

  ‘Mum, it’s me. What’s happening?’ But it was her Aunt Lil who answered. Annie swore that the two women were interchangeable on the phone, same accent, same inflections.

  ‘Annie, Alasdair and I are having a coffee. Your mother is with Andrew now. She asked me to take her phone, as she was expecting a call back from you. He’s regained consciousness but the doctors are still concerned. They want to keep him in a few days and do some more tests. They think his epilepsy medication needs reviewing, but he seems to be over the worst of it, thank God. Your poor mother, how she suffers with all of this.’

  ‘I know, thanks for being there, Aunt Lil. I appreciate it. Tell Andrew I said to stop scaring Mum, will you?’

  Her aunt laughed. ‘Since when has something you’ve said frightened your brother. He’ll just laugh when we mention you.’

  Annie smiled, that much was true. Andrew still liked to pat her on the head and give her a bear hug. Whatever else, he was still her big brother. ‘Tell Mum, I’ll call her later when I get into work, and give Uncle Alasdair a hug from me.’

  For once, Annie was the last one in. Bronski and Dave Ellison were at the computer. They both looked up as she walked in.

  Bronski sensed something was wrong. ‘What’s up? You look like you haven’t slept. Did Captain Hegarty keep you up late?’

  ‘There’s some problems at home. My brother’s in the hospital, so I had some early morning calls from Scotland, but I think he’ll be OK. I’ll fill you in on Captain Hegarty when you two are done.’

  ‘If you’re sure.’ But even as he said it, Bronski sensed that it wasn’t the time to ask any more details about her brother. He seemed to recall something about him having some sort of disability, but he would find out more later.