“They must be wrong, sir,” Whadi hissed.
“Really?” Crane asked. “Then why are there unsolved rape cases in two towns near to where you were previously posted?”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, sir,” Whadi said shaking his head.
“Well, if you’re as innocent as you say you are, then you’ll let me have a DNA sample, won’t you, Lance Corporal?”
Yasin stared at Crane for a moment and then nodded his agreement.
Crane stood and went over to the door. Opening it, he called though to the office for Staff Sgt Jones. As Jones arrived Crane looked down at the young man with disgust and said, “Lance Corporal Yasin Whadi here has agreed to a DNA test, Staff Sgt. Would you do the honours please? When you’re done, the Lance Corporal is free to return to his Unit.”
As the young man was led away, Anderson watched in silence. Once Whadi and Jones were out of the room he said, “So that’s how you do things in the army is it, Crane? You’ve not got any evidence, really, you know. That was all bluff and bluster.”
“That may be so, Derek, but I’m going for a confession. I’ll get the forensic evidence to back it up later on.”
As Crane turned to leave, Billy put his head round the door.
“Sorry to disturb you, sir. You and the DI are wanted round at Kim’s mums. Yet another incident, I’m afraid.”
***
Crane screeched to a halt outside the house, yanking on the hand brake and flinging himself out of the car. Anderson got out of the other side at a more leisurely pace. As Crane hurried through the garden gate, the front door of the house was opened, much to Crane’s surprise, by Captain Symmonds.
“Sir, I understand something’s happened. Is Kim alright?” Crane tried to peer around the Padre.
“Well, Crane, I suppose she’s alright, under the circumstances. At the moment she’s upstairs asleep. I made her take one of the tablets the doctor left last time.”
“Jesus Christ, oh sorry, sir,” Crane mumbled an apology for his blasphemy. “What happened?”
“Come into the front room.”
The Padre turned and led the way. Crane noted the Captain was out of uniform and without his dog collar. He must have wanted to project a less threatening figure to Kim, in the hope she would open up to him, Crane deduced.
As Crane and Anderson filed into the room, they could see broken glass lying on the floor, mingling with the carpet fibres, glistening in the sunlight streaming through the big hole in the bay window. A brick lay in the centre of the mess, a splash of terracotta against the beige carpet. On the floor by the Padre’s feet was a sheet of white crumpled paper.
“I called round to see Kim, as you suggested, Crane,” the Padre explained. “She got up from the chair to go and make us a cup of tea, when the pane of glass just, just exploded.” Captain Symmonds shook his head. “Luckily we were both too far away for the glass to cause us any injury. But then Kim saw this piece of paper,” Symmonds indicated it with his head. “She picked it up, looked at it in horror and then started screaming. I couldn’t get her to stop, so her mother gave her one of those tablets. What a shock, Crane. I don’t know, how come whenever I work with you, I end up being put in danger?” The Padre tried a lame attempt at humour; a reference to his undercover work with the local churches a few months ago.
“Who’s handled the note, Padre?”.
“Oh, only Kim. She dropped it on the floor here and I haven’t touched it. I guessed it could be evidence. I don’t know what it says.”
“Thank you, sir, it was the right thing to do.”
Anderson snapped on latex gloves, before bending to pick up the offending piece of paper with one hand. With the other he fumbled to get a plastic cover out of his pocket. As he slipped the note inside it, all three men peered at the large scrawling handwriting.
Where were you on Saturday? I waited but you didn’t come.
Why are you doing this?
This is your last chance!
Meet me next week or I’ll come and find you.
That’s a promise.
25
As Crane inserted the key into his front door, the shoulders he had been trying to keep up all day, sagged. He hated what was happening to Kim. He felt so responsible. She was one of his team and he was doing a bloody awful job of keeping her safe. He’d got to come up with something to find the bastard who was doing this. Perhaps his brain would work a bit better after some food and a drink.
Swinging open the door he stepped through, putting down his briefcase, but not bothering to take off his coat, for silence greeted his arrival. The lights were on in the house, but as he stood still and listened, no cooking sounds met his ears, nor smells his nose. He pushed open the door to the lounge, to find Tina asleep on the settee, Daniel spread across her chest, Tina’s arms holding him safe. Trying not to trip over toys and other baby paraphernalia, he turned off the overhead lights, leaving a small lamp glowing for when Tina woke up.
The kitchen didn’t look any more inviting. Half empty coffee mugs littered the surfaces, mingling with used bottles. The coffee percolator had burnt coffee crusting in the bottom of the jug and Crane turned the machine off before it was completely ruined. Opening the fridge he found bottles of baby milk, but precious little else. Closing the door instead of slamming it, which was what he really wanted to do, he turned and left the house.
***
“Tom, Tom, wake up!”
Crane bolted upright on the sofa, instantly awake and looked at Tina, who was wrapping her dressing gown around her and tying the belt.
“What, where, what time is it?”
“It’s half past six. The alarm clock woke me up. You’d better go and have a shower and get ready for work. I’ll make coffee. And be quiet – don’t wake Daniel,” shouted Tina, loud enough to wake him herself.
“Shit,” Crane said as Tina left the room. He grabbed his suit jacket from the floor and followed her at a more sedate pace, as his head was banging. Standing at the kitchen door and leaning against the frame for support, he asked, “Do we have any headache tablets?”
Tina’s response was to pull open a kitchen drawer, grab the packet and throw it at him, banging the drawer closed afterwards.
“Shit,” said Crane to himself again, as he dropped the box of tablets. Bending down slowly and picking it up, he clutched the packet to his chest and dragged himself upstairs with the aid of the banister.
He was back in the kitchen in twenty minutes, damp and exhausted, but ready for work. He fell into a chair and grabbed the mug of black coffee Tina had put on the table for him.
“Sgt’s Mess?” Tina asked.
“Mmm,” Crane answered.
“Because?”
“Because you were asleep and I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Try again, Tom.”
“Because there was nothing to eat and nothing in the fridge to make anything with, so I thought I’d grab something to eat at the Mess.”
“Looks to me like all you grabbed was beer.”
“Maybe I had one or two too many.”
“For God’s sake, Tom, couldn’t you have helped instead of running away?” Tina turned away from him. “I know I’m a bloody awful wife and mother but you didn’t need to rub it in. Making me feel even more of a failure than I do already.” Tina scrabbled in her dressing gown pocket for a tissue and blew her nose.
“Tina, for God’s sake, not everything is your fault, you know. I had a crappy day and needed to let off a bit of steam, that’s all. Don’t make any more of it than that.”
“What about my crappy day, though, Tom?” Tina turned on him. “I’d clearly had a crappy day as well. But there’s nowhere for me to go and let off a bit of steam on my own, is there?”
“Alright, so we’re both under pressure. Okay? Look I haven’t got time for this, Tina, I’ve got to get to work.”
Crane stood up, moving towards her to kiss her goodbye.
As if on cu
e, Daniel started to cry from the nursery upstairs. Pushing past Crane, Tina went upstairs without speaking to him and without kissing him. So Crane poured his coffee down the sink and left for work.
26
Crane took a deep breath before knocking on the door to the house. He was not at all sure how he was going to handle this, so had brought Captain Symmonds along for moral and, hopefully, verbal support.
Kim herself opened the door, immediately putting Crane on the back foot, as he was expecting her mother.
“Hello, sir?” the question in Kim’s voice unavoidable.
“Hi, Kim, um, we wondered if we could have a word with you?” he asked, but the words came out in a rush and he looked at Captain Symmonds.
“Is that alright, Kim?” the Captain asked and as she nodded, the two men followed her through to the sitting room.
Crane decided that Kim was beginning to look a little better. Her hair had been freshly washed and she was dressed in a tee shirt and jeans, rather than being covered from neck to foot in her track suit. However, she was still not making eye contact with either man.
Once they were all seated she asked, “Do you have any more information for me, sir? About the latest note, I mean.”
“More info yes, but no leads I’m afraid.” Crane leaned forwards towards Kim who was sitting in an armchair opposite him. “A neighbour reports hearing a crash and then what she thought was the sound of a motor bike racing away. She didn’t see anything, though, so no leads there. I’m afraid we have no idea who threw the brick with the note through the window, nor what sort of bike they were on.”
“What about forensics, sir?”
“Still no match to the DNA off the hair follicle we found on, um, we found. I’ve taken a DNA sample from a suspect we have in custody, for comparison, but I’m still waiting on the results,” he finished, trying to disguise the awkwardness he felt. But, he realised, he probably wasn’t fooling anybody.
“So?” Kim asked.
“Pardon?”
“So, why are you really here, sir?”
Crane stood and began pacing around the room.
“We really need some help, Kim. This can’t be allowed to go on. The rapes, the murders, this continued stalking.”
He saw Kim’s face drain of colour but ploughed on.
“I’ve hatched a plan, but I need your co-operation.” He stood still and stared at her. “All I want you to do for now, is to listen to what I’ve got to say. Will you do that for me, Kim?”
He watched Kim sit up just that little bit straighter as she said, “Yes, sir.”
Crane sat back down and went on to outline his plan. He explained he wanted Kim to go to The Goose on Saturday night, to try and flush out this maniac. She wouldn’t be alone. Billy would be there, as would DI Anderson and Crane. Staff Sgt Jones would be outside around the corner and quite a few of the RMP lads would be undercover in the bar. Or at least as undercover as an RMP could be, he had to admit, which raised a smile from Kim.
“I can arrange for you to go with a specially trained police officer, a female one and a couple of WPC’s so you’d go as a group of girls.”
“No, I don’t think so, sir.”
Crane sank back into his seat.
“It’s alright, I do understand, Kim,” but Crane failed to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
“No, sir, you’ve misunderstood. I don’t want to go with a few WPCs who I don’t know and don’t understand me and how I’m feeling. I want to go with a male escort. I’d feel a lot safer.”
Crane leaned forward again.
“Of course, Kim, anyone, who…” Crane stopped speaking as he saw Kim was looking at Padre Symmonds.
“Would you accompany me, sir?” she asked the Padre.
As the Captain nodded his assent, Crane couldn’t resist saying, “Very well, but without your clerical collar please, sir.”
***
“We’re doing what?” Anderson shouted from his desk in the CID office, where Crane was lounging nonchalantly against the door frame.
“A bit of an undercover operation on Saturday night, with Kim.”
“Are you lot in the army all mad, Crane? I can’t believe this.”
Anderson shook his head, his hair flying around as though he was sitting outside in a strong wind.
“Well, we’re doing it with or without you, Derek. With would be preferable, of course, but...” Crane shrugged.
“And Kim’s agreed? Are you sure you’ve not bullied her into this?” Anderson cut across Crane’s little show of bravado, narrowing his eyes and looking suspicious.
“What do you take me for, Derek? I’m not that manipulative!”
“Really?” Anderson snorted.
“Really. Now are you in or not?”
Anderson reluctantly agreed, as Crane always knew he would and they got on with working out the details of their plan. Crane took off his jacket while Anderson ordered cups of tea. After scribbling notes and drawing impromptu layouts out of The Goose, they plotted where each surveillance group would stand. Anderson had a list of instructions for the policemen and women and Crane for the RMP. They were just winding up their meeting when Crane’s mobile rang.
“Crane,” he answered. He hadn’t looked at the caller display and was therefore surprised when it was Tina. At least he thought it was her, speaking between sobs.
“Tom, where are you? Can you come?” she wailed in his ear.
“Tina, what the hell’s the matter? Of course I can come, are you at home?”
“No,” she gulped. “T, T, Tesco.”
“I’ll be there in five minutes.”
Crane closed the phone, grabbed his suit jacket and ran out of Anderson’s office, without any explanation and without his paperwork.
27
Crane pulled up as near to the front door of Tesco as he could get, leaping out of the car and running to Tina, who he could see leaning against a wall. She was holding Daniel in her arms, sobbing, with the pushchair next to her. Both Tina and Crane were attracting strange looks from people passing by, but all of them were too intent on either getting into the store to spend their money on stuff they didn’t really need, or getting their loaded trolleys over to their cars before anyone pinched what they’d just bought. So even though Crane and Tina were creating a spectacle, nobody interfered.
Before he said anything, Crane wrapped his arms around both his wife and child. Tina was red faced and her hair was damp with sweat. She had on a coat she owned before she had the baby, that didn’t fit her anymore, over jeans and a baggy jumper.
“Are you alright?” he whispered in Tina’s ear.
She managed to nod against his shoulder.
“Is Daniel alright?”
She moved a little so he could see the baby and whispered back, “Yes, he’s fine.”
“Okay, do you think you can walk to the car? It’s just over there,” he inclined his head.
Again Tina nodded and Crane saw that at least her tears were drying up.
As he stepped back, he moved to take Daniel out of Tina’s arms but she screamed, “No, no! Leave him alone!”
So Crane did as he was asked, collecting the pushchair instead. When they reached the car, Tina still wouldn’t let go of Daniel, so he put her in the back seat with Daniel in her arms and stowed the pushchair in the boot, keeping his fingers crossed all the way home that they didn’t pass a police car and get stopped for not using a baby seat.
After parking on the drive, he went around the car and opened the door for Tina, who still wouldn’t let him take the child from her. They went into the house and Crane had no choice but to seat them both on the settee. After making some tea and warming a bottle for Daniel, he finally managed to persuade Tina to take their coats off.
As she was feeding Daniel, she told Crane what happened.
“I left him in Tesco. Can you believe that? My own baby! I paid for my shopping and then just walked away with the carrier bag, leaving him strapped
in the pushchair at the check-out. I only realised what I’d done when I got to the front door of the store and someone came running after me asking if I’d left my baby behind.”
“What were you thinking of?” Crane asked.
“You, well, us. I couldn’t get what happened last night out of my head. I still feel I’m such a failure at this mothering and housewife bit. Fancy you coming home after a long day at work and there was no meal and I’m asleep. It’s not right. It’s my fault. I don’t know what to do.”
Tina broke down in tears once again, but this time let Crane take the dozing baby. He winded Daniel and then went upstairs and put him in his cot. Whilst there, he pulled out his mobile phone and called Tina’s mother.
Back at Tina’s side he said, “I’ve called your mother, love. Daniel’s asleep, so why don’t you put your feet up on the settee and see if you can get some sleep as well. Your Mum has a key to let herself in, so don’t worry about that and then there’ll be someone here when you wake up. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go back to work.”
Tina nodded her agreement and lay on the settee. Moments later she was fast asleep. Crane looked at her red rimmed eyes and ravaged face and started to formulate a plan.
***
A quick check on the internet back in his office was all it took to help Crane understand that his wife wasn’t going nuts - it was more than likely she was suffering from post natal depression. Eventually he managed to speak to their family doctor, who confirmed two vital points. Firstly Tina needed to understand that seeking help for postnatal depression did not mean that she was a bad mother or unable to cope. In fact it was these very feelings that were a symptom of the illness, along with her tiredness and inability to look after herself properly. Secondly, and equally important as far as Crane was concerned, post natal depression needed to be properly treated and wasn’t something she could just snap out of. So it was vitally important that Crane understood Tina needed help and encouragement for the moment, not criticism and sarcasm.
Honour Bound: A Sgt Major Crane Novel Page 10