The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery

by Patrick C Walsh

  Dan shook his head.

  ‘No, I drew a total blank too. It seems most of the drivers were out on jobs, they only came back to the office when they heard about Stelios on their radios. The operators couldn’t see anything from where they sit and none of them had anything to add about our man. He was very nice and polite, one of the operators said. She obviously hadn’t heard about his wandering hands.’

  ‘Our man obviously has a real problem with women,’ Mac said. ‘It was also interesting what Stelios said about our man being able to break into a car so easily. He must have learnt how to do that when he was in Hungary, perhaps he has a record there for car theft or joy riding?’

  ‘Good thinking,’ Dan said. ‘I’ll get Martin to check tomorrow.’

  He looked at the clock on the dashboard.

  ‘God, it’s nearly one, it’s been a long day. Still okay Mac?’

  Mac nodded. He couldn’t speak because another bolt of pain ran down his left leg, if he opened his mouth Dan would know.

  Dan dropped Mac and Tommy at the car park.

  Mac waited until Dan had driven off and then, with an effort, said, ‘Tommy, I’ve got a problem, I can’t walk and I won’t be able to drive.’

  Tommy looked concerned.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell Dan?’ Before Mac could answer he added, ‘You’re afraid he’ll take you off the case, aren’t you?’

  Mac nodded.

  ‘Okay wait here,’ Tommy ordered.

  A few minutes later he returned with an office chair that was on wheels.

  ‘Your taxi,’ Tommy quipped.

  Mac gingerly sat down and Tommy slowly pushed him up the ramp into the station. He could feel every little jolt along the way and he only just about managed to keep from making a sound.

  He rolled Mac along a corridor and stopped outside of a door.

  ‘Your room is ready.’

  He opened the door and wheeled Mac inside.

  The room was a medical recovery room. It had a desk and a couple of chairs, a big first aid kit and a defibrillator. However Mac wasn’t interested in any of these, he was looking lovingly at the bed that was pushed up against the far wall.

  ‘Will this do?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘You’re a genius Tommy.’

  Tommy pulled back the bed sheets and helped him up out of the chair into a sitting position on the bed. He removed Mac’s shoes and jacket so he could lie down and then covered him with the sheets. Mac couldn’t help letting out a loud grunt a few seconds later.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Mac said, ‘when I lie down it always gets a little worse for a few minutes but it will ease off soon.’

  ‘Is there anything you can take for the pain?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘Yes, here.’

  Mac took out his wallet and pulled out a small flat plastic pack.

  ‘Can you cut the top off with a pair of scissors, just where the little arrow is?’

  Tommy did as ordered and returned the opened pack to Mac. He took out a small, clear rectangle of plastic. He undid the top three buttons of his shirt and removed another small plastic square from his right shoulder blade. He stuck it to the outside of the pack. He then carefully removed the two clear plastic wings that protected the gluey surface of the patch and stuck it on his left shoulder blade. He gently patted down the surface of the patch with his finger.

  ‘Do you do that so it will stick better?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘No it sticks fine you can shower and even swim with these things on. I’m trying to warm it up a bit, the drug in the glue is released by body warmth.’

  ‘Why didn’t you leave the old one on if you’re in such pain?’

  ‘It would definitely have helped the pain but tomorrow I’d be going around calling everyone ‘man’ and saying ‘peace, love, dope’. I need to keep my brain as sharp as I can, hopefully the new patch and a bit of rest will do the trick.’

  ‘And if it doesn’t?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘If it doesn’t someone might be calling me an ambulance tomorrow.’

  Tommy searched Mac’s jacket and found his phone. He placed it near Mac.

  ‘Ring me if you’re in trouble. It doesn’t matter what time it is.’

  ‘I’ll be okay Tommy, a bit of rest is all I need’.

  He said a little prayer that he might be right.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Friday 9th January

  Mac had to wait an hour or so before the pain eased off enough for him to finally fall sleep. For a while he slept in fits and starts, the pain only punctuated by weird lucid dreams. At some point in the night he must have dropped off properly because the next thing he knew he was being gently shaken.

  ‘Mac, are you alright?’ Tommy asked in a low voice.

  Mac rubbed his eyes.

  ‘I’ll let you know in a minute.’

  He got himself into a sitting position and then, very gingerly stood up and took a few steps. He gave Tommy a wide smile.

  ‘It isn’t great but it’s a hell of a lot better than it was.’

  ‘I’ve got you a little present,’ Tommy said as he handed him a supermarket carrier bag.

  Mac looked inside. He saw a pair of shorts, a pair of socks, a shirt and a pack of disposable razors. He looked up at Tommy with some surprise.

  ‘You got these for me?’

  ‘Well they’re not for me,’ Tommy replied with a smile, ‘They’re a bit on the big side. Come on I’ll show you where the shower is and then we can get a sausage and egg sandwich in the canteen.’

  Mac found that he was really touched by Tommy’s thoughtfulness. The warm water on his back felt good and, with new underwear, socks and shirt on he felt like he could face the world again.

  As they made their way to the canteen Mac asked, ‘What time is it Tommy?’

  ‘Only eight, I thought it might be best to come a bit earlier before the rest of the team shows up, give you a bit more time.’

  ‘Save me from being seen you mean. Thanks Tommy.’

  ‘You really want to carry on with this case don’t you?’

  ‘I do, even with the pain, this is the most alive I’ve felt in quite a while but for me the real driver now is Spiros Andreou.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I saw his face when he looked at his son’s body. I can’t explain it but for a brief moment I could feel his pain and believe it was worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. I’ve promised myself that I’m going to help catch the bastard who killed his son.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ Tommy said as he held the door open for Mac.

  The smell of frying food hit him and he was suddenly ravenous.

  ‘Sausage and egg sandwich anyone?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘Can I have two?’ Mac asked with a grin.

  It was eight forty five when they returned to the incident room. It was empty except for Martin who was busy tapping away at his laptop.

  Mac asked Martin if he’d managed to have a look at the data from the university yet.

  ‘Nothing much there I’m afraid. It mentions Matyas but all it said is that the contract was terminated by mutual agreement.’

  Martin shrugged his shoulders.

  Dan arrived just after nine and seemed surprised to see Mac.

  ‘God, you put me to shame. Here you are ready to work and I haven’t even had breakfast yet. I bet you’ve been here for a while, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes, quite a while,’ Mac replied as he gave Tommy a conspiratorial grin.

  While Dan was away getting his breakfast, the rest of the team started drifting in. Mary was the last to arrive, she looked tired. She pulled out a little mirror and started applying make-up as Dan returned with a half-eaten sandwich in his hand.

  ‘Okay team,’ Dan said as he stood at the whiteboard. ‘Adil, can you take us through what you found last night?’

  Adil stood up as Dan moved to the side and took a bite from his sandwich.

  ‘Unfortunately there’s not much to tell. We interview
ed the professor’s neighbour who saw our man climbing over the back fence but, apart from the fact he wore dark clothes and possibly a balaclava, there was nothing he could add. The door to doors also proved a waste of time, so we’re hoping that the autopsy results and the forensics report might provide us with something. We should get them later this morning.’

  ‘Did forensics find anything obvious last night that might be of use?’ Dan asked.

  Buddy piped up.

  ‘They did say that it looked like the professor had been sexually assaulted but they couldn’t find any obvious signs of semen so they reckoned that her assailant probably wore a condom. They’re still hopeful that there might still be some trace evidence though. They also found a good shoe print in some soft soil near the back fence.’

  ‘Okay so we’ll just have to wait for the reports,’ Dan said. ‘Adil, can you carry on with the professor? As you, Buddy and Mary have already started probably best if you carry on while Tommy, Mac and myself, carry on with the taxi driver.’

  ‘Sure no problem,’ Adil replied, looking quite made up to be given the responsibility for a major murder case.

  ‘So what’s your next step?’ Dan asked.

  ‘We’ve still got some door to doors to finish, at least two of her nearby neighbours weren’t in last night and I want to make sure we’ve covered everyone. Who knows if they might have seen something earlier? I’d also like to expand the door to doors. There’s an entry way on the other side of the fence where our man climbed over. There are just the two exits, both coming out into residential areas. Someone may have seen him come out and, if he drove, he must have parked his car somewhere so I think that’s worth a shot. Once we’ve done that we’ll go to the University and question her colleagues and students.’

  ‘Sounds like that should keep you busy for the rest of the day. We’ll go back to the taxi office just in case there’s anyone we missed. Then we’ll need to interview Stelios Andreou’s family. They might be able to tell us a bit more about this Matyas.’

  Dan turned to Martin.

  ‘Martin can you read all the forensics and RTA reports when they come in and give Adil and myself a ring if there’s anything we need to know. Also, it turns out our man is more than competent at breaking into cars, so check with the Hungarian police to see if he has any previous. If he has a record it might help you confirm his true identity. Oh and don’t forget about the passport photo as well.’

  ‘No problems, I’ll give Maria a call,’ Martin replied.

  ‘Who’s Maria?’

  ‘She’s a police officer in Budapest, she’s been helping me out,’ Martin replied with a grin.

  ‘Young and good looking too I’d bet.’

  ‘I thank God for Skype daily,’ Martin replied with a cheeky grin that confirmed Dan’s speculations.

  ‘Okay team, stay in contact then back here no later than five for a debrief, unless you’ve got a hot lead of course. The Chief is organising a press conference for six so even if you are following something up make sure that Martin is aware of what you’ve been up to.’

  Dan drove Tommy and Mac to the taxi office.

  ‘Tommy, mind if I drop you off here for the day? Can you hang around and speak to every driver who comes on shift. Someone has to know something that will help.’

  ‘Sure, no problem,’ Tommy replied.

  ‘Ring me if you find anything otherwise I’ll hopefully pick you up before five.’

  Dan glanced at Mac as they drove towards the Andreou’s house.

  ‘I’m really not looking forward to this.’

  Mac frowned.

  ‘Me neither.’

  They pulled up outside a large, prosperous looking house in the suburbs. With eight sons Mac supposed it would have to be large. A woman in her fifties dressed in black opened the door. Her eyes were reddened from crying. She introduced herself as Mrs. Andreou.

  Dan showed her his warrant card and introduced himself and Mac.

  ‘We’re investigating the murder of your son Stelios. We’d like to talk to your husband and sons about Matyas. I know this isn’t a good time…’

  ‘There never will be a good time for this, will there?’ she said as she held the door open. ‘My husband has gone to work but my sons are all here.’

  ‘Your husband’s at work?’ Mac said with some surprise.

  ‘He goes to work so he can pretend for a while that everything’s normal, that he still has eight sons. This has broken his heart.’

  ‘Was Stelios married?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Yes, his wife Sofia is resting upstairs. It has broken her heart too.’

  ‘I’d be grateful if we could see her for a minute.’

  Mrs. Andreou nodded and waved at them to follow her. She led them upstairs and then gently knocked at a door before opening it.

  ‘Wait here,’ she ordered and went in closing the door behind her.

  A few minutes later the door opened.

  ‘She’ll see you but please don’t be too long. She’s looking very tired.’

  Dan thanked her and entered the bedroom. Sofia Andreou was lying in bed and it was her eyes that Mac immediately noticed. They were very dark with deep black rings around them. They had that same look of inconsolable loss that he’d seen in Spiros’ face in the ambulance. A woman who looked very like her sat on the other side of the bed and held her hand. She introduced herself as Sofia’s younger sister, Lia.

  Sofia sat up and said, ‘What can I do to help you find this dolofonos?’

  Mac didn’t know what ‘dolofonos’ exactly meant but he got the general idea from the venom with which she said it.

  ‘Is there anything you can tell us about your husband and Matyas?’ Dan asked.

  She shook her head.

  ‘I’ve thought of little else but Stelly never talked about work much. I noticed he was upset for a time and I heard from someone else that he’d had a bust up with that malaka Matyas. My husband never let things get him down for long so I was quite surprised at how relieved he was when we heard that Matyas had gone home. It seems he was right to have been so worried after all.’

  Dan persisted, ‘He told you nothing at all about having to sack Matyas?’

  ‘No, all he liked to talk about was his family and football. We talked a lot about having our own family, we’ve been trying for a child for years and Stelly’s dad is so keen on having more grandkids. And now… and now…’

  She couldn’t go on and broke down into tears. Dan and Mac quietly made their way to the door. Lia followed them.

  ‘Look after her,’ Dan said.

  ‘I will,’ Lia replied. ‘She’ll need lots of looking after, she’s pregnant.’

  ‘When did she learn?’ Mac asked.

  ‘Just this morning, crazy isn’t it? She’d been feeling strange for a few weeks now and it reminded me of how I was when I had my first, so I bought a testing kit. I’ve never really seen anyone cry and laugh at the same time before.’

  ‘Have you told anyone else yet?’ Mac asked.

  ‘No, she wants the doctor to confirm it first, just in case. He’s coming over later today.’

  ‘Tell Spiros as soon as you know for sure. If anything could help him at this time that might just be it.’

  Lia promised she would.

  Downstairs in the large living room there must have been twenty or more people sitting or standing around. They all went quiet when Dan and Mac walked in.

  ‘Good morning,’ Dan said. ‘We’re the police and we’re investigating Stelios Andreou’s murder. We’d like to speak to anyone who ever met the man you knew as Matyas or who has any other information about him. The smallest detail might help us find this man so if you think you can help please hold your hand up.’

  Eight hands went up.

  ‘Okay four each then Mac.’

  Dan turned to Mrs. Andreou.

  ‘Do you have a couple of rooms we could use?

  She led them down a corridor and opened the door of a roo
m that was used as an office and another next door that had a pool table and a games console.

  ‘Will these do?’ she asked.

  ‘Perfect. Mrs. Andreou, it would speed things up if you could send another one in when we’ve finished with the previous interview.’

  ‘Anything to help,’ she half turned away and then turned back. ‘Mr. Carter, I’m so sorry that I didn’t say thank you earlier.’

  Dan looked a bit mystified.

  ‘For sending a car for my Dimitrios, it was so kind of you to think of his safety.’

  ‘Not a problem.’

  ‘I know you’ll do your best to catch this…no I can’t say his name…this devil who killed my son. Stelios may not have been the cleverest of my sons but he had a good heart. He didn’t deserve this.’

  ‘We will Mrs Andreou, we’ll do everything we can.’

  She nodded and left them.

  ‘Which one do you want?’ Dan asked.

  Mac had noticed a large, comfortable looking executive chair behind the desk in the office.

  ‘Mind if I have this one?’

  Dan smiled.

  ‘No problem, I can always brush up my pool technique in between interviews.’

  Mac made himself comfortable. A few minutes later there was a hesitant knock on the door and Mac felt strangely like he should be saying ‘Next patient please’.

  The door didn’t open so Mac actually had to say, ‘Come in please.’

  A young man of around eighteen came in and sat on the edge of the chair. He looked sorrowfully up at Mac.

  ‘I can tell you’re one of Stelios’s brothers, you all look so like each other,’ Mac prompted.

  ‘My name’s Nikos but everyone calls me Nicky,’ the young man replied.

  ‘Okay Nicky, what can you tell me about Matyas?’

  ‘Not much really. He was mad about football, he knew everything there was to know. We sometimes saw him at the match. I used to go with my dad when I was younger.’

  ‘The match? You mean Luton Town.’

  Nicky nodded.

  ‘So is that what you’ve come to tell me?’ Mac asked.