by P. F. Ford
Slater continued staring through the two-way mirror at Tim and Jane Jolly, but she could see he looked dubious.
‘You don’t believe me? Okay. So when was the last time someone called the police to ask us to investigate how they picked out the winning numbers for the lottery? Or how their new baby comes to be so beautiful?’
Now Slater turned to look at her.
‘Yeah, but-’ he began.
‘No,’ she interrupted. ‘I’m sorry, but you don’t get to have it both ways. You either believe in fate or you don’t, and if you do, then by definition everything that happens is down to fate.’
He pulled a face and turned back to watching the Jollys.
‘We can have the philosophical debate later, just so I can prove I’m right,’ said Goodnews. ‘But for now, accept I’m right and admit you know it.’
They returned to silently watching two people who had been together for over twenty years behave like total strangers. Goodnews felt it was one of the most awkward scenes she had ever had to witness. A sideways glance at Slater revealed that he looked as uncomfortable as she felt.
‘I feel like a voyeur,’ she whispered.
‘Yeah, me too,’ he agreed. ‘But I suppose we have to watch.’
‘Aye,’ said Goodnews. ‘I’m afraid we do, but at least we can see you were right about her not smuggling in a cake with a file in the centre. It looks as if she’d be more likely to hand him a hand grenade with the pin removed.’
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and turned to look at Slater.
‘How about you give me some good news and cheer me up? I see you have some notes on that pad in front of you, so tell me what you found on that phone.’
‘Oh yeah,’ said Slater. ‘It’s from Tim Jolly’s mobile phone. Most of the calls and texts seem to be quite innocent. You know the sort of thing, who’s picking up the kids, are you taking the kids to play, and assorted other parenty things. I would imagine you’d find the same stuff on anyone’s phone if they have small kids.’
‘Yes, but is there anything relevant to Norman?’ asked Goodnews, impatiently. ‘I’m bloody sure he knows who’s behind this.’
‘I’m just getting to that,’ he said. ‘It seems it’s all been done by text. There are numerous texts going back for weeks. They start off by telling him he shouldn’t trust Norman, and then later they suggest there’s an affair, and finally they spell out very clearly what’s going to happen to the kids if Tim doesn’t do what he’s told.’
‘It’s probably a silly question, but do we know who they’re from?’ she asked.
‘There’s never a name or anything,’ said Slater. ‘I’ve got the number they came from, and I’ve got someone checking it out, but I’d stake my granny’s life on it being unregistered.’
‘Aye,’ said Goodnews. ‘Anyone who’s gone to all this trouble isn’t going to make a stupid mistake like that.’
‘This is true. However, I have a feeling our main man may have become a bit too confident.’
‘Go on,’ she said. ‘I’m listening.’
‘That’s what all the notes are about,’ he said. ‘It seems the messages sent to Norman were intended to lure him down into the basement. Jolly’s job was to meet him in the basement, tie him up, and keep him imprisoned there for a few days.’
‘And then what?’
‘And then Jolly was supposed to just walk away and leave Norman there.’
‘And that’s it?’ asked Goodnews. ‘Just leave him there? Was he supposed to starve, or something?’
‘My guess is “or something”. You wouldn’t go to all this trouble and then just leave the guy there, would you? I mean, even if you wanted to starve Norm to death, how could you rely on Jolly having tied him up tight enough? There’s always the chance he might escape.’
Goodnews was following Slater’s train of thought, and finished it for him.
‘Unless you were coming to finish the job yourself,’ she said.
‘Exactly,’ said Slater. ‘So, unless this guy has some way of knowing what’s happened here-’
‘He’s coming down himself,’ finished Goodnews. ‘So we’ve got a chance to grab him.’
‘If I’m right.’
‘Oh, come on,’ she said, encouragingly. ‘Be positive. Of course you’re right. We’re both right. All we’ve got to do is try to figure out when it’s going to happen.’
‘I have a theory about that,’ said Slater. ‘I could be wrong, of course.’
‘From what I’ve seen, you’re right more often than you’re wrong,’ said Goodnews. ‘So would you like to share your idea?’
Chapter Thirty-Eight
It was a very pale, and shaken, Jane Jolly who re-joined them an hour later.
‘Are you okay?’ asked Slater.
‘I don’t know,’ she said, her voice almost a whisper. ‘How are you supposed to feel when your world gets turned upside down?’
‘Come and sit down,’ said Goodnews, ushering her to a chair.
Slater wasn’t quite sure how Goodnews had managed it, but somehow she had conjured up a pot of tea and some mugs. She settled Jane Jolly and then fussed around pouring tea for them all.
‘We think we know what’s been going on, and what’s going to happen next,’ Goodnews explained to Jolly, as she poured. ‘We’re rather hoping Tim can back up our theory.’
‘He doesn’t seem to know much,’ said Jolly, sadly. ‘At any rate he’s not telling me anything, just that he thinks me and Norm…’
‘If it’s any consolation,’ said Slater, ‘we all know that’s not true.’
She gave him a sad little smile.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Thanks. That’s nice to know, but it’s not really much consolation. He’s the only one that needs to believe me, and he seems to be the only one who doesn’t.’
Goodnews patted her shoulder.
‘I know this must be really hard,’ she said, gently. ‘But if he can help us now, it will help him in the long run.’
‘You mean he’ll get a lighter sentence,’ said Jolly.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Goodnews. ‘But we can’t ignore what he’s done.’
‘Oh I know that,’ said Jolly. ‘He’s been such a fool. If only he’d told me what was going on we could have avoided all this.’
They patiently went through what he’d told her, hoping he might have revealed something useful, but it seemed he was completely preoccupied with the children and how they were in danger. Their meeting had finally ended when he had accused her of not caring.
According to Tim Jolly, his wife should have been at home protecting their children, not sitting here trying to persuade him she wasn’t having an affair with Norman. That had been the final straw for Jane and she’d walked out of the room.
It was Goodnews who eventually escorted Jane Jolly out of the building, handing her over to two uniformed officers with strict instructions to take her back to the hotel, and her children.
‘So basically,’ she said, gloomily, as she re-joined Slater, ‘we’ve still got nothing to go on.’
‘Now let’s try to be a bit more positive, shall we,’ said Slater. ‘That’s what you keep telling me, isn’t it? Maybe fate will be on our side, for once.’
‘I thought you were a fate sceptic,’ said Goodnews, taking note of Slater’s good mood. He certainly seemed a lot happier than he had been five minutes earlier.
‘There’s nothing wrong in a bit of healthy scepticism,’ he said, smiling. ‘But whatever it is, and whatever you want to call it, I can tell you it is on our side.’
He pushed Tim Jolly’s mobile phone across the desk to her.
‘This has just arrived,’ he said.
Goodnews looked at the mobile phone in disbelief. Someone had sent a text message.
Don’t forget your part in this ends tomorrow at 5pm. You will leave and forget this ever happened. You will text back the word okay and then you will destroy this phone. If you want to see your children reach th
eir next birthdays, make sure you never mention this again.
‘Nice and friendly,’ said Goodnews, when she had finished reading the text.
‘Short, and to the point. But it looks like he doesn’t know we’ve rescued Norm and captured Jolly.’
‘So he’s nowhere near as clever as he thinks he is,’ agreed Goodnews. ‘And he’s definitely chosen the wrong accomplice.’
‘So, should I text him back and switch the phone off?’ asked Slater.
‘Do it,’ said Goodnews. ‘And then we can get a welcome committee together.’
Chapter Thirty-Nine
‘Right everyone,’ said Goodnews, replacing her phone back on its cradle and checking her watch. It was 3.30pm. ‘Our suspect’s on the move. He appears to be driving down in a blue saloon car, make and registration to be advised in a few minutes.
‘Now we know it’s going to take him at least two hours to get down here so there’s no need to rush, but even so, I want everyone in position in half an hour. Tim Jolly was told to be out of the way by five so we need to be ready well before that just in case.
‘Once we’re all in position we’ll have radio contact, but it’s not for idle chit chat. I’ll be able to hear each and every one of you, so be warned. If everyone follows the plan and does their bit, we should be in the pub well before closing time. And I’m buying.’
An appreciative mumble went around the room at this news.
‘Are you all set?’ she asked Slater, just over half an hour later.
They were parked in amongst the trees about 100 yards beyond the old farmhouse and its hidden basement. They had figured if they were any closer they were likely to stick out like a sore thumb. The rest of the team had parked their two vehicles in a barn owned by the dairy farmer, and walked around the meadows under cover of the trees. Everyone was now in place apart from Slater.
‘I think so,’ he said.
‘I want you to test that radio as soon as you get out of this car,’ she warned. ‘It’s no good waiting until you’re down in that basement before we find it’s not working.’
‘It was working just fine when it was fitted,’ he said. ‘Why should it go wrong now? Be positive, remember?’
‘Oh, right,’ she said, with a wry smile. ‘That sounds good coming from you.’
‘It’s something I picked up somewhere,’ he said, smiling back as he pushed open the car door. ‘Right I’m off. Wish me luck.’
‘You won’t need it,’ she said. ‘He shouldn’t get anywhere near you.’
‘No. He won’t get anywhere near me,’ corrected Slater. ‘And mine’s a pint of lager.’
‘Don’t tell me what you’re drinking,’ she said. ‘I only said I’m buying, I didn’t say I’d be going up to the bar and ordering.’
‘Who’s doing that then?’ he asked.
‘My right hand man, of course.’ She grinned as his face fell. ‘The art of delegation. It’s all part of managing.’
‘Yeah, right. Of course, it is,’ Slater said, climbing from the car. ‘How silly of me not to have realised.’
As he turned to push the door closed, she gave him a jaunty wave.
‘Here, don’t forget your magic lamp,’ she said, passing him a large, battery powered lantern.
‘Hmmph,’ was his only response as he took the lantern and pushed the door closed.
‘And check that radio,’ she called after him.
Slater trudged through the trees until he was about halfway to the basement, then reached up and pressed the switch on the back of his earpiece.
‘I should be live now,’ he said. ‘Come in one-two, come in.’
‘I hear you loud and clear,’ replied Goodnews in his ear.
‘I’m about 50 yards from the basement,’ he said.
‘Well shift your arse,’ she said. ‘You’re the only one who’s not in position.’
‘I didn’t know that sort of language was correct radio protocol,’ he replied. ‘It’s not in the manual I read.’
‘You’re on Radio Goodnews now, so we’re using my protocol.’
Slater’s face broke into a grin.
‘Radio Goodnews,’ he repeated. ‘Right. I’ll bear that in mind.’
There was silence for a few moments, and then he spoke once again.
‘Going underground now,’ he said.
‘Understood,’ said Goodnews. ‘Just keep that radio switched on.’
She pressed a switch on her headset.
‘Okay everyone, DS Slater is now in position. We’re not expecting our visitor to arrive for at least an hour, but keep on your toes and stay alert. Even if you hear a hedgehog fart, I want to know about it.’
As he made his way down the rickety steps to the old basement, Slater couldn’t help but smile as he listened to Goodnews. There was no doubt about it, she was very good. She seemed to have the ability to effortlessly own every situation, and the guys all seemed to be very happy to have her in command.
He flicked the switch on the battery-powered lantern, fumbled the door open and slipped inside. He held the lantern up to see better, but it wasn’t a great deal of use.
Then two things happened almost at once. First, Goodnews began to speak over the radio, and then, before he even had time to make out what she was saying, he felt a blow to the back of his head and he fell to the ground.
Back in the car, Goodnews was just thinking about getting a bit nearer the action when her phone began to ring. She looked at the incoming number. That’s funny, she thought. What the hell do they want now?
‘Goodnews,’ she said into the phone.
She listened in disbelief.
‘What do you mean the car’s come back?’ she asked. ‘You said he was on his way.’
What she was hearing was not what she wanted to hear.
‘What do you mean she’s driving it?’ she shrieked. ‘Are you telling me it was her in the first place? So where’s he, then?’
She listened again.
‘What do you mean, you don’t know? Jesus. You only had to do one simple job. Can’t you tell the difference between a man and a woman?’
Someone on the other end was trying to explain, but she wasn’t listening any more.
‘You weren’t watching the back were you?’ she asked. ‘He could have been down here for hours, in which case he’ll know we’re onto him. And I’ve just sent a bloody man down there. He could be walking into a trap.’
She cut the call in disgust, and tossed her phone down onto the passenger seat.
‘Slater,’ she said into the radio. ‘We’ve got a problem.’
There was no spoken answer, but she heard a thudding sound
‘Slater? Hello? DS Slater?’ she said frantically into the radio. ‘Dave? Are you alright?’
There was a lot of noise coming over the radio now, but there was nothing she could recognise, and then suddenly there was a voice, but it wasn’t Slater.
‘Hello?’ said a voice she recognised. ‘I suppose that must be DI Goodnews I’m talking to, is it?’
‘Is that you, Howes?’ said Goodnews.
‘I think you’ve already worked that one out, haven’t you?’ said Howes.
‘What have you done with DS Slater?’
‘You mean your mate? He’s not very good, is he?’ said Howes. ‘Terrible really. I wouldn’t want him as my partner. Right now he seems to be sleeping on the job.’
‘If he’s hurt-’ began Goodnews.
‘He’ll have a bit of a headache when he wakes up,’ said Howes. ‘And he looks a bit pale, but that’s probably down to the loss of blood. But I don’t think you need to worry unduly, he looks as if he’s made of strong stuff. I expect he’ll be alright.’
‘Does he need medical attention?’ asked Goodnews. ‘Because if he does-’
‘Because if he does, what?’ interrupted Howes. ‘Do you seriously think I’m going to let you come in here and take him?’
‘So what are you going to do?’ asked Goodnews. ‘You’r
e surrounded by police officers. You can’t seriously think I’m going to allow you to go anywhere.’
‘Well now, that’s up to you,’ said Howes. ‘But I’ll tell you this; I only came down here to murder that fat pig Norman. This was just between me and him. There was no need for anyone else to get involved, but now you’ve made sure I can’t finish what I started.’
‘So you might as well give yourself up,’ said Goodnews. ‘It’s all over.’
‘Ah, but is it all over?’ said Howes. ‘To wait all this time, and go to all this trouble, and then just give up would be very disappointing, don’t you think?’
‘Just face up to reality,’ said Goodnews. ‘You had your chance, and you missed it.’
‘The thing is, I was prepared to risk getting a life sentence. I would have been happy to accept that because it would have been worth it. Now, of course, if I give myself up I’m still going to get put away for a long time, but I’ll have nothing to show for it. Somehow that doesn’t seem right to me, so I got to thinking one police officer is much the same as another, and I’ve got nothing to lose, have I?’
Goodnews had a bad feeling about this. Howes should be seriously stressed, but he sounded very considered and reasonable. This was a bad sign.
‘You might have a problem with Norman,’ said Goodnews, ‘but that has nothing to do with DS Slater. How is hurting him going to help you?’
‘Surely you can work that one out,’ said Howes. ‘Slater is his partner and, as I understand it, they’ve become really good mates. So how do you think good old Norm, would feel if his partner died in his place?’
Goodness felt her insides turn to ice. How the hell could she stall this madman?
‘What do you want, Howes?”
‘What are you offering?’ asked Howes.
‘Let me see what I can do,’ said Goodnews.
‘Don’t be long,’ came the reply. ‘I’m feeling quite tense, and I can get a bit impatient when I’m tense. I’ve been known to turn a bit violent, too.’