by GB Williams
28
Charlie could only stare at her.
They’ve got evidence I killed Tommy.
How was he to process that? He had never heard her voice so dull. He had never heard such a load of rubbish either, and he said so, with several expletives. Then he turned to Piper. ‘Surely you don’t believe this bollocks?’
‘It doesn’t matter what they believe,’ Teddington’s voice was low, but it cut through his aggression. ‘It matters only what they can prove. They have been handed evidence I killed Tommy.’
‘The dibber with Tommy’s blood on it is covered in her fingerprints,’ Carlisle announced.
His head was reeling but he hadn’t completely lost it yet. ‘You only just picked the dibbers up. You can’t know that.’
‘We’ll know soon enough.’
‘This is nuts!’ Charlie struggled to believe anything. ‘Besides, even if you’re right, it’s circumstantial, at best. It hardly surprising her prints are on the equipment. She hands them out to the gardening detail and takes them back in,’ Charlie reasoned.
‘The original work sheets without Tommy’s name and several poor quality forgeries with Tommy’s name on were found, all with her signature.’
‘It’s a forgery; her signature will be a forgery too.’ Charlie sat forward. ‘If that’s the best you have, I repeat, it’s just circumstantial. It won’t hold up in court.’
‘The forgeries were found in her home, in her bedroom, under her mattress.’
No. No, it didn’t make sense. She wasn’t a killer. He turned to her. She turned to face him, defeat written on every feature.
‘I don’t know how the papers got there. I didn’t forge them.’ She laughed at herself. ‘Christ, I never even forged my mum’s signature to get out of school. And I didn’t kill Tommy, either. But, it doesn’t matter. The evidence says I did.’
‘If they are nothing to do with you,’ Carlisle sneered, ‘how did they get into your bed?’
She just looked at him. Neither hate nor fear showed. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Oh, did they just magically appear?’
‘I—’
Charlie shut her up with an elbow to the ribs. ‘No comment.’
She shook her head and sighed, diverting her eyes back to her cuffs.
‘There’s no tape, no video,’ Charlie noticed now. ‘Teddington, did they properly read you your rights? Advise you of your right to a lawyer?’
She was still staring at her cuffs, but she was frowning now, thinking back. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Right, don’t say anything.’ Charlie turned back to the two serving police officers before him. ‘This isn’t right. It isn’t legal, and neither one of us is saying another word until our lawyer gets here.’
‘I don’t have a lawyer.’
Charlie rolled his eyes at the admission, gritted his teeth. ‘Then, mine can represent us both.’
She shook her head. ‘No … No, you need to distance yourself from me as much as possible. Sharing a lawyer will only make things worse.’
‘You know,’ Piper mused, when they both fell silent, ‘she talks a lot of sense.’ His attention shifted from Teddington to Charlie. ‘You’d do well to listen to her.’ Then, he turned to Teddington. ‘And you, young lady, could do worse than listen to him.’
She glanced at Piper. Charlie mourned the loss of the fire in her eyes.
‘Every shift I work, I listened to the men in my care. I watch what happens to them. I see the changes, changes which are rarely as much about rehabilitation as they should be. I listen, and you know what I’ve heard? That in a prison population currently standing at nearly four hundred in Whitewalk alone, there are no guilty men.’
That wasn’t true. Charlie knew it wasn’t true. He was guilty as sin, as were most of the inmates. One or two convictions were a bit questionable, but nothing more.
‘Carlisle,’ Piper spoke in the echoing wake of Teddington’s statement, ‘would you escort Mrs Teddington to a cell. I believe she needs time to cool off.’
Cool off? Charlie frowned at Piper. Teddington couldn’t get much cooler. She wasn’t kicking off, wasn’t getting angry. She wasn’t reacting at all. She just meekly stood and allowed Carlisle to take her from the room. Charlie watched her go, and only when the door was closed and he was alone with Piper, did he turn to the more senior officer.
‘This is wrong,’ he said. ‘Teddington wouldn’t kill anyone, wouldn’t even be a conspirator or an accessory. This has to be a set up.’
Piper just watched him. ‘Of course it is.’
Charlie blinked. ‘What?’
‘Do you think I’ve lost IQ points, just because you’re no longer here? Of course this is a set up. I know it’s a set up. Even Broughton knows a set up when he’s being forced into one, which is why we’ve agreed to do this.’
‘Do what, exactly?’ Charlie frowned.
‘The gun that shot Teddington has been matched with one used in a bungled robbery last week. The perpetrator is so scared of reprisals more than this one case has been moved on because of what’s been given up, but at the moment, we have to keep these cards up our sleeves. We have to be seen as playing along with the setup, for now. And if only half of what we believe is true, the safest place for Teddington is in here. We’ll keep her in the cells overnight – you, too – that, at least, buys us some time.’
‘When you say “us,” which “us” are you talking about?’
‘Broughton and I.’
‘Carlisle?’
Piper shook his head.
‘You don’t trust him?’
‘He’s too angry,’ Piper lamented.
Charlie thought about it. ‘He’s angry with me because I let him down. I did what he could never do, never understand. But, he’s a good man, a little slower than he could be, but he’s honest. If he’s angry, it’ll be because he knows something is going on, and it’ll rankle that you haven’t brought him in on it.’
Piper didn’t comment, which, knowing Piper, meant he wasn’t dismissing the idea out of hand, but wasn’t ready to agree to it.
Charlie knew better than to push. ‘So, what next?’
‘You’ll both be kept here until the twenty-four hours are up, and we have to release or charge.’
‘Tell me the plan is to release.’
‘Probably.’
‘You’re not filling me with confidence.’ Charlie glared at his old boss.
‘Confidence?’ Piper half laughed. ‘How confident do you think I feel, when the person I trust most in this station is wearing handcuffs?’
Charlie felt numb. The walk to the cells was like a nightmare. A perversion of the memory of the many times he had taken this route to the custody cells leading a cuffed suspect. Now, he was the cuffed suspect. The light metal dragged his arms like weighted manacles. His head was full of impossible thoughts, the ridiculous possibility he and Teddington were going to be charged with a crime they did not commit.
‘Should have run when we had the chance.’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Piper answered his witter with a whisper. At the desk, Piper went through the process with the custody sergeant, even telling him which cell Charlie was to be put in.
‘But, sir—’
‘Cell four,’ Piper grated.
‘Yes, sir.’ The custody sergeant gave Charlie the oddest look as he made the note, while Piper unlocked the cuffs.
The sergeant escorted Charlie to the cell at the furthest end of the corridor. He checked inside, unlocked the door, and waved Charlie through. Charlie stepped in, and stopped at seeing someone already in the room. No wonder the sergeant had objected. The door clanged and locked behind him.
‘Teddington?’
She was curled in the corner of the bed, her feet and knees up, hugging herself when there was no one to hug her, the brown of her jumper almost the same shade as the wide material of the skirt. She looked like little more than a bundle of clothes.
‘Charlie?’ She fro
wned. ‘What are you doing in here?’
‘Same as - ’
‘No.’ The frown wasn’t lessening. ‘I mean, what are you doing in here?’ She pointed to the floor. ‘I thought there were rules about numbers in a cell, certainly about not putting men and women in together, and that’s not to mention as far as the police are concerned, you and I are suspects in the same enquiry. Putting us together like this is a breach of protocol. Possible collusion, or …’ her hand waved it away, ‘whatever.’
She was right; it was a massive breach of procedure. In fact, virtually everything that had happened this afternoon had been a breach of procedure. Nothing could come of this, because of a huge list of technical failures, Piper had seen to that. It was good for him and Teddington, but it could cost Piper his job. Charlie added another worry to the list.
Charlie was too numb to do anything but look at her. She didn’t move, didn’t uncurl from her upright, but nonetheless foetal, position. Her chin was now resting on her knee. But, she was looking directly at him.
‘I know what they’ve got on me, what have they got on you?’
‘Time of death could be as much as ten hours before Tommy’s body was found. Apparently, other than being in my cell during lock up, no one can confirm where I was during that time.’
‘Have they asked anyone?’
The astute nature of the question made Charlie smile. ‘Probably not,’ he allowed, as he moved to the other end of the ledge. He sat facing her, his back against the wall, picking his right leg up to lay it on the mattress, and hooking his left leg over his right foot.
‘I’ve never been in handcuffs before.’
He wasn’t sure how to take that. Her tone was controlled.
He couldn’t help smiling. ‘You have.’
‘Okay,’ she flicked him a ghost of a smile, ‘but not like today. I’ve never arrested before.’
‘I’m not sure you have been now,’ he said. ‘If it helps, I remember the first time it happened to me. After I did what I did. I walked away and went home. I could have run, but I didn’t want to. Killing Mansel-Jones was a snap decision, but I never had any doubt it was the right decision. So, I just went home. I sat down, and I waited.’
‘Piper said you’d been beaten when the police arrived.’
Piper wasn’t leaving much room for sanitation. ‘His boys heard the shots. I’d had to fight my way out, or stay and be killed.’
‘His shot, or yours?’
Charlie swallowed. ‘Mine. If Mansel-Jones had shot first, I’d be dead.’
‘And the uniforms just arrested you calmly?’
‘Uniforms?’ If Piper was going to reveal all, so would he. ‘It was Piper who came for me. Arrested me. Put the cuffs on.’
‘Me, too.’
Charlie focused back on her. ‘Sorry.’
She shrugged, but finally she uncurled, moving on all fours to crawl over to him. Not sure what she was doing, he opened his arms, as she twisted to lay her head on his shoulder, half leaning into him, half laying on him, with her leg bent over his. Her hand moved to his stomach, stroking as it moved across his waist, and then, she hugged him. He held her close.
‘You’ll get free of this,’ Charlie told her and kissed her apple-scented hair.
‘Don’t,’ she said softly. ‘Don’t tell me what you can’t know. In fact, don’t tell me anything.’
So, he didn’t. He didn’t tell her anything Piper had told him. Which was just as well, since he was under instruction not to.
The calm didn’t last long. Half an hour later, Teddington was pulled out again for questioning. She looked pale and exhausted when she came back, but he had no time to ask how she was, as he was instantly called out.
Again, he sat opposite Piper and Carlisle.
‘Where’s my lawyer?’
‘On his way,’ Carlisle grated.
‘Then, why are we talking before he gets here?’
‘Haven’t you got used to being alone in a cell?’
He had, but he’d rather gotten used to being alone in a cell with Ariadne. Evidently, Carlisle was ignorant of the comforts of his current accommodation.
‘This is off the record,’ Piper said.
Charlie frowned. ‘Okay, what’s going on?’
‘Besides Mansel-Jones, is there anyone who wants to see you dead?’
He couldn’t avoid looking to Carlisle at that point.
‘Ha, ha,’ the younger man deadpanned.
‘Actually, I was looking at you to judge how serious the question was,’ Charlie explained. He turned to Piper, drew in a breath as he considered his answer. ‘Not that I know of. I mean, I was a cop, so I did arrest men, put several in jail, am now serving my own sentence with a few of them. But, other than Rhys Mansel-Jones, no, I’m not aware of any vendettas. I’m not even convinced Mansel-Jones wants me dead. He wants me to suffer, sure, but he did say death was too good for scum like me.’
‘Which would explain why they attacked Teddington,’ Piper mused.
‘Attacked Ari?’ Charlie questioned and frowned, pushing down the bile that rose in his throat. ‘Who attacked her? When?’
‘In the hospital. She was dehydrated and in pain because of the shoulder injury,’ Carlisle explained. ‘So, they put her on a drip. A bogus nurse went in and put a second dose of morphine in the drip, enough to kill.’
‘Oh, that.’ Charlie could breathe more easily.
‘She told you about it?’ Piper was frowning at him.
‘That information hasn’t been released,’ Carlisle said. ‘She was under strict instructions not to tell anyone, either.’
‘She didn’t tell me,’ Charlie responded. ‘One of the men in jail did.’
‘Which one?’
‘Keen. William Keen.’
Piper nodded. ‘Makes sense.’
Charlie stared at him, as did Carlisle, then, the two looked to each other. This wasn’t the first time they had shared common ground over the boss not telling them something. They both knew he’d get around to revealing the information in his own time.
‘Turner knew too, sort of. He said she had an allergic reaction to the painkiller.’
Carlisle nodded. ‘That’s what we told people.’
Piper focused back on Charlie. ‘Anything else?’
‘Not really.’ Charlie shook his head. ‘Just that something very odd happened a couple of days ago. Rebecca Fry, the parole officer, had called me in to see her for a second time. The first time was weird, but this time, she said she wanted to explain she was still pushing for my parole, but if I wanted, she could help make my time inside more pleasurable.’
Piper frowned. ‘How?’
‘Sex!’ Charlie thought it was bloody obvious.
‘She openly offered you sex?’
‘No, that would be career suicide for a parole officer. The first time it was a lot of innuendo, but I did wonder if I was just imagining it. But that time, she took off her cardigan and there were bruises on her arm. Finger mark bruises. Like someone had handled her roughly. The second meeting, she kept talking about when I was alone with Teddington. She asked if I enjoyed taking advantage of a woman in authority. When I said I hadn’t taken advantage of anyone, she asked me if I wanted to. I thought she was talking about Teddington, but after I started questioning if she was offering something else. Now I’m pretty sure she was.’
‘Are you aware of her making similar offers to any other men?’
Charlie gave him a list of three men he thought might have been involved with Fry.
The knock on the door heralded the arrival of Towers, Charlie’s attorney. After that, the interview became very much a matter of record. Charlie gave one succinct description of what he had done the day Tommy died, after which Towers advised him to use ‘no comment’ a lot.
‘Chief Inspector,’ Towers said an hour later, ‘it’s utterly clear you have absolutely no evidence against my client and very little against the woman you allege to be his co-conspirator. At be
st, it’s circumstantial, more likely it’s harassment, because they weren’t running and hiding, or conspiring, as per your conjecture after the funeral of my client’s son. Now, I strongly suggest you let both my clients go.’
‘I can’t do that,’ Piper responded. ‘He’s a convicted murderer, who has to remain in custody.’
‘Mrs Teddington isn’t.’
‘She also isn’t your client.’
Charlie sat back and watched the sparring, not sure which side he should be cheering on.
‘Has she a lawyer of her own?’
‘One will be appointed as soon as she requests one.’
‘Then, I will represent her.’
‘You can’t,’ Carlisle looked pleased to chip in.
‘I assure—’
‘She’s already said she doesn’t want you,’ Charlie cut Towers off. ‘She thinks we’d both be better served by separate lawyers.’
‘Only,’ Towers considered, ‘if she gets a lawyer in the first place.’ He turned to Piper. ‘I want to see her, discuss her predicament.’
Charlie lay on the ledge, the thin mattress doing little to support him, stared at the ceiling, and worried about Teddington. She’d looked exhausted when they’d swapped places in and out of the cell, meekly complying with any order given. An hour had passed. Charlie was beat, but sleep was impossible. When Teddington returned, she waited until the door was locked, then she slipped over the top of him to lay at his side, as she had before.
He held her close. Apparently, they both needed a lifebuoy to survive this storm.
29
It was Teddington flinching at the sound the door being unlocked that woke Charlie. After three years, he was used to it, and could happily sleep right through. A woman sleeping beside him shifting, however, that he wasn’t used to. He moved his head and blinked as Teddington pushed herself up on her arms, nearly knocking him off the ledge in her rush to get away from him. He swung his legs over the edge and rubbed sleep from his eyes.
‘Christ,’ Teddington’s groan surprised him. ‘It’s only five in the morning.’
Charlie was still trying to transition from asleep to awake, thinking it was odd she still had her watch, but it was a minor point in the current litany of oddities. The door opened and Piper appeared. This early was unusual, but Piper doing the collection was even more unusual.