A Touch of Frost

by R D Wingfield

  She blinked back her tears and smiled bravely.

  “Would you be willing to submit to a medical examination?” Frost asked. “A lady doctor if you prefer.”

  Her eyes widened in alarm and she firmly shook her head. “Oh no. It would be too humiliating.”

  “I quite understand,” sympathized Frost. “Thank you so much for coming, Miss Gibson. You’ve helped us a lot. I’m sure we’ll catch him now. But in the meantime, stay away from the woods.” He whispered to Susan to drive the woman home, and gave a friendly wave as the door closed behind them.

  “The poor cow always asks for me,” said Frost. “I’m the only one who’ll listen to her.”

  Webster snapped his notebook shut. “Stupid bitch. What a complete and utter waste of time.”

  “Don’t be too hard on her,” said Frost softly. “Imagine how you’d feel if the nearest you ever got to the real thing was making up stories for the police.” He aimed his cigarette end at the waste bin. “Let’s get a cup of tea.”

  Sergeant Johnson was waving frantically as they crossed the lobby. “Mr. Mullett wants to see you right away, Jack. Understand he’s worried about your lack of progress with the rape inquiry.”

  “Blimey!” exclaimed Frost. “I only took it over yesterday.”

  The phone rang. “Denton police,” said Johnson. He listened, then smiled. “Yes, madam, he is.” He held the phone out to Frost. “One of your lady friends, Jack. Won’t give her name.”

  Frost thought for a moment. “It must be Shirley. I think I was supposed to take her out last night.” He sent Webster to collect two teas from the canteen and reached for the phone but, seeing Johnny’s ears flapping, decided to take the call in the privacy of his office.

  He sat at his desk trying to think of an excuse for Shirley. He saw the report from Forensic and skipped through it. “If they want to search, let them bloody well do it,” he muttered, pushing it away. He picked up the phone. “Hello, Shirley.”

  There was silence from the other end, then a woman’s voice said “Mr.

  Frost.. . ?” It wasn’t Shirley.

  “Yes, Frost here,” he said. “Who is that?”

  “It’s Sadie - Sadie Eustace.”

  Frost slid back in his chair. Sadie! The wife of Useless Eustace!

  “What do you want, Sadie?”

  “Can I talk to you in confidence?”

  “Of course you bloody can’t,” said Frost. “Your old man’s wanted for murder.”

  “He didn’t do it, Mr. Frost.”

  “Of course he didn’t, Sadie. He didn’t do any of the jobs he was sent down for. He’s a model citizen.”

  “But he didn’t kill that copper. He swears it. Listen, Mr. Frost, this is for your ears only. Stan’s been in touch with me.”

  Frost sat up straight. “No, you listen to me, Sadie. First of all, I’m not on this case, so you’re wasting your time talking to me. Secondly, whatever you tell me goes straight on the record every word. If you don’t want that to happen, hang up and I’ll forget this conversation ever took place.”

  “Stan wants to talk to you, Mr. Frost. He says you’re the only one he can trust.”

  “Then let him come to the station and give himself up. I’ll talk to him then.”

  “No, Jack, please. I don’t want to speak over the phone. Can you come over to the house?”

  “Just a minute.” He put down the phone and wandered outside so he could see the lobby. The desk phone was on its rest and Sergeant Johnson was taking details from a woman whose cat had been locked in a neighbour’s shed. Satisfied that the sergeant wasn’t eavesdropping on the conversation, he went back to his desk. “Listen to me, Sadie. I can’t come to your house. It would be more than my job is worth. I shouldn’t even be talking to you now.”

  “The cafeteria in Woolworth’s in the High Street.”

  “What about it?”

  “I’ll be there in five minutes. Corner table. Meet me.”

  “No!” said Frost firmly.

  “Please,” said Sadie as she hung up.

  “No,” said Frost even more firmly to the dial tone. He hung up, then spun around guiltily as Webster pushed in with the teas. “Shut the door, son.”

  Webster backed against the door to close it. He put one cup of tea on the inspector’s desk.

  “Ta,” said Frost, stirring it with a pencil, still not certain what to do about the phone call. “I’ve just had Stanley Eustace’s wife on the phone. She wants me to meet her in five minutes.”

  Webster raised his eyebrows. “Have you told Mr. Allen?”

  Frost shook his head. “She doesn’t want me to tell anyone. Says it’s to be off the record. What do you think?”

  Webster drained his cup and parked it on the window’s ledge. “I think you’d be mad to go.”

  “That’s what I think, too,” said Frost gloomily. “Stark, staring, bleeding mad.” He stood up and shuffled on his mac. “If anyone wants me, you don’t know where I am.”

  With the lunch-time rush the cafeteria was a cacophony of crockery, cutlery, and raised voices. Sadie was hunched up in the corner, staring at the brown plastic table top, which was puddled with spilt tea. Frost bought two coffees from the quick-service counter and carried them over.

  “Anyone sitting here?” he asked, dropping down on the padded vinyl bench. He slid one of the coffees over. She raised her head, forced a smile, then began to stir her coffee mechanically.

  “Thanks for coming, Jack.”

  “That’s all right,” replied Frost. “I felt like getting kicked out of the force.” He tore open the little plastic bag of sugar and tipped it into his cup. “So what have I risked it all for?”

  She leaned forward. “He didn’t do it, Jack.”

  “The jeweller identified him, Sadie.”

  She brushed that aside with a flick of her hand. “I know he did the jeweller, but he didn’t shoot that copper.” She covered her face with her hands. “I wish he’d never bought that bloody gun. I told Stan right from the start it would only lead to trouble. He said it would only be a prop, a frightener. He said he would never pull the trigger .. . but .. . but I knew different. Stan never meant to hurt the jeweller. He only meant to frighten him.”

  “He did that all right,” said Frost. “He frightened the shit out of him.”

  “He panicked,” she said.

  “Yes, and he panicked when he was stopped by the constable. He panicked so much he blew half his bloody head off.”

  She continued to stir her coffee, then pushed the cup away, untasted.

  “Stan swears to me that he didn’t do that policeman.”

  “If I had killed someone, Sadie, I’d swear I hadn’t done it.”

  She looked him directly in the eye. “I believe him, Mr. Frost.”

  He smiled ruefully. “My wife used to believe me, love, but most of the time I was bloody lying.” For some reason he was beginning to feel uneasy. As if someone was watching him. He let his eyes wander around the adjacent tables. People were more concerned with their food than with him. Then he realized Sadie had been talking and he hadn’t been listening.

  “Stan wants to see you, Mr. Frost. He wants to arrange a meet.”

  “He’s been in touch?”

  She nodded.

  “Listen, Sadie. When he gets in touch again you can tell him that I don’t want to know. I believed him at first, but today we found the dead copper’s notebook smack bang next to Stanley’s getaway car. Unless he can explain that away, he can forget all about meets as far as I’m concerned.” He was all ready to slide off the bench and get the hell out of there when a shadow fell across the table. Someone was standing there, looking down at them. He slumped back and groaned. No need to raise his head. He knew who it was.

  Detective Inspector Allen, his lips twisted into a knowing, superior smile, his eyes glinting with the pleasure of having caught Frost out.

  “Well, well, well, and what have we here?”

  Shi
t! thought Frost, his eyes scanning the cafeteria. Plainclothes men everywhere. No wonder he had felt uneasy.

  “We thought she was meeting her husband,” Allen explained. “We followed her from the house.”

  “I’m sorry, Jack,” said Sadie. “I didn’t know the bastards were lurking.”

  Frost slouched back on the bench and sought the solace of a cigarette. It gave him something to do while he pulled his thoughts together. “I should have realized,” he said. “I’m bloody stupid.”

  “I would say criminally stupid,” said Allen, dumping himself down on the bench. “Just what do you think you are doing here, Frost? A prearranged meeting with the wife of a man who has murdered a young police officer?”

  “I asked Mr. Frost to see me for a private talk,” snapped Sadie.

  “Private?” asked Allen mockingly. “So, some parts of a murder investigation are suddenly private?” His head snapped around to Frost. “You had no business seeing this woman without my express permission.”

  Frost said nothing. The trouble was that Allen was one hundred percent right and bloody knew it, and was going to squeeze every last drop of advantage from it. But what the hell. He leaned across the table and pressed Sadie’s arm. “Try not to worry, love.” He stood up and pushed past Allen.

  “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” shouted Allen. But Frost was weaving his way through the tables.

  All right, thought Allen. You can walk away from me, Frost, but just wait until Mullett learns about this little caper of yours.

  “What joy?” asked Webster when Frost returned to the office and bundled his mac on the hat stand.

  “More misery than joy, son. I was caught red-handed by Old Clever Balls.”

  Serves you damn well right, thought Webster. “What did she want?”

  “Stanley wants to have a meet. I said no.”

  “She must know where he is then.”

  “I’m sure she does, son.”

  “Did you tell Mr. Allen?”

  “No. He’s so bleeding clever, let him find out for himself.” He chucked himself in his chair and shoved all the incoming post, unread, into his out-tray. “Any news from Arthur Hanlon on our dead tramp?”

  “He was asking for you,” Webster reported. “He says he’s spoken to all the unwashed and flea-ridden in Denton and can’t come up with anyone who saw Ben Cornish later than four o’clock.”

  Frost uttered a little sigh of disappointment. “We’re not getting very far with that case, are we, son? No-one seems to have their heart and soul in it. Hundreds of flatfeet looking for poor old Stan Eustace and all I’ve got is little fat Arthur Hanlon looking for the bastard who stamped Ben to death.”

  The door handle rattled and someone kicked one of the panels. Webster opened it to admit Sergeant Ingram, his arms full of files.

  “I was asked to bring you these,” he said. “They’re Mr. Allen’s files on the Denton rapist investigation.”

  “Put them on Webster’s desk,” said Frost, who certainly didn’t want them on his. He noticed how tired and drawn the sergeant looked. “Mr. Allen working you hard, is he?”

  “Hard enough,” said Ingram. “Mr. Allen said will you please keep his files in good nick.”

  “I’ll treat them as if they were my own,” said Frost.

  Ingram forced a smile. “That’s what he’s afraid of.” The smile immediately snapped off. As he went out, he had to push past an agitated Sergeant Johnny Johnson coming in.

  Frost jerked his head at the departing Ingram. “He doesn’t look too happy.”

  “Wife trouble,” said Johnny Johnson. “I’ll tell you someone else who doesn’t look too happy, Jack. Mr. Mullett. He’s been sitting in his office waiting for you for more than an hour.”

  Frost’s jaw dropped and he smacked his brow. “Flaming hell, I forgot all about the old git. I was on my way in to him when Sadie Eustace phoned.”

  “He knows all about your tryst with her as well, Jack. Mr. Allen has been putting the verbal boot in.”

  “He’s a darling man,” said Frost as he zipped through the door on his way to the Divisional Commander’s office.

  He was halfway down the passage when Police Constable Kenny, looking pleased with himself, grabbed at his arm. “We’ve got him for you, Mr. Frost. He’s in the interview room.”

  Frost’s spirits rose. “Who?” he asked hopefully. “The Denton rapist?”

  “No, sir, Tommy Croll, the security guard from The Coconut Grove. You said you wanted him picked up.”

  “Oh,” said Frost, trying not to sound disappointed. With so much else on his plate the robbery had completely slipped his mind. “Where did you find him?”

  “Sneaking back into his digs to pick up his clothes.”

  Frost patted the constable on the back. “Good work, young Kenny. Hold on, would you. Mr. Mullett’s waiting all eager to give me a bollocking, so I’d better get that treat over first. Shouldn’t be more than ten minutes though.” And he plunged on down the corridor for his tryst with the Superintendent.

  “Come in,” growled Mullett, his head bowed over his midday post. He heard the door open and close. He looked up and there was Frost, in that shiny suit with the baggy trousers, out of breath and looking worried. Good. He would give him something to look worried about.

  “I asked to see you more than an hour ago, Inspector,” he observed icily.

  “Sorry about that, Super,” said Frost, searching his pockets for his cigarettes. Damn, he’d left them in the office. He looked hopefully at the silver cigarette box twinkling in the sunlight on Mullett’s desk. Mullett scooped up the box and locked it away in his drawer. Sometimes Frost had the gall to help himself without being asked.

  “This is your last warning, Frost. In future, when you receive a summons from me, you will be here, on the double.”

  Silence from Frost, who was looking very sorry for himself. He would look even sorrier before Mullett had finished. Mullett produced the copy of the Denton Echo, the editorial ringed in blue felt tip. He pushed it over to Frost. “Have you seen this?”

  “Not yet, sir.” Frost gave it the briefest of glances and chucked it back. “Load of balls.”

  “On the contrary, Inspector,” snapped Mullett. “What they are saying is painfully correct. A girl was raped last night. Have you interviewed her?”

  “Well, no,” said Frost, shifting from one foot to the other, “Detective Constable Harvey took a statement.. .”

  But Mullett wouldn’t allow him to finish. “A rape case. A girl raped and the officer in charge of the investigation doesn’t even bother to interview her personally.”

  “We were busy with her boy friend last night,” retorted the inspector.

  “She claimed he raped her. We had to clear him first.”

  “Clearing the innocent does nothing to reduce our unsolved crime figures. Catching the guilty does,” snapped Mullett. “I further understand you haven’t yet made a search of the rape area.”

  “I was on my way to do it when I got your summons, sir,” said Frost, meeting Mullett’s stare of disbelief unwaveringly.

  “Make sure you do it, then. And have you interviewed the men on the list of suspects that Mr. Allen has drawn up?”

  I’ve not even opened his bloody files yet, thought Frost. “It’s my number-one priority,” he said.

  Mullett had plenty more bullets in the chamber. “What progress with that dead tramp?”

  “Not much joy up to now, sir,” said Frost.

  Mullett stared hard to show his dissatisfaction. Frost shuffled his feet and looked down to the blue Wilton. It sped things up if you looked contrite, and Frost was dying to get back to the office for a cigarette. “If there’s nothing else, Super .. .” he edged toward the door.

  Mullett was opening and shutting drawers. There was quite a lot more, but he had mislaid his notes.

  “What about the robbery at The Coconut Grove?” he barked.

  “Got a suspect in the intervi
ew room right now, Super.”

  “Good. Then let me see some action, Frost. Let me see some progress, something that’s been sadly lacking up to now.”

  He flipped his hand dismissively, remembering too late about the Sadie Eustace business and the crime statistics.

  Frost slouched back to his office, where he gave the waste bin a vicious kick. “Would that that was the reproductive area of our beloved Divisional Commander.”

  Then he collapsed in his chair and found the cigarettes he had been seeking. He raised his head to Webster, who was regarding his superior’s show of childishness with superior disdain. “Mullett’s been rambling on about a list of suspects in the rape case, son. Any idea what the old git’s talking about?”

  Webster extracted some stapled lists of names and addresses from one of Allen’s files and handed it to the inspector. Frost thumbed through the pages, wincing at the sheer volume of names.

  “List of suspects?” he snorted. “It’s more like the Classified Telephone Directory. There must be every sex offender in the county down here.” He stopped at a name he recognized. “Freddy Gleeson! Fred the Flasher? Allen must be off his nut if he thinks Freddy could possibly be the rapist. His dick is for display purposes only, not for use.” He let the list drop to the desk and pushed it away. “Forget it. It’ll take weeks to go through that lot.”

  “Couldn’t we at least pull in some of the more likely ones?” Webster asked.

  Frost thumbed the pages once more and shuddered. “Waste of bloody time. These are all people with previous form. My gut feeling is that our bloke has never been caught before, so we’re not going to find him in lists of known offenders.” He looked up impatiently as someone knocked at the door. “Yes?”

  PC Kenny poked his head in. “Tommy Croll is still in the interview room, sir,” he reminded the inspector.

  “I was just on my way in as you knocked,” said Frost.

  Tommy Croll was unshaven and unwashed, his clothes even more crumpled than Frost’s. He blinked nervously as the inspector entered with his hairy sidekick.

  “Hello, Tommy,” greeted Frost, settling himself down in the familiar hard interview room chair. “Nice of you to come and see us.”