by Wonny Lea
Matt nodded in agreement and they both turned as the door opened and a tray of coffee was brought in, but not by Maria. Sister Thomas pushed aside some of the advertising material, deposited three cups of coffee on the table, and turned towards Sergeant Evans.
‘I didn’t realise you intended making a return visit,’ she said. ‘I hope you haven’t wasted your time because I really don’t think I can tell you any more than I did this morning.’
Before Sergeant Evans could respond DS Pryor did her the courtesy of showing her his official identification and explaining that their visit was not directly related to the body found in Coopers Field.
‘So what is it?’ asked Sister Thomas. ‘Maria said it was me you wanted to see, so I naturally assumed it was in relation to this morning’s episode. I’m not in any kind of trouble, am I?’
Matt rushed to reassure her. ‘No, Sister Thomas, of course not, and in a way it’s not something that directly involves you but something you may have witnessed.’
‘Sounds intriguing, but as this is the last time today I am likely to get a break let’s all sit down and drink our coffee – and will you please call me Sarah.’
‘Happy on all counts, Sarah,’ replied Matt. ‘We shouldn’t need to take up too much of your time, but I will let Sergeant Evans explain why we are here.’
‘You will remember that I came here this morning with PC Cook-Watts and we were let in, as now, by one of the care assistants, Maria. We told her that we wanted to speak to you and she was obviously expecting us and hurried off to find you. Rather than hang around in the reception area we followed her along the corridor towards your office.’ Sergeant Evans swallowed a mouthful of what just about passed for coffee and continued. ‘She was way ahead of us and within view, but not quite within hearing distance. Almost as soon as she reached your office, a man and a woman came out, and we held back as you seemed to be still carrying on a conversation with them. We don’t know what was said but the man came out of your office followed by the woman and they walked down the corridor towards us.
‘I heard Maria telling you that the police had arrived to speak to you about the body. I’m not sure if it was what she said or the sight of two police officers, but the man’s face suddenly and dramatically changed from a very angry red to a greyish white, and his knees buckled. The woman held him up with the help of our PC, and then he seemed to gain some inner strength and shrugged himself free of both of them and made his way to the front door. As he passed me there was a very particular look on his face – a look I have seen many times before, a look that betrays a person when they have been caught out, a look that is a mixture of fear and guilt. Anyway that look left a lasting impression on me and when I got back to the station I mentioned the episode to Detective Chief Inspector Phelps and he suggested a return visit to check out my concerns.’
Matt took up the conversation. ‘You see, Sarah, Sergeant Evans here is well-known to be able to smell trouble from fifty paces and we have in the past unearthed criminal activity not through the marvels of modern science but via the twitching of the cilia in his famous nose.’
They all laughed, and Sarah went on to say that she had not witnessed any of the activity in the corridor but remembered well the conversation leading up to it.
‘Just to put you in the picture, the man and the woman you saw are Mr and Mrs Morris, the son-in-law and daughter of Colin James, one of our residents who sadly died last night. They were here to collect his belongings and a death certificate and I was getting wound up by Mr Morris, who never showed anything but contempt for Colin while he was alive but had come like a bat out of hell to benefit from his death.’
‘I couldn’t bear to look at either of them and so I turned my back on them and was about to get on with some reports when Maria knocked the door just as they were leaving. She had come to tell me the police were here to talk to me about the body and Mr Morris who was walking away from my office obviously overheard her and turned back to ask me what she was talking about.’
Sarah blushed slightly. ‘To be honest I think I basically told him to mind his own business, and shut the office door – and that’s when you must have come across him in the corridor.’
‘That fits in,’ Sergeant Evans nodded. ‘He’d heard Maria say that the police were here to talk to you about the body and then he saw us walking towards him – but why did he react the way he did? Is he a particularly sensitive man?’
Sarah, who was at that moment drinking the last of her coffee, almost choked on the sergeant’s words. ‘He’s a maths teacher besotted with money and would probably have to ask the English teacher at his school if he even wanted to spell the word sensitive.’
‘Look, it’s been interesting talking to you, but I need to get back to work – and anyway, what has Mr Morris got to do with the body found in Coopers Field this morning?’
‘Absolutely nothing, I’m certain,’ replied Matt. ‘However you would be surprised at the number of times the routine investigation of one crime leads to the uncovering of other wrongdoings. We won’t keep you much longer but if you could tell us a bit more about Colin James that would be helpful.’
Sarah gave her visitors a potted history and surprised herself with the depth of her knowledge. It made her feel good to realise that she must have really talked to Colin during his time at Parkland, and she hoped he had enjoyed their chats as much as she had. She ended with the comments that she had already made to others about being concerned by his untimely end and DS Pryor picked up on this.
Sarah was quick to justify her comment. ‘Oh, I’m not saying there was anything untoward about his death, Sergeant Pryor – you must realise that many people come here at the end of their lives, when they are alone or their relatives can no longer cope. It’s not unheard of for them to die within hours of getting here, and a number of our residents are only with us a few weeks.’
‘On the other hand we have two ladies and one man who have each been here for more than ten years. They have no relatives that we know of and are people with sound financial backing, but they would probably have died years ago if they had been left to cope on their own.’
Matt interrupted gently. ‘But from what you told us a few minutes ago you were surprised at the rate Mr James changed from being reasonably independent to passing away last night.’
‘Yes, and I have had similar feelings when a few other residents have died, but there has never been anything that has really made me overly concerned.’ Sister Thomas looked thoughtful as her mind had immediately jumped back to the death of Nancy Coleman. Now there was a lady whose death was unexpected – but treated by everyone as sad, not sinister.
‘Look, Sarah, we are probably boxing at shadows here, but I don’t want to leave things only half investigated so if you could cast your mind back to any deaths that on reflection took you by surprise we would like to know about them.’
Sarah looked at Matt and liked what she saw – he seemed like a decent bloke. He was not short in the looks department, and she found herself wishing she had at least straightened her unruly curls before coming to work that morning. Shaking her head to rid herself of these thoughts, she questioned Matt. ‘So what are you asking exactly? Have there been residents who, in my view, have died unexpectedly – is that it?’
‘Well I guess so,’ replied Matt. ‘We have no absolute reason for asking you to consider this it’s just the remote possibility that things may not be exactly as they seem.’
It was obvious that Sarah was already raking through her memory and was realising its limitations. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘If it’s OK I’ll ask Maria to help me, it’s unlikely we will ever get time to look at things here and if I ask for old records Mr Doster will have a fit.’
‘However, Maria is coming to my place tonight as I’m helping her with her NVQs, and as she’s been here for almost a year she’ll be able to jog my memory.’
‘Thank you for your help,’ responded Matt. ‘As I said, it’s probably nothing, but the bos
s, Detective Chief Inspector Phelps, values the nose of Sergeant Evans here and thinks it merits a look!’
As the three of them got to their feet the door actually burst open and a red-faced, angry-looking man glared at Sister Thomas.
‘You are aware that I have asked to be informed immediately when anyone in an official capacity arrives at Parkland. Imagine my horror to hear from the cook that this is the second time today that we have been visited by the police. When exactly were you going to put me in the picture?’
Matt interrupted before the man, he guessed was the home’s owner, could say anything else. ‘Our presence has nothing whatsoever to do with the nursing home, and we are here simply because Sister Thomas was extremely helpful this morning. Please allow me to introduce myself, I am Detective Sergeant Pryor and this is Sergeant Evans.’
Mr Cooper attempted to dominate the conversation but Matt was having none of it. He had taken an instant dislike to the man, and judging by the intimidating way her boss was glaring at Sister Thomas it was Matt’s view that the man was a bully.
‘On her way to work this morning Sister Thomas helped the police deal with a member of the public who had just had the unpleasant misfortune of finding a dead body in an area near Coopers Field. Her help was much appreciated and the only reason we are here is to talk to her about her involvement.’
By now almost purple with rage Mr Cooper managed to get a word in. ‘Yes but that doesn’t explain why you have been here twice in one day, not if it’s just to gather a routine statement. It comes to something when I have to learn that the police are on my premises from a distraught man, just recently upset by the death of his dear father-in-law.’
It was as much as Sarah could do not to laugh out loud. Colin’s son-in-law distraught and distressed by the passing of his wife’s father – she didn’t think so! What Sarah did think about was the fact that Mr William Morris had found it necessary to ring Mr Cooper about the earlier police visit. It really had freaked him out.
But that being the case, it was likely that the phone call would have been made straight away, so why had Mr Cooper taken several hours to track her down and interrogate her?
The owner of the nursing home answered her silent question as he blundered on. ‘I should have been on the ferry by now, but the phone call I received persuaded me to turn around and make my way back to see what the hell was going on.’
‘There was no need for you to go to such lengths,’ suggested Matt. ‘Surely a quick phone call to Sister Thomas would have put you in the picture and set your mind at rest.’
Sarah interjected. ‘If you didn’t want to speak to me there was always Mr Doster. According to Mr Morris, you had made arrangements for him to come in early to hand over Colin’s death certificate – so you knew he was here.’
Now practically purple with frustration, Mr Cooper almost spat out a response to Sarah’s suggestion. ‘Doster is losing his marbles. I wouldn’t trust him to tell me the time. His head is so full of rubbish.’
Sarah pricked up her ears at these comments and wondered if there had been a breakdown in the relationship between Parkland’s owner and its administrator. Surely the jungle drums would have beat out that message if there was even a whisper of discord …
She was not a spiteful person, but Sarah was enjoying seeing this level of angst in someone who so frequently caused it in others.
‘You do seem to have put yourself out considerably for what was after all just a routine visit from our officers earlier.’ Matt smiled and appeared to make a joke but watched closely for the reaction. ‘Unless of course you thought they had come to take you away for some unspeakable crime.’
Anthony Cooper desperately tried to mirror Matt’s smile and join in with the joke, and in doing so came up with what he believed would be a reasonable response. ‘Sorry, Sergeant, the only thing I am guilty of is concern for my staff and the reason for my spontaneous return is to ensure them of my support.’
‘Quite so,’ replied Matt looking out of the corner of his eye at the look of absolute disgust and disbelief that had settled on Sarah’s face. ‘Anyway, you are here now, and our business is complete, so we'll be off – but only after thanking Sister Thomas once again for her help.’
Matt turned to Sarah and shook her hand and she was aware of what felt like a conspiratorial squeeze, but she couldn’t be sure.
Mr Cooper opened the office door and ushered his unwelcome guests to the front door. ‘Fabulous car in the car park,’ remarked Matt as they were being let out. ‘It’s a Merc E500 isn’t it – probably the car of my dreams. We thought it must belong to the owner of the home but as you weren’t here when we arrived then you must have a very rich or very lucky employee.’
‘You were right first time, Sergeant, it is my car. I left it here for the mechanic to pick it up for a brakes check but he obviously hasn’t got around to it yet. Typical! The car that is now parked alongside it is my wife’s car and that’s the one I was driving this morning. No crime in that, is there?’
Matt couldn’t be bothered to answer and made his way towards the official car but couldn’t help notice the one that was now parked alongside the Mercedes – another example from Matt’s dream collection.
‘I’m clearly in the wrong business,’ said Matt as the heavy, functional wheels of the distinctively marked police car passed the 20-inch senta alloy wheels of the zircon blue Jaguar XK. He wondered what the P and the R stood for on the personalised number plate, guessing the C would be for Cooper. It was not possible to determine the year the car was manufactured without the original plates but Matt thought it would be about four years old.
So the Coopers had known quite serious money for some time and although this sleek two-door convertible was still worth well over £25k, the value of the number plates possibly exceeded that of the car. In all a pretty expensive package.
‘Never seen the attraction of personalised number plates,’ muttered Sergeant Evans. ‘The wife considered getting a set as a birthday present for our daughter last year and we went on the internet to look for a configuration that incorporated her name. When the prices came up on the screen we thought there had been a mistake and the decimal point was in the wrong place, but no, they were asking for thousands, even tens of thousands of pounds for some of them.’
Matt laughed and went on to say that he remembered hearing a couple of years ago about a single-letter-zero-one set of plates being sold for £440,000, and he had read that in some parts of the world people have paid millions for a number of their choice. ‘The only thing to say is that the value of the plates is likely to appreciate, while the car will be worth less from the minute it is driven from the car showroom.’
Evans expressed his own views on what Matt had just told him. ‘It’s a topsy-turvy world and totally unfair that some men can, without having to think about it, toss away that sort of money for some fancy pieces of metal while others struggle to make ends meet. I can’t bear to think about it, really, it’s not good for my blood pressure and for sure there is nothing I can do about it, more’s the pity.’
Matt looked at the man sitting in the driver’s seat who suddenly seemed to have taken the cares of the world on his shoulders. The car joined the traffic moving along Cathedral Road and nothing more was said until they had passed through the city and were heading for Cardiff Bay.
The two men had seen a lot of the evil of the world during the past couple of years since Matt had joined Martin’s team. Sergeant Evans was able to add almost thirty more years to Matt’s total and must have witnessed more than anyone’s fair share of human depravity. Somehow he had managed to keep a sense of decency and was one of the few officers who was respected by his seniors and actually liked by his subordinates. When asked how he managed to cope with whatever the job threw at him his answer was always the same.
He insisted that a life outside the force was the only way to survive and in his experience the officers who burn out are always the ones who live for
the job and have no outside interest. For him it was Mrs Evans and his daughter, but they were only slightly above his passion for playing darts. John Evans could possibly have been a champion, but the unsociable hours of his job and those of a professional darts player often clashed and made his availability for set matches impossible.
But after a particularly horrendous day he was able to pick up his darts and imagine that in the space between the wires he needed to hit for a double-ten finish was the face of the evil he had been confronted with, and the point of his arrow flew at the target.
They passed Cardiff Castle, and Matt noticed that a large international coach was unloading its cargo: what looked like Japanese visitors seemingly all armed with cameras and capturing the images of the animal wall. Matt smiled as he realised that a few months ago he would not really have noticed the subject of their interest, but his niece, Tia, had been involved with a school project looking at the building and restoration of Cardiff Castle. He now knew that there had originally been nine stone animals sculptured by Thomas Nicholls, and he could remember Tia telling him that there were two carvings of lions, a lioness, a wolf, and a hyena but for the moment he couldn’t remember the other four.
There were now fifteen animal sculptures on the famous wall – the other six being the work of Alexander Carrick who added a pelican, an ant-eater, a pair of racoons, a leopard, a beaver, and a vulture to the wall when it was moved in either the 1920s or 30s – Matt couldn’t quite recall the date. When he had brought his niece to the castle to take some photographs they had noticed quite a lot of damage to some of the animals and they had both agreed that it was sad to see them looking so neglected.
However just a week later a delighted Tia had skipped into Matt’s kitchen and announced that the animals were going to be saved! No, she had not joined an animal liberation movement – she went on to tell Matt that a man from the castle had been at their school to listen to the presentation of their project. At the end he had told them that a lot of money was going to be spent this year in Bute Park and they were going to restore the animals to their former glory.