by Zach Abrams
Alex joined the boys in the water and they decided it would be easier to swim breadths rather than partial lengths under the circumstances. It wasn't easy to conduct any conversation because of the loud dance music which reverberated through the entire area. They spent a frustrating few minutes trying to chalk up a series of laps while their attempts were frequently disturbed having to detour round other bathers who were either swimming up and down the pool or just frolicking about in the water.
They detected the swimming area becoming quieter as they progressively had more space to exercise and then realised the pond attendant was signalling, indicating it was time to leave the pool. Alex glanced up at the wall clock and saw it was just after seven thirty-five. He had been in the pool for barely more than ten minutes. He didn't know whether to be more relieved that the torture was being brought to an end or angry that he and the boys weren't getting the amount of time they'd expected.
Alex climbed out of the water and approached the attendant. “This is bloody ridiculous. We didn't arrive until seven-twenty. We've only had ten minutes of swimming time. Admittedly, we were told the pool would close at seven forty-five, but that's another ten minutes away. We weren't told we'd only have half the pool available and the whole thing's been a complete waste of time and money.” When Alex looked round, he saw the aerobics class was still in full swing. “And what about them?” he added. “Why have we been asked to leave but they're still here?”
The attendant was a young lad, barely out of his teens. He was short, very puny and had pale, acne scarred skin and ginger coloured hair giving him the appearance of a giant lollipop. Seeing Alex's powerful frame lumbering towards him and hearing his voice booming to be heard over the dance music, he started to shake uncontrollably. “I'm really sorry, Sir,” he apologized. “You should have been told at the cash desk when you came in. If you tell them and show your tickets on the way out, you can get your money back. We have to clear the pool early because it's a ladies' only session from eight o'clock onwards and we have to have the changing area emptied before then. There are only female attendants on duty then as well. The aerobics class is allowed to stay on a bit later because they're all women.”
Alex felt sorry for the lad but he was still annoyed and didn't want to let him off too easily. “So what night is the men's only session?”
“There isn't one.”
“Well, that doesn't sound very fair. In fact, it sounds like prejudice to have special times for women only and not to have the same for men.”
“I think it's something to do with religion. With some faiths, women aren't allowed to be in swimming when there are men around. There are also a lot of women who don't like the idea of being in their swimsuits or of getting changed when there are strange men around,” the attendant answered wanting to appear knowledgeable.
“Are you calling me strange?” Alex quipped. “But seriously, I don't see how you can make special provisions and not make the same for men. It's prejudice,” Alex couldn't help thinking about his conversations earlier in the day.
“I don't know, Sir. You'd need to take it up with my bosses.”
“No, I think I'll take it up with the European Court for Human Rights instead,” Alex challenged. The attendant just looked confused.
Unable to resist, Alex added, “It's no wonder the country has such obesity problems when the local authority make it so difficult for a working man to get some exercise in community facilities.” By this time, Alex was starting to feel a bit chilled from standing, near naked, in the cold air. He turned and walked towards the shower area to join his sons who were standing sniggering, listening to the exchange. The attendant just stood open-mouthed, unable to think of any response.
Only a short while later, they were dried and changed and in the car. The boys were laughing and talking about his comments, but having had time to think, Alex was contrite. “Take no notice of anything I said back there. I was wrong. I shouldn't have taken it out on that poor lad, it wasn't his fault. In truth, I was to blame. I should have checked the timings and facilities before we went. In hindsight, we should have stayed at Barrhead, either that or gone another time.”
Before there was time for any further discussion, a loud ringing interrupted them. Alex glanced at the Parrot screen and saw it was Sandra calling. He pressed a button on the hands free unit to accept the call and immediately spoke to alert her he was not alone, to ensure she was guarded in what she said.
“Hi, Sandra, I'm just driving the boys back from the swimming. Have you any good news for me?”
“That would explain it. I've tried you a couple of times, so you'll see the missed calls. I don't know if you'd call it good news but we have made some progress and I just wanted to bring you up to speed. Remember, I won't be in tomorrow morning, so could you give me a bell when you're free?”
“Will do, maybe half an hour to an hour's time, okay?”
He clicked off and a few minutes later drew the car to a halt outside the house.
“Are you coming in, Dad? I forgot that I wanted to show you my invite to the Maths Challenge prize-giving.”
“Yes, of course, but I can't stay too long. I've some work to catch up on.”
“Yes, we heard,” Craig replied tonelessly.
Chapter 11
Craig opened the door with his key and Alex received another enthusiastic welcome from Jake, although not quite as boisterous as the previous one.
Craig went off to his room and Andrew disappeared upstairs to find his letter. Alex saw that Helen and Colin were sitting in the lounge. Seeing him entering the house, they called him in and offered him a seat. Their welcome appeared sincere and they switched off the television.
“Have you eaten yet?” Helen asked. “I know you often take the boys out straight from work.”
“I got home early. I had a bowl of soup.”
“You must be starving. Let me get you a sandwich.”
Before he had any opportunity to protest, Helen had gone and he could hear her rattling around in the kitchen. She returned after a couple of minutes with a ciabatta roll stuffed with sliced roast beef covered in mustard. To wash it down, she'd also brought a glass of Irn Bru.
Alex was surprised. This was better and more attentive treatment then he could remember receiving when they'd been married, he thought, although he wasn't brave enough to comment. In his experience, Helen was not renowned for her gratuitous hospitality and he suspected there was a cost to pay. He expected Helen wanted a favour or else she was anxious to talk to him about something."
“This is terrific, just what I needed. Thanks very much.”
Andrew came back with his letter and Alex, Helen and Colin all voiced enthusiasm for his achievement.
“But what's going to happen about getting there now Mr Carpenter's gone?”
“I'm certain the school will arrange something else, but if they don't, then I'll find a way to get time off,” Alex replied.
“What's all this about?” Helen asked. “What's happened to Carpenter?”
Andrew told her, giving the same impassioned pleas as he had earlier.
“I've heard about this Connelly family,” Colin advised. “One of my friends is into property letting and he told me the story. A guy he knows from the Landlord Association is a professional landlord with about forty properties. He's very experienced but rents to anyone, private, students and DSS, sometimes to people fresh out of prison. He does his own assessment of the prospective tenants, but he takes some risks which nearly always pay off. However, he made a real blunder with the Connellys. They came to see a two bedroom flat he had in Busby. They said they wanted it and had cash for the deposit and the first month's rent. They had letters of reference which looked good and when the guy phoned up it all seemed to check out. That was eight months ago and he's not received a penny of rent since.”
“How can that happen?” Helen asked.
“Quite easily, apparently, Connelly doesn't work and neither does his wi
fe. The paperwork and references were all false, they'd been forged. When the guy checked the phone numbers, it was one of Connelly's mates. When he checked the credit rating, he got a good result because it was for someone else with the same name. Identity fraud, I suppose,” he said looking at Alex, who nodded.
“Connelly should be entitled to housing benefit, but the landlord can't get it unless Connelly makes the claim and, even if he did, there might be arrears which he owes the Council which would be taken off first. The landlord is distraught. He's been trying for months to get them out, without success. Whenever he goes near to the flat, or even if he parks next door, where hes got another flat, Mr Connelly phones the police and claims he's being harassed. The landlord's served a notice to quit, but they've ignored it and he's still waiting for a court date so he can get an order to have them removed. Even once he gets the court order, they might not move and then he'll need to employ Sheriff's Officers to get them out. It's cost him a fortune and God only knows what state the flat will be in when he eventually recovers it.”
“It's true, there's so much law to protect tenants and precious little which helps landlords,” Alex commented.
“One of the most ridiculous things is that Shelter is advising the Connellys how to avoid or delay being evicted. They're meant to be a charity to help the homeless and they've a really good and important job to do, but they're helping useless cretins like the Connellys who are not deserving cases and whose only purpose is to beat the system. All that's going to do is alienate good landlords and make them more reluctant to take a chance housing genuine homeless people.
“Anyway, the whole Connelly family are a bad lot. Both parents and the older boy have been caught stealing and the younger one is a really nasty piece of work. They know the system inside out and this whole charade is probably a scheme to stop Sean from being excluded from school and maybe to help stop them being evicted.”
“I told you Mr Carpenter won't have done anything wrong,” Andrew exclaimed.
“Well as I said before, I'll see what I can do, but no promises.” Alex added.
Andrew excused himself to go up to his room and prepare for school.
“Good night, Son. I'll let you know if I can do anything and I'll see you at the weekend anyway.”
Helen turned to Alex, “There's something else I wanted to discuss with you.”
I knew something was coming, he thought, but what? “Okay, shoot?”
“It's about Craig. He's got a girlfriend.”
“Yes, I heard.”
“What, did he tell you?”
“No, not a word. Andrew said though.”
“I'm worried about him. I think it's getting quite serious.”
“He's not fifteen for another month. How do you mean serious?”
“The girl's name is Jenny and she's nearly a year older than Craig.”
“So?”
“Well it's unusual. At that age, girls normally mature a lot earlier than boys. What could she want from him?”
“What sort of question is that for a mother to ask? He's smart and he's a good looking young lad. He's decent and he may not be wealthy, but he's not short of cash either.”
“She's a pretty girl and she goes to his school. I'm worried she might be too experienced for him.”
“I'm sorry, and how is that a problem?”
“You know. Craig's young and inexperienced. She could take advantage of him.”
“He should be so lucky.”
“No, I'm serious. Have you ever spoken to him? You know, the father and son conversation.”
“At his age, I reckon there won't be too much he won't know. I had the `birds and bees' talk with him when he was at primary school and I did the same with Andrew. They weren't learning very much new because they'd already had sex awareness and education classes in school. They were telling me as much as I was telling them,” Alex quipped.
“But he's too young to be getting involved.”
“Maybe so, but you're not going to stop him by telling him not to do something, quite the opposite, most likely. Yes, we can talk to him about relationships and responsibility and being careful to avoid health risks, but that's about the limit. We can even talk about the age of consent.”
“Will you do that?”
“Me?”
“Well yes, you are his father. I can't and he wouldn't take it from Colin.”
“Okay, I can have a chat with him and make sure he knows all the things he should know, but that's as far as it goes. I can't regulate his behaviour and I'm not sure I would want to.”
“Okay then,” Helen sat with pursed lips and a stubborn expression.
“What, you mean now?”
“Is there a better time?” Through all of this, Colin sat next to Helen, perhaps providing her with moral support, but he took no part in the conversation. His face was flushed and he looked embarrassed.
Alex climbed the stairs and knocked on Craig's bedroom door, turned the handle and opened it an inch. “Can I come in?”
“Yes, sure,” the boy replied.
Alex opened the door fully and walked in. Craig was in an office chair sitting in front of a desk with his desktop computer illuminated in front of him. He quickly flicked a few keys and the screen changed to an open word document with what appeared to be a geography project in progress. Alex pulled up a chair beside him but spotted icons at the bottom of the screen which showed internet sites depicting naked bodies.
“Hi, Dad. I didn't realise you were still here.”
“Yeah, I thought I'd come up for a chat before leaving. What are you working on there?”
“It's a project on deserts.”
“Very hot?”
“Yes?”
“Is that why nobody's wearing clothes in the other photos you have open?”
Craig's face went bright scarlet and he was flustered trying to think what he could say. “I'm not a kid anymore,” he started defensively.
“I'm not suggesting you are. I just thought there was an adult filter on your internet connection.”
“It's easy enough to get round,” Craig replied sheepishly. “Besides, these pictures are all quite innocent compared to some the boys at school can get on their phones.”
“Don't panic. I'm a crime detective, not the morality police. I'm not here to give you a hard time.”
“Why are you here?”
“Your mum thought I should maybe have a little chat with you,” Alex started in cowardly fashion. “She cares and she's worried about you.”
Craig rolled his eyes. “What's her problem now?”
“That's not fair,” Alex admonished. “She only wants what's best for you. We both do.”
“Okay, what's this all about? As if I couldn't guess.”
“You've got a new girlfriend and she, no we,” Alex quickly corrected himself, “are concerned that you're getting too involved and too serious.”
“How can I be too serious? We've only been going out for three weeks. We've been to the cinema twice and we've met at the cafe a couple of times.”
“Have you brought her round to the house?”
“God no. I'm not stupid. Mum would give her the third degree.”
“Have you been to her house?”
“Not yet, but I've been asked round for tea this weekend.”
Alex raised his eyebrows and Craig correctly interpreted the question. “We won't be alone. Jenny's mum will be there. She's the one who invited me.”
“You've already met her?”
“Yes, she picked us up after the cinema last week, she seems really nice.”
“And she didn't give you the third degree?”
“Well, that's different.”
Alex shrugged, “It's the same the world over, parents want to know what their children are doing and they want to know about who they're with so they know they're safe.”
“I suppose.”
“Well if it goes well this weekend, maybe you'll bring Jenny back
here so your mum can meet her, then she won't worry either.”
“I'll think about it.”
Alex knew it was the best answer he could hope for. “Well, how serious is this becoming?”
“We're not having sex if that's what you're asking.”
“I only want to know that you're safe and you're being responsible.”
Again Craig rolled his eyes, but this time he had a half smile on his face. “Yes, Dad, I've been to all the classes, I know all about safe sex and I've got a drawer full of condoms that we were given at the classes. You've got nothing to worry about.”
“Well that's fine. I'll leave you to get on with your homework. And I mean your desert project not the other sites,” he said grinning.
“Yeah, and you've still to phone your girlfriend back. You said you'd call within an hour and it's already much later than that.”
“She's not my girlfriend, she's the police sergeant working under me on an investigation,” Alex replied defensively, if a little unconvincingly.
“Come on, Dad, I heard the change in the tone of your voice when you answered the phone. And I remember her from when she came to visit you in hospital after you were stabbed last year. Anyway, what do you mean by working under you?” Craig replied with a broad grin.
“We'll have less of your cheek young man. I'm not having this conversation,” Alex replied, but was unable to hide his smile. He didn't know whether to be more angry or proud at his son's perceptiveness. He was also acutely aware that he and Helen were maybe being a bit presumptuous seeking to lecture Craig about relationships after the mess they'd made of their own.
Alex returned downstairs and imparted the good news, telling Helen not to worry and preparing her to meet a possible guest in a week or two's time.
Chapter 12
Alex settled back into the car, turned the ignition, slowly drove around the corner, then pulled into the kerb and called Sandra's number.
“I'm sorry, I'm a lot later than planned, but I've had the latest domestic crisis to sort out.”