by Menon, David
‘That has to be our sole focus’ Jeff agreed. ‘Because I do think everything else will flow from there and we’ve got two funerals to get through, the first in three days time, and they’re both making me nervous’.
‘O’Neill could surface at one of them’ Ollie Wright went on. ‘In fact I think it’s more or less guaranteed’.
‘Absolutely’ said Jeff. ‘Now all the usual security arrangements will be in place balanced with the need to show sensitivities to the families of the two men. I want to keep them all on our side if it’s possible’.
‘The presence of Patricia Knight could cause a flash point’ said Adrian.
‘Which brings me very nicely to introducing Detective Constable Collette Ryan of the Victoria state police who’s come all this way to help us’ said Barton.
All the usual greetings were made to bring Collette into the fold and then she got down to business. She hadn’t quite known what to wear for today so she settled for a dark blue trouser suit with a white shirt that sported a big, wide collar and a pair of short black boots. She hadn’t tied her back and instead she let it hang loose just below her shoulders, brushed back and off her face. She could see from the way he looked at her from time to time that her attraction for Barton was mutual. But she was sure as hell that she wasn’t going to pursue it.
‘This is Patricia Knight’ Collette announced after Jeff had asked her to contribute to the briefing. She pinned a picture of Patricia Knight to the white board. ‘Formerly Patricia O’Connell. She’s arriving in this country this afternoon and as you know her brother Padraig O’Connell’s funeral is the day after tomorrow. Her record in Australia is spotless but I wouldn’t be here as part of your team if it wasn’t suspected that her presence might cause strife of some kind. Her husband Dennis seems intent on standing by her despite what the past has revealed about her former lifestyle and is coming with her.’
‘Our understanding from special branch is that her presense will flush out some members of dissident republican groups who they’d like to talk to’ said Ollie.
‘Well I have to say that’s the only thing that makes sense, sir’ said Collette.
‘You don’t believe she could’ve been involved with anything to do with republican groups since living in Australia?’
‘No, I seriously don’t, sir. We’ve checked mobile phone statements, bank records, we’ve even been into all of her husband’s business dealings and he retired from running his own business a couple of years ago. We found nothing, absolutely nothing to suggest anything untoward. If I may say so, I believe that it’s the capture of Chris O’Neill that we should be concentrating on. Anything else is just a fruitless diversion’.
Collette had hit upon the general consensus amongst Jeff and his team that the only line of investigation should lead to the apprehension of Chris O’Neill, or whoever he is, plus Jade Matheson who has clearly absconded with him. Their photographs had been distributed everywhere and every possible sighting was being followed up again and then again in case something had been missed. They were the two most wanted people in Britain. They couldn’t stay out of sight for long.
‘The other thing to mention though’ said DS Adrian Bradshaw. ‘Is that there’s no official trace of Patricia O’Connell being granted a visa to stay in Australia back in the seventies’.
‘She must’ve had something’ said Collette. ‘Or she wouldn’t have been able to marry Dennis. She’d have needed to show some form of identification’.
‘And she did’ said Adrian who’d been checking up on Patricia Knight. ‘But it was added to the official record several months after she’d arrived in Victoria. That strikes me as being rather odd’.
‘And me too’ Collette agreed. ‘But it also shows me that for part of this investigation someone somewhere who is supposed to be on the same side as us is actually leading us a bit of a merry dance. It wouldn’t surprise me if we ultimately found that Patricia O’Connell was shifted out of the country at the convenience of someone higher up the pay grade from us’.
‘But for what reason?’
‘Well that could be something we’ll never find out’.
‘Well done’ said Jeff once he was in his office with Collette. Apart from the fact that she sounded like a bloody good police officer he’d also noticed her in another way. He liked her thick dark hair. He liked the way her mouth widened back and forth as she talked. ‘You talked a lot of sense in there’.
‘Thank you, sir’ said Collette. ‘But you’ve already got a very good team of officers from what I can see’.
‘Yeah, I’m pretty lucky in that respect’ Jeff agreed. ‘Look Collette, I’m sorry I only called you last night at the hotel to see if you were settling in. I should’ve come round and taken you out for something to eat or even just a drink’.
‘I don’t need baby sitting, sir’.
‘I’m sure you don’t, in fact I can well see that you don’t’ said Jeff. ‘But still you’ve come all this way to assist us and be part of our team. As head of that team I should’ve reached out better than I did’.
‘There’s really no need to apologise, sir’ said Collette. God, why did he have to be so bloody attractive and so bloody nice? ‘I’ll go out to the airport this afternoon with DS Bradshaw to meet Patricia Knight and her husband. We’ll make sure they get settled into their hotel and I’ll read the security riot act at them’.
‘Do you think someone from the past might have a go at Patricia?’
‘I think it’s a strong possibility, sir’.
‘You do come highly recommended, Detective Constable’.
‘I do?’
‘Detective Inspector Ed Burns couldn’t have been higher in his praise for you in the email he sent me’.
Collette threw her head back and laughed. You could never be sure what Old Burnsey might be up to. ‘Is that right, sir?’
‘Why don’t you think it would be?’
‘We don’t get on, sir, Ed Burns and me’ said Collette who then started to get embarrassed. She’d already said more than she should do. It was highly unprofessional of her to dig the knife into Burns in front of a foreign officer, no matter how true it was that she despised him because of his abhorrent behavior towards her. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that’.
Jeff smiled. ‘Forget about it’.
‘Thank you, sir’ said Collette who so liked the look of this man with his dark blond hair.
‘We should have a drink tonight’ Jeff blurted out. ‘That’s if I’m not treading on any toes?’
‘If you mean whether I’m single or not the answer is yes, I am single’ said Collette. ‘But I can see from the wedding ring that you’re not’.
‘I’m a widower’.
‘What?’
‘My wife died almost three years ago’ said Jeff. ‘I have a son called Toby who is the centre of my world but I don’t have a girlfriend at present’.
‘Oh Jeez I’m sorry, sir’ said Collette who felt like she wanted the ground to swallow her at that moment. ‘I should’ve noticed from the photographs on your desk that you’ve got one of the little bloke but not of your wife’.
‘It’s alright’ said Jeff. ‘You weren’t to know. I like you, Collette. I’d like to spend some time with you away from here’.
‘No argument from me there, Jeff’.
‘Good’ said Jeff who couldn’t believe he’d just asked a woman out on a date for the first time in three years. Forget all the messing about he did with Rebecca Stockton. This felt so much more like the right thing. ‘Well we’ll see how we go this afternoon but after I put my little bloke to bed I’ll head back into town and meet you’.
‘Will you be able to get someone to sit with him at this short notice?’
‘We’ve got a live in housekeeper and nanny. His name is Brendan’.
‘You’ve got a male nanny? That’s very modern’.
‘I’m a very modern sort of bloke, Collette’.
‘So it would seem’.
&n
bsp; ‘And Brendan is top notch. We couldn’t do without him to tell you the truth’.
‘Okay, well I’ll look forward to it’
‘Me too’.
‘I haven’t brought much to wear with me for a night out’.
‘I’m interested in you, not what you’re wearing’.
Collette blushed. ‘The short leather skirt it is then’.
THROWN DOWN FOURTEEN
The next morning Jeff woke up early. He wasn’t used to not sleeping in his own bed. He wasn’t used to not sleeping with Toby coming into his room at some point during the night. He suddenly felt guilty. What if Toby had needed him during the night? It was okay that Brendan was there but what would Toby make of it if he came into Jeff’s room and found it empty?
He looked across at Collette. She looked like she was sleeping pretty soundly. Then he turned his head the other way and looked at his watch which was on the bedside table. It was just coming up to half past five. Time to go home. He shuffled his feet from under the duvet and placed them as quietly as he could on the floor. He stopped for a moment and smiled to himself. He and Collette had enjoyed each other’s company so much in the bar on Piccadilly Gardens where they’d gone for a drink or two, laughing and carrying on with each other, talking a little bit about Lillie Mae and about Collette’s ex-husband. It had almost seemed inevitable that they would end up in her room together. He looked down at his cock and his balls flapping about between his legs. Last night they’d seen some serious action and were definitely back in business. Collette was a wonderful girl and she’d finally ignited that flame inside him again.
He’d just put his pants and trousers back on and was fastening his belt when Collette stirred.
‘Hey’ she said, sleepily. ‘You weren’t going to go without saying goodbye, were you?’
‘Of course not’ he said. He came round and sat on the edge of her side of the bed. He leaned down and kissed her. ‘Good morning’.
‘Good morning to you handsome’ said Collette who then placed her arms round his neck. ‘Last night was a lot of fun’.
‘It sure was’ said Jeff who used one hand to brush the hair from her eyes whilst caressing her face with the other. ‘I never thought anything like this would happen’.
‘Neither did I’ said Collette. ‘It just goes to show that when you’re not looking and all that’.
‘Oh yes’ said Jeff who kissed her again. ‘But I’ve got to go. You do understand?’
‘Of course I do’ said Collette who was running the ends of her nails through the hairs on Jeff’s arms. ‘You need to get back to your little bloke. That makes me think even more of you to tell you the truth’.
‘Do it all again tonight?’
‘I should bloody hope so!’
Collette waved as he left and then she lay back feeling on top of the world.
Jeff called the team together as soon as he received the call. It was just after nine o’clock and he’d just made it in.
‘Okay everybody, breaking news as they say’ Jeff began. ‘It seems that yesterday afternoon Jade Matheson used her mobile phone and the signal has been tracked down to a house just outside the village of Hurst Green which is west of Clitheroe up there in the Ribble Valley and northeast of Blackburn. The local squad have been round but sadly they were too late. The house was deserted except for the body of a man, a white Caucasian who they’ve identified as Jade Matheson’s father Guy Matheson. He was shot through the head in the same way as Barry Murphy. The pathologist June Hawkins and her team are on their way out there now to start doing their necessaries. Guy Matheson’s car was found parked outside the house and according to the mobile phone records it was him who Jade called from the house’.
‘Could it be that Jade is being held against her will, sir?’ DS Adrian Bradshaw suggested.
‘I think that’s possible Adrian, yes’ said Jeff.
‘Jade was calling for help and her father ended up dead coming to her aid’.
‘That would seem the most obvious’ said Jeff. ‘But let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet. They’re informing Guy Matheson’s wife right now. Now, the house is owned by a Major in the British army by the name of Gerald Cotton. By chance he’s attached to the MOD in London at the moment and he’s happy to be interviewed but it has to be first thing in the morning before he has to go off to NATO headquarters in Brussels for three weeks. So I’m heading down late this afternoon and Detective Constable Ryan can come with me. If nothing else, it’ll give her a chance to see the capital city of this country that she’s been sent to’.
‘Take Detective Constable Ryan to see the Queen, sir’ DS Joe Alexander joked. ‘She can tell her majesty how it’s going in the colonies’.
‘The colonies?’
‘Well you’ve still got the Queen as head of state’ Joe pointed out. ‘You can’t bring yourselves to cut those apron strings, can you?’
‘I voted for the republic actually’ Collette boasted proudly. ‘And will do so again when the next vote comes up which it will. But I’ve never been into pom bashing or any populist tabloid shit like that. I prefer a more grown up relationship. I have the utmost respect for the Queen but I want us to be a republic and in the meantime I’ve only got one word for you, Joe and that’s cricket’.
‘Yes, we invented it’.
‘And yes we’re better at it than you!’
‘Alright, I’ll give you that one’ said Joe as everyone in the room laughed.
‘Sorry folks but we’ll need to save this one for when we’re all next in the pub’ said Jeff. He tried not to look at Collette as he went on. He was embarrassed. He’d booked a hotel and he’d only booked one room. ‘I’ll be leaving DI Ollie Wright in charge here and I want to see the surveillance of Patricia Knight kept up now that she’s here in the city and I want you to keep on looking for reasons why there’s no official record of her having left for Australia or arrived in that country. In fact, go and talk to her. See what she’s willing to tell you’.
‘Good luck with that’ said Collette.
‘You don’t think she’ll be amenable?’ DI Ollie Wright questioned.
‘It depends’ said Collette. ‘Coming over here might have softened her attitude. She might be willing to let the past go and if she has any grudges to bear, no, I correct myself because she will have grudges to bear, then now might be the time to get at them’.
‘Why are you so certain of that, ma’am?’ asked DC Joe Alexander.
‘Well put yourself in her shoes. She wouldn’t have just walked away from her family and set up home on the other wise of the world without good reason. Not when she was so committed to her community, and to defending the rights of her community as she saw it, that she was prepared to join a terrorist organization that could’ve ended up in either her death or her incarceration. Look at it from her perspective. Don’t think like a normal person because she wasn’t acting like a normal person back then. You don’t exist in that kind of world without bearing grudges that can end up deadly, even years later, and I’m not defending her. I’m not defending her at all. I’m just saying that there’s often more than one dimension to this sort of thing. There’s going to be a feature including what I gather is going to be a pretty in-depth interview with her in one of the national papers at home called ‘The Age’. Now you’re not going to tell me that the interview won’t be syndicated and then local papers here will want their own interview with her. What she knows we need to know first so that the media doesn’t knock us for six with stuff that they’ve found out which we should’ve been able to’.
Guilt comes easily to single parents as Jeff Barton would unhappily testify. Tonight was going to be the first night he’d spent apart from his son Toby since his wife Lillie Mae died and though he was looking forward to having a few hours together with Collette Ryan he was wrapped him in guilt over leaving Toby even though it was only for one night and Brendan was well able to take care of him. Jeff called his brother Lewis who told him
not to be so damn stupid.
‘I’m all over the place, Lewis. Collette is a wonderful girl and I want to spend as much time as I can with her whilst she’s here but, and I know I sound pathetic, Toby and I are a team’.
‘You don’t need to tell me that, Jeff’.
‘So how can I leave him for a night?’
‘Jeff’ said Lewis with the firmness that Jeff had come to expect from his baby brother when he was trying to sort him out. ‘Toby isn’t going to turn on you in twenty years time and say that he was psychologically damaged by you leaving him for one poxy night and if it makes you feel any better Seamus and I will swing by your place tonight and take Toby out for pizza and bowling’.
‘Would you? That would be great. He’d love that’.
‘We will too because we haven’t seen much of him lately and Seamus has been off the booze and watching what he eats the last few days because of his annual medical check at work which was today and which he passed with no problems like he always does but you know how he gets when it’s coming up’.
‘Well if there was something wrong it might be the end of his career, Lewis’.
‘I know and you know I support him all the way through’.
‘That’s one of the reasons why he’s marrying you’.
‘Oh Jesus you’ll make me blush! Anyway Seamus loves pizza as you know so he’ll be well up for that but back to you. Get down there and shag the arse off this Collette’.
‘Lewis!’
‘Well that’s what you’re intending, isn’t it?’
‘Well there might be a glass or two of wine and a bite to eat involved too’.
‘Okay, and then you’ll shag the arse off her. Well you just have a great time. You deserve it, Jeff. It’s about bloody time and you know it’.
‘Thanks Lewis’ said Jeff. ‘Once again I owe you one’.
‘You owe me nothing except to have some fun. And Jeff?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Don’t take anything too seriously. In fact, don’t actually think about anything at all. Just enjoy yourself and learn to have a good old laugh again’.