Hero series Box Set

by M A Comley

  “I will. Then, I heard that this Wade guy—you know, Cara’s instructor—has been up to no good with a few of his other pupils, and I decided to follow him home.”

  “What are you talking about? Other sexual harassment charges?”

  “No, it never went that far. The two girls involved left the force. But I also heard that he’s been bullying the male recruits, too.”

  “That’s appalling, Hero. What can you do about it?”

  He smiled. “What I always do in cases like this. I intend getting to the bottom of it.”

  Chapter 14

  Hero stood at the whiteboard the following morning, awaiting his team’s arrival. “Come on, guys. Let’s get cracking.”

  Lance was the last of the team members to join them. He scurried to his seat and gave Hero an embarrassed smile.

  “Okay, first of all, I have to impart some sad news. Before I left the office yesterday, I rang Julie. Sadly, her mother has passed away.”

  The team mumbled their sympathies.

  Foxy raised her hand to speak. “That’s a shame, sir. Do you want me to organise a whip round for a bunch of flowers? To let Julie know that we’re thinking of her.”

  “Nice thought, Foxy. Everyone agreeable to that?”

  The team all nodded.

  “Right, now where were we yesterday? Lance and Jason carried out surveillance on our prime suspect, Cathy Daws, and returned with a disappointing result. I heard back from the pathologist that yet another set of prints were found on the victim from under the railway bridge. As yet, we have nothing to match them up to. I’m hazarding a guess they belong to Cathy. The thing is, we can’t keep bringing her in for just questioning. We need something solid to go on. Any suggestions?”

  “Do we have any DNA evidence which places her at Foster’s flat, sir?” Jason asked.

  “Not at the moment. It’s too soon to get any results from the scene, and I didn’t want to push my luck with the pathologist. He’s got a lot on his plate right now. He’ll give us the results as soon as he can. What else have we got?”

  “Well, we do have the fact that the neighbours of Foster and Lomax picked Daws out in the photos they were shown,” Foxy said, tapping her pen against her cheek as though she were thinking aloud.

  “That’s right. What are you thinking, Foxy? Ask them to come in for a line-up?”

  “Yes, sir. Of course we’d have to bring the suspect in, too. That’s why I hesitated bringing it up. You’ve already said that you can’t keep yanking Daws in for questioning without a solid foundation for doing so.”

  “You’re right, but I think this will be the excuse we’re looking for. When she’s here, we could fingerprint her, see if the prints match up to those found on the tunnel victim, Lomax.”

  “That’s the line I was going down, too, sir,” Foxy said.

  Hero nodded. “Let’s see what else we have first, and then we’ll get this organised between us, Foxy. Has anyone got anything additional they want to offer? Come on, guys, there has to be more stones we’ve yet to peep under.”

  The room remained silent as the team members shook their heads.

  Jason clicked his fingers together. “Did we ever find Lomax’s vehicle, sir?”

  “At the scene of his murder, you mean?”

  Jason nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “No, I don’t think we’ve even looked for it yet. Good thinking, Jason. I’ll leave that with you. Anything else?” When the group failed to offer any further suggestions, Hero said, “Okay, let’s get to it, peeps. Foxy, a word in my office before we start, please?”

  Foxy followed him through to the office and closed the door behind her. “Sir?”

  “I just wanted to bring you up to date on the other matter we discussed yesterday. Take a seat.”

  They sat at his desk. Hero placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his fists. “I did something last night that some of our superiors might deem as foolish.”

  “Uh-oh, I’m not liking the sound of that, sir.”

  He reclined in his chair and grinned. “It wasn’t that bad. Actually, I’m pretty pleased with myself for the restraint I showed.”

  “Are you going to let me in on what you did, sir?”

  Hero chuckled. “Okay. Well, after I rang Julie last night, I left the station, and for some strange reason, my car chose a different route home.”

  Foxy smirked and shook her head. “Uh-oh, I think I know where this is leading. Pray tell me, sir, where did your vehicle take you?”

  “To the training centre. Fancy that, eh? Anyway, I waited for a good ten minutes before I spotted the person I was looking for. I followed Wade home, and imagine my surprise when Mr. Wade gets out of his car and shares a loving embrace with his wife. At least I’m presuming she was his wife.”

  “Never! Ew… I feel deeply sorry for her living with a creep like that. Tell me you didn’t do anything rash, like confronting him in front of her.”

  “Grant me with some sense. No, I just wanted to see what I was up against. I’m biding my time before I hit him, so to speak. I think we should definitely organise a visit with his other victims though, don’t you? The sooner, the better. Maybe see how the day progresses with Daws first. Can you get the two women’s details for me, for us, to pounce on once we’re clear of this case?”

  “I’ll do it right away, sir. Do you want me to make the arrangements for the witnesses to come in sometime today, too?”

  “Yes, do that. We’ll probably have to send a car out to both Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Wilson. Let’s get that arranged for this afternoon around three, all right?”

  “Won’t Cathy Daws be at work then, sir? She generally starts her shift at the pub around that time, doesn’t she?”

  “Precisely. I’m going to wait until she’s at work and pick her up from there. Let’s stir things up a little, eh?” Hero winked at Foxy.

  She stood up to leave. “I like your line of thinking, sir. I’ll start the ball rolling on this lot then and get the collection started for Julie, too.”

  Hero dug out his wallet and handed Foxy a ten-pound note. “Here you go. This will get you off to a good start.”

  “That’s generous of you, sir. I’m not sure the others will be giving up that much of their pay packet.”

  “That’s okay. Just tell them to put in what they can afford. I’ll make up the difference. Buy something decent for Julie. Let’s show her how much we care and value her contribution to the team, eh?”

  Foxy pulled open the door. “Leave it with me. I’ll get back to you within the hour, sir.”

  Hero nodded. He puffed out his cheeks and began sorting through the post littering his desk.

  True to her word, Foxy knocked on his door within the hour.

  “Come in and take a seat, Sally.”

  She placed her notebook on the desk and started reading from her notes. “First things first. The team did us proud, sir. We managed to scrape together fifty pounds for Julie. I’ve placed the order with Interflora. They promised me that they would deliver the bouquet early this afternoon.”

  “Excellent, I’ll be sure to thank the team for their generosity. Anything else?” He nodded for her to continue.

  “Mr. Wilson was adamant that he couldn’t come in until his lunch had gone down. He actually said ‘passed through,’ which was a little too much information. I told him that someone would collect him at two thirty.”

  Hero laughed. “You have my permission to shoot me if I ever get to be his age and turn out to be as crotchety as he is.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll make a note of it. Mrs. Taylor was lovely about coming in to help out. She wanted to remind you of your promise, though, about cleaning up the area.”

  “They always want something in return. I was mulling over her circumstances last night and thought I might ring a contact of mine at the housing department. It would be nice to see the old dear settled in a safe area. It can’t be fun living alone and on your nerves like that.” Pick
ing up his pen, he pulled a scrap piece of paper in front of him and jotted down a note for himself.

  “I agree. It would be nice if you could get her moved. I’m sending another car to pick her up around the same time as Mr. Wilson. What do you want to do about Daws?”

  “Well, if the two witnesses are coming in around two forty-five or thereabouts, I don’t want to keep them waiting too long. Be ready for two fifteen. We’ll go out and pick Daws up then. We’ll be a nice surprise waiting for her when she turns up for her shift.”

  “I can see your evil streak on show, sir.” Foxy laughed as she left the office.

  Hero snatched up the phone and rang his contact at the local council to bend his ear about Mrs. Taylor’s predicament.

  “Hi, Todd. Long time, no hear. It’s Hero Nelson.”

  “Hero, well, this is a surprise. I heard on the grapevine that you’ve just become a father. My sympathies to you.”

  Hero laughed. “Cheers, mate. I’m calling time on three kids. Couldn’t cope with six kids like you and your missus. Jeez, the thought of never having a decent night’s sleep again would make me want to kill myself.”

  “It ain’t that bad. I keep a mallet beside their beds in case they wake up. Before you come over here and slap the cuffs on me, I’m only winding you up.”

  “Yeah, I thought you might be. I know how much those kids mean to you. Right, the reason I’m ringing is to see if you can help me out at all.”

  “I’ll try my best, mate. What do you need?”

  “Well… how about a nice home for a sweet widow in a safe area?”

  “Are you kidding me? In Manchester?”

  Hero replied, cringing, “That’s what I was hoping, yes.”

  “A place such as that no longer exists, Hero. Even you should know that.”

  “I just thought I’d try and help out a witness. Can you do a little digging for me? Maybe, there’s some kind of residential flat with some form of security.”

  “Not on our patch and nothing that is council owned. She’d need to stump up cash for a dwelling like that.”

  “See what you can do, please?”

  “I will. It might take me a few days, but I’ll do my best.”

  “Cheers, Todd. You’re a star.”

  Hero hung up and glanced at the neighbouring buildings outside his window, lost in thought. His frustration mounted as he summarised the conversation he’d just had. What a terrible thing to say—there didn’t appear to be a safe area at all within his region. Despite banging up criminals day in and day out, there was still far too much crime in the Manchester area for them to police adequately.

  Shaking his head, he set about clearing his paperwork. There was no point dwelling on things out of his control. Hero had learnt that the hard way over the years. Why couldn’t I have chosen a quiet rural location in which to bring up my family? Maybe I should have a serious chat with Fay soon to see what her position is about them bringing the kids up in one of the roughest parts of the UK.

  Late morning, Hero sent Jason to collect sandwiches for the team, which they shared in the incident room while running over the final plans for that afternoon.

  “Lance, you questioned Mr. Wilson. Therefore, I think it would be best if you picked him up after lunch.”

  “Yes, boss,” Lance said then gulped the last of his coffee.

  “Jason, I want you to bring Mrs. Taylor in, all right?”

  “Yes, boss.”

  “As we’re a man—I mean, a woman—down, I’ll get control to divert any calls to another department until we all return. Foxy and I will be out picking Daws up. Right, we set off in ten minutes, guys. Let’s make this count. I hope the witnesses come up trumps for us today.”

  Chapter 15

  During the course of the drive to the Dog and Duck pub, Hero’s stomach flipped numerous somersaults as he anticipated Daws’s reaction when they asked her to accompany them to the station. There was only one way to find out.

  Hero and Foxy walked into the pub and approached the bar.

  “Can I help you?” the man serving asked.

  “Steve Gillan?” Hero flashed his ID at the man.

  “It is. What can I do to help, Inspector?” He continued to wipe the glasses and place them in neat rows on the shelves behind him.

  “I need to ask you a favour.”

  “Go on.”

  Hero looked around the near-empty public bar and lowered his voice as he leaned towards the landlord. “We’re here to take Cathy Daws in for questioning. I know it’s going to disrupt her shift, but we need to do so immediately, in light of new evidence that has come into our possession.”

  He angrily threw his cloth on the bar. “Jesus, I need to go out this afternoon, and I was relying on Cathy running the place in my absence. Couldn’t you guys have done this earlier? Like this morning, when she was at home?”

  “Sorry, our witnesses couldn’t make it then. Can you arrange for another staff member to stand in for her?”

  “I suppose so. I’ll call Paula now. You guys want a drink while you wait? Cathy isn’t due for another ten minutes or so.”

  “No thanks. We’ll sit over here, out of the way.”

  “Whatever,” the landlord grumbled as he left the bar and slipped into the back room.

  Cathy Daws walked through the pub’s entrance five minutes later and headed for the bar.

  Hero called out to her before she reached it, “Cathy, we’d like a quick chat, if you don’t mind?”

  Cathy hesitated as if deciding whether or not to take flight. In the end, she retraced her steps and stood in front of them. “What do you want now? Do we have to do this here?”

  “We’ve cleared it with your boss. We’d like you to come down the station for further questioning.”

  “What? Jesus, you guys don’t let up, do you?”

  “Not when it’s a murder enquiry, Cathy, no.”

  “But I keep telling you I know nothing. Why isn’t that sinking into your thick heads?”

  “Less of the insults.” Hero rose from his chair and marched over to the bar. “Mr. Gillan?” he called out, straining to see if he could see the landlord through the doorway.

  The landlord looked flustered and out of breath when he returned. “I can’t get hold of any of my other staff. Are you sure you can’t put this off for another day?”

  “Sorry, no. We’re going now. Hopefully, we won’t cause you too much inconvenience. We’ll try not to keep Mrs. Daws for too long.”

  “Shit, this is totally annoying for me. Cathy, I’m sorry, but if this is going to be a regular occurrence, I’m going to have to reconsider you working here.”

  “Steve, you can’t do that. I haven’t done anything wrong. I need this job.” She turned to snarl at Hero. “Why don’t you just fuck off and leave me alone? In fact, if you don’t back off, I’m going to come after you with a harassment charge.”

  Hero locked eyes with her. “Calm down, Mrs. Daws. We’re only taking you in for questioning. If you want me to resurrect the assault of a police officer charge, I’d be happy to do so. Now, are you coming with us, peacefully?”

  “Just go, Cathy. We’ll discuss your work situation later,” the landlord urged, looking around him sheepishly, fearing Cathy’s foul-mouthed tirade had drawn unwanted attention from the few regulars.

  Cathy’s shoulders crumpled in defeat, and she turned to walk out the same way she’d just come in. “All right. I’m not happy about this, though. Not one bit.”

  Hero thanked the landlord and followed Foxy and Cathy out of the pub. “I’ll jump in the back, sir, just in case,” Foxy said, opening the back door and ushering Daws inside.

  “Are you going to behave yourself, Cathy? Or do I need to put the cuffs on?” Hero asked at the woman’s reluctance to get in the car.

  Cathy grunted, slipped into the backseat, and folded her arms.

  Hero winked at Foxy. “I’m taking that as an affirmative.”

  They drove back to the st
ation, and as Hero was about to enter the car park, he noticed Jason parking his car. Mrs. Taylor was sitting in the rear. Hero quickly changed direction to avoid having the witness spot Cathy travelling in his car. “Slight detour is needed, I think.”

  Cathy tutted and glared at him in the rear-view mirror. Hero did his best to suppress the chuckle dying to escape as he took the car for a spin around the block. When he returned, the car park was empty of people, so Hero and Foxy escorted Cathy into the station.

  “Is there an interview room free, Sergeant?” Hero asked the duty desk sergeant.

  “There is, sir. Room Two. The duty solicitor is waiting for you.”

  The desk sergeant buzzed the security doors open and invited the three of them into the hallway.

  Winking, Hero leaned in to whisper, “Are the others here yet?”

  “Yes, sir. Ready and waiting.”

  Hero led the way to the interview room with Daws and Foxy right behind him. He shook hands with Cathy’s solicitor. “Thanks for coming in at such short notice, Mr. Boulten.”

  “Let’s hope this isn’t a waste of everyone’s time, Inspector,” Boulten said brusquely.

  He smiled at the solicitor and turned to the suspect. “Take a seat, Cathy. Foxy, will you do the honours and say the necessary for the tape?”

  Foxy pressed the record button and announced the date, time, and the people present in the room. Then Hero began questioning Daws.

  “Cathy, since our last meeting, have you either heard or seen anything of Stan Foster?”

  A puzzled look pulled at her face. “No,” she said adamantly.

  “Not even to say a quick hello?”

  Sighing heavily and folding her arms again, Cathy once more offered a firm response. “No.”

  “Well, we believe differently and have the evidence to back up our assumption. I’m going to ask you if you wouldn’t mind giving us a sample of your DNA. Would you?”

  She glanced at her brief, who nodded at Hero.