Resident Fear

by Hylton Smith

  “We need some sleep. My Dutch escort and I will take turns keeping an eye on you during the crossing.”

  “Don’t worry Jack. I won’t be ending my life just yet. I want my time in court.”

  Chapter 41

  Sunday November 25th 2018

  After the excitement of yesterday, Sunday became an adrenalin vacuum. Bradstock and Forster had their response from the Colony, and Baumann was not going to be the trade. That left only the information which they no longer needed. The content of the return message was debated and Bradstock favoured telling them that the case was empty in order to push them into destroying it. Forster reminded him of how that may affect Vivienne and Jackson. He was unmoved, and wanted to take the opportunity to demonstrate that although the unofficial conduits would remain, there was no doubt as to who was calling the shots. Forster said that was a bad move and it would result in a collapse of their delicate web into the underworld.

  “I agree we should try to get them to destroy the case, but now we have to do nothing. We have the killer without their help, and they need to believe they have the information they want. At some time they will either find a way to scan it or just wreck it out of frustration. It is to our advantage in the future if they never find out it was empty. That was not the situation when we did not have the killer, and it was possible to get Baumann back. My reading of this is that Baumann is dead.”

  Forster watched Bradstock’s face and wondered how he had ever managed to gravitate to such a lofty position. He mused that Renton had been right, insofar as the force was more driven by clear up rates of petty crime than patient progress against the likes of the Colony. On this occasion Bradstock had his knighthood to consider, and on reflection it might not be a good time to rock the boat, so he accepted Forster’s logic.

  *

  By the time Renton had docked and once more thanked the Dutch officer, the surprise party had been prepared at the incident room in Durham. Because of Bradstock’s shift system, those on that shift were already at the office. The others had wandered in over the course of the morning. Bradstock had arranged for a pretty impressive buffet and declared that the situation demanded a return to normal.

  “The incident room is to be decommissioned today and you can all return to your normal stations and work patterns tomorrow. Therefore we are all effectively off-duty today and are able to raise a glass to our success in bringing in this serial killer. All we need now is the presence of Jack Renton, and I am reliably informed that he is only a couple of minutes away.”

  As the car pulled up at the door Renton had the real surprise, the one which he could not have dreamed of. Ben Adams was standing there with a Zimmer frame. He had been brought by the hospital ambulance as part of his on-going physiotherapy. Renton ran up the steps and gently embraced him. It was a poignant moment, added to by Parrish being led past them to the cells. Adams’ steely stare was met with a haunting smile which temporarily made him forget he was dependent on the frame. There were no tears from Ben Adams, only from Jack Renton.

  The ‘party’ atmosphere was appropriately subdued because of Adams’ presence. He shuffled across the room slowly, and thanked Bernard Cousins. He had been told at the hospital that Cousins had arranged for him to be there. Maybe he had to revise his opinion of this man, especially after his brush with the evil of Parrish.

  When Eva Roberts had heard Parrish’s confession from Renton, she said it had all dropped into place for her.

  “Your observation about his seamless transition from ‘my mother’ to ‘mother’, and his frequent self-denial of her death, makes me think that in the years between her actual death and the execution of his plan, he became his mother. It does gel with the alternating pleas to stop him and the inability he had to hand himself in. He could not abandon her, as everyone else had, and so he had to do her bidding. It was easier to handle the fear by separating the personalities. However, as often happens in such cases, one becomes more dominant than the other.”

  “Are you trying to get me to feel sorry for him?”

  “Not at all Inspector, he didn’t need to dress up like his mother, or preserve her body so he could talk to her, unlike a certain motel owner. Norman Bates was portrayed in an old classic movie, which I am sure you have seen. Parrish did however refuse to tell anyone she had died, so in his mind she hadn’t. Rather than being rebuked by his mother for being tempted by young women, he continued to care for her by attempting to show how callous society has become. He was her only champion. That’s why I have always believed he will end his life when he feels she has been seen as the first victim in this butchery. I think you are going to have a very interesting trial to attend Inspector, and I hope I can be there.”

  When the office began to empty and Ben was about to leave, Renton asked what the prognosis was.

  “It looks pretty good. I’m going to be on this recovery programme for a while but I have already decided I need more dedication to my physical condition. You know boss, it’s about time I thought about a regular girlfriend. I’m tired of living alone. You keep telling me I should think of another career, and this narrow escape has illustrated how we must grab every minute and make it worthwhile. I like what we do, but you’re right, I don’t want to become a crusty old fart like you too soon, and you need to get back to Jane and your son. They have visited me without telling you. We can both turn over a new leaf. I got a recommendation from a pal who goes to a place in Whickham. He highly recommends the guy who runs it, and his personal training regimes. It’s called Chase Fitness. Come on, let’s chase fitness as well as chase criminals. It’ll be a good discipline because our problem is that we don’t pull away from the job often enough, and that’s due to us feeling we are letting other people down. If we dedicate, and I really mean dedicate ourselves to this activity, and we sometimes don’t feel like turning up, we have to, or we are letting our personal trainer down.”

  “Do you really think anybody can get me into shape?”

  “Absolutely, and bear in mind that would make Jane very proud. For Christ’s sake Jack, what do you have to lose? See it’s working already, I just called you Jack since we are off-duty.”

  July 2019

  Martin Parrish had decided to defend himself. There was much debate as to whether this could be allowed because of his mental state. He had readily agreed to be subjected to psychiatric evaluation and two independent tests showed he was capable of speaking for himself in court. One of the psychiatrists maintained that this was a key aspect of his progression to remorse, and argued that Parrish had no intention to challenge his confession.

  The Law Courts in Newcastle were packed to the rafters and this was a concern. The prosecution made their case without the usual torrent of objections and need to approach the bench. The jury members witnessed the almost surreal compliance with which Parrish admitted every charge levelled at him. Trials of this type of crime were ordinarily expected to last for weeks, but this was no ordinary accused. Parrish called no witnesses and the bemused prosecutor moved to his summing up. It was now the turn of Martin Parrish.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I do not intend to cower behind the shield of a plea of insanity or diminished responsibility. Let us be clear on that, at least not diminished responsibility on my part. When I made my confession to Inspector Renton on the ferry, he listened carefully and politely, and that is all I ask of you. I hope it is my principles that are on trial today, as my culpability is not in doubt. The confession was one of a personal nature and I need not revisit that. I contend that, as a murderer, I should be punished adequately for the atrocities I have inflicted on the victims and their families. What is considered as adequate? The judge will decide that – or will he? Behind him in our justice system is the government and the sentencing advisory authority. It is clear in my mind that the only truly moral sentence should be termination, but that will not happen. I recall a former Prime Minister of our country stating that there is no such thing as society
. I beg to differ. I believe that in the same way we can’t see electricity, but can see how lethal it can be, society is very similar. But instead of choosing the protection of an insulator of morality, we have deferred to human rights jargon, political correctness and cost effectiveness. We can harness one of the most powerful forces in the world and yet we can’t manage our own morality. The route we have chosen should be reviewed. How can the astronomic sums of money invested in propping up flawed dogma like human rights and political correctness be reconciled with the claimed poor cost effectiveness of allowing suffering people medication to help them out of this mortal coil? How can we reconcile the human rights of proven terrorists with those already dead because of their actions? I submit it is because there is not sufficient engagement of ‘resistance’ in the circuit of society. It really is up to us to demand change. We have reached the ludicrous situation where the victims and their families’ human rights are never discussed. Why is this? Because it is easier to ignore a single relatively anonymous deceased person than the hordes of the liberal-thinking enlightened. I mean no disrespect to any of the families I have placed in this awful position, but we have now replaced their real rights with the placebo of a minute of air time on national TV. They can express their disappointment at the sentence of the criminal, and tell the camera that in contrast, they themselves have a life sentence with no parole. What kind of justice is this? History is littered with people who have made personal sacrifice in order to make a better world. Sometimes it is a mass sacrifice, like the fight for freedom from oppression. That often incurs fatalities of the innocent. This is how I see the present. We can’t let the government continue to impose this putrid society of theirs upon us, they need to be challenged. I have offered my life, and that of my unfortunate victims, to this end. The sacrifice must not be wasted. When I am incarcerated I will take my own life, because I deserve to die. If I did not, then you would have to suspect that what I have said is lacking in substance. They will have to watch me every minute of every day, but it only takes one second of lapsed concentration and they have failed in their hypocritical, cost intensive mission. Thank you for listening and please give some thought to what I have said.”

  September 2022

  Martin Parrish was found dead in prison. He had been a model inmate and without in any way condoning his crimes, some of what he said had resonated with the prison guards. He quietly worked his way into duties which caused vigilance over him to wane. He ended up in the kitchens, and his opportunity beckoned. His electrocution by a humble dishwasher bore comparison with his metaphorical link to society. The arguments began to rage as to whether he was insane, or just a product of an insane society.