by L M Krier
‘Was she injured …?’ Bill started to ask then read Ted’s expression. ‘Ah, ok, understood. I’ll get it sorted. Total discretion. Count on me.’
‘I know I can. Can you just please make sure that whoever cleans it understands that too. This is not to be made public, and if I hear even a whisper about it, the person responsible will have me to deal with.’
‘Poor lass, though, eh? Last thing she’s going to need is people gossiping.’
‘Exactly. Now, I don’t suppose either Beth or Reece have shown up, have they?’
‘No sign. I gather having half a human tongue thrown at them in a park has rather put the wind up them.’
Ted wasn’t surprised Bill was already fully up to date. There was little that happened in the town, let alone inside the nick, that he didn’t know about.
‘And Abigail’s coming in daily as per her bail conditions?’
‘Good as gold. The mother brings her, which is nice for all concerned, without Buller here winding everyone up. He’s an odious piece of shit.’
‘You’ll get no argument from me on that. Something else you might be able to help me with. I’m sure you’ve heard about our person of short stature? The bearer of the severed tongue.’
‘Person of short stature? Are we not allowed to say dwarf any more? Is that not PC these days? Anyway “Bearer of the Severed Tongue” sounds like something from Game of Thrones.’
Ted looked at him in surprise. ‘You watch that stuff? I didn’t have you down as a fantasy fan, Bill.’
‘A man’s allowed a few guilty secrets in his private life. Especially by my age. Young Steve got me into it. That and Star Wars. Passes the evenings when there’s nowt else on t’box.
‘He’s a good lad, Steve. He’ll make a brilliant officer one day, if he ever learns to believe in himself. He wakes up screaming in the night sometimes. Did you know?’
‘He got badly assaulted that time, remember? When his teeth got broken. That’s enough to give anyone nightmares, I would think.’
‘I think this goes back much further than that. He sounds like a little boy when he does it. A child. And he keeps his T-shirt on in the shower. I walked in on him one time when he hadn’t locked the door. Maybe he wanted me to see. To ask him about it. And maybe one day I will. In the meantime, I sit and watch his programmes with him.
‘And what was it you said just now? If even a whisper about my viewing habits gets out, you’ll have me to deal with. So think on, Ted. I remember your first day here.’
Ted laughed. ‘Fair point. Not my finest hour. But have you heard anything about this character?’
‘When I heard mention that you were all out chasing your tails for a blind dwarf – sorry, person of short stature – I thought it was some sort of an in joke. Because it’s absolutely a new one on me. No one from Uniform has heard of such a person either. And it’s not exactly a sight you’d forget in a hurry. Must be new to the area, I think.’
As Ted headed for the stairs, Bill called after him, ‘Winter is coming.’
Ted turned back, puzzled. ‘We’ve not had summer yet.’
Bill laughed in turn. ‘It’s a Thrones thing, Ted. You need to watch an episode or two sometime.’
Ted had phoned Jim Baker on the drive back from the hospital after he’d found several missed calls from him.
‘I called Jo when you didn’t reply,’ Jim told him. ‘He said something about taking DC Vine to hospital with appendicitis. Is she all right, poor lass?’
‘Not appendix after all. Women’s stuff,’ Ted told him, knowing that would be the most certain way to stop Jim’s questioning in its tracks. He’d been with the Big Boss at some of the most gory crime scenes and revolting post-mortems he could remember, without seeing him turn a hair. Any mention of anything with a gynaecological connection would be certain to shut him up. ‘She’s going to be off a fair few days though, for sure, so can I have a replacement?’
Jim sighed heavily. ‘You can borrow someone. For as long as she’s off. If this latest death is linked to your cuckooing gang, then it’s only one case to work on, after all, not two.
‘And on that subject, I’ve got two officers from Drugs who’ll come and talk to you tomorrow. Listen to what you have; see if it matches anything they know about. But you can’t keep them. They’re busy people, with cases of their own. I want to be in on the briefing with them, so when’s a good time tomorrow?’
‘I was planning to try to get everyone together early afternoon for a progress report. Bring the CSM in to see what forensic results we might have by then. And with a bit of luck, with the PM tomorrow morning on the Bowl body, Rob will be back with something useful for us. Including, hopefully, DNA results and an ID on the body.’
‘Let’s go for two o’clock, in that case. You round up yours, I’ll sort out the others. Any news on the missing youngsters?’
‘I’ll find out from Jo when I get back in. I’m nearly there. If there is any news, I’ll let you know.’
Jo Rodriguez was on the phone when Ted went into his office. He raised a hand to indicate that he wouldn’t be long. Ted sat down while he finished his conversation.
‘How’s Jezza?’ was his first question when he ended the call.
‘Not appendix after all but she’s going to be off work for a few days at least. Any update on our missing cuckoos?’
‘Just this very minute. And for once the “insert supreme beings of choice”,’ he made quotation marks in the air as he said it, ‘are smiling on us. Beth and Reece were picked up an hour ago by motorway police, thumbing on a slip road just north of Birmingham. They’re being returned to us, with various forces helping out with the relay.
‘I’d circulated the details far and wide, including ports and airports, just in case they had the means. But of course Beff was originally from down south so it seems likely she was trying to head back down there, with Reece in tow.
‘Of course now they’ve skipped bail, we can get them remanded in custody, which means two less of them to worry about.’
‘So that just leaves Data, Kane and Sarwar to round up. Or to account for, if one of them really is the Body in the Bowl. Plus whoever Lauren is. What news from Maurice and Zofia?’
‘Ronnie is freaking out, according to Maurice. She’s not stupid. She knows she won’t have been moved to a new safe house without a valid reason. And the most likely valid reason is a real and present threat to her safety.
‘She’s clammed up and is refusing to say any more without all sorts of assurances about her safety going forward. Her demands are getting ever more exotic. She currently wants to be relocated to South America, although I’m not convinced she even knows where it is, or what part she wants to go to. Maurice is doing his best but she’s not budging. She really does watch too much daytime TV as she keeps going on about the Fifth Amendment.’
‘I’ll go round myself. Perhaps a bit of rank might persuade her to be more cooperative. I don’t want to threaten her, but if I did suggest to her that there was no point in continuing to put her up and look after her if she has nothing to tell us, that might just do the trick.’
‘Who’s he?’ Ronnie craned her neck from where she was lolling on the sofa, watching TV as usual, when Ted walked into the room at the new safe house, followed by Maurice Brown who'd opened the door to him.
‘This is my boss, DCI Darling. He wants a few words with you.’
Ted picked up the remote control from the low table and switched off the television. That made her sit up and take notice.
‘Oy, I was watching that.’
‘And now you’re not,’ Ted told her, sitting down. ‘You’re going to talk to me instead.’ He put his phone on the table where the remote was and told her he would be recording their conversation.
‘Zofia, I’m the Senior Investigating Officer on this case. As such, I’m in charge of the budget. So I’m here to evaluate whether or not we’re getting our money’s worth out of you. It costs us money to keep you p
rotected like this. And so far, the information you’ve given to Maurice isn’t worth the expense. We need more.’
‘I’m scared, innit,’ she told him. ‘I need protecting. This lot, behind the drugs an’ stuff, are well dangerous. They’d kill me if they knew I were speaking to you. Why was I moved from the other place? Does that mean they know I’m talking to you?’
‘But you’re not, are you?’ Ted said reasonably. ‘You’ve not told us anything at all of any use so far. And you were moved from the other house because this is smaller and we needed a bigger one for another protected witness.’
It was a good job Ronnie was looking at Ted and not at Maurice when he said that. Otherwise she would have noticed the surprised look on Maurice’s face at the ease with which the boss trotted out a blatant lie.
‘I need to know I’m going to be safe, if I talk to you. I want to choose where I get moved to ...’
‘That’s not how it works, I’m afraid. You need to tell us something solid. Something of use to us to move the case forward. Once you’ve convinced me that you can come up with the goods, then I can start looking into what we can do for you in exchange. But we’ve been waiting all week for you to say something useful. So far you haven’t.’
‘I told you about the Big Man,’ she said defiantly.
Ted made a scornful noise. ‘The Big Man? That’s straight out of some TV programme. It tells us nothing. I need more than that. Have you ever met him, this Big Man? Can you tell me what he looks like?’
‘Well, no … It were always Kane who went to see him. No one else.’
‘Where did he go to see him?’
‘Dunno. Not far. He were never gone long. He always got a lift back, with the stuff, like. So he never had to carry it anywhere. In case he got caught.’
‘Did Kane ever tell you about the Big Man? Did he say anything about him?’
‘Just that he were a right bastard and he’d slit you like a kipper if you ever tried to do the dirty on him. And Kane always said it with like a sneer. “The Big Man”. Like he were trying to show he weren’t afraid of him.’
‘Right, this is getting to be more like it. Maurice, can you put the kettle on, please? And send the other officer in.’
‘Does that mean I’m going to be okay? I’m going to get protection, and moved somewhere new?’
‘We’ve not even got going yet, Zofia. That’s why we need a brew.’
Maurice went out to the kitchen to put the kettle on. He passed the PC who was on duty and nodded to her to go in. Both of them knew Ted would not want to be alone with Zofia. Despite the recording, he wasn’t going to run the risk of her claiming she’d been offered all sorts of inducements to part with any information she might finally decide to give up.
‘So when Kane brought the stuff back, where did you put it?’
‘Wherever we was crashing.’
‘Recently. Say within the last couple of weeks.’
‘The flat in that old mill place in town. Where them coppers grabbed me. We’ve got a mate there. She lets us stay.’
‘Which mate is that?’
‘Abi, she’s called.’
‘And she’s quite happy for you to store drugs in her flat?’
Ronnie turned evasive again.
‘She ain’t all that bright. She just likes having mates round, so she don’t ask too many questions.’
The grilling went on for nearly an hour more. Ted’s questioning was relentless. He wanted answers and Ronnie quickly realised that her best ticket to safety was to give him something – anything – which she hadn’t come up with before. Her big problem was that it was becoming all too clear that she didn’t know enough to be of much use.
As she started to realise that, she was falling over herself trying to say something which was what Ted wanted to hear.
Eventually, he stood up, turned his phone off and pocketed it.
‘Zofia, it’s clear that you’re finally making an effort to cooperate. But at the same time it’s also obvious that you really don’t have any of the kind of information we want. So I need you to have a long, hard think about what it is you do know and could tell us. And weigh that up against the risks you run if we don’t, after all, agree to put you under witness protection. We’ll talk again after you’ve thought through all your options.
‘Maurice, walk with me to the car, please.’
‘Bloody hell, Ted,’ Maurice told him as soon as they were outside the house. ‘I’ve never seen you play bad cop before. That was pretty convincing. You certainly rattled Ronnie’s cage.’
‘Desperate times, desperate measures,’ Ted told him. ‘Let’s hope it will achieve something. She really hasn’t told us anything much of any use so far. And that’s no reflection on you, Maurice. I know you will have been trying your best. I’m just not convinced she knows much of anything.
‘Let her stew in her own juice for the day tomorrow. Maybe the weekend, too. Until she’s really keen to talk. Don’t come here in the morning. Come straight to the station. We’ve got briefings which need your input. Leave her to Uniform. If she thinks we’re going cold on her, she might try a bit harder to give us something useful. Mind you, there was one interesting thing she said.’
‘Kane Lomax was the only one of them to have seen the Big Man face to face, you mean?’ Maurice queried. He was a plodder and a skiver but he didn’t miss much.
‘Exactly. So he’s the only one of them who could identify the Big Man. And since we’ve not found Kane and we have a body with what looks like a very clear warning, since we started sniffing about ...’
‘It’s odds on that the Body in the Bowl is Kane.’
‘Well, this is a nice surprise,’ Trev said as Ted appeared at karate club. ‘I didn’t expect you to make it this evening, with all you have going on. Not that I’m complaining, of course.’
‘It’s been a tough day. I thought some time spent kicking people would make a welcome change. And I have a takeaway in the car for us afterwards, in case you hadn’t had time to plan anything.’
‘I was planning to go out for a curry with Mark and the others afterwards. I’d far rather go home with my husband like any boring old married couple.’
‘It doesn’t have to be boring,’ Ted told him with a suggestive smile.
Chapter Eighteen
Ted was just about to tell the team about Jezza being off sick when the door opened and their former colleague Sal Ahmed walked in, grinning broadly. Rob was at the post-mortem but Maurice and Virgil, who’d known Sal well and were still friends with him outside work, stood up to greet him. A man-hug from Maurice, an affectionate thump on the back from Virgil.
‘I’m seconded, boss, but not for long. Hopefully I can be of some use while I am here, though.’
‘Good to have you back, Sal,’ Ted told him, ‘And I’m sure you will be. There’s a financial angle to this which needs unpicking, so perhaps you can liaise with Steve to start with. He’s been going through our suspect’s phone.
‘Before we get started, I wanted to let you all know that Jezza was taken ill yesterday and will be having some time off. Don’t look so worried, Maurice, I’m sure she’ll be fine. She just needs a bit of rest for now. So perhaps give her a quiet day or two before you rush round there with grapes and a bunch of flowers.
‘We’ll do a full briefing this afternoon at two when we might all have a bit more to report on. We’ve got two officers from Drugs coming to join us, and I’ve asked the Crime Scene Manager to come in for a round-up of her findings on both deaths.
‘I’m hoping to get a word with Mrs Buller this morning when she brings Abigail in to report. We need to get access to any and all of Abigail’s financial affairs and she may be more willing to talk to us without her delightful husband in tow.’
‘Do you honestly think she’ll dare say anything, without him there?’ Jo asked. ‘He would seem to have her well and truly under his thumb, from what we’ve been told.’
‘I’ll just have to t
ry my very best charm offensive,’ Ted replied.
‘If that doesn’t work, boss, try your bad cop act. First time I’d seen that, yesterday. I don’t know what effect it will have on Ronnie but it certainly rattled me,’ Maurice told him, raising a ripple of mirth from the team.
‘Hello, Abigail, Mrs Buller.’
As usual, Abigail’s face lit up as soon as she saw Ted. Her school reports, which they’d now received and were working through, had said she was of an overly trusting and affectionate nature, with a total lack of judgement on boundaries in social interaction. The perfect soft target for the cuckoos.
She was frowning now as she asked, ‘Ezza?’ She signed the J but didn’t pronounce it.
‘Not here today,’ Ted told her, trying to speak clearly. ‘Day off.’
‘S’eeping?’ Abigail asked him, gesturing with her hands together, leaning her head against them.
‘Yes, sleeping.’ Then he went on, ‘Mrs Buller, I wonder if I could have a quick word with you, please, if that would be convenient?’
She immediately looked anxious. ‘Should I call our solicitor? And Christy? Perhaps I’d better get my husband to come in ...’
‘You can, of course, if you wish to. But it’s really not necessary. It’s you I wanted to talk to, not Abigail. Just a few quick questions. Nothing incriminating at all, I promise you. Shall we go and sit down?’
He held his arm out, indicating the way to the witness room they knew well by now. Mrs Buller was scrutinising his face. She clearly found reassurance in his expression as she headed in the direction Ted was indicating, Abi following docilely in her wake.
As soon as they took their seats, Abi sat down, put her head back against the cushion and appeared to fall asleep. Her mother smiled fondly.
‘She’s permanently tired these days, bless her. I was much the same when I was carrying her. And I didn’t have all this dreadful stress and anxiety to cope with. When will it all be over?’
‘We really are doing all we possibly can to bring this case to a conclusion, Mrs Buller. It’s not an easy one for any of us. Especially for you and Abigail.