Dirty Old Town

by L M Krier

  ‘No doctors,’ Green repeated.

  ‘She’s not a doctor. She’s a pathologist.’

  Green made a sound which might have been amusement.

  ‘That’s a bit premature.’

  ‘It won’t be if it gets infected. Let me call her, at least.’

  ‘Put it on speaker. I want to know what’s being said. Can you vouch for her?’

  ‘One hundred per cent.’

  Ted got his phone out and did as he’d been instructed. He spoke the minute the call was answered. He didn’t want Green to hear Bizzie call him by his full name, so he set the tone by addressing her formally.

  ‘Professor? It’s Ted. I need some help and it’s probably highly unethical.’

  ‘How very intriguing! What can I do for you?’

  ‘I’m with a ...’ he hesitated. Friend was certainly stretching things. ‘… an acquaintance who’s been injured. There’s a lot of bleeding and I can’t get it under control with pressure. Shoulder wound. He needs someone who knows what they’re doing to look at it, and he needs somewhere to crash until he can move on. It’s a huge ask, I know.’

  ‘What kind of a wound?’ Bizzie asked.

  Ted looked to Green to know how much to divulge over the phone. He spoke for himself.

  ‘Green here. It’s a gunshot wound. So this is strictly off the radar. Which is why I can’t go to A&E.’

  ‘I see,’ she said, her tone neutral. ‘Ted,’ she was taking her lead from him, from the name he’d used when speaking to her first. ‘Is this acquaintance of yours trustworthy?’

  Ted was looking directly at Green as he replied, ‘I would never turn my back on him. But he’s house-trained. A good cook, too. And at the moment he’s bleeding all over my car.’

  ‘In which case, you’d better bring him here. Heaven knows there are plenty of empty rooms in a house this size. You know that I can even burn ready meals. Douglas does his best but his repertoire is limited, so the cooking sounds like a fair exchange, if he can manage it. I can’t see him in any kind of official medical capacity of course, except as a humble first aider, you understand. But by the sounds of it, if you leave it too long, I would have the pleasure of his company in my autopsy suite unless you bring him here, so I’ll see you shortly.’

  ‘Half an hour, at least. And thank you.’

  ‘Are you sure this is wise, Gayboy? You know I have trust issues.’

  Ted had had to help Green on with the seat belt. Despite the amount of dressings he’d put on the wound, blood was already starting to soak through them.

  ‘You can trust the Professor. She’s very discreet. It’s not like you to get hit, though. And I thought you’d retired for good. So what happened?’ Ted risked another question, once they were on the way.

  The movement of the car on the rough surface as they made their way back to the road clearly caused Green some pain.

  ‘There was an urgent job. They needed someone skilled and expendable. Which is why they called me. I made them pay through the nose. The grandson wants a pony. He can now have a stableful if he wants, with what I charged. It was done in a rush and the intel was bad. I should have done my own recce. Should never have trusted them to get it right. Because of the time-frame, I did, and you can see the result. But the job was done.’

  It was a long speech for him, and an unusually frank one. Ted was itching to ask more but didn’t dare push it. They drove the rest of the way in silence.

  Bizzie had clearly been anticipating their arrival. She’d opened up the gates to the driveway and was hovering, looking out for them. Ted drove straight in.

  Green opened the car door and made to get out but was starting to look decidedly wobbly. Ted hurried to help him, knowing he would hate every moment of it.

  ‘Professor Nelson, Mr Green,’ he said by way of introduction.

  ‘And not before time, by the looks of things. Let’s get you into the house and see what we’re looking at here. Then I think it would be a good idea for you to make yourself scarce, Ted,’ she told him, again avoiding his full name in front of Green. ‘This is clearly all highly irregular, so I think the fewer of us who are involved the better, don’t you?’

  It was still early, so Ted decided to go back to the house before heading into the station, as he had planned. He’d need a shower and a clean-up. So would the car seat. There was still blood on his clothes and his hands. He could also take the time to do some apologising to the cats. More than anything he wanted to phone Trev, to check that he was all right, as soon as it was a suitable hour to find him up and about.

  The sudden appearance of Green on a mission had rattled Ted. It was perfectly possible that he’d been the person on the back of the motorbike on Thursday. The one who had shot the Data lookalike. Although the wound suggested that his injury had happened more recently than that incident. It may have been him at the shooting near the station the previous day. It could even be something which had not yet come to light.

  Whatever had brought him out of retirement might have had nothing to do with either of the shootings in Manchester. But his mention of the mysterious ‘They’ and the timing of his presence made all sorts of thoughts start racing through Ted’s mind. He’d only feel reassured once he’d spoken to his partner and made sure he was safe.

  ‘Hi, I hope I didn’t wake you,’ he told Trev when, freshly showered and changed, and the right side of bacon sandwiches and a mug of tea, he phoned him in London.

  ‘I’ve been awake for hours, or so it seems. Eirian is a total sadist and woke me up disgustingly early to make sure I’m not late. Teenagers today! How can she possibly be my sister? I don’t think I ever surfaced before lunchtime when I was her age, except to do horsey things, but she wants to do all the shops while I’m tied up.’

  ‘And is it okay? Are you okay? Being back in the flat?’

  ‘It’s the weirdest thing. Part of it is like I’ve never been away. Part of it is as if I’m somewhere I’ve never been before. I wouldn’t sleep in my old room. Too many memories. I’ve got the guest room. I’ve never slept in there before. But it’s fine. I’m fine.

  ‘Are you all right? Any more excitement? Are you going in to work today?’

  ‘Yes, I need some desk time to catch up with myself. And no, nothing exciting.

  It wasn’t a lie, Ted told himself. It was merely giving facts on a need to know basis. At least, that’s how he squared it with his conscience.

  ‘I hope it all goes well for you today. Take care of yourself in that big city.’

  Jo and Steve were both in for the day and Ted wanted to take the opportunity of sitting down with them to go over everything they had so far for the Damson Drive case. There were still no forensic results in, but Ted hadn’t yet had time to go over all the statements taken from neighbours concerning the family and what was known about them. If the blood tests revealed nothing they could act on, he wanted to see if there was anything else which would justify digging deeper into the case or whether it would be up to an inquest to determine what had happened.

  They got together in Jo’s office. Jo was collating everything they had, including the statements from neighbours. He gave Ted a summary.

  ‘Most of the neighbours knew about the details of the boy’s problems. Some invited the lad round to be with their children for things like birthday parties. The father had explained the situation to them, because the boy had those flare-ups of getting angry if he didn’t understand things, although they all say he was never violent to the others. He might shout and throw things but knowing his history, they all seemed to be kind and helpful towards him. Not all of them knew anything about the twin daughter, the one in care, but the family only moved to Damson Drive when the money came through from their claim against the hospital trust.’

  ‘I’ve been checking media reports, sir,’ Steve told him. ‘There was a lot about the case when the family made their claim. It was a big payout because the brain damage to the girl was catastrophic and the hos
pital was found to have been negligent in the care provided.’

  ‘And the money is to provide for her ongoing care?’ Ted queried. ‘Is that not available to her free from the NHS?’

  ‘There’s different levels of care, sir. She could get basic care free, yes. According to everything I’ve read, there’s virtually no chance of her ever improving from the state she’s in. But the father has chosen to stay optimistic. He’s put her in a special place where there’s all kinds of therapy. Physio, aqua therapy, all sorts of stuff, which is where the money goes.’

  ‘So that would be another difficulty in building a case against him. If he had a motive to kill any of his family, surely it would have been the daughter? She must take an emotional toll on them, as well as a financial one. And he appears to be a model parent, as far as she’s concerned, at least. What else do the neighbours say about him?’

  ‘We took Al Burgess with us this time, boss, and he proved to be surprisingly good at getting people to talk to him. It took a lot of cups of tea, though. Almost universal praise for the father. They see him as a hard-working essential service worker who does his best for his family in the face of considerable difficulties.

  ‘The wife doesn’t mix much at all, although is perfectly polite and civil when they see her. They all seem to know she suffers from some sort of depressive illness. There was nothing at all from any of the neighbours to suggest either she or the boy were in any way afraid of the husband and father.

  ‘There was one neighbour who did say something which might possibly be an indicator of another side to him, though. She has a son, similar age to the boy, who they invited to their house for a party one time. They were playing some sort of game he didn’t understand so he got angry and started shouting. She couldn’t manage to calm him down and it was upsetting some of the other children, so she phoned his dad to come and collect him.

  ‘He’d just come off a busy shift and she said he was a bit sharper than he usually was. He would normally speak quietly, the boy would calm down and he’d take him home, happily enough. That time he actually grabbed the lad by the arm, which made the boy react, and for a moment, she said it looked as if things might actually kick off between them. Then the father seemed to get a grip of himself, let go of the boy, and the two of them went off quietly together.

  ‘So in summary, we have absolutely nothing to indicate any tension, let alone violence, in the household. A bit the reverse, in fact. The picture painted is more of someone with the patience of a saint in trying circumstances.’

  ‘Sir, should we at least be asking questions about the man’s character and behaviour where he works? For background? In particular, should I try to find out what sort of a shift he’d had at work on the day of the incident? In the absence of any other motive, if I could find out if it had been a particularly difficult shift, that might explain why he snapped, if that’s what he did?’

  ‘That would fit if he killed the boy in a sudden loss of control. But not with your theory of him setting his wife up to take the blame. Until we get those blood results back, we really can’t do anything. Certainly not be seen to be treating him as a potential suspect at this point. All we can do is wait, for now, Steve.’

  Ted stayed behind when Steve left the office. As soon as the door shut behind him, Jo said, ‘He’s getting totally obsessed, isn’t he? Time to pull him off the case? Working closely with him on it, it’s becoming obvious that he’s not carrying out an impartial investigation. He’s specifically looking for ways of making his theory fit. Is he going to fall apart at the seams when he finally finds out there’s no case to be made?’

  ‘You think the husband is innocent, then?’

  ‘I wouldn’t necessarily go that far. I haven’t talked to him to form any sort of an opinion. What I would say is that, short of the bloods producing a miracle, we have absolutely nothing on which to build a case against him. And I’m seriously worried about how Steve will cope when that becomes clear to him.’

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Ted was surprised to find Steve working away at his desk when he walked into the main office on Sunday morning. Doubly so as he knew that he was not on the rota to work that day. It was still early. No one else was yet in.

  ‘You’re not down to work today, Steve.’

  ‘Don’t worry, sir, I’m not counting the hours. There was something I thought about last night and I wanted to come in and go over the notes again to see if I could pin down what it was.’

  ‘Go home, Steve,’ Ted told him. ‘We’re given days off for a reason. Once we get the test results through, it will be all systems go to work on the file, whichever way it turns out. Until then, there really is no point in you going over anything. Go home.’

  ‘But, sir ...’

  ‘I can make it an order if you want me to, Steve, but I’d rather not have to. Go and have a break. Why not take Bill out somewhere? Grumpy old bugger that he is, it would do him good. But go home.’

  For a brief instant, Ted thought Steve was going to defy him and refuse to leave. But then, flushing dark red and clearly not happy, he shut down his computer, stood up, grabbed his things and left the office without another word.

  Ted sighed. With everything else he had going on, the last thing he needed was the normally most compliant and timid member of his team to start playing the rebel. He got his mobile phone out as he went into his office.

  ‘Bill? Ted. I need a favour. I’ve had to send Steve home. He’s not meant to be in today but he’s getting totally obsessed with this latest case. I told him to go home and take you out somewhere. I owe you a pint if you let him.’

  ‘Bloody hell, Ted. Me, go out somewhere on a Sunday? When every man and his dog will be out clogging up the roads and getting in the way? That will take more than a pint. Where do you expect me to go, anyway?’

  ‘I don’t know. Anywhere that’s not the nick or a crime scene. Certainly nowhere near Damson Drive. A park? A car boot? A garden centre?’

  ‘With screaming kids running round everywhere out of control? Are you trying to get me arrested for losing it and slapping one of them?’

  ‘A meal and as many pints as you like? A decent bottle of Scotch? Come on, Bill, don’t make me beg. I’m worried about him. I actually had to pull rank to get him to go and you know that’s not like our Steve.’

  Bill gave a theatrical sigh.

  ‘There’s a special new food I want to try for Jack and only the garden centre up Otterspool stocks it. I don’t feel like driving because the old leg injury is playing up, so perhaps Steve could take me there. He loves my bird almost as much as I do, so he might go for that. Does that sound convincing enough?’

  Ted chuckled his relief.

  ‘And the Oscar for the best actor in a dramatic role goes to … Thanks, Bill. I owe you, big time.’

  ‘I won’t let you forget it.’

  Ted’s next call was to Bizzie Nelson. He’d held off talking to her the evening before, not wanting to bother her. He was already so much in her debt for helping him out with Green.

  She answered on the first ring, bright and breezy as ever.

  ‘Edwin! And before you worry that your mysterious friend is listening, he’s having some breakfast out in the garden with Douglas. The two of them are getting on like a house on fire. In contrast, Spilsbury is very wary of him indeed, and you know how friendly he is normally. Although your friend does seem to eye the pup with a rather culinary interest.’

  ‘Sensible dog. I don’t blame him. I really can never thank you enough for helping out though, Bizzie. I couldn’t think of anyone else to ask, but I really don’t want to cause any trouble for you.’

  ‘I doubt there will be any repercussions. There’s no reason why anyone would know he’s here.’

  Ted hesitated. He wasn’t entirely convinced. It would rather depend on who Green had rubbed up the wrong way this time.

  ‘Be careful though, all the same. Especially of Mr Green. Sometimes he works for the g
ood guys, but you can’t always rely on that.’

  ‘Oh, I’m under no illusions, believe me. But for the moment, he’s being quite charming.’

  Her description didn’t quite tally with the Mr Green Ted knew, although he realised he was a chameleon who could change his colours to suit the company he was in.

  ‘And is he all right?’ he asked. ‘The injury, I mean?’

  ‘He will be, but not immediately. You were right to call on professional help when you did or things could have been much worse.’

  ‘I really am in your debt for this, Bizzie. You must let me take you and Douglas out for a meal some time, with Trev, to show my gratitude.’

  ‘That would be delightful. As long as our house guest doesn’t murder us in our bed before he leaves, to guard his anonymity,’ Bizzie said jokingly.

  Ted wished she hadn’t said that. He could guarantee nothing where Green was concerned.

  He tried a quick call to Trev, to see if his sister had woken him early again. He knew he had another morning with the support group for the victims of his abuser, in preparation for the upcoming trial, but then he would catch a mid-afternoon train back home. He’d spoken to him at length the evening before but with Green’s presence still playing on his mind, he couldn’t shake off the feelings of anxiety.

  ‘Are you all set for today? Did Eirian get you up at sparrow’s fart again?’

  ‘She slept like a baby. I plied her with wine at dinner, so I could sleep in.’

  ‘She’s under age.’

  ‘Oh, Ted, stop being a boring policeman. It’s very nearly legal, with a meal. And you know perfectly well she looks and acts as if she’s in her twenties. Anyway, she’s off shopping when she surfaces, we’re having lunch together then catching our respective trains.’

  ‘Leave the bike in Manchester tonight. Get off in Stockport. I’ll sort you a taxi to work for the morning and if you let me know what time your train gets in today, I’ll come and collect you from the station.’