Personal

by S Thomas Thompson

  “There were boxes of latex gloves and some creepy writing left too,” Electra filled Ash in on the information he had missed while out of the room. He raised his eyebrows and considered getting back on the phone to Augustine before thinking better of it.

  “Do you have any of this stuff left?” Ash asked. His usual patience was replaced by a kind of urgency after the call.

  “I have some of the documents that looked official. I haven’t looked at them in any detail, but put them in a kitchen drawer in case he came back, or the landlord asked for them. I asked the landlord what to do with the rest of the stuff and he never came back to me, so I got rid of them,” Babs spoke with increasing weariness before directing her stare to Ash, “The kitchen where you have just been. Middle drawer, right hand side.”

  Ash took the instruction and got back to his feet. He searched past the tea towels and takeaway menus to a large brown envelope and slid it out from underneath the other contents of the drawer. He walked back into the living room and handed it to Babs. She didn’t raise her hands and looked at Ash. He sat back down, put on some latex gloves of his own and opened the envelope. Inside were documents that could make life much easier for someone who wanted to evade the law. There were three passports, two British and one from Pakistan that were all in different names. They had been prepared for slightly different identities, so one had a full beard and head of hair, one had all this shaved off and the other was much shorter hair and beard. Ash guesses that he could have picked the one closest to his current hairstyle and use it to stay a step ahead of the game if needed. Augustine and Marie would have to let the transport police and airport security know that there could be a flight risk for this suspect. Also in the envelope were driving licences from the UK and Pakistan that used different names and addresses as well as some letters, all unfinished and unsent. The first two caught Electra’s eye as the same style and tone as the ones she and Augustine has retrieved from the newspaper. This definitely felt like their man.

  “This is all I have. You can take it, but I need you to leave,” Babs spoke so softly that the two detectives could barely hear what she said.

  “Are you OK?” Electra asked with the upmost of concern. She didn’t want to impose on someone who was clearly so unwell. They had outstayed their welcome.

  “I’m fine. I just need to rest.”

  “Do you have any help? Is there anything I can do?”

  “Right now, I have to sleep. But if you are around in the next couple of days, then I’d love some company.”

  Electra had a day off the following day. The morning was going to be taken over by the funeral of Andy Lane, but she would come back in the afternoon. Then the day after that she started late, so could come over before work. She smiled at Babs and received the warmest smile of her life in return. The two detectives got up and quietly made their way down the stairs and though the front door; Electra made sure it was closed before they walked back to the car.

  Apart from Gary, the team sat together in the office and discussed their findings. The hair and latex gloves found at Babs apartment were the most telling find of the day, closely followed by the false documents from the kitchen drawer. They would all be attending the funeral the next morning, but after that the names and addresses on these documents would need to be double checked against the public records. As some were in Washington, they could be visited to see if there were any more clues. But for the time being, they would all get a good night’s rest and prepare to say goodbye to a colleague. Marie arrived as the meeting was about to close so she could thank them all for the constructive work put in that day. Augustine spoke to each team member one by one as they left. He sat with Marie after and discussed the progress they had been able to make.

  “We’ve made a bigger step forward today than all the weeks we have been working on this. I’m still getting to grips with his death, but PC Andy Lane has brought us more progress with this case than all the detectives of my team put together. Tomorrow I will pay my respects and thank him for all he has done,” Augustine could speak his mind to Marie without any filters. He had no need to think twice about the words that were coming out of his mouth.

  “We need to back all of this up. The reports should be together before I go home tomorrow. I want to see that we have a growing file of facts on this killer – not more speculation and guesswork. Is that clear?” Marie didn’t often lay down the law often but felt that this was a point that needed labelling. Augustine had to jump through a few hoops with her to keep this investigation. She needed to show something to those above to have any say in the matter of who would lead the chase for the killer.

  “I understand,” Augustine replied, “I think we are closing in. and I haven’t thought that until now.” He looked across the room to see if Marie was studying him. He expected her to watch his lips and eyes closely for signs of sincerity, but she was already somewhere else. He guessed that it might be the funeral tomorrow. She would have to speak to Andy Lane’s family again and this was one of the worst parts of her job. She spoke no more, but Augustine imagined what was passing through her head. He could picture her sitting down with Andy Lane’s parents, who had never thought for one second that their child would die before them. She would have to make attempts to console the inconsolable. That wasn’t a job that Augustine would ever want to do.

  The two of them sat in silence for a while. Augustine wanted to go but felt as though he should stay, to support her and be there should she need him. He looked down at the envelope of documents that Ash had handed him. It was filled with items that could blow this case apart, but he was ready to sit on them out of respect for the fallen PC. Augustine looked again at Marie. She was on her way home in her mind, but the body hadn’t caught up with this thought. He would sit there as long as she needed.

  35

  Augustine pulled on his shirt and tie. He had a suit that he only ever wore for funerals. It was dark blue rather than black because he wanted some light on the day, even if it was the smallest gesture. The shoulders still had signs of the wood from his grandfather’s coffin. His brother, cousins and himself had carried the coffin. Some of the wood had stained his jacket. Dry cleaning hadn’t removed it. Augustine wasn’t sure if he wanted it to be removed. The tie was black. He worried if it would show off the non-blackness of his suit, but it had never been commented on. He was trying to count the number of funerals he had been to. He had reached the number seven before telling himself to concentrate on something more light-hearted. There was going to be plenty of time to mourn later in the day, then after that work.

  The time while he was getting ready should be focused on something else, he decided. Augustine missed a lot of what others thought was normal conversation. He didn’t watch much television and wasn’t into sports. He liked to read, but found escape in obscure books he picked up from just about anywhere rather than the bestsellers that everyone else might be talking about. He was a conversation to avoid for most people because they didn’t share the same background or culture. Augustine thought about the books he might like to read. He was heavily into the works of Philip Roth but still hadn’t made his way through the entire back catalogue. He stopped and thought about the ones that were missing and when he could get around to reading them. His life was consumed by the killer he was hunting, so reading anything of substance was out of the question. He resolved to buy a newspaper every day and do some reading there. This would keep him up to date with current affairs and satisfy his desire to consume something written. It was far better than getting his news from social media, like many of his friends. He had never understood the desire to read news from sources that couldn’t be relied upon, even in his job. Yes, a newspaper would satisfy his desire to consume information. The time spent deciding what to do helped Augustine move away from the depressing thoughts that had begun his day and moved him towards a lighter frame of mind. He felt that someone to share this life with would help him keep this frame of mind for longer. He
had thought the date with Christine was going well until they found her friend murdered. This was enough to scupper any date, but for Augustine there was always one thing or another that stood in the way of dating success. If it wasn’t the mood he was in, then it was the way he perceived them. If it wasn’t a bad meal, then it was terrible weather that might dampen an otherwise lively night. And if all else fell into place, if Augustine felt comfortable with a woman, then there was the death of her friend to finish off any lingering hopes that he might find happiness.

  He was dressed and ready to face the day. The only problem was the clock still said 7.00 and the funeral wasn’t for another 4 hours. Augustine traipsed down to the local shop in his funeral suit and bought the first newspaper of his new resolution. He walked back home with it under his arm, like it was a mission he had been given from a higher plain. Augustine made a cup of tea and sat at his kitchen table to read and drink. It was his intention to read for around an hour and then start to make tracks towards the police station. Marie had given instructions that they were all to meet at the police station. The funeral procession was to pass the station on the way from Andy Lane’s home to the church and it felt fitting that they all joined the other mourners from there.

  By the time Augustine first picked up his tea cup to drink it was already cold. He gave himself five more minutes and he would then get ready for the drive to the station. But those five minutes turned into an hour and he looked at the clock exactly as it turned to 10.25. Augustine jumped up and hunted around the kitchen for his car keys. He always told himself to put the keys in the same place every night so he could easily find them the next morning, but this determination at the start of the day was never matched by the appropriate action at the end of it. He looked under post that had been sat there for days, moved cups that had tea stains just as old and eventually found his keys on the edge of the draining board. He jumped in his car and made his way to the station. The car park was filling up, so he pulled into the first space he saw. Augustine usually deliberated over parking spaces looking for the perfect one. The first few he came across were usually labelled as too small, too far away or another ‘too,’ but that day he just had to find a space and get to the station as quickly as he could. It was gone 10.40 and the funeral was due to pass their doors at any minute. Augustine stepped into line with Marie and the rest of his team within 2 minutes and saw the funeral moving towards the police station from his left. He bowed his head and waited for someone in front of him to move. As they did, he stepped across Gary to walk with Electra. She looked up to the sky and Augustine could see a tear roll down he cheek and collect on the front of her dress. She was all in black, as would have been expected of someone who was a stickler for tradition. She had been passed down this sense of order by her grandmother. It wasn’t going to change.

  The funeral was a mix of the light and the dark. The passing of someone so young was never going to be an easy affair, but the youth of the people there brought a vibrancy that you don’t normally find on these occasions. People were there to celebrate his life more than to mourn his death. Andy’s friends refused to let the killer win, and the colour yellow was shown by many of them. It was his favourite colour. Someone in his circle had suggested they all wear something yellow on Facebook a couple of nights before the funeral. This had obviously caught on with those that were connected to him on a personal level. As for the people who knew Andy Lane on a professional level, the slightly lighter suit that Augustine wore was as close as any of them had come to colour.

  The morning passed quickly and before they knew it, the team were sat back in the office together. There was a downbeat mood, as could be expected, as they went about typing up their findings from the day before and following up any loose ends. There were a few landlords to talk to and some ex-colleagues that they might like to speak to in the future. It all pointed to one man. They had suspected that it was Alaaldin Hussein for a few days but the final pieces of the jigsaw were slotting into place to give them the full picture of this character. Augustine sat with each of the team members in turn to make sure they had followed up all the leads from their research and were able to gather something that would stand up in a court of law when they found him. That was Augustine’s’ view. He classified it now as a ‘when’ and not an ‘if.’ The team members were all as upbeat as Augustine about finding the killer. The morning had strengthened their resolve to deal with the man who had taken a colleague from them. One by one, Gary, Electra and Ash had sat with Augustine and talked about their leads. Electra had come into the office specifically for the conversation on her day off. She wanted Gus to know that he had her full backing and she was putting together the information that she and Ash had got – especially that from Babs. She assured Augustine that Ash was checking the addresses on the fake documents as they spoke before leaving the station to fulfil her promise to Babs.

  The last member of the team through the door was Lou. He didn’t share the same enthusiasm as the rest of the team. The others had talked up their chances of finding this man. Augustine could see negativity written all over Lou’s face.

  “What’s wrong Lou? You are always the person who keeps the rest of them on track,” Augustine asked the man sat opposite. It was the first time he had noticed Lou’s advancing years. He looked like the world was moving too quickly for him.

  “Not this time, Gus,” Lou replied. There was that name again. Augustine thought about issuing a memo to confirm that he wasn’t to be called Gus, but thought better of it in the circumstances. He watched Lou think very carefully about what he was going to say. This wasn’t like the grandfather of the team; he usually had just the right words at the right moments.

  “Watching Andy Lane’s family today told me that my time here is coming to an end. I don’t know what else I have in life, but I am sure that I don’t want to be in the police any more. It is a life of mopping up the worst of society, while trying to protect the best. I’m afraid that the worst always win. How are we going to catch this killer? He is a ghost. We have got lucky now. Do you really think he is going to allow us to get lucky again?” the questions from Lou struck a chord at the heart of Augustine. He wasn’t sure how much of his job was luck and how much was ability. He could go through all the procedures, but until Andy Lane stumbled on a killer, they had almost nothing to work with.

  “Lou, there is nothing different we do now to what we did when you started this job. We work hard, follow all the clues, gather evidence and sometimes do a bit of hoping. This killer is no more of a ghost than any other we have searched for together,” Augustine lied to his colleague. He didn’t feel great about it, but wanted to get Lou back onside. He needed the support of his most experienced member of the team, even if it was just until this case was over. He had no idea whether Lou had to work notice or could just walk away at that moment and never come back.

  “Augustine, this man walked straight past you. He controls us. I daresay that the killing of Andy Lane was part of his plan. He has been in total control so far – what makes you think that he wasn’t up to the mark when he killed one of our own?” Lou wasn’t going to be swayed in his opinion. Augustine could see the defeat in his colleague’s eyes. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

  “Lou, why don’t you go home and think about things for a while. We will keep up the work here and I can call you in a couple of days. I’d love you to still be here when we catch this guy. You have put in a lot of work to find justice for the victims and their families,” Augustine tried to appeal to Lou’s sense of fairness and thought it might have turned his colleague’s head for a while.

  “I’ll sleep on it. Give me a few days,” Lou replied. He wasn’t ready to commit to staying just as he wasn’t ready to commit to leaving. Lou was a man of balance. He quite accepted that nobody was ever 100% committed to anything in life. He had hovered around 50-50 for some time but was beginning to see more negatives than positives to working as a detective. If he got to 45-55 then he knew his ti
me was up. Augustine watched Lou walk out of the door and wondered if it would be the last time. He sighed and thought about the career he must have seen. From the early days in the police when a thick ear or a slap on the wrist deterred petty criminals to today when they buried a colleague and chased a man who had killed at least six people. He could see why Lou didn’t think this was what he had signed up for.

  36

  The day was drawing to a close and only Augustine and Ash remained in the office. Augustine was sat at the desk reading the notes from all the other members of his team. He had a meeting the next morning with Marie to discuss the progress made and the steps required to bring this guy to justice, so he had to know his stuff inside out. He didn’t get into policing to read notes and sit in meetings but found it a necessary part of his role. If he didn’t do this and shield his team from it then someone else would have to waste their time with it. He would rather they got to do the more enjoyable parts of the role and he put up with all the shitty bits like explaining what he was doing, looking at performance charts and attending meetings. It still didn’t feel like they were effective, even after years of sitting through them.