Fatal Love

by Michael Patterson

  Before Mary could expand on this, they were interrupted when Tom and Paul returned with the drinks.

  ‘You two look very serious,’ said Paul.

  ‘Not really,’ Kerry quickly replied. ‘We were just saying how lucky we both are to have such wonderful partners.’

  As Tom gave Mary a quizzical look, Paul simply said, ‘Yeah, right.’

  A short while later, and after they had all finished their drinks, Sam came running towards them and excitedly said, ‘Our flight is on the board. It says we have to get on now.’

  They all stood, and Kerry first embraced Mary and then Tom. ‘It’s been great meeting you both. We’ve had a wonderful time. I’m sure it’s something Sam and Emily will always remember.’ She looked in the direction of the two children. ‘Why don’t you give Granddad Tom and Mary a hug?’

  After they had done just that, Paul embraced Mary, and then it was the turn of Tom.

  ‘It’s been great being able to spend time with you,’ Paul said. ‘And remember what I said about coming over to Oz to visit us. You never know, I might even teach you how to play golf.’

  ‘I’m not sure about the golf part,’ answered Tom, with a light laugh. ‘I think I’ve had enough of golf recently. But we’ll definitely think about coming to visit you.’

  Paul and his family then picked up their luggage and began to walk towards the check-in area. Just before they turned a corner, they all stopped and waved to Tom and Mary, before disappearing out of sight.

  Mary took hold of Tom’s hand. ‘How are you feeling?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know. I suppose it will be later when I start to miss them.’

  ‘Were you serious about going to see them?’

  ‘Why not?’ he answered. ‘I’d hate to think I won’t see them again.’

  Mary squeezed Tom’s hand. ‘You see, there is, after all, life after the police force.’

  Chapter 59

  It was a few days later and Tom was seated in one of the interview rooms at the station. Also in the room were another man and a woman. They were leading the inquiry into the death of DC Bennett. It was the woman who, looking directly at Tom, spoke first.

  ‘Thank you for attending today, DCI Stone. My name is DCS Janet Colley and this is my colleague, DCIJames Russell. Just to let you know, as this is a formal inquiry, our meeting today is being recorded.’ She then looked down at a sheet of paper set on the table in front of her, and began to read from it. ‘So that everyone is clear, the main purpose of this inquiry is to investigate the circumstances which led to the death of DC Gary Bennett and recommend any procedural changes which could minimise the chance of similar outcomes happening again. If, after this inquiry has concluded, it is our considered opinion that poor leadership or non-compliance with relevant procedures contributed to DC Bennett’s death, then we will, of course, be suggesting appropriate action. Is that all clear?’

  ‘Perfectly,’ answered Tom.

  ‘Why do you think DC Bennett decided to follow Mr Blackwell, on the night he died, without informing DS Milner that he was planning to do so?’ she then asked, without any further preamble.

  ‘I really don’t know,’ said Tom. ‘There could have been lots of reasons.’

  ‘Such as?’ she asked.

  Tom had been notified of the meeting the previous day. As was his usual custom, he had spent quite a while anticipating their likely questions, together with the key points he felt he needed to get across. He had also decided that, however difficult, he would not fall into the trap of being too defensive.

  ‘DC Bennett was an extremely conscientious and dogged police officer,’ he said. ‘He had been in the force a long time and, no doubt, during that time had developed a copper’s natural instinct to know when something was not quite right. He felt strongly Mr Blackwell was a key suspect in the murder of Glyn Burton. I suspect, although I cannot be certain, of course, that he simply decided, on the spur of the moment, to drive to Mr Blackwell’s house in order to see if he could find out anything else about him.’

  This time it was DCI Russell who spoke. ‘And it was that spur-of-the-moment decision which ultimately cost him his life.’

  ‘And, without a doubt, saved the life of Mr Blackwell,’ said Tom. He paused briefly before continuing. ‘Mr Blackwell has already confirmed, without DC Bennett’s personal intervention, he would certainly have been killed himself.’

  ‘That’s entirely possible, DCI Stone, but this inquiry has a clear brief, as just outlined by DCS Colley, and that is to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of DC Bennett.’

  DCS Colley then spoke. ‘We have a number of statements, from other officers, which suggest that DC Bennett was almost fixated on proving Mr Blackwell’s guilt. Your loyalty to him is to be commended, but isn’t it the truth that this clear fixation was allowed to develop at the expense of standard police procedures, and it was this lack of proper supervision which ultimately was the cause of DC Bennett’s death?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t,’ answered Tom. ‘It was the fact that an unarmed police officer, without regard for his own safety, went to protect a member of the public. Can I just remind you it was the two men who attacked him that “ultimately”led to his death?’ Despite his good intentions not to become defensive, he instantly realised this was exactly what he had just done. Surprisingly, though, he didn’t regret it.

  ‘But you knew DC Bennett felt strongly that Mr Blackwell was central to the murder investigation and that, in his opinion, Mr Blackwell was probably the person who had murdered Mr Burton. That’s correct, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ he answered.

  An uneasy silence followed, before DCI Russell said, ‘You just mentioned how DC Bennett had been a serving police officer for a long time. Wouldn’t it have been normal, given his length of service, for him to have moved beyond a DC?’

  ‘Not everyone has aspirations to become a DCS or DCI. In my experience it’s always better to have a square peg in a square hole. Over the years I’ve seen too many examples of officers being promoted beyond their level of competence.’

  They both chose to ignore Tom’s last comment.

  ‘So you wouldn’t describe DC Bennett as being particularly ambitious?’ DCS Colley asked.

  ‘Not especially, no. But you shouldn’t confuse ambition with competence and determination.’

  Once again not responding to Tom’s comment, DCS Colley decided on a different line of questioning. ‘I understand, at the time of DC Bennett’s death, you were on holiday. Is that correct?’

  ‘Yes, that’s correct.’

  ‘Isn’t it a bit unusual to take a holiday during a murder investigation? Especially one which, as subsequent events confirmed, was rapidly coming to a climax?’

  ‘I took a few days off for personal reasons,’ he answered, as matter-of-factly as possible. ‘And, anyway, you are wrong when you say the investigation was coming to a climax. At that time we still did not have any hard evidence. We had some circumstantial evidence but no evidence on which we could make an arrest.’

  ‘And it was then, just before you took some days off, that you appointed DS Milner as acting SIO. Is that also correct?’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ he answered.

  ‘What briefing did you carry out with him at the time?’

  ‘A verbal brief. Mainly to go back over all of the evidence to see if there were any discrepancies. I also said to contact me should there be any major developments.’

  ‘So, nothing in writing?’ asked DCI Russell.

  ‘No. As I just said, it was a verbal briefing.’

  ‘I understand it was your recommendation that DS Milner should be promoted from acting DS to full DS. On what basis did you make that recommendation, given DS Milner’s relative inexperience?’ asked DCS Colley.

  ‘It was my judgement that he was ready to be promoted. To my mind he had shown he had all the necessary attributes and was ready to take on the role.’

  ‘And how did D
C Bennett react to DS Milner’s promotion? As you have already said, he had considerably more experience than DS Milner. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if there was at least some resentment.’

  ‘At no stage did I see any resentment on DC Bennett’s part. In fact, it was a great pleasure to see just how well they worked together.’

  ‘But, obviously, they didn’t work that well together. If they had, then surely DS Bennett would have felt he could inform DS Milner of what he planned to do on the day he died,’ replied DCS Colley.

  ‘As I‘ve already told you, I suspect it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.’

  Once again, they all fell into an uneasy silence. Eventually, DCS Colley spoke. ‘DCI Stone, if you could turn the clock back, would you have done anything differently when you briefed DS Milner?’

  Tom hesitated before answering. ‘It’s a hypothetical question, but I might have briefed both DS Milner and DC Bennett together.’

  DCS Colley started to put the sheets of paper immediately in front of her into a neat pile. ‘Thank you very much, DCI Stone, for your time. Just to let you know, timing-wise, we intend to publish our findings and recommendations a few days from now. In the meantime, I would remind you that, until then, you should not discuss any aspect of this inquiry with anyone. Is that clear?’

  ‘Perfectly,’ he simply replied.

  Chapter 60

  ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ said Milner. ‘You didn’t have to do that. It was all my fault.’

  Tom and Milner were alone in Tom’s office. Tom had just announced to the other officers on the second floor that he would be taking immediate retirement.

  The previous day he had met with Superintendent Birch, who had informed him of the results of the inquiry. The main finding was that, although it was unlikely that DC Bennett’s death could have been prevented, its likelihood could at least have been reduced with clearer and more effective supervision from Tom, and especially from Milner. On this point, the inquiry concluded that both Tom and DS Milner should have provided that increased supervision. As a consequence, the recommendation was that they should both be demoted. In Tom’s case, his demotion would be to Detective Inspector, whilst Milner would be demoted back to Detective Constable. Surprisingly, though, Tom had also been given the option of taking early retirement.

  After his interview with DCS Colley and DCI Russell, Tom had become convinced some form of disciplinary action would be taken. His inclination had always been to fight such a verdict, but he soon realised that any appeal was likely to be unsuccessful, and would only prolong all of the uncertainty. Better to take whatever sanctions were handed out and move on. Except, whilst he could come to terms with this, he doubted very much whether Milner could.

  What he hadn’t expected was the option to take early retirement, based upon his current DCI salary. Superintendent Birch had informed him that it was the Commissioner himself who had pushed for this. When Tom had discussed it with Mary, the previous evening, she had been unequivocal that he should take up this offer. What had been surprising was that it hadn’t taken too much persuasion on her part for him to also come to that conclusion. It was an odd way to end his career, but, strangely, he didn’t feel any great sadness or resentment. In fact, once he had made the decision, he had almost instantly felt a great surge of relief flowing through his body.

  ‘David,’ said Tom, ‘please don’t blame yourself. You’ve known me long enough now to know I don’t tend to make decisions simply based upon emotion.’

  ‘That’s true,’ he answered, with a light laugh, and the first time Tom had seen him smile in a few days.

  ‘And anyway,’ said Tom, ‘this will give me more time to spend with my grandchildren.’ He paused. ‘I’ve already spoken with DCI Shaw and he says he is more than happy to have you on his team. He’s a good DCI and knows how these things work. I’m certain it won’t be too long before you are being considered for promotion again.’

  Once again Milner began to laugh. ‘You didn’t always speak so highly about DCI Shaw.’

  When Milner had first joined the team, Tom had made it clear that DCI Shaw was one of the new breed of career officers who stood for everything he, as one of the ‘old school’, hated. Over time, though, Tom’s opinion had changed to such an extent that here he was now, actually extolling DCI Shaw’s virtues.

  ‘Well, everyone is entitled to change their mind once in a while,’ Tom said. ‘Even me.’

  Whilst all of this did help, temporarily, to ease the tension, Milner’s tone betrayed his inner feeling of despondency when he spoke again. ‘I don’t think I could do that. How will other officers perceive me? That’s Milner, they will say. He was once a DS, but screwed up, and one of his officers died as a result.It will be impossible for me to gain any respect.’

  Tom deliberately left it a while before he replied. ‘David,’ he said. ‘Do you remember the discussion we had with Mr Sax?’

  This was a reference to an earlier investigation they had worked on, involving the murder of a prominent Jewish man. During the course of their investigation they had spent time speaking to Mr Sax and had both heard what he had personally endured and seen, at first hand, during his time imprisoned in Auschwitz.

  Tom carried straight on. ‘He mentioned how one day you could become this country’s top police officer. Mr Sax is an excellent judge of character, because he was right. I’ve got absolutely no doubt that, if you want to, you could go all the way. But to get there you will certainly have to overcome many more setbacks along the way, just like Mr Sax did during the horror years he endured in Auschwitz. Just treat this as one of those setbacks. You can respond in one of two ways. React negatively, walk away and forever resent the force, or react positively, seeing this as something which will make you stronger. Which option do you think Mr Sax would have taken? I think we both know the answer to that.’