Shut Up and Drive: DI Ted Darling Book 4

by L M Krier

  Trev stirred and said sleepily, 'All you all right? Did you eat?'

  'Too tired to be hungry. Go back to sleep. I'll have to leave early, I've got a post-mortem to go to.'

  Trev lifted his head off the pillow. 'How will you get there? Do you want me to get up and take you on the bike?'

  Ted smiled to himself in the darkness. 'I'd have more chance of waking the corpses in the morgue than getting you up early. But thanks for the offer. Now go back to sleep.'

  It didn't seem long before an irritating and insistent muted buzzing from his mobile phone told him it was time to get up if he was going to get to the hospital on time for the post-mortem. He'd left himself enough time to eat a bowl of muesli and some wholemeal toast. He was hungry, aware of how erratic his eating habits were becoming. He wondered if that might, in part, explain his frequent irritability.

  Ted found it quite pleasant, walking through the quiet, pre-dawn streets. Traffic was light and there were few people around at that time, until he got nearer to the hospital. That always seemed to be busy, like a mini town in its own right, with constant comings and goings.

  Bizzie and her assistant were already well under way when Ted arrived, reaching in his pocket for a Fisherman's Friend, as he always did when entering the autopsy suite. He found post-mortems one of the worst parts of his job, somehow even worse than looking at bodies at crime scenes. It was all so impersonal, although Bizzie's brisk but respectful attitude always helped.

  'Good morning, Edwin,' she greeted him breezily. 'As you can see, we have made a start. In fact, I'm very nearly finished. What I can tell you so far is that this poor young lady died from a single stab wound to the left side of the thorax, as I initially thought. The blade passed between two ribs and punctured her heart. The consoling factor is that she would have known very little about it. It would have been very quick.

  'It's a long and narrow blade, double-edged, fairly fearsome. Seven inches long at least, going on the measurements I took of the wound, and I think, probably, handled with a certain degree of skill and accuracy.'

  'Thanks, Bizzie. A seven-inch blade, definitely, if it's what I think it is. We're presuming this is the same man who has carried out the previous sex attacks, and two of the victims of those have mentioned a stiletto knife with a black blade. It's easy enough to pick up combat knives online these days, but to use one efficiently requires skill and practice. Our man has no previous convictions, not in this country, certainly, so I'm thinking he may be forces trained.'

  'Which, I imagine, is worrying news for you? Presumably, her dying at the wheel is what caused the vehicle to shoot forward and cause the accident to the witness? How is he, have you heard?'

  'I'll try to find out before I head back to the station, although doubtless I'll come up against the usual confidentiality barriers, despite him being a key witness in a murder case I'm investigating,' Ted sighed.

  'Oh, I can help you with that,' the Professor offered. 'I'm just about done here, so I'm sure James won't mind finishing up for me. Come to the little cubby hole I affectionately call an office and I'll make some phone calls for you. They always tell me anything I ask. I use the excuse of needing to know who's heading down my way,' she laughed. 'I can even offer you some halfway decent coffee from my flask. I've given up risking the filth which comes out of the vending machine, outside canteen hours, unless I run out of my own.'

  Bizzie was able to get all the information that Ted needed in a fraction of the time it would have taken him to cut through the red tape. Their witness, Nathan Cowley, had a fractured pelvis and thigh and had been operated on for internal bleeding, but was now stable and should make a good recovery, in time.

  Ted was able to pass the information on to the team as soon as he got back to the station. Virgil, in particular, was relieved to hear that the man was going to be all right. He had spoken to him a few times in connection with the earlier Sorrento case in which he had been a witness, and had formed something of a bond with him.

  'We now have a name for our victim, from the contents of her handbag, and she has been identified by her next of kin. Uniform notified them last night so we were able to get a swift ID and Professor Nelson was able to do the post-mortem first thing. Her name was Maureen O'Hara, aged twenty-four.' Ted wrote the name up on the white board, along with those of the rape victims.

  'Like the film star,' Jezza observed, half to herself. No doubt another Trivial Pursuit answer she had memorised.

  'Right, tasks for today. Mike, can you coordinate chasing up full statements from all the witnesses from last night, the shoppers using the car park, including those we didn't see. Track them through their car details. Virgil, you and I will go and see Nathan this afternoon, get his statement. I'll phone the hospital to check he's up to visitors, before we go.

  'Steve, here's the number for the dog handler from last night. Get full details from him of where exactly the dog took him. Apparently it stopped searching near a bus stop. We need to know what services use that stop, and what buses had been there just before he got there. He'll give you timings. Again, it might not help. Our man might just have hopped off at the next stop, but we need to check everything, and I do mean everything.

  'Jezza, you can talk to the staff at the supermarket. Start with the manager. It'll probably be someone different to the one on duty last night. I hope he's got some time off, he wasn't coping very well. Ask if anyone had seen anything, not just last night, but before then. Anyone hanging around, either in store or outside. You know the sort of thing. Anything. Is there any CCTV footage covering the car park? If so, we need to see it. Make sure it doesn't get recorded over before we do.

  'Rob, Sprinter vans. Traffic didn't report anything which helped with our enquiry last night. Where could he have parked it, near to the supermarket? It wasn't on the car park, so if there was a Sprinter, and if it was connected to our case, where was it, and did anyone see it?

  'Oh, and Steve, ask the dog handler how he got on with the missing child last night. It might not have been on our patch, but I don't like hearing about children being missing. I'd like to know there was a good outcome on that case, at least.'

  Chapter Eleven

  Ted wanted to try to visit Nathan Cowley in hospital later that afternoon, then he could get Virgil to drop him off at the garage afterwards. He was hoping his new car would be ready, so he could go straight to the judo club and meet Trev there. Trev would walk down, taking Ted's kit with him once again. Ted would be glad of a martial arts work-out to ease some of the tensions of the last few hours.

  It was the one day of the week he always tried to get away at a good time, with the knowledge and support of the Ice Queen. The self-defence club for children which he and Trev ran voluntarily was having great success at reducing bullying in local schools. It was also an excellent public relations exercise, so she was completely in favour.

  Ted and Virgil found their witness in a small side bay off a busy ward. Ted had asked to be able to visit him and had been told they could have some time with him but were not to tire him. The man was dozing when they were shown in, his face pale against the pillows, but he opened his eyes when the nurse told him he had visitors. He managed a wan smile when he saw Virgil.

  'Mr Tibbs. It's nice to see you again.'

  'Hello, Nat. This is my boss, Detective Inspector Darling,' Virgil told him. 'How are you feeling? You've certainly been in the wars.'

  'There are a few bits of me which don't hurt, I think. I just haven't identified them yet. Are you going to sit down?'

  Virgil found a second chair nearby and pulled it closer, as Ted sat in the one next to the bed.

  'Is the young woman all right? The one in the car?' Nat asked anxiously. 'I keep asking, but no one will tell me what happened to her. I could see she was frightened, in some sort of danger. I tried to do something, but I'm not sure if I helped or made things worse.'

  Virgil and Ted exchanged a look then Ted said, speaking quietly, 'I'm sorry to ha
ve to tell you that the young woman in question was killed in the incident.'

  Nat looked stricken. Tears sprang to his eyes and started to trickle down the sides of his face onto his pillow.

  'Was it my fault? Did I do the wrong thing? Did I make it worse? Oh God, I'm so, so sorry …

  Ted always had a clean, neatly ironed handkerchief in his pocket, thanks to Trev. He took it out and passed it to the man in the bed. Nat tried to get hold of it, but it was clearly painful to try to lift his arms and his hand was shaking badly. Gently, Ted stood up and helped him to dry his tears.

  'I'm so sorry. God, look at me, blubbing like a soft thing. I think I'm in shock. Christ, this is embarrassing,' he made a visible effort to regain control, then said again,'Was it my fault?'

  'We haven't yet completed our enquiries into the incident,' Ted said guardedly. 'I can tell you that at this stage, we have no reason to believe that your actions had any effect on the tragic outcome. Are you able to tell us anything about what happened? Can you remember much?'

  'It all happened so quickly. I was just taking a load of trolleys back to the trolley bay. I happened to notice the car, almost opposite where I was going. I saw a young woman get into the car, then I saw a man get in from the passenger side, very quickly. I could see straight away from her reaction that she was frightened when he got in. I've been keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, after Mr Tibbs here told me about the attacks.

  'I think she was shouting or screaming. I could see her mouth was open wide. I thought perhaps if I pushed the trolleys a bit nearer, I could stop her from driving off, at least until I could check if she was all right, and she knew the man. It could have been some sort of domestic, but it didn't look that way, from a quick glance.

  'The car was facing out of the parking space. I could see that it would have to come out forwards as there was a vehicle behind it. I heard the engine start, I think, then suddenly it shot forwards. I'm not really sure what happened next. I just remember pain and confusion, then I was trapped up against some cars and I think I lost consciousness at that point.'

  'Did you see the man clearly? Could you describe him at all? Anything you noticed about him could be helpful to us.'

  Nat was looking tearful again, clearly shaken up. 'It was all so confusing. I noticed he had a hat on, like a fleece ski hat, that sort of thing. Dark. Dark clothing. I just saw the look on the young woman's face and she looked terrified, so I tried to do something. I made it worse, didn't I?'

  The same nurse reappeared at that moment, looking disapproving.

  'You really do need to leave now, gentlemen. Mr Cowley is clearly getting distressed, which won't help his recovery. Come back in a day or two, when he's a little stronger.'

  Ted and Virgil stood up.

  'Thank you for your help, Mr Cowley, and please try not to worry,' Ted told him.

  As they turned to leave, Nat suddenly let out a distraught wail and said, 'Oh, God, the fish. What am I going to do about the fish?'

  They turned back and looked at him. The nurse was looking from one to another, clearly not sure what he was talking about.

  'The fish?' Ted queried.

  Light suddenly dawned on Virgil's face, as he remembered a previous conversation he'd had with the man, some time ago. 'The tropical fish? In your friend's flat, where you've been staying? There's no one to look after them if you're stuck in here, is that it?'

  Nat was nodding, tears once again running down his face. 'I'm so sorry, I've no idea why I'm being so feeble. Just what will happen to the fish?'

  The nurse was busy checking his vital signs and making him comfortable.

  'You're in shock and full of pain killers, so it's quite normal to feel a bit weepy,' she told him. 'You officers really do need to leave him to rest now.'

  'Why don't you give me your address and your house keys and I can pop round and sort the fish out, if you tell me what to do,' Virgil suggested. 'I don't know anything about them, so you'll have to make it simple.'

  'There's a full list of instructions next to the tank, and it doesn't take long. My friend left them there when he lent me the flat while he's away. You'd really do that for me? I'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much.'

  The nurse found his keys for him and Virgil noted his address, then said, 'I'll come back tomorrow and let you know how I got on. Don't worry, I'm sure I can sort it. Then we can chat a bit more when I come again.'

  'That was kind, Virgil,' Ted told him, as they crossed the car park. 'Above and beyond the call of duty.'

  'Yeah, well, I like him boss, he's a nice bloke and he's been through so much. Do you think it was down to him that the woman got stabbed, though? Did it make our man panic?'

  'I'm not sure what's motivating our attacker at the moment. If it was just panic, why not just run off? He had no real need to stab her. He's not doing it to protect his identity, either, as he's shown himself to all his victims so far. He may just be so hyped up that he has no control over himself.'

  'Drugs?' Virgil suggested.

  'It could be anything, including an abnormally high sex drive. We'll only know when we finally get our hands on him, and I hope that's going to be very soon. Especially now he's shown us what he's really capable of.'

  They reached Virgil's black BMW and got in.

  'So what car are you getting, boss?' Virgil asked him as he started his up and headed for the exit.

  'I haven't seen it yet. I just know it's black and it's a Renault. Cars are not something that interest me much, it's just a way of getting around.'

  'Not a new one, though?'

  'No, I've just invested in a business opportunity, so a new one's out of the question at the moment.'

  'Sorry, boss, I didn't mean to pry,' Virgil said hastily.

  'It's fine, I didn't take it that way at all.'

  'Do you want me to wait to make sure it's ready for you?' Virgil asked, as they pulled up on the forecourt of Ted's garage.

  'There's no need, Virgil, but thanks. You best get round to see to those fish. Thanks for the lift, and I'll see you in the morning. If my new one's not ready, I'll get them to give me a courtesy car until it is.'

  There was a small, shiny, black Renault Clio sitting waiting on the forecourt. A man came out with the keys and documents, which he handed to Ted.

  'Here you go, Inspector, she's all yours. Fully serviced and valeted, half a tank of fuel and all ready to go. She'll do you well.'

  It was the first time Ted had seen his new purchase. He wasn't going to bother making even a pretence of looking over it. The garage knew him well enough by now to know he knew next to nothing about cars. But he was a good customer, so he trusted them not to take advantage of his ignorance. Of course, the fact that they knew he was a policemen helped a lot.

  The little car was certainly clean and it started straight away, which was an improvement on his old one. Now he was in it and could see how compact it was, he hoped there would be enough room in the front for Trev's long legs, even with the seat pushed back as far as it would go. It was just as well they both preferred Trev's motorbike for longer journeys.

  At least it would mean he was mobile for the weekend, to attend the anger management course in Blackpool. Encouraged by Trev, he was trying to keep an open mind and a positive attitude, but he really was dreading it. The more he read the agenda, the more his frustration levels rose.

  'How to manage stress'. Perhaps he could politely ask their latest target to stop abducting and raping young women. Appeal to his better nature. Or maybe he should make a television appeal to him to give himself up. That should work, he thought ironically.

  'Learning not to take everything personally'. The trouble was, Ted always did. He knew it was both a strength and a weakness. It gave him focus to solve crimes but at the same time, he felt deeply and on a personal level about every crime which happened, on his patch in particular. He was still not fully over the loss of a team member last Christmas.

  'Appropriate
ways to express your anger'. That one made Ted laugh. He had always thought his martial arts gave him the right outlet for his and also helped with his self-control. He wasn't sure how far he might have gone, confronted with Dr Cooper, and that uncertainty worried him. He was glad Maurice had been there so he hadn't had to find out.

  He was still seething at the thought of what she was inflicting on already vulnerable young people who might be struggling to deal with their sexuality. He had been lucky. His own father had simply accepted it when Ted told him, at a young age, that he was gay. Trevor's parents had reacted by throwing him out and cutting off all contact with him.

  He still hadn't done a background check on the therapist, as Philip had suggested. He made a mental note to do that the following week. He just hoped their attacker would lie low for the weekend while he was away, as the Ice Queen's instructions had been unequivocal. Whatever happened on his patch during the three days of the course, he was to stay in Blackpool, finish it, and get the required certificate to show that he had attended and fully participated.

  The junior session was just getting started by the time Ted arrived and got changed. He loved working with the youngsters, hoping their self-defence training would not only protect them but make them better people. With luck, they wouldn't grow up to have anger issues, as the strict discipline of the dojo was teaching them how to keep control. He just wished it was currently working better for him.

  Once the juniors had finished, he could at last burn off some energy and frustration with his own judo training session. He and Trev had first met at the judo club, when Ted had coached his future partner. Sometimes their sparring got a bit exciting, but there was always head coach, Bernard, to keep a lid on things.

  Both Ted and Trev were breathing hard and sweating when they'd finished. They headed for the car so they could get home, shower and change and get something to eat. Ted was ravenous. Once again he couldn't remember if he had eaten anything all day. It was getting to be a bad habit, which was certainly not helping.