by L M Krier
Ted took a quick bite out of his purchase when he got back to his car, but decided it didn't quite cut it. He'd got his mouth ready for a certain nostalgic taste and that wasn't it. He set it aside on the passenger seat.
He was in work ahead of his team, although Mike Hallam wasn't far behind him.
'How's Jezza this morning, boss, have you heard?'
'Maurice says she's pretending to be fine, but I can't imagine she is for a moment. He's looking after her like a proper dad. He was making her eggy bread when I phoned.' He couldn't quite keep the note of envy out of his voice.
Mike chuckled. 'He's a good soul, is Maurice. Not the best copper on the force, but he's a kind-hearted man. If I was ill or hurt, I'd want him in my corner.'
'The Super wants to talk to the team first thing, so can you let me know once everyone's in? I'll be battling the paperwork, while I've got a quiet moment.'
Mike raised an eyebrow and Ted added, 'A bit of a pep talk, a morale booster, I imagine. It didn't sound like anything more sinister than that.'
Ted phoned down to let the Ice Queen know when everyone was in, then went out to talk to his team, perching on the edge of a desk, as he usually did. When she swept into the main office, her commanding presence had its usual effect on everyone, including Ted, as they all shot to their feet.
'I just wanted to say a few words to you all about what happened last night. Our job is hard at the best of times. When something happens to a friend and colleague, it's harder still. I don't need to tell you that the man we are currently seeking is highly dangerous, and ruthless.
'I know you're already working flat out to get this attacker. I just wanted to remind you about responsibility, and following the rules. Look after one another, whenever you can, but remember, there is a correct procedure to be followed, in everything.
'I don't want any of you,' her eyes went from one to another of the team, lingering just a moment longer on Ted, 'to do anything dangerously heroic in trying to tackle this man by yourself, should you come across him.
'Carry your radios. Keep in contact, with your team members, with the station, at all times. At the first suggestion of a sighting of this man, call for back-up. And do not in any way attempt to apprehend an armed and dangerous suspect single-handedly. You may think of it as bravery. I would consider it reckless negligence, and it could well result in disciplinary proceedings.
'Do I make myself abundantly clear to everyone?'
There was a unanimous murmur of 'Ma'am', except from Steve, who was clearly so in awe of his senior officer that he managed only a small strangled noise, rather like a squeak.
'Thank you. I won't delay you any longer. Inspector, when you have finished your briefing, would you come down to my office, please.'
When she'd left, Rob O'Connell asked, 'Boss, should we do something for Jezza? Send her something? Flowers, maybe?'
'She won't want a fuss,' Maurice warned them. 'She's spent all her time telling me how fine she is, that's why I didn't stay with her this morning. You know what she's like.'
'A card, at least,' Rob persisted. 'If we do nothing, she might think we're just not bothered about her. I know she was a complete pain in the backside when she first joined the team but, well, I think she's kind of grown on us all.'
'If you think she'd like a card, that sounds fine. Sort it out. I'll chip in and sign,' Ted told him.
Sal took a call, listened for a moment, then said to the team, 'Just getting details of a burnt out van, found up at Whitehill. Not got all the facts yet, but it's possibly a Sprinter.'
'Get SOCO onto it. I want every square inch of that vehicle going over. I want to know everything about it. Who owns it, where it's been. It's just too much of a coincidence not to be connected with the case,' Ted said, a note of hope in his voice. 'Our man might just be getting worried, and that's when he'll start to make mistakes. He may have decided the van was too hot and tried to get rid of it.
'In the meantime, we need to check for witnesses at the supermarket, and to view any CCTV footage of the car park. I've got rough details of where Jezza was parked, so let's just hope it was within camera shot. Mike, can you sort it all, please.
Ted filled the rest of the team in on all the details of the attack on Jezza. He also mentioned the one possibly distinguishing factor she had picked up on.
'He says shape, form or way, where most people would probably say way, shape or form. Is that regional? Ring any bells? Steve, can you check on the Internet, just in case it's a known regional variation. Anyone here heard it before?'
There was a general shaking of heads and Mike said reflectively, 'It's not something I've heard before, certainly. It is distinctive.'
'Right, that's encouraging, it suggests it is unusual. I'm a bit worried that making it public will open the floodgates without getting us anywhere, but it's worth a shot,' Ted replied. 'I'll talk it over with the Super, see what she says.
'And remember what the Super told you all. Look out for yourself, and for one another. Stay in contact, and absolutely no heroics, from any of you. This man is armed and dangerous.'
'Says the man who once single-handedly disarmed a nutter with two machetes,' Maurice said, loud enough for the boss to hear, which provoked general laughter.
Ted grinned guiltily. 'All right, you got me on that one. But at least I'm martial arts trained to deal with an armed attacker. And remember, I was very nearly on a disciplinary because of it.'
The thing Ted liked best about bearding the Ice Queen in her den was the coffee. This time she greeted him by placing a freshly brewed cup in front of him when he came in after knocking, then asked him to sit down. It was a promising start.
'I hope I made myself clear to the whole team, and to you in particular, Inspector,' she began. 'I know that, in the past, you have done some things which would not now be considered as compliant with the regulations. I hope you will bear that in mind.'
'Understood, ma'am,' Ted assured her, then went on to share what Jezza had told him about the attacker's figure of speech.
'It's certainly not something I can recall having heard before. I would suggest you ask your friend on the local paper to give it a mention, to make it public together with the latest e-fit of the suspect. I presume that it will be updated, on the basis of DC Vine's statement?
'It will give you the chance to offer him a small exclusive. Tell him we're not yet releasing it to any other news source. He hasn't done anything with any other information which may recently have come his way, up to now, has he?'
When Ted shook his head at her loaded question, she continued, 'Then this will be a nice little snippet for him, to keep him on side.
'What is your feeling about our man? Is he local, do you think?'
'Gut feeling? He clearly has some ties to Stockport. It's where he keeps coming back to, and as far as we know so far, it's the only place where he's attacked more than once. Of course if some of his victims are illegal immigrants, which is an idea we've discussed in team briefings, then they, of course, would not report crimes committed against them.'
'If he does have a Stockport connection, then that's even more reason to try a piece in the local paper, to see if anyone recognises either his picture, or details of how he speaks. I'll leave it up to you to contact the local reporter.
'And speaking of DC Vine, as we were, I imagine she is planning to come back to work soon, raring to go? I hope you will ensure that she has nothing whatever to do with the current enquiry, on her return. I'm sure you will have plenty of other things to occupy her time, but clearly we cannot take any risk of a failed conviction because a victim was involved in the case at any stage. Not to mention the emotional damage to her that continued exposure to aspects of the case is likely to cause her. I suppose I should consider temporarily transferring her, but I suspect she will feel better with the first senior officer and team she has ever made much of a connection with.'
'I've already told her as much, and reminded her that she
will need to be certified as fit for work before she returns. I'll also give her details of the counselling available to her. At least I can assure her, from personal experience, that it is useful.'
'Remember to do a full return to work interview, with notes on her file. By the book with this one, Inspector,' she told him. 'By the book.'
Jezza took just two days sick leave, then phoned Ted at the end of the second day to tell him she would be back into work the following morning. As soon as he started to protest, she interrupted, 'Honestly boss, I'm fine, and it's in the interests of my sanity. There's only so much Jeremy Kyle I can watch without going completely mad. And my doctor has cleared it. I have a certificate to prove it.'
Reluctantly, Ted agreed, and asked her to come in slightly early for a return to work interview, before the morning briefing. She showed up, still looking bruised and battered, but bright and breezy, although how much of it was a front, he couldn't tell.
'It's nice to see you back, Jezza. First, I must tell you that the Super has made it perfectly clear we must proceed by the book. That will mean you taking no part at all in this enquiry, not even attending briefings about it.'
Jezza snorted defiantly. 'That's ridiculous. I can't keep going off to powder my nose any time someone wants to mention something to do with the case.'
'It's either agree to that or I will have to put you on enforced sick leave,' Ted warned her. 'And the Super has already made mutterings about a possible temporary transfer for you if you don't agree. I hope you know that I and all the team care about you, Jezza, and would like to keep you here.'
Blushing slightly, though still looking mutinous, Jezza agreed but asked, 'Can I at least just stay at my desk, if I don't take any part? After all, if I have to keep trotting in and out, it won't be good for the knife wound, will it?'
Ted hid a smile and tried to sound serious as he continued, 'I'm going to give you details of someone who can help you, if you need to talk about what happened, at any time.' He picked up a card and held it out to her. She made no move to take it. 'It's someone who helped me a great deal, so I know that her help is valuable. How are you doing? Really?
'It's going to sound crazy but …' her voice caught, and she needed a moment to recover her composure. 'In a way, it's slightly easier to deal with an attack by a complete stranger than …'
Ted nodded his understanding, still waving the card at her. She took it reluctantly, and put it in her pocket.
'Right, you sit in the briefing like a wise monkey. Not one word. I just have to make a quick phone call then I'll be right there.'
When his call was answered, he said, 'Got a small, but exclusive piece for you, Alastair, if you're interested?'
'Always interested in anything you put my way, Ted. What's it about?'
'We've got an updated e-fit picture of our attacker, together with a piece of information which might possibly help identify him. I'll email everything to you, and hope you can put it out there for us, as soon as possible. We're not releasing it to anyone else at this time.'
He cut the call off abruptly when he'd had enough of the obsequious thanks. At least the piece would appear rapidly on the paper's website then, later, in the print edition. It might just bring them a lead.
Sal had an update for them at the morning briefing, in the shape of the preliminary forensic findings on the burnt out van, which was confirmed as a Sprinter.
'Stolen near Levenshulme nearly nine months ago, running on false plates, so we don't have a record of the current owner. Early tests show substantial traces of human urine and faeces in the back, as well as dog urine and faeces. So maybe transport for dog fighters, as well as people trafficking?' he speculated. Organised dog fighting was something they'd had trouble with in the past on their patch.
'Not just human trafficking, but the puppy trade as well,' Jezza chipped in, then, seeing Ted's stern look, she opened her eyes wide in feigned innocence. 'What? I'm suffering from post-traumatic stress. I've started talking aloud to myself.
'Seriously, though, boss, one of the advantages of all that daytime television is that I saw something yesterday about the puppy trade. Dodgy breeders in Europe who put fake microchips in pups' necks and issue false passports for them, so they come into Britain without the proper vaccinations. And giving mongrels some stupid fancy so-called breed name then charging the earth for them. Then there's all the puppies coming in from the Republic of Ireland, bred on puppy farms there. That's very big business.
'So we need to look for dealers in the pet trade? To see if they've perhaps used our man as a courier? Steve, can you …'
'On it now, boss,' Steve replied, his fingers flying over his keyboard. Then he exclaimed, 'Blimey! There's serious money in this racket. What am I bid for a Vizslapoo?'
Chapter Twenty
Pocket Billiards had published the update Ted had given him on the paper's website and social media pages almost immediately and, as Ted had feared, the phones started ringing. From the number of calls they were receiving, he began to wonder whether the phrase was as unusual as they had thought. It seemed as if everybody knew someone who said shape, form or way, instead of the other way round. Everyone from the milkman to someone's dentist was said to use it.
Kevin Turner had made some of his officers available to help with the deluge of phone calls. It was not just answering them, it was the necessary legwork of following up each call, to see if there was anything at all which gave them a link to their attacker.
'Reminds me a bit of the A6 murder trial,' Kevin Turner said, as he and Ted caught up over coffee in his office, which was even more compact than Ted's. 'I've read a lot of books on those old disputed cases. Some of the prosecution case against Hanratty relied on him supposedly saying have a kip rather than a sleep. Same sort of thing, I suppose. At least if we get it wrong, they don't swing for it any more. And I honestly can't imagine anyone in this nick altering statements to put the right phrase into an innocent person's mouth. Not these days, at least, although maybe in the past.'
'Our man's phrase is slightly more unusual than kip, though. Or at least I thought it was, until every man and his dog started phoning in saying their neighbour uses it all the time. What I really want now is a tip-off on someone who says it like that and who drives a white Sprinter van, while delivering dogs. Wearing a flashing Santa hat.'
He didn't quite get all he wished for, but after Sal took one call, he went into Ted's office and said, 'A possible, boss. Some people bought a puppy online and went to pick it up from a delivery driver at a motorway service station. He had a Sprinter van, which had quite a few dogs in travel crates in the back.
'They said they remembered distinctly that the man told them a couple of times that he was just the delivery driver and he wasn't responsible for the dog's paperwork or vaccinations or anything else in any shape, form or way.'
Ted looked up hopefully. 'Description?'
'Medium height, average build, mid to late forties. Wearing a dark winter hat and dark clothing. No particular accent that they noticed, just that unusual turn of phrase. They said it stuck in their minds as they'd not heard it said that way before, and he used it more than once.
'The dog they collected was very ill when they got it home. They had to take it to the vet who found that its papers and microchip were both false. It cost a fortune to get it put right, and it had to go into quarantine, as it had come into the country illegally.'
'Right, well, the dog aspect doesn't concern us. You'll need to liaise with Trading Standards on that, I imagine. I'm not sure who else, you'll have to find out. But get round and see the buyers, Sal, as soon as possible. Get every bit of information you can on where they bought this dog from, how they got in touch, where the pick-up was. Let's see if we can find Mr Shape-Form-or-Way by this route.'
Ted followed Sal out into the main office and saw Jezza standing in front of Steve's mapping diagram, where he had been trying to establish links with bus routes, locations of the attacks and whe
re the cars had been abandoned. It was up on the wall next to the normal white board with all the details, including the victims' names and dates of the incidents. Jezza's own name had now joined the others.
'Jezza, haven't you got some work to be getting on with?' he asked pointedly. 'If not, I can soon find you some.'
'I was just wondering what day of the week the Folkestone and Dover attacks were, boss. Something else I remembered from the programme I was watching. The dog smugglers like to travel at the weekends. There are no Trading Standards or Animal Health Agency staff on at the ports then, apparently, so it's a piece of cake getting dogs through with dodgy paperwork.'
'We're already looking at the dog trade angle, but you're not involved in this case at all,' Ted reminded her then, in a softer tone, 'but thanks for that. They were both weekends, as it happens.'
Ted had been keeping an anxious eye out on the local paper, and the nationals, for anything leaking out about the work of Dr Heather Cooper, after his meeting with Pocket Billiards. When it did break, it was bigger than he had dared hope. It formed a sizeable spread locally, with the nationals braying headlines like 'Dodgy Doc's Disgrace.'
Pocket Billiards was a good journalist, despite his other less desirable habits, Ted had to give him that. He'd certainly had a field day, checking into her background, and had found out that, amongst other details, her 'doctorate' referred to a PhD which she had started but never completed.
He'd also followed Ted's advice of asking around, probably Canal Street and The Village, and had found a couple of teenagers whose parents had taken them along to the therapist to be 'cured' of being gay.
Jenny Holden was identified only as JH, but her story was given in detail. There was no mention of Kenny Norman's name, Ted was pleased to discover. It was just reported that she had accused 'a Stockport man', who had later been entirely cleared by the police of any involvement in either the historical allegations or the ongoing enquiry.
It was an extremely effective hatchet job, all perfectly ethically done. Ted was not surprised to read that Heather Cooper herself had been 'unavailable for comment', her consulting room locked up with no explanation, and she appeared to have 'left town without leaving contact details.'
