Night Watcher

by Chris Longmuir

‘D’you want to talk about it?’ Julie forced a sympathetic expression onto her face.

  The lift jerked to a stop and the doors opened. Nicole flinched. She stepped out and then halted, as if she was afraid to move forward through the crowded store. Her eyes had a panic stricken look, darting here and there giving the impression she was looking for someone.

  ‘We can go back upstairs if you want,’ Julie suggested. ‘It would be more private.’

  ‘No!’ Nicole grasped Julie’s arm in a tight grip. ‘He’s up there. I’m sure he is.’

  ‘The coffee shop then?’ Julie started to move through the crowds and Nicole was forced to follow her.

  ‘He might have followed me down.’ Nicole cast an anxious glance over her shoulder. ‘Can’t we go to your office. He won’t be able to see me there.’

  ‘Okay, but it’s awfully small compared to what you’re used to. You might find it a bit claustrophobic.’ Julie could feel Nicole’s panic. The air of control she had displayed when she got into the lift had vanished and Julie guessed it had been a major effort for Nicole to maintain that façade even for the shortest time.

  Nicole stumbled after Julie, like a child following her mother, only Julie did not feel particularly motherly. Whatever had happened to Nicole, as far as Julie was concerned, was well deserved.

  ‘You’ll be safe here,’ Julie said once she had settled Nicole in the only spare chair in the office. ‘I’ll just pop out and get Betty to bring us coffee. You look as if you could do with it.’

  Nicole started to protest, but Julie did not wait to hear. She closed the door firmly and walked to the restaurant.

  ‘What’s up with madam,’ Betty asked.

  ‘Damned if I know,’ Julie said, ‘but bring us a couple of coffees. Oh, and you’d better let them know upstairs that she’s with me.’

  ‘Sure thing,’ Betty said. ‘I’m doing it for you though, not her.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Julie returned to her office.

  Nicole seemed to have lapsed into a semi-trance that she was reluctant to come out of.

  ‘What’s it all about then?’ Julie asked as soon as she was seated.

  Nicole shuddered, and a tear rolled down her face. ‘I’ve been having such a dreadful time and no one seems to care.’

  ‘There, there,’ Julie murmured feeling like a nanny comforting a child. It helped mask the pleasure she experienced to know Nicole was suffering. ‘Start from the beginning and tell me all about it.’

  Nicole relayed everything that had happened since the night before. The dead blackbird she found in her car. The animals laid out on the floor of her kitchen. Scott’s refusal to understand, and his mockery of her. The policemen who did not believe her, and now Freddie’s death. ‘He’s lying up there on my office desk,’ she moaned. ‘He never did anything to harm anyone.’

  Julie made sympathetic noises at all the right places and, as the story continued, she did start to feel some sympathy for Nicole’s distress.

  ‘Who’s doing this to me Julie?’ Nicole lifted a tear-stained face and looked at Julie with a mute plea in her eyes.

  Julie’s thoughts whirled. Here was her opportunity to drive a further wedge between Nicole and her husband, just as Nicole had done to Julie. So she suppressed any compassionate thoughts she might have and said, ‘You don’t think it could be Scott. Do you?’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  ‘The DI wants you in his office.’ Blair Armstrong hovered at Bill’s shoulder. He was uncomfortably close forcing Bill to push his chair back to escape the strong aftershave smell. The man was a prick.

  ‘What’s he want now?’ Bill grumbled.

  ‘He has a job for you, I suppose.’ Blair grinned and wafted himself down the room to join a huddle of detective constables gathered round the coffee machine.

  Bill snorted as he rose from his chair. He was not in the mood for another case. He was still tired from last night’s episode.

  Andy looked up as Bill entered the office. ‘I’ve got something for you. You’ll love this one, it’s just up your street.’

  Bill could have sworn there was an amused look in the inspector’s grey eyes. ‘You’re up to something,’ he said, taking a deep sniff of the faint aroma of cigarette smoke, wanting to remind Andy about the no smoking policy, but not daring to, because he knew where his superior’s sensitive spots were. Bill sometimes thought he knew Andy better than Andy did himself. It had its uses.

  The two men had joined the police force together and been friends ever since. It had been a race to see who would make inspector first. If it had not been for the hassle with Evie and then the nasty divorce, which had distracted Bill for a time, it might have been Bill sitting behind the desk and Andy standing in front of it. Both men realized and accepted this and it had not interfered with their friendship. Still, Bill knew where to draw the line and made sure he did not overstep it.

  Andy ignored the sniff and grinned at Bill. ‘Just as I said this one’s right up your street.’ He waited for Bill’s response.

  Something was tickling Andy’s funny bone, Bill recognized the signs, but refused to take the bait. Andy would tell him when he was ready and had stopped trying to play games.

  He turned to the window and stared out. Police cars huddled in the car park far below, just waiting for a call out. The sight reminded him of his early days in the force and depressed him. Thank God the Courthouse was on the other side of the building and he could not see it from here; that would have been even more depressing.

  Surely there’s another and better life than this, he thought, as he looked up and watched the clouds scudding across the sky. It was too nice a day to be incarcerated in this glass-fronted mausoleum. Maybe he should develop a headache and go home. The only problem was that there was nothing to go home for, no one waiting for him and nothing in the fridge that was not out of date. It was at times like this he realized what he had lost when Evie left, even though they could no longer stand the sight of each other. He supposed it was the human contact he missed and nowadays he only got that at work.

  Eventually the silence became unbearable. ‘I finished last night’s report,’ Bill said, immediately regretting it because he had fallen into the oldest interviewing trap there was of breaking the silence first.

  ‘You mean, you think you finished the report.’ Andy toyed with a piece of paper on his desk and his look of amusement increased.

  Bill gave up on his cloud watching. He hooked a chair with his foot, pulled it to him, and straddled it with his legs. He wriggled himself into a comfortable sitting position and leaned his elbows on the back of the chair so that he could stare at Andy. ‘You don’t mean it’s not finished?’ There was an anguished note in his voice.

  ‘You could say that.’ Andy was enjoying himself.

  ‘But the woman’s an out and out nutter. You said so yourself when we were on our way back last night.’

  ‘Maybe so, but another complaint has been phoned in.’ Andy passed the piece of paper to Bill.

  ‘A dead bird? Aw, come on Andy. We went through all that last night and there was no trace of any animal either dead or alive.’

  ‘If you read the note more carefully you’ll see today’s complaint was called in by a member of her staff who claims to have seen the body.’ Andy drummed the fingers of one hand on his desk. ‘Maybe she’s not the nutter we thought she was last night. Maybe there’s something in it.’

  Bill was not convinced. ‘I suppose we’ll have to go out and investigate,’ he muttered. A hard knot was gathering somewhere in his middle and he popped a Rennie into his mouth.

  ‘Take Rogers with you.’ Andy flicked his hand in a gesture of dismissal.

  ‘You’re not coming?’ Bill heaved himself out of his chair.

  ‘No. I have something else on. Besides, it’d be better to have a woman along, particularly if Mrs Ralston is upset.’

  ‘Jammy sod,’ Bill muttered as he left the office. He continued muttering under his breath until h
e reached Sue’s desk.

  ‘I see you’re still in a happy frame of mind,’ Sue said without looking up. ‘Have you come back to pester me or is there a purpose to your visit?’

  Bill glared at her. ‘Don’t you start needling me,’ he muttered. ‘It’s going to be difficult enough without that.’

  ‘What is?’

  ‘The job we’re going out on.’ He grinned at her, but there was nothing happy about his grin. ‘Grab your coat and I’ll introduce you to some real detective work.’

  ‘What’s it about then?’ She stared at him. ‘I don’t trust you. You’ve got that evil look on your face. The one you get when you think you’re scoring off someone.’

  ‘Never mind that, just get your coat and I’ll brief you in the car.’

  Sue’s response when he told her the details of the previous night’s investigation was not what he expected. Instead of sharing his view that it was a waste of time she became thoughtful. ‘Sounds as if this Mrs Ralston was quite distressed,’ she observed after a time.

  ‘Hysterical, more like,’ Bill muttered, unwilling to change his first impressions.

  ‘You’re an unsympathetic bugger, Bill Murphy. No wonder you can’t keep a woman interested for any length of time.’

  Bill’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. What did she know about it? True, when he met a woman it was all passion and lust, which quickly fizzled out. But it was always him who ended it, never the woman. It was just that Evie’s face and her carping tongue got in the way shattering him with flashbacks when he least expected it. After all who wanted to turn over in bed to see his ex-wife’s eyes staring at him from another woman’s face.

  ‘What’s the husband like?’ Sue’s voice prodded him out of his thoughts.

  ‘He’s a big lad. Bit of a ponce though, if you ask me. Wears an earring – looked like a diamond – in one ear, and has long hair.’

  Sue laughed. She had one of those infectious laughs that made you laugh with her and, despite himself, Bill grinned. ‘I know, I know,’ he said, ‘I’m an ignorant, prejudiced sod who makes snap judgements. But you know I can’t abide blokes who wear earrings.’ He pulled the car over and parked it at the kerb. ‘Should be a security guy waiting to meet us,’ he said as he got out.

  The building soared above them, and Bill craned his neck to look up at the Victorian frontage. ‘I love these old gothic buildings,’ he said to Sue. ‘They remind me of something from a Vincent Price movie. You know, all dark and brooding and hiding secrets.’

  ‘Didn’t know you were a horror fan,’ Sue said, crossing the pavement to stand beside him. ‘And are you really old enough to remember Vincent Price?’ she mocked.

  Bill snorted. ‘Come on, let’s look for the security guy.’

  They found him standing inside the store, watching the revolving doors, obviously on the lookout for them. He was an older man wearing the smart blue uniform of a security officer, a well-worn shirt and scuffed shoes. Bill nodded at him to draw his attention, but his eyes slid over them in a dismissive glance.

  ‘Expecting uniforms, were you?’ Bill flashed his identification in front of the man’s face and then stared at him, ‘I know you from somewhere.’ He searched his memory for some kind of clue, but the man’s blue uniform was throwing him.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ the man replied, although Bill could have sworn a look passed over the man’s face that indicated he recognized him. ‘If you follow me I’ll take you to the executive floor,’ he said, ‘they’re expecting you.’

  It had only taken Bill a few minutes to remember who Harry was, but the old guy evidently did not want to acknowledge their connection so he let it rest for the time being. He would find him before he left the store and, even if he had to lean on him, he would make sure the old guy told him how to find Julie, for he had not been able to get her out of his mind. He was sure she had been interested in him to begin with and yet she had given him the brush off. Bill was not going to let it rest.

  The lift was quiet and smooth, soaring up with hardly any sensation of having left the ground. Bill watched as Harry turned a key in the button pad. He raised his eyebrows in a silent question.

  ‘Customers don’t have access to the executive floor,’ Harry explained. ‘Only people with a key can get up there.’

  ‘I see,’ Bill murmured, thinking that this would narrow the field of suspects. ‘So, who are the people with keys?’

  Harry did not look up. ‘There’ll be a list in the office. But basically, only the executive staff, the clerical staff who work here and of course the director, who isn’t actually based here, but visits regularly.’

  ‘What about maintenance staff?’

  ‘I keep spare keys for that. They have to ask me and I book a key out to them when it’s required.’

  The lift doors rasped open. ‘Sorry,’ Harry apologized. ‘Neil, the maintenance man, was supposed to have looked at that. Probably just something caught in the runners.’ He stood aside while Sue and Bill stepped out into the corridor. ‘I’ll take you to the main office and introduce you to Evelyn. She was the one who asked you to come.’

  ***

  Harry left the two plain clothes police officers with Evelyn and hurried back to the lift. He was feeling confused because he had recognized the male officer immediately as being the man Julie was sitting with in the pub last night. He had seemed a nice enough bloke at the time, and Harry was not sure why he had not admitted to Bill that he had met him before. It was probably foolish of him, because eventually Bill would remember and then he would have to plead a bad memory or too much drink. The problem was that Harry did not know whether Julie wanted to see Bill again, particularly when she had been so dismissive of him last night.

  Harry left the lift and walked through the food hall, but could not see Julie anywhere. He sidled up to Betty at the servery counter in the restaurant. ‘Seen Julie around?’

  ‘She’s in her office with Mrs Ralston. You’ll have to wait your turn.’ Betty grinned wickedly.

  Harry scowled at her, ‘You’ve got an evil mind. I just need to let her know there’s someone in the store she might want to avoid.’

  Harry left Betty pondering his comment and walked to the aisle nearest to Julie’s office where he hovered in the hope he would be able to warn her when Nicole left.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Faint light filtered through the grating allowing him to see the spider that had come to investigate this strange creature invading his home.

  It was beautiful.

  Little crawling things fascinated him. He loved them. He had to possess them.

  Absent-mindedly he reached out a hand and, lifting the spider between his finger and thumb, squashed it.

  The spider was his creature now in the same way as the pigeon was. It had only taken a moment to twist the neck of the bird and watch the life fly out of the wing tips. The artistic bit though, that had taken slightly longer.

  His left leg felt heavy and he wanted to exercise it to restore the circulation, but he did not dare move too much. He did not even dare to lift his head, although his neck had long since stiffened with the position he held. It would not do to let her know he was there, watching her.

  He wriggled his fingers and rested his chin on his arm. It was the most he could manage to do without making a noise, for the walls and roof of his hiding place restricted him. It was like being in a coffin. Not that he objected to that. He liked the closed in feeling and the sense of security it gave him.

  She was uneasy. He could tell. It was the way she sat on the edge of the sofa and gripped her glass, the way she gulped her drink, the way she looked around her as if she guessed he was somewhere nearby.

  He closed his eyes to remember how she had reacted when she first entered the office. The memory was delicious. Her shock; her hysterics; and, something totally unexpected, her fainting fit. Eventually he was getting to her, wearing her down. It would not be long now until the final action when he removed
her power.

  Only then would he be able to rest.

  The clatter of the glass against the wood of the drinks cabinet made him open his eyes. The woman was heading for the door. He smiled to himself as he noted the panic in the fast way she walked, the way she almost fell over her briefcase when she grabbed it and the way she scanned the corridor before she left the room.

  He slithered backwards along the duct as silently as he could. When he reached another vent, one that allowed him to see along the corridor, he watched her until she entered the lift.

  It was safe now. Her office was empty. He could do what he needed to do to make her doubt her sanity. She was already on the edge; it would not take much more.

  The soft scraping noises he made, as he crawled along the duct to the woman’s office, did not concern him. The man in the office next door had already made himself scarce, which was typical of him, so that room was empty. And if the clerical staff heard anything they would think it was the central heating, or rats. None of them would be brave enough to investigate the air vents.

  He hooked his fingers into the wire mesh frame and removed it before silently dropping onto the carpet. It only took him a moment to retrieve the bird and return to the coffin-like passage that was one of many weaving throughout the building like a gigantic maze.

  A few moments later he hauled himself up into the turret room above the woman’s office. He sprawled, flat out and panting, on the dusty floorboards in the old, forgotten room, which perched in isolation on the corner of the building, soaring above the roof like some castle battlement in a fairy tale. He could imagine Rapunzel leaning from the corner window to let her hair down to an admirer far below. For a moment his mother’s voice sang in his mind, reading the old familiar story. She had made him believe that all women were princesses just waiting for their Prince Charming.

  She lied to him and paid the price.

  The room smelled of dust and mould, a tantalising aroma that never failed to arouse him. It reminded him of long forgotten vaults and catacombs, chambers holding the remains of people, once important, but now crumbling to dust. Places where the air had not stirred for centuries. This room reminded him of all these things.