Night Watcher

by Chris Longmuir

  ‘Guilty or innocent, he could still take the firm to a tribunal.’ Julie sipped her coffee while she watched Nicole’s reaction. She had never seen her so strung out before. ‘After all,’ she added, ‘an employment tribunal wouldn’t be interested in what Harry’s done if it’s not connected to his job. What they would judge it on would be whether or not disciplinary procedures had been followed.’

  Nicole choked on her coffee spluttering the crumbs of her cake over the table.

  Julie smothered her glee as she passed her a paper napkin. ‘It might be better if you had a word with Harry before it’s too late,’ she murmured.

  ‘I refuse. I absolutely refuse.’ Nicole wheezed. ‘I can’t speak to that man. Not after what he’s done.’

  ‘We don’t know he’s done anything.’

  ‘You speak to him then. But as soon as I’ve checked this employment thing out, he’ll be back out that door quicker than he can blink.’ Nicole stood up. ‘I’m going back upstairs to see what’s delaying the police.’

  ***

  Harry had never been so tired in his life. His shoulders slumped under the weight of his despair, and if that was not enough his corn throbbed with an excruciating pain inside a shoe that seemed to be getting progressively smaller. The bus queue outside Primarks had been so long he could not get on the first bus that came, and now this one was so full he had to stand. He muttered under his breath as the woman next to him brushed against his toe. The pain flared and he transferred his weight onto his other foot in an attempt to relieve it. Just at that moment the bus swung round a corner. He staggered and grabbed the back of a seat to stop himself from falling. Anyone seeing him would think he’d had a drink, but so far he had not.

  He fought against the tears welling up in his eyes. A grown man, what would anyone think if they saw him crying. But, what was he going to tell Babs? She would understand of course, she always did, but that was not the point.

  He stared out of the window, so engrossed in his thoughts he almost missed his stop. The shopping square looked different in the daylight. It looked more dilapidated reflecting the deprivation of the area. Rubbish blew in the wind, tramps squatted in corners, yobbos clustered outside the shops just waiting for a chance to nick something. The shopkeepers were not daft though and kept a careful watch on their stock. Harry knew for a fact that some of them kept knuckledusters behind the counter, although he thought that was asking for trouble.

  Ali was sweeping debris from the front of his shop and raised a hand in greeting. Harry moved his arm to respond, but it seemed too heavy to lift and he let it fall back to his side where it hung useless and limp. Lowering his chin into his coat collar, he averted his eyes and plodded homewards. No sweets for Rosie today, from now on he would need all his money just to live.

  The door closed with the quietest of clicks after Harry let himself into the house, but Babs heard it and came to meet him. ‘You’re home early,’ she said, as he struggled out of his coat. ‘Here let me take it. I’ll hang it up for you.’

  ‘Don’t fuss, woman,’ Harry muttered.

  Babs hung the coat on a hook in the closet and turned to look at him. She frowned. ‘You don’t look well,’ she said. ‘Have you been sent home?’

  If only it was as simple as that, thought Harry. ‘No love, it’s worse than that.’ Tears gathered in his eyes, shining like the dew that clings to grass early in the morning.

  ‘She hasn’t sacked you, has she?’

  Harry could not interpret the look on Babs’ face, but it made him shrivel up inside. ‘Yes, she has,’ he grated. ‘But she’s not getting off with it. If she thinks I’m going to lie down and take it, she’s got another think coming.’

  ***

  By the time Nicole left the lift on the executive floor she was in a foul temper. Julie had not been any help to her with all her premonitions of what might happen because she had fired Harry. The woman should learn to mind her own business. Still it might be better to play safe rather than sorry, so she had allowed her to tell Harry he still had his job. She could always renege and blame it on Julie once she found out how she could fire the blasted man without any of the repercussions Julie had suggested.

  Voices rumbled from the clerical office, but Nicole turned her back on it and headed for the glass doors that led to the inner sanctum and the peace and quiet of her own office. It was only when she reached it and had her hand on the doorknob that she remembered what was inside. She bit her lip and drew back. How could she forget?

  She shuddered and retraced her steps to Ken’s office, but it was still locked. Damn, that meant she would have to return to the main office and face the typists and clerical assistants.

  Evelyn popped her head out of the office just before she got there. ‘Ah, there you are. I tried to page Harry to let you know the police wanted to see you, but he’s not responding.’

  Nicole glared at her. She did not like the woman’s tone of familiarity. Getting too uppity by half, she thought. She will be the next one to go. She smiled grimly. ‘About bloody high time they were here,’ she snapped. ‘Did they think I was going to wait around all day until they decided they had time to come?’

  ‘Mrs Ralston?’ the voice was deep and familiar. ‘Perhaps we can talk somewhere more private.’ He emerged from the office.

  Oh, God, not him again. She’d had enough of his insolence last night. ‘Constable . . . I’m sorry I don’t recall your name.’ Nicole decided she was not going to let him get the better of her this time and kept her voice aloof.

  ‘Bill Murphy, ma’am, and it’s detective sergeant.’

  ‘And your inspector . . . is he with you as well?’

  He smiled, ‘No, ma’am, sorry to disappoint you. But I’ve brought along Detective Sergeant Sue Rogers. Thought she might be of more use, being a woman and all.’

  The young woman who followed him out of the office was taller than Nicole, but she had a friendly face and nice sympathetic eyes. ‘Just call me Sue,’ she said holding out a hand.

  Nicole grasped it, ‘Nicole,’ she murmured. She decided she liked Sue.

  ‘Somewhere quiet?’ Bill raised his eyebrows and turned to Evelyn.

  ‘Of course,’ Evelyn’s face had turned pink again. ‘One of the conference rooms should suit. Follow me.’ She led the way through the glass doors into the executive corridor. Opening one of the polished oak doors, she said, ‘Will this do?’

  Bill smiled at her. ‘This will do just fine, Evelyn.’ Bill waited until Evelyn left and then gestured in the direction of the chairs clustered round the circular conference table. ‘We’d be as well to make ourselves comfortable.’

  Nicole glared at him. Bloody man was taking charge. Who did he think he was? However, she sat down, rested her arms on the table and clasped her hands. ‘Well, let’s start then and get it over with,’ she said. ‘Not that I suppose you’ll believe me any more than you did last night,’ her tone was sarcastic. ‘But I think you may have to change your tune because we have the evidence today.’

  Bill Murphy stared at her as if he was weighing her up. Silence, only broken by a faint hiss from the central heating, descended on the room. Nicole wriggled in her seat as she looked from Bill to Sue and back again. Their faces were inscrutable, and Nicole started to reconsider her initial liking for the woman detective. She was just like all the others. Her clasped hands tightened until her knuckles were white, while her feet did a little jiggling dance beneath the table. Damn them, her nerves were starting to get the better of her. ‘What are we waiting for?’ she demanded. ‘What d’you want me to tell you?’

  Sue leaned forward after exchanging a glance with Bill. ‘Let’s start from the beginning,’ she smiled encouragingly. ‘Just tell it in your own words.’

  Nicole slumped back in her seat and her voice flattened as she described how she had come to work that morning and found Freddie, the pigeon, crucified on her desk.

  ‘You came in late? I gather that wasn’t usual for you.’
<
br />   ‘No. I’m usually in much earlier.’

  ‘Why was this morning different?’ Sue raised an enquiring eyebrow.

  ‘Scott, that’s my husband, left for Paris on a business trip, so I was delayed.’ Nicole did not bother to tell them the real reason for the delay was the row they’d had. It was none of their business.

  ‘I see,’ Sue jotted in her notebook.

  ‘Why do you think this is happening to you?’

  ‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? Someone’s trying to frighten me.’ Nicole’s skin prickled under the intensity of Bill’s stare. He was not nearly as sympathetic as Sue was. ‘But it’s not going to work,’ she raised her voice to quell the tremor that threatened to take over.

  ‘I can understand your distress. I’d feel the same way in your shoes.’

  Nicole blinked at Sue as the tears gathered behind her eyelids. The woman’s sympathy was getting to her, making her feel sorry for herself.

  ‘Have you any idea who might want to frighten you?’ Sue looked up from her notebook.

  ‘It’s Harry, that’s who it is.’ Nicole’s fingers strayed to her hair. Her voice was firm and sure. But Sue made it all sound so horrible, and when she thought about how pathetic Harry was, she wondered if he really had the gumption to sustain the persecution.

  ‘Harry?’

  ‘He’s the security guard. He doesn’t like me.’ But, Nicole wondered, did he hate her?

  Bill cut in. ‘Well, we’ll interview Harry, of course. As well as some of the other people who are in contact with you. But for now maybe we’d better inspect the scene of the crime.’

  Nicole thought there was a note of irony in his voice, but shrugged it off as her imagination. To her horror, however, when they reached her office and Bill stood back to let her enter, there was no dead bird. She stared unbelievingly at the desk, it was like last night, first there were dead bodies then there were none.

  She caught her breath. ‘You don’t believe me,’ she muttered, placing her hands on the edge of the desk to bear her weight.

  ‘On the contrary, we do believe you because other people saw the bird. But now we have to question, what happened to the bird? Who removed it?’ There was an inscrutable expression in Bill Murphy’s eyes as he looked at her. ‘When you were the last person in here.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  ‘She’s upset,’ Sue said. ‘Somebody’s playing tricks on her. I don’t like it.’

  ‘You’re sure about that, are you?’ Bill turned a chair round and straddled it. They had returned to the conference room to compare notes.

  Sue perched on a chair after pulling it round to face him. ‘Yes I’m sure. But what about you?’

  Bill traced his finger along the top of the chair-back. ‘What I think? I think she’s doing it herself.’

  ‘Why would she do that?’

  ‘To attract her husband’s attention – maybe to get him to return from France.’

  Sue snorted, ‘You’re like all men, think a woman just wants a man to look after her.’

  ‘Well, they’re not all like you, Sue love.’ Bill smirked. ‘A rampant feminist if I ever saw one. I do believe you’d abolish men if you could.’

  ‘That doesn’t warrant an answer,’ she snapped. ‘Anyway I don’t see our Mrs Ralston as a poor, defenceless woman just waiting for some man’s attention. She wouldn’t have got where she was in her career if that had been the case. No, someone’s definitely trying to frighten her, but what I don’t like about it is all these dead animals. It indicates a sick mind.’

  ‘Yes. And the sick mind’s probably hers. But I suppose we’d better carry on with the investigation just on the off chance you’re right. So, who are we going to see next?’

  ‘I want to interview this Harry. See if there’s anything in her suspicions.’ Sue pushed herself out of her chair.

  ‘And I want to see Julie. She seems to confide in her. She might have some ideas.’

  Sue smiled mischievously, ‘You can ask Evelyn to set it up. She seems to have taken a shine to you.’

  ***

  Julie was sorting through last month’s invoices when the telephone summons came. ‘I’ll see them down here,’ she said. ‘I’m busy and it’ll save me wasting too much time.’

  ‘Sorry, Julie. They want you up here. They’ve commandeered the conference room for their interviews.’ The phone line was so clear Evelyn might have been standing at Julie’s elbow.

  ‘Oh, all right. But it’s a nuisance. Tell them I’ll be there in five minutes.’

  ‘Before you hang up, Julie. I’ve been trying to raise Harry and I can’t find him. They want to see him as well.’

  ‘I’m not surprised you can’t find him. Mrs Ralston sent him home about a couple of hours ago.’ Julie hung the phone up before Evelyn could ask any questions.

  Julie started to shuffle the invoices into one neat pile. Thank goodness she would not have to do this much longer. She ached for her old life in Edinburgh, and it was time she laid Dave to rest. There was a limit to how much mourning she could do, and at the end of the day he did not really deserve her tears, not after what he had done to her. Not after he had betrayed her with Nicole. Anger flared briefly making her grit her teeth, but the anger was not as red hot as it had previously been. Maybe she was getting over him at last.

  She stood, smoothed her skirt, put her jacket on and combed her dark-brown hair, although with the short, sleek style she had adopted, there was rarely a time when it was untidy. She was feeling better already, more like her old self before she came to Dundee.

  There were two people in the conference room. The first a young woman, tall with short reddish-brown hair and eyes that seemed to smile all the time, nodded a greeting to her. ‘You’ll be Julie,’ she smiled as she held out her hand. ‘I’m Sue Rogers, we just wanted to ask you a few questions.’

  It was the second person who jolted Julie out of her feel good state of mind. It was the man from the pub who had rescued her from that weasel of a guy chatting her up last night. The man she had snubbed. Her memories of that night were so vague she had not thought she would know him again. But she recognized him instantly. She could also tell that he remembered her. It was in his eyes and the way he moved towards her and pulled out a chair for her.

  Sue had a slightly bemused look on her face. ‘D’you want me to carry on with the questions, Bill? Or would you prefer to do it yourself?’

  ‘No, no. You carry on.’ Bill perched on the edge of the conference table keeping one foot on the ground. He was so near to her that their feet were almost touching.

  Julie looked away from him not sure how to react in this situation. Maybe he was annoyed because she had snubbed him and now, the way things were, she could not tell him she had regretted it almost immediately. He had been nice to her, but her anger about Dave had got in the way. A breath of a sigh escaped her lips, just another lost chance among so many lost chances.

  ‘I understand that you are Nicole Ralston’s friend.’

  Julie had forgotten about Sue, but she looked at her now as she answered. ‘I suppose you could say that, although we don’t meet socially.’

  ‘It’s a work relationship then.’

  ‘Yes, you could say that.’ The palms of Julie’s hands were damp, but she resisted the urge to wipe them. She could not tell these people the truth, because if they knew how much she hated Nicole they might think she was responsible for her harassment.

  ‘These incidents,’ Sue paused, ‘of dead birds and rodents being left where Mrs Ralston can find them. What can you tell us about that?’

  ‘I’m afraid I only know what Nicole has told me. I haven’t seen anything myself.’ Julie hated herself for allowing a note of scepticism to creep into her voice.

  Sue seemed to be weighing her up. ‘Mrs Ralston thinks she is being stalked. What do you think?’

  Julie hesitated. ‘I’m not sure. Her husband thought she was paranoid and to begin with I thought the same, but now I’m not
so sure.’

  Sue waited until the silence became unbearable to Julie. ‘I did think to begin with that her husband might be having her watched . . . because of her thing with Ken Moody.’

  ‘Thing with Ken Moody?’ Sue exchanged a glance with Bill.

  ‘Yes, they’re having an affair.’ Julie squirmed in her seat. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t say.’ She twisted her hands together and a look of misery passed fleetingly over her face. However, she was not too concerned for there was still a part of her that enjoyed scheming against Nicole.

  ***

  Nicole paced up and down her office. She had never been any good at doing nothing. She had always needed to keep busy, but now, she could not settle to do any work and did not know what to do. The office was not the same either. It had this faint aura of menace even though Freddie was no longer there. But she supposed that was part of it.

  She was fragmenting, like the pieces in a broken mirror. She could not think straight and her thoughts were jumbled. Who removed the bird? And why? Maybe it was someone trying to discredit her. But why would they want to do that? She did not know and could not figure it out. Whatever they were up to was working though. That policeman as good as said she had removed Freddie herself. She stopped her pacing to kick the waste paper bin. It clanked across the room until it struck the wall. It should have made her feel better, but didn’t.

  Maybe she should just go home. But what was waiting for her there? More dead animals? She slumped on to the leather sofa and put her head in her hands, tearing at her hair and moaning. After a time she sat up. This won’t do, she thought. I’m not going to let this bastard get the better of me. She crossed the room to the drinks cabinet and poured herself a large shot of whisky which she gulped faster than she should have, choking and gagging as it burned her gullet.

  She combed her hair, powdered her face and reddened her lips, before she went in search of Ken. I’ll find him, she vowed, even if I have to hunt him down at his house. It was easier than that though, because as she walked along the corridor she met him coming out of his office.