End Result

by M A Comley

  “Can you tell me who did this?”

  Foster let out another groan, but his parched lips failed to form any audible words.

  “Jesus, where the hell is that ambulance? Jason, put the towels around the wound. Don’t touch that knife, for God’s sake.”

  The young DC looked panic-stricken. “Which wound? There’s quite a few of them? Never mind, I’ll cover what I can.”

  “Good man. This was quite a frenzied attack. Look at the blood spatter on the walls. Keep stemming the blood flow. I’ll call the station and get SOCO out here.”

  Hero stood up and left the flat. He pulled in a large breath of fresh air before ringing the station. He knew the importance of getting the investigation into the crime scene rolling at the earliest opportunity in such a case.

  He returned to the flat when he heard the wailing siren and spotted the paramedics drawing into the car park below. “How’s he doing, Jason?”

  “Not good, sir.”

  “Get ready to stand aside when the paramedics arrive. We don’t want to hamper them in any way.”

  A uniformed man and woman entered the lounge, carrying a padded emergency bag and a stretcher.

  “He’s fading, guys. We need to get him out of here and en route to the hospital as quickly as possible,” Hero said, his heart pounding.

  “Let us do our job, sir. Stand back please?” the male paramedic instructed. He dropped to his knees to assess Foster’s injuries for himself. Then he ordered his partner to rig up the oxygen while he issued a pain-killing injection to the patient. “Let’s do what we can and get this man out of here within five minutes, June, all right?”

  The female paramedic nodded and searched in the bag for the items she needed. Then she stood up and quickly assembled the stretcher, snapping the catches into place to ensure it didn’t collapse under the patient’s weight.

  “Anything I can do?” Hero asked, feeling like a spare part at a wedding, his hands nervously darting in and out of his pockets.

  The male paramedic glanced up at him. “We might need a hand getting the stretcher down the stairs in a few moments. Other than that, we’re good, thanks.”

  “No problem. Just shout when you need us.”

  Foster moaned when the female paramedic raised his head to attach the oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. A short while later, the male paramedic announced that they were ready to move the casualty onto the stretcher.

  “As gently as we can, folks. One, two, and lift.”

  Hero, Jason, and the two paramedics lifted the injured man onto the metal stretcher. Foster’s moaning intensified but subsided a little once he was securely strapped in. The team moved swiftly. Hero ordered his two men to remain at the scene until the forensic team arrived and gave them permission to knock off once they handed the reins over, while Hero helped the paramedics down the stairs and into the ambulance. Then he followed the speeding ambulance in his own vehicle to the Salford Royal Hospital. On the way, Hero rang Fay to update her on what had taken place and told her not to expect him any time soon.

  The paramedics wheeled Foster through to the Accident and Emergency department. A doctor told Hero to wait outside the room while he and the nursing staff did their best to save the patient in their expert care. Hero paced up and down for the next ten minutes or so, until the doctor finally came to update him on Foster’s condition.

  “DI Nelson, I’m Dr. Jenkins. We’ve managed to stem the bleeding. He’ll be taken down to surgery to remove the knife once the emergency theatre team has been assembled. Did you want a word with him before he goes down to theatre? Because to be truthful, he only has a slim chance of pulling through.”

  “If I could. Has he said anything?”

  The doctor shook his head. “Not at all. He’s heavily sedated now, so I doubt you’re going to get much out of him.”

  “Thanks. I just want a name, that’s all. Can I go in?”

  “Let’s get him moved into a cubicle first.” The doctor walked back into the examination room and returned to the corridor a few seconds later, accompanied by an orderly, who was guiding Foster’s bed into a nearby cubicle. Holding back the curtain, the doctor beckoned Hero to step forward. “Try and be gentle with him.”

  “Of course I will, Doc.” Hero leaned over the patient, close enough to hear any response coming from the man’s dry lips. “Mr. Foster, can you tell me who did this to you?”

  Foster swallowed and parted his lips slightly.

  “Go on, just one name if that’s all you can manage for now. We’ll get more from you after the surgery.”

  His tongue moistened his lips, and he turned his head in slow motion to face Hero.

  “Yes, go on, say the name?”

  His lips moved as if he were going to speak. Then they went slack as another bout of pain shot through him.

  “Please try, Mr. Foster?”

  “One more minute, and then I’ll have to ask you to leave, Inspector. You can see the patient is struggling to speak.”

  “I know. Let me try one more time?” He lowered his ear to the man’s lips and asked the same question. “Mr. Foster, please give me a name? Who did this to you?”

  He received only a gurgling breath in return.

  Then Hero asked, “Mr. Foster, what can you tell me about Stuart Daws’s murder?”

  Still nothing.

  “What about Mark Lomax? Did you know him? Did you know either man?”

  Finally, Foster gave a brief nod and made a weak attempt to speak.

  Hero lowered his ear to the patient’s face.

  “C…‌Ca…” That was Foster’s final word before the last painful breath left his body.

  “Mr. Foster, please? What are you trying to say?” Hero asked out of desperation.

  The doctor placed a hand on Hero’s arm and steered him out of the cubicle, into the hallway. “I’m sorry. Go home, Inspector. There’s nothing more you can do here.”

  Hero’s shoulders slumped, and he staggered back against the wall. “He was just about to tell me who the murderer was.”

  “Do you have any suspects beginning with ‘Ca’?” the doctor asked sympathetically.

  Hero launched himself off the wall and shook the doctor’s hand. “Yes, I do. Thanks, Doc. Sorry you lost a patient.”

  “Sorry you gained a victim. I hope you find the culprit soon.”

  Hero was already racing along the hallway to the car park when he called back over his shoulder, “I think we’ll have this case wrapped up in no time at all. Thanks, Doc.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Instead of jumping in and arresting Cathy Daws straight away, Hero managed to restrain himself, insisting that it would be better to tackle the woman the following day, after everything settled down and seemed much clearer. Without any actual hard evidence, he knew it would be wrong to arrest the woman immediately. The Crown Prosecution Services would laugh at his request anyway.

  At work, he gathered his team while he added the latest victim to the evidence board. “Sadly, Stan Foster lost his life after receiving a fatal wound to the chest. The knife must have nicked his heart. Despite the doctors doing their best, there was little they could do to pull him through. Here’s the interesting part. I was with him when he died. As he took a final breath, he tried to tell me his attacker’s name.” He turned to face the board and tapped one of the photos with his pen. “I believe it’s none other than Cathy Daws.” Some of the team gasped, while others simply nodded their unsurprised acceptance. “Actually, all he said was ‘Ca…‌’ but you don’t have to have a brilliant mind to figure out who he was getting at, do you?”

  “So, are we going to arrest her, sir?” Foxy jumped in quickly.

  “Not until we have some solid evidence, Foxy. I’m going to ring the pathologist this morning to see if he’ll prioritise his team’s findings from Foster’s flat. If this woman can be connected to all three crimes, then we should be able to throw the net over her soon.”

  “Can we put he
r under some kind of surveillance, sir?” Jason asked, resting his hand under his chin in a thoughtful pose.

  Hero clicked his fingers. “That was going to be my next suggestion. Jason, do me a favour and ring the landlord of the Dog and Duck. Steve Gillan, I believe his name is? Ask him if Cathy Daws was at work last night, all night, okay?”

  “Yes, boss.” Jason went back to his desk and picked up the phone. Before long, he returned to the group with the news Hero least expected to hear. “Sorry, sir. Mr. Gillan says that she was behind the bar all evening. ‘Every minute of the evening’ were his exact words.”

  “What? How the hell can that be? This is another reason we can’t go barging in there to arrest the woman. Her alibis are always of the concrete variety.” He glanced at the board again. “Two murders that we think we can pin on Cathy Daws, her husband and Foster, and yet both times, she has an alibi of working at the pub. How can that be?”

  “Maybe we should start investigating this Gillan bloke, the landlord?” Lance offered, nudging Jason to back him up.

  Hero furrowed his brow. “You might be on to something there, Powell. Just to be clear on this, you and Jason are sure you never saw Cathy arrive at the scene last night, during your surveillance of the flat?”

  Both detectives shook their heads.

  “Well, that’s weird, isn’t it? You didn’t drop off to sleep, did you?”

  Jason pulled his shoulders back and shook his head vigorously. “No, sir, we did not. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone over this during the night. None of it makes sense.”

  “All right, I believe you. Jason, do the background checks on the landlord?”

  “Yes, boss. I’ll get cracking on it now.”

  “Anyone else want to offer up any suggestions?” Hero scanned his team. Their mumblings amounted to a big fat zero. “Okay, carry on then, guys. Let’s keep digging and checking on the folks involved. I’ll get onto the path lab.”

  Hero walked in the direction of his office but turned when he sensed someone behind him. “Everything all right, Foxy?”

  “Yes, sir. I wanted a private chat with you.”

  “You better come in my office then. Coffee?”

  “Yes please. White, one sugar.”

  Hero dropped the coins in the vending machine then carried the cups into the office, kicking the door shut behind him. “Is this about the instructor?”

  “It is, sir. Frank asked around the rest of his team to see if they’d heard anything detrimental about Wade, and he was shocked to learn that the instructor has been in bother before.”

  “You mean the same sort of thing my sister is going through?”

  “Yes, sir. Frank heard rumours that on two separate occasions Wade wasn’t able to keep his hands off the female recruits.”

  “Jesus. What am I supposed to do about this, Foxy? What happened to the two women involved in the complaints?”

  “For a start, sir, neither woman put in a complaint about him.”

  “What? Why?”

  Foxy pulled a look that said, ‘You should know better than to ask a dumb question like that.’ She shrugged. “Both women ended up leaving the training centre and chucking in their careers.”

  “Wow, really? Were they any good? What I’m trying to say is we know how vigorous the training can be. Was their leaving wholly due to an incident involving Wade, or did they simply find the training too much to handle?”

  “I guess we’ll never know, sir, unless…” Foxy smiled slyly.

  “Unless someone pays them a visit. Is that what you’re getting at?”

  “Yes, sir. I’d be willing to carry out the task. That is, if you sanctioned it.”

  “Hmm…‌let me think that over for a while and get back to you, Foxy. What with Julie’s unfortunate domestic circumstances throwing a spanner in the works, we’re going to be short staffed around here. Therefore, all our resources should be concentrated on the murder enquiries we’re dealing with, not trying to get one over on an instructor who touched up my sister.”

  “I understand, sir. The offer still stands if you want to revisit the situation in the near future.”

  “I appreciate that, Sally. Did Frank say anything else? Has this Wade been in bother with any of the male recruits, for instance? Not for touching them up. I meant for any form of bullying perhaps?”

  “Frank hadn’t heard, but talking to one of his team, he found out that a few of the male recruits had jacked in their training, too, giving feeble excuses when asked the reasoning behind their decisions.”

  Hero’s eyes widened. “Are you thinking that they were bullied?”

  “That, we don’t know. You know how it goes, boss. If people aren’t willing to speak openly about something like this, then any speculation won’t see the light of day. Who’s going to be the one to start a rumour? Another recruit? Not likely, due to the threat of repercussions from Wade.”

  “You have a valid point there. Something has got to be done to stop this Wade bloke. Okay, thanks, Foxy. I’ll think things over and try to come up with a plan to reel the bastard in.”

  Foxy rose from her seat to leave and picked up her cup of coffee. Before she left the room, she turned and said, “A word of warning, sir. He comes with a mean reputation and a hell of a violent temper.”

  “Does he now? That’s all the more reason to bring him down then, isn’t it? How in God’s name was he given a training role with a rep like that?”

  Foxy shrugged. “Precisely. If you need either my help or Frank’s, let me know. People like that shouldn’t be in the force as a trainer, or in a training role anywhere else, come to think of it.”

  Hero was still contemplating paying Wade a visit when Jason knocked on the door. “Come in, Jason.”

  “Sir, I’ve done a bit of a background check on the landlord and couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary in his past. Upon reflection, if there had been anything, his licence would’ve been revoked, wouldn’t it?”

  “There is that. Are you and Lance up for doing some more surveillance?”

  “Sure. On Cathy Daws?”

  “Yes, let’s see what she gets up to during the day when she’s not at work. That might tell us something or lead us somewhere we haven’t thought of searching before.”

  “Do you want us to set off now?”

  “You might as well. Get in touch with me as soon as she’s on the move, all right?”

  “Yes, boss.”

  Once his office was empty again, Hero reached for the phone and dialled the pathology lab. “Gerrard, hi. It’s Hero. What do you have for me?”

  “On what exactly? Because I know damn well you wouldn’t be insane enough to give me a call about last night’s incident. It would be far too soon to expect crucial information like that.”

  Hero cleared his throat and held back a snigger. He’d always been on reasonably good terms with Gerrard Brown over the years, but sometimes, the man’s unintentional sharp tongue amused him. “No, not necessarily about last night’s incident. I just wondered if you had anything extra for me, full stop. What about from Lomax, the body found in the tunnel?”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Right, let me see, there was something of interest that came to light I seem to recall, just a sec.”

  Hero tapped his pen on the desk while he heard the pathologist cussing on the end of the line as he rummaged through the files on his desk. The man even managed to drop the phone once or twice, almost deafening Hero.

  “Here we are. Right, sorry to keep you waiting, Hero. Further results from the man found in the tunnel, Lomax, have concluded that another set of prints were found on the body.”

  “Really? Where?”

  “On the man’s belt, I believe.”

  “I don’t suppose you’ve had a chance to run the prints through the system yet, have you?” Hero asked, more in hope than expectation.

  “We did, as it happens, they resulted in a negative. I’ll send a copy of the file over to you if you lik
e. It’ll be handy for you to have at the station in case you pick up a suspect. How’s the case progressing? Any major suspects at present?”

  Hero let out a long breath. “Well, it’s kind of frustrating. We’ve got our eye on a suspect. The trouble is she has cast-iron alibis for when the bloody murders were committed.”

  “Can she be connected to all the crimes?”

  “Yes, that’s the frustrating part. She knew all the victims. One of them, Stuart Daws, was even her husband. If we can pin last night’s attack on her, we could be home free. The thing is we’ve already checked with her employer, and he says that she was at work when Foster was attacked.”

  “Ouch, that’s not so good. Could she be getting someone else to kill the people for her, in that case?” Gerrard asked after a few seconds of silence.

  “Initially, I would have said yes, especially with regard to the husband’s death. God knows we see enough of that type of thing, don’t we? I had my suspicion that she even recruited Foster to kill the husband. His car, or a car similar to his, followed Daws right before he was murdered. Now I’m not so sure.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, for one thing, she can’t keep befriending people to do her killing for her and then bump them off once they’ve outlived their usefulness, can she?”

  “It’s not unheard of. I mean, that type of crime has gone on in the past. It might be worth delving deeper into, given that she always seems to have credible alibis.”

  “You could be on to something. Maybe I’ll call her in for another round of questioning. Thanks Gerrard. I don’t have to tell you how important it is to rush the results through for the Foster case, do I?”

  “No, you don’t. Talk soon.”

  Hero hung up and contemplated what to do next. Jason and Lance were already watching Cathy, so maybe it would be wiser to hold off bringing her in for questioning for the next day or two?

  Jason and Lance returned to the station once Cathy had clocked in for her shift at the pub during the afternoon. Jason shrugged and shook his head when Hero asked what they’d seen.

  “Nothing. She didn’t even leave the house to pop out for a pint of milk. No visitors, nothing.”