Only the Lonely: DI Ted Darling Series Book 5

by L M Krier

  Ted made the introductions and there were handshakes all round. Jezza surprised him by greeting Maurice with a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek. He knew the two had become good friends, but they seemed to be closer than ever.

  It was a good chance for Ted and Jim to catch up on the day's progress. Ted didn't usually like bringing work into the pub, but he needed to keep Jim up to speed. When he'd done so, the two men stood in companionable silence, watching the team relaxing. It was a way to see how the new members interacted.

  'You're going to need to keep your eye on that one,' Jim grunted, nodding to where Jo was deep in conversation with Océane, all sparkling gold tooth and twinkling eyes.

  'Jo?' Ted asked. 'Happily married man with six kids, he tells me.'

  'I wasn't meaning him,' Jim said dryly. 'She looks like trouble. She certainly isn't putting up any resistance to his charms. And Maurice and Jezza look very cosy.'

  Ted looked across the bar to where Maurice was perched on a high stool, Jezza right next to him, the two of them laughing and chatting like the good friends he took them to be. Then he saw what had probably been staring him in the face for some time and he had not yet recognised. Steve was standing near to the two of them and the look on his face was unmistakable, even from the other side of the room. Blatant jealousy.

  Ted groaned inwardly. That kind of triangle was the last thing he needed on the team, with a difficult case to manage.

  'You're a good copper, with a good eye for detail, Ted,' Jim told him. 'Just make sure, because your own relationship is so steady, you don't miss out on the signs of other dynamics brewing up. Not what you need right now,' perfectly echoing Ted's own unspoken thoughts.

  Chapter Nine

  'I'm sorry I need to go into work today, especially with you going out tonight,' Ted told Trev when he took him up a cup of tea on Saturday morning. Trev was never an early riser. Even on work days, he was usually on the last minute. Ted had already been up, seen to the cats, unloaded the dishwasher and put everything away.

  'Yes, but not straight away?' Trev asked pointedly, pulling back the duvet on Ted's side of the bed. 'Stay a bit longer. Or come home at a decent time, then we can have a bit of time together, like an old married couple. Before I go out, and your mum comes to supper.'

  Ted smiled, but peeled off his sweat pants and slid back into bed. 'I will try to get back at a decent time, then I can clean the house. My mother will faint at the sight of all the cat hairs, and it is my turn.'

  'I know you. You say you'll be back in good time but you'll get held up at work and it will be the usual mad scramble to get everything done. You're only ever on time for work stuff, never for your own life. I'll sort it, and cook supper for you both before I go out. But in payment for that...'

  He put his tea on the shelf next to the bed and moved closer to Ted, draping an arm possessively over his chest.

  'Your tea will go cold,' Ted warned him.

  'Let it,' was all that Trev replied.

  Ted got to work slightly later than he had intended. Steve and Jezza were both on duty, working away in the main office. Jezza looked up from a sheaf of print-outs as he walked in.

  'Boss, I'm going through the emails between our victim and the three women from up here, especially Snooky. I haven't started on the texts yet, that's next on my agenda. Snooky hasn't told him much about herself, apart from some lurid physical description and some of the very creative ways she likes it. But she must be local to here. She's got the knowledge. She knew straight away, when he suggested meeting up, which were the best pubs to meet in. Detailed knowledge, too, not just a Google search type. And he will certainly have been targeting people in Stockport for when he was up here. He'll have probably been looking for someone in and around the town centre, purely for convenience, but that's just a guess.'

  'Does that help us much, though, without an actual name and address?' Ted asked.

  'Think about what the barman said, boss. He thought he'd seen her before, and his description was quite a detailed one. Maybe she drinks in local pubs, if she's in the habit of meeting up with strangers from the Internet. What if I went round a few pubs and bars, where younger women hang out? Just go in, have a drink, start chatting, and ask about Snooks? Someone is bound to know her. I can't do the same for Linda Lovelace, though. I might get more than I bargained for.'

  Ted was already shaking his head before she had finished speaking. 'It's risky, Jezza. We don't yet know if she could be the killer, or acting as bait for the killer, to draw his victim in.'

  Jezza was clearly having difficulty curbing her impatience. She was always headstrong. 'But boss, when I've got a babysitter for Tommy, I do sometimes go out on the lash, you know. So what's to stop me asking around anyway, while I'm out there? Surely it's worth a shot?'

  'I'm what's to stop you, Jezza,' Ted said firmly. 'You've told me, I've said no. I've evaluated the risk and I don't like it, without further intelligence. Going ahead and doing it now would be directly disobeying the order of your senior officer. Is that clear?'

  Ted didn't really want to be having this conversation in front of Steve, even though he knew he was probably blissfully unaware of what was going on around him, as he usually was when he was focused on his computer.

  Jezza was not a quitter. Once she had the bit between her teeth, she took some stopping, as Ted knew to his cost.

  'Okay, so what if I go with someone?'

  Ted sighed. He was going to have to discuss it with her in detail; he owed her that.

  'Come into my office,' he told her, leading the way and heading straight for the kettle. The onus was always on him to ensure the safety of his officers, as well as his own. Snooky may have been incidental to the murder, but he didn't yet know enough to be sure. He was busily mentally writing the report for if he agreed and anything happened to Jezza. He quite simply couldn't justify the risk, even to himself.

  'We'll be going round all the pubs and clubs asking about her, and about Linda, as a matter of routine,' he began, waving his box of green tea at her in invitation.

  She nodded, but cut in, 'Boss, going round the pubs in office hours talking to the staff will be as much use as a chocolate teapot. It needs someone going at night, when the good-time girls are out on the pull. That's the only way to find Snooky, without court orders on the email addresses.

  'You know I can get the gear on, put all my piercings back in, colour my hair, and no one would begin to imagine I'm a cop. It's the best and the quickest way to find out who Snooky is, and she may well be the last person to have seen Waters alive, before the killer.'

  Ted put a mug of tea in front of each of them and sat down. In a sense, she was right. But her safety was his responsibility. It would be his career on the line, not hers, if anything went wrong, and at this stage they didn't know for sure if their killer was male or female, nor if they were only targeting men.

  'All right,' he said. 'Bring me all the email exchanges between Snooky and Waters, and the others. Let me read through and evaluate before I decide. The texts too.'

  Jezza chuckled. 'I've only glanced at those so far but they're definitely sexts not texts. They'll make your hair curl, boss. They're more than a bit steamy.'

  He ignored her comment and continued, 'If, and only if, I then decide it's the right course of action to take, you go with someone.'

  'Who, though, boss? No offence, but if I take any of the blokes on the team, I'll look like I'm out with my other half, or my pimp.'

  'Not acceptable, Jezza,' Ted told her sternly. 'If you don't like male officers calling you a bird, please don't call them blokes. Equality cuts both ways.'

  She had the decency to look contrite as she mumbled a brief apology.

  'I was thinking of a female officer, now we have Megan on the team. But it will all depend on what I decide after reading through the exchanges between the victim and this Snooky. And if not Megan, who might have childcare issues, we could perhaps consider Susan Heap. She's been of great help i
n the past.'

  It was Susan Heap who may well have saved Ted's life after the knife attack. She was one of the first responding officers from Uniform branch, who had done everything in her power to stem a serious arterial bleed until an ambulance arrived.

  'Er, boss, I'm trying not to sound judgemental here but, seriously? Megan? She looks a bit, erm, a bit mumsy, to be out on the toot with me, when I'm dressed up in the part.'

  'You are being judgemental, DC Vine, and I won't have it,' Ted warned her. 'And it isn't like you. Is everything all right? Is there anything you want to talk about?'

  She shook her head. 'No, sorry, boss, just me being a cow, I think. I'll go and bring you copies of all those print-outs. There's plenty more for me to look at, with the Linda Lovelace ones to start on. I also thought it was worth going through the ones with Anne-Doodle, just on the off-chance there's anything there, although I think that's a very long shot.'

  His exchange with Jezza had left Ted feeling a little anxious about her. She had been so much of a lone wolf when she had first joined the team, he wondered if it was nothing more than two new females coming onto what she now thought of as her territory, and disturbing the dynamics. He hoped he didn't get called away to another division until the team had settled down with its new members.

  She was certainly right about the exchanges between their victim and Snooky. After the first few, they quickly got down to sexting at its most graphic, leaving nothing to the imagination.

  Ted knew it was almost impossible to form an accurate opinion of who was behind messages online. He'd been on courses about child grooming, so he knew that the seemingly youthful voice in an innocent chat room could be that of a middle-aged man. But some instinct told him, the more he read, that these exchanges were probably nothing more than what they appeared to be. Two consenting adults setting up a bit of fun.

  Once he'd read through the Snooky sexts and cleared some of his own paperwork, Ted started to think about bagels for his lunch. He wanted to spend a quiet half hour with both Steve and Jezza, in an informal setting, to see if he could figure out what was gnawing at the pair of them. He offered to treat them to lunch, took their orders and sent Jezza and Steve into his office to brew up while he was out.

  Ted made sure he sat on the same side of his desk as the other two. He wanted this to be relaxed, not a boss talking to officers under his command. They all knew he was approachable. He just liked to emphasise the fact when he could.

  He kept the conversation as light as he could, asking how they were getting on with their new team members, all the time using his keen powers of observation to look for any tell-tale signs. Steve was, as ever, awkward and on edge but that was normal for him. His replies were mostly monosyllabic, but he opened up more and went pink singing Océane's praises. Ted hoped she wasn't going to break his heart. He clearly had it bad.

  He watched Jezza's reaction, looking for signs of any jealousy there. All he saw was an indulgent fondness, like that of an older sister for a younger brother who had a serious crush on someone. He wondered even more about the look he'd seen on Steve's face in The Grapes on Friday. He'd have to leave it for now, though. They had bigger fish to fry.

  It wasn't long into the afternoon before Jezza knocked on his door and came in, armed with more print-outs.

  'Boss, I've started now on all the text messages from the victim's phone. Océane didn't flag it up, but there's a text here in his Drafts folder, to Anne-Doodle, to say he'd been delayed and would be in touch as soon as he could. With an apology.'

  Was there a hint of reproach in her tone about Océane, Ted wondered? Or was he starting to get paranoid? He nodded to her to sit down.

  'But he didn't send it? When was it written?'

  'Written at 7.45 but not sent for some reason. Maybe he was in a mobile black spot? Meant to send it later but never did, for some reason? Had his hands full with Snooky? Didn't fancy Anne-Doodle enough for a bunk-up but still figured he could flog her some solar panels?'

  'Ah, Jezza, so cynical for one so young,' Ted smiled. 'Except I've never had phone problems near there. It's a pretty good signal area. Even if you were right, it doesn't advance us very much, I fear.'

  'The thing is, boss, I know she's not a relative, but do you think someone should tell Anne-Doodle he's dead? Maybe knowing that he was going to contact her might make her feel better about herself? Rather than her having just being stood up?'

  'Mrs Angus,' Ted corrected automatically, but continued, 'That's a kind thought, Jezza and yes, I think you might be right. I'll call round there on my way home, to let her know. I might also try to warn her, tactfully, that's it's just possible that our Mr Waters was more interested in selling her a solar installation than anything else.'

  'Do you want me to come with you, boss?' Jezza asked him, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. 'To protect you from the savage Doodle? He might give your ankle a severe gumming, or even hump your leg.'

  'Don't push it, DC Vine,' Ted growled, trying to sound fierce. 'There's plenty of paperwork I can send your way to keep you occupied.'

  Chuckling, she stood up and made for the door. Ted was pleased to see the glimpse of what he considered to be the real Jezza, the one with a good heart, who cared about people. As she was leaving, he said, 'I'll do it, and thanks for suggesting it.'

  Doodle was on his customary spot, barking frenetically at the intruder from the bay windowsill. In response to the Westminster chimes, Mrs Angus came to the door, once more with the struggling little dog clamped in her arms.

  'Oh, hello again, Inspector, please go into the front room while I put Doodle in the kitchen. I wasn't expecting anyone so I'm afraid it's in a bit of a mess.'

  Ted noticed that her definition of a mess was one fallen petal from the flower arrangement in the open hearth. He felt guilty, thinking of the hairy carpets at his own home, which Trev was going to have to see to for him as he was already running later than he had planned.

  The woman came back in, minus the dog, and immediately went guiltily to pick up the petal, which she tucked into a pocket, before sitting down, indicating to Ted to do the same. She sat with her knees demurely together, her hands placed one on top of the other in her lap.

  'What can I do for you, Inspector?' she asked.

  Ted didn't bother to correct her. 'I just thought I ought to come and tell you that the person you know as Duncan Allen is dead.'

  One hand flew up to her face as she said, 'Oh my goodness! It was him, wasn't it? In the hotel? I read in the paper that a body had been found. It said it was at a hotel. He told me he was going to be staying in a hotel but not which one. And I read that the police are treating the death as suspicious. I just didn't make the connection. Is that it? I'm a suspect?'

  Ted hastened to reassure her. 'At the moment, Mrs Angus, we have no reason to disbelieve what you have already told us, and it has been confirmed by staff at the pub. I just thought you might, perhaps, like to know that Mr Allen had made an effort to contact you, to tell you that he had been delayed.'

  'I didn't get any message from him,' she said, looking confused.

  'For some reason, the message was never sent. But it was in the Drafts folder on his mobile phone, so he had thought to at least tell you he was delayed.'

  'And was he really Mr Right? Were the things he told me about himself true? He was single, unattached?'

  Ted hesitated. There was little he could tell her without breaching confidentiality or giving out information that was not yet in the public domain.

  'Mrs Angus,' he began gently. 'From my limited experience of such things, people are seldom what they pretend to be in online encounters. My advice to you would be to exercise extreme caution with anyone you arrange to meet.'

  Seeing her face fall, he went on, 'But I'm sure you will find someone. You're an attractive woman, you'll no doubt find a Mr Right before too long, if you're careful.'

  When she coloured slightly and raised her hand to pat her hair, Ted realised he may po
ssibly have gone too far in trying to comfort her.

  'You're really very kind, Inspector, and I imagine you had no real need to come here to tell me this, to make me feel better. Tell me, do you like small dogs?'

  'Ah,' Ted said awkwardly, his stock phrase when he wasn't quite sure what to say. 'I'm not very good with dogs, even small ones, I'm afraid. I'm a cat person. My partner and I have six.'

  This time, she went bright pink with embarrassment.

  'Oh dear, I'm so sorry, how very stupid of me...'

  'No, not at all, I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression,' Ted said, rising to his feet and preparing to leave. 'I just thought you might prefer to know that he hadn't simply stood you up. I really hope you will find someone suitable soon, but please, do be careful. Especially of anyone who mentions being in investments. They may not be all they seem.'

  She also rose to her feet to show him out. Her tone was bitter as she said, 'A double-glazing salesman?'

  'Something like that,' Ted smiled, as he shook her hand in farewell.

  Chapter Ten

  Ted left his car on the driveway, ready to go and collect his mother after he'd had a shower and changed. He was running late and he hated to be late. It was just that, as usual, he'd got tied up at work. The extra detour to see Mrs Angus had been enough to make the difference.

  He hurried through to the kitchen, full of apology. Trev was putting the finishing touches to the table, adding a small vase of flowers as a centrepiece. He'd obviously realised Ted would be later than he promised and had already showered and dressed, ready to go out.

  'I've set the kitchen table, I thought that would be cosier for the two of you,' Trev said in greeting.