Only the Lonely: DI Ted Darling Series Book 5

by L M Krier

  'Well, I think it must have been about midnight. I was having difficulty getting to sleep. My husband snores so much. I got up to go and find one of my sleeping pills, from my bag in the bathroom. I could hear the sound of running water through the wall from the next room. The walls are a bit thin, you can always hear when the person next door is taking a shower.

  'Then I thought I heard a knock on the door of the next room, and the water was turned off in the shower. Someone outside on the landing said something, but I didn't catch it all. The door to the room is a bit better at muffling sound. It was something about the plumbing needing maintenance. I didn't hear much else, just a bit of a bump at some point as if someone was moving something. I suppose they may have needed to do that to get at where the plumbing problem was. Then I put my earplugs in and got back into bed so I didn't hear anything more, I'm afraid.'

  It was well past what would normally have been lunchtime before Ted was satisfied they had all the information they could get for now. He proposed they regroup back at the station for a debrief, with a stop to pick up some food on the way back there. One of Foster's men took sandwich orders and money. Ted had received a text from Jim Baker saying he hoped to be there within the hour.

  Coombs was clearly still sulking when he and Ted started the walk back to the car park. Rob O'Connell and the others had gone on ahead, with the sandwich order, as had DI Foster and his DS. Out of courtesy, as the SIO, Ted had wanted to have a final word with the manager before leaving.

  Just as Ted and Coombs were turning into the ginnel, they could see ahead of them a group of three teenage hoodies, who appeared to have a young man pinned up against a wall. Ted saw straight away the flash of broken bottle in one of their hands. To his surprise, Coombs made to do an about turn and walk away.

  'Call back-up, now,' Ted told him, already moving forward, shouting, 'All right, break it up. Police! Back off and leave him alone.'

  The three youths turned deliberately to look at the short man in a trenchcoat, who was approaching them. Ted could see that two of them were black, but the hood the third was wearing obscured too much of his face to reveal anything much about him.

  'Yeah? Or what you gonna do about it, little man?' one of them asked tauntingly.

  Ted was still moving slowly towards them. He'd not yet heard the DC make a phone call, so he barked at him, 'Call it in, Coombs. Now.' Then he pulled out his warrant card and held it up towards the youths. 'I'm a police officer. Step away and put the bottle down.'

  With a provocative gesture, the one who had spoken swung the broken bottle towards the terrified young man up against the wall. In a reflex action, he brought his right arm up to protect his face and the jagged edge of the glass bit through his sleeve, causing blood to start dripping through the ripped fabric, as he started to sob in pain and terror.

  Finally, Ted heard Coombs make the call, asking for back-up. The youths heard it, too, and lost some of their certainty. Ted was standing his ground, not too keen to risk further injury so soon after the last time, but fully prepared to wade in and protect the injured youth if it became necessary. He knew instinctively he couldn't count on any help at all from Coombs.

  The ringleader was carefully weighing up his adversary. He was streetwise enough to tell that he was not the pushover he had looked at first sight. Something about the way Ted was calmly standing his ground, poised for action, rang warning bells in his head. That and the wail of a siren, distant for now but clearly getting closer, and fast.

  In a last defiant gesture, he hurled the broken bottle towards Ted's head before the three of them turned and disappeared at speed up the ginnel. Ted effortlessly avoided it with no more than a precisely timed sway of the body, then he moved closer to the victim, now cowering back against the wall and sliding down into a sitting position.

  'It's all right, I really am a police officer. I just need to get some pressure on that wound for you to stop the bleeding,' Ted told him calmly, crouching down to his level.

  'Don't touch me!' the young man almost screamed in panic.

  'Coombs, phone an ambulance,' Ted said sharply then, gently, to the young man. 'It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to get that bleeding under control.'

  The young man shook his head frantically. 'No, it's not that. I'm HIV positive.'

  Coombs was making the second call. Ted now saw him take a swift step back, as if he thought the infected blood was suddenly going to target him, like a heat-seeking missile.

  'It's fine, don't worry. I have gloves,' Ted said quietly, pulling some out of his pocket, where he always carried at least two pairs, and slipping them on. 'I'm Ted, by the way. What's your name?'

  'Jamie,' he replied, his voice quavering.

  'Well, Jamie, just press this hanky against the bleed for me. It is clean. My partner always makes sure I have a clean hanky for just such an occasion.' He made eye contact with the youth, who didn't look more than about eighteen. He could tell that he had understood the message.

  'It turns out my partner wasn't quite as open and honest as I thought,' Jamie told him, as Ted took his tie off and wound it round the handkerchief to get some even pressure on the bleed. Luckily, it didn't look too bad, but Ted didn't want to take any risks.

  'Ambulance and Woodentops are on the way now, so we can get going,' Coombs said from behind him, clearly more interested in his dinner than in the welfare of the victim.

  Ted ignored him, hoping Coombs would not be foolish enough just to abandon him and go back to the station without him. He might break the habit of a lifetime and put him on a disciplinary if he did. He already had plenty of cause.

  'I'm sorry to hear that, Jamie. I'm going to stay with you until the ambulance gets here, although I'm hoping that siren is it on its way. Is there anyone I can call for you, while we wait?'

  Jamie shook his head. 'I'm on my own at the moment. Anyway, all the numbers were on my phone, which they stole.'

  It wasn't too long before they saw the ambulance pull up near to the end of the ginnel, then two men in green headed down the passageway towards them. Ted made the introductions, quick to stress Jamie's HIV status, then waited until the young man was safely taken away and loaded into the ambulance. He removed his gloves carefully, relieved to see they were still intact, and gave them to the paramedics for safe disposal.

  'What about your tie?' Jamie asked him, anxiously.

  Ted gave him a conspiratorial grin as he said, 'I hate wearing a tie. You've given me a good excuse not to do so for the rest of the day. Good luck, Jamie. With everything.'

  As the ambulance pulled away, Ted rounded on Coombs. 'The next time I tell you to make a phone call, you make it immediately. Don't make me repeat myself. And don't ever refer to uniformed officers in that disrespectful way again in my presence. Am I making myself clear, DC Coombs?'

  Coombs gave him a sullen grunt in reply, which could have meant anything, before turning and walking off down the ginnel. Ted got his phone out as he followed him and made a call to Jim Baker.

  'Where are you, Ted? We're all here ready to start the briefing.' The Big Boss didn't sound too pleased.

  'We just got delayed by an active wounding. Victim's now safely on his way to hospital. I'll be there shortly, if I don't stop to commit murder on the way.'

  'Problem?'

  'Pain in the arse, more like.'

  As they got near to the level where Coombs' car was parked, the DC said scathingly, 'You not being bothered about catching AIDS from him. Is that because you've already got it?'

  Ted stopped in his tracks and looked at him, hard. Anyone who knew him would have seen instantly that his usually warm hazel eyes had changed to a dangerous shade of green, reminiscent of the broken shards of the bottle.

  'You are on very dangerous ground there, DC Coombs. I suggest that you think extremely carefully before you say anything else.'

  'Yeah, or what?' Coombs asked sneeringly, his tone not unlike that of the hoody earlier. 'Like I said,
you're not my guv'nor and I'm not taking orders from a jumped up little bum-bandit like you.'

  At that, Coombs seemed to have wound himself up into such a state that he completely lost it and threw a wild punch at Ted's head. With four martial arts black belts to his name, Ted knew so many ways to deal with such an attacking move. He preferred instead simply to slide out of range and watch, with a certain satisfaction, as Coombs' fist connected, hard, with a concrete pillar. The man yelped as the blow took the skin off his knuckles and a loud crack suggested that he had probably broken at least one bone.

  'I'll drive, then, shall I?' Ted asked calmly, as Coombs nursed his hand in pain.

  Detective Superintendent Jim Baker, head of the new team, was waiting impatiently for Ted and Coombs to arrive. Coombs was red in the face, looking furious, and cradling his hand across his chest. Ted smiled innocently and said, 'Sorry, boss, we got held up doing some proper police work, hands on stuff. But we've handed over to Uniform now, so we're all yours.'

  At a nod from the Big Boss, Ted filled all those present in on everything they knew to date of the death on their own patch, plus the similarities with the one they had just come from.

  'I don't want to start jumping to any conclusions yet, not before we've studied CCTV footage or anything else. But we have logo-man at our scene, and there's a witness here saying they heard a reference to maintenance. I can't help thinking there may be a link there.

  'We'll take the laptop and phone back with us and get the contents analysed.' He'd given them to Rob to put in their car. 'I want to know full details of the post-mortem, as soon as it happens, and I want to speak to next of kin myself, so keep me posted. But for now, I think we'll head back to Stockport and come back here tomorrow.'

  One of the DCs waved a paper bag at Ted and said, 'Did you want your sandwich?'

  Ted shook his head, despite having paid for it. He had a strong suspicion that at least one of Foster's team would have spat in it, if not worse.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ted wanted to catch a few words in private with Jim Baker before he left. He sent Rob and Virgil on ahead to the car, asking them to pick up a sandwich and some coffee for him from the nearest shop. When he replied to Rob's question about why he hadn't fancied the sandwich he'd paid for earlier, the two of them went on their way laughing.

  Jim Baker had been loaned the use of an office the size of a broom cupboard. There was barely enough room for the two of them to sit down. Ted filled his boss in on everything so far. When he came to the part about the incident with the broken bottle, Jim interrupted him.

  'Bloody hell, Ted, are you all right?' he asked anxiously. 'Are you sure it was safe to do that?'

  Ted shrugged, unconcerned. 'I'll be fine. I had gloves on, and they were still intact when I took them off. But I will go to the drop-in centre as soon as I get back to Stockport, just to be on the safe side. They'll tell me how long I have to wait before I can be tested, and I can get the results there almost instantly when I can be.'

  'And what about Coombs? If you want him booted off the team, just say the word. More than happy to trust your judgement. I don't think much of Foster, and I'm not in the minority. It stands to reason none of his team will be up to much or they wouldn't stay with him and put up with his shit.'

  'Leave him, for now. I'll keep him close, where I can keep an eye on him, for the time being. He may just be a coward, but the way he was ready to leave well alone smacked more of bent cop, to me. I know he's homophobic, he's shown me enough evidence of that already. But I wondered if he has an arrangement with some of the local gangs, to turn a blind eye to certain crimes. He certainly didn't seem concerned about a GBH and theft by three thugs on one young man.'

  'Wouldn't surprise me,' Jim responded. 'This team needs a massive boot up the arse. Foster's just treading water, ready to retire. It would be a political hot potato to drop him now, so close to his pension, without very good reason. But if you give me even half a reason I can work with, I'd be happy to do it.

  'Oh, and tell me about Coombs' smashed up hand. Was that anything I should know about?'

  Ted smiled. 'Having made several unkind comments about my anatomy and asking my HIV status, he lost it and unwisely threw a punch. I just dodged it. Nothing more than that.'

  'He threw a punch at a senior officer?' Jim demanded angrily. 'More than enough reason to kick his arse off the team, and out of the force.'

  'Let it go for now, Jim. Just the school bully, flexing his muscles. If it gets any worse, or he starts on any of my team members, I'll make it official. For now, you know me. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself.'

  Jim grunted reluctant assent, then continued, 'Where do you want to base the enquiry? I'm assuming you're happy the two deaths are connected? So with one here and one in Stockport, do you want to move everything to one central location?'

  'From what I've seen so far, I would be surprised if we're dealing with two different killers. I hope not, at any rate. It sounds daft but, I don't really want this lot mixed in with my team any more than I can help. So just for now, until I see how it pans out, I'd prefer to hop between the two stations, if you agree.'

  'Your enquiry, Ted, you run it how you see fit. I'm just here to add what clout I can and to take the rap if it all goes tits up. Which I know it won't. You've never let me down yet, although you've given me a few scares on the way. Good luck with the clinic. Let me know what they say.'

  Ted pulled his mobile out on the way to the car, to call Trev.

  'I'm really sorry but I've no idea what time I'll be back,' he told him. 'I don't think I'll get there in time for the kids' club. Would you mind taking my kit down for me, just in case I can get there for judo afterwards? I'm really in the mood for some lively randori, after the day I'm having.'

  Trev chuckled suggestively. 'I'm liking the sound of that.'

  Ted had only been away from his own team for a few hours, but it felt like days. He was pleased, but not surprised, to find everything running smoothly and peacefully in the clearly capable hands of Jo Rodriguez, helped by Mike Hallam. Everyone was quietly working away at their desks, the atmosphere completely different to that which he had experienced in the other station.

  Ted told them everything they had to date from their day's findings and confirmed that it had all the hallmarks of being the same killer. He asked for any updates.

  'Boss, first off, I got all the details available from PNC and sent them through to South Manchester. I tried a follow-up phone call, as a courtesy,' Sal told him. 'What a barrel of laughs they are, on that team. Would I be over-reacting if I said I got the feeling that my name being Ahmed may have been the reason I didn't get a thank you?'

  Virgil laughed, a rich, dark rumble. 'Oh, I was welcomed with open arms and kisses on both cheeks by all those good white boys,' he said ironically.

  'If any of you want to make an official complaint at any time, please come and see me. I won't have anyone subject to any kind of prejudicial behaviour. I was on the receiving end of plenty of it myself today. I decided to let it go for now. I'm more interested in catching our murderer. But seriously, if any of you are bothered by it…'

  When nobody said anything, Megan Jennings put in, 'Boss, Océane and I have been working together to find Snooky. We've not quite done so, but we have made a bit of progress. I rang round the schools and, amazingly, I did find two Sukis of about the right age. Jo and I have been out to try to track them down, but there wasn't anyone in at one address and we were told that the other one has married and moved to Australia, so I think it's a fair bet that she's not the one we want.'

  Océane took up the story. 'Megan gave me the other name, Suki Jackson. That was her name at school, so there's a possibility she's changed it since, if she got married. So far, I've found nothing in that name on things like the electoral role. So I've been looking on social media and I've found a Suki Su-su. I've narrowed down her IP address to this side of Manchester but I can't yet get the exact ph
ysical address, although where Jo and Megan went and found no one at home is in exactly the right area.

  'Now, we get into ethics issues again if I, or anyone on the team, starts trying to Friend her or Follow her on social media, in an entrapment sense, in the meantime. A lot of her posts are private, but her check-ins are not always private.'

  Seeing Ted's look of blank incomprehension, she quickly explained that people could use a phone app to show where they were at any given time, especially when they had arrived at somewhere significant.

  'As a result, we now at least know the name of the pub she likes to go to most Friday evenings, by the look of it. So if we don't find her any other way, there is that possible way forward. The old casual encounter in the pub with off-duty police officers trick.'

  'Good work, all of you,' Ted smiled round at his team. What a difference in initiative and enthusiasm to what he'd been confronted with earlier. 'We've brought back more work for you, Océane, in the shape of the mobile and laptop of our second victim, Richard Hutchinson. I'm hoping you can work your magic on that once more and see what we're working with here. I'd be very surprised if the two cases were not linked.

  'And thanks again, all of you, for your work today. I know it's not been an easy day for some of you. I'd take you all for a drink after work if I didn't have somewhere to be.'

  'Comes from the top down, boss,' Rob told him frankly. 'Can't imagine anyone wanting to try to make an impression on DI Foster or his DS, from what I saw today. You're a good boss.'

  'Stop it, you'll make me blush,' Ted grinned, but he was pleased. He tried to lead by example and it was always good to get feedback that it was working. 'Right, I need to brief the Super on where we're up to, then I'm off. See you all tomorrow.'

  He'd already phoned ahead to cancel his weekly therapy session with Carol, as he'd known early on he was not going to be in time for it. Luckily she understood the demands of his job and other than asking how he was feeling, had said nothing about the late cancellation. He was just about to head downstairs when his mobile rang and the screen told him it was Professor Nelson calling. He took the call as he went out into the corridor, pausing at the top of the stairs.