Only the Lonely: DI Ted Darling Series Book 5

by L M Krier

  'Just wait. Everyone hold your position. Let's allow him to do as he usually does. Wait until Jezza comes back out before we do anything. That's our best chance of getting him with minimum risk to anyone,' Ted told them, his voice steady, from inside the control unit.

  Several pairs of eyes were glued to Jo and Jezza as they walked along the main road, Jo's arm now round her waist as they went. Susan and Megan were not far away, tucked inside a shop doorway, Susan's hand on her Taser so it was ready if their suspect showed any sign of deviating from his normal pattern and putting anyone at risk.

  Sal, in hotel uniform, behind the reception desk, studiously ignored all three of them as they went in through the main entrance. Jo steered Jezza towards the ground floor corridor, with the room they were using at the end of it. The suspect followed them.

  As they reached the door of the room, Jezza saw the man hesitate, feel in his pockets as if looking for a key-card, then turn and go back through the reception area.

  'Suspect has now left the hotel and is in the car park,' Sal reported.

  'I have him in sight now.' It was Mike Hallam, outside, walking around the car park with his neighbour's black Labrador, borrowed for the occasion, obligingly lifting its leg at every bush. 'He's just lurking, getting his cigarettes out.'

  'So now we wait,' Ted said quietly, aware of the mounting tension of everyone involved. 'Nobody do anything to panic him. Everyone confirm your positions if he does make a break for it.'

  'Maurice and me are outside in the car, boss.' Virgil.

  'I'm on the petrol station forecourt, looking at flowers. I've got a good view of the front of the hotel.' Rob.

  'Still by the shop opposite with Megan, boss, Taser at the ready.' Susan.

  'Still have line of sight to the hotel, sir.' Jenkins' officer.

  Jezza and Jo had pulled off their mikes for the moment. They didn't want the others listening in to their conversation, which was light-hearted. It was bad enough with an Armed Response officer in the room listening to them.

  'So, how long do you need?' Jezza asked Jo teasingly.

  'Well, I don't like to boast, but it won't be quick,' he responded with a wink. 'And I'd usually be beyond jumping into the shower straight afterwards. On the other hand, we don't want to keep everyone waiting too long. Do you want to watch the telly, while we're at it, or at least supposed to be?'

  They gave it a good hour, then Jezza put her mike back on and went out of the room. She made her way to the entrance and walked out, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the man was standing a short distance away. This was the dangerous part now. She knew he was going to go into the hotel, intent on killing Jo. She just hoped that the firearms officers would be able to stop him.

  She walked out into the main road then got into the back of Virgil's black BMW, parked a short distance away.

  'You all right, bonny lass?' Maurice asked her, his tone concerned.

  'Fine, Maurice, don't fuss. Just keep your fingers crossed that Jo will be.'

  'He's just gone through reception, heading your way now, Jo. He's changed into his overalls, in the toilet in reception,' Sal announced.

  'Stand by, everyone,' Ted cautioned, and Jenkins joined in to alert his men.

  'Shower's on and I'm cowering behind the door in my body armour,' Jo said, a note of humour in his tone. 'And bang on cue, here's the knock at the door,' then, raising his voice, 'Hang on a minute.'

  'Maintenance, sir, can you turn the shower off, please? There's a problem with the plumbing,' came the muffled voice from outside the door.

  Jo stuck his head cautiously out of the bathroom and looked to the armed officer, who gave him the universal signal for okay, at the same time speaking quietly into his mike. Jo's hand turned the doorknob, then he pulled back inside the bathroom.

  The door flew open and the man burst into the room, knife gripped in his raised hand, looking for his target. Instead, he found himself looking at an armed police officer who was shouting at him, 'Armed police! Stand still! Drop the weapon!'

  At the same moment, two more Armed Response officers appeared in the corridor behind him, shouting the same thing.

  The man hesitated for barely a second, then dropped the knife and started screaming, 'Don't shoot me, please don't shoot me.'

  'Down on the floor. Put your hands on your head,' the first officer was yelling now.

  The man flung himself down in terror, visibly trembling. Jo stepped quietly out of the shower-room, handcuffs at the ready, smelling the distinctive, acrid stink of urine as the man lost all self-control.

  'John Smith,' he began quietly, issuing the familiar words of the caution, 'I'm arresting you...'

  Chapter Thirty-two

  It was the wee small hours before Ted got back home. John Smith's state of mental health had given cause for concern after his arrest, so Ted had called out the police surgeon, Tim Elliott. He had administered a mild sedative and ordered him to be kept on close suicide watch, before going on his way, sneezing frequently. Ted made a mental note to finally ask him, next time he saw him, just what it was to which he was allergic.

  Trev was already in bed by the time Ted got back. He was, as ever, stretched out across most of the available space, buried under cats, sleeping the sleep of the innocent. Queen opened one baleful eye at the intrusion and Brian rolled on to his back, exposing a fluffy stomach to be stroked, but none of the other felines stirred so much as a whisker.

  As he slipped out of his clothes and quietly hung up his work suit, Ted looked fondly at his sleeping partner and reminded himself once more how lucky he was. He just wished he could persuade Trev to marry him, but he was always adamant that it would make too many waves and they were perfectly happy as they were. No use Ted pointing out that a former Assistant Commissioner of the Met was openly gay. Trev knew that, like a lot of people, Jim Baker could just about cope with them as a couple, but not as a married couple, and could never have agreed to be Ted's best man.

  Ted felt selfish even trying to wake Trev, but he was in need of an ear to listen, even if sleepily, while he talked about the tensions of the last few hours, and the overwhelming relief that the case seemed finally to be over. Besides which, on a purely practical level, there was simply no room for him in the bed. He slid under the duvet as best he could then leaned closer to kiss Trev gently awake.

  Trev stirred slowly and opened those incredibly blue eyes, smiling softly at the sight of Ted home, safe and sound.

  'Hello, you, did you catch the bad guy?'

  'We did,' Ted told him, moving further into the bed and into Trev's arms as he made some space. 'Sorry I woke you. There just wasn't much room.'

  'Sorry. I meant to stay awake, but you know what I'm like. Do you want to talk about it?'

  'It's fine. You're tired, go to sleep. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.'

  Trev moved slightly to get back to a comfortable position which still left Ted a bit of room, his eyelids drooping. Just before he went back to sleep, he said, 'Oh, Shewee phoned. All excited. She got her place on the school team. She said hi.'

  As he started to doze off again, he sleepily sang, or more precisely massacred, Queen's 'We Are the Champions'. Ted smiled to himself. His partner seemed to be even more tone deaf when half asleep than when fully awake.

  Ted was in early, checking on how John Smith was doing, before he began questioning him. The custody sergeant reported that he had spent a quiet night and seemed to be calm. Ted knew he would have to proceed with caution, if there was any doubt at all about the suspect being fit to be interviewed.

  It had been a late night for everyone, with a debriefing after the arrest. Despite that, the Ice Queen was in as early as Ted was, anxious to talk to him before he began questioning. The case was really Jim Baker's but it was her station, she was in charge of what went on in it, and she liked things done by the book.

  'I'll get Tim Elliott back to check him over before we even start questioning him,' Ted assured her. 'We've go
t the knife as well as the boots and overalls now, and no matter how careful he's been, I'm hopeful there will be traces of the victims on those.'

  'It was good work, an exemplary operation. We don't want the wheels to come off now if he's not handled carefully. You'll be interviewing him yourself, I imagine? At least I know you will be careful with him. Who will be with you?'

  'I'm going to get Megan in, DC Jennings. She looks nice and calm. Between us we shouldn't be too intimidating. I'm hoping it will all go smoothly.'

  Tim Elliott had been and gone by the time Ted was ready to start questioning John Smith. He'd have to ask about his sneezing another time.

  Smith was sitting quietly and calmly at the table in the interview room when Ted opened the door and stood aside to let Megan go in first. They both took their seats opposite him. Ted started the recording and dealt with the formalities.

  'Can you please confirm your name and personal details, for the tape.'

  'John Smith, forty-five, no fixed abode, currently unemployed. Widower. My wife – my ex-wife, at her request – killed herself. She committed suicide because some heartless bastard swindled her out of all her money and she couldn't go on any longer,' at which point his voice, which had been rising and getting shrill, broke and he started to sob, burying his face in his hands on the desk.

  'Mr Smith,' Ted said quietly, 'you've been told you have the right to legal representation. Are you sure you wouldn't like to have someone here? We could take a short break while a solicitor is called?'

  The man took a long shuddering breath and seemed to regain control of himself.

  'No, thank you, you're very kind. I don't want a solicitor. There's no point. I killed those men. All four of them. I would have killed the one last night as well, if you hadn't arrested me. I'm glad you did. It's time it stopped. I did it for Elaine. I couldn't find the man who destroyed her, but I found others, who were clearly doing the same thing.'

  'Do you need a drink of water, Mr Smith?' Megan offered.

  He shook his head and looked up. 'No. No, thank you. It's fine. Let's do this. I want to make a full confession. I want to tell you everything. In a sense, it will be a relief.'

  Once he started, it was like opening the floodgates. The whole story simply flowed out of him, with scarcely a pause. Ted sent Megan out for water for him when his mouth was clearly getting dry, but he talked with no hesitation and made no attempt to deny anything.

  He told them that following the suicide of his ex-wife he had suffered a breakdown and been unable to do much. He'd lost his job because of prolonged sick leave, but had then decided to use the money from his wife's life insurance policy to fund a personal mission to try to find the man who had ruined her.

  Despite all his efforts, he had been unable to trace 'Nigel', the man his ex-wife had been in contact with. Failure to do so had sent him spiralling into an even worse mental state. But his research had showed him that other men were doing a similar sort of thing. Some were cynically using the dating sites not just for casual sex but also to try to make some money. It was often innocent enough, selling insurance, sometimes extra mortgage cover. But occasionally it would involve get-rich-quick schemes, from which they made a commission, which didn't live up to their promise and could often cause financial hardship for their victims.

  'The first time it happened, I didn't mean to do the man any harm, I swear. I just lured him to a pub, then followed him back to his hotel. I was planning on scaring him, making him stop what he was doing. I always waited for the woman to leave. I never wanted to hurt, or frighten, the women, not even to upset them. They were always innocent parties in this. I just wanted to get the men to stop what they were doing.

  'I took a kitchen knife with me, not planning to use it, the first time, just to frighten the man. I thought I might be able to get him to cancel any phony investments he'd sold. But when I saw him standing there, so self-satisfied, so pleased with himself, I just lost control. I started slashing at him, and stabbing him. Then when he fell down, I just wanted to stamp that smug look off his face. I couldn't stop myself.

  'I carried on and on, even after I knew he was dead. And then I felt really good. Completely calm. I felt I'd done something, at least, to compensate for what my wife went through. I took his key card and left it at reception, as if he'd checked out. Then I decided to do it again, and to keep on doing it until I was caught.'

  His voice now was chillingly matter-of-fact. He might just have been confessing to some petty shoplifting, from the dispassionate tone he was using.

  'I knew what I was doing. And I wanted to do it. I was luring them in, just like Nigel lured Elaine, and then I gave them what was coming to them. I'm glad I did it. I have no regrets, only that I never caught the one who started it all. But at least now there are four less than there were.'

  He looked calmly from Ted to Megan and back again, then asked, 'So what happens now?'

  'You'll now be taken and formally charged with all four murders, plus the attempted murder from last night. You will then appear before magistrates as soon as possible and will be remanded, almost certainly in custody, as you have no fixed address. It's likely that you will remain in custody, with further remand hearings, until your trial, at a date which has not yet been fixed.'

  'Perfect,' Smith nodded, as if he was accepting the room on offer to him at his latest B&B. 'I accomplished part of what I set out to do. It's time to stop now.'

  'It was quite disturbing, how calm he was about it all, boss,' Megan commented as they made their way back up to the main office, once Smith had been charged and put back in a holding cell until his first remand hearing. 'If he gets a good lawyer, after all, do you think they'll go for a diminished responsibility defence?'

  'I don't think he'd let them. I think he's made his mind up that it's over and he doesn't want to fight it.'

  All the team members looked up expectantly as Ted and Megan came back into the office.

  'Full confession to everything,' Ted told them. 'Drinks are on me in The Grapes after work. Good job, everyone. Now let's get the paperwork sewn up tight.'

  There was a collective cheer from the rest of the team at both pieces of good news.

  Ted went back to his desk to start on his own paperwork. The legwork may have been over, but there was still a lot to do. Even with a likely guilty plea, they still had to get the file right for CPS. He sat himself down with a mug of green tea and got stuck into the task in hand.

  He looked up in surprise as his office door opened without a knock and first Jim Baker then Gerry Fletcher came in, both looking serious. Ted pulled off his reading glasses and stood up.

  'Ted,' Jim Baker nodded, not looking his usual amiable self. 'We just came to bring you up to speed. DS Mackenzie is gone, thrown out, no further action in exchange for his testimony. We've got DC Coombs bang to rights, except…'

  Fletcher spoke next, his grey eyes boring into Ted's. Ted suddenly had a revelation of what the Elton John lyrics in Nikita meant. Ice on fire. That's exactly what he felt he was looking at, from the fearsome head of Complaints. 'Except that DC Coombs has made allegations against you, of assault, bullying and harassment. And of course I will have to take the matter seriously and start an investigation.'

  Ted felt his mouth go dry as he began, 'Sir…'

  At that moment, Fletcher suddenly slapped Jim Baker on the back, hard, and let out a great shout of laughter.

  'I told you'd I'd get him going, Jim,' he roared. 'That's a pint you owe me. Sorry, Ted, honestly, what a pair of bastards we are, eh? I just couldn't resist, and the look on your face was well worth it.'

  Ted was speechless for the moment. Of all the things he knew about the boss of C&D, he'd had no idea he was a practical joker. His legs felt weak, his kneecaps twitching involuntarily with the sudden release of tension.

  The two men pulled out chairs and sat down opposite Ted, as he did the same, thankfully.

  Fletcher was still chuckling as he said, 'We really came ov
er to take you out to lunch, Ted. I've got my driver outside so Jim and I are going to sink a few jars and you can have whatever the fizzy pop is that you like. It's all my shout, except the first round is Jim's for losing the bet. He said you'd never fall for it.

  'I particularly wanted to come and congratulate you in person. You've just had one hell of a run of success. Really very impressive. In particular, the way you went after Foster and his rotten crew. That Cinderella trick was a master-stroke. I watched the tapes.'

  'Kopciuszek,' Ted put in, then explained, 'Mr Bosko is Polish. He told me that's what it's called there. Out of interest, what will happen to the rest of Foster's team?'

  'There are plans to cut the CID presence there down to a couple of officers. We'll find a decent DS capable of running things and just keep one, or two at the most, of the remaining DCs,' Jim told him.

  'Winters has potential. Most importantly, he needs to stay where he is. He looks after his mother.'

  'Noted. I'll see what I can do.'

  'Now for what I've really come here for,' Fletcher said. 'It's rare to find someone as straight as you, Ted – no pun and no offence intended. Someone who's willing to go after the rogue cops unbidden, when they already have more than enough on their plate. So if you ever fancy a career change, and if Jim would ever consider letting you go, I just wanted you to know that I'd be pleased to make room for you on my team, any time. At least you'd only be likely to get figuratively stabbed in the back, rather than getting your arm carved up by a knife-wielding nutter.'

  Ted was surprised. It was something which had never occurred to him. He was happy doing his job.

  'You know what? Given the choice, I far prefer serial killers to the stink of bent coppers, so I'll happily leave that side of things to you. But Trev's always saying my job's too dangerous. So let's just say, if ever Jim's had enough of me, and Trev nags too much, I'll come knocking on your door.'

  oOo