by Robert Innes
“Ok, Harrison. We’d like to talk to you about the shooting of your partner, Daniel Donaldson.” Gardiner began.
“Well, we weren’t together anymore.” Harrison murmured.
“When did you break up?” Mattison asked gently.
“Erm,” Harrison shifted in his seat. “Well, to be honest I’d just broken up with him when it happened.”
“So the same day he was killed?” clarified Mattison.
Harrison nodded.
“For the tape please?” Gardiner said sharply.
“Yes.”
“So, why did you break up with him?” Gardiner leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.
“Well, he’d been hitting me.”
“So your relationship was violent?”
“Yeah.”
“How long were you together?”
“About four years.” Harrison replied.
“And for how long was the relationship violent?” Mattison asked him.
“For about two years.”
“And was he violent towards you very often?” Gardiner didn’t sound in the slightest bit sympathetic. Harrison wasn’t even sure if he believed him. In some ways, Gardiner reminded him of Daniel. He had that same standoffish nature with just a hint of unpredictability.
Harrison nodded timidly. “Quite often yeah.”
Gardiner shrugged. “Was there ever any witness to these attacks?”
Harrison thought back. The only person Daniel had ever been violent towards him in front of was Craig Samuels and he doubted that Craig could be relied upon to give him any support in the matter.
“Not really no. It all tended to happen when we were alone.”
“So, just your word against his then?” Gardiner said, a hint of condescension in his voice.
Harrison glared at him. “Oh I’ve got proof.” He stood up and forcefully pulled up his t-shirt to reveal his bruises. “Look at me. This is what he did to me for two years! Whenever he felt angry or sad or even probably happy I got a new bruise to add to the collection!”
Mattison gave Gardiner a reproachful look then said, “For the tape, Harrison is showing us a series of bruises and marks on his lower body. Did Daniel give you all of those bruises?”
Harrison pulled down his t-shirt again and sat, taking a deep breath to calm himself, then nodded.
“For the tape.” Snapped Gardiner.
Harrison sighed. “Yes!”
Gardiner appeared to suck on his teeth thoughtfully. “Except, having spoken to your mother, you told her that you received those marks and bruises from an attempted mugging in the village?”
“No,” Harrison exclaimed desperately. “I told her that at first because she saw them and I hadn’t told anybody about what was happening. She knew though, I told her the next day.”
“You told her the truth about Daniel being violent towards you, the next day, just before he was murdered?” Gardiner asked.
“Yeah.”
“So why didn’t you tell anybody about it sooner? You say you broke up with him because of how he’d been treating you, so why did it only happen yesterday?”
Harrison tried to think of a response but he genuinely didn’t have one. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know why you didn’t tell anyone or you don’t know why you only broke up with him yesterday?”
“Either!” Harrison cried desperately. “Both! I don’t know!”
Gardiner leant across the table towards him like a viper about to strike its prey. “So you break up with him and then, what, half an hour later, he’s found shot in a locked shed. He didn’t have the best of days, did he?”
Harrison didn’t respond.
“So, let’s talk about how he actually died.” Gardiner opened the folder he had been carrying and produced a series of forensics’ photographs. Harrison looked at them and winced. They were all of Daniel, lying face down on the ground.
“Shot, three times. Bullet wounds in three separate areas of his body.” Gardiner said slowly as he laid the photos out deliberately in front of Harrison. “Except that he was found shot in a shed that nobody could possibly have got in or out of. So, how did that happen?”
Harrison stared at him horrified. “I don’t know!”
“Except here’s where we’ve got a problem.” Gardiner glanced across at Mattison, as if to insinuate that he felt the same. “We have CCTV footage – from cameras that were put up by your father – of Daniel being locked in the shed, again, by your dad. He’s alive when he goes in. Only one other person goes anywhere near that shed between him being locked in it and his body being discovered by us.”
Harrison nodded. “Yes, I know that.”
“You.” Gardiner added unnecessarily. “You walk towards the shed and go round the side, out of view of the camera.”
“I was just talking to him.”
“See,” Gardiner leant back triumphantly. “You say you were only talking to him but, from where I’m standing, logically, you’re the only person who could have shot him.”
“I didn’t!”
“So how did you do it?”
“I didn’t shoot him!”
Gardiner leant forwards again, looking angrier. “Oh come on Harrison! Nobody else could possibly have done it.”
“Look, I know!” Harrison cried desperately. “I know, but I swear to you – I don’t know how he was killed, I promise!”
Gardiner paused dramatically then stood up and paced around the room. Despite how emotional he was feeling, Harrison couldn’t help noticing that Gardiner looked like a complete idiot doing it.
“When we arrived at the farm,” Gardiner said finally. “We heard the sound of a gun being fired.” He finished his pacing around as he arrived behind Harrison. “Didn’t we?”
“Yes.”
“Now, we know that one gunshot doesn’t produce three bullets don’t we?”
“Yes.”
“So where did that gunshot come from?”
“I don’t know.”
“Help me out here Harrison, I don’t think you understand how serious this is.”
“Of course I do.” Harrison was having difficulty keeping his emotions in check. Any minute now he could feel himself starting to cry again and he didn’t want to give Gardiner the satisfaction. “But I was standing with you when we heard it so how could it have been me?”
“You tell me.” Gardiner replied. “When we’ve got people getting shot in locked rooms, I’d say anything’s just about possible, wouldn’t you? And if it wasn’t you who could it have been?”
Harrison looked desperately across the table at Mattison but he just stared back at him as if pleading with him to come up with a reasonable alibi. “I don’t know.” Harrison said softly.
A look of triumph was now on Gardiner’s face. “I do.” He leant down so that he was standing over Harrison. “And, let’s be honest, so do you. Now I’m going to give you one last chance at making this whole sorry mess that little bit easier for yourself. How did you kill Daniel Donaldson?”
Harrison was at a loss for words. Would confessing to something he hadn’t done make things easier for him? It was pretty clear that all the evidence the police had pointed to him and he couldn’t think of anything else to defend himself. Maybe, if he ended up in court, the judge would be sympathetic because of how the relationship had been?
But before he could say anything, the door to the interview room opened. Gardiner’s head snapped up furiously at the new arrival. Mattison looked relieved.
Blake was standing in the doorway, staring levelly at Gardiner. He glanced at Harrison and walked into the room.
“Interview suspended at…” He glanced at his watch. “11:51.” He flicked the tape, stopping the recording.
Harrison glanced up at Gardiner who looked absolutely incandescent with rage. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Yes, really sorry to interrupt,” Blake smiled, cheerfully. “But I just need a quick word. It won’t
take long, I promise. Can I just borrow you?”
Gardiner stared at Blake with furious disbelief.
“Sorry Harrison, we’ll try not to keep you too long.” Blake said as he opened the door again. “Alright Matti?”
“Sir.” Mattison grinned back.
Gardiner stormed furiously out of the room and Blake closed the door behind them.
Blake walked a little further down the corridor away from the interview room. He rather suspected he was going to get another reprimanding from Royale for what he had just done so his immediate priority was trying to get Gardiner on side before he could go any further.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Gardiner hissed. “I am in the middle of an interview.”
“Yes, I know, I was listening.” Blake said hastily. “And before I go any further, I want to tell you that I’m very impressed with your interviewing techniques. Great stuff to show Mattison!”
“If I’m that talented, then why did you stop the interview?”
“Because Patil and I have just got back from talking to Craig Samuels.” Blake replied. “Now, he seems to think he overheard Daniel telling Harrison that he had had something to do with the break-ins at Halfmile Farm, courtesy of Seth Baxter.”
Gardiner frowned. “And this removes Harrison as a suspect because?”
“Look, the shed that Daniel was found in was built by Seth, yes?”
“Yes.”
“So, if Seth was basically arranging for his own farm to be looted, why the hell did he need a shed to keep all his equipment in?”
Gardiner exhaled, apparently calming down slightly. “So, you know this for a fact, do you? I mean, do you have evidence to support this?”
“Not a hundred percent, no.” Blake replied. “But I need to ask Harrison what Daniel said to him that Craig overheard.”
“Look, I don’t -”
“– Michael, I need us to be on the same page with this. Just let me ask Harrison what I need to and if what I’m thinking at the minute doesn’t come to anything then -”
“- Then I can continue getting my confession out of him, uninterrupted by you?” Gardiner clarified waspishly.
Blake resisted the urge to come back with something more acerbic and merely nodded with what he hoped was a genuine smile on his face.
Mattison walked out of the interview room and towards them. “What’s going on?”
Blake turned to face him. “Right Matti, I need two things. Number one, get onto forensics and see if they’ve come back with anything from the CCTV footage of the shed. I know it’s a long shot but any cuts in the film that they think have somehow been spliced together or something?”
“OK,” Mattison nodded keenly.
“Second, I want you to find out everything you can on Seth Baxter.”
“Well, he’s ex-army for one thing.” Gardiner said with a hint of approval.
“Good! Good.” Blake exclaimed, his brain whirring. “Anything you can find out about that then, his rank, what corps he was in, anything. OK?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Ask Patil to help you if needs be!” Blake called after him as Mattison disappeared down the corridor.
“Will do!” Mattison called back, briefly turning round to show a big grin on his face.
Blake smiled to himself and then turned back to Gardiner. “Right, I think we’ve let Harrison stew quite enough now, don’t you?”
Gardiner just shrugged begrudgingly.
“Right then Harrison.” Blake said as he walked back into the interview room. “Really sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve just got a few questions I need to ask you.”
Harrison sighed, looking slightly desperate, though he looked a lot calmer than he had when Blake had interrupted the interview. “I’ve told you everything I know.”
“Yes, I’m sure you have.” Blake smiled. “It’s not just Daniel I want to talk to you about though.”
Harrison frowned in confusion as Blake leant across the desk and pressed the recorder on. “Interview recommenced at 12:05pm. Present in the room is myself, Detective Sergeant Blake Hart, Detective Constable Michael Gardiner and Harrison Baxter.”
He leant across the table with his hands clasped together. “Harrison, I want to ask you about your Dad.”
Harrison looked surprised. “My Dad?”
“Yeah. Tell me about him.”
Harrison shrugged. “There’s not much to tell. He used to be in the army for years. Dad’s always said he came to the countryside for a quieter life after all the craziness of the gunfire and destruction and everything. I don’t know how he did it. It sounds like my worst nightmare.”
“Yeah, mine too.” Blake said gravely. “Do you get on? You know, as father and son?”
Harrison thought for a moment. “Me and Dad are different I guess you could say. He’s big and butch and swears a lot and watches football and stuff like that. The whole thing about me being…”
Harrison glanced at Gardiner nervously.
“Gay?” Blake offered.
Harrison looked down at the table. “I don’t think it was very easy for him to deal with. Mum was alright with it – she said she’d always known.”
“Mums do.” Blake grinned.
“But Dad, it was like he switched off for a few weeks. He didn’t really talk to me for ages. Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t get angry at me or anything but I don’t think he was happy, put it like that.”
“So when you introduced him to Daniel for the first time, what happened?”
“Not a lot to be quite honest. Mum obviously knew about it before Dad did. For the first couple of months, Daniel was just a mate as far as Dad was concerned. I guess it helped that Dan didn’t exactly come across as, well, what Dad thought a gay guy would be like, anyway.”
Blake nodded.
“Then one night, I got the courage to tell him. Daniel had been pushing for it for ages. I think he was getting a bit sick of having to be secret all the time. I remember Dad was doing some metal work in one of the old barns and I just walked in and told him.”
“And what did he say?”
Harrison gave a humourless laugh. “Not a great deal. He just said something about it being my choice and then carried on hammering this bit of steel.”
“So, you’d come out to both your parents and then, what? You’re in this happy relationship?”
Harrison nodded and looked down at the table again. “Then, when Dan’s dad died, he just changed. From that day onwards it was like he was a completely different person. He started hanging out with Craig Samuels more and...” His voice trailed off, a hint of sadness exuding from him.
“And then the violence started?” Clarified Blake.
“Yeah.” Harrison said quietly.
There was a brief pause as Blake considered how to phrase his next question. “Harrison, I want to ask you about the break-ins at the farm.”
Harrison looked up at him surprised. “Why?”
“Do you have any idea who was behind them?”
Harrison glanced at Gardiner and then back to Blake. “Well, no, not really.”
“But you know a little bit?” coaxed Blake. “It’s OK.” He said when Harrison hesitated. “You’re not in trouble for this, but I just need to know.”
“Daniel said something once. He’d been acting really weird whenever I brought it up and then one day I just came straight out with it and asked him if he knew anything.” Harrison sighed. “We’d be arguing about something or other and he was a bit drunk and, well, to be honest I thought he was just trying to threaten me or something. But he said ‘That’s between my mates and your Dad.’ I didn’t get to ask him anything else, Craig came to meet him and they went off together.”
Blake looked over, a little triumphantly at Gardiner. “So, he said that his friends had something to do with the break-ins?”
“Well, yeah.” Harrison murmured. “I don’t think he meant it though. I mean, that wouldn’t make any sense would it?
Why would Dad get his own property stolen?”
Blake gave Harrison a small smile and leant across the desk to the tape. “Interview terminated at 12:20pm.”
“What happens now?” Harrison asked, a look of worry in his eyes as if Blake was about to throw him in a cell.
“You go home.” Blake replied. “If we need anything else, we’ll let you know. Will you be alright getting home?”
Harrison seemed surprised but relieved. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Good.” Blake smiled, shuffling some of the papers that were on the desk. “Michael, could you show Harrison out?”
Gardiner glared at Blake then stood up and gestured towards the door. Harrison stood up, thanked Blake and then left the room. Gardiner threw one last annoyed look at Blake then followed
Harrison out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
As soon as the door had closed, Blake was able to be alone with his own thoughts at last. He felt that the interview with Harrison had confirmed what he had already suspected. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Seth Baxter had arranged the break-ins at the farm and he also suspected he knew why. The break-ins would all be so very inconsequential if it wasn’t for the murder and the fact that it was performed in such an impossible way. Blake was sure that the fact that Daniel Donaldson was shot with apparently no way of it being achieved was nothing more than an elaborate alibi. Like all good magic tricks, the solution, he was sure, would be found in what he hadn’t seen as opposed to what he had.
The CCTV footage had shown Seth throwing Daniel into the shed and locking the door, making it impossible to get in or out until it was opened again. So what had gone on in the shed once the door had been locked? Blake suspected that the answer to that was actually very little. There was only one person who could possibly have shot Daniel and it certainly wasn’t Harrison.
He needed to speak to Sandra Baxter.
Harrison arrived home with the most bizarre juxtaposition of feelings in his head. Whilst on the one hand he still felt numb and shaken by Daniel’s death, anxious, on edge, and extremely sad, he also felt a small glowing deep down that he knew was down to Blake Hart.
