by L M Krier
'Not lucky,' Trev said, 'you saved his life. I saw it.'
Ted shrugged it off. 'I just needed to make a soft landing for when I hit the ground. Are you cooking, or shall we go out somewhere, get a meal?'
'Not started anything yet. That would be good; where did you have in mind?'
'Let's do something a little crazy. Go somewhere we can sit high up and watch the world going about its business. Go hill walking, maybe.'
'On a dark winter's evening? That is crazy,' Trev laughed.
'Do you fancy chips?' Ted asked. 'I have an idea.'
'A bag of chips, you cheapskate? Go on then. I'll grab my warmest coat, sounds as if I am going to need it.'
They stopped for fish, chips and mushy peas, Ted's swimming in vinegar, then drove up to the Ridge beyond Marple and parked the Renault at the end of a rough track. They walked along it in the darkness until they found a drystone wall to sit on.
Spread out in the distance was the Cheshire Plain, with the twinkling lights of towns and conurbations, and overhead the constant passage of planes with landing lights on, making their final approach to Manchester Airport.
In the middle distance was a dark line of wooded hills, visible even in the darkness because of the light pollution. Alderley Edge.
Ted stared silently towards it as he munched his fish supper, deep in his own dark thoughts. Acutely aware that it was almost certainly where Tina spent her last hours alive. Hoping against hope that she had been drugged and didn't know too much about it.
Neither of them spoke until the last chip, pea and morsel of fish in crunchy batter had been eaten, papers carefully scrunched up and stuffed back into the bag they came in, to be taken home with them.
Trev wiped chip fat from his hand onto the grass then draped an arm round Ted's shoulders. 'It wasn't your fault, you know. Tina. Nor any of the others. You're a good man, a good copper. You were just up against a complete crazy. You said yourself Jim didn't believe your theory. No one could have seen Tina's death coming.'
Ted was still looking across to the Edge, but his mind was playing the post-mortem scene over and over, the last time he had seen Tina.
'She thought the world of you, Ted, you know she did,' Trev told him. 'She wouldn't want you beating yourself up like this.'
Ted gave a long sigh and turned his gaze away towards the distant lights. 'I wonder if Rosalie is out there somewhere? It would be good if we could find her and bring her back alive. You know it's going to kill Jim if she's found dead, don't you?'
Trev shook him gently. 'Hey, you, what kind of a date is this? A bag of chips and a lot of gloomy talk? You've had it very tough, but the worst is over now.' Then he managed to raise a small smile from Ted by misquoting a line from his favourite film, Blazing Saddles. 'Hey, you got the bad guy.'
'I couldn't have got through it without you. I don't know what I'd do without you,' Ted said, with feeling.
'Silly old fool,' Trev laughed. 'Like I'm going anywhere. Come on, brisk walk in the moonlight then an early night for you. Next you've got to make sure you nail the bad guy.'
Chapter Forty-nine
The Professor was brought to the station for questioning the next morning, certified as physically fit by the hospital where he had spent the night, passed as fit to be questioned by the duty psychiatrist.
The Collinses were both resolutely refusing to say anything, other than giving the basics about their duties working for the Professor. Their loyalty and silence had clearly been bought at a high price.
They had been kept at the station overnight in separate cells. Virgil and Rob would continue questioning them right up to the twenty-four hour deadline then, if necessary, they would apply for an extension. Ted was adamant that they must know something and that only loyalty to the Professor, or heavy bribes, was keeping them silent.
DS Hallam was back in work, his right arm in a sling, the right side of his head heavily bandaged, but in extremely high spirits.
'I hope you're okay about us having body piercings and jewellery, boss,' he joked. 'I've got such a big hole in my earlobe I'm thinking of getting one of those big black saucer things to stick in it, like a Goth.'
Ted and the DS had been summoned to see the Big Boss first thing, for a final briefing on the interview.
'By the book, Ted,' the DCI emphasised. 'I'm taking a risk trusting you on this so don't let me down. If we lose a conviction because of any rough stuff or anything at all dodgy, you know you will never work again.
'DS Hallam, I know you're not up to full strength, but I'm counting on you to keep a lid on things in there. This must not get out of hand. Am I making myself clear?'
Both men nodded and the DCI continued. 'They've already got the big guns out. His brief has arrived from London, from a firm with a fearsome reputation. Right, you know what you have to do, so go and nail the bastard.'
On their way down to the interview room, the DS said, 'I meant what I said to the Big Boss, sir. I may only have one arm today but I will use it if I have to. Because your career is worth too much to let you waste it on this bastard.'
The Professor was looking remarkably composed, even slightly amused, by his circumstances. Ted assessed his lawyer with a glance. The obvious price tag of the man's suit told him all he needed to know about the level of law firm he was from.
Ted kept it totally brisk and formal, acutely aware of the DCI watching him through the glass, and the tapes rolling to record his every word and movement.
'Professor Gillingham,' Ted began formally and politely, 'I would first like to ask you about your movements on the twenty-fourth of December and the morning of December the twenty-fifth. This is in connection with the death of Detective Constable Christina Bailey.'
Hard G's lip curled in a superior smile. 'As I already told you, old boy, I was with my lady friend of the moment, whose name I have been unable to supply since I generously flew her out to St Moritz on Boxing Day, where she promptly disappeared with some young ski instructor.'
'Professor, we have checked carefully with Air Traffic Controllers both here and in Switzerland and we can find no record of PharmaGill's Gulfstream having flown anywhere on the twenty-sixth of December, certainly not to Switzerland as you claim. Can you explain that, please?'
'You don't have to say anything at all at this stage if you choose not to, Roger,' the brief was quick to remind him.
A flash of something like annoyance passed fleetingly across Hard G's face. Ted was guessing he was so unfamiliar with the mundane details of everyday life that the possibility of things like logging flight plans had not occurred to him.
'Can you please tell me, Professor, if you saw DC Bailey at any time on the twenty-fourth of December, after you left The Grapes public house?'
'I saw rather a lot of an entirely different young woman, as I have already told you.'
'Professor, we have been making enquiries with other countries and have discovered that there have been a number of other killings very similar to the ones here, at places where you have holiday property. St Moritz, Como, Faro … would you like me to go on?'
The annoyance was clearly anger now. The Professor's jaw was clenched and his knuckles where whitening.
'If you had no involvement in any of these killings, would you like to tell me what prompted you to open fire with a shotgun when DS Hallam and I visited your house, at your invitation, for tea and cake yesterday?' Ted asked calmly.
The explosion, when it came, was sudden and unexpected to most of the watchers. The Professor leapt to his feet, overturning his chair, and lunged across the desk at Ted. Ted's training had enabled him to anticipate the action. His reaction was so swift that both DS Hallam and the constable by the door struggled to describe what happened, when asked to make statements about it afterwards.
The videotape later confirmed the speed with which Ted rose and used the other man's superior height and weight against him to take him on over the desk and finish up with his face against the wall, his legs
spread to the point where he had no purchase to lunge again. One of his hands was maintained with light pressure, doubled back against the joint so that the least movement would be rendered extremely painful.
'Ted!' the DCI's voice barked over the intercom at the same time as both DS Hallam and the constable sprang forward to assist, although neither of them was truly sure whether they should be tackling the suspect or the DI.
Ted's voice was completely calm and totally under control. 'There is no problem at all, Chief Inspector. The Professor is completely unharmed, merely restrained with minimum force. He simply lost self-control for a moment. I am more than happy to release him once I have his assurance that such behaviour will not be repeated.'
The lawyer was looking extremely uncomfortable. He was also utterly bewildered by the speed of events, but even he would have to concede later on in a statement that his client had made the first move and that Ted had merely reacted in self defence without inflicting any injury.
'Do I have that assurance, Professor?' Ted asked his prisoner.
'Take your hands off me, you filthy little pervert!' Hard G spat in a low voice, all pretence of bonhomie now abandoned.
Still speaking calmly, Ted said, 'For the purposes of the tape, in case it was unclear, the Professor said “Take your hands off me, you filthy little pervert”.'
'Sit down, Roger,' the brief said nervously. 'You're really not helping yourself by this behaviour.'
With great effort, Hard G relaxed and said, 'Please let go of me. I will sit down, and I will answer your questions.'
Ted released him immediately. A somewhat subdued Hard G quietly resumed his seat next to his brief, who was still looking extremely ill at ease.
'I suppose this is the moment when I am meant to say “It's a fair cop, guv, you've got me bang to rights”,' Hard G said mockingly.
'Roger, I really do advise you not to say anything further at this stage,' his lawyer told him. 'Inspector, I request a break from interview so I can take instruction from my client in private before we continue.'
Hard G waved him down. 'It is over. Finally. There is no point in fighting the inevitable.' He looked hard at Ted and continued, 'I never thought you would have the intelligence for this. You were so wide of the mark, so much of the time. Even when I left you glaring clues you were too stupid to see them for what they were.
'It began abroad, as a little holiday treat to myself. I discovered once, quite by accident, the supreme thrill of climax at the point of a partner's death. It was not intentional that time, a little choking to make it more exciting, pressure sustained a moment too long. But it became addictive, even more so when I started to use a scalpel blade.
'I kept it out of this country to begin with – what is that vulgar phrase about not shitting on one's own doorstep? But then there was you, Ted,' he said and now there was real loathing in his tone of voice.
'I find your disgusting proclivity quite revolting. It makes me sick to think of what you get up to. And you were so successful, you seemed to manage to solve every case which came your way. I thought it was about time someone set you a true challenge.
'It was almost too easy. I picked the first girl at random. She knew me by sight, I'd eaten at that bistro on many occasions. It was easier to pick her up than you might think. The charms of the Jag, no doubt. She was even happy to go for a drink with me, where flunitrazepam took care of the rest of the evening for me.
'To save you looking that up, it's the generic name for Rohypnol. I, of course, used the PharmaGill brand,' he said condescendingly.
'After that, I saw how it could become a game we could play, you and I. I began to throw in some more elements, just for fun, which I knew were of special interest to you. Runaways, of course. I know how you profess to be so concerned about your boss's missing daughter, yet you've totally failed to find her.
'Blue eyes, as well, since you drool so offensively over the eyes of the young thing you live with. And then the biggest clue of all. The butt plug, with Tina. I thought even someone as stupid as you would finally make the connection, but no.
'I'd moved on from flunitrazepam for the later victims. I'd found the most delightful ketamine-based cocktail from our veterinary range. So simple to administer. A gallant gentleman helping his lady passenger on with her seat belt. A small, discreetly concealed syringe. A tiny scratch they barely noticed.
'It had the delicious advantage of rendering my victims almost zombie-like – completely immobile and unable to react but still conscious and fully aware. That added an enormous frisson to the whole thing.'
There was a sudden silence in the room, apart from the sound of the DS and the officer by the door both swallowing hard. Hard G's brief was white in the face and looked in grave danger of being sick. Only Ted remained in total cold control.
Quietly, the DCI came into the room behind him and cautiously put a gently restraining hand on his shoulder. 'Book him,' he said quietly.
Ted turned to the DS and the Uniform officer. 'Take him to the custody sergeant, get him charged with all four murders plus the attempted murder of DS Hallam. And throw in attempting to murder me with a firearm, and assaulting me in here as well. If we're going for a whole-life term, we may as well not spare any ammunition.'
Chapter Fifty
As soon as the Professor started to talk, there was no stopping him, as if he relished boasting of his exploits. Every time Ted interviewed him he divulged more and more, totally ignoring all the advice of his lawyer. He seemed to take pride in his cleverness.
Early on, he had a visit from his elder brother, the CEO and purse-string holder of the family company. He was appalled, seemingly not by the fact that his younger brother was admitting to the murder of so many young women, but that the firm's own products had been involved. He took immediate steps to remove the Professor from all involvement with PharmaGill, as a director and shareholder, effectively drying up his funds at a stroke.
Even the Professor's respectable salary as a forensic pathologist, of itself now frozen, was not sufficient to attract the interest of the big law firms who had previously been fighting over him, and their interest quickly cooled. There was no kudos in defending a seemingly lost cause. He was quickly whisked away and remanded in custody, awaiting a date for a preliminary trial. The London lawyer of the expensive suit was not seen again.
The press pack had gone wild with the news of who was in custody. Ted and the DCI were under siege at the station until they agreed to a brief appearance in front of the cameras, on the station steps. Ted refused to dress up this time, preferring to flaunt his Mossad agent look, simply glaring from camera to microphone to reporter.
To celebrate the end of a long and difficult case, Ted and Trev had invited Willow to dinner with her new man, Rupert, the male model. Over coffee Trev and Rupert discovered a mutual passion for motorbikes when Rupert mentioned he often had to pose, leather-clad or partially so, on some of the most expensive and glamorous bikes on the market.
When he mentioned having sat on a Ducati Desmosedici wearing nothing but a leather thong, Trev was drooling so much that Ted and Willow rolled their eyes at each other and went out to the kitchen together to start the washing up.
Willow planted a warm kiss on Ted's cheek and said, 'Thank you so much for lending me Trev to get over Roger. He is so utterly gorgeous I would take him off you if I could, but it's impossible. Nobody could. He absolutely adores you.'
'I can't imagine what he sees in a grumpy old fool like me,' Ted said self-effacingly.
'He loves you. Don't ever try to understand, just accept and enjoy,' Willow said. 'And don't you dare put yourself down, Ted Darling. You are an adorable man and very well named.
'I know you hate dressing up but I do hope you will at least hire, if not buy yourself a suit for the summer.' She smiled shyly at him. 'I know we've only known each other five minutes but Rupert and I are planning on getting married. But it's a secret, we haven't told anyone yet.'
T
ed gave her a hug and a kiss, covering her in soap suds from the washing up. 'For you, I'd consider wearing a dress,' he smiled. Both he and Trev had quickly grown very fond of Willow.
Things were quietly calm at work, with the huge pressure of such a difficult case lifted from the shoulders of everyone involved. Ted could not get over the incredible change in the DCI since the arrest of the Professor.
He seemed years younger, suddenly. In particular, he had been so impressed to see how the DS had turned his domestic life around, that he suddenly found the strength to set his own house in order. With Mike Hallam's permission, Ted had filled in the Big Boss about what had been going on. It seemed to galvanise him into action.
One day, when his wife returned home for a rare visit, after apparently spending the weekend with a lusty young traffic cop from another division, she found her belongings packed and waiting on the doorstep and the locks changed.
She fled home to her mother's, hoping things would quieten down. But the first post she received there was a solicitor's letter, informing her that the DCI was filing for divorce on the grounds of her adultery.
Ted and the DCI were enjoying a relaxed chat in the Big Boss's office at the end of the day. The DCI had just told Ted the top brass were so impressed with his work that not only were they no longer talking about disciplinary action because of his unorthodox behaviour, they were once again dangling the carrot of a commendation in front of him.
As before, Ted's answer had been to ask him to tell them where to stick their offer, in the most diplomatic way he knew.
Ted was pleased that he was back on the same easy and companionable terms with the Big Boss, whom he liked and respected so much. Their friendship had been sorely put to the test by the case, but it had survived.
The DCI's apologies had been profuse that he had been slow to accept Ted's theory, which had proved to be correct, but Ted quickly waved them away. The whole thing had been so crazy he had not entirely believed it himself, until the Professor started to talk.
