Duet

by O'Gorman, Brian

  “I must be doing something right,” he said aloud to the empty room.

  She answered on the second ring.

  “Patrick? Are you O.K?”

  “Hi Jenny, sure I’m O.K.” he said a little puzzled by the urgency in her voice. “Why do you ask?”

  “Oh Patrick, it’s so horrible. Do you remember Denton, the guy that came with me to tell you about your father?”

  His mind groped in the dark for a moment and then he remembered. The humourless detective who slurped his tea.

  “Sure I remember, what about him?”

  “Patrick, he has been murdered. Someone got into his house and cut off his head. But that’s not all. The killer left a message on the wall and it was a message for you.”

  Patrick paused for a moment and drank some more beer. It was quite hard to comprehend what Jenny was telling him.

  “Patrick, are you still there?”

  “Yeah I’m still here,” he said and stifled a burp. “What on earth would I have to do with this? What was the message?”

  “Tell Patrick Hurst that I’m coming home.”

  Patrick puzzled over it for a moment, it was quite hard for him to feel like he was under any threat. Some of the messages on his social media had been far more threatening than that.

  “It’s probably just another crank Jenny, I have had so many threats from people in the last forty-eight hours that I have lost count.”

  Jenny sighed down the phone and then was silent for a moment. “I know Patrick, but this was an actual murder of one of our top detectives, and whoever it is has got something against you Patrick. Denton lived in Newtown, so you could possibly be the next target. Perhaps I’m being over cautious, but I want to make sure you are safe. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  Her voice began to crack at the end of the sentence and Patrick realised that she was beginning to cry. He felt an immeasurable need to comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be alright.

  “Jenny, listen to me. Why don’t you come on over and we can decide what to do for the best. Perhaps we could get away from here for a while or something, just until this thing blows over. I can order pizza and we can have a couple of beers if you like.”

  There was a muffled sniff at the other end of the phone. “That’s sounds like a lovely idea. I will have to bring D.C.I. Slater with me at first, he wants to ask you a few questions and talk to you about police protection, if that’s alright with you. Then you’re mine Mr. Hurst, perhaps I could sleep over.”

  “Well I dunno…”said Patrick in a mocking tone, “You had better make sure you bring your jammies.”

  There was a loud snuffle followed by a quick burst of her infectious laughter. “Eeeww Patrick I just snotted everywhere.”

  They both laughed together for a moment. When it had dried up he talked again.

  “Jenny, everything will be alright, I promise you. Whoever this nut job is he will slip up, they normally do. In the meantime, I don’t see why we shouldn’t hang around together and make the best of it.”

  “Well, I’m game if you are. I have to go Patrick; we are setting off now. We will be with you in about half an hour or so.”

  “See you then.”

  The phone went silent in his hand. Half an hour. Was that time enough to get a shower and a change of clothes? He thought so, if he didn’t hang around over thinking it.

  As it turned out, he got it done in ten minutes and ended up sitting in the kitchen nursing two more beers until there was a knock at the door. He almost raced across the room to open the door and then his hand paused on the handle. Just for a moment he wondered if there was a shadowy figure with a knife standing on the other side of the door. His logical mind was trying to tell him that all of that was just a dream and that it had no basis in the real world. But there was the other side of his mind that was telling him that it might happen and that whoever had cut off Denton’s head was here already and wanted to cut his throat open from ear to ear.

  The knock came again, louder this time, making him jump. He had almost yelled in fright. Fear began to crawl through his body, speeding up his heart beat and making him feel out of breath. A big part of him wanted to run down the stairs and out of the back door and he would keep on running until he was as far away from here as he possibly could get.

  The knock came for a third time, louder and more pronounced. Patrick backed away from the door breathing hard.

  “Patrick?” said Jenny’s voice form the other side of the door.

  He felt his body flood with relief. He almost laughed out loud. He hadn’t realised just how much all of this had freaked him out. He opened the door and Jenny was stood there. She looked even more gorgeous than the last time he had seen her. She had a good sized back pack on which he assumed had no jammies in there at all (he hoped.) Next to her was Slater. He looked like he was on the outskirts of middle age but with just enough youth on his side to still look ruggedly handsome. Slater extended his hand.

  “You must be the world famous Patrick Hurst, how nice to meet you sir.”

  Patrick shook, “Pleased to meet you Mr. Slater.”

  “Oh I just answer to Henry, or Hank. Either of those will do.”

  Patrick stepped aside and let him in. As Jenny stepped in the door she kissed him on the mouth briefly and gave him a hug. He caught a whiff of her hair as she leaned in. It smelt heavenly and that smell ran down to the pit of his stomach and then continued all the way down to his crotch which began to tingle in anticipation. They went into the kitchen and Patrick closed the door, perhaps a little too quickly. He didn’t want anyone else letting themselves in. He offered them the choice of sitting in the kitchen or down in the living room. They all agreed that the living room would be better. He also offered the choice of beers or tea.

  “Well, technically I am off duty so I would love a beer,” said Slater.

  Patrick nodded at him and grabbed more cans from the fridge. They all went downstairs and Patrick offered Slater his armchair so he and Jenny would have to sit on the sofa together.

  Smooth, just like silk, said Jack’s voice in his head. That was one of his favourite sayings, especially when Patrick was putting his cheap moves on a woman. The sofa was only really big enough for two people so when they sat down her hip was pressed casually against his. He began to get as horny as a stallion in the spring time. He prayed to God that Slater wasn’t going to take too long with his questioning. Slater had opened his beer and was drinking deeply. He set his can down on the table, burped and rolled his eyes in pleasure.

  “Christ on a bike, I needed that,” he said. “Are you a non-smoking house Patrick?”

  “Oh, far from it. Help yourself,” said Patrick.

  Slater reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a pack of Embassy. He offered Patrick and Jenny one and they both took. Patrick lit all the cigarettes with his zippo and grabbed his spare ashtray off the window sill for him and Jenny. They all smoked in silence for a moment and then Slater spoke.

  “I know that Jenny has told you what is going on. That our colleague Robert Denton was murdered and a message left in his blood that contained your name. Now, I want to believe that this was a one off, an opportunistic nut job that saw the chance to make a statement and took it. But I believe that there is more to this than we know about. I think whoever did this has done it before and I believe that they will do it again. I think that this killer is the same killer that murdered Graham Tweedy, your father’s former assistant and his next door neighbour and I think it would be safe to assume that he has killed John Lantham, Mr Tweedy’s partner. We haven’t found his body, so we can’t be sure of that. But there is a similarity in that case and the case of Robert Denton. You see, Denton’s wife is missing and there is nobody on God’s green earth that is ever going to convince me that she killed him and ran off. Two murders, two missing partners. To me, that is a link.”

  “Do you think you can convince the Super?”

  Sl
ater dragged his cigarette and shrugged. “I don’t know Jenny, but I sure as hell am going to try. But that doesn’t help us right now. At the moment all I’m worried about is keeping you, Patrick and you Jenny safe from this maniac. Now there are a few options, number one. You can stay here and we will put surveillance on the house, perhaps he will come looking for you and then we can bring him in for questioning. Or there is number two, you can get the fuck out of here and we will find a safe house for you both. I am assuming of course that you would both like to be together?”

  Jenny looked down at the floor and blushed.

  “That obvious is it?” said Patrick.

  Slater laughed, “Patrick, I am no slouch. Don’t worry Jenny, who you go out with is your business and your business alone. But, because you are close to Patrick, I am telling you to take time off until all of this gets sorted out. Your association with Patrick could put you in more danger if you were still actively on duty. Let’s call it a little holiday shall we?”

  “Yes Sir,” she said.

  “Good. So, what is it to be Patrick?”

  “I think I would like to stay here for tonight, and then we can go up to my father’s old place up in Layton Valley. There is nobody else there and I’m not even sure that anybody knows it is even there. Seems like a good hiding place to me.”

  “Right you are Patrick. Sounds like a sensible option. I will get surveillance down here and then I will leave you in peace. I’m sure you two love birds don’t want an old fucker like me hanging around and ruining your evening,” said Slater and smiled.

  Patrick laughed and opened himself a can.

  “Oh, and when you are up at Layton house, I will put some police up there too, just for a few days to make sure everything is hunky dory.”

  “Thanks,” said Patrick. “Who do you think it is?”

  Slater shrugged and mashed out his smoke. “Probably some crank that had a loose screw and saw you on the television, that’s all.”

  Slater pulled out his phone from his pocket along with his handkerchief. He gave his plugged nose a hearty blow and then began making calls. Patrick felt a rush of excitement, Slater would be leaving soon and that would mean that he would have Jenny all to himself. However, there was something snagging at the back of his mind, something that he had missed. He couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was.

  Slater had stood up and gone out into the hallway so he could talk on his phone. Patrick scanned the room trying to give himself a clue about what was puzzling him but there was nothing leaping out at him, so he began to sift through the last two or three days in his mind. Jenny reached out a hand and grabbed his. He looked at her and saw that she was biting her bottom lip in that way that he liked. He guessed that she wanted rid of Slater just as much as he did. He smiled at her. She leaned over to him and whispered in his ear.

  “I want you inside me.”

  He felt his insides warm up, not just from the words she had said but also because of the feel of her warm, sweet breath on his ear. He turned his mouth to her ear.

  “As soon as Slater is gone, you’re mine, right here on this couch,” he whispered back. She drew in a sharp breath which excited him even more. Slater started to come back into the room and they separated like two teenagers that have been caught by a prudish parent.

  “Right, the backup is on its way, then I can leave you two to your evening and I can get back home to my bed,” said Slater and then sneezed heartily into his hanky.

  “I have some Lemsips if you want to take a couple home,” said Patrick.

  Slater regarded him for a moment, “That would be brilliant, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, no problem,” said Patrick and stood up, pulling his shirt down to cover up the bulge in his trousers. He went out of the door and trotted up the stairs. As he reached the kitchen he saw something on the kitchen counter and something clicked inside his head. It was the DVD and the notebook that he had brought back from Layton House. It was his father. There was a link to his father’s death. He didn’t know what it was, but he was sure there was a connection, wasn’t there? It seemed like a bit of a strange coincidence that as soon as his father was found dead that people surrounding him, or associated with him were dying too. Graham Tweedy his assistant, Denton, the man who investigated his death and now all of a sudden he was on the hit list too. Was he right? He wasn’t certain, but he was pretty sure that some of the answers were in the notebook or on the disc. He was going to tell Slater, but he wanted to find out for himself first. He was worried that Slater would want to take them away for police examination before he had a chance to look for himself. He grabbed them and shoved them in the top drawer before Slater noticed them. He went to his top cupboard where he kept a scant supply of painkillers and cold cures and grabbed a few sachets of lemsip for Slater to take. He went back downstairs and handed them to Slater who looked eternally grateful.

  “Thanks Patrick, I might just be able to get to sleep without sneezing my damn head off now,” said Slater putting the sachets into his pocket.

  “You’re welcome. I never use them anyway; I usually give them to Jack when he has a sniffle. I can’t even remember that last time I had a cold.”

  “Well, you are lucky. I don’t get them often but when I do I make up for lost time.”

  “Man flu, that’s all it is,” said Jenny with a wry smile on her face.

  Slater’s phone rang, making them all jump a little. He picked it out of his pocket, pushed the button and announced his name. He listened for a moment.

  “Thanks, I will let them know,” he said into the phone and then dropped it from his ear. “The look outs are here. You will see them parked in the pub car park across the road. It’s an unmarked car, so if our friend does pop round we can get the jump on him.”

  Slater rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a small card which he handed to Patrick. “If anything does happen, or you think of any reason why this person might come after you, no matter how small the detail, give me a shout. It doesn’t matter what time of day or night it is. Tomorrow, pack some stuff and get up to Layton House. Let me know when you are on your way and we will send another car up there to keep an eye on things. Jenny, you might be on holiday, but you still have full powers of arrest. We will get the killer one way or another, you can count on it. Now I must bid you goodnight,” said Slater and he began to make his way up the stairs. Patrick followed him and let him out of the front door. Slater tipped him a wink on his way out and raised his hand to the van that was parked across the street.

  “Keep safe Patrick,” he said and then he was gone.

  Patrick closed the door and after a momentary pause he shot the top and bottom bolts and locked the door with the key. He was going to get the stuff out of the drawer to have a look at with Jenny, but he decided to leave that until later, there was a more pressing matter to attend to. He went downstairs and found Jenny sitting on the couch, naked from the waist down.

  “Come and sit down, it’s time to make good on your promise,” she said with a little smile ghosting on her lips.

  He went and sat down and he made good on it, really good.

  22.

  They kept going until it was just physical impossible to go any more. Neither of them had eaten anything for many hours and their collective blood sugar levels were beginning to bomb out. They needed to stop and eat something. Jenny had pulled out some very comfy looking tracksuit bottoms from her bag and slipped them on along with Patrick’s discarded T-shirt. He nipped upstairs and changed into a similar set of clothes for lounging around the house. He normally refereed to it as his Sunday suit. He almost poked his feet into the mangled slippers at the side of his bed, but he resisted. Perhaps it was too early in their relationship for revelations like that one. Looking at those tired pathetic slippers, he was pretty convinced that it would put her off him for life if she saw him shuffling around in those. He kicked them under the bed instead ready for the next time that it was just him alone in
the house. He went back downstairs and took the pizza takeaway menu off the fridge. He continued down the stairs and handed the menu to Jenny.

  “Here you go. Food is on me kiddo,” he said.

  She snatched the menu up, scanned it for a moment and then set it down again.

  “Twelve-inch meat feast, potato wedges and two cokes to wash it down,” she said.

  Patrick smiled and picked up his phone. He liked a girl with a good appetite. He had been out on dates where the girl would only eat tiny little salads and talked about calorie control all night. It bored the arse off him. He didn’t give a shit about all that, he just liked a good feed, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t earned it over the last few hours. He ordered the food, doubling up on what Jenny had asked for. He fancied exactly the same thing. He thought to himself that he would never have to cook again if he didn’t want to. It was certainly food for thought. He sat down on the couch next to Jenny and then passed her a beer. He opened one himself and they sat and drank in silence for a few moments. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, he felt comfortable enough around Jenny to be able to just sit and say nothing. He was pretty sure that she felt the same too. The notebook and the DVD were on his mind. He wanted to have a look at them both.

  “Got something on your mind champ?” said Jenny, jumping him out of his thoughts.