The Red Telephone Box (DS Dave Slater Mystery Novels Book 5)

by P. F. Ford

  ‘Yeah, I suppose that makes sense,’ Biddeford said. ‘So, do you think we should start with the unmanned stations? You never know, you might just be right.’

  Slater couldn’t be sure, but he felt there was a degree of condescension in Biddeford’s tone. That last comment had been totally uncalled for. Maybe he was getting ideas above his station. Or perhaps it was just him being paranoid. He wasn’t sure he trusted his own instincts after the debacle with DI Goodnews.

  ‘Yes,’ he said, deciding to give Biddeford the benefit of the doubt. ‘That might be a good idea.’

  ‘Okay, no problem,’ said Biddeford. ‘What are you going to do?’

  Slater looked at his watch. It was just about half an hour since Goodnews had left.

  ‘I have a meeting with DI Goodnews,’ he said. ‘She wants me to talk her through the case so far. Then I’ll be back down here.’

  ‘Maybe we’ll have something for you, by then,’ said Biddeford, turning his attention to the stack of CDs.

  He was sorting them, station by station, as Slater left the room.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Slater peered through the window in the canteen door. He was hoping Goodnews was already in there, and he wanted to know where she was before he entered. He spotted her easily enough – no one else at Tinton had strawberry-blonde shoulder-length hair. She had chosen a table over in the far corner, well away from everyone else, and sat, with her back to the door, reading something on the desk in front of her.

  He pushed the door open and walked across to the counter.

  ‘I’ll have my usual coffee, and a bacon sandwich, please,’ he said.

  He looked over his shoulder at Goodnews but she didn’t seem to have noticed his arrival.

  ‘Hot date?’ asked the young woman behind the counter, nodding towards Goodnews.

  ‘Not exactly, Eileen. She’s my new boss.’

  ‘Oh, right. Is she the one you called a plonker?’ Eileen beamed at him.

  ‘You heard about that already?’ asked Slater. ‘News travels way too fast in this place. Who do I have to thank for spreading that around so quickly?’

  She winked at him.

  ‘I couldn’t possibly say,’ she said. ‘I hope you’re not late, she’s been here ten minutes already.’

  ‘No, I’m right on time,’ he said.

  ‘Well, if you want to take her a peace offering, she drinks hot chocolate, and loves bacon sandwiches,’ said Eileen, conspiratorially.

  ‘It wouldn’t hurt, would it?’ agreed Slater. ‘Go on then.’

  He paid for his order, placed the two drinks on his tray, and made his way towards Goodnews. As he approached her, he realised he knew nothing about her and, consequently, he really had no idea how he should play this. Would she expect a grovelling apology, or did she mean it about pressing the reset button?

  ‘Is there room for one more?’ he asked as he approached her.

  She looked over her shoulder at him.

  ‘Sure,’ she said. ‘Help yourself.’

  As he dragged a chair out, and sat down opposite her, she closed the file she had been reading. He pushed her hot chocolate across the table to her.

  ‘A peace offering,’ he said.

  ‘Thank you very much,’ she said. ‘But I’m not looking for a grovelling apology, if that’s what you think.’

  She smiled a genuinely warm smile in his direction.

  ‘I can’t tell you how pleased I am to hear that,’ he said. ‘I’m not very good at grovelling. But I can admit when I’m wrong, and I was definitely in the wrong earlier. For that I apologise.’

  She studied his face for a moment, and Slater felt like he was under a microscope.

  ‘Apology accepted,’ she said eventually, sounding satisfied. ‘Like I said, I’ve hit the reset button, so let’s start again.’

  ‘How was your meeting with the Old Man,’ asked Slater.

  ‘Is that how you all see him?’ she asked.

  ‘It’s out of respect for his service,’ said Slater. ‘He seems to have been here forever.’

  ‘Aye,’ she agreed. ‘But don’t you think he’s a bit of a dinosaur?’

  ‘Well, yeah,’ Slater said, nodding. ‘But surely you don’t agree with all this cost cutting?’

  ‘It’s not a question of agreeing with it,’ she said. ‘Of course it would be much better to have as much money as we wanted, but budget cuts are a fact of life. Like it or not, they’re not going to go away, so we have to live with the situation and make the best of it. Complaining about it doesn’t stop it happening and it doesn’t help to deal with it.’

  Slater smiled into his coffee.

  ‘What?’ she asked. ‘Did I say something funny?’

  ‘No, it’s not that,’ Slater said, grinning at her. ‘It’s just that you sound like Norman. If I was having this conversation with him, he’d probably say exactly the same thing. He calls it having a positive outlook. He can usually find something positive in every situation.’

  ‘It’s the only way to be,’ she said. ‘Norman sounds like he’s got life sussed out.’

  ‘Yeah,’ agreed Slater. ‘Which makes it even more unlikely he’s just gone AWOL.’

  Eileen appeared with the two bacon sandwiches.

  ‘I’m not sure I can eat another one,’ said Goodnews, as the plate was set down before her.

  ‘So you’re not really like Norm, then,’ said Slater. ‘He would have eaten it without question, and then ordered another one. Anyway, you have to eat it. You don’t want to offend me, do you?’

  ‘Oh, sod it, why not?’ she said. ‘I am hungry and, no, I don’t want to offend you.’

  She squirted what seemed to be a vast amount of ketchup into her sandwich, and then took a huge bite. She sat back happily as she chewed. Slater watched her. He didn’t think Biddeford’s schoolboy-like remark about her being hot stuff was quite the way he would describe her, but there was no doubt she was nice enough. And that faintly Scottish accent was definitely very interesting.

  ‘The way I see it, we have two problems that might determine how effective we are as a team,’ she said. ‘The first one is that you know nothing about me, and I know next to nothing about you. We can do something about that but in the meantime, we’re both going to have to employ a bit of give and take. Does that sound fair enough to you?’

  ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘But what do you mean, “we can do something about that”?’

  ‘Well, look,’ she said. ‘You should have been told when I was going to arrive. You should also have been told my name, and at least a small amount of background. You weren’t even told I was a woman, for God’s sake.’

  ‘Yeah, well,’ he said. He wondered if he should tell her how he really felt about Murray, but then he decided it might not be a good idea. He didn’t know anything about her yet.

  ‘The Old Man’s been busy,’ he said. ‘He-’

  ‘Don’t make excuses for him,’ she interrupted. ‘He’s not as busy as he makes out. I’m afraid your loyalty is very commendable but, trust me, it’s misplaced.’

  Now Slater was confused. How come she was running down Bob Murray? She’d only been here five minutes. What right did she have to judge him? What could she possibly know about how busy he was?

  ‘But he’s a good old school copper,’ he began.

  ‘Yes, he was good in his time,’ she agreed. ‘His record says all that, and I have the utmost respect for that. The thing is, the old ways might have worked back then, but times have changed. Don’t tell me you don’t find him old-fashioned and behind the times?’

  ‘Well, yeah. I suppose there is something in what you say,’ Slater agreed reluctantly.

  ‘Look. We can argue about Bob Murray some other time,’ she said.

  ‘That’s true enough. But you said there were two problems that might affect how we work. So, what’s the other thing?’

  ‘You don’t seem to be very positive about your job, or how you view your situation,’ she said.


  ‘Now you really sound like Norman,’ Slater said, smiling.

  ‘Maybe Norman’s right. I’m not trying to say there’s something wrong with you. I can see from your record that you know what you’re doing, and I’m quite confident we can work together and make a good team. But I can also see from your record that you’ve had your fair share of run-ins with authority. That sort of thing could indicate the officer concerned is just plain bolshie.’

  ‘Ah. Yeah,’ Slater said, embarrassed. ‘I have been known to tread on a few toes to get a result. And I tend to say what I think as well, even when it’s not good politics to do so.’

  Goodnews smiled. ‘It’s often all about timing and politics. Do you feel no one ever listens to what you say?’

  ‘That just about sums it up. I usually say what I think, get a bollocking from Murray and that’s as far as it goes. But, to be fair he has stuck up for me on a couple of occasions, too.’

  ‘I don’t know what you think of me,’ she said, ‘but I will tell you this. If you have genuine grievances we can talk about them, and if I can help I will. And you should know I’m not one of those people who thinks that because I’m in charge I have all the answers. I’m always prepared to listen, and I’m happy to give credit where it’s due.’

  Slater was pleasantly surprised to find he hadn’t had his balls chewed off as he’d expected. In fact, he thought she was being very fair. And, to be honest, it wasn’t her fault he had been so petulant earlier. He hadn’t even given her a chance.

  ‘So, what do you think?’ she asked. ‘Do I need to play the bitch, or shall we try and work as a team?’

  ‘I don’t think I’d like the bitch,’ he said, grinning at her. ‘So how about we try the second suggestion?’

  ‘That works for me,’ she said. ‘But there’s a condition.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘You behave like a petulant five-year-old once more and that’s us finished, okay?’

  ‘Was I really that bad?’ he asked, hoping the ground might open up and swallow him.

  ‘And then some. I would imagine I’m not the first person who’s pulled you up about your attitude, am I?’ she said. ‘If I’m right about that, there has to come a point where you start to think maybe we’re right and you need to do something about it.’

  She was correct, of course; this wasn’t the first time he’d been told about this sort of thing. Maybe she was right. Maybe Norm was right, too. Perhaps it was time to stop thinking about it and make the decision to do something about it.

  ‘The trouble with being hot-headed is it makes you stop listening,’ she added. ‘There’s a reason why you have two ears and only one mouth.’

  Slater was dubious.

  ‘Honestly, it’s not difficult,’ she said. ‘All you have to do is stop, listen, think, and then speak.’

  Slater thought about it. Norman had told him more or less the same thing on more than one occasion.

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘So I admit I can behave like a complete arse at times. I’m going to try and change my ways.’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘That’s not a positive statement of intent. You’re not going to “try” to change your ways, you are going to change your ways. Or else.’

  Well, that’s told me.

  ‘Alright,’ he said. ‘I will change my ways.’

  ‘See,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘That didn’t hurt did it?’

  He smiled back at her. She was definitely winning him over.

  ‘Can I ask a question?’ he asked. ‘What should I call you?’

  ‘That’s a good one,’ she said. ‘You definitely do not call me ma’am. I’m not one of these feminists who wants to prove a point. I don’t feel I have to, and I haven’t got time for that anyway. DI Goodnews is fine, but boss is less formal, and less of a mouthful, so therefore it’s better. If we’re down the pub, it’s still boss.

  ‘To be honest, I’d be okay if you called me Marion outside work, but as you noticed earlier, I’m a woman, and so, as soon as you start using my Christian name, the troops will think we’re something we’re not. I made that mistake once, and it was very embarrassing for all concerned, so it’s best avoided altogether.’

  Slater nodded his head.

  ‘Okay. Whatever you prefer is fine by me, Boss,’ Slater said. ‘What are you going to call me?’

  ‘What do you want me to call you?’ she said. ‘I’ll have to call you sergeant when it’s formal, but I don’t want to have to do that all the time.’

  ‘I’m okay with you calling me Dave,’ he said. ‘But if you’re worried what people will think-’

  ‘Ah. But you’re a man, so it doesn’t work the same way,’ she said. ‘I expect everybody calls you Dave. Am I right?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I suppose they do.’

  ‘If you move up to DI you’ll have to watch that,’ she said. ‘When you reach management level you have to have boundaries otherwise people get too familiar and then the lines get blurred, and when that happens it’s only a matter of time before it all goes pear-shaped. I’m afraid you can’t be the boss and be one of the lads, it doesn’t work.’

  ‘I don’t think there’s any danger of me reaching those dizzy heights,’ Slater said, shaking his head and laughing.

  ‘There you go, being negative again,’ she said.

  ‘Are you sure you’re not related to Norman?’

  ‘Talking of Norman,’ she said. ‘it’s time we got down to work. You know him better than anyone here, so tell me about him.’

  Over the next ten minutes, Goodnews listened as Slater told her about Norman’s arrival at the station, the cases they had worked on together, and a little of his personal life. He didn’t seem to know much about the latter, which surprised her, as Murray had told her Slater and Norman were like an old married couple.

  ‘So you two have a common bond,’ she said, ‘what with you both being Serious Crime Unit scapegoats. Do you think that might have something to do with this?’

  ‘Anything’s possible,’ said Slater. ‘But quite honestly I think that would be a bit too obvious. It’s the first thing you thought of, isn’t it?’

  ‘We still should check it out, though.’

  ‘Of course. But if that’s where this has come from, why haven’t they come after me as well? I had the case here before Norm had even arrived. It was my decision to pursue it.’

  ‘Fair comment,’ said Goodnews. ‘But perhaps you’re next on their list. Have you thought about that?’

  He stared at her. He had obviously been so caught up in trying to find Norman that he hadn’t considered he could be at any risk. She felt a bit warmer towards him – he obviously cared for his partner, and he had apologised for his earlier behaviour, which had been big of him.

  ‘We’ll check it out anyway,’ she continued, not wanting to unduly alarm him. ‘No matter how unlikely it might sound.’

  ‘I’m not actually much help, am I?’ Slater said, and he sounded sad. ‘I know all about the last 12 months, but Norm isn’t one for sharing his past, you know? Who knows how many people there might be in his past who feel they owe him.’

  ‘We have to start somewhere,’ she said. ‘And now I’ve got a pretty good insight into Norman, the man. He sounds like a good guy to me.’

  ‘He certainly is that.’

  ‘I can see you like him a lot,’ she said. ‘Which is exactly why it’s better to have someone like me in charge.’

  ‘Yeah. I can see that now,’ Slater said, smiling ruefully.

  ‘Good. Let’s not have to mention it again.’ Goodnews hoped they could move on from their inauspicious start.

  Slater bobbed his head in acknowledgement.

  ‘We can find out about Norman’s past service easily enough,’ she continued. ‘But we also need to look outside his work. What’s the situation with his wife? Do you think that might have any bearing?’

  ‘He never speaks about her much,’ said Slater. ‘It’s sort of taboo with
him. I’m pretty sure he’d like to get back together with her, but I get the impression she’s burnt her bridges.’

  ‘So he’s up shit creek without a paddle on that one,’ she said grimly, and despite never having met Norman, she felt a pang of pity for him. ‘Does he have a girlfriend? Maybe he’s got friendly with a married woman and her husband’s got pissed off.’

  ‘What, Norm?’ asked Slater. ‘That’s not the sort of thing he would do. He’d be horrified if you suggested that to him.’

  ‘Look, it happens, right? You don’t have to be Casanova to find you’re attracted to someone else. Even when you’re not looking for someone, it can happen. A jealous husband would fit the bill.’

  ‘I’m glad you’re taking this seriously.’ Slater sounded genuine and Goodnews felt a slight hint of pride.

  ‘He’s one of ours,’ she said. ‘And he seems to be acting out of character. Of course I’m taking it seriously. I’ve not come here to twiddle my thumbs, you know.’

  ‘Murray’s not exactly been massing the troops ready for action,’ said Slater.

  ‘Forget Murray,’ she said, firmly. ‘This is my inquiry now, so we do things my way.’

  ‘Well, perhaps you can start by getting hold of Norm’s phone records then,’ ventured Slater. ‘Just recently he’s been getting very secretive about his incoming calls. They just might tell us something useful.’

  ‘You mean you haven’t asked for them yet?’ Goodnews was surprised. Slater struck her as quite a thorough officer, and she couldn’t understand why this hadn’t been one of his first requests. ‘Why not?’

  ‘I have asked for them,’ explained Slater. ‘That was my first request, but Murray didn’t consider it was necessary. When I chased him about it this afternoon he told me it was “in hand” whatever that’s supposed to mean. He didn’t even want to make it a missing person case at first.’