Two Little Boys: DI Ted Darling Book II

by L M Krier

  He was wearing his red sixth kyu belt, the starting grade. Ted bent down to check it for him. 'Perfect, Flip, well done,' he told him. 'You look great.'

  Trev was watching him, a smile on his face. 'That kid thinks the sun shines out of you. And it's nice to see he has the power to cheer you up,' he said when Flip went off to start his warm up exercises.

  'I see a bit of me at that age in him,' Ted admitted, before calling the juniors to order and getting the session under way.

  Flip was on his best form, so proud now that he was wearing the right outfit, and clearly dying to show off to his foster mother. After the session she came closer to the mat to speak to Ted.

  'Flip wanted to know if we could stay to watch you and Trev training,' she told him. 'And he wants to find out about signing up for junior judo classes, I've said he can.'

  'I'm sure that will be all right, Mrs Atkinson, I'll just check with Bernard,' Ted told her.

  'Flip, you go and get changed now, then we can watch together,' Flip's foster mother told him.

  Flip's face fell. 'Can't I keep me judogi on a bit longer?' he asked hopefully.

  'You'll get cold, not good for your muscles after working hard,' Ted explained, so the boy trotted off obediently to the changing rooms.

  'He has a serious case of hero worship for you,' Mrs Atkinson said, but she was smiling indulgently. 'He says he's going to join the police when he's old enough. Oh, and I haven't said too much to him yet because there's still a long way to go, but my husband and I are hoping to adopt him officially.'

  Ted smiled in delight. 'That is possibly the best news I've had all day.'

  CHAPTER Forty-three

  Ted and the Ice Queen set off in good time the next morning. Their journey should take them no more than an hour and a half but they took an area car so they could use blues and twos to get them through any dense traffic so they would arrive on time.

  The Ice Queen drove and Ted was not surprised to discover that she was an excellent driver. She had phoned ahead to make an appointment with the chief superintendent, on a pretext. He hopefully had no idea they were in fact going to arrive with a warrant for his arrest.

  There was a secretary sitting protectively at her desk outside Danielson's office when they arrived. The Ice Queen was at her most formidable as she swept past the woman saying, 'There's no need to announce us, the Chief is expecting us.'

  After a peremptory knock at the door, she strode in, Ted trailing in her majestic wake. Danielson half rose to his feet, his vulture's face darkening with anger at the abrupt intrusion. Ted noticed he was quick to close the lid of his laptop as they came in.

  'It's customary to wait for an invitation to enter before barging in, superintendent,' he said coldly.

  'Ordinarily I would agree, sir,' she said levelly, 'but this is not a social call. I have to tell you that DI Darling and I are here with a warrant for your arrest under the Sexual Offences Act. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you say may be given in evidence.'

  Danielson glared at her. 'If this is a joke, it is in extremely poor taste. I will be reporting this matter to your superiors.'

  'No joke, sir, and I can assure you that I am here with their full knowledge and support. Now, in deference to your senior rank, I am happy to keep your exit as low key as possible, if you would be kind enough to co-operate.'

  He gave a harsh bark which may have been laughter. 'I am going nowhere until I phone my solicitor. This is outrageous!'

  'No, sir, it is standard police procedure in a serious enquiry. You will, of course, be allowed to telephone your solicitor as soon as we arrive at Stockport. For now I am asking you to come quietly and keep this as civil as possible.'

  There was a timid knock on the door and the secretary bravely put her head round. 'Is everything all right, Chief?' she asked anxiously.

  'Yes, yes, fine, Mrs Harris, please don't worry,' he waved her away with one hand. 'I'm just having to go up to Stockport with these officers to clear up some sort of mix-up. You have my solicitor's number, please phone him and ask him to contact me on my mobile number, urgently. And please cancel my appointments for the rest of the day. I'm not sure what time I will be back.'

  When she withdrew from the office, Danielson turned back to lock eyes with the Ice Queen, his face contorting with fury. 'You are making a very serious mistake, both of you. One which is going to cost you both your careers. I'll have the two of you back on the beat, if you even survive in the force at all.'

  'Please don't attempt to threaten or intimidate either myself or DI Darling, sir, it won't work on either of us and it's merely a fruitless time-wasting exercise. I would strongly advise you simply to accompany us quietly out of the building. Once we arrive at Stockport, you will of course be allowed to call your solicitor.'

  His lips curled in contempt. 'You have absolutely no idea what you are venturing into,' he sneered. 'You are going to regret this. It will take my solicitor some time to get to Stockport.'

  'And of course no questioning will commence until he is present. I really do urge you strongly to come quietly now, sir,' the Ice Queen persisted, completely unruffled by the threats. Ted was impressed. 'If this really can all be sorted out to your benefit, then the sooner we do so, the better.'

  Still muttering angrily, the chief superintendent grabbed his tunic and put it on as they headed for the door. His office was on the second floor. As the three of them made their way down the stairs, doors opened and heads looked out in curiosity at the sight of the station's most senior officer being escorted away by a uniformed superintendent and a short, insignificant-looking man in plain clothes.

  The car they had come in was parked as close to the main entrance as possible. As they started across the car park, they heard the sound of running feet behind them. With his finely tuned self-defence instincts, Ted whirled on the balls of his feet, ready to face whatever threat they might represent. A voice was shouting, 'Ma'am, excuse me, I need to speak to you.'

  A uniformed inspector was hurrying towards them clutching a fat, over-stuffed file, which he thrust towards the Ice Queen.

  'If someone is finally arresting the chief super, you'll want to take a look at this on his friend, our illustrious MP. I've been trying to get him to act on it for months and he's been ordering me to bury it.'

  The Ice Queen had never yet had chance to see Ted in action. Afterwards she was quite incapable of accurately reporting the sequence of events, it all happened so quickly. They had to rely on CCTV footage from the front of the station to confirm what took place.

  The uniformed inspector seemed to lose control at the same time as Danielson did. Clark, they later discovered his name was, launched himself in fury at the suspect, fists flying, as the chief super first tried to block his attack then started aiming blows at Ted so he could make a break for it.

  Ted went straight into action. A carefully controlled kick to the solar plexus took Clark down to his knees and left him gasping for air, unable to move. In the next instant, the chief was face down across the car bonnet, one hand behind his back, completely immobilised but seemingly unharmed.

  'Perhaps you could lend me your handcuffs, ma'am, just as a precaution?' Ted asked, not even out of breath.

  'With pleasure, Inspector,' she said, as she cuffed Danielson and carefully installed him in the back seat of the area car. 'Which of the four was that?'

  Ted grinned. 'That was what in musical terms I think they call a mash-up.'

  He moved over to where Clark was slowly regaining his breath and squatted down beside him. 'Are you all right?' he asked anxiously. 'I pulled the kick as much as I dared but I had to stop you. You can imagine what his solicitor would have done with a police brutality allegation as we were arresting him.'

  Clark nodded and got warily to his feet. 'Yes, sorry, I just lost it for a moment there. We all know the rumours about him and his pals. Se
veral of us have been trying for ages to bring them down. Looks like you might be about to succeed. Thanks,' he said and shook Ted's hand.

  Ted took off his jacket and said to the Ice Queen, 'Ma'am, you'll have to excuse me being in shirt sleeves. It seems this suit was not made with martial arts in mind, surprisingly. The seam at the shoulder has gone right round the sleeve and halfway down it on both sides.'

  'Give me your jacket and you drive,' she ordered. 'I have a repair kit in my bag. It won't be invisible mending, in a moving vehicle, but you will at least be decent by the time we get back.'

  Ted laughed as he got into the driver's seat and pulled it forward to accommodate his shorter legs. He was somehow not surprised. She was the sort who probably travelled with everything she might need for all eventualities.

  She worked meticulously all the way, clearly a perfectionist. It was not easy, even though Ted tried to drive as carefully as possible. Danielson kept up a continuous barrage of threats and complaints all the way, but they largely ignored him. Ted noticed there had been no phone call from his solicitor.

  The Ice Queen was just putting the finishing touches to her needlework as Ted swung the car into the car park in front of the station, where he said under his breath, 'Houston, we have a problem.'

  She looked up immediately. There were reporters and cameras swarming all over the front of the station. However they had got wind of who was being brought in, the press clearly had heard and swung rapidly into action.

  'Drive round the back, the last thing we want is a media circus,' the Ice Queen ordered. Pulling out her mobile she phoned Kevin Turner to get him to stall the press pack while they brought Danielson in through the back entrance. 'Perhaps you would be kind enough to lend your jacket to stop the suspect's face from appearing on tonight's news, Inspector. And as soon as we get in, I want to know just how this leak has happened.'

  'If I might make an educated guess, ma'am,' Ted said as he manoeuvred the car back out into the traffic to head for the rear entrance, 'I would say that the chief super is not exactly top of the popularity polls in his own station, and his officers have already started throwing him to the wolves.'

  Ted's comment brought a further stream of vitriol from their suspect, which told him he was probably on the button.

  CHAPTER Forty-four

  The Ice Queen herself was going to question Danielson, with Ted sitting in. They followed the rules to the letter to get him booked in, carefully reminding him he was still under caution. The first thing was to allow him his one phone call to his solicitor, as he had not heard from him on the journey to Stockport.

  They had installed him in an interview room, with a uniform officer just by the door, and made sure he had been offered refreshment. Neither of them was taking any chances at all.

  'Would you like us to leave the room while you call your solicitor, sir?' the Ice Queen asked politely, removing his handcuffs.

  'There is no need for that,' he snarled. 'I want you two cretins to realise from the start what a serious error of judgement you are making.'

  He took out his mobile phone, found the number he required and dialled it. The call was answered quickly.

  'Michael? It's Simon. You obviously didn't get my message … ' he broke off, clearly being interrupted at the other end. 'Yes, but … ' again he was cut short. He listened for a moment, his face draining of colour. Then he said stiffly, 'I see,' and ended the call. He cleared his throat and said, 'Unfortunately my solicitor is, er, on another case, out of the area, and can't get here.'

  'No problem at all, sir, would you like me to arrange a local one for you?' the Ice Queen offered. Danielson nodded curtly.

  'Very well. Inspector Darling and I will take a short break whilst that is arranged. I would just remind you that you are under arrest, therefore you are not free to leave. An officer will be posted with you at all times. As you have now made your one permitted phone call, I must ask you to give me your mobile phone. Its contents come under the terms of the search warrant I have, a copy of which I will give you shortly. As soon as a solicitor arrives for you, Inspector Darling and I will return to begin the interview.'

  'Your inspector is nothing but a thug,' Danielson snarled. 'I shall be pursuing a claim against him for excessive force,' he gingerly touched the side of his face. 'My cheekbone is very painful from where he slammed my head against the car, without justification.'

  'In that case, I will arrange a visit from the police surgeon to assess the extent of your injuries, sir. I will also telephone your own station and request tape from the CCTV cameras, which I notice you have conveniently covering the access to the building and part of the car park. They will, of course, be made available to you, should you so wish. And indeed to me, as I shall be adding a charge against you of assault on a constable in the execution of his duty, contrary to section 89(1) of the Police Act 1996.'

  She marched off down the corridor issuing a short, 'Follow me,' order over her shoulder to Ted. She paused to tap on Inspector Turner's door and put her head round when he answered.

  'If I find out it was anyone in this station who tipped off the press to the arrival of the chief super, I will personally have their guts for garters. And if anyone at all says so much as one word to those jackals, even if it's only hello, the consequences will be dire. Do I make myself clear, Inspector?' she asked him.

  'Crystal, ma'am,' Kevin replied.

  'And make sure that a solicitor is found for the chief super as soon as possible, please. Let me know when one arrives. Get Danielson checked out by the police surgeon, he is complaining of pain in his cheek from when Inspector Darling was obliged to restrain him,' she added, then said to Ted, 'Come to my office. I want to see if there is anything on the national news about this already. It's really the last thing we need.'

  She opened a twenty-four news channel on her computer. She and Ted watched as a journalist did a piece to camera in front of the unmistakable façade of their own station.

  'We have no confirmation at this stage and no statement has been issued yet, but sources tell us a high-ranking police officer may be in custody here at Stockport, in connection with an ongoing enquiry into alleged child sex abuse.'

  'Damn,' she said, to Ted's surprise, as she muted the sound but left the channel running. 'That is not what we want happening on our doorstep right now.'

  The phone on her desk rang and she said to Ted, 'No prizes for guessing who this will be,' as she picked up the call.

  Ted was not sure whether to leave the office or not, opting to lurk by the window so he could at least look out at passing traffic. The Ice Queen was not able to say very much other than 'yes, sir, no sir,' in the brief pauses in what was clearly a tirade from the top brass.

  She hung up the call and grimaced at Ted in an almost conspiratorial way. 'As you can imagine, the top brass are not amused, to say the least. Sit down. Would you like coffee?'

  He nodded and thanked her. For the first time in their working relationship to date, he felt she might almost be glad of his company.

  'So, are we going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or can we still turn this around and get some convictions, do you think?' she asked.

  'We've done everything by the book. The only person in this station except for us and Kevin Turner who knew the identity of this suspect is TDC Ellis. I would bet a year's salary that he hasn't spoken to anyone. I wouldn't have known about Danielson if Steve hadn't found details of him on the website. He will want him convicted so he wouldn't take any risks of complicating the enquiry.'

  'Your loyalty to your team is commendable. However, we must recognise the fact that there have been several leaks of information. We need to make sure going forward that we can get a solid case again him. I've put things in motion for the search of his property. Once we find out what else he has lurking on his computer, we should have a watertight case against him. Any theories as to why his high-powered brief seems to have dropped him like a hot potato?'

 
She served them both coffee as she was speaking. Ted realised they had just had a conversation without her constantly calling him Inspector or him calling her ma'am.

  'They must surely be worried that he will start to name names to do a deal, if we have too much on him,' he said.

  'If we succeed in getting him remanded in custody, and I see no reason why we shouldn't, I am going to make sure he is kept in solitary confinement and on twenty-four-hour suicide watch. I am not letting any more suspects or witnesses slip through our fingers.

  'We should probably both quickly grab something to eat so we are ready as soon as the solicitor arrives to continue the questioning. I intend now to show Danielson some of the photographs we have so far, just to let him know he is not as clever as he thinks he is.

  'But first I must go and issue a very brief statement to our friends from the press pack outside, which should, I hope, have been forwarded to me,' she was scanning her emails as she spoke. 'I take it you would prefer not to be involved in that side of things?'

  'Quite happy to leave it up to you, ma'am, I'm sure you're far better at it than I am,' Ted told her, as he went off in search of food. He had taken the precaution of bringing a sandwich with him, not knowing what time he would get to have dinner in a potentially busy day. He had enough time to eat it, drink his tea and polish off a date and cashew bar for an energy boost, before he was summoned to go with the Ice Queen to start interviewing the chief super.

  He sat back to watch his new boss at work. It was the first time he had seen her in action and he was impressed. She was icily polite at all times, economical with words yet relentless. She laid out for Danielson the case they had against him so far. As she spoke, she started to place still shots of the naked officer in a hotel room, with Aiden Bradshaw, on the table in front of him. The man's face slowly turned a deathly pale and his hands were visibly shaking as she did so.