Run!: He's coming for you

by K Leitch

  ‘Oh my God that’s awful,’ Helen said, ‘what are they doing, doesn’t she have any idea who it is?’

  Carla rolled her eyes, ‘Well she says not, but I bet she’s got an idea she just doesn’t want to say. She’s incredibly fierce and independent for a woman of her age and size, she’s tiny, walks with the help of a frame.’

  ‘Ooh that makes me so mad,’ Tracy said shaking her head, ‘what sort of little bastards pick on an old lady like that. I hope you get them Carla and throw away the key…’

  ‘Yeh well, there’s not much we can do,’ Carla said throwing up her hands in frustration, ‘if she hasn’t got a name for us and no witnesses…it’s really infuriating, but all I was able to say to her was that I would make sure her road was patrolled regularly. She got really angry…said we were all useless… couldn’t protect a rice pudding…’ she stopped as the girls burst out laughing.

  ‘Should have sent her to Tracy,’ Maggie said laughing, ‘if there’s one thing she does know how to do well, it’s protecting anything edible.’ She laughed even harder as an indignant Tracy threw a cheesy Wotsit at her.

  ‘Oy Wendover,’ said Tracy laughing despite herself, ‘I’ll have you know those days are over, once Gloria gets her hands on me I’m going to be a new woman. There’s a thin woman inside all of us you know just waiting to be set free…all I need to do now, is to get my thin woman off her lazy arse and down to the gym and keep her away from the chocolate and cheesy Wotsits,’ she finished making them all laugh.

  CHAPTER 12 - CARLA

  Carla, (who due to downing nearly a whole bottle of cabernet sauvignon at the cauldron meeting the night before, was still nursing a hangover at mid-morning the next day) was wincing at the sound of a loud commotion coming from the front desk, which she could hear despite her office being on the floor above. ‘What’s going on down there?’ she asked DC Mandy Hopkins who had just come in.

  Mandy pulled a face, ‘The whole bloody Twee family by the looks of things, coming to protest about Ruben Davies.’

  After being questioned a few days before, Ruben had been charged with theft and remanded in custody until he could be brought before the magistrate, which wasn’t going to be until tomorrow morning. So he had been cooling his heels in the holding cells at the station.

  ‘Hmm,’ Carla said, ‘well that’s bloody convenient I was wanting to have a word with Mr Twee…how nice of him to come to us for a change.’

  Mandy laughed. ‘Rather you than me Ma’am,’ she said, ‘he’s got the fragrant Janey with him and she looks like she’s ready to blow.’

  ‘Ooh just let her Mandy,’ Carla said aggressively, ‘give me good reason to get her into a cell, is Frank about?’ she added.

  ‘He was in the canteen last time I saw him,’ Mandy said walking through into her office.

  Carla headed off towards the canteen where she found Frank sitting at a table totally engrossed in some black and white images spread out in front of him. He gave a start when he spotted Carla approaching him and quickly gathered up the photographs and put them into a large envelope, knocking over his cup of coffee in his haste.

  ‘Shit!’ he exclaimed trying to soak up the coffee with a paper towel.

  Carla handed him another paper towel and giggled, ‘Aye aye aye…what are you looking so guilty about…what’s in the envelope Frank?

  Frank finished mopping up and turned to Carla, he looked extremely shifty, ‘Oh nothing,’ he said nonchalantly, Carla gave him a look. ‘No really…it’s just some pictures of Linda that I took the other evening…she doesn’t know I’ve taken them…um, they’re for a party that I’m planning.’

  ‘Ooh give us a look,’ Carla said sitting down, ‘is it her birthday or something?’

  ‘Um…yeh, something like that…and no I don’t want anyone to see them yet, ok?’ Frank said pulling the envelope closer to him.

  ‘Ooerr…touchy,’ Carla mocked, ‘okay, okay I won’t pester, just make sure I get an invite to the party. Is it a special birthday…I thought she turned thirty last year?’

  ‘Yes she did…no nothing special... it’s just that she’s had a stressful year and I thought a party would cheer her up,’ Frank said not quite meeting her eyes.

  Carla raised her brows, Frank was hiding something she was sure of it but she let it pass. ‘Anyway I thought I’d come and get you, seems like Herbert Twee has brought himself down to the station this time so I thought we might as well make the most of it, what do reckon?’

  Frank smiled, relieved at the change of subject, ‘Too good an opportunity to miss I would say…lead on boss.’

  ‘I don’t suppose you had a chance to look at the rest of that CCTV footage did you Frank?’ Carla asked as they made their way downstairs.

  ‘Um…no, we don’t need it though do we? We’ve got Ruben banged to rights anyway…’

  ‘Yes, but I’d be interested in seeing where he rode off to after he snatched the bag. It might be that Twee or another member of the gang was waiting further down the road to take the stolen gear from him…it’d be worth looking at I think. Tell you what, let’s put Herbert into an interview room and we’ll go and see if anything turns up that we can quiz him with…can’t do any harm can it?’

  Frank hesitated, ‘I don’t think we’re going to get anything else from those cameras Carla,’ he said, pulling a face. ‘Why don’t we just push Twee about the bike, I mean Ruben’s already let it slip that he got the bike from Twee hasn’t he so there’s enough for us to get started…’

  Carla was shaking her head, ‘No I think we’ll find more Frank…I’ve just got a feeling there’s something on those cameras. I mean it makes sense doesn’t it…we’ve never once caught any of them carrying the gear, so it stands to reason that they pass it on to someone else, and my money’s on Twee.’

  By this time they had reached the front desk, and the noise and commotion was so loud that they could hardly hear each other talking.

  Poor WPC Sheila White was trying to fend off an angry crowd led by Jane Twee, who seemed to be wearing a bright orange circus tent that clashed angrily with her red face and yellow hair.

  ‘Fucking police, it’s always the fucking same wiv you lot. What right have you got dragging a poor lad in like that…the boy’s done nuffin, my Lola told you he was wiv ‘er all day yesterday. So he’s got an alibi ain’t he, so less you can prove my girls a liar you can’t keep ‘im locked up…I know the law I do…’

  She stopped shouting as her husband nudged her arm and jerked his head in Carla and Frank’s direction.

  ‘Oh ‘ere they come,’ she turned her beady eyes towards Carla, ‘what you going to do now fucking Detective Fucking Inspector, arrest me? I know my rights you can’t arrest me, I’m just enquiring after a friend of mine.’

  Carla completely ignored Jane Twee and turned to her husband, who was standing behind his wife egging her on. ‘Mr Twee, nice of you to come to us for a change, saved us coming to see you. We’d like to ask you a few questions in connection with the theft of a handbag and laptop that were taken from the front seat of a car in the centre of Redbank last week…’

  ‘Oh here we go…didn’t I tell you,’ Herbert began looking round him and holding his arms wide. ‘If they can’t find anyone else they blame it on one of us.’ He looked back at Carla, ‘You ain’t got nuffin on me, this is all harassment…’

  ‘If you’d like to come this way Mr Twee,’ Frank said stepping in between him and Carla….

  ‘No you don’t,’ shrieked Jane Twee, wagging a finger at Frank, ‘you ain’t taking Herbie nowhere, we just came to find out about Ruben.’

  Frank turned to her, ‘We have received information which implicates your husband in this crime Mrs Twee and we have every right to question him.’

  ‘What fucking information,’ Herbert shouted, ‘don’t try and tell me that Ruben’s told you somat because I know full well that he wouldn’t…’cus there’s nothing he could say,’ he added hastily.

  After lot
s more shouting and wrangling, Carla and Frank finally took Twee down to the interview room and left him there.

  ‘Phew,’ said Carla with a sigh, ‘Poor old Sheila, I wouldn’t like to be dealing with that lot now.’

  ‘I know…I sent Sam down there to give her a hand,’ Frank said a bit distractedly. ‘Um…look why don’t you go and get a coffee Carla you look shattered, I can look through the CCTV with Mandy, you don’t need to do it.’

  Carla gave him a long look, ‘Why do I get the feeling that you don’t want me to see the CCTV footage Frank?’ she asked eventually, ‘what have you done?’

  Frank gave her a wide eyed innocent stare, ‘Me? I haven’t done anything, I don’t know what you mean. I just thought… what with you being so busy and all, that I would save you the trouble of trawling through hours of…’

  ‘Yeh right,’ said Carla not believing him for a minute, ‘well don’t you worry about me I’m fine.’

  Once again Frank seemed to hesitate, Carla punched him on the arm. ‘Oh for God’s sake Frank what’s up?’ she asked exasperated.

  Frank looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights for a moment, then with a resigned shake of the head he let out a long sigh and said, ‘Look Carla there is something that I spotted on the CCTV footage ok? You’re not going to like it.’

  ‘What for fuck’s sake?’ Carla said, ‘you’re scaring me now Frank…what is it?’

  ‘Well you might as well see for yourself,’ Frank muttered as he began to walk back up towards the CID offices. Bewildered, Carla followed him, she was even more puzzled when Mandy, in whose office the video equipment was kept, gave Frank a shocked look when she saw him arrive with her in tow.

  ‘Ok you two I’ve had enough of this,’ Carla began angrily, ‘what is it that you’re trying to hide from me…come on out with it.’

  Mandy gave Frank another fierce look, he just sighed and shrugged his shoulders, ‘Don’t blame me… I did try and stop her,’ he mumbled.

  ‘You’d better sit down Ma’am,’ Mandy said as she reluctantly loaded up the footage.

  Shaking her head in frustration, Carla sat down in front of the screen and watched as the junction on Redbank high street came into view. They could see the white Honda SUV stopping at the red traffic light and Ruben Davies pulling his bike up beside it, he was clearly looking into the open window of the car next to him checking out what valuables, if any, there were within easy reach. Apparently there were because as quick as a flash, his arm was in and out of the car and he whizzed off down the road peddling as fast as his legs would go, with a handbag and a laptop case balanced on his handle bar. The woman in the Honda seemed to be so shocked by what had happened that she reacted really slowly, allowing Ruben to make a clean get away.

  Unfortunately the camera only followed him for a short distance along that road, so they had to switch to the camera at the next junction before they picked him up again. He still had his stolen booty with him at this point and seemed to be heading out of Redbank. The next time he showed up on the cameras however, he was back in the centre of town but empty handed. So somewhere between those two cameras he had handed over the bag and laptop to an accomplice.

  Carla looked up still mystified, ‘Ok so what am I supposed to be seeing?’ she asked Mandy.

  ‘Well Ma’am we searched through the data on several local camera’s until we finally found him again,’ Mandy explained.

  Carla nodded. ‘Yes I gathered that much…so can I see the images from that camera? Where was it located?’

  Frank answered that one, ‘It was from the one on the side of the Barclays bank in the pedestrianised area, just outside the Harley shopping centre. He’d obviously cut through one of the alleys behind the shops on the high street, he goes passed the Pizza Express and down as far as Café Rouge on the corner. Then he seems to duck into an alleyway behind the restaurants and that’s where we see him come out again and by that time he doesn’t have the stuff with him. So I’m thinking that Twee or whoever it is, is waiting for him there and takes the stuff from him then,’ he finished getting up out of his chair.

  Carla didn’t move, ‘Ok let’s see it then,’ she said firmly, ‘look I’m not budging until I’ve seen whatever is on this footage ok, so don’t bother trying to fob me off anymore…let’s see it.’

  ‘Carla I…’ Frank began.

  ‘Forget it Frank,’ Carla interrupted crossly, ‘just show me what’s on the fucking camera ok?’

  Frank and Mandy shared a look before Mandy clicked a few buttons and the pedestrianised area of Redbank town appeared on the screen.

  Carla could see Ruben coming through a narrow alley and riding down towards the restaurants. When he got as far as the Café Rouge, sure enough he ducked into an alley…but by that time Carla wasn’t watching him anymore. She was too busy watching her husband who was walking arm in arm with a pretty blond woman. She saw them stop outside Café Rouge and look over the menu, she saw James laughing at something the woman said to him, she saw him reaching down and kissing her lips before they disappeared into the Café Rouge restaurant and out of sight.

  Carla was totally unprepared…she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but there it was on the screen in front of her, James…her James kissing another woman. She felt as if she had been punched in the gut, she sat and stared at the screen in silence, paralysed by the shock of it, trying to make sense of it in her head.

  ‘Carla I’m so sorry…’ Mandy began a moment later.

  Red hot humiliation and mortification flooded through Carla and with a shake of her head she ignored Mandy’s pity and focussed on the job at hand, she’d deal with this other stuff later. ‘Right,’ she said as calmly as she could, ignoring the worried looks that she could see passing between Mandy and Frank, ‘take it back to when Ruben emerges from the alley behind Café Rouge will you Mandy?’

  ‘Carla…we can do this, you don’t have to…why don’t you go home?’ Frank said putting a hand on her shoulder.

  Carla shook off his hand angrily. ‘Why the hell would I want to go home?’ she said crossly, before shaking her head and giving Frank an apologetic smile. ‘I‘ll be ok…I can’t deal with it right now that’s all, I’ll think about it later. Let’s just try to get something concrete on Twee before we have to go and deal with him shall we?’

  Frank squeezed her shoulder again, ‘You sure you’re ok?’

  Carla nodded and so Mandy brought up the images from the camera trained on the centre of the pedestrian area again. Ruben came out from behind the restaurant, and Carla tried to concentrate on what he did next rather than watching her husband and the mystery blond. Nothing happened for about ten minutes, Ruben was long gone and Carla was just beginning to think that they were on a wild goose chase when Mandy spotted something.

  ‘Well, well, well, that alley seems to be extremely popular here comes another one,’ she said excitedly.

  They watched as another hooded biker carrying a large holdall, rode quickly through the centre and headed straight for the alleyway, only to emerge a few minutes later empty handed and disappear back the way he came.

  ‘Well that’s definitely the drop off point,’ Frank said, ‘but there’s still no sign of Twee…’

  ‘Patience Frank,’ Carla said her eyes glued to the screen. They’d been at it for nearly an hour and Frank was beginning to get itchy feet, not the least because James and his lady friend had yet to emerge from the restaurant.

  ‘We need to get this footage to forensics, see if they can get something on the other biker, he looked pretty familiar though, there was definitely something about him I recognised,’ he said standing up to stretch his legs.

  Carla couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath a moment later as James and the blond could clearly be seen exiting the restaurant. James helped her on with her coat and then hand in hand they walked off together towards the car park.

  Mandy and Frank exchanged another worried look as Carla said nothing, just continued to stare a
t the screen as if she hadn’t noticed.

  ‘Here we go,’ she said a few moments later, ‘I knew if we waited long enough we’d get something.’

  Sure enough there was Herbert Twee, sauntering as casually as you like out of the alleyway and what’s more he was dragging a large suitcase on wheels behind him.

  ‘Got him!’ said Carla with grim satisfaction, ‘let’s see how he explains this away.’

  CHAPTER 13 - Three months ago

  Lucinda couldn’t believe her luck, she looked at the little card in her hand and read it again carefully this time, surely she’d made a mistake…these things didn’t happen to her. No, no mistake…according to the local lottery scratch card, if you revealed three amounts the same, you won that amount…Lucinda had just won two thousand pounds.

  She quickly turned the card over to find out what she needed to do next. She’d bought the card from her local superstore who, as luck would have it, could pay out winnings of up to two thousand pounds immediately. Telling herself to slow down and be cautious, Lucinda checked out the customer service desk before she went to claim her winnings. There were two girls serving and she didn’t know either of them, she quickly scanned the area around her, she couldn’t risk being seen by someone that knew her or Trevor. She couldn’t see anyone she recognised so taking a deep breath she joined the queue. The young girl that served her was really excited for her and was about to make a fuss until Lucinda stopped her with a shake of her head.

  ‘Please,’ she whispered urgently, ‘please can we do this quietly…I don’t want anyone else to know ok?’

  The girl gave her a knowing look and pressed the bell to call for her manager. Lucinda was taken discretely into a back room where the manager congratulated her.

  ‘Could I have some of it in cash?’ Lucinda asked as she saw he was about to write her a cheque, ‘I might feel like treating myself,’ she explained shyly.

  The manager, whose name was Gary, smiled at her. ‘Of course, you don’t want to have to wait seven days to celebrate do you? Is two hundred in cash ok?’