The Mysterious Coat

by Nicholas Walsh

‘Yeah, me too, Tyler, I agree,’ says Peter. ‘Are we ready to go to the police station now?’

  ‘Yes, Peter, we will go to the coppers’ place now.’

  ‘Should we drive or walk?’ asks Peter.

  ‘I think we’re going to walk,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Good idea,’ says Peter, so he and Tyler walk to the elevator to go down the lift again.

  At the Alfred Hospital, Angelique arrives and walks to the reception desk.

  ‘Hello again, it’s me, Angelique.’

  ‘Oh, it’s you again. What can I do to help you?’ asks the receptionist.

  ‘I want to see my mother please,’ replies Angelique.

  ‘All right, I’ll get Dr Chasey for you because your mother’s operation is going to start in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Fifteen minutes?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘Yes,’ replies the receptionist.

  ‘Can I have a brief chat with my mother?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘Yes, you may have a talk with your mother but be quick before time runs out. I’ll be back in a second.’ Angelique checks her engagement ring and says to herself, ‘I will ignore Dr Chasey when he wants me because I’m going to get married soon.’

  The receptionist runs back to the reception desk.

  ‘Excuse me, I’m afraid Dr Chasey is in Room 302. You’ve got to meet him now.’

  ‘Oh okay,’ says Angelique as she runs to Room 302 to meet Dr Chasey before Margaret’s operation.

  In the hallway, Dr Chasey, with his surgeon’s uniform is waiting for Angelique to come. When he turns around he sees Angelique running.

  ‘Thank God you’re here.’

  ‘Why didn’t you come to me at the reception desk?’

  ‘Because my team of surgeons and I were getting ready to do an operation on your mother,’ says Dr Chasey. ‘Why don’t you have a brief talk with your mother and I’ll get the team of surgeons,’ says Dr Chasey, so he leaves to get a team of surgeons before the operation.

  Angelique opens the door and sees Margaret who’s now on a trolley and groggy.

  ‘Hi, Mum.’

  ‘Hello, Angelique,’ says Margaret.

  ‘How do you feel?’

  ‘I feel nervous because I don’t want to die,’ says Margaret.

  ‘Mum, please don’t die,’ says Angelique. ‘I want you to stay alive and live and I want you to see the next generation and we’re family, remember?’

  ‘Yes, I will,’ replies Margaret.

  ‘And also, I want you to see me marry Tyler at the wedding and then, I want you to see me and Tyler having a child and you’re going to be a grandmother if you feel well.’

  ‘All right, I’m gonna try,’ says Margaret. ‘I know you’re being patient and waiting for me to live. It’s hard.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mum.’

  Dr Chasey enters Room 302, walks to Angelique and Margaret and asks them, ‘Any last comments before the operation?’

  ‘Yes, I was talking to my mum about my life with Tyler and if we have children, I would like her to see the next generation. I want her to be alive and well so she can enjoy our future.’

  ‘Mmm, that’s okay, hopefully, your mother will have five-to-ten years to live and enjoy these things.’

  ‘Do you think it’s going to be hard for my mother?’

  ‘Yes,’ asks Dr Chasey as he walks to Margaret and asks her, ‘Are you ready for your operation?’

  ‘Yes, it’s difficult for me,’ replies Margaret.

  ‘I know,’ says Dr Chasey. ‘Well, come on Margaret. It’s time for your operation.’

  ‘Goodbye, Mum. I wish you luck for your operation and please don’t die.’

  ‘I will stay alive, Angelique.’

  Angelique is still standing outside the room because now she has to wait and see whether Margaret is going to die or stay alive after her operation.

  CHAPTER 22

  A

  t the police station, Inspector Mack Young, Professor Jerry Bowie, Detective Sergeant Nick Baxter, Constable Troy Williamson and now, Dr Airhardt, are on stage. The rest of the policemen (both plain-clothed and uniformed) are in the audience.

  Mack is addressing the rest of the policemen, saying to them, ‘Good morning, gentlemen.’

  ‘Good morning, Inspector,’ all of the policemen say.

  ‘Today is going to be a pre-announcement of the DNA test result and we have three jobs to do before tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a big day so here’s the three jobs: I’m going to interview the witnesses who saw Robert Taylor with the mysterious coat at this station, Nick and his plain-clothed men will check what’s on the security cameras of Robert Taylor at the Duke of York Hotel and Troy and his uniformed men will seize Robert’s secret hideout, weapons and others. So this is the task. We gotta do something but before this, here’s Nick to check the old mug shots of Robert when he was arrested before.’

  ‘Hey, mate. Can you turn off the lights please?’ asks Nick.

  A uniformed policeman turns off the lights which are near the door and walks to the photo slide machine, turns the light on, take a button and press it. The first photo slide appears on the screen. First there’s a mug shot of Robert Taylor, wearing jeans and a T-shirt when he was charged for assaulting an old man by using a pistol at St Kilda Botanical Gardens at the age of sixteen.

  Nick walks to the screen and says to everybody, ‘This is Robert Taylor’s first mug shot. His description was six foot tall, black hair, solid build and wearing jeans and a T-shirt. This crime was about an old man who walked to his favourite spot every day. He used a packet of bread to feed the birds, but Robert came to the same old man, assaulted him by using a pistol and ran away from St Kilda Botanical Gardens. The time of this crime was about 2.45pm and three days later when Robert returned to the crime scene at St Kilda Botanical Gardens, he was captured by the undercover police and he was charged with assault with a weapon, found guilty and sentenced to a youth detention centre in Malmsbury near Bendigo for two years.’

  The uniformed policeman pressed the button again, and the next photo slide appears on the screen. There’s another mug shot of Robert Taylor and this time, he’s wearing a tracksuit when he was charged for robbing a bank called Memory Bank at Fritzeg Street in St Kilda at the age of seventeen and-a-half.

  Nick says to everybody again, ‘This is Robert Taylor’s second mug shot and in this photo, he’s wearing a tracksuit when he was seventeen and-a-half. The details of his fifth crime were at ten o’clock in the morning, he was wearing a mask and a shotgun, entered a bank called Memory Bank at Fritzeg Street in St Kilda, scared everybody because he had a gun and was shouting. He took the money from the bank teller’s spot, put the money in his pockets and escaped. He was then on the run with cash. He wasn’t captured again until five days later when he tried to bet on the horse races at The Colony Hotel in East Bentleigh by using money that he had stolen from Memory Bank. He was charged with armed robbery, found guilty again and sentenced to Pentridge Prison in Coburg for two years.’

  The uniformed policeman presses the button again, and the photo slide appears again on the screen. There’s yet another mug shot of Robert Taylor and this time, he’s wearing a skivvy and track pants when he was charged for stalking and assaulting a prostitute named Fifi after midnight in Grundy Street, St Kilda at the age of twenty.

  Nick says to everybody again, ‘This is Robert Taylor’s third and final mug shot, and in this photo, he’s wearing a skivvy and track pants when he was twenty. The last time he was committed for a crime the details were after midnight, he walked in the streets of St Kilda after leaving from the Duke of York Hotel. He was searching for a way to get money after his release from jail. He crossed to Grundy Street where female prostitutes were working and waiting for men to pay for sex. When Robert saw a prostitute by the name of Fifi, who was standing alone in the street and waiting for men, he spied on her and watched her and when she saw him, he ran to her and assaulted, punched her and kicked her and after that
, he ran away but didn’t rape Fifi, leaving her injured. She was rushed to hospital by a male driver and survived. Now, she has post-traumatic stress disorder and has quit street-walking. She has not worked as a hooker since then. A week later, he was captured and arrested by police again when he left Hotel Espire after seeing a gig but he was charged for stalking and assault, found guilty again and sentenced to one year in Pentridge. Any questions?’

  ‘What’s the name of the gig which Robert went to see at Hotel Espire before he left and was arrested?’ asks one of the uniformed policemen.

  ‘Um, it was Paul Kelly live,’ replies Nick. ‘I’m not sure if he’s a big fan of music.’

  The uniformed policeman put the button down, turns the lights off the machine, walks to the wall and turns on the lights while Nick says to everybody again one more time, ‘But now, Robert has done kidnapping, assault and possession of weapons and explosives. He’s been running away and hiding somewhere in St Kilda and he has one more thing … the mysterious coat that he wears when he disguises himself as a mysterious person. Well, that’s the end of my talk.’

  ‘Thank you, sergeant,’ says Mack. ‘And now, here’s Dr Airhardt to talk about Robert Taylor’s personality and behaviour.’

  Dr Airhardt coughs and says, ‘Thank you, Inspector. When Detective Sergeant Nick Baxter showed me Robert Taylor’s criminal records from his file before the meeting started, I thought Robert’s personality was arrogant, aggressive and deviant and I also thought his behaviour was crazy, inappropriate, arrogant, aggressive and very bad because he’s such a lunatic. While I was working as a psychiatrist and crime-fighting, I have been fighting against dirty people of the night in the streets of St Kilda and they were sleazy and liars! As for Robert Taylor, he was one of the dirtiest people; day and night, week by week and do you know what? He’s a liar!’

  ‘Thank you, Doctor, I think you should go into politics,’ says Mack. ‘Well, this is the end of this meeting. I want you guys to find out about Robert Taylor and I wish you all the best. Good luck. Meeting dismissed.’

  The group of policemen stand up from their chairs and leave, while both Detective Sergeant Nick Baxter and Constable Troy Williamson leave the stage, followed by Professor Jerry Bowie who walks to the forensic lab but Inspector Mack Young asks Dr Airhardt, ‘Are you all right, Doctor?’

  ‘I’m fine, Inspector,’ replies Dr Airhardt. ‘I want to keep the dirty people off the streets of St Kilda during the night. I wish they would go to jail for life.’

  ‘We’ll sort it out, Doctor,’ says Mack. ‘We’ve got to talk to the witnesses who first knew about Robert Taylor. Tyler was one of them.’

  ‘Can we use a lie detector?’ asks Dr Airhardt.

  ‘No, just questions,’ replies Mack.

  ‘Okay, let’s go’ says Dr Airhardt.

  ‘Beauty,’ says Mack, so he and Dr Airhardt leave the stage and walks out of the conference room of the police station.

  Outside the police station, all of the police cars and other types of police vehicles are leaving; some of them are leaving to go to the Duke of York Hotel and some of them are leaving to go to Robert’s secret hideout.

  Ten minutes later at the police station, there are three men at the interview room where Alan killed himself. Inspector Mack Young is sitting on a chair, while Tyler and Peter are sitting on the other two chairs as Mack is asking questions to Tyler. He says to him, ‘So, Tyler, you saw Robert who is the mysterious person and wears the mysterious coat creeping around your apartment block during your swimming in the pool by day and then, you saw him again when you had dinner at the café. Any other events that made you crazy?’

  ‘Well, Inspector,’ replies Tyler, ‘after I saw the coat hanging on a hook then, the coat was gone! I was swimming again and then, I heard something rustle in the bushes and I saw a tiny bit sticking out of the bushes and after I left the pool, it was gone.’

  ‘And what’s next?’ asks Mack.

  ‘Oh, geez, when I was going to work, I saw that coat when I looked out the balcony window for just a fleeting second but I didn’t have enough time to find out because I was going to work,’ replies Tyler. ‘Then after that, when I was going to your workplace, I saw that coat in my apartment block and it scared the crap out of me!’

  ‘All right. Anymore?’ asks Mack.

  ‘During Labour Day, I saw the coat out of the corner of my eye when I was having a chat with my mate, Peter,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Have you seen Robert with the mysterious coat before?’ Mack asks Peter.

  ‘Um, yeah, I saw that,’ replies Peter.

  ‘What did you see?’ asks Mack.

  ‘I was having a chat with Tyler and then, we talked about how things are going because he was worried about Angelique. During the chat Tyler walked away from me and I was tried to speak to him but he told me that he’s got to go to work later, so I asked him to join me for a drink. He saw the coat during our talk,’ replies Peter.

  ‘Is that true that you saw the coat?’ asks Mack.

  ‘I don’t know, Inspector,’ replies Peter. ‘I remember I heard Robert’s creepy and scary voice when I was rescued Tyler at his secret hideout so that’s about it.’

  Mack is puzzled and asks, ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Nope,’ replies Peter.

  ‘Oh, come on, guys!’ says Mack. ‘Can we have more talks about the coat before it’s too late?’

  ‘I have a story from Angelique, Inspector,’ says Tyler.

  ‘What’s it all about?’ asks Mack.

  ‘It’s about how she saw Robert during work at the Duke of York Hotel and then, Robert tried to threaten my baby,’ replies Tyler. ‘It’s a true story.’

  ‘Read it,’ says Mack.

  Tyler takes the pieces of paper – which has her writing on it – out of his suit and gives it to Mack as he says to him, ‘I can’t do it. Can you read it please?’

  ‘All right,’ replies Mack, so he starts reading the first page of her writing. ‘Last year, I arrived at the Duke of York hotel and then, after spending time at the bar in the daytime, it was evening, and I started working as a table-top dancer. I went backstage to change into a skimpy little bikini with a veil hiding my face – all but my piercing eyes – and entered the stage through a secret room and started performing table-top dancing, exotic dancing and lap dancing. Oh, and private lap dances too. When I was working and dancing, I saw a weird and crazy man by the name of Robert Taylor, and during my performance he shouted to me and then, he wanted me to have a drink with him so I ignored him because I was still dancing as the other male customers and clients paid me for private lap dances. I used the money for paying the bills and buying groceries, petrol and other things.’

  Mack turns the second page of her writings and continues reading. ‘After I finished performing on stage, I left from the stage as one of my colleagues was having a turn, changed back into my normal clothes backstage, left from the secret room and finished work. When I left the Duke of York Hotel I was not sure what Robert was going to do after being upset with me for ignoring him when I was performing on stage. What was he thinking? Was he going to assault, rape, kidnap or murder me while I was working? I was scared of him because he teased me on stage and it drove me crazy!’

  Mack stops reading the second page of her writings and says to Tyler, ‘Mmm, that’s terrible. Why did Angelique ignore Robert?’

  ‘Because she’s got an act to do on stage and she’s very busy,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Why is she busy?’ asks Mack.

  ‘Because she works hard for her money,’ replies Tyler. ‘She’s gotta do something.’

  ‘Okay, I know this is the issue for women about their personal safety because they’ve got to protect themselves from dirty men,’ says Mack. ‘Should I continue reading her story?’

  ‘Go ahead, Inspector,’ replies Tyler.

  Mack turns the third page of her writings and keeps reading.

  ‘When I was leaving the Duke of York Hotel, I w
alked to my house and then, Robert walked and followed me and he threatened me so I turned around and saw him with a pocketknife in his hand. He was stalking me and trying to take me hostage so I walked up to him and kicked his genitals and testicles very hard. I saw him collapse and lie down on the footpath so I left him and ran to my house! That nutter tried to threaten me and then, I never saw him again forever!’

  Mack turns the fourth and final page of Angelique’s writing. ‘After I arrived at my house, I called the police. The next day when the police arrived at the scene of where I kicked Robert in his private parts very hard, they saw the footpath. Robert was gone, but during work at the Duke of York Hotel again, I saw the news on the TV in the bar that Robert was missing. Because he was wearing the mysterious coat he was disguised as a mysterious person. I was very disappointed and upset. I was not happy until it was my turn to perform on stage at the secret room. I need to tell my colleagues to protect themselves from strangers while walking to their houses after they’ve finished.’

  Mack shut the pages of her writings and put the pieces of paper on the table as he finishes reading and then, says to Tyler, ‘Mmm, not bad, bit average.’

  ‘Yes and also, Angelique told me that the Duke of York Hotel uses bouncers to protect any dancer who works on stage from spectators. The bouncer will kick and throw any spectator out of the private room and send them outside of the Duke of York Hotel if they behave badly,’ says Tyler.

  ‘So, do you have security issues at the Duke of York Hotel?’ asks Mack.

  ‘Yes, we have security issues and other issues like brawls, people being drunk and the late-night and early-morning curfew,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘So the Duke of York Hotel is open from late morning to late. All right, what about Angelique?’ asks Mack. ‘Where is she now?’

  ‘She’s in the Alfred Hospital,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Why?’ asks Mack.

  ‘Because her mother is having heart surgery,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Oh, I get it,’ says Mack. ‘Why don’t you and your mate Peter stay at the police station because I’m going to interview other witnesses about how they saw Robert Taylor with the mysterious coat. We also have to wait for the boys in blue to arrive.’