The Mysterious Coat

by Nicholas Walsh

  ‘Mmm, I see,’ says Nick. ‘Well, Dr Airhardt is also working for us, but he’s also helping you to do this case, but don’t worry, you can keep going to him to help solve your problem about this coat.’

  Just then, Peter, with the bit of material, arrives. ‘Hi guys, I got the tiny bit of material. It’s in this plastic wrap.’

  ‘Well done, Peter,’ says Tyler.

  ‘Thanks, Tyler. Hey, Sergeant, can you take me to the forensic room please?’

  ‘All right, come with me,’ replies Nick, as he and Peter walks to the forensic room.

  Tyler stays and thinks to himself, I wonder how Angelique is going and how she feels about Margaret at the Alfred Hospital.

  CHAPTER 24

  A

  t the Alfred Hospital, Angelique is sitting on a chair reading a women’s magazine in the waiting room. While reading this magazine, she wonders which dress from the magazine she would like to wear, but Dr Chasey, still with his surgeon’s uniform on arrives and says to her, ‘Excuse me, I have good news and bad news for you.’

  Angelique closes the women’s magazine and asks, ‘What’s the good news?’

  ‘The good news is your mother is alive and she’s doing very well after the operation,’ replies Dr Chasey.

  ‘So what’s the bad news?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘We’ve told her to exercise, eat healthy food and lose weight. She has to stop her bad habits,’ replies Dr Chasey.

  ‘Mmm,’ says Angelique.

  ‘What else is worrying you?’ asks Dr Chasey.

  ‘She’s overweight and it’s threatening her life. What are we going to do now?’ replies Angelique.

  ‘Well, I’ll write a healthy plan with rules and also, a plan about your wedding reception with rules for your mother,’ replies Dr Chasey.

  ‘Okay, that’s a good idea,’ says Angelique, ‘May I talk to my mother later?’

  ‘Yes, you can talk to your mother later and I’ll also be back later.’ Dr Chasey leaves for his office to write plans, including a healthy plan for Margaret. Angelique stands up from a chair and says to herself, I’m thirsty, maybe I’ll get a smoothie. She leaves the waiting room, but she knows she will be back at the Alfred Hospital to see Margaret again later.

  At the police station, Tyler is walking around bored while Peter is helping the cops about a tiny bit of information, but a police desk sergeant at his desk asks him, ‘Are you okay, Mr Brown?’

  ‘Not really,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Why don’t you go outside, take a walk and have some fresh air?’ says the police desk sergeant.

  ‘Not now, I’m waiting for my baby,’ says Tyler.

  ‘All right, it’s up to you,’ says the police desk sergeant, and Tyler is still walking around but he sees Angelique arrive and enter so he walks to her and hugs her and he says to her, ‘Thank God, you’re here.’

  ‘Hi, Tyler,’ says Angelique.

  ‘How is your mother after the operation at the Alfred Hospital?’ asks Tyler.

  ‘My mum is alive,’ replies Angelique.

  ‘That’s good, Angelique,’ says Tyler. ‘Let’s have a celebration, should we?’

  ‘Tyler, there was very important news for me,’ says Angelique.

  ‘What is it?’ asks Tyler.

  ‘Dr Chasey told my mum to exercise, eat healthy food and lose weight but he also told my mum to stop her bad habits,’ replies Angelique.

  ‘Oh, can your mother turn back her body clock?’ asks Tyler.

  ‘She’s gonna try and she wants to see her future,’ replies Angelique. ‘She wants to see me and you at our wedding and our children in the future.’

  ‘I know what I can do for your mother,’ says Tyler.

  ‘What are you going to do for my mum?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘I can teach her how to lose weight by going to the gym, playing tennis and swimming because my apartment has a gym, a tennis court and a swimming pool,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Wow, good idea, Tyler,’ says Angelique. ‘What about eating and drinking?’

  ‘Okay, maybe I’ll ask the chefs at your mother’s house to cook a healthy breakfast, healthy morning snack, healthy lunch, healthy afternoon snack, healthy dinner and healthy evening snack for her so she will live longer,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘No, Tyler,’ says Angelique. ‘I’ll ask them to cook healthy meals for my mum when I visit my mum’s house.’

  ‘Does your mother have a chef?’ asks Tyler.

  ‘Yes,’ replies Angelique.

  ‘Where do they come from?’ asks Tyler.

  ‘Two were from Richmond and the other two come from Armadale,’ replies Angelique.

  ‘What about a butler?’ asks Tyler.

  ‘My mother has a butler and he comes from England,’ replies Angelique.

  ‘Oh, I don’t believe it!’ says Tyler.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asks Angelique, ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘No, I’m just fine,’ replies Tyler. ‘I’m going to be alright. Don’t you worry about that.’

  ‘Tyler?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘Yes, Angelique?’ asks Tyler.

  ‘When we had a chat before going to bed at your apartment block last night, you said your mother works at the Alfred Hospital,’ replies Angelique.

  ‘Yes,’ says Tyler.

  ‘What shift does she work?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘She works the daytime shift, Monday to Friday, nine to five,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘What does your mother do for the weekend?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘She does everything,’ replies Tyler. ‘Housework, cooking, shopping, she just does normal things.’

  ‘Oh, okay,’ says Angelique. ‘What’s your friend Peter doing?’

  ‘He’s showing a tiny bit of something to the police,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Where did he get this tiny piece of information from?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘It came from the bushes,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Oh, can we wait for Peter to arrive?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘Yes but I think he’s having a tour of the police station by himself,’ says Tyler.

  ‘Great,’ says Angelique, so she and Tyler walk to a bench and sit down on the bench as they wait for Peter.

  Still at the police station, Professor Jerry Bowie and a group of forensic scientists with Detective Sergeant Nick Baxter are checking an arsenal of weapons. Professor Bowie asks one of the forensic scientists, ‘Can you remove the arsenal of weapons and put one of the guns on the table?’ Professor Bowie dusts the handle for fingerprints on a Magnum .357 pistol.

  Nick asks, ‘Who’s fingerprint is on this gun?’

  ‘I think it was Robert Taylor’s, Sergeant,’ replies Professor Bowie.

  ‘Okay, next weapon please,’ Nick’s voice says to one of the forensic scientists.

  ‘Other guns?’ one of the forensic scientists’ asks.

  ‘No, knives,’ Nick’s voice replies.

  ‘A knife from Crocodile Dundee?’ one of the forensic scientists’ asks.

  ‘No, idiot,’ Nick replies. ‘Just normal and dangerous types of knives.’

  ‘All right,’ one of the forensic scientists says, but Professor Bowie takes a break from the fingerprinting and watches the same forensic scientist take the Magnum .357 pistol out of the bag and put one of the knives in. The knife is a big knife on the table, so Professor Bowie dusts the handle for fingerprints on the sharp part of the big knife but this fingerprint looks like it belong to Robert Taylor again and Professor Bowie says, ‘That knife belongs to Robert, Sergeant.’

  ‘Next weapon, please,’ Nick says.

  Professor Bowie takes another break from the fingerprinting and watches the same forensic scientist take the big knife out of the bag and put one of the swords in. Professor Bowie dusts the handle for fingerprints again and he sees a fingerprint on the sharp of the big sword, but this also belongs to Robert Taylor.

  ‘Next weapon, please,’ Nick says.

  Professor Bowie dusts
the next weapon and he sees a fingerprint on a pin of one of hand grenades but this fingerprint looks like Robert Taylor’s again and Professor Bowie says, ‘It belongs to Robert, Sergeant.’

  ‘Next weapon, please,’ says Nick.

  Professor Bowie dusts and sees a fingerprint on a container of one of cocktails and this fingerprint looks like Robert Taylor’s again. Professor Bowie says, ‘It belongs to Robert, Sergeant. This is all a dangerous cocktail.’

  ‘Next weapon, please,’ says Nick.

  Professor Bowie dusts and sees a fingerprint on one of the dynamite, but this fingerprint looks like Robert’s again and he says, ‘It belongs to Robert, Sergeant, but this dynamite is also dangerous. He’s done it again.’

  ‘Next weapon, please,’ says Nick.

  Five minutes later after checking other weapons for fingerprints, the fingerprints all belong to Robert Taylor and Professor Bowie says to Nick, ‘I think this work is the quickest job I’ve ever done during my career.’

  ‘Yes, we were fast,’ says Nick.

  ‘An arsenal of weapons all belonging to Robert Taylor, and I think Robert is a crazy man and a weapon possessor of the worst kind,’ says Professor Bowie.

  ‘Whoa, that’s deadly, Professor!’ says Nick.

  ‘Yes, it is,’ says Professor Bowie.

  ‘Now, Professor,’ says Nick.

  ‘Yes, Sergeant?’ asks Professor Bowie.

  ‘I’ve got a tiny bit of something from Tyler’s friend, Peter. Peter found this tiny bit of something sticking out of the bushes at his apartment block. Peter thinks it could be a tiny bit from the mysterious coat. And still the mystery of this coat drives Tyler crazy – because he doesn’t know if it is real or fantasy,’ replies Nick.

  ‘Can you show it to me please?’ asks Professor Bowie.

  ‘Yes, sure,’ replies Nick, so he takes the plastic wrap which contains a tiny piece of something out of his pocket of his plain-clothed suit and gives it to Professor Bowie. Bowie then walks to the microscope, opens the plastic wrap, takes the piece out of the plastic wrap, puts it under the microscope, and puts his eye to the lens. He sees a tiny fragment of the mysterious coat which is light brown colour and he says, ‘Oh, blast it!’

  ‘What?’ Nick asks.

  ‘That tiny bit of something is a light brown colour,’ replies Professor Bowie.

  ‘So, do you think it belongs to Robert Taylor?’ Nick asks.

  Professor Bowie finishes with the microscope, walks to Nick and says to him, ‘Yes, I know it belongs to Robert because we’ve done the same for the mysterious coat yesterday.’

  ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Professor,’ says Nick who is puzzled.

  ‘That’s okay, Sergeant,’ says Professor Bowie. ‘We’re trying to help you.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ says Nick, ‘Any more jobs about checking if things belong to Robert Taylor?’

  ‘Yes, we’re going to check a collection of videos and DVDs to see if they belong to Robert Taylor,’ replies Professor Bowie.

  ‘Oh, I have an idea, Professor,’ says Nick.

  ‘What?’ asks Professor Bowie.

  ‘Why don’t you check the fingerprints of each video and DVD and see if they’re a match to Robert Taylor, and then I’ve gotta investigate other crimes in St Kilda,’ replies Nick.

  ‘All right,’ says Professor Bowie, so Nick leaves the forensic lab. Professor Bowie turns around and says to the group of forensic scientists, ‘Okay, everybody, time to check the collection of videos and DVDs.’

  Still at the police station again, Inspector Mack Young is waits for someone to come in to his office. Someone knocks on the door so he stands up from the chair, walks and opens the door. Constable Troy Williamson is there with a box that contains Robert Taylor’s writings about his plans, his diaries and other stuff.

  Mack asks Troy, ‘What’s in the box?’

  ‘It’s Robert’s writings, Inspector,’ replies Troy, ‘Check it out.’

  So he opens the box and takes one of Robert’s writings, which is about his plans after his last arrest, charge, jail sentence and parole from prison.

  Mack starts reading the first page of Robert’s writings. It says:

  After being arrested by the police, charged with stalking and assault, sentenced for one year in a jail and being paroled from prison, my first plan is to get revenge against the police who arrested me three times during my crimes. I plan to do this by blowing up a police station or to kill all the coppers who arrested me by using a Russian-made machine gun because they are all pigs!

  Mack is shocked, stops reading the first page of the writings and says, ‘Oh no!’

  ‘What’s wrong, Inspector?’ asks Troy.

  ‘Robert’s nuts!’ replies Mack.

  ‘What?’ asks Troy.

  ‘He wants revenge against us by blowing us up or shooting us!’ replies Mack.

  ‘Why does Robert want revenge against us?’ asks Troy.

  ‘Because he has a vendetta,’ replies Mack, so he goes back to reading the second page.

  My second plan is to kidnap and assault all of the prostitutes, because I’m sick of them rooting men in cars, in the street, on the footpath or at their houses because they are whores. I stalked and assaulted a prostitute by the name of Fifi and I have to get rid of them all to keep them off the streets!

  Mack stops reading the second page of the writings and says, ‘Hmmm, I think he’s going to be just like Jack the Ripper.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asks Troy.

  ‘You know, Jack murdered six prostitutes in the streets of London way back a long time ago,’ replies Mack. ‘It was scary and shocking.’ He goes back to reading again, turns the third page of the writings.

  My third plan is to possess weapons and explosives and sell them to criminals who are working for the underworld. One day, I’m going to ask them to destroy all of the coppers by shooting or blowing them up. They can be suicide bombers, because I’m not sure which organized crime group I should work for.

  Mack turns the final pages of the writings which have other plans, but he shuts the pages and says, ‘My God, I’m totally shocked!’

  ‘Is something wrong, Inspector?’ asks Troy.

  ‘Yes,’ replies Mack.

  ‘What?’ asks Troy.

  ‘Maybe Robert Taylor has a fantasy idea of being a criminal mastermind.’ replies Mack.

  ‘He could be just like Dr Evil, Inspector,’ says Troy.

  ‘Yeah, gotta be bloody joking,’ says Mack, ‘He could be an evil bastard soon.’

  ‘And also, Inspector,’ says Troy, ‘this box has his diaries.’

  ‘What?’ asks Mack. ‘How many does he have?’

  ‘Five,’ replies Troy.

  ‘God, that’s too many!’ says Mack. ‘Can you put them on my desk? I’m going to give them to Professor Bowie to check.’ Troy takes the pack of Robert’s diaries out of the box and puts them next to the other box, but Mack asks Troy, ‘Any more in this box?’

  Constable Troy Williamson looks inside the box and says to Mack, ‘Hmmm, I think it’s got Robert’s other stuff.’

  ‘What about this other stuff ?’ asks Mack.

  ‘It’s got lots of pieces of paper, which has the places he’s visited while on the run and hiding somewhere in St Kilda while he was disguised as a mysterious person and wearing the mysterious coat. It also has the list of military and weapons magazines that he bought, the list of video shops, markets and other places where he collected videos and DVDs, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera,’ says Troy.

  ‘Well, I’ll have a look Robert’s diaries first and then, his other stuff before Professor Bowie gives me the results about an arsenal of weapons. So you may go now and see how your boys are doing,’ says Mack.

  ‘Yes, Inspector,’ says Troy as he stops looking inside the box and walks to the door. Mack takes Robert’s first diary from the bottom of his diaries, opens the diary and reads it as he waits for Professor Bowie with the results about the arsenal of weapons.


  CHAPTER 25

  A

  t the police station where the police are working on the Robert Taylor case (before showing him off to the public tomorrow), Tyler and Angelique are sitting on a bench. They wait for Peter to come.

  Angelique asks Tyler, ‘Do you think Peter will come to us?’

  ‘He’ll be back,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘What were you and Peter doing at the police station while I was at the hospital?’ asks Angelique.

  ‘Well, first, we were interviewed by Inspector Mack Young about the mysterious coat, and then we talked to Robert Taylor, who’s in a police cell, but Robert punched my mate’s face when I was abusing him,’ replies Tyler.

  ‘Oh no!’ says Angelique. ‘Is Peter okay?’

  ‘Yes, he’s okay,’ replies Tyler. ‘Do you want to speak to Robert?’

  ‘Yes, but there’s only one thing for me,’ says Angelique.

  ‘What it is?’ asks Tyler.

  Angelique takes a veil out of her designer label black pants, shows it to Tyler and replies to him, ‘This is a veil, that’s I used to wear when I was working as a dancer.’ She puts the veil on her face and then says to him, ‘You see, Tyler, I can use it during performing but I can’t see very well when I am walking to enter the stage.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Angelique, I’ll help you,’ says Tyler. ‘Here, hold my hand.’ He put his hand on her leg and she puts her hand on his hand and they hold hands as they stand up from the bench. Then, they walk to the room which has the police cells and a short time later when they arrive at the room, they walk to one of the police cells where Robert Taylor is. Robert has now calmed down after being upset. Tyler and Angelique stop holding their hands as Tyler opens the latch of the police cell’s door again and says to Robert, ‘Hello again.’

  Robert ignores Tyler, but Tyler asks Robert, ‘Do you remember me?’ But Robert ignores Tyler again, so Tyler says to Robert, ‘It’s me, Tyler Brown, coming back from the reception. I’ve got a surprise for you.’

  ‘What?’ Robert’s voice says.

  ‘It’s my fiancée, Angelique,’ says Tyler. ‘She wants to talk to you about why you were threatening and stalking her.’