The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird

by L M Krier

  ‘I should talk to her myself,’ Ted told him, nodding in response to his query. ‘I know she feels I let her down by not telling her about Kane. I’d better quickly build some bridges. Then I’ll happily hand her over to someone else to interview at length before we send her back to the safe house.’

  Ted found Zofia sitting, with a furious look on her face, in an interview room. Despite the recording, he asked PC Andrews to stay with them. He didn’t trust Zofia further than he could throw her and the feeling was mutual. He wanted the extra safeguard of a witness.

  ‘You lied to me, you bastard. You never told me about Kane.’

  ‘I didn’t lie to you,’ Ted told her patiently. ‘I chose not to tell you about Kane because I knew it would worry you. I promised you that you wouldn’t be in any danger and you weren’t.’

  ‘But Sarwar said some fucking midget chucked half a tongue at them and said it were Kane’s ...’

  ‘Does that mean anything to you? Someone of short stature? A dwarf, perhaps? Have you ever heard any of your friends mention such a person before?’

  ‘I don’t know. It were always Kane who met with the Big Man and he never said much about how it went or who was there. He were scared shitless of him, but he pretended not to be. And look where he ended up. If I knew owt about some midget I wouldn’t tell you.’

  ‘You’ll be safe, Zofia, I’ve already promised you that.’

  ‘Yeah, but that were before I knew about Kane. I ain’t saying no more now.’

  ‘Let me clarify this with you then, Zofia, so we are in absolutely no doubt. You now wish to withdraw your cooperation in this case and therefore to rule yourself out of the witness protection scheme. Is that what you mean?’

  She sat bolt upright at that, looking panic-stricken. ‘No! I want protecting. I told you stuff already. I helped you get Sarwar an’ Lauren. It weren’t my fault Data didn’t turn up.’

  ‘But I’ve made it clear to you all along that witness protection will depend on you cooperating fully and testifying. I’ve repeated that to you several times, always in front of witnesses. Like Sharon. Can you confirm that, for the recording, PC Andrews, please?’

  ‘I can, sir. I confirm that you have explained fully to Zofia, in my presence, that her protection was dependent on her full cooperation and testimony.’

  ‘Thank you. So, Zofia, if you’ve decided against that, there’s nothing further to be said,’ Ted made a show of gathering his things together and standing up. ‘I have somewhere else to be so I’ll send another officer in. You’ll be charged with several offences and remanded in police custody for now. Tomorrow morning you’ll appear before the magistrates for a further remand in custody.’

  ‘Hold on a minute,’ Ronnie almost shouted as Ted turned and made for the door. ‘You can’t do that. I need protecting.’

  Ted turned back towards her but made no move to sit back down.

  ‘So give me something that’s worth the trouble and cost of keeping you on the scheme. You’re holding back, Zofia. We both know that.’

  ‘There’s another place,’ she blurted. ‘Another lock-up. Data keeps stuff there. I been with him one time. It’s like a big old place, like a factory or summat. With all, like, small rooms, cabins, that sort of thing, where you can lock stuff away. There’s a lift you go up if you ain’t got a car. That’s well creepy. It got stuck one time when we was coming down. Data’s mad. He wanted us to do it while we were stuck there.’

  Ted sat back down, facing her.

  ‘By “do it”, you mean he wanted to have sex with you? In the lift? Wasn’t he sleeping with Abigail?’

  ‘Fuck, man, Data would shag anything with a pulse. He’d knob a dog if he were randy enough and there were nowt else. Not just girls, either. Lads too. Anything. That’s why he likes doing the porno films.’

  Ted was so glad he hadn’t already sent Trev a text to say he would be home early. He knew he could easily hand over to Jo at this point, but he wanted to see it through a bit further himself. Another half hour, he promised himself, then he’d go home. They’d still have enough time to go out for a walk or a spin on the bike somewhere. Maybe another meal out, by way of grovelling apology.

  ‘Sorry, sorry, I meant it to be earlier than this, honestly,’ Ted was already apologising before he’d got much further than the front door. ‘I just had a bit of a breakthrough with a witness and I didn’t want to leave it there.’

  Trev was lying on the sofa, accompanied by all the cats, watching a film. His new resolution about drinking less had clearly been a victim of his disappointment at Ted being later back than he’d promised, judging by the nearly empty bottle of red wine next to him.

  Ted bent down to kiss him and to stroke the cats. ‘We could still go out somewhere,’ he said optimistically. ‘I’ll drive, of course. Anywhere you fancy. And don’t worry about tomorrow. That’s a definite promise. Jo knows. He’s under orders to arrest me if I’m even a minute late leaving to pick up Jono. Although he doesn’t actually know where I’m going or why it’s so important.’

  He perched carefully on the edge of the sofa, being careful not to disturb any of its occupants. Trev’s look was not particularly welcoming.

  ‘I really should have learned by now not to get my hopes up. But I do. I did. It was a nice day. I was having visions of a spin out somewhere, with a bite to eat in a country pub. Sometimes I honestly think I should have married a boring accountant or someone else a bit more reliable.’

  ‘I really am sorry. I should never have said anything. Just turned up early to surprise you.’

  ‘One day you might do that and find I’ve finally decided to get myself a nice bit on the side. You might come in and catch me in the act of having a passionate romp on the sofa with some fit and faithful man who’s anything but a policeman.’

  ‘You could always try a romp on the sofa with your totally unreliable policeman husband,’ Ted suggested. ‘Who’s pretty fit for a boring middle-aged copper. And who is currently desperate and willing to do anything – anything at all – to get back in your good books.’

  He was slipping out of his jacket as he spoke, kicking off his shoes, and lifting protesting cats onto the floor out of his way.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Ted was in early on Monday morning, determined to get on top of work before he went to pick Jono up from the station. They’d spoken at length by phone but it would be the first time he’d met DI Jonathan Moore in the flesh.

  Sal Ahmed was already in, working away at Jezza’s desk, in her absence. He looked up as Ted entered the office.

  ‘Morning, boss. Following on from what Ronnie told you about the lock-up, I thought I’d make a start on looking at Abi’s financial situation, now we’ve got the bank statements from her mother. They show that Abi has been paying a monthly fee for a storage unit. And it seems to be in the same building as the one Ronnie mentioned. Coincidence?’

  ‘Which you know I don’t like. We need to take a look inside that unit. I have to be out for part of today, but I’ll sort out a warrant to search it before I go. Can I safely leave that one to you, Sal? Ask Inspector Turner for someone from Uniform to go with you.

  ‘Is there anything else coming to light on the financial side of things?’

  ‘Well, I’m trying not to be judgemental of the parents, but I do wonder why the father, in particular, doesn’t seem to have queried the amount of money she was going through. He’s a businessman, so he must know his way round the financial side of things. But he just seems to top the account up at the end of every month, presumably without querying anything. And it’s often right up to the generous overdraft limit.’

  ‘That’s pretty much what Mrs Buller told me. Guilt money, it seems.’

  ‘I can understand that, boss. But surely things like the storage unit should ring alarm bells? Why would he think his daughter needed one of those? I’m taking it she doesn’t drive, to take anything which she needed to store there?’

  ‘We hav
en’t specifically checked. We rather made an assumption,which we shouldn’t have done. But I would think it highly unlikely. Get someone to double-check that, though, please. And perhaps when you visit the place, find out about who goes there and how they take stuff in and out. If there is a vehicle going to any lock-up, they usually have to sign in at reception, I think, so there should be a written record, as well as CCTV.

  ‘I want to know what’s inside that unit as soon as possible. With any luck, it’s the missing camera, for one thing, and that could be very useful to us. Especially if there’s footage on it which we haven’t yet found online.’

  ‘There’s another thing. Her bank card has been used to withdraw the maximum cash amount daily on a number of occasions. Even that doesn’t seem to have rung any bells with the father. What does he think she’s spending that kind of money on?’

  ‘So the cuckoos have been making good use of her money for their own ends. The chances of us getting Abigail to trial, never mind getting a conviction, on this one are slipping further away with each new revelation. The porn footage we have already is a gift to the defence, and it sounds like there’s even worse still to emerge.

  ‘Good work, Sal, thank you. Keep at it.’

  ‘Any news on when Jezza is back? Only I’ll no doubt be summoned back to the Fraud fold fairly soon. It’s the same story there. Too many cases and not enough of us to go round at the best of times. Although it is nice being back with old friends, I must say.’

  ‘I’ve not heard from her yet, and I’m trying not to press her. I don’t want her rushing back before she’s fully fit. I’ll try giving her a call at some point today, though. I’d hate her to think we’d forgotten about her.’

  There was at least a bit more promising news at the morning briefing.

  ‘Boss, Sarwar is definitely the weak link,’ Rob began. ‘He was falling over himself to tell me anything he could, to get himself a lighter sentence. He’s already had a brief taste of life inside, as a young offender, and I gather it didn’t go well. He’s desperate enough to want to avoid repeating the experience in an adult prison. I think he’s dreading his first shower; a small, good-looking lad like him.

  ‘The trouble is, he doesn’t have a lot to bargain with. He doesn’t know much. He’s a bit at the bottom of the food chain. He swears blind he doesn’t know who the Big Man is and that it was only ever Kane who had direct contact with him. He does say that Kane mentioned the dwarf on a couple of occasions. He said he was there to protect the Big Man’s identity, but the others always thought he was just joking. Some bogeyman Kane had dreamed up to keep them all in line. It has to be said that if we didn’t have that reliable witness to him, we might be tempted to think the same.’

  ‘So what can he give us that Zofia hasn’t already? Now she’s finally understood that her only chance of a fresh start is to tell us absolutely everything she knows.’

  ‘Sarwar’s the quiet one. On the fringe of the group. He hangs around with them because otherwise he’d be homeless and penniless. He comes from a decent family, though not well off. Ultra-religious, he said. But he had a big falling out with them over something, he won’t say what, and walked out. He’s not seen them since. But he’s observant. He sees details others might miss. For example, he’s said Data is definitely Asian, not mixed race. He thinks British Pakistani. Now I know that doesn’t narrow it down all that much, but it’s a start.

  ‘I started interviewing him and we seem to have made a connection of sorts, so I was going to carry on with him for now.’

  ‘One thing you could try,’ Ted suggested, ‘is show him some of the milder film footage. Let’s see if we can get a definite ID on which one is Data from Sarwar. Then we could take a closer look to see if any distinguishing features show up that we’re not yet aware of.’

  ‘The main one seems to be that he’s randy as a billy goat on Viagra, which is pretty much what Ronnie told you, boss.’

  ‘Right, Jo, you have the conn today, Mr Sulu. Once I’ve sorted this warrant to search the lock-up, I’m unavailable for a chunk of the day.’

  Ted went back to his office. The warrant arranged, he phoned Jezza. He’d been trying to hit the right balance between concern for her welfare and not wanting to be intrusive into her private life.

  Her voice sounded sleepy so he began with an apology.

  ‘Sorry, Jezza, I didn’t mean to wake you. That was thoughtless of me. I just didn’t want you to think we’d all forgotten about you.’

  ‘Oh, I never thought that for a minute, boss. Not after the lovely flowers. I’m guessing Maurice had a hand in that. Anyway, I was going to phone you today. I’ve seen my doctor and she says I can come back to work tomorrow, but would need to take it easy for a few days. No chasing around after the baddies. But if you need another pair of desk-bound hands, that could be me.’

  ‘Just don’t rush it, Jezza. We’d be thrilled to see you back, of course, and we do need extra help. But only when you feel you’re up to it.’

  Urban legend has it that one copper can always recognise another in a crowd. Although Ted had never met Jono, he’d looked him up online and had an idea of who to look out for getting off the London train. He suspected Jono had done the same.

  Ted clocked him early on, more from his copper’s sixth sense than anything. Medium height, shoulders like a rugby player, and black. He saw from Jono’s face that he’d been recognised at almost the same time. Ted stepped forward to shake Jono’s outstretched hand.’

  ‘Ted, is it? I’m Jono. Good to meet you, at last. I wasn’t sure whether I’d need my passport up here. This is the furthest north I’ve ever been.’

  ‘I hate to break it to you, Jono, but there’s another country above us before you hit the North Sea. They call it Scotland.’

  Jono laughed as the two men walked out onto the station approach, turning up coat collars against the persistent wind-driven drizzle which was making the temperature feel lower than it was.

  ‘Now you wouldn’t be making fun of an inner-city London boy, would you, Ted?’

  ‘Perish the thought. The car’s just down here. I hope it’s okay with you, but we’re going to my house. I don’t usually like taking work home but Trev didn’t want to do the interview at the station. He’s well known there.’

  Seeing Jono’s look, he hurried on, ‘No, I don’t mean he has a record. He does a lot of socialising, with some of my team, for one thing. He didn’t want tongues to wag. This is really quite a big thing for him to be doing, so he wants it on a strictly need to know basis. If you’re okay with that?’

  ‘Absolutely fine by me, mate. You know the rule on cases like this. Whatever makes the witness happiest is how we like to do it.’

  ‘Great, thanks. Trev will have to get straight back to work when we’ve finished, but I picked up a few rolls that I thought you and I could tackle over a brew afterwards, before I drop you back at the station. I didn’t know what your taste was, so I got a bit of everything, including some veggie ones.’

  Jono made a face as they reached the car and got in. ‘I’ll pass on the rabbit food, if that’s all right. Strictly a meat and two veg caveman type, me.’

  ‘I told Trev what time I expected us to be there so I hope he won’t keep us waiting long. It has to be said that I didn’t marry him for his timekeeping.’

  Trev had been under strict instructions not just to be on time, but to confine the cats to the kitchen before he went out that morning. Ted had no idea whether or not Jono was an animal lover. Even if he was, Brian, in particular, had a habit of vomiting up partially digested wildlife all over the floor. It wouldn’t appeal to everyone and Ted wanted to try to keep this interview on a professional level.

  ‘What does Trevor do for a living?’ Jono asked, while they waited.

  ‘He’s a partner in a motorbike dealership. Bikes are his thing. Speaking of which ...’ he stood up and looked out of the window at the familiar roar of Trev’s red Bonneville coming down the road.

/>   Ted went to meet him at the door and exchange a hug.

  ‘Are you all right with this?’ he checked, as Trev peeled off his leathers and left them where they fell, heading for the living room. Ted automatically picked them off the floor and hung them up before following him.

  ‘Jono? Hi, I’m Trevor. Nice to meet you.’

  Trev said it as if welcoming a valued guest for a social event, instead of preparing to talk to a police officer about one of the darkest periods of his life. One which had caused an irrevocable split between him and his parents. As well as deep, emotional scars which showed no signs of healing.

  Jono asked permission to record the interview, then let Trev begin, in his own words and his own time. Occasionally Jono would make a note of something to come back to. He only interrupted to go over something for clarity. To ask pertinent questions, skilfully phrased, when he needed more detail. He mostly sat quietly and let Trev talk.

  Ted had brought water and glasses from the kitchen, deftly fending off cats determined to find out the reason for their incarceration, while he did so. Trev took frequent sips of his. Once he’d stopped talking, of his own volition, and Jono had asked all the outstanding questions he had, Jono thanked him for his time and stood up to shake his hand.

  Ted walked back to the hallway with Trev and handed him his leathers, scanning his face anxiously. He’d warned him that Jono was obliged to ask him some graphically detailed questions as part of the interview, and he had done. Trev seemed as upbeat as ever, despite it.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Ted asked him, giving him another hug. ‘Drive carefully, and I’ll try to be back at a decent time this evening, if you want to talk about it. What are we doing about supper?’

  ‘I made something yesterday, when you stood me up. Before I opened the wine. So we’re sorted. And yes, I’m fine. He’s nice. Sympathetic. Not judgemental. Easier to talk to than I imagined. Right, I’d better get back to the helm. See you later.’