Saturday cont.
To say that Gary was at a loss to know what to do about
Dorothy would be an understatement. He had found it impossible to be really
angry with her although the situation called for it. Chris, who was usually
good-humoured and efficient, also seemed lost for words.
“I know what you want to say,” Dorothy had said when she
realized just how serious her carelessness was.
“Well, you have to admit that it was a very silly thing to
do,” said Chris.
“Considering how many time I have asked you to get rid of
that gun…” said Gary.
“So you don’t make any mistakes ever, do you?” said Dorothy
in self-defence. “You are crying over spilt milk, you know.”
“OK. Let’s just leave it at that, shall we?” said Chris,
giving Gary a warning look.
***
At home Cleo had enough to do without thinking about
Dorothy. The cause was a phone-call she had received not long after Gary had
gone to the scene of Dorothy’s crime.
“This is Middlethumpton General,” the caller announced.
“I’ll put you through.”
***
“Cleo. It’s Frank,” said the caller. “Sorry to startle you,
but I’m not allowed to use my mobile here.”
“How long have you been conscious, Frank?”
“Properly since yesterday. Can you do something for me?”
“Not until you’ve explained what’s been going on,” said
Cleo.
“I can’t do that over the phone,” said Frank.
“I’m at home, Frank, and anyway, Gary has debugged the
phones.”
“Oh,” said Frank.
“You knew about the phone-tapping, didn’t you, Frank?”
“I can’t answer that now, Cleo.”
“Why don’t you just tell me what game you are playing?”
“I can’t do that either. It’s too complicated.”
“I went to school, Frank. I understand plain English and I’m
not going to hang around waiting for a confession, so spit it out, as Dorothy
would say.”
“I’ve been framed,” said Frank.
“I hoped that was the case. Who framed you?”
“A friend.”
“Some friend! The one you said you were meeting in London?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his name?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Look Frank. Now you are conscious, you will be arrested for
drug-dealing. Am I making myself clear?”
“Are you warning me?”
“No, just telling you what will happen. You will have to
explain that banana box full of heroin, Frank.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Just hang on a moment. My cell phone is jumping up and
down.”
In fact, Cleo had pressed the quick dial for Gary’s number.
***
“What is it Cleo? I’ll be home soon.”
“Don’t come home, Gary. Get to the hospital. Frank is
conscious and asking for my help. I think he’ll abscond.”
“OK.”
***
“Sorry, Frank. That was a different case.”
The line was dead.
***
When Gary arrived at the hospital the patrol car he had
ordered to be there at the double was parked opposite the main entrance.
Reception told him a Detective Inspector had already gone to Mr Wetherby’s
ward. One patrol officer was standing in the corridor outside the ward while
the other guarded the main exit.
Greg was remonstrating with Frank Wetherby. A patrol cop had
phoned him and raised the alarm. He wasn’t sure if Gary was in some sort of
danger. Greg had rushed to the hospital and found Frank dressing. That was
fortunate. Gary was sure that Frank would have left after phoning Cleo.
“What’s up, Gary,” said Frank. “How come you sent Greg
here?”
“Don’t you know?”
“I was knocked out. I still have amnesia.”
“Who did it?” Gary asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Where were you?” he asked, and Greg signalled to Gary to
hold back for a moment.
“You were at the cinema, weren’t you?” he said.
“No, I was ….”
“So much for the amnesia, Mr Wetherby,” said Greg.
Gary appreciated that old trick.
“OK, Frank. Stop play-acting and tell us what you were doing
at Rita’s house.”
“I went there to meet a friend.”
“Rita said you were going to London when you left her.”
“I was,” said Frank.
“But you left something important behind in Rita’s
storeroom, didn’t you?” said Gary.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said Frank.
“Amnesia again?” said Greg.
“We’ll find out if you can leave the hospital, shall we?”
said Gary. “Then we’ll take you to Headquarters and the drugs squad can deal
with you.”
“Now wait a minute,” said Frank. “I don’t know anything
about drugs.”
“You left a banana box full of heroin behand,” said Gary.
“Did you go back to Rita’s to collect it, or were you meeting another dealer
there?”
“I’ve been framed,” said Frank. “I told you that.”
“If you want me to believe that, you had better tell me the
whole story,” said Gary. “We’ll secure your release from hospital here and take
you to HQ. I’d rather talk there.”
***
Realizing that he was now cornered whatever he said, Frank
acquiesced. Gary was sure he did not have enough concrete evidence to charge
Frank Wetherby with a particular felony, and neither would the drugs squad, as
far as he could judge.
Chris would have to come up fast with the forensic evidence
he had gathered at Rita’s place. Was that banana box really full of drugs, or
was most of it only cornflour? Were there any of Frank’s fingerprints on it?
Was Rita perhaps less innocent than she appeared? Did she have the wrong friends?
There were many questions to be answered and the hospital was not the place to
ask them.
***
Frank was discharged from hospital and taken in the patrol
car to HQ. He would be detained at least until he had talked plausibly about
the fire, the drugs and the mysterious ‘friend’, which probably meant detaining
him for a long time even if he could not be charged.
In Gary’s office the first round of questions was asked with
Greg as an active partner and Nigel sitting at the back taking his usual
copious notes. The patrol officers sat on each side of Frank. A tape recorder
whirred as the interview was recorded and a digital camera filmed the
procedure.
“How long have you known Rita?” Gary asked.
If Frank was surprised at the question, he did not show it.
“Not long.”
“But you moved in with her.”
“I had to leave my lodgings and it was convenient,” said
Frank.
“Did you have a normal relationship with her?” said Gary.
“What’s normal?”
“Sex, sharing the household, paying towards living expenses.
That sort of thing.”
“I was not married to her,” said Frank. “She was not really my
type.”
“But good enough to doss down with,” said Greg. “Or were you
in hiding?”
There was a moment’s silence before Frank asked Greg what he
meant.
“Were you hiding from that friend of yours, the one who
knocked you out?”
“No. I was not hiding out. I just needed somewhere to go
while I made plans and I don’t know who knocked me out.”
“But you were meeting someone in that back room. You still
had a key of the salon,” said Gary.
“I had made a copy in case I lost mine.”
“And forgotten to hand it in,” said Greg, who already had a
very low opinion of Frank Wetherby.
“So Rita was only a convenience, was she?” said Gary. “Why
didn’t you go back to Frint-on-Sea if you did not want to work for Cleo?”
“Frint-on-Sea has nothing to offer,” said Frank.
“But London has,” said Greg.
“Why did you arrange to meet someone in Upper Grumpsfield
when you could have been in London, Frank?” Gary asked.
“I had business to see to.”
“Was the business to do with the heroin?2 Gary asked. Where
did you get it from?”
“What heroin?”
It was obvious that Frank Wetherby was going to block off
any mention of that cache of drugs unless he genuinely knew nothing about it, which was
highly unlikely. Gary was starting to think that the heroin really had been
planted there, or left there without Frank’s knowledge.
Gary decided to wait until Monday before asking any more
questions. By then Chris would have made a full report. The young patrol cops
were rather overawed by the situation, but it was Saturday, so they had not
been surprised to find themselves accompanying Frank to Gary’s second floor
office and witnessing what proved to be very short and inconclusive
interrogation.
“We’ll have to detain you over the weekend, Mr Wetherby,”
said Gary. “On Monday I will want to know the name and address of your friend
in London, who you were meeting at Rita’s house, and all about the heroin. I
need the names of all your contacts and I will need an explanation of the contents
of your pages on Cleo’s office computer.”
“That’s private,” said Frank.
“Not all of it,” said Gary. “I’d also like to know if you
bugged Cleo’s phone.”
“I didn’t do that,” said Frank.
“Somebody did and I want to know who. Perhaps you have an
idea,” said Gary, before telling the patrol cops that they could take Frank to
the arrest cells for a quiet, meditative weekend stay. Greg accompanied them.
***
“I want the Norton brothers investigated,” Gary told Greg
later. “You are on duty tomorrow so can you sort that out? I’d like to know if
they have been seen with Frank or if Frank has been seen on the courtyard
belonging to the garages behind Cleo’s office. The Norton brothers have at
least 3 garages there. You can get a mugshot of Frank from Cleo. I’ll get her
to send you one today.”
“This is serious stuff, Gary, but it should be the drugs
squad investigating.”
“Not if the attack on Frank was attempted murder, Greg. They
might get it right next time.”
“OK.”
“I’m out this evening. My brother’s daughter is arriving at
Heathrow, but Cleo will be at home. I’ll come in tomorrow if I can be of any
assistance.”
“I’ll cope, said Greg. “It’s your free Sunday. Enjoy it!
I’ll leave our private eye to his own devices.”
“Thanks, Greg. I really appreciate having you here.”
***
“I’m on the way home, Cleo,” Gary reported in the car over
his cell phone. “Frank is staying here over the weekend.”
“Where’s here, Gary?”
“HQ arrest cell.”
“Good. I have some bones to pick with that guy.”
“You can do that to your satisfaction on Monday, Cleo. He
may even need your professional advice.”
“I’d prefer to give him a piece of my mind,” said Cleo.
“That too, my love. Get the coffee on. I’m approaching Upper
Grumpsfield now.”
***
After due thought, Cleo phoned Rita when she had finished
talking to Gary and asked her to call in her cottage for a brief chat. The fact
that Gary would be there was just as well. On the contrary, it might be a good
idea to ask Rita some questions in Gary’s presence before a further
interrogation of Frank was made.
As luck would have it, Rita and Gary arrived at the same
time.
“I asked Rita over for a chat, Gary.”
“Cream or milk, Miss
Bailey?” Gary asked as he served the coffee..
“Neither, Mr Hurley. I need a cool head if Miss Hartley
wants to ask me questions.”
“Try first names, kids. All that Mr and Miss is 19th
century.”
“Did Frank phone you, Rita?” Gary asked.
“Yes. Last night.”
“Did he tell you not to say anything?”
“Yes.”
“But he called me this morning,” said Cleo.
“I told him to,” said Rita. “He owed me that much, but he
did not say he would.”
“Did he give you any explanation at all?” Cleo asked.
“No. I thought he cared about me, but he was not very
friendly.”
“I think you’ll find that he only cares for himself, Rita,”
said Gary.
“Where is he now? Has he run away again?”
“No. He’s in an arrest cell at HQ. He can’t run away and
we’ll question him closely on Monday.”
“I’m really afraid,” said Rita.
“He hasn’t told me much, Rita, but I don’t think the attack
on him had anything to do with you,” said Gary.
“And the fire?”
“It might be the work of someone quite separate from Frank.”
“But …”
“Arsonists like to behave that way. The fire had only been
burning for about five minutes when the fire brigade got a call. It could have
been from that arsonist himself wanting the satisfaction of watching ‘his’ fire
being put out.”
“But that’s terrible,” said Rita.
“It’s the best thing that could happen next to not starting
the fire,” said Gary. “We’ll catch whoever started it and his insurance will
have to step in.”
“The best thing would have been not to have my salon burnt
down,” said Rita, “and my insurance does not cover business premises . I’d been
meaning to change it.”
“We’ll have to wait for forensic findings and then go on
from there,” said Cleo. “If we can find the arsonist, the guy will have to pay.
Perhaps you can start a business going from house to house.”
“I’ll think about that. Of course, it isn’t the first fire
that has been set off here,” said Rita.
“Do you mean arson, Rita?”
“Someone tried to burn down Kelly’s old barn,” said Rita.
“That was years ago and the person who did it is dead,” said
Cleo. “Did you know Kelly?”
“Not intimately,” said Rita with an unfortunate turn of
phrase. “Can I see Frank?”
“Not until after we’ve talked to him on Monday, Rita,” said
Gary, “but he’ll be in custody for some time to come and you can visit him.
We’ll tell you when.”
“But that also depends on whether he wants to see you,
Rita,” said Cleo.
“Of course,” said Rita. “I’ll have to go to a client now.”
“So you are hanging on to your customers,” said Cleo.
“Yes. I put a notice in the freebie Gazette yesterday and
some phoned.”
“You could defrizz me when you have time, Rita.”
“No you won’t, Rita. Those curls feel beautiful,” said Gary.
“Like barbed wire,” said Cleo.
“When you suggested a home service, it was a confirmation of
my idea.”
“Did your Gazette advert include a story of the fire, Rita?
I haven’t had time to look.”
“Yes. That way I got the notice for free, Cleo.“
“You would,” said Gary. “The editor has a nose for crime.”
“Does he? He sounded charming on the phone.”
“We can all sound charming when we want to, Rita,” said
Gary.
Rita said thanks for the coffee and took her leave.
Cleo wondered if Rita would ponder on what Gary had just implied.
***
Cleo could not resist asking Gary what he meant by that last
comment.
“I’m not sure if she’s just a little country hairdresser,
Cleo. I can’t decide how many lies she told us.”
***
Chris rang.
“I expect you’d like to know a few facts before you
concentrate on your weekend,” said Chris.
“It would be nice. I seem to be bouncing along on theories
at the moment.”
“Keep bouncing, Gary. I’m bouncing too. I hear you have
Frank Wetherby in a cell.”
“A temporary guest unless we can get something to hold him
on. You can’t arrest a guy for getting knocked out.”
“That banana box was full of flour except for the top layer,
Gary.”
“Somehow, that does not surprise me. I’d been wondering why
anyone would leave such valuable contents to pot luck.”
“I found traces of heroin in one of the packages. It was
probably enough to stop corns throbbing. You could make cakes with the rest and
come out of eating them unscathed.”
“That would be funny if it wasn’t a sign of Frank actually
being innocent of a number of felonies I’d like to have charged him with.”
“What about that hairdresser? Is she naïve enough to go for
that sort of trick?”
“We are starting to there’s more to Rita than meets the eye.”
“There were prints on that box. I expect you can guess whose
they were,” said Chris.
“One of the Norton brothers or their helpmates? I can’t
think of anyone else who would find his way to Upper Grumpsfield on any pretext
except harmless residents.”
“They are not all harmless, Gary.”
“I’m finding out the hard way.”
“Right in one about the Nortons themselves, but what game
are they playing?”
“Cloak and dagger I should think. I’d just like to know what
is really going on, Chris.”
“Someone may have got at Frank because he was working in
Cleo’s office and that used to be their junk shop, didn’t it?”
“So it did, but how did the Nortons get the idea of planting
sham drugs in that hairdressing salon?”
“I don’t suppose it escaped their notice that Frank had
shacked up with that hairdresser.”
“More food for thought!”
“They may have needed to get into that office, Gary, and
found in Frank a way that would not arouse suspicion. The stuff planted at the
salon may just have been a decoy.”
“So Frank would be the fall guy,” said Gary. “Chris, you are
brilliant. You should go in for fortune telling.”
“Or they just wanted to put Frank on the line. Maybe he was
too nosey, Gary.”
“We need Cleo in on this discussion, Chris, but she busy
with the babies at the moment.”
“Ask her what she thinks about my ideas.”
“I certainly will.”
“I was never sure about Frank, Gary. He had a habit of
picking my forensic brain.”
“Cleo seemed to be OK about him until this week, but I think
that was because she had no choice given that the twins arrived on our wedding
night, less than a week after Frank had arrived to manage the office. Cleo had
planned to have the whole of April to get him tuned in, but she was obliged to
let him get on with it. He’d had a hard time in Frint-on-Sea, Chris, but I
never even considered that it might have been because he was getting too
interested in what went on.”
“You’ll have to clarify that,” said Chris.
“I think he knew too much and was being blocked at every
entrance.”
“OK. Go on.”
“Then he got suspicious of a fat sergeant and the fat
sergeant wanted Frank out of the way since Frank’s suspicions were justified. The
sergeant realised that Frank’s interfering was dangerous for him and certainly
for others who were paying for that sergeant’s cooperation and keeping him in a
job. The sergeant decided to do something about Frank.”
“How?”
“I think they struck a bargain. Frank would take up an
invitation he had from Cleo, and the sleaze could continue at the town hall and
presumably elsewhere.”
“Nasty.”
“Very nasty for that fat sergeant because I got in the act.”
“I don’t suppose Frint-on-Sea is an isolated incidence of coppers’
corruption.”
“No, Chris. We have it here on our doorstep.”
“For instance, I know about that hacker going to Cleo’s
office,” said Chris.
“I expect everyone does. HQ is as porous as a sieve and
Cleo’s phone was bugged.”
“I’ll have to go over her office again,” said Chris. “Is
there any part of it that wasn’t renovated?”
“You’ll have to ask Cleo about that.”
***
“Only the utility room sink fitting, Chris,” Cleo told him.
“Was any drugs testing done?”
“No. The place was completely empty when we took over.”
“We might have to let our famous dog Spot sniff around,”
said Chris, “There has to be a connection between Frank, a cache of fake drugs
and your office.”
“Is that a new theory of yours?”
“I can’t help thinking that Frank could have been framed in
a big way, Cleo. It would explain quite a lot of what is bothering Gary.”
“I’ll have to talk to him about that.”
“I’ll get Spot for Monday, shall I?”
“Afternoon, Chris. I want to be at Frank’s questioning in
the morning.”
***
“Don’t you think this cops and robbers stuff is going too
far, Gary?” said Cleo. “Now Chris seems to be hooked on it as well.”
“In the days of the adage we would have said there was no
smoke without fire, Cleo. I think that Chris connects the mainly faked drugs
cache to your office.”
“So Frank was to be framed and taken out of circulation, was
he? Did those responsible think he knew more than he did about the office?”
“Ask me another.”
“What was there to know?”
“Our famous sniffer dog Spot is going to find out on
Monday.”
“That’s a good idea. Frank is lucky to be alive, isn’t he?”
“I think someone was meant to liquidate him, got scruples
and knocked him out instead. It might have been a contract killer, but whoever
it was and for whatever reason, he did not finish Frank off.”
“Lucky Jim! But the banana box stayed put.”
“An identifiable fingerprint on the box belongs to a Norton
brother and they are not really into murder. A contract killer may have got
cold feet, or Frank struck a bargain, bought himself mercy and was almost
killed after all. The Norton brothers may not be the main protagonists, Cleo.
They don’t go in for contract killers.”
“So who did, Gary,
and what about the fire?”
“I can’t fit that in,” said Gary. “If Frank was to be burnt
alive the fire should have started in that back room. We need to find out how
deeply Frank had got himself into the morass and go on from there.”
***
During the latter part of that discussion Cleo had fetched
Teddy from the playpen and handed him to Gary while she got Tommy out.
“Your sons need sustenance, Gary. No more time for crime.”
“Not like our Norton friends,” said Gary. “Sam and Jam
always seem to have their fingers in some pie or other.”
“Can you take Tommy on your spare arm while I get their
lunch?”
“Won’t I drop them?”
“Not if you are sitting on the sofa. You’re out of
practice!”
“Where are the girls?”
“Next door with their grandmother for lunch,” said Cleo.
“It’s all organized.”
“I can’t remember not having all these kids round me, Cleo.”
“It’s going to be more in a few months’ time.”
“It’s like organizing a battalion…. What do you mean
‘more’?”
“You know about one,” said Cleo.
“Go on!”
“It could be two.”
“You’re kidding.”
“You could put it that way. Two heartbeats, Gary, and three
including mine.”
“Four, including mine.”
“I just don’t know where we’ll put them all,” said Cleo.
“You wanted a houseful, my love.”
“Sure.”
“Wait till everyone is around and I’ve had my siesta and
I’ll tell you how.”
“Won’t you tell me now? You’re up to something!”
“We all have our moments, Cleo. I need mine too!”
Cleo had to make do with that explanation.
***
When the twins had been tucked in for their siesta, Gary
checked that his daughters were OK with Grit. Siesta time was a tradition and
even Joe had come home for his. They were all to meet at Cleo’s for coffee at
five before it was time to get to Heathrow.
“My duvet is calling,” said Gary as he stripped off. “I’m
exhausted.”
“Your wife is calling,” said Cleo from the depths of her
duvet.
“You don’t sound very tired,” said Gary.
“Should I be?”
***
By five everyone was assembled at Cleo’s dining table.
“I have an announcement to make,” said Gary.
“So do I,” said Cleo.
“Ladies first, my love,” said Gary, who thought he knew what
was coming.
Cleo held a document aloft.
“This is a copy of the deeds of this cottage,” she
announced. “If you look closely you’ll see that you are now on it, Gary. You’ll
have to sign at the solicitors, but it’s legal. Do I get a hug?”
“We all get a hug,” said Gary. “I’m back on cloud nine.”
***
“So what’s on your mind, Gary,” said Grit.
“Cleo was wondering what to do with all the new citizens she
is bringing into the world.”
“Go on!” said Grit, who knew what Gary was going to say.
“All this happened weeks ago, Joe. It’s as if we knew you
were going to turn up,” said Gary.
“Done what?”
“Bought that bungalow next door. Me and our mother.”
“But perfect, Joe,” said Grit “because you can have my
cottage if you want it. I’ll make a bed-sitter in the bungalow and be on hand
for all my grandchildren.”
“This is like something out of a movie,” said Cleo. “I’m
lost for words.”
“I had to do something constructive, even though I did not
know I was going to become a father of twins again.”
“Is that true, Cleo?” said Grit.
“Sure. Awesome, isn’t it?”
“I’m blown over,” said Joe.
“Alterations start next week,” said Gary.
“Not those Polish guys again,” said Cleo.
“They told me about the bungalow going up for sale and I got
in before the agent could.”
“Awesome,” said Cleo.
Charlie ran to her mother and hugged her tightly before
going to Grit and doing the same.
“Are you coming to meet Charlotte, Grannie?”
“Of course, Sweetheart. Your Mummy will stay with PeggySue
and the twins.”
“I’ll be glad when you all reappear,” said Cleo. “But you
should get going now. You know how awful the traffic can be.”
There was no denying that the Hurleys had got plotting and
planning down to a fine art, as Joe was finding out.
***
Grit had been troubled that Joe was melancholy when left to
his own devices.
“I think he’s homesick,” she had told Cleo.
“He’s missing his daughter, Grit,” Cleo had said. “But
she’ll be here soon.”
“She’s at school, Cleo. Maybe he had a partner there and
hasn’t said anything.”
“How can we find out? We can’t search through his things.”
“We don’t need to, Cleo. I found a phone number when I
emptied pockets in a pair of jeans destined for the washing machine. I want to
ring that number. What do you think?”
“You should, I think If Joe was carrying that phone number around
it must be important to him”
***
The call was taken by a woman’s voice.
“Sonia here,” it said.
“Are you Sonia Butler?” Cleo asked.
“No. Not Butler.”
“I’m sorry. I thought ...”
“Don’t ring off,” said the voice. “If you are looking for
Joe, he’s in the UK.”
“Do you know where?”
“I wish I did,” said Sonia.
“Are you his …”
“Not exactly his partner. He got this dumb idea of going to
the UK to look for his brother.”
Cleo decided to approach Sonia with her usual directness.
“Are you in love with Mr Butler,” she asked.
“I don’t what business that is of yours, but I thought we
were a pair before he upped and left. Who are you, anyway?”
“I’m Joe’s sister-in-law.”
“You have to be joking.”
“On my honour. Joe found his brother Gary and I’m Gary’s
wife Cleo.”
“What about his mother, Cleo?”
“Sitting right next to me, Sonia.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“Sure.”
***
“Hello Sonia.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true.”
“Charlotte is flying over to be with her father, Mrs …”
“Hurley, but call me Grit. Even my sons do.”
“You must be a very happy woman, Grit.”
“I am. Why don’t you come over and see for yourself?”
“I’m coming, Grit. I did not want Charlotte flying over on
her own so I’m accompanying her. Joe doesn’t know. The school arranged
everything.”
“That’s wonderful, Sonia. I’m driving to Heathrow with my
sons and Gary’s daughter. I can’t wait to meet you.”
***
“I know there is no such thing as a perfect world, Cleo, but
the small world I live in is wonderful,” said Grit.
“That’s why we have to make our own world perfect, Grit. I
just wish I had realized that sooner.”
“I think it’s because we make do with what we have most of
the time,” said Grit. “And that’s just as well.”
“Except that when we perceive that our world is not as round
as it should be, we have to get out of it or change things.”
“The next one might not be as good as the one we left,
Cleo.”
“I’m all for taking a chance,” said Cleo.
