Friday
After an acrid discussion, the two patrol cops who had been transporting
Mrs Bryce to HQ decided that finding Mrs Bryce had priority so they set off in
different directions. It would be challenge to come across the woman on a
moonless night, but it was the least they could do in the circumstances.
The shooting drama had taken place on Thumpton Hill, so Mrs
Bryce was able to escape into the thickets of Thumpton Wood. It did not take
many minutes for the patrol cops to realize that a) they were out of their
depth and b) they would have to get help. One of them phoned HQ and reported
the predicament. Help was promised and a message sent to CDI Hurley, who had
just arrived.
“What the hell…” was Gary’s reaction. “I thought they were
held up by traffic. They should not have been at the tail end.”
“Someone had to be,” was Nigel’s only comment. He had sympathy
for his boss. Why did the guy end up having to manage such calamities?
***
The blasted woman must have carried that gun in her shopping
bag, Gary realized. Dorothy had carried her father’s gun in a handbag smaller
that Mrs Bryce’s shopping bag, so it must have had plenty of room. He should
have known better than to believe someone like a Bryce would throw a good gun
away.
Where had Mrs Bryce found the bullets to re-load? Hadn’t
Dorothy said they were safe in her cutlery drawer? And hadn’t Dorothy asked him
if he ever made mistakes? Would he have the courage to admit this one?
Gary wished he was back in the clinic being treated for
burnout. What could he tell Cleo and Dorothy that would not arouse derision?
***
Olly sat in Gary’s office waiting for something to happen.
It was likely that his parents would be kept in arrest cells overnight, so Gary
asked Olly where he could stay the night if he did not go home.
“I can go to Alec’s,” the boy said. “I’ve stayed there
before.”
“Have you got your mobile phone with you, Olly?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Then phone Alec and find out if you can go there. It’s ten
o’clock now. You could be there in a good hour if you are straight with me about
your statement.”
“Yes Sir.”
Olly’s statement should have been brief and to the point,
but it wasn’t because the boy skirted round anything approaching a confession
or a denial. One thing was clear. He could not have shot Kelly. His description
of the situation was too vague and inaccurate. On being asked what he had done
with the gun, he replied that he had thrown it into the pond.
At that moment the phone rang. It was Greg. Mrs Bryce was
indeed missing. She had held the patrol cops to ransom, shot the rear window
out to prove the gun was loaded, and escaped through the unsecured back door,
armed, into Thumpton Wood.
Mrs Bryce had disappeared into thin air. The patrol cops
were treated for shock by paramedics. Greg, who had actually washed his hands
of the patrol squad organization, had been obliged to break off a very
promising date and drive to Thumpton Hill, where the incident had occurred.
“The car’s almost a write-off,” he reported. “Mrs Bryce put
a bullet through the back window. Big and Little were so shocked by the
shooting that Little drove into dustbins waiting for tomorrow’s collection.”
“Don’t blind me with science, Greg. Just tell me who Big and
Little are.”
“Fairly new to the business, Gary, and I did not get them to
join. Big is a tall, muscular guy who’s into extreme sports and Little just
about scraped through the height test. What he lacks in height he makes up for
in girth.”
“It sounds to me that those clowns are as much of a write-off
as their car,” said Gary.
“The insurance will pay for the car, Gary. I’m more worried
about Mrs Bryce being on the loose with what we can assume to be the gun that
killed Kelly.”
Gary moved into the corridor so that he could speak more freely.
“We must find her, Greg. The armed cops – assuming you have
sent some - will have shoot first to put her out of action but please not kill
her. The woman is dangerous.”
“Her action is as good as a confession,” said Greg.
“I keep thinking about Cleo saying that once someone has
killed, he or she will do it again if necessary. We can’t have that in Upper
Grumpsfield – or anywhere else for that matter.”
“So how many suspects have you captured, Gary?”
“Captured is rich. I have a little guy named Olly Bryce
here. He’s going home after making a statement that is unusable, in other words
a pack of lies. He claims that he sank the gun in the Commons pond, but that is
plainly untrue. Mr Bryce must be somewhere at HQ. It was in the patrol car
directly behind me. I’ll interview him another time. He can stew overnight.”
***
After talking to Greg, Gary instructed the police officer on
general night duty to see that Mr Bryce went in an arrest cell for the night.
Then he told Olly that he would drive him to his friend Alec’s home. The two
policewomen would drive with them.
“Stay at Alec’s for a day or two, Olly, but keep in touch,”
he said, giving the boy a business card. “I think your father will get home soon.
Since we don’t know where your mother is, I can’t tell you when she will be
home.”
“Don’t bother looking, Sir. She was having it off with Kelly
while he was having it off with anyone he could get near enough to. My parents
are disgusting.”
“You’d better talk to my wife, Olly. She’s a good listener
and she will help you to understand what has been going on in your family.”
“I understand already,” said Olly. “They hate each other.”
Gary was glad he had Mr Bryce under lock and key. It was a
wonder that Mrs Bryce had not already taken a pot shot at her husband or
otherwise caused his demise if there was so much hatred and duplicity in play.
She was obviously the more aggressive of the two.
Gary drove to Alec’s parents’ house in Lower Grumpsfield.
All the lights in the house were on and Alec was standing at the open front
door waiting. He was probably expecting a police car so would be disappointed.
“Gary explained the situation briefly. Alec’s parents were shocked
but sympathetic.
“Good night, Olly, and don’t forget that we want to help
you.”
“Thank you Sir,” said the boy as he rushed inside the house.
“He’ll be all right, Ladies,” said Gary. “How about a
goodnight coffee before you go home? Where’s Joe, Barbara?”
“He wanted to sketch the Bryces for his Cops Corner.”
“I’ll phone him,” said Gary.
“He should still be in his the office. I’ll go and collect him
when I’ve dripped Mia off,” said Barbara.
“I’ll tell him that, Barbara. You both have a free day
tomorrow after you’ve put in your reports. Thanks for supporting me.”
***
Gary related the sorry tale of his capture to Cleo. An hour
later Joe and Barbara arrived and helped to empty the coffee pot. They were now
an item, Gary decided.
“We’ll go next door,” Joe said. “I expect that Grit and Roger
will have hit the hay by now.”
“They got that sorted out fast,” Gary remarked.
“I think it was sorted out before you left for Lower
Grumpsfield,“ said Cleo. “Am I to believe that garbled story you told me?”
“It’s true, unfortunately,” said Gary.
“Who’s looking for the woman, then?”
“Mrs Bryce is probably being hunted down by half the
constabulary by now. The situation is volatile, but Greg is on hand and will
deal with it. He’ll have armed cops to help.”
“I’m honest when I say that I’m glad you are back.”
“I’m equally honest when I say that I’ll be glad to be under
our duvet,” said Gary. “I don’t suppose we’ll see Barbara and Joe again before
breakfast.”
“And I thought you were a fast worker,” said Cleo.
“Touché, my love.”
“Just one question,” said Cleo.
“Yes, I will marry you.”
“I thought we’d agreed on that in front of Mrs Colby,” said
Cleo. “But we have not actually solved the Kelly murder, have we?”
“It must have been Mrs Bryce. She had the gun.”
“And was clearly prepared to use it again,” said Cleo.
“They all made out that they had shot Kelly, said Gary.
“They must have planned that. They would probably have got away with it, but
Mrs Bryce has put a spanner in the works.”
“I’m going to take a very hot shower. Will you join me,”
said Cleo.
“Will we both fit? You aren’t exactly sylph-like these
days.”
“I wonder why,” said Cleo.
“Calories for three, my love.”
“That’s an old wives’ tale,” said Cleo.
“So I have an old wife.”
***
The phone rang. It usually did when the Hurleys had other
plans.
“Don’t answer it, Gary.”
“To quote you, I’ll have to. It might be important.”
It was Greg and he was not as laid back as usual.
“The worst has happened,” he reported.
“I was afraid it might. Where is she?”
“On the way to pathology.”
“I don’t suppose she could see any other way out, Greg.
Don’t blame those cops and don’t blame yourself. If anyone is at fault it was
me. I did not look inside her shopping bag although it reminded me of Dorothy
Price’s and she had carried that old pistol around in it.”
“She didn’t shoot herself, Gary.”
“She didn’t?”
“The A & E doctor said she died of a heart attack.
Fright, he called it. Running away like she did was simply too much for her.”
“Poor woman. She was guilty or she would not have run away.
In running away she signed her own death warrant.”
“I’ve pocketed the gun. It does look like Dorothy’s old one.
I’ve no idea where Mrs Bryce got the ammunition.”
“That’s the least of our worries. Dorothy may even have left
some ammunition in the laundry-basket and forgotten. See you tomorrow morning,
Greg. We’ll have to break the news to Mr Bryce, though from what his son said,
I don’t think he’ll be upset. He probably had a narrow escape once his wife had
found the gun.”
“What about the boy?”
“I’ll leave that to Cleo. Good night, Greg.”
***
“What will you leave to me?” Cleo asked as she handed him a
large mug of steaming cocoa.”
“Olli’s mother was found dead. Heart attack. And hey this is
cocoa. That’s a kid’s nightcap,” said Gary.
“Why don’t you try it first? I don’t put rum in the kids’
drinks.”
“I love you, Mrs Hurley.”
“I love you, Mr Hurley.”
***
“But we still haven’t solved the Rita case,” said Gary,
“even if Mrs Bryce seems to have solved the Kelly mystery for us.”
“I don’t care a damn if we never solve it,” said Cleo.
“Neither do I if I’m honest. Let’s procrastinate and go to
bed first,” said Gary. “This bedtime drink has an aphrodisiac if not a soporific
effect.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” said Cleo.
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