Chapter 4

The Colonel left them. Jim Dutton looked at Marilyn.

“How on earth do you know that man! He has obvious links to the secret services.”

“He came to meetings with that double murder and cold case a little while ago. There were aspects of it that had national importance, although that was never brought out in the papers. Keith Russell, in Leeds, has a contact number for him. He wasn’t involved, that time, just an interested observer.”

“He’s certainly needed now; with the way this is going.”

Chapter 2

Marilyn went and stood on Coppergate and tried to visualise the scene. There was something wrong if the carnage was just a byproduct of a targeted hit. The Ram must have been waiting nearby, with a spotter in the Walk. If there was forward planning, the killers had to know, in advance, that the target would be there at that time, which meant a meeting had been set up.

Chapter 6

Marilyn walked with her to the stairs. She held out her hand.

“See you later, Brightman. I’m heading back to my office to plug a new name into our searches. We’ve been trying to get the names of the robbers that Anderson was with out of the records for a week. They all went into juvenile and the records sealed. We’re looking at another avenue, but I believe that we now have the one we really wanted.”

She went up to the team office and stood by the ‘Rascal Wall’.

Chapter 4

There was something that Marilyn could do while she was at her computer. It would be doubling up Ians’ work, but she called up Ancestor and entered Geoff Hunter and his known year of birth. She tracked through the family tree, finding that he had five brothers. One, who would be the right age as the man that Rose had seen, was called Henry Hunter.

Chapter 2

They walked into the office to see most of the team already studying computer screens. Marilyn went into her own office and spent two hours working on administrative paperwork, to clear her mind. At around ten, she had a call on her mobile.

“DI Houseman.”

Chapter 2

Next morning, Sally met with the paramedics when they arrived for work.

“Thanks for seeing me, gentlemen. Can you tell me about the time you attended Fred Williams?”

“It was a pretty normal visit. The guy had died, the attending nurse had called it in when she found him. He was on the floor, on his front. He had vomited and is bladder had emptied.”

“Vomited? That wasn’t in the official report. Was it where he was found, or was it in other places in his home?”

Chapter 6

For the rest of the day, they continued sorting out the evidence and transcribing the recordings they had made. Sally rang Laura.

“Laura, it’s Sally. I do have one question for you. How long was it after your mother got her reminder note before she was killed?”

“That was a week, I think. The note was in the post on the Monday, and she was found the following Tuesday. How are you going with it?”

“We have the name of the smaller man. Would you believe that their nicknames are really Horse and Cart?”

Chapter 4

Sally opened up the thin file which outlined the basic facets of the case. It was close to what they were dealing with now. The dead man was well-off, and there was a substantial life policy. He had been found hanging from a balustrade in his big house. There was a typed suicide note, with the signature also typed. The rope was over-the-counter plastic woven, in a jazzy colour pattern. The body had a large amount of alcohol in the system that matched the bottle on his desk, next to the note.

Chapter 2

She laughed and went back to her desk. Tomorrow, she hoped, a few more answers would be forthcoming. This one had the feel of her last big case, in her mind, this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

The next day, the three detectives went north to see the doctor and the bank manager. The first would see them, in his clinic, at ten, the other, at the bank after eleven. Sally had spoken to her friend, and they had agreed to meet on his lunch break, at a café in Burton.

Chapter 9

Andy took the card out of his wallet and rang ‘Off the Bone’. When he put his phone away, he laughed.

“Jim told me that if I can get the team in, he’ll set up the function room, on Saturday evening, just for us. He is still happy with us, and the place is, or so he said, going gangbusters. The room is big enough for your team and their partners if they want to come. I’m sure that Jim will have enough food for us all. Here’s the address, it’s smart casual, and we’ll meet you at seven. Now I’ve got to round up the others.”

Chapter 7

“All right, Alex. You’ve got yourself a deal. Now let’s cut the chat and get in there!”

Sue ceremonially opened the grill lock and gave the keys to Alex. He went to the steel door and opened the padlock, after a bit of juggling. He pulled the door open, and then looked inside. It was a fissure, about five feet high and two feet wide, which went back about six feet before turning sharply to the left, going behind the wall of the cave.

Chapter 5

Monday morning brought them back to earth. The had breakfast, tidied up and both left the house. They kissed, and then Maria went west, towards the Aston station, while Andy went towards Coventry and the Police College. When he arrived, he walked to the swimming pool, a place he remembered with happiness.

When he walked into the pool area, he saw the dive leader, now known to be DCI Alex Anderson, who was checking over a wetsuit.

Chapter 3

Monday morning, Sally had some news, but not news about the case.

Chapter 1

Andy had a dilemma. He was working at a school crossing, lollipop outstretched, with a seemingly endless queue of children passing him. He could hear the sound of an approaching siren and needed to clear the road of the children and all the cars lined up. Then the siren passed by, and he woke up in a sweat.

Chapter 7

Andy and Maria spent much of Sunday sorting out the evidence that they had gathered. They knew that it would have to be believable to swing the hard-nosed members of the team. It would be a hectic week, if they were to raid the restaurant before the victim had been ritually sacrificed.

Chapter 5

As they walked into the office, Sue was on the phone. She looked at them, smiled, and said, “I see what you mean,” then put the phone down.

“That was the duty sergeant. He wanted to know if we now had a new branch – the Fashion Police. You both look a bit different. Very elegant and absolutely right for the job I have for you, tonight. That’s if you haven’t got a couple of seats booked at the ballet. That outfit looks good on you, Maria, maybe a little more expensive than your weekly outfits.”

Chapter 3

With the front door open, they could see a brick laid on the accelerator pedal. The FSI leader looked closely at the outside of the door and pointed out a small depression.

“I expect that there were two of them. They started the car with the brick upright and one put the automatic into drive. As it started to edge forward, he pushed the brick over onto the pedal and would have ducked out of the way. The second guy would have knocked the door closed as it went past him. I expect that we will see some damage to the grass with wheelspin.”

This is the start to a short series that I had no idea I could, or would, write. It comes about from all the nice comments I received about the set of ‘Polly’ stories.
Marianne

Chapter 1

Part 2

I sat at my desk and pondered on what Cherry had found. Five deaths, spread over nearly forty years, was difficult to understand. The motive may be lost in time, maybe they weren’t linked at all. Maybe, the AI had just come up with gobbledegook. Maybe, no, certainly, this was going over my head this time.

Chapter 6

Sunday, for me, was another new beginning. I had breakfast, my man across the table, and he knew everything but still loved me for who I am now. It was as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The day was spent doing cleaning and laundry, kissing, and laughing. That night I got him worked up with my mouth before letting him have his way with me.

Chapter 4

We stopped talking to eat the meal that had been put in front of us. It was a seafood dish, but I couldn’t pick one of the ingredients. When I asked, Queenie told me that it was Moreton Bay Bugs and King Prawns in a Hollandaise sauce with a Greek salad and lightly toasted bread pieces. It was delicious and I told the waiter that when he came to pick up the plate. Queenie smiled.

Chapter 2

When Julia and Jessica came out and shed their suits, they had the bones, or parts of bones, in bags, along with the ammunition box, as well as three different saws that they had found, one being a tree saw. A squad car had arrived, so Jackson gave them their orders, shook hands with the three of us, and went off to his office to pull out all of the case files.

Chapter 6

Back in our office I told her that it was her show now. I stressed that she had the knowledge and had to get the confidence if she wanted to move up in the force. I reminded her that she was ahead of most officers by being on good terms with her Chief Super and also on a first name basis with the AC, even if his first name was Sir.

Chapter 4

I got my phone and took a picture, close up, followed by a couple showing the whole board. When I got back home, I uploaded the pictures to my laptop and added them to an email to Strachan. Well, he did say to report only to him, didn’t he?