Don’t-05

The next few hours were very much a blur. I was searched several times before I was taken to Shrewsbury Police Station for questioning. My requests for something to eat were ignored.

"These could be evidence," said the detective who was assigned to question me as he held up an unopened pack of six energy bars. From the look of him, Detective Sergeant Saunders was a rookie in the Plain Clothes world. He had no dress sense at all and trying to wear shirts that were at least one if not two sizes too small for him, did not present an air of confidence or authority

I just shook my head. Numbskulls.
“Evidence of what? Do you think it is possible to attack someone with a granola bar?”

The Detective’s colleagues all laughed heartily. He was not amused.

“You will get what’s coming to you later.”

“What is that Detective Sergeant?”

“What you gave our colleague… That’s what.”

“What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”

“You were seen leaving the Officers home.”

“Yeah, I was there. So what? I’ve been helping her with her enquiries.”

“Pull the other one.”

“Why don’t you check with her superiors? She took me to a place in York where I spent a couple of days telling her and her team members.”

He just shook his head.

“Don’t believe me eh?”

“It isn’t a question of me believing you rather than you proving it…”

“Give me my rucksack and I will.”

Reluctantly, he left me alone for a few minutes.

When he returned, he had my rucksack with him.

I looked inside. Everything was a mess. I prided myself on keeping it tidy. After all, it held all my worldly possessions. The padded envelope with all my papers in was missing.

“Where is the padded envelope? The one with all my papers in?”

“Was there one?”

“If you check with the Desk Sergeant, you will find that there was. It was listed in the contents when I was booked in.”

He took the hint and went to check. I wondered if it had ‘gone missing’ but a couple of minutes later, he returned with it.

“Sorry about that. The Sergeant had put it in the safe because he thought that it was valuable.”

“It is valuable. To me at least,” I said as I emptied the contents onto the desk.

I found the item I was looking for.

“Here it is,” I proclaimed.

I pushed it over the table to him.

“That is a bill from a hotel on the outskirts of York. As you can see, it is for two rooms last week. The credit card slip shows that DCI Watts paid for the rooms.”

“So, it was a lovers tiff then?”

“What was?”

“You beating her senseless that’s what?”

“I didn’t do that.”

“Why did you visit her home the other day?”

“I needed to use her toilet in a hurry. I’d drank a large mug of hot strong tea on an empty stomach and it had run right through me. I did my business, cleaned up the bathroom and left. If you check the CCTV, you will see me leaving around twenty minutes after I arrived. When I left, she was about to make a phone call following something I’d told her during my visit. I’m sure that if you check the times from the CCTV and her phone call, you will see that I’d left well before the attack.”

“How do you know that?”

“Know what?”

“When the attack took place?”

I sighed.
“The newspaper said that it happened just after ten in the morning. I was long gone by then.”

He gave me a look that said ‘pull the other one sunshine’.

“Have you checked her phone?”

“What phone? There was no phone found on the premises.”

“Then what are you doing to find it? It is an iPhone so it can be pinged remotely.”

“You seem to know a lot about this stuff… I notice that you don’t have one.”

“I’m homeless remember.”

“What’s all that money we found on you then?”

I dug into the envelope and pulled out two receipts. I gave them to him.

“What am I supposed to do with these then?”

“Errr… Look at them.”

He glanced at them and pushed them back to me.

I sighed.
“One is for a withdrawal of my benefits payment at the Post Office in Pant. The other is for the supplies I bought also in Pant. Take the cost of those supplied plus the cost of the newspaper and subtract that from the amount of cash I had on me when I arrived here and you should get to a big fat zero.”

He didn’t even bother to look at the receipts again. I gathered them up and put them back in my envelope. As I did so, I shook my head.

“Don’t give me that. Don’t try to be some sort of smart ass with me. I know your game.”

“What game is that Detective Sergeant?”

I could tell that he was getting a bit riled.

“I’d like something to eat now. I have not had a proper meal in four days.”

I sat back and crossed my arms. As far as I was concerned our conversation was over.

“Why you….”

“Oh, and I’d like a lawyer. Please.”
He left me sitting there for all of 10 seconds. He came back into the room and took my Rucksack and Document Folder with him. Then I was left alone.

---

I don’t wear a watch I’ve learned to tell the time from the cues around me. That is all well and good for the countryside but I was sitting in an office with no natural daylight at all. I had been left alone without any food or water for several hours. Now I needed to use the toilet.

“Hello!” I called out.
“Is there anyone there? I need to use the toilet.”

No answer. I left it for a few minutes before repeating my plea.

I was about to call out again when the door opened and a detective walked in.

“Hello, I’m Detective Constable Khan. I have some good news for you.”

That got my attention in a flash.

“The DCI has regained consciousness and has given us a description of her attackers. When we told her that we had you in custody, she got very agitated. I have spoken to her superior about what you said about helping with an investigation. He confirms your involvement. The DCI is adamant that it wasn’t you who attacked her.”

I smiled.
“Does that mean I am free to go?”

“You are but… The DCI’s boss would like to speak to you on the phone first.”

"Ok. I'll talk to them but I need to use the toilet and I'd very much like something to drink and if possible, something to eat. I've not had a proper meal for four days. I did mention it to DS Saunders but he made a point of ignoring my requests.

She smiled back at me.

“If you would come with me, I’ll show you where the toilets are.”

“Thanks.”

---

After using the toilet, she took me to the canteen. They were just gearing up to serve those coming on shift for the six-to-six shift. I helped myself to a good plateful of food and a large mug of coffee and joined DC Khan at a table after she’d paid for both of us.

“Thanks for paying for this.”

She smiled back at me. Her white teeth making a great show against her light brown skin. That skin was flawless. ‘Oh, I wish…’ I thought to myself.

“I’ll get it from the petty cash later. We have a duty of care to people and DS Saunders has… shall we say, a bit of a reputation for ignoring it. He has this big chip on his shoulder because he’s been passed over for promotion to Detective Inspector… twice.”

Those few words explained a lot to me about his behaviour. His hard man act was that… just an act. I had to hope that my one encounter with him was just that, one.

I ate my fill and started to feel a lot better for it. I missed doing the cooking… before. I let out a sigh as I thought back to my kitchen. It was my kitchen. She never cooked if she could get out of it.

“What was that sigh for?” asked DC Khan.

Her words brought me back to reality.

"Oh sorry. I was… I was just thinking back to before when I did all the cooking. I miss that sort of thing even if it is pretty mundane. It gave me a chance to be creative. That was not something I could do with my job."

“What was your old job?”

“Nothing special. I was a self-employed window cleaner.”

She did her best not to laugh.

“See… nothing special.”

---

The phone conversation with Jennifer’s boss, Chief Superintendent Collinson, was very illuminating. He thanked me for filling in a lot of missing blanks into his investigation into my Wife and the company that she worked for. He didn’t say much about what was useful but I came away from it with a good feeling.

I did get the impression that things were coming to a head. That made me wonder what was going to happen to me then? My future looked unsure, to say the least. That was what I'd come to expect since she'd thrown me out.

DC Khan was waiting for me when I ended the call.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Eh? Go where?”

“To a safe place to sleep?”

“I don’t understand?”

“Oh? I thought that would be explained to you?”

“I’m in the dark. From here, it is pitch black. But honestly, if someone could arrange a lift back to Welshpool, I can find somewhere to sleep on my own.”

DC Khan shook her head.
“DCI Watts said that you were an independent sort of person.”

"You have to be pretty independently-minded sort of person to survive on the streets despite a good few people wanting you dead or at least out of action for the foreseeable future."

“You seem remarkably stoic about it all?”

“Stoic? Hardly. I was thrown out of my home and have been made to pay for my mistake many times over. Jennifer… Detective Chief Inspector Watts told me a lot about my wife and her family that I was blindly unaware of. Still… If what I just heard is anything to go by, it will all be over very soon."

“That’s why we have secured a place for you to stay for the time being.”

I wasn’t convinced.

“At least come and have a look at it?”

“Are you going to be my chaperone?”

DC Khan laughed.
“Something like that. At least for a couple of days.”

There was something about her that made me not want to argue with her one little bit so I followed her out of the Police Station and to her car.

“Climb in. We have a good way to go tonight.”

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll know when we get there…”

If there was one thing I hated as a child was people talking down to me. She was doing that right at the start.

"Please don't treat me like some child. I'm far too old and grumpy to be one so please don't play games with me."

"Sorry, but I was under orders not to tell you until we got there."

“If you had said that then I wouldn’t have argued but…”

"Sorry, Mr Scott."

“Apology accepted and if you are to be my chaperone, please call me Craig.”

Then I tried again.
“Look Detective Khan, I don’t have a phone so how am I going to tell anyone where we are going if you drive all the way there in one go?”

“Dolgoch. We are going to Dolgoch.”

I smiled.
“On the Talylylln Railway. A lovely part of Wales. The waterfalls are a tourist attraction.”

“You know the area then?”

“Oh, from a long time ago. The Scout troop that I was in went there for our summer camp. We had several trips on the train down to Tywyn when we went swimming in the sea.”

The Detective relaxed.
“I’m not the enemy you know.”

“Sorry,” she said again.
“I’ve only just become a Detective. This assignment is a bit strange to me. I asked for some time off to complete my dissertation and I get this.”

“What are you studying?”

“A Masters in Criminology.”

I chuckled.
“On the fast track then?”

She sighed.
“Not you too.”
“The answer is no… Or it isn’t my wish to be singled out. The more I can remain in the background the better.”

“Why? Aren’t you any good as a detective?”

She remained silent. That told me a lot.

"I don't think I am. I'm good with the theory and things like forensics but I seem to fail miserably on the deduction part. I'm certainly no Sherlock or Miss Marple."

I laughed.
“There is a lot more to Policing than on the front of the newspapers.”

She didn’t answer that but I saw her nod her head.

---

The inside of the car was nice and warm so I settled back and let her drive us into the heart of Wales. It was well past 8 pm when we arrived at the house. This was on the other side of the river from the Dolgoch Hotel and the Falls. The field where we’d camped all those years ago between us and the Hotel.

She parked the car in front of a house. There was another car already parked there. I wondered if the place where we were staying was supposed to be a secret just how many others knew about it?

I grabbed my rucksack and followed the Detective into the house. The front door wasn’t locked which surprised me.

“Go on through to the kitchen. I’ll lock up,” said the Detective.

“Thanks.”

I went into the kitchen and smelt something familiar. For a second, I could not place it but then I realised that it was the perfume that Jennifer wore. I heard a noise behind me and there she was. Wounded for sure but it was a great relief to see her up and about again.

“But… you are supposed to be in Hospital?”

“Yeah. Sorry about that but the one who is in Hospital is the one who tried to attack me. I tasered him and he knocked his head falling down. He’s going to be fine but is a person of interest to us regarding many other crimes.”

“I’m confused?”

“Things are coming to a head sooner than we’d planned. An anonymous caller said that you had been seen fleeing the scene of my attack. They gave us a very accurate description of you. That was suspicious in itself because people generally only get a few details on someone they see in the street. When you were leaving, I made a call to my team who raided the building opposite and arrested two people. They had been watching the flat for over a week. The two things together caused us to change our plans.”

“But why are you here?”

“I’m supposed to be in Hospital, aren't I? I can't be seen anywhere around for the time being neither can you? Your apparent arrest is in the media so the Chief Constable will be issuing a press release tonight. This is all because we found a lot of evidence that the man who attacked me was going to go after you next. That's when my boss decided to use this place for a few days.”

It all started to make a bit of sense now.

“Where am I supposed to sleep?” I asked still confused by what was happening.

“The room on the left at the top of the stairs.”

"Thanks. Then I'll bid you goodnight. Perhaps by morning, I'll have worked out exactly what is happening and is going to happen to me."

I left them together in the kitchen. My last words had been more bravado than anything else.

I did feel a bit bad for bailing out like that but I was tired and in need of some sleep. I have a tendency to get decidedly grumpy when I am very tired.

---

My mind was no clearer the next morning when I went downstairs. Both of them were in the kitchen having breakfast. To my surprise, I saw DC Khan eating a bacon sandwich. She saw my surprise.

“It isn’t proper bacon, it is Turkey Bacon but I’m not a Muslim, my family are Christians and we left Pakistan after Partition in 1947. My great grandfather saw that life would get difficult for people like us so he left with his family.”

“Sorry. I just assumed that you were with a name like that.”

She smiled.
“People make that assumption all the time. Mostly I let it ride.”

“Tea?” asked Jennifer.

“Please and a bacon sandwich if there is any left.”

I heard her sigh.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I thought I bought enough food for all of us for the rest of the week but it is clear that I didn’t.”

“That’s ok. I’ll go down to Tywyn later and get some more,” volunteered the DC.

As Jennifer poured some tea for me, I asked.

“Detective Constable, as we are going to be stuck here for several days at least, wouldn’t it be good to be on first name terms?”

She looked surprised.
“Sorry. It is Jasmine.”

"Thanks, Jasmine. That is a very pretty name."

Jasmine left a little later to go shopping. I did the washing up while Jennifer worked away on her laptop. I’d just about finished when she said,

“I saw that twinkle in your eye when you were talking to Jasmine.”

"I wasn't flirting with her. I'm very much not her type and besides, I have nothing to offer her."

"Don't you believe it?"

“What is there to believe? Everything I had is gone and when my wife goes down, the Government will take what is left as the proceeds of crime. As I have said many times, I’m not worth thinking about.”

“That isn’t true. You are a decent person.”

Then she thought for a moment.

“You never really said what ultimately led to you being thrown out? The gory details I mean.”

“My wife found me wearing her clothes when she came home from a trip back to Romania a day early. I later found that she’d put a web-cam in our bedroom and had watched it all from a thousand miles away. She threatened to post pictures of me all dressed up with nowhere to go all over town. That was just the start. From what I have discovered since she has been having an affair with one of her business partners. My guess is that she'd known about my dirty little habit for some time and I walked right into their trap."

“Wanting to dress up like that is not a dirty habit. Many men do it from time to time.”

I shook my head.
“It is more than that. As much as I’ve tried, I can’t stop it. As I told you before, it is part of me and that part won’t go away. I was once a semi-skilled labourer. Latterly, I was a self-employed window cleaner and I used to look after the house. You know, cooking and cleaning. I used to dress up almost every day. It was my one chance to be me, the real me.”

“So, you are transgendered then?”

I let out a big sigh.
“If you say so, then I am.”

“There must be someone out there who would let you be the real you all the time?”

“Who’d be interested in a penniless, homeless failure like me eh?”

“You would be surprised.”

I just shook my head. As if living here was not hard enough, but to be cooped up in this out of the way spot with two very good-looking women just made it even more unbearable.

[to be continued]