Chapter 2

In the nurses’ office it was a little cramped so we took it in turn to get changed. One by one we took the uniform off for the last time and passed it to those outside to put with the other uniforms in the spare room. Ingrid was first, coming out in a shortish shift in the school blue, accentuated by a white belt and piping.

Jacquie had a full skirt and a plunging neckline with a black belt and trim. Paula took us all by surprise when she came out in a mid-calf sheath in the blue, as decided, but overlaid with sparkles. With the high heels, she looked like a film star. Angie appeared with a pencil skirt and a silk blouse, looking every inch the lady of the manor.

I had my blue cut-on-the-bias sheath, almost mid-thigh, with wide sleeves reaching below my elbows. It had been expensive but my mother insisted it looked too good to leave in the shop. We had the bags that we had carried in, so everything we wanted to take home went in easily. Carrying our bags, we walked back towards the small hall, heels clicking on the hard floor and all happy to be walking towards freedom and our new lives.

First, however, was the party, when we walked in through the door and put our bags by the wall for later, there was a smattering of applause. The newspaper photographer wanted more pictures of us. Pictures of each of us alone, posed with the bare wall behind us. Then it was as a group, or in pairs, then with our parents. Then it was pictures with the Headmistress and other teachers, and then with the Mayoress and other dignitaries. It was crazy for a while and then we could speak to our families, at least, for a short time, until food was served. It was a stand-up buffet and we tried our best to remain dainty and not spread crumbs over our new dresses.

We were each spoken to by the Mayoress and all of the school board, mainly congratulating us on our beauty matched with brains. One of the Governors was a partner in the firm where Mum worked and where I hoped to spend some time before University. He asked me about any office skills I had and, when I told him that I had spent a couple of summers helping out at the garage, he nodded sagely.

“I expect that you’re a competent typist and know your way around a computer?”

He looked at my father as I nodded. “I gather she did filing and some stock control?”

My father nodded. “I had my heart set on getting her into the office, when she was there it ran like clockwork and she has a way with the customers.”

“All right! You’ll be wasted doing office jobs with us.”

My heart lurched, was he going to withdraw his offer. Even Mum looked worried.

“When you come along on your first day, I want to see you looking smart. Your mother knows what I mean, the standard skirt suit and low heels because you may find yourself on your feet a lot. I will put you with our court team as a helper and trainee. You’ll spend a lot of time in court and, I think, get to meet most of those who run things there. By the end of summer, I expect that you could mount a case on your own, in fact, I think we may have you mirror a real case with the lawyer who will be acting for us and I’ll quiz you both on how you intend to present it.”

I thanked him. That was jumping in at the deep end, for sure. Mum gave him a smile, and gave my arm a squeeze. “We’ll have her looking like she’s been called already, thank you, sir.”

When the party wound up, and we were going home with Dad driving, Mum turned to me, sitting in the back. “You girls have done us lowly parents proud. Each one of you has made impressions that will last, today. As a group I saw why the other girls called you the ‘Fabulous Five’, together, you’re knockouts.”

That night, we went to a restaurant for a nice meal. Dad slowly coming to grips with the young lady who sat next to his wife. I think that he had never considered me as anything but a schoolgirl, until today. I know that Mum was starting to think about her life once I was off at Uni. It would be a bit lonely for her and I knew I would have to accept the fact that I was likely to get a lot of phone calls from her.

The next day was Saturday and the morning was set aside for a little shopping. Mum knew a salon where all of the legal profession shopped, both male and female, and we made a beeline there. Before long I had three skirt suits in black, grey and a dark blue with pinstripe. Those, teamed with the six blouses we found, would be enough to let me look the part in the courts.

The afternoon was a planned outing with Roddy. He had said that we might go to the seaside and to have a bikini with me. I was outside and waiting when he arrived. He wasn’t alone in the car, as there were two others already in the back seat. As usual, I had to open the passenger door myself before I could get in. I put my bag between my legs, not being able to drop it on the back seat.

He was pulling away while I was still getting the seat belt untangled.

“Hey, slow down, Rod, I need to get buckled in!”

“He’s been like this since he picked us up,” said a voice I knew from the back.

I looked around and saw Ed, sitting behind Roddy. Turning my head more, I was surprised when, instead of Angie, I saw Jacinta Bellows. Now, Jacinta, or Cin, as she liked to be called, was well known among my peers as the town bike. She went to the Council School, or did until they tossed her out for going all the way with a lad behind the bike sheds. If she was on this trip as Eds’ partner, things didn’t look very good.

I asked where we were going and Ed told me that they were going to visit his mate, Bert. That caused me more worry as Bert had a reputation as a dealer, although nothing had ever been proved. You know how schoolgirls chatter with the barest hint of truth involved. This trip was starting to look like no other outing I had been on with Roddy.

“So, Roddy, what’s this afternoon all about?”

“Livie, my darling, it’s all about you not being a schoolgirl any more. It’s about doing some adult things with other adults along for the ride.”

Cin cackled, “Ooh, yes, that Bert knows lots of ways to give a girl a good time!”

This didn’t look good. I sat as we left our town and went through some countryside. I delved into my bag for my lipstick but dropped it as we went over a bump. When I reached down and looked for it, I felt a plastic bag pushed under the seat. As I pretended to look for the lippy, I pulled it out far enough to see dried leaves in it. I pushed it back and found my lipstick, rolling around on the floor. I redid my lips and put it back in the bag.

I knew that, on the way to the coast, we had to go through a pretty big town, with several traffic lights. As we approached the town, I carefully used my thumbnail to prise the friendship ring that Rod had given me over the knuckle on quietly onto the floor.

I was lucky as we travelled through the main street. We were third in line as the lights went red and I quickly unbuckled the belt, grabbed my bag and opened the door. I didn’t even say goodbye as I got out, slammed it shut, and strode across the pavement into the Marks and Spencer shop we were next to. I had been here before and knew that there were exits out to the back and into another small shopping centre.

I didn’t even have time to feel sad. Roddy had already reached the use-by date, a little earlier than I expected. There was no way I would stay with them to have a drugged evening, one of two girls with three guys. The other girl already well experienced in kinky sex, or so I had heard. I did a little shopping before making my way to the railway station. It didn’t take very long for a train to arrive to take me home. It was long enough to be hit on by three guys.

On the train, I sat alone and called Angie. When she answered I asked her if she knew where Ed was.

“He said he had to go and visit his grandma.”

“His grandma is Jacinta Bellows and they’re on their way to see his mate Bert with a bag of weed in Rods’ car.”

“What!!! How do you know?”

“I was in the front seat for a while, being taken off for an ‘adult’ time now I’m no longer a schoolgirl. I bailed out while they were at the traffic lights.”

“Hang about when you get to the station, Livie, I want to hear the whole juicy detail. I’ll borrow dads’ car and pick you up.”

At the station, I got out and went to the café area, ordered a coffee and a cake, and sat outside where I had a good view of the entrance. It only took fifteen minutes and Angie was walking towards me with a look of pure anger on her face.

“I rang the bastard before I left, asking him if he could bring me back his grannies’ recipe for scones. I heard that Cin laughing in the background and he hung up on me. That’s it! He’s finished!”

We sat there for an hour until she had calmed down and we started to make arrangements to meet up over the summer. I had to find out when I had days’ off and she had not been given a schedule yet. I told her everything about my short car trip and she agreed that I had done the right thing. We both agreed that we needed to find a better class of men, but that might be unlikely until we were in Manchester.

On Sunday, Mum took me to see all of the places I was likely to find myself in. We went past the law firm and then looped around, past the courts, past the Public Records office, past the cafes that she told me were popular among my future colleagues. The last place we went by was the hospital, where Angie would be working, and I was shown, for the first time, where the door to the morgue was, just in case I may need to go there.

As Dad was busy with the sporting teams, Mum and I had lunch together.

“Olivia, you have made me extremely proud, with your great results. I’m looking forward to seeing the local paper when it comes out. How did yesterday go? You seemed to be home very early.”

I told her everything, assuring her that I would never find myself in a similar situation in the future.

“You can’t predict the future, Liv, it has a habit of taking unexpected turns. What you did yesterday showed great initiative and courage. As long as you have that, it’s unlikely that you’ll allow a boy to get under your skin the way that Rodney did. It’s hard to move past your first love, even harder to move on from your first lover.”

I sat there, totally amazed. She had known that we were having sex, probably knew the day I lost my virginity. She had allowed me to find my own path, sure that I was faithfully taking my pills. I just nodded, blushing as I did so.

“It’s all right, I knew the day after you had your first one. A girl has a certain air about her after sex. If it’s good, the feeling never fades. If it’s bad, I’m sure that you’ll cope with it as an adult. From tomorrow, you are going to see, and hear, things that would make a whore blush. Remember, everyone we are defending is probably as guilty as hell. We don’t make a judgement, that’s up to the court. Even the nicest person can be likely to stab you just because they feel like it. Stay close to your colleagues and never allow yourself to be left alone with a client. Use your head and you’ll do well. It would be fun to be your secretary when you come back as a fully-fledged lawyer.”

I had an early evening, spending time to make sure my outfit was clean and pressed. That night I had a dream about having kinky sex with Rod and Ed, waking up crying that I couldn’t take it and bathed in sweat. In the dream I heard Jacinta laughing and saying that I would make a good addition to the whores at the club, being such a great actress.

I went to the bathroom and gave myself a flannel wash, then got into a fresh nightie and, thankfully, had a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night. The dream worried me for a few minutes after the alarm had gone off. Was I a prude? Or could I be as much as a slut as Cin. That morning I realised that a person can be anyone, or anything, they want to.

I went into my first day of actual work with Mum, in her car. I was wearing my gray skirt suit with hose and low heels. She had given me a proper legal carry-bag to use and my personal things were in the front pocket. At the office, I was greeted by the receptionist and then the partner I had met last week came out and shook my hand, took me from my mother, and escorted me to an office to meet Frank Johnson, who was going to be in charge of me for summer.

“Frank, I would like you to meet Olivia Taylor, the girl I spoke about last week. She will be your responsibility for the summer. Show her everything and don’t hold back on the nasty stuff. She’s a bright girl and is already accepted by Manchester to study law.”

He turned to me. “I’ll leave you in Franks’ capable hands. He will report back to me as needed.”

I thanked him as he left the room and then looked at Frank, who returned my look with a grin.

“Don’t hold back on the nasty stuff! Well, well, the old boy wants you to see it all. That shows that he has already some faith in your abilities. About the nastiest we get are the domestic violence cases when it comes to volume. The murders are generally only nasty when you read the post mortem reports. In actual, in your face nasty, we have to speak to our clients, some in prison, some in remand and some at their homes. I always take another guy with me when I go to their homes.”

He pointed at a small desk, with a few items on it.

“You’ll use that desk when you’re here. The notepad is for show, mainly, should we need to take notes. Usually, you will sit back and take notes on that tablet. Make sure it’s charged up every day. That way, you’ll just have to rearrange the notes into a report and print them for me when we get back. The tablet is linked by wi-fi to the printer in this room only. Put them in your bag, we’re off to see a client in remand. He has been a naughty boy, breaking into an electrical store and stealing several video-disc players.”

With that, I was back out in the open air, getting into a Jaguar and being driven to the police station. There, I was processed as a member of the legal team and given a temporary badge. I was told that a proper one would be available on my next visit. We were waved through and Frank used his badge to open doors as we went further into the building.

We arrived at a room where our client waited for us. He certainly looked brighter as he saw me.

“Jock, this is Olivia, my new assistant. She will make notes of our discussion.”

“Hello, Olivia, you’re a sight for sore eyes, in here. I’ll try and remember how you look when they put me away.”

Frank sighed. “I really think they’re going to give you two to three, this time. It will teach you to go straight or, at least, look out for security cameras.”

Jock looked at me as he answered. “This will be the third, or is it the fourth, time I’ve been in court. The first and second time they gave me a severe talking to and community service. The last time I got a month. I really don’t want to go back inside, but I’ll just have to put up with it.”

I couldn’t help myself. “Why?” I asked.

Frank, unsure of the direction of the conversation, stayed quiet.

“Why, what, Olivia?”

“Why do you keep breaking into places? Why do you have to keep doing it?”

“It’s my Mum. She’s getting on and has to keep taking expensive drugs. I’ve never kept any of the stuff I stole, just got paid enough for them to buy her next round of treatment. I had a good job when I got nabbed the first time and they let me go because they didn’t want a con around the place.”

Frank then took over and went through the interview in regard to the upcoming trial. The main thrust of the talk was if Jock was going to plead guilty, or not guilty. If he pleaded not guilty, the trial would be with a judge and jury. If he admitted his guilt, it would be a simpler, and quicker, affair in front of a magistrate, who would simply hand down the sentence after the prosecution and the defence had their say.

Jock was happy to plead guilty. He really had no choice as there was CCTV footage of him in the shop. He had worn gloves and the police hadn’t found the stolen goods, but it was the CCTV that would bury him.

As we stood to leave, he looked at us with puppy-dog eyes. “Mr Johnson, would you allow Olivia to take some money that’s in my wallet and give it to my mother. They have my wallet in the cage. I’m sure Mum would be happy to see it and she doesn’t open her door to men.”

Frank looked surprised and then nodded. “We can do that, Jock. I’ve got your home address in the file. We can do the drop-off on the way back to the office.”

Jock was beaming as we called for the warder to escort him back to the cells. Jock told the warder what he wanted us to do and the warder got on to his radio to tell the Property Officer to expect us.

Frank stayed quiet as we walked back along the corridors. I wondered if I’d overstepped the mark, back there. The Property Officer opened Jocks’ box and took the notes out of the wallet, handing them to us after I signed for them, Frank letting me run with this.

We had a prisoner to see at the hospital. His name was Colin and he had been caught, breaking into a chemist shop, through the roof, literally. He had been discovered, on the floor, after crashing through the ceiling and setting off the movement alarms. He was only a lad, looking for the pills he needed. I was sad to see him, he reminded me of Roddy and Ed, but without the means to buy his happy pills. It did cross my mind that I had no idea how Rod and Ed could afford to buy weed and coke. There had been a lot I hadn’t thought about in my love affair. Today had opened my mind to another world, and it still wasn’t lunchtime.

The visit was quick and easy. We had been given the job to defend him by the roster system that looked after prisoners with no money. I took the notes and the lad signed the official papers with his good hand, the other in a cast. I had thought that he may have been handcuffed to the bed, but, I suppose the cast on one of his legs meant he wasn’t going to run off.

Frank told him that we would be pleading guilty to criminal trespass. He was sure the police would try to get a ‘with intent’ conviction but thought that this wouldn’t stick, seeing how much damage the lad had done to himself.

I took the notes as required and gave the lad a smile as we left. Next, I found out, was lunch. Frank took me to a good café where we had a light meal and he finally spoke about our morning.

“You know, I was about to stop you when we were talking to Jock. The question, however, was so far out of left field that it made him say a few things he’s never told us, before. I wonder if he’s just a worker, stealing to order. There’s been a spate of break-ins where small electricals have been stolen. His MO is suspiciously like a lot of others where no-one has been arrested. They’ve never found a single item that he was seen stealing, not even one in his home. I wonder if he was just doing it, as he told us, for his mother. When you deliver the money, I’ll wait in the car and you may be able to get her to give you more information. Jock may not have to spend as much time as we thought if there are mitigating circumstances. We done, back there, I’ve had juniors who were too scared to even breathe loudly in interviews.”

After lunch, we looped by the estate where Jock and his mother lived. It was a row of small terrace houses, the old-fashioned two-up, two-down places. He parked a couple of houses away and I walked back to her door and banged the knocker.

After a little while the door opened a crack, stopped by a chain.

“What do you want? If you’re selling I don’t want any.”

“Mrs. Macready, my name is Olivia Taylor and I spoke to Jock, this morning, at the police station. He asked me to bring you some money that he had in his wallet. He’s worried about you.”

“You’d better come in then, don’t flash any cash outside. You never know who may be watching.”

The door closed and there was a rattle as the chain was taken off. She allowed me to push it open as she went towards the back of the house, walking slowly and using a stick.

“Come into the kitchen, lassie, I’ll put the kettle on. How was my boy?”

“He’s fine Mrs Macready, just worried about going inside for a couple of years.”

“A couple of years! I never thought he’d get that long. Who knows, I may have had my hip replacement by then. On the other hand, I may have just keeled over from the pain.”

“Is that the reason you need drugs, to stop the pain?”

She took the now whistling kettle and poured water into two cups with teabags in them. I could see her working out whether to tell me something.

I sat and sipped at the black tea as if I drank it regularly, and then she made up her mind.

“Look, young lassie, you’ve no idea how much it hurts. I should have had the hip replaced a year or more ago, but I’m still on the waiting list while ‘more important people to the community’ get theirs done. My bloody doctor told me that, straight out!”

“So Jock gets you money to help with the pain? I’m thinking that what that allows you to buy doesn’t come from the chemist.”

“Damned right it doesn’t. His brother gets me a bag of pain-killer every now and then. I know Jock has done little jobs that Jamie has put his way to get the money. This thing with stealing electrical goods was, for me, a big surprise. I know he’d been to court a couple of times before, but he’d told me it was only high-jinks gone wrong.”

I asked her what Jock had done before he’d got into trouble and she told me that he was a motor mechanic.

“A damn good one when he was working. Those bastards at Armstrongs’ could have helped him when he got into trouble the first time but that ‘holier than thou’ family wouldn’t allow him to go back to work. If they’d done the right thing he’d not be banged up, now.”

We finished the tea and I wondered if I now had stained teeth, like hers. On the way out she showed me a picture of her and Jock, next to one of her and Jamie.

“You’ll be wondering why they don’t look alike, eh, lassie. Jamie has a different father. I was a bit wild back then. His surname is Murphy, after his dad.”

Marianne Gregory © 2022

Chapter 3

I walked back to the car and got in, pulling down the shade to check my teeth in the mirror. Frank looked at me and raised his eyebrow.

“I’m just checking that I’ve still got white teeth. That womans’ idea of a nice cup of tea would strip paint.”

He laughed as he pulled away from the kerb.

“Don’t tell me what you found out. I could tell, by the look on your face as you came back, that you’ve found out another piece of the Jock Jigsaw. Write it up as an addendum to the report, this afternoon. We have a team meeting on Fridays and can talk about it then. I’ll look at the report and see if I can add any more, working with my contacts.”

That afternoon we met a lady in the park. She was the victim of domestic violence and the police had warned her partner but hadn’t put him away. She had picked the outside location so that she could speak freely. With me sitting beside her, she not only spoke freely, she got me to hold her while she sobbed her heart out, along with a lot of detail that wasn’t on the official record.

This time, I asked the questions and Frank borrowed my notepad to jot down the record of the meeting. She looked a lot better from having told us of the more hurtful things her partner had done, and even smiled a bit as she thanked us for being so understanding. On the way back to the office, Frank was humming a tune that I’d heard on a TV advert. It was for a liquid cleaner that made everything sparkle.

In the office I rearranged the electronic notes and then added my own extra information. I needed to type the report of our last interview from Franks’ notes but, luckily, he wrote so that I could read them. I sent the reports to the printer for him to read later. He also showed me how to send the electronic version to his office computer. Then, I was ordered to wipe the reports from the tablet and start with it clean the next day.

It was the end of the working day and Frank told me to go off and tidy myself up and then wait for my mother to take me home. He smiled as he told me that today had been different, but interesting.

That evening I had a shower before dinner and changed into jeans and a top. I was bushed! I checked that the suit was all right for another day and gave it a spray of fabric freshener. The tablet was on charge, to be ready for another day of strangeness.

At dinner, I asked my father about Armstrongs’ Garage and he snorted. “Those buggers, they call themselves mechanics? They haven’t had a good tradesman there since a young lad that they got rid of. With the money they pay and the conditions they enforce, it’s a wonder anyone works there at all. I’m told that nobody is allowed to whistle or sing in the workshop. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it came up today during an interview. I can’t talk about it but I think I may have been talking to the lad they got rid of when he got into a little trouble, years ago.”

“All right, then. I know that you’re now involved with serious things. Your mum won’t tell me a thing about her day. I’ve got to regale everyone with my own worries, just to have a conversation”

Next day we were back at the police station, talking to three ‘naughty boys’ one after the other. This time I was given my own badge that opened the doors or, at least, those that didn’t matter. We had a light lunch and went back to the office, where I wrote up the reports of our visits. These took some time as the three lads we were acting for had all been involved in a gay bashing and the victim was still in hospital. I said nothing during our visits and the looks that they gave me said more than I was happy with. I was starting to see just what the nasty part of the job could involve.

Before I packed to go home, I asked Frank something that had been on my mind since yesterday. “Frank, that lad we spoke to who had gone through the ceiling into the chemist. Had he gone through the roof, first, because I can’t think of any chemist shops in the area that are single storey?”

He pulled the folder and looked. “No, he had broken in to the empty flat above the shop and pulled up the floor.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t the owner of the flat bear some responsibility by not having it properly secure?”

“Good thought. I’ll check with the police who the owner is. If it’s the same as the owner of the chemist shop, then they certainly should have not made it so easy to gain access. If there’s a landlord who owns both the flat and the shop, there may be a way the chemist can claim negligence.”

“Another thing from yesterday. The lady we saw in the park. Are we defending her husband? She, surely, hasn’t done anything bad.”

“You’re right, again. We are defending her. Her husband has claimed that he only hit her in self-defence and has accused her of constant harassment. What you got her to talk about has given us enough to blow him out of the water.”

I was picking up my bag when he said. “Tomorrow, you’re going to prison with Walter, our boss. He wants to see how you fare in a very harsh environment.”

That evening, I asked Mum what I should wear to prison and she suggested slacks and a loose sweater. She told me that, if I ended up walking the gangways, every convict in the place will be telling me just what they would like to do, should I end up in their cell.

Next day, with Walter, the partner, we went to the local prison. It took forever to be processed and I think that if I didn’t have my new police access badge, I wouldn’t have made it into the bare room that we ended up in. Sitting in the room, chained to a chair, itself welded to the floor, was the most dapper man I’ve seen, wearing prison clothes.

Walter sat across from him and I sat off to one side, with my notebook, the tablet waiting for me to pick up on the way out. Whenever I looked his way, our client, Jeremy Short, was looking at me in that way that made me shiver – you know, the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ look, before the victim gets cooked.

This was a big case. Even I had read about this man in the paper. He was pure evil and, by all reports, killed at least six women, after raping them for weeks on end. He seemed so meek and mild, and then asked me my name. I stayed quiet and Walter told me that he didn’t need to know anything, other than I was there to take notes.

Our client was not a happy chap, and started to get a bit het up. He refused to talk to Walter, insisting that he wanted to talk to me. Walter looked at me and winked, so the client couldn’t see it.

“Why would I want to talk to you, sir? From what I’ve seen, you won’t be going anywhere for quite a few years.”

“You’re quite right, young lady. It’s just that I can’t help myself when I see a beautiful girl. I know I’m not a good man, but it’s like being black haired or blonde, you can’t stop what you are. Walter, here, would like me to swing for what I’ve done, but he’ll do the right thing and claim that I’m either just mad, or that they haven’t got anything to positively pin on me.”

“Are you, just mad, sir?”

“Ha, ha, you’re precious. You remind me of Holly, she was blonde as well. She loved playing on the swings. I do prefer tall blondes, just like a perfect gentleman. She’s able to look at swings all day, now.”

Walter got the interview back on track and we left the room as the warder waited to unshackle the prisoner.

Back in the hallway, Walter said, “Sorry about that but I had a hunch and Inspector Mason needed our help. Oh! Here he is now.”

I looked along the corridor to see a large man with a huge grin on his face. When we reached him he introduced himself to me and then guffawed. “Walter, old friend, you didn’t do your client any favours, this morning. I owe you more than one for that bit of trickery. You, young lady, have just helped us bury that murdering bastard. The Holly, you reminded him of, was one of the missing girls that we hadn’t nailed him on. She was a tall blonde, a netball player and from a good family. We have never found her body but have never looked properly in the playground, near his home. We’ll be sending in the ground piercing radar this afternoon. I suppose you’re going to talk to that wife-bashing husband now?”

Walter agreed that this was our next stop. I thought we may be looking in on the husband of the woman we’d spoken to on Monday, but this was a totally different case that we worked with today.

When we arrived in the interview room, the prisoner was handcuffed to an eyebolt on the table, this being welded to the floor. We took two seats across the table as he looked at us with tears in his eyes.

Walter opened the conversation. “Mr. Bentine, my name is Walter and this is Olivia, my assistant for today. I’m here to go through the case with you, before passing your file to one of our legal team. I see from the docket that you were arrested, at your home, when your wife called for the police after you hit her, am I right?”

“You’re right, up to a point. My wife waited a half an hour to call the police.”

Walter glanced at me, so I asked, “Why did she wait so long, surely, if you had hit her once, you could have hit her again, or even stop her from calling for help. I haven’t seen your wife, but you really don’t look like an evil man. Unless you turn into the Hulk, I think I could ward you off, myself.”

“That’s the whole point,” he sobbed, “It took the time for me to go and change. If the police had turned up while I was still wearing my maids’ outfit, they would have laughed at her.”

“Maids’ outfit? What, the whole petticoats, heels and make-up?”

“That’s the look. I’ve been her maid for a couple of years now. She caught me in a dress when she came home one day, and threatened to tell my employer unless I looked after her, hand and foot. I’m a relationship consultant and having knowledge of both sides of the argument makes me good at my job. That day, she just went too far. She had ordered me to go and change into an evening dress and to make myself glamorous. She told me that she had organised a double date and that I was to go home with the guy I would be with. She was going to bring her guy home for ‘proper sex’, as she called it. I just broke. I hit her with the broom and she went mad. I think she’d set it up so that I would get arrested and she could bring men home whenever she wanted.”

“Would you rather go to prison as a wife beater and lose your job, anyway, or just admit that you’re a sissy maid.”

“I’m not a sissy, miss. I’m a transvestite. I love the feel of female clothing. I loved the feel of my wifes’ underwear when we first got together. It didn’t take me long to get something for myself. The day I wore such a lovely piece of clothing was the day I was lost.”

Walter took over. “Mr. Bentine. Can we claim that you hit your wife once, in self-defense, as she has been controlling your life with menace? She claims that you hit her several times. The police, I have to say, are not convinced with her explanation. The arresting officer has noted that, when they arrived at the house, your wife was dabbing her eyes “To stop the swelling” while you were sat in the kitchen with a cup of tea in front of you. Where did the broom strike her?”

“On the left hip, sir. If you get someone to examine her, I’m sure there’ll be a bruise on her hip. I would never hit a person on their face. I’m just not that kind of man, that’s if I’m any kind of man.”

I asked, “Did she say who these two other gentlemen were?”

“Oh! Yes. Her guy is Bernard, who she works with, and the other guy is called Henry, a queer if you ever saw one. She was setting me up to be broken in.”

Walter thanked him and we left the room. Outside, waiting for us in the corridor, stood a beaming Inspector Mason.

“I owe you another one, there. You two are crime solving super-sleuths, today.”

Walter laughed. “Wait until this young lady has actually studied law, you won’t be able to win against her. This is just her third day in the office before she heads to Manchester at the end of summer. If this week is anything to go by, I’ll be offering her a retainer to come back to us, every chance she can get.”

Once we had retrieved our things and were back in the car, he turned to me.

“Just what is it about you that makes people open their hearts to you. Poor old Bentine would have just accepted his fate without saying anything if I’d been there with Frank.”

“I don’t know sir. I suppose that looking like the girl next door makes them think that
I’m someone who will listen. That’s happened more than once, this week.”

“Yes, Frank ran the cases you were introduced to past me last night. I don’t care how you do it, but I’m going to take every opportunity to make it work for us, this summer. You’ll be seeing more sides of the legal profession, in a few weeks, than most juniors see in a year. Now, I think, you’ve earned lunch.”

We had lunch at a nice café where Walter was known. The owner came out and I was introduced. The owners’ daughter was at Saint Monica's’ and he had been at the awards assembly so the introduction was brief. I was given his card and told to visit often. What was odd was that I was starting to enjoy meeting some of the people I was seeing. It was starting to make the town a bit more of a family. Maybe I would come back after Uni.

We went back to the office and it took me much of the afternoon to write up the two reports, seeing that I just had a few notes and my memory to work with. After I had printed the first one, Frank picked it up and sat at his desk to read it, while I tried to make sense of the second one.

He waited until I had sent the second one to the printer, and both to his computer.

“Olivia, Walter told me that he had a hunch about old ‘Shortcut’ Short. He put you right into the line of fire this morning and you fired back with just the right amount of scorn. Short thinks he is above the laws of normal man. All mass murderers think the same. If they find Holly in the playground, the police are going to have to work hard to keep you out of it. It will be just the sort of thing the press love – the pretty girl who tricked a monster into making a mistake. Films have been made with less meat.”

“I just did, and said, what seemed right. It’s not my fault he slipped up. I think, though, that if they do find a body in the playground, he will be looking for another defense team.”

“And good riddance! I know there’s the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ bit, but some of the cases we defend are enough to make you puke! I took this profession because I wanted to stop the innocent going to prison, not to keep the guilty out of it. Sorry, it gets to me, sometimes.”

Before I went home, he told me that tomorrow I would have a day with our friendly police. A police car will pick me up at home at 7.30 and I would see how the boys in blue spent their day.

“You’ll be with Detective Sergeant Samootin, Sammy to his friends. He works for Inspector Mason, who you met today. Between them, I think you’ve made some influential friends for life. Tomorrow will see just how happy they are with you.”

When I told Mum I was getting picked up in the morning, she told me that Sammy was a good guy and his parents had a curry place in town. If he was friendly, we could find a time to eat there.

That evening, we had dinner and the TV was on, showing the news. There was a banner proclaiming ‘Breaking News’ and the picture that came next was of the crime reporter, standing next to a set of swings.

“I’m here, in a childrens’ playground while, all around me the police are searching. They have four teams of ground penetrating radars, two from the police and two from the University History Department. I can tell you that they are going over every inch of the park. Why? I can’t say, but, if you look over my shoulder you will see the house where Jeremy Short lived, before his arrest for six murders of young girls.”

The house, in question, was helpfully highlighted.

“We are not allowed to show you, but a tent has been erected over one of the flower beds and we’ve been told that the police will be working here until they have done what they came to do. We’ve been told that, once I’ve filed this story, we have to leave the area. I hope to have more for you, tomorrow. This is Ashley Cooper, for West TV News.”

My mother saw the look on my face and took my hand.

“I think I know why Walter was so upbeat when he got back to the office. The roster showed that he was taking you to the prison for two interviews. One of those was that monster Short, wasn’t it?”

I nodded.

‘I won’t ask any more. Don’t you even open your mouth!” she ordered, looking at Dad. He just sat there looking like a fish that’s just been landed.

“To put your mind at rest, Dad,” I said, “I just sat there, taking notes, most of the time. Short had a flashback about a girl who looked a bit like me and said something he shouldn’t. That’s all.”

Mum looked knowingly at me and that was all we said about things. I went up to my room to see what would be suitable for a day with the police. I thought that if I wasn’t going into the office, jeans, a tee and an over-shirt would be good, along with boots in case I have to chase a bad guy down. I added a bum-bag to take my personal things, and a small bag on a long strap that would have my phone, notebook and pens in.

The next morning I put my hair into a pony-tail and was light on the make-up. I was ready at 7.30 when a police car pulled up outside the house. Mum came out with me and gave the guy that stood beside the car a hug.

“Hello, Sammy, you look after my girl today. She’s precious to me”

“No less precious to us, I can tell you. Today she is going to see just how closely we work with all the legal eagles, just to keep the wheels of justice turning.”

I was ushered into the back seat and the driver gave me a smile as I got in. Sammy came around to the other side and got in beside me. I waved to Mum as we pulled away.

“Olivia, I’m Sammy, unless we’re with my superiors and then I’m Sergeant Samootin. Frank and I went to Uni together, studying law. He went into the legal profession and I used mine to fast-track my police career. The handsome lad in the front is Constable Arthur Atkinson, or Arty in private. Can we call you Livie?”

“Of course you can, that’s what all my friends call me.”

“Right, Livie. Just to test your powers of observation, I’m going to show you six pictures. They have a mix of people you’ve seen, some you haven’t, and one who I’m sure you’ve never met. The six-pack, if you please, Arty.”

The photos were handed to him and he showed me one at a time.

“Remember, this isn’t a line-up. Just tell me if you’ve see the person in the photo and what you know of them.”

The first was a stern-looking woman in a police uniform, somewhat high rank, if all the braid was to be believed. I looked at it carefully and then it clicked.

“This one is one of the Old Girls I spoke to on Friday. She was much nicer dressed then, in a skirt suit. I think she said her name was Carol something and her daughter was finishing second year at Saint Monicas’.”

They both smiled and he gave me the second.

“This one’s easy, he’s on the Board of Governors and I’m afraid I didn’t pick up his name.”

The third was a mug-shot. The guy looked like a brute, tattooed on his face and neck. I looked at it for a while, trying to visualise him without the art.

“This one is someone I’ve never met, but he looks like an older, and uglier, version of a photo I saw Monday. I won’t bet my life on it but I would say that this is Jamie Murphy.”

The fourth was taken from CCTV, showing two guys, obviously doing a deal by the plastic bag one of them was holding. I looked at the buyer, something about him was familiar.

“The buyer is, I think, Edward Hamilton. If that’s correct, the seller is a guy called Bert who lives on the coast.”

The look on Sammy's’ face told me that this was one of the ones I shouldn’t have known.

“How do you know them?”

“Ed was my friend Angela's’ boyfriend up until Saturday afternoon when he two-timed her. Bert is a friend of his who has a reputation as a dealer, or so the gossip around school says.”

“What, that good girls’ school?”

“There are girls there that have sisters that have gone to the Council School, you know. We aren’t all sweet and light.”

The next was another CCTV shot of a guy and girl standing next to a Beemer. The guy was bending down, as if he was having trouble unlocking the car.

“You’re winding me up, aren’t you?”

“No we’re not, Livie,” said Arty from the front seat. “Those two CCTV pictures have been in our files for a couple of months. I just grabbed them as the subjects would be around your age group and you may have seen them at a dance, or something.”

“You’re right about the dance. This guy is a friend of Ed and the two of them picked us up at a dance, about six months ago. His name is Rodney Dougal and the girl is a high school boot-out called Jacinta Bellows.”

Sammy gave me the last picture. This was of a nicely dressed lady, obviously a selfie. It bothered me that something was odd so I concentrated on the eyes. I have a thing about memorising peoples’ eyes. Then it hit me.

“That’s a picture of Mr. Bentine in a dress. He does look the part.”

“Six for six, Livie. That was a surprise. Yes, it is poor old Bentine in drag. We took the information he gave you and followed it up last night. The guy his wife works with is the doctor who signed off on her injuries. The queer he was to be set up with is a cleaner in their office. She is going to be picked up at work tomorrow and checked over by our doctor. I’m pretty sure the facial injuries will be shown to be make-up. We were invited into her house last night to pick up some clothes for her husband. While she was distracted, we looked in the spare bedroom and found where he really slept. This was in his bedside drawer, along with others.”

“So, you’ll let him go, then?”

“Yes, after due process. Now, let’s get back to these other characters and Saturday. I’m intrigued. But first I have to make a call.”

Marianne Gregory © 2022

Chapter 4

Sammy got his phone out and made his call.

“Inspector, we have a positive identification of James Norman as Jamie Murphy, brother of Jock Macready.” He listened for a few moments and then hung up.

“The Inspector says to thank you for that. We have James Norman on our radar as an associate of one of the Angels’ Chapters. I think that he may have a group of thieves who steal the goods and then the items are sent elsewhere for sale in pubs, or even on the internet.”

“That will be a good one, boss,” commented Arty.

“Yes, it will bathe us in the bright lights of adoration for, at least two seconds. Now, tell me about these other two and what happened Saturday.”

I ran through the time-line of my being the girlfriend of a car stealer and the events of Saturday that ended it.

“So, if we take his car, we’re going to find your fingerprints and maybe some DNA in it?”

“Yes, and also the friendship ring I slipped off before I bailed out. There’ll be my prints on the plastic bag, if they’re reusing it.”

“Can anyone corroborate your story?”

“I called Angela on the way home and she picked me up from the station. You’ll find her at the hospital. I also told my mother everything on the weekend.”

I was wondering just where we were going, it seemed to be around in circles. The picture got clearer when the radio crackled and a voice said “Subject on the move.”

A half an hour later, we were in an industrial area, sitting by the side of the road with me being told who the Old Girl in the uniform was, and just making idle talk, as a small convoy of marked police cars and a van went by.

“Now we wait some more,” commented Arty.

Fifteen minutes later, the voice on the radio called “Clear.”

Arty drove us around the corner where Inspector Mason was standing, again with a big grin on his face. He simply gestured for me to go inside the building and have a look. I was staggered. The place was like a distribution centre, racks piled high with boxes, all sorted by type. There were TV’s, video players, computers, printers, kitchen appliances, furniture. You name it, they had it.

Mason and Sammy came and stood each side of me.

Sammy murmured, “I think this may be a bit longer than two seconds.”

Mason looked at me. “We’ve taken Jamie away. He didn’t take kindly to being followed here. He put two of our guys on the ground before he was zapped. On top of receiving, there’ll be a raft of other charges for resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. Our guys have been taken to the hospital to be checked over. All this, young Olivia, is from you asking the one word question, “Why’ on Monday.”

Just then a voice called, “Boss, there’s enough weed in the office to host Woodstock, all over again. This one just keeps giving.”

Sammy laughed. “Just wait until we go through what else Olivia has told us this morning. Arty pulled a couple of CCTV shots for the six-pack I showed her and she identified our car thief and both the guys in that deal shot. That’s going to keep us busy next week. I’ll tell you the full story when we’re back in the office.”

Mason grinned. “I’m sorry, Sammy, I’ve been told to take Olivia off you and take her to lunch, but only at the police canteen. Our boss wants to talk to her.”

He led me out to his own car and the driver opened the door for me to get in the back. Mason got in beside me and told the driver to take us to the station.

“Olivia, you’ve been a whirlwind around the place, this week. I believe that my boss wants to thank you, personally, for drawing that monster, Short, into talking out of turn. From what I’ve heard, there have been some discoveries made in the playground, and not just fresh remains, either. She’ll give you the full run-down, I’m sure.”

When we arrived at the police station, he led me through to the canteen. I was a little surprised that it was very well appointed and the menu board had some interesting items listed. As we sat down, the woman I had met before swept in and came up to our table as we both stood for her. She enveloped me in a strong hug and then chuckled.

“I know it’s not the Ritz, but the chef here used to work there. I believe he used to wash up. Now, if you’ll choose your poison, we can eat. Mason, thank you for bringing Olivia here, I organise her afternoon transport.”

Mason nodded, said “Yes, Ma-am,” and left us to it.

“Sammy has reported that you recognised my picture, even though I only spoke to you for a few minutes in the midst of all that hoo-ha. Even got the name right, he said. That’s pretty good, you know. Even after training, a lot of the force wouldn’t remember your name after an hour.”

“I don’t know why I keep names in my head. I do know how I recognise faces, it’s because I study the eyes. That’s how I was able to pick two of the other pictures he showed me.”

I chose the only option off the menu that didn’t have fries. You can’t go wrong with sausage and mash. Can you? All the time we ate and spoke, she had her phone beside her and it was a constant barrage of text messages. I asked her how she could cope with it.

“It’s a lot better than having to actually speak to these officers. I have to know what’s going on in my area, and the texts are really just snippets of news that add to what I already know. The only ones I have to answer are either from the guys above me, or from those messages with a red star at the front of them. That denotes an important message.”

When we finished the meal, which was very good, she led me up to her office. There was a low table with a coffee percolator and some cups on it. She poured two cups and we sat on easy chairs to sip our drinks.

“Olivia, the Headmistress told me that you are an exceptional girl and this week has proved her right. I am now going to tell you what your little chat with Short has brought about. The TV guy was right when he told everyone that we had four radar teams in the playground. Mason spoke to the gardener, who told him that kids had been playing silly buggers with him by moving his plantings around. We put our two teams on the garden beds and located three places which look like bodies. It does take a lot of time to properly get them out in a way that doesn’t destroy evidence.”

She put her cup down and looked straight into my eyes.

“If they’re who we think they are, it’s you who have given their families closure. The other thing that’s really odd is that we put the Uni guys to work over the grassed area, mainly to show that we didn’t have direct information, just a hunch. In one corner of the park they think that they found a burial site, possibly medieval, with at least fifteen graves. I’m told that they want to get a dig organised.”

I sat there, stunned.

“I’m not sure what to say. If there are three new graves, that would mean that Short had killed nine, rather than six.”

“You are correct. What you, or anyone else outside the force, don’t know, is that the six we have down to him are all connected cases, but not directly linked to Short. Much of the evidence is circumstantial. If we find something that links him directly, then we’ve got him bang to rights. It may be DNA, or even something so small as a laundry tag on a sheet, if he used one to carry them to the park. I really can’t thank you enough for your help. We’ll have to keep you out of it. If not, his new defence team will claim that you led him into a false confession. I know, you’re on the defence team, but I’m sure he’ll sack you all because he’ll be angry at himself when he gets the latest news.”

I took a sip of my coffee and thought that Walter would be happy to be rid of him.

“When we were in that room, there was a camera on the wall but the recording light wasn’t on?”

“That’s because the light has a separate switch. We can turn the light off if a prisoner asks that the recording is stopped, but the video and audio carry on. It’s the same in every one of the contact rooms. You’d be surprised at the things we record when wives come in.”

We talked for a little while and then she stood.

“Now, I have to get back to work. I’ve arranged for you to have another car take you home, but, before that, you have a pleasant duty to perform.”

She pressed a button on her desk and the door opened. A female constable put her head in.

“Annie, can you take Olivia down to the garage and go,with her to the prison. She has a delivery to make.”

“Yes, Ma-am,” said Annie and I got another hug before I was led down to the garage. On the way, Annie picked up her equipment and buckled herself in. She let me hold it as she put the hi-vis stab-proof vest on, and I was staggered by the weight of all the kit.

“Surely you don’t carry this lot around all day?”

“We have to. This is the usual load for beat work. If we are on dangerous outings, there’s a bullet-proof vest over it, as well. You get used to it and they work up to it at the training college, adding a bit every couple of days until it feels natural.”

She told me a few things about the training as we were driven to the prison. When we arrived, we just had to go to the outer office to collect Mr. Bentine, who was sitting there with his fresh clothes on.

Annie sat in the front, with the driver, and I was in the back with Mr. Bentine. He took a little while to open up, but, when he did, he told Annie that I was his guardian angel who had worked her magic on his life. I thought it was a bit over the top. He told me that he had been informed that his wife, and her boyfriend, had been taken into custody while the police worked out what to do with them.

He said that he had been told that the boyfriend had falsified an official police report in regard to her injuries. The police doctor had reported that there had never been any recent injuries to her face, and that the only slight bruise on her was on her left hip. This showed that he had told the truth. He was happy to be going home and, tomorrow, would be taking out a restraining order on his wife, barring her from his home.

At his house he gave both us girls a hug and told us that he would now dress as he liked, and hang the consequences. As we got back in the car, Annie grinned. “I love a happy ending.”

They dropped me at home and I went inside to take a shower, before putting on a light dress and going down to the kitchen to start making something for dinner when my folks got home. I thought about my day and realised that I had felt as if I was part of a team while I was with all of those I had met. Annie was like a sister, Sammy was like a big brother and Mason was almost an uncle figure. It was weird.

We had dinner and the TV News had a report about the nearly twenty bodies found in the playground. A couple of mothers complained about the park being closed and someone from the Uni beamed as he spoke about the wonderful opportunity to dig a previously unknown burial site. There were tents erected over three garden beds and the police would only say that investigations were on-going.

That evening I got in touch with Angela and arranged to meet on Friday evening for a meal and a chat. I had a new message on my phone, from Ingrid, and had to laugh. She told me that they were having a great time, but had to learn “Keep your hands to yourself!” in five languages in the first three days.

Friday was the day that the firm sat around and discussed cases. Mid-morning, I found myself sitting in the conference room as various cases were discussed. It was interesting to hear about the wide range that we were dealing with. When they got to the cases I had been involved in, Walter stood up and introduced me properly to the others I hadn’t met. Some of them had been giving me odd looks.

“Olivia has been with us, this week, as a trainee for the summer. On Monday, she went with Frank to the police station where he had an interview set up with Jock Macready. She asked him why he kept breaking into stores and he told them that he did it to get money so his mother could buy drugs for her ailments. He asked if she would take his mother some money that was in his wallet. Olivia did what she was asked, spoke to the mother and found out that the mother needed a hip replacement. The drug she needs is cannabis, which, she said, was purchased for her by Jocks’ brother.”

“But Jock doesn’t have a brother!” said one of the older lawyers.

“Not a full brother, no, but he does have a half-brother who goes by the name of Jamie Murphy. Olivia saw a picture. The police were informed, and they discovered that Spud Murphy, who is serving a long sentence for robbery with violence, has been getting a regular visitor who registered as James Norman. Yesterday, Olivia was shown a picture of James Norman and identified him as Jamie Murphy.”

He nodded to me to carry on.

“Yesterday, I was taken out by DS Samootin and we cruised around until we had word that Jamie had been followed to a warehouse and arrested. I was shown the inside and it was jam-packed with stolen goods. I believe there was a bit of cannabis there as well.”

Frank chuckled. ”Sammy has sent me an email. There is at least a quarter of a million pounds worth of stolen goods there, taken from a wide area. There was seventy kilo of weed and over a kilo of cocaine. Jamie will be going away for quite a while, plus the extra for sending two of the arresting officers to hospital.”

There was a general hubbub at that, and then Frank added.

“Sammy wants Olivia to go to the remand cells to see Jock, on Monday. He will have a list of questions that he wants Olivia to ask. If Jock answers them to his satisfaction, he tells me that they will drop all charges of breaking into the store, just having one left as trespass. Sammy says they’ll agree to a six-month suspended sentence, seeing that it’s his fourth time in court.”

Walter nodded. “I’ll say that’s a good result for her first time with one of our clients.”

There was a round of applause and I blushed.

Walter then carried on. “After that first day she saw some more of our lovely clients and then, on Wednesday, I took her to see Jeremy Short.”

There was an intake of breath in the room at that.

“Short tried to goad her, and she was positively frigid, as she should have been. This caused Short to make a comment about how she reminded him of a girl called Holly, who loved to play on the swings and who is now able to see the swings all of the time.”

There was a bit of a clamor of questions at that, and Walter had to put his hand up to quieten the room.

“What we’re going to tell you will not leave this building, do you agree?”

There was a chorus of “Yes, sir” and he then nodded to me again to fill them in on what I now knew.

“Inspector Mason spoke to the gardener in the park just down the road from where Short lived. He was told that kids had been toying with him by moving his plantings about. As you have seen on the news, the police started searching the park with ground-penetrating radar. They are sure they have three bodies to bring up, and are hoping that this gives some direct link to Short. That will ensure he gets the maximum sentence. Sorry, guys and girls, but I think that will blow any defence argument based on circumstantial evidence out of the water.”

There was groan from one older guy and then another round of applause and the Walter wound up the meeting, everyone was invited to take lunch at the usual café and he said it was on him, causing a few whoops and cheers.

Mum walked by my side to the café, holding my arm as she told me that she was almost bursting with pride at my activities this week. After lunch, Walter told her to head for home with me, as he thought that I’d deserved a bit of an early day.

It had been a big week, and I still had to meet up with Angela this evening. An afternoon off would be welcome. The local paper had arrived and it had quite a spread, inside, about the awards presentation. There were more pictures of Ingrid, as to be expected, but there was a good one of the five of us, with another of me, on my own. Mum and I had a bit of a laugh about it and she remarked that I might find myself being recognised in the street, I had a nap in the afternoon and set the alarm to wake me up in time to get ready.

When Dad came home I asked him if he had a place for Jock in his garage, seeing that Jock was a good mechanic and will be in need of a job. Dad said that he would take Jock on, after a proper interview and check of his papers, if it helped.

I met Angela in town and we went see a picture, just to let some steam out. Afterwards we had a pizza. Most of the evening, we had to fend off guys. It appeared that Mum had been right, as all the boys must have seen the paper, hitting on us by name. A couple looked interesting, seeing that Rod was now old hat. Angela told me that the week had been boring, just pushing the tea trolley around was no fun. She did, now, have the layout of the hospital imprinted on her brain, so it wasn’t wasted time.

She told me that, next week, she was going to help out in the wards and had been promised a session in the theatre to observe. I couldn’t tell her much of what I had been doing but we could talk about our client who had ended up on the floor of the chemist shop. She said that the lad was being slowly weaned off his dependence on pain-killers and was really a nice lad as he came to grips with his current situation.

On the weekend, I caught up with my laundry and, on Sunday, we had an outing into the county-side, ending at a nice, old, pub, where we had a very good meal and a drink. Monday, Mum took me back into the office, where I was told to wait by the door for Sammy to pick me up.

I had my bag with notepads and the tablet, plus my personal things in the front pocket. I had the morning paper to read while I waited and had insight into several of the crime stories it contained. When the car pulled up, I went out and got in the back, next to Sammy. On the way to the remand cells, he showed me a list. It had all of the break-ins over the past couple of years, with an estimate of the goods missing. He told me that his main aim, this morning, was for Jock to admit to the ones he did. If we could get this, he would push for the dropping of the charges.

When we were shown into the interview room, Jock was there, his left wrist handcuffed to an eye ring. Sammy told him that, this morning, it may be the start of his new life and to listen to what I said, carefully, and answer truthfully.

Jock nodded and then looked at me with a wry smile.

“Jock, I saw your mother last week and she was upset about you being here. She thought that you were just doing odd jobs for Jamie.”

“That’s what they were. Maybe not the usual odd job, but I just did what he told me to do.”

“I understand, I saw the picture of him. He’s a brute of a guy, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, he told me that he’d rip my arms off if I didn’t go along with him.”

“Now, listen carefully. Jamie was followed to his warehouse on Thursday and arrested. I saw inside the place, it was packed to the rafters with stuff. There was also enough weed and coke to put him away for several years, on top of which, he put two coppers into hospital. Think carefully, now. He can’t get to you any more, that side of your life is over.”

“What about his mates? I don’t want them after me.”

“Who are his mates, Jock, the police think he’s an associate of an Angels gang?”

“OK, I’ll tell you. I’ve never been to his warehouse. That was off-limits to me. I know that others deliver there on a Monday evening and he pays them off when the stuff is unloaded. The Angels are from Scotland. They come down every Tuesday with a truck. I think that they have a way of sending the stuff off-shore in fishing boats.”

“Thank you for that, Jock. Now, I have a list here that DS Samootin, here, wants you to think about. The deal is – if you admit to the break-ins you actually got away with, he will go easy on you in court. You may not have to spend any more time, other than the time you’ve spent here. I have a contact that is willing to give you a job, depending on an interview and check of your skills. I’ll promise to see if there’s any way we can get your mother in for her hip replacement. I don’t want you to say anything about this list, just look at it and, with my eyebrow pencil, put a tick next to the ones you know. If we have you admitting to other cases when you go to court, any sentence that is passed down will cover all of the offences. Are you clear on that? It will wipe the slate.”

He nodded and smiled. I passed him the list and a stub of the black, soft, pencil. It wasn’t enough to be called a weapon. He looked down the list and then went through it again, adding ticks. He then gave me the list back, along with the pencil.

I had a quick look at the list as I put it back in my bag. Sammy will only see it when I get his boss to agree on the outcome of the court case. I could see that Jock wasn’t the failure his history of arrests showed.

Marianne Gregory © 2022

Chapter 5

Outside, I could see that Sammy was itching to look at the list.

“Not here, Sammy, when we speak to Inspector Mason and I have the proposal you’re offering, in writing. I’m still part of Jocks’ defense team, remember.”

We went to the police station where Mason was poring over a heap of paperwork.

“Young lady,” he smiled, “You have no idea how much paperwork you’ve created for me. The operation in the playground has almost reached the budgeted overtime allowances and we’ve still got to recover one of the bodies. The team out at that warehouse will take days to inventory the stock there.”

“Sir,’ Sammy grinned, “Jock gave us some more information today. He told us that the group of thieves go there on Monday evenings, to deliver and get paid. I think a new operation needs to be set up, to capture them and hold them out of sight so the others don’t get warned.”

“Right, good work, I’ll call in uniformed to set up a task force for this evening. That’s going to blow the budget but I’m sure the AC will sign off, seeing how many we’ll take out of circulation.”

“Another thing, he also told us that the Angels come down from Scotland, on Tuesdays, with a truck, to pick up a load and take it back. He thinks that they take the gear offshore in fishing boats.”

“This one just keeps giving, doesn’t it? All right, let me make some calls. Now, before you leave, just what has caused that smile on your face, Olivia?”

“I have the list that DS Samootin gave me for Jock to look over. On it are marked all of the break-ins that he did. Now, as his representative, I ask you to give me written affirmation, from the prosecution, that you will move to agree to a suspended sentence if he pleads guilty to the lesser charge of trespass with intent for the case he was arrested on, along with dropping any charges that may arise out of me showing you this list.”

Mason scribbled a note and handed it to Sammy.

“Take this to the prosecutor’s office and get them to write Olivia a proper offer to the defence team. Then get that list and bring it back here. I may have organized the biggest round-up of felons we’ve had for quite a while, by the time you get back.”

Sammy led me to another office where I was introduced to the Police Prosecutor, a serious man with a big job. Sammy got him to pull the file for Jock and then outlined the events that have happened. He passed over the note that Inspector Mason had written, and this brought a grin from the, previously serious, face.

“Well, that’s a big result. If it all comes off, we’ll have a lot more work to do, here. What is it you want, Olivia?”

“Just a written and signed note that your intentions are that Jock will get off with a suspended sentence, should he plead guilty to trespass and you drop the breaking and entering. He will also ask that a number of other cases are taken into consideration. I have the list in my bag and you will get a photocopy when I get your assurance.”

“Done! You drive a hard bargain, young lady, but the results will be worth letting him off lightly. He could have pleaded not guilty as he was acting under duress and that would have been several days to sort out. As it is, I think we can be in, and out, of the court in less than an hour.”

He then went to a computer terminal and typed a long note, saved it and then printed two copies, - one for the file and one for me. I read it and then pulled out the list so that we could photo-copy it. I loaded the copier, and he hit the button for six copies. When they had arrived in the hopper, I took the original and added it to the other paper in my bag.

Sammy was looking at the list with a bemused expression.

“I never saw that coming. I thought it might be one or two and couldn’t believe my eyes when he was ticking them off. He’s put closure on seven cases here. We now know who did it and who handled the stolen goods. That means that those files can be closed. I think that we might link the customers we get tonight, to most of the others.”

He was smiling, broadly, as he took me out to the car park, where Arty was waiting patiently.

“Arty, take Livie for a snack and then back to her work, she has some paperwork to organize. Then come back and join me in the boss’s office, we have a lot of overtime to do this evening.”

Arty took me back to work and was very strong. He refrained from asking me about the happenings today. I expect that he would get the full details when he got back to work. I didn’t envy any of them with what they would be up against tonight. I, certainly, wouldn’t want to be near that warehouse when the Angels showed up. That was likely to be violent.

At the office, I showed Frank the police offer, and the list and he nearly fell off his chair. He caught his breath enough to call Walter and asked him if he had a few minutes. I took my arm and guided me to the upper level, where the partners had their offices. We were sat in front of Walters’ desk and Frank showed him the offer and the list that Jock would roll over on and Walter gave out a hoot that brought his secretary to the door.

“It’s all right, Doreen, it seems that our one-person legal team has done it again. Coffee all round? Right, four coffees, please Doreen, and tell Jacobsen to come in, with the Macready file.”

He turned to me. “Jacobsen is our court appearance organiser. He makes sure that we have enough people in place at any one appearance, and that we don’t get double booked.”

Jacobsen was one of the guys from the meeting and didn’t need any introduction.

“Right, before I show you this, I want Olivia to tell us what happened, today. This doesn’t let you off the hook, young lady, you still have to type out a full report.”

I started with the interview that we had with Jock and took them through the information he imparted. All three guys had broad smiles when I got to the place where it looked like we may get some more clients coming our way. I then told them about my talk with Mason and then the discussion that led to the letter that Walter was holding. That’s when he passed it to Jacobsen.

That’s when Jacobsen let out a hoot that brought Doreen to the door again. After she had been assured that everything was all right, Walter asked Jacobsen to take the information with him, but wait until Frank sends him my written report, before he did anything. Walter then looked at me.

“Olivia, Jacobsen will now finalize our case for the judge. With everything you’ve done, I’m sure that the sentence will be time spent plus a suspended sentence. That is a real win for your first case. Before you all go back to your offices, can I have an autograph on the picture in the local paper? Can you put ‘With Love,’ that will drive my wife crazy?”

That wasn’t the first to ask me to sign the picture in the paper. After I had typed up my report, Frank sent me out to visit everyone and find out where they slaved away. It was, I have to say, a set-up. Nine out of ten people I looked in on already had the paper - open to that picture, for me to sign. I started to feel like a star.

Mum drove us home with a big smile on her face. She told me that Walter had ordered her to take me off, into the countryside, for a quiet lunch. He wanted me far away as the arrests started to come through, and especially when the likely lads from Scotland turned up. He didn’t think that I would be in any danger, but there was a distinct link between me and Jocks’ mother, and then to Jamie. Mum told me that the local Angels Chapter was not very big, maybe only a half a dozen, which was why Jamie had been dealing with a bigger organization. She thought that the local chapter may have been involved, though, if only to keep an eye on Jamie, in case he started going outside the circle.

So, Tuesday I had a day off, being treated by Mum. Wednesday I was kept in the office, being given arrest papers from Monday night to sort out on a spreadsheet, Jock being at the top of the list. I had the names, the sites of the break-ins with the date, the value of each category of stolen goods. As I added those taken during Monday evening, the area of operation grew, as did the values. In all, on Monday evening, the police had arrested six groups, each between two and four criminals. The spreadsheet grew and I realised that I had been tasked with mirroring what the police will be doing, so giving us the same picture they had. It was just another thing I had never thought about. I had expected that we would just get what we were fed by the arresting officers, working out our tactics from that.

Frank told me that what we were being given was purely down to my involvement. We wouldn’t get all of the cases to defend, that would be worked through the roster system, but we would be ahead of the game when we had those that we were given.

On Wednesday afternoon, Frank had a call from Sammy. When he put the phone down, he looked over to me with a serious expression.

“Sammy has just told me that they arrested three Angels from Scotland yesterday. They had been in a truck that arrived to be loaded up. They were carrying weed and coke, plus some cash, to pay for the goods. They also had two sawn-off shotguns, three handguns and several knives between them. Mason had put armed officers inside the building and there was a short firefight. Two of the gangsters were injured, and three police had flesh wounds. Sammy said that it could have been worse as they now need to replace two bullet-proof vests. He had also put officers out on the road, and they saw two more Angels on bikes. Obviously, there must have been a sign that wasn’t given, as the two of them turned around and headed home. There was a police chase and, further north, spikes were used. Both riders lost control and crashed. Both died at the scene.”

That news made me catch my breath. All of this was getting out of hand. This was real life, the like of which I had never experienced before. Frank went off to speak to Walter. The upshot of this was that I was to be kept out of the limelight and put my time in working in the office for a while. That took up the rest of the week and the Friday meeting was somewhat subdued. I had my usual outing with Angela, finding out that she had been having her own problems.

It appeared that there was one aspect of the medical profession that she hadn’t seriously thought about. That was the part where people bleed and bits get cut off, or out of, a body. She had been put into scrubs on Thursday and was taken to one of the theatres to see an operation on a guys’ gall bladder. She went white, once more, as she thought about it and the fact that she had thrown up in her mask. She was embarrassed that she had to be rushed out of the theatre and seen to.

She was serious about wanting to give up on medicine and do something else. I told her that she would get used to it but she was adamant. We talked about the other subjects that she had been good at and hit on the fact that she had been close to the award for History. I suggested that she take a week off and seriously work on her own family tree, seeing that all the early part was documented, she may be able to track some of the later branches more fully. She brightened and said that she would stop volunteering at the hospital, telling them, by email, tomorrow.

I had a quiet weekend, mainly catching up with all those little things a girl has to do to keep looking good. On Monday, I was back out with Frank, visiting.

We were due to talk to young Colin, in his hospital bed, later in the morning, but first we went to the chemist shop where he had been found. We had a look and were shown the place where he had dropped from, now properly repaired and looking good.

The chemist had obtained the keys to the new lock upstairs from the landlord, and we went out the back and up to the door. When Frank opened up and we went in we could see that, although the ceiling had been repaired, the floorboards hadn’t been replaced yet. We stood in the lounge looking at the gap in the floor and Frank laughed out loud.

“That is so lovely, if the landlord had completed the job, we would never have been any wiser.”

I could see, with my limited knowledge of woodwork, what he was seeing. The floorboards were stacked to one side and the joists stood out, mainly because they were all new. If fact, the hole in the floor was almost three times bigger than Colin would have needed to drop through the ceiling. Frank got down on his knees and smelled around where the new joists met the old. He nodded.

“The old joists must have been rotten with rot. That’s why Colin fell through, he wasn’t walking on the ceiling panels, he was on the joist when it collapsed on him.”

We locked up and, when we gave the keys back, asked who had done the repairs. Our next stop was their office which sent us to an address where they were outfitting a new shop. The guy we spoke to agreed that the joists had been almost hollow and that it wouldn’t have been long before someone would have gone through, taking the floorboards with them.

We asked him if he would sign a statement to that effect if asked and he said he would. We both had grins on our faces when we sat next to Colin.

“Colin, have the police asked you for a statement or given you anything to sign?” asked Frank.

Colin shook his head.

“No, they have told me that they will come in this week and take my statement, something about not being able to while I was on the strong pain medication.”

“Alright, Colin. Now concentrate. I’m not going to ask you what you intended to do that day. I’m going to tell you what you’ll tell the police. You went to the flat to steal floorboards for a project that you had in mind. You were standing on the joist when it collapsed.”

Colin nodded.

“That’s how I fell through. One minute I was OK, the next second I was on the floor below and in a lot of pain.”

“Exactly. And when the police asked you why you were there you told him ‘pain killers’ because that’s what you wanted to help you at the time. If you tell them that, they will have to follow up. Olivia and I had a look this morning and most of the joists have been replaced because they were rotten. If you say that you only intended to pick up some floorboards, the police will have to drop the charge of attempting to rob the chemist. The guy who fixed the joists is happy to sign a statement that they were in a dangerous state.”

“Thanks, sir, that will help. The nurses here have been wonderful. I have been on stronger stuff than the pills I used to take and they have brought me back from those. Hopefully, I can live a normal life again.”

“You make sure you do, we may not be able to save you next time.”

We said our farewell and went back to the office, where I typed up the report of the day so far, with all the details and names. Frank put them all in Colins’ folder to give to Jacobsen to follow up, as soon as Colin was fit enough to front up in court, should the police still want to take it further.

The rest of the week was reasonably easy, follow-ups to a few other cases, a couple of visits to the remand cells, and a couple of lunches with Mum. Angela called into the office on Thursday to tell me that she had been searching through the family records and had discovered that there was an earldom that had never been taken from the family. She would let me know more on Friday evening. In the meantime, Frank got her to sign paperwork for us to work on her behalf, should she find that it was claimable. Perhaps her double-barrelled name would fit. She may be Dame Harrington-Smythe in the future.

Finally, Friday afternoon came to an end, and it was time to leave the office. It had been a big week and I was happy to leave. I had organized to meet Angela at our usual café for a meal and it was a good walk, something that would allow me to think about the last few weeks of my mini traineeship.

Next week was to be a big one. We would have Jock in court, in front of a single judge who would have the power to shape his future. I know that Frank was expecting, with Sammys’ help, to be able to take Jock home. The fact that one of our Old Girls had managed to move his mother into a short list was good news.

I was just enjoying the fresh air when a large van pulled up beside me and a large arm went around my body, with a hand going over my mouth. I was lifted off the ground and carried to the van, where the side door had opened, and a bikie leered at me as I was pushed inside. My captor kept hold of me as he got in and then moved sideways to sit down on a bench. His arm had both of mine trapped and his hand never left my mouth.

As the van pulled away, he spoke into my ear.

“I can let you breathe but won’t let you go. Scream and you get hit, say anything and you get hit, plead and you get hit. Got it?”

I nodded and he took his hand away from my mouth. I stayed quiet, even as the bikie on the seat opposite reached over and put his hand on my leg. I gritted my teeth and stayed silent as he pushed his fingers under my skirt, then under the edge of my panties and into my vagina, wriggling it around as I did my best to stay as still as I could. These brutes had me in their total control and I was getting more scared with every passing second.

He laughed as he pulled his finger out and then he licked his finger.

“Sweet, bitch. I’m going to enjoy my turn when we have you to ourselves. First, though, the sergeant at arms of the Glasgow Chapter has first dibs. He’s really pissed off at having a steady supply cut off, having three of his gang arrested, and losing two of his trusted members was the last straw. You should have heard him when Ace called him. I could listen from across the room. What the coppers didn’t see was the camera opposite the warehouse. The way you were treated, we were sure you were the snitch, bitch.”

The guy holding me chuckled. “He’ll be here tonight, and then we get you tomorrow, should you last so long. You,” he snarled, “Should have checked the recordings earlier. If you had, we may not have lost two of our Brothers.”

I knew he was thinking about tomorrow as his cock had grown under my buttock. I was not going to like this; my life could be nearing the end of the line. Eventually, the van pulled off the road and I heard the crunch of gravel.

“Remember, bitch, silence. There’s no-one that can hear you so it wouldn’t do any good anyway.”

He kept hold of me as we got out of the van and took my bag with my phone in. When I looked at the house, I was surprised. I knew this house. It was a place my mother had pointed out as we drove by, only a few months ago. It was a detached place, four bedrooms with an attached garage. She had told me that it was a place she had always wanted to live in, and would have, if only my twin had not died. It would have been great for four, she had said, but far too big for three.

My captors walked me inside and I almost threw up. The place was a tip, beer bottles and food boxes everywhere and the smell was stale beer, piss and weed. I didn’t have much time to take any more in, as I was marched into the kitchen and the door to the garage was opened.

“Stay good, stay quiet and you may not be in too much pain when we finish you off. Enjoy your time alone.”

He gave me a hefty shove and I staggered into the dark garage. For a fraction of a second I thought that I saw a curtain of sparkles. Then it felt as if I had hit jelly. I carried on forward until my foot hit something and I fell. I put out a hand to save myself but then my head connected with something solid, and everything went black.

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When I came to my senses, I was in a bed and had two places that hurt, bad. One was in my left arm, the other was my head. I groaned and a damp cloth was laid on my forehead. When I opened my eyes, I saw a nurse smiling at me.

“Good, you’re awake. You had us worried for a while. Stay still, I’m going to fetch the doctor who will see if you have any lasting problems.”

Problems! Of course, I’ve got problems. In just a couple of weeks I’ve got to go back to school. It’s going to be a big year; one I need to start as I mean to finish. If everything goes to plan, I’ll have good enough marks to apply for university. I’ll need a high score in the physics subjects to apply for Civil Engineering.

I was trying to remember how I ended up here when the doctor arrived, with Angela, now in her second-year training as a nurse, in tow. He worked through a series of tests, designed to ensure I could see things correctly, answer questions about the world in general and my own family in particular. When he finished, he ticked off on his clipboard and handed it to Angela.

“Now, young man, in future you turn the lights on when you go into dark places. Consider yourself lucky, you could have broken your neck. If you’re wondering, you have a fractured wrist which will take a few weeks before we can remove the light cast. You have stitches in your forehead that will come out before term starts but you will have some heavy bruising for a while and a scar for the rest of your life. Get a good nights’ sleep. Angela, here, will give you a shot to settle you down. All being well, you’ll be able to go home tomorrow after the rounds.”

Angela stood at the end of the bed and grinned.

“There was a time I would have enjoyed seeing you in bed, but this wasn’t the scenario I had thought about. How do you feel, Ollie, other than the obvious, that is?”

“Stupid, Angie. I’m still trying to remember how I got here.”

“Actually, it was in an ambulance. Seriously, when your mum and Livie got home, you were nowhere to be seen, even though your bike was parked outside. Livie checked your room and then looked into the garage. That’s where she found you, on the floor, out cold with blood all over your face. They called the emergency services, and you were brought in. We were worried that you refused to come round but the doc said to just wait to see if you come back naturally.”

“OK, but why was I on the floor?”

“Ah! Your mother and Livie told me that a bumper bar had arrived yesterday from the platers. Your dad had put it in the garage for you as you were going to be late home after your date with Paula. From what they think, you rushed into the garage this afternoon without waiting for the lights to properly come on, tripped over the bumper bar and nutted your car on the way down. Livie tells me that there isn’t any damage to the car, those old Vanguards are built to last. She also said that she is now sure that the extra ‘I’ in her name stands for ‘intelligence’ and you’re now, officially, the doofus.”

“Right, so it was just high spirits, plus stupidity, then. Was the doc right about the scar?”

“Oh, yes. I helped the ED when you were brought in. You’re going to be like the ‘Boy Who Lived’. The main difference is that his scar was a Z, yours will be a Y. You’ll need more than a cowlick to hide it for a while. When you go back to school, you can say it was a duelling scar. Be prepared to cop a bucket from Paula. I gave her a call and told her not to come in. She said she’ll see you at home on Sunday. I’m sure you’ll be happy for her to try and kiss it better. I might be able to pop around with Jerry, and the bub, to see you and Livie. Your folks were here for a while but won’t be back until tomorrow morning, hopefully to take you home”

She gave me a shot and, made sure I was comfortable. While I waited for it to work, I thought about what needed to happen now. First was to get my final year out of the way so I can go to Uni. Livie was in the same boat, she had been helping out at the law firm this summer alongside Mum. She would do another summer there next year, and, if she got the marks, she would join me at Uni to study law.

That’s what the old Vanguard was for. It would be our transport while we were away. Dad had wanted both of us in the garage, Livie in the office and me in the workshop, but Mum had put her foot down. I was helping out with designing at a building firm in the summer break. Hopefully, the left arm in a cast wouldn’t slow me down on the CAD system.

I thought about my time with Angie. We had had good times, and both learned lot about each other’s bodies. It had stood me in good stead when I managed to get Paula to go out with me.

I drifted towards sleep with the image of the two of us in the big mirrors in the cinema on Thursday night. Paula and I were similar height and we stood head and shoulders above a crowd. She looked like a model and made me look good as well. She planned to be at Uni with us next year. I’m hoping that we three can share a house.

The three of us are all about the same height so I’m sure we’ll stand out when we’re together. I love her madly and finally resolved to ask her to be my wife.

I then had the wildest thought. It must have been the effect of the medication. I resolved never, ever, to have a beaded curtain across a door of any house I lived in. Then I dropped off to sleep.

Marianne Gregory © 2022