Текст книги "The Cop Killer"

Автор книги: Harry Nankin

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

“Police at Wrexham, who is speaking please”? Was the voice he heard.

“It is Jack Richards”.

“Oh yes indeed Mr Richards isn’t it, well now Idris has been calling you, now just hold the line please”.

“Constable Idris Roberts yer, who is that please?”

“It is Jack Richards, Constable Roberts; do you have an update on this Sid fellow?”

“I do indeed Sir, but as you are not a police officer I am unable to pass you my report”

“What did you say officer, are you aware that I am in charge of this investigation?”

“That may well be the case Sir, but rules are rules police records can only be passed within those in the job see”.

Before he could become even more exasperated Doris arrived, “Is there a problem Mr Richards?”

“Please deal with this wooden top he won’t pass me the information”.

“Inspector Scott-Ling here, have to you an update on the Sid fellow?”

She was sometime listening and then said. “Right thank you; send an email to me at the address on the card I gave you. Thank you for you enquiries, pardon, yes I will pass on what you say”.

She replaced the handset looked up and said, “Idris says the Wooden Tops went out years ago when he was a boy”.

She went to the computer, opened it then printed out the message, she did not read it but handed it to Jack assuming, correctly that was the correct thing to do.

He took the sheet of paper and they both left, once seated in her car they were on their way. As they travelled through the town negotiating the various traffic lights, which seemed to take an eternity to change to their favour.  He read the report Constable Roberts had gathered in respect of Sid.

“Cedric Royston Morgan, Alias Sid, born in 1971 now 42 years of age, a native of Cardiff in South Wales. A single man, he received an elementary education leaving school at the age of 16 years”.

  “On leaving school he joined a group of travellers and first came to police attention in the year 1991 when he was convicted of robbery involving antiques, he was sentenced to 7 years.  He was released on licence in 1994”

“In August 1995 he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment for assaulting a police officer at a football match, he served only one year and was released on licence”.

“He then returned to life amongst Irish travellers but during a police raid on their encampment in 1997 he stabbed a police officer and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempted murder. He served 4 years before being released on licence in 2001”.

 “He disappeared from police notice until the year 2003 when he was involved in an armed robbery in which two security officers were badly injured. Morgan was himself shot by a police marksman and when recovered he was sentenced to a further 10 years, he served only 3 years.”

“He was released on licence in the year 2006 pending a training course at a local hospital in that year.”

“Since his release he has attended the rehabilitation course and currently works in the same place.”

“He remains an assistant in the hospital dispensary at Wrexham General Hospital where he is described as a quiet man, loyal and good worker”.

“There is a cautionary note on his file at New Scotland yard, which reads.  He has a known pathological hate of police officers since the incident in which he was shot”.

He read the file to her, she shook her head and said, “It’s the same old story, a repeat offender repeated offences all serious, I suppose now he appears to have settled at the hospital that is something, what do you think?”

“What do I think?” Said Jack, “I think that we need to keep one eye on this fellow.”

“I see he appears to have gone quiet which reminds me of the old saying.”

“Take care of still waters and quiet men”.

“I wonder how the hell Wendy Upton came to get involved with him”. Asked Doris,

“I would imagine she was lonely and it seems he has changed, outwardly at least and of course there is no way she would know anything of his record.  Clearly he wasn’t married to the lady who kicked him out”.

“That is true,” she said.

“Well keep the contents of this under wraps and contact this Idris copper, he won’t` speak with me and tell him the same. I suspect if this Sid or whatever name he is using gets wind of the fact we are asking about him he might just kick up some dust and we don’t need any clouds of dust or anything else at the moment”.

“I will contact Idris but if you didn’t know, in Wales it is renowned for gossip and if Idris has been asking around locally it won’t take long for the word to get out”.

 “We are here now, you can probably tell from the area”

“Yes” he said, “Grim, very grim”.

They left the car and approached the first house, that of Bob Friday but as they did so the door opened next-door causing Doris to say.

 “That is Rachel Friday, she is waving us inside, I will hazard a guess they are both in there, a moral support thing”.

“I suspect you are correct, we will try it together after all they are not suspects”.

“Hello Mrs Friday you remember me?”

“I do indeed, Inspector Ling”

“Ah well yes”, replied Doris not making an issue of the fact she had forgotten the Scott bit.

“Please come in”.

They both went inside, Doris said, “Mrs Friday and you Rachel may I introduce to you Mr Jack Richards a retired Detective Superintendent from New Scotland Yard who has been asked by the powers to be to look a little further into the death of both your lads and several others similar”.

There was a surprise, for Wendy was holding a new borne babe, she said, “Welcome, I always thought it was murder”

“Well now” said Jack, “may we take a seat?”

“Oh of course please do” said Rachel, “I am so sorry not to have asked you, it’s the stress of it all, you being from Scotland Yard and that”.

Jack and Doris sat down and she said, “How old is the Baby?”

“Its only four weeks old, Wendy, I called him Reg after his Granddad”.

“Very nice too, I hadn’t realised when I came before, you were expecting”, replied Doris.

“Well no I wasn’t showing you see at that time”

“Right” said Jack; “I have checked the police records of both officers so I don’t have many questions.  Can either of you recall anything that might give you rise to believe that someone had it in for either of the men, in particular anything to do with any sort of drug or family weakness”.

“Well” said, Rachel “I know for certain there is some heart problems in our family. Bob’s father died aged only 50 years of age from a heart attack”.

“Well there is nothing as far as I know in Sid’s family for I have been in touch with them, you know to safe guard the baby and there is nothing”.

“Mrs Friday” asked Jack, “there seems a gap for several years of what Bob was doing before he joined the police, can you shed any light on that”.

“Well not really you see he had a spell shall I say he was disillusioned, he left home for a year or two when he came back he never would say what he had been up to.  When he came back he went straight into the police and they gave him this house”

“I see” said Jack, “What about you Mrs Upton same thing it seems there is a gap in what Sid was up to before joining the Police”

“I am sorry”.  “We only met after he was in the Police I met him a few weeks before we were married. We met believe it or not in Chester when I was in this religious group; I play the guitar you know.  We had some hassle from some yobs one Saturday morning and my dear Sid came to the rescue”.

“So there is nothing at all nothing suspicious, no doubts or anything”, he asked, feeling despondent, he could almost feel the egg running off his face.

“No not really, only that woman you remember Wendy, that woman came knocking wanting to see Bob, you thought at first he had been having it off”.

“Oh yes, I recall it now”

“Tell me more,” said Jack.

“There is not much to tell”, replied Wendy, “we were sitting here one day when a knock came on the door, Sid got up and answered it. The next moment I saw him on the path speaking with this very nice looking woman.  The next moment Bob came from next door and joined the conversation.  After a few minutes, the woman left and I saw the two lads speaking with each other and shaking their heads. I assumed it was some woman who either Sid or Bob or both might have been having an affair with, she was really nice looking”.

“When Sid came inside he looked a bit pale, put on his coat and left together with Bob. I asked both of them about it later but they just said it was a police thing and the woman had come to the house pestering them. They went down to the nick and it was all resolved. I never heard from her or saw her again and the blokes never spoke of it. To tell you the truth round here people often visit police houses to speak with officers, that is the way it is.

“What did the woman look like?” Asked, Jack.

 “I didn’t see her,” said Rachel Friday “I only know what you said Wendy”

Wendy thought, and then replied, “Well I can’t really recall except she was in her early thirties, very beautiful had a very tanned skin, not black, not white just nicely tanned. She had very long black hair”.

“If you saw her again do you think you might recognise her”? Asked Jack”.

Wendy hesitated then replied, “Yes, I think I would”.

“Thank you” said Jack

“Well ladies is there anything else anything at all suspicious you can bring to mind that might give me a clue in which direction to look to find any cause other than natural causes as it appears at the moment?”

They both shook their heads, Doris and Jack rose and were about to leave when Jack stopped and asked

“Does the name Sid, other than your husband I mean, or Morgan, Roy, Royston or Cedric mean anything.

There was silence then they both simultaneous said “Morgan that rings a bell”, they looked at each other.

 Wendy said, “It was Morgan, Rachel that chap from the hospital in Wrexham. He came round here after the lads who stopped him found some drugs on him, they warned him and took the drugs off him”.

“That is right,” said Rachel, “he came round shouting the odds, then burst into tears saying he had the drugs in connection with his work, he accidentally had them in his pocket and was searched when they caught him speeding and he didn’t want the lads contacting the hospital in case he got the sack. Some bloody traffic Warden in town gave him the lads’ addresses.

“Yes that is it Mr Richards”, said Wendy, “it was all resolved, they said they would give him the drugs back to take to work and he would hear no more of it”.

“Thank you for this ladies” said Jack.  “It is vital that you speak to no one of our visit or of anything that has been said here today”.

“You do understand that, both of you?” Said Doris.

They both nodded their heads; Doris and Jack shook hands, stating someone would be in touch if there were any developments.

They left the house and on arriving at the car a voice said, “Are you the cops?”

“Yes”-replied Doris

It was a lady very obese, aged around fifty years of age smoking, wearing bedroom slippers and a very dirty brown jumper, and what had been a red pair of trousers, which were now mottled in many colours and stained with of every possible item of food.

It seemed the previous ladies were correct; people did visit police houses in this area.

“Can I help?” Asked Doris

“You can get some bugger up here to sort these druggies out”.

“What is your name and address?” Asked Doris

“My name and address where the hell do you come from, do you think I am going to give you my name and address, not from the fire brigade as well are you?”

“What do you mean?” Was Doris next reply.

Jack knew what was coming but said nothing.

“If I give you my name and address the bloody house will be burned down by morning, just do your job, you get paid don’t you, get it sorted”.

The lady turned and walked off

Jack and Doris finally were on their way.

“Where to next Mr Richards?”  Said Doris

“Manchester Police Headquarters” was the reply.

After some moments Doris spoke. “What did you make of that?”

The mystery woman and the drugs. I will check the records, when I get back,” she said confidently.

Jack thought momentarily then replied. “Well the woman appears to be the same one who visited Wrexham”.

“The Sid fellow or whatever name he uses from time to time.  He certainly needs closer investigation. With his record how the hell he was employed in a hospital job with access to drugs beats belief.”

 “He is obviously violent. In addition he may well be psychotic, I note he was angry then broke down into tears.”

 “It may have been a show for sympathy on the other hand he may be a Looney. I have seen men like him for forty years, shouting and threatening one minute in tears the next”.

“The truth is they are the worst to deal with, violent and unpredictable.”

“You check the records concerning the speeding and drug seize I will bet you find nothing. I have a feeling these cops cuffed the speeding, then took the drugs but didn’t enter them up, either they forgot or intended another use of them”.

“When the Morgan fellow traced them they probably went down to the nick retrieved the stuff from their stash or locker and gave them back to him to keep his mouth shut. It seems they were either two corrupt officers or were two lazy buggers, we will never know.”

Doris thought and nodded but before she could reply, her telephone rang. She reached it and handed it to Jack who in turned answered.

“Jack Richards here, Oh officer Idris, going to speak to me this time Inspector Scott-Ling is driving?”

There was a pause when he said, “Thank you officer, yes thank you”

The call finished and he said, “You may have guessed that was our Idris.”

“He is reporting he was out on his patch today when an informant told him that our suspect, Sid Morgan, call him what you like has it seems found out that we are asking about him”.

“He has made it known he is not too pleased.  If he finds we have been here and know about the drugs from the hospital and the cops he will be even more rattled”.

“If you like” said Doris, “I will contact HQ and report it”.

“No, no, certainly not if there is more in it and Morgan is a candidate and it is looking that way, we don’t want to spook him”.

“Ok” she replied.

This caused him to think and mumble, “trouble is, nothing we have found so far gives any indication that these coppers were murdered, not a smell of it, it’s still a natural cause with just a few items of suspicion but nothing to account for them dying from a crime”.

“I will put on the sat nav,” said Doris, “I will never find Manchester HQ without some help”.

Doris was well used to the satellite navigation and so they arrived at Manchester Police Headquarters with all haste, that is to say travelling ten miles per hour outside and into the city then at walking pace in three lanes of traffic from one set of traffic lights to the next.

This caused Jack to realise why the successful business community in Tarporley had moved south to Cheshire though having to negotiate the horrendous journey each morning and evening, at least their off time from work or business was more pleasant.

The car parked, the duo of investigators walked on, Jack in the front Doris in close pursuit her main duty in hand, carrying the briefcase. One blind and the other leading the blind thought Jack walking at a brisk pace to the front entrance then stopped and pressed the who is it at our door button upon which a voice asked “Who seeks admission?”

This phrase reminded Jack that it was used in Freemasons Lodges and caused him to wonder if this Chief was also a Free Mason.  If so, could there be a change of suspect from Wrexham Sid to a secret conspiracy of Freemasons.

They appeared to get blamed for everything else why not this?” thought Jack but then,

Doris called “are you ready?” Mr Richards.

 He realised he had been fantasising yet again having not heard Doris make any reply to the who seeks admission.

 He would never know if she had replied, Jack a poor brother in a state of darkness”

 “If she had, those inside may well anticipate him coming inside led by Doris, he being blind folded, his shirt open at the chest with a cable tow or to the uninitiated, a rope around his neck and a trouser leg rolled to the knee”.

 “Good morning” it was a lady of colour very handsome and well suited to her very smart and neatly fitting grey suit. She was aged in her early forties and had an exceedingly pleasant welcoming voice and approach.

“We have come by appointment to see the Chief-Constable Mr Quinten Johns,” replied Doris, thinking her uniform looked a little on the shabby side compared with that of the immaculate Miss Harper-Johnson, Reception liaison Officer, according to her name badge.

It also crossed her mind if the Chief was just as finely attired Jack who was still wearing his grey trilby hat and old grey raincoat would look like a phrase used by her mother, “a dog’s breakfast”

“Ah yes, I am Clarice. If you would care to follow me I will take you directly to the Chief’s Office.”

“I might just add that due to the area in which you will be making your enquiries once you have finished your interview with Mr Johns, arrangements have been made for a suitable escort for you to visit Mrs Masterton and Chorlton Lake”.

“Thank you so much” replied Doris as they arrived at the lift, entered and were on their way up, in what appeared to Jack had been one continuous motion.

The lift stopped and they alighted and walked the short distance along the corridor to the office marked, The Office of the Chief-Constable, Manchester Police, Quinten Johns QPM

Clarice pressed the buzzer and an illuminated sign came on, “enter” they stepped inside what was a mediocre office only containing a desk, and three chairs.

A computer fitted onto the modern but small desk and a telephone. Around the walls were several photographs of Her Majesty the Queen.

The lady seated at the desk was not a posh Clarice but a relatively common Vera who spoke with a relatively common accent when she said, “Welcome very nice day “tint it” then added for good measure, “Cum tu see Chief?”

“Yes I am Inspector Scott-Ling, this is Mr Jack Richards”

Vera smiled and pointed to the vacant seats indicating the visitors would be more comfortable seated during their wait, they did so and so did Clarice.

Vera was about to pick up the telephone when she looked and realised the Chief was already speaking to someone and so turned to the visitors and smiled then asked, “ Hast thee been tu cita much”

“Ah no” replied Doris.

Jack was not a regular visitor but during the occasions he had he had heard this northern twang before, they appeared to miss out the word “the” in a sentence so instead of asking, “Are you going down the road?”

 “They said, are you going down road?”

He was expecting any moment dear Vera would ask, “Hast thee been in tu Ali or worse”.

“Thee knows, the Chief, he is a Rate Moonkay”

With that all thoughts suddenly changed has her telephone rang, she immediately picked up the handset and said, “Yes Sir, both are here sir, I will yes”.

She walked from her desk, opened the door and said, “Mr Johns will see thee both now”

Doris and Jack entered wondering what they would be greeted with, it was the norm.

“Good morning Jack and you also Inspector, please do take a seat”.

It was apparent the Chief at least appeared to speak the Queens English, which for a southern boy like Jack was an advantage.

His office was large and nicely furnished with a large heavy oak desk, which was carved, an equally decorative chair, which appeared to rock, often referred to as a captain’s chair.

The view from the vast window was of the city but unlike Myers office in Wrexham, there were no hills in the background all solid city and motorway.

“How can I help you?” Asked Johns, adding, “Oh here is a copy of the officer’s personal record file”.

“Well” replied Jack “unless you have any logical explanation or some good ideas whether anything other than natural causes was behind the officer’s death I doubt you can help much.”

“I have nothing. I was hoping that you might be able to shine some light on the situation, I presume you will have already made some enquiries”.

“Yes we have” replied Jack “preliminary mind you”.

“And they have revealed”? Asked Johns

“Until today sir, not much, we endeavour to persevere”, added Jack.

“I see, right well this officer didn’t have much service, looking at his record just before you arrived I see he joined only three years ago”

“I recall it for it was January, we weren’t actually recruiting anyone due to the cuts but then it appears there was an exception made in the case of Rick and so he joined”.

“What would the exception be?” Asked Jack, the date of his joining the force had rung alarm bells.

“I have no idea, I myself, didn’t arrive here until some weeks after that so the subject never came up”.

“I see” said Jack, “I wondered if him being a mounted officer had anything to do with it, it being a little on the specialised side”.

“You may be right, just a moment I will ask Vera she is a wealth of information, Vera would you please step inside?”

Before he could replace the phone Vera was in the room and without prompting asked, “Can I help thee?”

“Ah, yes Vera we were just wondering if you had any idea as we were not recruiting at the time how Rick Masterton came to be admitted to the force?”

“Oh Rick, Oh yes it was because of the last Chief, he was a big riding man. We were short of jockeys for ponies and Rick was a rider at a stables in North Wales, near Wrexham and the Chief had a cottage near there.”

“I recall he had a weekend away and took some police bosses with him; the HMI at the time was one. The next minute we had a new horse and rider, that’s all I know”.

“I see thank you Vera”.

She left the room then the Chief smiled and said.

“There you have it, Jack, problem solved seems it was wheels within wheels, a boys week-end out and Manchester gets a new horse and rider.

“Are you going to the scene?”

“Yes sir, I had intended to”, replied Jack.

The Chief opened a draw and handed Jack a Leaflet, “here Jack take this. Where you are going is a beauty spot, a nature reserve but it wasn’t always like that.”

“You will be impressed with the scenery and wildlife. I recently took my son, his wife and our grandchildren there so picked up this leaflet. A fine example what Manchester can do?”

“Thank you so much for this. I will read this and await my visit there with interest; if it is that good I will come again and bring Anne”.

“You consider doing that Jack, you will see it is a very attractive place, loads of people taking photos and there are even some films on You tube, only of the birds and other wild life of course”.

“Chief, thank you for all your help. A good job done there, you have been very helpful. We must get on I would like to visit the widow next”.

“Yes of course Jack, keep me posted of any developments though it still appears a no goer crime wise”.

“Yes” replied Jack “it does appear that way at the moment”.

They stood shook hands and both investigators were soon in the foyer when a large police van pulled up.

“There is your escort, a sergeant and ten officers should suffice,” said Miss Harper-Johnson”

Jack looked at her causing her to reply, “Don’t worry they should be enough, unless you would be any happier with a dog handler coming as well”.

“Ah no, no” replied Jack wondering where the hell they may be heading, he was soon to find out if only a taste of life in the north.

They drove off following the police van and had not travelled far when they past large group of youths some armed with dogs on thick leads and harnesses.  The youths were getting the dogs to bay at each other in a fighting stance.

Looking up at the rows of terraced houses he saw here and there were roof lights and incredibly, he thought he could see young men sitting on the roof outside the windows only one slip away from certain death.

The police van suddenly veered to the right and so did Doris in her car, a group of youths on the road side had thrown a pedal cycle into the road obviously at the police van, they jeered “Cita,. Cita”. As the convoy passed them. Jack assumed if translated into English they were chanting “City” the slang an indication they were supporters of Manchester City football club, which only goes to prove that Jack had made the best choice when he had taken up golf.

As they travelled along, Doris’s phone rang and being unable to answer it, she handed it to Jack who placed it into the car phone holder and pressed louder speaker, “Hello Jack Richards”

A voice answered, “The Sergeant here in front. Stick close, we are coming to the nasty area now”.

Jack thought and then said, “Christ after what we have seen so far what is the next bit like”.

He thought at any moment a helicopter would fly over head with a loud speaker blazing, “This area is now under the command of the 5^th Armoured brigade”, and immediately he anticipated a convoy of armoured vehicles joining the convoy, the members of which would be armed with fixed bayonets.

As it turned out a message arrived, saying “Welcome to the arse hole of the empire”, there was a laugh, then.

“I was only joking we have gone through the Labour area. Here we are coming into Tory town”.

 The area had changed and it appeared they had arrived in a reasonably attractive area. The convoy stopped and the sergeant arrived by the car.

“Here it is Inspector, the house is just here. Rachel Masterton is expecting you”.

“Thank you Sergeant”, replied Jack.

They alighted from the car and as they did so, the officers left the van some began to smoke and others simply leaned on the side of the van.”

Gone it seems was the nicely pressed police surge with a crease in the trousers and polished boots. Instead, the officers were dressed in some type of black overalls and boots, which if anything had ever been placed on the footwear it, was either black car oil, axle grease of at best waterproof dubbing.

 The officers were armed to the teeth with batons, gas and stun guns. Looking inside the van Jack saw two firearms securely fastened to the side.

As they walked down the drive, the door of the house, which was named, The Haven, opened and a lady was standing pending their arrival.

She appeared like the other wives, to be in her early thirties, though with long auburn hair. She was wearing a hat and coat giving the impression she was about to leave home,

“Good day to you, Mrs Masterton?” Asked Jack

“Oh yes, I was expecting you but I do have to go out soon, an appointment for a job”.

“We won’t keep you long,” replied Jack.

They went inside, the house was clean, tidy and well furnished there were several photographs of Rick and his horse together with several of their wedding, sad thought Jack.

“Please do sit” said Rachel, “would you like a cup of tea or coffee?”

“Thank you Mrs Masterton but we have yet to travel the many miles down to Shropshire and you have a commitment of your own. May I first add that you have my deepest sympathy at the loss of Rick”.

“Thank you” she replied adding, “How can I help? I had assumed it was a natural cause case”?

“And you would be correct. It is just that there were several officers, though not connected with each other as far as we know, their deaths though natural are rather unusual due to the age of the officers. Nothing for you to worry about it is simply an enquiry to confirm what has already been established”.

”Very tactful” thought Doris.

“I might just ask one or two questions of you Mrs Masterton”, said Jack.

“By all means if I can help”.

“How long had you known Rick?”

“Nearly two years we met when I was out walking my mother’s dog around Chorlton Water Park, ironically where he died. We met that day agreed a date the same evening and fell in love immediately. We were married some weeks later”.

“I see are you aware if Rick or his family had a history of heart disease or similar”.

“None at all Mr Richards, strangely he never did speak of his family save that he originated from a place called Wrexham in North Wales”.

“Did you ever visit there with him?” Asked Jack.

“No never”.

“What did he do prior to joining the police?”

“His records are vague, it seems he may have been a farm worker and then had a job at a stables other than there is not much about his previous life?”

“All I know of that is that he said he was working at this stables for some well to do person who kept horses, rich people. Rick liked horses from his farming days”.

“He said that one day some high ranking police visited the stables and as a result it seems the Manchester Police were short of a police horse.”

 “When the owner offered to donate a horse, provided Rick could be the rider, he dropped on his feet and became a policeman but he only ever rode the horse from what he said, you may know more, that is all I ever knew him to do”.

“I see”, said Jack.

“Did you ever hear him speak of anyone else from the Wrexham area?” Asked Doris.

“Only some fellow he called Smiling Sid who he said he knew from his farm and stables times but I think this Sid got into quite a bit of trouble so when he came round here one day Rick sent him packing”.

“Oh he came here did he”? This Sid fellow” exclaimed Jack.

 “Not exactly here, it seems Rick met him whilst on patrol one day. Seemingly Sid was fishing in Chorlton Lake and spoke with Rick, that was all that was in it as far as I know”.

“I see. Very interesting”, said Jack, “Did he ever speak of any officers from other forces?”

“No-one at all, not to me any way”. Said Rachel

“Did he happen to have a female visitor just before his death”? Asked Doris.

Rachel hesitated, and then said, “Well there was this one lady who called, very attractive, she looked foreign. She knocked on the door I answered it; she said she wanted to speak with Rick.  I called Rick he spoke with her outside for about five minutes then she left. When she had gone I asked Rick about her but he refused to discuss it saying only it was a Police matter.”

There was the blasting of a car horn, Rachel said “that will be my lift for the appointment at the night club”.