Larry left the man and walked back down the street. As he approached his car, a heavy object hit him in the back; he collapsed to the ground, a bag placed over his head. He remembered little after that, other than men hitting him in the chest as he was pinned up against a wall, the fists to his face, the sound and the weight of a baseball bat or similar slamming into his legs, causing him to collapse. Barely conscious once the beating had ceased, he removed the bag from his head. He picked up his phone; it was smashed. With no more energy he propped himself up against the side of his car.
Isaac first heard of the attack when he received a phone call from the hospital. He went straight over there; it was eleven in the evening. At the hospital, Larry’s wife waited. ‘He’s going to be alright,’ she said. Isaac could see the worry on her face.
‘What do you know?’
‘He’s in a bad way; no broken bones, thankfully.’
A doctor entered the room where Larry was lying, semi-conscious and sedated. ‘He’ll pull through,’ he said. ‘We’ve taken x-rays.’
A uniformed officer stood outside the treatment room. Isaac left Larry’s wife with her husband and went to speak to him.
‘A brief report,’ Isaac said.
‘We found him next to his car. At the time, we didn’t know he was a police officer. We phoned for an ambulance, and it brought him here.’
‘You didn’t think to look in his wallet, in his car.’
‘No, sir. We had a man in need of hospitalisation, another one further up the street.’
‘Another one?’
‘A homeless man.’
‘His condition?’
‘He’s dead. There was a knife in him. I phoned back to the station; I assume they phoned you.’
‘Not yet. We’ll deal with that oversight later. What can you tell me?’
‘Not a lot. We found DI Hill, followed procedure. The other man, not that we knew him, was clearly dead. My colleague, he stayed with the body. I came here.’
Isaac phoned Gordon Windsor. ‘You’ve heard about Larry?’ he said.
‘I’ve dispatched my team. What happened? We seem to have lost valuable time here,’ Windsor said.
‘I don’t know. We’ll worry about it later. Larry’s going to pull through; the other man isn’t. See if you can put a name to the perpetrators this time.’
‘We’ll do our best, but attacking a police officer, that’s over the top.’
‘They’re arrogant, believe themselves to be invincible, and Larry was pushing.’
Isaac ended his phone call with the station's crime scene examiner and went back to check on Larry. He was lying on his back, his wife holding his hand. ‘How are you?’ Isaac said. The look on his DI’s wife’s face showed that she would have preferred it if he had let her husband rest.
‘It only hurts when I laugh,’ Larry said.
‘At least your sense of humour’s fine.’
‘Dave, he was there when Negril Bob killed Rasta Joe. You need to talk to him.’
‘Unfortunately, he didn’t fare as well as you.’
‘Dead?’
‘Yes.’
‘We’re back to square one,’ Larry said.
‘Windsor’s out there with his people. Anything you remember?’
‘No idea who it was, although it was definitely more than one person. No one spoke, just beat me up.’
‘A warning?’
‘There’s a few who don’t like me, but if they’ve killed Dave, they’re worried.’
‘Then we know who.’
‘You can’t prove it.’
‘Let’s see what the CSIs come up with.’
A nurse walked in, administered an injection. ‘It’s a sedative. He needs to rest,’ she said.
Chapter 24
Caddick was on the phone. ‘You’re one man down,’ he said. ‘You’ll need additional resources.’
‘DI Hill’s fine,’ Isaac said, knowing full well that the supercilious superintendent wasn’t interested.
‘Yes, sure. I was going to ask,’ Caddick said.
‘We don’t need help at this present time. Dependent on Larry’s condition, he’ll be back with us in a couple of days.’
‘Don’t try to palm me off, DCI. The man’s taken a severe beating; he’s not likely to be up and about for a week, and then he’ll only be on light duties.’
‘How do you know his condition?’ Isaac asked. ‘I’ve only just found out myself.’
A clearing of the throat on the other end of the phone. ‘I’ve just checked with the hospital.’
‘There was a delay in contacting me,’ Isaac said. ‘Did you know that?’
‘Are you accusing me?’
Isaac smelt a rat. ‘Not me.’
‘It’s sir to you,’ Caddick said. The man was pleased, his DCI was rising to the bait. He knew that if he dangled it even more, DCI Isaac Cook would say something that he’d regret. Accusing a senior officer was a disciplinary charge, and he had Cook’s replacement lined up and ready.
Isaac could feel the tension in his body, the need to make a comment, but then he remembered Richard Goddard’s advice: ‘Don’t bait Caddick.’
‘We’ve got the crime scene investigators checking. They could well give us the breakthrough we want,’ Isaac said.
‘Very well. I’ll need a full report.’
***
Isaac was anxious to get out to the crime scene, although fully aware that it was one in the morning, he had barely slept, and he had been in the office until late the previous night. As he left the hospital, his phone rang again. ‘DI Hill, how is he?’ DCS Goddard asked.
‘He’ll be fine,’ Isaac said, aware that Goddard was genuine in his concern for Larry.
‘I was told that it was a severe beating.’
‘He should be up and about in a few days. How about Caddick?’ Isaac asked.
‘He wants to bring in a replacement for you. Just ignore the man and get on with it. I’ll do what I can, but it won’t be much.’
Once free of the phone
