Wanting to give the man a break, Albert said, ‘Sit, Rex.’ Which the dog did automatically upon hearing the command. Doing so meant the taut lead went suddenly slack and the poor cop fell on his backside in a puddle much to the amusement of his colleagues. ‘Yes, officer, this is my dog. I’m glad to see he is not hurt. Did he cause an accident?’
‘The cause of the accident remains to be determined, sir.’ It was a new voice that answered, but one which Albert recognised. Turning his head, he found DS Craig looking down at him. Can I ask what you are doing in a dark car park with an injured man, sir?’
He didn’t get an answer, not from Albert at least because a young female paramedic, a pretty girl with short ginger hair and freckles, took a moment from assisting her colleague to get in the detective’s face. ‘You can ask questions later. I need to get both of my patients into the back of the ambulance and to the hospital. One has a suspected concussion and let’s hope it is no worse than that, and Albert here,’ she’d asked his name the moment she knelt down to check on him, ‘needs to get warm before the cold becomes a problem.’
DS Craig held out his hands in a mocking gesture of surrender, making himself look the fool to Albert’s mind, but he chose to answer the man’s question anyway. ‘I am looking into the murder of Joel Clement. Kate Harris didn’t do it.’ It was a bold and challenging statement, one designed to get the attention of all the police officers within earshot. Now that he had that, he continued to explain. ‘The injury to Victor Harris was inflicted by two men who I interrupted in the act of kidnap. They were placing him into this van,’ he pointed a wobbly finger at the non-descript white Ford Transit, ‘when I chanced upon them.’
DS Craig narrowed his eyes. ‘Kate Harris killed Joel Clement to get his half of the Clanger Café. It was simple greed. She has a criminal record for violent crime, plus motive and no alibi. I can assure you, sir, Kate Harris is guilty no matter what you might believe.’
Albert shook his head. The paramedics were getting ready to load Victor onto a gurney. Like Albert, he was soaked right through and would need a complete change of clothing. It would be Albert’s turn next, but he wasn’t done with the detective. ‘You need to find out who the two men here were. They attacked Kate Harris’s brother for a reason. Kidnap is not a random act, Sergeant.’
‘Well one of them is currently very dead,’ DS Craig replied utterly deadpan. ‘The paramedics there worked on him but assure me he is not going to get better any time soon.’ He was making light of the man’s death. If Albert were DS Craig’s superior officer, he would be tearing a strip off him right now. ‘You’re right though. I do need to determine who the man is. If there was indeed a second one, I shall want to know his identity too. Perhaps Mr Harris will be able to tell me who they are and why they wanted him when he regains consciousness, but my questions for you mostly revolve around whether your dog is dangerous.’
‘What!’ Albert’s lips were going numb, but he was able to blurt his response. ‘You cannot be serious!’
DS Craig’s face was emotionless when he replied. ‘I have blood on the street and though you tell me there were two men, I have only one, he is dead, and he has clearly been bitten by a dog if the paramedics are to be believed.’
It was Hans who bit him, Albert thought. He’d watched the two dogs until they ran out of sight and hadn’t seen Rex bite either of them. He didn’t say that though, he said, ‘They were defending Victor Harris, the victim of an attempted kidnapping, or do you think the dogs were driving the van as part of their crime spree?’
The question drew a snigger from a couple of the cops who got a warning look from DS Craig. He brought his eyes back to Albert’s. ‘What then? The two men who came here to allegedly kidnap Mr Harris are the same men responsible for killing Joe Clement? Why? Are they after the top-secret clanger recipe that only two people in the world know?’ Now it was his turn to make a joke, sharing it with the cops around him who took the bait and chuckled politely. ‘I don’t know who you are, sir, and I don’t much care. Animal services are on their way to collect the dogs. They will be taken care of and if your story checks out, or can be corroborated by Mr Harris, then they will be returned to you.’
Victor was already loaded into the ambulance and now it was Albert’s turn. Albert let them help him to his feet. He was cold, not injured, but far more than either thing, he was angry. The police found Albert kneeling over an injured man. Victor was unconscious, and the cops had a dead body lying in the gutter just a few yards away on the other side of the building. As the only person available to give comment, Albert could be the one responsible for it all. He doubted anyone believed that, but DS Craig sent a cop to the hospital with him anyway.
Rex couldn’t work out what was going on. His human was being taken care of, it seemed; he looked cold and Rex wanted to get him back into the warm somewhere. The human holding his lead wouldn’t let him get to him though and now it looked like they were taking his human somewhere. Why wasn’t he going with
