Once his sweater was in place, and his shoes were tied with neat reef knots, he pulled the curtain open and stepped through it to reveal himself.
‘Your sweater’s on inside out,’ commented DS Craig who was leaning against the wall half in and half out of the doorway.
Looking down to confirm he wasn’t lying, Albert swore and muttered, then took it off, reversed it and tried again. He’d been awake for thirty minutes and it already felt it was going to be one of those days.
‘Where is my dog?’ Albert demanded to know.
DS Craig pushed himself off the wall but didn’t answer straight away. He eyed Albert steadily for a second. ‘I’ve arranged to have him brought to the station. I need to take a statement from you, and I have a number of questions as you might imagine.’
Albert was pleased to hear they were bringing Rex to him, but he wasn’t ready to play ball with the DS just yet; he was still sore about his treatment last night. Rather than thank him, Albert turned his attention toward Victor.
‘How is he, do you know?’ he asked the detective.
DS Craig moved into the room, coming to stand beside Albert at the foot of Victor’s bed. ‘I’m told he has no lasting injuries, just a nasty contusion on his head. They performed a scan – I don’t remember what the right word for it is – on his head last night. They assured me his brain is fine. Beyond that I don’t know much, other than that he regained consciousness an hour after they brought him in here and he is sleeping now. I want to interview him too, but they were adamant that I not wake him. We should probably move away, in fact.’
Thirty years ago, Albert would have just woken the man if he was in the middle of a murder enquiry and had questions to ask, but then he didn’t live in a small rural community where the matron would remember his disobedience and might punish him for it next time.
As they both left the room, the matron appeared, blocking their path. ‘Mr Smith you are not yet discharged,’ she pointed out in a manner that made it clear she expected him to return to his room and wait until he was.
Albert had no time for that but recognised the service her staff had provided. ‘Please pass on my thanks to your colleagues. Most especially to whoever took care of my clothes. I’m afraid I must go now. People are waiting for me and there is a killer to catch.’
His statement made DS Craig’s head whip around to look at him, but the detective kept quiet.
‘But you are not discharged,’ the matron complained when Albert neatly sidestepped her.
DS Craig went with him, turning around to walk backwards so he could talk to the matron. ‘You’ll be sure to let me know when Mr Harris is awake, yes?’
Unused to being disobeyed, the matron folded her arms and glared until they were out of sight.
Going out of the double doors to the carpark, DS Craig said, ‘I looked you up. You had quite the career.’
‘What made you do that?’ asked Albert.
DS Craig chuckled. ‘I got a call from a detective superintendent called Gary Smith. He warned me that you were in town and that we might cross paths. He said you have a knack for finding trouble.’ Albert frowned but didn’t say anything which prompted DS Craig to say more. ‘I should probably let you know that we found Joel Clement’s prints inside the Ford Transit van. And his blood and pieces of hair.’
This was news, and it was welcome news at that. The detective lifted his right arm, plipping the button on a set of keys to open a silver Ford Mondeo. Pausing before he opened the passenger door to get in, Albert said, ‘You have released Kate Harris then?’
DS Craig had his door open but stopped himself from getting in when he heard the surprising question. ‘Why ever would I do that?’
Albert’s eyes flared. ‘Why? Because he was kidnapped by the two men with the van. One of them is dead; you found him in the street, I understand. The other is on the run if he has any sense. Those two are responsible for snatching Joel Clement and taking him to Wales. They killed him, or they are involved. I won’t claim to know what is going on, but you must be questioning how Kate Harris can possibly be involved.’
DS Craig shook his head. ‘Not at all. I had been wondering how she managed to get him to Wales. Did she trick him into the trip? Did she get him into her car and then knock him out? The two accomplices provide the missing elements of her crime. You were a police officer for many years, Mr Smith, you must know that statistically, most crimes are driven by financial greed and those that aren’t mostly revolve around sex.’
Albert did know that. He was a person who, when serving, reminded other officers of that fact on a regular basis. Despite that, he didn’t think it was the case this time. There was something else going on here. ‘How do you explain them coming back for Victor Harris then? If Kate Harris is the master criminal with two henchmen in her service, what was her motivation for the kidnap of her brother?’ Albert watched as the question finally made the detective sergeant pause: he hadn’t considered that.
Feeling like he’d finally made a point that might stick, Albert slid inside the detective’s unmarked police car.
