DS Craig left the room, walking away without another word. Albert couldn’t decide if he thought the man incompetent or if he might read the clues the same way if he were leading the investigation. The case against Kate was a good one.
Alone in the room, Albert thought some more about what he still needed to do today. Far from dropping his interest, it was now as piqued as it could be. More certain than ever that DS Craig was trying to make the pieces fit and fooling himself that they did, Albert knew he might be the only person between Kate Harris and a long, yet undeserved, jail sentence.
Pushing against weary knees to get back onto his feet, Albert knew what he was going to do next.
Side-tracked
Albert was on his way to breakfast. He wanted to continue to pursue the case: he felt like he had no choice now, but he also needed to get some food and take it easier today. His plan was to visit the Clanger Café and park himself there for a short while.
However, fate intervened, and he only got as far as the front desk of the police station. A morose looking man in his sixties was waiting there for someone to deal with him but at the same time – proving men can easily multi-task – he was getting an ear bashing from his wife. It had to be the man’s wife, Albert surmised, because no one else would ever talk so harshly to a person.
Her issue appeared to be that she didn’t believe there was any reason for her husband to be wasting her time or that of the police with some made up story about a man kidnapping him.
‘But, love, there was a man. He made me get in the boot of the car.’ In truth he’d woken in the boot of the car but didn’t want to admit that he’d fainted when he thought he was going to get thumped.
‘Oh, stop it, Eric!’ his wife snapped in reply. ‘Just admit you went to the pub and ate all the chips. This charade has gone on long enough.’
‘But I didn’t go to the pub, love,’ the man complained. He was facing the counter, rather than his wife, eyes forward and looking meek. He was short at maybe five and a half feet and his wife was taller by a couple of inches plus a good deal bigger in every direction. Albert had the immediate impression the woman had been verbally bullying the man for many decades. ‘I need to report this for insurance purposes if nothing else.’
‘Oh, yes,’ she replied, clearly not believing a word, ‘because you pranged the car and now won’t admit it.’ The argument continued unabated as the young constable leading Albert from the police station got to the door that led back into reception.
At the front desk, the duty officer was on the phone and trying to wrap the call up so he could deal with the annoying couple. It was of no interest to Albert whose thoughts were only of breakfast and a nice pot of tea. He had Rex leading the way and Hans tucked under his left arm, but Rex stopped walking, suddenly spinning around to sniff the man at the desk.
‘He knows the human I chased last night!’ woofed Rex, instantly animated and excited. He sniffed along the man’s jacket, sucking in a deep noseful of the familiar scent.
‘Is it him?’ growled Hans.
Rex sniffed deeply, but his presence was making the couple uncomfortable. ‘What is this?’ asked the woman.
Rex barked, the loud and sudden noise making the woman jump backward in fright whereupon she let out a small scream. ‘Arrrgh! There’s a mad dog!’
‘Rex, sit,’ ordered Albert, his well-trained dog obeying. Albert was learning to observe his dog’s behaviour and there was definitely something about what he was seeing. His dog could smell something on the man that made him agitated. ‘Did I hear you say you were kidnapped last night?’
The woman, calm again now that the dog was under control, rolled her eyes. ‘We’re perfectly fine, thank you. There’s no need to get involved. Eric is going to lie to the police to cover up going to the pub and driving home drunk because he ate my supper and crashed the car.’
The duty officer on the front desk finally finished his phone call. ‘Now then, sir,’ he gave Eric his undivided attention. ‘What can I help you with this morning?’
Caught for a second, his attention split between the officer, his wife, and an old man who actually seemed to believe what he had to say, Eric decided he needed to answer the officer first. ‘I stopped to help a man last night after I almost ran him over. He forced me into the boot of my car and took it.’
‘No, he didn’t!’ snapped his wife. ‘That’s enough now, Eric.’
The duty officer watched the interplay with disinterest, but a crime had been reported and he was duty bound to log it.
‘I would have come in last night,’ Eric whined, ‘but my wife wouldn’t hear of it.’
‘That’s because it is stupid,’ she growled at the back of his head. A small tick next to Eric’s eye began to twitch.
‘What did he look like?’ asked Albert, splitting the man’s attention again.
The duty officer looked up from his computer. ‘If you don’t mind,
