Chapter 30 Having a Party
Chief Constable Eric Carter came limping into work after his ordeal and Wragg brought him up to speed of all the incidents that had happened over the weeks he had been laid up.
‘I don’t think, Ian, you could have handled Dodd any other way. He had a choice which you gave him and he chose the wrong path. No I don’t think you have any qualms or worries on that score.’
Ian Wragg grunted. He still wasn’t sure he had done the right thing and it was beginning to be a burden on his already busy mind. ‘I’m so pleased to see you looking so well and fit and back here.’
‘To tell you the truth Ian, it was hard graft getting up this morning and coming to work. I seem to have lost my energy and drive being away so long.’
‘Perhaps you should have stayed at home a few more days.’
‘Not on your Nelly – the wife wanted me out of her way – she said I was cluttering up the place.’
Ian raised his bushy eyebrows to heaven and said, ‘It sounds familiar.’
Eric said, ‘What should we do about this madman, this killer?’
‘I think it would be useful to have a meeting between you, I, my two sergeants, P.C. Lodge and seventy of our most senior policemen.’
‘No others then?’
‘I have a few reservations on the rest of the staff here. I know I shouldn’t be so suspicious, but Commander Brand did have a few followers and they believed what he did was the right thing and until this whole case is closed and other members of staff have proved beyond any doubt they are on the side of law and order, I’ll keep my judgement.’
‘So be it!’ said Eric. ‘When shall we have the meeting?’
‘I think after lunch. I hope that’s okay with you.’
‘Yes! That’s fine by me.’
* * *
A very flustered Rosie Real came bursting into one of the police stations dotted around London to report that her husband, George Real was missing and it had been two days since he said he was going out to do some gardening and he had completely disappeared.
The duty officer was puzzled as to why Mrs. Real had been so long winded in reporting her husband missing. She replied, ‘You don’t expect your husband to go missing from the back garden of your house.’ She said, ‘I spent all day yesterday going round our large garden, there was no sign of him, but there was something new in the vegetable garden.’
‘What was that Mrs. Real?’
‘He had built a scarecrow and it was so lifelike.’
‘You’re sure it hadn’t been there before when he had the first growth of plants.’
‘No! I’m pretty sure he hadn’t.’
By this time the duty officer was worried, but hid it from Mrs. Real. ‘Would you like a cup of rosi…… would you like a cup of tea?’ He almost said rosie lea.
‘I’d love one, thank you.’
He escorted Mrs. Real to the canteen and after making sure she was comfortable and had several words with one of the staff, he went back to his desk and made a telephone call to Scotland Yard.
‘Chief Superintendent Wragg please!’
‘At a meeting you say. Can you please tell him this is urgent and it might be another murder concerning our serial killer. Can he please contact me on this number and please ask for Sergeant Twisty.’
Sergeant Twisty didn’t have to wait long as the phone call came through just as he entered the office.
Sergeant Twisty spoke quietly and precisely. He had felt quite ill when Mrs. Real had spoken of a scarecrow in her garden that she hadn’t seen before and of course the sergeant had jumped probably to the same conclusion as Wragg had after being told.
‘Where is Mrs. Real now?’
‘She’s in our canteen, sir!’
‘Can you ask her for the house keys without her getting upset?’
‘Right sir!’
‘Ring me back as soon as you have them.’
Wragg hovered near his telephone for what seemed ages. He murmured ‘It’s like watching a kettle boil.’
At last the telephone rang and it made Wragg jump.
Wragg snatched up his telephone – yes!’
It was the sergeant and he had been successful in getting Mrs. Real’s house keys and address without her being unduly worried.
She said as she handed over the keys, ‘You won’t find him there, you know, I’ve already looked.’
Mrs. Real was well into her eighties and was probably beginning to lose some of her faculties and hadn’t worried about anything in particular and was not aware of time lost. She would potter about the house doing the same routine day after day. She hadn’t cooked a meal for ages and couldn’t remember the last time when she had and so had meals on wheels delivered every day. There were two cleaning ladies that called each week to flick their dusters over the many shelves in each of the fourteen rooms and vacuum cleaning was quite an ordeal. The meals on wheels people were getting quite concerned when two lots of food were being returned for the two days that Mr. Real had been missing. There was no explanation offered to the company supplying the meals by Mrs. Real and they were on the point of telephoning the police of their suspicion as they thought Mrs. Real had done away with her husband, although how could anyone think that a little old lady could ever do that when she was so vague at the best of times.
Chief Superintendent Wragg with his posse of policemen and Sergeant Twisty met at the front of the property. It was a fairly quiet neighbourhood and such neighbours as there were at their windows and doors to see what was going on. Soon it was quite clear when a van turned up and the driver and two other men got out dressed in white clothing with mouth masks slung haphazardly round their necks. They carried the familiar black body bag. Whether it was jumping to the wrong conclusion that the scarecrow was in fact Mr. Real wasn’t a scaremongering decision of Wragg’s mind, he was damn sure Mr.Real was the scarecrow.
They laid the body and the cross he was tied to gently on the ground and a tent was erected around Simon Crook and his assistants while they examined him and took photographs. More policemen arrived and the usual blue and white tape was put in place. One of the men in white came out and drove the van backwards into the garage space. A little later four men came carrying the late Mr. Real and placed him with the cross still attached in the van. They drove off back to their department at Scotland Yard.
Wragg decided to conduct a search of the whole garden to see if they could come up with some clues to the identity of this killer. There was great excitement as they had found something important in the shed which was placed in an evidence bag. He left his men to carry on with the search and also gave orders that the house and gardens were to be guarded day and night. It would mean having to find Mrs. Real a place of safety and also inform her about her husband. By the way that Sergeant Twisty had described her, he wasn’t sure whether she would understand or experience a feeling of loss.
* * *
Owing to the events of the morning when they discovered the grisly remains of Mr. Real they had decided still to go ahead with the meeting after lunch. It was unusually quiet in the canteen. The only thing that Wragg had eaten were the chicken sandwiches that his wife prepared for him every weekday plus a couple of mugs of coffee from the canteen.
At 2:30pm the meeting began and it was a tight squeeze to get everyone into the largest of the incident rooms. They had five of these rooms dotted about the building. There was no agenda as Wragg wanted his men to think of ideas to catch their prey. The meeting finished at 4pm and everyone in the building was invited to a party to welcome Chief Constable Eric Carter back to the fold.
Food and drink had been prepared on the top floor of the building. It looked as if everyone in the building had accepted the invitation except of course those on duty who would receive parcels of food made up specially as this was a special occasion and Wragg didn’t want anyone missing the event.
