Chapter Nine Commander Brand’s Last Act
One of the first tasks that Wragg did when he arrived at his office was to place an embargo on any story that the press might be given. He would promise them a bigger story to print when the time came. He gave all the nationals the same storyline. He wasn’t going to give anyone a chance to jeopardise his investigation and he wanted whoever it was doing these killings to feel “out in the cold” excepting his helper who he had a whisper of suspicion about but was unable to prove.
Commander Brand strode purposely into Wragg’s office and sat down opposite him and said, ’Well! How did your operation go – did you find John Whip?’
‘No!’ said, Wragg. ‘We will have to mount another operation before the bonfire piles start to dry out.’
‘You better hurry.’ Brand said, ‘The weather forecasters announced that all this week it will be sunny.’ Brand smiled as he said it. It was as if he didn’t care about John Whip or was it he wanted Wragg to fail at his job. Brand left Wragg’s office and wished him luck.
Brand sat at his desk visualizing the headlines “Chief Inspector Wragg fails to halt the killings and is suspended from his duties” – the Guardian Reports. Brand smiled. His thoughts were abruptly halted by the shrill noise of his telephone.
‘Commander Brand can I help you?’ Brand listened. ‘No need to swear – I can’t tell you anything. Wragg hasn’t located John Whip, he’s mounting another operation as we speak.’ Brand listened some more. ‘What do you mean he’s lying, I can only tell you what he said to me.’ Brand became agitated. ‘Look! Don’t you dare threaten me, remember I know who you are.’ Brand replaced the telephone receiver slowly as he realised that Wragg was standing in his office doorway. D.C.I. Wragg made no indication that he had heard Commander Brand’s conversation, but reminded the Commander that he wanted a few more men to help with the search and that with his rank he would be able to secure what Wragg wanted.
D.C.I. Wragg overheard the last sentence before Commander Brand replaced his telephone and what he was going to do with the extra policemen he had requested from the Commander he wasn’t sure, but as not to throw suspicion on himself he was going to deploy the extra force on something, even if it was road traffic duties. He set up speed traps in different parts of the town. As long as they were out of the office and Brand wasn’t the kind of person to check on the Wragg’s activities. He would assume that Wragg was out on the road. Wragg pondered over Commander Brand’s last sentence to searching for John Whip, whoever it was at the end of telephone. Now what was it, ah yes. ‘Don’t you dare threaten me, remember I know who you are!’ Wragg couldn’t very well ask Brand who was on the phone, as he had pretended not to have heard.
D.C.I. Wragg made sure his security was water tight and John Whip was still missing and his decision not to inform Commander Brand had been the right one. He had a sneaking suspicion that Brand’s loyalty to the police force and especially to himself was unstable and after being told by Brand that promotion was not on the cards and that he had a better chance of going to the moon, it was strange that all of a sudden he had changed his mind.
Wragg’s friend Eric Carter, the Chief Constable whom Wragg had a close association with as they had entered the police force practically at the same time would be the only person who would tell Commander Brand that Wragg should be promoted, but he was not around to confirm this.
How long Wragg could keep up the pretence to the Commander that John Whip was still missing was taken out of his hands as having reached home, which took and hour and a quarter because of the volume of traffic, he was greeted by his wife with not the usual peck on the cheek and ‘How was your day darling?’ She was frowning and she said, ‘Terribly sorry to hear about Commander Brand!’ ‘What about him?’ said Wragg.
‘He fell off the platform as the train approached Charing Cross railway station. It was just on the news. A witness who was interviewed at the scene said ‘that it looked as if he did it deliberately. They didn’t show any pictures. The electricity to the line has been switched off and everybody had to get off and make alternative arrangements to get home.’
‘I suppose I’ll have to identify the body.’
‘I don’t think so Ian, apparently there’s not much left of him to identify.’ Just then the phone rang and Wragg answered. It was the night shift duty officer who informed him of the accident. Gladys heard her husband say ‘My wife has just told me – I will see you tomorrow and I will set up an incident room – I can’t do much tonight, I’ll be in early tomorrow morning.’
As Wragg promised he was in at 5 am as he wanted to get to Charing Cross Station as quickly as possible, but he was in for another shattering piece of news – his friend Eric Carter was the victim of a hit and run while taking his dog for a walk. He and his wife had just come home from their holiday abroad and he had collected his dog from the kennels. Eric decided to take Mitch out for a much needed walk, being cooped up in the kennels for three weeks with a limited space for walking. He owed his dog that freedom. An eye-witness stated that the car mounted the pavement and there was nothing to be done to prevent it. With noise of the car engine revving up he wouldn’t have heard the warning shout. The dog was unhurt as Eric’s body was flung into the air, he instinctively let go of the lead. The car sped off and the eye witness said that the lights at the rear end of the car were not on. All the witness remembered was a huddled dark shape of a man at the wheel as he briefly looked towards the kerb. D.C.I. Wragg had been split between his friend Eric Carter and Commander Brand. It wasn’t so much as a toss of a coin, “heads for Eric – tails for Brand.” He had to be seen to inspect the now defunct track at Charing Cross Station. Bright lights greeted him as he entered the railway station, but changed as he neared the train which had that dark foreboding look. Was it his imagination or did the front of the train have a sad frown? He thought to himself, ‘Don’t be silly, how can a train look sad?’ Blue and white incident tape went the whole length of the train of five carriages and half way across the barrier where the ticket collector would normally stand. Passengers boarding the train on the left hand side of the platform stood momentarily next to the tape wondering what had happened. The tannoy system crackled as the announcer informed those passengers to board the train quickly. Everyone rushed off and boarded the train to North Kent. As it pulled away from the station, tape was stretched across that side of the platform and the announcer informed passengers that the next train to North Kent would be on platform six.
There wasn’t much to see in the way of clues as to how it had happened. The recovery team had been in operation last night picking up pieces of Commander Brand’s body that were scattered over a wide area. There were three questions that needed to be answered. Why was Commander Brand waiting for the 10.05pm train to Lewisham when he had left the office earlier than usual? Where had he been between five and ten pm? Why did Brand walk up towards the end of the platform, when he usually got on near the front of the train? These questions were puzzling D.C.I. Wragg and he would have to think them over at home after tea. Wragg inspected the platform and had come to the same conclusion as everybody else had on the force that with the number of feet that had trampled over the area when the passengers got off the train there was not much chance of gleaning any clues. There was one funny mark at the end of the platform. It was brown in colour with what looked like grass and dirt attached and had a peculiar smell. A sample was scraped from the spot was sent to Forensics to determine what it was. It might be a clue to something tangible and whether it had something to do with Brand’s unfortunate accident remained to be seen. One thing for sure in D.C.I. Wragg’s mind – Commander Brand had been murdered and the killer had been nearby. This was confirmed in a quirky sort of way when it was discovered that the announcer who was on duty had been found gagged and tied to his chair when his colleague came to take over his shift. It didn’t take Wragg long to work out the third question. The announcer had to be the killer as he had given out the information that passengers had to board the train in the last four coaches as the train was going to be split.
