Chapter 37

  Flynn arrived back at the station, to find Elgin and Fisher waiting for him in the car park behind their building. Flynn suspected it was so they could have a cigarette but didn’t comment as they climbed into the car.

  Squeezed in the small car, the three men looked incongruous to anyone who may have been watching. None of them were short. Plus Fisher and Elgin were carrying rather too much weight and wouldn’t have past any fitness test. All of which hardened Flynn’s resolve to find himself another car.

  Opening the window before they all suffocated due to lack of oxygen, Flynn told Fisher and Elgin what was going on.

  ‘So,’ he concluded. ‘I want you to wait outside the door of the apartment, ready to come in and provide support, as necessary.’

  ‘Why don’t we all go in at the same time?’ asked Elgin, not unreasonably.

  ‘Because I think he’ll just clam up. If it’s only me, then I stand a better chance of getting him to talk. Three of us would intimidate him and we’d not get anything out of him. I need to get him talking.’

  ‘Don’t you think you might be in danger?’ Fisher piped up. ‘After all, if you’re right and we’ve got the right man, he’s not afraid to hurt anyone. Look at what he did to poor Mabel!’

  ‘Yes, well, I’m not a helpless, old woman, am I?’ Flynn said. ‘My take is that he’s a coward. Mabel couldn’t fight back.’

  ‘But you can?’ asked Elgin.

  ‘Sure, yes, of course, no problem.’

  But Flynn wasn’t at all sure. Violence had never been his thing. He knew full well that he wasn’t fighting material, but he wasn’t about to admit that.

  Arriving at Overdown Retirement Village, Flynn left the car parked down the road, not wishing to alert their suspect, giving him time to flee.

  ‘So,’ Flynn confirmed, ‘when we arrive, wait for me out of sight. After the door opens and I go in, you then take up your positions at the front door of the flat, waiting for me, alert to anything that might be going on inside. If you hear signs of violence, please feel free to burst in and assist. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘No worries, Flynn.’

  Flynn did have worries but tried to put them to the back of his mind. The man they were about to confront was no wimp and his bulk was intimidating. But Flynn had to do this. For Mabel.

  Chapter 38

  Rufus Black was dressed in his biking gear when Flynn knocked on the door. Large boots on his feet, leather waistcoat over a white tee-shirt, under which his muscles bulged. Chains dangled from his waistcoat on either side of his body. He had an air about him suggesting controlled anger. But anger that was constantly bubbling under the surface. He really was a very bad-tempered man.

  ‘What do you want?’ he snarled.

  ‘I’d like to talk to you about an assault on Mabel Heggerty,’ said Flynn walking into the apartment behind Black.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The local librarian.’

  ‘Never heard of her.’

  ‘You might not have heard of her, but you had no qualms about attacking her yesterday when she followed your wife home.’

  ‘What’s going on, Rufus?’ said his wife from a doorway that Flynn assumed was their bedroom. She was in a long dressing gown with curlers in her hair.

  ‘Nothing. Go back to the bedroom. And get bloody dressed.’

  ‘Not until I know what’s going on.’

  ‘Why not tell your wife?’ taunted Flynn. ‘Tell her how you assaulted the local librarian, a woman in her sixties, and put her in hospital.’

  Mrs Black’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Rufus, you didn’t!’

  ‘I don’t know what he’s talking about!’

  ‘I think you do, Rufus,’ said Flynn reasonably. ‘And coupled with your record, well, it’s very plausible. You used to own that classic Volvo, didn't you?’

  ‘I told you that.’

  ‘Yes, you did, but what you didn't tell me was that you'd bought it some months ago from the Gains, not the other way around.’

  ‘So what? I must have got muddled up when I spoke to you. Old age, you know?’

  ‘Rubbish,’ snapped Flynn. ‘The Gains then stole it back. Didn’t they?’

  Rufus said nothing.

  Flynn looked at Mrs Black, but she also said nothing.

  ‘So, as I said, it wasn’t last month. You didn’t sell the car to them. You were taken in by them, weren’t you? Scammed.’

  Rufus bristled.

  ‘What did you do? Claim on the insurance? Then buy a bike instead of a car?’

  Flynn looked at Mrs Black, who nodded, with tears in her eyes.

  ‘It must have made you very, very, angry…’ pushed Flynn, walking towards Rufus Black. Intimidating him physically as well as mentally.

  Black backed up into the kitchen and his wife and Flynn followed him in. Flynn was feeling very pleased with himself. But he had to have his wits about him. He had to be careful not to push the man too far.

  Chapter 39

  Meanwhile Fisher and Elgin had taken up their post outside the front door of Mr and Mrs Black. The problem was that they couldn’t hear anything through it. The door looked thick and solid.

  ‘Do you think he’s alright?’ hissed Elgin.

  Fisher nodded. ‘Sure, let’s just do as he says, okay? Wait until he calls us.’

  ‘But what happens if we don’t hear anything?’

  ‘We will. Now just calm down and wait.’

  Elgin continued to worry. Hopping from one foot to another.

  ‘For goodness sake,’ said Fisher. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Sorry, I’m nervous.’

  ‘No, really? I’d never have guessed.’

  ‘He’s a big bloke, though.’

  ‘Who? Flynn?’

  That made Elgin smile. ‘No, Rufus Black. And he was arrested once for affray. He waded into a fight that was nothing to do with him, just for the excitement. Who knows how he’ll react to being confronted with an assault on Mrs Heggerty.’

  ‘His wife being there will calm him down, I expect.’

  ‘I hope you’re right.’

  ‘Of course I am now shut up so I can hear if Flynn shouts.’

  Elgin nodded his agreement, but his stomach continued to churn. Convinced something awful could befall Flynn.

  Dr Gill and Mabel were at the hospital and getting more worried as Flynn wasn’t answering his phone.

  ‘Try the police station, Dr Gill,’ said Mabel. ‘This is so unlike Flynn. Perhaps Fisher and Elgin know where he his.’

  ‘He’s okay, I’m sure, Mabel but let’s give it a go. I’ll just look up the number.’

  After a quick scan of a search engine on Dr Gill’s phone, he rang the Muddlebay police station. And the phone rang and rang and rang.

  He slowly closed his mobile and turned to Mabel. ‘I’m sorry but there’s no reply there either.’

  Mabel’s eyes fill with tears.

  ‘Now, now,’ Dr Gill said, ‘I’m sure they’re all okay. They’ll just be out and about in the town I expect.’

  She nodded but wasn’t convinced. Where on earth where they? Before she’d been worried about Flynn. Now she was worried about Fisher and Elgin as well!

  Chapter 40

  Flynn was still intimidating Rufus Black. ‘When did you realise you’d been scammed?’ he asked. ‘A month after? Two months?’

  ‘It happened to someone else as well as us,’ Mrs Black said.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes. Another motor club member. Cam Murray. He’d bought the Morris Traveller from them and a month later it was stolen.’

  Flynn whistled. ‘Why didn’t you tell anyone? Mrs Black? Rufus?’

  Mrs Black flushed red with embarrassment. But not Rufus. He was stony faced and refused to speak.

  ‘We found the cars. In the barn,’ Flynn told Mrs Black.

  ‘Really? Rufus is that true?’

  He nodded.

  ‘Ah, I get it,’ said Flynn. ‘You thought you'd make them pay for what they did, didn’t you?’

  ‘What are you talking about? We didn’t do anything to them!’

  ‘I think you did, Rufus. Maybe you and Cam together? Nobbled their car and watched while they died. That’s double murder, you know!’

  ‘Rufus, you didn’t, did you?’

  ‘Hey, hang on, you’re not pinning that on me. I’ve never killed anyone. I didn’t do anything to them.’

  But Flynn kept pushing forward, poking his finger on Rufus’ chest until the man was up against the kitchen work surface and Flynn was only inches from the man’s face. Which meant that he couldn’t see what Rufus Black was trying to find behind him.

  Flynn still didn't stop. Not until he got a knife in his side for his trouble.

  The last thing he remembered was hearing a scream and looking down at the source of his pain, finding a kitchen knife protruding from his side.

  He crumpled to the floor and the lights went out.

  Chapter 41

  ‘What was that?’ asked Fisher.

  ‘A scream. Definitely. A woman’s scream,’ said Elgin.

  ‘Best we intervene then,’ said Fisher. ‘Come on, follow me.’

  The two policemen pushed through the Black’s front door, black boots clattering on the tiled floor. That caused Mrs Black to scream again and start sobbing. She pointed with a shaking hand to a body on the floor.

  ‘Dear God, it’s Flynn,’ said Fisher. ‘Elgin, arrest Mr and Mrs Black and read them their rights, while I get an ambulance.’

  He dropped to the floor, but Flynn was unconscious. Placing two fingers on his neck he felt a pulse. But it was very faint and thready. He needed an ambulance double quick.

  ‘Ambulance needed,’ he said into his radio. ‘Officer down. I repeat officer down suffering from a stab wound. Knife still in place. Two suspects arrested and being escorted back to Muddlebay Police station.’

  Elgin, thinking that Mr and Mrs Black should be kept apart, handcuffed Rufus Black first and put him in the back of the police car and locked it. Returning to the Black’s kitchen he then arrested Mrs Black as an accessory to murder. Not knowing quite what to do with her, he placed her in the living room and made sure the front door was locked so she couldn’t decide to just walk out.

  Shortly afterwards the ambulance arrived, and the paramedics took care of Flynn, meaning that Fisher and Elgin could return to the police station with the two suspects.

  ‘But what do we do?’ asked Elgin as they walked to the police car.

  ‘What do you mean, what do we do?’

  ‘Well Flynn doesn’t look much like he’ll be back at work anytime soon. Maybe we should tell someone.’

  Fisher said, ‘You’re right. And Flynn won’t be allowed to interview Rufus Black, anyway, seeing as how he was Black’s victim. We’ll ring regional office when we get back.’

  Flynn awoke slowly. His eyelids fluttered as he fought to stay awake. He was thirsty, sore, and felt like he had a horrendous hangover. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a croak came out.

  ‘Flynn! Oh, thank goodness, you’re waking up.’

  ‘Mabel?’ Flynn licked his dry lips, which didn’t help at all. His tongue felt like sandpaper.

  ‘Here,’ she said. ‘Have some water,’ and she guided a straw to his mouth.

  He felt better after a few sips and struggled to sit up, hampered by a sharp pain in his side. ‘What happened?’ he croaked.

  ‘Rufus Black stabbed you. You were brought here to the hospital and had an emergency operation to remove your spleen.’

  ‘Oh, God, no wonder I feel lousy.’

  Flynn opened his eyes fully and took in Mabel sat by his bed. She had a large bandage around her head. Peeping under the covers he found he had a large dressing in his side.

  ‘What do we look like, Flynn? You with your bandage and me with mine. Rufus Black did for both of us, didn’t he?’

  The two friends ended up laughing. but not too much, as it hurt!

  It was only a week later that Flynn found himself at home, alone. He’d lost his spleen but other than that all was well. Apart from the fact that he’d lost the case along with his organ.

  Everything had been taken to Plymouth. Suspects, evidence, forensic reports. Flynn wasn’t allowed to take part in the investigation at all. He had been told to stay home, rest, recuperate and come back refreshed and renewed. Even though he was the one who knew the case inside out. To him it didn’t make any sense at all, but to everyone else it seemed to.

  Mabel visited every day whilst he regained his strength. He’d been warned about the increased possibility of infection and had to take low level antibiotics, probably for the rest of his life. She brought tasty treats for his meals and walked Baxter when he wasn’t able to.

  It wasn’t long before his life in Muddlebay returned to the quiet rhythm of life in a seaside town, where nothing ever happened. Flynn was bored, without a car, and felt overlooked and undervalued. And for good measure, Rufus Black refused to break. He admitted attacking Flynn and Mabel but plead not guilty to killing Mr and Mrs Gains. He was noted as saying that he didn’t kill them, but he’d wanted too.

  So as far as Flynn was concerned, if that was true, then who did?

  He had absolutely no idea and no evidence.

  Chapter 42

  Fed up with being without a car, Flynn bought the classic Morris Traveller that had been owned by Mr and Mrs Gains, with the approval of the police and the CPS. No one wanted the car, it wasn’t needed for the case and the insurance companies had paid out for the thefts, so what would it achieve if the police kept it? So, Flynn was allowed to purchase it and the cash went into the public coffers.

  As a result, Mabel urged him to enter it into the next classic car show. While cleaning the car outside his cottage, in readiness for the show, Flynn mused on the case of the couple found dead in their Volvo. The detectives in Plymouth had done their due diligence and spoken to all the purchasers of the cars. Both cars, the Morris Traveller and the Volvo had been sold, roughly once every two months. The registration numbers had been collected from the DVLA and all the past owners had been interviewed. Each lead became a dead end.

  Flynn needed petrol, so he whistled to Baxter to join him, and the little dog sat in the front seat during the short journey. After purchasing the petrol, Flynn was driving back into Muddlebay, the tank full, when he began to have a problem with the brakes on the car. He braked gently to pull up at the traffic lights. Nothing happened. He braked a bit harder. Still nothing, the car carried on, gathering speed as it went down the hill. By now Flynn was standing on the brake pedal in an attempt to get some purchase, but it was no good. The brakes had failed.

  Flynn and Baxter were transformed into gibbering wrecks by fear. They went charging down the hill, towards the seafront, narrowly missing all the other cars on the road. Baxter retreated to the footwell of the passenger side of the car and curled up, trembling, his little body shaking and shuddering. The car bounced across the green onto the esplanade and flew over the low wall that separated the esplanade from the sea. Landing on the beach, Flynn scattered the holidaymakers. As they became increasingly bogged down in the sand, the car came to an abrupt halt.

  Opening the driver’s door, Flynn grabbed his mobile and then Baxter’s lead, so the dog followed his master out onto the sand. Flynn managed to ring Fisher with trembling fingers.

  ‘Help,’ he croaked. ‘I’m on the beach, come quickly.’ Then Flynn’s legs crumpled, and he fell to the floor, with Baxter climbing all over him, and licking his face in an effort to revive him.

  Chapter 43

  As Flynn watched his precious Morris Traveller being lifted by crane onto a low loader, he asked Jerome how long he’d need the car.

  ‘Just a couple of days, maybe three, but that’s all. I need to examine the brakes and check for fingerprints.’

  ‘You think this was deliberate?’

  ‘Don’t you?’

  Flynn had to admit Jerome had a point. Brakes don’t normally just fail. You tend to get some sort of warning, not a catastrophic failure, as in this case.

  ‘Oh well,’ said Flynn resigned to not having a car again.

  ‘I’ll keep you posted.’

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘I said I’d keep you posted, Flynn. What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘You’re going to post the results to me? Isn’t it quicker to ring, or email?’

  ‘What? Oh, right, yes.’

  Flynn watched Jerome walk away a puzzled look on his face. But as far as Flynn was concerned, he expected better of Jerome than that.

  A couple of days later, Jerome rang.

  ‘Flynn you know I got fingerprints off the exhaust on the Volvo.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I found the same ones on the brakes on your car.’

  ‘Bloody hell. Who do the prints belong to? Rufus Black? No, hang on, that wouldn’t make sense. Rufus couldn’t have tampered with my brakes, he’s on remand.’

  ‘Exactly. So, I had to cast the net a little wider.’

  ‘How much wider?’

  ‘I got in touch with Plymouth, and we applied for a search warrant for Slaughter’s garage.’

  ‘The mechanic,’ breathed Flynn.

  ‘Yes. The mechanic.’

  ‘Well, that would make sense if he maintained the car for Mr and Mrs Gains. But Plymouth already have a suspect. Rufus Black.’

  ‘That’s as maybe, but his fingerprints aren’t on the Volvo, nor on your Morris Traveller. And believe me I’ve printed every part of those cars.’

  Flynn didn’t know what to think. Could they all have been so wrong, when they were all so convinced they’d been right?

  Chapter 44

  Once again, being the victim of the crime, Flynn wasn’t allowed to arrest Kevin Slaughter. However, Plymouth let him be present at the arrest and to watch the interviews.

 

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