Authors: Max China
Someone stood on his desk and put the phone up there, but why?
Did they use it as a makeshift torch? That had to be it.
He checked the contacts list on the phone for clues as to who the owner might be. There were only two numbers on the phone with names; one read Danny and the other Marilyn, and both were recorded as the most recent calls, but from weeks before.
Why hasn't the battery died?
His suspicions aroused; he frowned, and checked the date and time on the phone. The time was correct, but the date was set exactly three weeks behind.
If that were right, it would mean the calls had been made less than an hour ago!
A feeling of dread came over him as he selected Marilyn's name to look at the telephone number.
Melissa's!
What the hell!?
It was his window of opportunity, the chance to handle things correctly. He did not know then how much rode on his decision, so he took the path of least resistance, the one he thought was least likely to result in compromising him. He thought frantically.
Who else knows about Marilyn?
And if that was Marilyn - and it
was
- would it be too much of a coincidence, if 'Danny' turned out to be Danny Lynch?
He already knew the answer as his eyes settled on the newspaper, a distinctive boot print on it just below the headline:
Kennedy Assassinated.
His blood froze. He thought frantically. Who had access to his office? Who could have left that newspaper and put the phone up there? He felt a small tug of disappointment. If someone else had said it was Tanner, he would never have believed it - not really, but faced with increasing evidence, it was beginning to look that way. He made no secret of the fact he resented his superior's promotion to DCI over him.
He remembered something his dad always used to say. "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."
Looks like you were right again, Dad.
Tanner had barely warmed his chair when the telephone buzzed, he clicked the save button on the computer and picked up the phone. "Tanner," he said.
"My office, five minutes," Kennedy said curtly.
"Don't stand on ceremony, sir, not on account of me," he muttered at the telephone after he'd put it down. He pushed back out of his chair.
Kennedy looked at his colleague strangely, as he entered his office. "Okay, bring me up to date with everything."
He reached into his pocket to retrieve his notebook.
"Just for once, leave your notes in your pocket. I'm fed up with the way you hide behind them, when we're speaking."
"I'm sorry—?" he spluttered, looking as if he'd been slapped.
"Oh, don't pull that stupid face at me, Tanner. Let's get on with it shall we?"
Blinking with surprise and indignation, words formed, he hesitated.
Was there any point trying to reason with the man when he was like this?
He decided, not.
"I have a question for you," Kennedy said, "What do you know about, Danny?" He looked directly into Tanner's eyes, measuring him.
"Danny? Who's Danny, sir?"
If he's lying, he's a great actor.
"I think he's a friend of Marilyn's."
"Sir, you've lost me . . ."
Kennedy looked confused.
If Tanner hadn't put the phone up there, who did?
The door knocked, and Theresa opened it, popping her head through the gap. Seeing the two of them in the middle of a conversation, she apologised, "Sorry . . . if that's all, sir? I'll get home."
Kennedy dismissed her with a curt wave of his hand; she made a face and her eyes looked hurt as she withdrew.
"Was that really necessary?"
"No, it wasn't, but she knows what I'm like. I'm just on edge that's all."
"Speaking of which, in case you've forgotten," he said. "She seems to have been on edge herself. We're coming up to the anniversary of her husband's death. I thought you told me you were going to sign her off for a week."
"Yes, I did have a word with her about that," Kennedy sounded vague, distracted by something else, "but she insisted on coming in, said she was better off at work." The germ of an idea began to bloom in his mind, no longer listening as Tanner spoke again.
"She lost her husband last year, sir; she's certainly been going through it," he said grim faced. His chin took on a hint of dark blue in the harsh office light.
Kennedy just stared at him.
At the end of the meeting, after Tanner had left, he sat thinking.
What if the two of them, have plotted this together?
He quickly dismissed the likelihood, but something wasn't right, and he couldn't fathom what it was.
Chapter 77
John Kennedy senior helped his wife settle down for the night.
Often plagued by the fear she might not wake up in the morning, she was especially anxious because she had a hospital appointment the next day. "Don't forget what's happening tomorrow," she reminded him.
As if, I could forget.
He didn't want her to call him for something in the night if he could avoid it, so once he was sure she had everything that she might need within reach, he said goodnight. If she disturbed him once he'd consumed his nightly half-bottle of whiskey, and she found out what he did when she was in bed, she'd put a stop to it. The oblivion it brought was his only respite, losing it, did not bear thinking about.
She'd been bedridden over a year, and he was once again reflecting on how cruel and indiscriminate life can be. What she suffered with was late onset Muscular Dystrophy.
Late onset
. . . for that small mercy they were both grateful, but it was a cruel twist, because it happened within a month of his retiring. She would often ask him, what he thought she'd done to deserve such a life.
"There are plenty of people out there, far worse off than you or me," he would tell her.
"We all have our cross to bear," he whispered into his whiskey; he did not want her to hear. Raising his glass high, he toasted silently.
To my cross!
The cross she bore was bigger than the one he carried; lately it seemed to affect her mind. She called out, suddenly scared. "John - there's someone in the house! I've just seen them go by!"
"You saw someone?"
"A shadow . . . went through the door down the hall…" She looked panicky. Something was always spooking her. Being helpless, sometimes she resorted to attention seeking.
He began a systematic search of the house, thankful that it was a bungalow, and there was no upstairs to worry about. Going through the motions purely for her benefit, he didn't really think she saw anything at all, but sometimes, she succeeded in spooking him, too.
Going down the hall to Johnny's old room, he felt a draught on his face. His door was ajar.
I don't remember leaving that door open . . . and she couldn't have done it . . . Someone is in there!
John picked up a walking stick from the coat stand in the hall, gripped it tight, took a deep breath and pressed his back against the wall. His heart thumped erratically as it cranked up to a level it hadn't been at for years; he thought his chest might burst, but he was ready for anything. Pushing away from the wall, he jumped through the open door - head turning left and right - half expecting to see someone there.
There was no sign of life. If it weren't for the net curtain, a gossamer sail billowing slowly into the room on the breeze of the open window, there would have been no sign that anyone had been in through it at all.
The window was open a crack; he knew it hadn't been before, and
she
couldn't have done it. Someone
had
been in and then left the house that way. The window frame, on close examination, revealed no sign of forced entry. Nothing seemed to be missing, although he thought that perhaps Johnny's baseball bat had gone.
That would be crazy
. . . W
hy would anyone break in to steal a baseball bat?
Then he started thinking his son might have even taken it with him, when he left years ago, he only knew it
used
to be there once. He couldn't quite recall the last time he saw it.
He silently cursed his growing old; he hated what it did to people and their faculties. When Johnny phoned, he'd ask him about it, but would do it in a roundabout way. The last thing he wanted was to be told, "What's wrong with you, Dad? I took that with me when I moved out years ago."
The sound of her voice shook him back from his thoughts…"John? It's gone quiet, answer me, John - I'm getting scared," her voice was higher and more fragile than usual; a slight quiver betrayed her fear.
"It's all right love, nobody's here."
"But I saw someone…"
"Nobody's here!" he growled.
He thought about calling Johnny, but now wondered if he
might
have opened the window and simply forgotten to close it. She'd managed to spook him; that's all it was.
When John junior called that night, he didn't mention it.
Chapter 78
The night following the Kennedy break-in, he returned to their house. An hour after they'd gone to bed, the intruder crept back inside through the loft, dropping down onto the coffee table. He closed the hatch above and removed a clear plastic sleeve from inside his tunic. It contained a sheet of plain white paper with a boot print on it.
"One I prepared earlier," he whispered, smirking. The paper slid out of the sleeve as he tipped it onto the white cloth on the table. He put the sleeve back inside his top - it wouldn't be long before the old detective was awake again, checking the whole house, finding the print he'd left for him.
Taking the same route as the previous night, he climbed out of Kennedy junior's window, pushing it home to make it appear closed. The roof temporarily reinstated; he stowed the ladder back behind the shed.
The night was still and quiet; the moon hidden behind clouds. A broom leaned against the wall by the kitchen door. He grabbed it and then held it high above his head, pushing it against the edge of a roof tile, moving it up, so that it grated noisily against the one below it. Inside the roof the noise would reverberate nicely, he was about to do it again, when he heard the tinkling of a bell coming from within. He guessed that must be her summoning the old drunk.
John senior was slipping in and out of wakefulness; he opened his eyes, lay listening on the pillow, unsure if it was an aural hallucination. He was halfway down a darkened country lane in his head, about to check on the activities of two people he saw up to no good in their parked car -
Ting!
The sound of her little bell ringing drew him back; he blinked his eyes.
Must get up!
Allowing one leg to flop to the floor, he rolled out of bed.
She called out to him. "John, I heard something in the loft!"
He was still gathering his thoughts, not quite knowing where he was or had been.
He'd recognised that car in the lane…
"John, are you still awake?" The little bell rang again.
"Yes," he said groggily. He sighed deeply and heaved himself off the bed.
"What is it, love?" he said from the doorway.
"I just heard something…"
Although he'd been drifting off, he felt sure if there had been a noise, then he would have heard it.
"Look love, I know you're scared of one thing and another, but you've got to stop this . . ."
She looked at him sharply. "You don't believe me?" She shook her head in disbelief.
"It's not that . . . it's just, I don't know; there's always . . . something . . ." he said, unable to bring himself to spell it out directly. He didn't want to hurt her.
"John, I'm telling you I heard something, didn't you hear it - you were awake weren't you?"
He stayed in the doorway; he didn't want her to smell the whiskey on his breath.
Now come on, John, you'd have heard it - wouldn't you?
Humouring her, he said, "I didn't hear a thing, but don't worry, I'll check it out right now!"
He snatched the walking stick from its place on the coat stand.
This is becoming a habit!
Out in the hall, down by Johnny's room, where the passageway opened up into a circulation area, outside the bathroom and toilet, a sheet of paper with a faint boot print, lay on top of the cloth covering the table, below the access hatch. He hadn't noticed it before; he didn't seem to be noticing much lately.
The week before, she was asking after something he'd put away up there in the loft, he tried first to get up there from the table. He'd moved the cloth. That was one thing he actually could remember, and he'd put it to one side. He didn't want to risk slipping on it, because he worried that if he fell . . . Well, who would look after her? He always used to be able to get up from there, but now that falling was on his mind, he fetched the stepladders.