Chapter One-2
1082 Words
'IS IT YOURSELF?'
Detective Inspector Joseph Aloysius Rafferty winced as his mother's voice threatened to pierce his eardrum and, although briefly tempted to plead not guilty, he had to agree that yes, it was himself. Surely, he demanded of his reflection in the hall mirror, a hangover, a murder, and his mother all in one morning were more than any man should be expected to cope with? Especially at six thirty and after less than four hours’ sleep. 'I can't stop, Ma. Sergeant Llewellyn will be picking me up any minute.'
'I won't keep you then, son, but I didn't know who else to turn to and what with the wedding and all...’
Rafferty frowned. News of the murder had already taken their toll on his hungover wits, but the word "wedding" on his Ma's tongue was even more worrying and he struggled to get his brain into gear. 'What wedding?'
'I know Jack's only a distant cousin,' she remarked briskly, 'but surely you haven't forgotten that he's over from Dublin to marry my niece, Deirdre?'
That wedding. How could he have forgotten that Jailhouse Jack, the world's most incompetent criminal was preparing to plight his troth and pass his genes on to the next generation? What a wonderful addition to a policeman's close family the bridegroom would be. Thank God the happy couple would be going back to Ireland straight after the wedding, and surely even Jack could stay out of trouble for the few weeks he'd be—
'He's in a spot of bother, Joseph.' After shattering his hopes, his mother didn't pause for either of them to catch their breath but went on to explain that his troublesome cousin was being held at the Harcombe nick on suspicion of lifting a lorry load of whisky. 'I know what you're going to say,' she continued before he could get a word in, 'but this time I'm convinced he didn't do it.'
That would be a first, Rafferty thought, thankful that between them, the Irish Sea and a three-times removed cousinship, usually kept Jack from embarrassing him.
'It would be a shame if he got put away right before the wedding. Can you go and see him and sort it out, son? I wouldn't ask, only I've had Deirdre here half the night crying her eyes out. She's scared she'll have to cancel the wedding.'
Rafferty snorted. Wasn't a murder enough, he wondered, without being expected to sort out Jack's little problem? Especially as he knew that as soon as he set foot in the Harcombe nick and revealed his mission of mercy, the s**t would hit the fan.
His relatives were the limit, especially as some of them thought that if they must have a copper in the family, he might at least have the decency to be a bent one. He consoled himself with the thought that he hadn't made a firm date with the looming fates. Jack could cool his heels for a bit. After a light-bulb moment, he recalled the wedding was still two weeks off. He had plenty of time.
'It's not everyone that avoids matrimony like you, Joseph,' his mother told him tartly. About to break in before she got into her stride, she forestalled him with a touch of pathos. ‘I only want to see you settled.' Cunningly, she injected a dirge-like note. 'I'd like grandchildren before I die.'
'You've got eleven grandchildren already, Ma, and another on the way,' he reminded her. 'How many more do you want?'
'I may have a dozen,' she retorted briskly, imminent death evidently forgotten. 'But they're none of them Raffertys; they're all your sisters' children. I want one or two from my eldest son, my greatest pride. How else can the name get carried on?'
'I'm sure the fifty odd Raffertys in the phone book will do their best to continue the line,' he observed. 'Why don't you call and spur them on a little?'
He glanced out of the window of his Essex flat and shivered. The day was bleak, the mist off the North Sea was thick and he could barely see the shoreline. Unfortunately, he had no trouble making out the thinly-handsome outline of his sergeant's face as he turned the car on to the forecourt. Llewellyn consulted his watch, and then gazed up at Rafferty's window with a suffering-bravely-borne expression.
Rafferty scowled. It was going to be one of those days. But at least Llewellyn’s prompt appearance gave him reason to escape. 'I really must be off,' he told her firmly. 'Llewellyn's here.' He paused, wishing he didn't have to tell her, but he'd never hear the end of it if she had to find out from the papers. Taking a deep breath, he told her quickly, 'There's been a murder and—'
She gasped, and he went on briskly, 'Rather a nasty one. A young girl.' According to the desk sergeant, the girl had been brutally battered, her face left in such a state that it would have looked more at home on a butcher's slab. 'She was found at that private psychiatric hospital here in Elmhurst and—'
'It'll be one of them dangerous cyclepaths escaped. They're always doing it. The people in charge of these places should be locked up. You stay well away, son,' she advised firmly. 'Let that superintendent sort it out.'
'I am a policeman, Ma. And I'll be in charge of this one. They just promoted me, remember?’ Still smarting from his superior sergeant’s last correction of his own imperfect use of the English language, Rafferty said, ‘And it’s psychopath, not cyclepath. Not that he necessarily is one,’ he hastily added. ‘Besides, just because the girl was found in a psychiatric hospital, doesn't mean one of the patients did it, you know.'
'Doesn't mean to say they didn't, either,' she retorted. 'Very sly some of them. And they expect you to catch him?' She tutted worriedly. 'You watch your step my lad.'
He intended to. 'I've got to go.' No doubt the rest of the team would already be there working hard and calling him rude names in his absence. 'About Jack, Ma, stop worrying. I'll see to it.' He didn't have much choice.
To his relief, she kept any further anxieties to herself. 'Thanks son.' Now pride edged some of the worry out of her voice. 'I'll tell Deirdre that "My son, The Police Inspector's got it in hand, and Jack's as good as free".'
Rafferty wished he shared his Ma's confidence that springing the prospective bridegroom would be as easy as catching him usually was, but he made no comment.
'Well, I won't make you late for your murder. Look after yourself, Joseph, and don't take any nonsense from any of them high and mighty doctors at that hospital. Arrest the lot of them if you have to.'
'I'll bear it in mind, Ma,' he told her dryly. 'Good-bye.'
***
- Writer
