Episode 3 - Cop at large

Cleo rang Gary and reported on their expedition as soon as they reached Dorothy’s cottage. No, they had not told the Kellys that Burton was dead. Was the forensic team going to the farm? Kelly tended to greet people with a loaded rifle. Magda Kelly was a termagant sporting silicone breasts, makeup to the ears and high heels when she wasn’t in mufti, which consisted of rags and tatters, uncombed hair and an unmade face. Kelly was presumably attracted to other qualities.

***

Gary said he would get to the farm immediately, but not to look at Mrs Kelly, who might well have dressed in her finery by then. Cleo was curious that Gary took a personal interest in such a case when an assistant could have done the job just as well. Then Gary said that he would call in at her cottage on the way back to HQ and Cleo did not speculate any further.

***

"We'd better go to my cottage now, Dorothy," Cleo proposed. "Gary will be along once he's checked on the Kellys. We can have some more coffee and some of the bagels I baked last night."

"Good. Then I can skip lunch," said Dorothy. "I've already skipped a proper breakfast and that doesn't do my blood pressure any good."

"I noticed that, Dorothy. But you're OK now, aren't you?"

"I will be once I've wrapped myself round a bagel or two, Cleo."

Cleo never ceased to be amazed at Dorothy's turn of phrase.

“Can I ask you something, Dorothy?”

“Of course.”

“You don’t think Gary was serious when he said he was in love with me, do you?”

Cleo wanted to know just how seriously Dorothy had taken that declaration. Dorothy paused for quite a long time.

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” she said finally.

“If I thought….oh, forget it. My mind is running riot again…But he’s a nice guy, isn’t he?”

“Yes, Cleo, but I’m not sure you should get emotionally involved with him. If that’s why he’s calling in today, it’s a good job I’ll be here as a chaperone.”

“Do you think I need one, Dorothy?”

“I can’t answer that for you, Cleo.”

***

Now was the moment to tell Dorothy about what had happened the previous day, but how could she tell Dorothy that Gary made her feel alive and loved  when Dorothy so fervently believed in Robert. Cleo yearned for her next tryst with that ardent cop. An hour drinking coffee with him in front of Dorothy would be difficult to manage.

***

At the Kelly farm, things were not going smoothly. The forensic team had turned up before Gary Hurley and been forced to wait for him to authorize the investigation.

"How do I know you are genuine?" Kelly had asked.

"Why else would we be here with all this equipment, Mr Kelly?" said Chris Marlow, head of the forensic department at HQ.

"Well, you can wait in your van till someone in charge comes."

“You phoned the police, Mr Kelly. That’s why we are here.”

“If I phone the police, it’s the police I want to talk to, not some scientific bloke or other.”

Chris wondered why Kelly had not asked them what they were going to look for. He either knew Burton was dead or thought he was in some sort of trouble. It was just as well that Gary turned up at that moment.

"Where's your search warrant?" Mr Kelly asked Gary.

"We don't need one," Gary said, showing Kelly his ID card. "We don't want to search your house, Mr Kelly; we just want to take a look at the barn."

Mr Kelly swallowed that information unquestioning.

The forensic team donned their overalls. Then everyone heard a noise that sounded like a bonfire crackling.

"Are you burning something?" Gary wanted to know.

"No, unless the wife is burning old pallets the farm suppliers left behind,” said Kelly. "They should have been collected months ago."

Smoke was rising behind the farmhouse. The forensic team grabbed fire extinguishers - standard equipment in their van - and ran in the direction of the smoke. A corner of the barn was on fire.  A door was open. Gary rushed into the building, which on reflection was extremely foolish of him. Cleo had told him about the glasses and the whisky bottle on the makeshift table. He grabbed the glasses, looked round briefly and had time to get out of the barn before the first beam fell on the far end where dry straw almost to the roof had caught fire and spread to the rafters. One of the forensic team had phoned the fire brigade. Soon the sound of a siren could be heard.

Kelly made no move to extinguish the fire. Fortunately, it did not take very long to get it under control using water from the pond behind the farmhouse,  so the blaze did not spread into Burton's living quarters.

“No big deal,” the fire chief commented, when the blaze was under control and almost extinguished.

"Who set fire to the barn, Mr Kelly?

"Ask the wife. Here she is now."

Mrs Kelly was dressed as Dorothy had described her. Tasteless and cheap, thought Gary.  And she had not caught the bus to Middlethumpton after all. Why would she want to set fire to a barn that was inhabited by someone who paid rent, got cash for sleeping with her and helped with the livestock? Did the Kellys know that Burton would not be coming back?

"Mrs Kelly, did you set fire to the barn?" said Gary.

Mrs Kelly folded her arms under her silicone-padded breasts. Judging from her finery, her mission had definitely not been rural that morning. Gary hoped her that her breast-hitching and rather disgusting lip-licking were not directed at him.

They were.

"No," she insisted. "But that sort of thing often happens when people interfere. Have you got a name, Mister?"

"Chief Inspector Gary Hurley. Middlethumpton Police."

"Nice to meet you," she said, offering her hand.

"What do you mean by people interfering, Mr Kelly?" said Gary, ignoring Magda’s over-familiarity.

"Them two women poking around. Maybe one of them started the fire."

"Nonsense. They left here ages ago."

"How do you know that?” said Mrs Kelly.

Gary thought the woman must have eavesdropped more than Cleo had intimated. His retort had also been unfortunate. These people didn’t miss a trick.

"I'm asking the questions here, Mrs Kelly," said Gary, his voice taking on a sharper edge. "Why did you set fire to the barn?"

"It's my barn. I can do what I like with it," said Magda Kelly.

"That's where you're wrong, Mrs Kelly. Deliberately setting fire to property is a criminal offence even if it belongs to you."

"Balls!" the woman sneered.

It was obvious that she had started the fire. Gary was sure he would get more facetious replies, so he thought better of quizzing the woman further. Instead he informed her that they would continue their discussion at the police station.

"Take her away," he told the police patrol that had arrived on the scene as a routine measure after the fire brigade had been called in. "You can't do that without arresting me," the woman sneered.

"OK, Mrs Kelly. I am arresting you on suspicion of arson. Will that do?"

Mrs Kelly spat on the ground between her and Gary. The patrol officers held her firmly by the arms and she was bundled unceremoniously onto the back seat. She was swearing loudly and extremely red in the face. No sign of the self-control she had managed earlier. She was also either drunk or drugged. Mr Kelly looked on dispassionately as his wife was driven off to Middlethumpton HQ.

"I'll contact you later," Gary told the forensic team as he prepared to leave. "I have an urgent meeting now."

"Aren't you going to arrest me too, Inspector?" Kelly asked.

"Should I, Mr Kelly? Have you committed a crime?"

"If you're not going to arrest me, get off my land and take your forensic gnomes with you."

"Ok. I arrest you for inciting your wife to commit arson."

That was not what Gary had intended, but it was more sensible than leaving Kelly on his to get up to something, even finish off burning the barn down. Gary handcuffed him. The second patrol car Gary ordered appeared very soon. Two police officers got out and escorted Kelly to their car. Gary was pleased to see that one of them was Greg, who was a wrestler in his free time and knew exactly how to deal with obstreperous ‘clients’ without actually hurting them. Kelly would be kept in custody while forensics took the barn apart. It was just as well that he was not going to interfere with the forensic team’s task.

The Kellys were to be allotted separate arrest cells. Gary had allowed himself to be provoked into both arrests, but Kelly was far more useful on the loose, so Gary would have him released as soon as the forensic team had finished its investigation. Kelly was devious and bad tempered, but he did not have an obvious motive for killing Burton and had not started the fire behind the barn. He would be kept under observation.

In Magda’s case the situation was different. It was useless to speculate why she had wanted to burn the barn down, but Gary suspected that there was something stored there that she did not want to be found. The woman would be kept in detention until she was sober enough to be questioned. Whether she was freed depended on her conduct and answers. The charge of arson would stand. Kelly would be under surveillance as soon as he was allowed to go free.

Gary phoned Cleo and told her in a few words what had happened. He was now on his way over, he said.

***

Cleo and Dorothy were bursting with curiosity to hear more. They were in agreement about the Kellys and hoped that Gary had arrested them both. Dorothy thought it was sheer luck that the old barn hadn’t already been burnt to the ground.

Gary treated them both to a hug. Dorothy did not see the intimacy of his embrace with Cleo because she had gone into the kitchen to get the fresh coffee.

“Can I stay?” he whispered.

“Yes, if Dorothy doesn’t.”

If Dorothy doesn’t what?” called Dorothy.

“Stay for lunch, but I want you to,” said Cleo.

“I can’t, but invite Gary. He looks hungry.”

“I am,” said Gary, throwing Cleo a meaningful look that made her feel slightly dizzy.

There was a pause while Dorothy fetched a mug for Gary and poured coffee into it.

“Do you think they already knew about Burton’s death, Gary?” she asked as she offered Gary one of the bagels. “This will tide you over.”

“Come to think of it, I didn’t tell them, either.”

“You didn’t?” said Cleo.

“And they didn’t asked why I wanted to inspect the barn, either.“

“That’s suspicious,” said Cleo.

“I expect Chris will have done the job by now, Ladies. Magda looked eager to get at some guy or other after I had ignored her charms. Maybe she even asked one of the forensic team if he had time.”

“Did you check on that?”

“No. It all went faster than I expected and I ended up arresting them both and leaving Chris and his team there to finish off.”

"Of course, Mrs Kelly might have been doing what Kelly told her," said Dorothy. “For instance, getting rid of evidence for some other misdemeanour. That would mean that they did not need to know about Burton’s death in order to take action if they thought they had been rumbled.”

Gary thought that was a very shrewd comment for her to make, and Cleo just nodded in agreement, thus giving Dorothy the full credit for that idea. The whole barn should be searched without delay, including the charred half. Gary contacted Chris and gave instructions for that to happen. Even if they didn’t know what they were looking for, they might find something incriminating.

"Are you going to let Kelly go free again?" said Dorothy.

“Not before Chris and his crew have searched everywhere, including the farmhouse” said Gary. “I’ll talk to Kelly then let him go, but keep him under surveillance.”

 "I'm glad to hear that. In the film I watched last night they found three bodies and a cache of weapons after a fire."

"Well, I hope that's not going to happen at Kelly's farm," said Gary.

“Will it bother you if I go home?” said Dorothy.

“Do you want me to escort you there, Dorothy?” Gary offered. “I’m leaving, too.”

“No, you’re not. You’re staying for lunch,” said Dorothy.

To Dorothy’s surprise, Gary hugged her. It was no surprise to Cleo that he hugged her once Dorothy had left.

“Is there time for short siesta, Cleo?”

“Robert won’t be here till later, Gary. He delivers orders and collects stuff from the wholesalers. He won’t be here before three.”

Cleo looked at the meticulous timetable Robert had attached by a magnet to the fridge.

“I’m wrong,” she said.

“Damn and blast,” said Gary.

“Robert will be busy all afternoon. He’s going to practise his table-tennis at three and after that warm-up they have a match at six.”

“Do they all have free afternoons, Cleo?”

“Shopkeepers. Wednesday is the afternoon off in these parts.”

***

“Hearthrug or bed?”

“Guestroom.”

“Your assistant sleuth would be shocked at our conduct,” said Gary. “Though her language is sometimes quite uninhibited. I don’t think she’s quite as innocent as we think.”

“I’d hate it if she was, Gary.”

“Of course, if she watches explicit late-night movies she couldn’t be, theoretically speaking.”

“I think she just watches old black and white gangster movies.”

“Dorothy is curious, Cleo. I don’t put anything past her.”

“This bed is too narrow for two,” said Cleo moments later as she slipped under the duvet clad only in her birthday suit.

“That’s not a problem,” said Gary, stripping off.

***

"I'll have to go to my office soon,” said Cleo when they had finally dressed and were eating an improvised late lunch. ”I may have a new case."

"Are you going to tell me about it?" Gary asked.

"I have no details, but it could be drugs. A mother found some white powder in the pocket of her daughter's blazer. I'll find out more and fill you in on that later. It may only be sugar from some sort of candy."

"Can you get her to give you the blazer for tests?"

"Sure. I asked her to bring it along."

"Can I send someone to collect the blazer?"

"Check first, please, in case she's forgotten it. She was in quite a state on the phone, but she should be in my office by five."

"I'll send Cooper with a snooper dog. He's a nice guy and his dog will tell us if we should be looking for a dealer."

“Thanks. I’m sure that’s a good idea.”

“Dogs have a sense of smell that is far superior to that of us humans," said Gary.

“Unless we are talking about that heavenly perfume you always wear,” said Cleo.

“I used to think perfume was only for women,” said Gary. “But I needed something between me and the scum of the earth I have to get close to. It’s only aftershave and I confess that I have an electric razor and a bottle of it in the car.”

“I wondered. Your chin is so smooth.”

“I could say the same for your body,” said Gary.

“Don’t embarrass me, Mr Hurley,” said Cleo. “I love our time together.”

“So do I, even if Dorothy does not approve.”

A few hugs later Gary got into his car and drove to HQ.