To Snatch a Thief

CHAPTER TWELVE



Standing to attention beside Dawson in Hunter’s office, Skye chewed her lip and prayed. She’d just given her report and her heart was, at this minute, spiralling through the floor to the basement. Someone would find it there when they went to get their car.

Hunter’s head was in his hands. ‘Do you make a habit of punching old ladies in the face?’ he asked. She imagined the calm tone of his voice wasn’t going to last. Dawson’s delight at her discomfort was rolling off her in waves.

With nothing to lose, Skye lifted her chin. ‘There were special circumstances, sir. She was hurting him.’

His head rose slowly. ‘And you didn’t think to call Private Dawson over to assist? Knocking her unconscious was the only way you saw to restrain her?’

‘She was busy,’ Skye muttered, all hope of mercy dying. ‘And it all happened so fast. Then there was the dog. Did I mention the dog? Small but quite vicious… And.’ She attempted a smile that failed. ‘You’d have been proud of the punch, sir. You taught it to me yourself.’

Now his eyes blazed. He uncurled his long frame from his chair, leant forward with his fists on the table.

‘May I remind you of your tenuous position here, Forrester?’ he snarled. ‘How dare you take the law into your own hands when I specifically told you to take no active part other than to observe. Now I’ve got an eighty five year old woman with the medical examiner and a lot of explaining to do to the Captain.’ He wheeled away, flinging an arm in the air. ‘Do you want to lose your freedom? I suggest you think very carefully about your future.’

There was no way she’d let either of them see her cry, but tears were near the surface. Hunter gave her one last furious scowl. ‘Dawson, for God’s sake give me something positive from your interviews. Perhaps we can salvage something out of this debacle.’

‘Sir,’ Miss Goody-Two-Shoes reported, all pert and efficient. ‘One witness says on the night the letter bomb was posted, she put her cat out at around six thirty. She was sure of the time because the news had just come on. She looked up and saw someone – could have been a woman or a man, they were bundled up in a thick coat – coming towards her down the street.’ Dawson consulted her pocket recorder. ‘Says the man/woman stopped in the vicinity of number twenty eight and bent down. She thought he/she was tying a shoe lace so didn’t pay much attention. Couldn’t give a facial description, as the person had a woolly hat pulled down low and a scarf wrapped round the lower part of the face.

The witness said it was freezing cold, so she didn’t hang about. Everybody else I spoke to was cozied inside watching that new reality show: Catwalk Queen.’

‘Okay.’ Hunter stood. The CCTV shows the same image, but we’ll see if Technology can enhance it. See if we recognise anyone we know.’

There are weirdos and nutcases in every society. Ms Violet Templeton-Smyth turned out to be one of them. Skye was sure, in her twisted mind, her reasoning made sense. She was itching to interrogate her personally but obviously that wasn’t going to happen. However she was allowed to watch the interview from behind a two-way mirror.

Set in a soft, pink face, Violet’s blue eyes wheeled around the room then settled as Corporal Ryan and his partner, a female private, took their seats opposite. After tucking a stray curl of silver hair behind one ear, she clasped her hands in her lap. Around her neck hung a pretty gold crucifix. Along her jaw line, a bluish mark, with Skye’s name on it, was just beginning to show.

‘She looks like everybody’s favourite granny,’ Hunter remarked at Skye’s shoulder.

Although his tone was mild, she knew that could be deceptive, and wasn’t sure where she stood with him yet, so kept quiet. Also, Dawson’s remarks were weighing heavy on her mind. It was not that she believed, for one minute, he’d come calling, more the unexpected way her heart had fluttered at the thought he might.

‘How’s the hand?’ He was staring ahead, thumbs hooked in his trouser pockets.

‘Oh, um.’ Uncomfortable with her thoughts, especially with Hunter standing so close, she gave herself a sharp kick in the pants. ‘It’s okay.’ She flexed the fingers which were stiff where the knuckles had swollen. ‘What’s going to happen to me?’ she asked. ‘Am I in real trouble?’

‘Only if some smart lawyer advises Ms Templeton-Smyth to lodge a complaint. So far she hasn’t asked for one.’ He paused. ‘The boy’s parents think you should get a commendation.’

‘Really?’

‘I told them their thanks were enough.’

‘Huh.’ He didn’t seem angry anymore, rather faintly amused. ‘Chocolates would have been nice.’

‘They would yes, but that would have been illegal, wouldn’t it? We’re not allowed to accept gifts from the public, remember.’

‘Seems a crime not to.’ Skye looked up at him and grinned.

He didn’t smile back as she expected. Instead, something shifted in his eyes. ‘I’ve made allowances so far, Forrester,’ he stated. ‘Don’t push your luck. Cross me too often and you’ll see a side of me I promise you won’t like.’ With that he nodded to the window. ‘They’re about to start.

Thrown off balance, she forced her attention back to the interview in progress.

Ryan read Violet her rights, introduced himself and his partner, told her they were recording the interview. After asking her if she understood the procedure and getting a yes for an answer, he began. ‘You have waived your right to a lawyer being present. Is that correct?’

‘I have no need of earthly council.’ Her eyes seemed less settled now, and she began to tug at her sleeve. ‘I know what lives in that house,’ Violet whispered. In a jerky move, she leant forward. ‘Aliens.’

Hunter’s raised an eyebrow. Skye snorted.

‘And which house would that be?’

‘Number twenty eight.’

‘Hmm. And what makes you think they’re aliens, Violet?’ Ryan asked, shooting his partner a look.

Violet twisted her hands together as though rinsing them under a tap. Under the table one of her knees began to twitch as her heel drummed on the floor. ‘It’s obvious to those whose eyes are open to the truth.’

‘Well my partner and I are overdue for an eye adjustment, so why don’t you tell us?’

Skye chuckled to herself. This should be good.

Still wringing her hands, still tapping, Skye watched Violet’s eyes narrow. ‘There’s comings and goings at all hours,’ Violet said, giving a slight shudder. ‘Strange lights and peculiar noises. I know what it is, you see, that house, it’s a converging point; one of many cracks in the fabric of the universe; a meeting place of two parallel worlds.’ The woman clutched a hand to the crucifix as her tongue flicked over her lips. ‘Those creatures have leached through the cracks and, in so doing, infected us with this terrible disease. Humans have no defence against it. If they aren’t stopped, it will be the end of us all.’

It was all Skye could do not to burst out laughing. ‘What news channel does she watch?’ she wondered and got a nod of agreement from Hunter.

‘I read in the paper,’ he said wryly. ‘That, since that story aired, sales of Preventix have gone through the roof. Every dark cloud, it would seem, has a silver lining for somebody.’

Ryan glanced at the mirror; his head gave a slight shake. ‘Have you ever spoken to Annabelle Crossley or her cohab personally?’

‘You can’t converse with alien species.’

‘So you’d be unaware that the couple are registered to take in foreign students at that address? That the youngsters often play loud music with accompanying colourful holos, and sit up late studying.’

‘I know what I know.’

‘Ms Templeton-Smyth,’ Ryan continued. ‘This morning you opened your front door and, without provocation, grabbed hold of a seven year old boy. What did you intend to do with him?’

‘Boy? You see, they have you all fooled.’ She shook her head as if Ryan was particularly thick. ‘That creature was no boy, but a juvenile parasite with a huge appetite for human flesh. They grow exceedingly quickly and breed within days.’

She started to rise, but the female private pushed her back down. ‘I’ve been chosen, you see.’ Violet seemed incapable of sitting still. All her fidgety movements were becoming more obvious, and her eyes took on an eerie shine. ‘My mission’s clear,’ she said. ‘To rid the world of extraterrestrial domination. I wasn’t found wanting when the bugle call rang and called me to the crusade.’

‘When you popped another capsule,’ Hunter commented.

‘S-o-o you admit you intended to hurt the boy?’

Violet looked surprised at the question. With her toe planted, the heel continued to vibrate. ‘He had to be exterminated.’

Beside Skye, Hunter sighed. ‘She’s either a damn good actress, or she’s clinically insane. There’s no point in continuing this. We’ll refer her to the police psychiatrist. He’s going to love her.’

Skye could tell Ryan was thinking the same thing. He leaned back in his chair. ‘One more thing,’ he said. ‘Before we wrap this up, did you, at approximately six thirty last evening, post this package through the letterbox of number thirty four? And subsequently give a false witness statement to the officers who interviewed you at the time?’ He produced an evidence bag with a brown padded envelope inside. ‘I should tell you that your fingerprints were found on the envelope and some of its contents.’

Skye let out a breath. ‘I should have guessed.’

‘The cracks must be closed,’ Violet intoned in her creepy voice. ‘Total annihilation of convergence points is the only way to prevent them crawling through.’

‘Batty old bag,’ Skye scoffed. ‘Did you find a hat and scarf that match the security camera footage at her place?’

Hunter unhooked his thumbs from his pockets, folded his arms across his chest. ‘We certainly did.’

Privately Skye wondered how any officer had missed the woman was nuts when they talked to her that night but, not wanting to upset her colleagues more than she seemed to, kept that thought to herself. No doubt Hunter would ask some questions of his own.

‘I should imagine the psychiatrist’s report recommends she be sent to a secure facility for evaluation,’ he remarked. ‘She’s been using. You can see she’s coming down from something; getting edgy. When we analyse the cocktail of drugs we turned up at her house I bet several hallucinogens rear their ugly heads. She also had a couple more fake bombs waiting to be sent to other people she was targeting.’

‘Drugs? But she’s like, old.’

‘Sadly, even with cell regeneration techniques to keep us younger longer, we all succumb in the end, Forrester. She could have been using chemicals recreationally for decades.’

Skye couldn’t see Violet as ever being a party girl, and said so. He merely shrugged. ‘I’ve never understood the drug scene,’ she offered. ‘Too many bad things happen, so why risk it.’ Seeing an opening she jumped in. ‘Um, like what happened to Corporal Blake.’

All expression left Hunter’s face.

‘I’ve been looking into her last two cases,’ she pushed. ‘The floaters pulled out of the Thames? I’m sure they’re connected.’

He leant a shoulder against the wall. ‘How?’

‘I can’t prove it yet, but I think they both worked at the same place. Maybe they knew one another; maybe they had an affair and Jonathan Powter’s steady girlfriend found out and got jealous or something. And then there’s…’ She thought of the text message she’d received, and almost told him, but would have to admit to going to Royalty and calling Vincent unauthorised. Not a wise move after today’s events.

Hunter tilted his head. ‘Go on.’

She changed what she’d started to say. ‘Corporal Blake put a flag on Powter’s file. She’d interviewed his friends twice, but I think she felt something was off. Willow Frobisher’s old boss said she was nosey… could be she nosed into something she shouldn’t have, or flirted with the wrong bloke.’

‘What does Private Dawson think?’ He saw her hesitate. His eyes went flat as he straightened. ‘Whatever beef you two have, sort it out or get over it. When you have something more concrete than imagination, copy it to me.’

She lifted a hand to shove at her tangle of hair. ‘Fine. I’ll do that. No problem…sir.’

Violet had relapsed into her everybody’s favourite granny mode as they led her out of interview and into a holding cell. Skye didn’t think bail would be an option. Briefly she wondered what would happen to her horrible dog, then shrugged off images of it waiting on death row. There was always somebody crazy enough to take it.