Peter Helton - Falling More Slowly

‘Is that what this is about? Benefits?’

‘Could be. Doesn’t have to be. I’m not really interested but I could always take an interest if I got a bit bored .’ McLusky gave him a warm smile, which seemed to unnerve Innis Cole considerably. ‘So?’

‘A few days.’

McLusky scissored the cheques between his fingers.

Innis tried to count them. ‘Two weeks?’

‘And where’s he gone?’

‘He didn’t tell me. He’s got a job on, is all he said.’

‘A job on. What kind of a job?’

‘I don’t know. Something to do with gardens. He works with someone else sometimes. Or for someone else, I’m not sure which.’

‘Does he have a car?’

‘A van. And it’s no use asking me what kind, it’s white and quite clapped out. He was given it, I think.’

‘Right. And what do you do, Mr Cole?’

‘I work at the video shop.’ He jerked his head in the direction of the high street.

‘But not today?’

‘I’m on a late, we’re open till ten thirty.’

McLusky turned on his avuncular voice. ‘Okay. Now we would like to talk to Mr Daws about this and that. You might want to give us a call when you see him. But don’t worry, we’ll pop in from time to time. Whenever we’re in the area.’ He nodded reassuringly at Cole. As the two detectives left the narrow house Innis Cole did not look reassured.

McLusky sank into the passenger seat. ‘Do you realize this is a girl’s car, Jane? The baby blue colour won’t fool a soul.’

‘I know. Eve made me get it. She loves the things.’

‘Married? Girlfriend?’

‘Ehm, girlfriend, well, fiancee, sort of …’

‘Sort of? That doesn’t sound like you went on your knees and offered up diamonds. It was her idea then.’

‘Yes, but not a bad idea for all that. We’ve been living together for a year now. It really makes sense.’

‘Aha?’

‘Well, it does when she explains it.’

‘Do you love her, Jane?’

‘Yeah. Yeah, I do. How about you?’

‘Me? I never met the girl. Am I attached? No, not at the moment. I thought I was. Until … the accident and me in hospital. It was the last straw for Laura.’ He realized that this was the first time he had said her name out loud since the break-up and the shape of it threatened to fill the entire car. He lit a cigarette and found the ashtray crammed with sweet wrappers. ‘Any thoughts about Mr Cole?’

‘The guy was far too nervous.’ Austin navigated the car back on to the main street and pointed it in the direction of Albany Road. ‘He was trying to cover up for Daws not being there, so Daws probably told him, “If anyone asks I’ve only been gone a few days.”’

‘Get on to the DSS, see when he last signed on and whether he missed an appointment. And also find out when he signs on next, we can easily collect him then.’

‘You think he’s a possible?’

‘He’s all we’ve got, so we’ll pull him in.’

‘We could always get a search warrant and have a look in his garden shed. It’s certainly big enough for a bomb factory.’

‘Is it? I didn’t see it. Why didn’t you say? Turn around, let’s have a look at it.’ McLusky threw the cigarette out of the window and sat up in his seat, impatiently working an imaginary gas pedal.

Austin slowed, looking for a place to turn round. ‘Shouldn’t we get a search warrant first, sir?’

‘Sir, is it? You can call me Liam, even when you disagree with me. Go on, Jane, make the turn.’

Austin obliged. ‘I tried the shed, it was locked and the window was blocked up.’

‘Blocked-up windows I like. Mr Innis Whatsisname could be on the phone to Daws this minute, telling him we’re looking, or he might already be clearing out the shed. Shit, Daws could be living in it for all we know.’

‘But without a warrant — ’

‘You know, I had a shed once. They are so flimsy. One good gust of wind and they fall over.’ He licked his finger and stuck it out of the window. ‘Seems quite windy today.’

Back at Daws’ house he made Austin leave the car at the street corner. ‘I’ll go round the back this time, you can take the front. Don’t want it to get boring for the boy.’

Along the back of the terrace ran a narrow tarmacked alley full of oozing bin-liners, broken glass and dog shit. He found the back of the house. The flimsy wooden door to the garden was locked. He jumped up and easily pulled himself over it. There was indeed a large shed at the bottom of the desolate little garden. It looked to be at least twelve by eight foot. The double door was secured with a large padlock, the window blocked from inside with fibreboard and chicken wire. McLusky reached the back door just as Innis Cole unlocked it from the inside, dressed to go out. His face fell in resignation and he opened the door.

McLusky stepped into the kitchen. ‘Don’t mind if I do. Not much of a kitchen gardener is Mr Three Veg. Not even two veg out here. Aren’t you going to let DS Austin in? Not very polite that.’ Austin was working the bell as well as banging his fist against the front door.

‘What is it you want now ?’ Cole looked for a second as though he would stamp his foot in indignation but instead walked off down the hall and opened the front door to the noisy DS who swept him back into the kitchen.

McLusky boomed at the boy. ‘We’ve come to take a look at your shed.’ He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.

‘It’s not my shed, it’s Tim’s. And I don’t have a key. Anyway, you’ll need a warrant, won’t you? Search warrant?’

‘Search warrant? If we came with a search warrant we’d start by searching under your mattress and you wouldn’t want that. Nah, son, we don’t want to search the shed. You’re going to open it and we’ll just stand there and look over your shoulder. That’s not a search, that’s called noticing things. Let’s have it then.’

‘As I said, I don’t have a key.’ His eyes strayed involuntarily to a large biscuit tin on the window sill.

McLusky picked up the greasy tin and thumped it down in front of Cole. ‘Go on, have a rummage. It’s called cooperating with the police and we like it a lot.’

Cole sounded younger by the minute. ‘He’ll kill me.’ He popped the lid and emptied the tin on to the table. Rubber bands, springs, screws, corroded triple-A batteries, leaky biros, fuses. There were several keys, dull from lack of use, and one shiny Yale key on its own split ring. Cole picked it out without enthusiasm. ‘This is the spare one, I think.’

‘Okay, let’s have a look-see.’

Cole led them to the shed with the air of a man being made to walk the plank. ‘Whatever is in there has nothing to do with me.’ While he sprung the lock and opened the double doors he appeared to be holding his breath. Then he exhaled noisily. The shed was full of tools, mainly for gardening use: apart from three lawn mowers there were forks, spades and rakes, leaf blowers, strimmers and hedge trimmers of various makes and ages.

Cole was visibly relieved. ‘Well, what do you know? Gardening stuff. He was a gardener, probably still is.’

‘Probably.’ Austin leant this way and that so he could get a good look without going anywhere near the door. ‘Looks to me though as if he’s gone a bit overboard on the tools. You could kit out ten gardeners with that lot. I mean, who needs four hedge trimmers? Three lawn mowers?’

‘As I said, nothing to do with me. Can I lock it again?’

McLusky sighed. ‘Yes, go on.’ The shed was full of stuff obviously stolen but a bomb factory it wasn’t — for a start there was no space left inside — and Superintendent Denkhaus’s speech from this morning was still fresh in his mind. No distractions, no damsels in distress, no kittens up a tree. This looked like a kitten up a tree.