An 'Innocent' Man

Drunk, determined to give a one-finger salute to the lazy community of Russell-by-the-Sea, Luke Morris (17) committed the act that shamed his family and resulted in him being confined to a Government Detention Centre.

He ignited the fuse that set off three sticks of explosives stole during a break-in at Hutchinson's Quarries but his three accomplices chickened out from performing the detonation, urging him to do the ultimate deed.

The town square statue of French immigrant and town benefactor who later was knighted to become Sir Dominique Gautier, was blown to smithereens.

Gautier began a sea fishing operation in the late 1880s in a rowboat from his desolate campsite that he expanded to become the successful Gautier Fishing Industries until its collapse in the early 1930s after local herring catches evaporated due to over-exploration.

Decades later the four unruly youths had decided their sleepy town, about to be declared a city, needed a shake-up and the way shake a leg of the population was to blow up the inappropriate statue of a fucking Frenchman. That was bound to earn them well-deserved kudos.

On the bus to the detention centre with his three pals, with Luke gaining the longer Court-imposed sentence, being unfairly branded by the cops in Court as the instigator when in fact the demolition was a 4-person gang assault with no one the designated leader, to rid the community of a bloody no-body of use in this day and age.

Luke belatedly realized he'd goofed by (1) picking the wrong target because the community was outraged by the demolition for reasons he couldn't comprehend and (2), for misplacing his trust in his comrades who all swore to the police that Luke was the leader of the gang and instigator of blowing up the statue for reasons they didn't understand.

"Miserable cock-suckers," he hissed, down-grading his pals in his eyes and thinking revenge would be administered one day whenever.

A month after imprisonment in the youth detention centre, Luke was one of 12 inmates ordered to appear before the chief henchman actually entitled the Governor.

"You wretched losers have been selected to compete physically to become our top six inmates to enter Her Majesty's Army, God forbid. You have been selected from your IQ tests, brawling skills that are on show almost weekly, keeping you be in tip-top condition prior to snap inspections and for your noteworthy sporting achievement in the past month."

"I shouldn't say this Luke but you are already the favourite to be the top candidate for selection, but then I can say what I like because I'm the Governor of this establishment."

And so it came to pass, Luke emerged as the top contender and he was relieved that none of his former mates would be entering the Army with him.

Of the 10 inmates entering the Army, Luke topped the Army's IQ assessment, scored with the highest results on the rifle range, was first home by two minutes with full kit running 800 metres and then completing the associated obstacle course in the fastest time. In the written test, he was the only one to fully complete the question, 'Name six countries where deployments of the British Army are stationed?' He correctly answered Iraq, Lithuania, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Brunei, Latveha (his spelling).

He was called before a Colonel and congratulated on his performance.

"You will complete basic training and at the completion parade you will be presented with a Shield, but not to keep, with your name inscribe for setting a new record time for ALL raw recruits in the run plus completing the obstacle course. Well done."

"Thank you, sir."

"And then you will be assigned to complete officer training. That's all. Dismissed."

Luke marched out in a daze, behind Corporal Mansfield. What the fuck? Never in his life had he won anything for achievement, or for that matter any award for anything except ticks on rolls for attending school classes.

The up-himself Corporal White pointed Luke to his reporting post and left Luke without a word. Luke said aloud, "Me, selected for officer training. Holy, shit... with my record I'll probably be responsible for partly destroying the Army's reputation and the goodwill it receives from the public and, err, the Queen."

Forty-four weeks of officer training followed and at the completion of that, Luke disappeared into the 'low-profile' ranks of Army land intelligence services. At that point, his family were more kindly disposed toward him, thinking he must have been severely reformed to have been place in some sort of hush-hush section of the Army as Luke described it during a brief return home before being assign to 'somewhere'.

The family weren't the only ones to notice the difference in Luke, who appeared to walk taller with a straight back and he even looked quite handsome. When a handful of young women he'd gone through school with came calling at the family home to speak to Luke, his family realised that the appeal they now saw in the former trouble-maker was permeating the community.

* * *

Seven years went by. Luke returned home, leaving the Army and one of the first things he did was to meet the district Mayor and city manager. Five months later a bronze statue of the founder of Russell, Dominique Gautier, later to become Sir Dominique, replaced the concreted original that had been blown up by louts nine years earlier.

It was placed in the same position in the city square as the original one, and at its unveiling, Mayor Daniels praised the anonymous donor for his generosity and high sense of community values. Soon the rumour spread that Luke Morris, who'd blown up the original statue when aged seventeen, had recently returned to the city and probably was the donor of the very expensive replacement.

A reporter from the district's newspaper approached Luke, the newly appointed operations manager of Russell City & District Security Services, with the aim of getting an exclusive story.

"Hi, Luke. You won't remember me, Leon Cousins, I was a couple of classes behind you at high school."

"No, I don't, but Liz Cousins was in my class. Make yourself useful by telling her I have coffee most mornings at Ma's Pantry."

"Right, done. Why did you donate the Gautier replacement statue?"

"Why on earth would I donate in the regional of £15,000 for a bloody statue?"

"To placate your conscience."

"I may not know what placate means and perhaps I don't have a conscience."

"Where have you been for the last few years."

"Away."

"Where was that?"

"Beyond this location."

"Doing what?"

"Making myself useful which is more than you are doing right now. So why don't you fuck off?"

The newspaper published that interview in full except for changing fuck off to f-off. Above it was a great photo of Luke in full dress uniform of a sergeant with four medals displayed. The caption read:

Local citizen Luke Morris recently retired from seven years in the British Army after recovering from serious injury while serving overseas. He was attached to an intelligence unit with the rank of sergeant in an undisclosed location at the time five soldiers including Luke were in an armoured vehicle caught by a buried land mine and was wrecked. Luke was one of two occupants of the vehicle injured, and he led his unit for one and a half days to safety. Luke is now operations manager at Russell City & District Security Services Ltd in Gautier Street.

"Fucking news media," snorted Luke, after reading the accurate article.

Luke entered Ma's pantry for a hot buttered scone that morning and Ma Lucas shouted, "Hail the hero, Luke Morris."

"I wasn't a hero; I was simply in military service doing my job."

"No, I don't mean that. I'm talking about you getting one over the Echo newspaper by stonewalling when their reporter attempted to interview you. The media these days tend to ride rough-shod over people they bail up for an interview."

"Well at least what was published was accurate, Ma, even though it made me look like a fool."

"Luke, was it you who donated that replacement statue? I saw you hovering at the back of the crowd."

"Something's burning in the kitchen, Ma."

Duped, she hurried to the kitchen.

"Hello, Luke."

He turned to the direction from where the greeting came, blinked, and said, "Christ, is that Jessica Cousins?"

"Indeed, it is Luke, taller and all filled out compared with times that you would remember. You used to call me Pea Sticks because of my skinny legs."

"Are you dating?" he said, walking over to lightly hug and perhaps even kiss her whether or not she was looking for that treatment, he said, "Who's asking?"

"I am."

She turned a little rapidly and caught the kiss aimed at her cheek fully on her lips.

"We're dating from tomorrow," she cooed. "I'll call that wet-sack that I'm dating at present and dump him."

"Thanks babe. Do you... do you know what on the first date?"

"With you Luke my hero, anything and everything is possible. Did you donate the statue?"

"This is for your ears only, Jessica. Right?

"Aye, absolutely."

"Yes, I made the investment in my mind to clear my conscience of igniting the explosives the blew up the original statue on behalf of myself and each of my three so-called collaborators who chickened out and then failed to stand by me when the cops arrested us."

"It is of a higher quality that the original."

"Yeah, thanks for noticing that."

"I must dash, Luke. Give me a fat kiss."

"Where?"

"Naughty," she laughed, brushing her lips against his and hurrying off.

Luke and Jessica dated next evening, and at no time did Luke do more that kiss and lightly cuddle.

"I expected the full works tonight," Jessica said as they were parting outside her family home.

"I respect you too much for that," he smiled. "I'd like to developed a solid relationship and by that, I mean taking it slowly in steps."

Jessica said cautiously, "How many steps over how many days?"

"Three steps over three days."

"Phew, Luke. I had become scared that I may have to wait for it too long. I'm an active young woman, you know."

"Good night, sweet lady. I'm aware that choice fruit takes a little time to fully ripen."

"Omigod," Jessica said, sucking in air.

DAY 1

Geoff Swan, one of Luke's former collaborators, leaving the house work-bound at 6.30 and heard a noise in the bushes to his right.

He turned to look in the direction of the noise and was hit hard with an baseball bat on the ball-joint of his right shoulder and grabbed at it, screaming in pain, just as the other shoulder was smashed and he fell outside the garage door screaming.

Geoff didn't see any sign of his assailant and police couldn't find anyone who did and the old baseball bat left beside him had been wiped clean of finger-prints and there were no uniquely identifiable markings on the weapon.

Everyone, Police included, were baffled. No motive was apparent.

That night, Luke and Jessica had a few drinks and then a leisurely café dinner that allowed them to get to know more about one another. Later parked in the car, they indulged in very light foreplay.

DAY 2

Murray George, another accomplice in the planning to blow up the statute, had been a bit of a pain to Luke ever since they took up track cycling as a sport. Murray had the damn habit of beating Luke home, usually by only a couple of lengths, even less.

Murray wheeled his bike out from the laundry of the small flat he shared with two females (also of loose morals), stepped over the seat as usual to begin pedalling furiously down the steep drive to take a tight wheelie left on to the street, when all hell broke loose.

The bike chain appeared to snap, the cyclist was hurled to the ground, and despite wearing a crash helmet (unbuttoned) he suffered mild concussion. But even worse, he broke his right thigh and shattered the knee.

No one witnessed the setting up of the accident or its outcome. Murray's screaming woke up the neighbourhood.

Police determined that the chain may have been interfered with but found no tampering with the laundry lock as alleged, with the occupants insisting that the old-style lock was locked every night.

But on this occasion, the police gained a lead. The scanning of both accidents revealed crime convictions and both men were linked to Luke Edward Morris.

Jessica and Luke when walked along the beach that evening and called in for a fish meal at Jake's Seaside Fish Café and had a delicious meal. Afterwards, they sat on a park bench on the near-deserted secondary pathway and kissed and petted with increased intensity.

DAY 3

The Police called at Luke's cottage at 7.00 am and asked to accompany them to the local Police Station for questioning.

"I need to get to my managerial job by 8.00, so I'll follow you in my Ute, and one of you officers may accompanying me.

"What is your workplace."

"Russell City Security Services."

The Police officer checked computer screen and said, "What is your role there?"

"Operations manager."

"Hand me your driver's licence to check."

"Thanks, that confirms who you say you are. Officer Blake will accompany you in your vehicle."

Bumbling Keystone cops, Luke thought.

A team of three questioned Luke at length as a chief suspect in connection with those two accidents suspected of being vicious assaults. He denied it but said he had no alibi about his whereabouts and, to avoid involving Jessica, said he would have been alone at home, as he lived alone, and would have been reading after watching the early evening news.

Frustrated, the Police fired questions at him about that news bulletin and Luke was able to give several correct answers about main news items as he'd watched that bulletin before going out with Jessica.

The cops found nothing to pin on Luke even after giving him full details of the incidents. Luke sounded helpful saying he'd not been in touch with those two undesirable guys since returning to the city. Perhaps the guy who'd been bashed was the target of some guy suspecting the person have been playing around with the assailant's wife. In the other example, if the part of the ejected chain link could not be found, perhaps the locking piece had fallen off somewhere the previous day and the partial link had remained in place okay until the cyclist pushed the pedal to start really hard next morning to cycle off.

"Ah," said one of the cops. "That's what our forensic guy said. How come you've come up with that same theory?"

"General knowledge and experience, I guess, officer. I was in bike racing for years, actually with that accident victim you are talking to me about, and we all know that's how chain-breaks happen and we've all had that happen to us."

After 39 minutes of the recorded interview being halted, Luke was allowed to leave.

Luke knew if he acted quickly, he could stay one-step ahead of the Police before they began keeping a watch on Malcolm Sparrow, the senior member of the former gang. From his earlier inquiries, he'd learned that Malcolm had 12.30 lunch at the cheap café two doors down from the gym where he worked as a trainer from 1.00 to 9.00.

The gym was only one block away where Luke usually ate.

At 12.20 he called to his receptionist at the desk, "Going to lunch Karen" and saw her glance at the clock and wave. Great, she ought to remember the time he left for lunch.

He walked fast and was merely steps away from behind Malcolm when treacherous bastard was about to set out to cross the road to the gym. Now wearing gloves, Luke used a dart gun (an illegal Special Forces souvenir) to fire a make-shift untraceable dart into Malcolm's right butt. The explosive device set off a minor bang occurred. Disabled, Malcolm fell on to the roadway and that fall caught the attention of witnesses who'd were already looking in his direction when hearing the sound of the small explosion. While this was unfolding, Luke calmly slipped away and was sitting in the lunch bar where he usually sat only minutes later than usual time.

To Luke's relief, he saw Kerry one of the waitresses glancing at her watch presumable as she was due for her lunch break.

"Hi, what can I get you, Luke?"

"My usual ham and salad roll, black coffee and a piece of apple and cherry pie, thanks."

The cops arrived quickly at the incident scene to find Malcolm with burns and bleeding to his butt and estimated what would probably require several skin grafts over many hours to restore back to near-normal by medics.

The police couldn't believe how the actual shooting could occur unnoticed on a busy street. None of the eight people that heard the small explosive sound had actually had been watching Malcolm's bum when the dart hit him and surely, the victim didn't inflict the attack upon himself.

A news reported asked: "Do you suspect an assassination attempt, Senior-Sergeant?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Higgins. No comment."

The Police Inspector, who'd questioned Luke Edward Morris the previous day about two earlier inexplicable incidents, sent out two officers to bring in Luke Edward Morris for further questioning,

Enterprisingly, one of the cops suggested as it was lunchtime. they could have a hard job finding Luke, he'd call him to find out his whereabouts.

"Oh hi, officer."

"Luke, we've been asked to pick you up again."

"Okay, make it quick. I need to be back at work. I'm at Rosie's Lunch Bar on Willis."

"Okay, we're two minutes away."

"Omigod, we've got him this time," said that cop, gleefully. "Morris is lunching within a bull's roar of the latest attack."

However, once again the Police came away with nothing and that was no surprise. Luke had served in one of the Army's intelligence teams in covert activities who were trained to sneak in and sneak out, leaving no trace of their incursion.

Nevertheless, the cops believed they had a case to push, alleging Luke Morris came across Sparrow on the way to lunch and armed with some sort of home-made blow-dart. One of the constables who was from the scene of the attack delighted Luke by saying it probably would be weeks before the petty crook Sparrow could sit comfortably again.

"I'm sorry to hear that, genuinely sorry," intoned Luke during the recorded questioning. "Um, perhaps I should point out there are two ways to get from my office to that lunch bar and I would be a fool not to take the much shorter way that is away from the gym where you say Sparrow worked as a trainer."

"Didn't you know Sparrow worked there?" asked the inspector.

"No, simply because I pledged myself to keep away from those rotten dirty bastards for conspiring to say that I planned and instigated everything in blowing up that statue."

The Inspector said, "Surely, that in itself gave you huge incentive to inflict revenge and your Army training would have armed you suitably for this revenge fight back years afterwards.

"You haven't got a leg to stand on Inspector in attempting to foist these trumped-up charges on poor innocent me to try to place me in court," said artful Luke who'd been fully trained by the Army in counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence. Just ask your assistant Police prosecutor here what he thinks?"

The prosecutor said impassively, "Sorry, Inspector. As the one and only suspect says, we need evidence of a crime in order to place anyone before the Court."

The Inspector sighed.

"Off you go, Mr Morris and from this moment, please keep your nose clean."

Outside the Police station, Luke said to the two officers who'd taken him in, "You tried hard guys, and good on you. Would you kindly run me back to my office?"

"Yeah, we'll do that out of courtesy for an innocent man," the driver grinned.

That evening, Luke was invited by Jessica to her family home to meet her parents.

"Ah, how lovely to receive such an invitation. Gladly I accept and that's only because I'm developing such huge respect for you."