Diane and the Copper

Finally they were ready to move her. The back board made everything easy for them and in no time Diane was down the stairs and in the ambulance. The driver got in as the other paramedic closed the doors. She looked at me to say that I should get aboard. "Diane seems to want you with her." I threw my car keys to the policewoman

"Could you get my car back to the Nick?" P.C. Hurst was left to keep the property safe. The SOCO (Scene of Crime officer) would arrive soon to get what evidence she could.

She nodded and I climbed into the ambulance. Diane immediately reached for my hand. As we went the paramedic, her name was Joan, told me what they had assessed as the damage. "Diane's right arm has been broken, and I suspect at least a couple of ribs. Her jaw is dislocated and she has a very bad contusion to the left side of her head. These are minor compared to the bruising to her stomach. I would say she has been kicked quite a few times. She may have a damaged spleen. I know you are a copper so how would you describe the attack and it was an attack. If anyone tries that old excuse that she fell down stairs they are lying. If she fell down stairs she could never have got up them again."

"I would think that the charge would be aggravated bodily harm if not grievous bodily harm." I replied. Joan nodded. She was working to keep Diane comfortable, which meant that at times I had to release Diane's hand; immediately she was able Diane reached to grasp my hand again. Joan noticed this and smiled.

"You may find it difficult to work again if you have Diane clinging to you like this." I nodded. My mind had been working and I was going to call in the favours I had given over the last few months. My fellow Inspectors would have to cover my shifts. I was going to be there for Diane.

Diane would be sedated whilst they set her arm and relocated her jaw. The Trauma unit would monitor her until they could decide whether her spleen was damaged or not. The policewoman especially trained in taking samples from victims for DNA purpose arrived. The Doctors usually make a fuss about this procedure, even though it is crucial to such investigations, but with me there they decided not to argue. As Diane was not conscious, I walked to the station. It wasn't too long a walk and the fresh air cleared my mind. I went to see John. He didn't beat about the bush. He was up to speed with what had happened.

"Andy you are on leave with immediate effect. Bob has got Terry Bowden in custody and we have one team searching his home and another at the car lot. You are personally involved so see Bob by all means, don't hang around, go home or back to the hospital. Under no circumstances will you do anything else. I want this one to stick with the C.P.S. and no complications with a defence brief claiming that you were in a position to manipulate evidence or this was a fit up so you could get it on with Terry's wife. Clear?" That suited me perfectly.

"Yes John." I went to find Bob. He was in his office.

"Hi Andy, how's Diane?"

"Not good at the moment, but she's in the best place. What's happening?"

"Interesting to say the least. We are searching his home, but doubt that we will find anything there. Harry's searching his office at the lot, and has already found a bunch of registration documents which don't tie to any of the cars he has on his lot. Terry's screaming blue murder, threatening to sue the police to high heaven for infringing his personal liberty. His Solicitor is with him at the moment, explaining that once he was arrested the police have the right to search his premises without a Warrant."

"Will he make Police Bail?" I asked knowing the answer. Bob nodded

"Yes he will, but we will have a good selection of charges for him to answer. If it all goes right I can see him going down for three years or even more."

"Good." He looked up at me.

"Is that all you can say. He's kicked shit out of your lady."

"I know, I am seething inside, but if I go and kick the shit out of him he won't go down, will he?" Bob knew where I was coming from.

"Yeh. It's a bugger being a copper at times."

CHAPTER SEVEN

I returned to the hospital after a quick shower and shave at my flat. Diane had been transferred to the Intensive Care unit. I spoke to the Nurse in charge who questioned me as to my business there. UK Hospitals once had a reputation for very poor security and after some female patients had been sexually molested by casual walk-ins, tightened up their procedures. I explained who I was and showed her my Warrant Card as proof of identity. She was still unsure, saying that only the next of kin was allowed to visit in ITU.

"Her next of kin will not be allowed to visit." I told her. "It is he who is suspected of attacking her and has been taken into custody." That shocked her but she recovered quickly.

"Ok, so you are a policeman. Are you seeing her on police business or personal?"

"Personal. We have been friends for almost twenty years." Reluctantly she gave way.

"Oh well, I don't suppose there will be any harm in it. At least you are a Copper." Having thawed she told me that the bruises and trauma had been treated and should not be a problem. The Jaw was just dislocated not broken. They were checking her blood pressure frequently. Should the spleen be damaged, low blood pressure would be one of the signs. So far she said it was coming up normal. She told me I could see Diane for five minutes.

It is very difficult when you see the woman you love in pain. The acceptance of my love came as quite a shock to me. It wasn't a conscious thought, it just happened as walked towards her cubicle. It was quite different to the love I had for Shirley, making me reflect. Had I actually been in love with Shirley? Perhaps not, else I may have fought harder to keep her. Diane had been with me all my adult life, tucked away in a compartment in my mind, waiting to come out whenever the circumstances needed her. Now she needed me and in many ways that was better, to be needed rather than need.

Diane was laying so still, her jaw bandaged tightly to prevent movement, drips draped down from plastic sachets into her left arm. Her right arm was plastered and the perpetual bleep of the monitor was the only sound. The nurse had told me that she shouldn't try to speak. I sat beside her and took her left hand in mine. At my touch she opened her eyes. She couldn't speak yet her eyes smiled, happy to see me. I leaned over and just touched my lips to hers.

"I love you Diane." She tried to move her mouth, but her jaw was bound quite tightly. Instead her eyes told me that she was delighted to hear that and returned the love. She squeezed my hand. There was little I could do yet the idea of not being there was unacceptable. I talked to Diane, not about the case and the possible charges Terry would face. Even now my training and knowledge of Judges Rules prevented me from going there as eventually Diane may have to give evidence. In the UK a wife could not be compelled to give evidence against her husband, but I believed she would if that was the only charge we could make. I hoped that Bob would find evidence of other crimes, then he would make those charges and leave the assault charge on file. Instead I talked to Diane, reminding her of the great times we had when we part of that group of friends and all the silly things that we did. She could manage a little smile to her lips and squeezed my hand a lot, letting me know that she was happy with the reminiscences. I mentioned the ritual of leaving the Pub, piling into our respective cars and taking off to a starting point in the country nearby. From that point we would always take a different route and alternate turns left then right, making bets as to where we would end up after twenty miles. I shouldn't have reminded her as she as attempting not to laugh as I recalled the time the car I was in ran out of petrol and we had to walk. There were no Filling Stations open at that time of night and it was eight miles home. I got home at four o clock in the morning. It was that point that the nurse came in and told me not to excite Diane too much. I stayed until Diane became tired and left promising I would be back. Her eyes followed me as I left. The nurse caught me as I left.

"I have put you on her records as close friend in lieu of next of kin. It was obvious that Diane wanted you there. Inspector Anderson, you said you were a friend, but her reaction tells me you are more than that."

"Yes. I think we are." She smiled.

"She is going to need you."

"I'll be there for her."

I phoned Bob the next morning to see what was happening. He was pleased.

"Got a result, Andy. Loads of forged Log Books, and Number Plates. He will have a lot of trouble explaining those. We are now following up on sales of cars. I am certain that we are going to find some dodgy ones. Unfortunately we had to let Bowden out on Bail on condition that he goes nowhere near his home which is a scene of crime. I have talked to John and if you go to see Diane today there will be a Plod there. I don't think that Terry will try to get at her, but you never know."

I went to see Diane, taking the chair beside her bed where I would remain as long as she was there. The policewoman relinquished her station in the room and made to leave. I stopped her.

"Julie. Have you had a break at all?"

"No sir." I nodded.

"Ok. Go and get yourself some breakfast. When are you being relieved?"

"It should have been when the relief came on." That would have been shortly after seven this morning. But it was now ten o' clock. Usual cock-up. No one from the early shift had been detailed to come to the hospital.

"After you have had something to eat; get back to the factory and sign off. I'll phone the duty Sergeant and get someone down here. Put in for overtime I'll sanction it. Will four hours cover you?"

"Yes Sir, and thank you, Inspector."

Diane fluctuated between sleep and conscious. Whenever she woke up the first thing she did was look for me, I was there. She smiled as much as her jaw would allow and then slipped away into sleep again. The nurse explained.

"She is in a lot of pain. We are giving her some pain relief which will make her drowsy. If she shows no signs of damage to her spleen then she ought to be discharged within the week, but she can't be discharged if there is no one to look after her."

"What sort of care will she need?"

"She will need bed-rest really."

"No toilet assistance or medication?"

"No. Possibly support to and from, help with bathing but nothing else. Medication should be just pain relief when she needs it." I nodded. If Diane would allow me, I will offer her the care she needed.

Forty eight hours later they took the strapping off Diane's jaw. When they relocated her jaw they strapped it to make sure it didn't dislocate again immediately. She was being careful as it still hurt a lot. I was there when they took the strapping away. The first thing Diane did was exercise her jaw gently then turned to me.

"Kiss me Pug." I bent down and kissed her gently. "You can do better than that." She complained.

"Yes I can." I retorted. "But what sort of a lover would I be if I hurt my lady when I kissed her?" She smiled as much as she could.

"When you kissed my lady all I felt was ecstasy. Are you my lover?"

"Yes. Until you get fed up with me." She shook her head.

"Oh no my darling Pug. I'll not get fed up with you. You are my lover and I am yours." She lifted her head slightly asking for another kiss. I happily gave her that kiss. The nurse entered the room and had a fit.

"Now, now, you two. This isn't the honeymoon suite at the Ritz. Mrs. Bowden! You must rest that jaw."

"I am." Diane replied sweetly. "The kisses are most relaxing." The nurse laughed.

"When my boyfriend kisses me I get anything but relaxed."

"Pug's kisses usually make me think of some very rude things, but he's being kind to me at the moment."

"Pug?" The nurse was astonished. Here we go, I thought. The name will come up again. Diane avoided the issue adroitly.

"Yes. You know like the Bulldog, with the emphasis on the Bull." The nurse left giggling.

Now that she was able to speak, Bob came in with a policewoman to take a statement. I of course was not present and when they left I explained to Diane that they would discharge her later that week, if she had someone to care for her.

"I thought you may let me do that."

"You will care for me?"

"Yes. For the rest of my life, if you'll let me?" Diane's eyes glistened with moisture.

"Yes my darling. And I shall care for you too. Do we get to sleep together?"

"Yes."

"Always?"

"Try and stop me."

"Only when I have come so much I couldn't possibly manage another."

John phoned me at home three days later, I had been dividing my time unequally between home and the hospital with the hospital getting the majority. This became a saving grace for me as their regulations required visitors to sign in and sign out. It was thus that I had an alibi for what happened. A telephone call started it.

"Andy, could you come in and see me."

"Yes. John. When?"

"Now, if you will."

"Ok. I'll be there in thirty minutes."

I was still officially on leave so I didn't dress in uniform. I knocked on John's door and with the invitation to enter went in.

"Andy thanks for getting here so quickly. We will go to one of the interview rooms and I will take a taped statement from you."

"What's this about, John." He shook his head.

"Let me take your statement first then you can ask your questions."

"Am I under caution?"

"No." In the interview room he started the interview. One of our Detective Sergeants was there. Interviews are taped with two tapes recording simultaneously. One for the police and one for the witness.

"Interview with Police Inspector P. Anderson. Police Superintendent J. Atherton present." Then the Detective Sergeant identified himself.

"Also present is Detective Sergeant Gamling." They asked me to relate my movements last night. I had been sitting at Diane's bedside until almost one in the morning.

"Do you know exactly what time you left?"

"Not exactly, it was close to one a.m., but the visitors log will show the exact time I left."

"Visitors log?"

"Yes. I don't know what it is like in the other wards, but in the Intensive Care Unit they log all visitors in and out. The doors are locked after normal visiting hours." John wanted to know if apart from the log anyone else could verify that I was there excluding Diane. There were quite a few of the nurses who I was certain could do that.

John concluded the interview and sat back.

"I know you want to know why I had to do that. Andy, there was an arson attack at Bowden's office last night. Unfortunately Bowden was in it at the time. Whether he was dead before or the fire killed him we don't know. The Pathologist is trying to get an interim report for us quickly. That could be interesting."

"You say arson. Are you certain?"

"The Fire Investigation officer was certain. He could smell the accelerant all over the place. Whoever did it was sloppy, it should have gutted the place."

"What time was this?"

"About eleven forty-five." John told me. Your statement has to be checked obviously, but I am certain the nurses will confirm your statement.

"Are you going to tell Diane?" I asked John.

"No. I thought it may come better from you."

"I am supposed to be on leave with no interest in the case."

"With Bowden dead, there is no case to compromise now, so let's say you are on compassionate leave for the moment."

CHAPTER EIGHT

Diane was much more herself when I arrived at her bedside later that morning. She wanted to talk about what happened.

"Pug. Terry wanted me to sleep with a man who he was trying to do business with. He was angry that I wouldn't. After that I knew I had to leave, the next morning I told Terry I was leaving him and that I wanted a divorce." I decided not to tell her that I was a witness to the previous evening's incident.

"What did he say?"

"He said no one leaves him unless he says so. The next thing I saw his fist coming at me, I turned my head but not quickly enough. It was a terrible blow to my head, I was down on the floor and then he was kicking me."

"Diane, He will never do that again." She smiled.

"I know, Pug. I'm with you now."

"No Diane you don't understand. Terry's dead. He was at his office last night and there was a fire. He didn't make it out." Diane was silently shaking her head.

"No, no. He can't be. I didn't want to stay with him, but I wouldn't wish that on him." She looked distraught. "Is it true? How did it happen?"

"It looks like arson. We don't think Terry did it, but he got caught up." She looked up.

"Does this make a difference to us?"

"No. We are us. I am sorry about Terry, but I was going to take his wife from him anyway. I love her."

"And she loves you. I am sorry about Terry. He was a fool, such a good salesman he could have sold sand to the Arabs, but he couldn't resist the lure of pulling off a dodgy deal, neither could he resist a short skirt."

"Talking of skirts. When you got out of my car at the 'Bird in Hand' my mind was much occupied with pictures of you."

"Oh a flash of stocking does it for you. What pictures did your mind see?"

"Oh you in stockings."

"And?"

"Just the stockings." She smiled.

"I'm pleased. I did it deliberately you know."

"I thought you did, Salome."

"But you did resist."

"Yeah. I was stupid." She put her mouth to my ear and whispered.

"I'll do it for you again, Stockings, high heels and nothing else. Don't resist." I had no doubt about that.

I was still interested in why she had hesitated about divorce.

"Terry had some papers that incriminated my Father in a Tax Fiddle. I don't know how he got them but said that Dad would go to prison for quite some time if the Revenue got to know about it. He also told me that he would ruin my face if ever I tried to leave. He would make sure that no one else would want me."

"So you knew when you told him you were leaving what was likely to happen?"

"I hoped that what he said was merely bravado. Obviously it wasn't." I was glad that Bowden was dead, else I would be doing time for doing to him what he did to Diane. The guy was a complete scumbag. I was humbled by her courage. Knowing what might happen she went ahead anyway.

Terry Bowden was dead before the fire was set. He had no traces of smoke in his lungs, which of course meant he wasn't breathing. The fire had done enough damage to him that determining the cause was problematical, but the Pathologist identified broken bone and cartilage in his neck sufficient to suggest that he had been strangled possibly manually but more likely with a ligature. The case against Terry Bowden was closed and another file opened to investigate his murder. Radic had disappeared from his usual haunts. Bob advanced the theory that our arresting Terry had alarmed Radic who had him killed so that even if he had told us anything about his operation he could not give evidence in Court. The fire was intended to destroy any evidence that could have been there. Whatever the reason all our information was handed over to the Detective Superintendent of the Murder team. I was now back in harness, catching up on paperwork at first then getting out and about with the constables on the beat. I took the opportunity to ask Bob off the record if there were any papers incriminating a Mr. Worrall in a Tax Fraud. He looked at me strangely.

"No, Andy. Nothing like that. Do you know this Mr. Worrall?"

"He's Diane's father." Bob shook his head.

"We didn't come across anything like that. When was this supposed to happen?"