CID had been called out to a shout in one of the old warehouses. The night watchman from one of the neighbouring buildings had seen a couple of vans parked up, and knowing that the warehouse had been locked up since the receiver had been called in the week before, he had called the police.
Over the past few weeks there had been a number of instances where premises belonging to owners who had been declared bankrupt had been broken into and Gene was hopeful that this evening they would arrive in time to catch the perpetrators.
"Right, I'm going round the back, Ray, you and Chris take the front door, Sam wait by the vans in case we miss them." Gene ordered his team into position.
Sam hid behind some cast off iron work, close enough to intercept anyone planning on making a getaway. Nothing happened for about ten minutes and he was beginning to wonder whether it was a false alarm when he heard a number of voices shouting and he thought he could make out Gene yelling at someone to stand still. Looking up he could see the outline of his DCI through the broken warehouse window and he watched in horror as Gene's body suddenly disappeared from view to the accompaniment of a loud splintering noise.
Abandoning his post he sprinted towards the building. Two men came rushing out of a side door but he ignored them and hurtled through the doorway and tried to work out where Gene must have fallen. Guided by the sound of groans and curses he rounded a corner to find the Guv sitting by the remains of a staircase holding his head and a lad of about twenty lying on the floor with his leg at a very unnatural angle. Ray had hold of an older man and Chris was alternating between trying to help the lad and assisting Gene and being of no use to either.
"Chris, go and phone for an ambulance," Sam snapped.
Chris wavered, "But what if he tries to run off, Boss?"
"He's not going to be running anywhere at the moment. Go!"
Chris left, a trifle reluctantly, and Sam turned his attention to Gene. "What happened? You okay?"
"Dunno, and dunno," was the reply. "My head hurts."
"Ray, did you see what happened?" Sam was starting to be worried – this was not the response he had come to expect from his superior officer. Normally he would have been shouted at for failing to stop the two he had met leaving the building and who by now would have presumably disappeared.
"No, we didn't get here until afterwards. When we made it the Guv was sorta sitting on the lad and this one was pulling him off."
'Typical,' Sam thought, 'the Guv found himself a soft landing.'
Ray's prisoner muttered something.
"Speak up," Ray jabbed him in the ribs.
"We was trying to get away and Phil thought the stairs would be the best way. That bloke," he pointed at Gene "told him to stand still, 'cos you could see that some of them were rotten, but Phil was afraid and he kept going. Then the whole thing collapsed and they fell down together. I was trying to get your bloke off of Phil when I'm grabbed from behind. I weren't trying to hurt him, just help Phil."
At that moment Chris returned and they could hear the wail of a siren as the ambulance rapidly approached. In a couple more minutes the ambulance crew had arrived and Phil was carried off on a stretcher. Meanwhile, uniform had arrived and his mate was escorted away.
Sam turned his attention to Gene, who had remained seated, leaning on the fallen banisters. "We need to get you to hospital too, you may have concussion."
"Not going, just need a drink." He got to his feet and began to walk towards the door.
Sam watched him critically, but he seemed steady enough and Sam was only too aware that getting Gene to do something he didn't want to do was difficult enough at the best of times. He decided just to keep an eye on him. After all, the Guv's skull was probably as thick as the rest of his hide.
The four of them walked out to the Cortina. Sam braced himself, ready to insist that Gene wasn't in a fit condition to drive and was contemplating snatching the keys out of his hands, when Gene quietly passed them to Ray and climbed into the passenger seat.
Ray drove Gene home and Sam spoke to the Missus to make sure she'd keep an eye on him. The Hunts were living together purely as a matter of convenience now, but Mrs Hunt assured Sam that an unconscious Gene would be more trouble than he was worth and she would get him to hospital if necessary.
000 --- 000
When Sam arrived at the station the following morning Phyllis told him that Gene had reported his car stolen. Clearly Mrs Hunt hadn't thought it necessary to explain the events of the previous evening.
Sam found Gene in his office. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Better now I know my car's not been nicked."
"What do you remember from yesterday?"
Gene thought for a minute, "Cartwright wearing that pink jumper, you know, the one that shows off her ..."
"Yeah, that was yesterday morning. Anything after that?"
A slow smile crept across Gene's face. "Oh yes. Lunch time – we never made it to the canteen."
Sam blushed, "And after that?"
"Cups of tea, paperwork," Gene hesitated, "there was something important. Just can't quite place it. Why do I feel as if I've gone three rounds with George Foreman? And who said Ray could drive my car?"
Right on cue Ray put his head through the doorway. "Do you want to come and interview the bloke we caught yesterday, Guv?"
Since there was no response he added, "You remember him, don't you?"
"Clearly Sergeant, if I remembered him I would be interviewing him already. Especially if he was the one who hit me round the head. And who said you could drive my car?"
Ray took one look at Gene's face and opted for the easy solution, "D I Tyler" he said and disappeared rapidly.
A growl came from between Gene's lips. "If I didn't feel as stiff as I do and if I didn't think that throwing you all around my office would make me ache even more, I would show you exactly what I think of that."
"I think perhaps we should go out for a bit," Sam thought to distract the Guv. He wasn't entirely convinced that the bruises would be sufficient to dissuade Gene from battering him if he thought any further about Ray driving his beloved car.
Fortunately for Sam, Gene agreed to going out. At Sam's suggestion they drove (Gene at the wheel of course) back to the warehouse. They parked behind the green van and got out of the car.
"I think I remember this now" Gene said, "Only there were two vans." He thought for a minute. "That's right. I told you to wait in case anyone avoided us. So why is there only one van Inspector?"
Sam swallowed, "I think you'd better go inside."
He led the way, with Gene following, muttering something about 'avoiding the question' and 'better have a very good excuse.' Once inside they made their way through the building to where the staircase had collapsed.
Gene looked around and groaned. "It's all coming back now. I'd gone partway up the stairs to get a better view, when all of a sudden this lad comes running up them towards me. Next thing I know I'm sitting on the ground with a massive headache and I've not even consumed the scotch to justify it. So what happened to the bastards we were after?"
"Ray's interviewing one. The lad's in hospital with a badly broken leg..."
"And the rest?"
"I'm sorry. I saw you fall and I just ..."
"Hmph. Oh well, we should be able to find out who they are and we'll pick them up later."
They left the building and walked back to the Cortina.
"You still haven't told me why you let Carling drive my car."