NEW TRICKS:

THE CHOO-CHOO CHOKE:

Chapter 1

Sandra sighed. She was late, something she knew she could have prevented but didn't. She tried to quietly make it to the UCOS office and avoid the eye of Strickland, and to her relief she made it. Pushing the door open, Sandra saw Gerry at his desk looking worse for wear while Steve was reading the paper and Brian was occupied by a ship in a bottle. It was just another day in the office for Sandra. She took a deep breath and just smiled at everyone.
"Morning!" she said brightly, which was met with half-hearted responses from her colleagues. Gerry's was a cough, Steve's a shrug and Brian's a grumble. Sandra half expected as much but still wasn't pleased as she headed into her office. Things weren't helped a couple of minutes later by the sudden arrival of Strickland with a file in his hand, presumably one of a new case for UCOS. He swiftly left soon after handing the file to Gerry.
"Guvnor," Gerry then called. "We've got a file. Brian's gonna put it on the board."
"Fine," sighed Sandra as she stood at the door of her office. "Go ahead then."
"Patience Sandra," cooled Brian. "I'm just putting it together." he continued as Steve picked up the cover sheet of the file. He looked at it somewhat puzzled.
"Vintage railway?" he said. "Are we CSI Victorian era now or something? Standing, Lane, McAndrew and the plucky Pullman at their side?!"
"Feels like it at times," smiled Gerry. Brian smiled too. Sandra though wasn't.
"Vintage railway?" she asked to get back to the point.
"Hmm," began Brian. "Precisely that of the murder of a Jasper Monif – a 20-year-old found on the rails of the Oak Vintage Line in the early morning of September 19, 2001. Jasper worked at the line as a general line manager during the summer months when he wasn't studying at university for his degree in business management. He was found face down on the line by Emily Norwich. She was and still is the tea shop lady at the station and she found him as she walked into work that day." he continued as he pinned a picture up on the board.
"Cause of death?" quizzed Steve.
"Unsure," came Brian's answer. "The pathologist seemed to think it was strangulation although they pointed out that the marks found on his neck were not of a sufficient enough impression to cause death."
"So, he was strangled, but not strangled?" observed Sandra. "How does that work? Did he have other injuries?" she then asked. Brian reeled off a list of minor injuries including bruises and cuts across his body, but there was nothing significant that could have led to the death.
"Any suspects?" Gerry then asked as he looked over the crime scene photos. "Anything unusual other than being face down on the rail tracks of a vintage line?"
"Jasper's colleague and friend Colin Maklov was arrested on suspicion of the murder but the police in charge made a cock-up and contaminated a DNA sample. Maklov's sample crossed with those found on Jasper and they added the two together and got –"
"A mess," summed up Steve. "I take it that it wasn't Maklov then?" Brian nodded no. Steve then looked at the picture of Jasper's body on the line. Something about it was strange to him, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. "Does no-one else see something odd about this all?" he asked to the others. Sandra moved in closer to the board and looked at the image.
"The body looks more posed than anything," she said. "He didn't fall out of a carriage or anything did he?" Again Brian nodded no.
"Don't you think he looks a bit too…clean? You know, for a body on the line?" Steve then suggested. Gerry nodded in agreement.
"There's something odd about it," he agreed.
"But to be honest without any real lead, what can we do with this? Why have we got it anyway?" Sandra asked.
"Jasper's only living relative is dying," said Brian as he held one of the report's pages to the others. "Corrine, his aunt, she's got cancer, ovarian. She wants to know."
"Still doesn't explain how we got it though, however sad it is." said Sandra. She was about to look over the papers more closely when Strickland re-entered the UCOS office.
"Corrine's an associate with some of my family, Sandra" he answered to Pullman. "It's as simple as that, but what do we think about it, the case?"
"It's a bit…lacking…" said Gerry. "No hook to it."
"Find one then," came Strickland's stern response. "You've got nothing else lined up and were not having taxpayers pay their money so Gerry can recover from hangovers, Steve to read the Racing Post and Brian to do lord knows what. It's your case now, so there you go."
"Oh, but sir," protested Sandra. "A police cock-up in the DNA and a confused autopsy finding…is this really the kind of thing we look into?"
"It's exactly what UCOS does, so do it, Pullman." Strickland answered in his commanding tone and swiftly left. As the door then swung shut, Sandra picked up some of the cases key papers, handed some to Gerry and Steve and then got her coat.
"You heard him, get on with it then." she said.
"And what about you?" asked Steve as he got out his glasses.
"I'm going to the railway. Brian, you're coming too. I'm sure you'll like it. Just don't give me a lecture on vintage railways, that's all."
"I can't promise." said Brian as he ruffled his hair nervously. "Trains are wonderful things, you can't deny that. Some of the world's most famous things are trains…the Flying Scotsman! The Mallard!"
"And Thomas the flipping Tank Engine," sighed Sandra. "Get your coat, Brian." she then commanded as she headed off. Brian followed while Steve and Gerry began to look into things…

Sandra's car pulled up into the car park at the Oak Vintage Line. Leaves were strewn all around the area even though it wasn't autumn. The place looked quaint and lovely and Brian just looked in awe of it all. Sandra just treated it at nothing but a possible place of solving the case.
"Does Maklov still work here?" she asked to Brian who had with him some notes on the case. He fumbled through the notes.
"Er, everyone who was here on that day but a Felicity Wright are still here. Felicity went off to work in Brighton according to these within a year of Monif's death."
"Let's chat with Maklov then," suggested Sandra as she locked up the car and the pair proceeded towards the vintage line's station and waiting area.

After being directed by the station receptionist to where Colin was, Sandra and Brian slowly walked towards him. He hadn't clocked them but it was clear to them that he wasn't someone who took too much pride in their appearance, he looked quite shabby for an official worker.
"Colin Maklov?" Sandra then asked as she flashed her police ID to Colin. He turned round.
"Yeah, what?" he asked.
"I'm Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman from the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad, this is my colleague Brian Lane and were re-looking into the death of your former colleague Jasper Monif."
"Oh, piss off!" scolded Colin. "That old can of worms? Really? It was your lot that thought it was me that killed him and then they were the ones to have ballsed it all up. Just piss off you pair. I'm not having that brought up again."
"With all due respect Mr Maklov, it is still an unsolved case and bearing in mind the previous problems, we are looking to make amends for it all," Sandra then pointed out as she tried to keep Colin as calm as she could. It was clear that he was already riled with even the faintest mention of the case. Colin just sighed and looked away from Sandra and Brian for a moment before he then faced them again.
"What do you want to know exactly?" he asked. "I can take an early break if necessary…"
"Whatever is needed Mr Maklov," said Brian. "We do appreciate your co-operation." he added as Colin then began to lead them away to a seating area.

"Steve?" asked Gerry back at the office. "Don't you think it's a bit suspicious that the pathologist marked strangulation as the cause of death but made very firm notes saying there was a high uncertainty about it?"
"It is strange," admitted Steve who was rifling through the case files. "But you do have to trust the professionals. Although we are here to question those kind of things I suppose. What was the pathologists name again?"
"Kerry Croft…"
"She sounds nice," smiled Steve.
"I don't think he'd be too pleased with that." corrected Gerry with a big grin on his face. Steve's smile vanished in an instant. "Although, he may find your appreciation quite flattering." he added with a giggle at the end. Steve felt somewhat embarrassed and just pulled a silly face at Gerry.
"Oh, you just get on with what you need to do! Man or otherwise, we need a chat with Kerry and I can't think of anything better than that right now, so I'm off! Geronimo Gerry!" he said as he dumped the papers on his desk and headed out of the office. Gerry was still smiling at the Kerry situation but knew Strickland would soon be down to check on progress and some had to be made…

"Right," began Colin as Sandra and Brian sat opposite him. "Me and Jasper were mates, best mates. We'd known each other since secondary school – I came here when we left school, he went university. I was the one that got him the summer job here, I put in a good word for him."
"Sorry to interrupt, but if Jasper was at university, why was he found dead in late September?" interjected Brian. "Wouldn't he have been at uni?"
"It was a Wednesday when they found him, but his Tuesday's were pretty much free. He came in on the bus on those days. When he worked in the summer we came in my car, we did share a flat together." replied Colin.
"You lived together?" said Sandra perplexed. She looked to Brian. "It never said that in the notes, did it?" Brian shook his head.
"We just lived together, that was it. Flat-mates, that's all." Colin reiterated.
"So where were you then the night before Jasper was found?" Sandra then quizzed as she turned into her police interrogation tone of voice. Colin fell silent and rubs his hands nervously.
"It's over ten years ago, do you really expect me to remember?" he then asked.
"I'm sure you'd remember the hours in and around the time when your friend and flatmate was found dead at the rail station where you worked. I know I would…" said Brian.
"Me too," agreed Sandra. Colin was just silent. "An answer would be appreciated."
"I honestly don't know, isn't it in my statement from the time?" said Colin. Sandra nodded yes. "Then why do I need to say again?"
"We need to check over everything," answered Brian. "Railways like these runs like clockwork with every piece coming together as one. Our case is exactly the same, so many little pieces are needed to come together to make it all work. Your alibi Colin is one piece that we need. You were the suspect, wrongly identified we know, but we still have to investigate every possibility."
"I was home." Colin then came out with all of a sudden. "I had a night in, Jasper went out. I didn't see him until the next morning when he was, well you know, dead." Sandra could see Colin was beginning to get a bit agitated again and left the questioning there. She and Brian soon left Maklov to get back to work but neither were overly convinced by his statement.
"Pretty standard response." Sandra stated to Brian. "But I do sort of believe him. He was wrongly implicated over ten years ago and now we've dragged it up again."
"Doesn't mean a thing, Sandra." said Brian.
"How so?"
"You can't take everything at face value. I'm not saying you are, but we have got to be open-minded in this all. I just can't believe the police messed up as much as they did." Brian answered.
"So you think he's double bluffing us?" Sandra asked. Brian shrugged his shoulders and headed to Sandra's car. "Oh, thanks for that!" said Sandra. "I thought you were going to say something useful there, but no this is Brian Lane of course. The vital bits don't come till much later. God knows how Esther copes…" she added as she walked to her car in a huff. It hadn't been the best of days for her at all…