Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The clock above the door read 23:39, Steve groaned and continued to write slowly on the pad in front of him. The station was almost silent now and he was the only officer left upstairs, the phone next to him rang and he picked it straight up. "Yeah Tim what've you got. Who? did she ask for me by name? She had my licence plate and badge number, I see, put her through" Steve sighed.

"Mrs Taylor" he chirped "nice to speak to you again, it's a little late for you to still be up isn't it?" He paused as the old woman gabbled in his ear "Well it's not an offence to garden at night, no I'm not saying it isn't odd but as far as I know it's not a crime" the old woman squawked again. "I see, well if the noise has stopped now there's little I can do about it". He looked at the pile of paperwork on his desk and thought of dealing with the neighbourhood gossip at this time of night, quickly deciding the paperwork was the lesser of two evils. "I'm sorry I can't leave the station right now" he lied "but give me a few minutes and I'll try and figure something out for you". He smirked as he hung up the phone.

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"I'm not saying helping Steve isn't fun, sometimes" Susan emphasised "but it's the middle of the night, we've both just finished really long shifts and I want nothing more than a long hot bath and to slip into bed" she pouted.

"When we're finished here I'll draw you a bubble bath and hand feed you grapes, I promise" Jesse cooed as they made their way up to the old woman's house. Jesse knocked on the door, "Mr's Taylor" he shouted "it's" he paused and looked at Susan for inspiration but she could only shrug "It's, er we were sent by Detective Sloan" he improvised.

Rose Taylor opened the door, she firmly gripped the top of the bright pink floral dressing gown which was wrapped around her tiny frame. She looked Jesse and Susan up and down then screeched "what did he say you were, auxiliary officers on the investigation or something?" Jesse and Susan nodded weakly in agreement. "All the tax I pay and they can't even send a guy in uniform! Well not much you can do now except go next-door and tell that crazy fool Charlie that it ain't exactly civilised to be pulling up trees at this time of night."

Jesse looked nervously at Susan then turned to Rose "I don't actually see anything at the minute Mrs Taylor, you mean that house there?" he pointed over the fence and the old woman tutted.

"Of course he's not doing it now, had one of those awful coughing fits of his and his wife came out and dragged him inside."

"So there's not really a problem now is there?" Susan observed dryly and the old woman scowled at her.

"Not until he starts again, my dear, no."

"Does he often garden at night?" Jesse asked, not really caring anymore as he sensed the impending argument between himself and Susan.

"Not often, no, I mean very rarely if I'm honest" Rose realised the young couple were losing patients now.

"Has Mr Farrah ever really made a nuisance of himself with night-time gardening before" Susan asked even more shortly now.

"No" Rose conceded "at least not in the last 50 years "she chuckled" sorry to bother you both, goodnight."

"Hold on" Jesse called as she was closing the door. "What do you mean, in the last 50 years?"

The old woman sighed, "when he was a kid he'd often garden around dusk, said it was something to do with getting the plants in without the midday sun on them. Course he got a job and had to garden when ever he could until he retired."

Jesse's shoulders slumped, he was about to wish the old woman goodnight again when she began to mutter.

"Putting plants in at dusk, I can see that. Pulling a tree up in the middle of night makes no sense to me though. Guess he knows best, he planted the thing in the pitch black, must be something to do with the species I guess".

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"This better be good, Jess" Amanda scolded as she stormed into the doctor's lounge "I've got four guys on gurneys down there and they aren't going anywhere without me."

Jesse and Susan giggled between themselves as Steve sat dozing on the couch beside his father.

"I got paperwork with my name on it too, we're all here so let's get started" Steve muttered.

"We went to see Mrs Taylor" Susan began excitedly.

"She was complaining about Charlie next door and his night time gardening" Jesse explained.

"So Jesse says 'he's not making any noise now ma'am'"

"And the old woman tells me of course not, his wife dragged him in cos he was unwell"

Steve motioned for them to speed up their double act.

"We said there's no problem, but she says he's done it before" Susan tried to condense the story.

"We pushed her on it and she says he likes to garden at dusk, good for the plants or something"

"It is" Mark agreed to Steve's disapproval "Charlie's a keen gardener so no reason for him not to"

"Well" Jesse continued "We figure there's nothing to learn and we're about to go and she says, this is different, this isn't dusk, this is pitch black. And she can remember only one time before when he worked in total darkness". Jesse paused before making his final revelation. The gap he left was just long enough for the pieces to click in Marks mind.

"The night he planted those two oak saplings" he grinned, missing the dejected looks on Jesse and Susan's faces. Mark turned to Steve "I should have realised yesterday, Charlie emphasised how he'd grown everything in that garden himself but he couldn't have planted the oaks from scratch, they're far too mature. They must have been reasonable sized saplings if not trees when he put them in".

"Want to know when he planted them?" Jesse asked trying to reclaim his thunder.

"Oh, 1945, 1946 at a wild guess" Steve answered.

Susan nodded as Jesse slumped down into his chair "January 1946, Mr's Taylor remembers thinking it was an odd time to plant trees 'cos there'd been a sudden cold snap".

Steve thought for a while "Anybody want to jump to the same conclusions as me?" he invited.

"Charlie gets out of prison only to find Harriet has seen the light" Mark offered.

"He decides he won't let anybody else have her" Susan suggested but Mark shook his head.

"Given the way he talked about her I'd go for lover's tiff which went too far, I don't see Charlie as a cold blooded murderer."

"Maybe not towards Harriet" Steve pointed out "but Annie would be a different matter, he hated her, blamed he for turning Harriet against him. Annie he could have killed in cold blood."

"But none of that makes sense" Amanda jumped in "Annie and Harriet didn't just disappear, they planned on leaving, Annie resigned here and took a new job in Canada, even called Donald to say when she'd be arriving. And they sold the house through an agent, it's too neat."

"Maybe Charlie got lucky" Jesse suggested "Annie and Harriet were about to leave town which made it easier for him to dispose of them, nobody would come looking for them 'cos they'd already planned on leaving town."

Steve sighed "Or Maybe Charlie never did anything more than steal five bucks from the neighbours purse when he was a kid. Maybe Annie decided she couldn't face Donald in Canada, the pressure he was putting on her to have a child. Harriet had planned on getting out of town to start a new life and at the last minute Annie decided to join her. For all we know they're sitting in Florida with their grandkids on their knees, and Charlie planted the oaks a testament to the great lost love of his life. That could be why he planted them at night, he was drunk or crazy with the loss, gardening is how he expresses himself" he suggested wryly.

"And our baby?" Amanda asked softly. Steve shrugged, realising that despite all the information and speculation, they were no further forward.

"I don't know, I got so much other stuff on at the minute, this seems too messy, too old for goodness sake. What would you do now?" he asked Jesse and Susan.

Jesse straightened in his chair, surprised and flattered by the invitation "Me? I'd go for the trees. I mean if there's nothing there fair enough but you've got to wonder, right?" Susan nodded in agreement.

"But Jess we can't go pulling the guys garden up with no warrant, and we've got no evidence to get one. Like I told Mrs Taylor, gardening in the night isn't a crime."

"But he want's it pulled up" Susan reasoned "and he's an old man, he's in no fit state to be doing that digging."

"I don't want you doing your good citizen routine and offering to do it for him" Steve warned before rubbing a finger across his chin. "But it's not a bad idea. You busy?" he asked Mark

"I'm off at noon."

"Meet me at the station?"

"OK, what is it?" he asked,

"Ah, just an idea, thanks guys, I'll see you later".