Playing with Trouble
Chapter 2
With this second chapter i wanted to add some brief tension between Sandra and Gerry, Some reminders from the episode Meat is Murder from Series 6
As Gerry and Sandra argued whether to take this case forward without telling Strickland, Gerry suggested on bringing Thomas in for some questioning but she knew it would a bad idea and Strickland would get suspicious, he would go ape if he wasn't told immediately.
"Alls I'm saying is...he could provide a greater detail for what happened on that day. where he was working...Must know more than he's letting on about surely...So think we should be paying this Thomas a visit instead of George' Proving an clever point, hoping she would come round to agreeing for just this once.
"Oh here you go again.. doing what your brain's telling you to do without consulting what my opinion is Gerry" She growled back, but something seemed to be troubling her mind, silence eventually overcame her as she stared sideways at him eyes refusing to be drawn away from his, a tiny hint of something else threatened and ready to implode from within, minutes away from crying. "Please not in front of Gerry, he'll never let go from hugging, telling me it'll be alright and i should have an early night sleep"
"Woken up on wrong side of your bed this morning have you Sandra" Leaving him puzzled by his colleague's strange moody behaviour, as she busily shuffed through her jacket pockets to find the car keys, having forgotten with she last left them.
"Hope I haven't left them on my desk in the office.."
In truth she'd still never managed to have recovered after finding a secret of her father's, Strickland showed some worry and concern for the Detective Superintendant, offering some support which she gently turned down, One night choosing to seek comfort by sitting curled up on sofa in front of her television with a hot cup of coffee and watching her Ashes to Ashes DVD boxset, secretly comparing herself to Alex Drake, still young, single and full of fiestiness. Sometimes wishing it was the 1980's once again and what it felt like to take in the New Romantics scenery in nightclubs.
Even though Gerry proved to be a caring and helpful colleague and friend, sometimes Sandra no matter what still felt an urge to wallop him in the face for being such an annoying pain because on occasions he'd chosen to go against her every word to make himself look good and choosing what steps to take next, so she thought. Chemistry had always blossomed between the pair ever since the UCOS team was formed, however both knew nothing more could develop and that everything they shared together was strictly about work.
"You dropped your keys on the floor... gotta be careful nowadays.. drop something important and there could be any thief hanging around on street corners" Bending down on his knees and picking her keys for her, passing them over to Sandra.
"Yes I do know Gerry, I'm not dumb" acting bored of his serious warning as she turned the keys in the ignition to start, successfully. Driving her car out of the station car park and onto the main road, turning left around a street cone and heading off down the main road.
"I was only saying.." he replied, a huge gulp of nerves formed in his throat as she speeded in the car, clearly not in the right mood for stopping at traffic lights when they turned to red.
"Remember we need to take his full statement down on paper" eyes still concentrating on the road ahead, occasionally glancing sideways to see Gerry's reaction.
"Well lets just hope he doesn't shun us and hopefully decides to offer helping us with our enquiries"
Within fifteen minutes they'd arrived by George Williams' house, in a quiet area of Hammersmith, Sandra's car pulled up outside by a large tree that covered two front gardens near by. Both colleagues climbed out of the seats and stepped onto the pavement, walking up to Williams' house, his garden looked too poshy and fashionable, small pond and large water fountain situated in front of the main living room window.
The open door slowly as they came face to face with the man they'd come to question, he had a wooden large brush and had hoped to clean his garden pathway before heading out to go to Central London for some shopping for the grandchildren.
"George Williams?"
"Yes thats me.. " Replying instantly but looking especially surprised to have two visiitors as no one hardly visited him other than his family.
"Hi my name Detective Superintendant Sandra Pullman... this is Gerry Standing were from the UCOS team.. come to ask you a few questions about the death of Vinny Baxter can we come in?" stepping forward, up a step, displaying her Police ID Badge directly.
George froze on the spot unable to speak, Gerry who'd been standing not far behind Sandra , noticed and thought the man looked incredibly shifty,his awkward body language was a telling sign, hands hidden in his trouser pockets, taking time to answer a simple question.
"Yes come in... I was plannng to go out shopping today should this take long?" finally deciding to answer.
"Well that depends if we think you're telling the truth" Sandra warned acknowledging Gerry's suspicions about George's oddish behaviout.
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Brian finished a phone conversation with Thomas, asking him to come to UCOS for a talk with him and Jack seeing as Sandra and Gerry wouldn't be back for quite a while.
"You sure this is a great idea what if Strickland comes in and recognises Thomas... he won't be pleased" Jack proved a point, worried that they will be receiving a telling off.
"Well lets hope he's preoccupied elsewhere with other work... "
"I don't know Brian he comes in here more than he does with the other police departments" Jack relaxed resting back in his chair, drinking a cup of tea and reading through some filework which Gerry left on his desk to keep himself busy while mid morning dragged on. They waited for Thomas to turn up if he eventually did, it troubled Brian very much as he wouldn't rest until they solved this case, sitting uncomfortably on his chair. Playing solitaire on his computer to pass the time away until a ny sign of a flash bulb alerted him with some good possible ideas.
Brian was always a good player at Solitaire, picking the right cards and dealing them succesfully, happily tapping on every keypad, excitement building his face as he was winning on it by a huge margin, if Thomas wasn't going to show within five minutes he decided on leaving the office and heading off on his bike to vist his old school friend at home. Fingers tapping on wooden surfaces, sound of tap dripping and Jack's chair creaking back would be enough to have him rushing out the door immediately.
He couldn't stay in work till six because Mark was popping round early to see his mum and dad with some important news, a job promotion perhaps and she didn't want her son to presume that his dad was too obsessed with work like he'd always been for so many years.
A knock on the glass door made both Jack and Brian jump with fright, a tall figure looked in and was then ready to leave when Brian realised it was Thomas who looked as if he didn't really want to be in busy working environment.
"Thomas come in...yer daft bugger..I work in here...c'mon" waving his hand to indicate, Thomas obliged walking towards him and ino UCOS' office "Glad you could make it... this is Jack Halford my colleague.." both men shook hands as Thomas in his long dark brown overcoat and baggy blue trousers sat down on Gerry's desk accidentally knocking over a valuable item of Gerry's.
"So have you informed your Detective Superintendant about re-investigating the death of my brother?"
"Yes I did.. took a lot of persuading and she agreed" Brian didn't quite know how to explain, Jack remained silent, trying to write a few notes down from the filework he nearly finished reading .
"I forgot to tell you in the pub, that Vinny had been in trouble with some debt collectors a month or 2 before this all happened, tried to help 'im' but he said he'd handle it 'imself'. Said it wasa all sorted guess he didn't want me worry" Thomas vaguely remembered some two blokes hanging around in a red van outside his parents house on a cold December morning and his brother too scared to take one footstep out of the door.
"Remember mum clipping 'im' over the head when she found out how much trouble he'd gotten 'imself into, told Vinny to get a good decent job, we both went to Job Centre together." Both brothers were warned by their parents that they would be thrown out on to the streets if they hadn't got themselves a highly paid job each.
"Blimey so what happened next did you find yourself a job?" Brian was interested and intrigued by this story he hadn't heard before from Thomas, glasses slipping down on the edge of his nose.
"Of course I did... but Vinny didn't.... had his bags packed ready to leave when mum entered his bedroom and said her brother had a job going on a building site and said Vinny could have it if he wanted it... but then they followed, watchng his every movement like eagles"
"Did you end up phoning the police tell them how bad it got?"
"Vinny said no don't understand why he did...never got round to telling me how much he owed these guys... i could guess he might have owed about 3000 at the most" Thomas stopped speaking holding his hand over his mouth, gasps of tears threatening to break him into pieces.
"Erm...I've..Ive got to leave...." he stuttered, making to stand up only for Brian to place a hand on his shoulder telling him to stay where he was sitting, Sandra would want to hear to this upon her return.
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George's front living room was a very large room, dinner table situated in the middle of the room, LCD Television, family photos everywhere and expensive leather sofa, he sat down making direct eye contact with both detectives as Gerry had his notepad ready.
" Can you tell me about what did on the day that Vinny Baxter was murdered"
"We went to a Chelsea match at Stamford Bridge, I was eager to go, had time off work so i asked Thomas, Vinny's brother if i could have his match ticket cause he refused at first, wanted to keep an eye on Vinny didn't trust him to be left on his own...I offered to Thomas' shifts in work and then he gave me his ticket" George suffered with arthritis within his hands and feet, an explaination as to why he froze on the front door step earlier.
"Did you and Vinny happen to get into an argument about something?" Gerry asked upon looking up.
"No we didn't... I promised Thomas i'd look out for his brother, stay with him all times"
"Well can you explain why you got seperated from Vinny after the match, where do you remember last seeing him" Sandra could tell this man was lying from a mile off, scratching his head as he attemped to remember, stammering a few words.
"Look I didn't kill Vinny if you're thinking that.. I'd never lay a finger on him... Thomas mentioned his brother had troubles with money, went on a shopping spree with his girlfriend , spent over five grand on a new car, clothes and household items.. Thats all he said... " George, fixed his glasses, arms resting flat on armchair, inhaler on table. Clearly he was suffering with health problems and had been for some years.
"Are you saying Thomas may possibly have had a motive to kill Vinny then?... seeing as you keep telling us that you didn't kill him" Gerry sked still looking at Williams' inhaler, maybe they should have bought him in for questioning in UCOS.
"I dunno alright.. Look I've been through this all before with the police over 30 years ago.. they kept pushing me to reveal all about what really happened kept me in cells for 6 days and 6 nights.. Yer know this caused my asthma to start" becoming fed up, with the same questiuons being put to him, revealing why he hates the police.
Maybe this proved to be a waste of time, Strickland would have to be told about this case and then they'd have to wait for him to agree.
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After 1pm Thomas didn't end up waiting sneaking out while Brian's back was turned, leaving him to feel extremely disapointed. Sandra and Gerry also arrived back, still arguing as usual amongst themselves even their colleagues and every person in the building would mostly likely to be able to overhear everythign being said, she stormed off in a huff, slamming her office door behind her.
"Blimey what have you been saying to her now not about her driving this time?"
"Christ almighty I've not said a thing.... she's been like this all day been tryin to bite my head off... actting all argumentative towards me, hard as nails and blaming me for sticking my nose in far too often " Gerry hated being blamed for Sandra's occasional mood swings, one of these days, she might just deck him for going too far with a case.
Jack looked puzzled, eyes observing her through the office glass window, head laying flat on table, sound of crying clear to hear. He decided to investigate, walking over and knocking on Sandra's door while Gerry shouting in the background and Brian placing headphones in his ears to listen to some rock music in order to block out Gerry's loud ranting voice.
"Can i come in.... How have you been coping since you found about Tom..." He sat facing her as she gathered every thought and pondered whether it was too soon to return to work, Obviously Strickland would be popping in anytime soon, maybe that afternoon while they tried to calm down their rows.
"Are you going to be okay for the rest of today cause I am still worried about you as a friend... "
" Thanks for asking I know I will be.. i know i've been pretty better since the weekend.. working in the office here keeps me mind at rest helps me to forget all my troubles" she explained, glad to confide in Jack, at least he knew what pressures felt like especially after working for the police for so long.
"Glad to hear Sandra, we need you back to your best. Arresting suspects and chargin them"
"What on earth is Gerry doing" their conversation was abruptly disrupted by Gerry trying to take Brian's bicycle, explaining he needed quick transport to for later that night.
"For the millionth time You are not lending my bicycle, buy one yourself and before you even ride one get some lessons on how push on the peddles."
"Gerry my office now!!" she shouted his name like a school teacher.
He followed her inside, and closed the door, " god she's gonna punch me in the gob for definite.. oh well probably lining up where she'll hit me"
"What the hell are you playing at, this isn't a school playground, resorting to stealing Brian's bike. this isn't time to be playing games.. we've got a case to solve do you understand me" Banging a hand hard upon her desk, as Gerry's eyes watched on , a huge gulp forming in his throat which also tasted of dryness.
"Alright I'll get on with some work..."
"Thank you Gerry... I suppose I'll have to go up to Strickland's office and explain about this case" she sighed as Gerry left to go and sit back on his chair.
End of chapter
