Part 13
"So, Mr Harris can you please just talk me through the events prior to my arrival outside?" Gail asked the older gentleman as she watched him sit down beside his wife in their living room. Gail had quickly separated the two men outside on the lawn and told the younger man, a Mr Evan Fallows, to return to his own home with Price and give her his statement before anything else could be done.
"Please, call me Richard." The man said with a smile as his wife looked on with a worried expression.
"So?" Gail encouraged as her eyes took in the room. There were plenty of family photos taking up the shelves and sideboards. There was even a few trophies taking pride of place on the mantle.
"Well that's just the thing, I don't really know." Richard explained with a shake of his head.
Gail held back a sigh and eyed the man, sending the wife a smile as she watched the pair talk. "Just start from the beginning, he mentioned his daughter…" She wasn't supposed to lead the conversation but if the guy kept this up she wasn't finishing her shift on time, she'd be stuck here still trying to get the full story.
"Ah, yeah, Tommy was out helping me and she came over." He told her.
"Tommy?"
The wife spoke up this time as she put her hand on her husband's thigh. "Tommy Reed, he lives two doors down." Gail noted the direction the woman pointed. "He's almost finished high school, but he's a good boy, helps Richard with the bringing the shopping in from the car, clearing the drive way. Just little odd jobs around the place."
"I broke my hip you see." Richard picked up the conversation with a nod of agreement to his wife's speech. "Reminds me of Ricky he does, plays receiver too!" He said with a wide grin.
Gail sucked her bottom lip as she noted some of this down. "That Ricky?" She asked, pointing to a picture a Richard looking a few years younger surrounded by three young men all in football shirts looking like they'd just spent time rolling around in the mud.
The wife stood up, Margret. "Oh yes," She said going over to the picture and picking it up. She smiled fondly down at the image before stepping over to show Gail. "That's Ricky, I supposed he does look a bit like Tommy now that I see it, and that's Kyle and Matthew as well." She said pointing out the other faces in the picture.
"Your son's?"
"Yes." Margret said before replacing the photo and returning to sit beside her husband. "I called Matt and he's terribly worried, he said he'd be here as quickly as he could."
Gail paused her note taking, then looked over at the wife, she did look worried herself. Gail looked back at Richard with a smile. "So Tommy?"
"Yes! He must have finished early, well anyway, he was just there as I got out of the car. Offered to take up the groceries for me, like he does, and there she was! Standing across the street!"
"She?" Gail said as he paused.
"Hm, that's right." Richard looked over to the window and pointed. "Over there."
"And then what happened?" Gail asked.
"Well Tommy came back and I slipped him a couple bucks, like I do, and he took off home." He explained. "Then she came over and I said 'hello'."
"And did she say anything to you at this point?" Gail enquired.
"No, no she didn't say a word." He said shaking his head back and forth. "I put my finger on her nose and she laughed." He said smiling himself. "Then I offered her one of my candies," He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a few hard boiled sweets. "She took only one and then she took off." He explained lifting his hand up to offer Gail a candy.
Gail shook her head and declined, and they were returned to the safety of his pocket.
"And then what happened?"
Richard sat back on his couch and palmed his chest. "Well that's the thing. I came back inside and started to help Margret put everything away when there's all this shouting coming from outside." He told Gail. "There she was again with her mom and dad and you saw him, he was shouting all about the place."
"Hm." Margret nodded. "I came out to the door as Richard went down there." She pointed to the end of the driveway. "The woman took the girl away, I think she started crying with all the shouting going on. That man pushed my husband and that's when I called Matt." She then looked to Richard. "And he should be here soon." Then she looked back to Gail. "My husband is recovering from surgery and that man was going to hit him!" She gave Gail a stern look. "You are going to do something about him aren't you, he can't go around here threatening everyone."
"I will be speaking with him as soon as I finish here, don't worry." Gail assured her.
"It was just a candy!" Richard picked up again. "But he was so angry, I apologised but I was just saying hello."
Gail looked back at her notes from the start of this call out. "And do you know the family, the Fallows? Have you had any problems with them before, or anyone in the neighbourhood?"
"No." Richard replied.
"We've lived here near on forty years now and never a bit of trouble, not ever." Margret said. "Never met those people before but they moved into the Murray place at the weekend, I saw the wife with the movers on Saturday, I'm sure it was her."
"Okay, and is that when we arrived, as Mr Fallows pushed you?" Gail asked, remembering she had seen that but wondering if anything else had taken place before her arrival.
"Yes, it was." Richard replied.
Gail took down a few more notes into her book and as she was finishing up the house phone began to ring. She watched Margret rush off to answer it in the kitchen and she could just make out the name Kyle.
She wondered if all three sons were about to turn up at the scene any minute.
"Well I think I have everything for now." She told Richard as he stood to follow her to the door. "I'm going to speak with the other gentleman and then I'll come back and let you know what's going to happen okay?"
Richard shook his head as he stepped out with her. "It was just a candy."
Gail put her hand on his arm. "You just go back inside and let me try and sort this out, okay?" She waited as he shuffled back inside.
With a sigh Gail headed down to her squad car wondering how Chloe was getting on with the hothead. She could connect the dots in her head easy enough, new house, kid disappears and when you do notice her again she has candy a man gave her. Gail could understand the panic and the worry a parent might go through but to charge around and come close to beating an old man up? Your mind telling you what could have happened, what he might have done to your child.
Gail could understand all that. But it was her job to gather the facts and then proceed. And so far the facts weren't showing Mr Fallows in a great light.
Gail keyed her radio to dispatch. "This is 15-31 do we have an address for the call on the disturbance at this 20?" She waited and got the name and address that had been given by the caller. Gail thanked them for the information and requested detectives to the scene.
Gail eyed the houses and spotted the one she was after. She place a bet with herself as she started heading for it, that she was about to meet young Tommy and his parents.
It would at least give her a better picture of the Harris family.
xxxxxx
"This is a bust right?" Chloe asked as she stuck her hands into her thickly lined jacket pockets and joined Gail to rest against the side of their squad car. They were waiting on the arrival of the detectives to hand the case off to. With a young child involved it was prudent to follow protocol and let the final decision on the situation go to more experienced hands.
Gail eyed the car that had pulled into the Harris driveway not ten minutes ago and released a breath into the cold air. "I think the minute we leave those two 'boys' are going to pay Mr Fallows a visit for calling their dad a paedophile, and we'd just end up right back here arresting all of them."
Chloe's eyes widened and she shot Gail a look. "You're serious?"
Gail nodded. The wife had understood even if Richard was a bit slow on the uptake.
"Oh, yeah." Gail replied shifting against the car as she eyed the sky wondering if it was going to snow soon. "He's got three son's all big football stars and there's no way they're going to let this go, not from what the neighbour said. Harris and his kids are like superstars around here, got the trophies to show for it too. He may be getting old now but the families around here all still love him and help out when they can."
"So the new neighbours aren't going to be very welcome around here then?" Chloe asked. From her interview Evan and his wife had calmed down and even admitted that they might have jumped to conclusions. But it was their only child so Mr Fallows wasn't completely apologetic about his actions.
"Depends…" Gail saw a car approach and clocked that it was an unmarked police car. She and Chloe stood and wandered over as it pulled up just past their squad.
Gail recognised the female detectives from lecturing on victim recognition while she'd been at the academy. "Detectives." She greeted the pair as they got out to stand beside them.
"So what are we all the way out here for?" The guy asked. He was heavier than Oliver and Gail wondered if he spent too much time behind his desk. She watched him frown as he spotted her name tag and had to wonder how exactly she was viewed by people that only knew the name.
Gail gave Chloe a nod and listened as the rookie gave the two detectives a run down on the situation and their own impressions of the circumstances surrounding the call-out.
The guy snorted as Chloe finished. "Explains why you're still a uni." He muttered under his breath at Gail, clearly unimpressed by her silence. "Well you two run along and let the Detectives do the real work."
Gail narrowed her eyes at the guy's back as he wandered off up the Harris driveway.
"Sorry about that, I think his third wife just left him." The female detective said in an attempt to explain her partner's comments to Gail.
Gail twitched her eyebrows and dismissed it with a roll of her eyes. She was used to a lot worse being said to her, most of it from her own mother. "Just pay attention to the sons, I'm not sure they'll be too happy if you go hard on the dad."
"Noted." The dark haired detective smiled at Gail and Chloe then wandered off after her partner.
Chloe kept her mouth shut as they got into the squad and Gail drove them back the way they'd came over an hour ago.
"This is 15-31, we're 10-8." Gail called into the car radio.
"Copy that, available for a 10-58 at the corner of Glenmoore and Huntly?"
Gail took her finger off and groaned before pushing down again and accepting the call. "On route."
Chloe watched as a flake of white fluff fell onto the windscreen in front of her. She then watched as it was followed by another and another.
"It's snowing." She said aloud with a grin as she eyed the sky.
Gail scowled at her partner. She could see that for herself thank you. "Yeah, and we're about to spend the rest of our shift directing traffic." She muttered. "We're going to freeze our asses off."
The grin fell and Chloe sat back into her seat. "Oh, yeah. Damn."
Gail almost smiled as she wondered if that was the most intelligent comment she'd heard from Chloe all shift.
xxxxxx
Gail grinned as her cell buzzed as she sat at her desk filling out her day's paperwork. Holly had been sending her text messages throughout her shift and by now Gail was questioning how a thirty year old could be lead astray as easily as Holly seemed to.
I miss you
Gail's heart clenched in her chest as she read that. There wasn't many people in Gail's life that would ever say that to her. If she used one hand she'd have fingers to spare.
Gail eyed the wall clock at the other end of the room, she still had close to another hour to go before she could leave. Damn she wanted this shift to be over.
She tapped out a reply and sent it on its way. She had no idea where Holly and Elizabeth were or what condition she'd find the pair in but she couldn't wait to get out there and go find them.
It hadn't been a hard shift she was just anxious to be out of her uniform and out of 15.
Plus she really wanted to see just how drunk Holly was. She'd never really seen the older woman drunk when she wasn't partly responsible for supplying the alcohol and as equally under the influence.
So far, in the space of less than twenty-four hours Elizabeth had got Holly to take time off work and by the text messages, drain a bar dry.
"Officer Peck."
Gail stood from her seat and turned to see the detective from the call earlier approach her station.
"Hi." Gail said as the woman paused in front of her.
"It's Emily Wilson." The woman said holding out her hand for Gail.
Gail shook the hand and nodded, she couldn't remember ever hearing the first name but she had recalled the detective's second name. "Gail."
"Well you were right, both sons were about ready to go hunt down Mr Fallows when I entered the house." Emily said with a wry grin. "Luckily Mr Fallows actually turned up while we were still there and offered his apology to the family for the misunderstanding."
Which was the least he could do after the scene he'd caused.
"I spoke with the daughter and we're happy that there was nothing to the allegations which both parties agreed with, so I guess we can all sign off on this one." She finished with a grin.
"Good." Gail answered. She was happy to hear it, as serious as those claims have to be taken, and rightly so, Gail never wanted to be caught up in one if she could help it. The abuse of children was tough to disassociate from at the end of a shift. That kind of horror stayed with you, like Holly's suicide case. Senseless and no matter how you tried to put your own emotions and feeling aside it just wasn't always possible.
Emily glanced around, seeing more than one set of curious eyes flick her way. "Well I just wanted to stop by and let you know." She watched the blonde nod. "And to apologise for my partner. He's a little off-putting but he's been doing this a long time and I guess you can't teach old dog's to be polite or at the very least know when to keep their mouth shut."
Gail shrugged, comments like his annoyed her but she was used to them. Not so much from the people she worked with now, but when officers from other divisions were around and caught sight of her name, there was always comments and looks.
Emily grinned and leaned closer to Gail. "He also doesn't much like your mother." She added in a whisper.
Gail snorted. "Who does?"
Emily grinned holding in a laugh. "Anyway, I need to get to my own mountain of paperwork."
"Bye." Gail said as the dark haired detective wandered off to wherever it was the detectives in 15 hid out.
As she took her seat Gail could feel eyes on her. She turned her head and spotted Nick watching her. She frowned at him but turned back to her desk before she could snap a biting comment off in his direction. The last thing she wanted was to get stuck having to respond to anything he wanted to say to her. Whatever he was thinking he could think it to himself.
As she picked up her pen again she spotted the flashing red light on her cell phone blinking away on her desk.
She dropped the pen and picked up her phone.
Your the best imagend girlfrnd eva! Luv uuuuuu!
It was official.
Her girlfriend was now over the legal limit required for safe cell phone usage.
Gail grinned because apart from the text message she also had a voice mail waiting for her.