The Wood Beyond

iv

As Fate nudged Peter Pascoe ever deeper into his familial past, Edgar Wield was giving the myopic old goddess a hearty shove back.

'Sorry, mate,' he said to the man he'd just contrived to collide with outside a William Hill's betting shop. 'Hey, it's Jimmy Howard, isn't it? Hardly recognized you out of uniform. Mind you, I didn't recognize you in your new uniform yesterday, not till Mr Dalziel said who you were.'

He accompanied his words with an effort to rearrange his features into an expression of pleased surprise, though conscious that the effect was probably as disconcerting as one of the heads on Mount Rushmore sneezing.

'What do you want?' responded Howard making no reciprocal effort to feign pleasure. He had after all been a policeman as well as a gambler and knew all the odds against such chance encounters.

Wield was quite pleased to drop the pretence, moving readily from old-mate to ancient-mariner mode as he fixed the other with a glittering eye and said, 'I were just thinking, Jimmy. Bit out of the way, Wanwood House. Awkward to get to on nights, unless you've got a car.'

He saw at once he'd hit the mark. Howard had got out of the Force ahead of his conviction for over-the-limit driving, but that hadn't stopped him getting a year's suspension which would be up at the end of the month. According to the roster in Patten's office, Howard had been doing a week on, week off night duty since September. Last bus to get anywhere near Wanwood ran at seven o'clock. First of the day wasn't till 9.30. Was Howard the kind of twit who, faced with this problem, would think, sod it! and risk driving himself there? Everything Wield could dig up about him suggested he was, and now the man's expression gave confirmation.

'Give you a lift anywhere, Jimmy?' said Wield. 'You'll be pleased when you get your licence back, I bet. Lose it again, and it could be forever.'

'No thanks, sarge,' said Howard. 'I'm just popping in here.'

He tried to push by into the betting shop but Wield's arm was in the way.

'Always give the first race a miss,' he said confidently. 'If you win, you just plough it back, and if you lose, well, it wasn't worth it anyway. I'll buy you a cuppa instead.'

He steered the man irresistibly round the corner into a small café which time and the Public Health Inspectorate had passed by. Wield, looking at the verdigrised spoon with which he was expected to stir his tea, wished he'd followed their example.

He said, 'There is something you could help me with, Jimmy.'

The man looked simultaneously uneasy and relieved that they were getting down to the nub of this 'accidental' meeting at last.

'It's that report you did about what happened when those animal rights women got loose in Wanwood,' said Wield, and noted with interest that relief now dominated.

'I wrote everything down,' said Howard.

'Yeah, and very good it looks. Whatever else you've forgotten about being a cop, Jimmy, you've not forgotten how to write a report.'

'So what's the problem?'

'If Dr Batty goes for a prosecution, he's going to need more than trespass. You know how difficult that one is, even with the new laws. He'll need damage, and a bit of assault wouldn't come amiss either. So a bit more detail, just to make things look good. '

He waited with interest to see how this invitation to embroider would be taken. Howard visibly relaxed, as if feeling more at home, and said, 'You mean you'd like a bit more verbals, sarge? No problem. We'd got 'em all inside and really, they looked so wet and miserable, and a bit scared too, we didn't anticipate any problem, when suddenly that boss woman, the one with the chest, she yells, "OK, ladies, let's go for it!", something like that, punches Nev who's holding her with them wire cutters she had, and takes off like a scalded cat. Next minute they're all lashing out like rugby internationals and taking off in all directions. I went after the skinny one

'Wendy Walker,' said Wield. 'What about Marvell, the one who started it?'

'Long gone, but Walker followed after her, don't know if it were accidental or what, and she'd got close to the lab area when we caught her up.'

'So what slowed her down?'

'Des Patten, that's what. He'd stayed back in the control room when we fetched them in. But hearing all the commotion, he'd come out to take a look, and he found Marvell. Might have wished he hadn't if we hadn't arrived. That Marvell woman looked all set to take a swing at him with them cutters, and by God, with her build I'd rather she hit me once than twice!'

'But you came to the rescue.'

'Sort of. In fact it were that skinny lass who grabbed her first, then I pitched in.'

'And Patten?'

'Just stood there looking. Takes a lot to faze Des. And when the big lass quietened down, he reached out and took the cutters. Then we went off to that room we locked them up in. No more trouble after that, but if you'd like a bit more colour, just show me where.'

'Need to square it with Des though,' said Wield. 'I mean, I don't want the two of you saying different.'

'No problem with Des,' said Howard confidently. 'He knows how things work.'

'I'd have guessed that. Known him long?'

'I'd seen him around. At the track. He likes a bet too.'

'Was it him who got you the job then?'

'Not really. It were Rosso who said they were expanding and looking for experienced men. .'

'Rosso?'

'Les Rosthwaite, Captain Sanderson's batman who came out with him.'

'Out of the army? Same mob as Patten?'

It was beginning to fall into place. Wield had checked the TecSec company registration and found the names of the directors given as Simon Sanderson and Desmond Patten. He recalled the photo in Patten's office. The smartly suited chap in the middle he guessed as Sanderson, which meant the small chap with the baby curls was Rosthwaite.

'That's right. Yorkshire Fusiliers.'

'And this Rosso is a friend of yours?'

'Well, we knew each other way back,' said Howard hedgily.

'Is he a partner too?'

Howard was looking at him in surprise.

'Sorry, thought you'd know, sarge. He's dead.'

'No,' said Wield. 'I didn't know. What happened?'

'Car smash. He were stupid. Bit of a piss artist. Yes, I know I got done for being over the limit, but Rosso were different. He'd drive when he couldn't stand! Ran off the road into a tree a month back.'

'But it was him that got you the job?'

'That's right. At least he told me they were needing more bodies 'cos they'd got this new contract with ALBA. I reckon with my record and experience I'd have walked into the job anyway.'

'Lot of sympathy for guys with drunk-driving sheets, have they?' said Wield. 'So when you joined they'd started the work at Wanwood clearing the woods.'

'All finished,' said Howard with some emphasis. 'It were September when I started.'

'And you've not heard anything?'

'What about?' said Howard looking agitated.

'Well, about finding owt when they cleared the woods, for instance.'

'No,' said Howard. Did he sound relieved. 'Like I say, it were September when I joined. I took a right good rest, I mean convalescence, after leaving the Force.'

'And you look really good, Jimmy,' said Wield. 'They'll be glad to hear it down at Dartleby. You've still got a lot of friends out there. Once a cop, eh?'

A lie. Coppers carved their names on sand. Once out, for whatever reason, the door closed behind you, consigning you forever to the 'them' with no claims whatever on the 'us'. Even the mighty Dalziel when his turn came would fade like the after-grumble of a summer storm. Not that he'd look back. Which was just as well, else they'd all likely turn into pillars of the community!

'Yeah, maybe,' said Howard. 'Anything more I can do for you, sarge?'

Wield regarded him thoughtfully at the same time doing his bit for world health by bending the flimsy spoon in half and tying a knot in it.

His problem was, he didn't really have any idea what Howard might be able to do for him. He had a feeling about TecSec, but he was willing to admit to that prejudice against private security firms which Dalziel embodied and most professional coppers shared. Wanting to find something iffy was a bad starting place for looking. It made it easy to elevate a certain wariness he'd detected in both Patten and his subordinate to the status of suspicious behaviour. Nothing to do but like in a fight, keep prodding till finally if the defences weren't sound, you saw the skin split and the claret start flowing, and then you found what kind of opponent you were really up against.

He said, 'Don't think so, Jimmy. Might be able to do something for you, but.'

'What's that?'

'Keep you straight,' said Wield.

'Now hang about.. '

'You hang about and I'll tell you what I mean. Mr Dalziel's got this thing going…’

That had his attention. Like at nursery school, if you want to get their little darlings really listening, skip Red Riding Hood and get straight through to the Big Bad Wolf.

'. . he's been told off to vet all private security companies on our patch, dig out any stinkweed.'

'Are you saying that TecSec's iffy?' demanded Howard.

'Are you saying it's not?' asked Wield.

'Yes, I mean, no … I mean, I've only been there since September, sarge, and I can put my hand on my heart and say that since I joined, I've not noticed anything dodgy.'

'Probably because there's nothing to notice,' said Wield. 'But if anything did come up, well, think on, Jimmy. You know the score from your time in the Force. With information, there's before and after. Before, and you're on the side of the angels. After, and you're just another lowlife trying to cut a deal.'

Wield was glad Pascoe wasn't here to hear him talking like something out of an American cop movie.

'Well, I know nowt,' said Howard firmly. 'There's been nowt, not since September when I joined. And if there was, I'd get in touch, sarge, you can rely on it. Once a cop, eh?'

'Right,' said Wield. 'Hurry and you'll make the second race, Jimmy.'

He sat a little longer, staring into the murky depths of his untouched tea. The café prop, came over and looked angrily at the twisted spoon.

'What the hell happened to that?' he demanded.

Wield looked at him coldly, still not out of his tough guy role.

'It got knotted,' he said. 'Why don't you do the same?'