Night Watcher (21 page)

It did not take him long to gather his possessions together. A spare pair of shoes, his old teapot, cracked mug, his screwdrivers and other tools he had brought in, and the old clock that did not keep very good time. He packed the lot in a couple of plastic bags and let himself out the back door.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Julie could not understand why she was not happier now that everything was falling into place. She had wanted to destroy Nicole, make her suffer, erode her confidence and fragment her life in the same way that Julie’s life had been destroyed when Dave died. And now, when success was within her grasp with Nicole showing all the signs of being on the verge of a nervous breakdown, she was worried. Maybe it was because there had been ramifications she had not foreseen. Harry, for example, that had never been in Julie’s game plan, and she knew she would have to do something about it. But it was more than that. It was the feeling she had been part of something shameful, something she should never have started, something that had taken root and developed until it was beyond her control. How had that happened?

She pushed the feelings away, burying them in the deep part of herself that hated Nicole, telling herself Nicole deserved all she got. She had brought it on herself, nothing was too bad for her. So, she gritted her teeth and smiled her sweetest smile, while she steered Nicole up the stairs to the ground floor coffee shop.

The department store was still busy with customers, although it was the lull between morning coffees and the beginning of lunches. It was the time when most people started to think about having a meal, and the basement restaurant had a reputation for serving excellent cooked food, so the coffee shop was not too busy when they arrived at the ground floor. Julie spotted an empty table at the back where it was relatively quiet and she steered Nicole towards it.

Julie treated herself to a cappuccino, while Nicole ordered an expresso, saying it would calm her nerves. Julie agreed with her, although she thought it might frazzle Nicole’s nerves even more than they were already. Everything was working out beautifully, she thought, as she watched Nicole lifting her cup with hands that shook so much she spilt coffee on the front of her immaculate white blouse.

‘D’you think it was wise to sack Harry?’ she murmured, tracing the creamy froth on top of her coffee with a finger.

‘Of course,’ Nicole snapped. ‘The man’s a menace.’

Julie sucked the froth from her finger. ‘What about the unions? Mightn’t they be trouble?’

Nicole frowned and clattered her cup into its saucer. ‘After what he’s done, I doubt if the union will be interested in his case.’

‘You’re sure it’s him then?’

‘Of course. Who else could it be?’

‘What if it’s not him? What if it turns out to be someone else?’ Julie leaned over the table and grasped Nicole’s hand. ‘It wouldn’t do to make a mistake. He could take Drake’s to a tribunal, you know. And somehow, win or lose, I don’t think Patrick would like that.’

Nicole glared at her. ‘I don’t suppose he would,’ she snapped. ‘But it’s not going to happen. He’s guilty.’

‘Guilty or innocent, he could still take the firm to a tribunal.’ Julie sipped her coffee while she watched Nicole’s reaction. She had never seen her so strung out before. ‘After all,’ she added, ‘an employment tribunal wouldn’t be interested in what Harry’s done if it’s not connected to his job. What they would judge it on would be whether or not disciplinary procedures had been followed.’

Nicole choked on her coffee spluttering the crumbs of her cake over the table.

Julie smothered her glee as she passed her a paper napkin. ‘It might be better if you had a word with Harry before it’s too late,’ she murmured.

‘I refuse. I absolutely refuse.’ Nicole wheezed. ‘I can’t speak to that man. Not after what he’s done.’

‘We don’t know he’s done anything.’

‘You speak to him then. But as soon as I’ve checked this employment thing out, he’ll be back out that door quicker than he can blink.’ Nicole stood up. ‘I’m going back upstairs to see what’s delaying the police.’

***

Harry had never been so tired in his life. His shoulders slumped under the weight of his despair, and if that was not enough his corn throbbed with an excruciating pain inside a shoe that seemed to be getting progressively smaller. The bus queue outside Primarks had been so long he could not get on the first bus that came, and now this one was so full he had to stand. He muttered under his breath as the woman next to him brushed against his toe. The pain flared and he transferred his weight onto his other foot in an attempt to relieve it. Just at that moment the bus swung round a corner. He staggered and grabbed the back of a seat to stop himself from falling. Anyone seeing him would think he’d had a drink, but so far he had not.

He fought against the tears welling up in his eyes. A grown man, what would anyone think if they saw him crying. But, what was he going to tell Babs? She would understand of course, she always did, but that was not the point.

He stared out of the window, so engrossed in his thoughts he almost missed his stop. The shopping square looked different in the daylight. It looked more dilapidated reflecting the deprivation of the area. Rubbish blew in the wind, tramps squatted in corners, yobbos clustered outside the shops just waiting for a chance to nick something. The shopkeepers were not daft though and kept a careful watch on their stock. Harry knew for a fact that some of them kept knuckledusters behind the counter, although he thought that was asking for trouble.

Ali was sweeping debris from the front of his shop and raised a hand in greeting. Harry moved his arm to respond, but it seemed too heavy to lift and he let it fall back to his side where it hung useless and limp. Lowering his chin into his coat collar, he averted his eyes and plodded homewards. No sweets for Rosie today, from now on he would need all his money just to live.

The door closed with the quietest of clicks after Harry let himself into the house, but Babs heard it and came to meet him. ‘You’re home early,’ she said, as he struggled out of his coat. ‘Here let me take it. I’ll hang it up for you.’

‘Don’t fuss, woman,’ Harry muttered.

Babs hung the coat on a hook in the closet and turned to look at him. She frowned. ‘You don’t look well,’ she said. ‘Have you been sent home?’

If only it was as simple as that, thought Harry. ‘No love, it’s worse than that.’ Tears gathered in his eyes, shining like the dew that clings to grass early in the morning.

‘She hasn’t sacked you, has she?’

Harry could not interpret the look on Babs’ face, but it made him shrivel up inside. ‘Yes, she has,’ he grated. ‘But she’s not getting off with it. If she thinks I’m going to lie down and take it, she’s got another think coming.’

***

By the time Nicole left the lift on the executive floor she was in a foul temper. Julie had not been any help to her with all her premonitions of what might happen because she had fired Harry. The woman should learn to mind her own business. Still it might be better to play safe rather than sorry, so she had allowed her to tell Harry he still had his job. She could always renege and blame it on Julie once she found out how she could fire the blasted man without any of the repercussions Julie had suggested.

Voices rumbled from the clerical office, but Nicole turned her back on it and headed for the glass doors that led to the inner sanctum and the peace and quiet of her own office. It was only when she reached it and had her hand on the doorknob that she remembered what was inside. She bit her lip and drew back. How could she forget?

She shuddered and retraced her steps to Ken’s office, but it was still locked. Damn, that meant she would have to return to the main office and face the typists and clerical assistants.

Evelyn popped her head out of the office just before she got there. ‘Ah, there you are. I tried to page Harry to let you know the police wanted to see you, but he’s not responding.’

Nicole glared at her. She did not like the woman’s tone of familiarity. Getting too uppity by half, she thought. She will be the next one to go. She smiled grimly. ‘About bloody high time they were here,’ she snapped. ‘Did they think I was going to wait around all day until they decided they had time to come?’

‘Mrs Ralston?’ the voice was deep and familiar. ‘Perhaps we can talk somewhere more private.’ He emerged from the office.

Oh, God, not him again. She’d had enough of his insolence last night. ‘Constable . . . I’m sorry I don’t recall your name.’ Nicole decided she was not going to let him get the better of her this time and kept her voice aloof.

‘Bill Murphy, ma’am, and it’s detective sergeant.’

‘And your inspector . . . is he with you as well?’

He smiled, ‘No, ma’am, sorry to disappoint you. But I’ve brought along Detective Sergeant Sue Rogers. Thought she might be of more use, being a woman and all.’

The young woman who followed him out of the office was taller than Nicole, but she had a friendly face and nice sympathetic eyes. ‘Just call me Sue,’ she said holding out a hand.

Nicole grasped it, ‘Nicole,’ she murmured. She decided she liked Sue.

‘Somewhere quiet?’ Bill raised his eyebrows and turned to Evelyn.

‘Of course,’ Evelyn’s face had turned pink again. ‘One of the conference rooms should suit. Follow me.’ She led the way through the glass doors into the executive corridor. Opening one of the polished oak doors, she said, ‘Will this do?’

Bill smiled at her. ‘This will do just fine, Evelyn.’ Bill waited until Evelyn left and then gestured in the direction of the chairs clustered round the circular conference table. ‘We’d be as well to make ourselves comfortable.’

Nicole glared at him. Bloody man was taking charge. Who did he think he was? However, she sat down, rested her arms on the table and clasped her hands. ‘Well, let’s start then and get it over with,’ she said. ‘Not that I suppose you’ll believe me any more than you did last night,’ her tone was sarcastic. ‘But I think you may have to change your tune because we have the evidence today.’

Bill Murphy stared at her as if he was weighing her up. Silence, only broken by a faint hiss from the central heating, descended on the room. Nicole wriggled in her seat as she looked from Bill to Sue and back again. Their faces were inscrutable, and Nicole started to reconsider her initial liking for the woman detective. She was just like all the others. Her clasped hands tightened until her knuckles were white, while her feet did a little jiggling dance beneath the table. Damn them, her nerves were starting to get the better of her. ‘What are we waiting for?’ she demanded. ‘What d’you want me to tell you?’

Sue leaned forward after exchanging a glance with Bill. ‘Let’s start from the beginning,’ she smiled encouragingly. ‘Just tell it in your own words.’

Nicole slumped back in her seat and her voice flattened as she described how she had come to work that morning and found Freddie, the pigeon, crucified on her desk.

‘You came in late? I gather that wasn’t usual for you.’

‘No. I’m usually in much earlier.’

‘Why was this morning different?’ Sue raised an enquiring eyebrow.

‘Scott, that’s my husband, left for Paris on a business trip, so I was delayed.’ Nicole did not bother to tell them the real reason for the delay was the row they’d had. It was none of their business.

‘I see,’ Sue jotted in her notebook.

‘Why do you think this is happening to you?’

‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? Someone’s trying to frighten me.’ Nicole’s skin prickled under the intensity of Bill’s stare. He was not nearly as sympathetic as Sue was. ‘But it’s not going to work,’ she raised her voice to quell the tremor that threatened to take over.

‘I can understand your distress. I’d feel the same way in your shoes.’

Nicole blinked at Sue as the tears gathered behind her eyelids. The woman’s sympathy was getting to her, making her feel sorry for herself.

‘Have you any idea who might want to frighten you?’ Sue looked up from her notebook.

‘It’s Harry, that’s who it is.’ Nicole’s fingers strayed to her hair. Her voice was firm and sure. But Sue made it all sound so horrible, and when she thought about how pathetic Harry was, she wondered if he really had the gumption to sustain the persecution.

‘Harry?’

‘He’s the security guard. He doesn’t like me.’ But, Nicole wondered, did he hate her?

Bill cut in. ‘Well, we’ll interview Harry, of course. As well as some of the other people who are in contact with you. But for now maybe we’d better inspect the scene of the crime.’

Nicole thought there was a note of irony in his voice, but shrugged it off as her imagination. To her horror, however, when they reached her office and Bill stood back to let her enter, there was no dead bird. She stared unbelievingly at the desk, it was like last night, first there were dead bodies then there were none.

She caught her breath. ‘You don’t believe me,’ she muttered, placing her hands on the edge of the desk to bear her weight.

‘On the contrary, we do believe you because other people saw the bird. But now we have to question, what happened to the bird? Who removed it?’ There was an inscrutable expression in Bill Murphy’s eyes as he looked at her. ‘When you were the last person in here.’