Corky’s Last Case: Part Twenty-Eight

~ beetleypete

This is the twenty-eighth part of a fiction serial, in 775 words.

Before they left Brighton, Corky went into the main police station to let the local detective team know that John Durham was in fact Tommy Summers, a well-known London criminal. He also told them that the shooting was a Mafia hit, and they might want to interview Tommy before he popped his clogs. While he was there, he rang Brenda to tell her he was on his way home, then got his boss out of bed to tell him the news. He seemed very pleased.

“Well done, Corky. Sounds like you have got yourself a case to run after all. Go home and get some sleep, then come in fresh and get started on some background checks. Mayhew has retired of course, but Mackay is still around at The Yard somewhere. Get a warrant for their bank accounts and see if one of your team can’t find some payments-in that don’t tally with their salaries. Summers was right to tell you to concentrate on Mackay, but don’t tip him off until you have a solid case”.

With Edmunds driving, Corky was able to sleep for most of the drive home. Brenda made him some breakfast, then insisted he go and get some proper sleep in bed. When he got up, he went into the dining room to make some notes. If this was going to be his last case, he was going to make damn sure he didn’t mess it up.

The first week didn’t go too well. Tommy died on the Tuesday morning, the Sussex cops had phoned to let him know. He lasted longer than the doctors had given him.The available officers from his team were split into two groups, one investigating the corruption allegations, and the other dealing with the murder of Pauline Ferris. Team one had little joy with the bank accounts.

Both of those detective suspects were far too savvy to have deposited wads of cash into their bank accounts, or to spend too much of their salaries on expensive cars, boats, or exotic hiolidays. Corky knew how their minds worked. Stash it away for retirement, get out when they could, then they could live out their time in relative luxury, not having to rely on the police pension.

Team two had nothing to work with. The last known movements of Pauline were not much use, as they didn’t have the name of who she was supposed to be seeing, or the name of the club she was to meet him at. After a mammoth trawl through very old phone records relating to Elaine’s phone, they could only find calls from telephone boxes on the relevant dates. One was in Essex, which they already knew about, and the other from outside Waterloo Station. That would be the one, but it was impossible to prove the call hade been made by either Mayhew or Mackay. It was all too long ago, and too vague.

By the end of the second week, Corky knew he only had one option. Arrest Mackay at work, sweat him out in an interrogation room, and give him no chance to phone Mayhew. He could have a lawyer, and that would be all he would be allowed. He went to see the boss, and gave him a full update.

“Only to be expected, Corky. My decision is to drop the corruption charges. We will never be able to prove them in court anyway. Arrest Mackay when he shows up for work tomorrow. Make it for the murder of Pauline Ferrs, frighten the life out of him with that charge, which carries a life sentence. My guess is he will bottle it completely, implicate Mayhew by blaming it all on him. Then we can do a deal with him to give evidence against Mayhew for a lesser charge. If he refuses to say anything, play him the tape of Summer’s dying confession, and tell him that carries a lot of weight with a jury”.

As Corky and two others from his team walked into Mackay’s squad room just after eight the next morning, everything went deadly quiet. The detectives who were on the phone all hung up, and a couple chatting noisily at the front of the room stopped talking and both lit cigarettes. You could have heard a pin drop as they got to Mackay’s desk at the back. Corky made him stand up. “Ronald Mackay, I am arresting you for the murder of Pauline Ferris. Come with us quietly, and we won’t handcuff you”.

At first the sergeant laughed, an actual guffaw. Then he saw that they were serious, and the colour drained out of his face.

31 thoughts on “Corky’s Last Case: Part Twenty-Eight”

  1. (1) Corky told the local detective team that they might want to interview Tommy before he popped his clogs. In fact, his clogs had already seen lots of wear and tear due to his frequent tulip field inspections.
    (2) Corky’s boss told him to go home and get some sleep. “And don’t let anyone from A10 get you out of bed to answer a phone call. You know what I’m saying, right?”
    (3) The call from Waterloo Station was from someone who identified himself as Fred Flintstone. “ABBA DABBA DOO! You’re finally facing your WATERLOO!”
    (4) Bad citation: “Corky knew he only had one option. Arrest Mackay at work, and then sweat him out in a Swedish sauna or Turkish bath. If that didn’t work, Corky would throw in the towel.”
    (5) As Corky walked into the squad room, someone dropped a pin, the sound of which created a moment of panic: everyone frantically took shelter under their desk.
    (6) Overheard:
    Corky: “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me!”
    Mackay: “Who do you think you are, RoboCop?”
    (7) The color drained out of Mackay’s face. It was not generally known that Mackay was a devoted user of facial cosmetics. (I blush just thinking about it.)

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  2. Splitting out the characters and scenes takes the weight off both the main protag(s) and constant ensemble scenes, or worse, sending everyone who’s not scene important to the restroom, the garage or out for food.

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    1. I like to vary my splitting up, Phil. I write these for myself in the main, (to have some form of daily mental discipline) and if anyone reads them, I consider that to be a bonus. Thanks for your comment.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. Interviewing such a suspect must be a great skill, the knowing which words will have impact and being able to evaluate the suspect’s reaction. I can imagine the talk back in the squad room! One of our colleagues at JFK was arrested on the job, connected with drugs. It was a bit startling but soon forgotten and I never did hear what happened to her. We had a few crime stories over the years. About what you’d expect at an airport, I suppose.

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    1. Yes, lots of arrests are made at airports, for numerous reasons. London’s Metropolitan Police have a dedicated team at Heathrow, including armed officers and mobile units in cars. Their callsign is ‘Hunter’, written as ‘HX’. When I worked for Special Operations (16) in the Met, we liased with them frequently concerning Diplomats, visiting VIPs, Royals, and terrorist suspects.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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