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Chapter 12: Too Early To Tell
“The Health Secretary would like a word,” Stephen Thawn’s assistant had been fielding calls all morning and she was feeling harassed. “I told her you’d call back at the first opportunity.”
Thawn, who was feeling pretty harassed himself after the press conference, had only just got to work after taking a taxi from the station. He nodded as he walked past her desk and shouldered open his office door. Before it closed behind him he said, “Get Meg Shyne up here will you?”
***
When Velma got to work, Linda was waiting for her. “Can I have a quick word, before you get started?” she asked.
Velma nodded. “Sure.”
“I’ve had another complaint about you.”
“What? Why? Who complained?”
“Point is,” Linda replied evasively, “this is not the first time.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. No one’s said anything to me.”
“They say you’re not pulling your weight.”
Velma was astounded. “I am!”
“They say you’re not. So, think about it, in which areas do you think you might not be doing your best?”
Velma shook her head. “Are you kidding me?”
Linda looked serious. “I am not kidding you. I’ve had several complaints about you and I’m giving you a chance to explain yourself, but if you don’t pull your socks up our next conversation will be in a formal meeting – your first official warning.
Velma was flabbergasted. “Well, if you’re not going to give me specifics, I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is, I do everything on my to-do list every day and I do it well.” There was a brief silence before Velma added, “is it about me forgetting to put away the wet floor sign? I apologised for that.”
“Let’s hope this will be an end to it,” Linda said and walked away.
An end to what? Velma was frustrated. I can’t improve on perfection. She watched as Linda crossed the room, gave Tom a cheerful good evening, and then left the building. Velma closed her eyes, shook her head and took a deep breath before walking to the cleaning cupboard for the mop and bucket. When she’d filled the bucket with hot soapy water, she remembered she had to sweep the floor first. Doh! She left the bucket, grabbed the broom, took it to the empty café and began to sweep.
Luckily the music filling the department store that night was something cheerful she could sing along with, The Cardigans she thought, or maybe Alisha’s Attic. She liked it anyway and her defeated mood was soon chased away.
When she’d finished sweeping and mopping the café, she thoroughly cleaned the ladies’ toilets, then the men’s, then the disabled. She rescued a beetle who’d been trying to escape through a window that didn’t open, and released him through a window in the staff room that did. Then she restocked all the toilet rolls and, finally, went over all the shop floors meticulously to rub off any black scuffs with a tennis ball on the end of a broom handle.
It was time to clock out. When she grabbed her coat and bag from the locker room, she saw Kirsty, the store’s assistant manager, who smiled and said “goodnight.”
“Did you complain about me to my area manager?” Velma asked, “because I apologised about the wet floor sign and I thought-“
“I didn’t complain about you. I wouldn’t. You do a good job.”
“So it wasn’t about the wet floor sign?”
“Honestly Velma, if I had a problem with anything you’d done, I would talk to you about it. I wouldn’t go behind your back to Linda.”
Velma nodded, “Okay, thanks,” she smiled and said goodnight.
*
It was unusually cold for the time of year and it felt like rain was coming so there was hardly anyone about. She walked briskly through the empty town centre towards home, stopping when her phone received a text. It was from Andy and it was strange. Just two words. Chew Toy. Assuming he’d accidentally sent her his shopping list, she resumed her journey home. Then her phone beeped again. Again it was a text from Andy. Again it was only two words but this time it said Train Set.
Velma stood still and called her friend. It went straight to voicemail. Her next instinct was to call Muriel but, before she did, she remembered that Muriel was on the early shift this week and she would be in bed by now. She decided to mist her way over to Andy’s – it was quicker than walking.
When she got there she saw three police vans outside his building. She got as close as she could without being noticed and saw Andy being led out in handcuffs.
“Please let my dog come with me,” he asked the officer to his left, “he gets anxious if he’s left on his own.”
“Maybe you should have thought about that before you got involved in criminal activity.”
“I haven’t …” Andy stopped talking when he saw the Velma Mist, close to the ground, moving towards the open front door.
The police officer put Andy in the back of one of the vans and closed the door. Then he and another officer climbed into the front of the van and drove away.
Velma went under the door of Edith Gallup’s ground floor flat. All the lights were off. The elderly woman had gone to bed a couple of hours earlier. Velma became herself again, put on the cardigan, slippers and glasses that Andy’s downstairs neighbour had left in the living room, wrapped her hair in a towel and opened the flat door.
“What’s going on?” she asked a police officer who was carrying Andy’s red laptop down the stairs. “What are you doing?” Not wanting to wake Edith, she kept her voice down.
“Nothing for you to worry about,” the officer told her as he left the building.
A second one came down with two more laptops, and another with a box of files. “Where’s Andy?” Velma asked them. “Where’s the dog?”
The first of this pair ignored her and proceeded to exit the building, but the second one hesitated. “Do you know the dog?” she asked Velma.
Velma nodded. “I could take care of him until Andy comes back,” she offered.
The officer spoke into a walkie talkie. “Neighbour says she’ll take the dog.” Then she nodded at Velma. “Ok, they’ll bring it down in a minute.”
“What’s going on?” Velma asked again. “Is Andy alright? He hasn’t been murdered has he?”
The officer smiled and shook her head. “Nothing for you to worry about madam. They’ll bring the dog down in a minute.”
A loud bark and a door slam from upstairs, followed by the heavy footsteps of two more descending officers made Velma wince as she was worried Edith would wake up. Thankfully Edith was a heavy sleeper when she’d removed her hearing aid so that didn’t happen. The police handed Velma Sammy’s lead and went the same way as their colleagues.
As soon as the last two vans pulled away, Velma went back into Edith’s living room to put the borrowed items back where she’d found them, and then walked Sammy back into town. Once she’d retrieved her bag from where she’d hidden it, she headed to Muriel’s.
When she was nearly there she stopped. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to go to Muriel’s at one in the morning. Maybe that would disturb her neighbours and get people talking. Nothing could be done for Andy right now anyway. She decided to take Sammy home and let Muriel sleep. He was a little nervous, missing Andy, but had warmed to Velma lately so she hoped he would be okay with her overnight.
When she turned the key in the front door of her shared house she hesitated again. She couldn’t let Muriel sleep, she realised, because tomorrow the sun would rise and she would be stuck inside until it set again. She wouldn’t be able to walk Sammy and she wouldn’t be able to tell Muriel anything that had happened. She could call her, of course, but that would be too risky. If they were on to Andy they might be looking at his friends too. She and Muriel must try to act normal. Then again, is it normal to carry on as normal when one of your best friends has been arrested?
Velma walked to Muriel’s.
***
Andy sat in a dim rectangular room on one side of a rectangular table. There was a large mirror on the opposite wall and he’d watched enough Netflix to know it wasn’t just a mirror. Sitting next to him was the duty solicitor he’d just met. Sitting opposite were two detectives. The senior of the two began the proceedings.
“It’s 02:10 on Tuesday the 13th of June 2026. Present in the room are Detective Sergeant Osgood and – ”
“Detective Constable Stringwize.”
“And? State your name and occupation please.”
“Christine Coach, solicitor.”
“And? State your name please.”
“Andrew Flench. Where’s my dog?”
“Your date of birth?”
“11th of November, 1994.”
“And your occupation?”
“Computer technician.”
“At?”
“I’m freelance. Work from home.”
“Are you vegan Mr Flench?” Osgood continued.
“You don’t have to answer that,” Ms Coach told him.
“No comment.” Andy replied.
“Being vegan’s not a crime Andrew, there’s no need to be secretive about it.”
Andy didn’t respond.
“My colleagues saw a bag of vegan dog food in your kitchen, so I think we can safely assume you are.” He paused for a moment, looking at Andy who looked right back. “Do you believe in vampires?”
Andy smiled, “of course not.”
The detective returned the smile. “Then why did you write to the news stations about thousands of vampire kills?”
Andy looked at the duty solicitor who shook her head. “No comment,” he responded.
The detective leaned back in his chair. “You might as well tell us,” he advised. “Our digital forensics team is going through your computers with a fine tooth comb. By this time tomorrow we’ll know everything.”
Andy tried to look cool, calm and collected. He was worried and confused but he didn’t want them to know that. He’d been very careful when he informed the news networks. Everything was encrypted. There was no way they could have traced those messages back to him. And yet, here he was, being interrogated.
“Maybe you didn’t mean it as a threat. You probably thought it was a harmless prank didn’t you? Did someone put you up to it? Was it a dare?” Osgood continued trying to wheedle something out of him. “Come on Andrew, let’s get this misunderstanding sorted out. Let’s get you home to your dog.”
“You left him at home?”
“I’m not sure where he is to be honest,” the detective looked at his colleague who shrugged. “So the sooner you tell me what I want to know, the sooner we can track him down and get you back to him.”
“Alright detective,” Ms Coach intervened. “enough with the fishing expedition. I don’t know what gave you cause to suspect Mr Flench but it’s clear to me that you don’t have enough to charge him.” When Osgood didn’t reply she turned to Andy. “Come on, let’s go.”
Andy stood to leave. “Tell me where my dog is,” he insisted, undaunted.
“I have no idea where he is,” Osgood told him with a bitter smile.
“We’ll ask the custody sergeant,” Christine told Andy as the uniformed officer opened the door for them. Then she looked back at the detectives. “When will he get his computers back? That’s his livelihood.”
“We’ll see,” Osgood told her, “too early to tell.”
****
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