The Princess and the Cop Read online

  And then Warren found the knife. He had the good sense not to touch it but I made the climb into the camphor laurel tree to see the knife, which had been dropped down an old hole left where a branch had broken off, a long time ago. The tip of the handle was above the hole.

  We all crouched around on branches while a forensic scientist carefully withdrew the knife, being filmed and photographed all the time, and then replaced it. It was blood-stained and a small sample was taken. Later it proved to be Pat Taylor’s blood.

  I went home and sat and did a lot of thinking before contacting my troubled Princess. She wanted to talk about the twins and that suited me. As we murmured along I began to get a few ideas, so I kissed her goodnight, trans screen, and went to sleep. If all my plans worked, I’d soon be with her.

  ****

  I decided to go all legal, with the Prosecutor at first and then persuaded him to request a Judge’s Chambers hearing. I had the Professor standing by.

  The Judge gave me permission to address him, over the objections of the Taylor lawyers. The Taylors were present, smiling.

  ‘The big problem with this case, Your Honour, is telling which person of interest is which. All their lives, I’ve been told, they’ve played this game of swapping identities and it’s going to cause a miscarriage of justice unless the judicial system acts. One of them is going to get away with murder, or even both, unless the system acts. This is an unusual investigation and that’s why I’ve asked to speak to you. I’ve discovered a way to identify which Taylor is which and I have a witness standing by to do just that.’

  The lawyers objected. They knew nothing of this. The Prosecutor sought an adjournment, took them outside and told them what we were going to do.

  They withdrew their objections. They wanted to be sure of the twins’ identities too. After all, there were fees to be paid. The Judge acquiesced and Professor Henry Bostock was called into the chambers.

  The Prosecutor led from him who he was, what he’d been and what he’d done in his career. He didn’t mention the marks on the babies. The Prosecutor then asked the Judge to rule that the Taylors remove their shoes and socks. They didn’t object. They didn’t know what was going on. I was enjoying this. Wait till I spoke to Tessa tonight!

  They put their feet up on the backs of two chairs for all to see but especially the Judge. Now they were looking a bit puzzled and I was sure the twins didn’t like not to be in control. They looked at their lawyers and when they got no response they entered a foreign area of uncertainty.

  I wondered how long before they defied us all and lowered their feet, but they didn’t.

  I was winning.

  The Professor explained what he’d done as a young doctor and then, wearing gloves, lifted the small toes of each, gently, and said, ‘This is Alan and this is Alwyn.’

  The Taylors pulled their feet down quickly and tried to see what we’d all seen.

  ‘I so rule,’ the Judge said.

  I pulled some coloured insulation tape from my pocket and held it up to the Judge.

  ‘With your permission, Your Honour, I propose to put this tape on the persons of interest to identify them until a more permanent marking of indelible ink can be arranged.’

  ‘So ruled.’

  The lawyers carried on about infringing their civil liberties, but the Judge scoffed. How did some indelible ink infringe anyone’s civil liberties?

  One of them moved to the tattooing of concentration camp prisoners. The Judge nodded at that but said the tattooing didn’t infringe the victims’ liberties. The gas chambers took care of that. The lawyers subsided.

  And now the smirking and flashing teeth disappeared. Warren took the Taylors into custody and they left the Chambers. The Judge held me and the Professor back.

  ‘How did all this happen, Henry?’ he asked the Professor.

  ‘This clever detective traced me, beginning at the beginning, as a good detective should.’ He picked up his briefcase. ‘See you at the club next Saturday night.’ He turned to me. ‘Playing their game, I see. Good!’

  And now, identities established, we knew who we were dealing with.

  I joined our little group back at headquarters and let Warren have the privilege of charging Alwyn Taylor with the murder of his sister-in-law. We were firm and quick, giving them no chance to settle to this new and alarming situation. We’d dismissed Alan and he was near distraught, being aware of his brother’s likely incarceration. He refused to leave the headquarters so we let him sit in the foyer and watch the passing parade, until he got sick of it and left. He was crying. And confused, this detective was hoping.

  Why Alwyn? My instincts were kicking in and I tried to think their way. It was too obvious for Alan to have killed his wife, I thought. Always, in their evil little lives, the twins had been quick with lateral thinking. I did some now. Alwyn had no motive. He’d long ago moved out. Mrs. Wolza, the neighbour, said Alan and Pat had had many loud arguments lately. A motive for Alan, certainly, but too obvious. No lateral thinking.

  Tessa and I had a lovely talk that night---love mostly, and I told her I’d be with her soon.

  I had a wonderful sleep, the best for weeks, and then I waited.

  I didn’t have long to wait.

  18.

  Alan appeared at the Police Headquarters the next morning, looking haggard, and asked to see me.

  I greeted him cheerfully and courteously. He asked if he could talk to me. So I took him to an interview room, warned him that I’d be recording our conversation, invited him to have his lawyer present and called Warren in to take notes.

  I’d prepared for this and had, on the table near me, a blood-stained carving knife in a transparent plastic evidence bag.

  He stared at it in fascination until I shoved it to one side, as if it had no part in these proceedings.

  ‘I want to confess to Patricia’s murder. Alwyn didn’t do it. He had no need to. Motive you call it don’t you? She was going to leave me. That’s why I killed her. Alwyn was waiting at the pub. When I’d killed her and faced off Mrs.Wolza, we met outside the pub and walked in together. You see, Mr. Corrigan. I know all the details. I must have done it.’

  He didn’t have to say that last bit, about knowing all the details, I thought. That should have gone without saying. I was becoming more confident.

  ‘Where did you hide the knife?’

  ‘In the tree. But that doesn’t matter now. You’ve found it!’

  I took the knife and put it in a drawer as if it were of no account. His eyes were wide, watching my every move.

  ‘Ok, Alan, let’s go out to the house and you can show us where you hid it. But I think you should have your lawyer and Alwyn’s lawyer. Alwyn is at the Remand Centre and there’s really no need for him to be present, is there, Alan? We don’t want you two squabbling over guilt now, do we?’

  He was humble. ‘No, sir.’

  So we loaded up a couple of Police cars. The Commissioner wished to be present and that was good. He didn’t get out much these days.

  When we arrived, I sent a cop next door to invite Mrs.Wolza to join the party, explaining what was happening. She was with us as quickly as she could make it, very breathless.

  I knew I was taking a chance here and that my whole case could collapse, but I was pretty sure of myself. Don gave me some long looks and Warren was nervous.

  Alan climbed up the tree as did a few Uniforms. I briefly thought of Alan’s jumping to his death and decided to take a chance on that. His love for his brother was such that I thought he wouldn’t want to leave him, even in the circumstances.

  I said, ‘Forget what you think you saw back at Headquarters, Alan. The knife is where you hid it. I’m sure of that.’ Don looked at me hard.

  The knife was still where we’d found it and this was my big play. I climbed the camphor laurel too, and then, on an impulse, ordered everyone from the tree to give Alan a clear go. Don looked at me harder.

  Alan had climbed up the tree, pause
d and then moved over towards the knife. I was a little concerned. Surely they must have discussed all this and Alwyn given Alan a good description of the hiding place. Don was again looking at me hard. And then Alan started to panic. I guess he’d expected the knife to be in clear view. Bad briefing, Alwyn!

  It came to me that, by now, the twins were so arrogant, with a lifetime of getting away with things, that they hadn’t bothered much about the knife. In their arrogance they really hadn’t moved beyond the hiding of it and I doubted if Alwyn had told Alan more than, ‘I hid the knife in the camphor laurel tree out the back, bro.’ And that was all they thought they needed.

  Alan hurried through the branches but, in the end, wasn’t even looking closely. He looked at us, hoping for a clue, but we just stared back. The knife had been concealed fairly well, but was detectable, shining away, if one came to the correct spot. We soon knew that Alan was lying. He had no idea where the knife was. His brother had told him it was in the tree but a more accurate description than that would have been very difficult. Everything looked the same. It was a big tree with lots of foliage.

  I called everyone down, Alan looking very hangdog.

  I said to him, back at the headquarters, ‘That could happen to anyone, Alan. Don’t feel guilty. I suppose the knife is well-hidden.’

  He was angry. ‘You had the knife all the time. Of course I couldn’t find it. There, in that drawer. You tricked me!’

  As soon as he lost his trademark cool, I knew we’d won.

  Alwyn had been brought in from the Remand Centre and I instructed that he be allowed entry and we let them touch each other. They flew into each other’s arms.

  I said to Alwyn, ‘Our mistake, Alwyn! Alan has confessed but he couldn’t find the weapon. Just a slip of memory. But we’ll let him have another go.’ Alan was looking confused. I was now really messing with their minds.

  Alwyn glared at his brother who said, ‘They’ve found it, bro! He’s got it in that drawer there.’

  Alwyn looked shocked.

  I pulled out the knife. ‘What, this old thing? It’s from my cutlery set. I brought it in with me today to get it sharpened at the butcher’s. Nothing to do with the case. So now, girls, it’s either Alan or Alwyn. I don’t really care who. Want to toss for it?’

  They were struggling with their love for each other, but Alwyn’s won in the end.

  He said quietly, ‘I’ll take you to the knife.’ Alan clung to him but they were separated and the same group was convened, Mrs.Wolza included, and Alwyn moved slowly through the tree. I started to wonder about him. He was stopping. He paused, looking down at me with his usual brilliant smile, a mocking smile in the usual Taylor style. It seemed that he was going to start the games all over again. I was sick of these guys.

  ‘Warren,’ I said. ‘Remove everyone from the scene. Alwyn, find your own way home. Warren, let’s go and arrest and charge Alan.’

  We all started to move out, leaving Alwyn in the tree. He called, ‘Wait!’

  After a bit of hesitation, getting his bearings, he found the knife, being filmed while pointing at the hiding place, and then further filming while a tech bloke pulled the knife out and put it in an evidence bag.

  For the first time for a while Don smiled upon me.

  We took Alwyn to the interview room where he confessed to the murder of Patricia Taylor, his confession being recorded and then he wrote his confession under the supervision of Senior Constable Warren Wilson, whose collar it had really been. And I gave him full credit in my report. And I took him to dinner.

  At last we were able to fingerprint Alwyn and he even consented to DNA and blood samples being taken. But alas, the murder weapon was clean and his DNA was where you’d expect it to be if he’d lived at the house for a while. He’d worn gloves for the murder. They were in his pocket when he left the house.

  Then I pursued the possibility of conspiracy charges against the other brother. They had obviously conspired to kill Patricia, swapping identities.

  Don vetoed that. He thought Alan would give himself away eventually, if only to be near his brother in prison. Professor Bostock had told me to expect this. Their love was pathological. One couldn’t function without the other.

  ****

  Alwyn Taylor’s confession and plea of guilty were accepted by the court and he was sentenced to life. Alan sobbed bitterly in the rear of the court, so loudly that he was near to being ejected. He waited for the prison vehicle to emerge and tried to see into it, nearly being run down in the process. They might have been grubs, but they epitomized brotherly love.

  As I said, they were intelligent. Working with a pathologist early in the case, we assessed that the murderer had taken Patricia by surprise, seizing her by the hair, hence the short scream, and had stabbed her from behind, leaping away from the body before any blood could spray. Hence the absence of blood-stains on his clothes. Out the door and up into the tree and then off up the road, to be recalled by a breathless Mrs. Wolza.

  I called on Mrs. Wolza, the perfect neighbour, who greeted me like a son. I told her I was concerned for her. I didn’t want to frighten her but I did want to alert her to the possibility that Alan would attack her, for revenge and just to get into prison and be near his brother. Could we talk about her protection?

  She was ahead of me. She’d sold her house and was off to Sydney to be near family. She was leaving tomorrow. So we agreed that a uniformed constable should protect her tonight and a Police car would deliver her to the airport.

  That wrapped things up for me.

  I sought an appointment with the Commissioner and presented him with my resignation.

  He knew the situation, so he accepted it but said there’d be another Police Medal coming my way. Then he wished me well.

  But, he asked, what if they’d done a double-lateral move and Alan had really been the killer?

  ‘Then, Commissioner, I think you’d now be talking to a different detective.’

  The boys were gathered and we had a beer or two, with Warren staying close. I wouldn’t have minded longer with him to teach him a few things but I had Tessa waiting.

  ‘What did you see that none of us could see? How did you do it, Senior?’ Warren asked.

  I never usually responded to questions like this, but I was leaving and I had to leave this young man with some idea of how I worked.

  ‘Try to use the criminal’s strength against him. They thought they had us, as they’d had so many people before, by the twins’ thing. That was their strength so that’s what we used against them. I have to say that I was guessing that Alwyn was the guilty one. Using Alan was too obvious, I thought. It didn’t matter. The strong bond would have given them away no matter which twin we charged. But I took a big leap and had to hope that Alwyn knew where the knife was and could be prodded in that direction. That was the big risk that I took and I don’t recommend it as a practice, young Warren. But I’ve been blessed with strong instincts as an investigator and they were correct this time. They usually are. If you reflect on it, I messed with their minds nearly the whole way. The knife on my desk had them wondering why we were still looking in the tree, and I think could have gone against us if he’d gone to trial. But he didn’t! And I’m in a hurry to get to my wife.’

  I slept one last night in Brisbane, not wanting to breathe beer fumes all over my wonder girl when next I saw her. We talked on the computer and then switched off, perhaps for the last time.

  I took a cab to the airport and walked to the plane, texting Tessadonna.

  ‘Here I come, my darling. I love you. See you soon.’

  19.

  She was beautiful, smiling beautifully at Vienna airport, standing beautifully and just a little regally. She was the Princess and was well-known in Austria. People were staring at her, but she had eyes only for me. But there was no rush to my arms and the shower of kisses that I’d been expecting. She waited for me to walk to her, standing regally poised, and then softly kissed me on the cheek.
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br />   She murmured to me. ‘Paparazzi, darling. Nobody knows I’m married…we’re married. Gerhardt will get your luggage and we’ll go to the car. Then, buddy, brace yourself!’

  She practically crushed me as we walked arm in arm to the car; we sedately entered and then she flung herself on top of me, saying, over and over, ‘I love you, darling, I love you darling’, and smothering me with kisses. I was trying to do likewise but I couldn’t get past her wonderful lips. She was feverish. She’d raised the privacy screen and we were off to Bassenburg du Mont. The only words on that journey were ‘I love you’ and the only action was near to foreplay.

  When we drove into the palace forecourt, Gerhardt opened the door on her side and I rushed around, shaking his hand as I passed. Then I lifted her in my arms. We had to pass the palace staff, lined up to greet this important guest of Her Royal Highness. There’d be lots of gossip Downstairs, later, but did we care?

  I called, ‘Good evening, everybody. Thanks for the welcome.’ And bore her northwards to the upper heights of the Palace where I’d never been. Her head was buried in my shoulder, nuzzling.

  ‘Tell me when to stop, Highness. I was forbidden these heights before.’

  ‘Oh don’t, darling! Let’s forget all that. Only one flight to go. Please don’t tire yourself out.’

  ‘That will never happen, Princess. I’ve been saving my strength for you for months.’

  ‘Put me down here, darling,’ and she fished out a key which seemed far too small for such a gigantic door.

  She stretched out her arms and I carried her over the threshold of a huge bedchamber with a huge bed, big marble pillars and luxurious furniture. I lowered her gently to the bed and turned to survey the room.

  There was a knock on the door and Tessa was scrambling on the bed. I caught a glimpse of a beautiful naked body hurrying under the bedclothes.

  She called, ‘Leave the luggage outside. Bart will get it later, Gerhardt.’

  ‘Yes, my lady.’

  But all that was incidental because, by this time, we were in each other’s arms, and the honeymoon, the second honeymoon, had begun.