The Princess and the Cop (17 page)
Alan had climbed up the tree, paused 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.
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.
****
I have to confess that we didn’t come up for air for two days. Don’t blame me, it was Tessa’s doing.
She told me that, in between squabbling with her six councillors, she’d spent our time apart preparing for our reunion, so her bedchamber was turned into a self-contained unit--- a love-nest--- with a kitchen, bathroom, beautiful open terrace containing a small gym and even a lap-pool. An office had been set up in what had been her dressing room.
Her plans were that we should spend two weeks getting to know each other--- physically and spiritually.
‘I want to reacquaint with every freckle on your body and I wouldn’t object if you responded,’ she said, kissing my stomach. ‘We were hardly married when I had to leave you so it’s back together as husband and wife, my beloved. I like being married to you.’
We didn’t totally confine ourselves away from the outside world. On the second night, when all was quiet, she took me on a detailed tour of the Palace. It was so big that we did it again the next night.
Other adventures followed. We toured the outside, including the stables and then ventured further around the village. We explored the Cathedral.
We went for early morning rides, me on my new saddle and she on hers, and then when I was pretty sure I knew where I was going, early dawn rides, in the gloom.
We departed to Vienna for a week and Tessa delighted in showing me around that beautiful city. I wanted to return for things like the Opera House ball, opera performances and ballet. I wanted to see her done up in her finery and to be a proud escort.
And, in all of this, we became a husband and wife again, finding each other.
Then, gradually, she started to talk business.
As the ruler, she was advised by six councillors, sometimes called counsellors. They could only advise, not decide, and she could take their advice or not. Their positions were hereditary, eldest son after eldest son, and I couldn’t resist the obvious comment.
‘What a hide-bound, inbred method, darling, to use to run a country. Could I have a look at your constitution sometime?’
‘Oh, we don’t have a constitution. It’s all done by tradition. I’ve been guided by the counsellors, as David was. They’re the authorities on the running of Bassenburg du Mont. But he and I have had modern educations, in other places. We have new ideas, but the counsellors differ. We could ignore them but this would introduce new elements and possible trouble. They forced David out and they seem to be looking to force me out.’
‘What happens then?’
‘They tell the people that I’m an incompetent ruler and ask them to elect a new ruler. And David and I are more or less banished. Now, do you see why I need you, darling? Oh, how I need thee, my lover; my strong, sensible lover.’
I took her to me. ‘And I will help. In fact I’ll do more than help. It seems to be between the counsellors and my precious one, and her brother. What if we were to get rid of the fossils?’
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