Chapter 6: A Night On The Pennine Way

‘When we meet,’ Brian told him, ‘We are all just men, we don’t use ranks. Most are sergeants or above. For no other reason than it takes a long time to be sure about someone’s suitability. But we do have one constable and two young civilians.’

‘Everyone who has ever been invited to join has had no previous knowledge that the group even existed, let alone already knows everyone who is a member. With your agreement, I will show your report to the head of the group and tell him of our conversation. If he agrees, I will ask if I can introduce you to our next meeting so you can present your report to them all. Once you have done that, I will propose you as a full member.’

‘If you don’t get in then, I’ll keep proposing you until they do.’ he said with his usual disarming grin. ‘The report is yours,’ Reg said, ‘Use it as you see fit. I’m also happy with what you have suggested.’

‘Ok,’ Brian said, ‘Your job as you know for the next few weeks is to sort out the wives and the assets. When I decide to go after Booth, I’ll get you to help me, that will be an extra plug for your membership.’ Reg got up. They shook hands and Brian said, ‘Regardless of membership, I’m glad to have you on board.’

‘Thank you,’ Reg said as Brian showed him to the door. Seeing no car outside he said, ‘How did you get here?’ ‘I had a drink last night,’ Reg said, ‘So I taxied home and here this morning. I’ll get a taxi now and go pick my car up.’

‘I’m going back to work now,’ Brian said, ‘I’ll drop you off, I presume it’s somewhere local?’ ‘The Manor Hotel actually,’ Reg said with a grin. ‘Getting in some practice,’ Brian said. ‘Hang on. I’ll just get my things.’ A few minutes later they were underway.

‘What’s your plan for the rest of the day?’ Brian asked. ‘I’ll pick up my car and go home.’ Reg said, ‘Then I’ll ring all the wives and make appointments to see them. If I can get any for this afternoon, I’ll go over and see them today.’

Reg had been thinking as they drove. As they arrived at The Manor Hotel, he asked, ‘You mentioned two young civilians, I assume they would be Danny and Lewis?’ Brian grinned. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘Apart from all their achievements, we thought a couple of civilian jurors would be an additional safety measure. Good luck with your interviews,’ he told him and drove away.

SERGEANT GATELY

The next day Danny got a text from Andy.

‘Hi Danny,

My Inspectors exam went well (I think) just have to wait and see now. I’m back on duty from tomorrow. One rather interesting point came to light. There were eight of us taking the exam. Over our lunches we were all chatting. Every one of them had been waiting various times between four and five years to take the exam. I said I’d been waiting four years instead of two, so I didn’t stand out. Strange that don’t you think?’

Best wishes.

Andy.

Danny replied with a smiley face.

SECRETS ON A WARD ROUND

Two days later Danny was doing a ward round with his training consultant and several other trainee doctors. It was on the ward that Danny had caught the nurse stealing drugs from the trolley a while ago.

As Danny and his colleagues followed the consultant onto the ward, Danny saw the ward sister was the one who had let him into the storeroom to recover his camera. She spotted him, looked delighted and nodded discreetly.

Then a few minutes later she came up to them and handed Danny a piece of card. ‘I think you dropped this as you came in.’ she said. Danny glanced at it, said. ‘Oh yes, thank you very much.’ and put it in his pocket.

Later that day Danny had a chance to have another look at the card. ‘I need your help.’ was all that it said. When he had some time to spare later, he returned to the ward. Sister saw him coming and waved him into her office.

‘Thanks for coming,’ she said. ‘I’ve been frantic to know what to do, and when I saw you, I thought that even if you couldn’t help, you’d be able to advise.’ As Danny smiled at her she continued, ‘I have a friend on the maternity ward,’ she said.

‘We were talking the other day, and she confided in me that they had had an unusual number of baby deaths recently. She had noticed it and told her superior who dismissed it as a seasonal glitch. The thing is,’ sister said, ‘It, could well be just that.’

‘But my friend had been so worried about it that she had started keeping a record of the staff on duty. In the past four weeks, every death bar two, was when one particular nurse was on duty. It’s not just the babies dying,’ she said. ‘That’s bad enough.’

‘But the suspicion now attached to the nurse might be completely unfounded. However, it will never go away on its own.’ Danny gave her his phone number and took hers. ‘I’ll text you later with my available times for the next seven days.’ he told her.

‘When you get them, ask your friend to tell me when I could meet you both on her ward, but when the suspect nurse is off duty.’ ‘Thanks so much,’ she said, ‘It’s such a relief to actually be doing something about it. I just hope we’re wrong.’

Danny went to the canteen for a snack. Whilst there he texted his free times to the sister. Then he returned to his duties.

ON THE MATERNITY WARD

Two days later Danny met up with both sisters on the maternity ward. ‘Can you give me a general tour and explain what happens where?’ he asked. ‘Then show me were the deaths occurred.’

After a tour of the ward and a few hellos from some pregnant mums, they went through into the nursery. There were around ten cots, most with babies in. As they tiptoed round, the midwifery sister whispered, ‘Each cot has an alarm which tells the nurses station if they are distressed in any way.’

‘Were the deaths in any particular area of the room?’ Danny asked. ‘No, completely random as far as we can tell.’ ‘What about autopsies?’ he asked. ‘No cause of death could be found for any of them,’ Sister told him, ‘But at this age, that does happen quite a bit.’

‘That baby that’s awake,’ Danny said pointing to it. ‘Can you go over to it as you would do normally and pretend you are giving it an injection. But try and do the injection without us being able to tell what you’re doing.’ Sister went over and leaned over the cot. The baby gave a happy gurgle to see her.

When sister returned to them, Danny said, ‘I’d have had no idea you had just given an injection.’ He walked round studying the walls and the ceiling, plus all the various frameworks. He took a few pictures with his phone.

‘The first thing we need to do is put some concealed cameras in place,’ he told them. ‘Let me give it some thought, then I’ll get back to you. Remember no one else should know about my involvement or that the cameras are there, apart from the three of us.’ he stressed as he left.

KAYE & ARNOLD

The next Friday it was Arnolds fifteenth birthday. Kaye Arnold and his mum and dad went out for a meal that evening. Arnold had made a few friends at school since last year, but no one turning up last time still hurt him, so he hadn’t invited anyone else.

Anyway, as long as Kaye was there, he was happy. That morning, he had opened his presents over breakfast. There had only been two, his mum and dad had bought him a computer tablet which he had wanted for a while.

Kaye had bought him a weekend away for the following weekend. They were going to London on Friday evening and returning Sunday evening. But apart from the thought of a weekend away with Kaye, the most exciting part of the present was their travel.

They were going to fly from Ringway Airport in Manchester down to London City Airport in the heart of London. It would be Arnold and Kayes first flight. He was so excited. They were going to stay in a Travelodge by The Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

The following day, Saturday, Kaye and Arnold set off on a weekend walk as usual. They got a bus that took them to Edale, the start of the Pennine Way. Kaye had decided they would try a few sections of it at a time.