Chapter 1: Meeting the Chief Constable

The message from the pathologist said, ‘All finished in the garden. A search team is going through the house as we speak but they should be done within the hour.’ Lewis sent a ‘Thank You.’ back.

He contacted Tom who picked him up half an hour later. They arrived at the house just as the search team was leaving. Going through into the back garden they found the open grave. All the soil was on the tarpaulin.

They set to and filled the hole in.

Then they rescued some of the soil from the compost heap to replace the space taken up by the body. Finally, they put the plants back in any position. Clearing up the tarpaulin, it was soon hard to tell anything had happened.

Lewis rang Keith in Kendal. ‘Have the police been round for a DNA sample yet?’ he asked. ‘Yes, they came last night.’ Keith said. ‘Ok,’ Lewis told him, ‘The police have finished at the house. If you would like to come down now, Steven would love to see you. Perhaps we can also discuss what we are going to do with him.’

‘Steven will be back next door with Reg by the time you arrive,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if you know, but Reg is high up in social services so he could be a big help finding a home for him.’ ‘That won’t be necessary,’ Keith told him. ‘We have been discussing it, and as long as Steven agrees, we’d like him to come and live with us.’

‘That would be lovely.’ Lewis said, ‘But I’ll leave you to ask him that when you see him.’ ‘We’ll be down in a couple of hours.’ Keith told him.

Lewis thanked Tom who went home. Then he rang Ernie. He explained the house was now clear and the garden was back to normal. ‘Can you bring Steven back here,’ he asked. ‘Bring Susan and Rupert with you too, you’ll understand why later.’

Then he went round to Reg. He was delighted to see him. As they sat and had a coffee, Lewis told him that Steven was on his way back with Susan, Ernie, and Rupert. ‘Would you like to invite Julie and the girls over too?’ he said, ‘I think it would be nice for Steven.’

Reg agreed and did it right away, he had realised by now that Lewis always had a reason for what he asked and from what he had seen of him so far, it was always a nice one.

An hour later everyone was there. Lewis told Steven to go next door and pack all his things. ‘You won’t want to stay there on your own,’ Lewis said. ‘Rupert, will you go with him.’

After they had gone, Reg said, ‘What will happen to him now? He can stay here with me as long as he wants of course.’ ‘When his uncle was arrested,’ Lewis said, ‘I had hoped that his aunt would return once he was safely locked up.’

‘The situation is now very different. He certainly can’t live next door on his own at his age. But if you bear with me, I think a solution will appear very soon. I’ll be back in a moment.’ he said and went off down the garden and through the hedge.

‘Now why do I get the impression that he’s got something up his sleeve?’ Reg said watching him through the window. ‘Lewis is an enigma,’ Julie said. Then smiling at Ella, she added, ‘But he’s a very lovely enigma.’

Lewis found the two boys in the kitchen, having a coffee. A heap of boxes and a suitcase by them. Lewis sat down with them. ‘Are you sad to leave?’ he asked Steven. ‘No, I was never really happy here with him,’ he said. ‘If Aunty Jessie could have come back, I would have been happy to stay, but not now.’

‘How are you feeling?’ Lewis asked. ‘I feel great,’ Steven said smiling first at Lewis, then at Rupert. ‘You knew I’d tell him, didn’t you?’ Rupert said. Lewis smiled. ‘I thought it very likely.’ he said. He looked Steven in the face. ‘What will be your lasting memory of the last two months?’ he asked. Steven gave him a big grin. ‘Last night,’ he said. ‘Nothing else.’

Lewis looked at Rupert, smiled and nodded. ‘Stay and finish your coffees,’ he said, ‘Special friends should always spend some time together.’ Steven got up and came round to him. ‘Rupert is, and will always be, my special friend.’ he said. ‘But so are you.’ He hugged him and gave him a kiss.

‘That makes us a trio of special friends.’ Rupert said getting up and giving them both a hug and a kiss.

As he returned to Reg’s, Keith and his wife were arriving. After introductions all round, Keith asked, ‘Where is Steven?’ ‘He’s next door with my son Rupert,’ Ernie said, ‘He’s packing all his stuff up.’

Keith looked at Lewis who shook his head. Ella spotted it and wondered what he was up to now. ‘Why don’t you go through to him,’ Lewis said. ‘If you follow me, I’ll show you the way through the hedge.’

As they reached the gap, Lewis said, ‘Can I make two suggestions. One is that you never ever mention what happened to him at the hands of Stan unless he brings it up.’ Keith nodded, ‘And two?’ he asked. ‘You will find his pal Rupert in there with him,’ Lewis said. ‘I suggest you ask him to stay when you put your request to Steven.’

‘Ok.’ Keith said. They went through the hedge and Lewis returned to the others in Reg’s.

Half an hour later a radiant looking Steven came in with his aunt and uncle, followed by a smiling Rupert. Rupert went straight over to Ernie and Susan and stood holding their hands.

Steven beamed around at everyone. ‘Aunty Catherine and Uncle Keith have asked me to go up to Kendal and live with them,’ he announced, ‘For good.’ he added.

Ella saw the smile on Lewis’s face and knew he had had something to do with it. ‘We have no idea what the situation is with the house,’ Keith said, ‘We’ll have to get a solicitor to sort that out. I want to thank you all for looking after Steven. As you saw from our van,’ he told them, ‘We run a cleaning business. But our house is quite large, so we also do bed and breakfasts. In due course, once Steven has settled in, we will be inviting you all up to visit us as our guests.’

Everyone went round exchanging hugs and kisses as they said goodbye. Keith came over to Lewis and said quietly, ‘Brilliant idea about Rupert, Steven was hesitating because of all the new friends he’s just made. I don’t know what his decision might have been, but Rupert jumped in right away. He told him how wonderful it was to have the opportunity of a new home and a new start.’ ‘There’s nothing stopping us all visiting each other.’ he told him. ‘Steven agreed right away.’ When Steven came up to Lewis and Ella, he gave Ella a hug and a kiss and thanked her for being so nice to him.

Then he hugged Lewis. ‘I owe you so much,’ he said, ‘I’ll never forget you.’ ‘The next part of your life will be happy,’ Lewis said, ‘Go and make the most of it.’ Another hug and they parted. Ella put her arm around Lewis’s waist. She kissed him on his cheek and whispered, ‘I love you so much.’

After all Stevens stuff was loaded up in the van, everyone waved until they were out of sight. ‘How about we all go out for a late Sunday lunch,’ Reg said. ‘That decided on, they went off to a local restaurant.’

Over the meal Lewis told them all that he had a date from John. They could have the boat for the second week of the summer holidays. Everyone was very excited at the idea.

LAST FRIDAY

Meanwhile Friday morning found Sergeant Cline and Aiden wearing full uniform and driving over to Police Headquarters. A few days earlier they had been returning home after a successful attachment to MI5 for a fortnight. As they neared home Sergeant Cline received a phone call.

‘That was the Chief Constables aide,’ he had told Aiden who was driving. ‘We are summoned to headquarters the day after tomorrow at eleven a.m. to meet the Chief Constable.’

So now they were on their way, looking very smart and feeling very nervous. Arriving at HQ they were shown into a wood panelled room with a few chairs in. ‘Take a seat,’ they were told. ‘When the Chief Constable comes in, stand up and salute him. Then take your cue from him.’

They sat for about ten minutes then the door opened, and the Chief Constable came in. They both recognised him, having seen him occasionally on TV and in pictures.’

They stood up and as he approached, they saluted. He saluted them back. Then smiled and shook their hands. ‘Sit down, gentlemen.’ he said and sat with them. ‘You are probably aware,’ he told them, ‘That I have no say in who is seconded to special agencies. That you were picked indicates that somewhere along the line you have seriously impressed someone. You probably have no idea yourselves when and where it happened.’