but didn’t quite know how to.
‘Well, we did have a tragedy earlier in the year, about six months ago it would have been. One of our recruits died in a training accident on the firing range. They happen, I’m afraid. The first thing we try to teach them when we give them guns is elementary safety. And still they manage to shoot themselves.’
‘This soldier shot himself?’
‘Yes. Accidentally, of course. We have our own range about a mile away from the barracks. The recruits were simulating an attack on an enemy position, running forwards, throwing themselves on the ground, that sort of thing, and this young soldier had his gun cocked, fell awkwardly and blew a hole in his chest. Our standard issue automatic, the SA80, is a formidable weapon and the results were not pretty.Got a bit of press coverage, particularly locally, you may have seen it. But these things do happen when you are training military personnel, however hard you try to avoid it.’
Karen nodded again, suddenly vaguely remembering seeing reports of the death of a soldier in an army training accident on Dartmoor. But it hadn’t been a major story. As the colonel had said, accidents like that happen in military training, and, having occurred on army land and been summarily investigated by the SIB, neither did it ever become a police matter. So she had taken little notice. She had no recollection of even taking the details on board. Certainly, she hadn’t registered that the soldier concerned had been stationed at Hangridge.
‘And that has been the only other accidental death here at the camp in recent years.’
The colonel nodded back. ‘Since I’ve been here, definitely, which is coming up to two years now. And I did study the records for several years before that.’
‘How old was this soldier?’
‘He was eighteen. Promising lad, too.’
‘Can you supply me with a file on the incident, including all the young man’s personal details? Family address, and so on?’
‘Of course. Although I don’t see the relevance.’
‘I’m sure you’re right, but I do need to be sure.’
Karen thought for a moment.
‘We need to look at every aspect of this, Colonel. I am particularly interested in tracing these two men who went looking for Connelly?’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. After all, those men were definitely not figments of Connelly’s imagination. As I think I havealready explained, our witness saw them in the pub, The Wild Dog, just half a mile or so from the scene of the accident, Colonel—’
‘Gerry,’ he interrupted.
She studied him curiously. He gave the impression of being so eager to please and so anxious to be liked. What was going on behind those warm brown eyes, she wondered? Karen had had enough dealings with the military to know that you didn’t become a colonel of a crack infantry regiment through being an ingenuous nice guy. And she thought that Gerrard Parker-Brown, whom she reckoned to be in his late thirties, was considerably younger than usual to be holding such a senior rank. In peacetime, at any rate.
‘So, have you any idea who these two men might be, Gerry?’ she enquired, putting only a light emphasis on his name.
He shrugged. ‘I have no idea at all, Karen. We don’t even know for certain that they were soldiers, do we? Let alone stationed at Hangridge. If they were army chaps, I would imagine they were mates of Connelly’s who went looking for him to try to stop him getting himself into more trouble …’
‘A logical conclusion, and the same one our witness made. But I thought I’d explained that the witness also said Connelly didn’t react as if they were mates. Just the opposite. In fact, he seemed terrified of them.’
Gerry Parker-Brown shrugged. ‘I can’t comment on that, Karen. I wasn’t there. But if they were his army mates and they were determined to bring him back to camp, and he didn’t want to come back, well, he wouldn’t have been pleased to see them exactly, would he? Even
‘Well, we did have a tragedy earlier in the year, about six months ago it would have been. One of our recruits died in a training accident on the firing range. They happen, I’m afraid. The first thing we try to teach them when we give them guns is elementary safety. And still they manage to shoot themselves.’
‘This soldier shot himself?’
‘Yes. Accidentally, of course. We have our own range about a mile away from the barracks. The recruits were simulating an attack on an enemy position, running forwards, throwing themselves on the ground, that sort of thing, and this young soldier had his gun cocked, fell awkwardly and blew a hole in his chest. Our standard issue automatic, the SA80, is a formidable weapon and the results were not pretty.Got a bit of press coverage, particularly locally, you may have seen it. But these things do happen when you are training military personnel, however hard you try to avoid it.’
Karen nodded again, suddenly vaguely remembering seeing reports of the death of a soldier in an army training accident on Dartmoor. But it hadn’t been a major story. As the colonel had said, accidents like that happen in military training, and, having occurred on army land and been summarily investigated by the SIB, neither did it ever become a police matter. So she had taken little notice. She had no recollection of even taking the details on board. Certainly, she hadn’t registered that the soldier concerned had been stationed at Hangridge.
‘And that has been the only other accidental death here at the camp in recent years.’
The colonel nodded back. ‘Since I’ve been here, definitely, which is coming up to two years now. And I did study the records for several years before that.’
‘How old was this soldier?’
‘He was eighteen. Promising lad, too.’
‘Can you supply me with a file on the incident, including all the young man’s personal details? Family address, and so on?’
‘Of course. Although I don’t see the relevance.’
‘I’m sure you’re right, but I do need to be sure.’
Karen thought for a moment.
‘We need to look at every aspect of this, Colonel. I am particularly interested in tracing these two men who went looking for Connelly?’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. After all, those men were definitely not figments of Connelly’s imagination. As I think I havealready explained, our witness saw them in the pub, The Wild Dog, just half a mile or so from the scene of the accident, Colonel—’
‘Gerry,’ he interrupted.
She studied him curiously. He gave the impression of being so eager to please and so anxious to be liked. What was going on behind those warm brown eyes, she wondered? Karen had had enough dealings with the military to know that you didn’t become a colonel of a crack infantry regiment through being an ingenuous nice guy. And she thought that Gerrard Parker-Brown, whom she reckoned to be in his late thirties, was considerably younger than usual to be holding such a senior rank. In peacetime, at any rate.
‘So, have you any idea who these two men might be, Gerry?’ she enquired, putting only a light emphasis on his name.
He shrugged. ‘I have no idea at all, Karen. We don’t even know for certain that they were soldiers, do we? Let alone stationed at Hangridge. If they were army chaps, I would imagine they were mates of Connelly’s who went looking for him to try to stop him getting himself into more trouble …’
‘A logical conclusion, and the same one our witness made. But I thought I’d explained that the witness also said Connelly didn’t react as if they were mates. Just the opposite. In fact, he seemed terrified of them.’
Gerry Parker-Brown shrugged. ‘I can’t comment on that, Karen. I wasn’t there. But if they were his army mates and they were determined to bring him back to camp, and he didn’t want to come back, well, he wouldn’t have been pleased to see them exactly, would he? Even
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