One Last Lesson by Iain Cameron

wondering not for the first time, what life was going to be like without Sarah.

FOURTEEN
     
     
     
    He replaced the handset back on the cradle and removed his hand as if the device was hot. It was all he could do to stop crashing the little device down and smashing it into a thousand pieces or throwing it against the wall, but in truth Henderson couldn’t face another visit of Neil from Accounts and listen once again to a lecture about damaging taxpayer’s property. Yet again Chief Inspector Steve Harris succeeded in winding him up, this time about the level of overtime on a large and complex rape case he had worked on last month.
    He was just about to emit a loud cry, usually the precursor to smashing his fist into something less expensive than the phone, such as a filing cabinet, the in-tray or the piles of boxes that seemed to be breeding close to his desk like rabbits, when DS Harry Wallop breezed in. With a cheery, ‘hi Boss,’ he sat down at the meeting table and dumped a pile papers on the table.
    When he did not receive a salutary response in return, he looked up. ‘What’s wrong with you Angus, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?’
    ‘No, I’ve just had a bloody annoying phone call, that’s all.’
    ‘I get them. Mind, it s often from the wife, reminding me to collect her dry cleaning or asking me to pick her up from Sainsbury’s because she’s loaded down with shopping, and here I am just about to interview the victim in a violent assault case or chasing after some kid who’s just nicked a pensioner’s handbag. You’ve gotta laugh.’
    Wearily, Henderson rose from his seat and joined the sergeant at the small meeting table. When first installed, the remnants of a furniture reorganisation in the offices of the big chiefs upstairs, he was assured it could easily seat four. Clearly, they were gilding the lily just a touch as the only four people it could accommodate comfortably, were four six-stone school kids with one jotter each as a broad-shouldered specimen like Harry Wallop took up the whole of one side and the pile of papers he brought along with him almost hid the wooden table top from view.
    ‘Am I in the wrong room or have I got the wrong time? You said you wanted to go over the Ferris operation before we went out.’
    ‘No, you’re right enough, Harry. It’s me.’ Focus Henderson, focus. ‘Is he still not answering his phone?’
    ‘No, we’re getting nothing at all.’
    ‘Ok, let’s hear what you’ve got planned.’
    ‘Bentley, Hammond, Graham and me will head over to his cottage. I’ll position two of us at the front and two at the back to make sure he doesn’t scarper out over the golf course. I’ll go in the front and arrest him and after we take him out, a SOCO van with five officers are standing by, ready to give the house and garden the once over.’
    ‘What if he gives you trouble? He’s a big man, don’t forget.’
    ‘I’ve got Phil Bentley with me. He can handle himself and he does karate as well.’
    He nodded. Bentley was tall and skinny but strong and reliable. ‘Sally Graham’s not very big but she’s a stubborn brute and I’m concerned she won’t back down if he comes running towards her.’
    ‘Aye, I know what you mean, it would be a heavyweight against a flyweight, no contest but just as soon as we hear any movement from the back we’ll be round there quick-style to join them.’
    ‘Make sure you do as I’m fed up seeing the inside of the Royal Sussex. Have you tried calling his work number again, the building company he works for in Crawley?’
    ‘Yep, Corey Construction they’re called. He didn’t show up for work today, no phone call, nothing. They said they were expecting him as they were due to start work on a new batch of houses in the Bewbush area this morning and couldn’t afford to be a man down.’
    ‘What about Havana Bay?’
    ‘When we met him at his cottage the other day, he told us he only works there Thursday, Friday and