THE COP KILLER
Author
Harry Nankin
Forward
The Author, a retired police officer draws on thirty years police experience and later working with legal practices to produce this exciting and very popular whodunit mystery novel.
Two uniformed police patrol officers are found dead in their patrol car. There are no marks or signs of violence. Post mortem, examinations confirm their deaths are from natural causes. Individually The matters are closed. Over a period of months, there are further similar deaths in similar circumstances. The officers serving in different forces are seemingly unknown to each other.
The local area Government Inspector of Constabulary hears of the deaths during his annual inspections. He becomes suspicious and informs the Home Secretary
Due to the circumstances in the current climate of financial cuts, no official enquiry can be set into motion. It is decided to instruct Jack the Hat Richards a retired and experienced detective from New Scotland Yard to investigate the circumstances and report his findings at the annual conference of the country’s top police officers.
Richards is of the old type of detective, he is a quiet man very methodical, some have said he is boring. In reality unlike modern policing he has great attention to detail as he sifts the clues and evidence, but more. He possesses that now long lost skill of investigators to look into the minds of his suspects and never misses a clue or a trick of his target.
He agrees to return to duty, but this does not go down well with the local police. Jack is refused access to the police station and to an experienced detective to assist him. He is instructed to work from the local police museum with the assistance of an inexperienced policewoman Inspector. She is fresh from university and is the subject of ridicule by her senior officers and subordinates
The two set to work to investigate, painstakingly looking into each of the cases. Jack calls on his old forensic and pathology contacts to assist him.
All this skill and patience finally brings remarkable and surprising results.
I invite you to sit back and join Jack the Hat to resolve the never before known cases of The Cop Killer.
The events, places and characters in this book are fictitious and it is not intended the story should bear any resemblance to reality in the police service or any incident or of any person living or dead. If so, this is coincidental. Thank you for reading.
All Books are Copyright of Bill Williams
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrievable system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner
PART ONE
TWO DEAD COPS
Looking at his watch it was just after 9am on this very pleasant Friday morning, “Blast” he thought, “I am late again; I hope no one has nicked my spot. It will be a mammoth job to find another so lucrative, what a start to the day, still, it was Friday the 13th”.
Ted Salmon looked into his rear view mirror. There was no sign of any cops, so he pressed down his right foot and old Bessie moved on with a rapid response, though the caravan was swaying a little. He had second thoughts “better be safe than sorry, tipping the bloody old girl over was the last thing he wanted, oh well nearly there, “oh shit” he thought as he rounded the bend.
He saw the lay-by directly in front of him, the very location for truckers to stop for a mid morning drink, having probably missed their early breakfasts. “Still”, he thought, “I should make up for it at lunch time. Ted Salmon and his fishy fries and steak pies were now well known”.
“On Christ, what now?”
As he pulled onto the lay-by, there in front of him was a bloody cop car, at best it would be free bacon sandwiches and coffee, still it was better than being moved on, “if only he had bought that bloody licence”, he thought.
He stopped and only then realised with his mind wandering that he had not heard the blasting of the police car siren, nor, the blue flashing lights. A bit odd he thought, still, not unknown the cops often waited for wide loads in this lay-by due to its length and width.
He parked up, left his car and jumped out, unsteadily, since he had put on the last stone in weight. He opened up the food caravan, “Jesus that siren is loud”.
“Ah, just in time here comes a “Chester Trucks” known as the slow coach lorry, 40 miles per hour no matter the weather the journey or anything between”.
The driver, Eric Rawlings was soon approaching, a tall thin man, “one would never guess he was a trucker living on roadside food”, thought Ted, still business was business.
Christ the items were not even on, never mind cooked, “ah” he thought, “Last night’s leftovers, they will soon warm up in the microwave”.
“Hi Ted,” said the driver, “what the fuck is all the noise from the cop car?”
“I have no idea it was like that when I arrived ten minutes ago, you can always go and ask the bastards to turn it off”.
“Not likely Ted, I know what I would like to tell or do for them”.
“Now, now, here is your usual a sausage sarney with brown sauce and a mug of coffee”.
“Thanks Ted”.
“Come to think of it Eric, it is strange, the only way is to go and offer them something for nothing, it usually works with the cops”.
Eric laughed though couldn’t speak as his mouth was full of bread and sausage and the brown sauce was already dripping from his chin onto his now just as brown shirt collar.
“Shit”, said Ted “I will go and see what these cops are playing at; it will be worth a couple of freebees to get some peace and quiet”.
“Not forgetting the longer they are here the more likely drivers especially dodgy foreign drivers were likely to drive on by”.
He stopped at the front passenger’s door of the immaculate white police car and it’s mass of red and yellow stripes. He could see cops inside they were looking straight ahead, he tapped on the window there was no response, and so he banged harder, still nothing.
The noise was so loud no wonder; he took a deep breath, opened the front passenger door and tapped the seated officer on the shoulder. Once touched he slumped forward falling onto the dashboard. As his head hit the dashboard, his face turned to the left and Ted could see the fixed glaze in both eyes. He looked up and across at the driver who was strapped in. There was no need to touch him; the fixed glazed eyes and open mouth said it all.
Neither looking nor investigating any further he left, slamming the door shut as he ran back with all haste.
“What the fuck is the matter?” said Eric.
“They are both dead”.
“Who is dead, Ted?”
“The two fucking cops in the car. They are both as dead as door nails”.
“Jesus I am out of here, I don’t want any bother with this shit, any time soon this place will be crawling with cops, in two shakes of a ducks arse the law will be everywhere”.
With that Eric turned and ran, scrambling at top speed into his lorry and was away.
This caused Ted to think as he was now desperately attempting to get his mobile phone out of his ever increasingly tight pocket.
“That bastard Eric, he was soon off, the forty miles per hour limit didn’t seem to matter now and the shit bag didn’t even pay for his sarney and coffee.