Entry #659770, added on 07-18-09 @ 6:28 pm EDT
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| Chapter Thirty Six | Entry #659770 |
Chapter Thirty Six
“Stubbs, we need to talk.” Assistant Commissioner Rawlings had been temporarily sent from Scotland Yard to take over the vacant position left by Superintendent Jennings. From the moment he arrived he made it very clear that he was more than capable of doing so. He was a large stocky built gentleman with a large handlebar moustache and bright red veiny cheeks. The immaculate shine from his bald head completed an image that set him up perfectly for schoolyard jeers and immature remarks from the constables behind his back. He was a ruthless judge of character though and spoke his mind exactly as he saw it. In the last week he had already suspended one officer for negligence of duty and broken the nose of another for answering back. Stubbs was wary of Rawlings, not because he feared him as the officers did, but because he was an unknown quantity and Stubbs didn’t want any more restraints put upon him. He had decided that what Rawlings didn’t know about he couldn’t interfere in. “Yes sir” Stubbs replied. Rawlings looked over to the constable whom stood guard to the staff room door in which they stood. The constable hadn’t heard the Assistant Commissioners comment and continued to stare hazy eyed into the distance. “Oi! Dopey!” The constable was snapped out of his dream and stood abruptly to attention. ”Sir!” The constable turned to Rawlings for some kind of instruction. “Go away!” Rawlings shouted. The constable quickly gathered his belongings and scrambled out of the room.
Rawlings turned back to Stubbs, his tone as he spoke was a lot softer and courteous. “There have been many things this last week that have turned my stomach. I’ve had to really search my soul and ask myself what is going wrong. Here we are trying to protect and serve the public and yet the very people we trust are monsters behind closed doors. Now I like you Stubbs, and I value my good men because they are hard to come by. But when you tell me that you believe there may be some conspiracy going on which involves the royal family or some weird experiments I say bollocks. Conspiracies are made by people who don’t have any facts or proof. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t care who’s involved it could be the bloody pope, but if you don’t have proof then I don’t wanna hear about it. You got it?” Stubbs looked at Rawlings with a visible amount of uncertainty on his face. “Look” Rawlings continued, “I trust you to do what you feel you gotta do to get your job done. People die every day, now I know this has become somewhat of a personal thing for you after the professors murder, but I trust your emotions will not cloud your judgement. There is something fishy going on I think you’re right, but if you come to me with nothing less than the facts I will personally hang you out to dry chief inspector. You will find yourself sweeping the shit from my stables for a long time. Do you understand?”
“I believe so Sir.”
“Right well then down to business. I hear your man has gained consciousness and is talking?”
“That’s right sir, I’m going to see him this morning to find out what he knows.”
“Good. Write it up then this afternoon I want you to meet me at the conservative club for a little Q&A with the locals there.”
“Sir?” Stubbs asked quizzically.
“Jennings used to hang out there a bit, thought we’d ask around, see what the consensus is. Any objections?” Rawlings asked this almost goadingly.
“No sir.” Stubbs nodded his head in agreement. He was going to keep his uncertainty to himself.
“Anyway I shall let you get to it. I’m off to stretch Barnaby and Burgho’s feet at what’s left of that lab, see if they can turn up anything. Bloody bloodhounds, useless both of em’ but you gotta humour the Commissioner.”
On his way to Henry’s room, chief inspector stubbs stopped off at the nurses station on the main corridor.
“Any news yet?” He asked of the junior officer on guard.
“I’m afraid not sir.” He replied.
“Be sure you let me know as soon as you hear anything.”
“Of course sir.”
“I’ll be interviewing Mr. Perkins if anyone should need me.”
“Yes sir.” Stubbs marched off visibly agitated.
When he arrived at Henry’s room he took a deep breath and clenched his fists in an attempt to gain some semblance of clarity. He reached for the door knob, turned it and entered the room. Stubbs’s eyes immediately focused upon the figure in the bed. It was the form of a man yet unrecognisable. Henry lay strapped to the bed, bloodied gauze covered most of his body in an attempt to stimulate skin growth. Odd tufts of hair sprung like leaks from the bandages around his head.
“It’s ok Chief, you can come closer. I won’t bite.” Henry’s voice was rough and raspy and carried a noticeable tinge of pain.
“Henry Perkins, it’s good to see you finally with us again.” Stubbs walked to the bedside and drew up a chair which he sat upon.
“I hear I owe you my life?” Henry began coughing at this remark as if the words disagreed with him.
“I’m hoping it will be worth it.”
“Don’t be like that Chief, I know you’re a good man. You stink of it.”
Stubbs sat back in his chair and took another deep breath as he let the words drift over him. After a brief moment of composure Stubbs leaned back in towards Henry.
“What happened?”
Henry chuckled through a half cough. “What do you mean? Who tried to blow me up?”
“For a start, yeah?”
“No-one.”
Stubbs shoulders dropped and instant annoyance emanated from him.
“Really?” The sarcasm clear within his tone.
“That’s right, no-one. Just like no-one slit the throat of your dear professor.”
Stubbs suddenly sat up, his glare intensified upon Henrys mouth as the words seemed to linger there.
“What do you know about that?”
“Oh I know a great deal about what goes on in London, especially when ‘no-one’ is involved.” Henry stressed the word ‘no-one’ as a clear indication that he in fact did know who the ‘no-one’ referred to. Stubbs lunged forward and grabbed Henry around his throat.
“Don’t fucking mess me about, if you know something you tell me.”
Henry began coughing and choking upon his own gasps for breath. The pain shot through his body making him grimace and flinch.
“OK,OK!” Stubbs lingered then returned to his seat.
“Well?” Stubbs asked.
Henry was gasping heavily as he fought back the pain still erupting around his body.
“Look, you piece of shit, this is how it stands; I’ve got countless people giving statements regarding you, it seems once they found out you survived the blast and was laid up here they all had a little story to tell us about you and your brother. Now we’ve already got accusations from murder to raping a cripple…”
“That was me fucking brother not me!”
“Is that so? The point being we had to assign officers to the hospital to prevent something nasty happening to you. Now I could just as easily look the other way and let one of them bastards in, they’d have a field day with you. So if you know stuff that points me in the right direction I strongly suggest you tell me.”
Henry attempted a half smile. “like I said Chief, you’re a good guy, you wouldn’t let them hurt me.”
Stubbs felt his anger rise at the smugness that he sensed was pouring from Henry. He lunged towards Henry’s foot, and grabbing his big toe he abruptly twisted it backwards until the bone broke. Henry began to scream as the pain surfaced through the underlying sting of his condition.
“FUCK!!! Fuck! Stop!!” Henry was bracing against his restraints and thrashing about trying to escape. Stubbs instantly aware that the screams may raise suspicion made his way to Henry’s head and held his hand over his mouth to stifle the noise. He leaned in close to Henry’s face and this time whispered to him.
“Over this past few months I’ve had my life turned upside down, everywhere I’ve gone people have died, the very people I trusted turned out to be the enemy, I can feel that I’m losing myself, the only thing I have left is my family. They are the only thing keeping me sane. But believe me, I wouldn’t trust me at this point in time, so don’t fucking push it. Everywhere trouble starts you always seem to be involved. Now I don’t know what you had to do with Jennings, but I can have a good guess, but you know something about Halloran’s murder and your gonna tell me. You obviously know a great deal about something, enough in fact for someone to want you dead in a big way. Now I don’t care what I have to do to you but you will tell me, do you understand?” As Stubbs spoke his whisper slowly became more fervent and the anger was clear in his voice. Henry nodded his head.
“Good.” Stubbs removed his hand from Henry’s face and wiped it across his coat. Henry Spat blood from his mouth, and visibly struggled to swallow. He then took several deep breaths before staring back at the Chief Inspector. Stubbs returned to his seat and again leaned in close towards Henry. “Just give me a name?”
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