Writing for Fun
December 2018
Alibi - Jeanette Rothwell
Police Constable Brown gulped, pulled out his notebook and pencil, threw back his shoulders and made his way to the first floor flat number on his list. His sergeant had just instructed him to interview all the flat occupants, listed by the House Manager, who had not been present at the Christmas party held in the communal lounge on the previous evening.
A robbery had taken place during that time while many of the residents of Dunroamin House had enjoyed the Christmas knees up. This meant that the partygoers had an alibi for the time of the robbery but a number of residents had not attended and must therefore be eliminated from the enquiry.
Dunroamin House was a retirement complex occupied by residents who were over 65, and was overseen by a House Manager, Miss Jennings, who had an office on the ground floor. This office had been broken into together with her locked desk, and £200 in cash had been taken and Miss Jennings had discovered the theft late last night when she left the party and went to collect her coat from her office.
The Christmas £200 in cash had been withdrawn from the bank yesterday to enable her to pay various outstanding bills and Christmas tips to tradesmen before everybody broke up for the festive holiday. Miss Jennings had locked the money away in a cash tin which she also locked away in her desk drawer and the office itself had also been locked.
She was quite distressed and summoned the police immediately. There was very little the police could do that evening apart from looking for fingerprints which was particularly difficult as a lot of the residents also visited the office to see Miss Jennings for various purposes. She had a list of the partygoers and confirmed that they had all attended.
PC Brown was a fairly new recruit and although he had been trained on interview techniques, he still found it very challenging to question people on their whereabouts without making it sound as if he was accusing them of something. He was told to say there had been an incident the previous evening and not give details, but interviewees always wanted more details and he had to be vague and not give anything away. He was slightly built and had only just made the regulation height, but he was fairly fit and deceptively strong, but he had already discovered that the public thought he was no threat to their freedom!
Flat Number 3 was his first call. A very elderly and frail lady answered the door and he asked her very kindly where she had been the previous evening.
‘Young man,’ she said, ‘I’m sure you can tell that I do not go to parties and certainly hardly ever leave my flat. Whatever incident you are investigating, I am not the person you are looking for. Good Day to you.’ With that she shut the door firmly and PC Brown was left with his mouth open ready to ask the next question. Shutting his notebook, he moved on to the next flat which was on the next floor at No. 7.
This time the door was opened by an extremely large elderly man. He carried a walking stick and looked decidedly bad tempered. It seemed he had been having a nap and PC Brown’s knock had woken him rather rudely, he inferred.
The constable explained his reason for disturbing him, apologising profusely. The large man grunted, asked again why he was being questioned, and PC Brown explained about eliminating him from their enquiries.
‘Hmph,’ grunted the large man ‘Whatever incident you are investigating? I was watching the football and nobody but nobody would stop me from that so you can take your enquiries elsewhere.’ Once again the door was firmly shut in the constable’s face.
He sighed and consulted his notebook. Only 10 more to go. Next on to No. 9. Miss Jennings had warned him that this occupant was very deaf and he would have to knock very loudly and shout his questions. ‘Here goes,’ he thought. The door knocker echoed loudly in the corridor but he had to use it several times before the door was opened. His notebook told him that it was a Mrs Hollingshead who was 94. She was very startled to see a Policeman at the door and PC Brown swiftly repeated his question in as loud a voice as he could manage.
‘There’s no need to shout, Constable,’ she admonished, ‘I’m not that deaf.’
He said he was sorry for shouting and then repeated his question. She muttered something under her breath and then said, ‘OK Constable, I’ll come quietly; I did forget to pay for that bar of chocolate I put in my bag yesterday. It’s a fair cop!’
The Constable also muttered under his breath, something about old people and being made to look a fool. He thanked Mrs Hollingshead, assured her he was not interested in the bar of chocolate and left hurriedly. He could hear her cackling like a witch long after the door was closed on him. He was not enjoying himself.
Next floor and No. 10. A Mr Jones. Bit of a comedian according to Miss Jennings. Prone to playing pranks on other residents. Very Welsh. ‘Hello Boyo, do you want to handcuff me now?’ PC Brown bit back his reply and politely asked his question. Mr Jones laughed and invited the Constable in for a ‘snifter’. The policeman politely declined and repeated his enquiry.
‘Well, I wasn’t here cos my daughter fetched me to have dinner at her house and to see my grandchildren. I got back at about 9.30 but I did see there was someone in the downstairs office which was unusual. Is that any help? I know you haven’t said what the incident was but some of my neighbours seem to think something happened in the office last night’
At last PC Brown felt that he was getting somewhere, and questioned Mr Jones further in case he had been able to see who was in the office as the partition to the office was made of glass and the occupants could always be seen but Mr Jones had only noticed that the light was on. PC Brown thought this was strange as any burglar would surely have worked in the dark.
Two floors up and No 15. An elderly couple who had frequent visitors because they had a large family. The door was opened by a young boy who shouted, ‘Granddad, it’s the Bill.’ His Granddad came to the door hurriedly muttering what he would do to grandchildren who told lies. He was brought up short by seeing the Constable and apologised for his grandson’s rudeness. PC Brown chuckled and said some thing like boys will be boys and asked his question. The Grandad replied that he and his wife spent a quiet evening watching television and had an early night. He was sorry he couldn’t help.
Slowly the Policeman began to trudge up the stairs when he heard Miss Jennings calling him up the stair well from the ground floor. She was asking him to come down so he turned and retraced his steps. When he reached her, she was looking decidedly frazzled and standing by her side was a red faced young man scowling at the floor, hands in his pockets, shuffling his feet.
‘Constable, I am so sorry. The mystery has been solved. My idiot of a nephew has confessed that he took the money last night. He has returned the cash and is extremely sorry. I will not be pressing charges but I am insisting that he pays for the damage he did to the office door and my desk.’
PC Brown wasn’t sure what to do. The young man had to have a stern warning and it had wasted police time, but what on earth was he to tell his sergeant.
‘Why on earth did you steal the money?’ he asked Miss Jennings’ nephew.
‘I saw her put the money away yesterday when I popped in with some Christmas Cards and I wanted to buy my mum a present for Christmas because she has been a bit fed up and needed cheering up.’
‘You could hardly cheer her up by using stolen money.’
‘I was only going to use some of it and put the rest back.’
Miss Jennings gave a gasp. ‘What made you think you could get away with it?
‘Well, you’re only going to give it to some of those chaps who deliver the supplies so I thought it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t get such a big tip.’
At this point PC Brown decided to make his exit and leave the young rascal and his aunt to their argument. Trying to extract alibis from the general public was a task at which he hoped to improve. It was not a part of policing he enjoyed. He would much rather catch a burglar or wrestle a hardened criminal to the ground than tactfully ask an elderly member of the public to give themselves an alibi.