Katrina

THE MISSING CAT

Jake shivered as he got out of his warm Patrol car; the radio operator
had said there was in incident on Duke Street. What kind of incident
she did not know as the caller had disconnected the phone before she
could ask for more information or even his name. It was 13.30 almost
time to call it a day, Jake hoped it was not going to hold them up long
he disliked begin called on near the end of his shift, especially as it
had been quite a busy morning. Sam shivered as he joined him on the
pavement looking about at the few people standing about; there were not
many people out and about in this cold weather.
The cold snap had started five days ago, after some heavy rain the
temperature had dropped dramatically and had changed the landscape
overnight. The bleak winter countryside had been transformed overnight;
the dark branches and twigs of the leafless trees had a fine white
tracery of frost over them, making them look like lace. The ground
beneath was white with the frost and animals in the fields huddled
together to keep warm, their breath hanging in the still air.
There was a lot to do the day the frost came. On the bi-pass there were
a number of accidents, the usual thing, black ice and speed do not mix
well. Jake and Sam had been on early shift, there had been plenty to
keep them busy all this week. Sam, a married man, had been in the force
for years and loved his job. Jake a friendly young man was just into
his second year and he was keen to get on; they got on well together,
and often worked the same shifts. They had been called out to the
Southside area of town to see an old lady about her cat; Mrs Jennings
was convinced it was stolen. Jake and Sam could not see why anyone
would steal a cat when there were so many around the town. This cat was
special, Mrs. Jennings had insisted, and she was worth a lot of money.
Sam said she would come home when she was hungry, which did not go down
well and upset the confused old lady quite a lot.
They accepted the offered tea and sat down to get all the details from
Mrs. Jennings, they were looking for a very large white Persian cat,
called Katrina, who was three years old and expecting kittens. They
took one of the many photographs of the cat and left the house to look
around outside, promising to return later.
The cat had only been gone twelve hours and they thought Mrs. Jennings
was getting hysterical by the time they left the house. Sam had joked
about trying to find a white cat in the white frosty fields nearby.
They had knocked on the neighbour's doors to request access, and then
the two policemen had looked around the neighbouring garden sheds and
outhouses of the Victorian houses, convinced the cat would be hiding
somewhere warm to have her kittens. None of the neighbours had seen the
white cat, and one said they didn't know that Mrs. Jennings had a cat.
There were not many people out in the freezing cold. The pavements were
icy and staying on your feet was a challenge.
Back down at the Police station the superintendent had heard about
their call out, and told them to find the cat, he added that Mrs.
Jennings was an important lady. Jake made copies of the photo with a
missing cat message underneath; he said he'd get them put them up
around town. They popped back to show Mrs. Jennings and she asked them
to put one in the local shop. Jake felt sorry for the elderly lady; he
quite liked cats, not that he could keep one in his little flat. They
reassured Mrs. Jennings again as they left that the cat would turn up
and she should not worry.
During the following days the local radio put out a request for any
information as to the whereabouts of Katrina, and if they saw her to
give them a call. Mrs. Jennings was on the phone at least twice a day,
crying and insisting her cat was stolen. Everyone at the station was
getting fed up with her but only Sam voiced his opinion. 'I don't care
if her cat is frozen stiff, this cold is getting me down.'
He was stressed, he had frozen pipes in his house, and his wife was on
holiday at his sisters in Spain. The plumber was busy and his
neighbour's pipes had burst. He hated the cold with a vengeance, how he
wished he were with his wife in Spain.
On day four of the big freeze, Jake had taken the latest call from Mrs.
Jennings, before he went home for the day. He asked again if she could
tell him anything else about Katrina's habits, what day were the
kittens due, he even asked what she liked to eat. Mrs. Jennings was
sounding very confused and getting upset and insisting her cat had been
stolen. Then she started talking about her husband. Mr Jennings had
been dead for several years Jake knew this, the Super had told him. He
also told him a bit about Mr. Jennings, that he had been a well-liked
businessman in the town, a keen naturalist; he did taxidermy as a hobby
and had interests in many things.
Bt ten o'clock that night the temperature had dropped again and
everywhere was glistening in the moonlight, it was set to be another
freezing cold night. Jake thought how pretty everything looked as he
stood at the window in his flat, he wondered if Katrina was somewhere
safe and warm.
On the fifth day after the frost had started, Sam and Jake arrived at
work at 8 a.m. It was not quite so cold, that is out of the cold wind
that had started during the night. The sun was trying to warm things up
a little; secretly they both hoped it was the end of the hard frost.
The trees dripped, ice melted from rooftops, gutters and pavements. In
the fields the sparse winter grass showed again.
Most of the work Jake and Sam did throughout the morning had been
pretty routine stuff, but suddenly all that changed. Mrs. Jennings 's
call was put through to Jakes desk. He could hear her voice loud and
clear 'I've had a letter, a ransom note, it's from a man, he wants
money from me before he will give me Katrina back. I have to see you he
wants the money today.'
Jake and Sam spoke to their boss he said they would get the note and
take things from there, it could be a prank, there had been a lot of
coverage of the 'missing moggie' Sam went to get the patrol car and
they set off for the Southside part of town, it was only a few miles
the other side of the town centre.
As they drove away from the Police Station through the town a call came
through for all cars, 'incident in Duke Street any cars in the area?
Jake radioed back to say it was just around the corner and they would
divert there right away.
Jake shivered again, Sam shivered as they joined the people standing
about. They were all looking at the pavement where a man lay in a
crumpled heap. Sam approached the man, talking to him, as he got
nearer, Jakes radio crackled into life again, the lady on control said
Mrs. Jennings had phoned and she had decided to pay the ransom today.
'Tell her to wait,' he replied, 'we need back up and an ambulance here
in Duke Street.'
Sam was on his knees, there was no response from the man who had a
small amount of blood on his jacket, Sam turned to Jake, 'Too late I
think.' Jake bent to help him.
A siren could be heard in the distance, then the ambulance arrived and
the paramedics hurried towards Jake and Sam, who were still on their
knees trying to resuscitate the man.
The paramedics asked if he had spoken to them, but they said no. They
did their best, and eventually they agreed that there was nothing they
could do, he was dead, it looked as if he had been stabbed in the
chest. The autopsy would give them the answers; they covered him with a
blanket and stood up. Sam and Jake were deep in their own thoughts;
they felt awful, it was never good to find some-one dead, but in a
quiet street with no apparent reason it was worse. A sudden crack above
them brought them back to life and a huge icicle broke away from the
top guttering of the old building and crashed to the ground, feet away
from the police and paramedics. Sam and Jake looked at each other in
amazement, 'Surely not?' said one of the paramedics. Maybe it was a
freak accident and an icicle had hit him.
'Right everyone move away from the building.' shouted Sam 'we don't
want another accident.' Alerted by the sirens, more people were
arriving in Duke Street, they crowded forward to see what they could
which was not very much. Another police car had arrived and one of the
new policemen on the scene was kept busy moving these people
away.
Sam and Jake put their training into practice, Jake radioed into the
Station and requested the police Doctor and a photographer, and then
they sealed off the area with police tape. One of the by-standers
pointed to the phone in the nearby phone box, it was hanging off the
hook. Another person shouted 'Do you know who he is?'
The policemen spoke to the five people that had been there in the
street when Sam and Jake arrived, no one had seen what had happened and
no one knew the man. Well that was untrue, Sam said 'lets take another
look at this chap. I 'm sure I know his face.'
They lifted the blanket and looked at him for a while; then Sam almost
laughed 'I know who it is, I've not seen him in years and years, it's
John Crighton he's got form a mile long. He was always stealing things
to make a fast buck. I thought he was in prison' they covered him over
again.
The paramedics cleared up their things, had a quite word with Sam, and
then sat in the ambulance to wait until they could remove the
body.
Sam and Jake had a made list of the peoples names and address's and
asked them to leave it was cold and there was nothing for them to see.
They thought it was just a tragic accident.
John Crighton was confirmed dead by the doctor, he was then
photographed and taken to the morgue in the in the ambulance. They
looked around of a weapon of any kind but could find none.
Sam and Jake returned to the police station, they were both thoroughly
chilled from being in the cold wind and longed for a mug of hot tea,
but there was no time. Police work was never great in freezing cold
winter conditions if you were out and about working; it was OK if you
were sitting at a desk writing reports in the warm station.
Jake then spotted the note beside his phone, about Mrs. Jennings going
to pay the ransom; he had almost forgotten that's where they had been
going before the Duke Street business. Jake put through a call to Mrs
Jennings to say they had been delayed and someone would come to see her
right away. They could hear her sobbing and saying would they please
get her cat back, please get Katrina, I'll pay the money right now I've
been to the bank.'
They were supposed to be off duty but they had a few notes to write up
and information to pass on to the next shift. They got their mugs of
tea and sent out two of their fellow officers, Constable Smith and a
young trainee policewoman Lillian, to see Mrs Jennings, with
instructions to keep her calm. They didn't really want her to have to
pay to get her pet back.
The police superintendent had requested an immediate autopsy and the
medical examiner knew he would be working late into the evening to
establish a cause of death. In a pocket of the clothes John Crighton
had been wearing that day had been a rent book and a piece of paper
with an address on it. Before the doctor had even started the autopsy
Constable Timothy and his partner Sergeant James went to the flat in
the town that had been rented by the deceased; The landlord spoke to
the police, he knew John was just out of prison and said he knew of no
next of kin. 'It's a tragedy,' he added, John told me he was going to
be Ok from now and not go back inside. Said he was due to get some
money to set himself up, what a shame.'
The police asked some other questions then had a quick look about the
flat. They sealed up the door and said they would be back in the
morning to go over everything in the flat. The next visit was to the
address on the paper. It was in the Southside part of town and to their
surprise there was a patrol car parked outside. The two policemen
looked at each other, Sgt. James led the way up the path and rang the
bell; Mrs Jennings greeted them and said, 'have you got Katrina?'
It was at that moment they realised that this was the lady with the
missing cat, everyone at the station knew about Katrina! They were
shown into the small back parlour where the two other constables were
sitting with cups of tea in their hands. Mrs Jennings enjoying all the
police attention asked if they would like tea. 'That would be lovely
thank you,' Sergeant James said. Lillian offering to help and went off
into the kitchen. 'What brings you two here? Enquired Smith, ' Have you
found the cat-knapper?' He chuckled at his attempt at humour.
'No we've come to see the house holder to see if they knew John
Crighton, the man who died in Duke Street this afternoon' said Sgt.
James.
The tea arrived and the questions were asked, but Mrs Jennings did not
know of anyone of that name, why should she? Constable Smith explained
they had stayed a bit longer with Mrs Jennings as she was so upset, the
man who had written in his note that he would phone at five to arrange
to collect the money and return the cat. They had been there at five
and there had been no phone call, at which point Mrs Jennings had been
hysterical and they had taken quite a while to get her settled.
It was agreed they would all go back to the station and they asked if
there was anyone who could stay with Mrs Jennings but she said she was
OK now and would telephone if the kidnapper called.
It was Lillian who put two and two together; she spread out the now,
tearstained ransom note and asked for the piece of paper with the
address on it. It was put next to the letter and they could all see
that the writing looked the same.
The following morning the autopsy report was at the police station, it
showed death from a stab wound which had penetrated the heart, it had
been instant and accounted for the fact there was little bleeding from
the wound on his chest. The doctor said whatever had stabbed him had
been very sharp and long and had been thrust in with a lot of force.
The angle of the wound suggested that the person who had stabbed John
Crighton was much taller then the victim which would have made him over
six feet tall. There were no traces of any metal or anything else in
the body, which puzzled him a lot. If it was an icicle it was probably
just a tragic accident.
Arriving at work Jake and Sam were sent to go through John Crighton's
flat, the landlord showed them the way, asking if they knew the cause
of death? They could not give out that information they said. In the
flat they systematically went through the dead mans possessions, there
wasn't much, but there was a large box, well taped up in the bottom of
the wardrobe that interested them. It had an address they recognised on
it. They told the landlord they were taking it to the station in
connection with their investigations.
Back in the police station the box was put on the desk and Jake started
to pull off the tape. 'I think we should bring in the boss.' said Sam.
'OK give him a call, this will take a while.' replied Jake. Their boss
was interested to hear they had a box with Mrs Jennings address on it
that had come from the dead mans flat, he arrived in the room just as
Jake was pulling off the last piece of tape; he lifted the lid of the
box and let out a gasp.'You know she was right it has been stolen,' he
said. Inside the box was a white Persian cat; it was frozen in time,
stuffed and mounted on a lovely wooden plinth, engraved on a small
copper plate were the words 'Katrina, Best in Show 2000'