Press Play for Murder

PRESS PLAY FOR MURDER

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my home!" The man stood
leaning against the open doorway to the flat, his snarled words aimed
at the two gentlemen who stood conversing together in the middle of the
room. The two men, who both carried solemn expressions on their faces
and whose grey flannel suits reflected the late hour, reacted with
professional sobriety.
"Mr Perry?" The elder of the two men approached the newcomer.
"Who wants to know?" growled the man once more, staggering awkwardly
into the room while exhaling clouds of beer laden breath in deep, heavy
puffs.
"My name is Inspector North. This is Sergeant Cooper. I'm afraid we've
got some bad news for you, Mr Perry."
"What?" The man had slumped into a nearby armchair and didn't seem to
have heard.
"I'm afraid we've got some bad news for you, sir," repeated the
detective. "There's been a terrible accident."
The young Sergeant Cooper sent a querying glance to his superior. Mr
Perry had obviously spent the evening drinking and looked mentally and
physically shattered. The man had a heavily-lined face, shadowed by
several days growth of dark bristle and topped by a thin layer a grey,
scraggy hair. North, however, decided to show the man a little more
patience.
"Lucy?" Mr Perry then said, raising his head and glancing from one
detective to the other. His voice was calmer and the mumbled sounds had
been forced.
"No, your daughter is safe and sound," replied North. "She's next door
with Mrs Robbins. I'm afraid it's you wife, Mr Perry."
"My wife?" Mr Perry began to tremble.
"I'm afraid so."
North went on to explain, as compassionately as he could, how only a
few hours ago Mr Perry's daughter, Lucy, had come home from the cinema
with a friend and had found her mother dead in the bath. Mrs Perry had
been electrocuted. The mains radio she had been listening to had
somehow fallen into the water. Lucy's screams had brought Mrs Robbins
round from next door, 'as fast as her bandy legs could carry her',
according to the words she later used to describe her panic, and it was
she who had dialled 999. She had stayed with Lucy until the police
arrived and then took the devastated girl back to her own home. It had
not taken the police long to arrive at the Perry's home, a flat
situated on the 5th floor of a high rise on the West Firton Estate. The
roads that led to the estate reputed as 'sensitive' were travelled on
daily by the police.
Mr Perry sat silently in his chair, staring down at the heavily worn
carpet. His forehead glistened under a layer of perspiration and his
body shivered from time to time in short uncontrollable bursts. Yet he
listened without making a sound and North knew he had registered the
tragic news. It was a hell of a way to sober up. A female officer
appeared with a cup of tea in her hands but Mr Perry refused. He felt
no need for warm commiseration.
"I told her a thousand times not to do that," said Mr Perry, in due
course, "I always said it was too dangerous".
"She liked her music, didn't she?" said North.
Mr Perry nodded. "Always had it on. Drove me mad half the time."
"I know this may not seem like the right time, Mr Perry, but I'm afraid
there's a few questions that I'm obliged to ask you."
Mr Perry remained immobile. North sat down on the sofa next to the
armchair where Mr Perry was slouched.
"Did she often have the radio on while she took a bath?"
"Yeah."
"And did she always connect it up to the mains like that?"
Mr Perry shrugged his shoulders. "Batteries never lasted long,"
"What about the extension lead? Did she always use that?"
Mr Perry gave the detective a puzzled stare. "No other way,' he
replied.
North had indeed noticed that there was no mains socket in the
bathroom, but wanted to hear the answer all the same. In the Perry's
flat if anyone wanted to connect something up to the mains in bathroom
then it was necessary to use an extension lead which was plugged in
elsewhere. Mrs Perry had used a socket in the bedroom opposite the
bathroom.
"There was a dinning chair in the corner of the bathroom," continued
North. "A chair identical to the three in this room. Has that chair
always been there?"
"Er, no," said Mr Perry, raising his eyebrows. "Why do you want to
know?"
"I know this may be painful, sir, but we have to consider all the
possible causes for your wife's death?"
Mr Perry stared up at the detective in aghast. His breathing got
noticeably heavier and a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his
face.
"What do you mean?"
"Domestic accidents where death is involved are not always accidental,"
replied North.
"Do you mean that you're suspecting.." Mr Perry broke off in mid
sentence.
"I'm terribly sorry, Mr Perry," said North acknowledging the man's
sufferance, "but the fact is, in a case like this, we must try to find
out whether the deceased may or may not have taken his or her own
life."
"Oh," exclaimed Mr Perry. He ejected a heavy sigh and wiped his brow
with a crumpled coffee-coloured handkerchief. It was always easier to
deal with a thought once it had been aired.
He shook his head. "No, she would never have done a thing like that."
Mr Perry was adamant. "She was a catholic, you know, went to church
every Sunday. They don't believe in things like that! It must have been
an accident."
"Well, this is what we're trying to establish," said the detective. "So
about the chair in the bathroom. Has it always been there?"
"No, it's usually in here with the rest of them."
"So we can say that your wife put the chair in the bathroom in order to
set the radio on?"
"Probably."
"You see, I don't think she would have gone to the trouble of putting a
chair in the bathroom to rest the radio on if she was, er, planning to
commit suicide," said North. "Do you see what I mean?"
Mr Perry nodded. "So you think it was an accident, then?" he
asked.
North smiled reassuringly. "Probably."
Mr Perry dropped his head into his hands.
"I can't believe she's dead," he moaned. "I can't believe I won't see
her again."
"What do you care!"
For the second time that evening the two detectives were interrupted by
angry tones coming from the entrance of the flat. Only this time they
were taken by surprise. It was Lucy Perry, the daughter, who had
earlier been a bundle of tears and finding comfort in the arms of her
neighbour.
"How can you say a thing like that?" her father hastily shouted
back.
"Cos the way you treated her, she couldn't have meant much to you!"
There was hurt in the girl's voice. Lucy was in her late teens. She was
rather slim with long straight mousy brown hair. She had high cheeks
bones set on a flat face and she was blossoming prettily. However, her
recent tears has swollen and reddened her gentle facial features. North
knew that death made people react differently and furthermore, their
reactions were unpredictable. Anger, bitterness and reproach were
common feelings among the bereaved. He intercepted the girl before she
managed to get face to face with her father.
"Come on, love," he said gently. "You need to support each other at a
time like this, not be at each other's throats."
Lucy shrugged him off.
"So you never hit her, did you? Never humiliated her or shouted at
her?" she accused her father with a wretched fury.
"We fought just like everybody else!"
"You made her life a misery!"
"Your mother was no saint!" retorted Mr Perry.
"She was to live with you. Working long hard hours then coming come and
doing all the cooking and cleaning and putting up with all the abuse
from you!"
"She gave as good as she got!"
It was quite obvious that the pair were used too fighting for either to
back off voluntarily. North signalled to Cooper to take care of the
girl and escort her gently back next door. It wasn't an easy task for
the Sergeant. Lucy struggled and Cooper obviously didn't want to hurt
her.
"Please, Miss Perry, do as the Inspector asked," he pleaded with
her.
"Just tell me you had nothing to do with it," she screamed at her
father. She may have been only a small girl but she had a will of
iron.
"What!"
"You heard. Tell me you're not responsible for her death."
"You think I could've done.."
"Just tell me!" She wasn't going leave without an answer. Cooper
stopped. He also seemed interested in the answer.
"No. I didn't. I swear. I was with Mickey when it happened."
"He's a good for nothing liar!"
"He wouldn't lie now. He liked your mum. I swear. Mickey called at half
eight and I've been with him all evening." The latter half was directed
at the detective.
The girl suddenly burst into tears, and collapsed in Cooper's arms. He
finally managed to escort her back next door. After seeing her back
into the bosom of Mrs Robbins he instructed the WPC to stay with her
until they'd finished with Mr Perry. When he got back Mr Perry was
rambling nervously on about his daughter's reaction.
"She doesn't mean it, you know. It's true, about her mother and me, I
mean. We didn't get on most of the time. I've got of a bit of a drink
problem, but I wouldn't kill her. Honest, I wouldn't."
Instead of reassuring the man as he normally would have done, North had
remained silent during Cooper's absence and as soon as his young
Sergeant came back he called him over to one corner of the room to
confer with him.
"You're not really going to take what she said seriously, are you?"
asked Mr Perry, his voice trembling. It worried him to see the two
detectives whispering to each other. However, their conference was
brief.
"Sorry, Mr Perry," said North, turning back to address the man. "But I
was just deciding with my colleague on the course of action we should
take next. I know it's late but there are still a few more questions I
would like to ask, so I hope you don't mind co-operating a little
further with us."
Mr Perry was hesitant. He felt uneasy but finally agreed.
"Thank you," said North. "Now, as you brought the subject up yourself,
could you confirm the time you went out and left your wife?"
"Half past eight."
"Are you quite sure about this? It's very important. We'll need an
exact time for the inquest," explained North with extreme
seriousness.
Mr Perry was impressed into a short silence. He opened his mouth to
speak but his voice faltered so he nodded his head instead.
North stared long and hard at the man.
"Good. Now, perhaps you could give us your friend's name?
"Michael Jones," said Mr Perry.
The Sergeant Cooper's pen danced busily over his notebook.
"And where does he live?"
"Two floors up."
"Number?"
"7E."
As soon as his pen had stopped moving, the Sergeant Cooper left the
flat. Mr Perry watched him leave with a certain unease, his eyes
following the now invisible policeman as he made his way up the two
flights of concrete stairs and along the hall to where Mickey lived and
was now probably collapsed onto his bed.
"He's gone to see Mickey now, hasn't he?"
"Yes, I told you we'll need his statement. It's standard procedure, and
the sooner we get this cleared up the better, I think."
Mr Perry began to have doubts about the detective's motives.
"Your daughter has told us that she'd already left with a friend to go
to the cinema before Mrs Perry got home," continued North. "So I gather
you were here on your own when your wife came home?"
Mr Perry turned his head back towards the detective and nodded once
more.
"What time did she get home?"
"Usual."
"What time is usual?"
"Sevenish. She finishes at the supermarket at half six."
"And what happened when she came home? Did she go straight to have her
bath?"
"No. My wife, she, er, we had dinner. She had her bath after
that."
"What time?"
"About eight."
"And then?"
"At half eight Mickey called and we went to the pub."
"Did your friend come in?"
"No."
"So he didn't see your wife?"
"She was in the bath!" replied Mr Perry, anger creeping into his
voice.
North remained as stoical as ever.
"He might have called out to her, said hello or something like
that?"
"Well he didn't. He knocked on the door and I went out!"
"O.K. So your wife was in the bath. Was the door closed?"
"Yes."
"Now Mr Perry," began North, "I'm going to ask you a very serious
question and I want you to think about this very carefully. Was your
wife alright when you left."
Mr Perry didn't give himself enough time to understand the real nature
of North's question. In frustration, he shouted out his answer before
the detective had finished speaking.
"Of course she was!"
North sighed. "How can you be sure?"
"I knocked on the door to tell her I was off and she said 'see you
later'".
"'See you later'?" repeated North.
Mr Perry hesitated. "Something like that anyway."
North paused and took several paces about the room before continuing.
He glanced several times at Mr Perry but the man appeared to have
nothing else to add.
"Had your wife been depressed lately?" he finally asked.
Mr Perry shrugged his shoulders.
"Nothing had upset her?"
"On the contrary, she'd just booked a weekend coach tour with her best
mate."
North hummed pensively.
"Was it usual for your wife to take a bath at that time?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, what about the television. Wasn't there anything she would have
liked to watch at that time?"
"I don't know!" replied Mr Perry.
"There's a very popular quiz show on Thursday evenings. I usually watch
it myself. It's on at 8 o'clock. Did your wife like to watch this
programme?"
"Probably but tonight she decided to have a bath."
"She could have done both. I see you have a video recorder. She might
have taped it. Did she know how to work the machine."
Mr Perry shrugged his shoulders once more but North had had plenty of
experience at recognising flippancy during his career and assumed the
answer to be yes.
At this point the Sergeant Cooper came back into the flat. As he
entered he caught the Inspector's gaze and gave a short quick nod.
North acknowledged his Sergeant's message with a checked smile and
continued his interrogation.
"When we arrived there was a cassette in the recorder. Let me show you
what is on the cassette."
North manipulated the video recorder and within a few seconds images of
a female contestant on a quiz show came onto the screen. North let the
tape run enough to see the lady answer a few questions and then he
stopped it. Mr Perry's face was blank.
"I watched to show myself tonight. So I can tell you that this is a
recording of tonight's show."
"There you are then," said Mr Perry, "she recorded it. I don't see what
difference that makes."
"No, perhaps you don't," said North. "Let me play the cassette a little
more for you."
He pressed the play button again. More images of same contestant
flashed back onto the screen. There was time for one more question and
a round of applause before the screen went suddenly blank.
"What's that!" cried Mr Perry.
"As you can see, the recording stops," said North
matter-of-factly.
"I can see that," shouted Mr Perry. "But what does it mean?"
"The explanation is quite simple," said North. "The radio was connected
up to the socket in the bedroom by means of an extension lead, because
there's no socket in the bathroom. Right? The socket in the bedroom is
adjacent to this room. It happens to be on the same circuit as the TV
and video. When the radio came in contact with the water it blew the
fuse and everything on that circuit went dead. The video stopped
recording."
Mr Perry was dumbfounded.
"Sergeant Cooper replaced the fuse when we arrived," explained North.
"So perhaps you can now see what all this is leading to. You saw that
the recording stopped at certain place. I also told you that I, myself,
watched the programme this evening. So I can tell you that the point at
which the video stopped recording was early on in the programme. I
would estimate the time between 10 and a quarter past eight. So that
means that when you left, at half past eight, your wife was already
dead. She did not say 'see you later' as you claim. You have lied to us
Mr Perry and I can think of only one reason why you should do such a
thing."
Mr Perry was trembling. "Perhaps I got the time wrong."
"My Sergeant has just been to see your friend Mickey. I think he has
confirmed what you first told us, that he came here at half past eight.
Isn't that right Sergeant?"
"Yes, no mistake there. Half past eight. It was, in fact, after one of
his own favourite programmes had finished," stated Cooper.
"I didn't murder her," exclaimed Mr Perry.
"I'm afraid that's what it's looking like right now, Mr Perry. And it's
my duty to inform you that I'm going to have to arrest upon suspicion
of murder. I must admit that I wasn't too happy when I saw the chair in
the corner of the bathroom. It showed that your wife was a prudent
lady. She put the chair as far away from the bathtub as possible. Even
with all my imagination, I couldn't very well see her reaching out to
change stations or adjust the volume and then having the radio fall
into the water."
"I didn't murder her." Mr Perry's body twitched violently in his chair.
His breathing became irregular and North could see that he was on the
verge of revealing a painful truth.
The two detectives stared expectantly at the man, their silence
prompting him to continue.
"It was an accident. We'd had another fight. She kept going on at me,
even when she was in the bath. She said I was gutless. I went in there.
I saw the radio and I picked it up. I just wanted to frighten her, but
it slipped. It was an accident. I swear."
"But you are responsible for her death," insisted North. "And
furthermore, you left your daughter to discover her mother's
death!"
"Who would've believed it was an accident?" moaned Mr Perry.
He put his head in his hands and sobbed. North observed the man for a
few seconds. The detective was not an insensitive man but he could
never be sure who the culprit was crying for in such moments, for the
victim or himself. He usually refrained from making any comments. It
would be up to others to judge.
Cooper raised Mr Perry to his feet and attached a pair of handcuffs on
him. Mr Perry offered no resistance. As they left the flat he turned
his head and glanced back over his shoulder at the room as he would
probably see it for the last time. He then turned to North and
said.
"It was my fault, but please, don't say it was murder."