By Lundy Langer
July 8 2012

Chapter 7  -  In which   Angels prepare for a must win match  -   A Doctor   is interviewed   and  Bert   tells  Clare Goodbody  what he thinks    ;  we meet a new character  and  the fourth estate closes in on Spinks. 

Author's note :- 

Time to draw some threads together  and get back to the rugby  - so the next episode is a bit – well bitty as we try to resolve the various  possibilities   that have emerged. Apparently professional writers have a big white board  with characters and plot on it so that they can keep track. All I have to rely on is an increasingly faulty memory which has to function despite the day job. Your indulgence is craved , therefor as inconsistencies  occur  . But I do promise you an interesting denouement 

I should also apologise for the delay in this latest episode. This has been due to serious incapacity in my left hand which has slowed down my typing to a considerable degree. Although my partner and long - time amanuensis did offer to help this was to no avail as   she was rendered  totally  insensible  once  she had seen that  picture of Steve Myler .

Friday Morning   - 08.00 hours     Hillary North the assistant coach at the Angels  turned to the tall balding figure beside him and  muttered between several expletives “  They  are just not with it  are they “

The “ They “  he referred to   were the thirty or more  young men of various shapes and sizes who in  the distinctive black and green training  kit  worn by the Angles    were going through a series of training routines on the back pitches at the Angles ground. Backs ran patterns and hurled balls about while  a group of heavier men grunted and groaned  at work on a scum machine.

Jack  Malcaster the Head coach and Director of Rugby looked down at the   but said nothing   he just grimaced.

“ it’s too damn quiet  out there “ said Hilary “ They should be shouting even swearing at one another  but they are not – it’s  just too quiet “ 

Jack  looked at the players and turned to North “  Your right – it’s the Joe thing – his death has really effected them  and we have got to get them up and ready for tomorrow.   I have spoken to them but …..” He paused and quite suddenly looked quite grey “ Uh Sorry mate  - I’ve got to go  - think I need the bog quickly “    and he walked quickly and half  ran back to the Angels  main ground gripping his stomach all the way.

“ Bloomin ‘eck “   said North “ not like our Jack to throw a wobbly    - Suppose is up to me then.”  

He blew hard and long on the whistle hanging from his neck   - the players stopped their activities and  walked over to North   as he gestured for them all to join him. 

Transcript    -of an Interview with Lionel Rathbone ,  Midhampton Police HQ    11.am    present Mr Lionel Rathbone  - his solicitor -  Ms Emma  Blair    ;   Acting Detective Inspector Frank Malcolm   ; Detective Constable Clare Goodbody.

Malcolm   -  So Mr Rathbone would you care to explain  what your car was doing in the car park to   the 69 Club between  10.30 and  10.45   last  Saturday Night I should mention for the record that we have CCTV footage of the car  which has been identified as being registered to yourself. Also the same CCTV footage shows  the deceased  Joe Falattu getting into the car and the car driving away. 

So  do you accept that it was your car  and were you the person seen talking to Joe Falattu  who then got into the car which drove away.   

Rathbone  -    I sometimes visit the 69 club   and was thinking of going in there on  Saturday night when I saw Joe Falattu  . He was with the religious lot , the demonstrators  he was handing out some sort of leaflet  and he came towards me presumably to give me a leaflet.  I panicked a bit thinking he would recognise my from my work at the Angles  and went forward to talk to him. 

Malcolm     What did you talk about then. 

Rathbone   -  I think I said “  Hello Joe   what are you doing  here ? “    He said something about “ Gods work “ and we then chatted for a bit  about the Angels and how he was settling in .  I then started to move towards my car and gestured to  Joe to follow me  which he did. 

Malcolm    Why did he get in your car ?

Rathbone  - I’m not sure -  I said it was late and I was going home and asked if could take Joe anywhere. He hesitated but eventually said “ Fine boss   you can take me to my place if it’s not out of your way “

Malcolm   So you gave him a lift home ?

Rathbone   Yes  , he lived in one of those flats in – what’s it called – you know just next to the Bingo  - by the Angels ground.  Everyone calls it Kiwi Corner.   Anyway I dropped him off right outside the Bingo and went straight home .

Malcolm    -  Did you talk about anything while you driving him home. ?

Rathbone    -   Well I talked to him mostly   about   the Angels   and mentioned a few players and their injuries that I had treated.   He just said yes and no sort  of thing      and thanked me for the lift.  If you ask me he seemed to be  very down if not depressed.  

Malcolm    So he didn’t ask you what you were doing outside the 69 club ?

Rathbone   - No  he didn’t 

Malcolm -  Well  Mr Rathbone that’s very interesting.  You just happened to be there and  seeing Joe Falattu  offered him a lift home and he got out of your car outside the Bingo hall  - and you drove off to your home?

Rathbone  - yes that’s about right 

Malcolm    - Ok   I think that will do for now  - except for one thing  -  According to what you have told us Mr Rathbone   you seem to have been the last person to have seen  Joe Falattu alive.

When the interview was over and Rathbone and his brief had left the building  Malcolm   returned to his office  the one formerly used by the incapacitated Harold Blunt   and invited Clare Goodbody to join him. 

 “ So Clare  - I was asking the questions – you were there to observe and take note so what did you see ? “   asked  Malcolm from behind the desk. 

Clare sitting in the “ visitor “ chair looked up   - pleased at the friendly informality of Malcolm’s tone.

Well Sir  I thought two things . First off   his story or  rather  his account of meeting Falattu is either straight forward and the truth  or it’s a simple lie .  But  I couldn’t help wondering why    he was so  open about meeting Falattu   - his whole demeanour was very matter of fact   as if he was being extra careful  ,not  even give the slightest hint that he was covering up something.” 

Malcolm   smiled “ Yes I felt the same and I’ll tell what it is  - He would say anything rather go into any detail as to why he was visiting the 69 club.  Id lay a pound to a penny that he is more worried about “  Leading Doctor visits Gay club “  than he is about  being questioned about  the death of Falattu.

“ So Sir –began Clare “ If he is telling the truth  then what happened to Joe Falattu after he was dropped off outside the Bingo –  We know from  our checks that he never made it to his flat –which was locked  - and   isn’t it just the slightest bit suspicious  that  he just happens to be a surgeon  skilled in cutting bodies – 

“ Or removing heads”  finished Malcolm,

“ Exactly “  replied Clare   

“ Well  we need to follow up on a few things where Rathbone is concerned so can I leave that to you while I try and make sense of this  other killing. I am wondering about the Angels connection .”  Then   Malcolm paused and smiled at Clare “ fancy a drink ? “ 

The Reverend  Dennis  Grey   had two great loves or even obsessions in his life.  They were his religion  which tended towards the  fire and brimstone  evangelical variety  and rugby football.  He was very serious about both attending every Angels game possible except for those played on a Sunday.

He was a large man – heavily built and many years ago had played tight head prop for  Jedburgh Forest   before ending up at London Scottish  .    He had abandoned  a successful career as  lawyer to enter the ministry  and  now was the Pastor of  the  Free  Presbyterian  Church of Christ    in  Midhampton. 

The Reverend Grey   was both the man behind the demonstrations outside the  69 club   which he regarded as  Sodom and Gomorrah themselves come to Midhampton  and he had known Joe Falattu.

The young rugby player had started to attend the Church almost immediately on his arrival in the town  and   it was  a singular pleasure to the Rev. Grey when young Joe volunteered to join the demonstrators  at the 69 club.  That a public figure such as star rugby player should be associated with Gods work in this way was  almost too good to be true.

Grey  kept an eye on his flock and especially on the dozen or so who went with him every Saturday night for the last month or so to demonstrate against the ungodly  and perverse.  So it was  that on that particular Saturday night  he had watched young Joe very carefully  - having given him a relatively easy task to perform – that of giving out leaflets. 

What he had seen had worried him a great deal.  He had seen Joe talking to then other man  - a man who he, Grey, had recognised -   just as he recognised the car that Joe got into.  The Reverend had seen both the car and the man – its driver,  several times before – usually  later in the evening.

What he had seen previously was the car  pull into the car park  about 10 O’clock    , its driver emerge and walk across and enter the club.  The driver always walked quickly and often looked about as if to check that no one had seen him.  About twenty minutes to half an hour later the man would come out of the club  and cross over to his car and drive away. Once Grey observed the man   with another man  who also got into the car.

Grey also knew that he knew this mysterious man from somewhere  - but he couldn’t quite remember where or who it was. He was also  sure ,  disgusting though it was to him, that the man in question was visiting the club to meet other men for immoral purposes .

But what troubled him most all was  the horrifying thought that  one of his flock  Joe Falattu   had succumbed to  this perverts advances – why else had he seen Joe get into the car.

Hilary North   scratched his  short and greying hair  and wondered to himself whether he had done enough .  Jack Malcastrer was out of it  struck  down with a particularly vicious stomach bug and unlikely to be fit before the weekend. 

North had gathered the players around him and talked to them - not in his usual half time bollicking style  at all but  firmly but quietly  . He had told them that the game on Saturday was for Joe  but was also to prove that whatever anyone did the Angels will play  on . “ They will think we are shattered by what has happened – well it’s our job to go out there and shatter them. “ he had said.

They had seemed to take it on board  and although still quieter than usual had trained with an intensity   that was palpable.

There was one problem that remained  and that really was causing North to scratch his head  - who should replace Joe ? 

The obvious candidate was  young  Alfie  Turner   a local boy who had a lightning turn of speed but  had only just recovered  from a bad ankle injury and in terms of  game time  had played  for half an hour for the second team “ The  Saints “  

The other  was what many would call a journeyman squad player who had been around the bloc several times  the Irish man   Gerry  Flynn.  Flynn was not as fast as  Turner but  was reliable and very sound defensively.

Hilary pondered on the fact that usually the final decision would be Jacks  but now it was his and  the game was   a must win  if the Angels were ever going to catch Leicester Tigers and get a home draw in the playoffs. “ It has to be Flynn “  he decided “  I can’t risk it.”   The lad can go on the bench. 

Friday – midday 

Illtyd Williams   had recovered from the brutal killing of his cats . He was just totally  shocked that someone could perform such an act of cruel brutality  - presumably just to send him some sort of message.

Was it Longshanks  - he had sent a private message  to the person he thought it was telling them to be careful as the police were interested. – and then his cats were killed. Illtyd wondered if all this was real - “ I mean , he thought -  is there someone out there who is so  bitter or bigoted that they would do what had been done to his cats.

As he mulled over these things he checked the message board and looked at the usual Friday Thread  entitled “ Teams  Up “  There was then usual team list and following posts about who should have been picked or what a good selection it was considering the circumstances etc.  

Then he saw it from Longshanks “  Yet again  a promising young Englishman is confined to the   bench  just so that  a clapped out Irishman can  take his place “

Illtyd wasn’t sure  of the significance or otherwise of this but he knew that he didn’t like it.

Friday   10.30 pm 

Pete Shadwell   hunched down over his bottled lager in the darkest  booth   in the corner of the 69 club. He had decided that if he was to get any information about  his suspected link between  Ivan Spinks and the murdered lawyer it was going to be here.

So there he was   trying to be unseen a club where most of its denizens spent a great deal of their time looking around and sizing up the “ talent “ and the opportunities. He had already had to fend off several interested parties who had noticed then slightly built  and well groomed man  alone in the corner.

Just as he was beginning to wonder whether his growing discomfort and potential embarrassment was worth it   he spotted   Spinks  come out of a side door behind the bar  and start talking to Ronnie the club manager.

After a few minutes Spinks   left the bar and walked out of the club.

Shadwell decided that this was his chance and he casually  ambled over to the bar and looked pointedly at Ronnie.

“ Is That the owner then – Mr Spinks  ?“  he asked 

“ Why what’s  it to you “ retorted Ronnie.

Pete decided to really go for it -  Oh – it’s just that I thought I’d seen him before about three weeks ago - - he was with a very attractive Asian lady ? “ 

Ronnie despite his soft features  somehow managed to look at Shadwell in a very hard way.

“ Maybe   Maybe  -  Mr Spinks has lots of friend some of them are attractive ladies. “ 

Ronnie  who was getting a bit fed up with this line of questioning started to move way   but turned to Shadwell    and said “  I don’t know what you are up to but  Mr Spinks private life is his own affair  and he wouldn’t take kindly to  people asking questions – if you know what I mean “

Shadwell  considered this and   replied “ Fair enough   but   I was just trying to get some facts straight before we publish anything “ 

Ronnie stopped dead in his tracks and   said with maximum sarcasm “ I should have guessed – you don’t fit in here  so must be a journo or a copper  - and it sadly seems  that you are a journalist “

Shadwell nodded reluctantly and suggested “ Your name won’t come out  so if there’s anything you can tell me -  well we would be “  - he paused – “  Very grateful.  

“How grateful ?“  asked  Ronnie “ 

Well said Shadwell – That’s up to my Editor  - but for the full  Monty on Spinks and a certain deceased lady lawyer   I’m sure we would be generous.

“Ok “  said Ronnie   - “  we close at  12.30    come round the back and I’ll let you in the back door and you had better be good for your word.