Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 12:12:32 +0100 (BST)
From: "[iso-8859-1] Steve Rose" <cutrose40@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Martin Roberts Investigates the Greymount College Murders - 7

DISCLAIMER:
This is a story. None of the characters in the story
exist and the events that take place are purely
imaginary. This is a detective story with sexual
overtones and is a sequel to `Martin Roberts
Investigates'. I hope that you like this as a piece of
writing.

WARNING:
Do not read this story if you are in any way offended
by acts of a homosexual nature.

Do not read this if you are under the legal age for
accessing adult sites.

Always indulge in safe sex.

Copyright Steven Rose 2003. Not to be reproduced
without the author's permission.

MARTIN ROBERTS INVESTIGATES THE GREYMOUNT COLLEGE
MURDERS

Chapter 7

As expected Martin had been up and about early that
morning, rather earlier than Mike in fact. Although
there were no children in the apartment, both Martin
and Tom had become accustomed to early starts and so
they woke out of force of habit. Martin got up and
made some coffee and brought it back to Tom who placed
his cup on his bedside table and lay back down again.
Tom patted the bed beside him, indicating to his lover
that he hoped Martin would join him there for a few
minutes. Martin put his cup of coffee down as well and
slid down and lay comfortably beside his partner and
Tom began to run his hands over the older man's body.
It was not long before the younger lover achieved the
effect he was hoping for and Martin's dick began to
grow and harden. Tom began to kiss his way down
Martin's naked body until he reached the object of his
desire, which he slipped between his lips and began to
lick with sensuous tongue strokes. Not to be outdone,
Martin moved his body so that he could return the
favour to Tom, whose uncut cock was pointing straight
out from his groin. Martin took his lover's cock
between his lips and responded to the oral attention
that he was himself receiving by doing exactly what
his partner was doing to him. It was only a short
while before the tingling sensation began in Martin's
balls and he knew that he would soon unload his cum
into Tom's waiting throat. Tom recognised the signs
and tried to ensure that his own orgasm happened
almost at the same time. The two lovers began to
breath raggedly and then within seconds of each other
tasted the creamy reward that their oral ministration
so richly deserved. When they had milked each other
dry the two men lay back on their bed and dozed for a
few minutes before finally they both realised it was
time to start the day properly.

Once they had recovered, washed, dressed and eaten
some breakfast, the working day had begun for Martin
and his partner. Tom drove them both to Mark's house
where the two of them thanked Ruth for her kindness
and consideration in looking after Harry and Simon and
she had replied how pleased she and David had been to
have them stay. This was especially so as the three
young children had remained up and about long past
their usual bedtime. The three boys still looked tired
as Tom prepared to take his two charges back home with
him. This left Martin who remained at Mark's so that
he could travel on to the College in the Chief
Inspector's car. Both the senior officers knew that
they would have a long and tiring day ahead of them.
The first item on the agenda was to meet the parents
of the murdered student, Paul Ferris. They had been
located on holiday in Scotland and had been flown down
to London early that morning. Martin and Mark were due
to meet them at the local Hospital where formal
identification would take place. From past experience
both men knew that this was never a pleasant moment
and it was not clear how much they would have to say
about one of the reasons why Paul had been murdered.
As they drove to the Hospital the two policemen
decided that they would be deliberately vague as to
possible motives at this stage as they did not wish to
upset Paul's parents any more than they already would
be. It was therefore something of a surprise when the
murdered boy's father asked very pointedly whether his
son's homosexuality had been the cause of his death.
Martin replied that at the present stage of the
investigation they could not rule any possibility out.
During this exchange, Paul's mother had stood head
bowed silently sobbing. Martin had tried to be as
gentle as he could be and he would have liked to
pursue the matter of how many other people knew that
Paul had been gay but decided that it was not an
appropriate moment to do so. Mark and Martin offered
their deepest condolences and sympathy to the parents
and then withdrew, leaving them to sit beside the body
of their son and a Woman Police Constable to offer
support to the grieving family at this distressing
time. A little later it would be necessary to make
preparations for the inquest and the completion of
other formalities but until then Mr and Mrs Forbes and
their other family would be able to spend as much time
as they needed in saying their farewells to their son
and brother.

Having ensured that everything would be made as easy
as possible for the Forbes family, Martin and Mark
then drove on to Greymount College. As they did so
Mark turned to his old friend and said,

"That was a bit of a turn up for the book wasn't it?
His parents knowing that Paul was gay I mean."

"Yes, it was a bit. I don't think they knew about his
relationship with Lawrence Miller though. They did not
mention his murder. Still, as you say it raises
interesting questions about who else knew about Paul.
I think we're going to have to confront your friend
Alex Scott-Brown with this now."

"Yes, I suppose we will, although I still think we
shouldn't rule him out as a suspect and I'm worried he
might be given too much warning if we tell him too
much."

"I know you do, but I don't think he's our killer. He
may have his faults but murder is not one of them to
my mind."

Mark shrugged in acknowledgement that the
Superintendent would play it his way. He was not
particularly looking forward to spending the next part
of his day in a rather awkward interview with the
Principal of Greymount College. Thus it was that on
arrival at the College, Martin and Mark had held quite
a tense meeting with Alex Scott-Brown. At the very
start of the meeting the Superintendent had revealed
to the Principal that a possible motive for the
murders was sexual and that the two dead men had been
having a gay affair. Alex was to all outward
appearance shocked and was silent for a few moments
before he spluttered,

"Are you were certain about this? I would never have
dreamt it of either of them. When I came here there
was a sort of tendency among a few of the boys for
that sort of thing but the ring leaders soon left and
I thought we had got it under control. We have to
accept that in a boys only establishment like this
there is bound to be a bit of experimentation from
time to time but nothing serious and they soon grow
out of it, no disrespect Superintendent. But now you
say it was happening right under our noses and between
a student and a member of staff!! I am appalled and
shocked! I really had no idea."

Martin made little response other than to nod
sympathetically and then the Principal raised another
concern was which seemed to both the Policemen in the
room to be rather more self-interested and
calculating,

"Do you think it will be possible for this to remain
confidential? I mean out of the newspapers. Life in
Colleges like this is tough enough and two deaths and
a homosexual scandal would be the last straw. What the
Trustees would think is beyond imagination!"

Alex looked considerably relieved when Martin replied,


"In my view, Mr Scott-Brown, the gay relationship
between Mr Miller and Paul Ferris need only become
public if it proves to be decisive in identifying the
murderer and is the motive for the killings. Naturally
I hope that we can clear the matter up as quickly as
possible and without any more unfortunate deaths but I
will need the fullest cooperation from you and the
rest of your staff. At the moment I am not proposing
to tell them about the gay relationship and I assume
you also will remain silent and tell no-one else about
it either."

The Principal looked even more relieved when he heard
the last sentence and nodded his concurrence
immediately. The rest of the interview covered various
aspects of what had happened the previous day. Alex
Scott-Brown confirmed that he had been seated near the
sports pavilion all afternoon and had hardly left his
place and even then only briefly more than once or
twice. At the time of the murder he had noticed
nothing unusual happening and saw nobody enter or
leave the pavilion. On all occasions when he was not
sitting down the Principal said that he was in the
company of several other people who would each vouch
for his whereabouts.

After they Principal had departed, Mark and Martin
interviewed as many members of the College staff as
possible, as he or she became available. Each
interviewee gave similar accounts of the sequence of
what happened the previous day and what they had been
doing and when. All the accounts seemed to be
consistent in their description of who had been where
and when and even those members of staff that were not
present at the cricket or only briefly so were able
top produce strong alibis. Almost all of the staff had
been interviewed during the day and their statements
revealed nothing startling or new. There were one or
two that had not been available for one reason or
another and among these was Dave Graham, the cricket
coach whom nobody had seen that day. This was not
unusual as Dave did not live in the College but some
miles away and most people felt that after the trauma
of the previous day he was probably too shocked to
come in, an explanation that Mark and Martin found
acceptable under the circumstances. In addition, it
was possible for the two Policemen to pinpoint the
cricket coach's whereabouts throughout the afternoon
and it was difficult to regard him as a possible
suspect in the murder of Paul Ferris. Nevertheless
both the Superintendent and his friend the Chief
Inspector were anxious to speak with him as he had, by
all accounts, had a good view of the comings and
goings into and out of the pavilion.

In addition to talking to the staff, a number of
interviews with some of the traumatised senior
students and members of the cricket team were fitted
in at times that would suit the interviewee. None of
the student's statements added anything of substance
to what Martin and Mark knew already. None of those
interviewed saw anyone enter or leave the pavilion at
the time of the murder and none claimed to have any
knowledge of any other means of entry into the
building. Although the most senior boys and members of
the cricket team were interviewed first on the grounds
that they might have heard or seen something useful.
It was also clear that, as almost all the students had
either been watching or playing cricket, the many
student spectators would need to be interviewed.
Without assistance, the two senior officers would take
some time to work their way through each year group
and Martin was not convinced that this was the best
use of their time. However, there was a problem in
that so very few people were aware of the nuances of
the case and Martin really wanted to leave it that way
and this meant that the pool of additional officers to
carry out interviews was limited. In addition the
investigators were acutely aware of the upcoming
national public examinations and wanted to reduce the
stress on students and staff as much as possible. On
the other hand, they also wanted to resolve the case
as quickly as practical so that students and staff
could get back to some semblance of normality. Most
members of staff and all the students recognised the
sensitivity with which the two senior officers had
handled their interviews and were appreciative of the
opportunity to make their feelings known. The shock
and disbelief of some of those interviewed was matched
by anger in others. Neither Martin nor Mark mentioned
anything about a motive for the killing but a few
staff and students asked if the two murders were
linked and several offered interesting if somewhat
implausible theories as to motive. By late afternoon
the two senior Policemen had decided that the day had
been long, difficult, tiring and generally
unproductive in terms of providing new leads or clues.
Mark and Martin had agreed that they finish for the
day and come back in the morning with Mike Rickwood
who would be able to help speed up the process of
interviewing the remaining students. The two
investigators hoped that this could be achieved by the
end of the next day.

As Martin and Mark were preparing to leave, Alex
Scott-Brown suddenly appeared at the door of the room
they had been given as a headquarters. The Principal
seemed somewhat flushed and out of breath as he
reached them and two Policemen exchanged glances
silently expressing the hope that he was not the
bearer of more bad news. When he had caught his
breath, Alex said, much to the two Policemen's relief,

"Your Sergeant Rickwood is on the telephone for you.
It sounded quite urgent and I said that I would get
the call transferred to the telephone in this room for
you. However I thought that I just ought to check that
you had not left for the day first."

"Thank you, Mr Scott-Brown. That's very thoughtful",
Martin responded, "I don't know what is so urgent,
he's supposed to be having the day off but it would be
helpful if we could have the call transferred here."

The Principal disappeared almost as quickly as he had
arrived and left Mark and Martin to consider what was
so important that Mike needed to speak to them so
urgently. The two men were about to speculate out loud
but neither of them had time to say anything as the
telephone in their small headquarters room rang almost
immediately. Martin picked it up and answered it at
once,

"Hello, Mike. What's so urgent? I thought it was your
day off."

"It is, sir. I mean it was, but you asked me to look
at the report on the evidence from the tower and I've
found something very interesting and I believe
important. I'm sure you will remember that several
people have mentioned that students used the tower as
a hiding place when they wanted to go for a smoke.
Well, according to the report, there's no evidence of
smoking to be found in the tower. There's no cigarette
ends, no matches and definitely no traces of tobacco."

Martin looked across at Mark and, for the Chief
Inspector's benefit, repeated out loud Mike's last
remark,

"No evidence of smoking at the tower, you say?"

"Yes, sir, and I thought it was both interesting and
possibly important."

"Yes, Mike both of those. Well done. It's an important
new piece of evidence. All we have to do now is try to
fit it into the broader picture. I think that you, me
and Mark here need to think carefully whether this is
an important clue and how it all fits together but not
tonight. We're tired and it's getting late. I think
that we all should have an early night and we'll
discuss this information again when we are bright and
alert in the morning."

Martin put the phone down and looked at his old
friend,

"Well, Mark, you heard that, there's no evidence of
smoking in the tower. Let's both go home and think
about what this means for our investigation and meet
back here with Mike early tomorrow. It could put a
whole new complexion on the case. I'd like us to
discuss this before we start interviewing the students
and staff again. I think we may need to see one or two
people again, so think about that as well."

Mark could see that the news was significant but
agreed with his friend that it was important to think
through the implications overnight and not to be too
hasty in reaching conclusions. As he drove back
towards London with the Superintendent, Mark decided
that he would steer clear of this new information and
chatted about other things. In any case, the Chief
Inspector had one piece of personal news that he had
intended to tell Martin and Tom the previous day but
events had overtaken him. Mark was able to tell Martin
that he and Ruth were expecting another baby at the
end of the year and was pleased that this news brought
a genuine smile of happiness to the Superintendent's
face. Martin told the Chief Inspector that both he was
delighted by the news and that he knew Tom would be as
well when he heard the news. When they stopped briefly
at Mark's house, Martin just popped in and kissed Ruth
and congratulated her on the news before Mark took him
back home.

Tom was waiting for Martin's return and was pleased
that his partner was home early for once as he had
some good news to tell him. Harry and Simon were
playing contentedly in their room waiting for the meal
that Tom was preparing for them. Tom kissed Martin as
he came in and said,

"I've got some really good news for you. Sit down
after you've said hello to the kids, then we can have
a drink and I'll tell you."

Martin grinned and said,

"I've got some exciting news, too and something I'd
like to discuss with you after dinner."

"OK", replied Tom, "but me first, Marty!"

Martin looked in on the two young boys who were almost
too engrossed in what they were doing to acknowledge
his presence but they did chorus a `hi Martin' before
returning to whatever game they were playing. Smiling
to himself Martin came back into the kitchen and
before he and Tom sat down both men took a large glass
of wine from the opened bottle. As he took a sip of
the excellent red wine, Tom began to tell Martin his
news,

"You know the Day Nursery that we wanted to get Simon
and Harry into? Well, they phoned today to say that
they should both be able to start there straight after
half term. That means that in a couple of weeks or so,
they will be out of the apartment from early morning
to mid-afternoon. I will be able to be much freer to
do consultancy work. I thought we could tell the boys
over supper. I think they will be pleased, they are
getting a bit bored stopping at home and going to the
play ground every day. I think a bit more structure
and discipline, not to say education will do them
good!"

Martin looked genuinely pleased at the news and said
so,

"Great, I agree with you, they do need more
stimulation and a wider circle of friends. Perhaps
I'll tell you and them my bit of good news over supper
too. The other matter will have to wait until the boys
are in bed. I hope you are not too tired as I need
your input."

"Is it to do with the case, Marty?"

Martin nodded and Tom said that he would be pleased to
help if he could and that Martin should now go and
tell the children that supper was ready. While his
partner laid the table, Martin went into the boys'
room and told them to wash their hands and come to the
kitchen for dinner. Harry got up slowly but Simon
lingered for a few moments and his parent had to tell
him again to hurry up. After a few moments the two
boys and Martin returned to the kitchen and Tom served
up a meal that everyone enjoyed. As they were about to
have their dessert, Tom told the young boys the news
about the Day Nursery and, since it was the one that
both of them had visited and liked, they were
genuinely pleased. They were even more pleased as was
Tom with the news that Mark and Ruth were expecting
another baby. Simon looked excitedly at the two older
men and said,

"I hope it's not a girl. A girl would spoil our games
with David, unless she can play soccer!!"

Harry agreed but Tom pointed out that as the new
arrival would be very tiny when it was born the chance
of he or she playing soccer for some time to come was
very remote. Martin added that it might be nice to
have a little girl, as she would be a nice contrast
and someone different for the three boys to play with.
Neither harry nor Simon seemed al that convinced by
that argument but they were pleased and excited at the
news and began to ask questions about the forthcoming
baby. Martin and Tom had always answered the boys'
questions openly and honestly and used this occasion
to address some of the issues of simple sex education.
Neither boy seemed very interested in the physical
details of making a baby or of childbirth but did find
the wait for the baby's appearance a little
frustrating. When they had finished their meal the
boys went off to get their photograph albums and the
four of them sat contentedly in the main living room
looking at pictures of Harry and Simon when they were
babies themselves. Then it was time for the youngsters
to have their bath and prepare for bed. Martin
supervised the bath time which resulted in a large
amount of water being splashed all over the floor
before both children could be persuaded to come out of
the bath, get dried and put their night clothes on.
Eventually, the two boys were persuaded to get into
bed but it was obvious that they would be awake for
some more time as they were happily chatting to each
other and too excited to fall asleep immediately. Tom
and Martin kissed them both good night and then,
having stacked the dishwasher with the day's dirty
pots and pans, retired to the living room to finish
the wine and talk.

Tom lay languidly back on the sofa and smiled at his
partner and said,

"Well, Marty, I'm ready to offer my thoughts on
whatever it is that you want to discuss with me."

Martin, sitting directly opposite his lover, grinned
back and told Tom about the telephone call from Mike
Rickwood and the significant information that had been
conveyed to him. Tom listened intently to what his
partner was saying and when he had finished speaking
he thought for  a moment before replying,

"As I see it, there are a number of possibilities to
explain this factor. The most obvious conclusion,
however, is that this tower building was never used as
a place of refuge for smokers. In fact given that the
place has been deserted for years it is the only
explanation for why no evidence of smoking was found.
This then raises the question of why such a suggestion
was ever made."

Martin nodded his agreement first to the suggestion
that the tower had probably never been used as a
smoking den or at least it has not been used as such
in recent years. He also agreed with his lover that
there was a clear need to consider the reasons why
anyone should want to suggest that it had been. Tom
took another long draught of wine and then continued,

"It seems to me that one of a number of possibilities
need to be considered. The first is that this was a
rumour put about by Lawrence Miller to keep people
away from the tower and giving him a free run in the
building. The second is that some other members of the
gay group, probably Paul or Bobby had the rumour
circulated so that they could use the building as and
when they wanted to have sex together. The final
possibility is that it was neither of the first two
and that somebody else was using the tower for another
purpose and wanted to keep people away. I think the
first things you need to do is to establish how well
known it was that the tower was used by smokers and
also where the suggestion came from in the first
place. I don't suppose who first told you about the
tower being used by smokers?"

Martin looked at his partner and said quietly,

"I think Mark told me about it but he was told
initially by Raymond Collinson who is House Master of
Marston House and was Lawrie Miller's boss. In
addition, I was present when Andy Collins, the
assistant House Master in College House, mentioned it
in connection with the search for Lawrie Miller. I'm
not sure this gets us very far as it does not
eliminate any of your suggestions. We can't be sure
whether Paul told Lawrence Miller or the other way
round. Secondly, either Andy or Raymond could have
been the author of the suggestion because they had
other motives for keeping people away from the area. I
think I'll want to think about it even more carefully
and hope the others have done so too."

Martin looked at his watch and suggested to Tom that
they go to bed early that night and his body language
suggested that the older man was more than willing to
continue where they had left off earlier in the day.
Tom happily agreed to his lover's suggestions and soon
the two men were standing naked in the shower gently
soaping each other all over and paying particular
attention to their most sensitive and sexually
excitable parts. As they emerged from the spray and
reached for the towels they would use to dry each
other off, both lovers were sporting impressive
erections. Tom fondled the exposed head and silky
smooth shaft of his partner's dick and whispered,

"I can't wait to get that deep inside me. Marty, I
want you to fuck me hard tonight!! I think I've earned
it. Call it my fee for professional advice!"

"I think you've earned it too, although I'm not sure
that you've done more than confirm my dilemma. But I'm
more than willing to pay my fee, if that's what you
want!!"

Martin had gently eased his hand round to grasp his
partner's prick and was teasing the foreskin back off
the head of Tom's cock, exposing the sensitive glans.
When they were sufficiently dry the two lovers eased
themselves onto the bed and Tom lay back and opened
his legs wide to enable Martin to have easy access to
his love channel. Martin lay down between his lover's
legs and began to use his tongue to lick and rim the
rosebud hole while his hands played gently with Tom's
cock shaft and balls. Tom sighed contentedly as his
partner continued to arouse him until he was more than
ready for Martin to replace his tongue with his prick.
The older man eased himself closer and allowed Tom to
guide his pre-cum covered cock closer to the entrance
to his waiting hole. Slowly but surely Martin's dick
head disappeared inside the wet and greasy entrance
and was swallowed up inside Tom. Feeling his lover's
prostate Martin used the end of his cock to tease it
for a few moments and was rewarded with a long sigh
and another gush of pre-cum from the piss slit of
Tom's sensitive glans. Tom began to push back forcing
his partner's prick deeper inside him until they both
knew it could go no further. As they were so used to
each other's needs and desires the two men soon
relaxed into a rhythmical movement that ensured
maximum pleasure together with the prolongation of the
enjoyment. Gradually the pressure grew more and more
intense and both men began to approach orgasm. Martin
plunged into Tom faster and faster and Tom's cock
began to twitch uncontrollably between them. With a
loud grunt Martin started to release his ball juice
deep inside his lover and was rewarded by the sight of
Tom's piss slit starting to expand and widen in
preparation for the arrival of the younger man's jizz.
Moments later, the angry red piss slit was fully open
and Tom's cock began to expel and spray his spunk some
of which hit Martin on the body while the remainder
landed all over his lover's naked chest. As his moment
of orgasm passed off, Martin waited for a moment until
he was sure that Tom had finished cumming and then he
slumped forward and lay on top of his partner. For
several moments the two men enjoyed the squelchy
stickiness of Tom's cum as they hugged each other
tightly. Slowly the lovers disentangled themselves
from each other and cuddled closely together in the
warm glow of post sexual fulfilment. Some short time
later, Tom and Martin exchanged kisses and then both
of them drifted into a contented sleep.

Despite the satisfactory lovemaking session, Martin
did not sleep very deeply or well that night and he
awoke very early. As was usual in an English summer it
was light but there was still hours before the usual
time they needed to get up. Martin spent some time
thinking about the conversation he had had with Tom
over possible explanations for the deception over the
use of the tower. He had been forced to admit that the
suggestions his partner had made were all equally
plausible and did not help provide any clear clue over
a suspect. This was the second matter that concerned
the Superintendent in that there had been two murders,
which might, or might not, be connected and the motive
for which had not yet been established. Without
determining whether they were connected or the motive,
no obvious suspects had emerged. Martin lay wide awake
thinking over all these possibilities and
interspersing his thoughts with loving gazes at his
partner who slept peacefully beside him. The older man
had always been amazed at Tom's ability to sleep well
and loved to look at him when he was dead to the
world. As Martin admired the fine features of the face
and body of the man he loved, he somehow managed to
avoid the temptation to reach out and caress him,
fearing that to do so would awaken him. Tom slept
beside him blissfully unaware that his partner was
wide awake.

Martin must have drifted off again as he was awoken
with a start when Harry and Simon burst into the
bedroom and leapt onto the bed. Tom, as usual,
pretended to be both surprised and angered by this
rude awakening and threatened to do terrible things to
the youngsters who laughed uproariously at his
threats. Two wriggling and giggling children were soon
destroying the bed in which Tom and Martin slept and
both older men knew that they would have to get up and
start the day. After a few more moments of friendly
rough and tumble the boys were sent off to get into
the shower. As usual, Harry and Simon made straight
for the en-suite shower and soon the noise of fast
spraying water could be heard coming from next door.
Martin went in and supervised the shower in an effort
to curb the amount of wet that would inevitably be
distributed around the bathroom. The boys soon emerged
from their morning shower and Tom took over, ushering
them back to their room so that they could get dressed
and Martin could clear up the mess and get ready for
work. The older man got showered and dressed quickly
and then, while Tom was getting showered and dressed,
Martin took the boys into the kitchen where together
they got the breakfast things ready. Over breakfast
the two children talked excitedly about going to the
Day Nursery in a couple of weeks and expressed a
desire to visit it one more time before they started
for real. Tom indicated that he would be happy to try
to arrange that but not for a day or so. Instead he
intended to take them to the swimming baths for
swimming lessons later that day, news that brought
another round of excited chatter from the two boys.
Martin said that he thought that swimming was a good
idea and promised that he would take the boys as well,
although he was rather vague as to when that would be.
Fortunately for Martin just as the boys began to ask
him when he intended to take them swimming, there was
a ring on the door bell and he rushed to answer it.
Standing at the door was Mike Rickwood who had arrived
to take the Superintendent to Greymount College. It
was a somewhat relieved Martin that returned to the
kitchen and hugged and kissed Simon, Harry and Tom a
fond farewell and then disappeared out of the door to
join the waiting Sergeant.

On the drive to the College Martin and Mike chatted
briefly about the Sergeant's discovery in the report
on the evidence from the tower. The Superintendent
told the Sergeant that the information had caused a
lot of interest for himself and Chief Inspector Mark
Jamieson. Mike was pleased to learn that this was the
case and anxious to know more but Martin said that he
was still mulling over in his mind the significance of
what they had learned. The Superintendent added that
he was keen that the matter should only be discussed
once they were all assembled and Mark would be able to
make his observations as well. Mike accepted this
decision although he was slightly disappointed that he
was not going to be able to offer his view on his
discovery to his commanding officer. On the other
hand, the Sergeant knew that, although Martin and Mark
outranked him, he would be given a fair hearing at the
meeting and that his views would carry equal weight in
the discussion.

Mike had spent part of his night's rest thinking about
what he would say when asked about the significance of
the tower report. He had woken early and thought of
little else since he got up. He found the evidence
confusing and contradictory and was uncertain why it
was important because he could not see its relevance
in establishing either a motive or a clue to the
killer's identity. The Sergeant hoped that the other
two more senior officers would be able to guide him
towards a clearer understanding of the particular
piece of evidence he had unearthed. Mike was keen to
learn and was pleased that he was able to again sit at
the feet of two past masters in Mike Jamieson and
Martin Roberts. The two were different in style and
personality but they never seemed to act at
cross-purposes and each respected the other. Martin
was renowned for his concern for his team and this was
a trait that Mark shared and had implemented in his
own command. Both men went out of their way to ensure
that all members of the team felt involved even those
that were forced to work unsociable hours and do
unglamorous work. This had been a factor that had made
Martin a highly respected and much admired boss. One
day, Mike hoped he would have command of a team like
Martin's and would use his model to build the
relationships and the responsiveness among its
members.

However, when it came to methods of investigation and
evaluating evidence, that was a different matter. The
Superintendent liked to think through the
possibilities, again a quality he shared with Mark,
although sometimes, Mike felt that Martin dug his
heels in too much. Even when he was right in the end,
as he had been the first time the Sergeant, then a
lowly PC, had been involved with the Superintendent's
team, he had a tendency to refuse to follow other
lines of enquiry. Once a direction had been
intellectually discounted it took a lot for Martin to
reopen that line of enquiry. By contrast, Mark was
often less certain of his position and allowed a
greater flexibility among his team in suggesting
avenues of enquiry and pursuing clues and suspects.
Mike found Mark's methodical manner more akin to his
own when dealing with facts, not that Martin wasn't
methodical as well but in a rather different and more
cerebral way. Both methods, Mike thought, would get
you there in the end but he still felt more
comfortable with Mark's approach than he did with
Martin's.

Although Martin was still thinking through the
implications of Tom's remarks and how he would want to
proceed with the next stage of the investigation, he
also took a few moments to reflect on how nice it was
to be working with Mark again. Mark was a colleague
the Superintendent could trust implicitly and a good
friend as well. Martin also enjoyed working with Mike.
The Sergeant was not only good looking, a point some
people had suggested was the real reason for his
incorporation into the team, but intelligent and
methodical too, Since the retirement of Inspector Bob
Matthews Martin had needed someone who would work
through the evidence and organise things for him. Mike
did that and more. He had far more initiative than the
retired Inspector and would soon be promoted to that
rank himself, although the Superintendent was certain
he would rise even higher. As a fellow gay officer,
Martin hoped that he would be able to show Mike the
way to play the system without compromising principles
or nature. The Superintendent was also pleased that
Mike and Mark also liked and respected each other and
felt that his Chief Inspector friend, another man
destined to rise higher, would also offer
encouragement and a role model to the Sergeant.

As their car approached Greymount College, Mike
noticed another car's headlights flashing him from
behind and recognised it as that belonging to Mark
Jamieson. The Sergeant turned to Martin and said,

"That's the Chief Inspector right behind us, sir."

"Good, Mike. I'm glad he's here. I'm anxious to get us
all together so that we can discuss the latest
developments and exchange ideas."

After they had parked and got out of the car and
exchanged morning greetings, the three Police Officers
walked slowly into the building where their incident
room was situated. Martin closed the door and turned
to the other two and said,

"Well, gentlemen, let's get down to business. We've
got a lot to discuss and the sooner we start the
better. It could be a long day but also, I hope, that
maybe it will be a productive one."

Martin looked at the other two men and Mike and Mark
nodded their agreement with his proposal.  Martin
smiled at the two Officers and pointed at the chairs
that were standing to the side of the room. The two
younger men carried their chairs over to the table
and, after the Superintendent had indicated that they
should do so, the Mike and Mark sat down and started
the day's work.

if you have any comments email me
cutrose40@yahoo.co.uk