“Morning Mrs Woodcock, if you might tell the boss I am here”.

“I will Sid, come in for a drink”.

“No better not just in case we get a call”, replied Sid

”OK Sid I will tell him, he will be out soon, he is making a call I think”.

“Good morning, Police Headquarters Manchester, how can I help you, please?”

“Could I please speak with the Chief Constable?”

“May I ask who is calling please?”

“Yes of course, it is Christian Woodcock, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary”

“Please hold the line Sir”.

“Hello Christian, how can I help, Quinten here, not a problem with our recent Inspection I take it”.

“No indeed Quinten, if they were all like yours my life would be much easier”. I wonder if you might just help me with something”.

“Of course, if I can” replied Quinten.

“It may seem a strange request Quinten but I wonder if you have had any suspicious deaths among your officers recently?”

“I can answer that immediately, no, none at all,” replied Chief Constable Johns.

“Well that is something I was starting to wonder”.

“”Anything suspicious going on Christian or is it Home Office bullshit statistics again?”

“No, it doesn’t matter, if you haven’t had a death amongst your officers especially in the young, fit and healthy that is it”.

“No nothing suspicious here, in fact the only death we have had was a natural cause.

 A young officer from the mounted branch collapsed and died at Chorlton Lake some short while ago.”

“Nothing to suggest it was a crime, no injuries, we did think at first it was a suicide by drowning but it turned out to be natural causes some type of rare heart attack.”

“Oh I see, interesting”.

“Is there a problem Christian?”

“Anything I ought to know about”.

“No nothing at the moment, thank you for your help”.

The call ended.

Sid Watkiss a retired police traffic officer who showed no visible eye problems had been driving the various Inspectors of Constabulary for that region for five years so was not only a very experienced driver but knew the routes to most places, more importantly he knew the ropes of the job so to speak.

He guessed but did not comment that although his current boss Mr Woodcock had not said much about the deaths of these young officers seemingly fit and well albeit recorded as natural causes he was likely to raise a question or two.

Chief Constable Quinten Johns did not like problems or any suggestions of large enquiries or work.

He had no leave planned so anything likely to blow up would fall to him directly not his deputy or assistant.

He turned over his telephone contacts book, picked up the phone and dialled the number.

“Hello Chief Superintendent Mary Harris”

“Hello Mary the Chief here, may I ask if there were any further brick bats from the death of the mounted officer, sorry I don’t recall his name, it was a male officer I think?”

 “Yes Sir, Rick Masterton, no nothing. The Coroner was happy with natural causes; he signed the death certificate as natural causes.”

“The welfare officer visited the next of kin, the funeral went ahead Ok as you recall, and we picked up the bill, as it was death on duty.  No sir all straight forward is there a problem?”

“No Mary, no it’s just something the HMI mentioned but in view of what you say it is nothing, I am sorry to bother you.”

“No problem sir”, she replied

The call was ended, Quinten Johns could relax once again after all he had only had a passing brief on the case involving this Rick fellow.

The normal meeting at the Home Office went well and on completion, the normal final question put by the Home Secretary, “Gentlemen and ladies anything under any other business?”

There was silence for a moment then Woodcock spoke “There is one matter it may be of no relevance whatsoever but due to its unusual nature I thought to raise it”.

“By all means Mr Woodcock please do,” replied The Right Honourable Royston Bentley, current Crown Minister for Home Affairs, or Home Secretary for the more uneducated.

“Well Sir, ladies and gentlemen, during my recent inspections of the forces in my area it was casually brought to my attention that several uniformed police officers have been found dead whilst on duty.  There are I admit no suspicious circumstances in any case”.

“No injuries or circumstances to indicate foul play or that any crime has been committed. The cause of all the deaths after post mortem was natural causes.”

“The officers, from different forces, as far as I am aware were not connected with each other.”

“They were apparently all young and were fit and well but died of some rare heart complaint covered by the medical term sudden “Adult death syndrome”.

“The heart has a disturbed rhythm and no blood circulates so death ensues. There is no cause for this”.

“I just have a feeling there might be more to this than meets the eye. It’s just my intuition but I feel it is worth looking into even though I have no evidence”.

Bentley pondered and then said, “What are your feelings Chief Inspector?”

“I wouldn’t like to get egg on my face if there is something amiss, yet there is no point in making a big issue of it, if it is a nothing”.

“I will tell you what I suggest,” replied the Chief Inspector, “Woodcock here always had a good eye and ear for a mystery I suggest we permit him to get someone to look into it, sort of unofficially and report back.”

Bentley thought and then said, “Well with all the cuts we couldn’t be seen to be using too many resources if it is all for nothing”

Woodcock smiled and said “Gentlemen I suggest we ask ex Detective Superintendent Jack Richards of New Scotland Yard fame to look into it. He has recently moved north near me, I don’t think he has anything on so he may well be pleased to return to duty although in an unofficial capacity to look into this”.

“I recall Richards and many of the very unusual and complicated cases he has solved over the years, yes indeed there was the case of the ten headless women”.

 There was a nodding of heads, “I seem to recall they call him Jack the Hat” replied Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Wilfred Jepson.

“I tell you what Woodcock?” He continued, “You fix this up get Richards back and on these cases.  If there is nothing in it, there will be no rocking of the boats and won’t wreck any force budgets, you could cover it Woodcock under miscellaneous”.

“I will make a further suggestion; why not get him to report back to the annual conference of Inspectors of Constabulary and Chief Constables later in the year”.

  “This will be a very nice change to the usual after dinner speeches we all get bored with”.

“What if he finds nothing?” asked Bentley.

“In that case it will be a little more wine tasting time,” said Jepson”

This caused a round of laughter.

“There is one thing?” replied Woodcock,” if there is anything in it Jack the Hat is the man to get to the bottom of it”.

“That is it then” announced Bentley “until the annual conference then, I bid you good day, and he rose and left the room”.

“Well done there Woodcock”, replied Jepson, “Very well done”.

“Contact Jack and be sure to give him all resources, make sure the Chiefs of the various forces understand it is approved by The Home Secretary as well as our department”.

They shook hands and parted.

Two days later Jack Richards was sitting in his study, he had started his book-completing page 100 but was now struggling, not through lack of knowledge or ideas but painstakingly typing.

The phone rang; he answered it, “Hello Jack Richards speaking can I help?”

“Hello Jack, it is Woodcock here, I need a word”

“Thanks for fixing up the membership at the golf club” said Richards

“Really, sorry not me I have been too busy. I need you on another matter.”