The Usual Arrangement

Liam Brown headed home from another bad day at the office. The bus was forty minutes late and crammed with unhappy commuters. Grumbling under his breath, he showed the driver his monthly ticket and pushed his way down the bus. 

On the way home, his mobile phone rang. Clinging to the handrail, he pulled his phone from his coat pocket. He glanced at the screen. Nicole, his wife, was calling.

‘Hey, love. I’m just on the bus.’ Liam said, his voice hushed. 

‘I’ve just had a massive argument with Paul.’ Nicole said.

‘What was it about?’ Liam asked, despite not really wanting to get into the details of the argument with her brother on his bus ride home.

‘We were talking about Christmas. I mentioned we were thinking of doing our own thing this year, rather than go over to them, and it all just kicked off.’ She said.

Liam replied that Paul would calm down, he always had been a bit of a hot-head, flying off the handle at things. He added that this would all blow over. 

‘I’ll see you at home in an hour. We can have a proper natter then.’ Liam said.

As the bus crawled along, his mobile phone rang again. Liam picked up, expecting Nicole with an update on the family argument. 

‘Hello.’ 

‘Liam, it’s me.’ His father said. ‘I need some potatoes; can you get me some on your way home from work? I’m doing a chicken casserole.’  

Liam was tempted to say that it wasn’t really on his way home, and if he’d have given him a bit of notice, it would have been much easier all round. His father lived on the other side of town. Liam said he was on his way and hopped off the bus several stops early to head to the supermarket. 

‘And I need some chicken for the casserole.’ His dad added before hanging up the phone.

Later that evening, having helped his dad prepare the impromptu casserole, then arriving home to console his wife, and assisting with writing a polite but firm text to her brother, Liam changed out of his office clothes and flopped on the sofa. His head was pounding. Everything just seemed to be getting out of control. At work there was all the office politics, management on his case, while working with people who clearly didn’t want to be there. His workmates seemed more interested in scrolling through social media, than working on what they were being paid to do, and that was when they were in the office. He didn’t know how they managed to come up with so many reasons to be absent from work. He was sure if someone checked, that one lad had been off four times because his grandfather had passed away. And, of course, when they were off, it fell to Liam to pick up the slack. On top of all that, there was all that he had going on at home, with family politics and demands, and the never-ending slog of life in general.

Liam wished he could put an Out of Office message on in his life. I’m sorry, Liam can’t deal with this right now, please leave a message. He recalled a lyric from a Guns N Roses song, When there ain’t enough of me to go around, I’d rather be left alone. He just wanted a couple of hours to sit and try and forget about everything he had going on. 

He and Nicole cuddled up on the sofa, watching a quiz show on television. Just as Liam was beginning to relax, and forget about everything, there was a knock at the door. Who’s this, now? Liam grumbled, getting up off the sofa. 

When he saw the man standing on the doorstep, Liam’s heart sank. That was the last thing he needed. He really could do without this. But when Ray Christie, or rather, Detective Seargeant Ray Christie, to give him his full title, knocked on your door you answered. Liam shook his head, and stepped outside, gently closing the door behind him, so his wife didn’t hear the conversation.

‘Not you. Not now. Look, I really don’t have time.’ Liam said.

‘Do I need to show my police badge? I could drag you down to the station right now.’ Christie insisted.

Liam said nothing. 

‘We need your help.’ Christie said.

Liam rolled his eyes, before muttering, wait there. He called to his wife that he was just popping out and grabbed his coat.

Once they were walking down the street, away from anyone who might overhear their conversation, Christie continued. 

‘As I say, we need your help. The usual arrangement.’

Liam nodded. This special arrangement that meant Liam could help the detective with a case that he was working on. 

Back home, as he and Nicole sipped mugs of tea, and watched reality television, Liam mentioned the visit from DS Christie, and how he would be helping the detective with a new case.

‘He needs me.’ Liam said.

‘I think you need each other. You get so carried away, so involved.’

He nodded. She did have a point. His association with Christie was certainly a distraction. When he was working with Christie on a case, he became obsessed. The stresses and strains of the world didn’t seem to matter, all that mattered was cracking the case.

The following evening, DS Christie called over. Liam showed the detective though to the kitchen. While his wife watched the football game on TV in the living room, Liam and Ray Christie sat at the kitchen table. As they sipped large whiskies, Christie gave him the details of the case. The student was in his first year of university when he had been murdered. His body had been found by his housemate. Liam scribbled away in his notebook, jotting down all the details, and trying to put everything in some kind of order so it make sense. 

Over the following week, Liam tried to juggle his demanding commitments, with spending time with Christie working on the case. The detective had a habit of finding Liam wherever he was and asking with a jerk of his head, if he had a minute. Liam would reach for his trusty notebook and ask what Ray had for him. Liam would make notes of everything and try to make sense of it all. 

Finally, Liam had all the information he needed. He went over and over everything. All the clues, all the pieces of the puzzle where there. The answer, the solution, the murderer’s identity was hidden somewhere on these pages. Over the next few weeks Liam thought of nothing else, even when things were crazy at the office, or when his dad called him on the way home one evening to announce he was making Paella that evening and must have some chorizo, Spanish of course, Liam simply did what he could, rolling with whatever the day threw at him, while all his focus was on solving the murder. 

In any free moment, Liam would write in his notebook, then type up on his laptop, often while Nicole was watching the football game on television beside him. 

In the middle of the night, as Nicole lay asleep beside him, Liam sat up, suddenly awake. He had the answer. He nodded to himself in the dark bedroom. He knew who had murdered the university student. It was clear in his mind. He tossed the duvet to one side, and knotted his dressing down around his waist, before heading downstairs to the laptop. 

Liam typed away at the keys, tweaking, making changes here and there. He was almost there. He typed away furiously. The murderer was the librarian. It all added up. She had murdered the student after a heated argument following a disagreement at the library earlier in the day, and in the struggle one of her distinctive bracelets had snapped, leaving a dark green bead in the victim’s hand. Liam typed away as quickly as he could, trying to get everything down, while it was fresh in his mind, and while it made sense to him.

And then it was done. He typed THE END in capital letters. Liam had completed it. The latest story of his fictional detective, DS Christie was finished. Liam clicked save and went make himself a cup of tea to celebrate.

By Chris Platt

From: United Kingdom