Branscombe

By Doug Wiggins

‘Branscombe’ is the first in a series of detective novels covering the adventures of retired Det. Sgt. John Branscombe. This first story is based in South Australia and covers Branscombe’s involvement in the denouement of a corrupt police officer. However the real entertainment value of the story is the treatment given by the author to the various relationships that Branscombe has with police officers and ex-partners (marital and otherwise). Of particular interest is the relationship he stumbles into with a lesbian couple which leads him into a surprising situation. The story is tinged with humor and pathos and evolves quickly and effectively in many short chapters.
This book will appeal to most adult readers seeking escape with a fast-moving entertaining read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Strong & Bold Publishing
• Release date: Feb 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9780992397937

Doug Wiggins

Doug Wiggins is a new author who has taken up writing in his fifties after a long career as an actor. This may help to explain his ability to set the scene quickly and concisely, deliver the lines and then drop the curtain neatly in place ready to lift it again for the next scene. Doug Wiggins was born in the north of England, in a region known as The Wirral, a peninsular bounded on one side by the River Dee and on the other by the River Mersey. As a boy he hated sport and locked himself up with the world of books, becoming an avid reader and reading classics by the age of eight. He migrated to South Australia with his family after starting High school in England but was put back into primary school after arrival in Australia. This reversal was a traumatic event in his life, further complicated by a move to New South Wales after only three months and another change of schools found him in the final term of first year High school. He thrived on drama and joined the local theatre group. After a brief stint as a schoolboy radio announcer on regional radio he moved to Sydney and by the age of fifteen had started a long career as an actor. He started writing seriously in his fifties and moved to Melbourne and later to Adelaide where his first novel, ‘Branscombe’, was born. He divides his time between Adelaide, Venice and London.

Book preview

Chapter 1

An unusually warm autumn morning is how any of the others out for a walk would have described it, but to John Branscombe it might as well have been snowing. Early retirement didn’t sit easy with the ex-policeman, a dangerous time in a dangerous career, not the danger of the work itself, that was long gone, but the danger from the vacuum inside.

As a young copper John thought he could read a crim’s mind, when in reality you couldn’t even get within cooee of your mother, father, sister, brother, or sadly, the mind of the one you love, the wife with whom you’ve shared a bed with for the last 22 years.

By the same token you could get an insight into one small area and unearth a secret or two, from those you dismissed as on the periphery of your life. Like Amanda Pearson, John thought bitterly. Amanda, or Det-Sgt Pearson to use her more formal title – had been a part of John’s professional life for almost 5 years, an integral part of the Serious Crimes Unit, one of the boys. As coppers do she had shared her personal problems with the others, especially John. It was the way it was with those whose jobs could not be shared with family, not kids and specially not partners, so John thought nothing of Amanda unloading her marital problems and later her divorce anguish. He treated her as he would any other copper, took her to the pub, listened to her ramblings, drove her home, put her to bed…

No! He could have quite easily – she wasn’t unattractive and like most married men sex wasn’t something regularly on the menu – and Amanda certainly was receptive – when he analysed it later he guessed he just loved Georgie too much to risk anything, but hindsight also told him that by not taking advantage of Amanda at that stage she had given him a certain quality in her eyes that blossomed into a kind of love – if he had just slipped between the sheets like most others on the Force – like most men – that’s where it would have stayed – an office affair – not talked about – invisible, but Amanda’s eyes softened when she found herself alone with Johnny, but John only became aware later, when at the least expected moment his world changed.

Chapter 2

Changing up a gear his walk almost became a run and he realised he had been unconsciously using another walker as a speed marker – she was fit, he thought – she was still broadening the distance between them and he had no more to give, but what did he expect. Five years ago he might have been fit but not now. Strange how we seem to go into that Rip van Winkle state – we think that after years of neglect we can get the tracksuit on and get on the road and run or walk the way we did last time even though it may be a decade or so since we last did it. Like looking into a full length mirror after a shower and realising for the first time that this portly, time lined person is you, and frighteningly that it was not wholly reversible. John’s mind drifted as he watched the other walker slowly disappearing into the distance, her ponytail swishing in the wind, her fit young body awakening old feelings and drifting back in time, about eight years back in time. Amanda now retired in Queensland. She’d bought a motel with a retired police psychologist. No, they weren’t lesbians; at least he didn’t think they were lesbians, well what if they were, as long as she was OK. She was alright, Amanda, a good friend even though she had thrown a bomb into his life that still echoed. He’d been in Melbourne at a meeting of Heads of Department. Officers from all over the Commonwealth, a time wasting exercise, a junket. One of those modern things in the Force the older officers viewed with disdain, John included, but you got to catch up with old mates and have a few decent meals on the Commissioner’s tab. So when he bumped into Amanda it was drinks all round and dinner at a fancy restaurant. They were no longer working together as he had been propelled up the ladder of seniority a while back. They still bumped into each other infrequently as on this occasion – she was on an extradition job.

So, you’re single again, she said with that knowing smile, and that smoky look in her eyes, and John’s life started to unravel.

She’d had a group under surveillance at the Piper Hotel – a small boutique hotel, upmarket and discreet – and she’d seen Georgie and a man picking up the key at the desk. Curiosity kicked in and the staff, already primed to cooperate with the police in return for not drawing the hotel into disrepute furnished the answer to Amanda’s question, Oh, that was Dr and Mrs Bentivoglio; they stay here whenever they are in Adelaide.

That was the moment John realised that Amanda had feelings for him. He also knew that she was aware John was still very much married and definitely not single again. His mind was like a video in fast reverse, only in two streams – one of his relationship with Amanda – how could he not have seen the signals flashing over the five years of working together.

The second of all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle – friends making cryptic comments – out of town meetings that made no sense – the fact that Robert – Dr Bentivoglio – had dinner with them on his many visits to Adelaide more often singly than as a couple – ostensibly so John and he could talk about Robert’s marital problems – three marriages – two serious relationships – man to man – how could he not have seen – not worked out something far more simple than most of his work cases. Easy – the old adage – the husband is always the last to know – John had worked out a long time ago that it was because the husband doesn’t want to know.

The other walker had reached the end of the pathway and was headed back. As she passed she mouthed Good Morning out of pretty lips in a pretty face, her eyes seeing an old man, her brain thinking he’s pretty fit for his age. Suddenly she was gone, leaving the old man still walking, feeling not very fit and looking out to sea as nostalgia threatened to cast a pall over the day. The ring of his mobile brought him back to reality and the ensuing conversation enabled him to find that extra gear and head him for home with an extra spring in his step.

Chapter 3

Tom Lachlan here Johnno, we’ve struck a snag here on a case, break and enter with assault on elderly women. One of them died last night, we think maybe a psycho and well…… Adelaide isn’t New York, we don’t get that many serial offenders, but you had a couple on your beat, you seem to have been able to suss them out……. Lachlan petered out as if he was having second thoughts.

Christ thought John, Tom Lachlan would be lucky to have a first thought, not the brightest penny in the pocket, but he made up for it with a mean streak that suited certain lines of police work. You want me to look over the file and see what I come up with? John asked to put an end to Lachlan’s rambling.

Actually, the new DCI, you know the lezzo they’ve just brought out of retirement, she wondered if you could spare a moment later today.

What new DCI? Said John, already knowing the answer.

Pearson, you know, she was on the Force ‘til just before you retired, got out early and went troppo with the psychiatrist sheila we used to work with, Bunny or something.

John remembered Bunny, June Rabbet, Bunny to the Force, never to her face, she should have been in the strong arm unit, black belt in karate, and don’t let her attractiveness fool you, she was a hard muscled six footer. She didn’t suffer fools gladly and John had to