Chapter 4
Lots of Changes

The Monday following the race meeting, I was summonsed to headquarters in Northallerton to a meeting with Chief Superintendent Scargill.

“Good morning, L….er Julie, you did a good job with the high-end muggers at the races, with only the two of you involved. I am told that Inspector Wainwright and his team offered you additional officers, but that you turned down his offer as you preferred to work independently, but as it all worked out with the assistance from the public, we will leave it at that.”

“ I don’t know who told you that Sir, but I can make a good guess, but you have been given a totally false story.” I ran through the fact that I had involved some civilians I knew to help us as Wainwright was doing everything he could to undermine our team, and far from helping was actually being offensive and obstructive. I filled him in on the assistance I had received from Mick and Josie, and from Jane and her pensioner friends.

“ Very unorthodox and breaking just about every rule in the book, but it seems to have worked, who would suspect such a motley crew to be working on behalf of the police? Moving on, there are two things I want to talk to you about, separate items but related to some degree.”

“ I believe that like a lot of the force that you were a member of the freemasons, but obviously since your gender change you are no longer allowed to continue, how do you feel about the masonic lodges now?”

“To be honest, I never really tuned in to the Masonic Lodge activities, I was talked into joining as I was told it would help my career prospects, Since my gender change, I enjoy the company and friendship of the women I have met since my change much more than a lot of silly men dressed in funny costumes playing at being important, and I prefer the lifestyle in my new role as a woman. I don’t hold any grudges, but I am happier in my new life, why do you ask?”

“ We’ll come back to that in a minute. Secondly, I see that you have been involved with the Rose-acre Residential Home, what do you think of the set-up there?”

“ I didn’t like the owners Duncan and Amanda Rose at all, or the way they run the place, but there was no obvious illegal or suspicious activities going on. where are you going with this Sir?”

“This is all coming together quite nicely. This is all confidential and I am passing this on to you directly without involving Wainwright, in fact keeping him out of the loop altogether. You will be reporting directly to me on this one OK?”

“ You have me intrigued, please tell me what this is all about. And as for keeping Wainwright out of the loop nothing would give me greater pleasure, the man is an offensive women-hating smarmy bully.”

“ It is convenient that you already know Rose-acre Residential Home, as we have been asked to investigate it by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectorate who have some concerns about the number of apparently unconnected deaths among the residents, which have just been signed off by the visiting doctor as ‘Natural Causes’. Normally I would pass this on to Inspector Wainwright, but he is in the same Masonic Lodge as Duncan Rose and Dr Jones, and I am worried about a conflict of interest. In case you are wondering, as you probably can guess, I am also a Mason, but in a Lodge up here in Northallerton rather than one in York , and I have always been suspicious about unfair influence and how rumours about it undermines a lot of the good works that we do. I have never allowed it to affect any decisions I have taken in criminal cases. Obviously you and Sergeant Terry do not have the same allegiances and will look at things a lot more objectively, without any outside influence or prejudice.”

“Thank you for being open with me, I know that you are are supposed to be discreet about your membership, but I do have some knowledge of what goes on from my former life. What exactly do you want us to do?”

“You’re the detective Julie, sniff around and see what you can find out. Either confirm that you can find nothing suspicious, or clear up whatever is going on.”

“Ok, but have I got your permission to continue to be ‘very unorthodox and breaking just about every rule in the book’. I would like to use my unofficial team if it is appropriate, and would like to treat them as listed informants, which will mean slipping them backhanders if they do a good job.”

“That’s ok, make sure that they are on record to keep the books straight, and don’t go mad with the backhanders. Finally before you go, don’t worry too much about Wainwright, his card is marked and I am already keeping an eye on him.”

I couldn’t wait to get back to Fulford Road Station to talk this all through with Trudy and decide how we could go forward. We had just settled down with a coffee and were about to start when we were interrupted by Wainwright swaggering in through the door.

“ I hear that you have been up to Headquarters to see Scargill, what was all that about?”

“Your spy network is still working well, it’s a pity that it is not as efficient out on the streets as it is within the force ! My meeting was all personal, nothing that you need to know about. And, by the way, next time you come to our office will you please knock on the door before bursting in, I would like to be treated with a bit of respect.”

“ Don’t forget that I outrank you, even if you are not in my chain of command, just because you are Scargill’s favourite, doesn’t mean that you can overstep the mark.”

“ Unless there is anything particular you wish to discuss, please close the door on your way out, and leave Detective Terry and I to get on with our work.”

“ You really shouldn’t wind him up like that Julie, the boy’s club in his team are very loyal to him, and they can make life difficult for us. They could make a complaint about anything they feel like and it will always be their word against ours and there are a lot more of them.”

“ Anyway, down to business. We have been asked to investigate some recent deaths up at our favourite care home, Rose-acre. They were all certified as ‘natural causes’ but the frequency and circumstances of them has raised suspicions that there might be more to it. Also, and you’ll love this, Wainwright is in the same Lodge as Duncan Rose and his tame doctor David Jones who certified the deaths, and, reading between the lines, he cannot be trusted to carry out an impartial investigation.”

“ Oh, goody, a chance to have a go at the closed-shop old-boys club, where do we start?”

“ Just remember Trudy, this is an investigation into Rose-acre, not into the influence of Masonic lodges. go into this with an open mind. We don’t want to be accused of prejudice, apart from anything else it will not help your career prospects if you are seen as anti-masons. A good place to start will be with a meeting with the CQC inspector.”

“ Hi, I’m Julie Rowntree and this is Trudy Terry. We believe that you have raised some concerns about Rose-acre residential Home, what exactly are your worries?”

“ Pleased to meet you, I’m Alan Shepherd and my role is to visit and inspect residential and care homes for the elderly, for vulnerable adults, and for young people, to ensure that standards of facilities and care are maintained. On a recent visit to Rose-acre, most things were on an acceptable level, if not to a particularly high standard. The home is a residential home, it is not a medical care home, most of the residents might be elderly, a little frail and not too mobile, but in general there are no major underlying life-threatening or life-limiting conditions. While there was nothing obvious, I just had a feeling that some of the recent deaths there were unexpected in apparently reasonably fit residents. We have done all the routine checks of Rose-acre’s medical records, drug registers and staff backgrounds and it all seems very organised and complete, in some ways too organised and complete. I have no particular cause to take matters further but something just does not seem right about the place.”

“ I know what you mean Alan, we were not very comfortable with the atmosphere in the place either, when we visited a few days ago. If you were investigating this yourself, what signs would you normally look for?”

“Excessive medication use, signs of physical abuse, bruising etc, poor hygiene practices, disgruntled or uncaring staff, things like that.”

“ If anything comes to light what powers do you have?” Trudy asked. “Can you close the place down or disqualify the owners from working in the care industry?”

“ Where we can, we try to improve the conditions or practices, closing down a care home can cause all sorts of problems for the residents, many of them look upon the place as their home with their friends and are not comfortable being moved somewhere else.”

Back in the office Trudy and i set our minds to trying to find a subtle strategy to investigate further.

“ If we go in guns blazing it will only get their backs up and everyone will just clam up and hide things, we need somebody on the inside. The Roses know us and will recognise us easily, even if we tried to disguise ourselves, I think that this needs the help of our unofficial back-up team. By the way, Scargill knows about Mick, Josie, Jane and her friends and we have his approval to use them if we need to.”

“ Those places are always looking for staff, there is a high turnover rate in the industry, the wages are not wonderful, and the management are often pushy over extra working hours and additional duties. I wonder if Josie is available and willing to work there for a bit.”

“Give her a call and if she is happy to help let’s meet her somewhere in town, I don’t want her coming into the station. I think it would also help if we had someone in with the residents. Give Jane a ring and see if she or any of her friends are prepared to either go back in to Rose-acre or at least visit regularly to see old friends that they had made.”

Later that afternoon we met up with Josie and Charles Madeley. Josie had really settled into her new role as a girl, she was stylishly dressed in a loose summer skirt and blouson top, subtly made-up, with her hair styled and waved, looking totally natural, and she carried herself so gracefully that there was no indication at all that she was still physically a boy. Charles was as dapper as we had seen him at the races in a tweed jacket, plain black trousers, black Oxford brogues and a formal shirt and tie.

“ Thanks for coming. I assume that you are both available for a few days and willing to help.”

“ I’m fine, college is on a half-term break, what is this all about.?”

“I’ve got nothing better to do at the moment, we are in a nice comfortable routine at Jane’s now, a little bit of excitement will give us all something to talk about in the evenings.”

“ Unfortunately I can only give you both part of the story, but we are suspicious that there is something not quite right going on at Rose-acre. Charles, we would like you to go in to visit some of your old friends there, just have a general chat, see how they are all feeling and if there are any concerns. Josie, we would like you to get a job as a care assistant there to see what you can overhear or find out. Obviously Charles knows a lot about Rose-acre, and can fill you in with more about backgrounds, routines and staff duties, so that when you go in to see them you have an idea what you are supposed to know about. When you see each other in there, except in an emergency, you are not to recognise each other, or talk to each other, any more than you would with other residents and staff. Let's now review it all in more detail about what exactly we want you to look at.

As we had expected the Roses were only too happy to take on Josie, after all her background story was that she was a student looking for casual work and that she had experience looking after her disabled mother for many of her teen years and was physically fit and capable of giving physical and mental support to the residents. She started work there a day later, and even in a shapeless trouser and tunic uniform and with her hair in a high pony-tail still managed to look attractive and smart.

However when Charles turned up he was met with a lot of hostility from Amanda Rose at reception.

“What on earth are you doing back here and where have you been, you are not really welcome here.”

“This is not a prison, although you sometimes make it feel like one, as far as I am aware your residents are free to come and go as they please and to meet with anyone they wish to, and do not need your permission. In case you have forgotten or do not wish to know, for many years I sat on the council and am still in contact with many people there, particularly in the Social Services Department, would you like me to tell them that you are refusing to let me meet with my friends?”

“ Go ahead, but I hope that you have not come here to cause trouble or to encourage anyone else to leave.”

Charles marched past her into the day room and went over to talk with some of his old cronies.

“How are you all getting on now and what is going on here?”

“ Since you, Joe and the others left it is all a bit dull to tell the truth, and we have had a couple more people die on us, a bit unexpected, but when you get to our age it can happen anytime. They are getting a lot more bossy with us and if anyone complains about it, they are not very popular with the Management, in fact that was probably the cause of the heart attacks that killed Harry and Alice, they had been complaining about the lack of staff, the quality of the food and the general cleanliness of the place.”

Speaking to some of the others, Charles was given more or less the same story, it did not seem to be a particularly happy place.

Josie had settled into her duties with a youthful enthusiasm, and had quickly fallen into the routine, it was mainly being attentive and supportive to the residents trying to keep them cheerful, and keeping the place tidy, the residents were generally capable of looking after themselves. She knocked on the door of Mrs Rose’s office behind reception and after a short delay the door was opened and a middle-aged man hurried out, red-faced and looking flustered, and Josie went in to see Mrs Rose smoothing down her skirt and blouse, and looking equally flustered. Even to young Josie it was obvious that she had caught them in the middle of a bit of a romantic session.

“I was just reviewing the medical case notes of some of the residents with Dr Jones, he usually calls up here once a week to keep an eye on things and comes to deal with any medical emergencies. What can I do for you?”

“ I’m told it is time for the daily drugs trolley, do you want me to deal with it or does it have to be one of the more senior staff?”

“Legally you need medical training to issue drugs, but I’m busy and it is all routine and not too serious, so just do it please, here are the keys for the drug cupboard, and you will find the schedule of what to issue to whom on the back of the door.”

We all met up that evening and we drove to a pub out of town to review what had been learnt.

Julie and Trudy were alarmed by Charle’s report that some of the recent deaths were unexpected and came from what the Roses would consider to be troublemakers, and asked him to keep visiting to see if there were any more rumours and to find to exactly when the recent deaths occurred.

The were more concerned however at the casual control of drugs, allowing an untrained 19-year-old to access and administer drugs, even though most of them were relatively mild for normal older-person ailments.

“ Be careful with the drugs Josie, it is easy to give the wrong dose. There should be a drugs register in the cupboard with them, it should list stock levels and usage, see if you can have a look at the last two months and see if there are any unusual withdrawals.”

“ That should be easy, the records are actually stored on a computer and I should be able to copy them onto a USB memory stick.”

“ Take care the pair of you, I don’t trust the Roses.”

We took Josie and Charles home, went back to our apartment and reviewed what we had discovered.

‘My detective’s ‘nose’ tells me that there is something funny going on at Rose-acre Trudy.”

‘I agree, the unexpected deaths of complainers, the casual control of drugs, and the apparent relationship between Amanda Rose and Dr Jones, just seem a lot of linked circumstances. Where do you think we go from here?”

“Let’s see what happens with Josie and Charles tomorrow. If it starts to look like our suspicions may be right, I am not too keen on them staying in what could be embarrassing or dangerous situations and we might pull them back. Tomorrow Trudy see what you can find out about Dr Jones, and see if we have any records of any interest in the deaths at Rose-acre, although if they were signed off as ‘natural causes’ by a doctor, I can’t see us or a coroner having taken an interest.”

In the morning when Trudy was looking into things I went to see Superintendent Scargill to update him on our investigation.

“ It’s early days yet but my ‘nose’ tells me that this may turn into a murder investigation. I realise that rules and regulations require the Senior Investigating Officer in murder cases to be Inspector rank or above, you may want to appoint someone to take over the case.”

“ Just keep working on it Julie, I’ll have a think about it and let you know. In your old life you were an Inspector and have all the certificates, so it should not be a problem, I can always get you a temporary promotion if necessary. I would like you to see this through, particularly if the Masonic Lodge link comes into play.”

Meanwhile Charles turned up at Rose-acre again and was met by both Mr and Mrs Rose who were not pleased to see him.

“What do you want Madeley, you can’t just keep turning up here upsetting the residents and our routines.”

“ Oh, I think I can and if you want to talk about this I am quite happy to phone my friend, the Assistant director of Social Services. Rather than discuss this publicly in reception can we go to one of the offices, talk this through and come to an agreement."

As had been agreed, when Charles had lured them away, Josie had the opportunity to go into the office, and access and copy the files of the drug records. Luckily the computer had been left active and she was able to get what she wanted without needing a password. When she was finished she rang the main entrance doorbell which was the signal to Charles that he should finish the conversation and go to meet his friends.

When I got back to the office Trudy had a big smile on her face.

“ It looks like our Dr Jones has a bit of a weakness for the Ladies, he has twice been accused of inappropriate behaviour with patients and left his last post after a scandal involving one of the practice nurses. Nothing was ever followed up and there were no claims of violence or rape or anything like that, just a breach of professional conduct.”

“That’s good, well discovered, did you got anything on the deaths at Rose-acre?”

“ Nothing much, as we thought, because they were certified as ‘natural causes’ by a doctor, the coroner just accepted it and there was no follow up or post-mortem. For all the recent deaths the bodies were cremated, so even if we had grounds for doing so, there is no way we can check. One thing though the coroner was concerned about the number of recent deaths there and requested a review of the operation of the home by the CQC”

Later we met up again with Josie and Charles to see what they had found out.

“There is talk among the residents that the charges are going to be increased, apparently the Rose’s finances are looking a bit shaky, and people are worried that they may close down Rose-acre.”

“ It’s just as well then” chipped in Josie “ that not only did I copy the drugs records, but I also have got all their financial records on the USB stick, you may find something in amongst that lot.”

“Well done the pair of you, this is working better than I hoped. Keep a low profile for a couple of days, while we look at what Josie has brought us. Josie just keep doing your normal duties, Charles keep away for a while, too many visits will look suspicious.”

“ No problems with me, I am on nights for the next few days, so it should be pretty quiet, and I might even be able to catch up with some of my college work.”

“ Ok, I really appreciate your help, take care and I’ll call you in a couple of days.”

“Trudy, you look at the drugs records and I’ll take the finance stuff, I did spend a bit of time with the fraud squad so I may have a better idea what to look for there.”

The next two days we were glued to our computer screens, and never left the office during working hours. The only distractions were the usual sarcastic interruptions from Wainwright who was determined to find out what we were up to.

“Hello girls, you seem busy, have you got nothing you need to be out in the world investigating. If you need something to fill in your days, I am sure that my team can throw you some scraps to get your teeth into.”

“That’s ok Boyo, we have some serious investigation going on here, it is confidential and if you need to know more phone up Superintendent Scargill. Can we help you with anything before you go.”

Trudy smiled at me as he left. “ What’s with the ‘Boyo’?”

‘If he can be patronising by calling us ‘girls’, ‘Boyo’ was the nearest name for him that I could think of, my Irish grandmother used to use it in a slightly insulting rather than a friendly manner. how are you getting on, have you found anything funny yet?”

“ The records seem pretty well kept, and there are no unusual withdrawals around the dates of the recent deaths. I have noted however that there is a regular issue of sedatives and sleeping pills every night, it looks like they make sure that the residents are no bother during the night shift. How about you?”

“ It does look like Rose-acre is in a bit of a tight spot, they are running with a pretty low bank balance. It has been a lot worse since Jane and her friends left and their fees were stopped, but it has been sailing close to the wind for some time. I have noticed that there seem to be very high regular payments to Dr Jones, more than I would expect for routine visits. I think Amanda Rose may be squirrelling money away so that she can leave her husband and run off with Jones, it appears that she keeps the accounts and does the annual tax and Company returns, so he probably doesn’t even know what is going on. This is more of a matter of trust and good practice, rather than fraud, but I am going to check their tax records to see how it is recorded and submitted.”

A call came in from Josie saying she need to speak with us.

“As you know, i have been working night shifts the last few days, and am concerned about some of the things that are going on. Every night, with their late-night drinks, the residents are given a double dose of sleeping pills to knock them out and keep them quiet, as I have been the only one on duty. I have been told by Mrs Rose that if any of them do wake up and use the call button that I am to turn the system off and ignore the calls.”

“Is there a log on the call system Josie, can we find out if it was turned off on the nights of the recent deaths?” Trudy led our side of the conversation

“I think I can do that, give me the dates, I am on my own again tonight so should be able to get on the computer without any interference.”

“ We don’t think that we can prove any direct involvement with the heart attacks causing the recent deaths, but if the alarm systems are turned off and there is an excessive use of sedatives then it looks like serious negligence and malpractice. On another tack, what is the relationship like between the Roses, do they seem a happy couple?”

“ Anything but, she is always criticising him telling him how she would run the place differently, and that she could make the place more successful without him. She also seems very close to Dr Jones, he is always ringing her up and is on the phone for ages, and she doesn’t like being interrupted when he is calling.”

“ You are doing a super job Josie, keep at it for a few more days until your college term starts, we think we should be able to wrap this up soon.”

The Rose-acre tax returns were also on the memory stick and comparing them, the formal accounts, and the day-to-day double-entry records of spending and income, we found glaring discrepancies. There were no records of payments to Dr Jones declared other than routine examination and call out charges, and large amounts shown as ‘specialist consultancy on business, medical and ethical issues’, obviously Mrs Rose’s hide-away for her payments to Dr Jones.

“ What do you think Trudy, do we have enough to get a warrant to formally look through their records, obviously we cannot use as evidence anything that Josie has found for us unofficially.”

“ Let’s talk to Alan Shepherd at the CQC again, to see whether the medical malpractices we have found are enough to start an investigation by him and we could then follow on behind them and coincidentally discover the financial irregularities.”

After discussions with Alan, where we outlined the apparent misuse of drugs, lack of staff overnight and disabling the alarm systems, he felt that he had grounds for a full investigation, and arranged to go in to Rose-acre. He was accepted with resignation by Mr Rose, but Amanda was openly hostile and was refusing to cooperate. A quick call to us and we turned up with a search warrant allowing us to access and copy all their computer records and to remove their computers for detailed analysis.

As we had already seen most of the relevant information unofficially from the copies obtained by Josie. and had identified other items from emails and social media accounts, we were soon back for a formal meeting with the Roses

“ There are two strands to our investigation, separate but interlinked. First is medical and duty-of-care malpractices, and secondly financial irregularities. The first is mainly the responsibility of the CQC, and Alan Shepherd will be following that up with you and you will be subject to professional-body punishments.

“However we have found emails between you, Amanda, and Dr Jones agreeing to unusually large doses of sedatives overnight to keep residents quiet and suggesting that it would be useful to turn off the call-system alarms overnight, ‘If anyone is dying does it matter if they were ignored for a few hours. I am sure that any delays will not need to be recorded on the death certificate.’ That is criminal neglect and is a matter for the courts. At the moment there is only evidence against you Amanda and Dr Jones, Mr Rose is not yet implicated. so when we are finished here you will be formally arrested and taken to the station for further questioning. Amanda was fuming, glaring at us and coming out with the usual rubbish “You have no proof, get me a lawyer, i will have you sued for false arrest”and stood up to leave the room, but we had a uniformed officer at the door, so there was not much she could do.

We have found evidence of financial irregularities, tax fraud, and misuse of public funds, as several of your residents are here at the local council’s expense. The most significant items are regular large payments to Dr Jones, hidden under the heading of specialist consultancy. These are backed up by emails of a personal and intimate nature between you and him suggesting that you would filter money from the business ,and built up a pot of money to allow you to leave your husband and run off with him. Leaving aside the morality, that is defrauding your business and your husband may wish to take action to recover some of those funds.”

Duncan Rose looked confused and angry at these revelations, either he was an innocent party in all this or he was an Oscar-winning level actor.

“ This is not supposed to happen,” screamed Amanda, David told me that he had agreed with your Inspector Wainwright that the police would not be sticking their noses into our business, and he was well rewarded wined and dined to keep him onside.”

“ I would like to talk about that further down at the station, please go with the Constable and we will see you down there soon. Constable, please ensure that she is kept in isolation, in particular Inspector Wainwright is not allowed to talk to her under any circumstances, if he tries to pull rank delay him, let me know, and I will get the chief Superintendent to have words with him.”

When they had left Trudy and I had a long talk with Duncan Rose. He assured us that he had no idea what Amanda had been doing with staffing levels and drugs issue problems, and eventually we believed him. Obviously he had no idea that she was diverting money from the business to her slush fund with Dr Jones and regretted that although he had financed the purchase and set-up of the care home and was nominally the owner and manager, he had left day-to-day operational duties to her.

“ Obviously the CQC inspectors will have a lot to say to you about how the place is run, that is not our main concern. However you need some independent oversight of what is going on. I suggest that you set up a Board of Trustees, perhaps involving your ex-residents Jane Stuart and her friends. Since they left you they have enjoyed a much richer quality of life and I am sure that they have some ideas to improve how you operate here. I think that will go down well with the CQC and allow you to stay open. Depending on what your wife and Dr Jones have to say to us, we will be back with more questions for you, you are still a ‘person of interest’.”

Back at the station we were met at the entrance by Wainwright. “ Who do you think you are, giving instructions as to who I can see in my station ?”

“ If I were you, I would say no more. I have reasons to believe that you have been involved in corruption and will be facing disciplinary measures, if not criminal charges. When I get a chance to get to my phone, I will be calling Chief Superintendent Scargill and it would not surprise me if you were suspended immediately pending further enquiries. Now please let me through.”

“ Damn you, you perverted bitch, you will get your comeuppance, just wait to see who comes out on top.”

As expected, Wainwright was suspended and sent home. Investigations into his possible corruption were passed on to the Police Standards Department and other than any direct involvement with the case against Amanda Rose, we were not involved further with the case against him.

Interviews with Rose and Jones made the whole situation a lot clearer, in her anger she confessed that people had been left unattended to die so that she could minimise night-duty staff, and that Jones had falsified the time of death on the Death Certificate. it was now really just a matter of tidying up the loose ends and preparing the case for the prosecutors.

“ Julie, Charles Scargill here. you have given me a bit of a problem. The detective team in York are now leaderless, and need a new inspector, at least on a temporary basis while Wainwright is investigated. Are you up for it? You have got all the certificates and have previously held the rank, know the station and the people and should slot in with no problems.”

“ Thanks for that Charles, but a couple of points. Firstly, Wainwright has poisoned his team against me from day one, It needs to be made clear to them them I am in charge and any contact with Wainwright will count as a disciplinary offence. Secondly I would like the Odd Squad to continue as a separate unit under my control, and will need a sergeant to run it and and another detective to assist. Unless there is any reason to prevent it, I would like Trudy Terry to be promoted to that role. As a graduate on the promotion fast-track route, I am sure that the Sergeant’s exam will not be a problem to her.”

“ It looks like you have got it all planned out, I will come down to York tomorrow to talk to Wainwrights team and to Detective Terry and we’ll sort things out. Meanwhile just tell his team that Wainwright is under investigation by Professional Standards and that there is to be no contact with him.”

Things were definitely looking up for the Odd Squad now !

To be continued.