The George Elms Trilogy Box Set

by Charlie Gallagher

  The man’s eyes were heavy and red as he peered over at George. ‘You do this professionally? Did they send you after me?’

  ‘Do what?’

  ‘Talk to people when they walk away from a prognosis like I got? Making people feel better?’

  ‘Goodness, no!’ George couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I don’t think I have the right qualifications for that job.’

  ‘Not a job anyone would want either. Talking to the walking dead.’

  ‘We’re all walking dead, right? At least you have that timescale. When you tell your family, tell them that you have good news. That the next twelve months are gonna be the most amazing of your life — of their lives. It’s still going to hit them hard but at least then you start off on the right foot.’

  ‘I might just try that. I just want to see if I can go with no regrets, you know? That’s the dream, right?’

  ‘I think it is.’

  ‘Not going to be easy, though. Me and my ex . . . we were great together. We had the kids but it went wrong. She had her head turned by her personal trainer. I’m a walking cliché, right? I was working all day and tired all night, so I guess it was inevitable, but I took it bad. I was so angry, it put a chip on my shoulder I never managed to get rid of. She hates me now. I mean, I know what she did, but I made her life hell.’

  ‘Is that your regret?’

  ‘No. I mean, it’s part of it. It’s the kids, see? She used to get upset and the kids would see her upset and they would know I caused it and . . . well, we all fell out for a while. We didn’t talk for a few days, then a few weeks, then it was months and in the end it took years to sort it out. I never should have done that. I should never have let my pride stand between me and my kids.’

  ‘Well, you’ve got twelve months to make it right.’

  The man smiled, and this time it looked more genuine. ‘You’re right. Thanks for talking to me. I’m sorry I vented. I guess you were just the first person I saw.’

  ‘No one sent you?’ George quipped. ‘To talk to me, I mean? Seeing as you accused me of the same?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ The man stopped in the doorway on his way back into the hospital.

  ‘Doesn’t matter. Good luck with it all, yeah?’ The man left. It wasn’t long before George turned to another voice.

  Emily Ryker stepped out. ‘Well, this place is fucking grim, isn’t it?’

  ‘The hospital?’

  ‘Well, yeah, but I mean this little area. I would picture outside areas at hospitals as being like gardens, with flowers and stuff. This is like John Major’s screensaver.’

  ‘I suppose it suits it.’

  ‘Not a fan of hospitals?’

  ‘Who is?’

  ‘You okay?’

  ‘Fine. I was just thinking it out. The next step.’

  ‘And there was me thinking you were out here beating yourself up. The boss was right, George. We didn’t even know who she was then. It didn’t matter whether you were looking at her or not.’

  ‘Maybe you’re right. It just puts us back a few paces. Do you think she’ll talk to you? We need what she knows.’

  ‘I don’t think so. Not any time soon.’

  ‘Dammit! Between her and Stan I feel like we’ve got all the keys now but we can’t find the door.’

  ‘We’ll get there. Do you want me to find the coffee then?’ Emily moved back to the door.

  ‘Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that. I’ll have a tea if you’re going.’

  ‘Are you staying here?’

  ‘Just a few more minutes. I need to make a couple of calls and then I’m going to go back in there and have a chat with our Jenny.’

  ‘I think you’re the last person she’ll talk to, George. Are you sure that’s a good idea? We don’t want to piss her off and push her further away.’

  ‘I think she’ll talk to me. I just got an idea.’

  ‘Why does that always fill me with a sort of dread?’

  ‘I’ll be five minutes behind you — in time for the tea at least. Just let me make this call.’

  Emily lingered on him for a few seconds. She looked like she had more to say, but she moved back into the hospital. George watched her disappear from sight. He pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through to his wife’s number. He pressed to dial and held the phone to his ear.

  Chapter 27

  George was very uncertain when he stepped back into Jenny’s room. Jenny had fallen back to sleep; the monitoring equipment beeped a gentle rhythm around her; the blanket still breathed in and out as he approached. He had forgotten how tiny a baby could be. Isobel lay across his arm, tucked in tight to his chest. She was sleeping. She had squirmed a little when she was handed to him but her eyes stayed shut. Her breathing was rhythmic again and she looked peaceful.

  ‘Jenny!’ George said. Jenny stirred a little. ‘Jenny, I’ve got Isobel here to see you.’ Jenny’s eyes fluttered open. She took a few moments, her eyes half-open. Suddenly they opened wide.

  ‘Issy!’ She pushed herself back in the bed and held out her arms. George laid Isobel gently in her grasp. He stayed close, the nurse had told him she was weak and she might not even realise it. She pulled her child to her chest and held on tight. There was no way she was going anywhere. George backed off a little.

  ‘I’m sorry it took us so long to bring her down but we had to be sure you were okay first. How do you feel?’

  ‘Great now!’ Jenny beamed. She didn’t take her eyes off her sleeping child. Isobel took a firm grip on her outstretched finger. ‘Oh, my little Issy! I knew I would see you again!’

  ‘I’ve arranged for a cot to be brought in here. She shouldn’t have to leave your side again, Jenny. I thought you’d appreciate that.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Jenny now looked at George. ‘Are you the man I shouted at earlier?’

  ‘Yeah. I let you down, Jenny. But I wanted to exp—’

  ‘They already did. The girl. She said that you didn’t know what I looked like. You got my name from someone who heard Joseph shouting at me. It’s okay.’

  ‘It’s not okay. I can’t imagine how you felt in that lift. I must have been so close.’

  ‘Closer than you are now. I read your tag. I saw you were police.’

  ‘I am sorry.’

  ‘It’s okay. I know’

  ‘I wanted to get off to a better start, Jenny — with you, I mean. We need you, we need your help desperately.’

  ‘I thought you might. I’m not sure what I can do though. I’ll be honest with you, Inspector, I just want all of this to go away.’

  ‘Please, call me George. Unfortunately that isn’t an option right now. The man in the car with you when this all started, is that your other half? We know he was taken from that car. We need to find him and—’

  ‘He’s dead.’

  ‘He’s dead?’

  ‘I saw it. Joseph. He was with me on the pier. They shot him in the head. I was right there. Jesus!’ She broke down. George cursed himself, immediately he knew he had underestimated what this girl had gone through. He looked around the room. There were two padded armchairs against the wall on the other side of the room. He pulled one over so it was next to her. She took a hold of herself a little and nuzzled into Isobel. ‘I’m sorry, George. I’ve had a hell of a few days. I thought Joseph was dead all along. I saw them shoot into the car, that’s why I ran. I didn’t even look back. Then I saw him on that pier and I was so confused. Not just because I thought he was dead, but because I knew that he was the reason I was involved in all this. I couldn’t hate him though. I saw him there — he was all tied up and helpless. He tried to act like he didn’t know me, but when they made him — when they said they knew all about me, he did what he could to save me. They shot him. It was like they were putting down an animal, George! How could someone do that?’

  George still hadn’t sat down; he simply leaned on the back of the chair. ‘I really don’t know, Jenny. No matter how long I do this job, no matter wh
at I see or hear, I can never understand how people can be so evil. There’s something fundamentally wrong with these people, Jenny. They need to be off the streets. The only way the rest of the world is safe from them is if they’re in prison. You need to understand your situation, Jenny. You’ve witnessed a terrible crime. These people cannot let you live. They’ve proven just how far they will go to hurt you. Right now you’re safe. You’re being protected by six armed police officers at different points around this hospital — with more on standby. I can help you, Jenny. I can keep you safe. But we have to help each other. The only way to guarantee your safety is to put these people behind bars. They can’t hurt you there, Jenny. I’ll make it as easy as possible. I’ve got a video camera. We’ll set it up and forget about it. Then we just talk about what happened. No writing. No checking it back over. We just talk.’

  ‘I don’t want to talk! You can make me disappear. I’ve heard about it. I’ve seen it on TV — witness protection, right?’

  ‘That’s right, I can do exactly that. But to get witness protection, you have to be a witness. That means someone who is giving us evidence that will put these people away.’

  ‘And if I don’t, I’m on my own? Is that what you’re saying?’

  ‘Honestly? No. I’m not about to turf you back out and wish you luck, Jenny. But we can only do so much to protect you and we can only do it for so long. And you have to know that Social Services have arranged foster care for Isobel here—’

  ‘Well, they don’t have to now. I’m back, aren’t I?’ Jenny flashed angry, her cheeks burned red.

  ‘You are. But think about it . . . will the police and Social Services let you have care of young Isobel, here, if you’re considered to be a target for serious harm?’

  ‘So you’re going to take my baby away? Because I saw a murder and someone shot at me?’

  ‘That’s not what I’m saying, Jenny. I want to keep you both safe and I want to keep you both together. That’s my favourite outcome. But if you take a decision that makes that impossible, then I will do what I can to keep Isobel out of harm’s way. Because she isn’t old enough to make a decision that is in her own best interest.’

  ‘So you just came in here to threaten me with taking my baby away if I don’t help you? You’re no different to those men, they just used guns to threaten me.’

  ‘I’m very different. If you don’t help me I will still do all I can to keep you safe. I will still do all I can to find those men and to put them in front of a judge who can send them down for a very long time. And if I manage to do that without your help then I will help you get Isobel back in your care. I don’t want you dead. That makes me your best option, Jenny. I haven’t got off on the right foot with you. That was my fault. I still feel like I let you down, and because of that I will work harder and faster. But you need to help me. You need to tell me what you know and you need to let me put that into evidence. Together we will get these bastards. They’ve already given me the hump by shooting a defenceless pensioner dead in her own home. Help me, Jenny, please.’

  Jenny snuggled back into Isobel. She kissed her lightly on the cheek. Isobel still slept soundly. ‘And then you’ll move me away? The new identity. A place to live? So I can’t be found by them or their mates?’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘You promise?’

  ‘I have a daughter too, Jenny. She’s nine though. She does this thing — it’s called a pinky promise. You have to link your little finger on one hand. There’s nothing that can break a pinky promise.’

  Jenny stared at him. She looked more than a little unsure. George held out his right hand, his little finger extended. Jenny shook her head, the slightest curl of her lips. Then she locked her finger with his.

  When George emerged from her room Whittaker and Emily Ryker were stood outside waiting for him.

  ‘You were ages in there, old boy. I take it you got her talking?’

  ‘I did, yeah. It’s a hell of a tale.’ George lifted up the DVD that now contained her account.

  ‘Where are we then, George? We all need to get back together at the nick. I’ll need the team to sit and watch it so we all know what there is. Are there any fast-track actions, though — anything to do straight away?’

  ‘There are, sir. I need a surveillance team and an armed tactical team that can be available round the clock.’

  ‘Okay, I agree we need some safeguarding in place. I’m not sure I can get you a whole tactical team—’

  ‘It has to be a tactical team, Major.’

  ‘Okay? Are you aware of something that you are not divulging, George? You understand my position as the SIO. I can’t have anything kept from me — especially if you want me to start writing blank cheques for tactical teams.’

  ‘It’s nothing like that, Major. There’s more to this. We’re not being told the whole picture here. I think there’s still more to play out and we need to be ready. That will be our chance to nab these bastards.’

  ‘I’ll see what I can do. Teams of seven specialist officers don’t come cheap. It can be done, but you need a damned good reason for not being content with sticking up a camera and putting a marked car outside the address. That would do the same job for a tenth of the budget.’

  ‘They’re preventative, sir. You can still do that by all means.’

  ‘So you don’t want the tactical team at the Wingmores’?’

  ‘No, sir. And I would rather they didn’t know.’

  ‘Do you think this gang intend on coming back? That maybe they have unfinished business and this is a ploy to flush them out?’

  ‘I don’t think they will return there, sir.’

  ‘You have me confused, George.’

  ‘We still don’t know the real story. We’re getting snippets. I’m getting half-truths, half-stories and downright lies. Right now I can’t pick out which is which. I figure if I’m not being told the truth I might try sitting back and seeing if it gets played out in front of me. You don’t have to like the idea, Major, you just have to not dislike it enough to order me not to.’

  ‘Oh, I definitely dislike it enough for that.’

  ‘Are you ordering me not to?’

  ‘Well, no, George. But we need to go over what you want to do. Then at least I know what I’m not ordering you not to do.’

  Chapter 28

  George was in the foyer of the hospital when his phone rang. It was Ali.

  ‘What’s up, Ali?’

  ‘George, I’m done up at the house, but I’ve just had a rather strange call. The source of that call kept apologising and said that his orders had come from some bloke called DI Elms and that he didn’t know any more. He seemed new, like he might be frightened to ask any questions. Maybe even new enough to respect you.’

  ‘Blimey. Must be fresh out the box.’

  ‘I know. And seeing as I don’t particularly care about rank an’ all that, I thought I would call you direct and find out what the hell is going on.’

  ‘And I’m glad you did,’ George chuckled. ‘You know I always like to help. What do you need to know?’

  ‘So I’m finished up at the house. But I’m being told to wait for a couple of other marked vehicles to get here. Then I’ll be told when the scene can be stepped down and we all have to leave together in some sort of choreographed convoy?’

  ‘That’s right—’

  ‘Then I need to make my way directly to Langthorne beach and — this is my favourite bit — this DI Elms joker needs me to create a crime scene using my body tent and some police tape. So . . . my question is probably obvious, George, don’t you think?’

  ‘Yeah. You’re going to ask me what colour tent you should use. I know you have the yellow hi-vis one or the plain white. Personally I think you should go for the plain white. I think that’s a bit of a classic.’

  ‘You’re not funny.’

  ‘I am, Ali. You get told something enough and you do start believing it.’ George ducked into a disabled toilet cubicle th
at had become free.

  ‘Strange you should say that. You hear something enough about someone and you can start believing it too, George.’

  George chuckled again. ‘And I bet you haven’t been hearing about how funny I am, have you?’

  ‘Not even once.’

  ‘So you want to know why on earth you would be leaving in a big convoy and then setting up a body tent over a mound of pebbles?’

  ‘Well, yes.’

  ‘It’s a very long story, Ali, one that you are very welcome to hear right now or you can trust me and let me buy you a coffee in a day or so when this is all over. Your choice.’

  ‘How long?’

  ‘I-haven’t-really-got-the-time long. The shortest version is that we had a girl go into the water off the pier out there. I need the people that were with her to think that she washed up dead. You’re perfect for the job. This might be the only way I can get hold of these bastards. I can’t tell you how important you are. That’s not just me buttering you up either, Ali. I’ll explain it all and you’ll know I’m right.’

  ‘I don’t trust people, George — I’ve never been good at that. And doesn’t that mean that we have another scene? On the pier, where this girl was pushed?’

  ‘I didn’t say she was pushed.’ George was deflecting. He didn’t want to tell her about his expectation of finding a body at the bottom of the sea, tied off on a dumbbell. CSI got twitchy around bodies in water, especially seawater. If forensics was your thing it was possibly the worst environment on earth.

  ‘You’ve not said much!’

  ‘Like I said, you can have the long story now or the coffee and full explanation later. You know you can trust me. You remember my face, right? How trustworthy it is? Hold that image in your mind. I think it’ll help.’

  ‘You’re something, George. That’s an image I really don’t want. You’d better find these people and then you need to do better than a coffee and a cake.’