‘Any news?’ she asked once parked up.
‘Well I might have if you’d let me actually go into the station.’
‘I swear I’ll never know how Jenkins put up with you so long,’ Ruby said, instantly regretting mentioning their former partner.
‘Remember it was you who chose him, not the other way around,’ he said, with the merest trace of smile. He swiped his security pass and pulled open the door.
‘Let’s check with uniform first,’ Ruby said, changing the subject. ‘It would be better if we have something to tell Nelson when we go upstairs.’
‘Alright, Sarge,’ Cooper said, approaching the duty desk. ‘Your boys turn up anything last night?’
‘They’re doing a more thorough door-to-door this morning but nothing from the immediate neighbours.’
‘Not even those who called us?’
‘Nope, except what you probably already know.’
‘Nelson been down yet?’
The duty sergeant nodded slowly.
‘Good mood, was he?’ Cooper quipped, already turning towards the stairway. ‘Let’s find an excuse to get out of here as quickly as possible. Agreed?’
‘Agreed,’ whispered Ruby. She didn’t know why she was feeling anxious; if anything DCI Nelson should be grateful to see them so soon after they had knocked off the night before, but the way he was loitering just inside the door to CID reminded her how naïve she could be sometimes.
‘Ah, good of you to join us. You know, people will start to talk if you two continue to arrive to work together,’ Nelson said.
‘At least we remembered not to put on each other’s clothes in our hurry to get here this morning,’ Cooper responded, quick as a flash.
‘Yeah, good one,’ Nelson said, raising a dismissive hand. ‘But you wouldn’t be quite so jolly if you’d had the call I’ve just made to the DSI.’
‘Go on, guv,’ Ruby prompted, knowing how Nelson liked to remind the team that whatever pressure they felt he was putting them under, was nothing compared to what he was getting from above. However, from the way Nelson had approached it, she suspected that things weren’t as bad as they might have been.
‘Well, like me, he thinks the odd burglary is one thing but this is turning into something else. He wants results, same as we all do, but I’ve convinced him to let us play down the links between them until we have more to go on. And by we, I mean…’
‘Us two,’ Ruby and Cooper responded in unison.
‘Just make sure you’ve got something for me by lunchtime, will you?’ he said, walking off.
Chapter Ten
‘Good night was it?’
‘Huh?’ Kate responded.
‘You’re in later than usual,’ the barista said.
‘Oh, yeah right. Can I have…’
‘Was your birthday okay?’ he interrupted nervously.
‘It was fine, look I’m in a bit of a hurry so if I could just have a medium Americano…’
‘Sure, of course,’ he said, shaking his head apologetically and hastily punching her order into the till’s touchscreen.
Kate waited to thank him until she had made her contactless payment and was moving down the counter to the collection area. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk. She was too angry. Angry at Scott for daring to touch her after what he’d been doing, and most of all angry at herself for allowing him to do so.
But if there was comfort to draw from having to lie there motionless under his rutting form, was the satisfaction that their last moment of intimacy was as pathetic as their very first. There would be no excuses that evening; nothing would stand in the way of her finding the evidence she needed to kick him out of the house and out of her life for good. Chalking it down as a farewell fuck, Kate saw it as a perfect reflection on the years they had wasted together.
Stepping outside into the cold whilst taking her first tentative sip of steaming hot coffee made her feel much better. She had spent the last hour feeling used and dirty; having to make small talk with the man who had violated her. But now that she knew it wasn’t weakness that had seen her allow him to use her body, but the power and patience to leave striking until the time was right, she could go about her business; enjoying the anticipation of what was to come.
‘Kate, where have you been?’ barked her manager as soon as she stepped out of the lift. ‘Our client has been waiting half an hour and seems about fit to walk out!’
‘I’m so sorry, Mark, it’s just my mother had a nasty fall late last night and I’ve been at the hospital all this time.’
‘Oh Jesus, I’m so sorry, Kate. Is she okay? Why are you here? If you’d just texted me, I could have taken the meeting myself.’ One sentence spilled into another and Kate had to fight to stop a smile forming on her lips; Scott wasn’t the only one who could lie, and it seemed she was a damn sight better at it too.
‘I knew how important this meeting was to the company,’ she replied earnestly, despite thinking no such thing. ‘I didn’t want to let anybody down.’
There was a moment of awkward silence whilst Mark tried to figure out what he was meant to do next. He extended his arms as though he was about to offer a hug, before clapping his hands together. ‘Well, I massively appreciate you just being here, Kate. I wouldn’t want this to be a wasted journey for you so let’s crack on with the meeting and we’ll try and get you back to your poor mother as quickly as possible.’
‘You’re very good to me,’ Kate responded, putting a hand on his shoulder for emphasis. She waited until he turned away before wiping it on the back of her skirt.
Chapter Eleven
‘So, what have we got?’ DCI Nelson called expectantly as the two detectives walked through the open door to his office.
‘We think we’ve found the connection between the primary victims. They commute into London each day,’ Ruby said, sitting down.
‘CCTV?’
‘We’ve compared footage from the carriages on each night, and there’s nothing suspicious there. I think we need to proceed on the basis that the perpetrators are here in St. Albans and select their target somewhere in the direct vicinity of the station.’
‘What’s to say that they’re not sitting in a van somewhere near the houses waiting for people to return?’
‘Nothing, guv, but because of the different times I don’t believe that to be the case.’
‘Go on,’ he prompted, steepling his fingers.
‘Given yesterday’s attack had been late on a weekday night, it would leave too much to chance. They could be sat there with no one suitable coming along. It would be far better for them to be selecting from a large group, and a train load of people provides just that.’
‘Perhaps that’s exactly why it was so late,’ countered Nelson but with a glint in his eye that suggested to Ruby he was just playing devil’s advocate. ‘You know, they’ve been sat there all evening, probably thinking they had missed their opportunity, when suddenly someone comes along. What do you think of that, Cooper?’
Ruby was as interested to hear Cooper’s thoughts as Nelson appeared. They hadn’t been working together for very long and, although her first impressions had been reasonable, it was only in a situation like this where she could find out how much of a partner he really was.
‘Makes sense to me, what Ruby said I mean, guv. I wouldn’t yet describe them as professionals but they are serious about what they’re doing. As a consequence, sitting in a van close to where they’ve struck before doesn’t make sense to me.’
Ruby was pleased; not only had Cooper backed her up but he seemed genuinely on the same page as her. ‘There’s no escaping that they need people heading towards the more expensive residential areas if they’re to find the sort of high value items they’re searching for, so it makes sense to vary the time instead,’ she said.
‘Okay,’ Nelson said, nodding. ‘To summarise then, we’re not just dealing with some nasty bastards here but bastards with some brain cells. So, what would your next
move be if you were them?’
Ruby looked across at Cooper and interpreted the shrug she received as an indication that she should answer this one. ‘Personally, I would stop. They must know that they’re pushing their luck by—’
‘Stop?’ Nelson exclaimed.
Ruby couldn’t help but smile. ‘I said that is what I’d do but I reckon they’ll look to reduce the risk by moving their activities on to somewhere else entirely.’
A silence descended that Ruby was keen not to punctuate. ‘Well, that’s a good thing, right?’ Cooper offered eventually, but with a lack of conviction in his tone.
Neither Ruby nor Nelson elected to respond.
Chapter Twelve
‘And I thought we were the ones who are meant to be the criminals here!’ Cole said, storming through the front door.
‘How much did you get for it?’ Jordan asked.
‘£250 was the best I could manage,’ Cole replied, slumping onto the threadbare sofa and sparking up a cigarette.
‘Fucking hell, that phone costs a grand new, and I didn’t see a single scratch on it. You sure your mate isn’t taking the piss?’
‘Either that or Cole is skimming off some for himself,’ Lexie added, walking into the sitting room. ‘Get a receipt, did you?’
‘Oh, fuck off, you know I didn’t,’ Cole responded bitterly. ‘Maybe you would like to sell this shit on yourself.’
‘Why have a dog and bark yourself?’ Taylor said, coming in from the hallway.
‘What did you just say to me?’ Cole hissed, jumping to his feet.
‘Easy now,’ Lexie said, moving in between the two men and enjoying the look of relief on Taylor’s face. ‘As it happens, I have found a buyer for most of the jewellery. Should come to the best part of a grand, and when we manage to shift the other bits and bobs that should easily become two. When you add that to the other nights’ totals…’
‘It’s not enough though, is it?’ Jordan said, sitting forward. ‘The whole point of this was meant to be a couple of big jobs and then we could get enough to set ourselves up abroad or somewhere. We’re four jobs in and we’ve got less than half of what we thought we’d get with the first two.’
Cole sat back down again and Taylor, who appeared similarly deflated, joined him; their disagreement of less than a minute ago seemingly forgotten. Lexie, however, was far from displeased by Jordan’s observation. Whilst the three boys had been intent on getting smashed last night, with their blood still up from the excitement of the job, she had sat brooding in the corner. She may have been a touch more optimistic about what their haul would gain on the black market, but she knew that it would still fall far short of what they needed. For a while she had contemplated cutting and running with the stash once they had all passed out, but she didn’t trust Cole not to grass her up to the pigs the moment he found her missing.
‘Looks like it’s one more job then,’ she replied simply. ‘And before you say it, just hear me out, will you? I know they must be on to us now and will probably have some plain clothes at the station and unmarked cars patrolling the streets where we operate.’
‘So, what then?’ Cole demanded.
Lexie fought to keep the mild expression on her face. ‘St. Albans isn’t just blessed with having rich pricks living here. What else has it got?’
‘A cathedral?’ Taylor ventured hopefully.
‘What, we’re going to rob the candles or some shit, are we?’ Cole sneered.
‘You’re quite close, Taylor,’ Lexie responded, before rolling her eyes at the triumphant look he shot Cole. ‘What’s down the hill from the Abbey?’
‘Er, the lakes?’ It seemed like, for all his contempt, Cole was now keen to play along.
‘No,’ answered Jordan, instantly ending the game. ‘There’s another station.’
Chapter Thirteen
Kate walked triumphantly back to the Tube, with the time only barely past midday. Following more of Mark’s grovelling gratitude, she considered popping back into the coffee shop to apologise to the barista. Her claim that it was her birthday yesterday had only been made purely out of curiosity, to see how easy it was to strike up a conversation with a stranger of the opposite sex, much like Scott must be doing all the time, but she did feel a little guilty at having been short with the guy today.
However, she continued walking past the entrance because she would probably feel compelled to then buy something and the last thing she needed in her already wired system, was more caffeine. If she did return to work tomorrow, and she had yet to decide how long she was going to milk the whole injured mother thing, she could do it then; using the excuse of the rush-hour queue behind her to keep her apology brief.
As she took her seat on the Northern Line back to King’s Cross, she mused on how the unwritten rule that people should ignore their fellow passengers was just bullshit. The strange mix of people who travelled around London at this time of day may have been glancing at her more with curiosity than the arrogant leering of businessmen, but she resented it all the same. Perhaps that’s why Scott insisted on travelling in with her to London each day, presumably judging everyone else by his own low standards. She might not be enough for him, in his quest to shag his way around most of the city, but like a dog pissing on a lamppost, he wanted to mark his territory. That he wasn’t nearly so bothered when it came to the evening, when there was far more chance of the men becoming overtly lecherous, just illustrated how much of a hypocrite he was.
Kate’s increasingly dark thoughts did not improve once she returned home. With hours to brood until Scott was due to get back, it took a great deal of effort to rouse herself in time to convey an air of normality. But the knowledge that, like that morning’s skin-crawling encounter in the bedroom, this would be the last time she would need to display anything but the hatred she felt towards him, saw her preparing a dinner she trusted that neither of them would end up eating.
‘Is that cooking I can smell?’ Scott called as he stepped through the front door. ‘I assumed you would have to work late to make up your hours. If you’d texted me, we could have caught the train together.’
Kate gripped the corner of the kitchen worktop so hard her knuckles turned white. This was so typical of Scott, using any opportunity he could to remind her that, whilst the nature of his job meant he could come and go as he pleased as long as he got the work done, she was on a fixed hours contract. ‘I wanted to surprise you,’ she called back in as cheery a voice as she could muster.
‘And what have I done to deserve this?’ he said, marching into the kitchen with a broad grin on his face.
Kate tried not to recoil as he planted a kiss on her cheek. ‘Oh, nothing really, it’s just we’ve both been so busy really and I wanted to thank you for our little lie-in this morning.’
‘Yeah, it was nice wasn’t it? Say, why don’t you switch off the hob and we could…’
‘There’s no rush, we’ve got the whole evening’ she said in a voice she hoped sounded demur. ‘I thought we could have a nice romantic dinner together, you know, a glass of wine and some candlelight.’
‘And then an early night?’ he enquired, already nodding enthusiastically.
‘My thoughts precisely. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve put a bit of thought into it. Dinner will probably take about another hour and you might like to have a nice bath to unwind after a stressful day. Get yourself all prepped for later.’ The look of confusion on Scott’s face matched the uncertainty of Kate’s words. She wasn’t used to this sort of thing but then, she figured, whose fault was that? ‘You know, allow me to concentrate on finishing cooking rather than be tempted to satisfy my appetite in other ways.’
‘Ah, does that mean you won’t be up to scrub my back?’ The innuendo seemed to have worked and caused Kate to consider what suggestive phrases he used to smarm his way into those whores’ beds.
‘I’m sure I can find a few minutes to join you up there once I have everything sorted.’ This was the first thing she
had said that she actually meant, but her intention wasn’t to perform whatever sordid act his mind had planned. No sooner had he gone upstairs than she would be rifling through the messages on his phone. She smiled on thinking how limp and shrivelled his dick would be when she arrived in the bathroom quoting some of them.
‘Great,’ he replied, taking the bait and heading straight upstairs. ‘And if you get tempted to properly join me, I won’t make you take the tap end.’
Kate waited for the shudder to pass before setting to work. She switched off all the hobs, regretting the sight of the browned but ostensibly still raw beef sitting among the softened onions in the pan. Under other circumstances, this had the basis for a decent stew, one of the few dishes she could cook without fear of ruining it.
Despite the thundering of the water hitting the empty bathtub Kate found herself tiptoeing along the hallway on her way to listening in at the bottom of the stairs. As soon as she heard Scott getting in the water, which would usually come with the bath still only half full, she would count a full minute to allow him to get settled before coming upstairs. If he asked what she was doing in the bedroom, she would use another of those awfully trite phrases like slipping into something more comfortable.
When her moment finally came Kate had to stop herself bounding up the stairs. ‘How’s the water, hun?’ she called as she swept past the open bathroom door.
‘Why don’t you come in and find out?’
‘Maybe in a few minutes, you know, like I said, once dinner’s all prepped and everything.’ She hoped that would be the end of the conversation but was satisfied she could continue batting his puerile advances back, whilst concentrating on the important matter at hand. In his eagerness to get into the bath it seemed that he hadn’t done his usual irritating habit of dumping the entire contents of his pockets on the bedside table. His phone would therefore still be in his suit, which he never bothered to hang up properly unless he was swapping it over in an effort to appear like a man of good hygiene.
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