Scorned

by Denver Murphy

  ‘I might leave him to make that decision on his own,’ he replied evenly before taking on a more sombre tone. ‘You know, it’s weeks like this that make me wonder whether I’m in the right job.’

  ‘How do you mean?’ Ruby had become accustomed to the brief moments of melancholy that punctuated Cooper’s typically up-beat demeanour, but this seemed more than just the combined effects of tiredness and a long but fruitless day.

  ‘I sometimes wonder how much value I am actually adding.’ He raised his hand to prevent Ruby from interrupting him. ‘I mean, I can work the evidence as well as the next person, but I hate the feeling of always playing catch up. We’re sat here waiting for a group to launch another attack when both of us know that they’d be mad to strike again in the same way. I know you’re not into football but it’s like a goalkeeper deciding in a penalty shootout that, just because the first penalty was put to his left, he’s going to dive that way for the rest of them.’

  ‘Er, I think I follow,’ Ruby replied uncertainly.

  ‘Okay, put it this way,’ Cooper continued. ‘We’re so scared about being made to look stupid by there being yet another attack that we have to put all our resources into the obvious, rather than what is more likely.’

  ‘A bit like if the first few penalties are put to the goalkeeper’s left, he knows they’re going to switch it up at some point but if he doesn’t go left on the next one and they put it down that side, then he looks stupid?’

  ‘Exactly!’ Cooper replied, his excitement at Ruby understanding the point he was making momentarily masking the deeper concern that lay behind it. ‘Truthfully, how would you feel if we all just went home now and allowed the final two trains to arrive unattended?’

  ‘Relieved,’ Ruby replied, stretching and noticing a brief flash of irritation cross her partner’s face. ‘But in terms of the investigation, I wouldn’t feel too worried.’

  ‘And I bet DCI Nelson feels the same. Despite everything he’s said, I bet he’s been sat back at base all evening more in hope than expectation.’

  ‘So, his approach to the investigation has been wrong?’ Ruby may have only joined CID a matter of months ago, but she had already managed to form something of a complex relationship with her boss. It was largely his confident demeanour at interview that convinced her that moving to leafy Hertfordshire wasn’t going to see her career stagnate and, whilst the high-profile case she was thrust into on her very first morning seemed to vindicate that decision, Nelson’s attitude towards her hadn’t. In contrast to the role model she had hoped him to be, not only had he been seeking to play games with her but the stress the department was under was causing him to lash out.

  ‘Well, what would you do in his position?’ he countered.

  ‘I guess that’s the million-dollar question,’ Ruby replied, buying herself some thinking time. ‘The difference between us and my little football analogy is that the goalkeeper can only go one way. I get why Nelson had to cover the obvious, but that’s all I would do – cover it. I’d have insisted that DSI Robson send over some people from Hertford so we could spread ourselves more widely. That way, if something did go down, we’d have a good chance of stopping it.’ She could see from the smile on Cooper’s face that he was impressed with her answer. ‘And before you start giving me any more of that bullshit about you not being a good enough detective, I believe you would do the same thing in terms of not putting all our eggs in one basket, and with the extra resources you would then deploy them more proactively; somewhere the gang are likely to target next.’

  ‘Ah, but that’s the real million-dollar question. I may understand that we shouldn’t all be here at the same place they’ve targeted before but that doesn’t mean I know where to put them.’

  ‘What about the nearby towns served by Thameslink?’ she offered by way of an example, despite appreciating the truth in what Cooper was saying. If the gang were prepared to travel, then the possibilities were so numerous to render them pointless and she was starting to see why Nelson had concentrated everything here. ‘Although I guess it’s far easier to pick holes in a strategy than come up with a better way of doing things.’

  Hold up,’ said Cooper, craning his neck forward. ‘I think the next train might be arriving.’

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  ‘A strict alcohol ban tonight, okay? We all need to be fresh in the morning to move this stuff as quickly as possible.’ Lexie’s request may have been met with grumbles but all of them were good-natured, with everyone appearing to revel in the success of the evening. Lord knew, she felt she could do with a drink herself, and not just to calm herself down after all the adrenaline. Seeing the way Jordan dispatched first Drake and then his wife may have been efficient, but it did nothing to hide the brutality of it. Lexie had believed the snapping of people’s necks was reserved for the movies but the way he had managed to twist that poor woman’s head, had caused her to fear for a moment that it might pop off. They were close to the end now and she wondered how long it would take the others to come to the same conclusion that Jordan’s violent escalation was designed to serve as a warning.

  ‘How much do you think we’ve got?’ Taylor asked, his hands reaching into his pockets to touch some of the overspill that wouldn’t fit into Lexie’s bag.

  ‘Not until we get home,’ she chided. ‘We’re nearly back anyway.’ There was no point being too harsh, especially because it was only a couple of hours ago that she had feared the group had fragmented beyond repair. The unexpectedly large bounty they had found in the King Harry estate had brought them closer together and she would need to work hard to get the feeling to last. Once they were certain they had made their escape successfully Lexie had spent most of the journey home considering her next move. The downside of there being so many items worth stealing is that it gave them a lot to shift, and she was determined that they be gone from St. Albans by early afternoon at the very latest.

  ‘Like you said before, it doesn’t matter if we have stuff we still need to sell on when we get abroad,’ Cole said.

  ‘You saw this morning how difficult it is to shift it when we don’t know the area. Imagine how much harder it will be in a foreign country?’ Lexie had chosen her words as carefully as her tone. It was a reasonable line of argument but one that concealed the real truth. If nothing else, the last couple of days had taught her that the sooner she was away from this bunch of idiots the better. She didn’t mind if they got mugged off with the prices in the morning, so long as they had a nice sum she could look to take for herself.

  ‘Plus, we don’t want to go through airport security with too many valuable items on us; it’ll arouse suspicion,’ Jordan added. Lexie turned to him to offer a smile of thanks but there was something about the way he was regarding her that caused it to die on her lips. Did he know of her plan or, worse still, had he reached a similar conclusion himself? And whilst she would need to find a suitable opportunity to steal it, what was to stop him just taking it right there and then? Even if the three of them tackling him together was a physical match for him, Lexie was sure she wasn’t the only one who would hesitate given the demonstration of his capabilities Jordan had provided over the past week.

  ‘I’m not sure the four of us arriving back home together is a great idea,’ Lexie said, trying to remove the desperation from her voice. ‘Perhaps we would be better in pairs.’ Now it wasn’t just Jordan who was eyeing Lexie suspiciously. ‘We can divvy up the items so, you know...’

  ‘I don’t have much room in my pockets,’ Jordan shrugged.

  ‘Fine, I’ll carry yours and we can be the second pair. Do you want more of your share, boys?’ she enquired, turning to Cole and Taylor.

  There was an uncomfortable silence in which Lexie became increasingly concerned that, in an effort to sound as fair and innocent as possible, they were beginning to smell a rat too. ‘It’s fine,’ Cole said eventually. ‘If Taylor and I go first then we have what’s at the house should you decide to go running off
into the night. But don’t think you’ll be allowed to get away scot-free.’

  ‘Good,’ Lexie replied immediately, choosing not to focus on the threat. ‘We’ll hang back for a few minutes after you enter the house.’

  ‘And this counts for at any point from now,’ Jordan growled. ‘Anyone gets caught they don’t say one fucking word to the cops. I don’t give a shit what they say about it looking bad, or what your brief has to say on the matter.’

  Without any further words exchanged by the group, no doubt stunned by both the menace of Jordan’s delivery and the image of them within the confines of a police cell, Lexie slowed her pace to allow the two others to open up a lead.

  ‘Do you trust them not to scarper as soon as they get back?’ Jordan asked once they were out of earshot.

  ‘More than I trust you,’ she answered, stopping walking altogether.

  ‘What?’ Jordan may have kept his voice low, but it did little to hide the venom in his outburst.

  ‘Let’s not pretend we haven’t all been thinking the same thing,’ she responded, having decided that the best way to tackle this was head-on. ‘I mean, it’s clear the group’s fucked and, let’s be honest, we’ve only really hung around together because we’ve been in the same desperate situation. This changes all that,’ she said, tapping her bag for effect. ‘It gives each of us the chance for a fresh start and I’d be lying if I hadn’t been wondering what I could do with more than a quarter share.’

  ‘You’d rip me off, would you?’

  ‘No,’ she replied, keen not to sound too conciliatory. If she came across as weak now, what value would he see in teaming up with her? She couldn’t allow his show of aggression earlier to appear to have affected her. ‘And not why you think either,’ she continued, nodding down to his balled fists. ‘We’ve both earned this money and I’m sure that, combined, we could do a lot with it. As for the other two…’ She left the words hanging and was encouraged by the slow nod from Jordan.

  ‘So, we just go in and take everything?’ he finally said, nodding in the direction of their house.

  ‘You heard what Cole said…’

  ‘You know I could make it so he couldn’t call the police…’

  Lexie moved her head from side to side as though weighing up the offer. Much as she had no qualms with robbing those two, she did see allowing Jordan to go to work on them as crossing the line. ‘It makes more sense to wait until tomorrow, plus, four is better than two for getting the stuff shifted quickly.’

  ‘Okay, so what then?’

  ‘You’re going to love this’, she replied confidently, settling on an adaptation of a plan she had thought of a couple of days ago but had dismissed for being too complicated. Not only would it work better with two, but it would illustrate that she had the brains to go with his brawn. The chance of establishing anything sexual between the two of them had passed, not least because he might be suspicious if she initiated anything now, but this was the next best thing.

  ‘We go to the airport as planned but we catch a different plane,’ she said simply, enjoying the raised eyebrow of confusion she received in response. ‘We won’t be carrying anything more than hand luggage and we can check in online. As far as the boys are concerned we’ll be catching the same flight as them to Benidorm or wherever, when really we are catching another plane due to take off around the same time.’

  ‘I don’t know…’

  ‘Trust me, it’ll work as long as I pick a busy airport like Heathrow or Gatwick. They have so many gates and they’re so far apart they’d never find us, and I’d be willing to bet they’ll still board their plane thinking they’ll find us on it. We just need to find a way of losing them on the way to their gate. Just leave everything else to me, okay?’

  ‘Okay,’ Jordan replied, nodding.

  ‘Great,’ Lexie beamed, already wondering whether she could perform a triple-cross where she managed to lose Jordan too. A third gate might leave too much to chance, but what if she lost them at security and went to a different terminal or another airport altogether?

  Finally she was entirely satisfied with her call not to allow any alcohol tonight; she wanted her wits about her as she continued to scheme of a way to get all the money for herself.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  ‘Repeat that, over?’ Ruby demanded, reaching for the radio to turn up the volume.

  ‘Back up requested for a break-in on King Harry estate,’ came the dispatcher’s voice.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Cooper whispered. Like her previous partner, he had objected to Ruby’s insistence that she keep the general police radio on when they were out in the car.

  ‘Can you give us more detail,’ she continued, ignoring him.

  ‘Break in reported at… hold on… bodies have been found.’

  ‘Address, now!’ Ruby fired up the engine and slammed it into gear as the exact location was given out.

  ‘It can’t be…’ Cooper stammered.

  ‘I know, it’s a hell of a long way from here, but isn’t that what we’ve been saying all evening? You’d better get hold of Nelson.’

  Ruby concentrated on driving; enjoying the thrill of speeding down the dark streets with the blue lights flashing from behind the radiator grill. With St. Albans being a wealthy area, burglaries were all too common but it was rare for them to be aggravated. It sounded far too much of a coincidence for it not to be connected with their investigation and, judging by Cooper’s end of the phone call, Nelson was of a similar opinion.

  ‘He’d just been told,’ Cooper said as soon as he was finished. ‘He’s fucking livid though; turns out the initial call came through a couple of hours ago.’

  ‘What?!’

  ‘A neighbour heard something and dialled 999 but it was downgraded from an emergency based on the description. A car went over to check when things had quietened down elsewhere.’

  ‘Jesus, no wonder Nelson is pissed,’ Ruby responded, also annoyed that the trail may have already gone cold. ‘See if you can get any further details before we arrive.’

  What little Cooper did manage to gather in the ten minutes it took her to drive them to the crime scene was confirmed within a few seconds of their arrival. Finding a male body lying in the hallway rather than on the way to hospital may have been something new but the large property made it too much of a coincidence for it to be anyone other than their gang. Whilst Cooper continued through to the kitchen where the wife’s body lay, Ruby went to speak to the first officers at the scene.

  ‘When no-one answered, McDonald went around the back,’ PC Warne said once the introductions were out of the way. ‘He called me round and we managed to break open the door,’ she added, still visibly shaken by the experience.

  ‘What were you told when you were first answering the call?’ Ruby asked.

  ‘Excuse me?’ she responded.

  ‘I’d give it about two minutes before the DCI arrives and I don’t want you to be in the firing line for why this wasn’t responded to immediately.’

  ‘Woah, that had nothing to do with us,’ McDonald replied defensively, holding up his hands. ‘It was dispatch’s decision regarding priority, and we were told only to come once we had finished with an emergency call we were dealing with. All we were told was that a neighbour thought they had heard a scream.’

  ‘Okay, go and find them and get their statement,’ Ruby said, waving them away and heading back towards the house.

  ‘DC Knight!’ shouted an unmistakable voice from the road, just as she was about to step inside.

  ‘Guv,’ she replied, turning around to see the rapidly approaching DCI Nelson.

  ‘Is it?’ he demanded, those two words enough under the circumstances.

  ‘We believe so,’ Ruby replied.

  ‘Shit!’ he cursed loudly.

  ‘About when the call first came through…’

  ‘I guess it would have made little difference,’ Nelson replied dismissively, causing Ruby to take a step back in surprise.
‘We’ve got bigger fish to fry; starting with what the hell I’m going to tell the DSI now and ending with those fucking reporters in the morning.’

  Ruby stood there, unsure how she was meant to respond, but at least Nelson didn’t seem to be trying to apportion blame for what had happened. ‘I’ll see if I can get some more details on the victim,’ she mumbled and walked back out to the road, which was already getting busy with members of the public despite the late hour.

  ‘Cooper,’ she hissed a couple of minutes later, anxious to draw her partner away without Nelson seeing. He dutifully obliged, attempting to rub the tiredness out of his eyes. ‘I think I found the answer to that question we were discussing earlier.’

  ‘It’s been a long night, and you’ll have to be a bit more specific if you want to get any sense out of me,’ Cooper yawned.

  ‘The one about where we would deploy our resources… The man worked in Watford!’

  ‘And?’

  ‘I bet you anything he caught the train home…’ Ruby continued, scanning Cooper’s face to see when the penny would drop.

  ‘But that would mean he’d have to travel all the way into London just to… Why are you shaking your head?’ But before Ruby had a chance to respond, realisation dawned in his eyes. ‘Fucking hell; the Abbey Flyer!’

  ‘Do you want to tell Nelson or should I?’ Ruby asked soberly.

  Chapter Thirty

  Kate lay in the unfamiliar bed listening to David’s breathing grow heavier. She had allowed their love making to be frantic in the belief that it was merely to be the appetizer for what was to follow; a belief that was waning with each rise and fall of David’s chest. She appreciated that it had been a long evening following a day at work and had even convinced herself that his insistence on showering afterwards, despite being an unfortunate reminder of Scott’s habit in recent months, had been an effort to freshen up for round two. But the conversation that had resumed when he came back into the bedroom stopped almost as soon as he slipped between the sheets. Kate knew that Scott seemed satisfied with a quick hump but she thought it was more due to his inherent failings than it being something that characterised all men. Given that sex seemed to dominate their every waking moment, and considering the lengths David had gone to in order to get her into his bed, it was incomprehensible to Kate that he wouldn’t want more. To her, sex was a deeply intimate act, but she was increasingly starting to believe that man’s need to fornicate was more about getting the job done; temporarily purging themselves of whatever base instinct that drove them. So much for being the dominant gender; it seemed that for all man’s technology and fancy ways they were little removed from their animal ancestors – their lives a cycle of eating, fucking and sleeping; with the occasional wash in between.