by Taylor Leon
‘If you have killed another cop then they’re going to tear the City apart until they find you. There’s nowhere you can hide.’
There was a long silence and for a moment Norris thought he had hung up, but then he added softly. ‘I doubt we will speak again Anthony.’
‘Listen, maybe I can get you out the country,’ Norris said. ‘Just give me a couple of hours.’
‘We are going to do this,’ Wayne said. ‘I just want you to know…you’ve done so much for me…I just want you to know that I loved you like a brother.’
There was another pause. Only this time he had hung up.
41
‘THEY’RE GIVING HIM a fifty-fifty chance of survival,’ Arnie said. We were sitting alone in a small office one of the doctors had given up for us.
I was too numb to speak or show any reaction. My body had shut down and I stared down at the linoleum floor and Arnie’s black shoes. He was leaning forward in the doctor’s chair, hands clasped together in his lap, like he was imparting bad news to a patient. I guess that was what he was doing.
Death and destruction follow me like a curse.
‘You were lucky that was a ground floor window,’ Arnie said. ‘Any higher and you would have been dead for sure. As it is, the doctors are amazed nothing was broken. You need to rest for a bit-’
‘No way,’ I snapped. ‘I want to go after the people who did this.’
‘Are you making this personal?’
I looked him in the eye. ‘Absolutely,’ I said.
‘We tracked the landlord,’ Arnie sighed. ‘He was renting it out to a Wayne Young. You heard of him?’
I shook my head.
‘He’s not coming up on any data-base either,’ Arnie said. ‘He paid for everything in cash and all the paperwork he completed was false.’
When I didn’t answer, he asked me softly. ‘Erin, why were you there?’
‘A tip off,’ I said.
He swallowed hard. ‘You were off duty.’
So fire me, I thought. Take my badge. I honestly don’t care anymore. This is too much. Too much.
‘Who tipped you off?’
I didn’t answer and maybe he assumed it had come from Cade.
‘Did you see who attacked you?’
I shook my head. ‘I got in through the back-door. They came at me from behind.’
‘They?’
‘There were at least two of them.’ I didn’t see his reaction.
‘They had bags full of weapons,’ I said. ‘This isn’t just about revenge for them.’
‘Where was John?’
‘He arrived later.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Arnie sighed. He tried clearing his dry throat. He wasn’t finding this easy, losing Lloyd, and now maybe Cade. But Arnie was ever the professional.
‘My brother is missing,’ he added.
I glanced up. ‘Missing?’
He nodded. ‘Might be a coincidence, what with his wife being away. David sometimes…’ His voice faded and he stared ahead, deep in thought.
I rested my hand on his, for a moment.
‘I need to go,’ I said, rising to my feet. Everything was closing in around me.
‘Wait.’ Arnie reached out an arm, but I gently shrugged it off.
‘We have to do this together, Erin,’ he said. ‘If we are going to find these bastards, then we have to sit down and go through everything that happened. If they are out there, and armed as you say, then we have to move fast.’
I left the room, stepping out into the badly lit corridor. I hadn’t taken any notice of what wing we were in when we came up. I could see nurses down one end of the corridor, by the wards. I didn’t remember passing them when we came up which meant the lifts were in the opposite direction.
I saw Cade’s son, Sean, sitting alone on a small chair outside another office, head buried in some book. He looked up and recognised me, even though I must have looked a right state. He smiled.
A tidal wave of guilt washed over me. I did this. I called his father up and told him to meet me there. I should never have done that. There should have been some back-up.
Arnie was on my shoulder. ‘That’s his son,’ he said.
‘I know,’ I whispered.
‘I have to go in there.’ He stepped past me, then turned back around. ‘Get yourself cleaned up.’
‘Norris knows,’ I said, just as he started to turn away.
He stopped and frowned back at me.
‘I heard them talking. Anthony Norris knows who they are.’
Arnie took a couple of paces right up to me. Last time we spoke about Norris in his office his face was flushed with anger. But now it was lined with defeat.
‘Erin,’ he started saying.
‘Please, don’t tell me again how we must leave Anthony Norris alone,’ I said. ‘You said it yourself. These people are armed and on the loose. We have to go after them, whoever they are.’
He studied me, sighed and turned away. Either he didn’t believe me, or Anthony Norris was so well protected that he couldn’t be approached, no-matter what. For an instant I thought Arnie could be one of the dirty cops Duke Best had spoken about. But I’d known Arnie for so long. Not Arnie, no way.
‘Get yourself cleaned up,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Then I’ll need a full statement.’
Just before he went inside the office, he stopped and said something to the boy, who grinned as Arnie ruffled his hair. As the door opened I briefly heard Cade’s-ex crying inside then, after Arnie had gone in, the door closed and the sound was cut off.
Sean looked over at me. ‘My Daddy likes you,’ he said.
I tried to force a smile in return, but was pretty sure I failed. I couldn’t look at the boy anymore, all I could see in him was Cade, and it was hurting too much.
I needed to get home, get showered and then think fast about how I was going to manage the de-brief and explain how we had ended up in Arlington Road.
In the corridor outside was a small tap set in a small alcove with a pile of white plastic cups. I took one, filled it up and drank it down straight away. I hadn’t realised how thirsty I was.
I filled it up again and leaned back against wall. First Lloyd and Angel, now Cade.
Death and destruction follows me like a curse.
Everything I knew about The Coven. Everything we could do. Yet, I was helpless to prevent those closest to me from getting hurt.
As I raised the cup again I saw my nails and fingertips, still caked in the dried blood of my attacker from when I scratched him.
Everything I knew about The Coven. Everything we could do.
I threw the cup into the empty basket and hurried towards the lift, reaching inside my pocket for my compact. I called Jessie up.
‘Find Frankie right away,’ I said, ‘and meet me at base. We have work to do’
42
I WENT DIRECTLY from the hospital. This time I took Sampson out of the car with me. His first visit to The Coven’s HQ.
Downstairs, the gym was empty, the girls hadn’t arrived yet. I went over to the boxing ring and sat on the edge, Sampson resting at my feet.
Fifteen minutes later the lift doors opened. Jessie rolled out first, then Frankie, then unexpectedly, Victoria. I hadn’t called her.
I stood up when I saw her, and Sampson rose with me.
She waited in the background with Jessie as Frankie came over and clasped my hands in hers.
‘My God Erin,’ she whispered. ‘What happened to you?’
I swallowed hard. ‘Cade is dying,’ I said. I looked over at the other two. ‘It’s the same people who murdered Lloyd Tanner and his daughter.’
The three of them listened in silence.
‘They have bags of weapons,’ I added. My voice rose when I was still unable to elicit a response. ‘These people are not just content with picking off individuals in revenge. I heard them talking; they are terrorists with a bigger plan.’
‘So what do you want us to do?’
Victoria asked.
I held up my right hand and turned it slowly around, right in front of Frankie’s face so she could see the dried blood on my finger tips and under my nails. She looked back over her shoulder at Victoria who watched impassively.
I loved Frankie, but her hesitation right now pissed me off.
‘You told me you could find anyone,’ I reminded her.
‘I haven’t done this for a long time,’ she started saying.
‘Please Frankie.’
She sighed, shook her head and looked back at Victoria, who gave her an imperceptible nod.
‘Okay,’ Frankie said in a tone that suggested she didn’t think this would work. ‘Let’s give it a go.’
Jessie led us out of the gym, through the office, where Frankie collected a pen and blank sheet of paper off one of desks we passed, and into the Call-Up room.
Just before we stepped inside, Jessie turned around. ‘The dog stays out here,’ she said.
I looked at each of them, hoping Frankie or Victoria would contradict her. They didn’t and so I nodded my assent, bent down and ruffled Sampson’s fur. ‘You wait here, baby,’ I said to him and he sat down. I followed the three of them through and closed the door behind me.
While Victoria and Jessie waited in silence near the door, Frankie took a small stool from the side and placed it in the centre of the five-pointed star that had been drawn on the floor.
She guided me by my elbow like I was a fragile China doll, sat me down, then took my hand and held it up. She took the pen and started scraping the blood off my nails and fingers letting it fall off like red dandruff onto the white sheet of A4 paper she held underneath.
When she had finished, she placed the paper onto the floor and sat cross-legged behind it. She pushed the crumbs of blood together into a small mound. Sitting up with a straight back, she placed three fingers on the residue, closed her eyes and started whispering the spell.
I stayed on the stool and looked down at her. I’d only seen her do this once before, right near the beginning when I joined. I wouldn’t see anything, all the flashing images would be in her head, seeing very briefly what the owner of this blood was looking at. If we were lucky and timed it right, we may be able to see where he was.
Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, eventually opening her eyes and looking up.
‘Why didn’t it work?’ I snapped at her, and I could tell from the way she flinched that I had over-stepped the mark, but stress and exhaustion had got the better of me.
‘There are lots of possible reasons,’ Victoria said calmly from across the room. ‘The subject might be asleep, his brain may be demonstrating some resistance to our invasion, the blood sample you gave us might not be strong enough.’
I could feel myself trembling with frustration.
‘Keep trying,’ I said and left the room.
Sampson was waiting obediently for me outside the door, and rose to follow me through the office and into the gym.
‘Erin, wait,’ Victoria called out from behind me.
This wasn’t unexpected. I stopped and waited for her to catch up.
‘I understand your grief, but this is not how we do things…’ she started saying.
I laughed in her face. ‘Really Victoria? You understand my grief? In the space of a week I’ve lost two partners, and the maniacs responsible are out there somewhere, planning bigger attacks that will kill God knows how many.’ I felt my anger flare up as I spoke and then stepped right up into her face. No-one ever did that. ‘You sit there in your mansion with all that money,’ I gestured around the room, ‘and with all this power, and do what? Exact justice by sending these people to hell after the crimes have been committed.’
‘What do you want from us?’
‘I want more!’ I yelled.
I saw shadows over her shoulder shrinking back inside the doorway of the office. Frankie and Jessie watching on pensively. I bet they had never seen anyone talk to Victoria like this.
Victoria’s blue eyes narrowed and for a second I thought she was going to lash out, throw me backwards, maybe bounce me off a few walls just for starters. But she forced herself to stay calm.
‘I said Jessie could mirror him…’ she started saying, but I sneered at her in the worst possible way, held her gaze for a few seconds and then turned my back on her.
‘.. and Frankie is trying to find the killers using the blood sample,’ she added.
‘It’s too little, too late. We should have been out there chasing these bastards down from the off.’
I turned back around to face her and she shook her head.
‘That’s just unrealistic,’ she said. ‘We’re not comic book caped crusaders. Besides, aren’t you conveniently ignoring the fact that you have the entire country’s police force at your disposal?’
I looked over her shoulder at Jessie and Frankie and lowered my voice so they couldn’t hear me.
‘And in the shitty world out there, the criminals know exactly who that police force is. But you,’ I nodded towards the open door behind her. ‘Them. Me. They don’t know who we are. They don’t see us coming.’ I stepped back right in front of her, met her stare full on. ‘That’s what makes us different. That’s what gives us the edge.’
My mobile rang. It was Arnie.
‘Clean up and get back to the station,’ he said. ‘I’m bringing him in.’ His voice sounded different, ghostly, like he was speaking to me from beyond the grave.
‘Bringing in who?’
‘Anthony Norris.’
I felt the room around me begin to spin.
‘They found a burned-out car a couple of hours ago,’ his voice crackled with emotion and he paused for breath. ‘They found a body inside.’ There was another long silence before he added. ‘It was my brother.’
‘Oh Jesus.’
He hung up before I had a chance to answer. Probably just as well, as I was struggling to form a reply.
‘Erin?’ Victoria asked, seeing my confused expression.
‘I have to go,’ I said. My head was a tornado of emotion, but as I turned to leave I suddenly remembered something. ‘She came to me,’ I said.
Victoria raised her eyebrows.
‘Goth-girl,’ I said. ‘She had a message for you. She said the “the bond is breaking.”’
Victoria didn’t visibly react. ‘Anything else?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘That was all. Do you know who she is?’
Victoria shook her head. ‘No,’ she said, but I didn’t believe her.
43
ARNIE’S EYES WERE bloodshot and he’d aged a hundred years during the afternoon. We were standing outside the interview room with DI Hunter.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I said, rubbing his upper arm.
He nodded in response and swallowed hard, trying to keep his emotions in check.
‘We’ve also had some new information,’ Arnie said. ‘Norris is in there waiting.’
‘What’s the new info?’ I asked.
Arnie glanced at Hunter and then back at me. ‘Wait and see,’ he said softly.
‘So, I won’t be interviewing him?’ I said.
‘No, you can watch with me. DI Hunter will lead the interview with DS Morgan. Ready?’
Hunter nodded, and after meeting DS Morgan further down the corridor, they went into the interview room, while Arnie and I stepped into the narrow viewing room to watch proceedings on a monitor.
Norris was sitting on one side of the table with his PA, Sandra whatever-her-name-was. He gave an insincere but practised smile as Hunter and Morgan thanked them for coming in and dropped into the chairs opposite.
‘You want to tell us what this is about gentlemen?’ His PA asked.
Hunter smiled politely. ‘An officer was shot earlier today in West London.’
Norris nodded. ‘I saw that on the news. Horrible, horrible.’
Without taking his eyes off Norris, Hunter lifted his hand a
nd on cue DS Morgan, next to him, passed him a copy of the signed rental form.
‘We are looking for this man,’ Hunter said. ‘His name is Wayne Young. Do you know him?’
Norris barely glanced at the sheet. ‘No,’ he said.
‘Are you sure?’
Norris didn’t bother looking down. He just shook his head.
‘That’s not his real name,’ Hunter continued. ‘But we think he’s NID.’
Norris shrugged. ‘So what if he is? I’m not.’
‘But you were,’ DS Morgan said.
Norris gave the younger office a hard glare.
‘You know who he is, don’t you?’ Hunter said.
I looked to Arnie on my left. He was watching impassively, hands thrust deep into his trouser pockets, rolling on the balls of his feet.
Norris leaned forward in his chair and then pushed back. He looked at his PA, maybe seeking some pearls of wisdom, but none came. She didn’t look entirely comfortable sitting there herself.
‘Think carefully Mr Norris,’ Hunter said. ‘Please, take your time and think.’
‘Gentlemen,’ Sandra cut in. ‘Mr Norris was happy to come in and offer help, but I fail to see where your line of questioning is going here. If Mr Norris doesn’t know who this Wayne Young is, then he can hardly help you, can he?’
‘Do you know who he is, Mr Norris?’ Hunter repeated.
‘Is there a point to this DI Hunter?’ Sandra countered. ‘If so, I would much rather you just got on with it.’
Hunter turned to Morgan, shrugged and laid a photo over the top of the rental agreement.
I couldn’t see what was in the photo, but both Norris’ and his PA’s faces went white as they leaned over and looked at it.
‘This was taken a week or so ago,’ Hunter explained. ‘At one of your rallies. One of my journalist friends took it. There you are crossing the road, heading back to your car. A nothing picture you’d think, usually it would have made it as far as the dustbin, except…’ Hunter pointed to the top left hand corner. ‘A short while ago, my friend remembered the photo and pulled it back out.’ Hunter placed a finger on the top left corner of the photo. ‘There’s someone leaning against his car; waiting for you I’d say.’ Hunter leaned back in his chair, his face wasn’t giving anything away.