“With respect, Sister, she broke the law.”
“I know. But sometimes we do the wrong things for the right reasons. You learn that as you get older.”
“The law is still the law.” His jaw was clenched tight. The muscles on either side of his neck were corded and strained, but he kept his voice quiet.
Dangerously quiet. He reminded Kate of a coiled snake. Power that was twisted and harnessed, and ready to pounce. Ready to spring into action at a millisecond’s notice and strike down his enemy. For a second Kate was acutely aware of how glad she was not to be facing that venomous glare.
“Yes, I know. And she’ll pay the price for breaking it. You’ve already put the wheels in motion to see to that, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then. A little sympathy from me will do the law no harm. Will it?”
Kate smiled and offered Diana her hand. “Thank you for your time, and your help, Diana.”
“No problem, Detective. Anything I can do for you in the future, my door is always open.”
“I appreciate that.” She led Gareth out of the door.
“You’re right, sarge. She didn’t know or she would’ve let her get away with it.”
Kate wasn’t so sure Diana would’ve let her get away with stealing more money. She might, however, have stopped further payments and let her off with what she’d already managed to take. That she could see. Sort of. “Maybe, but maybe she has a point.”
“What? Don’t tell me you’d let her steal from the government too.”
“Not what I said. Don’t be so blinkered, Gareth. If you want to be a good detective, sometimes you need to be able to look at things from the other side of the coin. You need to be able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and think the way they do. Then you can catch the criminals because you see what they see.”
“Like what?”
“Like a woman who has nothing, but sees an opportunity to help her daughter that won’t hurt anyone else. To us, she broke the law. To many people out there, yeah, it’s illegal, but who did it hurt? No one. So where’s the harm?”
“That’s not right.”
“The world isn’t just about black and white, Gareth. It isn’t all right and wrong, good and bad. There are shades in between that most of the rest of the world fall into. Think of Robin Hood. He was a thief, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Yet he’s revered as a folklore hero, and the prince and the sheriff are the bad guys. Why?”
“Because Disney made Robin Hood funny.”
She tutted. “Fine, forget it.”
“No, no. I’m sorry, sarge, you were trying to make a point.”
“Robin Hood is a hero because he helped the little guy at the expense of the big bad, government agency.”
“So?”
“Well, people still have that mentality. Who does it hurt if the government loses out a bit so the little guy gets a handout?”
“But it hurts everyone in the long run. Those small losses mount up, and the NHS has to make cuts. Cuts to drug availability, staff. Waiting times are affected, patient care is affected—”
Kate laughed. “And how many of Joe Public out there actually think like that, Gareth? How many of them think past the end of their noses?”
He stared at her.
“We see every day the great unwashed, the masses. We pick them up, lock them up, and half the time we throw away the key. Do you think any of them think about how a scheme like this would affect their health care? Their benefits, maybe. But not health care.”
“Careful, sarge. Your bias is showing.”
“I’m trying to teach you something here, Gareth. I’m trying to teach you how the other half think. The other half that you have to deal with every day. I’m trying to teach you how to be the cop you want your dad to see.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “But you can’t even see that, can you?”
“I see more than you think, sarge.”
“Really? Then start showing me. Start acting like the professional you’re supposed to be, Detective Constable Collier.” She got into the car and slammed the door.
* * *
The office was empty when Kate got back but there was a note from Stella on her desk.
Interview room 2. Alison Temple. Video suite when you get in. S.
“Come on, Gareth. Let’s go and see what Stella’s got to say to Alison Temple.” She held the door open as he skulked past her. “And for God’s sake, stop sulking. I’ve known teenagers with fewer mood swings than you.”
He mumbled something but she couldn’t make it out. Probably a good job, she decided. She was pretty sure she could take an educated guess at the names he was calling her.
The video suite was an elaborately-named broom cupboard. Or at least it had been in its previous incarnation. It housed racks of monitors and video-recording equipment, two chairs, and a small desk just about big enough for a couple of notepads, a clipboard, and a cup of coffee. Tom was sitting in one chair watching the monitor in front of him, where Stella and Jimmy sat opposite Alison Temple. The view was a little grainy, black and white, but perfectly clear as to what was going on.
“Hey. How much have we missed?” Kate asked Tom.
“Hey. We’re nearly done really. She’s pretty articulate, and answered every question as straightforward as you’d expect. Doesn’t seem to be hiding anything.”
“Anything new?”
He shook his head. “Nah. A bit more in-depth. Nearly put me to sleep a couple of times. This accounting shit’s not exactly edge-of-your-seat stuff, is it?”
Kate smiled. “Not really. Did she confirm if Eva’s sequence of events was possible?”
“She did. She said that back then the NHS system was pretty open and this wasn’t the first case of fraud like this that had happened. And may not be the last to be discovered either. It’s why a lot of the new measures were put in place. Including those PIN-number generator machine thingies that work off an account card. Like the ones you get to do your online banking.”
“Just like Eva said.”
“Yup.”
Stella reached over and shook Mrs Temple’s hand, turned off the tape recorder in the room, and led them towards the door. Kate led Gareth out of the video suite.
They were only a few doors down from the interview room, and Mrs Temple saw her as she stepped out of the room. “Detective Sergeant Brannon, might I have a word with you, please?”
Kate was surprised but curious too. “Sure.”
“In private, if you don’t mind. It has nothing to do with the case.”
Kate frowned. “Well, I’m not sure what else I can help you with, Mrs Temple—”
“Alison, please. Like I said yesterday, I hate being called Mrs Temple. And it’s to do with Gina.”
Kate swallowed and met Stella’s gaze over Alison Temple’s shoulder.
Stella nodded, and led Jimmy and Gareth back to the office.
“Downstairs?” Kate pointed to the landing.
“I was thinking maybe we could grab a coffee.”
Kate raised her eyebrows, but followed Alison out of the police station and across the street. The coffee shop was a few minutes’ walk away, and Kate chafed at her arms. She wished she’d thought to run back in for her coat as the December wind cut through the fleece jumper she wore like it was nothing.
Alison was quick to the counter and ordered coffees to be brought to them at a table by the window.
The shop was almost empty. Kate was glad of that as she wasn’t entirely sure where this conversation was going to lead them. “Mrs Tem…sorry, Alison. What is it I can help you with?”
Alison slung her coat over the back of her chair and sat down, pointing to the space opposite her.
Kate sighed and sat down.
“I did a little research last night. Spoke to a few people. Broached a few topics that my friends and I usually avoid, Detective.”
“Such as?”
“Gina.”
“Why do you avoid talking to your friends about your daughter?”
Alison smiled sadly. “Because it hurts too much.”
Kate held her tongue. She didn’t want to get into an argument with her girlfriend’s mother in the middle of the town.
“Let me see, I think I can probably guess what you know about me. Or rather what Gina’s told you about me. Tell me if I’m right. I was a mother who lived in her father’s shadow, and when she got pregnant my husband ordered her to get an abortion. She no doubt told you that I agreed with him, and when she refused, we kicked her out of the house and haven’t spoken to her since.”
The waitress put their cups on the table and walked away.
“Does that about cover it?” she asked and reached for her mug.
“Yes.”
Alison nodded. “Well, it’s all true.”
Kate took a small sip of her drink. “So what are we doing here?”
“My friends told me that you’re seeing Gina. Romantically. Is that true?”
Kate nodded warily.
“They also told me she was attacked a few weeks ago.”
“Six weeks ago.”
Alison swallowed and seemed to find it difficult to speak. “Is she okay?” Her voice was hoarse, full, like it held too much emotion.
“Physically, her wounds have healed.”
Alison’s eyes opened wide. “But?”
“It will take her some time to really be okay again. Things like that take their toll on a person.”
Alison nodded knowingly. “Yes, they do, Detective.”
“Mrs Temp…sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but I do have a lot of work to do, so please, why are we here?”
Alison lifted her mug to her lips, then put it back on the table without taking a drink. She cleared her throat. “I married Howard when I was sixteen. I know now that it was to get away from an abusive father, and I ran straight in to the arms of a husband who proved to be worse.” She snatched the napkin from beside her cup and twisted it into a long straw. “Gina was born when I was eighteen, and Howard was so disappointed that she wasn’t a boy. I don’t think he ever forgave me for it.” She tore the corner off the napkin and dropped it to the tabletop. “He was angry before. Whatever went wrong for him was always someone else’s fault, but after she was born, he just got worse and worse. It was easier, and safer, to just agree with him. About everything. If he insisted the sky was green, I’d have agreed just to get through a day without pain.”
“He beat you?” Kate asked quietly.
She nodded. “Sometimes.” She swallowed. “More as the years went on. After Gina left.” She smiled ruefully. “It seems it was my fault she got pregnant too.”
“I’m sorry.”
She waved her hand. “It’s in the past now. I’ve finally got rid of the old bastard.”
“How?”
“He lost his job on the farm at Holkham. Hit his boss, and he pressed charges. He went to prison for a few months. When he came out, I’d changed the locks and told him I didn’t want to see him again.”
“And he just went?”
She shook her head. “He kicked in the door, and it took three policemen to pull him out of the house. He broke my arm, my nose, three ribs, and I lost most of my teeth, Detective. He’s back in prison.”
“Christ. Are you okay now?”
She smiled ruefully. “Probably as okay as Gina is.”
“Ah.” Kate let the information sink in and remembered how Alison had said her split from Howard was a bit of a village secret. “How the hell did you keep that quiet?”
“Howard had a friend. Inspector Savage.”
“And?”
“He told him that he’d keep it quiet if Howard agreed to plead guilty and never come back when he got out. That he’d move on.”
“And Mr Temple agreed to this?”
“Yes.”
“When’s he due to be released?”
“Next year.”
“Will he stick to it?”
She took a sip of her drink. “I hope so.”
“I’m very sorry for your trouble, Alison. But I still don’t understand what it has to do with me.”
“I want to see…well, I wondered if…I thought maybe you could tell me if…”
“You want to see Gina.” It wasn’t a question. She didn’t need to ask it. She could see the hopeful look on Alison’s face. “Then you’re talking to the wrong person.”
“I’ve hurt my daughter terribly. I was weak. I should have stood up to Howard when she needed me to. Not years later. I know all that. What I want is a chance to explain it all to her. To give her a chance to understand what happened. To beg her to forgive me, if she can.”
“And I say again, Alison, you’re talking to the wrong person.”
“Will she speak to me? Will she give me a chance to explain?”
Kate leaned her elbows on the small table and took her own napkin. She pulled a pen from her pocket, and scribbled the address and phone number of the campsite on it. She didn’t want to give Gina’s personal information away. She wasn’t entirely sure she’d want Alison to have it. But the campsite information was available anywhere. She could have got it from any one of her friends with a simple question.
“I don’t know if she’ll want to talk to you, or if she can forgive you for all the hurt, Alison. I know it’s affected her very deeply for a long time, and in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. But the one thing I do know is that if you don’t try, you’ll never know.” She held the napkin out to her. “I never knew my own mother. I lost her when I was a baby. But I would given anything to have a chance to get to know her.”
Alison reached out. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” Kate said and finished her drink. “If you hurt her again, just know that you’ll have me to answer to. She’s my priority. Gina and Sammy. Not you. Are we clear on that?”
“Perfectly.”
“Good.” Kate stood up.
“Detective?”
“Yes?”
“Will you tell her? About this?” She held up the napkin.
“I tell her everything.”
Alison nodded.
“So I’d suggest you not wait too long before you use that.”
CHAPTER 25
Kate stood in the open doorway as Sammy charged down the path and Merlin jumped up to greet her. Sammy giggled and rolled around on the wet paving stones as she wrestled with the squirming mass of dappled grey-and-white fur.
“Sammy, get off the wet ground! That’s your last dry coat!”
“Sorry, Mum.” She wriggled to her feet.
“Best get inside quick,” Kate said. “Hang your coat over the radiator.”
“’Kay,” Sammy called from inside the house.
Kate continued to watch Gina close the gate behind her. She held out her hands to take some of the bags that Gina carried, and leaned in to kiss her. “Hey, gorgeous.”
Gina smiled. “Thank you,” she whispered and leaned in to kiss her again, slowly letting her tongue sample Kate’s mouth.
“Hm. I’ll have to call you gorgeous all the time if that’s what it gets me.”
“You can call me gorgeous all you like, but that kiss was for the flowers,” she said, and brushed past Kate into the warm house.
Sammy and Merlin were playing tug-of-war with a rope toy.
“Ew. Don’t put that in your mouth, Sammy. Use your hands like a human being.”
Sammy rolled her eyes, but did replace her teeth with her much more boring hands.
“Erm, Gina?”
Gina turned back to Kate and smiled.
“Not to risk the loss of any future kisses like that, but, well, what flowers?”
Gina laughed. “It’s okay, I know they were from you. You don’t have to pretend.” She plopped the bags down on the kitchen counter and started to unpack them, tapping Kate’s stomach as she passed her.
Kate frowned and bit
her lip. “I wish I was pretending, Gina, but I’m really not. I’m sorry. I don’t know what flowers we’re talking about.”
“Oh my God.” Gina stood with her hands in one of the bags and looked at Kate over her shoulder. “You really didn’t send them?”
Kate shook her head.
“The roses.”
“Roses?”
Gina nodded. “Yellow roses.”
“Okay. At least they weren’t red ones,” Kate said with a gentle smile, but a worried look on her face.
“Fifty of them.”
“Fifty?”
Gina nodded again. Who else would send me fifty yellow roses if it wasn’t Kate?
“Gina, is there something we need to talk about?”
Kate’s voice drew her out of her thoughts. “What?”
“Is there something you need to tell me? About who else is sending you flowers?” There was a slight edge of anger to Kate’s voice.
“What are you talking about?” She planted her hands on her hips and noted that the noise from Sammy and Merlin had suddenly stopped. “Sammy, go and play with Merlin upstairs a minute. Kate and I need to talk about boring grown-up stuff.”
Sammy scampered up the stairs while telling Merlin that that meant Mummy and Kate were going to have an argument. Bloody kid.
“Now would you like to explain what you mean by that, Kate Brannon?”
Kate took a deliberate breath and exhaled through her nose. “I’m sorry if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick here, but when I said longer than a weekend, I also meant just the two of us. I’m not interested in open relationships of poly-whatevers. If you want to see other people, then you need to see them and not me.”
“You’re joking?”
“No. I’m sorry, Gina. But I—”
“I’m not seeing anyone else.” Gina threw her hands in the air. “Jesus, I can’t even see you properly till I get my fucking head sorted. I’m not interested in anyone else.” She ran her hands over her face, then clasped her fingers under her chin. “I thought you sent the flowers because you’re my girlfriend. You. No one else.”
Kate looked unsure of herself. “You sure?”
Gina rolled her eyes. “Positive, you big dope.” She pulled Kate into a hug. “Isn’t it me who’s supposed to be worried that you’ll run off with someone else?”
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