Under Parr

by Andrea Bramhall

  “I’m not. I’m pinning it on a confession. I just need something to try and get that confession from him.”

  Ruth stared at Reginald. “Okay, I’ll try to get a hand impression cast based on the shape of the bruising left.”

  Kate looked at her in awe. “You can do that?”

  Ruth smiled. “Yes. But it won’t hold up in court.”

  “Then—”

  “But your suspect won’t know that.”

  “Ruth, you’re brilliant. That’s just awesome. Awesome, I tell you. I owe you a drink.”

  Ruth sighed. “Well, if I must.”

  Both laughed as Kate walked to the door.

  “Bring Gina with you and we’ll make a night of it.”

  “I’ll ask her,” she said as she let the door close behind her. “I knew you were too nice to be true, Maxwell. No one who works with people is always nice to them.” She hurried across the car park to her car and groaned. “People suck.” She reached across the windshield and peeled the sticky yellow and black envelope off. “It’s the middle of the night, for fuck’s sake.” She peered inside and pulled out the parking ticket. £60. Half price if she paid within fourteen days instead of the requisite twenty-eight. “Bollocks. I hate people.”

  CHAPTER 27

  “Kate, how far away are you? We’ve got a problem,” Stella said.

  “Two minutes from the station.” Kate pulled the car into a lay-by. “Why? What’s the problem?”

  “Jason Maxwell’s running.”

  “Running?”

  “Yes. He saw Tom and Jimmy at Brancombe House and scarpered. They lost track of him between the nursing home and the beach.”

  “Where between the nursing home and the beach?”

  “I don’t know, on the road.”

  “The Coastal Path, Stella. It’s about twenty yards from the boundary of Brancombe House. Did they see which way he was heading at least?” Kate pulled the phone from her ear as a loud, scratchy sound filled the line while Stella covered the microphone and presumably asked them.

  “Jimmy said he was on the right-hand side of the road.”

  “And how long ago?”

  “About two, maybe three minutes ago.”

  “Okay, tell them to start running, and I’ll try to get to Brandale Staithe before we lose him completely. If you drive along the road you might see him pop out of a garden along the way.”

  “Towards the campsite?”

  “Yes. He might carry on along the Coastal Path if he’s feeling lucky.”

  “I’ll get the PCSO with me to carry on further.”

  “Good.”

  Kate disconnected the call, threw her car into gear, and gunned the engine as she pulled back on to the road headed east on the A149. Fortunately, the road was quiet. Given the time of night, that wasn’t really a surprise, but she was always grateful when the traffic gods collided to make her life a little easier.

  Stella’s car was parked at the entrance to the harbour, the full beams lighting up the expanse of mud, bare masts, and grasses filtering in the wind. The right-hand side of the harbour was filled with little boats. Tenders, toppers, racing boats, all lined up one next to the other against a fence that separated the main harbour from the sailing club’s parking area. That bit they closed off to Joe Public. The left-hand side was the salt marsh, with clay-filled creeks, sea birds, and the popping and fizzing of the water skulking back out to sea as the tide departed. At night it was a black and empty expanse as far as the eye could see.

  “I saw him,” Stella whispered as Kate got out of her car. Stella pointed towards the end of the harbour. “He slipped between those boats.”

  Kate nodded. What she wouldn’t give right now for an armed unit…or even a rounders bat. But no. She had a Stella and her mobile. Great.

  “Where are Jimmy and Tom?”

  “Still running.”

  She glanced at her watch. “They need to up their game, Stella. This just isn’t good enough.”

  “I’ll be sure to tell them they need to improve their fitness to stop us from having to fight the bad guys just as soon as I see them.” She slapped Kate’s shoulder. “On second thought, why don’t you do that?”

  Kate ignored the sarcasm. “Come on then, let’s try not to read guilt into this, and go and find out why our Mr Maxwell decided to do a runner.” She pointed to the fence that the boats on dry land were parked up alongside. “I’ll go down there, use the boats for cover.”

  “Need a distraction?”

  “Well, since it worked so well last time we tried it, it’d be rude not to.”

  “Ready?”

  Kate nodded and manoeuvred herself in a crouch to the edge of the fence. Stella stood up tall and stepped into the beam of light from her car.

  “Jason Maxwell, I know you’re down there. Come on out.”

  Kate crawled along the fence line as fast as she could. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could make out more and more details of the harbour. The moonlight glistened off puddles allowing her to avoid splashing through them. The clink-clink of the steel cables along the masts disguised her footsteps, and the shadows softened and grew as she moved further away from Stella’s car.

  “There’ll be an armed response unit here any minute, Jason. But if you give it up now, we can talk about it.”

  The straight lines of the highly polished hulls reflected the moonlight too. Until the last boat. The sleek lines of its hull were broken and the light was absorbed rather than reflected. The knobbly shape that broke the profile could only be one thing. A large hand.

  “Whatever you did, we can sort it out, Jason. We know people run for all sorts of reasons. I mean, it doesn’t have to mean you did anything that bad really.”

  Kate crawled closer. One of the fingers moved.

  “I mean, you were probably just having a wank or something, and we surprised you, right?”

  Kate was within touching distance of him now. She concentrated on keeping her breath quiet and hoped like hell he couldn’t hear her heartbeat because that seemed to be all she could hear.

  “I mean, it’s a bit pervy, I’ll grant you, but it’s not criminal to have a wank at work, Jason. Not unless you were doing it over one of the old dears.”

  She inched closer still.

  “You weren’t doing that were you? Because that’s just wrong, mate. On so many levels.”

  Kate stood up and reached out. “Jason Maxw—”

  He roared and sprang from his hiding place. Powerful thighs propelled him towards Kate and knocked her flat on her back. The air was forced from her lungs as he lunged for her and managed to cover her body with his own. He wrapped his huge hands around her neck and squeezed.

  Bollocks. Spots floated before her eyes as she tried to suck air into her lungs. But his grip was too tight. Her pulse throbbed in her temple under the unrelenting pressure from his massive hands. She clawed at his fingers and the soft skin of her own neck as she tried to pull them away from her throat. She didn’t have long. Oxygen was being expended. Nothing new was coming in. If she didn’t break his hold quickly, she was dead.

  She kicked her knees beneath him and threw her fists at his bulk with no more effect than a kitten against a full grown lion. She had to do something, and she had to do it fast.

  She stopped fighting for a second and gathered what was left of her energy. As she lessened her attack he leaned forward. His eyes bulged and the veins in his neck stood out. She could see his pulse in them. She could feel her own pulse beating in her neck, trying to push blood to her brain against the dam of his massive hands.

  She reached up. This was her last chance. She didn’t go for his neck; it was his eyes she wanted. She wrapped her fingers over the top of his head to give her the best possible purchase and pushed with her thumbs. Driving the nails into the soft meat of his eyes.

  He screamed and let go of her neck to grab her wrists.

  She twisted to get away from him but his weight on top of her wa
s too much. He had her pinned. And now he had hold of her wrists too.

  “Bitch,” he spat out, and wrapped one hand around both of hers.

  She still couldn’t break free.

  He wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his right eye and looked at it before pulling back his fist. “That wasn’t very nice.”

  He drove his fist toward her face. Time slowed as she watched his meaty hand descend. The second it touched her she knew she was going to be out cold and then he would kill her and get away.

  Not today.

  She twisted as far to the left as she could and used his own strength holding her arms as a lever to hurl herself up and away from the worst of the blow.

  His ring caught her on the jaw before he landed with his fist buried in the mud where her head had been.

  Then the weight was gone. She breathed as though it was the first one she’d ever taken. Deep and sweet. Then coughed so much that she parted with her dinner. She could feel hands helping her to her feet and rubbing her on the back. She could hear the mumble of words that went along with the hands, but couldn’t make sense of them. She wondered briefly if her brain had died from lack of oxygen. Then comforted herself with the knowledge that she wouldn’t have been able to have such a thought if she was brain-dead.

  She looked up to find Tom and Jimmy wrapping handcuffs around Maxwell’s wrists as he lay face down in the dirt. Tom was arresting him as she leaned back against the fence post.

  “Next time,” she said to Stella with a croaky voice, “you take down the criminal while I do the distracting.”

  “What makes you think I’d switch roles?” Stella pushed her hair back off her face and prodded her jaw. “You’re bleeding.”

  Kate lifted her hand to her aching jaw and felt the warm trickle of blood. She wiggled her jaw, pleased when nothing new cracked or ached. Well, no more than I’d expect it to given that punch. “I’ll live.”

  Stella put her hand to her chest. “My hero.”

  “Bitch. I just took a punch for you.”

  Stella raised her eyebrow.

  “Okay, I just took a punch on behalf of justice and freedom and democracy and all that good shit. I should get time off from sarcasm.”

  Stella nodded sagely. “Fair point. I’ll take a break from taking the piss when you go and get some stitches in that cut.”

  Kate blanched. “Stitches? Really?”

  “Yup.”

  “Bollocks.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll save the interviews for the morning. Bloody PACE. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If they’re awake enough to commit the crime, they’re awake enough to be interviewed about it. Namby-pamby coddling.”

  “Closes the defence loophole, though, Stella.”

  She sighed. “I know. Anyway, Collier can drive you to the hospital and you can get that taken care of.”

  “He’s not driving my car.”

  Stella shrugged. “Okay, then we can leave it here at the harbour.”

  The last car she’d left in the harbour while she went to hospital had drowned. Literally. When she came back it was blaring its alarm and wiping the windscreen while the engine was off. “Bollocks.” That was not a risk she was going to take again.

  “Don’t you have any other profanities in your vocabulary?”

  “Bloody bollocks?” Kate offered.

  Stella stood up and held out her hand to help Kate to her feet. “Note to self, get Kate a thesaurus for Christmas.”

  * * *

  “You’re going too fast,” Kate complained, holding a wad of gauze to her jaw.

  “I’m doing thirty on a sixty road, sarge. I’d be getting grief off the tractor drivers if it wasn’t so late.”

  “Funny.” She wriggled in her seat. She was starting to ache, and her throat was killing her. “Everyone’s a comedian.”

  “I promise I won’t hurt your precious car. I know it’s more than my life’s worth.”

  “See? There you go again with the funny.”

  “Want me to just shut up?”

  “Whatever gave you that impression?”

  Gareth didn’t respond.

  Kate sighed. “Sorry. I’m a bitch of a patient.”

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

  She snorted but managed to refrain from saying anything. She owed him a freebie.

  “Will it scar?”

  She pulled down the visor and held the wadding away as she looked in the mirror. “Probably.”

  “They do plastic surgery for facial scars.”

  Kate shrugged. “Maybe, but I won’t have it.”

  “Why not? You’re a good looking woman, why let a scar ruin your face?”

  “There’re more important things than a little scar. More important things to me. If someone can’t see past a small scar like this might end up being, then I’ve no interest in looking past any of theirs. Wherever they may hide them.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “No.” She pressed the wadding back in place. “And that’s the real shame of it, Gareth.”

  They travelled the rest of the way in silence. He dropped her outside the entrance to the accident and emergency room, promising to be quick and put a parking ticket on her car so she didn’t get another fine.

  She booked in and was waiting for the triage nurse to see her when he came back. He held out a coffee cup. “I stopped at the coffee shop. Cappuccino, right?”

  “Thanks.” She took the drink and took a small sip.

  “Sorry.”

  “What for?”

  “Pissing you off in the car.”

  “You didn’t. It’s not your fault if you have a different opinion in something. A wrong opinion, definitely. But it’s not your fault.” She winked and took another sip. “You’re young. You’ll learn.”

  “Ha ha. Now who’s being funny.”

  “Aw, Gareth. Haven’t you learnt that yet? I’m always funny.” She twisted slightly in her chair and grimaced.

  “What’s hurting most?”

  “You mean besides my pride?”

  “Yup,” he said with a smile. “Besides that.”

  “Well, it’s a toss-up between my back, my shoulders, my neck, my arms, my wrists, my backside, and my head.”

  “That all?”

  “Yup. Legs and feet are good to go.”

  “Excellent. How can I help?”

  Kate closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall. “Distract me from this bloody uncomfortable chair.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know, juggle, sing me a song, tell me about the life and times of young Gareth.” She shrugged.

  “Well, I guess there is something interesting I can tell you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m seeing someone.”

  “Well, well, well, Mr Collier. Do tell.”

  “She’s a little bit older than me, but not much. Couple of years, that’s all. Gorgeous.”

  “Of course.”

  He smiled. “Of course.” He stopped.

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Well, what’s she like? What’s she called? Where did you meet her? How long’s this been going on? You know, just those tiny little details.”

  He chuckled. “Never stop with the questions, hey, sarge?”

  “I’m a detective. It’s what I do. So?”

  “Well, it’s still really early days. We met a little while ago, but I suppose you could say she needed a little convincing to take a chance on me.”

  “Ah, stubborn. A challenge.”

  “Oh, yes. She’s definitely a challenge. But it’ll be all the more worth it in the end.” He stared at his hands as he steepled his fingers then slid them together.

  There was an odd little smile on his face that she couldn’t quite understand. It wasn’t the goofy smile of the newly in love, it was more a secret smile. Of someone trying to hide what they truly felt. It made her a little uneasy, but he did loo
k happy. No, not happy, more pleased with himself. Perhaps it was conquering a challenge that made him happy more than anything else. Well, whoever she is, she’s a grown woman. She can deal with Gareth herself, no doubt.

  “Well, good luck with it, Gareth. I’m glad you’ve met someone. It looks like she makes you…happy.”

  Gareth’s smile widened but he still didn’t look up. “Oh, she does, sarge. She’s just got so much going for her. She’s perfect.”

  “Detective Sergeant Brannon?” A nurse leaned out of an open door and smiled. “Let’s take a look at that wound for you.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Kate opened her front door and quietly locked it behind her. Merlin greeted her in the hallway, tail wagging, and rubbing herself up against Kate’s legs.

  “Hiya, girl,” she said and crouched down to fuss around her ears and neck. Merlin swiped her tongue up Kate’s cheek. She quickly turned her face away to protect her stitches. “Good girl, that’s enough now.” She stood up, shucked her coat from her shoulders, and hung it on the peg. She could see the lights from the TV coming from the living room, and smiled to herself. Gina must have fallen asleep on the sofa.

  She rolled her shoulders, trying to ease some of the ache from them, and crossed the dining room to the lounge. Gina lay with her head on the arm of the sofa. The soft throw covered her legs, and there was a large Merlin-shaped depression at the back of her knees. The TV was muted, but the lights of the late-night infomercials flickered across her face. She looked beautiful. And so at peace. Kate didn’t want to wake her, but Merlin’s attempt to regain her place at the back of Gina’s knees managed to do the trick anyway.

  Gina opened her eyes and smiled sleepily when she saw Kate. “What time is it?”

  “Almost four.”

  “You okay?”

  Kate bobbed her shoulders. “Mostly.”

  Gina rubbed her eyes and squinted at Kate. “Oh my God, what happened?”

  “Suspect resisted arrest.”

  Gina sat up and reached out to touch the wound across Kate’s jaw. “How bad is it?”

  “Not bad at all, really. Couple of stitches. Few days and I’ll be good as new.”

  Gina stroked gently underneath the cut. “Why is it always you that ends up at the action end of these things?”