Pasha
Pasha approached Lee. Her heart was balled up in her chest, tight and rigid. It had been awful to sit and listen to him as he recounted his experience. It had been awful every time he had talked about his time with Ken Blake. But there was something about this time, this talk, that had buried into her psyche and demanded she go and talk to him about it.
She barely knew him. She hadn’t said much to him since he had been seconded onto the unit. She was, after all, still feeling her own way around and very much considered herself as the new girl, so to talk to someone and offer support and friendship as a regular of the unit didn’t feel like a role she should or could do. She expected to see one of her colleagues do it, but they hadn’t. Yes, she conceded, Martin had been great with him. Every step of the way, Martin had been there to hold his hand and had shown him the ropes. But she wasn’t sure Martin saw how difficult this was for him. Being here, amongst everyone, day in and day out as they investigated the death of the one person who had taken the life of Lee’s colleague and friend.
But, shouldn’t these people be more sensitive to this? How could she see it and they not?
She looked across at Ross as he laughed at something Martin had said before he turned to his desk and woke his monitor up. Ross was great. They were all great. They had been through so much, they got on with their jobs, their lives, as best as they could and she couldn’t judge them.
She looked at Lee, about to walk out of the incident room. To where, she wasn’t sure, but she wanted to catch him before he disappeared. Wanted to check he was okay. She picked up her pace. She would speak to him. Everyone deserved someone to listen to them.
‘Lee?’ He was out the door now. She grabbed it before it slammed shut on her. ‘You have a minute?’ Damn, was this the right thing? ‘Or are you busy?’ she turned to go back into the incident room, door still in her hand, open as she stood in the middle ground.
‘I’m headed outside for a smoke, that’s all. Do you want me?’
She looked back to the incident room and then back at Lee. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She hoped there would be no one else there. It seemed that nowadays smoking was a less common habit than it used to be, but you couldn’t guarantee that the smoking area would be empty.
‘I need it after that,’ he said, pulling the small pack of ten out his pocket ready.
Pasha trailed after him.
The smokers’ area was empty.
Lee pulled out a cig with his lips, held up the lighter until it took and inhaled. ‘I don’t really smoke.’
She looked at him.
‘No, I don’t. But…’ He waved an arm about in the air.
‘Yeah,’ she said, understanding what it was he wasn’t saying.
‘I can’t smoke at home either, so there’s no point taking it up as a real habit.’
Pasha gave him a puzzled look. ‘A partner?’ Then it came to her. ‘Oh, no, sorry, it’s your nan.’
‘Yeah. She doesn’t like me to smoke in the house and I don’t like to leave her unattended for any period of time.’
‘Must be hard.’
The smoke trailed from Lee in front of her. She wondered why it never went straight upwards and always wound its way sideways into the faces of non-smokers. She didn’t want to waft it away as she was the one standing in the smokers’ area. It would look rude.
‘I wouldn’t be without her.’ He laughed. ‘Isn’t that what they say about kids?’
Pasha laughed as well. She recognised the phrase from colleagues with kids. ‘It is. You love her.’
‘Yes, but you’re right.’ He inhaled, held it, looked up at the dark sky which was not really dark hanging over the well-lit housing estate. More of a dark blue-toned hue blanketing them. He blew out the smoke in a long slow breath. ‘It is hard work. Not just on an emotional level, but a financial one.’
‘I’m sorry, Lee. You have a lot on your plate. I wanted to see how you were after that conversation?’
A cop in uniform sauntered over to them. His radio crackling where it was pinned on his shoulder.
‘You learn to live with what you have, to deal with the hand you’re given to the best of your ability.’ He laughed again. ‘I sound like a…’ he paused. ‘I’d say greetings card, but they’re a bit more upbeat but no less cheesy. You know what I mean.’
The cop joined them. He looked about twenty-five, but he had a full head of grey hair. He nodded his hello, Pasha smiled in response, and he opened his own pack of cigarettes and lit the one he pulled from it.
‘If you ever need an ear, a shoulder…’
‘That’s generous. But you don’t want to hear my shit.’ He threw his stub end on to the floor and crushed it under his heel.
‘I’m serious. I have more of an understanding of…’ she smiled at him, ‘…shit,’ and Lee laughed, ‘…than you think.’
Lee picked up the tab end and threw it in the bin provided.
‘Thanks, Pasha. I might take you up on that.’
Hannah
Lee had given an emotional speech. I could see he had affected everyone in the incident room. I asked Ross to put the kettle on and make a round of drinks. They needed to collect themselves for five minutes then I needed their heads back in the job.
Someone had been in my office and opened the window. Likely to be the cleaner who assumed the untidiness I worked in meant the office was dirty and therefore needed a regular airing out. It felt as though a gale were blowing through, though in reality there was barely a breeze. I slammed the window closed and hooked the latch over.
Ross walked in with a steaming mug in his hand. I was so grateful. Even though I’d asked him to make the team a brew, I was as much in need as anyone. ‘Thanks, Ross.’
‘No worries. We’re stretched, aren’t we? You think we’ll get this extra staff?’
‘If Baxter says he’s getting it I think we will. He seems to be consistently in control. Whatever he sets his mind to it gets done.’
‘Great news. We need all hands on deck.’ And with that he was gone.
Which left me to ponder what I had just verbalised to him. Baxter able to do whatever he set his mind to. Was his mind set enough on Aaron to get him out of the unit? I hoped to hell not. I would do everything in my power to stop that move. But what? How did I stop a move I wasn’t sure was afoot? It was a problem I would have to think on.
‘Ma’am?’ Pasha poked her head around the door. There really was no rest for the wicked. I hadn’t even started any of the tasks I was supposed to do yet.
‘What is it, Pasha?’
‘I’ve found an intel report that states Ryan Buckhurst has made threats against those who have killed Miller and Davis and has said there will be retribution.’
That’s all we needed. ‘And does this report say how he will enact this retribution, or on who?’
Pasha pulled herself into the office instead of leaning in from behind the door. ‘No, it’s pretty vague. He was overheard in the pub saying they wouldn’t get away with it. And no, no clarification on the how or who.’
‘Okay. Email me the report and I’ll have a look at it. Thanks, Pasha.’
Dammit. We’d managed to calm down some nasty gang wars in the past and I didn’t want events to escalate to the scale they used to be at where armed cops had to patrol the streets of the city housing estates. We’d moved past that. No one wanted to go back.
Ryan Buckhurst had talked to me once, would he be prepared to talk to me again and if so, would I hold any sway with him? It would be doubtful but it had to be worth a shot. He had been willing to share some essential information on a past investigation, I had some kind of relationship with him. I had to make contact.
After scribbling a note on the pad in front of me I picked up the PM report on Brent Davis and started to read. He hadn’t been in the water long. Estimated time of death would put him around the time of Talbot’s death, though this wasn’t precise because of the submersion.
It was
possible that he could have been killed by Talbot prior to his own murder, but it also left leeway for him to have been killed after Talbot’s death. I made some notes in my notepad. I’d need to ask some questions of the pathologist, Fay Pride, to clarify this in my own mind.
My next call was to Superintendent Hilary Byrne. He answered on the second ring. His voice abrupt. This didn’t bode well. It wasn’t a good day. I felt it myself. After I introduced myself his voice didn’t lighten any.
‘You’ve heard about Brent Davis?’ I asked.
‘I have.’
‘And what are your thoughts?’ I picked up my tea, lifted it to my face, the heat emanating from it didn’t feel too bad. I tested it as Byrne considered his response. It was cool enough to drink and I was ready for it.
‘I think we have a leak and we need to find them and we need to find them now. I warned you, DI Robbins, about this when we spoke last. Now Davis has been killed I have no option but to involve professional standards. I’m sure they’ll get in touch with you.’
I slammed my cup down with more force than I had planned and tea slopped over the rim onto some files. I pulled them away and placed them on another pile of paperwork on the opposite side of my desk.
‘You do realise, Sir, that the leak could have come from anywhere, even your own office?’
‘I do. And wherever it has come from, we need to weed it out. I will not stand for this. For lives to be taken this way when we are responsible for their protection.’
‘I have a team member searching the intelligence system to see who has accessed the intel reports for information straight after Blake’s murder. We should have a list of names soon.’
That’s good. But,’ he paused, let a deep breath out, ‘it doesn’t negate the need to involve professional standards. The information you get from that line of inquiry will need to be passed on to them. We need to do it all by the book with this. If anyone else is hurt and we sat on our hands it will be very easy for someone to cry cover-up.’
‘Okay.’ I agreed with him. I didn’t like what we were dealing with but I did agree with him. That we needed to do this right. I thanked him for his help and said goodbye.
As each minute passed the investigation became more and more difficult. There was the threat of a gang war we had to attempt to control, while we had the professional standards department on our backs. Even if it was the correct call to make.
I dialled Pasha’s extension and asked her to join me in my office. She walked in, wearing the worried look she always had on her face when faced with me alone.
‘I need to know how far you’ve got.’
Her lips parted but she didn’t speak.
‘Events are changing beyond what I can control and I need to know how far you have got in checking the intelligence system for who searched for either Simon Talbot or Ken Blake.’
‘Ma’am, I’ve only managed to get three days done so far.’
‘How can that be? Why is it so slow?’
Pasha sat on the chair in front of my desk. ‘Well, as I’m also working on other inquiries…’ She looked me in the eye, daring me to tell her she was wrong, which I couldn’t. ‘It’s the amount of searches that were done. It’s slowing the system and I have to record each one individually for you, the date and time and search string requested.’
I didn’t like the sound of this. ‘The amount?’
‘There were three hundred and forty-one searches within the first three days.’
I stood, my chair flew back and crashed into the wall behind me. ‘There were how many?’ My voice raised in pitch.
‘Three hundred and forty-one, Ma’am.’
‘Jesus. How the hell can there be that many searches.’
Pasha looked anxious now. Her hands clasped together in her lap. Wringing around each other.
‘Cops were angry. Cops are notoriously nosy,’ she explained. ‘If they’re not involved they want to know what’s happening, especially if they feel they haven’t been given all the information and you know the job, it didn’t disclose investigative details force wide. As I remember, they did notice there were a lot of searches on the system and a warning went out on the intranet that if people continued to use force equipment for intelligence searches that were not related to jobs they were on then they would have to answer to the professional standards department, so I imagine at some point, this deluge of names will lesson and I’ll have finished.’
Aaron poked his head through the door. ‘How did the call with Byrne go?’
I laughed, a cold, this-day-can’t-get-any-worse, kind of laugh. ‘Come on in and I’ll update you.’ Yanking my chair back into position I sat back at my desk. Aaron came in and Pasha looked even more worried.
‘Thanks, Pasha. Email me the names and details you have so far.’
She stood to leave.
‘And don’t be surprised if professional standards want a word with you at some point.’
Her eyebrows nearly jumped off his forehead.
‘Yes, it looks like the situation now warrants their involvement. But, if you can keep it to yourself for the moment until I can speak to the rest of the team I’d appreciate it.’
She agreed and turned quickly to walk out the office back to her desk and walked into the door frame. She rubbed at her forehead and moved on without a look back at me or Aaron.
‘So, PSD?’
‘Yes, Byrne.’
Aaron didn’t need any further explanation. ‘When?’
‘I’m not sure. I imagine he’ll be in touch with them today and we’ll hear from them later today or tomorrow when they’ve caught themselves up on the cases in the privacy of their own lair.’
‘Where does that leave us and the investigation?’
‘Well, if they think they can come in and take us off the case they can think again. They’re investigation covers corruption; we’re trying to catch a murderer. They can watch us play but they’re not taking our ball.’
Pasha
Tedious task here she came.
The office chatter melted into the background as Pasha sat in front of her monitor again. She could hear the background chatter and laughter and movement of the working office, but it was all muted. She was now engrossed in the task in hand. The boss wanted results and she had to prove herself. Even if there were no positive end results to give her, she had to get it done and tell her one way or another. Show she could do what she had been tasked with and she hadn’t wasted precious inquiry time.
Pasha had HOLMES access as well as access to the rest of the police systems. She cross-referenced the names on the list with the two HOLMES jobs, the Ken Blake one and the Simon Talbot one as well as checking to see if the officers on the list were involved in either investigation and had grounds to conduct the search. If not, she sent out emails with a request that they state their reason for the search.
She also compiled the list for PSD. It was a long list because officers were nosy and wanted to know where the investigation was at. They hated to be left out of the loop. She understood that. But regardless. She did as was necessary.
Then she saw a name she recognised. She didn’t think any more of it.
But, what did she do about listing them?
She knew she should add them. If she did, would they get into trouble or would their justification be seen as reasonable, because she believed it was?
She put it to the side and continued with the rest.
Hannah
‘It would appear I can’t stay away from this place,’ I said to Fay Pride as we stood in the queue for coffee in the Queen’s Medical Centre canteen.
‘Tough job this one.’ It wasn’t a question. She knew the bodies were all related. ‘You’ve fallen for it all?’
I served myself a green tea and continued to the till. ‘We have. Because they’re all connected it serves to make it easier… apparently. Though I’m not sure it makes my work day any easier.’
She laughed. A light tinkle of a la
ugh for the large nearly six-foot woman she was. ‘You’re certainly keeping us in work at the minute.’ She picked up a double chocolate chip muffin with her coffee, paid and we moved to a table in the corner away from people who could overhear.
‘You’ve read the report?’ she asked as she shuffled herself into a chair.
‘Yes, but I think I need some of it explained to me in more layman’s terms to be honest. I want to understand what happened.’
She peeled the muffin free of its paper confines and bit into it, crumbs falling like boulders down a hill in front of her.
I wished I could eat so freely like that but I would never be able to keep to the weight I was if I didn’t monitor my food consumption. My drink habit was bad enough on the calorie intake.
‘Your young man drowned. He was in the water not long after his tongue was cut off.’
‘And how can you tell that?’
‘He’d swallowed blood as well as water. Though I’m still waiting on the diatom test to come back, but as he was pulled out the Trent I’d suggest it’s river water. Don’t quote me on that, he could have been drowned in the bath and then been dropped in the Trent.’ She took another bite of the muffin. My mouth was beginning to water.
‘I’ll have the results back on that tomorrow.’
An old couple came and sat two tables away from us. The man was obviously deaf as his wife shouted every sentence to him. ‘I’ve bought you a yummy Bakewell tart, Thomas. Your favourite. I’ve got an apple pie. Isn’t this nice?’
Thomas nodded at her. In what world was eating cake in a hospital nice? I wondered what their story was. Were they visitors or did one of them have an appointment here and this was a treat before the appointment or after it. The woman laid a napkin out on Thomas’ knee and seated herself beside him so she could be close. She looked about the same age but she was so much more alert. They were about in their seventies or even eighties. How lovely that they had each other.
I returned my attention to Fay. ‘How long does it take someone to drown?’
The DI Hannah Robbins Series: Books 1 - 3 (Boxset) (Detective Hannah Robbins Crime Series) Page 61