‘Don’t do this,’ I said to him as he took another step forward.
‘I’m leaving.’ His voice was low. Determined. Hard. He stepped down onto the first step. ‘Let me past.’
I pulled out my cuffs from my pocket. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do that.’ How would I stop him on the stairs? I needed to get control and I needed to do it quickly. It was the only way. If I gave Nathan too much time then the outcome of this would not be in my favour. Not with his strength and his position above me.
With lightning speed he pushed forward with his arms, it looked as though he had the same thought process. But I had expected it and I was leaning against the wall, allowing it to provide me with balance.
I rocked and one foot moved down to the next step but I stayed where I was. With the momentum of his push Nathan had dropped closer to me. I grabbed his left arm and pushed the rigid cuff hard around his wrist with a tight grip on the middle partition. It slid into place with a satisfying click. Now I needed to keep hold and get his other wrist into the other one.
‘Get the fuck off,’ he thundered, splintering the air around us as he pushed himself into me. One of his thighs pinning me up against the wall using the full weight of his body. I could feel the power of his anger, of his body as he raged. His breath hot and sweet in my face. My right hand still kept hold of the cuff. My pulse thundered in my ears. The back of my head was against the wall now.
‘Hannah!’ A voice from below me.
With Nathan up so close, I couldn’t make out who had shouted. I was smothered by Nathan, his whole presence and fury, solid and impenetrable.
I lifted my knee, pulled back, sideways of the wall, as much as I could, then forced it up into Nathan as hard as I could. I had no idea where I’d made contact but a quick puff of air hit me as knee met body.
And then his fist was in my face, like a block of steel straight into my cheek, smashing my head sideways, pain crashed through my skull and out through my eyes. The ground beneath me started to lean and we both started to topple sideways, it was like a slow-motion reel, I could feel it happening, but could do nothing to stop it.
The edges of my vision greyed, a dull roar filled my head and blocked out any other sounds that may have been around me as body parts tangled and jarred on their way down the stairs. An elbow slammed up under my chin, pushing my head backwards. Pain shot through my neck. Seared like a metal spike had been shoved in there.
I was losing sight as the grey closed in, the pain clouding my every thought. Through the pinprick of vision I could see the wall at the bottom of the stairs as I fell towards it head first. My arms tangled up with Talbot. Unable to stop my fall.
With a last ditch effort to keep control I kicked out and made contact with a soft target, then as the wall came to meet my head I closed my eyes. I had no protection. One wrist now twisted somewhere within Talbot.
As I waited for further pain or a black emptiness, I was yanked sideways. The force as it jerked me pulled my eyelids open, lifting the darkness. And I found myself laid on the floor, twisted on my side.
Aaron stood over me.
‘Thought you might need some help.’ His eyes sparkled with mischievousness.
‘I’d hug you if I wasn’t in so much pain,’ I said from the floor as Aaron dragged Talbot up to his feet and clipped the second cuff securely around his right wrist behind his back.
‘Can you move okay?’ he asked.
I shook my head to figure that out, but stopped as pain shot through it. ‘I think so. How’s Summers?’
‘Ambulance is on its way. He’s still alive thanks to Ross and Martin.’
On the floor around us were sheets of paper. I bent and more pain seared my hip. I grabbed hold with one hand and picked up the papers with the other.
‘You’re fucking crazy,’ Nathan muttered, face pushed into the wall near the door where Aaron had him pinned.
The papers were a kind of diary. He was a meticulous record keeper and these were about Nathan. And Summers’ son, Sean.
‘Martin, Ross, will you two take this idiot to custody please? Attempted murder of Summers and blackmail as well. Aaron and I will wait for the ambulance.’
‘You okay?’ Martin asked as I rose from the floor beside Summers.
‘Yes, I’m fine. Glad you were both here.’ I wasn’t sure how fine I was. I felt as though I had done a few rounds with a tank.
‘Glad to be here, Boss.’ Ross rubbed his hands together. He was pleased with the outcome.
After they left I knelt down beside Summers. Aaron stood by the window, curtains now open, paperwork in his hand, as he kept a lookout for the ambulance.
‘It was…’ croaked Summers.
I couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, his voice jagged like broken glass. I leaned down towards him. Placed my hand on his arm. ‘You’ll be arrested as soon as you’ve been treated, Robert, try not to speak now.’ He knew the process.
‘It was… Nathan,’ his voice little more than a whisper.
‘What was Nathan?’ We knew Nathan had tried to kill Summers so that wasn’t what he was saying.
‘Everything.’ He closed his eyes. Shut out the pain. I took his hand. No matter what we thought had happened, this man had done a lot of good and had now nearly lost his life.
‘After Sean went into rehab he came to me—’
‘Robert, you don’t want to be talking to us right now. Not about any of this.’
He waved my protestations away with his free hand. He knew the law. He understood what he was doing and what he was saying. ‘He came and said I owed him because I’d taken one of his team by getting Sean clean. And if I didn’t want the police to know Sean had been dealing then I owed him and had to pay up.’
He opened his eyes. A film of regret filled them. ‘I’m sorry, Hannah.’
He coughed and his hand went up to his damaged throat.
‘The debt was collected during the Blake investigation. Nathan wanted to be kept out of it.’
Damn.
‘It’s why I took early retirement.’
I looked at the sad broken man on the floor. What he had been driven to. I knew he had lost his wife and being responsible for the care of his son had resulted in some bad decisions.
‘He killed Simon.’ He coughed. A cough of broken stones on a shoreline. ‘And the two witnesses. Plus the drive-by, the young woman, he thought she’d seen him.’
I shook my head. Pain sliced through again. I pushed a hand up and pressed on the point of the pain. ‘I don’t understand, Robert.’
There was a knock on the door. ‘Call for an ambulance?’ came a happy voice from the hallway.
‘In here,’ Aaron answered.
Two female paramedics entered. One with dark hair tied back in a ponytail and the other with the brightest auburn hair I’d seen, cropped close to her head. A piercing glinted in her nose.
‘Simon organised for the trial to be nobbled. Nathan had thought he…’ more coughing. Rough. His face ashen.
The women dropped down either side of him, I pushed myself more towards his head.
‘He thought he was going to head up the Talbot organisation, but Simon was released. It destroyed him. He wanted the power. But he never had the—’ He threw his head forward as the coughing attacked again.
One of the paramedics wrapped an oxygen mask around his head and placed it over his mouth and nose. ‘Okay, lovely, no more talking for you.’
A blood pressure pump went around his arm and buzzed loudly in the quiet room as it pumped up.
Summers lay back on the floor, weak and grey. His eyes dark and hollow.
I patted his arm, let him know I was still there with him. Looked at Aaron, who shrugged. Nathan did all this?
‘Never had the balls Simon had. Not really,’ Summers wheezed out behind his mask.
‘Hey, no talking,’ the dark-haired paramedic scolded.
‘How do you know this?’ I asked. Understanding I’d be in trouble from the par
amedics on the floor with me. I was right. For my trouble I was given a dark look.
‘He felt the need to tell me before he pulled me up on the chair. Wanted to gloat about how clever he was because he’d not been able to tell anyone.’ He sucked in a huge lungful of air.
‘That’s enough now,’ the auburn-haired paramedic glared at me as she pushed down on the oxygen mask on Summers’ face. ‘I’ll get the gurney.’ She rose and left.
‘I was the last loose thread for him to get rid of. I’m glad you made it. No matter what happens to me now. Thank you.’ And with that, he closed his eyes and was quiet.
Lee
Lee pulled himself up as he reached the door. He didn’t want to look panicked when he walked in. He didn’t want to worry Sheila. She had been good to him and good to his nan. With his hand on the door handle he took a deep breath in, held it and then opened the door.
The house was quiet.
It was unusual for him not to hear screams and shouts or the sounds of his nan and Sheila debating, talking even. Lee couldn’t even hear the television. His nerves were shot enough as it was without walking into his home and finding it out of character. Where were they?
‘Sheila? Nan?’
Silence.
Lee closed the door behind him. The air was filled with the smell of cooking. He wrinkled his nose attempting to ascertain what it was he could smell. Stew or similar.
‘Sheila?’ He walked down the hall.
‘In here,’ she whispered.
Lee pushed open the door to the living room and found them both sitting on the sofa, his nan with her head back, mouth ajar, asleep, Sheila with a book in her lap.
‘She had a difficult afternoon and has worn herself out.’
Lee sank into the chair opposite them, placed his head in hands.
‘You’re home earlier than I expected, Lee. Are you okay?’ She closed the book and placed it to the side of her. A romance book if the cover was to go by, but Lee couldn’t read the title from where he was. She often read romances. Sheila loved to escape into them after the difficulty of her day with his nan.
‘I was worried.’ He scrubbed his hand through his hair. ‘I thought I’d spend some time with her.’
Sheila smiled. ‘She’ll like that.’ She leaned forward, perched herself on the edge of the sofa and placed her hand on his arm. ‘I know it’s a tough decision, Lee, but it’s the right one to make. Especially with the job you’re in. You can’t look after her yourself and she pushes against me on a more regular basis. She doesn’t like being here with me.’
‘It’s okay, Sheila. I know. This will be resolved soon.’
‘I’ve made you a hotpot. Take it out the oven when you’re ready for it.’ She stood.
Lee stayed where he was. She trailed her hand across his shoulder as she passed him to leave.
‘You’re a good man, Lee Cave. Don’t forget that.’
Lee looked at his nan then put his head back into hands.
The front door clicked quietly as Sheila closed it behind her.
His nan stirred. Her head shifted from leaning back to resting on her right cheek away from him.
‘Nan?’ he whispered. Wanting to wake her but not startle.
She didn’t move.
Lee walked into the kitchen, opened up the cupboard where the medicines were kept, out of her reach. She was unsteady on her feet most days so height wasn’t an easy task for her. He pulled down an assortment of bottles. Next, he filled a glass with water. Emptied the paracetamol bottle into his hand and walked back into the room.
‘Nan?’ He crouched in front of her. Tears in his eyes.
‘Lee? Oh Lee. You’re home.’ She reached out a hand and touched his cheek.
She recognised him. Hadn’t called him George. It had been a while since she had called him Lee. A tear slid down his cheek.
‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ She shuffled forward, reaching for him.
Lee brushed the tear away with the back of hand. ‘It’s nothing, Nan. Tough day at work.’ He offered her a weak smile. ‘I’ve brought you your tablets.’ He offered her the glass of water which she took.
‘I take tablets?’
‘You do. It’s to help with the confusion you sometimes feel, Nan.’ His heart was breaking. How had he got here? He handed her four tablets which she took without complaint. ‘And these ones as well, to help with your bone strength.’ He handed her another four. She looked at him. He thought she would query him. Her lips parted as if to speak. Then like a child she took them and swallowed with the water.
Tears silently slipped down his face freely now. His nan patted the space at the side of her. ‘Come here, love.’ He sat at the side of her and accepted the arm she curled around his shoulder. ‘It must have been an awful day. Let your nan give you a hug, eh?’ he folded himself into it.
They sat quietly for ten minutes. Then Lee handed her another five pills. ‘These are the painkillers you need.’
‘But I’m not in pain, love.’
‘That’s because you take these regularly. If you don’t take them you are in excruciating pain. You can’t remember?’
Her eyes went to the corner of the room, as though it held the answers. Then she took them.
Lee kissed her cheek. ‘I’ll get your dinner. Sheila made hotpot.’
‘That’s nice of her.’
The pills were crushed with ease and stirred into the hotpot. He placed it on the dining table and helped her to her seat.
‘What’s this?’
‘It’s hotpot, Nan. Sheila made it.’
‘Who’s Sheila?’
‘It’s okay, Nan, take your pills. It’ll be okay.’ He handed her some more.
‘What do I need these for?’ She was brusque.
‘Your bones. They help your bones because you’re getting a little older. That’s all.’
She tutted but accepted the pills and swallowed them with the fresh glass of water he had placed in front of her with the meal.
They ate in near silence.
Lee watched her. Remembered her as she was when he was younger. How she would kick the football around in the garden with him for five minutes before laughing that she was too old and tired for it and he was such a young handsome man and would grow into a man she would be proud to know and love. His heart cracked. It was this, the loss she would feel if she knew he wasn’t a man to be proud of that drove him forward.
She pushed her empty plate away.
‘Nan. Take your tablets and I’ll take you to bed.’ He held out four more tablets for her.
She looked at him. For a long time, without moving. Without speaking. His hand shook as he held it out. Her eyes searched his. He held her gaze. Eventually she inclined her head and took them. ‘It’s okay, Lee. I love you.’
Lee
He was able to put her to bed as easily as though she were a sleepy child. He gave her some pills, told her they were for her memory. She looked at him, frowned. ‘George, you’re so good to me. What would I ever do without you?’
If only George was still here this wouldn’t be happening. His nan wouldn’t be in this position. She wouldn’t be faced with the prospect of being left alone in the world and he wouldn’t have to take care of her in this way. To save her from loneliness and fear for the rest of her days. Without a friendly face. If George was here she would have love and happiness and hope.
But, George wasn’t here, so it was up to him to resolve this. To do what was best for her. To protect her from what was to come. To protect her from strangers who didn’t know her, didn’t know her life, her past, her loves, her hates, her routines. Who didn’t care about them and only wanted to pick up a pay cheque.
So, it was he, Lee, who had to help her now. Protect her. Love her. Keep her peaceful and loved. Save her from all that could happen to her in the future.
She took the pills from him. Swallowed them. Balked as she took the last two. But Lee offered the glass up to her lips, gently encourag
ed her to drink, to ease her throat and then tried the pills again. They went down and then he tucked her in as she lay down.
‘I love you, George. You’re a good lad. You know that, don’t you?’ Her voice was quiet, he had to lean forward to hear her. Her eyes were closed. Lee leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Breathed in and inhaled the scent of her. The soap and slight musty old people smell mingled. The scent of his nan. He closed his own eyes and hovered over her, lingering, inhaling.
‘I love you too,’ he whispered.
There was no response. Just the rumble of sleep. Lee kissed her again. Cradled her head. Climbed onto the bed at the side of her, still holding on to his head and he cried. Tears washing his face. Clouding his eyes. His nose touching her cheek, allowing her to invade him. He loved her so much. He hated that he hadn’t been able to do more for her. He hated that she had lost part of her life. Life that she still should have had time to enjoy. He didn’t begrudge caring for her. He begrudged what the illness stole from her. And he hated what it had made him do in order to get her the round the clock care she deserved. How that now meant he would be stolen away from her as well as her life and her memories. Everything had got so out of hand. All he had wanted to do was protect her and give her the best she deserved. He had thought he had found a way and didn’t believe anyone would really get hurt. Until he met Ken. Who had been good to him. Then he lost Ken. That day. It had all gone horribly wrong. So, so wrong. And now he was forced into this. He would never let her see him this way.
At least she had seen George one last time.
His heart was broken.
He kissed her again, pushed himself off the bed, folded the quilt around her and quietly closed the door. Then he walked into the bathroom and started the bath running. He made sure the water was hot.
Downstairs he locked the front door. Sat at the table for five minutes writing his explanation. Not that anyone would understand. Then he took a large kitchen knife out from the knife block and walked back upstairs. Laid it on the side of the bath.
‘I’m so sorry, Nan,’ he whispered. And closed the bathroom door behind him.
The DI Hannah Robbins Series: Books 1 - 3 (Boxset) (Detective Hannah Robbins Crime Series) Page 67