Raven

by Heather Atkinson

  As she headed away from the chaos, into the quieter part of the street, there was an “Oy,” from behind and she turned to see Tom and two more officers barrelling a path towards her. Her heart leapt. What had Jeremy told them? But their gazes weren’t on her, they were locked on Aidan further down the street.

  Acting on instinct, she stuck out her foot and tripped the officer closest to her, who went down, pulling Tom and the third officer down with him. She looked down the street and nodded at Aidan to go, who took off, disappearing from view.

  “Shit,” said Tom, hauling himself to his feet.

  “She tripped me,” exclaimed the officer she’d felled, getting to his feet and rubbing his elbow.

  “I didn’t,” she retorted. “Don’t blame me because you’re clumsy.”

  “Go and see if you can catch him,” said Tom, nodding in the direction Aidan had gone.

  The officer with the sore elbow scowled at her before running off with his colleague.

  “What’s going on?” said Raven.

  “I really shouldn’t tell you this…”

  “But you’re going to anyway,” she said with an impish smile and a wink.

  “Well, technically you work with us. That was the man who tipped water down me. Jeremy, you remember him, you met him inside?”

  She nodded.

  “He said he saw that man hanging around the victim. He could be the Needle Killer.”

  “There were a lot of people in that room, I’m sure plenty of them stood near the victim.”

  “He saw him staring at the victim too. He said he creeped him out.”

  “Sounds pretty shaky. Maybe the victim was drunk and making a spectacle of himself? Or perhaps they’d not zipped up their fly?”

  Tom began to look less certain of himself as the adrenaline wore off. “Then why did he run off?”

  “You’re not in uniform, neither did you declare yourself to be police. That man saw three big men running at him and got scared.”

  “Did I not shout ‘police’?”

  “No. Just oy.”

  “Crap,” he muttered. “That’s why we’re not allowed to drink on duty.”

  Raven held her breath as his eyes flicked up and down the street, undecided. “Anything?” he asked when his men returned, panting.

  “Sorry Sarge,” said the one she’d tripped. “No sign.”

  “Shit. It could have been him though, killers like to hang around the crime scene, getting their kicks.”

  “But if he was outside that means he’s already been interviewed by one of your colleagues and dismissed from the investigation.”

  “Maybe and now we have to go back in there and tell the Chief Constable we lost him. He is not going to be happy, especially as he stinks of sick.”

  “Is Stuart in trouble?”

  “He was made the Chief Constable’s tea boy after peeing on his shoes. I dread to think what he’ll have him doing for throwing up on him.”

  Raven laughed. “Right, well, it’s late and I’m tired. See you around Tom. I hope you get your man.” Not.

  “Night Raven,” he replied, looking like he wanted to say something else before turning and following his colleagues back into the hotel, ignoring the reporters shouting questions at them.

  She continued on her way, glad the car was parked out of sight of the hotel, glancing over her shoulder to ensure no one was watching her. When she reached the car, Aidan emerged from the shadows of an alleyway, looking left and right before hurrying to the car, digging the keys out of his pocket.

  “You drive,” he said, tossing them to her.

  She caught the keys and unlocked the car, climbing into the driver’s seat. She’d had just a few small sips of wine, so she was fine to drive. Aidan yanked open the back door and threw himself in, closing the door behind him and lying himself flat on the seat.

  “That was close,” he said. “Why were they chasing me?”

  “Jeremy told them he saw you hanging around the victim and now you’re prime suspect.”

  “Bastard,” he muttered.

  “He must have recognised you,” she said, frowning at him through the rear-view mirror. “Now you’re a suspect in a murder inquiry because you let jealousy get the better of you.”

  “I was only making sure you were safe and I will never apologise for that.”

  She nodded. “Alright.”

  “You’re welcome,” he pouted.

  “Thank you.”

  “Didn’t hurt, did it? You and that wanker copper looked pretty cosy.”

  “Well we weren’t. When you were throwing water all over him I was just about to make my excuses and leave. All you achieved was to keep me there longer.”

  “You should have slipped out when he went to the bathroom to dry off.”

  “He deserved better than that.”

  “Why?” he said suspiciously.

  “Because he’s a nice man and I do have to work with him.”

  “And what explanation did you give him?”

  “That I’m too in love with my husband.”

  There was a beat of silence. “You did?”

  Raven nodded.

  His fingers brushed her shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “Well, it is true.”

  “I know,” he said softly.

  “But Jeremy recognised you, that’s why he told them you killed that man and we’ve lost our advantage.”

  “Enough fucking about. We’ve got to finish this once and for all.”

  “I quite agree, but how? And we have to make sure the body disappears. If the police find him they won’t stop until they’ve caught his killer.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m already working on that. When I’m done there’ll be nothing left of him to find.”

  “That reminds me, how many pieces did you cut Dexter into?”

  “Fourteen. Why, how many have they found?”

  “Eight.”

  “Still a bit to go then.”

  “You’ve traumatised half the Leeds police force.”

  His eyes flashed in the darkness. “They’re not the only ones.”

  Raven changed gear then reached round to take his hand. “Jeremy recognised you and tried to set you up.”

  “We need to draw him out and kill him because I’m sick of the little rat.”

  “Agreed and I know just the place. Stonefort Hospital. I think that will appeal to his sense of the dramatic.”

  “Probably, the melodramatic prick. Are you sure there’s not another reason why he’s targeting you? Seems a bit over the top because your mum stabbed his dad in the arm. If she’d actually killed him I could understand it but she didn’t.”

  “I agree but he seemed pretty convinced.”

  “Maybe there’s more to this, something he hasn’t told you yet?”

  She shivered, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “Agreed.”

  The moment they walked through the door of their hotel suite, Aidan was on Raven, yanking her dress down her shoulders while running his lips along her neck. She only just managed to kick the door shut before her dress had been completely removed. Aidan desperately needed to reclaim her from the handsome police officer and she was more than happy to indulge him.

  Once they were sated they slid into the bath together, Raven leaning back against his chest while he massaged her shoulders.

  “Hmmm, bliss,” she said, body thrumming with satisfaction. It felt as though the debacle at the hotel was years ago. “Sometimes I wish the rest of the world didn’t exist and it was just the two of us, no one to chase us or hurt us.”

  He pressed his lips to the curve of her neck. “Me too but I wonder how long it would be before we got bored?”

  She chuckled. “Not long. We need the excitement, sadly.” Her smile dropped. That need for excitement was why they’d spent the majority of their married life apart.

  “It won’t always be this way,” he said, as usual divining her thoughts. “As we get older things will settle
down.”

  “What if they don’t?”

  “You still going to be running around assassinating people when you’re an OAP?”

  “I don’t want to wait until I’m an old woman to have a real life with you Aidan. Let’s face it, it’s highly unlikely we’ll make it to old age.”

  He slid his hands into her hair, stroking, making her moan. “Our time together will come, promise.”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she rasped, arching her spine as his hands moved down to her breasts.

  “I never do,” he said, moving his attentions to between her legs.

  Raven turned to straddle him. “True.”

  Aidan growled when she took him inside her, wrapping his hands around her backside and pulling her tighter against him while thrusting up into her. “My little bird,” he said. “My warrior, my goddess.”

  Raven smiled down at him, able to see the love shining out of his eyes just for her. Aidan had love for nothing and no one except herself. At times that love felt a burden but in magical moments like this, it was an honour.

  CHAPTER 28

  Raven and Aidan returned to the barn the next morning to find everything as it was prior to the attack by Dexter and his crew of incompetents. The window had been repaired and all signs of carnage erased. It was impossible to tell a massacre had recently happened there.

  A tired One Eye and Damon were just packing up when they arrived. Raven hugged them both. “Thank you,” she said.

  “Anytime for you,” One Eye smiled down at her.

  “So they’re gone for good?”

  One Eye nodded. “They are now far too small to ever be found.”

  “That’s a relief. Do you want to stay for breakfast? It’s the least I can do.”

  One Eye was about to make his excuses and leave, things could get fraught when Aidan and Damon were together.

  But his son leapt in first. “That would be great thanks Raven. I’m bloody starving.”

  “Aren’t you always,” she smiled, kicking off her shoes and wandering into the kitchen.

  Damon’s smile fell and his eyes turned stormy when he looked at Aidan. However, after the talking to his father had given him, he was determined to remain polite, which completely went against his nature but he would do it, for Raven. “Aidan,” he nodded.

  “Damon,” he nodded back, likewise determined to remain polite, for his wife’s sake.

  “There,” said One Eye. “Isn’t it nice when we all get along?”

  Damon and Aidan’s looks were withering.

  “I hope you’re all playing nice in there,” Raven called from the kitchen.

  The three men wandered in to find her happily cooking at the stove.

  “Sit and chat while I cook,” she told them without looking up from her work, an amused smile on her lips.

  The three men sat at the kitchen table, Damon and Aidan sitting across from each other, frowning. Aidan glanced over at Raven, whose eyes were pleading.

  “Thanks for sorting out the barn,” he said.

  “You’re welcome,” said Damon stiffly. “So, you back for long then?”

  “As long as Raven needs me.”

  Damon saw the warning in his father’s eyes and swallowed down what he really wanted to say. “That’s good. This rival of hers needs taking down.”

  “And we fully intend to do that.”

  “How?”

  Aidan wasn’t as convinced as Raven that One Eye and Damon were nothing to do with recent events, so he was reluctant to give away any of their plans. “We’re still working on that.”

  “Let us know when you’re ready to move. We want to take down this wanker too.”

  “We’re going to blow him up,” said Raven, making Aidan inwardly sigh.

  “An explosion,” said One Eye, single eye flickering. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “I thought it would be right up your street,” said Aidan. “Surely you have some sort of gadget?”

  “I don’t deal with explosives.” He gestured to his eye patch. “How do you think I lost this?”

  “What happened?”

  “I made a stupid decision. I decided to try and blow someone up. While they were walking around fine and dandy, I was in hospital with an eye missing.”

  “I know what I’m doing,” said Aidan. “I was trained by an explosive technical expert and I’ve also worked in demolition.”

  “I can well believe it,” said Damon. “Cheers love,” he added when Raven placed a plate of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes before him.

  “Explosives are fickle things,” said One Eye. “They can so easily turn on their master.”

  “Not if the master knows how to handle them. Besides, explosives are the best way to ensure he’ll never be found.”

  “They are also a good way to draw attention to yourselves. Why don’t you let us dispose of him?” One Eye’s single eye flicked to Raven. “Or don’t you trust us to do it?”

  “What?” thundered Damon before she could reply, throwing down his fork and shooting to his feet. “You don’t fucking trust us, your own family?”

  “Calm down and sit down,” she said.

  Damon’s lips pursed, eyes narrowing before slamming himself back down in his seat.

  “Of course we trust you,” she said, taking the vacant chair beside Aidan. “For God’s sake, you just cleaned up the massacre that happened in our home and we’re very grateful. But we want to vaporise this bastard. He’s a copper and his colleagues won’t stop until they find him. A body mouldering in a grave can be found.”

  “Not the way we do it,” said Damon.

  “We need to lure him to a place where there’s no witnesses. His colleagues can’t know he’s been killed. He needs to drop off the face of the earth.”

  “That makes sense,” said One Eye before his son could object. “But we can help.”

  “I don’t want to drag you into it. Jeremy has already set up Aidan and Patrick Bryce for murder. He’ll do the same to you if you help me.”

  “Bugger the little scrote,” said Damon. “You’re family and we’re not going to sit by and do nothing.”

  “How did he set Aidan up?” said One Eye.

  Raven explained everything that had happened the previous night.

  “What a mess,” said Damon when she’d finished. “I said you shouldn’t have gone.”

  “For once, we’re in agreement,” said Aidan with a disapproving look at his wife.

  “Well it’s done now and I can’t change it,” she said.

  “Unfortunately,” said One Eye. “We all counselled you against it.”

  “And I didn’t listen, I know. You don’t need to tell me.”

  “So, is Aidan wanted by the police?” said One Eye.

  “We’ve been listening to the radio and keeping an eye on the news but nothing’s been announced,” she replied.

  “Doesn’t mean they’re not looking.”

  “I’ll be keeping a low profile,” he said.

  “If you kill Jeremy the police will never get the Needle Killer,” said One Eye. “And they may keep searching for Aidan. He might never be free.”

  “And if Jeremy is arrested, he’ll tell the police what I really do for a living,” said Raven.

  “Then you need to give them an alternative suspect.”

  Raven smiled. “I already have the perfect person in mind.”

  Once One Eye and Damon had left, Raven and Aidan set about the first phase of their plan, which was to get the police a prime suspect for the Needle Killer case, leaving Aidan free to wander the streets.

  She and Aidan sat down the street from Marcus’s home in the Landrover, watching the house. Marcus himself was holding court at his pub, locked in conference after Dexter’s gruesome death.

  “That’s Marcus’s missus, Ginger,” said Raven as they watched a tall, athletic-looking woman with red shoulder length hair and a hatchet face head down the street with a fluffy white
dog on a lead.

  “I don’t know who’s got the worst taste in the wife’s stakes,” said Aidan. “Luke or Marcus. At least Luke’s missus looked like she’d be handy if a tyre needed changing.”

  “We’ve got thirty minutes before she gets back.”

  Once Ginger had vanished around the corner, they climbed out of the car, which they’d left parked outside the local bowling green. Strange cars wouldn’t be noticed there but they would on the leafy, affluent street Marcus resided on, a stark contrast to how Luke lived.

  They took their time, Raven linking her arm through Aidan’s, walking at a leisurely pace, for all intents and purposes just a couple out for a Sunday stroll. They glanced around before heading up the path to Marcus’s front door. Fortunately they were shielded by the high hedges ringing the garden.

  Raven took out her tools and knelt before the door to pick the lock, Aidan smiling with approval when it popped open in seconds.

  They both hesitated before walking inside, expecting to hear the scream of an alarm, but nothing happened, despite the box on the exterior wall.

  “Ginger mustn’t bother to set it if she’s just popping out to take the dog for a walk,” said Raven.

  Raven had tied her hair back into a bun so she wouldn’t leave any trace of her presence behind and they both pulled on black leather gloves.

  “Where shall we stash it?” said Aidan.

  “Somewhere Marcus and Ginger won’t go very frequently.”

  “Judging by Ginger, the shampoo bottle.”

  “Very funny.” She thought before saying, Christmas decorations.”

  Once again, Aidan was filled with pride. “Nice thinking. Only bothered with once a year and as it’s only April, so they won’t be going near them any time soon. The question is, where do they stash their decs?”

  They began with the cupboard under the stairs, followed by a larger cupboard further down the hall. Nothing.

  “Loft space?” said Aidan.

  “Possibly.”

  They hurried up the stairs, aware they were on a time limit and that they’d already used up half of it.

  “Here,” said Aidan, pulling open a door.

  “Stairs, thank God,” said Raven, yanking open the door and hurrying up them, relieved they didn’t have to mess about with hatches. At the top she hesitated to get her bearings, Aidan behind her. Although this was a fully kitted out room with a proper floor rather than simply a space above the house, it appeared it was still used for storage.