by Martina Cole
The kettle boiled and Annie began to make the tea. Miriam was quiet for a few moments, she was very upset and Kate let her collect herself once more. Annie placed a cup of tea before her, and Miriam smiled her thanks.
‘How did you see his sins, Miriam? I can’t understand how you could have seen anything.’
Miriam sipped her tea. ‘I found the books a while after he died. He kept them hidden away upstairs. He had a small fortune in a savings account, did you know that? And he had pictures of the girls, of the girls and him. Their heads in his lap looking up at him. Filth. But then they were filth. Complete and utter filth. Hard as nails, all hard cases, all those bloody girls.’ She smiled again sadly. ‘I knew I had to do something, and so I did.’ She gulped at her hot tea then, swallowing it down quickly. ‘I remember when I was small that, if I swore, I would have my mouth washed out with soap. So that is what I did. I found them, and I cleaned them up. I explained to them that they were wrong, very wrong to do what they had with my husband. My Alec. You see, he was mine. He loved me. He never wanted to do those things with me, do you see what I am getting at, Kate? He didn’t do anything like that to me because he loved me.’
Kate nodded as if she perfectly understand what Miriam was saying, as if what she was saying was perfectly normal.
‘Come upstairs, I want to show you something.’ She giggled then. ‘And you lot didn’t know it was me. I was clever. I knew what you’d look for, so I hid things and I tidied up.’
Kate and Annie followed her up the stairs and the smell was now even more overpowering. On the landing she pointed to a door saying happily, ‘They are in there. The others.’
Kate felt physically sick now. The stench was everywhere. She knew what the smell was, and she held her hand over her mouth as she said, ‘What are you talking about, Miriam, what others?’
Annie opened the door slowly and, as she turned on the light, Kate heard her friend dry-heaving. It was a few moments before she heard her whisper, ‘Jesus Christ, Kate. Jesus Christ.’
Kate walked towards the doorway as Miriam said gaily, ‘See, Nicky Marr and Donna Turner.’
Kate looked at the two decomposing bodies, their faces still recognisable as human beings. She turned to where Annie was almost bent double and, taking her firmly by the arm, she led her down to the front door. Once they were outside, drinking in huge gulps of the fresh, cool night air, she said sadly, ‘It’s over, Annie.’
Epilogue
Kate looked around her at the happy faces of her friends and the people she had worked with over the years. It was a lovely party but she knew that, for her, it was nearly over. Seal was blaring out of the CD player, the drink was flowing copiously, and most of the people there were almost legless. She looked at the gold watch on her wrist, it was inscribed with the words, From all at Grantley, with love. She would treasure it, it meant more to her than anyone here realised. She had finally admitted defeat, she was too old for this now. It was the time for Annie and Margaret and all the other young officers, her time was long gone.
She sipped at her glass of whisky. It felt good as it warmed her throat. She was a drinker now and she wondered if that was something else that came with age. Her mother had loved a quick nip. She loved a drop of Scotch in her tea or her hot milk. Kate missed her, she still felt her loss acutely. She offered her up a silent toast and she knew her mother would appreciate it.
She looked around her again. The canteen was packed with people, and she was pleased that so many of them had come to wish her well, to see her off. The top brass had been and gone, had given her a few words of praise, and remembered her finest moments, then left at the earliest opportunity. She knew she frightened them, always had. Firstly because she had been a better detective than all her male counterparts put together, and secondly because she had been the lead detective on not one but two serial killer cases. Both of which she had solved. She had also been a consultant on the biggest case Grantley had seen in years. She had a lot to think about where Miriam Salter was concerned. She knew that that was not for now, though, that was for another time, another place.
But what really bothered the brass, she knew, was her relationship with Patrick Kelly. It was because of him that she had got to know everything there was to know about her superiors and their close relationship with the people they were supposed to be trying to put behind bars. It had been a real eye-opener for her, right from the start. She had been so naive back then. She was embarrassed just thinking about it. How could she have been so blind not to see what was going on right under her nose? Now she knew the real deal, inside and out, and she had learned to live with it. Well, she had not really had much choice.
She smiled at Annie as she danced with a dark-haired young uniform with kind eyes and a killer smile. She had taken over Annie’s case, she knew she had acted as if she was the lead on it. Annie had not only had to put up with her at work, she had also had to put up with her in her home. In reality it was a wonder they were still talking, were still friends.
But what else could she have done? She had been, to all intents and purposes, homeless. Pat had been livid, but then so had she. After all, they were both of a temperamental nature. It had gone too far, too fast. Patrick had nearly broken her heart, but she had forgiven him. At least on the surface she had. Inside her, she knew it would take longer. Eve was still there, like a ghost between them. Both of them were too frightened to say her name out loud in case it made her real again, reminded them that they were nearly destroyed.
She shook herself mentally, telling herself not to get maudlin, depressed. This was her going-away party, her leaving do, as Annie put it. This was the last time she would ever come into this station, this canteen. She knew that as if it was already a proven fact. This phase of her life was finally over, and she knew it was not before time.
Annie was half pissed and she held up her glass of wine to Kate as she shouted across the room. ‘A toast! Come on, everyone, I’ve got a final toast.’
Everybody stood still, and the music was turned down. Kate smiled widely as Annie shouted at the top of her voice, ‘To the end of an era!’
‘To the end of an era!’ The sound was deafening as all the voices rose up to toast her one last time. Kate was happy and sad at the same time, it was the end of an era, her era. She belonged to another time, she belonged to the past. She was never going to come back here again, she knew it was time to let go.
As Kylie started singing ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’, Kate decided it was also time for her to leave her party. She picked up her handbag and quietly slipped out of the door. She walked slowly through the station house, lingering over her last moments there.
Her head was crowded with images, people she knew past and present. She saw her life as a policewoman as if it was a film, as if it was about someone else. She knew it was time for her to leave, knew deep inside that she should have looked into Miriam sooner. Her shit-detector had always felt there was something not quite right about her, and she should have listened to it. Miriam Salter was never going to see the inside of a courtroom and that was as it should be. She was, as Patrick had so succinctly put it, out of her fucking tree.
As Kate walked through the back door of the station for the last time, she was pleased to see Patrick waiting for her in his Bentley. She got in the car, savouring the warmth of the leather seat. It was freezing outside.
‘How was it?’
She smiled at him. ‘Lovely, it was really lovely. I wish you had come though.’
He started the engine up and laughed. ‘Now come on, Kate, you know how I feel about police stations.’
She laughed with him and, as they pulled out on to the road, he said seriously, ‘Are you sure this is what you want, Kate?’
She sighed heavily. ‘Yes. I’m sure, Patrick, for the hundredth time.’
‘All right, keep your hair on. I just can’t see you sitting around all day doing nothing, that’s all.’
She lit a cigarette and
blowing the smoke into his face she said quietly, ‘I won’t be sitting around all day doing nothing, I will be sitting around all day doing nothing with you, there’s a difference.’
‘I wish you would give up smoking again, I hate to see you puffing away.’
She grinned. ‘We’ll see.’
‘Anyway, I will still be playing golf twice a week so you’d better find something to do with yourself. Let’s face it, if we’re together twenty-four-seven we’ll drive each other up the wall.’
Kate opened the window and threw out the cigarette butt. ‘Do you really believe that, Pat? Do you think we will get on each other’s nerves?’
She was serious, and he felt the question in her voice. He grasped her hand and pulled it into his lap, squeezing it gently as he said, ‘I love you, Kate, always have, always will. We are getting older, girl, and whatever time we have left together, I want it to be happy and fulfilling. So no, if I was with you all day, every day, you wouldn’t drive me mad, I would love every second of it.’
She knew he meant every word, and she felt a sudden urge to cry. It had been an exhausting few weeks and a very emotional evening.
Patrick squeezed her hand again, and she looked at his handsome profile as he said, ‘Have you heard about Lionel?’
She laughed. ‘What about him?’
‘He gets out next week and, by all accounts, his old woman has packed up, sold up, and gone to live in Spain with the eldest daughter.’
Kate laughed. He always could make her smile, it was what she loved most about him.
‘Good on her, eh, Kate? Measly little ponce that he is.’
She nodded. ‘Is the bar in Spain anywhere near Eve’s new club?’
Patrick was silent now, and she felt the tension as it gathered between them.
‘Look, Kate, that was her choice. Nothing to do with me.’
‘I know that, Pat. I just need to know that you don’t have any regrets, that’s all.’
He shook his head slowly. ‘Not one, and I’ll swear to that on my Mandy’s grave.’
She believed him. They drove in silence for a few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say.
Eventually Patrick said light-heartedly, ‘I nearly forgot. I have some more good news, Kate.’
‘What’s that then, Pat? No, don’t tell me, let me guess. Terry O’Leary is going straight, and Georgie Twofer is really a woman.’
Patrick was chuckling at her words. ‘Georgie is a case, he used to work for me years ago when he was a lad. Strong as an ox even then. His old man was a hard bastard and all. He was good pals with Charlie Bronson. ’Course, he was called Micky in them days. But, like him, Georgie hated being banged up, and he took it out on every door that was ever shut in his face.’
Kate watched Pat as he spoke. In the darkness he looked young again, she couldn’t see the grey that had crept into his hair, or the lines that were suddenly so prominent around his eyes. He looked good, he looked just like he had when she had first known him.
‘So come on then, what’s this good news?’
He grinned at her for a few seconds, winking at her saucily before looking back at the road. ‘As of today, I have retired. Really retired this time. I’ve sold up, got shot, and I am free of anything even remotely criminal.’
Kate sat back in her seat and, lighting up another cigarette, she took a few drags before she started to laugh. Really laugh.
‘What are you laughing about? What’s so funny?’
She took another puff on her Benson & Hedges, savouring the taste of the tobacco, knowing it was doing her no good whatsoever, and not caring about that.
‘You, Patrick. You make me laugh. Have you got rid of the scrapyard you bought not so long ago? Have you got rid of the casino or the other clubs? Have you got rid of any of the betting offices or the cab ranks? Shall I go on?’
He didn’t answer her.
She laughed again, louder this time. ‘Well?’
He pulled the car into a lay-by, and turning to face her properly he looked deep into her eyes. Then he shook his head in mock anger, saying quietly, ‘Once a Filth, always a Filth.’
He kissed her gently on the lips before pulling out on to the road again. Then he was quiet until they approached the gates of the house. As he slowed the Bentley down, he said jovially, ‘Anyway, how the fuck did you know about the scrapyard?’
Kate laughed at the genuine astonishment in his voice. It was so good to be with him again, it felt right when they were together. He was all she really wanted. All she really needed. She punched his shoulder gently and, laughing once more, she said happily, ‘I know everything there is to know about you, Patrick Kelly, and don’t you ever forget that.’
He smiled at her words and, as they drove through the electric gates, she knew they would be all right.