by M A Comley
“I’d better get up. Wouldn’t want to give Sean an excuse to make my last two weeks at the station hell.”
“I think I’ll stay in bed for a while. My back’s playing up from clearing all the junk out of the garage and ferrying it to the tip yesterday.”
“Stay there. There’s no need for you to get up yet. Want me to bring you up some coffee and toast before I leave?”
“No. I’ll sort myself out later.” He turned over and pulled the quilt over his head.
Lorne was ready to leave the house within thirty minutes. She’d made herself a coffee and nibbled on a slice of toast and marmalade while she took Sheba outside for her morning run in the paddock. The German Shepherd tore around, on the scent of a squirrel that had taken up residence in the large oak tree at the bottom of the orchard. Lorne whistled Sheba once she’d finished her coffee and was ready to leave.
“Come on, girl. Time to go.”
Lorne drove into work with her mind racing. With all the organising to do that accompanied a house move, she hadn’t really had time to consider how much she was going to miss her daughter, Charlie. She doubted that would be reciprocated, though, as Charlie was fast becoming a super police officer of her own within the K9 division. Charlie also shared a wonderful life with Brandon, her boyfriend. They had bought a small two-bedroom terraced home close to Brandon’s parents and were now engaged to be married. Her heart swelled with joy. Her daughter had endured some rough times in the past and had come through the ordeal with courage and determination. She had joined the force a year earlier and had never looked back. Her colleagues respected her, but not because of who her mother was, no, they respected her due to her work ethic and her phenomenal ability to train her K9 colleagues. That was how she referred to the dogs she worked with, as her colleagues. Charlie couldn’t be happier. Lorne was thrilled her life was perfect in every way. Gone were the days of Lorne fretting if she was safe.
Lorne swiped away the stray tear coursing down her cheek. She’d miss her baby, but they all had different directions to take in the future.
Katy was leaning against her car, her face tilted up to soak up the sunrays as Lorne drew into her parking space.
“Nice to see you have priorities in life, partner.”
“We’ve got to catch the sun when we can. How are you? All ready for the onslaught of another gripping investigation?”
“Ha, as long as I don’t end up being the damned victim of a weirdo. How’s Georgina’s teething?”
“Getting a little better. AJ is far happier now he’s finally getting a good night’s sleep.”
Lorne smiled. “He’s amazing. Not every dad would offer to put his career on hold to care for his child. So, when are you two going to be tying the knot?”
Katy sniggered. “Not yet. Anyway, the team and I have come up with a plan to keep you coming back to London.”
Lorne swiped the top of her partner’s arm. “I hope you’re kidding. I’m going to miss you guys when we do eventually leave. You know my door will always be open to you, professionally and personally. You only have to ring me if you need my advice, and Tony and I will be disappointed if you, AJ and Georgina don’t show up on our doorstep in the near future. Georgina will love the place. It comes with a small wood for her to run around in.”
“To get lost in, you mean.”
“That as well, I suppose. Promise me you’ll come for a visit.”
Katy pushed through the entrance door to the station. “I promise. Just let us know when you’ve settled in. We can’t wait to see it. AJ has always loved the country. He was saying the other day that he’s tempted to follow you.”
Lorne stopped mid-stride and touched Katy’s arm. “You’re not winding me up, are you?”
“Hang on a sec, don’t go building your hopes up. I’m still young enough to want to explore what this great city of ours has to offer.”
“Yeah, but look at the long term. How much better it will be for Georgina to live in the country instead of a smog-filled city.”
“Can we discuss this later? I’m in dire need of a coffee.”
“All right, you win. We will revisit this conversation in the near future, though, right?”
“Yes!”
Lorne smiled, and there was a lightness in her step as they passed through the reception area. “Morning, Mick. Any news for us?”
“Nope, all quiet overnight, ma’am.”
“That’s great to hear.”
They continued up the stairs and into the incident room. The team all stood and applauded their entrance.
“Why, thank you. But I last saw you guys on Friday,” Katy announced, curtseying to the others.
Lorne chuckled. She would miss the banter within her team. “Thank you. As you were, team. Katy, why don’t you grab a coffee and join me in my office, which is soon to be yours, and we’ll go over the cases you’ve solved in the past few weeks in my absence?”
“In other words, the coffee is on me… I’ll be there in a second.”
Lorne sniggered and walked towards her office, pausing in the doorway to sniff the faint odour of Cool Water which greeted her. She couldn’t help wondering if her former partner, Pete’s spirit, would remain at the station or travel with her to Norfolk. He’d be welcome to go along for the ride.
She hadn’t been at her paperwork for long when Sean Roberts appeared in the doorway. “Can I come in?”
She gestured for him to take a seat. Instead, he swept around the desk and pulled on her arm, easing her out of the chair. Then he shocked the life out of her by hugging her. Lorne wasn’t sure how to react. She was genuinely taken aback by his surprise show of affection. After a few uncomfortable seconds, she wriggled free of his arms and flopped back into her chair.
Sean sniggered and sat in the chair opposite her. “Shocked you, didn’t I?”
“Somewhat. I take it you missed me?”
“Yep, mostly as a friend rather than a colleague. You’ve been a tower of strength to me since my marriage broke up. In your absence, I’ve had no one who I can sound off to.”
Oh crap! Yet another awkward moment coming my way by the look of things. “Sorry to hear that, Sean, can it wait?” She swept her hand over her cluttered desk. “I have this lot to catch up on, otherwise my ogre of a boss will come down heavy on me.”
Sean tilted his head back and laughed. “As if I would. Come down heavy on you, I mean. You’ve had me wound around your little finger for years and you know it, Lorne Simpkins/Warner.”
Lorne laughed. “Really? It hasn’t felt like that over the years.”
“I’ve let you get away with things that I wouldn’t have let other DIs get away with, let’s say that. Has Katy spoken to you yet?”
She cocked an eyebrow. “About anything in particular?”
“Taking over as DI? I wanted an insider view on how she feels about taking over the role again. I got the feeling she was doing it out of duty rather than being delighted I had offered her the job.”
“No, she hasn’t mentioned it. She’ll give it her all, I have no doubt about that, Sean. She might need a helping hand now and again, so don’t be too harsh on her to begin with.”
“I’m not the arsehole you perceive me to be, Lorne. She’ll be made aware that my door is permanently ajar for her.”
“I told her the same thing not ten minutes ago. She can ring me for moral support whenever she likes. I have a feeling she’ll be too proud to do that, though.”
“Thanks, I appreciate you still offering your services. It means a lot.”
“I’m sure it’s going to be a struggle for me to let go, Sean. This is all I’ve known all my adult life. You’re aware how much of my heart and soul has gone into this job over the years.”
“I am, fully aware. You’re the best copper I’ve worked with by far. I’d like to take some credit for that.”
She fell back in her chair. “You’re joking, right?”
He frowned. “No, not at all. I pushed
you for one reason only—to make you better—and it worked. You’re the top copper in the Met.”
“It’s all coming out now. Did you ever consider what we might have achieved together over the years if you’d been more amenable?” Her cheeks flared up when a twinkle appeared in his eyes. “Professionally,” she added quickly.
“Ah, I see. There was a second there when I thought you were talking about…”
Katy wandered into the room at that moment, thankfully. She deposited two cups of coffee on the desk and left.
Lorne grabbed hers right away as her mind raced, trying to think of something to say to swiftly change the subject. She didn’t want to reflect on their past, the time they had been together as a couple. That era was buried so deep in her memory bank she was determined not to let it resurface again. “Is the divorce proceeding as it should be?”
“Yes, nice change of subject there, Inspector. Don’t think I hadn’t noticed.”
She grinned. “It’s what I do best where you’re concerned. Will Carmen make the divorce difficult?”
“No, we’ve agreed to keep things amicable for Sara’s sake.”
“Ha, good luck with that. Tom and I said the same, and look how that turned out.”
“Have you heard from him lately?”
“I try not to bring his name up at home. Charlie loves her father and is struggling to see he’s going through a rough time and yet another divorce. Life’s tough for all of us. I’m so glad I finally found the love of a good man in Tony. We’ve been solid from the word go.”
Sean nodded. “You’re a perfect match. I wish I could find someone who understood me as well as he understands and loves you.”
“Relax, she’ll come along when you’re least expecting her to, Sean, you’ll see.”
“I think that boat has sailed personally. I regret we didn’t meet later in life. Maybe our relationship fizzled out because we were too young to handle it. Have you ever considered that?”
Her gaze dropped to her coffee cup. “Honestly? No, never. Life is for living and not for having regrets or dwelling on the past. I learnt that from my father.”
“God, I miss Sam so much.”
“So do I.” Unexpected tears sprouted and threatened to spill. She forced them back. “He’s where he wanted to be, with Mum. They were inseparable in life. He was never the same after she died.”
“It’s tough when you find a soulmate and lose them, so I’ve been told.”
She glanced up. “I think I’ll feel the same when Tony goes, if I outlive him, that is.”
“At the hospital, he was beside himself. We all thought we’d lost you for a while there. So glad you proved us all wrong. I’m going to miss you, Lorne, more than you realise.”
Katy knocked on the door and entered the room again. “Really sorry to interrupt, thought you’d want to know straight away. We’ve had a ‘code blue’ reported.”
Lorne scraped back her chair and stood, a little too quickly for her wound not to rebel. “Ouch! Okay, where, and what happened? Sorry, Sean, duty calls. Maybe we can finish this conversation another time.”
He stood and passed by Katy. “I would never stand in the way of an investigation, Inspector. We’ll catch up later. Keep me informed.”
Lorne rolled her eyes at Katy. “Thanks, that was a timely entrance. Things were starting to get uncomfortable there for a moment,” she said, lowering her voice so Sean couldn’t hear.
“I got the sense you needed rescuing when I dropped off the coffee earlier. Good job this call came in to save you. Shall we go? Are you in pain?”
“I’ll take one of my painkillers. I should be fine in a few minutes. What have we got?”
“I’ll fill you in on the way. Why don’t we take my car for a change?”
“Thanks, that’d be great.”
Lorne popped a pill in her mouth, washed it down with her coffee, and then left the incident room with Katy.
In the car, Katy filled her in with the details she’d been furnished with. “Control received a call from a concerned neighbour. A uniformed officer attended the man’s flat and broke the door down to gain entry.”
“Any reason why he did that?”
“Sorry, he said he smelt a funny smell.”
“Which turned out to be the dead body, I take it?”
“That’s right. SOCO are at the scene.”
“Hopefully, Patti will be able to fill in the missing details once we get there.”
“So, call me nosy if you like, but what was Roberts going on about?”
“Let’s just say he was reminiscing over old times.”
Katy took her attention off the road to look at Lorne. “You’re kidding. About you and him?”
Lorne pointed at the road ahead; she’d always been a nervous passenger. “Yes, sort of. I avoided the subject where at all possible. He cottoned on to what I was doing pretty damn quickly, I can tell you. Which led to an awkward silence or two. I feel sorry he and Carmen are going through a divorce but, well, frankly, shit happens. It’s called life, and we all have to deal with the problems that surface. No one said life was easy for any of us.”
“That’s so true. You’ve had your fair share of crap to deal with over the years and have come through it unscathed.”
“Umm…not sure about that. My tummy would beg to differ on that one. I just hope I don’t stumble across another psycho bitch within the next two weeks. They can be so much worse than most of the male criminals we hunt down.”
“With one exception to that, right?”
“Ah yes, The Unicorn. How the heck does everything come back to him? I’m hoping that will change in the future. There’s no reason for his name to resurface when I’m cleaning out the kennels or exercising the dogs at our new place.”
Katy held one hand up and crossed her fingers. “We live in hope. How’s Sean’s divorce coming along?”
“We were just discussing that when you knocked on the door. It’s amicable so far. I hope for his sake it remains that way.”
“So do I,” Katy agreed, “Otherwise I know who is going to bear the brunt of his frustration and anger.”
Lorne patted her partner’s knee. “You’ll have to get used to his mood swings, love, just like I have over the years. Why do you think I kept my head down most of the time?”
“I’ll definitely be following suit there. Ah, here we are.”
They parked in a space outside the tower block of flats in a rough part of the East End. Lorne exited the car gingerly, annoyed that the painkiller she’d taken hadn’t kicked in yet.
Katy spotted her wince and rushed around the car to support her.
“Don’t make a fuss. I’ll be fine once the tablet reaches my system.”
“That should have happened by now. Maybe you need to get the doctor to up the dosage, Lorne.”
“I’ll give him a ring later. It’s been fine at home, but then I’ve mostly been resting.”
“I knew it was too soon for you to come back. Damn Sean Roberts!”
“Thanks for caring, Katy. Let’s not make this into anything bigger than it is. We need to get up there. Let’s hope the lift is working.”
“You can stay in the car if it isn’t. I’m not having you pass out on me.”
Lorne smiled, and they set off for the communal area of the flats. Katy pressed the button to call the lift, and the doors sprang open a few seconds later. They both heaved out a relieved sigh.
“Thank God for that,” Lorne muttered and stepped into the lift. The smell of urine was unbearable. “Jesus, what is wrong with people? Why piss in the lift?”
“To piss people off, I suppose. Excuse the pun. I worry about today’s society, but don’t get me started on the youngsters of today.”
Lorne tittered. “I bet that’s something your mum used to say.”
Katy rolled her eyes. “More than likely. It’s so disrespectful, it makes me want to haul their arses down the station and let them fester in a cell with no
food and water for a week or so, see how they like living in their own filth instead of expecting others to put up with it.”
“My guess is that you’d need a ginormous cell to hold the number of people concerned.”
The lift juddered to a halt, and the doors opened.
They walked the length of the open-air passageway to the cordoned-off area at the end where a uniformed constable was standing guard.
Lorne and Katy flashed their IDs, and the officer raised the tape high enough for them to duck under without too much of a struggle. Katy pointed to the pile of new white paper suits lying in their wrappings on the floor. They stepped into a couple and slipped the blue covers over their shoes then entered the flat.
“Anybody here?” Lorne called as they eased their way down the cramped hallway.
“Hey, I wasn’t expecting to see you. Should you be back at work yet?” Patti rushed to Lorne’s side and looked her up and down. “You look pale to me. Sit down, take the weight off.”
“Don’t fuss. I’m fine, Patti. What have we got?”
“It ain’t pretty, so if your stomach is still a bit dodgy, I wouldn’t go any nearer.”
“Just tell me.”
“According to the neighbour, she hasn’t seen the victim for four or five days. The smell in here and the state the body is in would corroborate that.”
“Let’s see what we have. I’m sure my stomach will cope.”
Patti shrugged. “Never let it be said that I didn’t warn you.”
Lorne tentatively took a few steps forward, and her stomach instantly wished she hadn’t. Bile rose in her throat, and she peered over her shoulder at Patti.
“I warned you, didn’t I? Come on, I’ll tell you what I’ve found. You don’t need to witness it for yourself.”
Katy had the sense to stay back.
Lorne returned to her position alongside her partner. “It’s gross. The evidence is clear that we’re dealing with a warped fucker on this one.”
“I wholeheartedly agree with you. The man, Denis Tallon, according to his neighbour, was slit from his throat down his chest to his navel. I suppose they’ve helped me a bit there. Anyway, that’s not all…”