Hidden Power

by Judith Cutler

  Usually click for a nice bit of weather—your Indian summer, like. Don’t know what’s gone wrong this last couple of years. Global warming, they call it, don’t they? Only it seems to me to be getting colder and wetter. Listen to it now’

  Kate listened, and thought of the double-glazed room she’d be occupying later. ‘You like it enough to come down the same week every year?’

  ‘Well, it was real lovely when it was new. As posh in its way as those places they’re doing up But that’s the trouble, see it isn’t new any more and they won’t spend on the maintenance we all have to pay. If you ask me, that’s their game: they want us to sell back to them cheaply so they can do them up and sell again at the top of the market. But you should talk to some of the others. We’ve just got damp they’ve got bad drains, and worse Trouble is, you can put up with things for a week, can’t you And you don’t get the chance to band up with everyone else’

  ‘Hmm Divide and rule’

  ‘Anyhow, my old man reckons they should call in the environmental, that’s what.’

  ‘That bad, is it?’

  ‘And they don’t do anything That’s what gets me That patch was there two years ago Not so big and not so brightly coloured,’ Madge reflected. ‘But my old mum always used to say, “A stitch in time, Madge, you remember that. A stitch in time!”

  ‘Quite right We’ve got this hole in our bedroom ceiling we told them about it, of course I wonder if they’ll do anything about it?’

  ‘How long are you down for?’

  ‘Just this weekend. We won it.’

  ‘Won! Ah, you fell for their old three-question trick, did you? They say that’s the way they pull the punters in. And are you going to buy?’

  Kate shook her head. ‘Might have done if they’d put us in one of the new apartments. But imagine, a hole in your bedroom ceiling!’

  ‘What sort of a hole?’

  ‘Just a little one in the corner.’

  ‘In the corner? Well, I’ll be blowed: Dad was saying he’d seen a hole. Now, where would that be? Finished your tea? Well, pop your head round the bedroom door and see if it’s in the same place.’

  Kate got to her feet but demurred: ‘But your husband’s asleep—’

  ‘Well, nothing’ll wake him, not with his Sunday lunch and a couple of pints in his belly. You come on.’ Madge led the way.

  Kate followed. The stertorous snores continued with no variation in pace or volume. Madge peered exaggeratedly round, but Kate, lurking behind her and hoping to be out of the camera’s range, spotted it immediately:

  ‘In the corner. Up there,’ she whispered.

  ‘What, that thing that looks like some spider curled up? Fancy Dad spotting that. And fancy having two just the same.’

  ‘Just fancy,’ Kate agreed.

  Rod was in the living room when she-returned, huddling pointedly over the electric fire and reading a police folder he returned in his briefcase.

  ‘Any joy?’ He eyed the milk. ‘I think our last quid’s about to run out, so I don’t think there’ll be any call for that.’

  She swilled it straight down the sink. ‘Let’s talk as we head for the car. Though I suppose we should wait a decent interval in case Madge spots us going.’

  ‘Madge? Ah, the milk lady.’

  ‘The same.’

  ‘We can sneak round the back. If we leave the nuns’ dorm curtains drawn, she’ll think we’ve retired to bed.’

  ‘Like her snoring husband, sleeping off his Yorkshire pud.’

  ‘Quite. OK, got everything?’ As before, he seized both cases. She looked round—even, in a way that would have made Aunt Cassie proud, under the beds and in the wardrobes. ‘Yes, I think so. What about those sales folders?’

  He smiled. ‘I’ve got something to report, too. No, Kate—after you!’

  So she gave him a heavily edited account of her dealings with Madge ‘And your? Come on, Rod you’ve got a very silly grin on your face’

  ‘That’s merely in anticipation of this evening But maybe you’ll find it interesting that not only is the hole—as you predicted—covered with Polyflila, but the folders they gave us have disappeared too’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Perhaps the charming guy who looked like a Florentine princeling thought we were unworthy of them. Or perhaps my observation about the hole scared him a little and he wanted to make sure there was no evidence.’

  ‘I wondered why you were as open as that’

  He kissed her lavishly. ‘I was open because all I could think about was—nothing to do with police work and I wasn’t concentrating.’

  ‘So what were you thinking about?’ she teased. It must have been the same thing that was dominating her thoughts.

  ‘I’ll show you when we get to our hotel.’

  Chapter 5

  Kate had never before had the luxury of typing up a report while being driven up the M25, but, then, she had never before had the luxury of being stuck unmoving on it for an hour and seven minutes According to the car radio, there was a problem on the slip road to the M3 Rod hummed along to Radio Three while she used his laptop.

  ‘Sue said it was best not to try to get on the M25 before ten,’ Kate reminded him apologetically.

  ‘We weren’t on it till ten. We may not be off it till ten—tonight, that is. We should have brought iron rations and that loo roll’

  ‘There’s water in my tennis bag,’ she volunteered. ‘And some chocolate I could scramble over and get them out.’

  ‘What are you waiting for Scramble away!’

  As if on cue, the moment she unclipped the seat belt, the traffic started to move.

  ‘Shame,’ she said ‘It would have been nice to stay here another hour, just us, cocooned from the world.’

  ‘Back already, Kate?’ Sue asked sarcastically, looking at her watch Since it showed after three, Kate could scarcely blame her. ‘Awful traffic, Gaffer’ She thought it tactful not to mention a leisurely, lunch with tender conversations in a pub off the M40 It was the sort of village, Rod had said, holding her-hand,.-that he wouldn’t mind living in one day.

  ‘We heard Nasty pile-up We should be glad we’re not m Traffic, and Motorway Traffic in particular. Just let me have your thoughts on paper—shall we say this time tomorrow?’

  What on earth was going on here? Sue, wanting stuff in writing and at such short notice? ‘No problem. Earlier if I can make it.’ She’d been on the brink of offering to download it on the spot, to make up for her lateness. But she remembered the dictum of never apologising and never explaining She’d simply get it on Sue’s desk at eight the following morning and graciously accept whatever Brownie points Sue chose to dish out Tuesday, the report safely delivered, saw her back in what passed for routine Lunch, in contrast to Monday’s, had been a sandwich eaten on the hoof. She’d just left a meeting with a probation officer when her phone rang. She was to join a hurriedly set-up surveillance from the top floor of a run-down 5 college with an unsurpassed view of a scrap yard reputed to be dealing in counterfeit BMW parts But she’d hardly settled her elbows on the windowsill and focused the binoculars when her phone rang Sue A replacement was on her way. Kate must return to the city centre, but not to Steelhouse Lane. She was to report to the Assistant chief constable’s (crime) office in Lloyd House, the headquarters of West Midlands Police, as soon as she could The ACC Lloyd House The crawl back was almost as protracted as the M25 trip. But there was no Rod beside her.

  Sue wasn’t audibly tapping her nails on the central table when Kate finally arrived, but the AC (crime) was No doubt he’d have preferred to give a better impression of the efficiency of his force to the third person present Kate recognised her immediately, but wasn’t sure how she’d react to a friendly smile.

  Soon after her arrival in Birmingham, Kate had been despatched to Devon to liaise in a case of possible child abduction in a little seaside town The Detective Chief Inspector down there—a formidable woman out to prove that there was no need to
retire at fifty, or sixty, or even seventy—was a stickler for protocol. In others, at least. But, though she always expected to be addressed as ‘Ma’am’, she’d taken an intermittent shine to Kate, possibly because, an unexpected overnight guest in the DCI’s cottage, Kate had proved adept at washing up. Kate could still see the tottering heaps of food-encrusted crockery and saucepans she’d boiled umpteen kettles to clean. And now DCI Earnshaw was up in Birmingham, getting to her feet with the dignity of Victoria R rising from a plinth.

  She shoved out a comradely paw. ‘Nice to see you again, Power. They got rid of the stupid sod who sent you on that wild-goose chase down to Dawlish, I hear. And so I should hope. Complete waste of space.’

  Kate hoped her smile of agreement might appear to the ACC more like acquiescence.

  Earnshaw sat down, smacking her palms together and grinning. ‘Now, Power, how soon can you pack your bag?’

  • Kate felt her face pale. Leave Rod, now?

  ‘Assuming, of course, you want to,’ Sue added, swiftly. ‘You do have a choice in this.’

  How much choice did an ambitious young officer ever have? Even one rapidly failing in love?

  ‘Sit down, Sergeant Power,’ the ACC said firmly, with an avuncular smile. ‘This is the situation. The Devon and Cornwall people need someone to go undercover. Fast. In a Sophisticasun complex.’

  ‘Dawlish, again. Or nearby, at least—’ Earnshaw interrupted him.

  The ACC continued, ‘They want a bright, experienced officer—’

  ‘From a different force, of course. So I said I wanted you,’ Earnshaw said: ‘Just the woman, I said. I came up by train so you can drive me down this evening and I’ll explain as we go.’

  To her fury, Kate started to blush: the way she’d meant to spend this evening was very different.

  ‘Oh, got other plans, have you?’

  Kate smiled as coolly as she could. ‘None that can’t be altered if you need me. But I would like to know what the job you have in mind entails.’

  The ACC said, ‘That seems not unreasonable. And seems not unreasonable for DI Rowley to make her observations, too, since she is already short of officers Meanwhile, I think we should ask for tea and coffee.’ He pressed a button on his phone.

  Sue nodded approval Perhaps sympathy. But she sounded a note of caution ‘I’ve—’ Then she smiled warmly ‘I’ve already told the ACC how speedily you got that report on my desk. Well done, Kate.’

  ‘Thanks, Ma’am’

  Sue acknowledged the formal response with the flicker of an eyebrow.

  Rod, hair still damp from the shower, uncorked a bottle of rioja He was wearing a silk dressing gown that he’d produced from his briefcase He’d just tucked a toothbrush and some Sensodyne toothpaste into the tooth glass with Kate’s He was making a statement What a pity she had to ask a question Each time she tried to frame it she failed Her mouth just wouldn’t say the words It wanted to say silly, affectionate, tender things, the things lovers always say. She wanted to touch and hold him, just as every time he passed her his hand accidentally or otherwise brushed against her. At last, when she’d placed the steaks and salad on the dining-room table, she forced the words out ‘How would you feel if I was sent undercover’

  The shock and anxiety in his eyes belied the cool way he submitted the wine to his inspection before he spoke Yes, his hands were shaking ‘That depends on a number of factors Where and why And—more importantly—if you want to go’ He made a great show of dressing the salad and tossing it.

  ‘This sounds Eke a re-run of this afternoon’s meeting Something’s up in a holiday complex in Devon Another Sophisticasun I’m to go in as a cleaner’

  ‘That’s absurd! Middle management, more like’

  They don’t have a vacancy for a middle manager. They want nice clean loos And a pair of eyes and ears’

  ‘On the alert for what?’

  ‘They’re so bloody vague. They wouldn’t send in the cavalry for a few more surveillance cameras, surely.’

  He shook his head. ‘I’ll try to winkle more out of Sue. I don’t want you put at unnecessary risk.’ That sounded good. ‘And don’t forget, some of the Sophisticasun people would know you if they saw you again. I’m not sure I’m happy about this—purely from a professional point of view,’ he added, his eyes telling her what he thought of it from a personal one.

  ‘Earnshaw wants me to start tomorrow,’ she said eventually, failing to keep her voice light and business-like. She swallowed a sob He responded by peering round in an exaggerated hunt. ‘So where is Earnshaw? In your spare room?’

  ‘Sue Rowley guessed I had company this evening she took her off my hands.’

  ‘Which implies she’ll be returning her to them tomorrow. So your decision’s made’ His voice was tight, sharp.

  ‘On the contrary. I said .1 wished to discuss it with you—no, I didn’t mention you by name—before I made any decision at all.’ She reached to clasp his hand.

  Retaining hers, he said slowly, ‘We agreed, when we became—friends not to let our relationship get in the way of work.’

  ‘Nor work in the way of our relationship.’ Oh, that was what mattered. She could reach for the phone and tell Sue now.

  ‘It needn’t.’ He gave a sudden, positive smile. ‘How long do they want you in Devon? And would you be working round the clock seven days a week?’

  ‘Depends on the shifts in whatever job I get I suppose we ought to be pleased that our weekend’s activities slotted a piece into someone’s jigsaw.’ She withdrew her hands to break bread, which she found she didn’t want to eat anyway.

  ‘I’m glad our activities fitted a far more important pair of pieces together’ He toasted her, but left his food untouched too ‘Cleaning’ Not even clerical work’ He shook his head.

  ‘Maybe if I’m good they’ll let me try selling apartments Even fitting up little surveillance cameras.’

  ‘But what are they hoping you’ll find?’ It was a rhetorical question.

  ‘Drugs? Fraud?’

  ‘Those wouldn’t explain the surveillance cameras.’

  ‘Whatever it is has got Important People like ACC’s interested.’

  ‘Which sounds big-time, not small-time. And that means you’re up against dangerous people. Oh, Kate.’

  ‘I know that. Which is why I haven’t made up my mind yet.’

  ‘What would you have done a year ago?’

  She said with simple truth, ‘Jumped at the chance and hoped I’d be killed. But’—she dropped her eyes shyly then raised them to his—‘I wouldn’t want you to go through a quarter of what I went through when I lost Robin. And I wouldn’t want to die without knowing what could have happened between us.’

  ‘You’re very quiet, Power,’ Earnshaw observed, wrestling with her seatbelt after a comfort-break at Michaelwood Services. ‘On the juice last night?’

  ‘No more than usual, Ma’am.’

  No need to tell her about the heady rioja and headier emotion. In the end both her and Rod’s brains had agreed that she couldn’t throw up the chance Devon offered What their hearts and bodies felt was entirely another matter. She had an idea that Rod might be as unwilling for her to take risks as she suddenly was to take them She also suspected that he’d make use of his rank to bully their Devon and Cornwall colleagues into giving him more information than they would want to about the back-up they intended for her. And—as they’d affirmed over their breakfast toast—it wasn’t as if Dawlish were off the map. In fact, it was only a few miles off the M5, and he could be down within three hours if his free time chanced to fit in with hers ‘Which I’ll try to ensure it will,’ he’d promised.

  Though they both knew that a sudden death on his patch could render the promise void, they’d pretended to be comforted by it Then there was Aunt Cassie, who they’d made time to see after their supper. She’d put her head down and wept at the thought of not seeing Kate ever again.

  ‘It’s only a matter of weeks,’ Kate had
insisted, kneeling beside her, clutching the liver-spotted hands and wiping tears The old lady, always so proud of her appearance, was beginning to sprout coarse hairs about her lips. Though she’d rather do the service herself, Kate must ask the care assistant to attend to them.

  ‘Weeks? When you’re my age you don’t have any weeks to spare!’

  Rod had stepped forward to put his arm round Cassie’s shoulders. ‘I’ll come and give you news of her as soon as I have it myself,’ he promised. ‘And if there’s no news I’ll come anyway.’

  ‘What about that other chap Will he come too Because I haven’t seen hide or hair of him for a while’

  Oh, dear. But she’d told Rod about Graham’s visits to Cassie, made when he was supposed to be seeing his mother-in-law. ‘Graham’s on holiday, Cassie. But I’m sure he’ll look in when he gets back.’

  ‘Holiday? But Mrs Nelmes is still here’

  Kate’s stomach sank Cassie was beginning to lose it, wasn’t she Not quickly, not obviously, most of the time But there was just the odd slip of logic—Rod would refer to it easily as a non sequitur—to betray her.

  ‘Yes His mother-in-law stayed here She didn’t want to go on holiday with them—’

  ‘That’s all you know about it. She’d got her bag packed. But they left her behind.’

  It sounded as if Graham had his own problems with elderly women and their memories Poor Graham But the weakness of her sympathy surprised her. All she could think was that Rod cared enough about her to visit her great-aunt.

  ‘You got PMT or something’ Earnshaw demanded ‘Because you’ve been driving like an amateur. Are you insured for other drivers?’

  ‘Fully comprehensive, Ma’am.’ Kate fished the keys from the ignition and walked round to the passenger door, expecting to hold it open for Earnshaw. But the older woman had other ideas—she’d already hitched herself over the gearlever and handbrake and was adjusting the seat. Kate surrendered her keys. Was the gesture symbolic? She hated being driven by other people, putting herself in their hands. But she was about to put her whole life into Earnshaw’s care. Maybe if she drove well it would be a comforting omen.