Her Final Hour: An absolutely unputdownable mystery thriller

by Carla Kovach

  ‘Your wrist is sprained.’

  ‘I can tell. What time is it? I need to get to work,’ she said as she stared through the window, feeling the warmth of the sunshine flooding into the room.

  ‘Mum, you’ve got a slight concussion. I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere at the moment. The doctor said you won’t be driving for a few days either. One of the officers took your car home so you don’t have to worry about that.’ Her daughter paused. ‘I brought you some clothes to change into later.’

  Gina held her wrist up and saw the bandage covering it. ‘I’m not staying here.’ She sat up and tossed the blankets aside, revealing a hideous hospital gown. She felt a draft up her back and knew instantly that she had no underwear on. ‘Pass me the clothes you brought me.’

  ‘Mum, you have concussion. Just stay in bed.’

  ‘I feel fine. Look,’ she said as she forced a smile. As she went to stand, the room swayed, almost making her stumble. She stood her ground. Hannah wouldn’t see that she wasn’t feeling anything but ready to leave the hospital.

  ‘Look, Mum, just get back in bed and drink some more water. You’ve just woken up after being beaten up and you have concussion. You need to take this slower. I know you want to get out of here, but you’ve got to be sensible about things. What if it was me? Would you let me just get up when I could barely stand and then let me walk out of here, discharging myself? If you do—’

  ‘What?’

  Hannah’s cheeks reddened. Gina knew her daughter had a point but there was no way she’d stay in hospital a minute longer than she had too. If she could walk, she was walking right out of the door.

  ‘Just stay here! What is your problem? I’ve had enough. I’m going home to see Gracie now. The police bagged your clothes up so you’ve got some of mine. There’s a pair of joggers, a T-shirt and one of my gym hoodies.’

  Gina shook her head. ‘Look, don’t worry – really. I’ll be fine. I’m sure they’ll let me out in a bit. I’ll call you later. I need to speak to Jacob, DS Driscoll. Have you seen him?’

  ‘He’s hanging around outside, waiting his turn. I’ll tell him to come in, shall I so you can get on with your work?’

  Gina placed her hand on Hannah’s. ‘Thank you for the clothes. I do appreciate you being here.’

  ‘Anyway, get some rest. Speak later.’ Hannah stepped backwards, allowing her hand to drop.

  Gina waved as her daughter left, then Jacob entered. ‘Alas, I disappoint my daughter yet again! How did they find me last night?’

  Jacob sat in the upright chair next to her bed. ‘You didn’t call me back and I got worried. I called you but you didn’t answer. I knew something was wrong. You never ignore your phone. I came straight over to find you lying on the pavement outside Sanderson’s house.’

  ‘I must have crawled there. I was attacked on the front lawn. Was there anything found?’

  ‘Only the hair that you kept murmuring about. I bagged it up. Bernard has it for analysis. The results are being fast tracked and will be with us tomorrow. Can you remember what happened?’

  Relieved that her attacker’s hair had been bagged, Gina yelped as she propped herself up. The gash on her head rubbed against the dressing and her shoulder felt as though it had been severed. The internal bruising made it hard to move. Jacob leaned in and helped her with the pillow. ‘Thanks. I’ll be all right in a bit, just need some painkillers. Right, I remember speaking to you on the phone. I came from the side of the house and heard rustling coming from the trees. A man walked towards me.’ She scrunched her brow as she thought back.

  ‘Can you describe him?’

  ‘He was wearing a forensic suit, boot covers and this red mask that covered his face, oh and gloves.’ Her mind went back to the previous night. ‘The mask he was wearing, it was like a wrestler’s mask. I could feel that it was threaded and tied up at the back. His eyes were covered with a fine mesh that he could see through. He reminded me of an insect. He came at me with a crowbar and hit me on the shoulder, hit my head and I can’t remember the other hits, I know he hit me again. I remember going at him with my torch. I just wanted one hit. I’d have brought him down.’ She paused. If she wasn’t in so much pain, she’d have punched the bedframe. ‘He had me pinned to the ground…’

  ‘What happened then?’

  Gina realised she was being interviewed and shuddered. She’d become the victim. ‘He straddled me and was feeling my breast and groin area but I hurt him. I managed to grab him between the legs and I squeezed like hell. I hope he’s walking with a limp today.’

  ‘Bloody hell, guv. I hope that hair identifies him. We all want him caught. I wished you’d have told me what you were doing last night. I could’ve gone with you.’

  She knew Jacob was disappointed. ‘I was just going to take a look.’ She paused. ‘Was it him? Did you question Sanderson?’

  Jacob nodded. ‘He was in the Angel Arms until close. It was the first lead we followed up on.’

  ‘That was convenient. Whenever anything bad happens up his neck of the woods he’s in the Angel Arms.’

  ‘We verified the fact. The bar staff and the CCTV both confirmed he was there.’

  Gina leaned her head back on the pillow and swiftly sat back up as the room began to sway. ‘He’s got to be behind this, I know he is. Was last night a warning?’

  ‘Look, guv. Take a rest and I’ll get back to the station for the briefing and tell everyone what you’ve told me. Can you tell me anything else?’

  ‘Yes. He’s about six foot. His weapon of choice was a crowbar. Like I said before, there was mesh over the eyes of the mask so I didn’t see them, and it was dark. He was wearing aftershave but I couldn’t tell you which one it was. I’m not really up on aftershave. I hope he’s in as much pain as me today.’

  ‘Me too, guv. Is there anything I can get you? Some chocolate, bunch of grapes, anything, you just name it.’

  ‘A time machine. I’d like to go back a day.’ She smiled.

  ‘If only. Oh, I just remembered.’ Jacob pulled a lunchbox from his satchel and passed it over. ‘O’Connor sent you some coffee cake. His wife made it ages ago. He pulled it from the freezer when he heard you were in hospital. It should be defrosted now.’

  ‘He knows me well. Thank him for me.’

  ‘Will do. Will you be okay?’

  There was a knock at the door and Briggs entered. ‘I’ll be fine just as soon as I get out of here. Just find out who attacked me. I’m sure that whoever attacked me killed Melissa. We found forensic suit material at the scene of Melissa’s murder and my attacker was wearing a forensic suit. We have his hair. Keep calling Bernard. Get Keith on the case with him too. Blow the budget. Let’s get the results and catch this killer.’

  ‘I’m on it, guv,’ Jacob said as he left.

  Briggs watched as the DS walked down the corridor, then he closed the door. ‘Sir,’ Gina said.

  ‘Are you okay?’ He walked towards the bedside. She could tell he wanted to hug her but she turned away.

  ‘I’ll be fine, sir,’ she said. A tear slid down her cheeks, dampening the white hospital pillows. He placed his hand over hers. She couldn’t hold the emotion in any longer. What would her attacker have done if she hadn’t fought back and hurt him? Would he have raped her? Would he have killed her like he killed Melissa Sanderson?

  ‘You’re not fine.’

  She leaned back on her pillow, creating a safe distance between them. ‘Thank you for coming.’

  ‘I’m so sorry I tried to push you to open up to me. I know you have a past, something that makes you unhappy, but you didn’t want to share it with me. I should’ve respected that and shut the hell up. I know you said it was because you didn’t like hiding our relationship but I know better. I’m not stupid. Can I please help you through this? As a friend and colleague? I promise, no more questions. We can go back to friendly beers, working together out of hours. We make a good team when it comes to crime fighting.’

 
‘No more questions. Friends,’ Gina agreed.

  She told him about the case and he listened. They even lightened the atmosphere with a few jokes but as soon as he closed the door, she swung her legs over the bed and grimaced as she stretched to grab the joggers and hoodie that Hannah had left for her. She wasn’t about to waste any more time lying in a bed.

  Thirty-Five

  Selina sprayed the windows at the back of the drawing room, rubbing the same pane over and over again as she listened. ‘What’s all this about? I’m meant to be at work,’ Dan asked.

  ‘It’s okay, Dan, we have all we need for now. Our mate is on his way. We just needed a catch up on last night,’ Rob replied.

  ‘What exactly happened last night?’

  What happened? Selina wanted to know everything. Rob nodded in her direction. She knew his nod meant he wanted her to fetch refreshments. She left the window and hurried, grabbing a tea tray from the kitchen. Dan stopped talking and looked flustered as she re-entered, placing a couple of glasses of iced tea on the coffee table. Rob smiled. She was a woman who knew exactly how to keep her man and how to behave. She was everything the others desired. She grabbed the window cloth and continued wiping the same patch of window. If they wouldn’t tell her what was going on, she would find out.

  Dan began to scratch his head.

  Selina watched their reflections in the glass as Rob’s voice became no more than a whisper. She clenched the cloth as she glanced over her shoulder. A few flakes of dandruff fell from Dan’s head as he scratched like a flea-ridden mutt. She cringed at the thought of cleaning his chair when he left. ‘Look. There’s no need to panic, and for heaven’s sake stop covering my Chesterfield with pieces of your head.’

  Dan placed one hand in his lap and snatched the glass of iced tea with his other hand. ‘I shouldn’t have given you all that address.’

  ‘Look. It’s just an address, chill out.’

  Dan sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, once again releasing a flurry of dandruff. ‘I know but I can’t afford to lose my job. It’s all right for you lot, you work for yourselves. I work for the council.’

  ‘Don’t be daft. No one’s going to check. Do you think the powers above haven’t got better things to do? I have two members of staff out for appointments this morning. I don’t care. They’re good hard-working men and I know they’ll catch up.’ He looked at his watch.

  There was a knock at the main door. Selina went to answer it and Rob’s new friend barged in and stood in the middle of the room, pacing back and forth with a bit of a limp.

  ‘That cow is going to get it,’ he spat as he sat next to Dan.

  ‘He’s messed up, hasn’t he?’ Dan said to Rob and, once again, began to scratch his flaky head.

  ‘I didn’t mess up. How dare you!’

  ‘What went wrong?’ Rob asked as he placed his glass on the table. ‘Nothing can go wrong, can it? It’s not just your liberty at stake.’

  ‘It’s not about what’s going to go wrong or has gone wrong, don’t worry – nothing is wrong. This is totally personal. Get me a drink, a stiff one and I’ll fill you in.’

  Selina swallowed hard. Her husband was getting too involved in something. What did he mean by things going wrong? She knew he’d always been a man of principle but something inside her wanted to scream at him. Tell him to quit whatever he was into. Was it something to do with DI Harte?

  ‘Selina? Can you leave us to it and close the door?’

  She wanted to throw the window rag right in his face. She deserved to know what was going on. Her husband had trusted her with everything before his old friend came back on the scene. Why was Dan fishing around for addresses at work? She needed to find out what was on the pieces of paper that were being passed around the previous night. Maybe it was the address they kept talking about. What had Ben and Lee got to do with it all? She’d never betray Rob, she just wanted to be included. She gripped the rag. She’d never really thrown anything. Throwing things just wasn’t ladylike. She forced one of her sweetest smiles and left the room, closing the door and leaning against the grain. All went silent until Rob opened the door. As it moved, she’d almost reached the stairs. He watched as she continued up before heading to the kitchen. Was he onto her spying ways?

  Thirty-Six

  Gina handed the taxi driver cash before stepping into the cool sunshine. The run-down station almost looked pretty with the morning sun brightening up the one wall, its light concealing the damp patches. She caught her reflection in the main door. The purple hooded top, pink T-shirt and navy joggers did nothing for her image. She knew Hannah had meant well by bringing a bag of her comfortable clothing but it didn’t feel right on Gina. Her hair resembled an overused, dried out mop. She had tried to dampen it down but as soon as it dried out, it had gone awry again. She really could have done with washing it in a nice hot shower but she wasn’t spending a moment longer in the hospital.

  With every step, her body ached but she wasn’t about to sit back and do nothing. This case had now become personal and the only thing on her mind was catching her attacker – and the man who had killed Melissa Sanderson. As she went to open the door with her bandaged wrist, she flinched. Nick, the desk sergeant, left the youth he was booking in to open the door for her. ‘Here, let me help you, guv.’

  ‘Thanks, Nick.’

  ‘Should you be here?’

  ‘Damn right, I should.’

  As she entered the incident room, O’Connor and Wyre turned from their computers and Jacob entered with a coffee. ‘What on earth are you doing here, guv?’

  ‘Why is everyone looking at me as if I’ve just fallen from the sky? I work here, don’t I? We have a murder to solve? Why on earth would I not be here?’ She knew full well what they were seeing. They saw her frailty. They saw the bandage on her wrist. Thankfully she’d binned the bandage from around her head when she’d left the hospital. All they could see was the red bump and gash that had been hidden underneath. She hobbled towards them. She knew she felt fine and she was well enough to be back at the station. No one was going to stop her being there. ‘Right what have we got?’ The room swayed slightly. She wasn’t fine at all, but she would be.

  Jacob placed his cup down. ‘Okay. The tests on your hair and clothes and the hair in your hand haven’t come back yet. As I mentioned earlier, Sanderson has an alibi for the time of your attack. Briggs is preparing an appeal for witnesses with the press. That’s where we are, guv.’

  ‘Shortbread, guv? Mrs O made them at the weekend. You look like you need building up?’ O’Connor held a lunchbox full of biscuits towards her.

  ‘Thanks, but I’m fine. I ate the coffee cake while waiting for the taxi to turn up. Thank Mrs O for me.’ She sat at the main table and rubbed her head, feeling along the bump.

  O’Connor and Wyre swivelled in their chairs back to their computers.

  ‘You should be at home, guv. Really, you look like tripe. You shouldn’t be here.’ Jacob bit into wedge of shortbread while awaiting her answer.

  ‘I know you’re right but you know me and that’s not going to happen.’ She turned to go to her office.

  ‘Harte. Why on earth are you here?’ Briggs bellowed. ‘Your office, now.’ She marched along the corridor feeling like a naughty schoolgirl who was about to be taken to task by the headmaster. ‘What are you doing here, in this state?’ Briggs closed the door behind them. ‘You really have come straight from the hospital, haven’t you?’

  She flinched as she slumped in her chair. ‘I need to be here. It’s my case. I’m SIO. It’s important that I don’t miss anything. I feel fine. The doctor said I could go and to just take painkillers, which I’ve done.’ It was only a small lie. They were talking about discharging her later that day.

  ‘I want you to go home, get some rest; have a shower and a bite to eat. You were attacked last night. I don’t expect you to leave the hospital and come straight back here. In fact, you should be having a few days off to recover—’
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  ‘I don’t need a few days off. I need to be here. I’m going to catch him.’ As she reached the end of her sentence, she realised she was trembling. In her mind, she could smell his aftershave, she could feel his weight on top of her. She closed her eyes and turned away, hoping that she could contain the tear that was threatening to escape.

  Briggs placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Let me drop you home. Just for a shower. I’ll make sure you don’t miss out on a thing, I promise. Besides, you can’t wear those clothes all day. Do you trust me?’

  She opened her eyes and nodded, biting her bottom lip. ‘A shower would be great. I’ll take you up on the lift. The doc says I’m not allowed to drive until next week as I may have mild concussion. I’m fine to work though, no dizziness or nausea; it’s just a precaution. I agree with you. These clothes need to go. I don’t think anyone will take me seriously dressed like Honey G’s sister. My daughter just forgot to pack the baseball cap.’

  ‘Come on.’ He smiled as he held a hand out, helping her to stand. Feeling her hand in his was as familiar as morning. As soon as she was upright, she let go. She wasn’t going there, not again. That part of her life was over. She only hoped he could see that. Something told her he thought there was a chance.

  Thirty-Seven

  Her cat, Ebony, meowed as she opened the kitchen door and entered the sun-filled room. Spring mornings were one of life’s simple pleasures in her opinion. She gazed out of the kitchen window and noticed that new leaves were sprouting from the trees. The daffodils had already reached maturity and the foliage on the trees and shrubs at the end of the garden now covered the old road behind, making the greenery stretch as far as she could see. She reached for the cat biscuits and struggled to refill the almost empty cat feeder, spilling the biscuits on the floor.