by Robert Innes
Blake said nothing. He just took one last drag on his cigarette then flicked it away.
“Look, I’ve got to get back,” Sally continued. “I’m having a break, then I’ve got to go and interview some little scrote for driving under the influence. Turns out he had a knife and a boot full of coke to go with it, so that should be fun. I’ll call you tonight when I’m done.”
“Okay.”
“I love you. Everything’s going to be fine. Whatever happens, you’ll be fine.”
“Love you too. Talk later.”
Blake hung up and closed his eyes. He had hoped that he would be somewhat clearer on what to do after talking to Sally, but all the conversation had done was make an already disturbing prospect much more real.
When he opened his eyes again, he looked across the fields as the top of the sun began to disappear beneath the burnt orange sky, then frowned. From where he was, he could make out the spires of Harmschapel’s church, and close by was a large plume of black smoke billowing into the sky. Something had happened in the village.
Glad of the distraction, he quickly jumped into his car and set off down the road towards the village.
“What the hell?” Blake murmured as he arrived in the village.
Everywhere he looked were ambulances, fire engines and paramedics. Several of the officers from the station looked to be trying to dispel a crowd that had gathered a few metres away from a shell of a car, which was just visible through the thick fog of foam that was being sprayed on it from the hoses of the fire service. Blake looked through the smoke and saw Harrison watching proceedings near the front of the crowd. Next to him were Patil and Gardiner, and a young, good-looking man that Blake had never seen before.
PC Billy Mattison was amongst the emergency team trying to stop the villagers from getting too close to the fire, and Blake’s boss, Inspector Jacob Angel, was standing aside with his hands behind his back watching the operation intently.
Blake parked his car on the side of the road and hurried across to Harrison.
“What the hell has happened?”
Harrison turned in surprise at Blake’s arrival. “Oh, hi, I wondered where you’d got to. You’ve missed all the drama. That car used to belong to Patrick Coopland and his wife.”
Blake stared at the smouldering car, immediately recognising the Jaguar from the supermarket.
“They came speeding out of nowhere, then the car flipped. It was mental.”
“Is anyone hurt?”
“I nearly was,” said the young stranger. “Harrison here saved my life. Pulled me right out of the way of the road. And he helped pulled the woman out of the car. He’s a right little hero!”
Harrison blushed. “Anyone would have done it.”
“I’m Tom by the way. Tom Roberts,” the man added, shaking Blake firmly by the hand. “Believe it or not, I’ve just moved here to Harmschapel today. I’m moving in with my Mum, but I was supposed to be meeting her at the pub. That was before all this happened though. She’ll be gutted she missed it.”
“The driver didn’t make it, Sir,” Patil said from behind Tom. “Patrick Coopland. He’s the undertaker in the village. The fire took hold before the paramedics could get to him.”
Blake’s mouth fell open as he turned back towards the wreckage. “Patrick Coopland is dead?”
Harrison nodded. “Very. Nobody could have survived that explosion. We saw him when we were trying to get Angela out. I mean, if he wasn’t dead already. He was unconscious at the very least, so maybe he didn’t feel anything when the fuel tank blew?”
Blake could not believe that he had seen the Cooplands only an hour or so ago before the crash. As he watched the fire finally being brought under control, he spotted Angela being taken to the ambulance on the back of a stretcher. She was clearly conscious and cognitive, so Blake walked towards the ambulance, flashing his ID at the paramedics as he approached for them to let him towards their patient.
Angela looked up at him as he arrived at the end of her stretcher, looking dazed and confused.
“Angela, do you remember me from earlier?” Blake asked her gently. “I’m Detective Sergeant Blake Harte, from Harmschapel police station.”
Angela narrowed her eyes and nodded but did not say anything. She glanced across at the car where the rest of the paramedics had a body bag prepared to take Patrick’s body away. Her lip curled, and tears fell down her cheeks.
“Is he dead? Is he?”
Blake nodded. “I’m so sorry.”
Angela shook her head. “I can’t believe this. It just all happened so quickly.”
“What did happen?”
“Can we leave the questions until we’ve at least got her into the back of the ambulance, mate?” a paramedic cut in.
“We were arguing,” Angela said, apparently not hearing the paramedic. “He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds and…” Her voice trailed off, the events seeming to flash through her mind again. She was staring into the crowd, her expression scared and vulnerable.
Blake nodded at the irate looking paramedic and watched as Angela was lifted into the ambulance, the doors slamming closed behind her. As the blue lights lit up everything around him, Blake watched it disappear down the road and out of sight. Then, he wandered back towards the now dispersing crowd.
“Did you get anything out of her?” Patil asked as he returned.
Blake shook his head. “No. The paramedic jumped in. Can’t blame him really. I just wanted to see how she was. I saw them both when I was at the supermarket in the midst of an argument. Or rather, he was arguing, and she was taking the brunt of it. I’ve never really spoken to Patrick Coopland before. With the best will in the world, he didn’t seem to be the nicest of blokes.”
“Rubbish,” Gardiner interjected. “I’ve known Patrick for years. Perfectly nice man. I mean, he could get a bit shirty sometimes, but then who doesn’t?”
Harrison leant over the metal barrier that had been placed in front of the crowd. “Are you going to have to stay?”
Blake bit his lip. “I best had. Sooner we can get all the statements and reports together, the better and we’ll get it done quicker if there’s more of us.”
Harrison looked disappointed but nodded. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you at home then?”
“If I might be so bold,” Tom said, poking his head over Harrison’s shoulder. “I’d like to thank you properly for what you did earlier. Y’know, that whole saving my life thing? At least let me buy you a round at the pub?”
“Tom! Excuse me, let me through, I need to get to my son! Will you move?”
A voice from the crowd made them all turn. Blake was surprised to see his landlady, Jacqueline, pushing through the crowd to get to him. Her bright red beehive was as tall as ever, hair sprayed to within an inch of its life. When she reached him, she stared at the wreckage in horror.
“Oh, my boy!” she cried, dramatically gripping him tightly. “I heard the explosion from the pub, well, we all did! I didn’t think you would have been anywhere near it, but then I heard word of someone who sounded like you helping with the rescue operation!” She released Tom and looked around at the onlookers, a proud expression on her face. “He’s first aid trained, you know. You need a life saving, my Tom’s the one to turn to!”
“Mum, I’m fine,” Tom replied, grinning. “Thanks to Harrison here, anyway. He saved my life, he pulled me out of the way of the car before it crashed.”
Jacqueline turned to Harrison, her eyes filling up with tears. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Harrison! I don’t know what to say! You lovely boy!” She pulled him into a hug so tight that Harrison looked as if he was having the life squeezed out of him. “I don’t know how to thank you,” Jacqueline continued. “I mean, of course, this will mean a rent reduction! Blake, you must be so proud.”
Blake nodded, then narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. He suspected he might have been slightly more uncomfortable with Harrison going for a drink with someone this good-look
ing if his head had been slightly more together.
Harrison blushed again. “I told you, it was nothing. Anyone would have done it.”
Tom waved a dismissive hand. Despite his internal distractions, Blake could not help notice an understated campiness to the movement. “Come on. Mum, we’re buying Harrison a few drinks. I think he deserves it.”
“A few?” Jacqueline repeated. “Darling, I will buy him the pub if that’s what he wants! Anything for saving my boy!” Again, she gripped Tom in a tight embrace.
Harrison glanced at Blake as if searching for approval. Regardless of how attractive, and possibly gay, Tom might have been, the last thing Blake wanted Harrison to feel was that he had to get Blake’s permission to have a social life. “Go to the pub,” he said firmly. “Sounds like you deserve it. I’m proud of you, my little hero.”
He leant across the bar and kissed Harrison, fully aware that he was doing it half out of genuine affection and pride for his boyfriend’s brave actions and half to make a point to Tom, just in case.
“Have you both given statements about the crash?”
“Yeah, I took them, Sir,” Patil said over her notebook, in the process of talking to Jai Sinha. “They saw what I saw pretty much.”
Blake nodded. “Then have fun, the pair of you.”
Harrison waved goodbye to Blake and he watched him disappear in the direction of The Dog’s Tail with Jacqueline holding tightly on to the pair of them.
“Aww, it’ll be good for Harrison to have a new mate,” Patil noted as she finished taking Jai’s statement.
“Mmm,” Blake murmured.
As Blake had expected, and hoped for, the procedure took quite a while. Angel had given them all orders to assist the emergency team in any way they could with the removal of Patrick’s body. On top of that, once the drama seemed to be over, the villagers of Harmschapel went about their evenings rather quickly, meaning that the officers had to do some headhunting around the village in order to get a statement from anybody that had seen anything. As it was, the statements all gave a similar story. Nobody seemed to quite know why the Coopland’s car had got out of control, or why it was going so quickly, but all were agreed on the crash itself and the events leading up to the explosion. Blake expected it was something that would keep the gossips of the village satisfied for weeks to come. All the while, the conversation with Nathan constantly replayed in his mind and as every minute ticked by, Blake felt more and more guilty that Harrison was having fun, blissfully unaware of what was happening.
By the time Blake arrived home to Juniper Cottage, it was nearly midnight and he felt both physically and mentally exhausted. As he walked up the path towards the door, he remembered that he still had all the ingredients for Harrison’s lasagne in the boot of the car, but he felt too tired to deal with them now. He put the key in the lock and felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He glanced at the screen and put it on silent as Sally’s call went through to answerphone. Blake was not in the mood to talk to anybody now. As he entered the cottage, he hoped that Harrison would already be in bed, but as he walked in, he saw quite the contrary.
The back door was open and both Harrison and Tom were sitting on the ground playing with Betty, Harrison’s pet goat. Tom was scratching her under the chin, resulting in Betty closing her eyes, looking perfectly content, which was something Blake had never managed to achieve with the goat since the moment they had met. Sure enough, when Betty opened her eyes and saw Blake standing in the living room, she bleated loudly and attempted to charge at him, but Harrison held her back, stumbling slightly as he stood up.
“Hey! How are you? Did you have fun?” Harrison slurred as he hurried forwards and wrapped his arms around Blake.
Blake glanced down at him slightly amused. “Yes, I had great fun taking witness statements for a car crash. Highlight of my day. Did you? Not that I need to ask.”
“I’m really sorry,” Harrison said, lifting his head up from Blake’s shoulder, “but I’m a bit drunk.”
“You think?”
“Tom was really, really, really, really grateful for me saving his life, so he bought me lots and lots and lots of beer.”
Blake could not remember ever seeing Harrison quite this intoxicated. It would have been quite an entertaining sight under slightly different circumstances.
“I’m sorry,” Tom said from the doorway. “It’s completely my fault. We got chatting, and we ended up having a bit more than we probably should have. Blame Harrison, he said it wasn’t a school night, so he could stay up late.” He laughed as he stood up and closed the door on Betty, who was still glaring at Blake through the window. “I need the loo. Please, Blake – help yourself to a beer, we should have plenty left.”
Blake waved a hand. “I’m good thanks, but I appreciate the offer.”
He watched as Tom disappeared up the stairs towards the bathroom, then looked down at Harrison. “He seems nice.”
“Oh my God, he’s so cool,” enthused Harrison. “He’s a dancer. He’s performed in loads of theatres apparently. He said he’d teach me tap.”
“Really?” Blake asked. “A dancer, eh? That explains the abs.”
“Oi, eyes off you,” Harrison slurred, tapping Blake playfully on the nose. “You’re all mine.”
Blake chuckled as he watched Harrison collapse onto the sofa. “Oh, go on, Blake. Have a beer.”
“I’m going to go to bed,” Blake told him. “But you carry on. It’s great to see you having some fun with someone besides that bloody goat.”
Harrison rolled his eyes. “Betty is a lovely goat, she’s just temperamental.”
“I see.”
When Tom returned, Blake shook his hand again. “It was nice to meet you, Tom. Sorry I can’t stop up. I’m exhausted.”
“Aw, no worries, Blake,” Tom said cheerfully. Blake could not help but notice that he was considerably less drunk than Harrison. He gave the impression of someone fairly well travelled and experienced in the art of social drinking. “I’d better be getting off myself to be honest. Mum told me not to be too late. I think it’s going to be a while before she lets me out of her sight again.” He picked up his jacket from the bannister and slipped it on. “But me and you must have a chat at some point, Blake. Harrison’s been telling me all about some of your old cases, bodies in locked rooms and some bloke who walked on water? Sounds fascinating.”
Blake smiled glibly and nodded. “Sure.”
“See you later, Harrison,” Tom said, grinning at Harrison who was now in a strange position on the sofa. “Hope it doesn’t hurt too much tomorrow.”
“Yeah!” Harrison exclaimed, raising his hand up.
Tom chuckled as Blake opened the door for him. “Take care.”
“You too.” Blake closed the door and then locked it, before turning back to Harrison with a sigh. He had now toppled slightly off the sofa and was hanging with his legs in the air.
“Come on, you,” he said. “Let’s get you to bed.”
A loud snore told him that Harrison had already fallen asleep, though how he had managed it in that position was a mystery even to Blake, who decided that it would be best to leave him to it. After making sure the back door was locked, much to Betty’s irritation, Blake switched off all the lights and disappeared upstairs, leaving Harrison snoring in the darkness.
Later that night, Blake was lying in bed with his back to the door. Despite how tired he felt, he was wide awake, staring at the wall, his thoughts louder than ever.
Downstairs, he could hear Harrison waking up from the sofa and begin to stumble his way upstairs. As he felt his boyfriend climb into bed beside him, Blake’s stomach flipped, his guilt worse than ever. How would their relationship survive if it transpired that Blake was infected too, and presumably would have been from the moment they had met? After everything Harrison had been through in his life, it would be beyond cruel to now subject him to even the possibility of this, even if it was, as Sally had been keen to point out, possible fo
r him to lead an almost perfect life. To Blake, it was a stigma that Harrison did not deserve.
He felt Harrison wrap his arm around his shoulders and kiss him gently on the neck. It was a move that Blake was familiar with that usually led to more amorous activity, but it was the last thing Blake wanted to do. He began to snore, with his eyes still wide open.
Behind him, he heard Harrison chuckle. “Typical.”
Then, he settled down beside Blake and soon fell asleep, his genuine snores being Blake’s only company for what felt like the rest of the night.
4
Over the next few days, as Blake had predicted, the talk around Harmschapel was of very little other than the big car crash. Blake was soon tired of hearing about it, but he was also glad of the distractions the crash had brought him. The days following the accident involved Blake checking and filling out reports, witness statements and watching CCTV of the moments leading up to the incident. All of this required long hours at work, and Blake was only too happy to oblige. As every day passed, Blake was constantly aware that he had not done anything about getting an appointment at the clinic but as wrong as he knew hiding his head in the sand was, he knew deep down that he was too scared to deal with the consequences if the worst outcome came to pass. Blake did not feel that this approach was without its repercussions however; he was unsure as to whether it was his own paranoia, but his relationship with Harrison soon began to feel more distant. It was not helped by the fact that Harrison appeared to idolise his new friend, Tom, and spent a great deal of time with him. Blake still felt that he knew very little about him, other than what Harrison had chosen to divulge to him, but he was not making it any easier for himself to be involved with Harrison’s social life while constantly throwing himself into his work.
It was these conflicting thoughts that were barraging Blake now, as he sat at his desk at Harmschapel police station, attempting to accurately fill out some paperwork that had built up. Blake was just realising that he had read the same line seven times with still no idea as to its contents, when Inspector Angel poked his head around his office door.