What She Saw

by Diane Saxon

  With nothing to do but see to the small dog, Jenna wasted no time in hoisting the shih-tzu in beside them. She took a split second to touch each animal’s head before she slammed the door, hitting the lock button as she grabbed her radio from her belt and spoke into it whilst she raced down the street and around the bend in pursuit of Ryan and Lena.

  25

  Monday 20 April 0910 hours

  Arms and legs pumping, Jenna pushed herself until her breath heaved in her throat as the pair in front of her came back into sight, both of them running like international marathon champions. She kicked up her heels and stretched her long legs into a full-pelt run, picking up speed as she raced downhill, the gap never seeming to close.

  Ryan’s voice shouted a third time. ‘Police! Stop!’

  He was wasting his breath, he just needed to grab her. When you had a runner, you just needed to get the job done.

  Jenna willed him on because hell, he was almost a decade younger than her, he should be fitter and faster.

  Within touching distance, he reached out and grabbed at Lena’s shoulder. He yanked her off her feet and she tumbled backwards into his arms.

  Relieved, Jenna slowed her pace, her lungs burned with the effort. She’d not run as hard in years. She wasn’t a short-sprint runner, more of a solid march all day without stopping kind of girl. This would kill her. The burn in her calves already making itself known.

  Ahead of her, Ryan’s voice, pitched low and breathless, could barely be heard, but Jenna assumed he read Lena her rights as he held on to her shoulder, his chest heaving.

  Still some way down the street, Jenna sensed the moment he made his mistake.

  He let go of his suspect to pat his duty belt and as he reached for the speed cuffs, Lena whirled.

  Face contorted in a wild snarl, she lunged at Ryan, lashing out with feet and fists.

  ‘Jesus.’ Jenna’s reflexes kicked back in and she broke into another run as Lena leapt at Ryan and slammed him to the floor, long fingers like claws reaching for his scalp. His yowl echoed along the street as Lena clutched his hair with both hands and jerked his head upwards.

  Jenna’s heart hammered like a wild bird as Lena let out a high-pitched scream and moved to smash his head into the pavement. With ice running through her veins, Jenna stormed through to grab Lena around the waist. She hoisted her high and wrenched her off Ryan. Surprise rippled through her at the weight of the smaller woman as Jenna used it to her advantage and slammed Lena face down on the floor. Using her own weight she dropped, punching her knees straight into Lena’s shoulder blades, she leaned her whole weight into her, pinning her where she lay.

  Lena’s breath shot out in a loud grunt. Jenna grabbed the back of her head before Lena had the chance to buck. She pressed her cheek hard against the tarmac road and never afforded her a second chance as she whacked on a pair of speed cuffs one-handed.

  The blue lights and two tones warned of the approach of the backup vehicles.

  Jenna edged slowly off the woman, not trusting her to behave as she came to her feet and dragged Lena up after her. There was one thing she’d learnt early on in her career: if you had a fighter, don’t ever give them the opportunity to kick off once you had them controlled. The only one to get injured would be the officer. She’d seen too many taken out like that. Trust was not an option, especially when dealing with drug related crime.

  She drew in a breath through her nose to slow down the hard puffs wheezing out, making her sound like she smoked fifty a day.

  Before her backup team reached her, Jenna gave Lena a light shove towards them. Lena stumbled and Jenna made another grab for her, linked her arm through Lena’s and marched her over to the waiting uniforms.

  Fury burned from eyes that met hers before doubt filled them and Lena’s forehead crinkled. Her mouth dropped open and recognition flooded her features.

  ‘Yeah. Me.’ Jenna shot her a tight grin. ‘Recognise me? I’m the one whose dog you chose to push drugs for you.’ Technically, Fliss’s dog, but she wasn’t about to split hairs.

  ‘I—’

  Before Lena could speak, Jenna raised her forefinger to her lips. ‘Sshh.’ As the woman stuttered to a halt, Jenna dropped her hand and guided Lena forward. ‘Lena Alexander, I’m arresting you on suspicion of possession and supply of class A drugs and assaulting a police officer. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’ She handed her over to the safekeeping of PC Liz Oliver, her freckled face well known amongst the officers, having been in the job for more than twenty-five years. ‘This is PC Oliver, she’ll be escorting you to Malinsgate Police Station where you will be interviewed.’ She smiled at the PC as she handed Lena over. ‘Watch her, she’s not all sweetness and light.’

  Seasoned as she was, Liz grinned, her cheeks plumping out like a hamster. ‘I can see that for myself.’ She nodded in Ryan’s direction as she took possession of Lena and manoeuvred her into the back seat of the police vehicle, hand on the top of her head to protect it from the door frame. She shut the door on her and turned to look at Ryan again. ‘Is he okay?’

  Satisfied now her prisoner was contained, Jenna turned around, her breathing still fast and shallow. Not in the least worried about Liz, she knew the other woman would never pass judgement on how out of shape Jenna was.

  On the ground, Ryan gingerly touched his scalp where Lena had wrenched his hair out by the roots. His hand came away with a handful of the pale, sandy hair as horror streaked over his face.

  ‘Oh, I think so. He should never have let go. He had her pinned. Perfect arrest.’

  Liz crossed her arms over her chest and snorted as she leaned her backside against the car door. ‘We all learn by our mistakes. I’ve caught a few myself.’

  Jenna nodded. She’d been on the painful end of a couple of errors too. ‘It’s a lesson. He won’t let his guard down again once he believes he’s got a situation under control.’

  It was never under control until the suspect was cuffed and adequately restrained, whatever form that may take.

  Liz’s lips kicked up into a sympathetic smile. ‘Some come along like lambs, others like lions.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Jenna brushed her hands down her black trousers, flicking off the dust. From the hammering they’d had that day, they’d probably end up in the bin failing a good boil wash. ‘It was Ryan’s day to have the lion.’

  With her pulse rate returning to normal, Jenna squinted down at him. She needed to get on. She’d never imagined the short search warrant job was going to morph into a major incident. She still had one of those waiting for her back at the station. Still keeping all the balls in the air. It wasn’t unusual to be busy, but in the last forty-eight hours she’d managed to squeeze in an entire week’s worth of work and still had more than double that to go with the fire investigation. Confident DI Taylor had his hand to the tiller and would let her know the moment anything kicked off there, at least she could concentrate on this case.

  ‘Anything more you need me for, Sarge, or should I get this one back to the station?’

  ‘No, we’re fine. Thank you, Liz, you get off and I’ll see you there soon. As you heard, I've read her her rights.’ It never harmed to have a witness to that when some suspects would claim they weren’t read their rights and get off on a technicality. ‘Book her in with the duty sergeant and she can stay in the cells until I get back. DC Downey and I will interview her. Until then, it won’t harm her to cool her heels.’

  Jenna flicked a look at the time on her phone, surprised at how fast the day had sped by. Almost ten o’clock. They really did need to get back to the station, get the paperwork sorted, interviews done all before the debrief on the fire. Lamonte Junior would have his turn, too. Balls in the air. That was one she’d let Mason and Ryan catch.

  Satisfied everything was wrapped up as best it could be, Jenna made her way over to Ryan a
s he placed his hands on the floor and pushed to his knees while his chest heaved, and he dragged in lungfuls of air.

  Her own breath still coming in heavy puffs, Jenna bent at the hip. She really needed more exercise. She was out of shape. She needed to do something about it. A brisk walk with Domino every day hardly prepared her for the hundred-yard dash. She drew in a long breath. Perhaps she’d take up jogging. Domino was going to need more exercise for the foreseeable future. She might as well make use of it. She doubted they’d be employing another dog walker in a hurry.

  Jenna rested her hands on her knees as she brought her face level with Ryan’s. ‘You okay?’ She leaned forward and touched his elbow. His shins would probably show the results of the hard kicks Lena had administered to him for some time to come.

  ‘Yeah, yeah just a little winded.’ He thumbed his hand in the direction of the departing police vehicle. ‘I didn't expect her to run so fast.’

  Amusement rippled out on a chuckle. ‘You didn’t expect her to fight so hard.’

  ‘She caught me.’

  As she straightened, he came to his feet.

  ‘I saw. Your shins took a good bashing.’

  His face, already pink, flushed a deep crimson to light up his ears. ‘Not just my shins.’ He let out an embarrassed cough. ‘She got my family jewels too.’

  ‘Oh.’ Jenna quashed the desire to laugh at his diplomatic way of expressing himself. Mason would have said ‘bollocks’ and she’d never have given it a second thought. ‘Is that what made you breathless? I thought it was the run. I was pretty impressed with your speed. You were good.’

  He narrowed his eyes as his mouth quirked up at one side. ‘I've been training with Carla. I can’t have her put me to shame. She's due to run the London Marathon this year. She’s at the peak of her fitness.’ His obvious pride in his new girlfriend warmed Jenna’s heart, but he didn’t need to see it softening.

  ‘Jeez, Ryan with all that and the gym, you could be Superman.’ He’d certainly put in plenty of effort since he’d started dating the woman of his dreams. A red-haired, honey-eyed nurse who he’d met through an online dating app. Fit, intelligent and feisty, Ryan had plenty to keep him on his toes.

  Ryan peered at her from under his eyebrows, suspicion lurked in his gaze. ‘What are you trying to say about me? Do you think I look like Clark Kent?’

  There was something about Ryan that squeezed at Jenna’s heart and made her want to scrub the top of his head like she did with Domino. He brought out a maternal instinct in her that was less a reflection of their ages and more of his appealing innocence and lack of maturity.

  ‘No, Ryan, I was thinking more of your superpowers rather than your looks.’

  As he preened at the sly stroke of his ego, Jenna glanced at her phone again. Time was running away with them and there were only so many hours in a day. A police officer might use more of them than most in carrying out their duty, but she couldn’t squeeze any more than twenty-four hours out of one. It looked like she needed all twenty-four of them today.

  ‘We've got to go. Those dogs have been in my car for long enough. I know it’s not that hot, but there are three of them in there and I never had a chance to leave a window open. I didn’t think about it when I saw you hotfooting it after Lena.’

  She took off, her stride lengthening to eat up the distance between her and the car without actually breaking into a run, her heart still thrummed at a steady pace.

  ‘All right. Let’s see what we have here.’

  As she approached the car, one sweet little face peered at her and the very tips of the shih-tzu’s ears twitched behind the fine layer of dog spit and steam from the back seat. Big brown eyes and ears to attention.

  She couldn’t help but smile at the third dog. ‘Bloody typical.’

  Domino perched on the front seat like Little Lord Fauntleroy. He stared with superiority straight at her, as though he hadn’t a care in the world and his expectation was that she would arrive to transport him home, as was his due.

  Jenna unlocked the car and slipped into the driver’s seat, taking a moment to greet all three dogs as their tails wagged in unison and bashed at the sides of the police vehicle as they stomped their paws over the seats in a flurry of dog hair and spit. She scrubbed the heads and ears of each one of them before she turned to strap the seat belt around her. She clipped it in and punched the ignition as Ryan opened the passenger door. Jenna blasted the demister at full pelt to clear the steamy windows and then glanced over to see what the delay was with Ryan getting in.

  He stood frozen at the open doorway while Domino stared straight ahead.

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, tell him to move, Ryan. We’ve taken long enough here.’

  Ryan stepped back and bobbed down so his face came into view beyond Domino. ‘I could always get in the back seat.’

  Domino swivelled his head to stare at Jenna as though the battle he’d fought for dominance of the front seat had been won.

  ‘Don’t be silly, Domino won’t harm you.’ She reached out to pat the dog’s neck.

  Doubt wriggled over Ryan’s face. ‘That's all very well for you to say, but you’re not the one with the teeth.’

  Jenna chuckled. ‘Stop messing about, Ryan, and just get in, we need to get back to the station.’

  He reached his hand into the car and with a cautious move, touched Domino’s neck and then whipped it away again as Domino rumbled out a low-pitched warning.

  Jenna smiled. ‘He’s all right. He won’t touch you. He’s a big softie really, you can shove him over. You know he just talks.’

  ‘Your dog’s a drug pusher. I'm not going to trust him.’

  She snorted.

  He reached in and tentatively took hold of Domino’s lead.

  Out of patience, Jenna gave Domino a quick shove. ‘Out,’ she commanded as Ryan tugged at the lead.

  As though it was his own idea, Domino made an elegant bounce out of the car and trotted to the back door as Ryan opened it for him.

  The car rocked as Domino leapt in the back seat. Ryan slammed the door and made a dash for the front, leaping into the seat just as Domino squeezed his way in between the two front seats and landed on his lap.

  Ryan wrapped his arms around the dog’s neck as Domino raked his tongue from his chin to his ear and then repeated the action, adding a soft rumble of contentment that vibrated through his chest.

  Ryan let out a chuckle of amusement, having never been subjected to such close attention from Domino. ‘Christ, has he never been trained?’

  Jenna grinned. Domino was perfectly well trained. He did everything he was told. Until he didn’t want to. But enough was enough and she needed to move.

  ‘Domino, get in the back.’ Jenna put on her voice of command and the dog instantly leapt into the back seat to join the other two.

  Ryan threw her a grateful glance. ‘Better drive carefully. None of them are strapped in.’

  Jenna turned to glance at the furry friends on the back seat, the little shih-tzu looking at odds between the two huge dogs.

  Ryan was right. Domino normally sat in the boot of her car with a small black dog guard across the back seats, so he didn’t leap over. She couldn’t do that with the police vehicle. ‘Do you want to tether them?’

  ‘Will they sit with a seat belt around them?’ Ryan squinted at her.

  ‘I don't know.’ She shrugged. How was she supposed to know? She wasn’t the damned oracle.

  ‘Perhaps we should have called the dog handler.’

  ‘Chris is occupied at the moment. I don't think we’ve got anybody else on shift today. We’d have to call them out of area and that means waiting.’ She turned to check on the animals again. ‘We’ll just go steady.’ She put the car into gear and set off at a sedate pace. ‘I thought I might take Domino back home, drop him off there first, but then I just realised SOCO are going to have to check him over. We're going to have to take all three of them back to the station. It could take bloody hours i
f we can’t get hold of SOCO. I bet they’re all tied up with the fire.’ She slid a sly glance at her passenger of the human variety, hoping he might take the hint to contact his dad, Chief Forensics Officer, Jim Downey.

  Head down and self-absorbed, Ryan tapped at the screen on his phone.

  Ryan needed more than a hint, he needed a good hard shove. Dispensing with subtleties, Jenna got to the point. ‘Is your dad about?’

  Without raising his head, Ryan continued to tap. ‘He’s probably tied up on the fire.’

  That’s what she’d said. He wasn’t listening. Evidently whatever was on Ryan’s phone was more interesting than what she had to say. She made loud tutting noises to grab his attention.

  He jiggled his shoulders in a self-conscious shrug. ‘He’s not going to be able to drop everything for a five-minute job. I don’t like to ask.’

  Jenna chewed her lip as she glanced over her shoulder and pulled out into the overtaking lane, cruising at a steady fifty-five miles an hour. Decision made, she reached forward, scooped up her radio and offered it to Ryan. ‘Give the station a shout. Ask who is about.’

  Ryan raised the radio to his mouth and depressed the button. ‘Juliet Alpha 77 to Control.’ Static crackled in the background to join the gentle whine from the little shih-tzu.

  Jenny glanced at the back seat. ‘I hope she doesn’t get car sick.’

  Ryan opened his mouth to answer, but the radio kicked back in.

  ‘Control, go ahead.’

  ‘Control, could you check if there’s anyone from SOCO available to carry out drugs forensics on three dogs we’re bringing into the station?’

  A long stream of static filled the pause on the other end of the line. ‘Juliet Alpha 77, please confirm you wish SOCO to check three dogs.’

  Ryan chuckled as he glanced at his watch. ‘Confirmed, Control. We’ve picked up three drug-pushing dogs.’ He clicked off the speak button and snorted out a laugh.

  Jenna stared at him. Who was this person in the car with her? It appeared young Ryan had found his place in the team, his effervescence spilling out.