Dani closed the browser window on her phone and set it on the kitchen table then took a mouthful of toast.
Jason hobbled into the room, propped himself against the kitchen island, and picked up his coffee.
‘You OK?’ he asked.
‘Just reading the news.’
‘About Elle?’
Dani nodded then swallowed hard. The story had broken last night and was now a major headline across the country. Elle’s body had been found in a shallow grave in a small woodland near to the town of Berkshill. CCTV and then sniffer dogs had been enough to find the location where Hugo had dumped her. Dani had been one of the first there. She still couldn’t get Elle’s hollow death stare, her muddied, lifeless face, out of her mind. Initial indications were she’d been strangled. With Hugo dead, perhaps they’d never know for sure exactly how her death had played out after she’d left Bridlington Terrace with Hugo at two a.m. on the third of March.
‘Are you all set?’ Jason asked.
‘Almost. Just need to pack my toiletries.’
‘What time do you think you’ll be done?’
‘Hard to say.’
He didn’t look particularly impressed with the non-committal answer.
‘You really need this,’ he said to her. ‘We both do.’
‘I know.’
He came over to her and kissed her lightly on the cheek before sitting down. She finished her toast then headed out, and to the bedroom where the open and full to bursting suitcases were on the bed. She looked at them and sighed.
Yes, they needed this, but was it the right thing to do now?
Dani made it to court a few minutes before the hearing was due to start. It wasn’t particularly busy. The Clinton Harrison case had very much fallen by the wayside over recent days given the high-profile scandal in the news over the Eccles and Werner murders, together with Dani’s determination to keep herself out of the press’s eye as much as possible. Plus, the sheer fact that Harrison could no longer be viewed as the paternal hero meant that his case simply didn’t have the draw any more, so she wasn’t particularly surprised when there was no gaggle of reporters to accost her about the case.
The only calls she’d had from the press the last few days had all been from Briana Clark, and Dani was sure the reporter was interested in the Eccles case rather than Harrison. Dani was still yet to return any of those missed calls. Not that Briana had been deterred. She and her press colleagues were having a field day on the Eccles case. Clearly Briana had plenty of other sources within the Force. Strangely Dani felt sad, and a bit used by that.
DCI McNair and Chief Superintendent Baxter were standing outside the courtroom. They both turned to Dani as she approached. Baxter gave her probably the warmest look she’d ever had from him.
‘Look who it is,’ he said. ‘The talk of the town.’
Dani blushed. How childish? Her embarrassment only made her cheeks redden further.
‘No need to look like that,’ Baxter said. ‘You’re a hero. It’s one thing to catch the bad guys, but singlehandedly saving the lives of two officers too?’
‘Natural instinct,’ Dani said.
‘Natural for you, but not for everyone. That’s what makes you so special.’
Dani had nothing to say to that. McNair was looking at her strangely. A mixture of jealousy and pride.
‘How are the legs?’ Baxter asked.
‘Fine,’ Dani said. ‘All things considered. The hand too.’
She’d likely have a little bit of scarring around her ankles, but overall the outcome was far better than it could have been, and certainly far better than it had been for poor Will Eccles. Eric, somehow, had been pulled from the inferno alive, though the burns and other injuries he’d suffered were so severe it remained unclear if he’d make it. He remained in an induced coma, in a critical condition. Dani had visited his bedside once, though wouldn’t again unless he became lucid enough to talk. She had no sympathy whatsoever for the state he was in, though for the sake of his victims, she hoped he did pull through. She had so many questions for him, and his parents and brother deserved answers.
She glanced at her watch.
‘Where is everybody? Where’s DeMario?’ she asked.
McNair and Baxter looked at each other, it clear that they knew something Dani didn’t.
‘He’s with Harrison,’ McNair said.
‘Speak of the devil,’ Baxter added, looking beyond Dani.
She turned to see DeMario and one of his assistants striding across the polished tiles. DeMario had a satisfied grin on his face. His assistant headed off and DeMario came over, waving a piece of paper in his hand.
‘Good news, I take it?’ Baxter said.
DeMario said nothing but handed the paper to Baxter who scrutinised it for a few seconds before passing it to McNair. Dani was left as the odd one out.
‘Anyone?’ she said, looking from one to the other.
‘Let’s just say Harrison’s new lawyer is a lot more sensible than his last,’ DeMario said.
‘You’ve done a deal?’ Dani asked.
‘I’m not sure it’s much of a deal on Harrison’s part,’ Baxter said with an overly smug look on his face.
‘He pleaded guilty to murder,’ DeMario said to Dani. ‘Sentencing still needs finalising, but he’ll get life. A minimum term of perhaps only ten or twelve years, but—’
‘But this is a great result for all involved,’ Baxter said.
There were a couple more minutes of self-congratulation, through which Dani largely stood in silence, not sure what to think. Since the arrest of Trey Wallace and his cronies, two of them had confirmed that Roberts and Harrison did in fact know each other. That they’d had a long-running feud over a drugs debt owed by one to the other – which way around that debt went depended on who was asked. Harrison had never given any comment over the whole thing, despite the mountain of evidence in front of him. The two men who had attacked Dani were both still on remand, awaiting trial for the assault. Though given the text messages the two had shared with each other, along with Trey Wallace, where they’d explicitly discussed the need to keep ‘that bitch from the police’ quiet, in order to protect Harrison, their cases were likely a slam dunk too. Roberts’s girlfriend had been found too. She was fine. Harrison’s cronies had taken her away to make sure the police couldn’t talk to her, but she’d never been in danger. Dani was relieved about that.
Even if they would never know for sure if the collision that killed Tyler Harrison was a true accident or not, the case had come to a relatively clear-cut end, all things considered. Far more so than on the Eccles case where so much still hung in the balance, from the possible involvement of Peter Werner in helping his son to cover up murder, to the shady dealings of Hamed Adil, to the substantial and illegal debt that Henry Eccles had purportedly owed to a local gangster. Was there anyone in that family who’d come out from the mess unscathed?
Dani’s head hurt thinking about it all. Which was one of the very big reasons why she absolutely needed the break she and Jason were taking.
‘DI Stephens?’
Baxter’s voice wrenched her from her thoughts. McNair and DeMario were walking away.
‘Sorry, I was somewhere else.’
‘I could tell. I just wanted to say…’ He paused and sighed. ‘I heard about your sabbatical. Six months?’
‘Time to get my head straight. It’s been… difficult.’
‘I’m sure, and I’m not trying to get you to change your mind at all, but…’ Another pause, another sigh. ‘You’re very highly thought of in our Force. By McNair, by me, by many others. To put it simply, there’s an opening for a new DCI. I can’t think of anyone we have internally who’d be better suited for the role.’
Dani gulped. She didn’t know what to say.
‘Your relentless attitude is an example for everyone,’ Baxter said. ‘The problem is, the role needs filling now, not in six months’ time.’
Dani simply had no words. After everything she’d gone through, after everything she and Jason had discussed about their future together. Talk about lousy timing.
‘What do you think?’ Baxter asked.
‘Can I think about it?’
He looked disappointed. ‘I’ll give you until the end of the day. Once again, great work. On Harrison, on Eccles. On everything.’
He tapped her on the shoulder then walked away.