Wednesday 2 February, 23:30
Loxton and Kowalski entered custody, which was eerily quiet. It was getting late, and all around them behind the closed cell doors suspects were sleeping. There was hardly any activity, just the custody sergeant sat behind his computer, flicking through the custody records making sure everything was running smoothly.
She glanced behind the sergeant and saw one of the custody staff, head back, fast asleep. She couldn’t blame her; night shifts were hard, and they got progressively worse as the years crept up on you. She remembered hardly being affected in her twenties, but now, in her thirtieth year, long hours and nights were starting to bite.
‘We need to charge Harding,’ she said to the custody sergeant. ‘Keep him in for court in the morning.’
‘Sure thing. He’s not asleep; he’s having a chat with an officer. He’s in cell twenty, right at the bottom of the corridor – as far away from the other prisoners as possible. I hate having ex-military in; they can be live wires and disrupt the others.’
Loxton frowned. ‘An officer is having a chat with him?’
‘Yeah, I’ve forgotten his name. It’s fine; go through and see if he’s done. Then you can bring Harding here and I’ll charge him for the computer thing.’
She hurried down the corridor, Kowalski following. As they turned the corner and went through another set of double doors, she heard a commotion at the end of the corridor. She threw Kowalski a look and they ran towards the noise. Cell 20’s door was wide open. What the hell was going on? She heard a shout and the noise of punches being thrown.
She rushed through the door, lifting her fists, ready to strike. In the cramped cell she saw Harding and Anson fighting, and Anson wasn’t winning.
‘What the fuck?’ Kowalski said.
Loxton rushed forward, pulling Anson away from Harding. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ she said.
‘This prick knows where Sarah is, I just know it. He wouldn’t fucking tell me.’ Anson’s nose looked broken.
Loxton glanced at Harding; Kowalski was just about holding him back. Harding’s lip was cut, and he had the beginnings of a black eye.
‘This is not how we do things,’ Loxton said, pulling Anson out of the cell.
‘This is one of our own, Alana. And that animal knows more than he’s letting on.’
Loxton sighed and shook her head. ‘What is wrong with you?’
‘I love her. I thought she was your friend. We need to get him to talk. To give us something.’
‘Not like this,’ Loxton said, appalled.
‘She’s out there, somewhere.’ Anson pointed out of the barred window. ‘She could be dying of thirst for all we know, locked up somewhere alone, while this piece of shit is in here, safe and warm, moaning about the quality of the tea.’
Loxton led him away from the cell. ‘This isn’t the way, Anson.’
‘I don’t know shit about your girlfriend,’ Harding called after Anson. ‘You’re a maniac. I want to complain. I’ve been assaulted.’
‘All right, Harding,’ Kowalski’s voice was placating. ‘I’ll get the inspector down. You’re safe now, okay.’
‘Safe with you lot?’ Harding was shouting. ‘He tried to kill me. Look at my eye. You lot are supposed to make sure no harm comes to me when I’m in here, not attack me when I’m trapped in this cage, defenceless.’
Loxton glared at Anson. ‘I’ll have to report this. Harding will probably get bail in court tomorrow because of you. The courts will take one look at him, hear he was assaulted by a police officer in his cell and deem his life at risk if he stays in prison. They’ll think another officer or prison guard might have a go at him. He goaded you into that.’
Anson spat some blood on the floor. ‘If they think he’s safer outside of prison then so be it. That makes my life easier. I don’t give a shit about it. About this job. About any of it.’ He waved his hand at the cell doors. ‘This can all go to hell. What’s the point of any of this, if we can’t even keep our own safe? If I can’t find Sarah?’ He strode out of custody, slamming the door behind him, and the custody sergeant stiffened.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked, seeing the blood on Loxton’s shirt.
‘There’s been an incident,’ Loxton said, her heart heavy. ‘You need to double check the CCTV, but I think Anson’s assaulted Harding in cell twenty.’
‘Is Harding all right?’ The custody sergeant looked panicked.
‘You’d best get a doctor to check him out.’
‘Fucking great,’ the custody sergeant grumbled as he picked up the phone. ‘It’s not the seventies anymore. Christ, I’ll probably lose my job for this. Anson just said he wanted a quick word. I thought it was part of his covert thing. I didn’t ask any questions; I didn’t even log him coming in. I’ll get in the shit for this.’
‘You weren’t to know,’ Loxton said, but she wasn’t really listening. Instead she was thinking about Anson, frantic to get Sarah back, willing to risk anything. Loxton felt his desperation, but she couldn’t cross lines like he was able to. Anson had become unhinged. Time was running out and she didn’t know what he was capable of.