Chapter Twenty-Nine

 

Emma woke up with a hangover, but not as bad as she was expecting. She remembered going out to get drunk after the row with Rob. But, with a combination of her job and her upbringing, she never wanted to get dangerously, black-out drunk. She rolled over and found a space where she expected Pete to be. In his place, on the bedside table was a glass of water and strip of paracetamol. Thanking him silently, she took a long drink and some painkillers.

For a few seconds she wrapped herself back in the duvet and luxuriated in the warmth of the bed. She reviewed the previous evening and hoped that Pete was one of the good guys. All the evidence seemed positive so far and she wasn't regretting her decision to pursue him. Then, as she was sleeping in a T-shirt, she slipped on some tracksuit bottoms and went off to find out if Pete had scared her housemates yet.

She found him in the kitchen and he'd already figured out where the coffee was. The cat wound itself around his legs, purring.

'I found a cat, and the food was there, so I fed her, him, it?' Pete said.

'This is Florence,' Emma said. 'Did you see the sign?'

'Sign?'

Emma picked up a piece of card that read "Florence was last fed in the morning". 'So, if you didn't turn it over,' Emma said, 'I'd guess you've just been outwitted by a cat!' She went on to explain that on the advice of the vet, Florence was on a diet. All the housemates worked shifts and the cat had caught on to this, getting fed around the clock. She was now on a strict two meals a day, unless she could mug someone like Pete.

'She was very convincing,' Pete said.

'Yeah, she is. That's the problem,' Emma said. 'Thanks for the painkillers and coffee.'

'Well, I figured you'd have to get up for work. I'm on flexitime but I didn't know if you'd be on shift or whatever.'

'It's Tuesday morning and we're in the middle of a complex case, so yes, I will be needed in the office.' Her heart sank at the thought. She was almost certainly going to be carpeted by Slater. Not only had she ignored his advice and accepted a meeting with Haines, she'd added a potential drug kingpin to the mix.

And she was now not talking to Rob Haines anyway. She supposed she could tell Kev Slater that she'd broken off her friendship with Haines – that might make him happy. But the truth of it was that more than anything she wanted to keep her private life well away from Slater.

'You look miles away,' Pete said.

'Oh, just considering going back into work, with the same load of problems and a hangover.'

Pete looked sad, in an over exaggerated way. 'So, nothing that happened last night helped, at all?'

'Oh, don't say that,' Emma said, reaching up to give him a peck on the cheek. 'I do feel a lot better, just to have a few hours away from thinking about it. A few hours where nothing mattered. A tonic for my soul.'

'Soul? That's a bit heavy, isn't it?'

'Sorry, I get a bit mystical when I'm tired.' Emma sipped at her coffee. 'I really don't mean to chuck you out, but I do need to have a shower and get myself into work.' In her mind she had memories of the row with Dave that had spelled the end of her relationship, such as it was, with him.

But Pete merely shrugged and said, 'No, even with flexitime I need to get back to my car and drag myself into work. I'll be working late tonight as it is.'

'So, boyfriend, I'll give you a call later, when I know what I'm doing.' Even though she was looking for it, she didn't even see the slightest flinch.

'Okay, girlfriend,' he replied and kissed her.

She wound an arm around his waist and leaned into him. 'And you're all right with that?'

'Of course. I'm a grown up. I don't want to be casual. it's nice to be part of something.'

Emma nodded. 'I've tried casual once. Didn't work.'

'Can I ask?' Pete said tentatively.

'Oh, he was an idiot. We had an on-again, off-again thing. But then he wanted me to drop everything when he felt like it. Always on his terms, not mine. And then he revealed his true colours when I stood up to him.'

'Hey, listen. I get it. I know I have a desk job and it's basically nine to five, but I still work for the police, I know what you do. You'll pull long shifts, cancel at short notice and have to work nights. I'm not stupid, I can see what you do is important to you. And I'll try not to be an arse about it. Okay?'

'Thank you.' She reached up to kiss him again. 'Anyway this is all very good but I'm up to my eyes in a murder case so I really had better get a shower and get ready for work.'

* * *

Soon, she was back in the office and at her desk. She didn't have to wait long before Slater called her in.

'I honestly thought you had better judgement than that, DC Angel.'

She suddenly realised that he'd been at the meeting too. But her poor choice wasn't in attending the meeting but in not leaving when it became clear what was going on. 'I know you think it's misplaced, sir, but I didn't want to leave Rob Haines alone with Marnie King.'

'You know that it shows poor judgement, yet you did it anyway.'

Way too late, she saw there was a better gambit. Why had she come into this with a hangover? She mentally kicked herself. 'Anyway, sir, if we'd both left, then there'd be no one on our side who could know what they were talking about, would there? The more information we have the better.'

Kev Slater looked more interested. 'Is there anything to definitely tie Rob Haines to any corruption?'

Emma forced herself to at least look like she was reviewing the conversation. It wouldn't do to be seen to be supporting Haines. 'No, sir. There was nothing that could be of use to the ongoing Professional Standards investigation.'

Kev Slater nodded with a sour expression on his face. He recognised that her over-formal words were hiding something. 'Well, was there anything of value from the meeting? Or was it just tea and cakes?'

'Yes, it was very valuable,' Emma argued. 'Marnie suggested that some of her drivers could be signed up as Confidential Human Intelligence Sources. The more regular, established ones.'

'Hmmm, I suppose that could be useful,' Slater admitted.

'Definitely useful,' Emma said. 'Think what they must hear in the back of their cabs? It might be good to have a few on our side.'

Kev didn't say anything, a sure sign that Emma was right.

'Anyway, Marnie will hand over a list in the next few days, then we can check things out and then set them up.' She paused for a second or two. 'But obviously, you'd have the final say, you know. If you don't feel it'd be appropriate.'

'No, no, we need some ears on the ground. We've been playing catch-up on the drug problems in this town. Getting ahead of some of them is just what we need. A good result, a shot in the arm for the crime statistics.' He paused this time and studied Emma closely. 'But, while this might be a step in the right direction, I won't forget that you went behind my back to go to the meeting and then defied a direct order to leave.'

Emma bit her tongue. She had been off duty and at a private function. He had no right to talk to her like that. But she knew the Slaters of the world wouldn't listen. He'd made his mind up and marked her card. She nodded to her boss, to give a semblance of politeness, and left the office.

When she was back in her seat, she wanted to put her head on the desk and cry. First, Rob was no longer her boss and now her new boss had isolated her at work. Worse than that – she couldn't now go running to Rob and ask him how to fix this problem. He would be the one who'd know how to either charm Slater or undermine his efforts to ostracise her at work.

With a grim resolve, she continued through the task of following up on Oliver Fairthorpe's clients, checking through the house-to-house statements following the explosion and cross-referencing crime reports from John Garner's associates. All of it was tedious and mind-numbing and there was no promise of light at the end of the tunnel. Whoever this killer was, he was still one, if not ten, steps ahead of them.

Eventually she made it to the end of the day without any great breakthrough being made. She went home and slumped on the sofa. Even Florence could detect her mood and came to sleep next to her on the sofa. She wasn't a cat that'd sleep on a lap but she would lean against someone now and again.

Lucy came in too and got straight to the point. 'Wow! You look really down. I thought dragging Pete back here last night would've put a bit of a smile on your face.'

'Oh, trust me, without that, I'd be suicidal by now.'

'What's up then, love?'

Emma outlined everything that had happened. Aware that Lucy also worked for the police, she was careful with what she said about the corruption within the former CID. But the overall message was clear – Emma had been in a difficult situation between doing the right thing and being loyal to her team.

When she moved on to the other troubles with Lukas, she said, 'You move around in those community based circles, Lucy. Can you think of anywhere that we could put Lukas, keep him out of trouble?'

Lucy thought for a moment, then said, 'You know that holiday park that you raided a while back?' Emma wanted to point out that it wasn't a solo raid, but also didn't want to break Lucy's flow. 'Well, the owner rolled over, pleaded guilty. Of course, with a site like that the Assets Recovery Agency swooped in and got an interim court order, freezing his assets. His lawyer went to court and argued that his residence wasn't part of the business. Anyway, long story short, the CPS, assets branch of SOCA, and a whole bunch of lawyers are arguing over the place.

'Now, I've got this contact called Trevor, who does lots of the community outreach projects. He's been looking out for a site to do some more in-depth, residential work with troubled teens. Maybe even something like a halfway house for when they get out of care and have nowhere to go.' She stopped to draw breath. Emma didn't prompt her as she could see where this was going. 'Now, all the legal arguments are going to take a while, so he's applied to act as administrator for the place. Basically his remit will be to preserve it so it doesn't lose value until it all shakes out. Do you want me to put him in touch with Lukas?'

'What and have Lukas live there?'

'Basically, yes. It needs a caretaker. Trevor's in his fifties, has a family and all that so all he'd be able to do is look in from time to time. If someone was living on site, then they'd be able to do the maintenance and keep an eye on things. You know what it's like, once a property is deserted then it goes downhill.'

Emma nodded. She knew that Lukas would have to be careful. Maybe she'd have a quiet word with this Trevor character. Keep her friend away from temptation. She knew what that world was like though – plenty of opportunities to volunteer and keep busy. 'Thank you, Lucy. If it all works out then it could be the best thing for him.' She handed over Lukas' mobile number and his details at the hospital, currently the best place to find him.

That done, there was nothing to do but to finish the beer and go to bed.