CRIME ON THE FENS a gripping detective thriller full of suspense (21 page)

‘Fucking blue lights, boss! What about the . . . ?’

‘Shut up, you fool!’ screamed Cox. ‘There’s too much at stake! Come on!’

Nikki saw her assailants turn and race for their cars, then she threw down her weapon and dropped to Joseph’s side.

‘Give my love to Hannah!’ shouted Frankie, as she fled away.

‘Rot in hell, bitch! You’ve made a big mistake by not killing me, because I’ll see you dead on a slab one day!’

Nikki turned back to Joseph. His pulse was still erratic, but at least he had a pulse. She just didn’t like the way his eyelids fluttered and his breath was now coming in short, ragged gasps. She ripped off her thin jacket, balled it up and pressed it firmly against the wound in his side.

‘Oh, Joseph! You fool! You bloody stupid fool! Stay with me! You’re going to be fine, you hear me, just fine. I’m not losing the best sergeant I’ve ever had, not now! Talk to me, Joseph!’

‘B., best sergeant? ‘ Blood began to seep from the side of his mouth, but there was the slightest smile there now. ‘Hon, honestly?’

‘No, you’re the biggest idiot I’ve ever met!’

‘Ma’am!’ Despite his weight and poor condition, Dave ran towards Nikki, then almost fell down beside her ‘Are you alright?’ He gasped. ‘My God! Sergeant Easter!’ He staggered back up again. ‘Paramedics! Over here! Quickly!’

‘You, and those guys in green, are the best thing I’ve ever seen, PC Harris!’

Joseph clung tightly to her hand. ‘Ma’am! You have to know, if there was the chance to rewind, I’d do it again.’ He coughed and gave a little cry of pain. ‘I mean, what . . . what if she had been just an ordinary mum collecting her kid?’

‘But she wasn’t, Joseph.’ She stroked his hand and gently pushed the hair from his face.

‘But I couldn’t have taken that risk with an innocent life, could I?’

‘No, no, of course not.’ The tears were now almost blinding her. ‘But just you lay still, the medics are here now.’

He looked at her, his eyes suddenly wide with fear. ‘I don’t feel good.’

Nikki leant over him. ‘Just you hang on there, Joseph Easter, and that’s an order!’

‘Tamsin. Tell Tamsin . . .’

‘Tell her yourself.’

‘Plea . . .’

‘Joseph? Joseph!’

‘It’s okay.’ She felt a hand on her shoulder. ‘We’ve got him, ma’am.’

As the ambulance crew took over, Nikki felt Joseph’s hand slip from hers, and she sunk back on her heels and cried like a baby.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Nikki sat outside the resus. room and clutched a beaker of hot chocolate. She was surprised to see that her hands were still trembling. It had been two hours since they first stabilised Joseph, but they were still not confident enough of his condition to send him to theatre.

‘I put plenty of sugar in, guv, it’ll help with the shock.’ Dave sat across from her, stirred his own drink and looked bemused. ‘Tell me, how come so many people here seem to know you?’

It was true. She was better known here by her first name, than by the staff in her own nick. And there was little point in covering anything up anymore. She was tired, sick to death of all the subterfuge. ‘My daughter is in here, Dave. She’s on the High Dependency Unit. Has been for a long time now.’

‘Daughter? But, I didn’t . . .’

‘No one did. Except the superintendent, and recently Joseph, and he found out by accident.’

‘But, ma’am! That’s awful! I could have helped, I’m sure!’

Nikki gave a long shuddery sigh. ‘You know, you really are a good bloke, Dave, but you’ve got enough problems of your own.’

‘We all have our crosses to bear, ma’am, but it doesn’t stop us lending a hand to a friend, does it?’

She looked across at him, quite liking the thought of being someone’s friend. ‘You’re beginning to sound like Joseph.’

‘That’s not such a bad thing, is it?’ Dave asked with a faint smile.

‘No, it’s not.’ She stared across to the room where gowned hospital staff were still moving around her injured sergeant.

Nikki sank further down in her chair. She was so weary of sitting in hospital waiting areas, while those she loved and cared about lay on trolleys, or beds or tables, with their lives suspended between heaven and earth.

‘He’s going to make it, you know,’ said Dave positively.

‘If he does, it’s down to you. I never dreamed you’d follow us, I thought you’d have gone to the docks.’

‘I don’t like crowds, guv. And I had a really bad feeling about you and the sarge.’

‘Thank Heavens you did.’

‘By the time I got there, Joseph was already on the ground, and you were yelling your head off.’ Dave shook his head. ‘I rang for the ambulance and told them I needed a quiet approach to the entrance as far from the river as possible. I ran back when I saw their vehicles, then I had to re-evaluate the scene, didn’t I? I couldn’t let those medics wade into a potentially life-threatening situation, but when that one came at you with the knife, I told them to throw on the blues and twos and decided to wade in and help. Am I glad those villains decided to leg it!’

‘You came across that car park as if the hounds of hell were after you.’ Nikki gave him a tired smile. ‘I had no idea you possessed such speed.’

‘Surprised myself, ma’am. It’s funny what the old adrenaline can do.’

‘Control to PC Harris, confirm your location. Over.’ Dave’s radio crackled into life.

‘PC Harris here, still at Greenborough Hospital. Over.’

‘Any news on Sergeant Easter?’

‘Not yet. I’ll contact immediately that we have anything.’

‘Thanks. The super wants you to ring control on a landline, please?’

‘Wilco.’ Dave flicked off his radio and turned to Nikki. ‘They want me to ring in.’ His voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Must be for an update on what’s going down.’

Nikki straightened up. ‘Then go. And ask them when it all kicks off and if they have the suspects in place.’

Dave was back in moments. ‘Everything is ready. They reckon within the hour, and they have four suspects in their sights, three male and one female.’

Nikki gave up a silent thank you.

‘Sorry to interrupt, Mrs Galena, but we are ready to take your officer to theatre.’ The doctor, yet another who had attended Hannah, gave her an exhausted smile. ‘Touch and go, but he’s much more stable now, and we’d rather not wait too long. We can’t afford an internal bleed, but as long as his vital signs stay as they are, he’s got a really good chance of pulling through. You can wait with him until they take him up, if you like.’

‘Try and stop me.’ Nikki grinned at Dave, who immediately passed on the good news to their colleagues.

At the door, she faltered, her legs suddenly unable to carry her into the room. What if he didn’t make it? What if there was another bleed? What if he finished up like . . . ?

‘So where’s the grapes?’ Joseph’s voice may have been weak and raspy, but it broke the binding spell.

‘Still on Tesco’s shelf, Sergeant. Sorry, I’ve been busy chasing villains.’

‘Was it my imagination, or did you really call that masked thug “a little shit-bag”?’

‘
Fucking
little shit-bag, actually.’

‘Oh, good.’

Nikki was suddenly overcome with relief, and almost ran to his side. ‘How are you feeling, you great . . .’

‘I feel like I’ve been stabbed, and idiot is the word, isn’t it?’

He reached for her hand, and she took it gladly. ‘Idiot will do, until I get you back into the CID room. By then, I’ll have had time to think of a few more appropriate ones.’

Joseph’s expression changed. ‘I’m so sorry, ma’am. I put us both in danger.’ He looked thoroughly miserable. ‘I can’t imagine why I believed her! My instincts have never let me down before. In all my years as a soldier. . .’ his words seem to dry up.

‘Maybe, finally, you are not that soldier anymore. That soldier you so desperately wanted to leave behind? Perhaps you are one hundred per cent policeman now, and it’s a very different job. We are fighting a different sort of enemy, Joseph, and it’s not straightforward, we make mistakes, believe me!’

‘Maybe.’ He closed his eyes, then everything seemed to flood back to him. ‘Ma’am! Was it the right ship? Did they seize the drugs? Did they get the gang?’

‘Whoa! Relax! You must stay calm, Joseph! Yes, it’s the right ship. But the operation can’t begin until the cargo is unloaded. They have to catch the villains taking possession of the consignment. The super says everything is in place, and our rat-faced friends are waiting in the freight office, paperwork in hand.’

‘Including Frankie Doyle? She was the woman who stabbed me, wasn’t she?’

‘Yes, Joseph, she’s there, and they’ll catch her. Then she’ll suffer for what she’s done, I promise you.’

Joseph closed his eyes again. ‘Promise me something else?’

Nikki moved closer. ‘It’s no schmaltzy, “Tell Laura I love her” stuff, is it?’

‘Far from it,’ he gripped her hand tightly. ‘Listen, they told me my operation is not without risk, and even if all goes well, I may be in here for some time.’

‘I know that, but you are going to be fine, I have it on the best authority from your number one fan, Dave Harris.’

She looked around, and on cue, Dave lifted a hand and waved through the observation window.

Joseph smiled at the man, then turned back to her, his face deadly serious. ‘Frankie Doyle. When you get her into custody, and I have no doubt that you will, do it by the book! Promise me, ma’am?’

Nikki frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You know exactly what I mean. She’s done you immeasurable damage.’ He gripped her tighter. ‘But don’t give her one inch to play with, not one tiny discrepancy where she could have anything on you, and get herself off.’ He gave her a small smile. ‘I know you’d like to tear her limb from limb, slowly and without anaesthetic, but for God’s sake, treat her with kid gloves! She
has
to go down! She
has
to go to prison, and she
has
to stay there, ma’am.’ His breathing became laboured, but he hadn’t finished. ‘And don’t forget, she is probably the one person who knows where Kerry Anderson is. If you antagonise her even more, she’ll never tell us anything.’

Before Nikki could answer, a voice called out, ‘Time to go, Joseph.’

Two porters stood in the doorway, and the doctor and a small army of nurses began organising drips and monitors for his trip to theatre.

‘Don’t wait around here, ma’am. Get yourself down to the docks for a piece of the action.’

‘I think I’ve had quite enough of that for one day, thank you very much, Sergeant. Maybe I’ll do as suggested, and leave this one to the professionals.’

As the bed was pushed towards the door, he called back, ‘Whatever you do, don’t let her win.’

She followed him along the corridor towards the lifts. ‘Good luck, Joseph,’ she whispered. ‘I’d like to pray for you, but it doesn’t seem to have worked too well recently.’

As the lift doors closed, he smiled wanly and said, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that, I’m still here, aren’t I?’

Dave met her in reception. ‘There’ll be a few nails being bitten down at the docks right now.’

Nikki nodded. Normally she would have given her eye teeth to be a part of the raid, but not this time. This time she would prefer to keep close to the operating theatre. And anyway, a horrible lethargic tiredness was creeping into her bones. Today she and Joseph had been a hair’s breadth from death, and she was feeling the aftermath.

‘I think I’d like to go and spend a little while with my daughter. Would you stick around in case there is any news on the sergeant?’

‘Of course. And I’ll come and get you if I hear anything, either about Joseph, or from the station.’

As Nikki walked the long corridors to HDU, she saw Frankie Doyle’s wicked eyes in every other person she passed. There was no doubt now that she had fully intended to kill Hannah. As it was, by committing her to a long, living death must have been even more deliciously satisfying for her twisted ego. Nikki bit back tears. Sadly, the bitch had been right. Maybe it would have been easier to die out there in the cattle market, than to keep living the sort of life she had now. If Hannah had died, she would have buried her, then grieved, and finally, as everyone has to, moved on with her life. But the night she spiked Hannah’s drink, Frankie Doyle had committed them both to limbo.

At the door of Hannah’s room, she stopped. Through the window she could see a nurse carefully washing her daughter’s face. Hannah seemed to be awake, her eyes were open, but there was no interaction with the woman that was caring for her. There never was.

Nikki swallowed back the sob that was rising in her throat. How could she go in there and sit with her child? How could she talk inanely to her, knowing that the woman who put her there was still very much alive, and had just cold-bloodedly knifed her colleague?

She remained at the door, looking in for a moment or two more, then turned and walked slowly back down the corridor. She couldn’t face her. Not today.

As she walked, she decided that Joseph was right. Everything regarding the treatment of Frankie Doyle had to be carried out by the book. There should be no legal loophole that she could squeeze through. But could she do it? The punishment meted out by the judges didn’t always reflect the severity of the crime, and Nikki wasn’t sure that she wanted to leave that judgment to chance.

Frankie Doyle was going to pay, one way or another.