Foul Justice (2 page)

Approximately two weeks before, Lorne had been having a lazy Monday morning, going through the necessary paperwork that accompanied her new career, when the persistent ringing of the doorbell had interrupted her.

“All right, all right. Keep your knickers on.”

Her mouth had dropped open when she saw Detective Chief Inspector Sean Roberts standing on the doorstep, looking kind of sheepish.

“Sir—I mean, Sean. What the hell are you doing here?” He hadn’t contacted her since she’d resigned and left the force, so her surprise was genuine.

He gave her an embarrassed smile and looked over his shoulder at the road behind him. “Umm…‌Getting wet at the moment. Any chance I can come in for a chat?”

“Of course. Sorry.”

Her former boss followed her through to the kitchen where Henry, her eight-year-old border collie, rushed up to greet him.

“In your bed, boy,” Lorne told her four-legged companion. Wagging his tail, he trotted back to his squidgy bed, sulked and moaned when he threw himself down. “Typical man. He likes to have the last word.”

“He remembered me.” Sean smiled nervously.

Something didn’t fit right. Sean appeared uncomfortable, awkward to be there. Lorne had never seen him like that, not even during their relationship years before.

“A coffee would be nice?” he asked hopefully as she sized him up.

“Gosh, where are my manners? I’m so shocked to see you.” She filled the kettle and motioned for Sean to sit at the kitchen table. “Milk and sugar?”

“You mean you can’t remember?”

She blushed at his teasing. “Why are you here, Sean?” She picked up the milk carton and poured a few drops in both mugs.

He responded as she eased into the chair opposite him. “I want you to reconsider and come back to the Met.”

“You’re kidding me?” She almost dropped her mug on the table.

“Nope. It took a lot for me to come here and ask you, Lorne, especially after the way you handed in your resignation.”

Dumbfounded, she said, “My views haven’t altered.”

“I can understand that. Just like I understood where you were coming from when you handed your letter to me. It was tough, losing Pete like that.”

She dropped her gaze to the table, determined not to show him how affected she still was by her partner’s death.
You can’t work with someone for almost eight years and watch them die in your arms and dismiss the residual pain and guilt with a mere click of your fingers.

Clearing her throat, she looked him in the eye. “I don’t understand why you’re asking me to return, then.”

“To be honest, I’m a man down…‌Yes, I know, you’re a woman, but you know what I mean.”

With her interest piqued, she leaned across the table and asked, “So what happened to DI Paul Marsden then?”

“Umm…‌He wasn’t up to the job, and that’s all I’m prepared to say about him. So?”

“What about Superintendent Greenfall?”

“Let’s just say he realised what a good copper you were when it was too late.”

She laughed at the irony behind his words. He studied her while she got her laughter under control. “I’m not sure, Sean. I have a whole new career now. And…‌er, Tony and I are due to get married in a few weeks.”

He seemed stunned by the news, if only for a second. He recovered quickly. “Wow, congrats. You don’t waste much time, do you?”

It was her turn to be shocked. “What do you mean by that?”

Looking shamefaced, Sean chewed his bottom lip for a second or two. “Nothing.” He quickly turned the conversation back to the reason for his visit. “So how about it? The thing is, I need a quick answer; otherwise, I’ll have to advertise internally.”

Silence filled the kitchen for a while, and Lorne thoughtfully sipped at her mug of coffee. She took in the worry lines she’d never noticed before around her ex-boss’ grey eyes.

“Lorne?”

“Good God, Sean, you can’t turn up here after having no contact with me for almost two years and expect me to answer a life-changing question within a few minutes. I have Tony to consider, nowadays. All our decisions are made jointly.”

Reluctantly, Sean stood up and looked down at her. “Fair enough. Can you give me an answer by the end of my shift tomorrow?”

“Still working nine-to-five, are you?” She laughed, trying to break through the chill that had materialised between them. He’d never been the type to do less than a sixty-hour week.

“Hah! That’d be nice. Maybe if you came back to work for me, it would ease my workload a little.” He held up his hands. “Not that I’m putting any pressure on you, of course.”

They walked up the Minton-tiled hallway to the front door. “Of course not. I promise to get back to you tomorrow, Sean, either way. Thanks for asking. Oh, and it was good to see you again after all this time,” she added, hoping to make him feel guilty for avoiding her over the past few years.

She and Tony had spoken at length, weighing up the pros and cons of going back to work with Sean and her old team. Her fiancé’s final words on the matter were, “Give it a go. If things don’t work out, you can always leave and pick up where you left off with the renovations.”

So, there she was, her first day back in paid employment with the Met. After quickly bolting down a piece of buttered toast, Lorne left the house and set off to her new-old job.

CHAPTER TWO

L
orne parked her Nova
in the station car park at five minutes to nine and stood, glancing up at the station for a few minutes, trepidation tingling along the hairs on her neck.

Come on, girl. As Ty Pennington would say, ‘Let’s do it!’

Not much had changed in the drab reception area. A few of the uniformed coppers nodded their heads in acknowledgement and recognition. Walking up to the desk, she was saddened to see Sergeant Harry Watson standing erect behind it.

“Everything all right, ma’am?” he asked, looking perplexed.

“What? Oh sorry, Harry. I was expecting Sergeant Harris.”

“Ahh…‌Bert retired at the end of last year, ma’am. Can I just say it’s good to have you back?”

Lorne smiled and nodded. “Of course he did. I’ll have to drop by and see him when I get five minutes—and thanks, Harry. That’s kind of you.” She shrugged and pulled a face. “I’ll tell you at the end of the week if it’s good to be back.”

The sergeant buzzed her through the secure door, and she walked up the concrete stairs, through the grey dingy hallway to the incident room. When she opened the door, Sean stopped addressing the group of officers in the Serious Crime Squad, and everyone turned to look at her. A moment’s silence filled the room before AJ started clapping. Before long, the room had erupted into applause, and Lorne battled to control the flush turning her cheeks beet red.

Sean approached her, took her by the elbow, and guided her into the room. They came to a standstill in front of the whiteboard that she assumed the DCI had been writing fresh notes upon. Sean raised his hand, and the room fell silent again.

He cleared his throat and announced, “Lorne, on behalf of the gang, welcome back. You’ve been missed.”

Glancing around the room, she saw her old team nod their heads in approval at the DCI’s words. But one person, a young woman at the back, was giving her a hard, cold stare.

“Thanks, Detective Chief Inspector Roberts. It’s good to be back, I think. I’ve missed all you guys, too. Now, let’s get to work, shall we?” She’d never been one for idle chitchat during working hours, and her team knew that. She just hoped they remembered it and hadn’t let their standards slip in her absence.

Sean took over. “I guess the first thing I should do is introduce you to a new member of the team. Katy, step forward please.” The woman joined them, apparently grudgingly. Lorne stretched out her hand to greet Katy as Sean introduced them. “Sergeant Katy Foster, this is Superwoman herself—otherwise known as Detective Inspector Lorne Simpkins, your new partner.”

The pair shook hands. Lorne smiled, while the other woman’s mouth remained set in a straight line. Lorne made a mental note to find out the officer’s background from Roberts after the meeting was over.

Roberts seemed to ignore the sergeant’s strange behaviour. “Okay, Lorne. Do you want to take a seat over here? I’ll fill everyone in on a new case that cropped up overnight. Feel free to butt in any time to ask questions.”

Both women sat down as Roberts ran through the case.

“At some time just after eleven last night, Dave Dobbs returned to his house in Chelsea to find his two small children murdered and his wife fighting for her life.”

Chelsea?
Lorne asked
,
“That’s a pretty well-to-do area, sir. Are we talking a wealthy family, here?”

Sean smiled, obviously pleased to see her police brain kicking into gear within minutes of being back on duty. “Yes, Inspector. When I tell you that Dave Dobbs is a premiership footballer, you’ll get an idea of the kind of money we’re talking about. Here’s where it gets interesting: the proprietor can’t understand how an intruder could get into the house. The place has state-of-the-art security. Okay, there are no dogs on guard, because they had young kids, but they have CCTV, and no one could get in the gates without knowing the code,” Roberts said, pointing to the notes he’d written on the board.

“Are there any nearby neighbours? Did they see or hear anything?” Lorne asked.

“Not sure, as yet. I want you to go out there first thing, Inspector, to walk the scene. I’m not sure what the neighbourhood is like, whether it’s close-knit or not—I suspect the latter, since Dobbs had all that security. None of the neighbours have been questioned yet. I’d like you to organise your team to go house to house. It’s all we’ve got to go on at the moment. SOCO are at the house now; Joe Wallis is in charge over there. He’s relatively new, so you won’t know him. Any other questions? Bear in mind, this is all we have to go on at this time.”

“How bad is the wife? What’s her condition? And what happened to the kids, sir?” Lorne asked quietly.

“The wife, Trisha, is on a ventilator. She was stabbed repeatedly. I’m waiting on a doctor’s report as to how bad she really is. And the kids—Rebecca, aged four, and Jacob, aged two—had their throats cut.”

“Jesus, have you had any other incidents like this in recent months?” Lorne asked, her professionalism uppermost despite her eyes misting up with tears at the thought of the pain and suffering the little mites must have been subjected to. In all her time in the force, she’d never come across such a crime. She’d encountered heinous crimes of murder and rape—her own teenage daughter had been a victim of the latter—but she’d never actually come across a burglary where the criminal had killed two innocent toddlers.

Sean Roberts shook his head. “Not that I know of. I’ve instructed Molly to check the database to see if anything else flags up in another area.”

Lorne looked around to find Molly in the room and gave her a quick smile. Molly, a brunette in her mid-thirties with whom Lorne had had severe problems in the past, smiled back and gave a thumbs-up.

“Right, any other questions?” Roberts asked, scanning the room.

The room remained silent.

“Very well then. Lorne, I’d like to see you in your office for five minutes, and then you can instruct your team on what you want them to do next.” Roberts was already walking in the direction of Lorne’s office.

Her stomach clenched as she stood on the threshold of the room she’d once shared with her dead partner, Pete. Roberts watched, expression concerned. Lorne sucked in a deep breath and could’ve sworn she smelt Pete’s Cool Water aftershave lingering in the doorway with her. Was it possible he was there to lend a helping hand?

“Everything all right, Lorne?”

She took a hesitant step into the room. “Yeah, just a few memories I have to contend with.”

Roberts grimaced. “If I could sort you out another office, I would, but these renovations seemed to have ground to a halt with all the cutbacks going on at the moment.”

She laughed. “Hey, maybe my builders could lend a hand.”

“That’s right. I forgot you’re into that sort of thing now. What’s happening with that side of things? Is Tony taking over the reins?”

“No. We’re seeing how things progress here first—”

“Whoa! You mean you don’t think this is going to work out?” Roberts said, shocked.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, sir. There’s no telling what might happen. My builders will continue to work on the properties under the guidance of the foreman. I bunged him an extra £50 a week. I can catch up with things on the weekend, provided I’m not expected to do overtime. And before you make promises you can’t keep, I know that whether I get time off or not depends on how a case is going. I’m not that green.”

“It’s good to have you back, Lorne. I’ve missed your feistiness and ‘tell it how it is’ attitude. Your predecessor was so far up his own backside…‌Well, you know what I mean. I think he had a sense of humour bypass in his dim and not-so-distant past.”

She laughed. Feeling less tense, she walked around the desk and sat in her old chair. Yes, she was back.
Now what?

She remembered Katy’s cool greeting. “This new sergeant, what’s her background?”

He sat in the chair opposite her and steepled his fingers, as he usually did when he was contemplating something.

“She was transferred from the Manchester force, just passed her sergeant’s exam. This will be the first case in her new role.”

“So, as well as returning to work after a two-year absence, it’s up to me to babysit a new recruit, too?”

Sean chuckled. “She’s hardly young, Lorne.”

“Are you kidding me? She’s barely out of nappies. She must be what, twenty-three?”

“Very good. She’s twenty-two.”

Lorne whistled and shook her head. “I’ve never known a sergeant that young, sir. What’s the story?”

The DCI winced and said quietly, “She’s a friend of Superintendent Greenfall. Well, she’s not, but her father is. She’s got a bit of a chip on her shoulder. I thought you could knock her into shape in your own inimitable way.”

Stunned, she stared at him open-mouthed before she recovered. “Christ, welcome back to the lion’s den, Lorne, and don’t forget to suck up to your new
novice
partner. She’s your nemesis’ protégée. If you don’t tippy-toe around her, you know what will happen.”