CHAPTER 29
We settled down to sorting out more of the shitstorm of paperwork, and I caught Blake looking at me, which destroyed my concentration. I could remember everything from the night before, including the hand-holding, but I was sober now. Let it ride, DC Owens, let it slide, and he’ll do the same. Booze and stress, that’s all it was. Sammy ruined that plan.

“Di? Blake? Could you two do a run up to the greasy before we sort out the charging? I need cholesterol, and I need it now! Couple of dog rolls for me, and I’ll shout for whatever the others want”

Shit. No escape, though, so I took his cash and the team’s orders, and the two of us set off for the canteen.

“Di?”

Sigh. “Yes, mate?”

“Don’t worry about me. You take whatever time you want, whatever you need. No assumptions from me”

Right then, it would have been all too easy to pour out a decade of hate and pain, but not there, not then. Police, professional. I simply nodded and opened the canteen door.

There were around fifteen of our colleagues in there, and to my horror, as soon as the nearest clocked us, they started to clap, to stand and applaud. I felt my face burning as I scuttled to the counter, head down, but Blake just stopped in the middle of the room and held up his hands.

“And there’s nobody here who wouldn’t have done the same, innit? We just got this one right, so let’s not get silly. But thanks”

I spotted Bryn and Barry in a corner, so handed the list to Blake before walking over to them. Bryn stood and hugged me, followed by Barry.

“That was bloody well done, girl. We clearly trained you well. How’s the boy?”

“Bit shit state, Barry. He got a right kicking from the bastards”

Bryn shrugged. “He’s alive, and they are locked up. Focus on that, aye? Told you those two were cunts. I get the impression you already knew that, though. Nice recovery on the asp, girl, but I think you used the whole can on his face! Not seen that much snot for years!”

That broke the mood, and I was able to laugh at last.

“What did you see, mate? Oh, your statement done, before we get into that bit?”

He held up a small bundle of envelopes.

“Me and the dwarf here have got all the Traffic boys’ statements here, copies of pocket book entries, the lot. The lot. Thought we’d drop by with them after a bite”

I grinned at them both. “Aye, and you hadn’t heard we’ve got a tea urn?”

Bryn, laughed in his turn. “And decent biccies, we hear! Dai Gould’s been making the rounds, stirring up the relief to get all their paperwork done, so expect a small avalanche of brown envelopes soon”

“Ah, not being funny, mate, but you know what CID are like; they want everything just so”

Barry just grinned, shaking hid ==s head.

“You know your new boss pulled his old lot in? They’ve been running a twenty-four-hour vetting service on statements. Not seen everyone pull together like this since Adam got rammed off his bike”

“You heard back from him at all, mate?”

He grinned at me. “You didn’t do poker face that well when you first came, girl! I’ll ask, yeah? Sure I can find someone who knows someone, isn’t it?”

“Ta, mate”

Order filled, Blake and I took our leave as well as their bundle of statements, and back at the room ran into Sergeant Gould, who was carrying an even bigger bundle and a couple of cardboard boxes.

“Kettle on, Di?”

“You bloody well know we’ve got an urn! And biccies!”

He smiled. “And I’ve got cake, from Debbie. Sends all their thanks and prayers. Made it herself---she’s bloody good at it, too, so I am most definitely here for a piece rather than some pathetic biscuits. Coffee and walnut, and lemon drizzle, that’s what she said”

He settled himself in a corner with the boxes, producing a stack of paper plates from somewhere, and smiled at the ‘who takes what and how’ sheet before making another round of drinks for us all. For our part, we settled down to copy all the statements and begin the job of collating and comparing them. Sammy’s old lot seemed to have done an excellent job.

That man was in his usual place, bent over a computer terminal and muttering to himself. That ended in a bark of glee.

“Mates, got more forensics in. Off Omar’s clothing—Dai Pritchard’s DNA on it. That’s him stuffed right tidy!”

After the noise died down, Sammy looked round at the team, rubbing his neck.

“I really need to get my posture sorted. Doing my back in, all this computer work. It’s just all so….PC!”

Rob called him a bastard while the team groaned, and Sammy just bowed in acknowledgement.

“Blake, you brother is due in an hour, so Dai, can you bugger off for a bit? Send our thanks for the cake you haven’t already eaten, but we have a bit of need-to-know coming up. This could be very, very tasty. No offence, mate”

Dai just grinned. “No offence taken, butt. I will assume this is yet more nails for their coffins, so I’ll be gone once I’ve finished this cuppa”

“Got an hour, mate”

“Aye, Sammy, but you’ll want to brief this lot first. I’ll give your best to them all”

Once he was gone, Sammy walked out into the middle of the room.

“Mates, we’ve got this lot stitched up right tidy now, but there’s always room for more on top. You will know that we’ve been getting calls and snottagrams, or at least the bosses have”

Rob called across “Aren’t you a boss, then?”

Sammy nodded in recognition. “Yes, and don’t ever forget that, little man!”

He was grinning, though, clearly joking, but he wasn’t finished.

“No, not my level, not even the Super, but right up to the top, to the Complaints Commission as well. There’s a local councillor, got some influence, pulls a load of strings, innit? He’s the one paying the expensive suits and shysters. Claims it’s a vendetta against his family. Now, some of you already know this, so bear with me. This is not to leave this room.

“Inspector Powell, Elaine, explained what went on with her sister. Joe Evans, the one who pissed himself, beat her up so badly she was found unconscious by the roadside and taken to hospital. That, as she explained, is why she has had to move on. While her daughter was in hospital, she was visited by two police officers, and we nicked them with Joe Evans. They told her her fortune, in a nasty and threatening way, while she was lying in hospital. Thing is, they are not, or rather WERE not, South Wales boys but Dyfed-Powys, and they had fuck-all business being on our turf.

“They went too far on that one, and after a few too many fast and loose games, they were managed out”

I couldn’t hold my tongue. “They were sacked, you mean”

Sammy stared at me, and yet again it was flat and appraising.

“Yes, girl. They had a leaving do and decided to drive while pissed, and purely by chance, some of their former colleagues were waiting for them to leave. Coincidence. Could have happened to anyone”

He waited once for the muttering to die down.

“Family values, mates. The complainant, the one paying for the suits, is Ashley Evans, and both Rob and Joe are members of his family. So young Blake here had a thought about where the money is coming from, and he has a brother who works for HMRC, and so a hint may have been dropped. Unofficially. Got that bit? It is now official, because someone decided to have a look at some local builders for a tax assurance exercise, and, well, his firm stinks. Blake’s brother Sean is due here shortly, as are some of Ellen’s old crowd from the financial team. Rhys, could you pop down to the front desk and bring in Sean when they ring?”

Rhys nodded, and Sammy continued.

“Simples, really. We cut off their funding, get them onto duty solicitor rather than posh law firm. Not that that is our reason, of course, We are merely responding to allegations of criminality, Your Honour, and any fall-out is merely a coincidence”

The phone went, and Rhys was out the door at a nod from Sammy. Sean turned out to be a little smaller than Blake, but not by much, and I caught him looking at Candice quite intently; obviously a randy sod. Ellen’s old colleagues stopped by twenty minutes later, and they began their discussions.

I will be honest, it was all right over my head, so I just left them to get on with it. I didn’t need to know the details, or the methods; I just wanted to see our prisoners well and truly stuffed.

By the end of the day, our part of it all was done and dusted, and I was slowly sorting my things out for the run back to my digs, my shoulders aching as much as I assumed Sammy’s were. Blake came over with his phone out, and I saw Sean’s eyebrows go up slightly. Ah.

“You been talking to your brother, Blake?”

He actually blushed.

“Er, yeah”

“Talking about Candice? Office blonde, was it?”

“No. Not at all. Look, got a text from Mark. Your Dad. Says to come to tea if I want, usual spare bed stuff”

“Usual?”

“You know what I mean. You OK with that?”

“Do I get a choice?”

He mulled that over for a few seconds.

“No, not this time. Lift in and back?”

I gave in. “All right, then. Let them know. I’ll grab my stuff and be off in, what? Ten minutes?”

“Yeah. Do me”

On a hunch, I pulled my phone from my bag, and the text was there, from Mam, suggesting exactly what he had described. I was outnumbered.

I had to ask, so once the car was rolling I grilled him about his brother.

“What was all that staring at Candice crap, mate? And the eyebrow thing?”

“Um, I sort of told him about the team. Said what good sorts you all are”

“Bollocks you did. What was really going on?”

“Er…”

He shut up for the time it took him to deal with a set of lights, and then continued speaking, eyes fixed on the road as they always were when he drove, smoothly and safely.

“Di, I told my bro that I liked someone on the team. You know I do. You know it’s you”

“Blake, I can’t, you know…”

A rare glance sideways.

“I know, Di. I know. That is why I don’t push anything. Thing is, I didn’t say who it was, so, with Candice being, you know…”

“All hair and tits and sweet girly girl? He should have seen her going after those arseholes in the van, might put him off rather a lot!”

“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you about that in a bit. I think he realised he had the wrong girl when I showed you the text from your Dad”

“Ah. So he’ll know you’re not after her then. Don’t think she’s seeing anyone, so---what?”

He had laughed out loud at that comment, which broke my flow.

“What’s the joke, mate?”

“Sean’s on the same bus as Chris, Di!”

“Oh fuck. Sorry, mate. Just a bit up my own arse at times”

His tone changed. “Hard not to be, in your position. Now, a quick one and one makes two, OK? I know about Elaine’s sister and three of those shits. This is how I see it. I know what happened to you, back when you were a kid. I am guessing that the big man is the bastard paying for the brief, so we will leave it at that. Sort of not shooting blindly here, but I will assume you were visited in the same way Elaine’s sister was---shit!”

He found a lay-by somehow, and parked the car before turning to me, where my bloody treasonous emotions had knocked my off balance and the tears had struck without warning. Turning towards me, he unclicked our seatbelts and pulled me to him, strong arms around me till I could speak. Once I was back, he simply let me go, opened the glove box and passed me some tissues.

“Sorry, girl. If you’d rather I dropped you off and went home, that’s fine”

I said nothing, so he carried on, filling the silence.

“Yes. No point pretending, is there? Yes, I like you, and it’s a hell of a lot. You’ve got soul, girl, heart and soul. The way you’ve been treated, and you just fight back. Yes, I am fond of you, and yes, in that way, but I am not going to push you, and I don’t want to lose one of my truest friends. So just say the word, aye? And I will back off”

I looked at him, filling his side of the car to overflowing. Everything Adam wasn’t, and everything Adam was. Everything that Ashley Evans had been, physically, but nothing that the bastard’s soul held was anything like this careful, gentle, caring man. I sat quietly, thinking through my life and what three utter bastards had done to it.

Before I knew it, I was laughing, and he turned back to me, worry in every line of his face, so I put a hand on his arm.

“It’s OK, mate. Just a memory, yeah? I was on stag with Alun, and we had to pretend, you know?”

“I heard”

“Yes. I know. It was good gossip. But, here’s the thing. We drove back from our stint on stag, and I was thinking, you know, all those years since the car park by Ogmore, that bastard Ashley Evans, all that time, and it was my first kiss. And it was play-acting, with a colleague, so it wasn’t, not really, not a kiss”

“And?”

“And… I got to thinking about what they’d stolen from me, so much of my life. So… So could you just bloody well lean over here and give some back? And kiss me?”