The Job 33

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CHAPTER 33
That was a phrase that had lived in my mind ever since two men had visited me in a hospital bed. I thought it through for a while, looking at Elaine. She didn’t let me down, and I knew then, if I hadn’t before, that she never would. The hint was taken.

“Bev?”

“Yes, Elaine?”

“We do have another way into this one, one I am keen to follow rather than the usual way”

“You mean?”

“We don't just stick his name in the press and see who else comes forward with their own accusations. No, I am concerned about my sister. I believe Di is with me on this one. Sarah has taken a very long time to get over what they did to her, and If we go all-out on the publicity regarding Ashley Evans it may rebound on her”

Williams’ voice was softer. “I remember hearing about that one”

“Aye, bastards had it all over the local press, the idiots. Means a lot of the evidence is public domain now. What we do have is a nurse, one of those who witnessed Pritchard and Bob Evans’ little bit of social work. Could we start there?”

I found my voice again. “I had my own nurse”

Iwan looked across, and I realised that the three of them were starting to forget I was there.

“What do you mean, Di? Precisely?”

“I had my own nurse. Janice. I don’t know the rest of her name, but she wasn’t happy. I remember her doing… I remember some sort of procedure in, that part---down there, yeah. I was a little out of it, because I was only sixteen, and a very big man had just punched me unconscious. There were two people, a couple come down to the car park, probably for a bit of fun of their own. Hal and Kerry”

Iwan was still staring at me. “You can remember all this? Still?”

I shrugged. “Hard to explain, really, but while the details are all mixed up, some of them are very, very clear”

“Iwan?”

“Yes, Bevan?”

“I think we should follow Elaine’s route to see who we can pull out of the woodwork, and then look for the nurse involved in her treatment. I have one particular suggestion, well, two, but they come to the same thing. Firstly, we dig into the logs of emergency calls that night. Then, I think we need some sort of team approach to this. Can anyone suggest a unit that has expertise in bringing together disparate strands of investigative techniques to crack multi-layer cases?”

Elaine’s boss started laughing. “You empire-building bastard, Williams! I loan you my best Inspector, and you cream off the kudos, sod that you are! No, sorry, but not sorry, if you catch my meaning. You are right, but Diane remains central to this investigation, and in particular to our concerns. Do you have other work for her in the meantime?”

He turned to me. “Your team will be ideal, young lady, but you will not be involved in the investigation. Sorry, but it has to be done”

Elaine had her hand up. “If I may, Iwan?”

“Go ahead”

“Di, love, there is no way anyone would ever think of taking you off the team, not with what you have achieved there, and in particular in the way in which you have done it. Look at me, aye? Kicked into touch as soon as we realised who was involved. I didn’t, I don’t like it, but it had to be done. Has to be done. Now, there’s something else going on here, and I suspect the team will be staying in existence, and Iwan was talking about ‘cold case’ work. Am I right, Bev?”

“Absolutely, Elaine. I see a future for them, and one rather wider than a single force can use. What better team to look into an old rape case. I have a role for you, Diane, pro tem. We can discuss that when you return, but I stress the temporary aspect. I want you back in place as soon as we can arrange it without buggering up your own case”

Once again, Elaine’s hand was up, and Iwan just looked at her with a grin of real affection.

“No, Elaine, you can’t go back there. You were on secondment, and if South Wales want to build empires, they can use their own assets. I need you here. I suspect you had something else, though?”

“Yes, boss. Sorry, boss. Three bags full, boss”

“Oh shut up and get on with it, woman!”

“OK. One thing we really need to do is avoid sending any signals out. We can be reasonably certain they have somebody, some relative, either in a main control room somewhere, probably in Abertawe or yng Nghaerdydd”

Pause for laughter, and a grin from her.

“We need to pull the 999 records for that night as well as for several others, in several areas. We don’t need to look at the smoke screen stuff, just the time and place we are interested in, so it will look like a huge pile of work, but that’ll not be the case. We don’t alert whichever mole they have”

I caught a mutter of ‘rat’, but couldn’t be sure which man it was from, but she was right. I put my own hand up, and Iwan nodded.

“Do I not get to do anything in this?”

Elaine and Iwan both said ‘No’ at the same time, while Bevan Williams clearly said “Yes”

We all turned to the phone, and he continued.

“Diane needs an involvement, and that is largely as a sounding board, someone who can help steer the investigation. Diane, you will need to be cut out of the loop at times, and you will not be with the team, but you will still be involved. You will avoid any involvement with witnesses, for example, and any statements apart from your own, but you will not be left to fester in the dark. Are we all in agreement?”

We were.

2Then I have a meeting coming up in ten minutes, so I will be off. Diane, I will give Inspector Patel your new AND TEMPORARY assignment when I am out of the meeting, but I have one important question to ask. Are you up to briefing your team on this one?”

I didn’t have to think too long before giving my assent, and after a little more socialising, at a level I had never thought I would ever be involved, I set off home.

I stayed in my digs that night, the solitude helping me to find my centre, focus on my strength. One of the bastards had recognised me, I thought, so it would probably be general knowledge by now, but sod it. Let them sweat on it.

Into work the next morning, urn and kettle on, Samir straight over.

“You, me, Super’s office soon as, girl. Got clean knickers on?”

“Cheeky Inspector! I’ll just dump this and be with you”

A nod to the others as they came in, and off through the maze to Bev Williams office, his PA waving us straight through.

“Hello, Sammy! Diane! Has she filled you in at all, Sammy?”

“Not a word, sir”

Remember that. Not ‘Bevan’ today.

“Good, good. Diane, I assume you will only wish to give one briefing on this matter”

“Please, sir”

“Right. Sammy, a number of things. Firstly, do you have any objections to staying where you are at the moment?”

“You are keeping the team going, sir?”

Bevan smiled. The Superintendent smiled—keep it straight, DC Owens.

“Absolutely, Sammy, and we already have a new job for you, once everything is handed over from the current one. Diane will brief you in a few minutes, but she will be working elsewhere temporarily. You will understand. I have a file here with the crunchy parts of the new investigation laid out, and you will be amused to know that it ties in with what you are currently doing”

That nasty smile of Sammy’s made an appearance again.

“Would this involve a certain councillor Evans by any chance? Sir?”

Williams’ grin was just as vicious. “Oh, most definitely! Diane, DC Owens, your own role, for the duration of this one. Sammy, I have set out hard limits in the file. They must not be breached. Otherwise, keep this young lady involved and informed, and consult with her about relevant details and so on. Chatham House rules, of course: keep it in the team and no further, and she remains part of the team. Your role, Diane”

“Yes, sir?”

“Building on the work you have already done, it will be outreach with our pink community. They are aware of the work done by the team, and the results have been announced. I know there are likely to be a number of victims who never came forward, as well as other issues of criminality. For now, you are their conduit to us. You go out, you meet them, become visible. Show them that they are not some form of second class citizens. Does that suit you?”

I didn’t need to think about that one, so I just smiled and nodded, and he shook my hand.

“Brief your team then, DC Owens. And Sammy?”

“Sir?”

I have a personal interest in this, and so do the complaints bods. You are likely to be interviewed. Their only concern is historical, if you follow me”

“Oh yes indeed! Di?”

When we got back to our team room, everyone was in, and Sammy, after a flick through the file, some quiet swearing, and a nod to me, went to the middle of the room.

“Mates!”

Once we had silence, he began.

“Diane and I have just had a meeting with the Super, and we have a few announcements to give you. Firstly, a huge pat on the back for all of us for a successful job, and before you say it, that includes Inspector Powell, so have a little bask in glory!

“Part two is simple: you all have a choice to make, and I am going to be pushy here. I want a show of hands before we go any further, and there is a reason for that. The boss has decided that there are a lot of old investigations that never went anywhere, or never got started, what the yanks call ‘cold cases’, and he’d like them looked at. Serious stuff, serious offences, nothing trivial, though that sort of thing might give us a way into the heavy stuff. He wants to keep the team going.

“That is what the show of hands is about. You have a choice of staying with us, or returning to your old slot. Hands up if you want to stay”

After a couple of whispered conversations, we got the expected result: every hand up. Sammy gave his nasty grin again, and I stood. I locked eyes with Blake for a second, and he just nodded and mouthed ‘go ahead’.

“Hiya. I knew none of you would want to drop out. This is a bloody good place to work, am I right?”

Pause, let them show their agreement. Take it step by step.

“Because of reasons that will become clear in a second, I am leaving the team, but only temporarily. I will be working on liaison with the LGBT community here in the city, and possibly across the force. We all know there are other victims out there, and not just from the bastards we have banged away right now. That’s part one.

“Part two is… The next bit is a lot harder for me, so please be patient”

Deep breath, a glance at my big boy for confirmation and strength, and dive into it.

“When I was sixteen, a man stopped a car to ask for directions, or so I thought. I was dragged into the vehicle, driven out to a quiet spot, raped, pissed on and beaten unconscious”

Look round the room. Not just Blake, but strength from them all. Wait for the swearing to die down.

“I was then visited in hospital by two coppers and threatened with all sorts if I complained. Yes, Ellen, those two fucking arseholes. Nice description. Anyone guess who the rapist was? Yes, Alun”

“I don’t think I am wrong here, girl. Ashley Evans?”

I nodded, and he swept his gaze round the room.

“I think I can speak for the team here, Di. I am going to relish this one”

He stood up, came over and hugged me, as did all of the others, one by one, and once we were done, Candice looked round us all in her turn.

“That was a bloody stupid question, Sammy. How could anyone ever want to leave this lot?”

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Comments

The Job

Thanks for this new chapter!
I'm currently rereading "Sisters" to.
It is very interersting to read the same story from two different POV. :-)

Martina

How do you do it.

How do you do it, this is an amazing story that'll keeps on keeping on. I admire your ways of fleshing out your characters and making chapter after chapter draw me in. Thanks for sharing.

Robyn Adaire

Thank you

Embarrassed now...

How do I do it? It is actually very easy, and I am glad it works for you. Years ago, on this site, in a discussion about writing, I said that I am no good at developing twisty plots, so I concentrate on characters. Each one is a real person to me, and with a few exceptions (for example random obscenity-shouting car drivers) I try and make them as real on paper as they are in my head. They aren't Mary Sues (Sue's?)and they aren't cardboard cut-outs, which is where the easy bit comes in. Once a character is alive, they write themselves, as long as you know their back story. Sarah Hall, for example, is like a wild animal. She has run and run from her fears, but corner her and she is a wildcat. Steph Woodruff has gone from terror to serenity. What can hurt her with her family around her? Gerald Barker is just an honourable man who cannot do anything other than what he sees as the right thing by his fellows, and can't see what those fellows see in him. Writing people in that way is easy.

A fun thing is in the first person nature of most of my stuff, because the reader only knows what the character does, while the author knows it all. Mwahahahaha!

Always My First Read

joannebarbarella's picture

Whenever I see a new chapter everything else, no matter how good, gets shunted to the back of the queue until I have got my quota of The Job.

I'm never disappointed.

Oh so good

Not only do I like the characters involved (well like is a bit strong for some of them) but there are also some policemen and women who are not the average author's style of being dumbo plods.

And there is a compulsion to demand the next episode a bit bloody sharpish, innit.

Thanks Steph

Not just Ashley

Jamie Lee's picture

Ashley IS going to get his day in court, not that he'd believe he did anything wrong.

They may be going after Ashley, but in their investigations they'll uncover those in the department who help Ashley. Those who believe Ashley will protect them will be disappointed when they see that he's been arrested.

Others have feelings too.