The DI Hannah Robbins Series: Books 1 - 3 (Boxset) (Detective Hannah Robbins Crime Series)

by Rebecca Bradley

  ‘Here you go, Boss.’ Pasha handed me a drink.

  ‘Thanks, Pasha. Are we about set up?’ I could match her professionalism.

  ‘Yes, Theresa has set HOLMES up and her and Diane are ready to go. CSU have already emailed over the digital photographs of the crime scene.’

  Theresa and Diane were our civilian staff who ran and worked on the HOLMES system which logged all we did on a murder inquiry. Theresa was the HOLMES inputter, whose responsibility was to make sure all data made it onto the system and Diane was the indexer. She indexed, processed, researched and analysed all the information that came in. HOLMES, the system itself, also had the capability to cross reference the information and intelligence it held, so even if we didn’t realise there was a link between certain reports that we had input at various different times, be they people, vehicles or places, HOLMES would pick it up. It was a great piece of kit, but I still preferred the human touch, the ability to look people in the eye, to look at their body language and to assess whether they were nervous, anxious, happy, sad, withholding, or lying. Together, man and machine worked.

  Detective Superintendent Catherine Walker and DCI Kevin Baxter walked into the incident room together, chatting like old friends. Catherine even laughed. Her sleek bob waving around her face as she did. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her laugh. I certainly hadn’t seen her laugh when Grey, my previous DCI, was here. I gritted my teeth and waited for them to find somewhere to park themselves.

  Baxter smiled at me, his over-bright teeth glinting under the strip lights. I nodded again. It was the best I could do. He couldn’t walk into the job and expect us to be buddies. Especially when he tried to change the way Grey had worked.

  ‘So, what do we have, Hannah?’ Catherine asked.

  I stood from where I’d perched myself on the corner of Aaron’s desk and moved to the front of the room. Pasha straightened her back and clicked her pen on. She was so prepared all the time.

  ‘Simon Talbot, recently walked from crown court for the murder of PC Ken Blake. A jury only took two and a half hours to find him not guilty. Blake and his colleague, PC Lee Cave, entered Talbot’s premises on reports of a disturbance. Blake was shot twice and died at the scene.’

  No one spoke.

  ‘Only one day after release Talbot is dead in his car with a bullet in his head. We speak to everyone on this. No matter how we feel about what happened at court, or because of how we feel about what happened at court, we find out what happened to Talbot. No stone unturned. All his family, associates, everyone in the area, all CCTV. The car has been seized and CSU have it. Jack will do the PM tomorrow and once he has recovered the bullet we will be able to check that as well. Aaron and Theresa will sort out the initial actions from HOLMES so you can get started.’

  I looked at Catherine. ‘Ma’am, I haven’t had chance to speak to you yet, but in Talbot’s pocket was the name of a witness which means it is urgent that we locate him. We need to find out why Talbot had his name and make sure he hasn’t been able to pay him a visit, and we also need to ask him some questions of his own. They won’t have been fans of each other.’

  ‘But how do you know it’s a witness, both the witnesses in the Talbot job were anonymised.’ She crossed her arms. All signs of laughter now gone.

  ‘Well, when he first came forward he didn’t mention he needed protection, that he was afraid, and everyone was talking about the case. I heard about the witness from Chuck Hornby from intel, and as the case progressed Paul Miller got nervous and they took action to protect him, his details were removed from all the paperwork.’

  ‘Good work, Hannah,’ said Baxter.

  ‘So, it’s vital we get that file and the protected part of it with his address, make contact, check he’s okay and then ask him to come into the station tomorrow to answer a few questions. Maybe he wasn’t happy with the result of the court case.’

  ‘Fair point. Get hold of that file, Hannah, and work both cases. If you have any problems come and find me.’

  I looked at the team, ‘Whatever you do, you do not talk about this investigation outside the doors of this room. Not to each other and not to anyone else. This stays in here between us. Is that understood?’

  Some puzzled faces looked back at me but they all murmured their acceptance of the rules of the case.

  Hannah

  I knocked on the door, pushed it open and walked in. DCI Kevin Baxter was on the phone. He held up a finger. Light flooded the office from the large window behind him. It framed him, providing a halo type effect. One I wasn’t sure he deserved. Baxter promised the caller he would keep them updated and placed the receiver on its cradle. Even the DCI had to answer to people. There was always a chain of command. Always someone higher up interested in results. And this was a high-profile case. There would be pressure to figure out what had happened.

  ‘What is it, Hannah?’ he asked with a hassled look.

  I closed the door behind me. He raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Can I ask you a question, Sir?’

  He frowned at me. I continued anyway. ‘I know you said you knew Ken Blake, but how well? Would you say you were friends?’

  The frown deepened. The lines on his forehead crinkling down between his eyes. ‘No, I wouldn’t say we were friends. I knew him as most cops know each other. In passing. To talk to if we saw each other. What’s this about, Hannah?’

  He wasn’t very happy.

  ‘It’s this case,’ I told him.

  ‘What? Should I be more concerned than I already am? And what does my knowing Blake have to do with it?’

  I dropped into the chair in front of him. I felt heavy with the thoughts that ran through my head. I didn’t want to think the worst, but it would be wrong to dismiss them out of hand because they were uncomfortable. ‘I’m afraid so.’

  ‘Why wasn’t it brought up at the briefing?’

  ‘It’s sensitive.’

  ‘Hence the very stern warning to keep it all in-house?’

  I nodded.

  ‘I was curious about that. I know I’m new, but you always appear to trust your team.’

  ‘I do.’ There was no way I wanted him to believe otherwise. I could feel heat rising within me. ‘It’s not that I don’t trust them. But even gossip to other cops this time could prove dangerous.’

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘In what way? And again, my knowledge of Blake?’

  We were here. The problem I didn’t want to put out there, didn’t want to give it credence. ‘Because I think there could be a possibility that either the Blake family is involved, or,’ Christ, did I really want to verbalise this? ‘a cop is involved.’

  There was a sharp intake of breath. It was quick. If I wasn’t waiting for a response I could have missed it. His face was now impassive. He stared at me. Scrutinised me. I stayed still. Waited for his response. A heavy silence smothered the office for a long time as he digested the information. ‘What brought you to that conclusion?’ he finally asked, folding his hands together on the desk.

  ‘It’s not a conclusion, it’s a hypothesis.’

  He stared at me as he waited for further explanation.

  ‘Based on the fact that Talbot killed a serving police officer and was charged with the offence.’ I paused, gave him an are-you-paying-attention-look. ‘For his family and in the eyes of the cops, this meant he was guilty.’

  Baxter sighed.

  ‘And after being charged,’ I continued, ‘he was then found not guilty at court and walked out a free man. With no real explanation, as far as I can see. So, his family and his police family want to know what went wrong, why a guilty man walked free. Why a cop killer is back out, free to roam the streets. And then on top of that, they hear him crowing that he knew he would be released. He doesn’t quietly walk away and keep his head down. He makes a loud statement on the court steps and another to the press later that day that said he would never be sent down for the killing. People want to know why. People are angry. People who were clos
e to Kenneth Blake.’

  I had said my piece. I had put the unthinkable out there and Baxter had heard me out. Without interruption. Even though he had admitted to knowing Blake. Now I had to wait for his response. I really could have done with a window opening.

  ‘I can see where you’re coming from.’

  Damn.

  ‘No wonder you want this investigation so closed and tight. I agree with you.’

  Damn again. I wanted to be told I was an idiot. If there was any time those words would have been welcomed then this was it. But no, today he decided to back me up. Damn him again.

  ‘What do you suggest?’ I asked.

  ‘Other than following the usual investigative procedures?’

  ‘Yes. What do you want me to put into place?’

  ‘I’d suggest you inform PSD of your concerns. I imagine they will open a file but keep out of it until you have evidence. At least more than your concerns, to give them.’

  I opened my blue notebook and started to make notes of the meeting. Dated and timed the page and wrote the PSD suggestion down. PSD were the Professional Standards Department who were responsible for policing the police.

  ‘Restrict HOLMES to essential personnel.’ Baxter continued as he made notes of his own. ‘Keep Aaron in the loop though and restrict entry to the incident room to essential personnel as well.’

  ‘Ah, on that note…’

  ‘Yes.’ He looked up from his pad.

  ‘I had a visit from Lee Cave earlier. He wants to be seconded to the investigation. He thinks he could offer us a lot of insight into Talbot and the previous investigation, which to be fair, I think he could. But, in light of my current concerns I’m unsure.’

  ‘How much help do you think he can be?’

  ‘He was there the day Blake was killed. He knows the cops that Blake knew. I think he’d be extremely helpful. We just need to pin him down to an alibi before we bring him in and only then if he understands the serious nature of restricted material he will have access to.’

  ‘And you think it’s a good idea that he works this case with you do you, Hannah?’ he asked from behind his immaculately tidy desk. Where he kept all his paperwork I had no idea.

  ‘I think he has a lot to offer us. A lot of insight.’

  ‘But after what I’ve heard the team has already been through with Ross?’

  ‘We’ve moved past that.’

  ‘What I’m asking though is, are you ready to take on another fragile officer that needs the level of support that Cave will need? He won’t be a walk in the park you know. His partner has been shot and killed and he survived it. Not only will he be dealing with his grief, like Ross was, but it is highly likely that there will be survivor’s guilt, which even if Ross had had that, it won’t have been anywhere near the extent Cave will have it, because Ross didn’t go into that basement with Sally.’ Baxter had the decency to look sheepish bringing her name up in this conversation when he hadn’t been involved in it all. He continued regardless. ‘But Cave was in that house and he was assaulted in there, yet he came out alive.’ He paused. For breath, for impact? ‘It has to affect you.’

  I was well aware of the effect that losing a colleague had on you. I tried to ignore his detachment to this issue. We all dealt with it in different ways.

  I took a deep breath. ‘I’m aware of that and the answer is yes. I want to take him on because I think he’s worth it. In terms of the investigation, because we need him for our investigation and for the Blake investigation to find out what went wrong with that if we can.’

  He shot me a warning look.

  ‘If it comes up, within our investigation, I mean. And also, I think he’s worth it in himself, he’s worth giving the time to, as colleagues, if this is what he needs to help get him through, then yes, any one of us should be prepared to support him.’ Had I pushed too far?

  ‘At the risk he screws up our investigation and makes the unit look bad? We can’t risk the same scenario as Ross.’

  ‘He’ll be supervised all the way. I’ll have him paired up with someone every step of the way.’

  ‘For God’s sake, Hannah, do not pair him up with Ross. I’m here now and I don’t want a mess attached to my name.’

  What he meant was he had a career planned ahead of him. ‘I won’t. Neither will I pair him with Pasha. It’ll always be Martin, Aaron or me.’

  ‘Okay, Hannah, but you need his inspector’s approval first.’ He leaned back in his chair and gave me an appraising look. ‘There’s also the issue of the press.’

  Damn.

  ‘Ah, yes, them.’

  ‘They’ll be interested in this case. They haven’t finished speculating on how he managed to walk away from his own prosecution yet and now here we are investigating his murder. They’ll have a field day.’

  ‘I’ll work with Claire on the press release before I leave today.’ Claire Betts was our media liaison.

  ‘Do that. I don’t want to see headlines like I saw coming out a few months ago when you had the Knight job.’

  The job where bereaved father Isaac Knight placed digoxin in products in shops for people to ingest. It killed several and caused riots on the streets as panic swelled amongst the population. The press had a party attacking the police for not catching him fast enough.

  ‘We stand a better chance with this though, once Jack removes the bullet from his head we’ll have ballistics, we’ve got CCTV being collected, the car is being examined and house-to-house is being done by uniform and we’ll follow it up as well. Plus,’ I leaned towards him, on a roll, ‘we have a multitude of associates and family members to speak to who need to account for their whereabouts, not just this morning, but we’ll look at what they were doing last night. See who will be able to tell us what has been going on with Talbot, other than, or as well as, the court case. It won’t be like the Knight case where we had to wait for the next victim to drop because we had no idea where he had placed his products.’

  ‘That sodding reporter, the one that didn’t let up on the force, what was his name, Gale something… I couldn’t believe what I was reading.’

  ‘Ethan Gale.’

  ‘Yes, him. He’s not at the Today any more is he?’

  ‘No, after the Knight job he was picked up by one of the nationals in London so he upped sticks and moved on.’

  ‘Good riddance I’d say.’

  My chest constricted. ‘We did get quite a hard time from him.’

  I stood. ‘So, we’re good to go with the investigating cops and the Blake family?’

  Yes, but for God’s sake, Hannah, keep it close to your chest or we’ll have a mutiny on our hands.’

  Hannah

  Lee had waited around the station all day. Luckily it had been his rest day and he hadn’t wasted a full work day. I had informed him that I couldn’t have him wait in the incident room and he would have to keep himself occupied while I made a decision on his place on the team. He looked anxious as he sat in front of me and Aaron.

  Aaron was calm when I discussed the possibility of the offender to this offence being identified as either a police officer or a member of Blake’s family. This hadn’t surprised me. He was the perfect person to work with. He suggested we inform the team, keep it small. That they were trusted enough to be brought in. He was right. No matter what Baxter had said, the team needed to know and I trusted that they would keep the information tight.

  Right now, Lee’s eyes were wide and his right leg bounced up and down. He looked at me as I watched him and pushed his hand on to his knee to stop the bounce.

  ‘Thanks for waiting,’ I said.

  ‘I want to do what I can to help, Ma’am.’

  ‘I know you do.’ And I understood that need, the desire. ‘The problem is…’ How to ask for his alibi without giving away our line of inquiry? There wasn’t a way. I had to be blunt. ‘Before we can allow you to come to the team, we need to know where you were in the early hours of this morning and we need to confirm
that.’

  His eyes widened even more. I hadn’t thought it was possible. His head moved from side to side as he looked from me then to Aaron and back to me again. ‘I… er… I, oh, yes, of course.’ He blinked.

  ‘You understand why we’re asking, Lee?’ I asked him.

  He paled.

  ‘You were there when Ken was killed and when Talbot walked away from court a free man. We just need to cover our bases.’

  ‘I get it,’ he said. I can tell you where I was this morning. Where I am every morning if I’m not headed into work. I’m at home. My nan lives with me. She has Alzheimer’s.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘Thank you. It’s not that bad that she needs to go in a home, but she does need supervision. If I’m not there I have to get a carer in. To watch her, to make sure she doesn’t try to cook herself a meal and set fire to the house.’ He dropped his head. ‘Or something similar.’

  ‘And she can tell us you were at home early this morning?’

  He took a minute before he lifted his head. We waited him out. I looked at Aaron. Poor kid. It was a huge responsibility. Aaron lifted a shoulder. Then Lee looked up, his face pulled into as passive a look as he could muster. It was forced into place. ‘No. No, she can’t. She wouldn’t be able to remember. Well, she might, but it’s not guaranteed. But, she rises early. She doesn’t sleep well, so I can tell you the television was on and I can tell you what was on the breakfast show and what was said. You can also check the location of the GPS on my phone if you were so inclined. You’ll see I was at home.’

  ‘I’m sorry to have to do this to you, Lee. But you understand the integrity of the investigation has to be held up to the tightest scrutiny?’

  He nodded again. ‘I do. And I still want to be seconded if you’ll have me once you’ve checked.’