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

by Rebecca Bradley

  He couldn’t quite catch it, what it was, what it meant. It passed too quick.

  ‘Yeah, I’ve got them, Ken.’ Fear shot up Lee’s spine like an army of spiders. He hadn’t heard Ken talk like this before.

  ‘And don’t be afraid to use your panic button if you need to.’

  ‘Okay, okay, can we get in there?’ He started to walk. He couldn’t listen to this gloom any more.

  The street was empty. This was unusual for the middle of the day. It was normal to see kids hanging about even if they should be at school, or young kids in their nappies that were heavy, down to their knees. Women gossiping propped up on buggies and young men slouched about, he didn’t know doing what. There wasn’t even a car on the road that was moving.

  Do you think Ken knew who was in there, from the vehicles parked outside maybe, she asked.

  He told her he didn’t know.

  The front door was already ajar. They could hear shouting inside. Threats to harm and threats to kill. Under those conditions, they had a power to enter.

  Could you tell from the voices how many people there were, she asked. She’d been given different information to what was in the file and she wanted to know the truth. What could he tell her?

  His stomach twisted in on itself. A tight knot he didn’t know if it would be possible to ever undo. It had been knitting itself up for some time and this moment, when all eyes turned to him, sealed his fate.

  There were definitely more than two, he replied. But after that, telling voices apart was difficult. They were shouting at the same time, fighting to be heard over each other.

  Demanding to be heard.

  Ken had entered first.

  Was he sure, she asked.

  He rubbed his hands down his trouser legs. They felt damp. He felt hot.

  Yes. He was sure.

  This next bit, she said, she needed it to be walked through step by slow step. It was important.

  As though he didn’t know that.

  But, he’d asked to be here. He also knew that.

  The front door opened into a hallway with stairs to the right. Ken entered, extending his asp as he did and Lee followed, pulling out his CS spray, shook it and popped the lid open.

  ‘Police, we’re entering the premises,’ shouted Ken.

  There was no response, the screaming and shouting continued.

  ‘Police,’ he shouted again.

  Lee’s nerves were getting the better of him and he didn’t know if it was the talk Ken had given or the sounds that came from inside the house and his knowledge of the violence he knew these people were capable of but his scalp tightened around his skull.

  In front of them was the kitchen door and to the left was another door that looked to be the living room. The noise was coming from the kitchen. It was deafening now. There were several voices in there. Ken said Talbot was in there, he recognised his voice from his own dealings with him.

  ‘I’ll check in here first before we go in there, make sure we’re not surprised from behind,’ Lee whispered.

  Ken agreed.

  He rubbed at the back of his neck now. The heat was unbearable. He felt nauseous. He needed to sit down but didn’t think he could bear to sit still so stayed standing where he was and continued.

  Ken shouted out again that they were in the house.

  Did you get a response, asked the DI.

  They didn’t. Whether that was because something was being organised or because they didn’t hear his shout, he didn’t know, but he suspected they didn’t hear because the shouting in the kitchen continued.

  What happened next, she wanted to know.

  Next he turned left into what looked to be the living room from the small crack he could see through. A carpet and the arm of a sofa. He pushed through the door.

  Try to remember, Lee, she’d said.

  I woke in the hospital he told her.

  You didn’t see anyone, hear a noise, the smallest of sounds, the slightest movement, flash of colour, she pushed.

  His friend and mentor was dead was the next thing he knew he replied.

  You didn’t hear the gunshot?

  All eyes were on him. Even Martin’s.

  I was in the hospital and my friend was dead. I’ve told you what I know, he repeated.

  Had he been right to push to be placed on this inquiry?

  In a low voice Martin reassured him, ‘It’s all right, mate.’

  He sucked in a deep breath hoping the air would be breathed right down into his stomach and open it up.

  His hair line was damp. He rubbed the back of his neck but his palms were as bad and they slipped off each other.

  Lee looked at Martin, who nodded. He was there, he had his back.

  Unlike Lee who hadn’t had Ken’s.

  Hannah

  It was getting late by the time I knocked and walked into the familiar house on Waveney Close, Arnold, but not too late to turn up. He’d be pleased to see me whatever the hour anyway.

  ‘It’s only me,’ I shouted into the quiet house. I could hear the television on low in the living room. I followed the sound and found my dad with his eyes closed and chin firmly planted on his chest. Gentle snores breaking the air around him.

  I leaned down and touched his shoulder. ‘Dad?’ I didn’t want to scare him. His eyes opened with a shadow of confusion but cleared when he saw my face.

  ‘Hannah.’ He leapt up out of the chair and hugged me. He was always so effusive. So pleased to see me. I carried around a guilt at how little I managed to do this. The demands of the job ate away at my time and my energy.

  I walked into the kitchen, put the kettle on and grabbed a couple of clean mugs from the cupboard. ‘I’m sorry I disturbed you.’

  ‘No. No, don’t be. I didn’t expect to see you. I heard on the news about the recent murders. Knew you’d be busy. Did your team not get that job?’ He pulled out a dining chair and sat as I put the milk and teabags into the mugs.

  ‘We did. But, I thought I’d pop by for half an hour on the way home. See how you are.’

  ‘I’m good. It’s a nice surprise.’

  Since Mum had died from cancer a few years ago Dad had been lonely and was thrilled whenever I turned up. I thought he should maybe get a pet of some sort. A dog, that was a male type pet, wasn’t it? But he was resistant to the idea. Said he didn’t need one. That he was okay. That he’d have to sort it out if he wanted to go on holiday anywhere, not that he had ever been on holiday since Mum had passed. I poured the boiled water and stirred.

  ‘You heard from Zoe?’ I asked him.

  This was the reason I was here. Another stab of guilt sliced through me. I handed him his tea and went back to stand against the kitchen worktop.

  Dad put his mug on the table and looked at me. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Work.’

  ‘It’s a good thing, Hannah.’

  I didn’t want this conversation. I’d tried to avoid it for the past three years but I needed to face it to some degree now.

  ‘Really? You think so? In what way is it good, Dad?’ Why did I have to be so antagonistic to him? Damn. I couldn’t help it where my sister Zoe was concerned. Any time he’d tried to bring her up, tried to get me to visit her in prison, I’d shut him down. She’s the only family we have, he’d say to me. I wasn’t sure he knew the whole story of what happened between us before she went in. How she could have lost me my job.

  ‘We can start to rebuild our lives.’ His voice was low. Gentle. Pleading with me to let my sister into our lives, into our unit, and to not make him see us separately.

  I drank some of my tea. Gave myself some time. It was still too hot and I sipped at the edge. Not drinking at all.

  ‘Hannah,’ he continued.

  ‘Dad,’ I interrupted, ‘she was in prison for possession of drugs with intent to supply. She supplied drugs. She was a drug dealer.’

  He stood. Unable to stay seated as my agitation grew. ‘I know, but she’s out soon. She has a
release date. She’s served her time. Her punishment. Shouldn’t that be enough? It’s enough for the courts system.’

  ‘You know what I do for a job don’t you?’ I couldn’t help it. Of course he did. And it wasn’t the point. It would have been bad enough if it was the only issue.

  ‘Yes, I know. But, she’s family and you can’t ignore that.’

  I bloody well could. What I couldn’t do was break my father’s heart any more by telling him what Zoe had done before she was sent to prison. Why there was such animosity towards her. I tried my tea again. ‘I’m glad she’s coming home, for you. I know you’ve missed having her here,’ I conceded.

  But for me, if I never saw her again, it would be too soon.

  Lee

  The noise hit Lee as soon as he opened the front door. Screaming and wailing. High-pitched. Panicked. And a gentler undertone. Soothing, like warm running water.

  He scrubbed his face with his hands, unable to move his feet forward. A second to steel himself was what he needed. How was it that home was so much more difficult than being at work?

  It was as he pulled his hands away from his face he saw a smashed mug on the floor at his feet. A pool of dark liquid soaked into the carpet in the broken and sharp remains.

  ‘Let me out!’ the screech from the living room was insistent and, he could also hear, it was frightened. Sheila’s tone was still gentle.

  Lee was at the threshold of the room in an instance. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

  His nan was wrapped up in her winter coat, scarf around her neck and mittens on her hands. Her face was pale, carved into a look between anger, disgust and fear.

  ‘I want to go home. To Gerald. He’ll wonder where I am and this woman won’t let me out. She even threw a mug at me.’

  Sheila’s face didn’t alter. Lee knew better than to think this was true. ‘She was headed out the door. I didn’t have time to put my mug down. It was knocked out my hand in the attempt to talk her into staying until you got home.’

  Lee looked at his nan. ‘You don’t recognise me?’ He swiped damp hands down his trouser legs.

  His nan cocked her head, squinted a little. ‘George?’

  George was his dad. Both his parents had died in a car on the M1 one winter when it had been pissing it down and traffic hadn’t slowed enough. A pile-up of seven cars, his mum and dad being one, resulted in his nan becoming his carer from the age of two. Now it was his turn to pay her back.

  ‘It’s late, shall we get you to bed and we’ll sort out the other stuff tomorrow?’ He knew if he could settle her now then by morning it would be a new day with new problems.

  His nan pulled at her scarf, wrapped it tighter around herself, looked unsure, glanced past Lee towards the door.

  ‘Let’s get a good night’s sleep tonight,’ he said again. His mouth dry as he spoke the words. He licked his lips in an attempt to bring some moisture back. They were rough, uneven, cracked.

  ‘Tonight mind. Gerald will need to see me tomorrow.’

  Sheila stepped forward. ‘I’ll—’

  ‘Nooo,’ his nan wailed. ‘Get this woman away from me. I don’t know who you’ve brought into the house, George, but she frightens me. Keep her away.’

  Sheila took a couple of steps back.

  ‘It’s okay, I’ll see to her,’ Lee said.

  ‘You’ll be okay?’ asked Sheila.

  ‘Let’s get these off you.’ Lee started to unwrap the scarf. ‘Yes, I’ll be fine. You go.’ He didn’t take his eyes off his nan. God, he loved her so much but this broke his heart.

  Sheila hesitated. Lee took the scarf and mittens.

  ‘I’ll put the kettle on and make us a cuppa before I go,’ she said eventually.

  Lee thanked her and once he took her coat off, he led his nan up the stairs to put her to bed.

  The broken mug was gone when he came down the stairs and the dark patch of what he presumed had been coffee was now a damp patch that was cleaned. Lee walked into the living room where Sheila was sitting, a fresh mug of coffee in her hands, a concerned look on her face. She inclined her head to the coffee table.

  ‘Yours.’

  He picked it up. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Is she asleep?’

  ‘As soon as she hit the pillow.’

  ‘We need to talk, Lee.’

  ‘Look, I’m sorry it was a tough day.’ He moved to the television. Ran a finger across the narrow top of the screen and checked his fingertip. It needed a dust. He couldn’t keep up with it all. He needed to do better. Maybe a cleaner as well as Sheila. But…

  ‘The tough days are more and more regular, Lee. I don’t think the medications are doing what they used to. I think—’

  ‘What about a cleaner?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘A cleaner. In here. If I employed a cleaner as well?’

  ‘Lee…’ She looked at him, waited until he returned her gaze. ‘It’s not… about the house,’ she softened her voice. ‘It’s about Peggy. It’s about what is best for her.’

  Lee dropped onto a chair. ‘I’m doing the best I can. I love her to bits.’

  ‘I know you do, love. But I think we need to consider that maybe she needs more than we can offer now. You know it’s illegal for me to restrain her in the house don’t you, even if letting her out is dangerous for her? This isn’t ideal. It was a good job it had only just happened. That I knew you were about to walk through the door.’

  ‘But, she’s my nan.’

  ‘And she’ll always be your nan. That can’t be taken away from you. But you must be responsible, do the best by her. And fighting with me is not best for her. I think we need to see her consultant and see what she suggests.’

  ‘Give me a few days to think on it?’ His drink was now back on the coffee table and his head was in his hands. Tears wet his eyes but remained unshed.

  ‘She’s your family, Lee. I’m not going to make you do anything. I hate to see her so upset. Let’s talk again in a few days. See how she has been.’

  Hannah

  Aaron was pacing around the corridor at the top of the stairs when I got in to work. His headphones on. Face set, jaw clenched. This didn’t look good.

  ‘Aaron?’

  He hadn’t seen me and didn’t hear me. I stepped into his line of sight. ‘Aaron?’

  He stopped pacing. Ground his teeth a bit more. I waited him out. He began to pace again.

  ‘What is it?’ I asked. I hated to see him like this.

  He pulled off his headphones. I could hear a whisper of music leak out of them. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, turned it off and slid the phone away, along with the earphones. But, his pacing continued.

  ‘Baxter.’

  ‘Oh.’ For some reason Baxter had not taken well to Aaron and had gone on to butt heads with him. Where Grey had been easy going, and had let us work, Baxter was more in our faces, he wanted continual updates and always made sure he said his piece if he didn’t agree with the way investigations were going. ‘What happened?’

  ‘He wanted to know my deal with the earphones at work.’ He paced some more. ‘Like it impacts on my work.’

  I knew the earphones helped focus Aaron if he was stressed or there was too much noise interference. We’d talked a little bit about his Asperger’s since the day he’d told me, but that was because I’d forced the issue. On the grounds that I needed to know, as his supervisor, what I could do to make work an okay place for him. I never had a problem when he popped them in if he was at his computer. It wasn’t as though he plugged them in in the middle of a briefing.

  ‘I know it doesn’t.’ I watched him pace, like a caged animal. ‘Do you want me to have a word with him? Let him know?’

  Aaron rounded on me. ‘No. No, I don’t. I’ve gone this long without using it as a crutch and I won’t start now. HR are aware, but I won’t inform every goddamn supervisor I ever have in this job. It’ll be all over the force.’

  He’d already said this to me. I under
stood where he was coming from. ‘If you’re sure?’

  He huffed. Paced back to the wall, stood a moment, I heard a deep intake of breath, he stood a minute more and then he turned back to me. ‘I’m sure.’ He tightened his tie, fidgeting with it, making the already straight tie, straight. ‘I’m good.’

  ‘Okay.’ I put my hand on his shoulder, felt how tense he was, instead of a shoulder it was a knot of worry and stress. I removed it quickly, realising unasked for touch could make him uncomfortable, then walked past him through to the incident room and gave him a minute to gather himself. Aaron was always the calm one in the two of us. It was strange to see him so unsettled.

  Other than Aaron and me, there was no one else in. I didn’t understand why Baxter had decided to make a snide comment to Aaron if he was in early and getting on with his work. It didn’t feel right to stay quiet, but neither would it feel right to go behind Aaron’s back and speak with our new DCI. I had to bite my tongue and hope the situation settled.

  By the time the rest of the team were in I had drunk two cups of tea and was ready to do the morning briefing. I looked to Aaron. He nodded. He was good. More calm again.

  ‘Okay everyone, let’s quiet down.’ A hush fell across the room and all eyes turned on me. ‘We have so much work to get through. I’ll request extra staff for some of the inquiries that need doing. We have two murders on our hands and because they are linked by the court case Talbot has walked from, we get to keep both.’ Pens scraped against notepads as I talked. ‘That makes this officially a major inquiry. But because of the link, as you know, we do also need to look at the previous case. The murder of PC Ken Blake.’

  I looked at Lee. He was looking at the floor. He was in good hands. In here we all knew what that felt like. We’d make sure he made it through this. I looked at Pasha. Other than Pasha. She hadn’t been here when Sally was killed. She didn’t know what this felt like at all.

  ‘So, today, I want to locate DCI Robert Summers and talk to him. Get his take on the old investigation. See what help he can give us. We can take all the help we can at the minute. I also want to identify, locate and talk to the SIO on the drugs deaths job at Vanilla Jazz.’ I looked to Lee again and asked him, ‘Who was it?’