Saffina Desforges' ROSE RED Crime Thriller Boxed Set

by Saffina Desforges

  “I’m not sure the DAC would agree, Sir.”

  “I’ve spoken with him. It’s done and dusted. Time to move on.”

  Red breathed a silent sigh of relief. “Thank you, Sir.”

  “Obviously you are now acting DCI, by dint of your position. Is that going to be a problem for you? If it is, now is the time to say so.”

  “It’s fine, Sir.”

  Blake nodded, the first hint of a smile. “Glad to hear it. Now, as of when you were last in attendance you had some ongoing cases, obviously, including the OAP murder and the previous assaults.”

  “My first priority, Sir.”

  Blake’s smile widened. “DS Hargreaves tells me you’ve not been in contact with the Station at all since the funeral?”

  “No, Sir. I trusted my team to handle things while I was off.” Red hesitated as she thought of Taylor and Terri at each other’s throats without her there to mediate. “There were no problems, were there? Has there been another assault?”

  “You really are out of the loop, aren’t you.”

  “Oh my God. I should have been here.”

  Superintendent Blake beamed. “On the contrary, Cass. You have a fine team behind you. You taught them well. In fact, they’ve been extremely busy while you’ve been off. I’ve been standing in for you, from a discreet distance, just to make sure things ran smoothly, but totally unnecessary. Totally.”

  “Sir?”

  “When Bill used to tell me your team was one of the best at the station I used to think he was egging it a little. But now I see the DCI. was spot on. Especially DCs Taylor and Harris, I have to say. They have excelled themselves. You must be very proud of them.”

  Red coughed into her hand. Had she heard right? “Barry and Jez?”

  “In your absence I authorized the paperwork Tuesday afternoon.”

  “Paperwork?”

  “For the Burns gang. They were arrested Wednesday morning by Taylor and Harris. Once the thugs saw the evidence against them they caved in completely.”

  “Evidence, Sir?”

  Blake grinned. “I’ll let Taylor and Harris explain. I wouldn’t want to steal their thunder. And I’m sure you’re dying to get back with them.”

  “Of course, Sir. Can’t wait.”

  The Super leaned forward. “Which of course still leaves the small matter of the missing pomme-rouge, this so-called Huntsman, and the murder of DCI Bill Andrews. Needless to say, you have whatever resources you require, and you will report directly to me.”

  “You know it, Sir.”

  “Bring me the apple and the man who killed Bill and you’ll be formally answering to Detective Chief Inspector by the end of the month. Are we clear?”

  Red jumped from her seat, straightening her shoulders, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Yes, Sir. I won’t let you down, Sir.”

  Chapter 84.

  “Surprise!”

  Welcome back banners and multi-coloured balloons adorned the briefing room, the chorus echoing down the corridor as Red pushed open the door.

  A huge grin spread across the Acting DCI’s face, a flush of blood to her cheeks. “Thanks, you guys. I really appreciate this.”

  “Great to have you back, Guv.” Anna Hargreaves caught Red’s elbow. ‘How are you feeling?”

  “Never better.”

  “You’re a lousy liar, Guv.”

  Harris playfully blew a party whistle. “Drink, Guv?”

  “At this time of morning?”

  Terri produced a plastic cup and a bottle of Cava. “No-one’s getting drunk, Guv, don’t worry. It’s the one bottle between all of us.”

  Red accepted the cup reluctantly.

  “Great to see you, Guv,” Mackenzie said softly, touching her arm.

  “Thanks, JIm. Good to be back.” She smiled as Terri approached. “And you, Terri. How’s it been? The lads been looking after you?”

  Terri nodded. “All good. Everyone’s been real nice, Guv.”

  “What, even the gruesome twosome?” Red gestured to Taylor and Harris, complicit in a corner.

  Teri winked. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, Guv.”

  Anna whispered, “Are you sure you’re okay? Really?”

  Red shrugged, an exhausted pallor settling on her features, dark bags heavy under her eyes. “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.”

  Anna closed a hand over Red’s. “What would Bill say if he heard you talking like that?”

  A smile tugged at the corner of Red’s mouth. “He’d kick my ass.” She turned back to the room. “Listen, everyone, I don’t want to appear ungrateful, but this is a Police Station. Much as I appreciate all this, I want everything cleared up and running normally.” She scanned the room, looking at the faces watching her. A smile. “By noon.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” came a collective response.

  Mackenzie asked, “So what’s it like being Acting DCI, Guv?”

  Red put her cup forward, getting their attention. “Thanks for bringing that up. JIm. Everybody, let me get this out of the way before we go any further. I’m Acting DCI because a good copper has been killed. Don’t any of you lose sight of that.” She paused, choosing her words carefully, feeling the tears well.

  “You all know I didn’t earn this position. You all know I don’t deserve this position. But for now, at least, I’m in this position. And for however long it lasts I intend to do my utmost to live up to the standards of integrity, honesty and decency that Bill Andrews set. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, Guv.”

  “We have a job to do, and just because I am, for now, DCI, doesn’t mean anything has changed. Tracking down the Guv’s murderer, and the missing jewel, are of course our top priorities. I want this Huntsman nailed. We all owe it to Bill Andrews to do everything we can. And to carry on the good work the guv started, making London a safer place.”

  Red paused to study her audience. “Speaking of which, Barry and Jez, I hear congratulations are in order. A little bird tells me the Burns boys are safely in custody? Becoming a regular Batman and Robin dynamic duo, aren’t you?”

  “That’s right, Guv,” Taylor said, sticking out his stomach, “Me and Jezza nailed those bastards good and proper.”

  “So I’m hearing. The Super is labouring under this bizarre illusion you two are outstanding examples of modern policing.”

  Taylor slapped Harris on the back in a gesture of exaggerated camaraderie. “That’s us, Guv.”

  “So do you want to tell me what really happened?”

  “Bloody cheek!” Taylor’s grin widened.

  “Jez?”

  “We arrested ’em, Guv. ’Fessed to the lot.”

  “In recorded interview? With cameras running?”

  Taylor beamed. “Never laid a finger on them, Guv. Straight up. Not that we weren’t tempted, of course. Murdering scum deserved to have a taste of their own medicine.” He looked Red straight in the eye. “But we wouldn’t want to lose the Court case, would we?”

  Red glared at him. “Yes, thank you, Barry. Jez? How, exactly, did you get them to ’fess, as you put it?”

  “Simple, Guv. Mrs. Ellis. The cat woman.”

  “But she wasn’t even at home that night.” Worry lines suddenly etched into Red’s brow. “Oh my God, you didn’t come to some arrangement with her, surely?”

  Mackenzie put out a reassuring hand on Red’s arm. “It’s all above board, Guv. Jez received a call from Mrs. Ellis a couple of days after their initial visit, requested to see a senior male officer. Wouldn’t talk to any of the girls.” He paused apologetically before adding, “And she stated categorically that she did not want to see you.”

  Red rolled her eyes, “Right. I’m only Acting DCI. The daft cow. Go on.”

  “As you know from last time, Guv, our Mrs. Ellis spies into the bathroom of the gent across the other side of the park.”

  “She should think herself lucky we didn’t charge her with voyeurism. But I’m still lost. If she was out that evenin
g, how could she have seen anything?”

  “She didn’t. She was out, as she told us.”

  “Then how?”

  Taylor stepped forward to take up the story. “Seems her little set-up has a timer device. So when she goes out any evening she sets it up to record at bath-times, so she has something to watch when she gets home. Dirty cow!”

  “Charming. But the attack on Mr. Baxter wasn’t in someone’s second floor bathroom. I’m still lost?”

  “It seems while she was out on the razz one of those stinking moggies of hers must’ve jumped up and knocked the camera. It automatically locked into its previous position, which was fixed on the gap between the trees where Mrs. Tasker was attacked. And then it just recorded on auto for two hours, and unbeknownst to anyone it got the Burns brothers, in perfect HD, attacking poor Mr. Barker.”

  “Jesus.” Red blew out her cheeks. “So now the Super thinks you’re super-cops, when actually you did sweet FA. You are a pair of lucky bastards.”

  “Not so lucky,” Terri grinned, winking at Mackemzie. “Bazza and Jez had to sit through hours of Tooting Bec’s answer to The Chippendales stripping off before they found what they were looking for. Of course, Anna and I gave them a hand, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

  Red’s face dissolved into a huge grin. She looked up to the heavens, raising her cup. “Thanks, Bill.”

  Chapter 85.

  Red pushed the door to the DCI’s office open gently, inhaling deeply as she stepped across the threshold. Cleared of personal effects, photos, framed commendations, it seemed empty.

  Running fingertips across the desk as she rounded it, Red traced a line in the thin layer of dust.

  “Could do with a clean, Guv,” she said quietly to the heavens, slumping into the chair with a wooft of leather. Placing her palms on the desktop, Red looked around, hoping for some remnant of his presence. Some sign that she could do this.

  Tears stung her eyes, a sob catching in her throat. A rush of absolute and eternal loneliness engulfing her, tightening her chest.

  Feeling a splash of tears graze her cheek she reached down to pull open a drawer, searching for the box of Kleenex that she knew he always kept.

  Her hand brushed the neck of the scotch bottle. Glancing down, she saw the two glasses they had last shared still sat there, unwashed, her lipstick mark faint on the rim.

  Red smiled through her tears, suddenly not feeling so alone.

  Chapter 86.

  Red blew into her takeaway Costa cup, savouring the cappuccino aroma. “Are you certain this is the place?”

  Anna Hargreaves nodded, shifting her legs, trying to get comfortable behind the steering wheel. “He’s always in a sleeping bag across the road at this time of night. Except, of course, when we want to speak to him. Probably at a supermarket snapping up some bargains.”

  Cheap beer, you mean, Red thought to herself. Another drunken loser. I hope you’re not wasting my time, Anna. She said, “Let’s hope he turns up soon.”

  The deserted street looked run-down and tired; steel shutters covered shop windows; nobody used the rubbish bins. Red watched discarded take-away wrappers dance in the wind. Occasionally her eyes read off the gang tags emblazoned on the walls. It was a far cry from South Kensington.

  “Is that him?” Red nudged Anna in the direction of a man heading slowly up the street pushing a rickety supermarket trolley carrying his worldly possessions.

  A smile spread across Anna’s face. “That’s Bash, Guv.” She flicked the vehicle lights on, counted to three, and off.

  “Code?”

  “Something like that, Guv.”

  The man hesitated, looking first in their direction, then behind him. With his face turned down to his trolley he carried on walking, not looking up as Anna started the engine. Red held her head straight, her eyes taking in the cheap plastic cider bottles in the trolley. Anna drove the car slowly towards the corner.

  “You said he wasn’t a drunk.”

  “He’s a good bloke, Guv. Just down on his luck.”

  “He’s got a trolley full of hooch.”

  Anna smiled. “That’s for his next business empire.”

  “Next?”

  Anna turned the corner, pulling over to the kerb. “Don’t be misled by appearances, Guv. Bash is one of a kind. Had a string of shops and businesses a few years ago. Member of the Rotary Club. Kids in private school.”

  “He did?”

  Anna leaned behind her to gently push open the rear passenger door. “Then the recession hit. Things started to get tight. He went to his bank to get some help, only to find he didn’t own anything. His wife had been busy transferring everything into her name. By the time he cottoned on it was too late. Needless to say he never saw her or the kids again.”

  “That would be enough to drive anyone to drink.”

  “No, he doesn’t drink, Guv. Teetotal. He sells that for a profit. Saving up for his comeback.” Anna looked in the rear-view mirror. “Here he is.”

  The rear door pulled open and Bash slid quietly in, laying flat on the rear seat. He pulled the door closed.

  “Evening, Bash,” Anna said as she pulled away. “Thanks for coming. This is Red.”

  Red peered round to acknowledge him.

  “Eyes front, Guv. He’s not here.”

  Red sat to attention. Looking forward, “Bash, I’m Detec –”

  “Guv, he doesn’t need to know. What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him. Just leave this to me?”

  Red grinned sheepishly, staring ahead. “Yes, ma’am. Can I ask where we’re going?”

  “The Station.”

  “The Station?”

  “Station car park, Guv. It’s totally secure. Well lit. And we don’t have to sign him in.”

  “You mean I could have stayed in my warm office?”

  “An Acting DCI being called out to the car park to question someone? Be serious, Guv.”

  “You’ve done this before, I take it?”

  “With respect, Guv, that’s the problem with promotion. You lose touch with how the game is played.”

  Red grinned at Anna. “I’m beginning to see that.”

  Chapter 87.

  The amber glow of the sodium security lights illuminated Bash as he sat up, blinking.

  “Bash, Red,” Anna said by way of introduction. “That’s all you need to know. Both of you.” To Bash, “Red’s going to show you some e-fits. The usual stuff. Just answer the questions yes or no.” To Red, “Yes or no answers only, Guv. Nothing else.”

  Red nodded compliantly, reaching by her feet for the folder. She took out the e-fit image of the Huntsman as she remembered him. To Bash, “Do you recognize this face?”

  Bash stared at the image before taking it in his hand, holding it at angles to the light, deliberating his response. Finally, “Yes.”

  Red breathed a sigh of relief. “Name?”

  Bash looked at Anna.

  “Guv, that’s not a yes or no question.” To Bash, “Do you know this person’s name?”

  “No.”

  “But you’ve seen him here?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?” Red demanded.

  Anna put a hand on Red’s arm. “Guv, best you let me handle this?” To Bash, “Have you seen him recently?”

  “Yes.”

  “The past week?”

  “No.”

  Anna pondered her next question carefully. “You’re aware of the murder of a police officer from this Station, of course.”

  “Yes.”

  “Was this person,” Anna tapped the e-fit, “on this manor at the time of that incident?”

  “Yes.”

  Red took a deep breath. “Have you heard of the Huntsman, Bash?”

  Bash looked up at Red for the first time. He nodded.

  “Is this the Huntsman?”

  Bash nodded again, staring at the image.

  Red brought up another e-fit, showing it to Bash. “This was produced by a different witness.�
�� She handed Bash the e-fit image Superintendent Blake’s grandson Peter had produced. “Would you agree this is the same person?”

  Bash looked up at her again. Hesitantly, “Yes.”

  Anna asked, “Bash, do you know this person’s name? His real name?”

  “No.”

  “Do you know what he was involved with? Why he was here?”

  Bash nodded.

  “Drugs?”

  “Yes.”

  “Crack?”

  “Yes.”

  “Anything else?”

  Bash stared out of the window. He nodded.

  “Bash, this man killed a police officer. A good police officer. My boss. Mine and Red’s boss.”

  “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “So you do talk,” Red said quietly. “Bash, did you know Mickey Finn?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know who killed him?”

  “I need to go now.”

  “Bash, this is important.”

  Bash looked at Red, then at Anna. “I must get back.”

  Red held up the e-fit. “Bash, I saw this man, this man, kill my guv’nor. My DCI. In cold blood. I’m the witness, Bash. When we catch him I’ll be the one in Court giving evidence, not you. But we need to be sure there’s just one killer. We need to know if this man, this so-called Huntsman, killed Mickey Finn. Or if we should be looking for someone else.”

  “I wasn’t there.”

  Anna leaned forward earnestly. “Bash, please. What’s the word on the street? Did the Huntsman kill Mickey Finn?”

  A reluctant nod. “Can I go now?”

  Red and Anna exchanged glances. “One last question,” Red said. “Do you know who the Huntsman is working for?”

  Bash looked Red square in the eye. “No.”

  Chapter 88.

  “The Super wants to see you,” Terri said as Red entered the Station. “Before the briefing.”

  “Ditto. I need to see him, too.” Red hurried down the corridor, the e-fits under her arm. Blake was on the phone as she entered. He gestured for her to take a seat.