Saffina Desforges' ROSE RED Crime Thriller Boxed Set

by Saffina Desforges

  Davies ushered the other girls into the room and pulled the door closed. Red and Terri watched Miriam’s bravado visibly deflate as she found herself without her appreciative audience.

  “Name,” the duty sergeant asked again, his voice calm but firm.

  “Miriam Foster,”

  “Date of birth?”

  Red listened as Miriam compliantly responded to each question. “Poor kid. That make her, what, fourteen?”

  Terri nodded confirmation. “Fifteen in December. Isn’t that address in your neck of the woods?”

  “Not that far away. Which suggests her parents aren’t short of a bob or two. So what the hell was she doing shoplifting?”

  “Trying to impress her mates?”

  Red shook her head. “She was on her own. And scared witless when I caught her.”“Is there a family member I can contact, Miriam?” the duty officer asked.

  “Mummy and Daddy are too busy holidaying in The Hamptons to worry about where their daughter is.”

  “So who’s looking after you at home?”

  “No-one. I’m not a little kid, you know.”

  The officer tapped away at the keyboard.

  “Is that legal here?” Terri whispered to Red. “Leaving a kid home alone like that?”

  Red shrugged. “Must be, surely, at fourteen. So long as she’s been left money for food and everything.”

  “I’m going to have to call Social Services,” they heard the duty officer say. “We need a responsible adult present.”

  “I am responsible,” Miriam objected.

  “That’s not what it means,” the duty sergeant explained. “We need an adult who will take responsibility for you, and your actions, while we decide what to do with you, and then ensure you get home safely.”

  “Want me to go and have a word?” Terri suggested. “I could be her responsible adult.”

  “Thanks, but no. I’m not sure if that would even be allowed, and it certainly wouldn’t go down well with the Super. No, Miriam will have to deal with this. Like the man said, she’s on the conveyor now. Best we can hope is that she keeps her mouth shut. But tell you what.”

  Red fished in her pocket. Produced a Police card. “I don’t want her seeing me tonight. we’ve got other things to be doing. But give this to the custody sergeant. Tell him to make sure the social worker gets it, and ask him or her to give me a call. I’d like to know more about our Miriam.”

  Chapter 96.

  Red and Terri arrived back in the briefing room to find the laptop lid closed. The room reeked of Chinese take-away and lager. Empty cartons and cans were littered across the tables.

  “Messy bastards, aren’t we.” Red stared at the monitor.. “Did you switch the off? We’ve still got several hours to view.”

  “Wasn’t me, Guv. One of the civvies must have seen it on and thought we’d gone home.”

  “Good job the Super never saw this.”

  Terri tapped Red on the shoulder. “Guv, I think he might have. Look.”

  Red spun round to see a message printed in large black letters across the whiteboard.

  ROSE – MY OFFICE. IMMEDIATELY!!! BLAKE.

  “Oh, shit.” Red grabbed the back of a chair for support, clenching it until her knuckles turned white. “Somebody tell me this isn’t happening. What the hell is Blake doing at the Station at this time of night?”

  “Dunno, Guv.” Terri opened the windows as wide as they would go. “But best not keep him waiting. Three exclamation marks sounds serious to me. I’ll clear up this mess.”

  Red straightened her jacket. Stopped at the washroom to check her teeth for stray noodles. Knocked on Blake’s door.

  “Sir, I can explain,” she said as she walked in. “It’s not what…” Red’s voice trailed as she saw the two men and a woman seated around Blake’s desk.

  She recognized Chief Superintendent Cecil Edwards immediately.

  Her eyes fell on the Deputy Assistant Commissioner Morris. She forced from her mind the drunken exchange at Bill Andrews’ funeral.

  The woman was unknown to her. Red sensed she wasn’t Police. A glance at the file the woman was holding confirmed. HM Prison Service.

  Red looked up at Blake, all thought of Chinese food cartons and empty lager cans gone from her mind.

  “Cassandra,” Blake said, his tone serious but neutral. “Bad news, I’m afraid.”

  Red’s eyes left Blake. Moved from The Chief Super to the DAC, to the woman. Down to the file in her hand.

  “It’s Nathan, isn’t it.”

  Blake nodded. “Nathan Hunter was being transferred to HMP Long Lartin, Worcestershire earlier today to await trial. The vehicle was ambushed. The driver died at the scene. Two others are in hospital.”

  “And Nathan?”

  Blake massaged his forehead above his left eyebrow. “As of now the whereabouts of the so-called Huntsman is unknown.”

  Chapter 97.

  “Coffee?” Pippa planted a kiss on Red’s bare shoulder.

  Red stirred beneath the covers. “Mmm, lovely.” She opened one eye cautiously. “What time is it?”

  “Seven thirty. I thought you might want waking.”

  Red forced herself up on one elbow to relieve Pippa of the cup. “I could sleep until lunchtime. Maybe I will, when this case is over. But today, I have to get back to the Station. Something came up last night.”

  “Not another murder?”

  Worse, thought Red. She said, “No, just need to finish off reviewing the CCTV we were working on.”

  Pippa smoothed the sheets between them. “What time did you get home?”

  “Gone midnight.” Red forced thoughts of the Huntsman’s escape from her mind. She’d have to tell Pippa at some stage. But not yet.

  “I was in bed by half ten,” Pippa said. “Made my excuses early and left Richard and Lucy on the brandy with Steve and Cathryn.”

  “Steve and Cathryn?”

  “Steve the au pair, and his fiancée? Keep up!”

  Red groaned. “Of course. I’d clean forgotten Dickhead had invited them. Poor Steve. In at the deep end. Again.”

  “Thankfully Richard was on his best behaviour. Obviously he had had time to reflect, and realised that he was entirely to blame for the abduction allegations. In fact, Steve and Richard got on like a house on fire, to use one of your dreadful clichés.”

  Red winced. “My clichés?”

  “Well I would never use such a ridiculous term.”

  “You just did.”

  “Yes, but only to make a point. Anyway, the end result is that Richard and Steve rather like one another, and Lucy and Cathryn got on well too.”

  “Like another house on fire?”

  Pippa ignored the taunt. “Cathryn is a teacher too, it transpired. At a local comprehensive, unfortunately, but I guess we all have to start somewhere.”

  “So all in all a successful evening?” Unlike mine, Red thought.

  Red watched Pippa walk across to stare out of the window, shoulders tense. The Huntsman’s escape must have been on the news.

  “Well, there’s no question Steve meets with Richard’s approval,” Pippa began.

  Red heaved a sigh of relief.

  Pippa looked anything but relieved. Her voice was taut. “Richard kept on and on about what we were going to do with the children once Steve started his new term, now that Deimante’s gone.” She turned to look at Red. “He mentioned boarding school again.”

  “I’m sure Steve put Richard in his place about that outdated idea,” Red said.

  “On the contrary. Steve was all for it. He agreed the children would get a superior level of education in every way if they were at a boarding school. He even recommended a place for Ella, in the West Country.”

  Red put her unfinished coffee on the bedside table and plumped a pillow behind her. “Look, first we don’t know that Deimante is gone for good. And secondly, I thought we’d agreed? We don’t want the kids away full time, no matter what.”

  “Yes
, well that’s as may be, but…”

  “But?”

  “We’re both so busy at the moment, Cass. I mean, look at today. You’re rushing off again, on what should be your day off. And I have a caseload of files to review for Monday. We both have our careers to think about, and I don’t want to be worrying about who’s collecting the children every day, and having to interview au pairs every time one moves on. Richard just wants what’s best for all of us. And he’s offered to cover all the fees.”

  “This isn’t about money, Counsellor! It’s about having a family, and keeping it together.” Red studied Pippa’s face. “Are you sure that’s all there is to this? Richard is very keen on the kids going away to school all of a sudden. ”

  Pippa didn’t answer.

  “Pip?”

  Pippa turned to face Red, eyes sparkling with tears. “I’m sorry, Cass, but it’s clear he’s trying to keep the children as far away from you as possible.”

  Chapter 98.

  Red signed the form with a flourish, placing it on top of a growing stack of paper. She looked up as Terri Miller popped her head around the door.

  “Any news?” Terri asked hopefully.

  “Nada. He’s out there somewhere, but there’s nothing to go on as yet, and it’s out of my hands anyway. The DAC made that clear last night. Unless and until Nathan turns up in London his escape is not a Met problem. We can’t just barge into other Police areas chasing criminals.”

  “That’s what I don’t get about Britain,” Terri said. “I mean, the whole country is barely as big as a postage stamp, yet you have forty-odd different police forces, and no national body to coordinate things like this.”

  Red shrugged. “We make the best of what we have. Anyway, the UK’s not that small. Is it?”

  “Let’s put it this way, Guv. You could fit Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany… The whole of western Europe, into Texas, and not touch the sides.”

  “Okay, so maybe it is,” Red conceded. “I’m sure there’s a lot we can learn from the States. But at the moment there’s just one thing I want to learn, and that’s how to use a gun. Especially with Nathan out there.”

  “You think he’ll come looking for you?”

  “Who knows. But I want to be ready.You still up for it?”

  “Just tell me when, Guv.”

  “We could have gone this morning, if we’d got the CCTV review finished last night.”

  “I’m free late afternoon.”

  “Sorry. Pippa and I are out for a meal this evening. Her way of making up to me for my missing out yesterday. The only consolation is, I get to choose where.”

  “Burger King?”

  “Be serious. Pippa would kill me. We’re going to that Romanian place Anna and her toyboy went to. She said it was dead romantic.”

  “I overheard her telling Jez Harris about it, too. He was lapping it up.”

  “The only foreign foods Jezza ever goes near come in take-away cartons on the way home from the pub.” Red scanned her schedule for the following week. “So, my first firearms training. How does Monday afternoon sound, Shooter?”

  “Fine by me. Your car or mine?”

  “Mine. It’s only sixty miles or so, but it will be slow getting onto the A2, so we’ll need to belt it some. My car will flag up as a Met vehicle, so we might get away with a little excess speed.”

  “Excess speed? That’s outrageous, Guv. I mean, two police officers carrying illegal firearms in public is one thing. But breaking the speed limit…”

  Red smiled. “Crazy thing is, if we did get stopped with the guns I might be able to talk our way out of it. But how do you argue with a speed camera?”

  Chapter 99.

  “Hey, honey. I’m—”

  Pippa put a finger to her lips, nodding towards Ruby, laid on the sofa. “She tried to wait up for you to read her story, but the swimming wore her out.”

  “And I was so looking forward to reading Rapunzel for the millionth time.” Red punched Jack playfully on the arm. “Hey, you.”

  Jack grunted, not taking his eyes off the TV.

  “Boys...” To Pippa, .“Where’s Ella?”

  “In her room. In a foul mood.”

  “What about?”

  “Something and nothing. You know how she is.”

  Red kissed Pippa on the cheek. “It must have been over something.”

  “Whatever it is, she had better have got over it before mother arrives.” Pippa looked up from her notes. “Our taxi will be here at eight, don’t forget.”

  “Plenty of time. Especially as I don’t have to read a story to sleeping beauty here.”

  “Cassie?”

  Pippa laughed. “Famous last words, Cass.”

  Red managed a resigned smile. “That’s right, sleepyhead.” She gently slung the child over her shoulders. “How ya doing, Rubes?”

  “Can you read me Rapunzel?”

  “Sure thing, gorgeous. Think you can stay awake?”

  “I wasn’t sleeping.”

  “Fibber.” Red kicked open the door to Ruby’s impossibly pink bedroom. She navigated a Cindy doll and Peppa Pig obstacle course to the bed, dropping the child gently on top of the covers. “Climb in, baby girl. I’ll fetch your book.”

  As Ruby nestled beneath the quilt, Red took the picture book from the dresser.

  “Right, where were we?”

  “The beginning,” Ruby said, her voice thick with sleep.

  Red flopped down beside the child “Once upon a time, there was a...”

  A gentle snore floated up from beneath the covers.

  Red leant across and kissed Ruby on the forehead. “That’s got to be a record, sweetheart. Right, now let’s go sort out that sister of yours.”

  Red crossed the landing to Ella’s room. “Knock, knock,” she said quietly.

  “Go away.”

  “It’s me. Cass.”

  A loud sniff. “Leave me alone.”

  “Come on, it can’t be that bad. Can I come in?”

  “No! Go away.”

  Red pushed the door open slightly. Peered around it. Ella glared back, her eyes raw.

  “Hey, what’s all this?” Red stepped into the room.

  Ella pulled a pillow to her chest, eyes blazing at Red. “Go away! I hate you! I’ll never trust you, ever, ever again!”

  “Whoah!” Red held up her hands. “What have I done?”

  “You told them.”

  “Told who?”

  Ella spun round and buried her face into the quilt. “Go away!”

  “Taxi in thirty minutes,” Pippa’s voice drifted up the stairs. “Mum’s coming up the drive.”

  Red slowly pulled the door closed. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow, young lady. And whatever’s bugging you, get over it. Your grandmother’s here.”

  Chapter 100.

  “Well, looks like Madame Sin’s in for an easy night,” Red said as the taxi slid into the traffic flow. “Ruby won’t surface before morning. Jack’s got wall-to-wall Dr. Who all night. As for Ella... God only knows what’s eating her, but I warned her not to give Grandma a hard time.”

  Pippa stared out of the window. “Richard is right. They are getting too much.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. And can we not talk about Dick?”

  “Please don’t call him that.”

  “Some people were made for their names. Anyway, you’re not still fretting about last night, are you?”

  “Richard and I discussed it again today.”

  “He called you?”

  “Actually I called him. A medical issue to do with a case I’m working on. But of course once I’d engaged him in conversation he took the opportunity to follow up on the earlier discussion.”

  “No way,” Red said firmly. “My kids are not going to boarding school. End of.”

  Pippa stared at Red. She reached out and took Red’s hand. “Cass, that’s so sweet!”

  Red eyed Pippa with suspicion. “What is?”

  �
��What you just said.”

  “That they’re not going to boarding school?”

  “No, you said my children. Well, my kids, to be perfectly precise. But you used the possessive pronoun my. Normally you use the definite article, the.”

  “Now say it in English?”

  “You know perfectly well what I mean. It was just so lovely to hear you say it.”

  Red grinned sheepishly. “When I work out what I’ve done right I’ll do it again. So did Richard have anything sensible to say?”

  “Quite a bit. He’s always my first port of call for any medico-legal issues.”

  “I meant about the children. Sorry, our children.”

  “How does Languedoc-Roussillon sound.”

  “Is it red or white?”

  “I was referring to the region, not the wine. Richard has just bought another villa there. Right on the Mediterranean.”

  “Jesus. Talk about more money than sense. How many second homes is that? Spain? Italy? Two in France? Is this some tax avoidance scam?”

  “Cass, don’t be vulgar. They’re investments. Anyway, Richard wishes to take the children on holiday for two weeks during the summer recess.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “What could I say? He’s their father. It’s not as if we had anything planned for them. Plus we get the house to ourselves for two weeks.”

  “I haven’t been to France in years.” Red stared wistfully out of the window. “I’d love to take the kids up the Eiffel Tower.” She turned to Pippa. “They’re going by car, I take it?”

  “You know how much Richard hates flying. Our trip to the Caribbean was his first and last time in the air. It will be car or train.” Pippa studied Red’s face. “Why? I can see the cogs turning behind those blue eyes. You’re obviously scheming something or other.”

  “Have you no faith, Counsellor?”

  “Where you are concerned? None whatsoever. Out with it.”

  “I was just thinking…”

  “I do love it when you do that, Cassandra.”

  “You gonna let me finish? I was thinking, that weekend in Paris we’re always promising ourselves? We could schedule it so we meet up with the kids on the way back. They get two weeks in the sun, we get a dirty weekend in Paris, and I get to take the kids up the Eiffel Tower. Kill three birds with one stone.”