Death on the Levels

by David Hodges

  ‘She hasn’t long to go,’ Hayden said quietly. ‘Liver’s packed up, you see.’

  Kate stared at the girl and then back at him in obvious bewilderment and he gave a wry smile.

  ‘My “bit of tail”’, he explained. ‘The other woman you were talking about.’

  ‘She’s the other woman? I don’t understand.’

  ‘My kid sister,’ he qualified.

  ‘Your kid sister?’

  He nodded. ‘Tragically, a cocaine addict. Apparently OD’d about the time we had that mishap on our way to Down End House, though whether she did it deliberately or by accident, we’ll never know now. Paramedics were called by the staff at the hotel where she was staying, but too late. Almost everything had shut down by the time they got to her. Hotel manager couldn’t get hold of me on the mobile number I had left with reception, so he sent me a text. Only just picked it up.’

  Kate grimaced. ‘What a bloody awful thing to happen. She looks to be so young. But … but I still don’t understand, why didn’t you tell me about her at the start? Why let me think you were over the side?’

  He sighed and crossed to the window to stare out into the grounds of the hospital.

  ‘I didn’t want you to get involved,’ he replied.

  ‘Involved? Involved in what?’

  He turned to face her again. ‘Assisting an offender,’ he said simply.

  A nurse came into the room and inclined her head in the direction of the door.

  ‘I think you should leave now,’ she said quietly. ‘There’s a waiting room just along the corridor. I will call you if anything happens.’

  Hayden nodded and gently ushered Kate out through the door. Fortunately, they found the waiting room to be empty.

  ‘Assisting an offender?’ Kate queried as soon as they were inside. ‘What are you talking about, Hayd?’

  He waved her to a shabby armchair and dropped into the one opposite.

  ‘Her name’s Jill,’ he said. ‘Just twenty-five years old. Always been a bit wild and some years ago she walked out on my mum and dad after a terrible row with my father over some junkie pusher she was dating. I was at public school at the time and when I got home, she’d gone, no one knew where.’

  He took a deep breath. ‘Then a few nights ago she turned up right out of the blue and confronted me in the nick car park, demanding my help. Heaven knows how she’d found me, but she was emaciated, barefoot and filthy dirty – as well as on a downer after her last cocaine fix. Furthermore, she had partially healed slash marks to both wrists, indicating that she had previously attempted suicide, and she swore she would finish the job if I didn’t help her out.’

  He studied her for a moment. ‘So, what could I do? You more than anyone would understand the invidious position I was in after what happened to you during that old Firetrap operation a while ago.’

  Kate knew exactly what he was getting at and she tensed. Her mind was already peeling back the years, to the night her own drugged-up twin sister, Linda, had appeared at her flat, seeking shelter – only to later end up a victim of the murderous ‘Twister’, when the maniacal killer the police were hunting mistook her for Kate.

  ‘Go on,’ she encouraged, a tremor in her voice now. ‘There’s obviously more.’

  He bit his lip. ‘I found a room for her at a private hotel in Uphill, bought her some new clothes from M&S and had her clean herself up, intending to get some professional help for her addiction at a clinic near Bridgwater—’

  ‘Bit naïve of you?’ Kate interjected brutally.

  He gave a short, humourless laugh. ‘There’s none so blind as those who cannot see, old girl,’ he retorted bitterly. ‘But in the event, she repaid me by stealing money from the hotel till to buy more coke from a local dealer she knew. Fortunately, the hotel was unaware of it and when I found out what she’d done, I surreptitiously put the money back from my own wallet. But that wasn’t the end of it all. A short time afterwards she confessed to something much worse. When she had originally turned up outside the nick seeking my help, she was apparently already in breach of her bail conditions from Oxford Crown Court, where she’d been due to answer multiple charges of assault and shoplifting.’

  Kate took a deep breath. ‘But you couldn’t have known that when you agreed to help her?’

  ‘Doesn’t make any difference,’ he said. ‘No one will believe me. They’ll say, quite rightly, that I should have turned her in the moment I found out, so I’ll just be hung out to dry for assisting an offender – together with anyone else involved with me, which is why I wanted to keep you out of it.’

  Deep down Kate knew he was right, but she hadn’t the heart to say so. Instead, tears welling up in her eyes, she reached forward and placed a hand on his knee.

  ‘Oh, Hayd,’ she said in a husky, hesitant tone, ‘I’m so, so sorry for all the horrid things I’ve said and for the way I’ve treated you. I … I had no idea about all this and I should have had more trust in you. I’ve been a bloody fool.’

  ‘Hasn’t everyone at some time or other?’ he replied, cupping a hand over hers and squeezing it tightly. ‘Problem is, people like Roscoe don’t make allowances for human failure – and he certainly won’t be inclined to be magnanimous with us after what we told him to do with our warrant cards.’

  The suggestion of a smile broke through Kate’s tears at the thought of their parting comments to the DI and, springing from her seat, she fell into his lap, throwing her arms around his neck.

  ‘We’ll get through this together, Hayd,’ she choked. ‘I know we will.’

  Neither she nor Hayden heard the nurse’s soft footfalls and initially her discreet cough went unnoticed too, but then Hayden looked up and squeezed Kate’s arms in warning, prompting her to break away from him and turn to face the young woman, smoothing the creases in her coat with both hands as she did so in a gesture of embarrassment.

  ‘I think you had better come,’ the nurse said. ‘I’m afraid the young lady has passed away.’

  It was an awkward, unreal parting. Hayden was clearly upset at the loss of his sister, but there was no display of emotion as he stared down at the dead woman, just a resigned, almost relieved acceptance.

  ‘I never really knew her,’ he said after the nurse had tactfully withdrawn. ‘We never got on as kids and then she upped sticks and disappeared while I was away. I suppose I helped her more out of a sense of loyalty than anything else. Does … does that sound bad, heartless even?’

  Kate shook her head firmly, staring for a moment at the white face on the pillow, framed by its mass of blonde hair – now strangely relaxed and at peace in Death’s embrace – and thinking of the loss of her own sister all those years before.

  ‘She chose the path, Hayd,’ she said. ‘She must have known what the eventual outcome would be, though it’s tragic the way things have turned out. At least you did your best to help her.’

  He grunted, turning away from the bed. ‘At what cost?’ he replied.

  Kate shook her head. ‘She’s gone, Hayd,’ she went on. ‘Nothing the authorities can do to her now – and that means you too. She’s out of it and you and I can simply walk away.’

  ‘Where to?’ he said. ‘In the hot blood of the moment, we appear, rather foolishly, to have burned our boats with the firm and are out of a job.’

  She took his arm. ‘To a new life,’ she said simply. ‘A new beginning.’

  But as it transpired, their old life was not quite done with them yet.

  Hayden saw the envelope stuck under one of the windscreen wipers of her Mazda MX5 when he ran her back to the police station car park in his Jaguar. Their two warrant cards were inside the envelope, still in their plastic wallets, together with a curt note from DI Roscoe. ‘Cards would not fit the suggested cavity,’ it said with dismissive sarcasm. ‘Resignations not accepted. Debriefing at 1400 hours. Be there!’

  Hayden raised an eyebrow. ‘Good lord, a reprieve, it seems,’ he drawled. ‘And after all that we said to him?
The man must have the skin of a rhinoceros.’

  Kate nodded slowly. ‘Even thicker than that,’ she said. ‘And I suspect it’s the nearest our esteemed leader will ever get to admitting he actually needs us.’

  ‘Oh, you mean we do have value after all? So, what happens now?’

  She chewed her lip for a second, then grinned, handing his warrant card back to him.

  ‘I suppose we do like the man said,’ she replied. ‘Attend the debrief at 1400 hours. The new life will have to wait.’

  THE END

  The Detective Kate Hamblin mystery series

  Book 1: MURDER ON THE LEVELS

  Book 2: REVENGE ON THE LEVELS

  Book 3: FEAR ON THE LEVELS

  Book 4: KILLER ON THE LEVELS

  Book 5: SECRETS ON THE LEVELS

  Book 6: DEATH ON THE LEVELS

  Please join our mailing list for updates on DETECTIVE KATE HAMBLIN, free Kindle crime thriller, detective, mystery books and new releases.

  http://www.joffebooks.com/contact/

  Thank you for reading this book. If you enjoyed it please leave feedback on Amazon, and if there is anything we missed or you have a question about then please get in touch. The author and publishing team appreciate your feedback and time reading this book.

  Please join our mailing list for free kindle crime thriller, detective, mystery, and romance books and new releases.

  http://www.joffebooks.com/contact/

  Our email is office@joffebooks.com

  http://joffebooks.com

  We hate typos but sometimes they slip through. Please send any errors you find to corrections@joffebooks.com

  We’ll get them fixed ASAP. We’re very grateful to eagle-eyed readers who take the time to contact us.

  A Selection of Books You May Enjoy

  THE MURDERER'S SON

  By JOY ELLIS

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/MURDERERS-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01LWY0PUJ

  https://www.amazon.com/MURDERERS-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01LWY0PUJ

  What if your mother was a serial killer?

  A BLOODY KILLER SEEMS TO HAVE RETURNED TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE FENS

  A gripping crime thriller by the best-selling author of the Nikki Galena series. Twenty years ago: a farmer and his wife are cut to pieces by a ruthless serial killer. Now: a woman is viciously stabbed to death in the upmarket kitchen of her beautiful house on the edge of the marshes.

  Then a man called Daniel Kinder walks into Saltern police station and confesses to the murder.

  But DI Rowan Jackman and DS Marie Evans of the Fenland police soon discover that there is a lot more to Daniel than meets the eye. He has no memory of the first five years of his life and is obsessed with who his real mother is.

  In a breathtaking finale, the truth about Daniel’s mother comes to light and DI Jackman and DS Evans race against time to stop more lives being destroyed.

  Full of twists and turns, this is a crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages until the shocking ending.

  MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL

  BY FAITH MARTIN

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/MURDER-OXFORD-gripping-mystery-twists-ebook/dp/B0763RXLRV

  https://www.amazon.com/MURDER-OXFORD-gripping-mystery-twists-ebook/dp/B0763RXLRV

  DISCOVER THE MILLION-SELLING SERIES NOW.

  MEET DI HILLARY GREENE, A POLICE WOMAN FIGHTING TO SAVE HER CAREER.

  Not only has she lost her husband, but his actions have put her under investigation for corruption.

  Then a bashed and broken body is found floating in the Oxford Canal. It looks like the victim fell off a boat, but Hillary is not so sure. Her investigation exposes a dark background to the death.

  Can Hillary clear her name and get to the bottom of a fiendish conspiracy on the water?

  This is a crime mystery full of well-observed characters, which will have you gripped from beginning to end.

  MURDER ON THE OXFORD CANAL is the first in a series of page-turning crime thrillers set in Oxfordshire.

  HE IS WATCHING YOU

  BY CHARLIE GALLAGHER

  https://www.amazon.co.uk/WATCHING-absolutely-gripping-thriller-massive-ebook/dp/B07KKK5N7W

  https://www.amazon.com/WATCHING-absolutely-gripping-thriller-massive-ebook/dp/B07KKK5N7W

  DISCOVER AN ABSOLUTELY GRIPPING RACE-AGAINST-TIME THRILLER FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHOR CHARLIE GALLAGHER.

  MEET DETECTIVE MADDIE IVES IN THIS NEW SERIES THAT WILL HAVE YOU GRIPPED FROM THE EXPLOSIVE START.

  A young woman’s body is left in a metal container in a remote location. The killer is careful to position her under a camera that links to his smartphone. He likes to look back at his work.

  HE IS WATCHING HER. BUT SHE ISN’T DEAD.

  So he will return to finish the job.

  Detective Maddie Ives is new to the area. She is handed a missing person report: a young woman with a drink problem who’s been reported missing fifteen times. It looks like a waste of time. But DS Ives has a bad feeling about the woman’s disappearance.

  DI Harry Blaker is called to a hit and run of an elderly man left to die on a quiet country road. There is no motive and it looks like a tragic accident. But he’s been working Major Crime long enough to know that something isn’t quite right. The two officers find their investigations intertwine and they will need to work together.

  BUT THEY MUST WORK FAST. TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR THE WOMAN IN THE CONTAINER.

  Glossary of English Slang for US readers

  A & E: Accident and emergency department in a hospital

  Aggro: Violent behaviour, aggression

  Air raid: an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets

  Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegetable or flowers

  Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)

  Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings

  A Level: exams taken between 16 and 18

  Auld Reekie: Edinburgh

  Au pair: live-in childcare helper. Often a young woman.

  Barm: bread roll

  Barney: argument

  Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids

  Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle

  Benefits: social security

  Bent: corrupt

  Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)

  Biscuit: cookie

  Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in seaside town

  Bloke: guy

  Blow: cocaine

  Blower: telephone

  Blues and twos: emergency vehicles

  Bob: money

  Bobby: policeman

  Broadsheet: quality newspaper (New York Times would be a US example)

  Brown bread: rhyming slang for dead

  Bun: small cake

  Bunk: do a bunk means escape

  Burger bar: hamburger fast-food restaurant

  Buy-to-let: Buying a house/apartment to rent it out for profit

  Charity Shop: thrift store

  Carrier bag: plastic bag from supermarket

  Care Home: an institution where old people are cared for

  Car park: parking lot

  CBeebies: kids TV

  Chat-up: flirt, trying to pick up someone with witty banter or compliments

  Chemist: pharmacy

  Chinwag: conversation

  Chippie: fast-food place selling chips and other fried food

  Chips: French fries but thicker

  CID: Criminal Investigation Department

  Civvy Street: civilian life (as opposed to army)

  Clock: punch

  Cock-up: mess up, make a mistake

  Cockney: a native of East London

  Common: an area of park land/ or lower class

  Comprehensive School (Comp.): High school

  Cop hold of: grab

  Copper: police officer

  Coverall: coveralls, or boiler suit

  CPS: Crown Pros
ecution Service, decide whether police cases go forward

  Childminder: someone who looks after children for money

  Council: local government

  Dan Dare: hero from Eagle comic

  DC: detective constable

  Deck: one of the landings on a floor of a tower block

  Deck: hit (verb)

  Desperate Dan: very strong comic book character

  DI: detective inspector

  Digestive biscuit: plain cookie

  Digs: student lodgings

  Do a runner: disappear

  Do one: go away

  Doc Martens: Heavy boots with an air-cushioned sole

  Donkey’s years: long time

  Drum: house

  DS: detective sergeant

  ED: accident and emergency department of hospital

  Eagle: boys’ comic

  Early dart: to leave work early

  Eggy soldiers: strips of toast with a boiled egg

  Enforcer: police battering ram

  Estate: public/social housing estate (similar to housing projects)

  Estate agent: realtor (US)

  Falklands War: war between Britain and Argentina in 1982

  Fag: cigarette

  Father Christmas: Santa Claus

  Filth: police (insulting)

  Forces: army, navy, and air force

  FMO: force medical officer

  Fried slice: fried bread

  Fuzz: police

  Garda: Irish police

  Gendarmerie: French national police force

  Geordie: from Newcastle

  Garden Centre: a business where plants and gardening equipment are sold

  Gob: mouth/ can also mean phlegm or spit

  GP: general practitioner, a doctor based in the community

  Graft: hard work