by Mel Sherratt
Grace nodded too and left his office.
Back at her desk, she sighed heavily, almost wanting to rest her head in her hands and hide away again. All around her, people were surreptitiously glancing her way. Had she ruined her chances of ever putting down roots here?
Maybe she shouldn’t have come back.
She’d have to put in for a transfer if things didn’t improve. She’d give them time first. Six months was enough. If she hadn’t fitted in by then, she would move on. Perhaps go back to Manchester, not necessarily with her tail between her legs. Maybe she had belonged there more than she’d realised.
At least there she had friends, even if they were only work colleagues. She had someone to go for a drink with, someone to chat to about last night’s TV. She could have more if she made an effort.
Yes, she would give it six months. But she was not coming off this case.
SIXTY-FOUR
Grace kept her head down at the start of the evening team briefing. She wasn’t sure if anyone wanted to be in the same room as her right now, but no one, not even her, had any choice. There was work to be done.
‘Right, listen up, everyone,’ Nick told them as he came into the room and stood at the head of the table. ‘There’s been a lot of things happening lately and I am pissed off with this team not rallying around one of our own. Grace acts on my command and is doing a bloody brilliant job, so if any of you have any complaints, then I suggest you take them up with me. I want you all to stop grumbling and work together. We are not kids any more – the bickering stops right now.’ He banged the palm of his hand on the table. ‘We have three deaths, and a fourth that could possibly be linked, and no suspects. I think that needs to take precedence, don’t you?’
Nick took a few seconds for his words to sink into the deathly silence that followed. As a result, there were a few red faces but, ten minutes in, his words had united them again. Grace felt relieved. They needed to concentrate on the case now, to ensure the residents of the city felt safe and had faith in them. The team chatted through all the events, brainstorming, trying to put pieces of evidence together. It was good, reassuring.
Finally, after two further hours at her desk, Grace was done. She wondered if Simon might be in Chimneys. She couldn’t face texting him and perhaps having to wait for a reply. Having time to think had made her realise how harsh she had been on him that afternoon. It wasn’t his fault that his editor had run with a piece of private intel, and he had tried to warn her.
She was at her car when Alex appeared by her side. He grabbed her forcefully by the arm.
‘I want a word with you,’ he said, then marched her to the side of the building. She tried to shake him off but he pushed her into an alcove out of the way of prying eyes. Behind him she could see the side of their station, the city library and the Smithfield buildings. But no one would be able to see her.
‘Get your hands off me!’ She tried to pull her arm away but he held on to it.
‘Keep your nose out of my business.’ His eyes were dark, an ugly scowl on his face. ‘You’re messing in something that’s beyond your capabilities.’
‘What are you up to, Alex?’
‘It’s nothing to do with you.’
‘It is when it involves the Steeles. You need to stay away from them. They don’t have any loyalty.’
‘Like you, you mean?’ Alex sneered. ‘We all know where your allegiance lies. Opening your legs for that journalist. I’ve seen you, creeping around with him.’
‘Have you been following me?’ Grace stood tall and looked him in the eye but he didn’t answer her question. Her heart was racing, the traffic noise from the nearby Potteries Way fighting to be heard over it. ‘Were you meeting Jade Steele earlier?’ she asked then.
‘You mean your sister?’ he sneered. ‘She’s nothing like you, thank God.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘She seems extremely loyal.’
Grace wouldn’t bite. ‘What did she want?’
‘I didn’t meet her.’
‘Oh?’ She frowned. ‘That’s funny, because I saw her car leaving a minute or so after you walked past.’
Alex had the nerve to shrug. ‘I didn’t see her.’
‘So what were you doing in the multi-storey car park?’ For now, she didn’t mention that she had seen them together.
‘Just grabbing a bit of fresh air.’
Grace leaned in close. ‘Don’t take me for a fool. I’ll find out if you have been seeing her, and then I’ll want to know why. If she is your informant you only have to say, but then again, you would have said that a long time ago. But you didn’t, did you? Just like you never said that you knew who I was when I first arrived. It was you who told the Steele family I was working in Stoke, wasn’t it?’
Alex shrugged again.
‘Answer my question!’
‘You’re a lone wolf, Grace. Just like me.’
‘I am nothing like you.’ Grace rebuked his insinuation. ‘The Steeles won’t protect you when all this goes pear-shaped.’
‘Eddie has my back.’
‘So you are involved with them! You’re a bigger fool than I’d originally had you down for.’
Alex grabbed the collar of her jacket either side of her neck and pulled her close to him. ‘What I have going on with Eddie is not going to change just because you’ve come back on the scene. He’ll look out for me because I look out for him. And his family.’
Grace tried not to show her distaste. ‘All you’re concerned about is one-upmanship.’
‘Exactly!’ He pushed her into the wall. ‘You’re too stupid to see what’s right under your own nose.’
She pushed him back. ‘Get away from me!’
‘Everyone thinks this case is too personal for you,’ Alex went on. ‘We’re all thinking you’re involved somehow, so it’s only a matter of time before you’re booted out of Stoke. And I’ll still be here.’
‘I won’t ever be tarred with the same brush as you,’ she sneered.
Alex moved closer again. Grace balled her hand in a fist and got ready with her knee.
‘I’m warning you.’ Sweat glistened from his forehead. ‘You breathe a word of this to anyone and you’re a goner.’
‘And I’m warning you. They may be watching me, but I’m watching them too. I’m also watching you.’
After a few tense seconds, she pushed him away again. This time he left her alone. Minutes later, she heard him screech out of the car park.
Grace got into her car, hands shaking as she caught her breath. That bastard! Who the hell did he think he was? No one threatened her like that and got away with it. His cards were well and truly marked.
Leon drew up in Clara’s street and went into the back garden of her flat. He reached up to the top of the outbuilding, pushing aside a plastic cover that hid a spare key. Then he let himself into her home. He’d made sure Clara and Trent were both at the gym before he’d left, but still he checked the rooms to be sure he was alone. When he was satisfied, he went into the bedroom. Now that Tom had been murdered, he needed to clean up everywhere, and everything. It was all getting too real now. There were too many clues.
Lifting up the bedside cabinet, he placed it on its side on the bed. Taped to the underneath was a small black notebook. He shoved it in the pocket of his jeans and replaced the cabinet and the items on top. He’d yet to find out where Dale’s phone had gone. He knew the police hadn’t found it, unless Alex wasn’t telling him everything, and the number had been out of service when he rang it.
Once outside again, he drew level with the vehicle he’d taken from Molloroy Motors. A message came in to his phone and he fished it out of his pocket. He frowned when he saw who it was from. Then he heard his name being called as a figure dressed in black ran at him.
Before he could respond, something was sprayed into his face. He dropped his phone as his eyes began to sting. Pepper spray; he’d been sprayed twice before by the police so recognise
d its effects.
As his eyes burned, he scrunched them shut to try to stop the pain. The first smash across the head with a heavy object knocked him to his knees. With the second, he dropped to all fours. Immediately, he was pulled up. He tried to resist but, dazed and unable to see, all he could do was lunge with a fist that missed its target.
The car door was opened. As he stumbled around with his eyes still closed, he was almost guided into the back seat. Helpless to resist, he tried to sit up, kicking out with his feet. His assailant straddled him, hitting him again and again.
‘Stop!’ Fear tore through him as he realised that this had happened to Josh, that he had been left impaired purposely.
That this could be the killer.
He tried to push his assailant away. ‘Leave me alone!’
A knife was plunged into his chest.
SIXTY-FIVE
At home, Grace parked in the drive of her house and switched off the engine, her hands still shaking from her altercation with Alex. She reached for her phone to call Nick, but then decided she’d be better putting her thoughts into order first. She was about to accuse a member of his staff of taking money in return for confidential information.
Yes, it would be best kept until the morning when she would be calmer. She needed to state her case in a professional not emotional way. After all, it would be Alex’s word against her own.
She took a shower, thinking that this had to be the worst day in her career so far. She’d been outed in the press, had a run-in with her boss, knew her team would never trust her, and the final straw was being accosted by that idiot. How dare he threaten her.
Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. Upstairs in her bedroom, she crossed to the bay window and looked down on to the driveway. It gave her a full view of the front door.
Simon.
She couldn’t hide her surprise when she opened the door.
He pointed at her dressing gown and wet hair. ‘I’m not interrupting anything, am I?’
‘No.’ Grace held the door open for him. ‘I’ve not long been in. Help yourself to a coffee while I get dressed.’
She went back upstairs as he headed into the kitchen. Wondering what to put on, she rummaged through her clothes for something … something … what? She hadn’t got a clue what he’d come to say after her outburst earlier. She ran a comb through her wet hair, popped on jeans and a jumper, added a dash of lipstick, a quick spray of perfume and went downstairs.
In the kitchen, Simon had made a coffee for her too.
‘I rang Perry this evening,’ he told her once they were seated in the living room.
Grace looked up. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting.
‘And what did he say to you?’ she asked.
He paused for a moment. ‘He thinks you’re struggling.’
‘Oh, that’s big of him to tell me!’
‘Not with the job,’ he added quickly. ‘With the whole thing of coming back to Stoke, spying on your family, keeping everything secret. He says Nick has pushed you too far. He says you should talk to him and Sam more.’
She raised her eyebrows inquisitively. ‘So why aren’t either of them here now?’
‘I told him I would come instead.’ He smiled. ‘I guess your luck ran out,’ he joked.
Grace smiled faintly, glad of it. She didn’t want to fight with Simon. She didn’t want to fight with anyone, she had nothing left to give. More than anything, she realised she wanted someone on her side.
‘When you heard who I was, did you ever think that I was working for the Steeles?’ she wanted to know.
He nodded. ‘It’s played on my mind today. But that’s why I’m here now, because once I’d had time to think about it, I’m sure you’re better than that. I also thought maybe you’d been placed here undercover to infiltrate your family and see what information you could find out.’
She snorted. ‘Even if the force would allow it, I doubt anyone would have thought the Steeles warranted that much attention.’ She waited for Simon to look at her. Unsure what to say, she apologised again.
‘I’m not interested in that any more.’ Simon shrugged. ‘Sure I was hurt when I found out, but really I can’t say I blame you for not wanting to tell anyone.’
‘I did want to,’ Grace acknowledged, ‘but I was warned not to.’
‘It couldn’t have been easy; living with George Steele, I mean. And correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Leon the same age as you?’
‘Yes. George was having an affair at the same time he was married to my mother – well, it was more of a double life really. Eddie was born first, two years before me, and I came along two months after Leon. Finally, there was Jade. But we never met, until recently.’
Grace sat back in her chair. It felt good to have someone to talk to.
‘We were all damaged kids,’ she continued. ‘Once my mum and I left Stoke-on-Trent it didn’t taken long for George to find us, but apparently all he’d wanted was a quick divorce. I found out that he’d moved his other family into the home we’d shared with him, and later he married the woman he’d been seeing at the same time as my mum.’
‘Double trouble.’ Simon laughed awkwardly at his attempt at humour.
Grace couldn’t smile. ‘George had been a bastard to Mum. Before we left, I can remember lots of times he’d come home and beat her up – the nights when he hadn’t been with Kathleen Steele wherever she lived, I presumed. Sometimes Mum could barely walk the next day. Other times he wouldn’t mark her, but he would punish her enough that she wouldn’t be able to go out to work.’ Grace fought with her emotions as her eyes welled up.
‘We hardly had any money. If he hadn’t been left that awful house, I’m certain we would have become homeless. Mum worked a full-time shift and often did extra hours cleaning in the local pub to make ends meet. George would never give her money and if she did have some stashed away, he would take it and spend it getting drunk.’
‘But you got away.’ Simon’s voice was soft as he came to sit beside her and put a hand over hers. ‘That’s some story, and it makes all the difference to hear it.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it shows me what a loyal person you are.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘I didn’t have any choice at the time.’
‘Maybe not, but you were still brave to go through all that and not come out as damaged as the Steele siblings.’
They sat in silence then. Grace scrunched her eyes shut to block out the pain.
‘It’s late.’ Simon stood up and held out his hand. ‘I should go.’
Grace took it and stood up too. She smiled at him. ‘Thanks for listening. Does this mean we are friends again?’
Simon nodded and kissed her lightly on the cheek before leaving.
Grace closed the door behind him and headed off to bed. She was glad they had cleared the air. Tomorrow was going to be a challenging day all round, especially with Nick beginning to crack under the strain, and she was desperate for a good night’s sleep.
But, as usual, her mind wouldn’t allow it. Who had leaked the information to the press about her background? She thought back to Eddie’s suggestion that he had someone on the inside. He also knew that their three victims had all been stabbed in the heart.
Then there was seeing Alex and Jade both at the car park earlier. They must have been meeting, but why?
Not to mention Alex’s accusations and threats.
The more she thought about it, the more she realised there could only be one logical solution. Her gut instinct had been right.
It had to be Alex who was leaking information about her and the case.
SIXTY-SIX
TUESDAY – DAY 15
Grace had just finished a run on her treadmill and begun to make toast when her phone rang. She groaned, hoping it wasn’t someone telling her there had been another murder, not when she had a feeling they were closing in.
But it wasn’t anyone from work. It was Jade. Grace sighed
as she slid her finger over the screen to take the call. This had better be important at seven thirty of a morning.
‘I … can I meet you?’ Jade’s voice broke. ‘I need to talk to you.’
‘I’m not sure I will be free today, Jade. I’m really busy at work right now.’ Grace heard sobbing down the phone. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I need someone to talk to, and I – I have to tell someone.’
‘What’s wrong?’ The toaster threw out her breakfast and she grabbed the first slice to butter.
‘I want to make a complaint about another officer.’
‘In relation to the ongoing murder investigation?’ Grace stopped, knife in mid-air.
‘No, it’s about an assault. DC Alex Challinor raped me.’
Grace gasped. She wanted to ask Jade if she was certain of the allegation before she put it out there, but she didn’t want to seem disrespectful. She might have her doubts about trusting Jade, but as a rule she would hear anyone out before making a judgement. Imagine if Jade had been raped and she hadn’t believed her.
‘I wasn’t going to say anything because I know how difficult it would be to prove,’ Jade went on.
‘That mustn’t stop you coming forward. We have a specialist team.’
‘Who would believe me over the word of a police officer?’
‘We would listen to both sides of the story,’ she stated.
During her career, Grace had known a lot of women who hadn’t wanted to press charges after coming forward. Even if charges could go to the Crown Prosecution Service without their testimony, if they had enough evidence to pursue a charge, it still required a lot of work to prove. She hated it, but it was true.
‘You have to come into the station,’ Grace said. ‘Are you able to talk about it while I arrange for a special victims’ officer to see to you too?’
‘I only want to talk to you.’
‘You can, for now. But afterwards, I have to pass it on. I’m not qualified to deal with your needs.’
