Inescapable Fate: Hanleigh's London (The Fate Series Book 1)

by Hanleigh Bradley

  “Sorry, Sir,” she says. She’s a quiet, unassuming, timid thing. I give her a big smile and tell her it’s not a problem. “DS Kentley, a Mr Jacks left this for you, just now.”

  John and the other guys react immediately.

  “Is he still here?”

  “Don’t let the Detective Chief Superintendent see him.”

  “Where is he? I’ll give him a piece of my mind.”

  Kently seems to be the only calm one in the room as she gets to her feet and approaches the girl.

  “What is it?” she asks without hesitation.

  “A set of keys,” the uniformed officer tells her as she drops them into her hand.

  “Good,” Kentley replies before turning back to me. “Sorry for the interruption, Sir.”

  I nod my head and prepare to continue, but the others aren’t paying me any attention at all. Even John’s attention is on her.

  “You can’t seriously be okay?” John says. “He’s just given his keys back, kid. So, you were serious when you said you’d broken up?”

  “Serious as a heart attack,” she tells him with a happy smile that appears completely devoid of happiness.

  “But… you’ve been together… how long? I can’t remember. Long enough I can’t remember!”

  Kentley is uncomfortable discussing this and heck I’m uncomfortable for Christ’s sake. This is our workplace and here they all are gossiping about DS Kentley’s love life. Fucking hell.

  “John, let’s get back on point,” I say.

  “Sorry, Sir,” John replies but his eyes stay glued to Kentley’s face. “It’s just… it doesn’t make much sense.”

  I huff in irritation.

  What is it about this girl that has all these guys vying for the role of her protector?

  “It doesn’t make sense?” I ask.

  “No – not one little bit. Kentley, I thought you’d be getting engaged soon, and here you are telling us it’s over.”

  “I appreciate your concern,” she says sweetly, “it just didn’t work out. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me either. He confused the shit out of me. I mean who dumps a person on Christmas Day, around the dinner table surrounded by both families.”

  “He didn’t?” Alvin has returned with the coffees and considering what sort of a diva he seems to be, I’m surprised they haven’t landed on the floor with him stood above them with a look of abject horror on his face.

  “Yeah…” Kentley sighs. “Dad nearly flipped a lid.”

  She smiles at the memory.

  “Then the bastard left me to deal with everything; his parents, my parents… Everyone was there and he just upped and went.”

  There is a chorus of disbelief from all the guys.

  “It’s a shame,” John says. “Worst bit is you’ve lost your best friend.”

  She nods her head in agreement.

  “Yeah. We’ve known each other so long; I honestly thought that even if we broke up so long as we did it mutually, that at least our friendship could survive. I guess he didn’t agree.”

  Her eyes give away more than her words. She’s hurt, perhaps not devastated but she’s hurt, but what’s more, she doesn’t want anyone else to know it.

  John is across the room and hugging her within seconds.

  “Enough!” I call out just as I witness her telling John that she really is fine. “We’ve got work to do. What do you all think this is? The order of business for the day does not include discussing Kentley’s love life as desperately pathetic as it might be.”

  There is a round of apologies before finally they settle down and we can get on with some work.

  “Tell me about this fancy dress robbery case,” I say to DS Milton.

  “Well, Sir, basically we’ve had a string of household robberies over the last month,” Milton replies. “Each time the perp wears a different fancy dress costume. He’s been Santa, a reindeer, an angel and a snowman. All the robberies are within a five-mile radius. We’ve been to the local fancy dress stores and we’re working our way through the list of people who have bought those products – although our concern is that the perp may have bought them online or outside the area.”

  “There was a boot print left at the first scene,” John tells me, “and a hair was left at the third. Unfortunately, the hair turned out to be a cat hair – although that isn’t necessarily completely unhelpful as he could have a pet cat.”

  “There was a witness at the second,” DS Stone tells me. “A Mrs Pearce. She was putting out her washing when she heard a loud bang from the house next door, so she went around to check on her neighbours. She knocked, but there was no answer. Instead, there was another loud bang. She planned to return to her house – she has a key, you see. She feeds the cat when they go on holidays and the like – but a reindeer opened the door and pushed past her. He was apparently carrying a black sack, was approximately 5’9’’, had a stubbly chin and looked to be in his late twenties, early thirties.”

  They go on to tell me their plans for the day.

  Milton will be continuing with the list of customers while John Bertell and Stone will be spending their morning at the fourth crime scene.

  When they have finished, I turn to Mark Jackson, the other Detective Inspector.

  “Our most pressing case right now is the sexual assault and battery. The victim, a Miss Lolt, is currently in the hospital. She’s got a uniformed officer guarding her room. We’ve yet to be able to question her as she was in a pretty bad way,” Jackson tells me. “We’re hoping today will be the day.”

  “The hospital said her condition had improved when I called about an hour ago,” Kentley adds.

  “DS Milton will be checking in with CSI about the rape kit results and DS Kentley will be accompanying me to interview the victim. Until we’ve interviewed her, we don’t have much to go on at all.”

  “Alright. I’m going to come with you both,” I tell them. “Get to it, everyone. Any new leads, or information, keep me informed.”

  I get another round of yes sirs.

  “I’m going to grab my coat,” I tell Jackson. “We can take my car.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He nods his head before going over to his desk to gather his own stuff.

  Chapter Three – Georgia

  “Kentley, I want you to lead the interview,” Jackson is saying, and I know why he’s saying it.

  It’s because one, I’m a woman so she might find it easier to talk to me and two, because I’ve been assaulted myself so I’m more likely to be empathetic.

  I haven’t been raped but it got pretty close when I was taken hostage. What he’s forgetting about is the fact I don’t talk about that. I’ve buried it in a hole and forgotten where the hole is. I’m not about to let it resurface.

  “But, Sir,” I try.

  Trent isn’t having it though.

  “Your supervisor has given you an order.”

  “Yes, Sir,” I say dejectedly.

  Jackson frowns at me through the car’s middle mirror.

  “I know it’s going to be hard but I really do believe you will get the best response from her.”

  “You don’t have to explain your decision to a subordinate,” DCI Trent cuts in.

  He’s quickly getting on my wrong side.

  “I’m not explaining,” Jackson retorts. “I’m making sure she’s prepared.”

  He then turns back to me.

  “I don’t expect you to open up to her or anything, just… I know your sincerity. I want her to see it too.”

  “Yes, Sir,” I reply.

  I feel Trent’s eyes on me. He’s watching me through the side mirror. He should be watching the road. In fact, I open my mouth to tell him as much, before quickly stopping myself.

  “I will do my best.”

  “That’s all I want.”

  When we walk into Miss Lolt’s hospital room, it’s hard not to react to the sight that awaits us. She’s battered and bruised to the point that I don’t thi
nk I can see so much as a five pence piece work of unbruised skin.

  “Hello Miss Lolt,” I say gently. “I’m Detective Sergeant Georgia Kentley but you can call me Georgia if you like.”

  She’s young, no older than myself.

  “This is Detective Inspector Jackson and DCI Trent. We’re hoping you are up to talking to us today.”

  She nods her head but doesn’t speak. I pull away from the two men and take a seat next to her bed. Trent and Jackson hold back to at least give us the illusion of privacy.

  “I’m so sorry to have to make you discuss this. If at any time you need to take a break, please just tell me and we’ll stop.”

  Again, she nods her head.

  “Could you tell me what happened on the night of the 23rd of December?”

  She doesn’t speak straight away. She takes a deep breath, her eyes wide with what I can only imagine is fear.

  “I- I was walking home from work,” she begins. “I always take the same route. They say you shouldn’t do that…” She’s rambling slightly but I don’t want to rush her. “You shouldn’t be predictable.”

  I nod, showing her I understand.

  “It was about nine thirty, and I had a feeling someone was watching me but I ignored it. I had to walk down a street that doesn’t have any street lights. I could have gone the long way but it was so cold…”

  “So, you walked down Clementine Road?” I ask.

  “Yes… the street without lights,” she confirms. “He was waiting for me… He grabbed me and I tried to fight back but… I scratched him across the face… but he was too strong.”

  I listen as she goes on to tell me about how she hadn’t been able to stop him, no matter how hard she tried.

  When she ahs finished, she’s sobbing silently as I hold her hand.

  “I’m so sorry that you had to experience that,” I tell her. “We’re going to do everything we can to catch him.”

  “Her description of him wasn’t great,” Trent says once we’re back in the hospital corridor.

  Jackson doesn’t speak. He’s deep in thought.

  I glance around, looking for a doctor or a nurse. I leave the guys behind, approaching the nurses’ station. Trent tuts at me as I turn away, muttering something about disobedient, little girls.

  “Excuse me,” I say to the nurse at the station.

  Trent comes to stand next to me.

  “Don’t walk off like that,” admonishes me.

  “Sorry, Sir,” I reply.

  The nurse is smiling up at Trent.

  WTF, haven’t you seen an attractive man before? You don’t need to drool!

  “Can we speak to the doctor responsible for caring for Miss Lolt?” I quickly show her my badge.

  Five minutes later, a young woman in a while doctor’s jacket approaches us.

  “Hi there, I’m Miss Lolt’s doctor. Doctor Hewitt.”

  She offers me her hand to shake.

  “Nice to meet you,” I reply politely. “I’m Detective Sergeant Kentley and this is Detective Chief Inspector Trent. We just wanted to ask you a few questions about your patient’s condition.”

  “Of course,” she smiles at me sadly, “anything I can do to help.”

  “Miss Lolt was obviously very badly injured,” I begin, “but is there anything in particular that stands out?”

  “Not so much.” Doctor Hewitt frowns. “Many of her injuries are regularly seen in rape cases…”

  “Have you had any unexpected visitors?”

  “Her parents have visited, her brother… there was one work colleague…”

  “What about the colleague?”

  “He seemed quite concerned for her. She was still asleep at the time, and so we didn’t let him in to see her.”

  “Did you get a name?”

  “Luke… I think he said his name was Luke.”

  “Would you be able to describe him to us?” I question.

  “Sure. Quite tall, strong looking, dark hair, blue eyes. Dressed really well.”

  “Thank you.” I smile at her. “If anything else happens or if you think of anything at all that might be helpful, please don’t hesitate to call.”

  I pass her my card.

  We exchange pleasantries and then she’s gone. I look around for Jackson but he’s nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he’s gone to find his brother-in-law, Michael. Michael Vincent is a doctor at the Royal London Hospital too.

  “Where’s the DI?” I ask Trent.

  “Gone off somewhere,” he replies, without looking at me. “Let’s get a coffee while we wait for him.”

  “There’s a cafeteria on the next floor,” I say with a grin. “You like coffee quite a bit.”

  “Do I?” he asks. “I just need caffeine. Do you think this Luke chap might be the perpetrator?”

  “It’s possible,” I glance at his face, “and right now it might be our only lead.”

  “Right, then our next stop will have to be the restaurant she works at.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  “Have you interviewed her parents yet?”

  “Yeah. We went yesterday; they didn’t have anything that was overly helpful to tell us.”

  “Shit…” he curses.

  Chapter Four – Walker

  If I’d hoped that my first day would be amazing and we’d win our first case as a team, I was a fool. Both of our investigations hit a dead end around four and the two teams returned to Scotland Yard feeling dejected.

  It turned out that Luke wasn’t actually employed by the restaurant that Miss Lolt worked for. It looked like we had found our suspect, except he was missing.

  We returned to the hospital to request access to their CCTV and now I’m sifting through hour after hour of footage with none other than DS Kentley.

  I sent the others home hours ago but Kentley had been adamant that she was going to get this done tonight and so I’d relented. Both Jackson and Milton had offered to stay with her. Even Stone had been willing even though he wasn’t working the case. But I’d sent them all packing, telling them that I would stay.

  Their eyes had been wide with surprise. Apparently, DCI Collins had never once opted to do overtime.

  “I need more coffee.” I rub my eyes.

  “You can go home if you’re tired,” she tells me.

  How she looks so fresh I have no clue. I’m beginning to look rough around the edges. I’d moved back to London because I’d hated living so far away from Alicia. My flat in Liverpool had been fantastic but it had been rubbish having to constantly travel back and forth between Liverpool and London.

  When I wasn’t in London, Alicia had been in Liverpool.

  It’s ironic really that I’m now living in London and yet I feel further away from Alicia than I ever have.

  The last thing I want to do is go home.

  “It’s fine. I can stay.”

  “Haven’t you got someone waiting for you at home?” she asks.

  Her question surprises me, not because she’s asking about my personal life but because she’s asking about my personal life in such an uninterested way. She’s being polite. She doesn’t give two hoots if I have someone waiting for me. She just wants me to go away.

  Stupid Bint.

  “I’m not leaving,” I tell her.

  “Fine. Then get coffee. We might be here awhile.”

  I stand up and make my way to the kitchen. It isn’t until I get there that I realise that I just let her boss me about.

  Stupid, nepotistic Bint.

  “That’s him!”

  I jolt away as someone is pushing their tiny hand into my shoulder blade.

  “Shit. That hurts.”

  “Sorry, Sir.”

  My eyes are still closed, and I can’t quite place the voice.

  “But I think we’ve found our suspect.”

  That’s when it comes back to me. I’m at the yard and the voice belongs to DS Kentley. I quickly sit up and pay attention.

  “How long have I b
een asleep?”

  “Not long.”

  “You should have woken me.”

  “Nah. You were fine.” She smiles at me. “It’s him.”

  She points excitably at the screen when I see a man that perfectly matches the doctor’s description, trying to enter Miss Lolt’s room.

  “Good work, Kentley,” I say as I stretch my arms out. “That’s enough for today.”

  “But…”

  “No buts.”

  I glance at my watch. It’s coming up for midnight and I need to get home.

  “We’ve got him on CCTV. This gives us something to work with tomorrow. Time to rest.”

  She prints off a screenshot of the perp and gets to her feet, making her way over to her team’s whiteboard. Above the pictures of the victim, her injuries and the crime scene, she sticks the picture of our new suspect.

  Then she returns to her desk to gather her things.

  “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

  “Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

  Then she leaves and I’m left alone.”

  The next day, I wake to reports of yet another break in. John walks me through everything the second I get to Scotland Yard.

  It’s difficult not to react to the fact that this time the perp decided to dress up as Mrs Claus.

  I try my best to keep the jokes in my head.

  My phone rings just as I enter my office.

  “Yeah?”

  “Alright Walker,” my best friend Tristan calls down the line. “So did you do it?”

  “Do it?”

  I’m confused.

  “Propose!” He’s talking about the engagement ring that’s burning a hole in my pocket.

  “Oh that…” Fuck. How do I explain that he was right?

  “Yeah that.”

  “She said no.”

  “Shit. Sorry man.”

  “It’s alright. Haven’t really stopped to think about it.”

  “Have you ended things?”

  “Not sure.” I run my hand through my hair as I take my seat. “We haven’t really spoken since. We’re like passing ships. Anyway, how are you?”

  “I’m good.”

  “Going to introduce me to the new girlfriend who is keeping you busy?”

  “Soon.”