With Deadly Intent

by KA Richardson

  Tomorrow would come soon enough, and he would continue with his planning.

  Ryhope Police Station – 16 October

  Cass pulled at the collar of her polo top. It had been a cold morning, the first frost of the impending winter leaving fairy dust sparkles on every surface. In response the station’s heating had been cranked up the max, which was fine for all the warm-blooded folk who ran for duvets and duffel coats at the first sign of a chill. Not for Cass though. The heat in the conference room was almost unbearable.

  The forensic strategy meeting had already been going on for an hour. She had heard the gist of the search team’s findings from Danny, a lot of generic evidence recovery from the cave and the surrounding beach which wasn’t surprising from a public area. Even Danny had admitted the likelihood of anything being of any substantial value was limited.

  Alex had already gone through the PM findings. Nigel’s report had come through that morning, verifying what he’d said at the time about cause of death, and she’d already been over the forensic evidence her team had found. It was limited but she was hopeful about the partial footwear marks recovered, and one section of bloodied rag which the lab had said they would examine for DNA other than belonging to the victim. Separating DNA profiles was difficult but not impossible, with new techniques being developed all the time.

  Cass figured it wouldn’t be much longer before the meeting would be wound up, and tugged at her collar again as Charlie took the floor to go into Albert’s history. She had just opened her mouth to speak, when there was a loud rap at the door.

  Everyone looked round expectantly as the door opened and the Chief Constable strode inside, quickly followed by the Assistant Chief and one of the Chief Superintendents. Cass watched as everyone’s mouth dropped open in shock. Plainly no one had known this visit would be taking place. She hadn’t heard the CC was in the nick today.

  ‘Morning everyone, I was in the area and just wanted to pop my head in and provide some reassurance regarding the money-saving initiatives we are all facing. I want you all to know that my priority is not to lose staff, I’m aiming as much as possible for people to be deployed into alternate roles, however, you’re all aware that a lot of departments have been identified as being at risk. I trust everyone here has at least had their initial department meeting at this stage?’

  At the cautious array of nods, he continued, ‘Good. I’ve set up an email suggestion and comments filter. I want you all to know that your ideas matter, so send over any suggestions you have, or comments about the process, to Money Suggestions Mailbox. I know how hard this is on everyone, you all need to know that I’m here and approachable. All emails will be answered. OK, so that said I’ll leave you to your meeting, I’m busy working my way round all the depots at the present time.’

  And as quickly as he had entered, they left, leaving everyone a little shell-shocked.

  Danny was the first to speak, ‘Our opinion counts huh? So, I guess he’ll be taking a wage drop to save money then? A few less tens of thousands on his yearly wage? What a prick.’

  Several of the officers murmured their agreement, and Alex, sensing that things could potentially get out of hand, had to interrupt. ‘OK, guys, odd time for the CC to visit but we need to crack on with the meeting coz the room’s booked out for another one starting in forty minutes. Charlie, can you start again on Albert’s history please?’

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ryhope Police Station – 17 October

  He was really annoyed; so annoyed he could actually see white spots dancing in front of his eyes.

  They thought he was dispensable; that they could just get rid of him; throw him out like a bag of rubbish on trash day?

  He felt his blood boil, who did they think they were? He would make every one of them pay; if he couldn’t work there, he’d make damn sure no one else could. If it took him ten years to make that thought a reality, he would do it.

  Inhaling a deep breath, he tried to calm down. He still needed to ring Scott and find out what had happened at the police station. He’d tried to contact him yesterday but got no answer. He needed to know which plan he would be following. Confusion was not good.

  He punched the redial button and held the receiver to his ear. He was almost at the point of hanging up when Scott’s sullen voice answered.

  ‘’Lo.’

  ‘Andy, it’s John. Haven’t heard from you in a couple of days, just checking you’re OK?’

  ‘I need some money. Pigs are chasing me. Need to get away, me and Kourt.’

  ‘I don’t know whether I can get anything together. When are you leaving?’ he asked carefully, knowing Scott would think he was stalling.

  ‘Tomorrow. I’m not staying in this stinking town a day longer than I need to.’

  He felt panic rise like bile from his stomach – how would he complete his plan if Scott left? Yes, he had a back-up, but Scott was and would remain his first choice. He wanted to see the jumped-up little squirt beg for his miserable life. Thinking he could play him. Just like they thought they could play him. He knew he was being irrational, lumping Scott with them like they were one. They weren’t, but they were rapidly becoming intertwining acts in this great show of his. Scott couldn’t just leave. He needed him to stay.

  ‘How much do you need?’

  The question hung as Scott contemplated his answer.

  ‘I had this mate once, made friends with an older guy like you. This mate wanted like a grand, and the old guy had to give it to him coz he threatened to go to the police, tell ’em this bloke had been touching him and stuff. See, the bloke didn’t have a choice really. He gave me mate the money, and me mate got the bike he wanted. He did it a few times after that. Not me though, I don’t need to go to the police. Coz you’re my real mate aren’t you, John? You’ll help me out.’

  He almost fell over in shock, the jumped-up little prick was trying to blackmail him. For the first time that day, he felt his anger dissipate and a feeling of control took over.

  ‘Yes, I’m your friend, Andy. I’ll do what I can to get you some money. I can spare maybe £30 until payday. Will that be enough?’

  ‘Thirty measly quid? Come on, John. I know you can do better than that. I need more than £30.’

  ‘Well if you can wait ‘til the first of the month I can spare £500. Will that be enough of a loan to get you and Kourt started wherever you end up? You can just pay me back whenever,’ he purposely kept his voice neutral, knowing that Scott had no intention of paying him back. Would his offer be enough of a carrot to make Scott stay?

  ‘I’m due back at the nick on the second to answer bail. You get me the money by then, yeah?’

  He bit his own cheek, hard, needing to sound a little naïve and weak. ‘OK, Andy, no problem. What’s mine is yours. I trust you’ll let me know your location, so I get the money back? When you’re sorted of course.’

  ‘Yea you’ll know. I’m going to the park tonight. You wanna meet us and have a few smokes?’

  ‘I’m working tonight, but I’ll see you soon, Andy, OK? We’ll have a catch-up. I’ll bring the beer.’

  He hung up the phone thoughtfully. Shame they couldn’t be manipulated as easily as Scott. He shook his head and pushed back the wave of anger threatening his composure. The anger peaked again as he suddenly realised what he’d done. He’d gone and called Scott’s mobile number from the work phone, not his mobile.

  He grabbed the van keys, left the office and jumped in the van, pulling in at the service station round the corner to refuel. If he was ever questioned, he could just say he had been out of the office – the CCTV at the services would put him there. Not that he thought for one second it would happen, he was brighter than they were. He knew how evidence got missed and misplaced within the police, how easy it was.

  He ought to after all. He worked for them.

  Cass’s Cottage – 17 October

  Cass had had a busy day. She never understood why they were defined as ‘rest day
s’ when not one person she knew ever used them for resting. She had seen Alex off that morning as he left for work. They had become more comfortable in each other’s company in the past few days and he’d stayed at the cottage every night since that first night. It made her feel special, and a little naughty, because nobody at work knew what was happening. It was like they were two different people at work. No one had guessed they were dating.

  Is that what this was called? She wasn’t sure.

  Smiling to herself for the millionth time that day, she acknowledged she was falling for him. Since he had left that morning, she’d tackled the daunting task of pruning the trees surrounding the garden and cottage ready for the autumn. She’d done all the boring household tasks like her washing and ironing, sorted out the bills, walked Ollie twice and had made dinner.

  It had been 8 p.m. when Alex had finally arrived from work, only to sit down at the table to eat and promptly be called back to the nick to deal with an armed robbery.

  Her head now firmly back in ‘work-mode’, she sat at the table thinking. The proposed job cuts affected everyone; Cass had heard the day before they were cutting the handymen, the cleaners, even the front office staff were at risk. A lot of the stations were going from 24:7 opening to daytime only, which meant money saving in not having to run the station round the clock, and also from other things such as shift allowance. It was all just happening too fast. Cass could already see the implications if the cuts went ahead after the consultation period.

  She knew of several people jumping ship before it sank; Greg had opted to take his redundancy a few years before his thirty years of service was up. It saddened her. Greg was one of the best CSIs in the whole force, let alone in her area command. When she’d been promoted to CSM and asked to manage the Ryhope depot, she’d heard rumours from the other supervisors about Greg. He was reported to be gobby and unpredictable and didn’t like women. Cass had held her reservations in check and found it all to be complete bollocks. Greg was a hard worker, he liked being treated with respect and would say when he didn’t agree with something. But she’d never had a problem with him.

  She often wished some of the other CSIs would take his lead, be a little more headstrong and say what they were thinking.

  Deena wasn’t too bad on that front. Years of experience had taught her when she could say no effectively, but she was still a bit of a follower. Faith was wrapped up in her own problems and was an emotional person. Cass liked her a lot and had respect for how well she did the job, but often found herself a little out of her depth when Faith got upset at over something her police colleagues had said or done. She also had a habit of bringing her personal life to work. For all Cass needed to learn to handle Faith’s emotional outbursts a little better, she couldn’t help but think Faith needed to develop a thicker skin. Thick like Fred’s would be good; Fred had been in the department almost as long as Greg. He was confident and has no qualms about saying no to anyone of any rank if what they were asking was outside of the CSI remit.

  Productively though, all the CSIs who worked from Ryhope were marked among the highest in the area command. Certain statistics were monitored – primarily identifications from fingerprints, DNA and footwear. It would be hard for anyone trying to make a case to cut the number of CSIs, but she knew it would happen.

  Pulling her thoughts away from work matters, Cass decided it was time to take Ollie for another walk. She had a week off scheduled and was intending to work on her latest paper for the Forensic Journal, on the implications of using technology at crime scenes, as well as meeting her mum at Rockliffe Hall for an overnight spa break starting the next day.

  It was cold outside, and she shivered, pulling her jacket closer as she and Ollie navigated the stile at the bottom of the garden. She’d invested years before in a head torch, and she adjusted the angle slightly before heading off at steady pace, her breath leaving wisps in the night air as she walked. She loved nights like this, when it was cold and fresh, and the woods came alive. It hadn’t taken her long to realise that the night-time sounds in the woods were completely different to the daytime ones. She listened carefully as she walked, with Ollie bounding ahead scrabbling for rabbits. She heard the trees whisper to each other in the breeze, the hoot of a barn owl in the distance, and ducked as moths danced towards the beam of light on her forehead. She had never found the woods scary though she knew a lot of people would. It was alive with wildlife and it never failed to amaze her.

  She paused as her light picked up a small roe deer, frozen in momentary fear at the approaching beam. And she smiled as it turned on its heels and gracefully bounded away. Ollie had his head down a rabbit hole and didn’t notice it. Normally he would woof in surprise and look at Cass as the deer ran off. He’d never been one for giving chase, and Cass was grateful. He really was a pleasure to walk.

  They walked another fifteen minutes down the faint path, then turned back towards the cottage. Ollie was tired now, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he walked beside Cass.

  Suddenly he stopped and stared intently into the darkness of the wood. Surprised as he growled softly, Cass paused too, feeling the hairs stand to attention on the back of her neck. She instinctively put her hand on Ollie’s collar, slowly moving her head from side to side to illuminate the path ahead and get her bearings. They were still about ten minutes from the cottage. Cass didn’t know what had startled the dog and wasn’t used to feeling fear in her woods. She let Ollie’s collar go and said, ‘Home, Ollie. Go,’ and followed at a fast pace.

  It was probably nothing more than some animal Ollie had perceived as a threat, but Cass wasn’t taking any chances. Both she and Ollie made their way back to the cottage at a hasty speed and, once inside, Cass bolted the back door.

  ‘You OK?’ came Alex’s voice from behind her.

  Cass jumped and turned; her hand clutched to her chest.

  ‘Jesus, Alex, you scared me. I thought you were still at work. We were in the woods and Ollie just stopped and growled but I couldn’t see what it was, and I panicked and we both ran…’

  ‘Whoa, slow down, Cass. It’s OK, you’re safe. Come here,’ interrupted Alex, pulling her into his arms.

  Kissing her gently on the forehead, he whispered, ‘It’s OK. Now tell me what happened.’

  Cass looked up at him.

  ‘I don’t know, Alex.’ She sighed. ‘Ollie never growls at anything. He scared me. I thought, I dunno. I guess I thought someone was out there. I’m probably just being jumpy.’

  ‘I’d have jumped too. Shall I make us a hot chocolate? Nothing like a bit of chocolate to sooth fear so I hear?’

  Cass smiled at him and nodded.

  ‘How’d the robbery go?’

  ‘We got two arrests. They entered the garage and threatened the cashier with a knife. Nicked maybe £60 out of the till and a crate of Fosters. CCTV showed them leaving the forecourt and one of the officers recognised one of the lads. We found them both in his flat, both onto their second can with a takeaway on their plates.’

  ‘Quick result. Nice one.’

  ‘What day did you say you were going to Rockliffe? I’m off for four days from tomorrow but was thinking of going up and seeing Mum and co. You don’t mind, do you?’ Cass heard the hint of vulnerability in his voice as he asked.

  ‘Mind? Why would I mind, Alex? I think it’s great you’re going up to see your family.’

  Alex smiled at her, and then slowly took her cup from her hand and placed it on the table.

  ‘Let’s skip the chocolate,’ he said quietly, ‘I can think of something better to ease fear.’ And took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

  He leant in and placed his lips on hers, filling her with the promise of things to come, before leading her off to the bedroom.

  Woods, Cass’s Cottage – 18 October

  He froze as he heard the dog growl. Realising he had got too close and the mutt had picked up his scent, he stood still, hidden behind the tree.

&nb
sp; He saw the glow of her torch move quickly over his position and held his breath in anticipation. Acting right now was not on his agenda. He would if he had to, but he hoped that if he stayed still, she wouldn’t see him.

  As she bounded off along the path with the dog, he sighed with relief.

  He would have to be more careful next time.

  He was confused. It wasn’t something he had felt before, and it worried him. He had picked Scott as showstopper number three. He knew he should be paying attention to Scott, but something about this woman kept grabbing his attention. He had done some surveillance on Scott earlier that day and bought a greasy McDonald’s to see if his presence aroused suspicion, but it hadn’t. He wasn’t recognised in his normal day to day attire. He should have continued after work, but he didn’t. He’d found himself driving down to her cottage.

  He had been watching as she’d left the house with the dog and had taken the opportunity to go inside while she was out. He hadn’t stayed long, not knowing how long she ‘d be out walking the monster. But it was long enough to ascertain that whatever relationship she’d with the slave; he didn’t live there.

  He had pressed the back door key into the moulded plasticine in his pocket, knowing his own copy would come in handy one day, and had left the cottage, following the thin footpath through the woods to his current location.

  It had been a risk.

  One that had almost got him caught.

  It wouldn’t happen again.

  Chapter Thirty

  Rockliffe Hall, County Durham – 18 October

  ‘Cass, are you OK? You’ve been really quiet today. I’m worried about you,’ said her mum, as they sat by the pool in their dressing gowns.

  Cass looked over, seeing the deepening wrinkles around her mum’s eyes as if for the first time. ‘Sorry, Mama, I guess I’m a little distracted. Jameson gets released tomorrow. I’m not scared he’ll find me or anything, it’s just weird, you know? Knowing he’ll not be behind bars any more, that he gets to live his life as though nothing happened.’