by M A Comley
“Nasty retort. I didn’t mean anything by my comment, only warning you what could happen in the future if you take your eye off the ball.”
“I see. I’m glad we cleared that up,” Katy snapped back. She stormed into her office and slammed the door hard enough for it to rattle in the doorframe for a few seconds after impact. Jesus, what a frigging nerve. As if I haven’t got enough shit to deal with right now. How dare he!
She sat at her desk and sorted through the letters Roberts had placed into different piles. He couldn’t even do that right. All the piles were jumbled up, only adding to her foul mood.
Karen knocked on the door with a cup of coffee ten minutes later. “Good to have you back, boss. Anything I can do to help?”
“Thanks for the coffee. No, I’ll be out in a sec, after I’ve put these in the right places. Is everyone here?”
“Yes, all present and correct, except for Charlie. I hope things go well for her today.”
“Me, too. She was at the hospital all night, guarding another victim. I’ll tell you all about it in a few moments.”
“No. That’s dreadful. Poor Charlie. I’ll leave you to it.”
Katy smiled and put her head down once more. The phone rang, disturbing her when she was halfway through her task. “DI Katy Foster, how can I help?”
“I think I’ve been put through to the right person. This is Reverend Davison from St Bart’s Church on Croft Road.”
Katy’s interest piqued at the name of the road. “I see. What can I do for you, Reverend?”
“I don’t know how to say this but I think the man you’re after is sitting in my church.”
Katy shot out of her chair. “What? Oh heck, right. I’m on my way. Do not approach him. Can you lock yourself in a room until I get there?”
“Yes. I’ll do that. Please hurry.”
“I’ll be there within twenty minutes, I promise you.” Katy ended the call. She pulled on her jacket en route and tore out of her office, firing off orders as she walked. “Let’s go, Patrick, you’re with me. He’s at St Bart’s Church on Croft Road. Karen, I need you to arrange for an ART to join us at the location. Graham, get that road blocked off, let’s try and preserve as many lives as possible.”
Katy barged through the outer door and down the stairs, two at a time, Patrick close behind her.
She stopped briefly at reception and filled the desk sergeant in while he signed out a Taser. “If your guys show up, I need them to be aware they could be in imminent danger, Mick. I don’t want any heroics, you hear me?”
“Leave it with me, ma’am. Good luck.”
The station’s car park was a hive of activity. Katy headed towards her car, her heart racing, and pressed the key fob. Once inside, she fired up the engine and instructed Patrick to input the information into the satnav, a little unclear of the exact location they were aiming for.
“Right, yes, I think I know it now. Jesus, let’s hope he’s still there by the time we get there.”
“Twenty minutes is an eternity for a man on the run, boss.”
“Yep, I’m aware of that. We’ve got the Taser, get the pepper spray out of the glove compartment, will you? We might as well go the whole hog.”
“I hope we don’t need them and the ART will be on hand to take over.”
“Yep, me, too.”
Katy fell quiet and channelled all her attention into nipping in and out of the traffic, her siren emitting a stark warning not to toy with her.
They reached the location, only to find the road blocked by a patrol squad. Patrick and Katy leapt out of the car. A uniformed officer raised his hand to prevent them getting any closer to the church.
“Glad to see you’re doing your job properly. I’m DI Katy Foster, SIO on this investigation.”
“Sorry, ma’am, I should have recognised you.”
Katy waved his excuse away. “The ART, are they here yet?”
“Not that I know of, ma’am. Want me to get on the radio to the other cars dotted around?”
“Yes, do that.”
The answer was negative. Damn, I can’t wait for them, I need to get in there. Now.
“Patrick, you and I are going in. Are you up for this?”
“You really have to ask me that, boss?”
“Not before we get geared up properly. In the boot you’ll find a couple of stab vests. Some protection is better than nothing at all, right?”
Patrick scooted around the car and opened the boot. He returned wearing one of the vests and held out the other for her. “Tight fit, but as you say, it’s better than nothing.”
Katy slipped hers on and then pulled her jacket over the top again. “I feel safer already. Come on.”
They walked along the pavement. Katy scanned the area for possible places where they could take cover at a moment’s notice, should the need arise. The street was unnervingly quiet. A few curtains twitched now and again but, in the main, residents remained tucked safely behind their front doors.
Outside the church, Katy turned to Patrick and said, “Are you sure about this?”
He handed her the Taser and held up the pepper spray. “We’ve got this.”
She wished she had his confidence. She inched towards the entrance and strained her ear to listen. Nothing but silence greeted her. Is he still here? What if he’s out here, hiding, spying on us, waiting to take a shot?
Katy double-checked her surroundings and then gave Patrick the thumbs-up—they were going in.
She turned to enter the church, but something caught her eye at the end of the road. The ART had arrived, and now she was in two minds whether to go ahead with her planned entry or not. She shook her head and ordered Patrick to retreat.
“I can’t do it. Our jobs could be on the line. I won’t do it to you, mate.”
He nodded his understanding, and the pair of them ran up the road to join their armed colleagues.
The commanding officer cocked an eyebrow at her. “You weren’t about to do anything foolish then, were you, Inspector Foster?”
“Nearly. You took your time getting here.”
“Less of the cheek and tell me what we’ve got. The intel we received was a tad scant to say the least.”
“I take it you’re aware of the shootings that have happened in the area over the past three days?”
“Very. Are you telling me the shooter is inside?”
“Possibly. The priest rang me around thirty minutes ago to inform me Boyd had shown up at the church. I told him to lock himself in a room. He swore he would stay put.”
“You did right. Give me two minutes to plan the attack, and we’ll see what we can do. I don’t feel inclined to give this guy the opportunity to hand himself in. Am I wrong to think that?”
“I agree, although killing him outright isn’t the answer either.”
“I didn’t say it was. Leave it to us, we’ll bring your man down with enough force without harming him. That’s the hopeful strategy anyway.”
“Okay. Can we get a wriggle on?”
He shook his head and tutted. “Stand back.”
She and Patrick took up their positions beside the team’s vehicle.
Katy couldn’t help feeling nervous about what lay ahead of everyone concerned. “What if he intends to go down fighting?”
Patrick shrugged. “There’s no telling what’s going to happen, boss.”
Katy watched four armed policemen approach the church. She closed her eyes as they disappeared through the front door. They sprang open again when shots were fired.
“Shit! Not what I wanted.”
The commanding officer demanded to know what was going on via the comms unit. Word came back that all was good and that the gunman had been apprehended. Moments later, the four officers and James Boyd emerged from the church.
Katy had a niggling doubt about the way things had gone down, it was too smooth for her liking. She kept a close eye on Boyd. He appeared to be mumbling. In the end, her fears proved to be unf
ounded. He was loaded into the back of the vehicle, accompanied by the rest of the team.
“We’ll drop him off at the station for you. My guys have searched him and found no other weapons on his person,” the commanding officer said.
“Great news. Thanks for your assistance today.”
“It was our pleasure.”
“All right if we go and check on the priest?”
“Yep, you’re clear to do that.”
Katy smiled her thanks and set off with Patrick.
“They worked smartly and efficiently,” Patrick noted.
“They sure did.”
Katy stepped into the church and called out, “Reverend Davison, are you here?”
A door creaked open behind the altar, and a pale old man wearing a dog collar and grey suit appeared. “I heard the shots. Please, tell me no one was hurt.”
“They weren’t, and it’s all down to you. I can’t thank you enough for getting in touch when you did. Do you have time for a brief chat?”
He gestured for them to take a seat on the front pew and let out a long sigh. “I’m so pleased I could help.”
“Do you know James Boyd? Is he a parishioner?”
“He’s been in here a few times in the past week. His confessions have rankled me. As you know, I’m not at liberty to tell the police what the general public confide during a confession, but I think the church will make an exception to that rule in this case, considering what he’s done. He’s not well, and no, that’s not me trying to make excuses for the confused man.”
“How do you know?”
“There were always two of them in the confessional, never just one man.”
“Split personality?”
“I believe so, yes. The other voice came out occasionally when he was stressed. It scared me at times, but I could do little about it.”
“It must have put you in an awkward position, sir, I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. All is well now. Will you take his mental state into consideration whilst questioning him?”
“Yes, I’ll ensure the interview takes place with an appropriate representative by his side. Perhaps you can divulge why he killed those people?”
“His marriage collapsed, that sent him over the edge.”
“I suspected that might be the case. Okay, thank you for your time. Are you sure you’re going to be all right?”
“Yes. I’ll be fine. Thank you for showing up and dealing with the problem so promptly. I guess we can all sleep well in our beds tonight knowing that he’ll be off the streets.”
She held up her crossed fingers. “Take care, sir.”
Katy and Patrick left the church and drove back to the station. First on the agenda, Katy visited Roberts to break the news. He was delighted and relieved that everything had gone well, although a little put out that he hadn’t been involved in the final shootout.
Next step was to arrange for a psychiatrist to give them a brief evaluation before the suspect could be interviewed. In the interim, the news wasn’t good. Boyd had melted down in his cell. He was found lying on the floor, a gaping wound to his head. He’d regained consciousness and kept saying over and over, “It wasn’t his fault. He needed to rid himself of the voices.”
Charlie dropped by the station after her exam.
Katy bought her a coffee and told her to take a seat. “Jesus, you look rough.”
“No sleep has that effect on people,” Charlie replied, clearly grateful for the caffeine fix. “I think it went well, though.”
“Glad to hear it. Any idea when the results should be back?”
“A couple of weeks. Enough about me, how are things around here?”
“Oops…we’ve got him. Or should I say we had him.” Katy raised a hand to prevent Charlie’s interruption. “He’s on his way to the hospital after smacking his head against the wall. He’s not a well person. I can’t see us getting the conviction we’re after on this one.”
“Ugh…not good. On the bright side, he’ll be off the streets and London will be safe again.”
Katy raised an eyebrow. “You reckon? I need to ring my hubby now. Get my own life back on track.” She took her cup through to the office, leaving the rest of the team to celebrate the arrest and Charlie’s good news.
Epilogue
A week later, and the case had been wrapped up and filed away as closed. Life was a little more settled for Katy now that Georgie was out of the woods and had been transferred to the children’s ward, the next step before they allowed her to go home at the end of the week. AJ had been astounding. His strength and understanding floored her at times. She was so lucky to have him by her side.
He was spending less time at the hospital now at madam’s request. Georgie had insisted her recovery would depend on the hours of play she could fit in with the nurses and the other children on the ward. Who were they to argue with her? This had allowed AJ to concentrate more of his efforts on getting his business off the ground. It was a few days after Christmas, their first where they hadn’t all been together to share the festivities at home, but neither of them were perturbed about that. As far as Katy was concerned, every day would need to be a celebration in their house after the trauma they had been forced to endure over the past week.
Katy had received the news that Ben Thompson was now on the mend. It had been touch and go there for a while, but the doctor had told her that he was one of the most determined patients he’d ever come across in his time as a doctor.
James Boyd was a different matter entirely. He was now a resident in Broadmoor high-security hospital and the CPS were still debating whether he would go through a trial or not. She knew his psych evaluation would be taken into consideration before that decision was made. Katy felt sorry for the man, sort of, it was hard not to. The psychiatrist had informed her that the man had been battling his inner demons from a young age. The main trigger had been after his mother had died and his father took over being the primary parent and caregiver. He’d abused James mentally and physically since the age of seven. That torment had defined his future.
Memories of that torment had lain dormant for years until his wife had done the dirty on him and asked for a divorce. His behaviour had spiralled out of control the second Camilla moved out of the marital home and the frustration of not getting the promotion had driven him to kill.
Katy had no intention of heaping that blame on Camilla, who was now out of hospital and seeking psychiatric help of her own. After speaking with her a few days before, Katy knew the woman’s resolve was strong enough to guide her on the right path to rebuilding her life in the near future; maybe after she’d laid Rufus to rest now his body had been released.
Life could be so complicated at times, proving only those willing to adapt would survive. Katy was one of those people, and so was her daughter, Georgie.
THE END
Thank you for reading my work, if you can find it in your heart to leave a review that would be amazing. There will be more for Katy and Charlie in March when Taste of Fury is published, until then, why don’t you read another of my gripping thriller series? Here’s the link to the first book in the DI Sara Ramsey series, No Right To Kill
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