Craig smiled to himself at the timidity of her knock and said, “Come in.” He stared out at the river, not seeing anything but Jenna Graham’s face. He heard a tray being set down and the clink of mugs and a cafetière being laid out; an upscale from the usual percolator. Finally there was silence and he swung his chair round to see a sheepish looking Nicky standing there. The two cups and biscuits said that she wanted a chat and Craig smiled and waved her to a seat. Before he could say anything she started to speak.
“I’m sorry, sir… for earlier. I was… I was just shocked and…”
“Worried? About Liam?”
She read the kindness in Craig’s eyes and unexpectedly crumpled in the chair, starting to sob. “You don’t know what it’s like for me. Knowing that any day one of you mightn’t come back. It’s bad enough knowing that you might be killed by some nutcase you meet on a case…” She swallowed her tears. “But then you go putting yourselves deliberately in harm’s way.”
She sobbed again and Craig stared at her for a moment, aghast. He’d never thought what it must have been like for her. Hearing the details of their cases was bad enough, but constantly waiting to lose someone she worked with every day… it had to be hard, yet he’d never even given it a thought. He was inured to the risks they took every day; it was part of their job. But not for Nicky and Davy; they had to stand by and watch.
Craig felt ashamed that he hadn’t realised how she felt and then more ashamed that he hadn’t noticed the effect. Finally her sobs subsided and he gave her a hanky to dry her eyes. He came around the desk and perched on the edge beside her.
“I’m sorry, Nicky. I didn’t think.”
She sniffed hard and glanced up at him. Craig wondered fleetingly whether she’d deliberately painted her eyelids black as a fashion statement or whether it was the effect of them being rubbed. It was probably better not to ask.
“No, you didn’t think, sir. None of you do, not even Annette.”
Craig swallowed, not wanting to ask the next question but knowing that he should.
“Is it too hard for you to keep working here, Nick?”
Nicky’s eyes widened. “What? Are you sacking me?”
Craig gawped at her. “What? No! No, I’m not sacking you, but you said…”
“I said it’s hard, not impossible. But if you want me to go…”
Craig started to laugh loudly. So loudly that Nicky leaned back in her chair in surprise, and loud enough that Davy and Jake heard the sound from outside the room and stopped what they were doing to listen for what came next. Craig was laughing at the ridiculousness of the conversation they were having and the situations they found themselves in, but more than that he was laughing in relief that no-one had been killed in the past week. He didn’t believe in miracles but if he had done he would have said that came pretty close.
When he’d stopped laughing Craig gazed down at Nicky and shook his head.
“You worry about us and now I’m worried about you worrying about us. I don’t want you to leave the squad, and it’s OK for you to shout occasionally and blow off steam. God knows we all do it, so why not you? But…” His voice darkened. “These are the risks, Nicky. We don’t take them deliberately and they’re always calculated, but sometimes people get hurt and you need to get used to that. OK?”
She nodded and said a quiet “OK.”
He walked briskly back to his chair and poured them both some coffee. “Good. Now what else have you got lurking on your long list of things for me to do?”
***
8.05 p.m.
Katy Stevens walked into the cocktail bar at The Merchant Hotel and gazed around her. She was late, only five minutes late, but still. She hated being late, it made her nervous, especially when she already was.
The warm bar was quiet, with only a few tables occupied by groups of girls and older couples who were probably residents in the luxurious hotel. She’d only been there once before for a drink, with Natalie, after she’d been interrogated by Craig at High Street Station the year before. Now she was meeting him there for a drink. The irony didn’t miss her and she laughed to herself. The pretty sound caught the attention of the young barman and he moved down the bar towards her to ask if she’d like a drink.
“No thank you, I’m meeting someone.” She scanned the tables. “He doesn’t seem to be here yet.”
“Have you looked inside, Madam?” He gestured towards a glass door that she hadn’t noticed. “We have another area in there.”
He moved from behind the bar to show her but Katy smiled and nodded him away, then she took a deep breath and walked towards the door. As soon as she walked through it she saw Craig. He was sitting by the window gazing out at the street as if he was a million miles away. She’d expected him to be facing the doorway as policemen often did, to assess any threats as they entered the room. But he didn’t seem interested in his surroundings; he was lost in thought.
As Katy approached Craig saw her and rose immediately, smiling. He took in her soft blonde hair and pale blue woollen dress in a glance, noting the way that it clung to every curve and echoed the colour of her eyes. She was beautiful, but more than that, she was delicate and pretty, like some Disney princess drawn for the screen. Craig smiled a second time, amused at himself for letting his romantic Italian side take hold. He gazed down at Katy, noticing how much smaller than him she was. Not tiny like Natalie but much smaller than Julia had been. He liked it; it made him feel protective of her somehow.
In the split second it took the thoughts to race through Craig’s mind Katy was having her own. One of them was that his right arm looked bulky, in a way that she’d seen a million times before. She stared at it pointedly. “You’ve hurt yourself.” He nodded, unsurprised at her doctor’s astuteness. His arm was the first thing John had noticed as well when he’d visited him that day, even through his suit.
Craig beckoned her to sit down and ordered them both a drink, then he recounted what had happened to his arm for the third time that day.
***
Forty minutes later Katy knew everything. She’d sipped her wine in silence as Craig recounted the happenings of the previous night and when he stopped she’d said nothing. He stared at her quizzically.
“Don’t you want to ask anything, or tell me how stupid I’ve been?”
Julia had always understood the risks that his job entailed. She was in the police too, after all. But Katy was a civilian and a doctor; he’d expected a lecture about his health at least. Katy stared at him and after a long pause she smiled. It was a soft, shy smile, like a little girl peeping out from behind her mother’s skirt. It surprised Craig a little. Katy was a professional woman, calm and good at her job, but when she smiled she looked like a mischievous little girl. It made Craig want to kiss her then and there but he knew that would probably earn him a slap, and after the night he’d had he could do without any more pain. He smiled back automatically, encouraging her to speak. Her words surprised him again.
“Were you being stupid, or were you just doing what you had to do to get a murderer off the street?”
He was taken aback at her logic. Instead of the rant he knew he would get from his mother when the story inevitably came out, Katy had answered in the quiet way that his father would. It pleased him.
“No, I wasn’t being stupid. Graham was tailing me and we knew that. She’d already been instrumental in five deaths, possibly six if what we suspected about the PDF’s was right, and she’d almost killed John. I could have let her hunt me for months and shoot me when I least expected it, but then God knows who else she might have killed along the way, so it had to be brought to a head.”
Katy wanted to reach across and trace Craig’s full lips with her finger. He read her mind and edged closer so that their knees almost touched. Almost. It sent a frisson a pleasure through him stronger than he’d felt in years. Katy kept talking in her soft, high voice.
“If the confrontation had to happen sometime then I presume you ha
d to make sure it happened in a way that gave you conclusive evidence.”
Craig leaned forward eagerly. “Yes. And by breaking into my place and pointing a weapon she’d left herself no wriggle room.”
Katy smiled in amusement. “Was getting shot part of your plan as well?”
Craig laughed ruefully. “No, definitely not. Ideally Liam would have jumped out as she pulled the gun but she was too quick. She shot me then she shot Liam and turned back to kill me, so Annette shot her.”
Katy shook her head. “Poor Annette, she must feel dreadful. I can’t imagine what it must be like to kill another human being.”
“Especially one who had already had such a troubled life.”
They sat quietly for a moment then Craig ordered them another drink and changed tack. “That’s enough about my job, tell me about you.”
“What would you like to know?”
“Actually, everything. But first, I’d like to know if you’d like dinner somewhere after this drink?”
Katy smiled. “That would be lovely. Choose anywhere you like, then I can bore you with the story of my life.”
***
Tuesday, 9 a.m.
The squad’s double doors slid open and Craig sauntered across the floor. Nicky read his mood immediately and knew exactly what had caused it.
“Good evening, sir?”
“Very good, thanks.”
She grinned and he grinned back, saying nothing more. As he entered his office he was stopped in his tracks by a voice booming across the room.
“Here, where are my flowers then? I thought there’d at least be a bouquet for a wounded hero.”
Craig swung round to see Liam’s long legs propped up on his desk and a grin spreading across his face.
“What are you doing here? You’re not due back until next week.”
“Ach sure, they discharged me yesterday. Said I was creating too much noise. Me? I ask you! I went home for tea and sympathy and Danni said I was getting in her way, so I thought I might as well be here.”
Nicky snorted. “I’m sure Danni said no such thing. Or at least, not until you’d disrupted the place.”
Liam nodded. “Aye well, she said that as well.”
“And the fact that you might have had to change the baby’s nappies if you’d stayed at home had nothing to do with you rushing back to work I bet.”
Liam guffawed and scanned the floor looking for Annette. Craig read his mind.
“She’s meeting with the Ombudsman this morning to get the shooting signed off. She should be in at ten.”
He nodded Liam towards his office and he strode across the floor, winking at Nicky as he passed.
“Cup of coffee would be lovely.”
She glanced at him sceptically. “Wouldn’t it just. If you said that to Danni I’m not surprised she chased you.” She gave a mock sigh. “Go on in and I’ll bring it through.”
Liam went to add something but Nicky said it first.
“With biscuits.”
He took a seat at Craig’s desk and they stared out the window without saying a word, both of them soaking in the bright spring morning. Nicky brought in the tray and left again and Craig started talking as he poured them both a mug.
“How’s the chest?”
“Grand. How’s the arm?”
“Fine.”
Liam took a gulp of coffee and gave Craig a thoughtful look. “How’s Annie Oakley?”
“Annette’s fine, but upset about the death, so stow the nicknames for a few weeks, please. She’s not proud that she had to shoot someone.”
Liam gawped at him. “What? Would she rather Graham had killed both of us?”
Craig bit into a biscuit. “You know she wouldn’t. She’s just upset. She was a nurse, Liam. She’s used to saving lives, not taking them.”
Liam grabbed a custard cream. “Aye, all right. I suppose so.” He grinned slowly. “Hell of a shot though. Right through the temple.”
Craig nodded. “We should enter her for the annual shooting competition; she’d give the protection teams a run for their money. Except I don’t think she ever wants to see another gun.”
They lapsed into silence until Liam broke it again. “What else is happening?”
“Court reports mostly. John gets discharged today, so I’m nipping off early to take him home.”
“Good stuff.” He grinned at Craig knowingly. “But that’s not what put that grin on your face this morning.”
“What?”
“When you walked into the squad. You were grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Who’s the woman?”
Craig blustered out a denial and Liam shook his head.
“Don’t kid a kidder. There’s a woman around somewhere.” He lurched forward to say something, so quickly that he banged his bandaged chest against the desk and swore loudly from the pain. As he recovered he squeezed out the name that he’d been so eager to say.
“McNulty?”
Craig’s eyes widened in surprise then he felt immediately guilty. He rarely thought about Julia nowadays and he certainly hadn’t been thinking about her when he’d kissed Katy goodbye the night before. He shook his head firmly.
“Then what’s her name? Because there’s a woman here somewhere or my name’s not Liam M. Cullen.”
“What does the ‘M’ stand for?”
Liam blushed. “Don’t change the subject. What’s her name?”
Craig smiled and turned towards the river, determined to keep his private life private for a little while longer. Liam asked the question again in a dozen different ways but he still got no reply. Finally Craig changed the subject to Constable Delia Anderson and whether she would soon become the newest member of the team.
THE END
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The Coercion Key Page 30
