“Hey there, ladies,” a confident voice from behind her said.
Luke “Not the Sky Variety” Walker, clad in black combat uniform, bulletproof vest, and black cap with “Police” emblazoned on it, smiled at her, then turned his attention to Miller.
He had a Glock 17 holstered on his hip, while he clutched a Heckler and Koch MP5 carbine close to his chest. Hayes thought he was a poser, with his bulging biceps, perfectly straight, impossibly white teeth, trendy haircut, and cheeks so sharp he could stab someone with them. “Hi! Miller, let’s get going. I’ve been asked to escort you both across the road.”
Her partner didn’t move; she stood there smiling at the cocky gun-carrier.
“Miller! Let’s go! We’re moving.” Her comment worked. Her partner met her at the front of their car, while Walker remained behind them. “I make that three minutes.”
With cosh in hand, Hayes ran across the road towards the block of flats. Their suspect disappeared inside over two and a half minutes earlier, so she estimated he must be in the lift, or on his girlfriend’s floor by now.
Arriving outside the front doors, Hayes leaned against the wall. The rest of Walker’s team arrived carrying the artillery, another five carbines and Glocks. Prior to commencing the stakeout, both teams met and discussed the operation. They were there to take Eric Helsey down, either by force, or with his co-operation; it was Helsey’s choice.
“Good luck in there.” Hayes watched the team enter the building.
The commanding officer, Sarge, tipped his cap.
The last one to enter was Walker. “We don’t need luck,” he said, his words smug.
“Yeah, whatever!”
Miller stood next to her. “Why are you like this? He’s lovely.”
Her armed colleagues marched through the ground floor. They climbed the stairs. Two officers, including Walker, took the lift. “Who, Walker? He’s a poser! Have you ever seen anyone love themselves as much?” When she turned her attention to her partner, Miller looked mad. “What? The guy’s a joke. I’ve met so many blokes like that, Miller. They’re only ever after one thing.”
“You’re just jealous!”
Miller went to walk round the rear of the building, but Hayes grabbed her arm. “Jealous? Of what? You think I fancy Walker?”
Shaking her off, Miller faced her. “You know he likes me, and you don’t like it. Anyway, I need to be out back; we’ll talk about this later.”
“That’s a load of crap, and you know it!” Miller started walking away but Hayes continued. “Why would I care if he likes you? He’s so not my type. What about Billy? I thought you wanted to see how things went with him?”
“Billy?” Miller made a funny noise with her mouth. “I don’t think so.”
Hayes couldn’t keep up. The last time she spoke to Miller about her personal life, her partner told her she was seeing Billy. How could it have all changed in such a short space of time? She gave up. “Whatever! And what are you still doing here anyway?”
“I was going, and you pulled me back, remember?”
Her partner huffed and strutted off in the direction of the rear car park. There were only two ways in or out of the block of flats, through her or through Miller. Hayes hoped the boys upstairs would emerge with Eric Helsey in cuffs.
3
Waiting behind a car, watching the fire exit door, Miller couldn’t believe Hayes. Who the hell did she think she was! Her partner had no right to tell her who she liked, or didn’t like. She wanted to march over there and give Hayes a mouthful. The truth: she and Billy had gone their separate ways. She liked him for a time, but they weren’t compatible, not really.
Luke Walker, however, she could imagine being with. He was handsome, fit, talented… A smile crept over her as she thought about the first time she met him. During a raid at a potential suspect’s home, Walker introduced himself. Their eyes had locked for longer than was necessary. She’d held the same smile then, before Hayes disturbed their connection.
The fire exit door flung open and Helsey came charging out.
“Helsey’s on the move! I’m in pursuit,” she shouted into her radio. “Heading east towards Vauxhall Park.”
Miller ran after Helsey. When she grew closer to the fire exit, he spotted her tailing him and increased his speed, his feet beating the concrete so fast, she thought she might have trouble keeping up.
There was one thing her charge didn’t know: how quick she was. Pounding the car park after him, she kept the pace up, until she was running along the pavement, cars speeding past on the main road beside her.
“Miller, wait!”
With Hayes tailing her, Miller stayed on Helsey’s tail. He ran into the street, causing three vehicles to screech to a halt, before running across one lane and stopping in the middle. She followed him, apologising to the drivers, who beeped at her. “Helsey! Stop! You’re under–”
A car screamed past her, beeping its horn, as Helsey legged it across the second busy lane, just missing a lorry’s wrath. “Shit!” In between the two lanes, she caught sight of Helsey running into the park. “Oh no, you don’t,” she said, gauging the space between cars and making a run for it.
She laughed out of fear when she reached the other side safely.
In front of her, the suspect disappeared into the darkness of the park. Some lamp posts worked, others didn’t. Her lungs were burning, but she continued running. “He’s heading south through the park.” Using the radio slowed her down.
Twenty metres ahead of her, she heard voices complaining.
When she reached them, she saw a young couple picking themselves up. “Out of the way!” She had to jump over the girl, who complained behind her, as she carried on chasing Helsey. “Sorry!”
He wasn’t slowing. Miller was approaching a children’s playground when Helsey stopped behind a couple of girls in their twenties.
When she was almost on them, her charge pushed one of the women at her.
Managing to avoid the youngster, Miller made sure she wasn’t injured, apologised, and headed off in the same direction as Helsey.
After ten seconds, she saw his feet back pounding the path.
Her body was fighting her.
Finding a burst of energy, digging in, she gained ground on him.
It looked like he was winding down.
Reaching inside her jacket, she felt her cosh and extended it. “Don’t make me do this, Helsey,” she shouted. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
She was right on him, her feet and his almost touching, when she threw the metal bar at his legs. The cosh caught between both, sending him flying through the air.
Helsey hit the grass and rolled.
Miller launched herself on top of him.
Rolling, first on top, then under him, she landed on her back with his eighteen stone sat on her belly, grinning down at her. While he was congratulating himself, laughing, she reached inside her trouser pocket, pulling out her pepper spray.
“You don’t get your man this time, pig,” he said, slapping her face playfully. “Don’t feel bad though, baby. Plenty have tried.”
When Helsey went to stand, she held the spray up, and pressed the button, missing him. A bit caught him. She’d forgotten how victims react; he staggered about, clawing at his eyes, while calling her every name he could think of.
On her feet, she aimed the spray at his face and fired again.
His screams increased in fervour; he swore at her.
When she went to confront him, he lashed out at her and punched her cheek.
She should have been more careful, she told herself, knowing how dangerous wounded animals could be. Half-blind, Helsey took off again.
Miller groaned, hearing Hayes behind her.
Putting her pepper spray in her jacket pocket, Miller ran after him.
She’d lost all momentum. Even injured, Helsey was faster than her. “Don’t make me come after you,” she cried. “Stop! Before I hurt you again.”
He
r pleas were ignored. As she sprinted, his feet pounded ahead.
Finding her stride again, she was taken by surprise when Helsey stopped and faced her, reaching into his leather jacket, and pulling out a flick knife.
“Come on, bitch!” The blade shot out, pointing at her. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “Let’s see what you’ve got. Come on!”
Thinking she could use the pepper spray once more, she retrieved it, pressed the button but nothing happened. “Oh shit!” She saw him smile, then edge closer. Why didn’t she pick up her cosh earlier?
He laughed. “Come on, then.”
When he came close enough, she lunged and punched him on the bridge of his nose. Standing back, she heard him groan and hold it, blood pouring through his fingers.
Helsey launched himself at her, throwing his whole weight behind the knife.
Miller was thrown to the floor, his big frame on top of her for the second time. “No you don’t,” she hissed, grabbing his wrist, the tip of the blade pointing down at her.
While she was desperate to try to prevent him stabbing her in the face, the knife edging closer, Miller heard movement around her.
Miller felt relief at Hayes’ presence.
“Get your hands off her!”
With the blade centimetres from her face, she lay on the grass trying to keep the knife from sinking into her flesh, a crazed look in Helsey’s eyes, when Hayes hit him on the back of the head with her cosh.
He flew off Miller, taking the knife with him, and she stared up at her breathless partner. Miller tried to catch her own breath. “Thank… you!”
“Not bad for an old girl, hey! That’s two you owe me.” Hayes rolled Helsey on his front, grabbing both arms and cuffing him. Helsey groaned, barely conscious.
“Miller, are you all right?” Walker asked, his carbine trained on Helsey.
Walker and two of his team helped her to her feet. If Hayes hadn’t arrived when she had, she might be dead, or seriously injured.
Miller enjoyed the attention from Walker, who held her chin and checked her swollen cheek. “It’s nothing; he sucker punched me.” It was bravado, but she wanted him to think she was tough, or rather the toughest. “I’m fine; stop fussing.”
When Walker was handed a first aid kit, Miller had no choice but to accept the fuss, as he fixed her up. Miller didn’t realise she was bleeding from a cut on her forehead. There was no denying she felt like she had been in the ring.
Day 1
Tuesday, June 12th
4
Hayes stooped down and kissed Molly, the tabby cat, before heading out of her front door. After the previous night’s excitement she felt her age. Fifty-four. When did that happen?
The journey from her house to work took roughly forty-five minutes in rush-hour traffic. Hayes listened to the radio on her way there, tapping on the steering wheel as she went, hoping she would manage to get the paperwork finished today.
After driving Helsey to their station on Cobalt Square, she and Miller spent the best part of two hours grilling him on his involvement in the murder of the woman left by the side of the motorway. As expected, he feigned ignorance, not that it mattered; they had enough trace evidence supporting their suspicions to take to the Crown Prosecution Service. A confession would be the cherry on top of the delicious cake.
She arrived in the open-plan office to find Miller busy on her computer. “Oh! I thought you’d be in later? You can’t have had much sleep.” She took off her suit jacket and placed it on the back of her chair.
“I’m fine. I was jazzed all night, so I didn’t bother trying to catch any zees.” Miller stood and handed her some paperwork over the partition. “Here’s my version of events for you to sign off.”
“Thanks.” Hayes took the report and placed it on her desk. “Do we know how our guest is doing? Did he have a wonderful night in the cell?”
“I don’t know, shall we go check?” Her partner smirked.
“I was thinking that. Let’s go have a little chat with Mr Helsey.”
After keeping him waiting for forty-five minutes on purpose, Hayes let Miller into interview room two first. Eric Helsey sat cuffed behind the battered, graffiti-covered table, his face the picture of annoyance. “Here he is.”
“So I see.” Miller perched on a chair opposite, eyeballing him.
Hayes took the chair next to her partner, a smile forming. “You know we’ve got you, don’t you? We have enough trace to put you away for murder, plus eyewitness testimony placing you at the motorway at the time. That and CCTV footage of your car on the road is enough to place you there.”
“Killing your biggest rival’s girlfriend, I mean it sends a message all right, but it wasn’t the brightest thing to do, was it, Eric? What were you thinking? Did you think we’d ditch the investigation after a few days? Or did you think you would intimidate us?”
“Yeah, it was stupid.” Hayes looked at her partner. “It wasn’t as stupid as trying to murder a police officer, though, was it?”
“He couldn’t even do that properly.” Miller gripped the table, staring into Helsey’s eyes. “You see, I’m still here. It’s going to take more than you to get rid of me, you piece of–”
Joining her partner, Hayes jovially put herself between them. She laughed, pulled Miller back and made her sit.
“What the fuck do you two jokers want?” Helsey leaned forward, his hands cuffed behind his back. “Am I under arrest, or what? And where’s my fucking lawyer? You can’t question me without him, you bent pieces of shit.”
“He’s on his way.” Hayes loved the bravado. “And who’s questioning you? We haven’t asked you anything yet, have we? Ah, well, my partner here might have asked a rhetorical question, I guess, but it doesn’t count unless the audio recorder’s on.”
“But you’d better believe we’ll be charging you, with everything we can think of. Now let’s see, that’s murder, attempted murder – on me – assault, GBH, ABH, and resisting arrest, for starters.” Miller grinned at Helsey. “Yeah, where’s your lawyer? I want to get started.”
A knock on the door made Hayes walk over and open it. Greeted by Helsey’s sleazy barrister, Garrett Barlow, she didn’t like to even look at him. Unfortunately, he represented a few undesirables in her district, so she had to converse with him more often than she would like. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”
Hayes spent a couple of hours interviewing Helsey, in the presence of his sleazy lawyer, who it turned out was great at his job. She played a game of “tug of war” with Barlow, until their suspect stipulated that he wanted to make a deal. “What kind of deal do you think you can make with us? We’re investigating a murder, and now we have our guy, you, cuffed and in custody. You might as well be tied up with a nice little bow.”
“All that might be true, but I know people.” He regarded her, then Miller. “I know people who’ve done some bad shit.”
It was her turn to glance at her partner.
“And let me guess, you’ll be willing to give them up for a lighter sentence, is that it? You’ll roll over on everyone to save yourself, isn’t that right!” Miller folded her arms and glared at Hayes. “What do you think? Should we listen to him?”
“I don’t think we have a choice, do you?” She followed Miller’s lead and crossed her arms as well. “All right, we’ll hear what you’ve got to say, but it’ll have to be pretty good to secure a deal, I hope you know that.”
“It’s good enough for you both.” Helsey nodded almost imperceptibly. “But if you think I’m telling you without a signed document, you’re even stupider than you look.”
Without conferring with Miller, Hayes stood and glared down at him. “We don’t need it that bad. Eric Helsey, you’re being charged with all the aforementioned. We’ll bring back the appropriate documentation.”
Helsey’s lawyer put up a fight, but it wasn’t until their suspect spoke again that Hayes’ interest piqued.
“That skip body you found a few
weeks ago.”
She froze at the door, Miller eyeing her, and they both turned back to him. “What about it? Colleagues of ours closed that case already.”
“No, they didn’t. The guy who killed her is still around, but you go ahead and walk out.” He sat back and crossed his arms. “What do I know?”
Hayes didn’t know how to proceed. “I’ll have to consult my colleagues.”
In the corridor, she turned to Miller. “What do you think? Is he full of shit, or what?” A part of her wanted to forget she’d heard him.
“I think we should speak to Inspector Gillan and Sergeant Jackman. It was their case; they called it. They won’t be happy with this.”
Finding DI Alfie Gillan in front of his computer, she beckoned DS Travis Jackman over. Hayes explained the situation to them both, noting their exchanged glances, the fear in their eyes. If Helsey was telling the truth, they had an innocent man in prison, awaiting trial. “I’m so sorry about this. At first, we were ready to walk away and dismiss him as a liar, but there was something in his expression.”
As they were about to leave for the interview room, Gillan’s phone bleeped.
Hayes stood back. Judging by his responses, they had another case.
“We’ve got a triple murder.”
“We don’t mind starting it, if you want to take over the Helsey investigation?” She would do anything to get away from Helsey, especially if their suspect was telling the truth about the skip body. “Where is it?”
Gillan sent her the file by email. “A small radio station called Accord FM. Apparently the owner, a Henry Curtis, renovated a factory and turned it into a broadcasting station. From what I can gather, it’s popular. Their guiding principle is inclusion, so it’s favoured by the LGBTQ community.”
Hayes took her phone out, scan-read the file, and put it back in her jacket pocket. “We’re on it, sir. On our way now.”
The Hard Way Page 2
