Only the Brave (A DS Allie Shenton Novel Book 3)

by Mel Sherratt

  He’d left a note for Allie, to let her know that it was him and nothing to do with the serial killer case. He wondered if she had ever cottoned on.

  Every time he saw Karen, he still felt sorry for what he’d done, the pain he’d caused Allie. But once the constant reminder of his mistake had gone with her, he would make up for it. It had to be on his terms. It had to be perfect. He had it all planned.

  He needed Karen to die first. And then Allie would be next.

  His surviving angel.

  5.30 A.M.

  When Allie awoke on Friday morning, she knew it had been pointless going back home when she was so wired, but it was equally important that she had got at least a few hours’ rest. Eventually she had dropped off next to Mark, only to sit bolt upright half an hour later, wide-eyed and breathless as her nightmare of years gone by returned.

  Downstairs after her shower, over a quick coffee and bowl of cereal, she pondered what would happen today. Most of all she was dreading the results of Karen’s tests, and she was fighting her guilt about keeping busy.

  Dressing had been more of a chore that morning. She wanted to come across as confident and assuring but not in any way sexy or dominant. But she’d ended up choosing a black pencil skirt with jacket to match, a white shirt with a big collar and black knee-length boots with a heel. The icy conditions outside didn’t make heels a good idea but she wore them anyway. They were her confidence booster.

  Mark was in the shower as she was about to leave for work. Oh, how she wanted to join him and stay in there forever. Not go out into the cold and unforgiving thing that was called life. She went in to him, a slither of regret running through her as she saw his naked body silhouetted through the glass rippled with drops of water. She slid the door open a little.

  ‘I’m off now,’ she shouted to him. ‘See you later.’

  He turned towards her, soapsuds falling down his torso, gave her a wink. ‘Hang on a tick,’ he said.

  She waited while he finished. Less than a minute later, the shower went off and he opened the door.

  ‘Are you sure you’re okay to go in today?’ he asked as she handed him a towel. ‘They’ll understand if you don’t.’

  ‘We’re already a man down on our team now that Matt has retired.’ DC Matt Radcliffe had worked with Allie as part of her team for several years until he’d been involved in a car collision last year; his injuries had been severe and were mending slowly. So after reaching the age of fifty, he’d decided to call it a day. She nodded her head at Mark, hoping this sudden turnaround was about Karen and not him feeling threatened that she was off to see Terry Ryder. ‘I’ll come away if necessary, regardless, but for now I need to sort this case out, keep busy.’

  She stepped towards him and kissed him gently, overwhelmed by the scent of him. His response was to turn the kiss into a deep, passionate embrace, the romantic yet possessive kind that took her breath away. She felt him harden against her, liked that she could still do that to him.

  ‘I love you, Allie,’ he said, staring deep into her eyes. ‘I know I don’t say it often enough, but I do. You’re my world, despite your irritating ways at times.’

  ‘You kinda ruined it with that last statement,’ she teased. ‘I love you too – always.’

  He smiled. ‘Just make sure you stay safe and come home to me.’

  She left him a minute later, tears welling in her eyes as she got into her car. Lord knows what she would face today but with Mark behind her she had the feeling that she could tackle anything. Which was a good job, considering what she had lined up for that morning.

  6.30 A.M.

  Sandra Granger had been awake since half past five, too. She was sipping her second cup of tea. As she clasped her hands around it, she stood staring through the kitchen window. Beyond the walkway, everything was in shadows now but she could see the place where Jordan Johnson had been murdered.

  The tent had been removed and the police had gone for now, yet the feeling of impending doom she felt had heightened. She just knew Jacob was involved. If he wasn’t, why had he lied to the police about where he was when the crime had taken place? He said he’d been out with Tommy and then he’d said he’d been over at his friend’s house. Neither of those was true. She should know. He’d woken her by banging the front door shut at three forty-five.

  She’d heard on the news that Jordan had an older brother. She wondered how their mother was bearing up now. Was it beginning to sink in that she would never see her youngest son again or was she still in denial? To have a child taken so brutally, so quickly must be a parent’s worst nightmare. So wrong, so unnecessary. Yet she knew if she didn’t do something, the same fate could be hers. Worse, one son could be killed at the hands of the other.

  Her boys weren’t saints, far from it, and, even though they were always in trouble, she loved them dearly and would defend them until there were no more words left in her vocabulary to use.

  Losing one of them was beyond comprehension.

  She couldn’t lose them both.

  Which meant sacrificing one for the other.

  7.00 A.M.

  At the station, Allie checked through her action list and emails as she sat at her desk.

  ‘Sarge,’ said Sam, ‘we’ve had a call from Stella Elliott. She was dismissed from hospital late last night and went home. But hubby never showed up. She’s worried about him.’

  ‘Well, I’m not – the bloody scrote,’ Allie retorted. ‘How the hell can she stand by him after what he did to her? He’s beaten her black and blue, more than once as well. And she lied to us to cover for him about what time he got home. She’s just as bad as him!’

  ‘Who rattled your cage this morning?’ said Perry, throwing his keys onto his desk and stretching before he sat down.

  Allie shrugged but didn’t say anything, knowing that the mood she was in had nothing to do with the Elliotts.

  Nick started the team brief and they went through everything that had happened overnight. Allie expressed her concerns about the knife.

  ‘It’s too much like the Steph Ryder case to be a coincidence, isn’t it?’ She looked at Nick for confirmation. ‘I think it was set up for us to find.’

  ‘But why?’ Sam looked puzzled.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Allie. ‘It will be interesting to see if there are any fingerprints on this one.’

  ‘We’ll get forensics back around lunchtime, said Nick. ‘Perry, can you check over Leah Matthews’s statement, see if her story is straight, and go and see Stella Elliott, see if Elliott is still missing?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Sam, can you continue checking CCTV around the surrounding streets?’

  ‘I’m on it, sir.’ She moved away as the phone began to ring on her desk.

  ‘Anything else?’ Nick addressed the room again.

  ‘There were some incidents of noise and shouting last night on floor one but no one would say any more than that,’ said Perry. ‘No flat numbers, no names were given. Just stuff in general. But we now know that was probably to do with Leah, Stella and Craig’s coming and goings.’

  Allie sighed. ‘Is there anything we can say for definite?’

  ‘Yes, there’s been a mur-dar.’ Perry grinned to lighten the mood.

  ‘Before we leave, Allie, can you ring Simon at The Sentinel, see if there’s anything in the news recently about the Granger brothers that we didn’t know of? Have they upset anyone, etcetera? And get someone from uniform to check out every Car Wash City again. Anything we can get to nail Ryder and add to the investigation, I want to be all over it. Anything else?’

  ‘Sir,’ Sam shouted over. ‘We’ve had a call from Sandra Granger. She must have grown a conscience overnight, as she’s saying that both boys didn’t go out on Wednesday night like they told us. She said Tommy was with his girlfriend and stayed overnight with her, too. Jacob came in a
bout three forty-five a.m. She remembers because he always makes himself something to eat, so she gets up to check that he doesn’t leave the grill on and fall asleep. Apparently, he did it once and almost burned the whole kitchen down.’

  ‘Let’s bring them both in.’ Nick stood up. ‘Everyone back here at midday, I think, and we’ll go through what we have before we attempt to tidy this all up.’ He clasped his hands together and rubbed them eagerly. ‘Grab a car, Allie. You and I are going to see Terry Ryder.’

  ‘But what about Ryan and Kirstie in the cells?’ Allie asked, hoping he would let her continue to interview them alone, see if she could find out anything else.

  ‘Let them stew,’ he replied. ‘We’re still within our time limits.’

  8.00 A.M.

  At Harrison House, Perry knocked on the door of flat 404. Three uniformed officers waited behind him.

  Sandra Granger opened it.

  ‘Is Jacob still here?’ he asked.

  Her face dropped and she pointed to a room.

  Perry scowled as he went in. He wasn’t sure which smell was worse – stale ale, sweaty socks or dirty bedding.

  ‘Wakey, wakey, rise and shine.’ He turned on the bedroom light.

  Jacob sat up in bed. ‘What the –’

  ‘Just a few things to clarify for us down at the station.’

  ‘It’s always me, isn’t it? It’s never Tommy.’

  ‘We’ve picked up Tommy as well.’ Perry grabbed the box of cigarettes that were on the drawers by the side of the bed and tutted. ‘You need to be more careful where you throw your butts, Granger. Sometimes they’ll put you in the right place at the right time.’

  ‘You’ve got nothing on me!’

  ‘Well, I guess we’ll be sorted by lunchtime and you can come back to your pit. Now get up and put some clothes on.’

  ‘I’m not coming with you!’

  Perry barred the door as Jacob made a run for it, then knocked him to the bed. Within seconds, he had a knee in Jacob’s back, holding him secure. He read him his rights while he took out his handcuffs.

  ‘You would make things hard for yourself,’ he said, fastening them securely around Jacob’s wrists. ‘Now you’ll have to go as you are in your pants and it’s a bit nippy out there.’

  ‘Let me put my trousers on!’

  ‘Oh, so now you’ll cooperate. Get dressed and shut the fuck up complaining.’ He turned to the officer behind him. ‘Do the honours and help him into his kegs, would you?’

  On his way out, he nodded his gratitude to Sandra. It couldn’t have been easy doing what she’d done, and although she would feel guilty for a while, it had been the right thing to do.

  Allie felt thankful for the cold weather as she popped her hands into leather gloves. Having them covered up might stop her wanting to wring them, as she was prone to do when her nerves got the better of her. She didn’t want to alert Nick to how she was feeling.

  ‘He knows something about this money,’ Nick said as he drove down the M6 towards HM Prison Long Lartin in Worcester.

  ‘Possibly,’ Allie agreed, ‘but bear in mind what a sleazeball he is. He and Kirstie could be in this together, and slipping up might have been her intention. I wouldn’t put it past her to be double-crossing Ryan even if they are seeing each other.’

  ‘Is that what you think?’

  ‘I wouldn’t rule anything out when dealing with a member of the Ryder family. They’re slick operators who think they are beyond the law.’

  They sat in silence, the temperature rising as the ice made way for heavy rain. Allie couldn’t help but wonder how prison had treated Ryder. Would he still be lording it up as he had done outside before being locked up? Would he have his minions working for him on the inside now as well as on the outside? Would his time in prison have been served well?

  She wondered if he’d still been taking regular exercise, keeping his body fit as well as his mind – knew the answer, really. Someone like him wouldn’t lose the feeling just because there weren’t many women around for him to manipulate.

  She checked her watch: less than half an hour to go before they would arrive at the prison. She should really stop giving him so much time in her thoughts.

  8.15 A.M.

  After he had arrested Jacob Granger, Perry went to see Stella Elliott.

  ‘And you’re worried about Craig?’ he asked incredulously when she opened the door. Stella’s face was a riot of blacks and purples, her top lip, nose and left eye swollen. She had a bandage around her wrist and two fingers taped together. She held on to her chest as she shuffled through to the living room.

  ‘I haven’t seen him since last night and now he’s not answering his phone,’ she said as she lowered herself down slowly onto the settee.

  ‘After what he’s done to you, I’m surprised you want to speak to him at all.’ Perry couldn’t stop his anger from spilling out. He sighed. ‘Would you like a cup of tea making?’

  ‘No . . . Thanks.’

  Perry nodded. ‘When did you see him last?’

  ‘When do you think?’ She glared at him. ‘You were with me last night after what happened.’

  ‘Routine questions, Stella. Did you see him after he beat you up?’

  ‘No, I tried to ring him when I was released from hospital but he didn’t pick up.’

  ‘Was the phone switched on?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Does he stay out at Flynn’s? You know, in that stay-over room.’

  She shook her head. Perry saw her wince in pain.

  ‘And there’s nowhere else he would be?’

  ‘Not unless he’s cheating on me again.’ A tear dropped down Stella’s face. ‘Don’t judge me. I can’t help loving the bastard.’

  ‘There’s nothing we can do for now but report him as missing,’ said Perry. ‘I’m sure you’ll understand that Jordan Johnson’s murder takes precedence, but we’ll do our best to find him for you.’

  9.00 A.M.

  If the prison surroundings weren’t enough to intimidate her, sitting in a room waiting for Terry Ryder to be brought in to them was making Allie’s heart leap about inside her chest. She could hardly hear the sound of clanking doors, keys in locks and the faint shouts of men for the sound of it. Now she had removed her gloves, she had no choice but to rub her hands together. She sat on them eventually and turned towards Nick as they heard noises outside in the corridor.

  ‘Here he comes, the suave bastard,’ Nick muttered as the door opened.

  It was like stepping back in time. Terry’s skin was paler than she remembered, although other than that it seemed prison life had been kind to him. She was right about his fitness: he still kept himself trim. His hair had more grey at the roots but it was still dark, short and tidy. His lines had deepened a little, but his eyes had the same come-to-bed vibes that she remembered so well from that night three years ago.

  He sat down across the table from them.

  ‘Allie, how marvellous to see you after so long.’ His smile seemed sincere. ‘But I’m disappointed. Not a card, or a phone call, a visit to say hello, perhaps? Have you missed me?’

  Allie ignored him, mortified as she felt the telltale blush rising across her cheeks.

  ‘Cut the crap, Ryder,’ said Nick. ‘We have a few questions for you, concerning your daughter.’

  ‘Is she okay?’ Terry sat forward, a concerned look on his face now.

  ‘She’s fine. She’s in one of our cells at the moment.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Jordan Johnson has been murdered. Surely you know?’

  ‘Jordan?’ Terry sat forward. ‘I had no idea.’

  ‘You don’t watch the news on TV?’

  ‘Not if I can help it.’ His eyes fell on Allie again. ‘How have you been?’

  Allie stared at him, but eventually she w
as intimidated enough to drop her eyes.

  ‘So why is Kirstie at your place?’ Terry shook his head. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Jordan was beaten and stabbed. He had a large quantity of money with him. When we questioned Kirstie and Ryan, we never mentioned an amount. Kirstie then said something about thirty-five thousand pounds.’

  ‘You found that much money at my house?’ Terry raised his eyebrows.

  ‘We found ten thousand pounds.’

  ‘Where exactly did you find it?’

  ‘It was hidden in one of the compartments in the wardrobes,’ said Allie. ‘The last time we spoke, not many people knew about it if I recall rightly.’

  ‘It’s been three years since we last spoke, Allie.’ Terry looked meaningfully at her. ‘I’ve dreamt about you every night, though. Please tell me you’ve missed me.’

  Allie rolled her eyes. God, he really was playing a blinder. But she was prepared, despite her flushing skin.

  ‘Who knew about the compartments?’ asked Nick.

  ‘Kirstie’s young, trusting. She could have told anyone about them.’ Terry pouted. ‘How do you know it has anything to do with her? Does the money have her prints on it?’

  ‘We have it with forensics at the moment. It will become clear soon.’

  ‘So you’ve arrested her for what, exactly?’

  ‘We’re trying to make things better for Kirstie by understanding how the money got into the compartment, where it came from in the first instance and why she mentioned a figure of thirty-five thousand pounds.’

  ‘I thought as detectives you might be able to tell me that.’

  Nick fidgeted in his seat. ‘We also found a knife with the money. The blade had dried blood on it. Sound familiar to you?’