Foul Justice (11 page)

“Oh, just one thing,” Lorne said as they walked up the path to her home. “I hope you like dogs. I’ve got a collie. He’s a tad skittish. He’ll take some time to get used to you. I ask all my visitors not to make eye contact with him. He’ll come round eventually. I think he’s just over-protective; it’s either that or jealousy, we’re not sure which. He doesn’t tend to like men much, takes him longer to get used to them for some reason.” She laughed, trying to break the tension that had developed since they’d left her flat.

“Maybe we should all avoid men altogether, might solve a lot of issues,” Katy mumbled, hunkering down into her coat as a gust of wind rose up.

“A couple of years ago, I might’ve agreed with that statement. But Tony is a real gem. I’m lucky to have him—when he’s around, that is.”

Lorne placed the key in the lock and heard the patter of paws coming up the hallway. “Remember what I said: no eye contact. Hi, hon, have you been a good boy?”

Henry’s usual routine was to bolt for the back door to be let out. Instead, he ignored Lorne’s outstretched hand and went straight up to Katy. He sniffed the hem of her coat and worked his way up it. Her hands were down by her side, and when he reached her right hand, he licked it.

Lorne was shocked and surprised. She nodded for Katy to pet him. Katy stroked round Henry’s ear. His tail wagged, then he ran back down the hallway through the kitchen and barked to be let out at the back door.

“He’s the demanding male in this house,” she said, laughing. “Wow, you’re honoured. He’s never greeted anyone like that before. It took him months to get used to Tony.” Lorne followed the dog into the kitchen.

Katy smiled, shrugged out of her coat, and hung it up with the others on the rack by the front door. “My parents have always had dogs. I think they sense when people have an affinity for them.”

“Come through to the kitchen. I’ll plate up, if you can open the wine for me?”

When she let Henry back in, he went straight over and sat in front of Katy, expecting to be made a fuss of, totally ignoring the evening meal that Lorne had prepared. The whole scenario made Lorne realise that her immediate reservations about Katy were unjustified. Henry was a good judge of character, after all.

She put the plate of sweet-and-sour pork with egg fried rice down in front of Katy. “Looks like you’ve got a friend for life there.”

“He’s a sweetheart. Thanks for today, boss,” Katy said, to Lorne’s surprise.

“For a start, it’s Lorne when we’re either off-duty or by ourselves. And second, I take care of my partners. I’m not saying we’ll ever have a strong partnership to match the one I had with Pete, but we can try, eh?”

“Can I ask what happened to him?” Katy asked, tentatively putting a forkful of rice into her mouth.

“My nemesis, The Unicorn, killed him. He led us into a trap and pinned us down in an alley.” Lorne swallowed noisily, and her misted-up eyes dropped to her half-eaten plate of food. “I never want that to happen again.”

“There’s no guarantee in this job, Lorne. We could be led into a trap every day. Seems to me that criminals are getting smarter.”

Lorne shook her head. “I didn’t really mean that. You see, Pete died in my arms…‌That’s what I never want to happen again. His death still haunts me, but it’s also what drives me on. You see, he was like a brother to me. Pete didn’t have any family, and I kind of took him under my wing. He was Charlie’s godfather, too.” She inhaled deeply and put a forkful of rice in her mouth.

“Oh crap! I’m so sorry. All I’d heard was that he’d been killed in the line of duty.”

Lorne gave a brief nod. “Come on. That’s enough maudlin chat for one evening.”

They finished their meal, rinsed their plates, and took their wine through to the lounge. Out of habit, Lorne put the TV onto the BBC news but dimmed the sound down low. Then she asked Katy about her experience in the force and her meteoric rise up the ranks.

At first, Katy appeared to be reluctant to divulge much of her private life. Then she settled back in the sofa, tucked her legs under her backside, and said, “It’s nothing to write home about, really. I joined the force at eighteen. I’m kind of like you, in that I struggled in a male-dominated world to gain recognition. Then one day, I stumbled across a bit of information that broke a case wide open, one of the big cases the team was working on. My DCI had been on this gang’s tail for a few years.” She clicked her fingers together then continued, “All of a sudden, I was the best cop on his team, and he put my name forward to take the sergeant’s exam.”

Lorne sipped her wine, and her brow furrowed. “Oh, right. So your promotion had nothing to do with the fact that your parents know Superintendent Greenfall, then?”

Katy seemed surprised by her question and shifted position on the sofa a few times before she responded, “Is that what you’ve heard?”

Lorne felt awkward under her scrutinising glare. Gone was the relaxed manner Katy had shown since they had arrived home.
Damn, what did you say that for?
“I thought I heard something like that on the grapevine. Never mind. I probably misheard,” she quickly back-pedalled. But she could tell the damage had already been done. “What do your parents do?”

“Mum’s an accountant, and Dad’s retired, although he still participates as a JP.”

A Justice of the Peace, eh? Maybe that’s how Greenfall knows him.
“What did he do before he retired?” Lorne asked, intrigued.

“Dad was a property lawyer in Manchester. He retired a few years back. Wish I could retire at fifty-five,” Katy stated, appearing to look a little more relaxed again.

Lorne’s thoughts drifted, thinking about how nice it would be to retire early. Then out of the corner of her eye, an image on the TV screen caught her attention. Diving for the control, she turned up the volume. “Sorry…”

The picture was of a reporter in the mountains of Afghanistan and the breaking news banner read:
British Agent caught by the Taliban
.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

L
orne picked up the
portable phone and ran into the kitchen under Katy’s amazed gaze. “Dad? Have you seen the news?” she asked, pacing the kitchen, and running a frantic hand through her hair.

“Lorne, whatever is the matter, child?”

“It’s Tony—”

“What? Lorne, take a deep breath and tell me what’s happened.”

Lorne sucked in a few breaths and let them out, then tried again. “The news, Dad. A reporter in Afghanistan is saying there are reports that a British agent has been captured.”

She heard a chair being scraped on the other end and her father flopping into it.

“Now, Lorne, you know half their stories are conjecture. If it’s breaking news I doubt all the facts are right.”

“But, Dad, they wouldn’t report it if there wasn’t at least a glimmer of truth in it, surely?”

Her father remained silent for a few seconds, contemplating her words. “Okay, here’s what I would do. Wait until you hear something official from HQ before you start believing the reports. Have you heard from Tony?”

“No. That’s why I’m so concerned. He
always
rings me. Without fail. I know something has happened to him, I can feel it.” Her hand clutched her stomach as if he was in the room with her as tears slipped from her eyes.

“I know, love. My advice would be to keep strong until HQ get in touch. Do you want me to come over and sit with you?”

“No, I have a visitor.”

“Oh, who?”

“Katy, my new partner. She, umm…‌Well, she’s going to be staying with me for a few days.”

“As you wish, love. I’m sure Tony will be in touch soon. He’s probably just out of communication range. Try not to worry too much. Get some rest, and I’ll ring you tomorrow.”

“I’ll try, Dad. Thanks. I’ll call you if I hear anything. Good night.”

She hung up and put the kettle on. Katy joined her in the kitchen a few seconds later. “Sorry, Lorne. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Is there anything I can do?”

“I need you to keep quiet about this, Katy. Tony’s on a secret mission. Whatever you heard, scrub it from your memory now. I’m sure he’ll be okay.”

Katy eyed her with pity, which didn’t sit well with Lorne. “If you need to talk, I’m here.”

Trying to show that she was coping with the situation, she smiled. “Hey, we’re a right pair, aren’t we? I invited you here to ease your discomfort, and now you’ve walked into this.”

Katy shrugged. “That’s life, I suppose. There’s always something out there to throw us off-balance.”

“How about a treat?” Lorne asked, determined not to dwell on something that was out of her control.

“What do you mean? In my house, a take-away is a treat.” Katy smiled and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Ah, in this household, a take-away means it’s pig out night and is generally followed by a tub of ice cream.”

Katy’s eyes almost popped out of her head. “A whole tub?”

Lorne went over to the freezer compartment of her fridge, which was situated by the back door, and pulled out two mini tubs of Häagen Dazs ice cream. The relief on Katy’s face was laughable. “Name your poison: sticky toffee pudding or chocolate and cream.”

Katy puffed out her cheeks. “I’m not sure I can.” Her usually flat stomach protruded, and she patted it with both hands. “I’m so full.”

“Go on. Be a devil. It’ll do us both the world of good to indulge. Just this once, I promise. Then we’ll have a salad tomorrow to make up for our naughtiness.”

Sighing, Katy nodded. “If that’s an order, I better comply.”

“That’s my girl. Now, which one?”

Katy shrugged. “I don’t mind. Either.”

Lorne placed the tubs behind her back. “Left or right?”

“Right,” Katy said, and Lorne handed her the sticky toffee pudding option.

After a further couple of hours of general chitchat and half-watching the crap on TV, they went to bed early, at around ten. They left for work about eight thirty the next morning. Katy told Lorne she looked rough, which wasn’t exactly music to her ears, and insisted she should drive to work.

Lorne had suffered one of the worst night’s sleep she’d ever had to endure. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw an image of Tony tied up in a cave with a guard standing over him. Yes, she was blessed with an overactive imagination, but that was due to Tony filling her in on a few cases he and his colleagues had been involved in over the couple of years she’d known him. His harrowing words were now haunting her every waking moment and rattling around in her head.

Lorne had just settled down to open her post when the phone rang on her desk. She placed the phone between her cheek and her shoulder. “DI Simpkins. How can I help?”

“Lorne, it’s Patti.”

She dropped the letter she was inspecting on the desk and gave Patti, the pathologist, her full attention. “Oh, hi. I was going to either call you or come and see you today.”

“You were? We’ll I’ve just saved you a job. Just ringing up to see if you received the post reports on the kids?”

“I did, thanks. Shame they didn’t show up anything. It was worth a shot.”

“Is everything all right? You don’t sound your chirpy self. I know we haven’t dealt with each other much, but I can usually tell what someone’s like within a few minutes of meeting them.”

“Funny, I’ve got a dog like that.”

“Sorry?” Patti asked, puzzled.

“Oh nothing. It’s just a personal issue I have to deal with. Thanks for your concern, Patti.”

“If ever you want to chat, you know where I am. Maybe we could have lunch one day?”

“Maybe when Tony gets back.”

“Sorry?” Patti asked, confusion in her tone. “I take it Tony is your other half. Is he away at the moment?”

Because of Patti’s gentle manner, Lorne felt she could trust the new pathologist, and before she could engage her brain, she had told the woman about the news report.

“Bloody hell! I’m not saying that about the situation, I just didn’t realise we had that much in common.”

“Really? In what way?” Lorne asked, reclining back in her chair.

“My husband is in the forces. Special forces, actually, and he’s out in Afghanistan on a mission at this moment, too.”

“Wow! Have you heard from him lately? How long has he been out there?”

“Between you and me, he’s been out there a couple of months. They’re after some kind of drug warlord. I haven’t heard from him in over two weeks, but that’s nothing unusual, Lorne. Communications are down most of the time over there. They think the Taliban regularly jam the communications equipment. When he does call, it only lasts for a few minutes, if that.”

At last, information that would help settle her stomach and stop her mind thinking the unthinkable. Despite feeling like crap, Lorne smiled. “Thanks, Patti. Talking to you has really helped me put things into perspective. Damn reporters! I’ll get back to you soon, and we’ll make arrangements to have lunch or a celebratory dinner when the guys return.”

“Glad to be of some assistance. Try not to worry, and keep your chin up. Speak soon.”

Lorne replaced the phone and breathed out a relieved sigh, then gave herself a good talking to. “Right, now you’re not to worry about things that you have no control over. Until you hear something definite about Tony’s status, you’re going to give your all to this case.” A soft knock on the door interrupted her. “Come in.”

Katy pushed the door open and placed two cups of vending machine coffee on the desk and sat down. “Sorry, I thought you were on the phone, didn’t want to interrupt.”

Lorne felt her cheeks redden, and her gaze drifted out the window to the tower block offices beyond. “I’ve just given myself a good talking to.” She picked up her coffee and took a sip of the rich roasted blend before her eyes met Katy’s. “Between us, we’re a fine pair at the moment, aren’t we?”

Katy’s gaze rose to the ceiling. “How about we listen to your advice and concentrate on the case?” She stood up, left the office, and returned seconds later, holding the files they’d picked up at the security firm. She handed one to Lorne.

They studied the files in silence for a few minutes, until Lorne looked up and asked, “What date did the Dobbses have their security fitted?”