Foul Justice (13 page)

“I wish I could, Lorne. But MI6 have confirmed it. They wanted to tell you themselves, but I said it would be better coming from a friend. What can I do to help?”

Stunned, Lorne simply stared at him and lifted her shoulders slightly. “You can tell me that I’ll see him again. That I’ll hold him in my arms again.”

“It breaks my heart to say this, but we both know I can’t guarantee that. The Taliban have a habit of playing by their own rules. You need to prepare yourself for every eventuality,” he said gravely.

Her eyes met his, and she shook her head vehemently. “I refuse to give up on him. I know his love for me will get him through this. It has to.”

“I didn’t mean to sound heartless, Lorne, but—”

“I know you didn’t. But if I give up on him now, then I might as well give up breathing, Sean. He’s my soul mate. The air that I breathe—” She broke off as a hard lump lodged in her throat.

“I’m so sorry, Lorne. After all the shit you’ve had to contend with over the years, Tony was the bright spark—”

“Is! Is, not
was
. He’s still alive, and while there’s a tiny hope left, I’m sure he’ll return home to me. Do you mind if I ring Dad?”

“No, of course not. Do it from here. I’ll give you some peace.” He rose from his chair and walked round his desk. He squeezed her shoulder gently as he passed.

“Dad, thank God you’re home.”

“Lorne? Whatever is the matter, child?”

“The reports were true, Dad.”

Her father groaned, and she heard him kick a chair or something. “Damn! Have HQ confirmed that?”

“Yes, Dad. Sean’s just told me. What am I going to do?” she sobbed fresh tears.

“Are you up to telling me what happened, love?” he asked tentatively.

“Apparently the Taliban captured him up in the mountains. He was hiding out in a cave near the drug warlord he was after. They’ve publicly flogged and tortured him. Oh, Dad…”

“I know, love. For his sake and yours, please remain positive. You hear it all the time on TV about rescue attempts. Tony’s one of MI6’s greatest assets. They won’t give up on him, and neither should we.”

It was just the kind of hopeful words she wanted to hear. Her father always managed to say the right thing, to keep her buoyant when all those around her thought the worst of a given situation. His time on the force had taught him that positivity overwhelmed any likely negativity in instances such as this.

“But they’ve already killed another agent. What’s to stop them from killing Tony?”

“That’s a logical question, sweetheart. But look at it this way. They killed the other agent, and Tony was sent out. The Taliban know that MI6 will keep sending agents to replace those killed. They’ll probably be rethinking their plans as we speak. If not…‌and I’m going to be cruel here. If they’re not about to change their strategy, they would’ve already killed him by now. Instead they’ve only flogged and tortured him. I say
only
…‌but you know what I mean.”

Lorne blew out a relieved breath when she realised her father had a point. Fresh hope surrounded her heart and a slight smile touched her lips. “Thanks, Dad.”

“No problem, love. I know you’ve got company with that lassie staying with you, but if you’d like me to come and stay for a few days, I will.”

“I’ll be all right, Dad. You have my word that I will stay strong until all possible hope has diminished.” It was the exact same words her father had said when her mother was lying in the hospital dying of cancer.

They both said they loved each other and then hung up.

Seconds later, Sean entered the room behind her. “Everything all right?”

“I know you were listening, Sean. No point in denying it.”

“Ah! I forgot you were a shit hot detective.” He chuckled and perched his backside on the edge of the desk in front of her. “Seriously, if you need a chat, my door is always open.”

Lorne nodded, and their eyes met. “I know and I’m grateful.”

“If you want some time off, I’ll understand and back you all the way.”

One of her eyebrows rose up quizzically. “Did I have time off when Baldwin kidnapped Charlie?”

“No, you didn’t. But this is different, Lorne,” he stated, patting her hand with his.

“I can’t sit at home all day wondering…‌I’d rather be here throwing myself into the job, surrounded by friends.”

“I understand, totally. If I were in your shoes, I’d feel the same way. If the need arises to come and vent or to kick something or someone, don’t be afraid to knock on my door.”

She stood up and moved to the door before she responded. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Katy and I are going to call it a day now, if that’s okay?”

“Of course. Fill me in on the case tomorrow, okay?”

“Sorry, we went to—”

He raised a hand to stop her. “Unless you’ve uncovered some case-breaking evidence, it can wait until tomorrow. Go home and
try
to get some rest. You’ve got my home number if you need me, all right?”

“Thanks, sir. I’ll be here bright and early to run through the case with you, then.”

“That’s a date, Inspector. Now, shoo!”

When she walked through the outer office, even the wily fox had a sympathetic expression. Any other time, Lorne would’ve bitten the woman’s head off. In this instance, she decided the woman’s heart was in the right place and gave her a brief nod of acceptance.

Katy insisted she should drive home while Lorne filled her in on what had happened to Tony, with the understanding that it went no further.

All the way through her horrific tale, Katy shook her head and gasped several times. After unburdening herself, Lorne spent the rest of the journey in dazed silence. And when Henry came to meet her at the door, she bent down to hug him and broke down.

“Oh, Henry, what am I going to do without him?”

The dog whimpered. Katy squeezed past her, patted Lorne on the shoulder, and ruffled the dog’s head. Then she went through to the kitchen and opened the back door for the collie, to be ready for when his mistress released him.

Sensing her need was greater than his, Henry sat and licked the salty streaks on her cheeks.

Several fraught minutes later, she kissed him and sent him on his way. Lorne followed him into the kitchen where Katy was pouring boiling water into two cups. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? Being human and having normal feelings? Everyone has their breaking point. My old Nan used to say, ‘A good cry set the world to rights.’ You need to get it out of your system before you can begin to see things more clearly.”

Lorne smiled, took the offered cup of coffee, and moved to the back door. “When did you become so sensible?”

“I’ve always been quite an expert on human nature. I just find it a struggle to take onboard my old Nan’s advice. I can dish it out, but as far as heeding it goes…‌Nah, it isn’t going to happen.”

Lorne dried the dog’s paws on the towel hanging on the rail by the back door and looked up at Katy. “I’ll feed Henry, but would you mind fending for yourself tonight? There are plenty of ready meals in the freezer compartment, and the microwave is easy-to-use.”

Katy’s head tilted questioningly.

“I’m not hungry. I thought I’d have a soak in the bath and grab an early night,” Lorne clarified.

Her partner nodded. “Sure. But my old Nan used to say—”

Lorne smiled and interrupted her, “Yeah, I know, something like ‘Never skip a meal in a crisis.’”

“Something like that. Give me a shout later if you want me to make you a sandwich or something. There’s a David Attenborough documentary on that I wanted to see anyway, so don’t worry about me.”

Lorne gave Henry his evening meal, then disappeared upstairs, still surprised by Katy’s comment that she was interested in Attenborough’s work.
Not a thing you’d consider a youngster entertaining nowadays. Or someone of Lorne’s age, come to that.

The half-hour soak in her wonderfully fragrant lavender foam bath helped ease the tension in her body and put things into perspective a little. But she entered the bedroom and saw the picture Charlie had taken of Tony and herself down by the river. They were the epitome of happiness, laughing and looking adoringly at each other. Her newfound resolve teetered on the edge of the precipice.

To take her mind off things, she picked up her Kindle and started reading the paranormal mystery by Linda Prather that she’d downloaded the week before, after Charlie had raved about how good it was.

She drifted off to sleep a little while later, but she woke up every few hours crying out Tony’s name.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

T
he next morning, her
stomach was complaining so much that she got up at six thirty and fixed herself a fry-up.

Katy appeared sometime after seven thirty and helped herself to a bowl of cereal. “What’s on the agenda today?”

Lorne appreciated the fact that her partner hadn’t referred to how rough she looked. Maybe the light touch of makeup she’d applied had successfully masked her pallor.

“First of all, I need to bring Roberts up-to-date on the case, not that we have much to go on. While I’m doing that, I thought you could team up with AJ, to download the pictures I took on my camera yesterday and see if you can come up with a match on the database.”

“Okay. This AJ, I get the impression he’s a bit of a ladies’ man. Is he?”

She laughed. “We used to say he likes his cars fast and his women even faster! I’m not sure if things have changed or not while I’ve been away. One thing, though…”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“You two have something in common.”

Katy screwed up her cute nose and asked, “What’s that?”

“You come from wealthy families.”

“I didn’t say my family is wealthy,” Katy responded defensively.

“Oh didn’t you? My mistake. AJ’s father is a lord. I’m not saying he can’t be trusted, but we tend to tread carefully around him. Wouldn’t want to upset him, if you know what I mean.” She tapped her nose.

“Crikey! What’s he working in the police for?”

“He was told to get out and fend for himself. He’s good at his job, though. Conscientious and reliable—just your average team member, but be careful all the same.”

“Message received.”

•     •     •

“What the hell happened
to you last night?”

Zac sat at the kitchen table, holding his sore head in his hands, groaning as his brother’s voice reverberated through the low-ceilinged kitchen and slapped him round the face.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” his brother retorted impatiently.

“I got bladdered and picked up a bird.”

“All right, spare me the gory details, will you? What happened down the pub?”

Zac gulped noisily and lifted his head up to look at his brother. “Shit happened.”

Drumming his fingers on the countertop of the island, his brother asked, “What’s that supposed to mean? What the fuck are you on about?”

“I was just going to start asking around…‌You know, like you asked me to. When Denman walked in with his heavies.”

“And?” His brother came towards him, wearing a menacing expression, and sat in the chair next to him.

“He told me to…‌to pass on a message…‌to you,” Zac stammered, sensing his brother would blow his top any minute.

“Get on with it, for fuck’s sake.”

“He said, ‘We know what you and yours are up to, and it’s game on,’” Zac told him before taking a sip of his coffee.

“I should’ve guessed he’d be behind it. He’ll be after payback.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. What we gonna do about it?”

“
You’re
gonna go see that Underhill and see what he knows. Beat it out of him if you have to.”

Grimacing, Zac moaned. “What, today? Couldn’t I leave it till tomorrow?” The look on his brother’s face told him he had asked the stupidest of questions. Again.

•     •     •

Lorne left Katy and
AJ downloading the photos and went to Roberts’ office.

“No need to ask if you slept all right last night,” he said, pointing at the chair.

She shrugged. “I think you’d be the same, given the circumstances. Wouldn’t you?”

“I have no doubt about that, Inspector. That’s why I told you to take a few days off.”

“I’d rather be here, if it’s all the same. About the case, sir…”

“Go on,” Roberts said.

“DS Foster and I had quite an eventful day yesterday. The guy at ‘Trust Us’—yeah, I know—when we questioned him about being connected to the footballers and obtaining their contracts, he mentioned that he’d met a Zac at a pub.”

“As you do,” Roberts said, tutting.

“Anyway, we went down there to try and find out who this bloke is, when who should stroll in but this Zac. Drunk as a skunk, shouting the odds. A couple of minutes later, three other men walked in.” Roberts sat forward in his chair. Lorne continued, “They got in each other’s faces for a while—”

“What about?”

“I wish I knew. This Zac started off shouting at this other guy. In response, the other guy leaned forward and whispered something. I couldn’t hear what was said, but judging by the way Zac reacted, I’d say he goaded him in some way.”

“So what happened next?”

“The barmaid warned them that we were there, and after a few warning glances directed our way, things died down. The three men left within minutes of arriving. We waited a few minutes, then tried to leave ourselves, but this Zac stood in our way. He called us a few choice names and I had to warn him to back off. I ended up telling him he was now firmly on our radar.”

Roberts chuckled. “I can just imagine the scene. So, did you recognize any of the men?”

“That’s just it: the pub isn’t on our patch, but I took discreet pictures of the scene on my phone. Not sure how good the pictures will be, though. What with finding out about Tony yesterday, it slipped my mind to check them when I got home.”

He waved away her explanation. “That’s understandable, Lorne. You’ll get on to it today, right?”

“Katy and AJ are on it now. Back to yesterday, after the pub, we paid a visit to the designer who was contracted to kit out the Dobbses’ and Kellys’ homes. She’s a sassy individual, on her guard the minute we stepped foot in her swanky showroom. I came away with the client files. I’m going to go through them today to see what turns up.”