Last Gasp (30 page)

‘If you’re asking if she’s over you yet, then the answer’s
‘no’, but she’s listening at any rate. She’s one hell of a girl, I’ll say that
for her.’

‘Tell me about it. Has she said much? About what she’d been
doing?’

‘Some. Apparently she followed you home a few times, hung
around a bit, did a bit of stalking, spent a few nights in your shed. You know,
the usual girl-with-a-crush-on-an-older-man type of stuff. You should be glad
you don’t do social media. She’d have been all over you.’

As he listened, Carver made a mental note to brush up on his
Surveillance Awareness Skills.
Mike Frayne would love her
.

‘She’ll be okay though, won’t she?’

‘I think so. Eventually.’

‘Have you talked to her about what’ll happen after the
trial? The papers, all that stuff?’

‘I told her the court will give her protection to begin
with, but it’ll come out anyway. There’s too much of a story there for it not
to.’

‘Will she cope with it?’

‘Our Kayleigh? You must be joking. She’ll be in her
element. You watch, she’ll be on daytime TV before you know it.’

‘You think so?’

‘She’s a heroine, Jamie. How many fifteen-year olds do you
know can throw themselves through a window, take out a serial killer, then save
the would-be victims by giving them CPR?’

‘Fair point.’ Reassured, a little, he switched subject.
‘What’s the news on the project?’

‘It’s carrying on, but we’re having to revamp some of the
TOR. Whatever happens to Kayleigh, the rest of the family still need to be
protected. They aren’t as robust as her. It could do them a lot of damage.’

‘If there’s anything I can do..?’

‘Thanks, but right now you’re best staying out of it.
There’s bound to be some reporter prepared to spin things so some will wonder
what the hell was going on, if you know what I mean?’

‘I do. Do me a favour, Rita. Tell Kayleigh I was asking
after her and that I’ll see her after the trial.’

‘I’ll make sure she understands.’

As he hung up, Carver’s phone beeped. He checked his log. It
showed two missed calls. The first was The Duke, the second his father. He may
be retired, but some of his old network still worked. He ignored the
return-call option and turned off the in-car connection. There would be time
enough for all that. He had no idea what The Duke would make of it, but he knew
it wouldn’t be a problem. And in a way he was even looking forward to speaking
to his father. It was time he understood some things.

In the twenty minutes following, his mobile rang several
times. He didn’t answer and he didn’t check to see who was calling.

After driving anticlockwise round the M60, he took the
Oldham exit and made his way to the neat housing development two miles outside
the city centre. He found it no trouble. He’d been there two weeks before.
After the funeral.

He parked at the bottom of the drive and waited, gathering
his thoughts. Turning to his left, he found he could see through the front
window into the room beyond. A woman was standing there, looking out at him.
Also waiting.

Right.

He got out and walked up the path. The door opened before he
could ring the bell.

The expression on Susan Kendrick’s haggard face was neither
welcoming, nor accusing. He didn’t try to read it. Whatever her thoughts -
about him, her daughter, what had happened - there was nothing he could do to
change them. Not yet.

She nodded a greeting of sorts, and stood back to let him
in. He stepped past her and turned left into the front room. Paul Kendrick was
sitting in the same armchair where Carver had seen him last. On his lap was that
morning’s edition of the Sun. For all Carver could tell, he might never have
moved. He glanced up as Carver entered. His face was even more unreadable than
his wife’s.

Carver nodded. ‘Hello Paul.’

The man nodded back, but said nothing and turned his gaze
back to his paper. Sue harrumphed, but he ignored her. Carver looked at her,
shook his head.
It doesn’t matter.

She pointed at the door leading through to the back room
from where the noises Carver had heard the moment she opened the front door
were coming. She nodded. She even tried a smile. He couldn’t begin to imagine
how hard all this must be for her.

He nodded back, smiled a ‘Thanks,’ and went through.

The boy was sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded
by bits of Lego and half-built Starships. He turned and looked up as Carver
came in. He didn’t exactly smile, but later, on his way home, Carver would
convince himself there’d been some recognition there.

‘Hello Jason,’ he said.

As he settled himself on the
floor next to the lad, thoughts of bloodline and parentage never entered his
head.

The end

Megan Crane is serving time for her crimes, but only now
is the true extent of her depraved network becoming clear, as well as the sorts
of people who were - maybe still are - part of it. Some are in positions of
power, authority, influence. The last thing they are prepared to risk are details
of their past association with the deadly dominatrix being made public. A
series of mysterious deaths sees DCI Jamie Carver investigating the possibility
that someone is out to make sure that won’t happen. It doesn’t stop there.
Megan Crane may be behind bars, but she retains her considerable powers of
‘persuasion’, and is more than prepared to use them if it suits her purpose - as
Carver is about to discover.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Robert F Barker draws for his writing on the
experiences he gained and the characters he met during his thirty years’
service as a Police Officer, most of it spent in CID. As well as dealing with
all types of crime from simple theft to murder, he played a key role in
establishing the UK’s first Regional Criminal Intelligence Network, later to become
the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the precursor to today’s National
Crime Agency. As a Senior Investigating Officer, he headed investigations into
all types of major crimes, including murder, armed robbery, serious sex crime
and drug trafficking. Later, as a Divisional Commander and Firearms Incident
Commander, he learned what it means to have to make life-and-death decisions in
the heat of ‘live’ operations.

Living with his
family in Cheshire, he splits his writing time between there and a second home
on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Cyprus where he finds inspiration for
the series of Cyprus-based thrillers which he intends will compliment his
home-based crime stories.