Only the Brave (21 page)

10.10 P.M.

Allie buzzed to be let into the ward. One of the nurses, Sharon, recognised her and wagged a finger at her as she opened the door.

‘Sorry, I know it’s late,’ Allie spoke quietly. ‘Can I come in for a moment? I have two people in A&E I’m waiting to speak to
and . . .’

Sharon beckoned her in. ‘You don’t have to make an excuse. Come on through.’

‘How is she doing?’

‘Her blood pressure dipped this morning but she’s stable again for now.’

Allie sterilised her hands and walked over to the side room where her sister was. Karen’s skin was so pale it almost looked transparent, yet it was flushed, too. Her eyes were closed, and it seemed like she’d lost even more weight in the past twenty-four hours. She looked like a skeleton lying in the bed.

Despite what she had said to Mark, Allie did wonder if she would be strong enough to be there when the time came. A tiny part of her, a part she could barely even admit to herself, was hoping that Karen would slip away while she wasn’t there, so that she wouldn’t have to deal with it.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn’t want to remember her sister like this – fragile, lost, a shell. Even though she had been unable to communicate with them for years, she still couldn’t bring herself to wish it was all over. Karen had been a part of her life for so long that she wondered how she would get by without her visits to see her. Would her life become empty all of a sudden?

She sat by the side of her bed for a few moments but she couldn’t settle. Her eyes flicked around the familiar room, bright but sparse, ready for whatever was thrown at it. Next week, it might hold another patient, yet Allie wasn’t ready to say goodbye to thi
s one.

‘What am I going to do without you, Kaz?’ she whispered as she stood up to leave.

Perry was waiting for her back in A&E. ‘How is she?’ he asked.

Allie shook her head, still wiping at her eyes. ‘Did you bag up the money?’

‘Yes, boss.’ He handed it to her.

‘I’m going back to the station. Do you want to shoot off for a bit of shut-eye or are you staying on shift?’

‘Both,’ he grinned.

When they arrived back at the station, Nick was at his desk. The room was quiet as most of the phone calls had stopped coming in. Sam had her head down too. Allie grabbed everyone’s mugs and made them all coffee.

‘What did Ryan say when you questioned him earlier?’ Nick asked as she placed his drink down next to him.

‘Sorry?’ said Allie, her head too full of thoughts of her sister for her to be sure what he was referring to.

‘You were going to ask him about the CCTV footage. Even though we now know Jordan was at The Genting Club, he’d still be one of the last people to be with his brother.’

‘Oh, I –’ Allie lowered her eyes. ‘I didn’t ask him.’

‘Why not?’

‘I couldn’t.’

‘But he might have been able to tell us where Jordan was going. Especially since we now know he should have visited Sophie
Nicklin
.’

‘We knew that anyway,’ she snapped.

Nick raised his eyebrows.

‘He’d just been to identify his brother. He was really upset.’

‘And?’

Allie’s hand went up in the air. ‘I couldn’t just ask him questions that sounded like we were looking into him, too.’

‘We needed that information.’

‘He was laying flowers with his mother!’

Sam and Perry glanced at each other. Sam pulled a face.

‘You should have asked him.’

‘But, sir – I –’

‘I said if you became too emotional you needed to tell me that too.’ Nick’s arms flapped about. ‘If you’re not up to working on this case, then let someone else take over. I need your mind on the job. This is a murder investigation!’

‘For fuck’s sake, what do you take me for?’ Allie stood up. ‘I’m not an unemotional brick like you. I have feelings too and I . . .’ As all eyes fell on her, she ran from the room. Tears pouring down her face, she rushed into the ladies’ toilets and into a cubicle. She sat down on the toilet lid and gulped in big mouthfuls of air.

Although livid at being humiliated in front of her staff, Allie realised that Nick was right, and maybe she shouldn’t be
working
on this case anymore. Her mind hadn’t really been on the job for three weeks now but she couldn’t tell him every reason why. Last month, while working on the serial rapist case, she had interviewed a woman in her mid-twenties – tidy, yet ageing before her time, bags under her eyes telling the true nature of her life. Dark roots had been showing through her blonde-dyed hair, her nails bitten down to the quick. To Allie it had seemed as if she wanted to look nice but didn’t feel she should. Sarah had been raped when she was eighteen and the case had never been solved. She seemed old before her time, painfully reminding Allie of how she herself hadn’t really lived while her sister had been suffering.

‘Is there anything else you can remember, Sarah?’ she had asked her gently.

‘I – I don’t think so.’ The woman looked down at the table. ‘It was years ago now and it all happened so fast.’

‘Even something tiny might be useful to us.’

Sarah paused. ‘Strange though, because sometimes it was as if it happened only yesterday.’

Allie reached a hand across the table. ‘I’m sorry to dredge up old memories but we’re hoping that with new advances in
technology
we might be able to find the man responsible for this.’

Sarah looked up through watery eyes.

‘We will get him, Sarah. I promise.’

As she rested her head in her hands, thoughts swirled around her mind. She had regretted the words as soon as they had come from her mouth. Was she really so sure they would, after all thi
s time?

She grabbed some toilet roll, wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Keeping busy, that’s what she needed to do. Because if she didn’t, she would be no good to Karen, just a gibbering wreck. No good to anyone.

The outside door opened and she heard footsteps. A knock on the cubicle door.

‘Allie?’ Sam’s voice was soft.

Allie opened the door and went out to her.

‘Nick sent me to find you. I would have come anyway.’ She smiled. ‘Are you okay? Talk to me.’

Allie remained quiet, the lump in her throat making speech impossible.

‘You’re not invincible,’ said Sam. ‘No one thinks ill of you because you’re upset.’

‘But Nick thinks I wasn’t doing my job properly.’ Allie wiped at her eyes. ‘I – I wasn’t.’

‘It’s late, we’ve all been on shift for too long and we’re tired. And Nick is a thoughtless dick.’

Allie smiled a little through her tears. ‘I should have questioned Ryan Johnson. I let my heart rule my head. All I could think about was the fact that that’s going to be me soon. I just wanted to let them grieve, you know? I was stupid.’

‘It wouldn’t have made any difference, though.’ Sam placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘We’ll get them in the end.’

‘But will we really?’

‘With your expert interviewing skills and my expert camera skills, of course we fucking will.’

Sam’s reassurance did it. Allie burst into tears again.

‘I haven’t been straight with you,’ she said. ‘I haven’t been straight with
any
of you.’

‘What are you talking about?’

Allie moved over to the sink, held on to it for support. As Sam moved to put a hand on her arm, she glanced at herself in the
mirror
. She didn’t like what she saw reflecting back at her.

‘Last week I was at the hospital with Mark and another rose was delivered to Karen’s ward.’

Sam stared at her wide-eyed. ‘Why haven’t you told anyone?’

‘Because!’ She looked up at Sam through the mirror. ‘I need to do my job, Sam. I don’t want to be mollycoddled. It’s bad enough with all this risk assessment bollocks since Chloe Winters was raped, as well as having to be babysat.’

‘But you still need to be safe!’

‘I can’t cope if I don’t do it, can’t you see?’ Allie turned to her. ‘Doing what I do best blanks everything else out. It’s the only thing I’m good at too.’

‘You’re going to be in so much trouble,’ said Sam.

‘I know.’ Allie touched her arm. ‘Promise you won’t say
anything
.’

‘I – I –’

‘You have to promise! Once things are over with Karen,’ Allie took a deep breath, ‘then we can go after the bastard that did it to her. But for now, I just need to concentrate on her. And to do that I have to block her out too and do my job.’

Sam stayed quiet.

‘Please, Sam.’

‘Okay, I’ll trust you on this one.’ Sam sighed.

‘Thanks,’ Allie said. ‘You’re a true friend.’

‘I’m a bloody sucker,’ said Sam. ‘Come back when you’re ready. I’ll tell Nick you’ll be fine.’

Once Sam had gone, Allie took a few moments to calm down. She splashed her face with water, gave herself a good glare in the mirror and, head high again, she went back into the office.

‘I reckon it’s your shout for the oatcake order tomorrow,’ said Nick, his stare a little friendlier than she had anticipated.

Allie’s smile was faint but it was there. He was trusting her to get on with it and he wasn’t going to give her a bollocking for
insubordination
. She sighed with relief. She didn’t want to be sen
t home.

Perry shook his head as she sat down again. ‘You are one smooth operator,’ he teased.

‘Why?’

‘You swore at the boss man and got away with it.’

Allie smiled faintly. What she was more concerned about was how much Nick would swear at her when he realised she had kept something back from him yet again.

11.00 P.M.

Allie and Nick arrived at The Gables.

‘You sure you’re okay to do this?’ Nick asked.

Allie nodded. ‘Sorry about earlier. I was out of order.’

Nick knocked on the door and turned to her. ‘You’re a good officer, Allie. If your emotions get the better of you every now and then, it’s hardly a bad thing. Even though you do try my patience at times.’

Ryan opened the door.

‘Mr Johnson.’

He nodded and stood aside for them to pass.

‘My apologies for it being so late,’ Nick said to him as they followed him into the living room. Kirstie was standing barefoot in front of the fireplace, enveloped in an oversized cardigan and leggings.

‘Oh, not you again.’ She rolled her eyes after glaring at Allie.

‘Can I get you a drink of anything?’ Ryan ignored her. ‘Coffee – something stronger?’

Allie felt a shiver tickle her skin as she recalled the last time she had been asked that, when she’d been at this house alone wit
h Terry.

‘I’m not wasting good drink on the likes of her,’ Kirstie retorted.

‘Clearly you’ve had enough of the stuff already,’ said Ryan.

‘We’re fine.’ Nick sat down when urged to. ‘We just have a few more questions about Jordan. It seems from CCTV footage at Flynn’s that you may have been the last person to see your brother alive at the club, Ryan. We wanted to clarify a few things from last night, now that we know the reason Jordan was at Harrison House this morning.’

‘You mean he was going to see that trollop,’ said Kirstie.

‘You knew he was seeing someone who lived there?’ said Allie with a frown.

‘I thought it was the barmaid, as you know. Ryan told me he
r name.’

‘I didn’t want her to find out from anyone else,’ said Ryan.

‘We’ve spoken to Miss Nicklin twice today,’ said Allie,
taking
great satisfaction in deliberately using the woman’s name. Miss Nicklin was no trollop. ‘It seems that Jordan had arranged to meet her there after he’d finished work at Flynn’s. You also went to see her this evening, didn’t you, Ryan?’

‘I bet you loved saying every word of that, didn’t you?’ Kirstie almost spat the words out. ‘You can’t wait to get one over on me.’

‘Kirstie, for Christ’s sake, show some respect.’ Ryan turned to Nick, his annoyance clear. ‘Yes, I went to see if Jordan had visited her last night. It seems he was supposed to but he didn’t turn up.’

‘That’s bloody convenient, don’t you think?’ Kirstie folded her arms. ‘I mean, what man turns down sex on a plate with a tart?’

Allie bit her lip to stop from shouting out at her to grow up. She’d had just about enough of her selfish attitude.

‘We found his car parked in Sparrow Street.’ Nick ignored Kirstie. ‘In case you don’t know, it’s a few minutes’ walk from
Harrison
House. According to neighbours who were questioned, it was often there during the early hours of a morning, but gone before most people were up the next day.’

‘So he screws her and comes home to me.’ Kirstie looked more disgusted than hurt.

Allie was confused: were she and Jordan still a couple? Had they got it wrong after all?

‘Can either of you tell us if he was carrying any money on him?’ Nick asked.

A glance between Kirstie and Ryan made Allie and Nick do the same.

‘You said you had his wallet,’ Ryan answered. ‘There would have been a few notes in that, I guess.’

‘I’m talking a lot more than a few notes, Mr Johnson. A whole lot more.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘There was a bag of money near to where Jordan was found. It’s possible that he could have been targeted and robbed for it.’

‘Killed for money?’ Kirstie gasped.

‘It’s looking that way.’ Nick nodded. ‘We’re trying to establish whether the money belonged to him and also if it was the reason why he was killed.’

‘Have you asked her?’ Kirstie almost snarled the last word. ‘That Sophie woman?’

‘We are following that line of enquiry at the moment,’ said Allie. ‘There was also a woman with long dark hair and a slim build seen going into Harrison House around three thirty a.m., at the same time Jordan was found.’

‘Similar to me, you mean?’ Kirstie pointed her finger at Allie’s face. ‘You really have it in for me, don’t you? Wasn’t it enough for you that you put my father in prison?’

‘We’re just following lines of enquiry.’ Allie looked up, holding Kirstie’s gaze to show she wasn’t intimidated.

‘But why would he have that much money on him? I mean, you can’t just shove thirty-five grand underneath your jumper.’

‘Thirty-five thousand?’ Nick raised his eyebrows. ‘What makes you think it was that much?’

Kirstie looked down at the floor with a shrug. ‘You’ve just said it was.’

Nick looked at Allie for confirmation. She shook her head.

‘We didn’t mention an amount to either of you,’ he said.

‘I can’t have plucked that figure out of thin air.’ Kirstie moved to stand by Ryan. ‘They did say thirty-five thousand, didn’t they?’

The muscle in Ryan’s cheek began to ripple as he struggled to keep his features straight. ‘It’s been a long day,’ he replied. ‘We’re all confused.’

‘That’s highly possible, given the circumstances, Mr
Johnson
,’ said Nick. ‘But to make things easier, we’d also like to check around your and Jordan’s rooms again while we’re here. Would you mind? We’ll make it quick.’

Kirstie shrugged her shoulders. ‘Be my guest.’

‘And maybe we could take a look in the back of the wardrobes while we’re there,’ said Allie.

Kirstie burst out laughing. ‘I suppose you think you’re going to find something in the hidden compartments again, don’t you, Detective Sergeant Shenton? Just like last time when you stitched my dad up?’

‘Secret compartments?’ Ryan frowned.

It seemed genuine to Allie that Ryan didn’t know anything about them, but she wasn’t taking anything on face value.

‘Well, now that you come to mention it,’ Allie stood up, ‘it’s as good a place as any to start.’

‘I – I –’

‘Mr Ryder had compartments built into the wardrobes for safekeeping, to hide his wife’s jewellery,’ Allie explained to Ryan. ‘But we found some interesting items in there when we searched the property three years ago; we found a knife covered with blood wrapped up.’ She turned to Kirstie. ‘I suppose
you’re
going to tell me that you don’t have the key fob?’

‘I think you’ll need to come back with a warrant,’ Ryan glared at them.

‘Maybe, but we’re investigating the murder of your brother.’ Allie’s smile was kind but demeaning. ‘You did indicate earlier that you want us to cover every eventuality?’

‘Oh, don’t worry about it, Ryan.’ Kirstie padded into the dining area. ‘Let them look. There’s nothing there.’

‘Then we won’t keep you long.’

From the sideboard, Kirstie took something out of the top drawer and dropped it into Allie’s outstretched palm.

Allie held her stare as her fingers clasped around it.

‘Don’t think you’ll be as lucky as you were the last time you looked in there,’ said Kirstie.

Allie followed Kirstie upstairs, Nick and Ryan close on their heels. Along the landing, Kirstie opened a bedroom door and switched on a light. ‘After you,’ she said, not taking her eyes fro
m Allie.

‘But this is my room,’ said Ryan from behind them.

‘It was my parents’ room, you know that,’ said Kirstie.
‘I couldn’t move into it after all that had happened.’

Inside the room, Allie glanced around as she and Nick pulled on latex gloves. The bed was made, the curtains drawn. Aftershave bottles of all shapes and sizes were lined up in a row on top of a large chest of drawers, next to a pair of cufflinks with a Route 66 emblem on them and a tie, still knotted, thrown on top of everything.

She opened the first wardrobe, full of men’s clothes, and pushed them apart. She lifted the key fob, aimed it at the wall an
d p
ressed. There was a click and a door in the wall opened.

‘What the hell . . .’ Ryan stepped forward to look.

‘Please stay by the door, Mr Johnson.’ Allie raised a hand as Nick came past her.

Inside the compartment was a metal box lined with purple
velvet
. Nick reached inside and took it out, carefully placing it on the bed as he lifted the lid. He glanced at Allie before pulling out a pack of twenty-pound notes in a red paper band. There were more underneath that one. Then his hand fell upon something inside a roll of purple velvet. Unwrapping it, he revealed a knife, its blade approximately five inches in length.

It was covered with dried blood.

‘I have no idea where that came from,’ said Ryan, his eyebrows raised.

Kirstie folded her arms. ‘Don’t look at me. I didn’t put it there.’

‘Well, one of you knows something about it.’ Nick stood up and took out his handcuffs. Allie followed suit.

‘Kirstie Ryder, I’m arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Jordan Johnson. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?’

‘Wait! No, I don’t understand!’ Kirstie stepped away from them. ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

Allie reached for her hands and snapped the cuffs around them.

‘But I haven’t done anything!’ Kirstie turned to Ryan. ‘What’s going on?’

Nick moved to handcuff Ryan. He read him his rights too.

‘I’ll radio through for another car,’ said Allie.