The Coercion Key (28 page)

“Do you have anything sterile in the van?”

“Dressings and surgical drapes.”

“OK, can you cover the body with a drape please, until the C.S.I.s get here.”

“We need to take you and the other officer to St Mary’s.”

Craig nodded and motioned Ian Sinclair across. “Ian, could you stay until uniform and Dr Marsham arrive? I’d like Annette to come with us.”

“No problem.” Sinclair gazed around Craig’s blood-stained living room then down at his carpet. He shook his head. “I tell you what, sir. This is going to need some paint job.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Craig was out of the emergency department within four hours, with his forearm stitched and wrapped in a pressure bandage so discrete that even Annette was impressed. Once he had a jacket on, no-one would ever notice it. She imagined that was exactly what Craig was hoping for, particularly when he visited his folks. Even imagining Mirella’s rant if she found out that her bambino had been shot was giving her a headache.

Liam hadn’t been quite so fortunate. The bullets’ impact against his chest wall had fractured several ribs and bruised him badly, so the hospital wanted to keep him in for forty-eight hours, to make sure there was no problem with his lungs. When Craig heard that Liam was going to the ward John was in he laughed. He stood beside the trolley and grinned down at his D.C.I.

“At least it’ll make visiting easier.”

“Aye, thanks very much, boss. Your sympathy’s overwhelming. Thank God I won’t have to share a room with the Doc. There are only so many American cop-shows a man can watch.”

“Funny you should say that. John’s offered...”

Liam’s eyes widened then he saw Craig was kidding. He gave Craig an evil smile, intent on getting his own back.

“I bet he doesn’t even know we’re here. Did you tell him about using yourself as bait? No, you didn’t. And I bet you didn’t tell your family either.”

Annette shook her head. “Liam…”

“I think Mirella has a right to know what her blue-eyed boy’s been up to all weekend.”

Craig squinted a warning and then gave Liam’s chest a prod, watching as he almost leapt off the bed.

“That’s assault!”

“It’s nothing compared to what I’ll do to you if my mum finds out.”

“Police brutality, that’s what it is.”

A nurse ripped back the curtain to see what was causing the noise to be greeted by three innocent faces. When she left, Liam turned to Annette with a lascivious grin.

“Is that the kind of gear you used to wear? Very nice.”

“Liam…”

Liam fell silent for a moment and Craig knew what he was thinking. He watched as Liam swallowed hard then gave Annette a serious look.

“You saved our lives, Annette. Thanks.”

Annette blushed. Liam never used her name when he was speaking to her. Come to think of it, he never used it full stop; he called her girl and woman, or Cutty if he was in a good mood. He must think he was dying.

Craig echoed Liam’s words, adding. “I’m putting you up for a commendation, Annette, as soon as the Ombudsman certifies it as a clean shoot.”

Annette gave him an anxious look. “When will that be, sir?”

Craig smiled reassuringly. “Couple of days at most. Des is going to rush the forensics through. Don’t worry. It’s open and shut.”

Something occurred to Liam.

“When did you learn to shoot like that? You couldn’t hit a barn door six months ago!”

Annette blushed again. “It was after the Carragher case. Remember when you made that crack about me letting the gun slip out of my hand at the firing range? Well, I’ve been practicing every week since then. The instructor says I’m quite good now.”

“You’re more than quite good, Cutty. You’re bloody marvellous. You got her right through the temple.”

Annette winced and Craig could see the conversation heading somewhere that she didn’t want it to go. He pulled the curtain back.

“OK, I think that’s enough for tonight. We’re all tired. Liam, is Danni coming up?”

“Aye. I suppose she’ll give me grief when she does, but I’ll just tune out the words.”

“OK. I’m going to nip up and see John, then head on to a hotel. My place will be a crime scene for the rest of the night and explaining to my folks why I need a bed would be more grief than it’s worth.” He turned to Annette. “Are you OK to get home?”

She nodded. “I’m going to keep Liam company until Danni arrives, then one of the squad cars will drop me home.”

Craig nodded. “I don’t want to see you tomorrow morning. Take a rest. We’ll chat in the afternoon when you get in.”

Craig smiled, thinking of the risks that they’d taken that day and survived. It made him feel strangely alive and he could see that Liam felt the same. Someday he’d ask him if he’d felt that way during The Troubles when his life was constantly under threat, but not tonight and definitely not in front of Annette.

***

The C.C.U. Monday, 10 a.m.

It hardly seemed worth having a debrief with only three of them there. John and Liam were in hospital and Annette was at home, hopefully still asleep; that only left Jake, Davy and Nicky. Craig beckoned them over anyway and perched on a desk.

Nicky was the first to ask the obvious question. “Where are Liam and Annette?”

Craig stared at her, wondering how to tell her what had happened the night before, without being yelled at for a week. After a moment he shrugged – there was no way to avoid it. He took a deep breath and started. He’d got as far as “so Officer Sinclair agreed to go along with it and then…” when Nicky stopped him with a yell.

“He agreed? He agreed! What sort of protection officer is he, allowing you to put yourself in danger like that? He’s reckless, stupid….”

Craig let her rant for a moment and when he saw the steam from her ears fading to a light vapour he restarted.

“It wasn’t Sinclair’s fault. I OK-ed it with the Chief Constable so he only had two choices: come along and keep an eye on us, or refuse to be involved. He decided to help and it’s just as well that he did.”

Nicky was un-deterred. “Well, I want to hear what Liam and Annette have to say about all this. With all due respect, sir, you think you’re at the OK Corral. Where are they anyway?”

“I’ll come to that later. Anyway, we went to my place…”

Five minutes later Craig had covered everything up to the shooting and Davy and Jake were leaning forward eagerly, excitement lighting up their faces.

“W…Weren’t you scared? I’d have had a machine-gun pointing at the apartment door.”

Craig laughed. “That might have defeated the purpose a bit, Davy.”

Their eyes glowed as they imagined the daring escapade. Nicky tutted loudly, breaking the ‘boy’s own’ moment.

“You’ve too much testosterone, all of you. When is Annette getting in? She’ll agree with me, you won’t see her getting excited about guns.”

Craig winced at how she was going to react when she heard what had actually happened. He reached for his coffee and winced again as he picked it up. Nicky saw his pain immediately.

“You’re hurt! What happened? Let me see.”

Before Craig could stop her she’d pulled up his right shirt sleeve and was gawping at the large bandage wrapped round his upper arm.

“What sort of cut is that?”

Davy gave her the scientist’s answer. “That’s a pressure bandage to minimise bleeding. Usually it’s for quite bad w…wounds. Like gunshots.”

Craig threw him an ‘Oh great, thanks’ look and shrugged his sleeve down, trying to avoid the near-hysteria in Nicky’s eyes.

“Shot! You were shot?” Her voice was approaching High C pitch and Craig knew where she was heading next. “Where’s Liam? Where is he? Was he hurt? Did your cowboy tactics get him hurt?”

Craig rose to his feet and gazed down at her, placing his hands kindly on her shoulders. His action said ‘calm down’ and his smile said ‘Liam’s fine’, not strictly true but Liam wasn’t going to die so it would do for now. Before she could ask he told her he’d given Annette the morning off.

He sighed, knowing that there was nothing to do now but describe everything that had happened and then wait for Nicky to explode.

“OK, first of all, everyone is fine. Just a few broken bones and bruises.” He scanned the group’s faces. “Is everyone OK with that? No-one going to shout at me again?”

Nicky snorted and he carried on.

“Sinclair signalled that Graham was on her way up to the flat so we were expecting her. We were ready. I was out in the open as bait, sitting on the settee, supposedly watching TV in the dark.”

“W…What was on?”

Craig squinted at Davy, not sure if he was joking. It was hard to tell sometimes, his delivery was so dry.

“Football. OK, then Graham entered my flat and we got shot in the following order. Me once in the right arm, Liam twice in the chest, then she turned back to me again.”

“Liam was shot in the chest! You said it was only bruises and broken bones.”

“Calm down, Nicky.” Craig’s tone of voice made it clear that she really should. “We were all wearing vests. Liam’s just got a few broken ribs and bruises, like I said. He was kept in St Mary’s but he’ll probably be out tomorrow.”

She shot him a murderous look but Craig ignored it and carried on. “Graham turned to shoot me again and that’s when Annette took her out.”

He paused, expecting a torrent of questions, but there was only silence as their mouths dropped open in shock. Jake was the first to recover.

“Annette? Our Annette? Who hates guns and can’t shoot?”

Craig smiled. “She’s been practicing behind everyone’s back for months, and thank God she has.” He turned conspiratorially towards the two young men and dropped his voice. “Straight through the right temple. Beautiful shot.” He straightened up. “She saved both our lives and I’m putting her in for a commendation.”

“I don’t believe it! Annette?”

“W…What a shot. She must be really good.”

“Annette’s the only reason that Liam and I are still alive. Graham was aiming for my head and after she’d killed me I’ve no doubt she would have finished Liam off. He was flat out on the floor, unconscious.”

Jake laughed. “I can just picture it. And his face when he found out that a girl had saved his life.”

“He’ll never get over the s…shame.”

Craig let them banter for a moment, watching Nicky’s disgust grow from the side of his eye. Finally she rose to her feet. “You’re like children! Liam could have been killed. You could have been killed. You could all have been killed, for God’s sake, and you’re laughing about it! Unbelievable. When Annette comes in I’ll…”

Craig’s voice hardened. “You’ll say nothing to her, Nicky. Get off your high horse. That’s an order.” He turned to the two men. “Annette feels dreadful about shooting someone, so I don’t want any jokes or backslapping from you two either. Get it all out of the way now.” He looked at Nicky. “As for you, Madam, moralise all you like in your own time but don’t have a go at Annette. The operation was my idea, sanctioned by the Chief Con. It was the only way to get Jenna Graham before she killed one of us or skipped the country. Yes, it was risky, but it paid off; Graham’s been stopped. Unfortunately she died in the process, but that was her choice not Annette’s.”

His voice softened slightly. “No-one likes guns, Nicky, except on TV, but we had to fight fire with fire and Graham had already almost killed John. Annette did what she had to do and I don’t want you giving her any lectures about it. Not even a reproachful glance; she feels bad enough.” He looked at each of them in turn. “Is that understood?”

Davy and Jake nodded and finally Nicky did too.

“OK, now thank God Annette had been practicing or this team would be two short today and you’d be looking for a new boss. As it is all we have are loose ends to tidy up and a case report to prepare, so get to it, everyone, please. When Annette arrives we’ll go to The James for a late lunch.”

With that Craig turned on his heel and re-entered his office, closing the door firmly behind him. Nicky gazed at the others and watched as they returned to their work then she slowly made her way back to her desk and sat there, deep in thought. Thirty minutes later she brewed some fresh coffee and knocked tentatively on Craig’s door.

Craig smiled to himself at the timidity of her knock and said, “Come in.” He stared out at the river, not seeing anything but Jenna Graham’s face. He heard a tray being set down and the clink of mugs and a cafetière being laid out; an upscale from the usual percolator. Finally there was silence and he swung his chair round to see a sheepish looking Nicky standing there. The two cups and biscuits said that she wanted a chat and Craig smiled and waved her to a seat. Before he could say anything she started to speak.

“I’m sorry, sir… for earlier. I was… I was just shocked and…”

“Worried? About Liam?”

She read the kindness in Craig’s eyes and unexpectedly crumpled in the chair, starting to sob. “You don’t know what it’s like for me. Knowing that any day one of you mightn’t come back. It’s bad enough knowing that you might be killed by some nutcase you meet on a case…” She swallowed her tears. “But then you go putting yourselves deliberately in harm’s way.”

She sobbed again and Craig stared at her for a moment, aghast. He’d never thought what it must have been like for her. Hearing the details of their cases was bad enough, but constantly waiting to lose someone she worked with every day… it had to be hard, yet he’d never even given it a thought. He was inured to the risks they took every day; it was part of their job. But not for Nicky and Davy; they had to stand by and watch.

Craig felt ashamed that he hadn’t realised how she felt and then more ashamed that he hadn’t noticed the effect. Finally her sobs subsided and he gave her a hanky to dry her eyes. He came around the desk and perched on the edge beside her.

“I’m sorry, Nicky. I didn’t think.”

She sniffed hard and glanced up at him. Craig wondered fleetingly whether she’d deliberately painted her eyelids black as a fashion statement or whether it was the effect of them being rubbed. It was probably better not to ask.

“No, you didn’t think, sir. None of you do, not even Annette.”

Craig swallowed, not wanting to ask the next question but knowing that he should.

“Is it too hard for you to keep working here, Nick?”

Nicky’s eyes widened. “What? Are you sacking me?”

Craig gawped at her. “What? No! No, I’m not sacking you, but you said…”

“I said it’s hard, not impossible. But if you want me to go…”

Craig started to laugh loudly. So loudly that Nicky leaned back in her chair in surprise, and loud enough that Davy and Jake heard the sound from outside the room and stopped what they were doing to listen for what came next. Craig was laughing at the ridiculousness of the conversation they were having and the situations they found themselves in, but more than that he was laughing in relief that no-one had been killed in the past week. He didn’t believe in miracles but if he had done he would have said that came pretty close.