Page 23 of One Left Alive
She went in the direction of the women’s locker room, and he headed to the patrol sergeant’s office. Knocking on the door, he walked in without waiting to be asked.
‘Mads.’
‘Ben, how’s it going? Is Morgan with you, is she coping okay? It’s a bit much for your first independent patrols.’
‘She’s fine; at least she seems it. Look, I need some help. We’re desperately short-staffed and Tom said to find someone today. I’ve asked her and she’s happy to come up and do a three-month attachment. It will be a massive help.’
‘What? It’s her second day. Don’t you want someone slightly more experienced and who’s willing to take on the extra caseload? Dan has been wanting to come up for months. He’d be more than happy to.’
Ben shut the door and lowered his voice. ‘Dan’s difficult; I can’t work with him. Not at the moment. This is the biggest murder case I’ve ever worked on, and I need to be focused. I can’t afford to spend all day wasting my effort trying to keep him in line. Morgan’s keen and has been on the case from the moment it was called in. I think she’ll be okay.’
‘I think she won’t, she’s inexperienced.’
‘Yes, but she’s confident and I have faith in her. Don’t forget, you owe me one.’
Mads squinted at him; he did owe him one. Ben had saved his arse when his wife had come looking for him at the Christmas party after he’d left early with one of the PCSOs.
‘Christ almighty, you know this is going to cause a shitstorm with Dan. He won’t be happy about it.’
‘Tough, he’s a big boy and he can have the next place that becomes available; besides, if she’s crap and it isn’t working out, I’ll send her back down and he can come up. I can’t get fairer than that.’
‘You know this could go to professional standards if he finds out he was passed over just because he gets on your nerves. We’d both be up shit creek without a paddle. Not to mention it’s unheard of to give someone so inexperienced this kind of opportunity.’
‘Yeah, I’m aware of that possibility. However, he’s not going to find out about this conversation, is he? Just like your missus isn’t going to find out where you really were on the work do.’
Mads glared at Ben, who felt bad that he’d resorted to blackmail to get what he wanted. But it was Morgan or nothing; there was no way on this earth he was working extra-long days with Dan. He wanted to solve these murders, not spend his time resisting the urge to punch his cocky little face every time he opened his mouth.
‘On your head be it; this is nothing to do with me. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when it all goes wrong.’
‘Why would it go wrong? She seems okay. At least she’s keen and isn’t worn down and feeling jaded yet like most of the response officers. Thanks.’
He opened the door and saw Dan hovering around outside. He didn’t even look his way. By the time he’d reached the stairs he heard Dan go into Mads office and ask if he could have a word. Which just proved to Ben what a sneaky little shit he was. Let him go to professional standards with a complaint; he’d tell them about the way he bullied new officers. Two could play that game.
* * *
Amy was sitting at her desk, sipping a large mug of tea. She nodded at him.
‘You have some visitors.’
‘Who?’
‘Some bigwigs from HQ. They’re in your office with a brew and biscuits. You can thank me later.’
He went into his office to see a DCI and a DC he vaguely knew from the Murder Investigation Team.
‘Morning, ladies.’
‘We’ve been sent down to lend a hand.’
‘By whom?’
‘You know the protocol, anything big and they call us in. Look, as far as we’re concerned you have everything under control. We can help get extra officers in to run the HOLMES system: they can input the information onto the system to be collated and pass out the relevant tasks it generates. Help with enquiries, that kind of thing. It’s not a pissing contest; there’s a dead family.’
‘I’m well aware of that, thank you. Well, your help would be great. How does it all work then?’
Both women looked at each other. They’d obviously thought he’d put up a fight.
‘I’m Detective Chief Inspector Claire Williams and this is Detective Constable Abigail Walsh. We can run the HOLMES from HQ, and one of us can come down here and work to oversee the investigation. Feed back into it, offer you support. Come up with an investigative plan: everything you do, but it comes under the remit of the Murder Investigation Team.’
