CHAPTER 50
Richard took Kirsty into the interview as a witness, along with Polly, and I had to explain to the boy why I couldn’t stay with him.

“Darren, I will be here, just outside the door, OK? I am not going anywhere, but you’ll get a new Custody Sergeant, cause I’m getting a bit involved, aye?”

Dennis was in just then for the late shift, catching a grin from Ruth as he entered, and I brought him quickly up to speed.

“He’s still under arrest for the theft, Den, but I somehow suspect that may be going nowhere. We’ve got Ma Pickstock in the frame again, with the care home manager, so it’s going to be a bit of a busy afternoon. Sorry, butt.”

“No apologies, Annie, it’s kids, and I hate that. You were spot on about Darren, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, Den, but he’s broken now. All that act, just melted away”

“Annie, he knows he’s safe now, he doesn’t need it”

“Thanks, mate. Naomi and Albert are going to take him for now. I need to hand over his care because I am starting to get compromised. Den, I am going to fuck off shortly, I want to make sure he gets bedded in, and then I intend to go and see my man”

Dennis frowned slightly. “You really have gone all the way, haven’t you?”

“Den, I know who I am now, no doubts, and I think you do too”

“Yeah, marra, but, you know…”

I pointed at my chest. “Me woman, Eric bloke, what is there to worry about?”

He just shook his head and we carried on with the signing over of Darren’s care.

An hour later Richard and Kirsty were out of the interview, and the look on their faces had me over to Darren as soon as I saw him, his face drawn.

“You OK?”

He just nodded. Kirsty whispered to me “He’s given both of them up, and Richard is off to set up an s18 PACE search, Sarge, I know it’s all overtime, but could I go along?”

“We can’t pay you, Ruth”

“Fuck it, Adam, Sarge, this is personal”

I took her into a hug. “Kirsty, you make me believe the Job still has a future. Let me know what you need, I’ll sort you some slack in exchange, aye?”

She whispered into my ear. “I know there’s no lady, yeah, you’re too fucking soft, but you are what the Job needs, more than me. You bring your bloke, or your tranny, or your fucking donkey for a pint, do I give a shit? You’re good people, Adam”

I folded. “Kirsty…it’s Annie.”

“Your partner?”

“No, me.”

“Fuck me backwards”

“No ta, Eric would complain”

Funny how once your mouth drops you in it your tongue runs away and drags you after. Kirsty stood, stared, shook her head and then smiled.

“Yeah, that makes sense. You have got far too much common wotsit to be some fucking man, innit? Now, I have a couple of cunts to take down, but Annie, girl, we get to have a pint, me and my Den, with you and your feller, yeah?”

I could only smile at her. “You have no problem with that?”

“Fuck, Sarge, you stopped being you? You are the one reason half the fucking plod here are still in the job. Don’t you realise it? You fucking CARE, yeah? You shame all of us! That little fucker, yeah, half the boys said he should be fucking hosed down every time he shat, but you, you say, no, he’s, he’s doing his best to wave his cock and not piss us about. You are what we all try to be, you, and you make us work at it. Oh, fuck, you know what I mean. Den knows, don’t he?”

“Yes, he does. So do the skippers, aye? Nobody else, so please, can we leave it at that?”

“No probs, Annie, but one thing, you are getting hairy, so I would guess you are coming out soon, yeah? You do that, I got your back”

I had to laugh. “Ruth, love, I have people so scary watching my back you would shit yourself. Look, why don’t you come and meet some of them?”

“What’s his name again?”

“Eric”

“You love him?”

“Oh god yes”

She smiled, and it was softer than anything I had ever seen from her. “If that’s what you think, then he must be a good bloke. Right, doors to kick, twats to nick. Laters, Annie!”

Did I just do that? Apparently so.

Naomi bundled Darren away, her face matching Kirsty’s in being softer than anything I had ever seen on her, and shortly thereafter two carriers left the yard on the way to Gossop’s Green and Faygate as I stayed on to hand everything over properly and then head off to the Woods’ myself. I gave Eric a ring.

“You coming home soon, love? Was going to put the kettle on”

“Eric, work is being a bit insistent, and I actually have to go up to Naomi’s. Want to join me there? I suspect she’ll be sorting tea”

“I’ll see you there then, if I don’t pass you on the road. Want me to bring some clothes for you?”

“No, we have a complication”

Once more I outlined the situation, and there was silence for a while, till he asked the obvious question, how did I cope with such things?

“Before, I couldn’t, could I? Now, that’s your job”

After I hung up, I collared Dennis.

“Butt, I’m off to the Woods place to see he gets settled in, Eric’s joining me there. If the teams get any results, can you give me a bell, aye? Oh, and Ma Pickstock, if they lift her, you might want to consider not just delaying intimation, but excluding her own brief till any searches are done. I think he might be involved”

“I’ll have a word with Sam, get him to gee up the Super then”

“Nice one, mate. Oh…Kirsty knows. I think she’s cool about it”

He shook his head. “I think she’d be cool if you were into chickens, Sergeant Price. You sort of have that effect on people, yeah? How did it come out?”

I explained, and he laughed. “Just don’t talk about fucking shoes or underwear together, like, she’s besotted with both, and it would be, just, well, ah, you know what I mean!”

“You don’t like her taste in underwear…oh, you dirty fucker!”

His face said it all, and in a sudden burst of intuition I realised that he was healing now, in his own way, working with coppers who still cared about the job and duty.

I changed, the support irritating now, but as long as Darren was there I couldn’t take it off. The ride out to the Woods place let me burn off some of the energy and hate that had been simmering, Darren was sat at the kitchen table having as full a fry up as Ginny had barred me from, and his face looked brighter, cracking a huge smile as I came in. Suddenly, his true age was visible, a small boy rather than a short thief, as he dipped bread into an egg and ate as if he had been without for years.

“Sarnt Price, yeah! This is a good gaff, innit!”

Naomi looked down at him as she poured a cuppa for me. “Darren, if you are sensible, this could be a home, not a gaff. I take no shit, but I don’t give it out unless I have to, if you understand me. Do we have a deal?”

I could see the cogs turn in his head. Easy pickings for a short time, versus a life. I just hoped he had the sense to weigh the choices properly. Polly came around just as Eric arrived, and her smile at seeing me was as bright as mine when I saw his. There was a comedy moment, just then, when she saw that my eyes and smile were directed over her left shoulder, and then she heard the crunch of his cleats in the gravel of the drive, turned, and sagged. At that moment, I really was telepathic.

Eric was judiciously distant in the kitchen as I made the introductions, but Polly had clearly made her own judgement, and after a few seconds of her own weighing of choices, she came down on ‘bright and friendly’

“Hiya Darren, how are they treating you? Force-feeding you fried eggs?”

“Hiya Miz Armitage, is good here, yeah! Got my own bedroom an evryfink!”

“Well, at the moment this is a temporary place of safety for you. That means we have to do a lot of checks and office work stuff before we can say if you will stay here long term, and it is also up to Mr and Mrs Woods to say whether they want you to stay at all”

“You mean I might have to go, lahk?”

“Darren…I only ever make one promise, and that is that I will do my best. If we are to make this work, I need the same promise from you, and Mr and Mrs Woods need it too. This is what we call a crossroads. You have the chance to change your life, completely. This is your choice, Darren, nobody forces you”

I left them to talk and walked over to the Woodruff place, having spotted Geoff rolling in.

“Hi Annie, stealth mode?”

“Yes, love, got company”

Yet again I ran through the story, and saw a mouth set and features tighten.

“Lovely world, Annie, lovely world. Steph’s not due back till late, so want some company there this evening? Bit of music?”

“Lovely idea, but I have neither with me”

He laughed. “There is a man standing behind you with a box”

Eric was there, and he had brought Saburo.

“I sort of wondered if you would need to relax a bit…it’ll be a while before there’s any news, yeah?”

“I could kiss you, Johnson.”

“You will, Price, but later”

The call came in at seven o’clock. Pickstock’s car turned up in one of two lock-up garages rented to Petherick by the council, ostensibly for storing a vehicle for use in connection with the care home. The boot was full of sports clothing, as was a shed at the back of Ma Pickstock’s house. Oddly and coincidentally, the one time when access to her own personal solicitor was delayed, the swag was still in place when we got round there.

Dennis actually sounded shocked. “What a mouth on her! Sweet little grandmother, like, and she’s swearing away worse than bloody Ginny!”

“What’s the state of play, butt?”

“Her own brief is here now, demanding to know why her call was delayed, and Sam has just slapped him with child safety references”

“What do you mean?”

“A very, very heavy hint that his card is marked, and if it goes to child abuse charges, he better be watertight, so shut up, get on with the above-board stuff and accept that the old cow has been caught properly this time”

“I do love Sam at times”

“Don’t ever tell him that, Annie, you will confuse the fuck out of him”

“What about Petherick?”

“Legged it. Picked him up ten minutes ago at his bloody mother’s, idiot”

“We got a clue on the beater, yet?”

“No, but I don’t think it was Petherick. We need some more from the boys”

“OK, Den, give Ruth one for me”

“Cheeky cow. See you tomorrow”

Naomi did indeed feed us, Eric, Polly, Geoff and myself, and when Geoff produced the bouzouki as well as one of his mandolins three of us settled down to a bit of quiet jamming, a mini-session of our own, as Albert, Naomi and Polly cuddled a cuppa each and relaxed. During a pause in our playing, there was a sound in the hallway, and Naomi went to investigate, returning with a small boy in pyjamas and a far-too-big dressing gown.

“Darren thought he would get into trouble for being out of bed, but he wanted to hear the music. Darren, squeeze in here between Miss Armitage and me, and settle down. We have too much music here for us, so we like to share it”

He just sat, quietly, as we played, and by ten o’clock had fallen fast asleep. Eric and Albert tossed a coin, and Albert won. He carried the boy up to his new bed.