CHAPTER 38
I had turned up at the Crown Court for that final day, all five having eventually folded at their Plea and Direction Hearing, and as the crimes were not just indictable to the higher court but appalling in their very nature, there was no messing about with magistrates and hierarchies. We walked in, dressed in our best civilian clothes, as befitted our new (for some of us) and officially recognised status as DC rather than PC. Sammy outlined the facts of the case, four men stood up behind their publicly-funded representative and said the G-word, and the reports that had already been prepared and read by the judge were properly taken into account as he delivered ten years to each of them.

Joe Evans was already in a secure establishment by then, and I really doubted he would ever be allowed to see its outside, never mind pop down to a local club looking for easy pickings and vulnerable young girls. There was, however, one moment I really enjoyed.

Pritchard and Evans, R, were looking at our little party, possibly trying to see if there was any possibility of a friendly nod, a bit of warmth from a fellow copper, and that made it clear to me how deep their corruption lay, how it was in their bones. They still had that assumption they remained in some sort of Job club, whereas the only relevance that would now have was how they would be treated by their real fellows and peers, the other criminals they were about to be banged away with.

Pritchard had spotted me, the recognition now clear in his eyes. ‘Not sixteen now, am I?’ was the message I sent back to him, and he had, in his turn, nudged the other bent bastard and whispered. I took real pleasure in how Evans’ head had jerked up, eyes wide as he stared at me. I really, really wanted to wave at him, but I kept it down to the smallest of smiles and the slightest of nods. Chew on that, you piece of filth.

As my colleagues had said, five down, one to go.

That night went almost exactly as I should have expected it to. After a few ‘liveners’ in various establishments properly licensed for the provision of alcoholic beverages, and a half-time visit to a chip shop (“No! Bread and butter, NOT cut!”) we ended up in the Smugglers.

We were all there, the whole team, Chris included, and then, at eight o’clock our old boss walked in, grin in place.

“Bloody typical of you lot. Start without me, why don’t you?”

I gave Elaine a hug, as did every other member of what was still, in essence, her team, and led her by the arm to the bar, where Chris was in some discussion with another skinny bloke that seemed to involve one hell of a lot of arm waving and chin-cupping.

“Marlene—what you want, Lainey?”

“Pint of whatever’s had the dead rat in, girl”

I turned back to Marlene, who was in full drag, with a wig that added about a foot to her/his height.

“Real ale, Marlene? What you got?”

“Butty Bach do you?”

Lainey nodded, and my dragged-up friend cocked a perfect eyebrow.

“And who the fuck might you be, love?”

I had got used to the act by then, so I just smiled.

“Marlene, Elaine, my old boss. Elaine, Marlene, it’s an act, so don’t bite”

Marlene reached across the bar to where I was holding a tenner ready.

“Put that away, Di. This girl doesn’t pay. Ever”

He turned his smile to my friend.

“You are Inspector Powell, isn’t it? The one who got this lot moving?”

“Er, yeah, but we’re a team”

“No. You are a team that someone got moving, and there’s that lad over there, hoping to get lucky tonight, the one who put his bloody life on the line for a bunch of benders and shirtlifters that nobody else gave a shit about. So thank you, Elaine, Inspector, Powell. And you don’t pay here. Ever”

She started to protest, and Marlene just turned away and served someone else. I suppose that was the first time I saw Elaine start to crack

The evening carried on traditionally, and if Ellen and Rob weren’t playing hide the sausage later that night, I would be astonished. Alun was as disgustingly funny as ever, Blake as dry, and Sammy so pissed we sent him home in a taxi.

Tension, released.

I ended up cuddled on a settee with Elaine, who was getting really, really smashed.

“Sar would be so chuffed, Di, so fucking… fucking triumphant, aye? That fucker Joe Evans, he’s gone, never coming out again, Is he?”

“How is she, Lainey? Your sis?”

“So, so lucky, girl. Got a bloody good bloke, and me, I’m a dyke, aye? And I can say that, don’t hate men, just don’t… Aye, and she gets to be a mam, and, well… Di, she’s happy. Found her place in the world, and if I ever, ever had any doubts about whether she was my sister, I watch her be a mother…”

There was something going on with that one word, but it wasn’t the only thing. My boss, my friend, was vulnerable. Her comments about ‘three attackers’ clicked, and I realised where her focus was. We had each had three, mine being two coppers and a councillor, hers being the same two coppers and Joe Evans, but I had met Deb and her girls. And Blake. Shit; lighten the mood.

“Lainey, how’s Sarah handling being in England?”

“Ah, fallen on her feet, aye? Already met some other girls like her”

“Really? Trans women?”

“Yup! Steph, Steph Woodruff, she says. Used to play rugby against her cousin, got to chat…”

“Marlene! Could you call a taxi? Where you staying, Lainey?”

“Travelodge, down the front, aye?”

“Time for offskis, I think”

She looked at me, and my heart nearly broke. Something was going on, and whatever it was had teeth and claws that were hurting my friend. Leave it, girl, for another day. The taxi came, she left, and Blake and Rhys asked, separately, if she was OK. My team was a damned good unit.

I clung to what we had. Five down, one to go.

That was my mood as I settled against a big man in my family home, waiting for the match to start on the television, and only the warmth of his cuddle and the delight in my mother’s eyes was keeping me from running away.

Dad was different, in that he just looked content. Smug, of course, just like Mam, and content. It was Dad who broke the short silence that followed my comment, as three other people tried to follow my lead in leaving my declaration in peace so that it might grow.

“So come on then, lad. What happened? They’ll be on the anthems soon!”

Mam giggled. “Priorities you have, Mark!”

Blake chuckled, and I could feel it as I sat comfortably against him.

“Well, it was funny! Between these walls only, aye? He’s got the big office, and it’s odd the way he’s got it set out. There’s a big open-plan space, with a private office at one end, which is obviously his, but he’s not there. He’s got a desk in the main room, and he’s sat there. You know what I thought?”

I poked him. “Match. Get to the chase”

“Seriously, I thought of one of those old Victorian places, like in Scrooge, where the boss sits at a high chair at the front, so he can make sure everyone is a good little drone. That man is so bloody arrogant…”

I elbowed him again.

“Right. So we walk in, and it’s me, and Alun, cause we’ve done the leg work with Janice and that—tell you when I can, Di love? And we have Rhys for the scary stuff, and Candice for the fluffy… What’s funny?”

I stopped my laughter by force of will.

“Mam, Candice is the Office Blonde, innit? Looks like butter wouldn’t dare and stuff, and when we took those boys down, you should have seen her. Bloody frightening. I think what he means is that he took RHYS for the fluffy stuff, and Blondie for the scary”

Blake muttered to me “Talk about Rhys later, girl” before getting back to his story.

“So we’ve gone to Sammy, our boss, gone as a group and said ‘No, you are not coming out on this one, it’s our day to play’ and he complains he never got to nick the others because Elaine was in the driving seat”

“Front passenger, actually!”

“Do you want to hear this or not? Anyway, we walk in, and we’ve actually sat there from before work starts, so we can see him go in, be sure he’s there”

Dad was puzzled. “Why not just go to his house?”

Blake laughed out loud, and there was absolute delight in it.

“Alun’s idea, wasn’t it? Says he’s such a big man, such a mover and shaker, let’s pick him up while he’s moving and shaking. Give his minions a real treat! So, we watch the employees go in, we see the man himself do the same, and then we tag behind another employee, who must have been running a little late. Rhys flashes his warrant at the front desk, and we just keep moving. Evans is sat at his desk, office girl delivering his tea and biccies, and it’s like Reservoir Dogs, ‘Let’s go to work’ as we walk towards him. Every bloody eye on us, and he’s obviously not in the best of moods after my brother’s lot freezing all his bloody money, so he shouts out ‘Who the bloody hell are you?’

“Alun and me walk right up to him, and Candice is on my right, so I just say ‘I am Detective Constable Sutton, Serious Crime Investigation Unit, South Wales Police. Ashley Evans, I am arresting you on suspicion of rape and grievous bodily harm’, and I caution him, and then Candice tells him that she’s going to handcuff him for his safety and ours, at which point he tries to pull his arm back, so Rhys steps forward. I tell you what, love, that scar of his, I thought it was going to light up! Anyway, there’s Evans cuffed, and we smile at his employees as we take him out. Alun. Always Alun, yeah? He says ‘Sorry for the disruption, please carry on with your day and don’t mind us’, and I am sure I heard cheering after we shut the door on the way back to the cars”

He stopped to take a mouthful of his ale, and sighed happily.

“That was a morning I really, really enjoyed. I am going to leave it there, as we have a match to watch, but there is one thing more. The Crown Prosecution Service was cooking on gas, and with the other evidence—no, not today, Di, aye? Well, he’s been charged with kidnap, rape and GBH. Once HMRC are done we anticipate a raft of financial stuff, fraud and that, and once THAT is put to bed, Sammy wants us to start work on conspiracy to pervert and that. Er, perverting the course of justice, Dot. We have another line we are following, and that is all for today. The charge should be on the news later”

He took another mouthful.

“Oh, apart from that word. I assume you—no. I KNOW you meant it, Diane Owens, and I meant it too. Now let’s shut up and enjoy the game”

Cuddled up for an afternoon? Like hell; he was worse than Dad. In the end, I sent him to swap with Mam and take the armchair, while she settled down with me. The other two were too busy jerking around and shouting for it be in any way comfortable, so Mam did that job, and finally, finally I could see my life opening up again.

I slept that night in a real state of confusion, and sleep was not an accurate word. Mam had asked me in a surprisingly direct way if we wanted to change our night time arrangements, or, as she put it so simply, which bed did I want??

My own bed, on my own was the answer. I knew what she meant, but I could still feel Ashley Evans on me, still feel him IN me, and I was terrified. Not of Blake, never of Blake, and that was the most confusing part of my chat with my mother.

“I don’t know what I want, Mam! All I do know is I never want to upset that man, and if…”

She just held me for a while.

“Love, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. And you know what I mean. Take what time you need. He’s such a sound man, is Blake. Your Dad and me, when he brought you home that first time, we saw how he looked, looked at you, yes? We hoped, we… That pig, he ruined your life, and not just yours. I don’t want to belittle what you went through, I want to show how much more harm he did, how wide the damage went. You have more you’re talking to, haven’t you? More women?”

I hugged her tightly, telling her that I couldn’t say and knowing that I had given her the answer with that refusal.

I made a point of kissing my man properly before breakfast, but in front of my parents. Mam was absolutely correct. I would take the time I needed, and I could now see that I did have the time to take.

My first visit that morning was to Deb’s place.