CHAPTER 48
I was home, in several different ways, including the return to my flat in Cardiff. Mam and Dad understood, just as they could see how I was healing, and why. Each day was a reminder of how the way my work is depicted on large and small screen is so completely wrong.

It isn’t boring, though it sounds like it should be, for it involves an awful lot of reading, inwardly digesting and cross-referencing. I imagined Sean’s boys felt much the same, and the closest experience I can give as an example is in solving a particularly complex cryptic crossword. Everything is there; you just need to find out why.

I gathered little snippets and hints of progress on other cases, despite Candice’s Chinese walls, and it was satisfying in the extreme. Our friends, it appeared, were most definitely ‘toast’, and Blake was very bullish indeed about his brother’s work. Toast, with decent marmalade, to really stretch a metaphor.

I kept in touch with Elaine, partly to see how she was getting on, and partly as a concerned friend. She had been on the edge all the time she worked with us, and my mind couldn’t let go of her clear obsession with ‘three villains’. What had happened to her sister had so clearly scarred Elaine it was frightening. I don’t know whether it was my own status as victim that gave me the insight, but I wasn’t sending it away as unwanted.

Keep an eye on her, DC Owens.

I had spent a while on Deb’s history as well, and while the Crown Prosecution Service was considering the charges we were stacking up against our little group, only some of whom were already banged away, I had found the reports on two possible children’s homes whose dates matched Deb’s age, and the first one left me wanting to close the file, and after washing my hands never, ever open it again. It involved not just sexual abuse, but actually renting out those lucky enough to reside there to friends of the managers.

The post-mortems on the numerous bodies found buried on the premises were enough to leave me sleepless for a week, but Castle Keep boys’ home in Carlisle was not the place I was seeking. That one turned out to be Mersey View, near Runcorn.

I had a moment of dislocation as I recovered from the abomination that was Castle Keep and started to unpick the history of Mersey View: why did these hellholes always have a name suggesting airy lightness, scenery and freedom?

I realised, as I pushed the Castle Keep file away from me, that Blake was at my shoulder.

“You all right, love? Bit green round the gills?”

“I’ll be fine. That one’s just a bit of a horror show”

Before I could stop him, he had picked it up and was flicking through it, his face going pale as he read, before he closed it with a shudder.

“Jesus fucking wept, Di! What is it with people?”

I drew a long breath, struggling to keep it a sigh rather than a sob.

“Not all, love. That’s just a bloody good reminder of why we do this, isn’t it? The only good things in that file are the facts that it is closed and the people who ran it are never coming out of prison. The other one; I think that’s Deb’s place”

He leafed through the second file.

“Cheshire? I thought she was Welsh?”

“Yeah, but she’s a Gog, innit? All scouse and gobbly goose accent. I suspect she’s down here to be as far away from it as she can be, while still living in Wales. Got a lot to do with this one, but I’m reasonably sure it’s where she was. Trouble is, it’s English, and THAT means it’s outside our remit. We’ll need to feed it up the chain, see what they think”

Another long breath, not a sob. Not now, not today.

“Let’s have a quick word with Sammy about this, then I want to go and see Gemma”

“What for?”

“Did she do any cakes or that while you were at the house?”

“Ah! Cake run for the team?”

“I think so. I also need to get the smell of that other file out om nostrils, or I’ll be sick”

I left Blake to dispose of the excrement and ambled over to Sammy.

“Oh mighty lord and master!”

“What do you want, serf?”

“Serious point. I think I’ve managed to tie down the home that Deb was abused in, but it’s actually in Runcorn, so I don’t know if our remit covers it. You said we were an asset for Welsh forces, and it’s Cheshire, so…”

“Ah. Tell you what: drop me a quick note to give a handle to things, and I’ll run it past the brass. Could actually be useful to them, way Bev Williams was talking. You don’t look happy, girl”

“Ah, the file on the Runcorn place was shitty, but there was another one I looked at, and it left me wanting to puke”

His mouth twisted. “I saw the name on that one, and while I ‘m that old, I can remember my old boss talking about it. Big news, back in the day. What do you want to do? I mean, right now. You need to step away from the desk for a few minutes”

“Already sorted, if you don’t mind. One of Deb’s girls is a pastry chef, well, a cook full stop, but she does bloody good cakes”

A beaming grin. “Can’t think of a better or more productive use of your time and the team’s resources, DC Owens! I would quite fancy---No. Surprise us, yeah?”

It was a bit further to the shop where Gemma worked than to our usual source of calories, so Blake came with me as driver, as well as because it was simply nice to have him along. We found some on-street parking, much to our astonishment, and ambled round to check out the window display.

There were all sorts of nice treats in there, most of which suited our needs, so we joined the queue, the shop being rather busy. The woman at the counter was bright and cheery, though.

“Hiya, what can I get you?”

“Hello. Is Gemma in today?”

Her face clouded. “Problems?”

I smiled back.

“Not that I know of. We’re friends of hers”

“Ah! Just, sometimes, she gets a bit of, you know?”

I nodded. “We know all too well. If she’s in, could you just tell her it’s Di and Blake?”

“Just a sec, then”

She popped her head through a door, obviously to the kitchen area, and in a very short time Gemma was in front of us, in kitchen whites and hairnet, a broad smile splitting her face and flour on her left cheek.

“Hiya, you two! Business or pleasure?”

“Absolutely pleasure, I hope, woman!”

I saw how that one word affected her, and she stood perceptibly straighter.

“Let me guess: office cake run?”

Blake laughed out loud. “You know us so well! Di tells me you have fed her up with all sorts of nice things, and we just thought we needed to spread the word. We have seven of us in today, so what can you suggest?”

“Oh. Are you after something to slice, or something for people to grab with a cuppa?”

He looked at me, and I shrugged, leaving it up to him.

“Both really, I suppose”

She turned to her colleague.

“Judy, could you box me one of the lemon drizzles while I do some of the pastries? Seven, you said, Blake?”

“Aye. Oh, Judy, is it? You got a business card, anything like that? If our boys and girls enjoy this, it would be nice to tell them where we got the cakes”

The older woman handed us two boxes across the counter along with a handful of leaflets.

“Look at the queue behind you, son. That’s all from word of mouth, and that’s her doing. Get the next customer, could you, Gem? Ta!”

As Gemma took the next order, Judy leant towards us, her voice hushed.

“Yes, I know, and so od my regulars, and nobody cares, because she is so right as he is, isn’t it? But she gets the odd visit, when her dad’s had a few, or if somebody’s feeling stupid, so sorry if I was a bit off”

My man smiled, twice. The first one was a warm one, intended for Judy, and then while that smile stayed on his lips it left his eyes. He passed Judy a business card.

“Here’s who we are, Judy. Gemma is a friend, and no lie there, aye? You get anything more like that, you pass me or Di here the details, and we will sort it. That’s a promise. Now, Di tells me her pastries and that are special. Are they?”

“Bloody hell, aye! She has a real talent, that one. Our takings have gone right up since we took her on. Speaking of which, and not being funny, she needs to get back to it. Thank you both, though. Good to see she has proper friends. You come back any time”

I grinned at her.

“And spend more money on cakes?”

Judy smiled back. “No. Just stop by if you’re in the area, and there’ll probably be something new we’ll need a guinea pig for”

She shook our hands over the counter after I paid, and we were off back to the office. The cakes lasted about fifteen minutes, but then Alun was out. One of the leaflets took up a permanent place on our team notice board.

Another week of digging followed, and I was starting to get a handle on Mersey View. Deb had been there, as had a whole telephone book full of ‘other boys’, but I held back from making contact until Sammy was able to give us a nod or a shake of the head. I wanted to get rolling, really dive in and see what I could give back to ‘Nana’, but until I was given a green light I had to hold back. I still sorted names into order of priority, though, still laid out who I really wanted to talk to when, if, I could.

Not that long afterwards, the bulk of the team away talking to some woman out by Newport, my phone went, so I picked it up and answered on autopilot.

“Serious Crime Review Office…”

“Di? Lainey. Just been talking to one of my sister’s friends. Can you talk?”

“No worries, Lainey. Just me in today, all the others out on an old rape case”

“Nobody we know and love?”

I knew exactly what she meant by that, and once again had a little twitch at how obsessed she was with the Evans crew. I kept my tone light.

“Need to know, Inspector Powell, need to know, but no. There are more arseholes in the male population than that family”

She did laugh at that one, so not as bad as I had expected.

“Had a word from someone in England, aye?”

Oh hell.

“Aye. Yes. About Adam?”

“Absolutely. No secrets; you were spot on, Di. Bad way, aye? Turned out the friend was involved in the same mess afterwards, so she needed no telling about the choice of outcomes”

That must have been the Woodruff woman. Keep it light, DC Owens.

“Management bullshit from you now, Inspector Powell?”

“Well, goes with the turf, I’m afraid. They’ve got me doing the overtime budgets”

“Ouch. This friend?”

“Girl from over here, friend of Sar’s, aye? Sound as. Anyway, seems Adam has his own friends, and good ones. You were right to be worried, girl, but he’s getting back up now. They’ve even got him lined up to play folk music”

FOLK music? I wondered how much of a breakdown he had suffered.

“Thought you said they were friends, Lainey. Bloody hell!”

“Whatever it takes, aye? Want me to pass on your regards?”

That left me stalled. What did I really want from Adam? Water under the bridge, but he was still someone I had cared about, and that thought told me I still did care about him.

“Er… I’ll think on that one”

“Talk to me, Diane!”

Her voice softened as she continued. “Ah. A good bloke, you said? Bit more than that?”

I couldn’t stop the breath that surged out of me.

“No, not really. Well, not actually, but I did sort of hope, innit?”

“And Blake? They’re not exactly from the same mould, is it? What I remember of Adam he wasn’t exactly Mr Six Pack, and Blake, well, no midget, is he?”

How many more old wounds would she reopen?

“Ah, Lainey…”

Bloody tears. Why now, for fuck’s sake? Why not stay back till after she hung up?

“Di? You OK?”

“Lainey, a second or two, aye? Thank fuck the rest are out. Look, it’s self-confidence, innit? Blake, well, if it wasn’t for what we’ve been through, us, you, the team, no way could I go near him. Big man, big personality”

“Hard bastard, aye?”

I thought on that one for a few seconds, but what I saw in my mind’s eye was a big man with a little girl, that gentleness.

“Aye. But that’s not what he is, is it? I mean, he doesn’t hang back, and he takes no crap, but he’s Job, he’s serve and protect, and I mean protect, aye? You should have seen his face when he realised who that little shit was, the one who pissed himself. He worships you, Lainey. But Adam… When he was here, it wasn’t like that. I mean, he was always fit, lovely bum with the cycling, but it wasn’t that”

I found my life assembling itself as I spoke, new ways of thinking rising up through the slime left on me by Ashley Evans, and I made a decision as I spoke to one of my dearest friends. Thank you, Elaine Powell. I tried to put some sense into the words that followed, but it wasn’t easy, and there was something else in what Elaine was saying, something she wasn’t telling me.

“Shit, look. After what happened to me, that bastard, someone like Blake, I couldn’t even have spoken to him, innit? Adam, dunno, you could just talk to him. He was almost like a girlfriend, that way. I mean, I don’t mean, I mean not like Chris, aye? I don’t mean gay man stuff, and anyway he got married to that English tart, so he wasn’t, but, well. I could have, yeah? I just didn’t have the guts to ask him, and then it was too late”

“And Blake? Second best, is it?”

That started to drive away the black clouds.

“You are a teasing cow, Inspector Powell. You know that. Just, you wonder, aye? What ifs? Well, it’s academic now, but, well, I cared for him here and that doesn’t go away. Just let me know he’s OK when you can”

She was quiet for several seconds. Definitely something she wasn’t telling me.

“Di, I promise. Are you sure you don’t want me to pass on your best?”

I made another decision, equally as important to me.

“No, Lainey. Just, well, just tell him he’s not been forgotten over here, and that people still like to know old friends are OK. If you can do that, perhaps he’ll understand”

“I’m sure he will”

“Thanks, love. I mean that word, Lainey”

“I know, Di. We’ll catch up properly. Get Chris and the rest all together, go out and repaint Cardiff”

Make it a joke, Diane.

“Pink or red?”

“Do I care which, as long as there’s beer involved? Later, Di!”

What was going on with Adam? Leave it for now--- water under the bridge, exactly as I said. I closed down my terminal and went round the corner from the station to pick up some bits and pieces of shopping I would need.

Poor, poor Adam.

As the working day came to a close, and the team reassembled. Sammy called us into a meeting.

“Busy day, mates! Now, some news. The first of our new tranche of new chums is arriving tomorrow. There will be four of them, and what I would like is for each of them to shadow one of you till we get an idea as to how switched on they are.

“Part two: Di has identified a cold case with particular relevance to our team. The problem is that it is in a heathen country to the East. Bev Williams, being a devious sod, is empire-building, and what he thinks is that we can widen our scope, offer our services for the cold case stuff. Expect some politics on that one, and I will keep you up to date as we go.

“And, he says with a flourish, the CPS have been busy indeed. Ashley Evans was charged earlier today with VAT fraud, income tax fraud, conspiracy to defraud and money-laundering. Oh dear, you may say, oh dear, how sad, never mind. Blake?”

“Yeah?”

“Say thank you to your little brawd when you get time, him and his boys, and that brings me to the final part of all this. We have a bloody busy day ahead, and I want to divvy it up a bit. Rhys, Alun? You have two people to charge with perverting and conspiracy to pervert. Rob and Ellen? One more, same shit, in Swansea. I suspect they’ll all be remanded, given the nature of the charges, but let me know if they get bailed as soon as and we’ll see where they go. I am not completely satisfied they’re the last ones. Then there are five more people to charge”

That feral, savage grin was back in place.

“Blake, Candice. You have a whole raft of charges for four people currently in custody. Four male rapes each for everyone except Ashley Evans and the nutter, as Joe Evans is to be assessed again before any further action. What I would like, but it’ll be down to the Prison, is of you bring them out in sequence, so they have to trot in four separate times rather than doing each one for all four at once. Make the bastards sweat.

“Then Pritchard and Evans are to be charged for two separate rapes of underage victims. That is the two little girls Blake and Di met. That makes four charges for Hansen, Jamie Evans and Bob Evans. One charge for Ashley Evans. Nine charges for Pritchard”

My face gave me away, and his snarl got nastier.

“That little girl didn’t manage to get out of the window for some time, Di. Not for nearly a week”

I couldn’t say anything, for that last bit, on top of the way that file on Castle keep had soiled me, was too much for words. Sammy was still doing perky sadistic bastard, though.

“That, of course, leaves DC Owens, whose connection to the prisoners is clear. I ran it past the CPS, and while it is best she does not get involved in laying charges, such a raft of paperwork will clearly need an extra pair of hands to carry it about. Di: back seat on the charging of those six, but please feel free to stand next to Blake and Candice and offer the world your sweetest and lightest smile”

He put down the paper he had been reading from and rubbed his eyes before offering us a much more genuine smile.

“Mates, this is it, in essence. This is where we nail the cell door shut for each of these shits. You have all gone above and beyond here, and, depending on whether they are stupid enough to go for trial, it’s over. We get it done and dusted, and we go out as a crew and we celebrate. I am proud to work with you”

I left the others to discuss the logistics of travel for the following day, and packed my things, making sure I got what was left of the lemon drizzle cake. I collared Blake as soon as he had finished with Candice, and he gave me such a look, so full of concern and love I could have wept, and I knew my decision was right.

“Di?”

“Yes. Love?”

“You want company tonight?”

“Please”

Packed up, everything in the office closed down, he drove us to my flat by way of the local Chinese takeaway, and we sat on my little sofa watching some crap or other on the TV while I assembled my courage.

“Blake, my love?”

“Yes?”

“Could you grab my handbag for me?”

He picked it up and held it out to me.

“Could you open it for me, Blake? There’s something in there for you. For us”

“You’re trembling, Di”

“Just open the bag, Blake”

“Oh. Ah. Di, love, are you sure?”

I shook my head, taking the pack of condoms off him and pulling him to his feet.

“I don’t really know, love. Can we please go and find out?”