CHAPTER 71
Paul was round at the House that evening, and I left it just long enough to open the back door before I started the grilling.

“Who was that on the phone, Paul? Not Posh, was it?”

He looked a little abashed, but shook his head.

“No. That was Nell”

I started at that, but he was shaking his head.

“Different Nell, Deb. Not yours. We were having a sort of mutual introduction”

He sighed, settling back against the worktop.

“I’ll say this before we join the girls, Deb. Diane’s trial has brought some other victims into the open, and I was having a little chat with one of them. Me and her, in a café, just seeing what she wanted to do. Not giving any details out, cause I can’t, but she lost two front teeth, and she was fourteen at the time. Big man in a car, pissed on her; visited by two men claiming to be police officers”

“Oh. I see. Not, um…”

“No, love. Not Paula”

Leave that one, Petrie. There was a little flicker behind his eyes, as if he wanted to say more, but it wasn’t something ready for the outside world yet. I hugged him as a comfort, and he clearly understood, as his whispered reply told me.

“Complicated world, Debbie. Almost too complicated”

He closed down his worries, at least those that were visible, and I took him through for our regular catch-up.

Blake was back several times over the next few weeks, almost becoming regular in his own way. On his second visit, he was accompanied by a blonde copper who gave her name as Candice. She was particularly good with the girls, as her sense of humour was so mockingly sarcastic it seemed that it would be impossible for the world to hold anybody who could possibly dislike her, but I did sense a hard surface hiding not that far beneath the silly jokes about hair colour and intelligence. They spent quite a while with Charlie and Tiff in turn, and while each visit left two children needing comfort, neither was turning away from the two coppers.

Each time the two officers left the House, I saw a little play of muscles at the corner of the woman’s mouth, and I realised that this was one more who knew exactly how to hate.

Matters were overshadowed a fortnight later, as Dr Thomas dropped his own bombshell. He had done his usual circuit of the girls, and then called me and Charlie into the kitchen airlock once again. After a quick look at Charlie, and a sharp nod from her, he turned back to me.

“Debbie, bit of an ask for you, I am afraid. Now, I am not sure how this has worked out the way it has, but somehow Charlotte here has made it onto a waiting list at the Laurels”

“What’s that?”

“A specialist place for gender identity treatment. The first step on legal transition. Unfortunately, it is in Exeter, and I have to let them know if she is able to attend her initial appointment”

He sighed.

“It is, of course, something the two of us have discussed in some detail, and Charlotte confirmed I could speak openly with you”

Charlie gave one of her theatrically loud sniffs.

“Yeah, Nana. I said to Dr T, yeah, no way I need to hide anything from you, but, well… it’s in Exeter, and I don’t… I haven’t been able to go out at all, have I? Not since I first came here, is it?”

I took a few seconds to think, and then took her hands.

“Would you be able to do it with me along?”

“Yeah… or Kim. Kim’s sound”

Dr Thomas gave a little grimace.

“This will sound like I am breaking confidence once again, but I have similar news for Kimberley. If she were to be offered a consultation on the same date, it would be perfect, but until the initial one is over with, we can’t guarantee their coordination. It is quite an imposition on you, Debbie, but…”

I couldn’t help laughing out loud.

“With all respect, Doctor, and before you ask it, what a stupid question. Of course! I think it might make sense to go by train, though. A newbie on the bike would be fine for somewhere else. Somewhere they weren’t nervous about already. Right, love?”

Charlie nodded, looking a little ashamed, but she seemed to realise that I understood her attack of nerves. After the doctor had gone, we joined the others, where Paul was holding court. Charlie turned to me once more, trembling just a little.

“It’s not just the clinic thing, Nana. It’s outside”

I still had her hands, so gave them a squeeze.

“Not alone, though, is it? And you know where they all are now, don’t you?”

She nodded, only a little uncertainty showing.

“Yeah, and Candice, she says they want to extend incarceration schedules. That’s what Candice called it”

Charlie then giggled, which was a relief.

“Then she puts on a silly face and says ‘Listen to the blonde, trying to use big words’, and that Blake he’s laughing… Paul?”

“Yes, love?”

“They’re good people, aren’t they, those two? Not just putting it on, you know, just to get us to do stuff?”

He shook his head, a soft smile lighting up his expression.

“No, Charlie, no lies there. That whole team, I hear they are all decent. Something I thought we’d lost years ago. You’re a lucky girl having them beside you. Now, a little bit of information for you, as much as I can tell you, so don’t ask for details. I have been working with a couple of them as well, by phone and e-mail, cause your man Ashley seems to have met an awful lot of young women over the years, and some of them want to talk about it. You’re not alone, love. If we get this done properly, there will be a queue for the witness box. Not alone, love. Ever”

Doc Thomas was as good as his word, and a surprisingly short time later Charlie and I were on the train to Bristol, where we changed for another down to Exeter St Davids. One taxi ride later, and I was left sitting in the waiting area of the Laurels as Charlie spent forty-fiver minutes being grilled, or whatever, by the duty shrink. Remembering my own experiences, I hoped her own doctor would lean a little less towards the slapping and more towards the coaxing way of getting her to open up. I was just drifting off into a day-dream of striding out from Glyder Fawr towards Fach when I realised there was a thin grey-haired man standing beside me.

“Are you Ms Wells?”

“Guilty”

“Hello. I am Doctor Shawcross, and I am interviewing Charlotte Surtees today. Would you be willing to join us for a chat?”

I nodded, and he led to a small room, pulling the door to behind us. Charlie looked worried, and reached out for my hand, as the shrink asked his first question.

“Charlie tells me she is living with you at the moment, Ms Wells. Can you describe what sort of home it is?”

“A shelter, Doctor. For young women who are homeless”

“And it is a condition for entry that they be transgender?”

“Not in the sense I think you mean”

“What sense would that be?”

“They don’t come and knock at the door. I don’t demand they fit the bill before they get in”

“So how do they gain entry, come in out of the cold, so to speak?”

“I don’t select them. If they are trans, and only if, social services refer them to me. I don’t make them be trans to get in, I only see them if that is what they are”

“Thank you. That was my only formal question”

“Pardon?”

“I was simply confirming that Charlie was what it appears to say on the tin, rather than someone earning a safe place by performance of a required role”

He grinned, so different in his manner to my own assessor.

“We have a few minutes to be civil, now. Charlie, no blushes please, Charlie strikes me as a remarkably strong young lady. She has also warned me of a potentially traumatic event coming up in her life. A trial, I believe”

I nodded, perhaps too sharply.

“Yes. A complete and utter bastard. Four of them, in fact. I mean, there are others involved, but her four are the ones we care about. Just not ‘care about’, not in that sense, not in a nice way”

“In what way, Ms Wells?”

“Honestly? I’d like to see them gutted, but that isn’t going to happen, so I will settle for locking the shits up until they rot”

He smiled again, turning to Charlie.

“I see you were being polite about your guardian, Charlie. Now, I am done, at least for today. I will be writing a report for Dr Thomas, which you will receive a copy of. If you stop be reception on the way out, you can confirm any dates you will be unavailable for your next appointment”

Charlie looked up hopefully.

“What do you think, Doctor? You believe I’m a girl?”

“My dear, I am officially unable to deliver such an opinion after one meeting, but unofficially, absolutely. The law sets out certain restrictions on what we can and cannot do as regards younger persons, so leave it with me to weave such webs as I may manage. I look forward to our next meeting”

Admin tasks done, we left the clinic as I dug out the business card for the taxi firm, Charlie clinging to my arm, still nervous in the wild. We grabbed a sandwich and a cuppa each as we waited only a few minutes for our train, and then we were rolling north again, Charlie pensive. I let her talk, and it was all about nothings and the passing scenery, until we were twenty minutes into the journey.

“Debbie?”

“Yes, love?”

“That really happened, didn’t it?”

“What?”

“That doctor. He said I was… he said I am real, didn’t he?”

“I believe so, love”

She looked out of the window once more, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Debbie?”

“Still here”

“I know. Just thinking… Everyone keeps using my real name, yeah?”

“That’s because it’s your name, love”

“Not legal, though. Not formal”

“Not till you are eighteen. Like Kim did”

“Okay. I have a middle name, you know, or one Dad gave me. It’s, my old name, it’s Charlton Dilwyn, yeah? If I change it, though, I mean with the solicitors and stuff, Charlotte, yeah? You think Diane would mind if I kept the same middle initial? Sisters, aren’t we? Sort of?”

Once again, I reached across the table for her hand.

“I think she would be proud, Charlie. Honoured, aye? I can ask, if you’d like”

“No. Want to think about it, just a little. Need to talk to Tiff”

“Why Tiff?”

Suddenly, she was grinning.

“Case she has the same idea!”

Only a couple of days passed after that first trip to Exeter, and I was on tenterhooks, as Candice and Blake had let me know that they were charging that foursome for what they had done to Charlie and Tiff. I was twitching every time I heard a door bang, as girls came home from school, and when the phone finally rang, I was ready to snarl. It was Diane.

“They been buried yet?”

“Not yet, Deb. But we’ve issued the shovels”

She sounded smug, in a pleasantly unpleasant way, if there can be such a thing.

“Will my girls be safe?”

“Yes. I do think so. The bastard was surprised enough, well, almost to say ‘which girl?’, but he’s not quite that stupid”

“Which particular bastard?”

“Charlie’s. Tiff’s all but shat himself”

Ashley Evans, then. I wondered if he had finally placed Diane’s face in his little list of damaged youth. Pull it in, Deb.

“Oh good. You coming over?”

“Yes, if that’s not a problem”

“Never for you, girl. Just that we have our regular liaison night with PC Welby this evening, so you might have to watch what you say”

“No worries, Deb. Kettle on? We’re about ten minutes away now”

“Just you and the big man?”

“Just me and Blake, yes. I would like to talk to you, as well, if I can”

Why me?

“What about?”

“Girls first, if you don’t mind”

“Intrigued now. Tea or cocoa?”

There was some mumbling, then a question I was getting to expect from the big man in question.

“Has Gemma been baking?”

I answered ‘yes’ before Di could ask me, and got a request for tea, Diane laughing far more happily. It seemed my girls weren’t the only ones healing a little with every conviction delivered.

“My waistline will end up knackered otherwise!”

I let them straight into the back room on arrival, and we had almost a full house, apart from my pastry chef; I smiled at the two visitors, and waved at the girls to make some space.

“Paul will be along in an hour, Di, so anything private, please get it done as soon as, OK?”

Nicky sorted two teas, just as Gemma arrived home, a pile of the familiar boxes left on the sideboard as she smiled at Diane. Alicia and Tricia plated the pastries up and brought them to the table. Di looked more than happy, and not just about her impending tasting session.

“Grab a seat, woman, and we will tell you as much as we can about today’s work. Tiff, Charlie? Important question: are you both happy that we share this with everyone here?”

I caught Gemma’s beam at Diane’s greeting, and then my others were sharing hugs and touches with Charlie and Tiff. Charlie, as usual, spoke for both.

“We talked it over, me and Tiff, and yeah. If they go for a trial, we need to stand up and tell our stories, make sure they go down hard, so go on. Tell us how it went”

Blake was doing that odd slump of his, as he clearly tried to disguise his bulk.

“You will all understand Di here has to take a back seat, what with being a victim. We had so much paperwork, though, we needed some extra hands to carry it. Oh dear. How sad--- sod it, you’ve got me saying that now, you so and so! Anyway, we worked through all five for a mix of charges including assault occasioning actual or grievous bodily harm, indecent assault and rape, and we deliberately kept Pritchard till last.

“We’ve got our dear, sweet Candice to read the charges, Office Blonde, aye? And another one of ours not saying anything, just giving each of them the hairy eyeball, while my lover here is smiling sweetly, all innocence and venom at the same time. And we finish up the last of the charges for the attacks on young men, and Candice lets Dai Pritchard turn away, lets him move towards the holding room again, and she says, ‘Oh silly me, how blonde I am, one more thing, Mr Pritchard’, and he stops dead”

Diane slapped his arm, my heart lifting at the ease and familiarity of the action. She was indeed healing.

“She didn’t say all of that! It was just the ‘one more thing’ bit”

The girls were laughing now, all except Charlie and Tiff, who were staring silently at Blake. He kept the cheery style going, though.

“And then Candice reads the charges for all of the rapes Tiff told us about, and he’s gobsmacked. Then this one, bloody hell! She gives him such a false smile, and it’s all about how the past catches up with you, and how great a virtue patience is, and how she’ll see him at the plea and direction hearing and I tell you what, ladies, I think he might even have shat himself”

Maisie and Nicky were wrapped around Tiff, who was in tears, but Charlie was bolt upright.

“No charges for what those two fuckers did at the hospital?”

Blake reached out for one of Gemma’s treats.

“Still with the legal people. We have three other people on remand for conspiracy, the ones we believe gave Bob and Dai the heads-up each time. They will probably give us the go-ahead tomorrow, and we’ll do another visit. This is lovely, Gemma. Didn’t get much of the last lot, our team being such gannets”

Diane snorted loudly, not quite as sharp as Charlie could.

“I took the last of the lemon drizzle back to ours!”

Please let that be a deliberate slip, I thought, as Blake smiled with real joy, only slightly tinged by embarrassment.

“Yeah, we are, and she’s got me looking in estate agents already. It’s all your fault, you sods, clearing people’s minds. Terrible! Anyway, that’s almost everything. Just one left”

“Cunt!”

“Can’t disagree with that one, Charlie. Di? Your turn?”

Diane spent a while on her apricot Danish, before slowly wiping her hands and turning her gaze on Charlie. Her expression was almost dreamy, away in another time and place, her voice soft as she started to speak.

“You know, girls, it was funny, at the trial. When he raped me, no false courage here, it was a huge thing in my life. I went so long feeling his eyes on me, his hands, personal stuff I don’t want to get into, but some of you know exactly what I mean. And there I am, in the witness box, and his expression isn’t an ‘oh shit’ but more of a ‘which one is this, then?’, so I am thinking there are other victims out there waiting to be found. You were just the first, Charlie, and I don’t mean that ‘just’ as a slight, yeah?”

“I get what you mean, Di. What happened?”

“He was brought out, and I didn’t want him to feel we were being oppressive—Blake! Got a tissue, anyone? Ta, Gemma! Anyway, we wanted him to feel he was being properly cared for, so I said how nice it was to see him again, or something like that, and asked him if he needed to use the toilet, perhaps to ease his bladder”

Pause, another bite.

“This is really good indeed, Gemma. I’ll pop round for some to take home”

I was laughing by then, as Blake wiped at his shirt where he had spat some of the mouthful he had taken as Di started speaking. I nodded to Gemma, then mock-snarled at Diane.

“This is worse than bloody ‘Millionaire’, Di! Get to the point!”

“Oh, yes. Where was I? So, Blake reads the charge out, and I am sorry, Charlie, sorry to you as well, Tiff, but we had to use your legal names. And he says, ’who the fuck is that?’, and that told me, really told me, there are others to come. Then, he laid into me, telling me how he DOES remember me, how I enjoyed it, we all know the words, so enough”

The dreaminess vanished, and once again I saw the hard bitch I had first met, copper to the core.

“Then Candice rips him a new arsehole, as his brief keeps telling him to shut up, and she tells him about a very brave little girl, and how he will probably recover his memory when he is in court again. So off he goes, and she calls after him, all sweetly false and reminds him how our enquiries are still going on, and she is spot on. I see two very brave women in front of me, and I tip my hat to them”

Diane suddenly stood, Blake rising to stand alongside her, and both started to applaud Charlie and Tiff. They looked as embarrassed as Blake had done, and Charlie was protesting.

“Not true, though. We hid, and we didn’t do anything till someone else did the hard stuff, Di, the really brave stuff! We wouldn’t do anything till we knew those bastards were properly banged away, and that is all down to you, DC Owens”

Her eyes switched to the big man.

“Yeah, you as well, you and your team, but you’d have had nothing without this woman, so, let’s give credit where it’s due, OK? What happens now?”

He shrugged.

“As Di said, P and DH, plea and direction hearing, where they tell us how they intend to play it. I suspect we’ll have a whole raft of guilty pleas, and one contested trial. Joe Evans is in the nuthouse, so he has to be assessed—”

“Wonky-eyed cunt!”

“Yes, Charlie, he is a wonky-eyed cunt, but he’s going nowhere, and that is looking to be permanently. If the CPS get their finger out, we’ll have extra charges for Bob and Dai, and if it’s a job lot at the hearing they’ll probably plead for all of them. That just leaves us the chief pig. I think he’ll fight. Sorry, Charlie”

My little woman gave a shrug before turning to smile at me.

“With examples like Di here, and your mate Chris, well, what else can I do? I’ve got friends here, now. Not on my own against him any more, am I?”

Di went over for the obligatory hug of real affection, before asking when Paul was due..

“Twenty minutes or so”

“You got time for a private chat?”

About what, exactly? One way to find out.

“Yeah. The airlock do?”

“Be fine, yeah”

“Come on, then”

I took the two back into the other dining room, my stomach churning with worry. What had she dug up now?

“What are you up to now? Which can of worms now?”

“Mersey View, Deb?”

Oh fuck… Class, woman. Class.

“You have been digging, haven’t you?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I found two possibilities, that one and a place in Carlisle, called Castle Keep”

Oh god. I wondered if she had spotted that book in the living room, once again regretting buying it.

“Shit. You have no idea what went on at that place!”

She shook her head, looking away for just a second before fixing my stare once again.

“Um, yes. Yes, I do. I wanted to throw up reading that file, but it did one thing for me, and that was to show me how many people get scarred by that sort of thing. You told me all of the offenders were dead, but I would like to see what we can find. It’s also a duty I feel I have, and that is to give that requital you talk about to any other victims. Was anything done while your rapists were alive?”

Words failed me, just for a moment, but I had the answer.

“Not a fucking thing, Di”

“Well, it is your call, Deb. I have to get permission to carry on with any investigation, as it is out of area, but I will only ask for it if I have your consent”

Blake mimed filling a kettle, shaping a tea with his hands, and I nodded. He rose to set it going, and I tried to find a little calm place in my soul.

“Do you think there is anything you can get from it, Di?”

“Don’t know, Deb, but that is what we do now, my team. Old cases, old files, things that should have been properly sorted and weren’t. Things like Ashley Evans”

Different thing altogether, copper! I found myself laughing, as Blake brought the teas. I took mine, and turned back to Di.

“Properly sorted now, eh? Or he bloody well will be shortly. What choice do I have, though?”

“It’s entirely your choice, Deb”

“Not really, Di, not with those two showing me what courage is, and you as well. Fuck it; if you get the nod, I will talk to you. Chapter and verse, and it’s a long bloody book. Now, Paul is due. Come and say hello?”

Blake nodded, indicating that he had let Paul in already, and we returned to the other house, where the new arrival was already deep into one of Gemma’s specials, the cheeky sod. Diane gave a theatrical sigh.

“Blake, all those Yank films were right, isn’t it? Just not doughnuts here!”

Gemma called out, sounding utterly disgusted.

“I will NOT lower myself to frying those horrible things!”

As the laughter faded, Diane held out a hand to Paul.

“PC Welby?”

He took it, after a quick wipe of the crumbs from his own.

“Aye. Paul, please. You be the DCs, then? Owens and Sutton?”

“Di and Blake, yes. Just been updating the house on our investigations”

He nodded.

“Part of what I wanted to talk to them about tonight, isn’t it? Gemma, love, the missus will love some of these. Could I order ten for Tuesday? I’ll call by”

The ‘missus’? What the hell? Gemma’s eyes flickered, but she let it lie.

“Course, Paul. I’ll let Judy know”

“Ta. Now, Di? People about here are really chuffed you have nailed Councillor so-bloody-important Evans, and in my role as Community Officer said community has some people looking for the right people to talk to”

“What about, Paul?”

“Oh, building work, mostly. Work not done to suitable standard, overpayments, pressure to pay cash, subcontractors not getting paid at all, all that sort of thing. Not happy, is it?”

Blake said something about the Revenue and putting Paul in touch with someone called Sean. Paul was still smiling, though.

“It’ll do for starters! Got more, though”

“Go on”

“Spent ages talking to these girls, and others as well. Been telling Tiff and Charlie in particular they need to sort the great man out right tidy, and I get nowhere till you get things rolling. They haven’t been the only ones. The BBC’s had the news out on the extra charges for all of them, radio, telly, internet, isn’t it? I’ve had three calls already this evening”

This time, Diane was completely unable to hide her eagerness.

“What about, Paul?”

“Women who want to talk to someone about Ashley Evans and his problem keeping his flies zipped”

I knew one would be that Nell he had mentioned, but once Blake and Diane had left, I pushed him on the subject, once more in another room.

“Well, one of them is called Jasmine. Jazz for short”

“And the other? Would that be this ‘missus’, by any chance?”

“Debbie, it’s the smack, aye? She’s on this treatment programme, but, well, it’s not easy, and there are cravings, and sweet stuff, it really helps”

“Missus, Paul?

He shrugged.

“Sort of, just not that way, isn’t it? Got her off the street, though, away from that bastard Mo, and… Deb?”

“Yes, love?”

“Not just now, okay? I might be doing something really stupid, be making a right idiot of myself, but, just for now, it feels like the right thing. Feels like the only thing I can do. No gossip, just for now, okay?”

“Gemma noticed”

He winced.

“I need a chat with her, tonight if I can”

“Hang on, then”

I called her in to join us, and she was staring at Paul.

“I heard what you said, Paul. Am I guessing right?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, I think you are. Not for the public, please”

She was smiling, and it was one of those times when her absolute femininity shone out through her unfortunate genes.

“And I can’t be trusted? I heard about Dad, so thank you, and that should be all the answer you need”

I looked hard at Paul, my suspicions raised along with my hopes, and he shrugged, just a hint of a smile emerging.

“So I know this old-school sergeant, and he knew a couple of traffic boys, who are friends of DC Owens, and they might JUST have waited around the Gwent-South Wales border for a hit on the automatic number plate reader. With a breath test kit”

Yet another shrug.

“Limit’s thirty-five. He blew eighty-six. Oh dear…”