Impeding Justice (25 page)

The covering of Toni’s dead body swept a wave
of sympathy through the crowd, who seemed to live every dramatic
moment as it unfolded.

Lorne and Tom surged forward as Charlie came
towards them carried on a stretcher. They followed her to the
ambulance.

‘
Her life is not in any
danger, everything is functioning as it should.’ The paramedic told
them. ‘Her condition otherwise is poor and she has many injuries,
so she isn’t a well child and has some way to go, poor little
mite.’

‘
Thank you, do you think she
will come round soon?’ Lorne asked.

‘
No, she did start to, which
is a good sign, but we have sedated her and I imagine that will be
the procedure for the next twenty-four hours. There is a danger of
her body going into shock and causing pneumonia, so we needed to
minimise that. As we make the journey to the hospital we will work
on the open wounds, clean them and try to alleviate the risk of
infection, but she won’t feel anything. The main thing is all her
vital signs are normal.’

‘
Thank you.’ Lorne bent over
and kissed Charlie’s forehead.

‘
Are you coming to the
hospital with us?’ Tom said. Then, surprised her by adding, ‘I
understand, if not. I’ll stay with her and keep you informed of any
change.’

She could tell by the love evident in his
eyes that this time he really could understand her eagerness to
return to work. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her lips.
Not a lingering kiss, but a gentle one which sealed his love. ‘And,
don’t come home till you’ve either killed the bastard or have him
locked up behind bars, do you hear me? Then, with a rare show of
humour, he turned her one hundred and eighty degrees and gently
pushed her towards the nearby white van, housing the MI5
agents.

‘
Thanks for understanding, Tom, I love you and tell
miss,
that I love her too, when she finally comes round. And, let
me know the moment that happens and I will be there.’

‘
I will.’ He
said.

Tony opened the van door to her. ‘How is she,
I take it she’s out of danger?’

‘
Yes, thank God…’

‘
Sit down, Lorne, you’re
shaking. Here, I have some of my coffee left; it’s a bit cold, but
strong and sweet. Get it down you.’

‘
Thanks.’ Trying to keep her
voice steady she told him about Charlie’s condition. ‘It isn’t the
outside, visible wounds that worry me. She’s been through hell,
Tony. They’ll keep her sedated and Tom will be by her side, but the
minute she comes round I want to be there for her. In the meantime,
we have a certain bastard to nail and one I personally want to kick
in the balls!’

‘
Join the queue. I’m sorry
about everything, Lorne, and you know, I’d advise you to get
Charlie counselling as soon as she is well.’

'What like you do, you mean, when a mission
goes wrong?' She asked, she smiled and raised an inquisitive
eyebrow.

‘
This is one of those rare
occasions I recommend you do as I say and not as I do.’ Tony waved
a chastising finger at her.

‘
I know, and it is good
advice. How are things progressing?’

‘
Initially, we thought we
had the vehicle and the gang, but we were fed a red herring.’ He
explained to her about the switch of vehicles.

‘
Shit, what is it with him?
He has everything at his fingertips. It beggars belief how he slips
through the net like he does.’

‘
He’s a very dangerous man,
as you know, Lorne. There are a lot of people afraid of him and
when you see what he is capable of, it isn’t any wonder. We just
have to up our game and put all these possibilities in to the
equation as he does.’

‘
So, where does that leave
us, now?’

‘
Have you heard about
Abromovski’s death?’

‘
No, but
guess I don’t
have to ask who killed him.’

‘
No, you could win a
Blue
Peter
badge easily with that one. We have
it on video, the whole gory episode. It’s not something I’d advise
you looking at. All it does is confirm what a sick SOB this guy is.
Young Charlie had an extremely lucky escape.’

‘
Christ, I better get back to the station, any chance of a
lift?’

‘
I think we can arrange
that, eh, boys?’

The agents nodded, one of them hopped between the seats to
start the engine.
　

Chapter Fifty-One.

The cheers
and whoops of joy meeting Lorne as she entered the incident room
took her by surprise. Embarrassed at the open affection shown by
her colleagues she made a quick update speech: ‘Hey, guys, thanks.
I’ll catch up with you in a mo, I hear things have moved on a bit
and you’ve all worked your socks off. Charlie’s not out of the
wood, yet. But, she is stable and Tom is by her side. I don’t have
to tell you we have to keep the pressure on, I want this man caught
ASAP.’

They all nodded their agreement.

In her office the Chief and her dad greeted
her. It felt good to be in her father’s arms. His support for her
action, after his initial trying to get her to leave the scene had
meant a lot to her. When he released her, Sean took her elbow. His
look spoke volumes and she had a moment’s impression, he too, was
going to take her and hug her, but he guided her to a chair leaving
her thinking she’d imagined the tenderness and longing in his
expression.

The tension clawing at her shoulders started
to subside. Charlie was safe, really safe; the only task left for
them to do was to catch the man who overnight had single-handedly
turned their lives upside down and inside out. She answered their
questions concerning Charlie and then got down to the job in hand.
‘Tony gave me a lift back, he’s filled me in regarding the red
herring chase down the M25 and he tells me Abromovski’s been
reduced to a stiff on a slab in the mortuary.’

‘
Yes, and as soon as his
brief heard, he demanded to be locked up fearing for his own
safety. He’s ready to talk when we are. And, as regards the PM’s
son, well MI5 have the lead on that angle of the case, though of
course we’ll be involved.’

‘
You say Reynolds is ready
to talk? You mean, about everything, names and places and Laura
Crane’s murder?’

‘
We’re working on it. He’s
asking for a deal, we’re dangling a carrot. He knows it depends on
what he gives as to how good a deal he gets. I’m going to question
him soon. In the meantime, I’d like you to look at the information
the team has discovered, DS Fox seems to think it would be
worthwhile talking to Judge Walter Winwood again.’

‘
About anything in
particular?’

‘
Not really. He appeared a
bit cagey during his interview. Have a word with AJ, see if he can
enlighten you further.’

‘
Will do, anything else I
should know?’

‘
Only that I’m handing the
case back over to you, Inspector. You seem surprised by my
decision?’

‘
Gobsmacked would be more
appropriate, sir.’

‘
I’m a man of my word,
Lorne. I told you that once Charlie was back safe and well, you’d
be free to take up the reins again. Of course, that’s if you feel
you can handle it…’

‘
Yes, I do. And, thank you,
sir, for your confidence in me.’ She could have kissed him, but
thought better of it. She felt like a kid in a toy shop.

‘
Well, that’s a smile we’ve
been waiting to see. Okay, Lorne, any problems my door is always
open, understood!’

‘
Yes, sir.’ She gave a mock
salute and skipped her way out of the office, but before she closed
the door she heard the exchange between her boss and her dad and
their laughter.

‘
That daughter of yours,
Sam, is crazy!’

‘
That she is, Chief. It’s
good to see the old Lorne back, huh?’ Her dad’s voice sounded full
of pride. Lorne forgot the trauma and all that was to come still
and knew a feeling of satisfaction at gaining this new part of her
dad, and with this knowledge so much tension in her life left her.
Her dad and Tom would be part of the rehabilitation they all had to
go through, not fighting her every step of the way.

Chapter Fifty-Two.

‘
Pull up, I’ve changed my
mind.’ The Unicorn told Ramon.

Ramon slammed on the brakes. The wheels
skidded in the dry dust of the lane leading to the Kent hideaway.
‘But, boss, we’re nearly there...’

‘
I can see that. But, I’d
rather go somewhere else. Do you have a problem with
that?’

‘
No, no of course not, sir,
it’s just that you surprised me. There’s no problem.’

‘
Good. Keep it that way. I
am sure witnessing the demise of your colleague you would not want
the same to happen to you? Just remember he came to his end because
he started questioning my decisions.’

Ramon visibly shook. The Unicorn allowed
himself a small smile. He’d done the right thing getting rid of
Gary, apart from the enjoyment it had given him, it served well in
keeping the others on their toes. ‘Take me to Judge Walter
Winwood’s house.’

‘
Right, it’s about thirty
minutes from here.’

‘
Make it twenty.’

‘
Excuse me, but before we
move off I need to go to the toilet.’ Simon Clovelly
whimpered.

‘
Tough. I’ll take your hood
off and you can do it out of the window as we’re driving along. Bet
they didn’t teach you how to do that at public school,
huh?’

‘
I’d rather not, thank
you.’

‘
Your choice, sonny, now
shut up, I have a call to make.’

The Unicorn opened his mobile and pressed
number one. ‘Inspector, so nice to hear your voice again…’

‘
You bastard!’

The Unicorn laughed into the mouthpiece, he
had her rattled good and proper this time. He revelled in that.

‘
You needn’t smirk, you
creep; we foiled your vile plan. It did not succeed, do you hear
me?’

‘
Au contraire, Inspector, I
think it worked perfectly. Do you really believe those girls were
worth anything to me, or even blowing up the house? No. I kept you
occupied whilst I took what I really wanted. Say hello to the smart
mouthed detective, Simon!’

He prodded the young man in the ribs.

‘
Help me, please help
me!’

‘
It’s all right, Simon,
we’re going to get you out of this.’

‘
Ha, you missed your vocation, Inspector. You should have
been on the stage, as a
comedienne
. You and
your daughter would make a good double act, you make
me
fucking laugh, anyway!’

‘
We’ll see who gets the last
laugh, shall we, Mr…?’

His laugh intensified. ‘Mr. Unicorn will do.
I see you haven’t found out my true name, yet. Would you like a
hint, shall I give you my initials, would that help, Mrs.
Inspector?’

‘
That won’t be necessary,
thank you. Our endeavours have uncovered some interesting
information concerning you and your plans. It’s only a matter of
time before we catch up with you. You can’t run forever. Oh, and by
the way, all the airports and ports have been notified that you’re
on our wanted list.’

‘
Oh, Inspector, you
disappoint me, I thought you had some brains, obviously I was
wrong! Do you really think that I would try and get out of the
country by public transport? Tut, tut. Guess you’re not the great
detective I’ve been hearing so much about after all.’

‘
Is there a point to this
call?’

'Just keeping you on your toes, Inspector, my
guess is you’re close to being dead on your feet by now.’

‘
Far from it actually. How
naive of you to believe that. You really have no concept of what
motivates a good detective to see a case through to its
conclusion.’

‘
Actually
, that’s true,
because I’ve yet to meet a
good
detective. Oh,
before I go, how is Charlie? Ha! If she ever recovers, she’d do
well in the sex trade, make a lot of money…’ He closed his mobile
and sat back:
Another round to
me I think!

* * *

Lorne slammed her receiver down, blinked away
the agonised tears that burned her sockets and pressed the speed
dial to Tony Warner. When she heard his voice she picked up
again.

After their conversation she sat mulling over
what he’d told her. She had been surprised to learn he’d needed to
obtain special clearance from a higher governing body before he
could even start to delve into those on the list. But he’d
explained two of them were SAS officers turned criminals and the
Army wanted to avoid this becoming public knowledge at all costs.
He’d indicated which of the men he thought most likely to be the
Unicorn and suggested when she spoke to him she throw these names
at him to see his reaction.

She thought over the names, Robert Baldwin,
Bobby Baldwin or Bob Baldwin, William Matthews, Bill Matthews.
Whichever way she said them, both names sounded more like
solicitors or TV weathermen than cunning members of the criminal
fraternity. She decided to go with Tony’s suggestion the next time
The Unicorn made contact. In the meantime, she’d catch up with the
Chief’s interview.