Impeding Justice (36 page)

Standing outside the Crematorium, waiting for Pete’s
coffin, Lorne had a weird sensation of being somewhere else. She
looked at her team all turned out smartly and standing to
attention, some had the designated duty of bearing the coffin into
the chapel. All had wanted to do the honours, but the decision on
who carried out the task had in the end, been dependent on height.
She tried to run through her eulogy but gave up after she could get
no further than the third line. She’d have to play it by
ear,
I’ve enough material to
write a book on you, Pete, and so I don’t think a few words will be
a problem, love.

A cough by her side brought her attention
back. John Fox stood next to her. ‘Everything all right,
ma’am?’

Lorne noticed his eyes welling up. ‘As well
as can be expected, John on a day like today. How are you bearing
up?’

‘
So, so, ma’am. It really
hadn’t sunk in until today, how much he's going to be missed.
There’s one good thing, at least the vending machine won’t run out
of chunky Kit Kats that often now.’

They both smiled and a picture of Pete
munching his way through the large chocolate bars, and her nagging
him, teasing him about his obsession, came to her. She always told
him that if eating Kit Kats had been an Olympic event, he would win
a gold medal.

John fidgeted by her side. She could tell he
wanted to say something.

‘
John?’

‘
This might not be the time
or the place, but umm…Have you heard about the
Superintendent?’

She’d forgotten about him. What the hell had
he been up to now?

She shook her head, ‘No, surprise me,
John.’

‘
While you and the Chief
were hunting down the Unicorn/Baldwin, he pulled in an old friend
of his.’

‘
I didn’t know he had any! I
mean, he did? And who was that?'

‘
Does the name, Glen
Waverley ring any bells?’

‘
It does. You mean the dodgy
geezer who had to be moved and turned up at Abromovski’s
party?’

‘
That’s the one. He’s been chirping like a dozen canaries
for hours now. The Superintendent
himself
has been
questioning him.’

‘
Has he indeed. Anyone had a
listen in on the interview?’

‘
I might have popped my head
in once or twice, I figured you’d want to know if anything
interesting reared its head.’ His eyebrow rose mischievously and a
sparkle appeared in his hazel brown eyes.

‘
The question is, John, did you happen to
pop
in at a convenient moment?’

‘
As it happens, I did.
Waverley alleges The Unicorn blackmailed him. He insisted they
forced him to attend the party. Going over the footage from the
party it definitely looked like he enjoyed himself to me, I didn’t
notice anyone twisting his arm up his back.’

‘
Did he say
why
he was being blackmailed?’

‘
Something to do with that
drugs bust that went wrong, you know the case that forced his
sideways promotion.’

‘
Don’t tell me! The
Unicorn’s shipment of drugs got busted and he blamed Waverley then
decided payback time had come?’

‘
That’s the one.’

‘
Okay, that’s feasible, I guess that’s one part of the case
solved. Did he know anything about the other members of the
esteemed
group?’

‘
Pretty much the same story,
the councillors and the planning bod’s attended one of these
parties. The subsequent compromising photo’s meant, unwilling or
not, they all had to attend and fall in with Abromovski’s and
Baldwin’s plans. If they refused, the pictures would end up in the
press. The same thing happened with the footballer, you know what
they’re like, got too much money and they end up flashing it around
and never think of the consequences. They literally had him by the
balls!’

‘
And, what about, Judge
Winwood, was it his involvement with the Abdul Mansaud case, which
led to his corruption and subsequent blackmail?’

‘
Abdul Mansaud is apparently
a good friend and business associate of…'

‘
Don’t tell me, Baldwin,
right? So it probably went: The Judge received an invite to a
party, got himself compromised, was blackmailed and coerced by the
thought of a fistful of dollars, so to speak, from the profits of
the auction. After that, he became the subject of a double
blackmail –photos of his antics and the fixing of a
trial.’

‘
Yes, I suppose you’ve heard
of the DVD’s found in the Judge’s house?’

‘
Yes, I have. Not a good
choice of, "must see films," before you die, for either the Judge
or his wife.’

‘
No, ma’am, Oh here’s the
Chief and Superintendent, now.’

‘
Does the Chief know about
Waverley?’

‘
Not that I know, but it’s
likely, as he’s with the Superintendent.’

‘
Yes, right. I’ll go and
join them, see you after.’

‘
I’m going back to the
office after, most of us are. There are a lot of loose ends to tie
up.’

‘
Loose ends can wait another
day. Unfortunately, Pete only has one wake. I want all the team to
be there, if anyone complains, point them in my direction, I’ll put
them straight with a few choice words, got it?’

‘
Ahh, Inspector, how are you
today,’ Chief Roberts said as if visiting her on a mental health
ward. His full dress uniform sat well on him, but she could have
happily kicked mud from the puddle at his feet, all over
him.

‘
I’m well, thank you, sir,
though I wished I was anywhere but here, of course.’

‘
Hello, Inspector, I must
say I agree with you. I hate funerals, but having to attend one of
a colleague is worse than anything. I hope you are bearing up. I
know how much Pete meant to you.’ The Superintendent
said.

‘
Thank you, sir, I’m doing all right.’
Is the Superintendent being nice to me, if so,
why?
It
was so unlike him, she had always perceived him
of being devoid of any human emotions other than malevolent
ones.
What the hell was going
on here?

‘
Good, I knew you would.
After the wake, will you join us back in the office? There are one
or two points to go over concerning, The Unicorn case.’

The funeral passed in a daze. Her eyes felt sore with the
effort of blinking back the stinging tears. She’d keep them for the
privacy of her home. It had been a good turnout. Pete would have
been proud. Most of his colleagues were still going at it, having
moved to the local, but she now sat in the Chief’s office sitting
in a chair next to the man she’d always considered her arch enemy
within the force. She sat in silence. For the next ten minutes the
two men discussed
her
case and congratulated themselves on
how
they
had successfully managed to solve it. She found
the whole damn scenario bloody farcical. It just about summed her
career up beautifully, while she worked her pretty butt off, her
superior, male officers took the credit for her endeavors.
Well, fuck that!

It
was time to put an end to all this crap and the rest of the garbage
that clogged up her life. She’d start by sorting out her marriage,
later tonight would solve that issue, she hoped, though confusion
still held her. Tom had been a changed man of late, more like the
Tom she’d fallen in love with. She’d leave all that until later.
But for now a far great matter pressed, her career! She’d had her
fill of infuriating petty mindedness. She’d had enough of stroking
the male egos surrounding her. Now Pete had gone there was
nothing
to keep her in this unappreciative, restrictive
environment.

‘
Feel free to join in the
conversation, Inspector.’ Chief Roberts’ said finally noticing her
even being there. He gave her a puzzled look and she threw an
identical one back at him.

She shrugged her shoulders, mumbled a brief
apology and walked out of the room. Neither of her two superiors
tried to prevent her from leaving.

She headed back to her office her head bowed,
feeling downright miserable. The Chief caught up with her in the
corridor.

‘
Lorne?’

‘
Sir?’

‘
Would you like to share
with me what the hell is going on?’

She mimicked him, folding her arms across her
chest. She had two choices. Either she could blame her mood on what
they’d just been through or she could come right out and tell him
her true thoughts.

He pre-empted her, ‘I know how hard it was
for you today, Lorne, but you’re not alone in that boat. Pete was
well thought of and admired amongst his fellow officers. The whole
station is mourning the loss of a superb officer. You need to show
your British bulldog spirit in the face of adversity, do you think
you can manage that, for me?’

Lorne bit her lip several times. She swept
back a few stray hairs behind her ear, dropped her arms down by her
side and straightened her back rather than answer him.

The Chief smiled as she metamorphosised
before his eyes, ‘That’s my girl.’ His misreading of the situation
amused her.

‘
For your information, sir, this has nothing to do with
Pete. Well maybe a little… actually maybe a lot…’ She
stopped.
Don’t say anything,
Lorne, not until you’ve had time to think it through,
thoroughly.
Her inner voice
warned, but she refused to listen to her logical side any
longer.

‘
I’m on my way to clear my desk. I’ve finally come to my
senses and realised how unappreciated and maligned I am in this
male dominated environment. I thought new laws about sexual
discrimination had come in, guess I was wrong about that. The force
has its own way of dealing with women. They seem to think that
promoting them and then knocking them down is the best way of
keeping the male dominance in the force. You can argue till you’re
blue in the face, s
ir,
but the facts are plain to see. I’ve
just spent the last ten bloody minutes listening to two
bull-shitting men stroking their over-endowed egos, and I have to
say that in my book it was the final
fucking
insult. I
happen to think I did a remarkable job out there in the last
forty-eight hours. I’ve had to work under extreme, adverse
circumstances and what praise did I have heaped on me. Nothing.
Zilch. Absolutely shit all. Can you honestly say that
if
the same set of circumstances had disrupted your sad life
that you would have coped as well as me? I doubt
that
very much.’

There it was said, all out in the open, only
it hadn’t come out exactly the way I had imagined it would or
should!

The Chief stumbled backwards. He looked
shell-shocked, as if Mike Tyson himself had smacked him on the
jaw!

‘
You’re upset. It’s been a
fraught couple of days, in one way or another. After the wake, why
don’t you take a couple of weeks off to recharge your batteries?
I’ll clear it with the Superintendent, I’m sure he’ll understand.
I’m sure he won’t mind.’

Lorne felt like shoving his sympathetic
crappy words where the sun didn’t shine.

‘
I
couldn’t give a stuff if he minded or not. I’ve told you my
decision, Sean, and I assure you this, I ain’t going to be changing
my mind. Not in a couple of hours or a couple of months time. I’ve
had it up to here. I’ve done my time. I’ve chased my last criminal.
I’ve lost my last partner in needless circumstances. I want out, I
want my life back,
I want a
life, full fucking stop
. And I
know that I’ll never have a life I can call my own, while I’m
working on a force that doesn’t appreciate the hours and work I
pour into it.’

‘
Where the hell do you get
that idea from?’

‘
I’ve just spent ten to
fifteen minutes listening to you and the Superintendent
congratulating yourselves, haven’t I? In all that time, my family
and what I foolishly put them through, went unmentioned. That about
sums the force up in my book, Sean, you’re all a bunch of
self-congratulatory pricks that joined up for what they could get
out of the force. Whereas I look at things from a different
prospective. I have always considered my role in the force to be a
privileged one. I have always felt honoured to have been chosen and
trusted by the British public to keep this country safe and
protected. However, the criminals have taken it to another level
and I feel the force is lagging behind, some might even say the
criminals have the police tucked up in their back pockets. If it
hadn’t been for M15 and M16, this case would never have been
solved. But listening to you two in there…’ She stopped talking,
she’d said enough. She was fed up to the back teeth of going over
old ground, having to fight her corner, what was the point! If he
didn’t understand where she was coming from by now, he never
would.

‘
Oh, Lorne, you’re so
wrong.’

‘
Oh, Sean,’ She mimicked
sarcastically then issued him with her final sucker punch, ‘I don’t
think so. Anyway I have a gut instinct that you and the
Superintendent are congratulating yourselves too soon.’