-Flashback-
The siege was over and Jack could breathe again. His best friend was alive and well. But he was angry with her. He was so angry with her. He had told her - warned her countless times, not to get so involved but as usual, Nikki had pleaded ignorance and had once again put herself in harm;'s way as a result.
And now that man was there again - next to her, like he was her protector - Greg whats-his-face. He was a bad lot, Jack could see that right from the off.
Jack was going to leave it. He was - honestly, but there she was outside, acting like everything was fine and dandy. It wasn't and his anger boiled over.
"Why don't you ever listen?!"
"Thought it might wind you up some more." Are you ok?"
"It's not exactly my idea of fun contradicting the original pathologist's findings. Especially when he's going to be sitting in court."
"Good for business though. Really big up the Lyell. A little birdie tells me that's what Thomas is praying for anyway - your picture in the paper." She looks surprised.
"Me? Why?"
Really, Nikki? Why do you think? "Pathology eye candy."
"He said that?"
"Not in so many words."
"He didn't say that."
He didn't have too. "Well, it's what he's thinking." It's what I'm thinking, anyway.
"Everybody ok?"
He always turns up at the wrong moment. Smug git. Nikki and I were in the middle of a conversation. Greg Walker. I disliked him straight away. He made my skin crawl, I don't know why - well I do. He's a creep. It's the way Nikki looks at him though. She fancies him, I can tell. How long until they start dating? What she sees in him, I'll never know. She answers him with a cheery smile.
"Thinking of taking up smoking but otherwise fantastic!"
I want to yell at her that he is bad for her.
She really believes that Bennetto is innocent and once Nikki gets an idea, she won't let it go. She likes a crusade, does Nikki, although I have to admit, she usually turns out to be right. Usually. "Callum Jordan's clothes, his van, his flat, his workshop. There's no blood, no print's, no gunshot residue, nothing. I can't make it up, Nikki. I can't make Bennetto be innocent." I wish I could., because she needs him to be.
"I don't want that."
She's shocked at the suggestion - it had never even cross her mind. Of course you don't want that, Nikki. our as honest as the day is long. "No, but you need it, don't you? Do you honestly think you should still be working on this?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because... you have to be objective, don't you? And you can't be - not if you want the suspect to walk." I want to help you more than anything love, but you're not helping yourself.
"Why don't you ever listen?!"
I'm shouting at her mostly out of frustration and anger at the danger she put herself in, but he's there too, and that doesn't help. I want to yell at her some more. I want to yell that the man she's dating is poison. I want to save her from him. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. I want to yell at her. But Thomas stops me.
Greg Walker said Nikki saw Bennetto hand him the gun. I know Nikki better than anyone - better than she knows herself sometimes. She looked unsure. I'm not saying she's lying - Nikki is the most honed person I know. But she looked unsure, so I have to ask. I know she's going to be angry at me for asking. She will feel like I don't trust and that will upset her , but I have to ask - if only to sow seeds of doubt about Greg in her mind. I hate upsetting her.
"Is that right? Huh? Eh?"
"Ow!"
I didn't mean to grab her and I saw the look in her eye when I did. It stabs at my heart but that smug git has a blindfold over her eyes and I need to lift it. I made her flinch though. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.
"Did Bennetto give him the gun?"
"What you think I'm Lying now?"
No. I don't think you're lying, I just don't think you're sure about what you saw and I'm right. She's not sure. If she was sure, she would have said yes, instead she avoided the question. She's my best friend and I can read her like a book.
"He is working you, Nikki." Why can't you see that?"
"Get off!"
She's angry with me. She doesn't like being told that - even by me. Maybe she can see, after all. Maybe the seeds of doubt are in there. Or maybe not. I hope it's the former. Only time will tell. She's also angry with me because she still believes that Bennetto is innocent and she thinks I'm accusing her of lying, but it's not her I don't trust. It's her boyfriend. Nikki knows I don't like Greg and that doesn't help, because she thinks I'm just jealous of him. Maybe I am. That's not why I don't like him though. He's a creep and I don't want her to get hurt. I have to try and shock her I'm sorry Nikki.
"Ok, enough. You're on your own."
I don't know what to do. My best friend's not talking to me. I basically told her I was washing my hands of her. She looked devastated. I didn't mean it - not for a second. I just wanted to shock her into seeing the truth about Greg, but it back-fired and instead I made this a whole lot worse for both of us, because now she hates me - or she thinks I hate her, I'm not sure which. I don't know how to put this right. Is she going to stay mad at me forever? How can she trust him over me? That's the bit I can't get my head around. How long will she hate me for?
"Can I come in?"
Not long as it turns out. "Sure" At least she's talking to me again. Maybe she doesn't hate me.
"Ok, I bow to your greater insight. Greg Walker is somewhat economical with the truth - personally, anyway."
It worked. She's seen the light - well, something worked, anyway. I hope he hasn't hurt her though. He'll have me to deal with if he has. "Want to go into detail?"
"No, it's not a big deal."
It never is with Nikki. "Not such a blue-eyed boy anymore, eh? That's a shame." I guess I was a bit jealous before, but I knew he was no good for her.
"You don't mean that."
She sounds a little surprised. She thinks I'm being sarcastic, but she's not sure. She's testing the water, in case I'm still angry with her. I'm not. "What gave you that idea(?)" She knows I am being sarcastic now, because she's smiling at me - and I'm smiling back. That makes everything better. I need my best friend just as much as she needs me. I can't stand it when we're not talking and I don't think she can either.
"Thomas, told me about Byron."
"Police work." It should have been anyway.
"Hmm?"
"Tracing him. Should have been Klein and her team." She's rolling her eyes..
"If she was more competent..."
That's the closest she's ever come to saying 'I told you so'! I can't help smiling. "You two still at war?"
"It's not of my making."
"Course not. You've been completely objective all along."
"Oh, come on!"
"I'm just saying...Maybe it's time to bury the hatchet - and not in her head." She's listening to me this time and she doesn't argue. There's a look in her eye that says she agrees with me. She gives me a small smile.
"So have you told Klein about Byron's real identity?"
"No."
"Why not?"
I don't really answer her. I just can't find the words. Words aren't always my strong point, not the emotional kind anyway. "Because..." She looks concerned now. Concerned about me.
"Jack?"
"Because...What she going ton do? Go round his mum and dad's and tell them 'Hooray, we've found your missing kid, but oh, he's dead - shot in the head.'? They're better off not knowing.." I get the feel from the way she's looking at me that she thinks I'm getting a bit too involved myself, but she doesn't say so - not outright, anyway. She takes a softer approach with me and I appreciate that.
"We have to be objective, don't we? Your words."
She's right. I did say that but it's not the same. "Yup, but this is different."
"Is it? Give your evidence, Jack. It's up to other's what they do with it. You're not responsible."
She's right. I know she is.
"You've heard?" I'm beginning to think Nikki was right about Bennetto.
"Yeah"
"They've just picked him up at his sister's. Klein won't let it go. No other suspect, still just Bennetto." I think Klein has a vendetta. Against Benetto - and she doesn't like Nikki either. Nikki looks surprised by my change of heart though.
"You've changed your tune."
"I'm doing what she should have done. Just focused on the evidence." Because I believe you now about Bennetto. You were right all along. Things just don't add up and all I can do now is sigh. "No prints, no DNA."
"Sorry?"
"Nowhere. Everything's circumstantial, nothing forensic.. No smokijg gun - literallyn or otherwise." Would Bennetto really be clever enough to clean up that thoroughly? Paper and pen, that's what I need. One of Nikki's spreadsheets and so I start wring... "Here we go... Bodies. In the marshland. Riverside. One of them Bennetto's lover, so he's really tied into it. The other one, Michael Freeman, so Benetto goes down for five years..." Thomas has joined us and he's listening intently. I think he believes Bennetto is innocent now too. "You get him out of prison, because the evidence doesn't entirely stack up..."
"Thank you." Nikki's nodding. She knows we believe her now.
"Then what? CCTV. He's in Byron's street the day he's murdered." It's all circumstantial, every bit. Nikki adds to what I've said. We make a great team, when we're on the same page.
"And then the gun, and the Lorazepam."
"So, ok, either it is him and he's got a fantastic lawyer, or it's all massively coincidental, every tiny bit of it." Are we actually getting anywhere?
"Or the evidence is planted." She has that look about her. The ;look she gets when she's worked out something complicated - like someone working out how a magic trick is done. "What if it is all staged? all make believe - everything we see, everything we think we know? The Lorazepam, Bennetto on CCTV..."
Nikki's got a point. "Explains the coincidences."
"And the next logical question is...?"
Thomas answers before I can. It seems so long since he 's spoken, I thought he's gone mute.
"Who staged it?"
"It would have to be someone who knew him incredibly well.. They'd have to know where he'd been, where he was planning to go, what kind of things he did in his spare tiome..." Shit, they would have to know everything.
Thomas is nodding. "What medication he was on. Someone he met in prison?"
It's got to be family, surely? "His sister? Brother-in-law?"
Nikki's looking thoughtful again. "There is one other person."
Is there?...Who...?...No? Surely, she can't mean Greg? I mean, yeah, the guy's a creep and he makes my skin crawl, but murder? Remind me not to get on her bad side! "Oh, come on!" I can't help laughing at this point. Surely, she can't be serious? "Ok, yeah, a woman scorned..."She is serious.
"Why not?"
Come on, Nikki - it's ridiculous! "Because, if it was him, he'd already got away with it. Bennetto was already banged up. Why would he get him released?"
She's worked that party out too apparently. "Because with Bennetto locked up, he couldn't kill - not with the same MO. That would be like running up a flag to say Bennetto is innocent."
Thomas is nodding again. "That the wrong man was convicted."
Nikki, it seems is on a roll. "Exactly. But with Bennetto back on the streets, Walker could indulge again. He has control fantasises. He wants to dominate...to take people to the brink of death, and and when he's had enough, he takes their lives.""
"What about the siege? Walker saved Bennetto's life" But scarily, this case is finally becoming clear.
"Yeah, because he needed a patsy and he needed him alive and free."
"And targeting Charlie Marsham?"
Well, that tied Bennetto right back into it." Nikki answers Thomas. She's worked it all out now. "Bennetto had a motive to go after Charlie. He wanted to get back at Peter Marsham. Walker knew it. It's all a set-up, an invention!...'You must feel like you're right on the cusp of existence.' "
Alarmingly, her eyes seemed to go very dark during that last sentence. Whoa - that was scary! It reminded me of 'The demon Headmaster'. That programme scared the hell out of me the first time I saw it. Please don't do that again, Nikki. It was freaky and made me shiver."Huh?"
"That's what Greg Walker said to me. Like a confession."
Sounds pretty damning. "Deal in facts. I thought we'd agreed."
Nikki's nodding. "Ok, facts... There were two sources of semen on Byron Lee's body. One we know came from..."
"Callum Jordan." Thomas answers her again before I can.
"And the other?"
"No trace." Thomas answers again. They seem to have cut me out of the conversation now - not that I'm complaining. It's just as interesting listening to them and jotting down what they say.
"Yes, but that sample contained absolutely no sperm."
"So? The donor was infertile."
"Greg Walker couldn't have kids. They had to adopt." Nikki tells us, triumphantly. "What time was Byron Lee killed?"
"Sometime between 6 and 8pm."
"And Charlie?"
"Similar time frame. Why? Where was Walker then?"
"Did you see him either of those days?" I ask, finally getting my oar in.
She's nodding at me. "Yeah. Both. And both times at the same bar. He was late the first time and the second..."
"Time?"
"Nine-ish?"
"So there was time to dispose of Charlie's body and then get to you."
Nikki's nodding at me again - she's caught my drift. "If he'd just used a gun to kill Charlie, then there'd be gunshot residue on his hands."
She was wearing that jacket both nights.
We all know it.
Klein's refusing to believe it. She doesn't want Nikki to be right. If Klein's right and Bennetto is guilty, Nikki's career and reputation would be in tatters. If Nikki's right and Bennetto's innocent, Klein's career and reputation will be in tatters instead. It's stalemate. Klein doesn't want to lose.
"I've already run the tests." Nikki is right, whether Klein likes it or not.
"So run them again."
I could run them a thousand times. Nikki will still be right. Klein is not going to admit she's wrong without a fight, but Thomas intervenes.
"Bennetto's not your man, Rachel."
Rachel?! Who?...oh, Klein! Rachel Klein. I forgot. Klein...sorry. Rachel is angry.
"So what are you telling me? I've spent the last six years barking up the wrong tree?"
Yes. That's exactly what we are saying. I have so much admiration for Nikki. She has every right to say 'I told you so.' to Klein. She's earned it and neither Thomas or I would blame her, but she hasn't. She's better than that and another thing. Rachel Klein hasn't got a patch on Nikki when it comes to being angry. An angry Nikki is magnificent!
"There's no paperwork at his office for a transit van and there's nothing registered in his wife's name either."
Klein has finally accepted Bennetto's innocence and Walker's guilt, but Greg Walker is proving a hard man to trace and it seems neither Klein or Kemp are having much luck.
"You did an all ports? Circulated details?"
Of course, after putting the wrong man away, Klein is desperate to catch Walker. Nikki wants to catch him too. She wants him to stop killing and to make him answer for what he's done, but she's more relaxed now. Everyone knows that she was right. Her reputation is intact. Klein's is not and she looks to Nikki now.
"There is one other way we can get to him. Maybe..."
The cheek of her. Honestly, after everything she expects Nikki to catch Greg Walker for her.
"Does he know you're onto him?"
"No"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes"
"Not the slightest inkling?"
"No"
So call him..."
Part of me wants her to say no, but she agrees to it. She wants this to be over. It seems like the longest phone call I've ever had to listen to.
"Nikki, hi."
"Hi"
"I, er...I hoped you'd call."
"Where are you? Can we meet?"
"When?"
"Now. Tonight?"
"I don't think so. I'm, um...I'm tired, Nikki. You worked it out, yet?"
"Sorry?"
"Cos you're the only one who could have."
He knows that she knows. And Nikki knows it's no use pretending she doesn't.
"Yeah. I worked it out."
"Good."
He wanted her to know. Creep. Slimy git.
It's over and Nikki looks exhausted.
"I was right, wasn't I?" She says to me.
All I can do is nod. There is no triumphant look in her eye. She's too tired for that. This case has taken its toll on her and to make matters worse, she had to do CPR on him because Klein wanted him alive. The fact she dated a murderer must have had an effect too.
"I was right." Nikki repeats to me She seems too spent to find any other words. She's sobbing now and all I can do is put my arm around her and hold her tight.
I was right too. Greg Walker was a creep. My face may have been the colour of emeralds but I know a bad man when I see one. He made my skin crawl and I was right.
Anyone who hurts my best friend, hurts me too.