'Can I kill him, Sir?'
Robbie Lewis looked at his sergeant sharply but there was no sarcasm or facetiousness in his voice or on his face, just a cold, hard anger.
'Who?'
'Mr Innocent,' replied James.
'We don't know yet that it was him that did this.'
'And if it was?'
'Then I think you'll have to take a number, Sergeant,' said Robbie sombrely.
They had just watched Jean Innocent being taken to hospital. She was unconscious and had been badly beaten. Forcing his mind away from Jean's possible injuries, Robbie said,
'What do we know so far?'
'The silent alarm went off at nine-twelve pm, presumably because of the window being broken. SOCO have found a paperweight on the driveway surrounded by broken glass.'
'So the window was broken from the inside.'
'Yes, Sir. Presumably by Chief Superintendent Innocent. SOCO are fingerprinting it now.'
Robbie nodded and James continued,
'A patrol car was dispatched at nine-fifteen when Chief Superintendent Innocent failed to reply to either her landline or her mobile. One of the neighbours to the left, a Mrs Jackson, dialled 999 to report a disturbance at nine-twenty, at which point a second patrol was dispatched. When the first officers arrived, they found Mr Jackson semi-conscious, lying on the driveway with an air rifle beside him, the front door open and Chief Superintendent Innocent lying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. Mr Jackson told the officers that the attacker was male, IC1, height five foot ten to six foot, medium build, age twenty-five to fifty, wearing jeans and a dark hoodie. The BOLO's gone out, Sir.'
'And that's Mr Jackson there, is it?' said Robbie, looking over at a very elderly man sat inside a second ambulance, being treated by paramedics.
'Yes, Sir. Edward Neil Jackson, aged eighty-two. Given his age, I think we can assume that he wasn't the attacker.'
'Has anyone spoken to him yet?'
'No, Sir.'
'Go and see if the paramedics will let you have a quick word. I'll get an update from forensics.'
'Yes, Sir.'

James walked over to the ambulance, pushing his anger down so that it wouldn't interfere with his ability to do his job. The paramedic hesitated but Mr Jackson beckoned him over and said,
'Is Jean going to be all right?'
'I'm afraid we don't know yet. Could you tell me what happened, Sir?'
'Sue and I were in the kitchen, putting the dinner plates away when we heard a window breaking. I opened the kitchen door and heard Jean screaming for help so I told Sue to call the police and I grabbed my air rifle and the box of pellets and came over to Jean's. The window by the front door was broken and when I looked in I saw her struggling with a man at the bottom of the stairs. I yelled at him to stop and that the police were on their way. He raised a hammer and at first I thought he was going to throw it at me but then he brought it down on Jean's head. She managed to partially deflect the blow but it was enough to make her fall to the floor unconscious. He raised the hammer again so I shot him in the hand with my air rifle. He dropped the hammer, of course, but he immediately started scrabbling around on the floor for it. I reloaded the air rifle and shouted that I'd kill him if he didn't put his hands behind his head and kneel on the floor. Instead he came out of the front door and rushed me. I shot at him and nicked his ear then he bowled me over. He hit me a couple of times but then he heard the sirens and ran off. I'm afraid I didn't see which way he went.'
'Did you recognise the man, Sir.'
'No but it was almost dark.'
'The lights weren't on in Chief Superintendent Innocent's house?'
'Not downstairs. There was a bit of light from upstairs but not enough to see his face clearly.'
'But you hit the man twice with your air rifle?'
'Yes. I'm a good shot.'
James filed that comment away for further investigation though he'd be prepared to bet that Mr Jackson had a military background. Even frail with age he carried himself with calm alertness.
'Could it have been Mr Innocent?'
'Simon? I'm not sure. He was about the right height and build but I don't think the face was quite right. I'm sorry but I haven't seen Simon Innocent properly for about three years so I can't be sure.'
'Three years?'
'Yes, it must be about that long. My wife, Sue, would know for certain. That's when he started being gone for extended periods of time and only being at home for the odd day or two. When Jean told us they were getting divorced it didn't exactly come as a surprise.'
'No, I can't imagine that it did,' said James, carefully concealing his own surprise. As far as he knew, no one at the station knew about the divorce.
'Were there arguments as far as you knew?'
'No, never anything like that. I think their marriage might have stood more chance of survival if there had been.'
'Sir?'
'I don't think Simon cared enough to argue. He just ignored Jean and did as he pleased.'
James' disgust must have shown on his face because Mr Jackson continued,
'He may be brilliant but we thought he was spoilt and immature. Why she put up with him for so long I have no idea.'
'Is there anything else you can remember about the attacker?'
'He wasn't a fighter. I nearly managed to hold on to him despite being as weak as a three-year-old now. Five years ago, I'd have had him easily.'
'Thank you, Sir. Someone will come and take a formal statement from you tomorrow.'
'Understood.'
James took a step away but Mr Jackson pulled open the blanket draped around his shoulders and said,
'You might want to get someone to take my clothes, he bled on me.'
James looked at Mr Jackson's jacket and shirt and noticed two distinct areas of blood splotches.
'Is any of it yours, Sir.'
'No. All his and not just from where I shot him; I think Jean may have broken his nose.'
For a moment, James felt a flash of exultation; she had marked him and they had his DNA so once they'd caught him he wouldn't be able to wriggle out of it. The exultation died as quickly as it had arisen as the thought of Jean Innocent unconscious with unknown injuries brought the black anger rising up again. Unable to speak, he nodded curtly at Mr Jackson and strode off towards the house, pausing only to send a SOCO to collect Mr Jackson's clothes.

Robbie Lewis waited impatiently to be given the go ahead to go upstairs. There were scuff marks and blood droplets all the way up the stairs and it all had to be itemised and photographed before samples could be taken for analysis. Only after that, could they all troop up and down without contaminating the scene, even wearing the crime scene suits.
He had filled the time by checking the other rooms downstairs. The lounge had looked normal at first with files and Jean's laptop on the table in front of the sofa, but then Robbie had spotted the mobile phone on the floor and the overturned mug and the brown stain on the carpet. Glad he'd paused in the doorway, Robbie directed one of the SOCO's to the room, saying,
'We'll need her phone and laptop as soon as possible.'
'Yes, Sir.'
Robbie left the officer to do his job and carried on walking through the ground floor. The dining room was empty and clearly in the process of being painted with dustsheets covering the carpet and paint tins and rollers in the corner of the room. Wandering on, the only other items of interest that he'd found were the dishes on the draining board in the kitchen; there was only one of everything so whoever had done this hadn't been invited to dinner.
By the time Laura Hobson was beckoning him to come ahead, James had rejoined him and was filling him in on what Mr Jackson had said as they picked their way to the top of the stairs together. Once James had finished, Robbie said,
'Get Hooper to alert all the local hospitals and medical centres; he may be forced to get treatment.'
'Yes, Sir.'
James called DC Hooper then joined Robbie and Laura. Laura's face was pale and Robbie knew that she was struggling to maintain her professional demeanour. Laura and Jean had known each other for years and had recently become closer, partly due to Robbie's relationship with Laura. When they reached her, Laura said,
'This way.'
They followed her past more blood splotches into one of the bedrooms, stopping just inside the bedroom door. Laura let them look, merely warning them against touching the bed frame,
'It hasn't been fingerprinted yet.'
Robbie felt his gorge rising as he took in the ropes at each corner of the bed,
'She was tied down?'
'It looks like it, yes, and we think we've found what was used by her attacker.'
Laura handed Robbie an evidence bag containing a narrow leather belt. He grimaced and showed it to James, who said,
'How many years d'you think I'd get if I used it on him when we find him?'
'Too many,' said Robbie, 'Anything else, Doctor?'
'Yes…this.'
'This' was another evidence bag containing a soggy mass of material. Robbie looked at Laura questioningly and she said,
'I think it was used to gag her.'
'So she was tied down, gagged and beaten?' said James curtly.
'Her clothes were cut off her too,' said Laura quietly.
Robbie flinched and James stared into the middle distance trying to block out the images going through his mind. Laura put a hand on each of their arms and squeezed, saying,
'But then she escaped.'
'Impressive,' said Robbie, looking at the ropes on the bed again.
'So she ran towards the front door but he caught her,' said James.
'But just before he caught up, she threw something through the window knowing it would set off the silent alarm. So how did he get in?' asked Robbie.
'Either she let him in or he was lying in wait for her,' said James.
'Or he had a key and knew the alarm code,' pointed out Laura.
'Which brings us back to Mr Innocent,' said James.
'What did Mr Jackson say? Was it Innocent?' said Robbie.
'He wasn't sure. He thought probably not but admitted that he hasn't seen Mr Innocent for about three years.'
'Three years?'
'Apparently Mr Innocent's never here. Also, he and Chief Superintendent Innocent are getting divorced.'
'Are now divorced,' corrected Laura, 'Jean told me that the decree absolute came through last week.'
'I think we'd better have a word with Mr Innocent. Take a couple of uniforms and go and pick him up.'
'Yes, Sir,' said James with alacrity.
'And James,' and Robbie, 'I know you're angry but I don't want to find that Mr Innocent has come to any harm on his way to the station. Is that understood?'
'Yes, Sir. I wouldn't dream of it, Sir. That would be police brutality.'
'See you remember it.'
Robbie waited until James had left then asked,
'Was she raped?'
'I don't know, Robbie. I didn't examine her; I do dead people, remember? I can tell you that this was probably a sexually motivated attack though, and planned in advance.'
'Yes.'
'And not really typical of domestic violence.'
Robbie nodded acknowledgement and Laura continued,
'So I'd be slightly surprised if Simon Innocent is the culprit.'
'So would I but he's got to be ruled out and James needed to be doing something useful.'
'He's very angry.'
'Yes, well we all are.'
Laura put her arm around Robbie's waist and squeezed briefly, saying,
'You'll get him, Robbie.'
Robbie returned the hug for a moment before disengaging and saying,
'Has the rest of the upstairs been checked yet?'
'No. I'll let you know if we find anything else.'
'Thanks. I'll go to the hospital and see if there's any news.'
'If Jean's awake, give her my love.'
'Do you think she might be?'
'Impossible to tell without knowing what her injuries are, I'm afraid. See you later?'
'Yes, I don't know when though.'
Laura watched Robbie leaving, wishing that she could make him feel better. Looking bleakly at Jean Innocent's bedroom, she wished that there were a way to make herself feel better. Reminding herself that Jean was alive, Laura Hobson got back to work.