"Hannah, I've run Tommy Wilshaw through CRIMINT and it looks like he's got connections." Ollie informed her, perching on her desk and showing her the information he'd discovered. "He's clean, but his known associates include burglars, shoplifters, armed robbers… the list goes on…"
The Detective Sergeant raised an eyebrow and tapped at the monitor of her computer. "I had a look on the database myself and discovered that last week a similar robbery took place on an exclusive Travel Agents in Cardiff. The DI's on the phone with Cardiff Central CID at the moment finding out the details of their investigation to see if there might be a link."
"D'you think there is?"
"No idea… it's possible. The fact that Tommy Wilshaw told his wife he's on business in Cardiff is a bit of a coincidence otherwise." She sighed deeply and took a gulp of coffee. The last thing she wanted was a joint operation with Cardiff.
They glanced up quickly as the DI's office door opened and he poked his head out. Motioning for the pair to enter the room, he returned to his desk and waited until the door was closed before speaking.
"Right, before you leave for the night I thought I should fill you in. I've just spoken to DCI Price from Cardiff Central CID." He informed them. Hannah had to work hard to keep her face expressionless. "It appears that we could be looking at a connection between the robberies. The investigating officers at their end are coming down tomorrow to liaise and see if we can work this out between us."
"Great…" Hannah murmured wondering what she could possibly have done in a previous life to have so much going wrong at once. Maybe things had been going too well for too long and now the universe was reminding her that life was a bitch.
"Didn't you used to work there, Hannah?" Neil asked suddenly, remembering where the Detective Sergeant had transferred to Sun Hill from.
She nodded. "Yeah, for a while… two and a half years."
"You'll probably know the officers they're sending over, then; DI Owen Kelton and DS Vanessa Davies?"
If Hannah had thought things couldn't get much worse before she heard that information she'd been wrong.
Sensing that his superior's mood had just plummeted, Ollie caught her arm as they left the office and suggested they went for the drink he'd offered her the night before. She smiled weakly and shook her head.
"I'd better not. It's the first night Jo and I have had off together for about two weeks." She sighed. "It feels like about two years."
Nodding, he watched her gather her things and leave the office quickly.
x-x
She barely listened as Jo told her about the phone call she'd received from the fertility clinic about her next appointment. As the brunette moved to the calendar, flipping through the already crowded pages and talking through what they'd discussed, Hannah found herself tuning out and replaying the events of the last couple of days on a loop in her head.
Later, as Hannah's mobile vibrated against the table and she grabbed it quickly for the fifth time since they'd sat down in front of the television, Jo frowned. She watched wordlessly as the younger woman read the message and typed a short reply, before putting it down again.
"Anything interesting?" She asked casually, intrigued by the expression on her girlfriend's face that she couldn't read.
"No, nothing." Hannah replied at once. She smiled weakly. "So, you were saying something about Jen's dance class?"
Jo nodded and returned to the conversation they'd been having before the interruption, telling her girlfriend about the dance show the seventeen-year-old was involved in. Hannah barely listened, her mind flitting between the sender of the messages she'd been receiving all evening and the impending arrival of the Welsh detectives in the morning. Catching the end of the brunette's sentence, she blinked.
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Were you listening to anything I just said?" Jo demanded in annoyance.
"Of course! You were saying that Jen's dance class are doing a show in the summer." Hannah replied with a shrug.
"And after that?" The red-head hesitated, having no idea what else her girlfriend had been saying. "I didn't think so."
Picking up her glass of wine from the coffee table, Jo stalked out of the living room, slamming the door behind her. Hannah sighed and buried her head in her hands as she heard the woman stamping up the stairs. A second or two later the bedroom door slammed. Still with her head in her hands, the red-head leant back on the sofa as her mobile vibrated again. Snatching it up, she read the message.
'Please, Hannah. I just want to make things right. Mum x'
Wondering why Sharon wasn't getting the message, Hannah deleted the text just as she had with the previous five, this time without replying. She sighed loudly. It was at times like these that she missed having her sister and eldest daughter around. Freya and Ellie always knew what to say; even if it wasn't what Hannah wanted to hear. They would no doubt have told her to go and apologise to Jo; told her to tell her girlfriend what was going on in her head. But she couldn't. She couldn't even speak to her daughter about things at the moment.
Picking up her mobile again, she dialled Sam's number, hoping that her friend wasn't at work. After a couple of rings, the call was answered and Hannah heard the older woman's husky tones in her ear.
"Sam… I know it's late, but d'you fancy a drink?" She asked, glancing at the time and realising that she should probably be going to bed, not the pub.
"Isn't this the first night you and Jo have had off together in ages?" Sam asked. When Hannah didn't answer she sighed. "Have you had a row?"
"All my fault, I assure you." The younger woman agreed. "But… I need… I can't talk to Jo about…"
At once her friend sounded concerned. "What is it, love?"
"I just… Can I come over?"
When Sam agreed, Hannah scribbled a note to whoever was bothered to let them know that she'd popped out and picked up her keys. Within ten minutes she was knocking on her friend's front door and found herself being pulled into a tight hug. Sam steered her onto the sofa and handed her a mug of tea, knowing that alcohol and coffee were probably not a good idea in the state she was obviously in. By the looks of it, though, Hannah was already well over the limit to drive. Sam frowned at the woman's stupidity but said nothing, knowing it would do no good at the moment.
"Come on then, what's happened?" She prompted gently.
"My life is about to implode and there's nothing I can do about it."
The blonde frowned. "What are you on about?" As Hannah started babbling about Jo and work and, to Sam's confusion, her mother, the older woman just sat and listened. When she burst into tears, Sam wrapped an arm around her, rocking her gently and stroking her hair. "D'you wanna go through all that at a speed and volume I can understand?"
"My Mum's back."
Sam frowned even more deeply. "I thought your Mum was dead?"
"So did I; I thought she died five years ago." Hannah replied, burying her head in her hands. "But she turned up at the station on Monday and she's definitely alive."
"Jesus… what did Max say? Or Ellie?" She paused as Hannah avoided her eyes. "You haven't told them? Have you told Jo?"
"No…"
"Han!"
"What am I supposed to say?"
"How about, 'My Mum isn't actually dead and she's come to visit?'" Sam suggested, raising an eyebrow. "She is Max and Freya's Mum and the kids' grandmother."
The red-head growled irritably. "But she'll just screw them up, Sam. She'll ruin everything."
"How do you know that? Is she still on the heroin?"
"No…" Hannah admitted reluctantly. "She actually looks really good… I almost didn't recognise her at first. Apparently she's been clean for a couple of years and she's married and has another son. But that still doesn't mean she has the right to expect anything… she waltzed out of our lives sixteen years ago and we've had pretty much no contact since."
"I understand that. But if she's here and she's sorted herself out… maybe she really wants to make it up to you? You know what it's like being a mother; whatever happens they're still your kids."
"She can't expect me to pretend that nothing's happened. I'm thirty-five-years-old and I have no happy memories of her and Pete. None at all." Hannah ranted. She stood and made her way into Sam's kitchen. The blonde sighed as her friend hunted through the cupboards, returning with a bottle of vodka and two glasses. She shook her head as Hannah offered her one of the drinks and sighed as she shrugged and downed both. "I know what she'll do; she'll turn Jo against me and she's already going off me. And she'll turn the kids against me. Then there's bloody Vanessa from Cardiff arriving tomorrow and–"
"Hang on!" Sam held up her hands quickly. "What d'you mean Jo's already going off you?"
Hannah shrugged. "There's this new PC… Francesca Monroe… she's all over Jo. I saw them a couple of times today and… I just seem to keep pissing her off all the time. I wouldn't blame her…" She drank more of the vodka and knocked Sam's hands away as they tried to move the bottle, hugging it possessively. "She deserves so much better. So do the kids. I'm just a screw up."
"Han…"
"No, Sam. It's true. Tomorrow everyone's going to find out what I'm really like and then I'm screwed. I'll lose Jo, I'll lose the kids and I'll probably lose my job."
The blonde's eyes widened in horror, wondering what on earth her friend was talking about. "What have you done?"