John tightened the handcuffs on her and she snorted, "The next time we have this conversation and these are involved, I do hope you mean to let me put the restraints on you."
"Because this is a discussion we should have at this moment."
"It was the deal we made when you shook my hand across that table."
"Oh that was the deal we made?" John scoffed, "I thought the deal we made was that nary the twain shall meet."
"It's up to you, Mr. Bates."
He shook his head, "Are you always this theatrical?"
"I'm watched all the time. I don't have the leisure of being anything but forward."
"And that's wise?"
"It is when you're not an idiot and I'm not an idiot." Ms. Smith held her arms forward, "At your leisure, Mr. Bates."
He grunted, taking hold of her shoulder to walk her out of the pub. The bartender stopped her work for a moment but Ms. Smith held her head high. John opened the back door of the car, ignoring Talbot turning almost all the way over the seat to stare at Ms. Smith in the back.
She smiled at him, holding up her handcuffed hands. "Yes, Mr. Talbot, he got me to confess."
"John?" Talbot almost leaned out of the car to talk to John as he closed the door. "What's going on John?"
"She's going to give us what we need to take down the Turkish." John walked in front of the car, taking his seat and holding up a hand to stop Talbot talking. "Don't talk to me, just drive."
Talbot scowled, turning the wheel to pull them into traffic. John leaned his arm on the window, brushing back and forth in his hair with a ferocity that risked pulling out clumps. All the while Ms. Smith stayed in the back seat, humming to herself.
"Could you not?" John turned to her, "It's better if it's quiet."
"Better for whom?" She pointed between the two of them, her handcuffs jangling slightly on her wrists. "You two need something to cut the tension here."
"You're not helping."
"I thought the whole arrangement here was because I was helping."
"Not right now." John bit out, shaking his head as Talbot ground his teeth. "What? This is what you wanted."
"I wanted her in the crosshairs or leaving us alone. Not in the back of my car where anyone could see her."
"Where else do we put her? The boot?"
"Fine by me." Talbot made a face.
"Not by me."
"No one asked you, Ms. Smith." Talbot looked at her in the mirror, "And how'd you know what car I drive?"
"I've a motorhead working for me and he saw it as his pleasure to follow your car, Mr. Talbot."
"You tell him, next time you see him, he can follow me right me to the police station next time and I'll give him a nice view of where I keep people who follow me." Talbot hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand, "You just had to go and talk to her."
"I thought Mr. Bates provided very stimulating conversation."
"I'm sure that's what he provided." Talbot glared at John, "What other services might Mr. Bates have provided you?"
"Hey, I didn't do anything." John pointed at him, "Don't you dare suggest I did anything improper."
"You sodding went back to talk to her mate. After hours without me. What else am I supposed to think happened on the same night she's got people scoping London for my car?"
"Please Mr. Talbot, if I had seduced Mr. Bates you'd know."
"I don't need your approval on whether or not I know if my partner got his leg over."
"Excuse you!"
"No, John, excuse you." Talbot returned his furious gaze to the road, "When we get back to the office I'm requesting immediate reassignment. You're off your game old man."
"Go ahead and try to find a partner who'll take your maniac driving and your record."
"Watch it Bates."
"Who's going to make me?"
"I will if you don't clamp your jaw."
"I'd love to see you try." John fired back. "You couldn't take me on your best day."
"I could lay you out on the roadway without a second thought."
"Get your head out of your ass Henry."
"Gentlemen I think-"
"Shut it!" They both shouted Ms. Smith down before scowling at the road.
Talbot parked in the lot, pulling barely in the constraints of the lines, and slamming his door with unnecessary force. John rolled his eyes, pulling Ms. Smith from the back of the car by her elbow, and leading her inside with Talbot spitting behind him. They exchanged another round of glares before heading inside.
Robert noticed them, his jaw dropping in time with his recognition and Mary's raised eyebrows. John marched Ms. Smith along the hallway to one of the interrogation rooms, sitting her in the chair and unlocking the cuffs from her wrist to tuck them back into his pocket. She massaged the slightly chaffed skin and smiled at him.
"That face your boss made. Does his jaw always drop like that?"
"Don't speak unless someone asks you a question." John shook his head, "This is idiotic."
"We make the decisions that lead us where we want to go."
"And you want to go to prison?"
Ms. Smith snorted, "I'm not going to prison, Mr. Bates. People like me don't go to prison."
"Why not?"
"Because we're more dangerous inside than on a leash." She nodded at him, "You'd do well inside. Probably run the place or at least make them all scared of you."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. Three years and one death and they'd be tripping over themselves to stay out of your way."
Before John could respond the door opened and Robert entered. He could not even manage words, only point at Ms. Smith. John nodded and shrugged, stepping out of the way as the door opened again, Mary entering with a stack of files in her arms.
"The notorious Ms. Anna Smith."
"I'm flattered I found anyone's notice." She shifted in the chair, "But I think I got on the wrong radars and I'm here to set things straight."
"Are you?" Robert finally found his voice, taking the seat across from Ms. Smith. "And why should we believe you?"
"As I explained to your DI there, I was forced to work in the business I now occupy."
"By whom?"
"That's not how this goes." Ms. Smith held up a finger, "I promise you that I can give you everything you need to get rid of the Turkish, for good, and you promise me something in return."
"What's that Ms. Smith?"
"Immunity." She waited through Robert's laugh. "You joke but I'm very serious Chief Crawley. I won't risk my life, my limbs, or my business without a guarantee that you'll leave me be after I give you enough to bury them."
"You don't have that."
"Then you underestimate what a business woman can do when backed into a corner." She smiled, "I keep very meticulous records."
"Why?"
"After Kemal Pamuk died in the Grantham Hotel last year a friend of mine called me."
"Was this before or after it hit the news?" Mary kept her pen handy, taking notes in shorthand on a pad.
"Before but even if it had I wouldn't have known Mr. Pamuk from Adam then." Ms. Smith held herself high in the chair. "My friend only told me they needed help cleaning something. What I didn't expect was a crime scene."
"You cleaned the scene?"
"When there's a gun to your head, Chief Crawley you do little else."
"They held a gun to your head?" Mary stopped, humming a bit in approval, "They meant business then."
"Guns usually do." Ms. Smith waited a moment, "After that I couldn't escape their clutches. Between verbal threats and the physical ones it was all I could do not to drown in the requests."
"Which were?"
"No."
'No?" Robert turned to John, who could only shrug and shake his head. "No what, Ms. Smith?"
"There's nothing else for you until I get my deal in return."
"You want us to ignore your involvement in numerous criminal activities?"
"I want you to acknowledge that I made decisions under duress and therefore can't be held accountable for them. Moreover, realize that without what I can give you you'll never get the Turkish the way you want to. They'll just crawl right back into their spot and you won't be able to stop them." Ms. Smith sat back, "It's up to you."
"You can't be serious."
"As the grave, Chief Crawley."
"Bates," Robert flailed a hand at him, "You can't honestly tell me you believe her in all this."
"At this point, sir, we don't have a choice." John dropped his arms from their folded position over his chest, "Give her the deal and give the Super the Turkish like she wants."
"And let this one go scot free?"
"We've got nothing on her. With the Turkish gone she's nothing but a pub owner." John walked to the door, opening it. "She's nothing to us in the long run."
He walked out into the hall, leaning on the wall. Closing his eyes he leaned his head back, trying to think through what just happened. Someone cleared their throat near him and John opened his eyes to see Talbot standing there.
Both of them shuffled sheepishly a moment before Talbot stuck out his hand. "I'm sorry mate. I made some accusations I know can't be true. You'd never betray us and whatever you did it was for the good of this investigation"
John waited a beat before taking Talbot's hand, almost hating himself for it. "You were right to be suspicious. It's what makes you a good officer. One of the best I've ever trained or worked with."
"Better than the Chief?"
"Don't push it." John released Talbot's hand, jerking his head toward the interrogation room, "What do you really make of her?"
"She's smart. Almost too intelligent for her own good. If anything she'll probably trip herself up sometime in her own machinations."
"You think so?"
"We know she's got someone working for her here but that'll get her nabbed later." Talbot shrugged and John shook off the chill that ran down his spine. "In the end, everyone always gives over to self-preservation."
"That's what gets them to confess in there."
"That's right. They always confess in the end." John waved Talbot off, "Start on the report and I'll buy you a drink later."
"We have to buy the first round if the case is officially closed after today." Talbot laughed to himself, walking backwards away from John, "But you know, two cases closed in three days has to be a record."
"Not yet." John sighed to himself as Talbot went back to their desks. "Not yet."
"Not yet what?" John slipped on the wall in his hurry to pivot and face Mary. "Careful there Bates of you won't get your commendation."
"Commendation?"
"You just brought in the key witness to ruin the Turkish mafia in this country." Mary smiled at him, "That's impressive and the Chief'll say so to you when he's done in there."
"Then you should congratulate Talbot with something. He could use a little⦠appreciation from you."
Mary leveled a finger at John, "Say something like that to me again, John Bates, and I'll kick your ass so hard I'll have to wait a moment before I can finish handing it to you."
"I thought it was Talbot's ass you wanted."
Mary scowled, "Don't test me."
John held up his hands, "I won't. I'm not that stupid."
"Could've fooled me."
John snorted to himself but stood at attention as the door opened. Robert emerged and nodded at Mary. She hurried away while Robert waved John to his side. "Stay with her for now. We're getting the video camera to take the remainder of her statement."
"The room's not recorded?"
"Technical overhaul." Robert grunted, "Budget cuts for personnel but no end of funding for the people who want peephole cameras in every loo to watch you shit."
"It's the future sir."
"It's the bloody apocalypse." Robert rubbed a hand in his hair. "She drives a hard bargain but once we get the camera in there I'll send you and Talbot to verify her records and her story."
"Yes sir."
Robert jerked his thumb toward the room, "Get in there before she thinks she can walk out of here."
John entered the room again, taking Robert's vacated seat, and tried to hold Ms. Smith's gaze. She smiled at him, interlacing her fingers on the top of the table. "I told you it'd work."
"Careful what you say in here."
"Why? They have to get a video camera for me which means what we say, right now, is for our ears only." Ms. Smith ran her tongue over her teeth. "You don't seem very pleased."
"I was just reminded in the corridor that you already have mole here and that I made a deal to get myself out of a divorce that might've sold out everyone in that room so no, I'm not overly pleased."
"Give me some credit John." His eyebrows shot up and she laughed, "We're in a relationship now, Mr. Bates. I won't waste time pretending we're not and neither should you so, for now on, we're on a first name basis."
"Is that what happens when I make a deal with the devil?"
"I'm flattered you think that highly of me but no, this is what happens when we listen to the devils of our natures for our gains."
"Then, Anna, where do we go from here?"
"I'm going home, after this interview, and once you get the divorce you sold your soul for you'll join me there."
"Will I now?" John tried to restrain his bitter laugh, "I told you, I'm not the one-night stand type."
"Who said anything about just one night?"
"I'm not for sale."
"The deal we shook on at the table in my pub would say differently." Anna leaned back, "What you've done, what we've both done, is for our mutual interests."
"And when it's not?"
"Then we reassess. You were in the Army, weren't you? Didn't you have to reassess whenever everything went tits up?"
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."
"There you go then," Her teeth were visible as her lips pulled back to smile. "We'll work our way through this."
"I won't sell them out."
"You already did."
John bit down hard on his jaw, "I won't work for you if you've already got someone here."
"I don't have a person here, John, I've got a man who wormed into your shitty system and we worked from the data." Anna tapped the table, "Remember, I'm very good with meticulous record keeping."
"I'm just a record now?"
"I'm hoping you break a few records for me."
"As your sex toy?"
"As my partner, John." Anna opened her hands to the room around them. "As patriotic as you are, as loyal, I'm sure you've looked at your tiny flat, your cramped desk, and your too-old car and wondered why you settled for all that."
"I don't need more than that."
"But you want more than that." She leaned over the table, "Be honest, the real reason you shook my hand at the pub is the same reason you'll shake my hand now."
"And why's that?"
"Because you're curious about the city that I see. You want to see it too because you're tired of the city you see." Anna extended her hand, "I can show you a new world, John."
He stared at her hand a second before standing up from the table. "I don't want your world."
"I didn't say 'my world' I said a 'new world'."
"What's the difference?"
"This one we make together. In our image." Anna clicked her tongue against her teeth, "Don't you want to see what that would be?"
John shook his head, "You really are the devil with all your deals and your temptations."
"Don't you want to dance with the devil, John?"
"I didn't before."
"And now?"
John took her hand, "Let's dance."
Her grin revealed all her teeth, her canines flashing. "We will."
