CHAPTER SEVEN

Strickland's POV

He's sat in the interview room, 'what am I doing here?' he asks himself privately as Sandra and Gerry sit down,

'Come on then, spill the beans' she tells him rather snappily,

'What?'

'Your niece has told us that you pulled some strings to get Hanson out on Licence,'

'What niece?'

'Eleanor'

'And how would you know her,'

'She's working at my Mum's home Bob,'

Strickland sighs,

'I only got Hanson released to try and show to Ellie that he's not worth her time,' he explains to the two unconvinced faces on the other side of the interview table,

'But why then did you tell us that it was a HRC job which got him out?'

'And' Gerry says standing up, 'why did you give DS Pullman an order to arrest me?'

He looks at Sandra, 'you told him?'

'Well, I can hardly arrest him telepathically' she retorts,

'So then, what are you going to tell us?' Gerry peers over at him, with a face growing more and more with Thunder.

Gerry's POV

'Well do you believe him?' He asks Sandra as he makes a cup of tea, Brian's still at the Hospital with Esther and Jack's gone to look at the houses, to see whether they can gather anything extra,

'Well, its damn irresponsible for him to get Hanson out in the first place, so why not try and put things right.' Sandra replies,

'But was that the only reason why he got Hanson recalled? I mean Sandra he didn't tell us who'd done those attacks on Emily and Esther,'

'That could purely fit in with what he's saying'

'You mean what?'

'Well Eleanor didn't give the impression that Strickland wants her to be with Hanson, so what he could be saying about him disapproving of her relationship with him could well be actually true,'

'About grassing on him to get him sent straight back'

'The thing with that though is for all his testimony about wanting to ensure that Hanson went back inside as soon as, it doesn't label Hanson to the crime,'

'But the car does,'

'Only his name,' Gerry says, 'doesn't mean he was driving it,'

'So you don't think it was Hanson'

He nods, 'I do but we need whoever's done this needs to make a mistake, none of what we have as concrete so far can be use against Hanson'

Sandra nods in agreement, 'it's flimsy at best, we need to see what Hanson has to say, see whether we can get him to cooperate.'

'Fat chance, 'specially if Bob's done him up the creek.

Hanson's POV

He's sat with all the other prisoners, peed off, Strickland did him for a fool, only he could have set something like this up to get him back in there. But when he gets out, whether Strickers likes lit or not, he's going to be around, and probably looking forward to a second

'Oh Christ, what the hell do you want?' he asks as his two uninvited guests as they sit down,

'Firstly that's no way to speak to someone who might be able to help you get something back at Bob Strickland,' Gerry says,

'What?'

'Charges are being considered against DAC Strickland for what he did to get your licence revoked, but,'

'But what?'

'We need you to cooperate with us first,'

'How?' he shouts, before he realises that Jack's missing, 'where's Halford, finally snuffed it has he?'

'He's waiting to speak to you outside now' Sandra fibs, 'Mary asks about you all the time' Standing continues,

'Well don't tell him to come in'

'We wont, if you help us'

Hanson's for once impressed with UCOS.

'What do you want then?' he asks,

'Emily Driscoll and Esther Lane, two members of the families of the UCOS team have been attacked recently, know anything about them?' Sandra asks

'Nope?'

'Then why on earth was your car pulled away from the crash site,'

'I was only out a month,

'Well these attacks were two or three days ago'

'I don't know, I spent all the time at home, part of the Licence, basically a house arrest,'

'Why should I believe you?'

'What do I get lying from lying to you'

'Ricky, we've seen that side already' Gerry says, 'don't push it on that one, you got your freedom last time.'

'Well, I'm telling you that I know sod all, and that's the truth.'

'Anyway, we're going, we'll be back,'

'Tell him to croak it will you,'

'Still, Ricky, nice to know you've got a loyal bird on your arm'

For once, Gerry can see Ricky Hanson, genuinely puzzled.