Chapter Seven – Road Trip?
Should your drama prove sincere
Do it somewhere far away from here.
Diane struggled for a second against the restraining hand until she recognised the faint perfume and a voice breathed in her ear. "Relax, it's me."
"Jeez, Nikki, don't do that to me." Diane whispered as Nikki moved her hand, feeling an increase in her heart rate that was only partially to do with adrenaline.
"Sorry."
"Where's Benny?"
"Cuffed him to a drain grate and told him to keep quiet. He didn't—" Nikki fell silent as the woman's screaming – which had been covering the officers' whispered conversation – stopped, and Leo's yelling took its place.
"My god, Nox what have you done! That was my wife, you bastard! Where's my son?!" He made a lunge at the arms dealer, but the bodyguard seized the front of his jacket and slammed the unfortunate Leo against the wall before he made contact. Leo continued to yell at Nox, until the diminutive man lost his patience.
From a holster under his jacket, Nox extracted a handgun. In one fluid movement, he brought it up, aimed, and fired. The bullet lodged in the wall three inches from Leo's head, causing the terrified man to fall silent and, if possible, turn paler.
"That is better. Your son was left where he was found, Mr Sams. Your wife will be taken care of, and will remain under my protection as long as you co-operate. Do we have a deal?"
"Please, just let her go, I'll— I'll do whatever you want, I swear. Just please, don't hurt her."
"I knew you would come around, Mr Sams. My men will contact you in a few weeks. You will speak to no one else of this meeting. It will be a pleasure doing business with you." Nox nodded to his bodyguard, who promptly dropped the distraught man. The three arms dealers climbed into the car, and the two sergeants ducked down as it drove away, leaving Leo as a quivering lump on the floor.
After waiting a moment to be sure the others were gone, Diane and Nikki stood and approached the man, who was curled up in a semi-foetal position, muttering to himself and sobbing. As they drew closer and knelt down beside him, they made out what he was saying.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, please, no. What'll I do, god, help me, no, no, no…"
"Sir?" Diane laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sir, I'm Sergeant Noble…"
His head shot up, and he grabbed her hand. "Police? You gotta help me! They took my wife! You have to help me, please! I can't do what he wants, you have to help me, he's gunna kill her! My god…"
"It's okay, sir, just try and relax. We're gunna help you." She looked across at Nikki. "We're gunna need CID. And a CSE to retrieve that bullet."
Nikki nodded. "I'll go get Benny, then go find somewhere I can radio from. Will you be alright with him?"
Diane looked down at Leo Sams, who was once again curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth. "I think I'll be okay."
***
Back at Sun Hill, Diane had taken Leo to the soft interview room while they waited for someone from CID. He was still agitated, and paced restlessly around the room, ignoring Diane's repeated suggestions that he sit down. He would fire questions at the sergeant at random intervals, and she did her best to reassure him.
"What about my son? I have to make sure he's safe." He started for the door, but Diane stopped him.
"We've sent a car to get him, Mr Sams, he'll be here soon. You need to calm down." She guided him to the sofa and sat down next to him.
He sat, grudgingly, and dropped his head into his hands. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "My name's not Leo Sams anymore." He looked up, and upon seeing Diane's questioning look, elaborated. "That was my name before. I changed it after I got outta prison the second time and found out my wife'd had our son. I didn't want that life anymore. I'm called Marcus Stewart now."
"I see." Anything the sergeant might have been about to add was cut off as the door opened to admit Stevie and Terry. Diane explained what Marcus had just told her, and both detectives nodded before taking a seat on the opposite sofa. Stevie spoke first.
"Right, Mr Sa—Stewart," she corrected herself. "Why do you think this Nox guy kidnapped your wife?"
"I used to be a smuggler; I brought goods in from the continent. But like I told her," he nodded towards Diane, "once my kid was born, I didn't want to be part of that world anymore. We moved, changed our names, started over."
"What's this got to do with Nox?"
"He wants me to help him bring stuff over. I told him I don't do that no more, but he won't listen. He started by sending his people to harass me, and when that didn't work he trashed my car. He took Helen as a final warning."
Terry frowned. "You didn't report any of this to the police?"
Marcus looked at him like he was insane. "What, and add another reason for him to come after me? No way in hell."
"Do you know what he wanted to bring into the UK?"
"He didn't say. Listen, you have to help me. There's no way I can do what he wants! And if I don't, he'll kill her."
"Would you be willing to identify him?" Stevie asked.
Marcus shook his head violently. "No way, if he finds out, I'm toast. He'll do much worse than kill my wife if he finds out I grassed on him. I'm only here now because you're my last hope."
There was a knock on the door, and a uniform pushed it open. A young boy of about eight pushed past him into the room with a cry of "Dad!". Marcus stood to embrace his son, and the three officers moved away.
"We'll give you some time with your son, Mr Stewart. Thanks for your help." The three of them left the room, and Diane motioned for the PC who'd brought the boy to stay and keep an eye on the boy and his father.
As she made to follow the detectives up to the incident room, Millie caught up to her. "Sarge, just thought you'd like to know Benny Baker's been bailed. We're waiting for the CPS to decide if the information he gave you is enough to let him off with a caution."
Diane thanked her before making her way to the incident room, making a mental note to check on Benny the first chance she got.
***
As Terry was updating the whiteboard and Stevie was filling Nikki in on the developments, DI Manson swept into the room. "How's it going so far?"
"We've got nothing, Guv. Sa—Stewart's refusing to identify this Nox guy, and Sergeant Wright couldn't find him on the database."
"I might have something. Going on what Diane said about the bigger guy's accent, I called a friend of mine in Manchester, DS Morris. He was very excited when I told him two of our officers had seen Nox. Apparently they've been after him for months, but they've never been able to get a positive ID on the guy. Morris has requested we send some of our officers to aid in the investigation, so Stevie, I'm sending you as well as Smithy, Nikki and Diane. You're leaving first thing tomorrow."
"Why us, Guv? I mean, Inspector Weston isn't gunna be happy that you're pinching three of her sergeants." Diane pointed out, stealing a glance at Nikki to see her reaction. He face was unreadable.
"I've cleared it with Rachel. Smithy, because his weapons expertise has helped before, you and Nikki because you're apparently the only living people willing to identify this guy, and Stevie because someone from CID should be going."
"Sir, I've got four kids at home. Can't they go without me?" Nikki sounded sincere, but Diane's suspicions were ignited at her lack of response to the DI's answer.
"I'm sorry Nikki, Morris specifically asked for both witnesses. Two is better than one, I guess." Nikki merely nodded, looking unhappy. Diane knew, though, that if Nikki had really not wanted to go, she would've put up more of a fight.
"How are we getting there, Guv?"
"You'll come in early tomorrow and take one of the pool cars. You can leave your personal cars in the yard. You'll probably be there a few days, so pack a bag."
***
"Doug's really not gunna like this…" Nikki muttered to herself as she and Diane followed Manson from the incident room, leaving Terry moaning about Stevie getting a holiday and leaving him stuck with all the paperwork. That awkwardness between the two sergeants had all but vanished since they'd left the car park with Benny, which Diane was taking as a good sign.
"It's the job, right? Surely he knows that."
"Doesn't mean he's not gunna be annoyed at me." They'd reached the sergeants' office. Diane glanced in and groaned at the pile of papers resting in her in-tray. "Been neglecting our paperwork, have we?" Nikki questioned with a smile.
"A bit." The other sergeant admitted with a sheepish grin of her own. "D'you reckon if I ignore it, it'll go away?"
Nikki just kept grinning at her, then patted her consolingly on the shoulder. "Enjoy. I'm going home."
"Night, Nikki." Diane watched the other sergeant retreat down the corridor before sighing and making her way over to her desk.
Ten minutes and exactly two pages later, Diane realised that she'd read the same sentence six times and had absolutely no idea what it said. Taking that as a sign that there was no way she'd get any of the reports done that night, she gave up. After strategically rearranging some of them, she left the office and headed to the locker room.
AN: Woo, so we were back in Sun Hill a grand total of two chapters and I got bored. That's my attention span for you, so off to Manchester we go.