Series 23, Episode 26: Exit Wound

Date: Friday 16th November 2007

Investigating Officers: DC Terry Perkins, DC Joanne Masters, DC Hannah McKay

"Ellie, I can't help it." Hannah sighed as her daughter made a loud sound of annoyance down the phone. "I'm working late tonight so that I can have tomorrow off for Freya's birthday."

"But Mum! Sasha's dad said he'd pick us up and drop us home after the film finishes." Ellie argued. "You don't have to do anything!"

"But who's going to watch the others?"

"What about Jasmine?"

Exhaling irritably, the detective gritted her teeth. "If, and I mean if, I have time to ask Jasmine whether she can babysit tonight I will let you know what she says. She might not be free, Ellie, so don't get your hopes up."

"But we really want to see the film!"

"What is it?"

"Dan in Real Life."

Hannah shrugged. "Never heard of it."

"Mum!"

Looking around the office in exasperation, the red-head spotted Stuart pushing open the double doors and glancing around. His gaze locked on her and he headed in her direction. "Look, babe, if you can't go tonight I will take you tomorrow, alright? You and Freya can go and see it and I'll take the others to watch Bee Movie." When Ellie started complaining again, Hannah cut across her firmly. "I have to go, I'm at work. I'll speak to you later."

"Hannah?"

"Sarge." The woman turned on her chair to face him. "What's up?"

"Jo and Terry are investigating an assault down in Bedow Woods. They've just phoned to see if we can get a recording of the 999 call, but I'm heading out to speak to an informant." He told her, grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair. "Can you handle it? Thanks."

Not giving her time to reply, the Sergeant was gone. Hannah growled at the doors that were swinging backwards and forwards after his departure, before getting up and going to track down a copy of the call.

But the time she returned the DI was leading Jo and Terry over to her desk. "Stuart said he'd asked you to get a recording of the 999 call about the assault in Bedow Woods?"

"Yes, Guv." Hannah agreed. "Listen."

"You'd better get here quick. A bloke's been beaten up in Bedow Woods car park."

"Can you slow down please, sir? Please repeat the details so I can take them down."

"In Bedow Woods, near the car park, there's a man injured."

"Which borough are you in, sir? Can you tell me the nature of the man's injuries?"

Hannah pressed the stop button and turned to look at them. They frowned at her for a moment until she shrugged.

"Is that it?" Terry asked.

She nodded. "Yup, that's it."

"Play it again, louder." Jo requested. "Can you just keep it down a minute? Sorry."

Hannah rewound the tape, playing it again as the brunette had asked. They all listened carefully. This time a child's voice was clearly audible on the recording. Furrowing her eyebrows, the red-head looked at Terry as he exclaimed at the sound.

"That's Leah! She must have been close by. The witness must have seen her. Who leaves a kid alone in the woods?"

"Well she ran off, didn't she?" Neil pointed out. "I don't expect she'd have gone off with anyone after the trauma of seeing her dad beaten up."

"Wait… there was a little girl involved?" Hannah asked, looking between the other detectives.

Jo nodded thoughtfully. "Mmm, the victim's daughter."

"Hannah, can you run a trace on the mobile?" Terry asked.

"I've already done it." She replied. "They're pretty backed up over there, but they promised to get back to me with a name and address as soon as possible."

"I think we should look at Simon Preston, Guv." DC Perkins suggested. "He's got financial difficulties. His attacker knew him. This could be about money."

Neil nodded. "Run his name through CRIMINT, see if he's got any form. I'll organise a financial check on him."

When the two men had left, Hannah narrowed her eyes, watching Jo carefully. "You don't think it's that simple, do you?"

Jo shrugged. "I'm not sure yet."

"What about the little girl? Is she alright?"

"Yeah, a bit shaken up, but she wasn't harmed."

"Well that's something."

Jo pointed at her suddenly. "Can you do something for me?"

"Depends what it is."

"Can you…" She shook her head, suddenly changing her mind. "Actually no, forget it."

"What?"

"I said forget it, alright."

Hannah rolled her eyes at the other woman's tone, turning back to her computer. "Bloody hell… take a couple of happy pills or drink less coffee or something."

She didn't need to turn around to know that Jo was glaring at the back of her head. She was also sure that the woman was sending a stream of silent swearwords in her direction. After their conversation while cleaning up the wounds Hannah had received after arresting Andy Trent on the Holbrook Estate, things had calmed down for a while between the two detectives. Several days earlier, when Hannah had gone AWOL to attend Theo's parents' evening without mentioning anything to Jo who was partnering her on a theft case, the hostility between them had returned and seemed to be refusing to leave.

While she was waiting to hear back from TIU about the trace on the mobile used to make the emergency call, Hannah ran the name of the victim though CRIMINT, not coming up with anything other than an unpaid parking fine. When the call came through with the information she needed, the DC poked her head around Neil's door and he instructed her to go to the address given.

"TIU got back to me." Hannah informed Terry and Jo as they passed her on the stairs. "The mobile used to make the call is registered to Lucy Sutherland."

"But the voice in the 999 call is male, right?"

Hannah nodded. "Yeah, but it could have been her boyfriend borrowing the phone. I'm gonna go and check it out, anyway."

"Were you going to tell us if we hadn't been passing?" Jo demanded, looking irritated. The younger woman guessed it was because she'd come up with a lead and Jo hadn't yet.

"The DI told me to go." Hannah informed her, slightly smugly. "If you've got a problem, take it up with him. I'm just following orders."

She turned on her heels and smirked as she head Jo stamping up the steps to CID. Pushing open the doors that led outside, Hannah allowed the smirk to develop into a grin. She loved pushing Jo's buttons and getting a reaction out of her. It was like some kind of game between them; with both detectives trying to come out on top. When Hannah was winning she loved it; when Jo was winning it drove Hannah insane.

Drawing up outside a small, terraced house on the other side of Canley, Hannah climbed out of the pool car and doubled checked the house number. Ringing the bell, she waited until a shadow appeared on the other side of the glass and the latch was twisted.

Flashing her badge, she smiled. "Lucy Sutherland? I'm DC McKay, Sun Hill. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if that's OK?"

The woman looked around nervously, before inviting her inside. "What's this about?"

"We've traced the mobile used to make an emergency call about a particularly nasty assault in Bedow Woods to you."

"You've what?"

"Is your mobile number 07463827009?"

"Yes, it is, but I didn't make any call to 999."

"Were you near Bedow Woods this morning, Ms Sutherland?"

She shook her head. "No, I was at work. I'm a nurse at St Hugh's. But I haven't seen my mobile since last week. I had a few friends round for a couple of drinks and it vanished."

"Really." Hannah looked unconvinced.

Lucy sighed and nodded. "I know it sounds weird. One of my brother's friends, Freddie Patterson, has just got out of prison. I was too embarrassed to accuse him of stealing it, but I'm pretty sure it was him."

"OK." The detective smiled, reading the woman carefully and deciding that she was probably telling the truth. "Thanks for your help."

As soon as she got back to the station, Hannah ran Freddie Patterson's name through CRIMINT. She was pretty sure she'd heard of him, but couldn't quite remember where from. The information that came back jogged her memory and she decided that they now had a very likely suspect.

"Terry?" She called, as he and Jo entered CID. With a nod, he headed over, Jo following behind him. "The mobile does belong to Lucy Sutherland, but she was at work this morning. However, she claims that she hasn't seen her mobile since she had some friends over last week."

"Yeah right." Terry snorted cynically.

"That was my reaction." Hannah agreed. "But I think she was genuine. She gave me the name of the person she thinks took it; Freddie Patterson."

"Freddie Patterson?" The man glanced between the female detectives as though he was trying to drag something out of his memories.

"Lucy was too embarrassed to accuse him, because Freddie has just been released from Shadwell. He used to run protection rackets on Canley High Street and he's also been involved in a couple of armed robberies." She told them. "He's out on licence and staying in Claydon Street bail hostel."

"Right, let's pick him up and see if we can reward his good deed, shall we?" Jo asked, not looking remotely happy.

"D'you know who you're looking for?" Hannah asked. They both shook their heads. The brunette DC looked as though she was irritated, guessing that there was something else. "Look at this."

"Brown hair, white…" Terry looked confused.

"Yeah, he's also 6"1'."

"OK… tall, brown hair, white." The man shrugged. "Could be anyone."

Jo, however, seemed to get what Hannah was hinting at. "That's the description that Leah Preston gave us."

"Yeah… of the guy that attacked her father, not the witness."

"Come on, Terry…" Hannah rolled her eyes.

"How many six foot, brown haired guys were in Bedow Woods this morning?" Jo asked him, smirking slightly.

The penny seemed to drop and Terry pointed between the women in sudden understanding. "Let's go and pick him up."

Forgetting their animosity for a moment, the two female DCs grinned at one another, before Hannah followed Terry out of CID and Jo returned to her desk.

"That's him." Hannah murmured, nodding her head towards the man who had just strolled across the street in front of their car. Terry nodded and opened his door, causing the red-head to do the same.

"Freddie Patterson?"

"Yeah?"

"DC McKay, DC Perkins, Sun Hill CID." Hannah showed him her badge. "Can we speak to you for a minute, please?"

"D'you have to?"

"We believe you called in an attack at Bedow Woods this morning, is that right?"

"Nah… you've got the wrong bloke." He said firmly, starting to walk away.

Hannah followed. "We've got your voice on tape, Freddie."

"It must have been someone else, eh?"

"What happened to your hand?" Terry asked, indicating towards the man's right hand, which was bruised and cut. "Been in a row?"

"OK." He agreed. Then he pointed towards the hostel. "Come in, I'll get my coat."

A split second after he crossed the threshold, the man pulled the door closed behind him. It locked instantly and Hannah banged on the glass, trying to get someone inside to open it for them. With no idea what the code was, they had no way of getting in and Patterson had already vanished.

By the time someone let them in, there was no sign of Patterson in the corridors. Hannah and Terry sprinted through the building, looking for him. Skidding to a halt at the end of the corridor, Hannah heard her colleague calling her and she doubled back, spotting Patterson escaping through another door and out into the garden.

They chased him, Terry radioing the situation in and informing the officer on the other end that their suspect was heading towards the Cockcroft Estate. Their chase continued as the man attempted to evade them. Hannah hurdled a low wall, following their suspect as he did the same, making a sharp turn around a corner.

As they sprinted through a playground, past a basketball court, Hannah spotted Roger and Lewis out of the corner of her eye, shouting their names to get their attention and request their assistance. Seeing the uniformed officers, Patterson took a sharp left turn on the grass, almost stumbling in the process. Hannah took advantage of his momentary lapse, using her momentum to launch herself at him.

She landed on top of the man heavily, knocking the air from her lungs as she brought him down. Rolling over onto the grass, the woman allowed Lewis and Roger to apprehend him, while she regained her breath. Struggling to breathe, Hannah stared up at the sky with one hand resting on her chest.

"Are you alright, Hannah?" Roger asked as he pulled her to her feet.

"Fine."

"That was an impressive tackle." Lewis told her, grinning. She simply smirked in return, rubbing her abdomen where she had been wounded the week before, managing to conceal her wince as she touched her stitches.

"Alright?" Terry asked.

"Fine. You took your time, granddad." She teased, turning attention away from herself at the sight of the concern on his face. Terry rolled his eyes, frowning when Patterson chuckled.

"Don't worry about it, mate, you ain't going anywhere." He snapped as he took hold of the man's arm and pulled him back towards where they'd left the car.

Hannah climbed into the front, closing her eyes as the world started spinning. She felt a little bit sick and the pain in her stomach was getting worse. Glancing down, she saw that there was a small blood stain on her t-shirt; exactly where her stitches were. Guessing that she'd torn the stitches out when tackling Patterson, Hannah mentally kicked herself.

"What's wrong?" Terry asked, making her jump.

Hannah shook her head. "Nothing! Come on, let's get this one back to the nick."

Once they'd taken Patterson down to custody and got him booked in, Hannah turned and started walking towards the FME's office. She hadn't taken ten steps when the DI called her name. Keeping her hand strategically positioned, the red-head turned. She saw him and Jo waiting by the door that led out to the main part of the station.

"Jo's about to speak to Leah Preston. Can you sit in?"

"Can it wait a couple of minutes, Guv?"

"I don't want to keep her waiting." Jo said bluntly. "She's traumatised enough as it is."

"I agree, but I need to–"

The brunette sighed. "Terry can do it, don't worry."

She turned and stalked away. Terry glanced at Hannah, before hurrying after DC Masters. Running a hand through her hair in agitation, the red-head strode towards the FME's office to get her stitches sorted out.