AN: This chapter and the next were a bitch to write. They were very uncooperative. But here it is, so let me know what you think.
Chapter Fourteen
Jesse's mother arrived a little while later, and Rachel guided them both into the soft interview room. Though her shift had ended and she was technically off-duty, Rachel had no intention of going home without following the note up. Max hadn't answered his phone when she'd called, and the sergeant wasn't prepared to ask the teenager and his mother to wait while she tracked him down. Instead, she'd asked Nate to join her and take notes, as she was still out of uniform and didn't have her notebook on her.
"Alright, Jesse, can you tell us what happened?" Rachel asked once they were all seated.
"This guy came up to me 'n my mates after school." The teen started. "He said he'd pay one of us fifty quid if we'd take a note to Sun Hill police station."
"Jesse, what have I told you about taking things from strangers?" His mother asked him, looking horrified.
"Mrs Myrson, please." Rachel interrupted, holding up a placating hand as the woman muttered an apology and fell silent. "Go on, Jesse."
"My mates all thought he was a perv, but I wasn't scared, so I said I'd do it." He glanced briefly at his mum, but when she didn't say anything, he continued. "He gave me the money and the note and said I had to tell you it was for PC Brown, and then he left."
"Can you describe him?" The boy shrugged. "Was he white?"
"Yeah. He had brown hair. He was shorter than you." He said, looking at Nate, then shrugging again. "He was just normal-looking."
"Would you recognise him if you saw him again?" The teen nodded. "Good. Where did he approach you?"
"We were at the skate park near school. He just walked up to us."
"And you're sure you've never seen him before? You've not seen him hanging around the school or the skate park?"
The boy shook his head. "I told you before, I haven't."
"That's okay. This is really helpful, Jesse." The teen smiled bashfully at her. "You said you were with some mates?" He nodded. "We'll need their names."
"Why?" He asked, suddenly defensive.
"They're not in trouble, Jesse. One of them might have seen something you didn't. We just need to talk to them."
He didn't reply, and his mother nudged his shoulder. "Jesse, tell her!"
The boy hesitated for another moment, but eventually gave in under his mother's glare and rattled off five names.
"Thank you, Jesse." Rachel smiled at him as Nate scribbled the names into his notebook. "Okay, just a few more things. PC Roberts is going to take you to the fingerprint lab, and I'm going to get some photos for you to look at. Is that okay?"
Jesse's mother bristled slightly. "Why do you need his fingerprints? He hasn't done anything!"
"Just for comparison, Mrs Myrson. He touched the note, so we need his prints to eliminate them." Rachel explained. "They won't be put into the system."
That seemed to satisfy the woman. They all stood, and Nate led mother and son towards custody as Rachel headed for CID to grab one of the WADS laptops.
She took Jesse through the photos twice, but to no avail. The teen was adamant the man wasn't there, and Rachel was inclined to believe him. Hiding her frustration behind a professional façade, Rachel gave Jesse her card, with instructions to call her if he remembered anything else or saw the man again, then told one of the PC's to drive him and his mother home.
"You should go home too, Sarge." Nate suggested as they watched the Mrysons leave.
She sighed. The constable was right, there wasn't much more she could do. They wouldn't be able to talk to Jesse's friends or chase down the CCTV of the skate park until tomorrow anyway, and the inspector was likely to scold her if she caught the sergeant in the station this long after her shift had finished. So, reluctantly, the sergeant headed for the front office again and unwillingly made her way home.
Later that night, the sergeant was just drifting off to sleep when her phone beeped from its position on the bedside table. Blinking at the bright light in the darkness, Rachel squinted at the text from Sally and smiled.
Safely home, Sarge.
…
Rachel was not having a good morning. She'd arrived at the station and found Eddie in the sergeants' office in the process of writing her a note. He'd told her that they were still waiting on the DNA, but the only prints on the note had belonged to Jesse and Nate. Moments after the CSE left, the inspector had called her into her office and informed her that, because Smithy was in court and she'd been called to a meeting at the Yard that would likely last all day, Rachel would be running the shift. Normally, Rachel enjoyed being duty officer, but today it meant being out on the streets when she would rather have been in CID, following up on what Jesse had told them, or in custody, keeping an eye on Millie. She'd seen the constable only momentarily that morning, during the briefing, and Millie hadn't met her eye once. She disappeared in the direction of custody as soon as Gina released them, and Rachel got the distinct impression she was being avoided.
Before the sergeant could follow her constable and question her about her behaviour, Ben had caught her and told her there was another call out to the address in Rigden Street they'd been to two days ago, this time saying that there was smoke coming from somewhere in the house. Feeling frustrated, she had followed the constable to the yard.
There was nothing there, again. The property was undisturbed, and there was no sign of either the fire or whoever had called them. Rachel was getting truly annoyed at whoever kept calling them to this particular address, and she resolved to do some digging on it when they got back to the station.
Before they could do that, however, Sally and Leon had put out a call for back up at a domestic dispute, and Rachel was uneasy. Nobody liked dealing with domestics; they usually started ugly and only got worse, and the sergeant was mentally bracing herself for an unpleasant situation.
…
Contrary to Rachel's fear, the scene they pulled up on seemed fairly calm. There were three people involved, a man and a woman who were standing with Sally, and a second man standing a way apart from them with Leon. Both men had fresh bruises on their face and arms, and the woman had obviously been crying. Rachel motioned for Ben to go help Leon as Sally stepped away from the couple and approached her.
"What's the situation?" The sergeant asked, keeping her voice low enough that only Sally could hear her.
"Sarge, Body A is one Daniel Peters, and he's the woman's boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, depending on who you ask." The constable explained quietly, indicating the man with Leon and Ben. "Body B is Body A's brother, Mark, and is also claiming to be the woman's boyfriend. Body A came home, caught them together and went after his brother with a crowbar. They were fighting over it when we got here."
"Charming…" Rachel muttered, and Sally smiled wryly in agreement. "I take it the brother wants to press charges?"
"Yes, Sarge. He's quite insistent."
Rachel nodded, but any further discussion was cut off when Mark started forward to where his brother had dropped the crowbar, picked it up, and without apparent provocation, ran towards his brother, screaming.
Ben and Leon turned at Rachel's shouted warning, and Leon pushed Daniel backwards as Ben drew his asp. Sally moved to grab the woman, who had run after Mark as he charged, while Rachel also flicked her baton out and ran to help Ben.
Out of reach of his original target, Mark instead turned on Ben and began swinging the crowbar with both hands. His first blow was powerful and, had the constable not dodged it, would have almost certainly cracked his skull open at the very least. The crowbar had more reach than the asp, and Ben couldn't risk getting close enough to strike back.
Luckily, Mark was so focused on his current target that he didn't notice Rachel approaching him from behind. The sergeant swung her asp at his leg, hard, and was rewarded with a pained yelp as it connected with the back of his knee and he went down. Rachel was on him quickly, keeping him pinned with a knee on his back, and she had the handcuffs on him before he'd fully realised what had happened. He struggled violently for a moment, but Ben had added his weight to Rachel's on the suspect's back, and when he realised he couldn't move, he settled for swearing at them.
"What the hell was that about?" The sergeant asked the man beneath her, and got a curse in return. She rolled her eyes at Ben. "Okay then, Mark Peters, I'm arresting you for attempted assault on police. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention when questioned something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?"
"Fuck you!"
"I'll take that as a yes. Are you alright?" She asked, turning her attention to Ben.
"Yeah, fine, Sarge. Didn't touch me."
"Good." Rachel took a moment to assess the scene as her heart rate settled. Sally was still holding the woman, who was crying and shouting incoherent sounds at the two men. Leon had handcuffed the suspect's brother as a precaution, but the man wasn't resisting the grip on his arm. There was a small crowd of neighbours gathering a little way down the road, drawn by the flashing lights and commotion, and some of them had their phones out and were filming the scene.
Knowing that having an audience could serve to wind their captive up further, Rachel made a decision. "Okay, call a van for this one and get the other two in the cars. We'll take them all down to the nick and sort it out there."
"Sarge." Ben nodded and stood, retrieving the crowbar and reaching for his radio while Mark, realising he couldn't get out from under her, settled for spitting every obscenity he could think of. Rachel ignored him, instead focusing on the growing crowd down the street in case any of them decided to object to their neighbour being arrested.
The van arrived quickly, and with the driver's help, they managed to force the still-raging suspect into the cage in the back. There were several loud bangs as he lashed out furiously, but he fell quiet as the driver started the engine.
"We'll meet you at Sun Hill." Rachel told him, and he nodded and pulled the van back onto the street. Leon and Sally had already put the other brother in their IRV, and they followed the van out of the street as Ben guided the woman into their car and Rachel dropped into the driver's seat and started the engine.
…
The drive back to Sun Hill was uneventful. The two IRVs followed the van into the yard and the officers got out, Ben and Leon dragging their captives with them. As they drew closer, Rachel could hear the echoing thuds of Mark kicking the back door of the van rhythmically. The driver of the van started towards the back, but Rachel motioned him to wait. "Leave him there until we process this one." She said, nodding at Daniel. "Having them both in custody will probably wind him up."
The driver nodded, and settled back against the vehicle as Leon dragged Daniel up the ramp and through the cage while Sally guided the woman into the station proper.
Rachel gave it about ten minutes before nodding to Ben. The constable retrieved their prisoner from the van, and together they hauled him up the ramp. Remembering the random and violent nature of his outburst at the scene, Rachel had put him in a hold, slipping her arm up under his to rest on his shoulder, forcing his arms up uncomfortably and making him walk hunched slightly forward. Ben had done the same on his other side.
"Fucking pigs! I ain't don't nothing!" He yelled, trying to struggle out of the hold Rachel had on him as they guided him through the cage and into the custody suite.
"You tried to kill my constable with a crowbar, Mr Peters. We frown on that sort of thing." The sergeant retorted, increasing the pressure on his arms in an effort to still him.
"Well he fucking deserved it! Fucking pigs! I'll kill you all!" He screamed, bucking violently in their grasp.
"Down! Get him down!" Rachel yelled to Ben, and together they forced the screaming suspect to the floor in the middle of the custody suite. Rachel knelt next to him, pressing her weight on his back with one knee and using the handcuffs to keep his arms still while Ben pinned his legs to stop him kicking out as Millie and Leon, who'd just finished depositing his own prisoner in a cell, came to help.
"Stop struggling." Ben told Peters as Millie knelt beside Rachel and placed a hand on the side of the suspect's face, preventing him from moving his head.
"Fuck you!"
"Leon, search him." The sergeant ordered, and the PC began patting down their captive, checking his pockets as he continued to swear and snarl at them.
"Nothing else, Sarge." Leon told her, having extracted his phone and wallet and handed them to the custody sergeant, who was hovering behind him.
"Right, let's get him in a cell. Ready?" On the sergeant's count, the four officers lifted Peters off the floor and carried him towards the cell the custody sergeant had unlocked for them. He wriggled violently in their grip, but without leverage, all it did was tire him out. The custody sergeant had pulled the thin mattress off the bed and onto the floor, and that's where they deposited their captive, who's swearing had degenerated into animalistic snarling noises of inarticulate rage. Ben quickly pinned his legs before he could dislodge them as Leon held his head and Millie restrained his arms, allowing Rachel to remove the handcuffs.
As soon as the cuff were off, Peters tried to lash out, but Rachel and Millie each seized one of his arms and twisted them painfully, holding them up in the air behind his back and bending his wrists, forcing him to either lay still or risk dislocating his shoulder. Millie's hold on him was rough, almost alarmingly so, and Rachel took a second to examine the constable. She was surprised to see the faint redness around her eyes that indicated recent tears, probably unnoticeable to anyone else, and her expression was hard and angry. Millie's gaze flicked up briefly, and Rachel's breath caught as their eyes met, but her attention was quickly diverted by the struggling man beneath them. He was still growling at them, but he was unable to move and Rachel could tell he was tiring. They didn't have time to wait for him to exhaust himself, though, and the sergeant wanted to get out of the cell before they were forced to physically injure the man to keep him restrained.
"Okay, cell exit. Ready?" She asked her constables. They nodded, and Rachel stood carefully, taking control of his other arm from Millie and maintaining the crippling pressure on his wrists. The PCs backed out one by one, until Rachel was the only one still holding him. She stepped over him carefully, keeping his arms locked up behind him as she felt one of the constables catch hold of her belt, ready to yank her out when she gave the word. "Now!" She called, dropping his arms and backing up quickly, guided by whoever was pulling her backward. Ben slammed the cell door shut as soon as she was clear, and a moment later there was a dull thud as the suspect threw his weight against it.
"Nice one, Sarge." Ben said, and Rachel smiled distractedly at him. Her heart was racing from the adrenaline coursing through her, and her attention had been diverted by the hand that was still tangled in her belt. Ben and Leon were in front of her, which meant it had been Millie who pulled her from the cell. She glanced over her shoulder, and felt fire shoot through her as she met Millie's gaze. The expression on the constable's face was unreadable, but Rachel could plainly see the heat in her eyes. Her hand slipped out of the sergeant's belt, but it lingered on her lower back, under her vest and out of sight of the others and Rachel found herself paralysed, knowing she should move away but unable to.
Rachel drew in a breath, though she wasn't sure what she would have said, but Leon clapped her on the shoulder and she remember that they weren't alone. Changing what she was going to say, she smiled at the constables. "Well done. We'll let him cool down for a while then process him." She felt Millie jump behind her as a loud bang echoed from the cell, presumably Mark kicking the door, and the constable withdrew her hand and moved towards the gate. Rachel followed, trying to ignore the fact that she missed the warmth of Millie's touch on her back.
…
Rachel gave Mark Peters an hour to calm down, and found him surprisingly co-operative when he wasn't apoplectic with rage. The cases against the two brothers were fairly straightforward, and they both ended up being charged for assault and refused bail. The woman was tearfully apologetic, but Rachel couldn't bring herself to feel much sympathy for her, and left it to Sally to get her home.
The remainder of the shift kept Rachel busy, but she did get a chance to duck briefly up to CID and catch up with Jo. The DC told her that they'd followed up with Jesse's friends, and while none of them had seen or noticed anything more than what Jesse had already told them, they did manage to put together an e-fit that the boys agreed was fairly accurate. The CCTV hadn't panned out, so the e-fit was all they had to go on. Jo told her that Max had shown it to Millie as well, and she'd confirmed that the person who gave Jesse the note was the same person who'd been in the alley. It also explained the constable's earlier mood, and Rachel felt a flare of irritation at her CID counterpart for dropping that on her without making sure she was okay afterwards.
Rachel didn't get another chance to talk to Millie, and by the time the sergeant had finished her paperwork, the constable was long gone. Rachel had a couple of days off, which meant she wouldn't get another chance to talk to her constable, but short of going to her sister's place – which Rachel was surprised to realise she didn't fully trust herself to do – there was nothing she could do. Frustrated but resigned, the sergeant went home.
…
Without the need to get up early for work, Rachel slept late and woke feeling better than she had in days. She spent the day tinkering around the house, doing the little things that work usually left her too tired or unmotivated to do, and took advantage of her increased energy to visit the gym. She briefly entertained the idea of visiting Millie in the evening, but dismissed it, deciding that taking a couple of days to get her feelings worked out was probably best.
…
The shrill ringing of her mobile dragged Rachel back into consciousness. She opened her eyes blearily, tilting the clock on her bedside so she could read it before answering the phone. The digital display read 12.43am.
"Hello?"
"Umm, Sergeant Weston? This is Katie. Millie's sister."
Rachel sat up. Katie calling at that time of night could only mean bad things. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry to wake you, but I didn't know who else to call. It's Millie, we had a fight and she left and she's not answering her phone and I can't find her and she isn't back yet and—" Katie said in a rush, and it took Rachel a second to interpret the panicked speech.
"Do you know where she went?" The sergeant was already half-way out of bed, trying to dress herself without dropping the phone.
"She didn't say! She's never done this before; what if—"
"Katie, try to relax. I'll find her, okay? What time did she leave?"
"Around 9.30, I think."
"That was over three hours ago! Why didn't you call me sooner?"
"I'm sorry, I was out looking for her, then I wasn't sure if I should call you, then I couldn't find your number, then—"
"Katie, Katie, it's not your fault. Just try to relax. Stay there, and call me if she turns up." Rachel dropped into her car as she spoke, turning the key with her free hand. "Don't worry, I'll find her."
AN: So this was a bit of a filler chapter I guess, but the next one is totally worth it, I swear. Bear with me.