Series-, Episode-:
Date: Sunday 24th April 2016
Investigating Officers: DS Stevie Moss, DS Hannah McKay, PC Mel Ryder, PC Nate Roberts
"So… how're things?" Stevie asked with a nonchalance that was thoroughly unconvincing.
Hannah rolled her eyes and indicated out of the station yard. Stevie had bounced across the office that morning with her usual enthusiasm and announced that Jack had asked her to work with Hannah on her current case. After briefly filling the blonde in on where they were, that the nightshift had found a body that matched the description of Belinda Wallace, her friend had led her downstairs and told her that they were going to the scene.
"I told you never to mention it again."
"Yeah, but I was worried." Stevie told her with a small smile. "I hate it when there's trouble between my favourite lesbians."
Hannah rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot. Besides, there's no trouble. It was just… I dunno."
"So Jo's definitely OK with not having another kid?"
"Stevie."
"I won't say anything." The blonde rolled her eyes. "You told me, remember?"
"Because I was scared Jo was… but we've talked about it – a lot – and we've agreed six is more than enough." Hannah told her firmly. "We're good and the wedding is still on."
"That's a relief; I've already bought my dress."
"Besides, we ain't the bloody Sound of Musics, are we?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Stevie turned to her with an expression of complete glee on her face. "Please don't tell me you think their surname was 'Sound of Music'? He weren't called Captain Sound of Music, you prat."
"Well I don't know, do I? I've never seen it."
"That sounds like the shittest superhero ever."
"Yeah, alright…" Hannah hid a small smirk, relieved that Stevie's attention had been diverted. "My point still stands."
"Alright, Mrs Sound of Music."
"Piss off."
Laughing, Stevie turned her attention back to the case. She asked whether Hannah thought the husband was their prime suspect. With a shrug, the redhead told her that she thought he had to be. Playing devil's advocate, Stevie pointed out that they still hadn't managed to track down Lucy Michaels, that she and Belinda could have argued, Belinda could have changed her mind about their relationship and Lucy could have lashed out. Hannah conceded that they couldn't entirely rule it out, but reasserted that something about David Wallace didn't seem right.
"Yeah, I think you're probably right." Stevie agreed as they climbed out of the car and made their way along the alleyway to the waste ground where the body had been found. "He sounds like a twat."
"A murdering twat?"
"Maybe."
"Roger? What've you got for us?" Hannah called, pushing her hands into her pockets and sauntering over towards the PC. "Is it her?"
"Yes, Sarge." He agreed with a grim smile and a nod. "It's definitely Belinda Wallace. We found her purse, phone and driving license on her."
"Do we know how she died?"
"There are three stab wounds to the chest, but there's also a head wound. Eddie's looking over the scene now, but he can't pin down the actual cause of death at the moment."
Stevie rolled her eyes. "Usual Eddie theatrics or is there an actual reason?"
Roger chuckled. "There's an actual reason this time. He can't be sure which injury was sustained first and because the body was moved here after she died there's no blood to give him any clues."
"So we're still looking for the scene of the murder, as well as the murder weapon and the cause of death?" Hannah asked, exhaling deeply.
"There's something else, too, Sarge." Roger told her, motioning for the two Detectives to follow him. "While we were searching the area, we found another body. It's a double murder."
"Is it Lucy Michaels?"
"I'm afraid so."
Hannah let out another long sigh. "Did she sustain the same injuries?"
Roger nodded. "Yes, Sarge."
"So we're definitely looking for a third party, then." Stevie pointed out. "That rules out the lover's tiff theory."
"OK." Hannah nodded slowly, exchanging a look with her partner. "We need to speak to David Wallace, get an alibi, finger prints the lot. Rog, can you try and speed Eddie up a bit," holding up her hands as he started to complain, she smiled weakly, "I know, I know. But we need a cause of death so that we know what weapon we're looking for. No point wasting all of our energy looking for a knife if it was… a brick to the head that killed them."
"Right you are, Sarge." He nodded in agreement, sending her a fleeting smile before heading away to speak to the SOCO.
"I think we should go back to Lucy's house." Stevie announced as they slid into the car. "I've got a nagging feeling there's something there we missed."
"Yeah, that's a good plan." Hannah agreed with a nod. "It's a potential murder scene, right? I mean, we never considered it before, but there's a possibility that–" She broke off at the sound of her mobile ringing in her pocket. "Sorry, Ste, it's Jo. I need to take this."
"Oh!" Her friend's eyes lit up. "Maybe Ellie's had it?"
"Hello, my love." Hannah greeted her fiancée, ignoring the fond smile on the blonde's face. She reached over and swatted at her exasperatedly. "What's up?"
"Ellie's had the baby. Can you come to the hospital?"
"Now?"
"Now." Jo agreed. "If not, we can go later."
"They're not discharging them today? Is everything OK?"
"Yeah, absolutely fine. Ellie's not sure yet."
"I'm sure Stevie won't mind if I duck out for a bit." Hitting out at her friend as she pretended to complain, Hannah narrowed her eyes at her. "She's telling me to take as long as I need. I'll meet you there in about… half an hour?"
"Great. See you soon, babe."
Stevie let out a screech of delight the second Hannah ended the call, pulling her into a tight, sideways hug and demanding details. Her friend laughed and told her that she didn't have anything to tell her, trying to organise the next steps with the case so that she could head off to meet Jo at the hospital.
Jack immediately gave her permission to take her refs at St Hugh's, asking her to pass on his best wishes to Ellie and Callum, as well as sending him a photograph of the newest member of the Sun Hill team. Laughing, Hannah hung up and jumped in her car, driving as fast as she could towards the hospital.
"Hannah!" Jo called to her as she strode towards the entrance, catching her by the hand and smiling warmly.
"Hey, babe." The redhead wrapped her fiancée in a tight hug, kissing her quickly. "OK?"
"More than. Come on…"
They headed up to the maternity ward hand-in-hand, eagerly anticipating meeting their new grandchild. Ellie beamed as soon as she spotted them, calling them over and placing the baby in Hannah's arms. After a few moments, pressing a kiss to her granddaughter's head, she passed her carefully to Jo, watching the smile on her face growing wider as she cradled the tiny baby.
"Have you chosen a name yet?" Jo asked softly, looking down at the squirming baby in her arms.
Ellie nodded, exchanging a grin with Callum. "We have… it was inspired by Mum, actually."
"Me?" Hannah glanced up with a bemused expression on her face. "I mean, I don't know if this family can cope with two Hannahs?"
"Not Hannah… Eliza."
"Eliza?" Jo furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, manoeuvring the baby back into her mother's arms.
Callum chuckled. "Liza Minelli Stone."
"What?" The older redhead nearly fell off the bed in shock. "You can't be serious!"
"No… well, not completely." Ellie agreed with a giggle, looking down at her daughter. "Eliza Hannah Stone."
"It's beautiful." Jo told her gently, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before sliding off the bed and tugging Hannah with her. "We'd better get going. I promised I'd take over from Freya so she can come and see you and your mother has to get back to work."
After a long round of goodbyes, the couple left the room and headed for the exit. Neither spoke for a couple of moments, thinking about the new addition to their family, before Jo broke the silence with a snort of amusement.
"Liza Minelli…"
"In my defence I was in the cupboard and Freya wasn't talking very loudly. I honestly thought she said Liza Minelli, not Callum and Ellie." Hannah pouted at her girlfriend as she laughed at the memory. "I'm not old."
"I never said you were, babe." Jo pacified her, squeezing their joined hands and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "The thought never crossed my mind."
"Yeah, well… I'd better get back before Stevie replaces me."
"Tough case?"
"Sort of." Hannah smiled weakly. "It's… well, in a strange way it's a little close to home."
"Yeah? Wanna talk about it?"
"Double murder; woman and her girlfriend. The prime suspect is the husband of the first woman. He originally reported her missing… the bodies turned up this morning."
Jo nodded slowly. "You spoken to him?"
"Yeah… that was fun. Him shouting the odds about lesbians and me trying to look a little less gay in case he decided to bump me off, too."
Snorting with amusement, her fiancée pulled her into a hug, kissing her quickly. "Well, go and nail him and then get your undeniably gay self home so that we can celebrate the birth of our granddaughter, alright?"
"Yes, Ma'am." Hannah chuckled, leaning in to kiss Jo again.
By the time DS McKay had made it back to the station, Stevie was just bringing David Wallace in. She exchanged a look with her partner, motioning for Hannah to follow her to custody. Standing back and allowing Roger and Nate to get the man booked in, Stevie grasped the redhead by the elbow and pulled her to the side.
"We found blood in Lucy Michaels' kitchen; only a couple of drops, but enough for Eddie to identify it as Lucy's and Belinda's. We also found a bread knife – matching the stab wounds – and a meat tenderiser – matching the imprints of their head wounds – on the counter, both covered in blood." She explained quickly. "There were finger prints on both, which Eddie is rushing through in the lab. When we arrived at Mr Wallace's house he was loading a suitcase into the boot of his car, clearly intending to leave for a while."
"Good… I'm alright to come into the interview with you, yeah?"
"Of course." Stevie nodded. "We can grab a coffee while we wait for his brief and you can tell me all about the baby."
Laughing, Hannah allowed herself to be propelled in the direction of the canteen. She handed over her phone to her friend and went to buy the coffees, knowing that she would get no sense out of Stevie until she'd seen photos of Eliza.
"Am I the first one to know?"
"Jack." Hannah replied bluntly, taking a slurp of her coffee and shrugging. "He specifically asked me."
Stevie rolled her eyes. "Of course. So I'm second?"
"You're such a child."
"Whatever. So… we need to try for a confession. I mean, as long as the fingerprints come back as Wallace's, there's no way he's wriggling out of it. We've got motive and opportunity; his alibi completely fell flat when his mate's girlfriend made a statement saying that James hadn't left the house all day."
"I reckon we can crack him." Hannah replied with a shrug. "Worst comes to worst, we just rile him up and get him ranting. He'll wrap himself up and incriminate himself."
"You think?"
"You didn't see him when I went to speak to him yesterday." The redhead replied, arching an eyebrow.
Stevie chuckled and nodded. They took Mr Wallace to the interview room, starting the tape and launching into their questioning. The blonde produced the evidence they had, laying it out in front of the man and his solicitor. Exchanging a look with her colleague, Hannah watched as the expression on the brief's face twisted with concern for a moment, before returning to the carefully constructed one that had been there before.
"Come on, Mr Wallace, all of the evidence is pointing in your direction. What is the point of–?"
"You're married," David spat at Stevie, catching sight of her wedding ring, "what would your husband do if he found out you'd been sleeping with a woman?" As Hannah and Stevie exchanged an amused look at his question, remembering the aftermath of that exact scenario, he spotted the engagement ring on the redhead's finger. "Or you. You're engaged. What would your fiancée do?"
Hannah arched an eyebrow at him. "She'd probably be devastated. She wouldn't kill anyone, though."
"She?" His face contorted with disgust. "You're one of them?"
"I'm a lesbian, yes." She replied calmly. "But that has absolutely nothing to do with you or why you're here, Mr Wallace."
"I want someone else. You make me sick."
"Unfortunately that's not an option." Stevie told him with a smile. "So, your alibi has been proved to be completely false, you have motive and opportunity. We've got the murder weapons and any minute now the fingerprints will be back. If they match yours, Mr Wallace, this is only going to end one way." She leant forward. "Make it easy on yourself and tell us what happened, eh?"
"I'm saying nothing." He snapped, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms.
"Never mind." Hannah shrugged. "David Wallace, you're being charged with the murders of Belinda Wallace and Lucy Michaels. You'll be held in custody until the CPS decide whether to bail you, but I severely doubt that's going to happen."
Ending the interview, Hannah and Stevie took Wallace back to custody and got him signed in. They headed back up to CID together, laughing at the expression on the man's face when he'd realised the truth about Hannah. Jack congratulated them as he passed them in the corridor, before asking whether they were heading out with the rest of the team for a celebratory drink.
"Yeah… I'm gonna ring Jo and see if she's coming first." Hannah told him with a quick nod. "I'll see you down there."
"You don't want to go over to Ellie and Callum's tonight?" Stevie asked curiously, holding open the door to CID for her friend.
"Nah… They won't want us hanging around for a while. I'll wait a couple of days before going round and telling them they're doing everything wrong."
"I can't imagine Ellie taking the tiniest bit of notice of that."
"Of course she wouldn't." The redhead agreed with a laugh, grabbing her jacket. "Besides, I know better than to waste my breath with unsolicited advice."
Stevie chuckled, pushing her arm through her friend's. "Bloody hell, is this what they call personal growth? Who even are you?"
"I am an exhausted, underappreciated thirty-nine year old who wants the biggest glass of white wine known to man." Hannah informed her. "And, if I can convince Jo to meet us at the pub, there's a couple more things on my list, too."
"Spare me." The blonde rolled her eyes at the grin on her face. "You two are sickening…"
