Series 26, Episode 12: Respect: Part 2

Date: Saturday 14th May 2016

Investigating Officers: Superintendent Jack Meadows, DI Neil Manson, Inspector Dale Smith, DS Max Carter, DS Hannah McKay, DC Mickey Webb


Shooting them a weak smile, the Sergeant pushed her hands into her pockets and headed away. After exchanging a slightly disbelieving, slightly apologetic look with Mickey, Hannah wandered towards the water cooler on the other side of the office and poured herself a cup. She sipped it slowly, thinking over the case.

"Hannah… I want you in the interview with Jasmine." Jack said, appearing from nowhere and fixing the DS with an expression that said clearly that she had no choice in the matter. "I think she'll respond to you and you'll know how far you can push her."

"Guv, I–"

"I have every faith in you, DS McKay." He said, reaching out and patting her arm, before turning and striding away.

Closing her eyes, Hannah leant against the wall. She banged her head against it a couple of times, before pushing herself off the surface and heading down to the interview rooms. Neil briefed her quickly and where he wanted the interview to go, before he and Mickey went into the observation room.

"Hi, Jasmine. I'm DS McKay… Hannah."

"Right…"

Deciding that Jasmine probably wasn't in the mood for small talk, she jumped straight into the interview. "Were you and Liam mates?"

Jasmine snorted. "Course not… fourteen, weren't he?"

"Fair enough." Hannah agreed with a shrug, not quite believing her but letting it go. "So this is about disrespect, yeah? Who is Liam supposed to have disrespected?" When the teenager just looked at her hands, the older woman shrugged again. "Must be great living on the Parkway."

Raising her eyebrows, Jasmine looked at the DS with distain. "Yeah… banging."

"I was being sarcastic." Hannah informed her bluntly. "Is that where you're planning to go if you get bailed? Back to the Parkway?"

"Why? You gonna fix me up with somewhere better? Don't bother. Mickey Webb said he was gonna find me somewhere to live… and he did; Staincliff Young Offenders."

"That wasn't Mickey's fault." Hannah assured her firmly. "He's one of the good guys. He did everything he could to help you."

"It went really well, didn't it?"

"I bet living on the Parkway is about as great as it was living on the Larkmead." As the teenager looked up with the tiniest hint of interest, she continued. "That's where I grew up. Dingy little flat, electricity off more than it was on, parents off their heads most of the time, kid by the time I was fourteen… but you know what the worst thing was? It wasn't the gangs or the drugs or the fear… it was the feeling that I had no way out. That it was all there was… my future had been decided and I had absolutely no say in what was going to happen to me."

"Yeah? So how did you end up here?"

"I started making the right choices, Jasmine. I fought to get my daughter and myself a better life. It wasn't easy and there were times when I did completely the wrong thing and ended up in situations where I couldn't see a way out. There were times where things were so dark it would have been so much easier to just give up. But I kept fighting until I got the life I wanted." Hannah smiled softly. "I'm not saying it'll be easy, but you can do it too. You just need to make the right choices."

Watching the teenager carefully, Hannah had the feeling that she was starting to get through to her. Hesitating for a moment, the DS took a risk and pulled the laptop towards her, loading up the recording that would either make or break the situation. She knew confronting Jasmine with the evidence would either push her into talking or cause her to clam up even more.

"For the tape, I'm playing the sound clip, exhibit DS1; provided by a mobile phone company." Hannah explained. "And I'm asking Miss Harris to listen to it."

"Yeah, it's Jas again." The tinny voice on the recording came through and the teenager bowed her head slightly. "Tennyson House, like I said? I'm there now… you're up for it, ain't ya?"

"Come on, Jasmine." The detective urged. "Talk to me. How can I help you if you won't tell me what's going on? Why were you asking Liam to meet you? Did he think you were going to have sex with him?" Hannah desperately wanted to ask who had put her up to it, but knew that she'd be pulled up for asking leading questions. Instead she sighed. "I really do want to help you."

"I didn't know…"

"Didn't know what?"

"What was gonna happen to him."

Hannah inhaled. "Jasmine… did someone tell you to call Liam and get him to Tennyson House?"

"I didn't have a choice."

"I believe you. I really do." The woman assured her. "But you need to tell me who it was so we can sort this. I need a name, Jasmine. Please, help me out."

There was a long pause and the teenager seemed to be gathering her courage to give the information. Hannah waited patiently, knowing that pushing any more would just make things worse. Jasmine was fragile and Hannah knew all too well the dangerous situation she was in.

"Carlos."

"Carlos Miller?" The DS confirmed and the girl nodded. "Why? Why did he want you to get Liam there?"

"He went with his wifey." Jasmine told her quietly.

"Liam slept with Carlos' girlfriend? Are you sure that's what it was about?" Hannah furrowed her eyebrows as the girl nodded, not meeting her eyes. "Is she OK?" Jasmine shrugged, not saying anything else. "Thank you. I promise you this is the right thing to do."

Ending the interview, Hannah took the teenager back to the custody desk and got her checked back into her cell. She smiled reassuringly at the younger redhead as the door closed on her, before making her way towards her fiancée. Jo smiled weakly at her as the DS leant on the desk and shook her head.

"Well done."

"Mmm…"

"However this turns out, I am so proud of you." Jo said softly, reaching out and fiddling with a loose strand of her girlfriend's hair. She looked around, sighing quietly when she realised there were too many people around to do anything more than rub her shoulder reassuringly. "I'll show you just how proud I am later."

Forcing out a weak laugh, Hannah straightened up. "I'll look forward to that."

She made her way back up to CID, via the canteen for a coffee, finding Max and Mickey sniping at each other again as soon as she arrived. Sighing deeply, the redhead dropped into a seat and tried to ignore them, her mind fully engaged by the memory of the complete despair in Jasmine Harris' eyes. She knew that feeling all too well and the realisation that things might not turn out as positively for the teenager, without any chance of them stopping it, was exactly what she'd wanted to avoid.

"Guv… it's getting very crowded in custody." Jo announced, entering CID and making her way straight over to Smithy.

"And?"

"And Jasmine Harris."

"Don't tell me; the CPS agreed bail?" Max asked.

"They did, yeah." Jo nodded. She pointedly avoided meeting Hannah or Mickey's eyes, knowing what their opinions of letting Jasmine Harris out would be.

"Hang on… can we not keep her in for a bit until we know what we're dealing with here?" Mickey requested worriedly.

"We've got no reason to."

"Smithy… if we send that girl back onto that estate…" Hannah trailed off, not needing to finish her sentence. She shook her head. "We just can't…"

"What about risk of reprisal?" Mickey pointed out, agreeing with her.

Max snorted. "She's lucky to be getting out at all considering what she's done."

"We don't know what they held over her head." Jo reminded him, sensing both Mickey and Hannah were about to react to his goading words. "She probably didn't have a choice."

"I don't care what anyone says; that girl knows exactly what she's doing."

"Oh, because you've got a great insight, haven't you?" Mickey snapped.

"You literally have no idea what you're talking about!" Hannah added angrily.

"Take the sarcasm out of your voice." Max ordered Mickey, before turning to Hannah. "And you can stop acting as though everyone's as screwed up as you are."

As the three detectives immediately started arguing, Smithy raised his voice, calling for them to be quiet. Then he turned to his Sergeant. "Right, you're saying the Custody Suite is overspill."

"At the moment, yeah." She agreed. "Give it a couple of hours… probably be more space."

"If it's rammed, we've gotta let her go." Smithy decided. "I'm sorry."

As the Inspector headed away and Max smirked triumphantly, turning back to his desk, the other three moved closer to the board. Hannah shook her head, thumping the wall in frustration with her clenched fist.

"He is right." Jo said gently, knowing that both detectives understood that, whether they liked it or not. "And I hate to say it, but it's not your problem."

"Like Jen wasn't your problem?" Hannah shot back. At the arched eyebrow she received, the redhead shook her head again. "Sorry… I didn't mean that."

"I know you think you did wrong by that girl, but this is a completely different case." Her fiancée told Mickey, ignoring the younger woman for a moment. "And you cannot spend your life trying to make it right."

"I wanted to keep her in custody for one more night." He said. "One more night."

As Mickey strode away, Jo turned to look at her girlfriend. Hannah's eyes slipped closed for a moment and she inhaled sharply. When she looked back at the brunette again, she saw concern in her expression and smiled weakly.

"I shouldn't have said that about Jen." She acknowledged. "I didn't mean it… and I would never compare our daughter to a case but–"

"Jen started out as a case." Jo finished for her, understanding.

"They're very different girls. I'm not for one second suggesting that we take Jasmine in, but she is so like I was that I… I told her that I'd got out of the same situation she's in by making the right choices." Hannah inhaled sharply. "I promised her that if she started making the right choices… And now what? Now she's going to think that talking to us is the wrong choice because we've got what we wanted and thrown her back to the wolves." She rubbed her forehead agitatedly. "Fuck knows what's going to happen to her out there… this isn't just going to go away, Jo. Even if they don't find out she spoke to us…"

"There is nothing you can do, Hannah." Jo reminded her, catching her hand and squeezing it tightly. "This wasn't your decision and it was taken out of your hands."

"So… what? I just forget about it? Pretend there isn't a young girl out there somewhere, probably in danger?"

"She's not the first and she won't be the last, sweetheart."

"Yeah, well…" Hannah shook her head. "I won't forgive myself if something happens to her."

"Jo? We're heading back down to the Parkway." Callum called, poking his head around the door into CID. When she nodded, he disappeared.

"I'm off shift now, so I'm going to head home." Hannah said, checking the time quickly. Glancing at her fiancée, she smiled weakly. "Be careful… please. Tensions are bound to be high because of today. Don't do anything reckless."

"I won't, love." Jo promised, following as Hannah led her out into the corridor where it was quieter.

Wrapping her arms around the younger woman, Jo felt her sag against her a little, Hannah's arms almost impossibly tight around her. She raised one hand to run her fingers through her hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead before gently disentangling herself.

"Go home, run a bath and I'll see you as soon as I can." She promised. "Try and forget about today… tomorrow is a new day."