Mickey and Smithy were sitting in the pub with some of the other officers, but the mood between the two men was very morbid.
Smithy stared into his pint and sighed, he kept playing over the events in his head but they didn't make any sense, he looked over at Mickey who was staring into space; lost in thought just like him
"It just doesn't make sense" Smithy said finally
"None of it does" Mickey said gloomily "But at least we have Jake's statement"
"That alone won't stand up in court, we need concrete evidence and even if we do get to court we're going to need Anna to be a witness and we don't even know if she's going to be well enough, she's not even conscious at the moment"
"Or even if she'll actually make a statement, the poor girl is terrified; she was beaten to with an inch of her life. Her recovery is going to be slow, the fractures and the internal injuries, that head wound and not to mention all the psychological damage she's going to have" Mickey said sighing loudly
"What I don't understand is, why Joshua came after Anna after all these years and what went on in her house to make him beat her that badly?" Smithy said biting his lip in thought
"We need to go back to the beginning and found out more about Anna and dig into the past a bit more, there must be something we're missing" and Smithy nodded in agreement
…………………………………………………………………………………………
The next morning Mickey and Smithy were at the station early going through all that they had on Anna so far.
"So what do we know for sure?" Mickey said scrawling on the white board
"Anna Campbell, daughter of Peter and Mary Campbell who died in a head on collision with another vehicle 12 years ago" Smithy said glancing down at the file "Both Jake and Anna were taken into care since there were no other relatives" "And we know that they were looked after by the Malley family who had a son of their own, Joshua"
"According to Jake, the reason Joshua seems to have a vendetta against the two of them is to do with the drug dealing charge"
"So after that where did Jake and Anna go?" Mickey asked
"They were sent to live with a couple just outside of London and they both stayed with them until they were old enough to leave home. Anna went on to study nursing and qualified just last year, she's been working at that hospital since then" Smithy reeled off
"And we know Joshua worked there too, do you think they had any contact?" Mickey said reading over the information he had just written
"I'm not sure, it just seems odd Joshua has taken all this time to seek his revenge, Anna really seems to be the only one who knows what's going on here and she can't tell us yet"
The two officers were deciding what there next move would be when the phone rang, Smithy answered it and mumbled short responses into the receiver. When he finished the call he turned back to Mickey with a small smile on his face
"They've taken Anna of the ventilator, she's recovering well and her condition has stabilised enough for us to talk to her"
Mickey grabbed his coat and hurried off to the hospital with Smithy following.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
They entered Anna's room and were relieved to see her sitting up in bed looking a lot better than she had previously done. The two officers smiled and sat down beside the bed
"Jake told me what happened" she said quietly looking at her brother who was sitting next to her, holding her hand as a means of comfort "Now it's my turn"
"Anna, we can do this whenever you're ready" Mickey said gently
"No, I need to do this, I have to face my demons sometime might as well be now" she said with a hint of bitterness
"Can you take me through what happened the night you were attacked?"
"The memories are still hazy" she said and Smithy still noticed she had the compression bandage round her head
"The Doctor said you might have some temporary amnesia but if you can try…" and Anna nodded
"It was like I said before; I'd just broken up with my boyfriend and I wanted a night out, I can remember getting home"
"Anything else apart from that?"
Anna closed her eyes in thought "Only sort of flashes, nothing that makes much sense…the sound of the doorbell ringing….and then just pain after that, the next thing I remember was waking up in hospital"
"Did you get a look at your attacker?" Smithy asked
"It was dark…." Anna said quickly
"Please try….any detail at all however small"
She scrunched up her face in thought and was silent for a few moments, then her face dropped and a look over pure fear was spread across her features "Oh God…." She whimpered
"Anna?" Jake said looking concerned
"I remember his voice…It was Joshua" she said, her eyes wide with fear
"What did he say?" Mickey said
"He said…he said….that he had come to finish what he started, that he was going to make me pay, I'd had enough warnings and now it was too late" Anna said with panic in her voice
"Anna" Smithy said gently "I promise you're safe, Joshua cannot get you, we have officers on guard outside your room and hospital staff have been noted about him" Anna nodded
"Why would he say that to you, had you had any contact recently?"
Anna bit her lip and nodded slowly "A couple of weeks ago when I was on shift here at the hospital, I bumped into one of the porters and then I found…I found…." Anna stuttered as the memories came back to her "It was Joshua…"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Jake said
"I thought I could handle it" she said with strong emotion in her voice "He never said anything for me to start with…he just stood there watching me, but he always seemed to be there wherever I turned"
"He was probably trying to intimidate you" Mickey said softly
"I just ignored him, then one time he cornered me in the corridor, he said he was going to make me pay for what I had done" Anna said lying back on the pillow looking exhausted
"We can stop if you're getting too tired" Smithy said gently but Anna shook her head "Anna you're still very weak, you need to take it easy" Mickey said
"I need to put an end to this, if I don't tell you what really went on then he will go free and then he will come after me and…." Anna swallowed hard "I'm ok to go on" she said determinedly though the officers could see the tiredness creep into her face
"If you're sure…" and she nodded
"Jake…" she said suddenly "Would you be able to get me a drink?" and Jake looked up at her surprised
"I don't want to leave you"
She smiled "I'll be fine….please?"
Jake nodded and stood up, Mickey followed him to keep him company and then it was just Anna and Smithy in the room
"I'm sorry, I couldn't let Jake hear this; it would tear him apart" Anna said looking at Smithy
"I understand"
……………………………………………………………………………………….......
Mickey and Jake walked down the hospital corridor in order to give Anna and Smithy some time alone to talk
"She's a brave girl your sister" Mickey said with a small smile
"She's my little sister but she's always looked out for the both of us" Jake said sitting down on one of the chairs
"Did the Doctor say when he was going to discharge her?" Mickey said sitting down next to him
"Within the next couple of days, along as she her condition keeps improving"
"At least that's something"
"I'm going to stay with her for a bit, just to help her out" Jake said protectively "What happens after Anna gives her statement?"
"Well with both of your statements and any forensic evidence we got from her flat then we can hopefully get a confession out of Joshua and then we can charge him"
"Will it go to court?" and Mickey nodded "Will we have to give evidence?"
"You might have to and Anna defiantly will"
"I hope they lock him up and throw away they key" Jake said bitterly
"You need to stay strong for Anna" Mickey said putting a supporting hand on Jake's shoulder who nodded sadly
…………………………………………………………………………………………
"Why did he want to hurt you?" Smithy said back in Anna's hospital room
"I was the one who tipped off the police" Anna said bursting into tears "This is all my fault"
"Anna, please none of this is your fault, you did not deserve to nearly be beaten to death"
She sniffed and looked at Smithy sadly "He said he was going to hurt Jake unless I gave him money. He said he'd found out it was me who tipped off the police"
"Did you give him money?"
"I had to, but then he kept putting up the prices but I couldn't afford it, not on my nursing salary"
"And then what happened?"
"Well I got that text but he said nothing to me on the day of the attack. It's a bit blurry after that but I can remember coming out of the club and going back home"
"Anything after that?"
"Only flashes like I said before and then pain and then blackness"
"That would have been when he knocked you out" and Anna nodded "Can you remember anything more specific?"
"Not really, we might have had an argument, maybe my neighbour heard it?" Anna said thoughtfully and Smithy nodded
"We'll check that lead out" Smithy looked at Anna and saw the exhaustion on her face "I'll come back in a bit but you should get some rest"
Anna nodded, her eyes flickering shut with the tiredness she was feeling "Thank you" she mumbled and Smithy smiled
Things seemed to be on the up for Anna finally, but Smithy wondered how long it would really last with twists and turns at every corner in the world of Anna Campbell.