Penultimate chapter ...
Max could have done without Suzie barrelling into him at the bar. The pain shot through his arm, somehow worse than the pain of the bullet which had sliced through fabric and skin, leaving a nasty looking, if not actually serious, wound. He clenched his jaw, thankfully managing to stifle the threatening yelp. A fresh shirt meant that there was no outward display of the injury, giving no prompt for either sympathy or satisfaction from colleagues. He preferred it this way, although it did make accidents like this more likely.
"Sorry," muttered Suzie, but she had to bite down on her lower lip to suppress a giggle. Max glanced at Tommy, standing protectively, or perhaps possessively, behind her.
"You feeling that, Guv?" Tommy asked. It was a man-to-man question that had only one answer.
"Nah. It's nothing."
Tommy nodded in unspoken understanding
"Can I get you something to drink, Guv?" Suzie chirped, having already ordered a pint for Tommy and a large white for herself, turning back to the girl at the bar when he shook his head, gesturing to his half full glass.
"You were pretty cool back there," Tommy began quietly. "Taking him out after taking a shot yourself."
"It's only a flesh wound, I didn't notice it until afterwards anyway," Max mumbled uncomfortably, still annoyed with himself for having given Antonov the opportunity to take a shot at him. On the plus side, it gave him the excuse of having used reasonable force in defending himself. It was unlikely the DPS was going to be able to give him a hard time.
Tommy appeared to read his mind. "Probably just as well he did fire first though. Third time for you isn't it?"
"Yeah, well, I'm not worried. Just glad no one else got hurt." Max stared down into his drink. It wasn't the first time that he'd thought about how easily Millie or Sondra or both might have been caught in the crossfire and he really didn't want to dwell on it.
"So," Tommy rubbed at his chin ruminatively, "I still don't understand why he kidnapped Sondra Brown. I get that he wanted revenge on Fleischmann, but why involve her?"
Max half turned to set down his glass, studiously ignoring Suzie next to him who was now noisily tapping a fingernail on the bar while waiting for her change. "Love. Obsession. Madness. I don't really know. He had a thing for her years ago and blamed Fleischmann for grassing him up and being sent down. In Siberia," Max added with emphasis. "Apparently he spent years planning his revenge on Fleischmann and how he was going to get her back. Not that Sondra ever gave him any encouragement. She only ever wanted to be with Richard, never was interested in Antonov as anything other than a friend."
"You believe her?"
"Yes," Max asserted rather too hotly even to his own ears. "Yes, I do," he reiterated more levelly.
Tommy shrugged, giving way to his superior's superior knowledge. "But Antonov didn't know that?"
Max shrugged. "Who can say? Sondra said that he told her, kept telling her over and over, that he had always loved her and spent years planning how he was going to get her back, spend the rest of their lives together. It seems he was released after the fall of communism and set to making money. Really big money. Mainly through protection and racketeering, branching out into drugs and guns. It was pretty lawless back then, still is really. But he still had his old contacts, and a few new ones made while he was inside, and nothing to lose. Being imprisoned for crimes against the old Soviet state helped, I imagine. Showed capitalist enterprise."
"He nearly managed it."
"Yeah. He nearly did," Max agreed soberly.
"Didn't bank on Millie though, did he?"
Max looked up sharply and then smiled a tiny rueful smile, tinged with pride. He'd underestimated her, as well as played a few cards very badly over the last few days. He could only pray that Jessa Bennett never crossed his path again, as much for her sake as his.
"Are you still angry with her for following Fleischmann without talking to you first?"
"Not sure you've a leg to stand on there, have you?" chipped in Suzie rather bluntly as she handed her would-be lover his drink and earning herself a glare in return. "I mean, you would have stopped her, right? And, from what I hear, you've gone awol yourself from time to time," she added taking a sip from her wine glass while Tommy growled her name in warning.
Max frowned and then sighed, too tired to really put up a fight. Sometimes it was easier to just agree. "You're probably right," he concurred picking up his glass. But his phone beeped into life alerting him to a new message and he had to replace his drink on the bar once again.
All okay here. M&D settled, T&G have all under control. Coming home now.
Just a few words. A few ordinary words. Except one, home. Their home. Her home with him. That word alone told him everything he needed to know. He might have a lot of ground to make up, and he had a plan for that, thinking of the two white unsealed envelopes with their unsigned contents in his car. But that could wait until the morning. A smile spread across his face, warming his eyes and flushing colour into his cheeks. He read the message once again, just to be one hundred per cent sure, or perhaps just because it felt so good. "Gotta go, guys!" he announced abruptly. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Suzie raised her eyebrows at his sudden change from morose to joyful brightness, jauntily slapping Mickey on the shoulder as he wove his way through the crowd of colleagues and strangers in the pub. "What brought that on?"
"Well, I can't be sure, but I'd hazard a guess that is a man looking forward to seeing his woman, if you know what I mean?" Tommy replied suggestively into her ear, enjoying how her initial confusion morphed slowly into wide-eyed understanding.
"Oh! I see. Well, I have to admit I've changed my opinion of those two."
"Yeah? How's that?"
"It's hard to imagine that they could have had a tougher time than these past few days, but it looks like they are strong enough together that they can get through it. I admire that. It would be much easier for one of them to walk away."
"Not sure it's as simple as that, Suzie. I get the impression that he's not out of the dog-house yet. Besides. Who knows what really goes on behind closed doors?"
"Hmm. Indeed." Suzie took another sip of her drink, her attention now focussed on her boss, moving amiably from group to group. Doling out twenty pound notes every so often to get a round in 'on him'. He'd become ever the political animal at SOCA, manipulating and developing alliances and favours. She noticed that while he chatted and joked with old colleagues, he was just as interested in the newer faces she understood to be earmarked for future success. Just as she had been when they had first worked together. But success came with such a price and she wasn't so sure anymore that she wanted to pay it. In her reverie she lost sight of Manson for a moment and in searching for him again, she found Grace, standing next to Jo and Terry, staring across the room. Following her gaze, it was clear who was the object of her interest. Suzie chewed on her lower lip, only half listening to the rather uninspiring male banter between Tommy and Smithy who had arrived at the bar with one of Neil's twenties, contemplating what her boss was up to. Could he really be so unaware of Grace's fascination, and if he wasn't, what sort of game was he playing?
"How about we head outside to get some air? I need a fag." Smithy was gone, leaving Tommy free to move his game along a step or two.
"Filthy habit."
"Not my filthiest, I can assure you."
"I can imagine."
"Really? I think I'd like to know more about what you are imagining. Perhaps you'd like to tell me. Outside?" Suzie's eyes sparkled at his, the corners of her mouth twitching, but somewhere in her peripheral vision, she caught sight of Manson by the door to the car park. He was leaving, nodding his goodbye to her before he turned and disappeared.
They had talked a little after the team returned to Sun Hill. Other events in the wider world during the day had already begun to take precedence in Manson's mind. The debacle of SOCA playing second fiddle to Sun Hill paled with insignificance when the news filtered in that the head of the Metropolitan Police had resigned over phone-hacking and it was rumoured that at least one of his deputies wasn't far behind. Manson's eyes had been alight with the potential opportunities that lay ahead for him, and her he had added quickly, depending on who scored in securing the vacant top jobs and the shake-up that would surely follow like a house of cards. But she had landed her own surprise, telling him that this visit had caused her to re-evaluate and that she was strongly considering a move back into CID. He had been stunned and, she thought, a little shaken, he'd urged her to think about it for longer and away from the influence of certain Sun Hill personnel. Tommy. But she had thought about it. The fact was she had no idea whether Tommy could be 'The One'. She had known him less than a week, it would be ludicrous to make such an assumption, but she did know that she couldn't remember ever feeling quite so alive. Even if or when this thing with Tommy came to an end, there was no way she could go back to her solitary lifestyle, supporting her boss who was already in the throes of moving on and would eventually leave her behind. Everything was changing and she would be a fool not to take the lead.
"Come on then!" she exclaimed, sloshing her drink. "What are you waiting for?" Following a similar route to Max, but hoping to draw rather less attention to themselves, they made their way out into what passed for a garden. It was actually little more than a grubby canopy stretched over a few tables and benches for the benefit of the anti-social smokers. Only a couple of pot plants softened the setting. But after the stuffiness of the crowded pub, the cool evening air felt glorious on Suzie's bared arms, accentuating the warmth of his fingers as they trailed over her skin. The excuse of coming out for a smoke was clearly just that. Nothing more than a ruse for getting her alone. And she was going to let it work. Except annoyingly the moment was interrupted by quick footsteps and then the sound of a car engine revving behind her, followed by the whine of it reversing and then accelerating away. Susie knew that car belonged to Neil, but the arrival of Grace instantly killed the intimacy Tommy had planned.
Grace stood stock still, her mouth slightly open, dumbfounded as she watched Neil drive out of the car park. He hadn't spoken to her other than to buy her a drink when he first arrived at the pub over an hour ago. It had felt a bit odd, to have been otherwise ignored, but, she had reasoned, they'd spent a lot of time together over the last few days. It was only natural he would want to catch up with the others. She had tried to catch his eye, just to make sure he wasn't completely avoiding her, but the room had been so busy that it was impossible. Reluctantly, Grace had bided her time. She could wait for the time to be right. She was a patient woman. But that time hadn't come. Here he was, driving away, no backward glance. No goodbye. No promises of later. Nothing. He had gone, again.
"Why … wh-where?" Grace stammered, refusing to accept what her eyes was seeing, what her head was telling her.
Suzie had to assume that Grace was talking to her, even though the other woman didn't address her directly. She looked at Tommy nervously, who returned her glance with confused concern. "Didn't Neil tell you? I thought …"
"Thought what?"
"Thought … well … seeing as how you and he have spent so much time together over the last few days …"
"What, Suzie?" Grace demanded, a hint of hysteria edged into her voice. "What?"
"He's on his way to Heathrow, to collect his partner. She's moving to the UK from Portugal to live with him." Suzie watched as each word she spoke seemed to hit Grace like a shower of tiny daggers, each one cutting into her tightly restrained façade. "Oh God," Suzie whispered. "He really didn't tell you anything about Marguerite, did he? They've been seeing each other for almost a year now." Grace, I'm so sorry!" Suzie reached out to the stricken woman but she shrank away.
Grace stared ahead to the now motionless car park, only vaguely aware of footsteps behind her when she felt a firm hand at her elbow and the sound of Jo's softly concerned voice. But the words Jo spoke made no sense, incapable as her brain was in deciphering them amidst the chaos raging in her head. All those secretive phone calls, those furtive text messages made sense now. Yet every word he had uttered, every glance, every touch played back in her mind. Had they all been imagined? Was she really that delusional? Or, worse still was she simply so gullible to have believed him? It might have been less painful to be able to believe the former, but the truth was clear. He had used her and she had let him and now he had gone. Just as he had done before. Except this time it was into the arms of another woman.