Chapter 36

Steve only just made it to the men's toilets in time before being violently sick into the middle cubicle toilet. It took a couple of minutes of retching before he felt he could sit back, leaning up against a cubicle wall, and not be sick again. He sat panting with his eyes closed, his forehead which was prickled with sweat began to feel the cool air of the room. His head was spinning and he was going to wade it out before he even attempted getting up. No food for 12 hours plus exhausted plus a load of beers and then a spirited run meant his body was kicking back in dramatic style.

"You alright, son?" he heard a familiar Northern Irish accent ask him. Steve opened his eyes, now thankful the spinning had seemed to have stopped, to see Ted stood in the cubicle doorway. He hadn't heard his boss come into the room.

"Yeah … just give me a minute," Steve said quietly before wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of one hand.

"You take however long you need." Steve expected Ted to leave so was surprised when his boss sat down on the floor with him. It was only then in the harsh artificial light that he saw how tired Ted looked. He hadn't seen his boss looking like that before.

"Is everything alright, sir?" Steve asked.

"I need to talk to you about something. An arrest was made half an hour ago by AC-3 on a member of the special ops team. It appears that a case of blackmail against one of the team led to the shooting. Nicholas was the intended target, not Lottie. Now with your findings we can establish a connection between them and Holly. I have gone through every recording and every statement multiple times of everyone who was there, and can say categorically no one gave the order to shoot. As AC-3 are dealing with it, it is out of my hands and until they have an update I have nothing to offer. I will let them know of your findings about Holly with urgent priority and make sure a link is looked into. I gave you my word I would find out what happened and I give it again that I will make sure this is dealt with to the letter of the law by AC-3."

"I know you can't share details but, how old are they?" Steve asked sadly. Karim Ali had entered his mind in that split second before asking and he didn't know why.

"Twenty-six."

Steve nodded sadly. One year younger than he was when Karim died. A familiar feeling stirred in his stomach and quickly he turned to the toilet and was sick again.

"When are you due back at the hospital?" Ted asked once Steve was done.

"About six hours."

"Go sleep on the sofa in my office. It will be much quieter and more comfortable than in the obs room. I can get someone to drive you home for your car for the swap over once you are rested. Make sure you eat Steve, I'm not having another Arnott to worry about. You might want these as well." Ted handed over a toothbrush, toothpaste, paracetamol tablets and a bottle of water.

"Thank you, sir. Thanks for everything."

Ted nodded with a small smile and left Steve alone to clean himself up. After a while Steve got up and went over to the sinks after flushing the toilet. He splashed a load of water on his face before looking at his reflection in the mirror. He almost didn't recognise himself. Even he could tell he had lost weight even though it had only been a few days. He was pale and had dark bags under his eyes. It was in the reflection of the mirror he saw something that froze him to the spot. Over his left shoulder he saw Lottie, no longer a child but her sixteen-year-old self looking dead and beaten as when he saw her the day of the shooting and over his right shoulder stood Karim Ali bleeding from the bullet wounds he sustained. Lottie suddenly screamed and he watched her chest explode as bullet entered her. Steve scrunched up his eyes and begged in his mind for them to go away. After a while he gingerly opened his eyes and they were gone.

When he immerged from the toilets five minutes later, now with clean teeth and paracetamol in his stomach, he was still pale and bit clammy but his stomach was now settled. He could see people looking at him out the corners of his eyes watching him. He closed the blinds and turned off the lights in Ted's office plunging it into darkness. For the first time in days he welcomed the silence and fell into a slumber, his coat acting as his duvet.

"Sir, we've found Holly. She hasn't fled the country. She is staying with friends in Leeds," Maneet interrupted Kate and Ted as they poured over the various documents Steve had given them.

"That's great work Maneet. Get Leeds constabulary to arrest her and have her brought here immediately. I want it confirmed she is in handcuffs by the time this day is done."

Maneet nodded and left. Ted turned his attention back to the timeline on the evidence board Kate had set up. They were both in the observation room.

"So let's go back to the start of the timeline," Ted indicated to Kate who started at the far left of the board.

"So back in spring of 1971, Christopher arrives here having transferred from Northumberland. In 1971 he meets both Liz, who lived in his building and later becomes his colleague and Holly through work who he starts dating that same year. In 1972 he breaks things off with Holly who isn't too happy about that at all and won't leave him alone. Liz, being his best friend, is the one Christopher confides in and she is feeling the heat from her male colleagues. She hasn't explicitly said it but clearly indicated a sexual assault happened but until she gives details we know nothing. The two develop a plan to make it appear that they were dating to get Holly to leave Christopher alone and the men to leave Liz alone. This was via them making sure they were caught kissing by Charles and he told Holly. A punch up ensued when Charles confronted Christopher and Nicholas punched him after Charles asked about keeping so many secrets. Charles got done for assault despite not doing anything and moved departments."

"Do we think that this is the point where Christopher and Nicholas began to date or before that?" Ted asked to clarify.

"I suspect before. This is the grey area of the diaries where it isn't exactly clear which Holly is the real Holly and which is the fake one. It makes more sense for it to be before because why else would a question about keeping secrets get Nicholas so wired up to throw a punch? I think he did it to stop the news from coming out because he was under Holly's manipulation at this point. He wasn't gay and he didn't want it implied he was either as it could turn out badly for him so everything had to be kept secret. She wanted revenge and she figured out that perhaps Christopher was gay which although legal from 1967 was still a sensitive subject at the time and of course he came from a very religious family so there was conflicting feelings about what he wanted verses how he was raised."

"This is around the time the cat is purchased?" Ted asked.

"Yes so to keep Christopher happy and make the lie deeper that there was real affection between the two. With the shift in positions Christopher gets a promotion so he is starting to go up and Holly lays in wait for the crash. The crash being the bank robbery. Her boyfriend at the time, Graham, works security at the Manchester and Salford Savings Bank where Christopher's friend Mark works as a lawyer and she is able to get full details on it. She comes up with the plan that a bank robbery is to take place with Nicholas acting as one of the robbers to make sure it goes smoothly, if anything goes wrong he can claim he was under cover. The three other robbers were from a gang that Nicholas had become friendly with. They use a car Nicholas had access to with fake place and park it in the alleyway and enter the bank to rob it. In the course of getting hostages out, Nicholas's hand gets bitten by a 4-year-old boy which we know he has a scar of from photos taken at the hospital whilst he was still unconscious. We don't know exactly how Christopher came to know that Nicholas was at the bank but I think he must have told Christopher he had to run an errant just like he said in his witness statement and told Steve and me when we went to visit him. Christopher enters the bank and realizes that Nicholas is one of the robbers."

"This is the point where Nicholas turns his gun on the robbers and Christopher does the same so we have the multiple shots happening at the same time killing the three gang members," Ted said making Kate nod.

"Yes and we got the bullet out of the bank stone wall yesterday which clearly proves the cover up. We don't know why Nicholas turned the gun on the other robbers to save Christopher but we know the result is that Holly is dangling his half of the robbery money in his face constantly and he can't take it so when his father died he had no choice but to take on the family business and continue to work past retirement. Christopher gets Nicholas to leave the bank via the back and get rid of the car. My guess is that the car got passed over to Holly with the money and she got rid of the car as it has never been found. This was three months before he disappeared. Christopher gets rid of documents and covers everything up to protect the man he loved not knowing he was the fall guy. His conscience starts to eat away at him, Holly clearly told us that when he disappeared she had to take some time off sick and that was when she started drinking and her health issues happened. This is the critical point that Steve indicated. If she has Munchausen Syndrome then this is the point where she starts collecting the pills and handing them to Nicholas to drug Christopher."

"So three months of drugging goes by and Nicholas kills Christopher before burying him under the willow tree. He takes his hand and stores it in the freezer for 40 years for some reason such as the use of fingerprints if he needs it. We know in June of 1974 Holly goes to Germany for a week and that is where the accounts get opened. Fast forward to 1976, Vic is looking into the bank and Holly kills him using her wedding as the cover before moving to Germany for ten years. She needs to make sure Graham doesn't speak when their marriage breaks down so kills him and moves back to England with her maiden name. We open our investigation and things begin to re-surface. Holly starts watching us and precious Lottie and triggers Nicholas to track down who opened the case. He decides to scare Lottie by sending the hand to her and then he decides to kidnap her when he threatens Steve not knowing that she has been watching him and has the evidence we need to put him away," Ted finished off the timeline.

"Nicholas is showing signs of improvement to treatment so we can start officially interviewing him in the next couple of days. So all we have to do is connect Holly to the pills and we have her."

Steve felt someone brushing the hair along his forehead making a tickling feeling across his skin. Their fingers were cold and he recognised it. He slowly opened his eyes and saw sixteen-year-old Lottie smiling at him. She was sat on the floor close to his torso and stopped brushing his hair after seeing he was wide awake.

"What is it with you and waking me up?" Steve asked groggily.

"You asked me to stay so I am staying. Your breath smells by the way. You better clean your teeth before you come to visit me. Don't want to be smelling that all day."

"Charming! I'll eat loads of garlic when I get home, make it fun," Steve replied sitting up.

"At least I can rest knowing you have actually eaten," Lottie said sadly.

Steve let out a frustrated sigh. "It hasn't been much of a priority of late," he explained.

"Now you are quoting me and I nearly fell ill because of it. I'm not having you being ill because of me. It isn't fair to mum and dad and you know it else you wouldn't be dreaming about it. Please Steve? Eat for me? You can tell me all about it when you come see me."

"If I eat, will you stop lecturing me in my dreams?" Steve asked. She held out a hand which he shook.

"Oh by the way, you might want to wake up and look outside," Lottie suggested still holding his hand.

"Why?"

She smiled and opened her mouth. A short sharp shrill came out of her mouth and Steve's eyes shot open. It was his phone alarm waking him up which he had left on the floor by the sofa he was laid on. He looked around and he was alone in Ted's office. It was 6am and still dark so he walked over to Ted's desk and turned on the desk lamp not wanting to be blinded by the artificial full beams of the main lights. Lottie's words came to mind so he walked to the window and looked out. There he watched a police pull up outside the building and inside was Holly. He had to sit down for a moment of on the sofa and think about what just happened. How did she know? How did I know? Steve asked himself unable to answer the questions. An idea came to mind, he had to work fast. He quickly brushed his teeth, spitting the toothpaste into Ted's bin and got himself together to leave the office. As he put on his coat he walked out into the main office to see Ted and Kate stood by the lift doors.

"Steve, son, did you sleep well?" Ted asked and Kate looked uncomfortable. He knew Kate didn't want Steve to see Holly given everything that had gone on with Lottie but there was no avoiding it now.

"Yes, thank you Sir. Stomach is much better now. I'm going to go get some food and head to the hospital."

"I'll get someone to take you home," Ted began gesturing to Steve to get him away from the lift.

"Sir, I actually think a walk home in the cold air will do me some good, but thank you."

At that second the lift doors opened revealing Holly with her walking aid with two officers. Steve stepped aside to let Holly out. She didn't focus on Ted or Kate but to Steve for one reason only which he knew she would.

"DS Arnott, you look so pale. Are you well?" Holly asked and reached out an arm to him placing a hand on the upper arm closest to her.

"Not really. A lot of stuff going round right now," he replied.

"I know that but then when you have immune system issues you pick up every little thing," Holly smiled. "I hope that whatever you have caught leaves your system soon."

"Thank you. I don't suppose you know what is good for headaches do you? Mines been banging for days." Kate and Ted glanced at each other realising what Steve was doing.

Holly genuinely looked concerned. "Oh bless you. Paracetamol and ibuprofen combined is effective depending on severity of pain but there is always Codine. You need a doctor's prescription for that though if you can get one in this day and age! Luckily I have a sympathetic doctor who helps me out. But then you can't beat a good cup of tea either."

"I know that feeling especially in the early morning. Kate could you put the kettle on?" Ted asked. Holly's attention shifted to Ted.

"Bit sexist not doing it yourself isn't it?" Holly asked.

"It's fine really, I could do with one myself," Kate explained. Steve coughed drawing Holly's attention back to him and she inched closer and rubbed his back as he coughed.

"Sorry, you don't want me spluttering all over you. I better go."

"You poor thing. If you go to the Oakwood clinic near Peel Court ask for Doctor Rush. He's great. Been treating me for years. He should be able to help you out."

Steve smiled at her. "You're so kind, thank you Holly. I'll look him up."

Steve triggered the lift doors to open and watched Ted indicate for the two officers to guide her to the interrogation room. Steve paused the lift doors and both Ted and Kate turned to him.

"Search Doctor Rush, send me his details and I'll go talk to him now" Steve said quickly.

"We can't just randomly turn up with no reason to believe that he is linked somehow" Kate replied quickly.

"Like evidence of the conversation we just had? Well, good job I recorded it then." Steve pulled out his phone and in front of the Ted and Kate he stopped the recording. "I'll forward the recording to you both now. Find his address and get it to me ASAP."

The lift doors shut and Steve left the building. He stopped off in the café round the corner which had just opened and purchased a load of pastries eating all of them on his walk to the clinic.