There was no place for sentiment – it was all or nothing. That was why everyone respected Helen Grace, because she was never off duty, never allowed her home life to interfere, she was the perfect female officer. She made it damn hard for the rest of them, set the bar too high, but that was the way it was. So Charlie stayed. Even though she was shaken to the core, she wasn’t going to let people write her off after she’d worked so hard to get here.
Mark bided his time, waiting for the crowd to disperse, before crossing the room to give Charlie a big hug. She knew why he was hanging back – there were doubters in the room, people who would take a while to trust Mark again, so it wouldn’t do for him to be at the front of the queue. Screw them, thought Charlie, holding Mark in a bear hug for longer than was strictly necessary. She wanted to make a point to the rest of the team. Perhaps some of her saintliness would rub off on him and speed up his redemption.
Soon they would have to swallow their suspicions about Mark and quit the innuendos – Mickery was talking. Charlie shouldn’t know that of course, but walls have ears and Mickery had hardly left the police infirmary since she’d been picked up. It was her sanctuary and she had all her discussions with Anti-Corruption there. Charlie had enough friends amongst the bored and gossipy WPCs who had to keep an eye on Mickery. They passed on what they picked up and the word was that Mickery had had a romantic relationship with Whittaker after he had used her professionally. Were they still sleeping together when the killings started? And who was it that came up with their scheme to enrich themselves? It didn’t matter really. Mark was going to be in the clear – that was what mattered.
The big question would be how would Mark react when Helen was in the room? If they could find a way to get along then his resurrection would be assured. If they couldn’t he was in big trouble.
Right on cue, Helen entered. She didn’t acknowledge Mark’s return, instead calling everyone together to allot tasks.
‘So we now know that Sandy Morten had a stroke,’ she began. ‘He wasn’t harmed by Mickery – his body just couldn’t cope with the conditions. He’s in ITU and fighting hard, but believe it or not, he was lucky. If those boys hadn’t found him when they did, we’d have another corpse on our hands. Doctors think he’ll pull through. What does this tell us?’
‘That he wasn’t part of the plan,’ replied DC Bridges.
‘Exactly. She spared Mickery and Morten. Was never serious about killing them. They were just her little joke. Her way of hurrying the game along.’