Kay brought her hand to her mouth, bewildered. ‘I lost my daughter.’
‘I’m aware of that,’ Sharp said quietly. ‘I’m so sorry, Kay.’
‘Not good enough,’ Kay snapped, sitting upright. She glared at the DI. ‘Do you have any idea the stress he put me through? Do you know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night crying, because the tiny being you were carrying isn’t kicking anymore? Do you know what it’s like to have to pack away all the baby clothes and toys you’d bought because the doctors said there’d be no more children? And then, to have to return to work knowing none of your colleagues trust you anymore, even though you’ve been cleared of any wrongdoing?’
She reached across to a box of tissues on the bedside table next to her, swiped two and blew her nose with one before dabbing at her eyes with the other, then turned back to Sharp.
Her next words died on her tongue.
He appeared as distraught as she, his face white as he met her gaze.
‘You really didn’t know, did you?’
He shook his head.
‘Those girls…’ Kay cleared her throat. ‘Didn’t Harrison care how many more died because of his actions?’
‘Harrison maintains he didn’t know about Demiri’s sick killing club until Jenkins told us before he died.’
‘Then why shoot Demiri? Why not arrest him?’
He shrugged. ‘I guess we’ll have to wait and see what Professional Standards find out. Maybe it frightened him, knowing that he was about to lose another officer on his watch.’
‘Does Adam know about this?’
Sharp nodded. ‘I arranged for a car to meet him at Heathrow the moment the ambulance was taking you to the hospital,’ he explained. ‘Carys told me you’d mentioned to her that his flight had been delayed, and I wanted to get him here as fast as I could. We thought we’d lost you, Kay.’
His voice broke.
Kay looked away, uncomfortable at his genuine concern.
‘I don’t understand why Demiri didn’t simply escape the country,’ she said eventually. ‘We nearly lost him, guv. Why stay? Why wait to confront me?’
‘We can only assume he became obsessed about you,’ said Sharp. ‘As you did with him, wanting to see him put away for what he’d done.’
‘What about the cameras and listening devices in my house?’
‘Definitely Demiri’s work. Harrison states neither he nor O’Reilly had anything to do with those.’
‘You believe them?’
‘They looked absolutely petrified when it was put to them.’
Kay sighed and let her head rest back on the pillows once more. Her head ached, and not just from the bruising she’d sustained when Demiri had banged her skull against the hard, wet sand.
There was too much to comprehend.
Too much treachery.
‘Hang on,’ she said, jerking upright once more. ‘Why you?’
Sharp stopped pacing. ‘What?’
‘Why has Harrison been targeting your team? What’s his problem?’
He didn’t answer, and Kay narrowed her eyes.
‘Wha—’
Sharp held up his hand to silence her as the door to the room opened and Adam entered, his hands wrapped around two takeaway coffee cups.
He nearly dropped them in his haste to cross to the bed, and handed the drinks to Sharp before enveloping Kay in a hug.
She savoured his embrace, closing her eyes and pushing away the sudden flashback of her terror at being held underwater by Demiri, sure she was going to die.
Right here, right now, she was safe, and with the one person who mattered most in her life.
Adam broke off his hug as Sharp cleared his throat, and pulled across a second visitor chair to the side of the bed, wrapping his fingers around Kay’s free hand.
‘I wanted to wait until you were both here to do this,’ said Sharp. He reached into the inside of his jacket and extracted a white envelope before holding it out.
‘Guv?’
‘Take it.’
She reached out with a shaking hand, turning the envelope over. Her eyes met Adam’s.
‘Help me open it?’
She paused a moment, wondering if this was when her whole career came crashing down, a request for her resignation surely the only option open to her superiors after the events of two nights ago.
She sniffed, then unfolded the page and ran her eyes over the black text.
The words blurred, and she wiped at her eyes before she tried again, and then gasped.
Your promotion to Detective Inspector has been recommended and approved.
Her hand shook as she dropped the letter to her lap.
‘I can’t accept this, guv.’
She heard Adam’s sudden intake of breath, but kept her eyes on Sharp.
‘Can I ask why not?’
‘It’s become too political. All I wanted was to be a good detective. I saw what was going on between you and Harrison. The rivalry. With all due respect, guv, I don’t want to be a part of that. I just want to get on with the job.’
‘At least think about it,’ he said, and then fell silent as the door to the private room opened once more.
Kay frowned; two uniformed officers entered the room, followed by DCI Angus Larch, his eyes blazing.
‘I should have known I’d find you here, Sharp. Detective Sergeant Hunter, I’m sorry to intrude.’ He didn’t wait for her to respond. Instead, he turned his attention back to her senior officer. ‘Detective Inspector Sharp, I’m here to relieve you of all duties pending a Professional Standards investigation into your conduct as a senior police officer.’
Adam’s grip on her hand tightened before a sickness crawled into Kay’s stomach, her heart racing as her eyes shifted from Larch to Sharp. ‘What’s going on, guv?’
Sharp’s jaw worked, and he moved to where he’d placed his jacket on the other visitor chair. He shrugged it over his shoulders before lifting his gaze to meet hers. ‘I’ll explain when I can. But you’re right. The rivalry and the politics don’t make it an easy job.’
Larch watched as Sharp was led away by the two uniformed officers before turning back to Kay.
‘You surpassed even your own stupidity this time,’ he said. He held up a hand to stop her interrupting, and pointed at the page in her lap. ‘And if you think you’re going to take on that promotion, you can think again. Until I say so otherwise, you’re acting Detective Inspector while this whole mess involving Sharp has been cleared up. One way or the other.’
‘What will happen to him?’
Larch pursed his lips, then shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Obviously, he has an exemplary record for successful investigations, and that will be taken into consideration.’
Adam collapsed into his chair, and ran his hand over his mouth. ‘I can’t believe it. I—’
Kay reached out until her hand found his.
‘On the understanding this doesn’t leave this room, Sharp was assisting Professional Standards with an investigation into Harrison’s methods of running cases,’ said Larch. He contemplated his fingernails. ‘All I’m prepared to say is that it seems Harrison used some less than savoury methods to conclude his investigations. On the other hand, Harrison has made some serious accusations about Sharp, and those accusations have to be fully investigated.’
‘God, what a mess,’ said Adam.
Kay said nothing, but thought back to the meeting she’d had with Jonathan Aspley, and wondered if the journalist had anything to do with Larch’s admission.
What had happened between Harrison and Sharp to cause such animosity?
Would Aspley ever tell her if he’d uncovered more about Harrison than he had previously told her?
Larch cleared his throat, interrupting her thoughts. ‘Anyway, I’ll let you two have some privacy.’
Kay waited until the door
had closed behind him before she spoke.
‘Sharp tell you about what O’Reilly and Harrison did?’
‘Yeah. Honestly, Kay – I thought you were going to find out Larch was responsible for all of it. He seemed the type.’
She shook her head, and managed a small smile. ‘No. He’s just one of life’s career arseholes.’
Adam snorted.
‘Listen, don’t blame Sharp for any of this. It’s my own fault. I was the one who kept pushing to go after Demiri. I was the one who wanted to be a part of the raid on the beach.’
‘Don’t make excuses for any of them, Kay. Don’t.’ Tears shone in his eyes, and he wiped at them with the sleeve of his shirt. ‘After all we’ve been through since they blamed you for the missing evidence.’
‘Sharp is innocent, Adam. Whatever’s going on, he has to be innocent. He’s always looked out for me before, whenever he can.’
He reached out for her once more, and shook his head, a sad smile on his face. ‘You opened a can of worms this time, Hunter.’
She squeezed his hand, closed her eyes and sighed, exhausted.
‘I knew there’d be hell to pay.’
* * *
< THE END >
From the Author
Dear Reader,
* * *
First of all, I wanted to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Hell to Pay. I hope you enjoyed the story.
If you did enjoy it, I'd be grateful if you could write a review. It doesn't have to be long, just a few words, but it is the best way for me to help new readers discover one of my books for the first time.
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Thanks again for your support.
Best wishes,
Rachel Amphlett
Copyright © 2017 by Rachel Amphlett
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN eBook: 978-0-9945479-5-8
ISBN paperback: 978-0-9945479-4-1
ISBN audiobook: 978-0-9945479-6-5
Contents
Untitled
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
From the Author