By
Jan
Chapter 11
Helen shook her head trying
to clear the fog that was clouding her brain. She had to stay focused. Sylvia
was behind the desk and she was still armed! Nikki was sprawled on the floor at
her feet, the revolver clutched in her hand. She bent over her, swaying
unsteadily and hissed, “Give me the gun!”
Nikki muttered something
barely audible and held up the hand that was still holding the revolver. She
felt it snatched from her then lowered her hand and pressed her forehead onto
the floor. The pain in her leg was taking away any lucid thought she had in her
head and she just wanted to sleep.
Helen straightened and held
out the revolver in front of her, ready. She felt something trickle down her
left arm and glanced sideways. There was a bullet hole in the sleeve of her
jacket and blood was dripping from her fingertips onto the floor. It was her
best leather jacket too!
With a roar that sounded
like a wounded bull elephant Sylvia rose from behind the desk, gun in hand.
“Put down your weapon!”
Helen ordered. “Now!”
“She’s killed Trish!” Sylvia
wailed.
“No, she hasn’t. I have the
gun. I’m the one who shot Trish,” Helen stated emphatically. “Now, put down
your weapon or I’ll fire.”
Sylvia looked as if she was
about to protest then dropped the revolver onto the floor.
“Kick it away from you.”
“You can’t protect her,”
Sylvia sneered as she did as she was told. “If I’m going down, she’s going with
me.”
“No she isn’t,” Helen contradicted.
“I have a lot of friends where you’re going so unless you want to be woken up
each morning by a kick in the ribs instead of an alarm clock, I suggest you
keep your mouth shut!”
Sylvia’s shoulders slumped
in defeat and she turned and fell to her knees beside Trish. “She’s the only
thing I’ve ever loved in my life,” she uttered brokenly.
Helen recalled the woman’s
sour demeanour at their meetings and found it hard to believe that anyone…let
alone a lovely young woman like Trish…was the love of her life. She heard a
groan from Nikki and sank down beside her.
“I heard what you said to
her,” Nikki whispered. “Why do you keep trying to protect me?”
“Because I love you,” Helen
whispered back.
“This is the police! Throw
out your weapons!”
Helen smiled wryly as she
struggled to her feet. Stubberfield was probably standing safely in the car
park, issuing his command through a loud hailer. She picked up Sylvia’s
revolver, opened the office door and tossed both weapons out into the corridor.
“This is DI Stewart,” she called loudly. “We need a doctor in here…now!”
Nikki hauled herself from
the settee and hopped across to where Zandra had leaned her crutches against
the wall. After fitting her arms into them, she propelled herself across to the
door. It had been left slightly ajar so she poked the end of the crutch through
the opening and flicked it open.
“Where do you think you’re
going?”
She grimaced as she came
face-to-face with a stern-looking Monica. “I…er…I…”
“Get back in there!” Monica
ordered. “You’re supposed to be resting.”
Nikki turned and hobbled
back to the settee, unhooked her arms then flopped down with an impatient sigh.
“I’ll have those!” Monica
took the crutches from her and tucked them under her arm. “And take temptation
out of your way!”
“But…”
“Rest!”
Nikki watched helplessly as
the older woman walked out. When she had been discharged from hospital, her two
friends had insisted she stay with them until she was more mobile. However,
after a week of being told what to do and what not to do ‘for her own good’ she
was beginning to wish she had made other arrangements.
Helen had visited her just
once in hospital. Hers had only been a flesh wound but Sylvia’s second bullet
had shattered the bone in Helen’s arm so she was up to her armpit in plaster.
Monica was firmly ensconced beside her bed when Helen arrived and, since she
blamed her for Nikki’s predicament, refused to take the hint and leave them
alone together. Therefore, their conversation had been limited, just asking
after each other’s health, before Helen had taken her leave. Monica had been
disgusted at her apparent unconcern about Nikki’s welfare and the part she had
to play in it, exclaiming, ‘Not even an apology!’
She heard the door creak and
turned her head, watching with amusement as the door slowly opened. Obviously
Monica or Barbara trying to catch her out. “There’s no need to creep in,” she
called out jokingly. “I’m resting!” But her heart missed a beat as Helen’s head
popped round the door.
“I crept in the back way to
try and avoid Monica,” she said wryly. “I don’t think I was her favourite
person the last time we met.”
“You’re safe,” Nikki replied
with a grin. “She’s gone to hide my crutches.”
Helen came right into the
room and closed the door behind her then perched on the edge of the settee,
careful to avoid Nikki’s injured leg. “So how you doing?”
“I’m okay, I suppose. How’s
the arm?”
“Okay, I suppose,” Helen
replied with a teasing smile then her face became serious. “Have you been to
see Trish?”
Nikki shook her head. “Not
since she came round after the operation. She wouldn’t see me. She blames me
for everything that’s happened to Sylvia and said she’s going to stand by her
no matter how long it takes.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be. What sort of
future could I have with someone I don’t trust?” Nikki said pointedly.
Helen shifted uncomfortably
beside her. “Nikki, it’s my job…”
“And you do it very well,”
came the sarcastic reply.
“Two young girls died!”
Helen retorted. “I was ordered to work undercover at the club to stop it
happening again.”
“Don’t you know how much I
regret that?”
“But it wasn’t your fault…”
“I should have seen what was
happening! It was all going on under my nose and I never suspected a thing!”
Helen touched her arm
gently, realising by the bitterness in her voice that she wasn’t only talking
about the drugs.
“What I can’t understand is,
why Sylvia? She’s…” she looked around her, searching for the right words.
“…old!”
Helen suppressed a smile.
She couldn’t understand why Trish would choose Sylvia over Nikki either.
“Power…money…is very corrupting and it can be a powerful aphrodisiac.”
Nikki frowned. “Power?
Money? You make Sylvia sound like a gangster.”
“She’s into everything nasty…drugs, prostitution, extortion. We
tore her place apart and what she had going at the club was just the tip of the
iceberg. It will take months to uncover the dirty pies she had her fingers in!”
“And Trish was a part of
it?”
“We don’t know yet how
involved she was. Sylvia maintains Trish knew nothing about her…business
dealings.”
“Have you…the police…spoken
to Trish yet?”
“Yes, she was interviewed
just after she came round.”
“What did she say?”
“She hasn’t said much but
what she has said cleared you of any involvement.”
“That’s something I
suppose,” she mused. “At least now you know I really am innocent.”
“I’ve always known that,” Helen
replied truthfully.
“What you said about…”
“I thought I told you to
rest!” Monica interrupted Nikki sharply from the doorway then shot a fierce
look at Helen. “And how did you get in?”
“T…through the kitchen,”
Helen stammered as if she had been caught doing something wrong like a naughty
schoolgirl.
“Monica, please,” Nikki
interjected. “Helen saved my life.”
“She was the one who put you
in danger in the first place!” the older woman countered.
Helen gave an impatient
sigh. “I agreed to go undercover so we could stop anymore tragic deaths and
whatever you say, I think I did a good job and I’d do it again if necessary!”
She lifted the arm that was still encased in plaster. “I didn’t actually escape
unscathed either!”
Monica’s lips set in a firm
line as she realised she was on the losing end of this particular argument.
“Well, don’t you tire her out!” she chastised sharply then made a hurried exit.
“Is there any danger of
that?” Nikki asked teasingly.
“Of what?”
“You tiring me out.”
Helen laughed. “I don’t
think it would take much to tire either of us out.”
Nikki joined in her
laughter. “We aren’t very mobile at the moment are we but there’s plenty of
time.” She looked at Helen expectantly. “Isn’t there?”
Helen shook her head. “Once
I’m fit again I’m going back to my own force.”
“You could get a transfer.”
“It wouldn’t work, Nikki.”
“You said you loved me,” she
ground out accusingly.
“I think I do,” Helen
admitted. “But it doesn’t mean we’re going to live happily ever after. There’s
my career…”
“I don’t want to come
between you and your career!” Nikki retorted bitterly. “And I’m sure there’ll
be a promotion in the offing now you’ve cleared the streets of a notorious drugs
baron…or should that be baroness!”
Helen sighed. “I’d better
go, I don’t want Monica on my back for upsetting you.”
“Yes, go! Run away! You’re
pretty good at that!” She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hand;
she didn’t want to see Helen walk away from her. She felt a fleeting touch on
her arm then heard the door creak as it opened and closed. When she opened her
eyes Helen had gone.
Outside the hotel Helen
walked across to the waiting car. Jim Fenner got out of the driver’s side and
settled her in the passenger seat before climbing back in beside her.
“You don’t look very happy,”
he observed as he switched on the engine.
“I bottled it!” she
exclaimed. “I told her it wouldn’t work between us!”
He switched off the engine
and turned in his seat to face her. “Who was it who once told me to fight for
what I wanted?”
“I did.”
“Well, I fought for Shell
and I’ve never regretted it for one minute so maybe you should practice what
you preach. The force isn’t everything you know, love.”
She turned to face him, a
troubled look on her lovely face. “But it’s all I’ve ever wanted or at least I
thought it was and what would I do if I left?”
“I’m thinking of branching
out. As well as the private eyeing, I’m going into security.” He leaned forward
eagerly. “Come in with me, be my partner.”
“I don’t know,” she replied
hesitantly.
“You’ve got nothing to lose
and everything to gain. What do you say?”
She smiled and nodded.
“Okay, you’re on.”
“Good.” He gave a satisfied
grin. “Now get back in there and start fighting for what you want!”
Nikki sighed as the door
creaked open once again. Helen had just walked out on her so why didn’t they
just leave her alone to wallow in her misery? And as soon as she was mobile
again she was going to oil the ruddy door hinges!
“Nikki.”
She stiffened as Helen’s
voice reached her from the doorway. Why did she have to come back? She’d made
it clear she wasn’t interested so why prolong the agony? “I thought you’d
gone.”
Helen came all the way into
the room and sat down in the place she had so recently vacated. “Jim made me
see that I had something here worth fighting for.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to resign from my
job and go into partnership with Jim.”
Nikki frowned. “So you’ll be
staying around here?”
“That’s the general idea.
Don’t you think it’s a good one?”
“I don’t know,” she
shrugged.
“You mean you don’t want me
around?” Helen teased. “Look, what I said before, it’s only because I was
scared.”
“Scared!” Nikki echoed. “You
faced up to Sylvia with a loaded gun in her hand.”
“That’s because I didn’t
care about her but I do care about you.”
“You do?”
She linked the fingers on
her good hand with Nikki’s long fingers. “Very much. You know, Jim once told me
you clouded my judgement.”
“You and Jim,” Nikki asked
hesitantly. “Were you ever an item?”
“Course not!” Helen retorted
in surprise. “I don’t go for older men.”
“How about older women?
Although only by a couple of years,” she added quickly.
“I might make an exception
in your case.”
Nikki’s fingers tightened on
hers and she drew her closer. “So how’s the judgment now?”
Helen smiled contentedly.
“There’s not a cloud in sight.”
THE END