Ammunition

23

Roberts had summoned Falls to his office. She’d been having a cup of tea and a blueberry muffin when she got the call. Lane, the cop who’d been on the Happy-Slapper arrest with her, had got up from his table when she’d entered. That was worrying. She wasn’t sure he’d stand up, continue to maintain the lie about the set-up they’d pulled. Eyeing the muffin, she’d reassured herself:

‘Naw, he’s an old-style copper, he won’t sell out the blue.’

Or black, in her case.

‘Would he?… no, the fuckhead wouldn’t have the balls.’ He certainly wouldn’t have the balls for long if he did.

She sighed. As if this weren’t enough, she’d had another damn letter/card from Angie, the psychotic bitch.

Read:

Sweetie

Do you miss your little vixen? Don’t you fret none, I’m coming round real soon and then… you’ll be coming… in a flood… or a fall.

Xxxxxxxxx

Ang

Thing too, it kind of turned on Falls. Christ on a bike, how fucked up was she? The old urge for a line of coke surfaced and with ferocity, she could almost feel the icy drip down the back of her throat. Eat something sweet they’d told her in rehab when the compulsion arose.

Fucking words to live on.

She could eat Angie.

That’s when the summons came, and she was relieved not to eat the muffin as her weight was definitely on the up.

Like her career, yeah?

She was a sergeant, wasn’t she… muff that.

Andrews, the new gung-ho WPC, asked:

‘Liz, you eating that?’

Liz?… the fuck did she come off?

Falls, without breaking stride, said:

‘I’d skip it if I were you, I’ve noticed it goes right to your hips and… it’s Sergeant to you, got that?’

She did.

And muttered under her breath:

‘Cunt.’

Falls knocked lightly on Roberts’s door, heard:

‘It’s fucking open.’

Good sign.

Roberts had a mess of files on his desk, a half-eaten slice of Danish, many many cups of tea?… and he looked like he was on the verge of a heart attack. He looked up, his eyes were bloodshot, and she thought:

Uh-oh, back on the sauce and big time.

He didn’t offer her a chair, barked:

‘This Happy Slapper, the photo gig, the mugging/mobile phone thing, how solid is that?’

She didn’t hesitate, said:

‘Rock.’

He gave her a long, cold look then asked:

‘You sure on that, Sergeant? You want to change your mind about anything, this is the time. You’ll lose yer stripes, but you’ll save yer job?’

Jesus, she felt sweat on her neck, down her back, her thighs, thought:

That prick Lane.

Said:

‘No, sir, we got him bang to rights.’

Roberts leaned back, let out a weary sigh, said:

‘Lane, your colleague, says he didn’t see it go down. In other words, he’s bailing, so you’re out on yer fucking tod, no backup, and I got to tell you, the press will be all over this. Last chance. Want to change your account, your report?’

She had to go with it. Said:

‘I stick with my report, the arrest was white.’

Meaning, a good one, fuck, a great one.

Roberts was scratching his head, then ran his big meaty hand through his hair, now almost white and getting spares, said:

‘McDonald is fucked. The witness on the old-age vigilante’s screw-up has positively identified him. It will be released in a few hours.’

Falls actually felt for McDonald, asked:

‘Isn’t there anything we can do. He’ll do jail time for this?’

Roberts seemed almost sad, no one liked to see the blue go down, he said:

‘Naw, he’s done and you get to tell him, give him time to get a lawyer, tell him get a real expensive one. He’s going to need the best.’

Falls was panicked. If they could throw McDonald down the shitter, what about her? She attempted:

‘Wouldn’t it be better, sir, if he heard it from you, you know, his commanding officer and all?’

Roberts had already dismissed her, was opening a file, said:

‘Never could stand the bollix.’

Falls went to the pub, she ordered a large Stoli, no fucking ice, thank you very much, and defintely no fucking conversation. She gulped it down, ordered another, and the barman did consider a query but saw her expression, said:

‘Yes ma’am.’

‘Ma’am?’

She nearly laughed but the small death she was feeling prevented it. She went to the back of the bar, got out her mobile, and with a sinking heart, called McDonald.