Little Boy Blue

77

‘What in God’s name were you thinking?’

Helen had sped to Ellesmere Heights as soon as she had got Sanderson’s call. Charlie had disobeyed a direct order by apprehending the suspect alone, so in spite of the presence of Sanderson, Lucas and numerous SOCOs, Helen didn’t hesitate in taking her to task.

‘You could have been killed or injured… You call, then you wait for backup, you always wait for backup.’

‘Like you do, you mean,’ Charlie retaliated, wiping the last remnants of Parker’s saliva from her face.

‘Excuse me?’ Helen countered, stunned by Charlie’s aggressive tone.

‘You’ve broken protocol on numerous occasions. And have you ever been pulled up on it?’

Charlie would not normally have answered back, but she had just brought in the prime suspect and was not in the mood to be lectured.

‘Only in life-or-death situations and besides it’s different for me. You have a family -’

‘So it’s one rule for you, one rule for everybody else.’

‘Why the hell are you doing this, Charlie?’ Helen replied, beyond exasperated. ‘You’ve got nothing to prove to me, nothing to prove to yourself. There’s no need to keep putting yourself in danger like this.’

‘I didn’t know what she was doing in there,’ Charlie countered. ‘I could have waited another five minutes, but what if she’d done something to herself? You can see what state she’s in – drunk, emotional, unpredictable -’

‘Come off it, Charlie. You’ve always been impulsive, but that’s not what this is. This is about you getting one over on Sanderson. This was her lead.’

‘So why didn’t she bring him in?’ Charlie retorted, casting a quick glance at her rival, who loitered by the flat entrance nearby.

‘I told every member of the team to report back to me straight away with any developments, but you deliberately kept this to yourself. You missed an important briefing, went off on your own. To prove what? That you’re willing to risk your life for your career? You’ve got to get a handle on this – it’s affecting your judgement, your ability to do the job -’

‘Well, that’s rich coming from you.’

Helen looked ready to explode, but Charlie continued:

‘Ever since we found Jake Elder you’ve been acting oddly.’

‘Don’t think our friendship gives you the right to talk to me like that. I am your superior officer,’ Helen snapped back, anger flaring in her.

‘Then try acting like one,’ Charlie interrupted. ‘You were in pieces after we found Elder and you’ve been aggressive, over-emotional and unpredictable ever since. Take a look in the mirror, Helen, it’s not me that’s acting weirdly. It’s you.’

Charlie turned and walked away towards her car. Helen’s first instinct was to go after her but even as she took a step in her direction, she became aware of the large audience watching on. There was no question of continuing the argument now. Helen had already let herself down by rowing with another officer – the same crime she’d pulled Charlie and Sanderson up on only a day ago – and she risked losing all authority if she made their confrontation look personal.

But in truth it was personal. Charlie had always been Helen’s closest friend and ally at Southampton Central, but now it looked very much like her old comrade had cut her off for good.