The Doll's House

116

She had never anticipated failure. Never seen it in her mind’s eye. So when it finally happened, she wasn’t quite sure how to behave.

The ring on the doorbell was insistent, but Ceri Harwood had nevertheless ignored it at first. Tim was there, driven home by guilt or uncertainty for another of their ‘chats’, and though she didn’t hold out much hope that this was anything more than window dressing, she didn’t want a postie or duster salesman interrupting them during such a raw conversation.

But the ringing then became repeated knocking on the door. It was obvious they were in because the upper windows were open and the sitting room light on, so it seemed fruitless to hide. Ceri armed herself with a dismissive turn of phrase, but as she opened the door, words failed her. She could tell exactly who they were by their bad suits and their sombre expressions, but it still came as a bit of a shock when they said:

‘Anti-Corruption. Can we come in?’

Ceri Harwood. Head girl. Top of her class at Hendon. The youngest female DCI in the Met. Now staring at failure and, worse than that, possible ruin.

‘Tim, we’d better take a rain check on this. There are a few procedural things that need to be sorted out.’

But he could tell she was lying. Had she gone pale? She felt like she had. Or perhaps she was just a bad actress – failing to cloak the anxiety that gripped her now?

‘Can we do this here?’ she asked, as her husband watched on, making no attempt to leave.

‘Better if we do this down the station,’ came the sober reply.

‘Is that really necessary?’ Ceri replied, her superior rank surfacing as she fixed them with a beady eye.

‘Yes’ was the blunt apologetic reply. ‘We’d prefer it if you came willingly but if we have to arrest you -’

‘Ok, ok.’

Now that it had come to this, there was no point in dragging it out. Picking up her bag, she nodded to Tim – and was surprised to find tears pricking her eyes. When she had started this thing, she had been so sure that it would achieve the desired result, that she would drive Helen Grace from Southampton Central and be the top dog once more. Successful, untouchable, victorious. She paused on the threshold to smile a sheepish goodbye to Tim and in that moment she knew – her defeat was total. She had reached the end of the road.