addict.
A Take That calendar was pinned to the back of the door. The current month was displayed beneath a glossy of Robbie. Two of the days had two times written in each, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There was a sequence of four crosses marked on consecutive days between these two days. He unhooked the calendar and leafed through. The same pattern went all the way back to January. Next month was blank. He took out his phone and dictated all he’d seen into an app. He was reciting information found in Denise Lumsden’s phone when the front door opened. PCW Deacon resembled a drowned rat.
‘Thanks a lot, North. If I catch cold out here -’
‘Relax, you can't catch cold just from being out in the rain. It's a virus. Chummy already has a virus so I had to get him to bugger off in case I caught it.’
‘You’re all heart. You rushed off before I could fill you in. I've been called out here a few times before, to this same flat. To domestics. The boyfriend used to get high or drunk on whatever he had gotten his hands on at the time and beat the crap out of her. Nothing remotely like this, though. I couldn’t even say for sure if that is her.’
Her own mum couldn’t have.
‘He was put away about a year back and this is the first time I've been called back since. The neighbour who called this in says that she is sure that she saw him legging it earlier. I guess he didn't get rehabilitated.’
‘What’s his name?’
‘Rawlins. Terry.’
‘What was the MO of the domestics?’
‘We’d get here, she’d refuse to press charges and give us a load of abuse. A recurring theme round here. They fight each other then turn on us when we arrive to help and if I’ve been here a few times its odds on other shifts have been called out here too. We complete the forms, send them to the DVU, and while they piss about making further assessments and compare notes with the council its business as usual out here. This one, he got put on remand about a year ago. We had to batter the door in that night. We could hear him shouting and her screaming and the blows raining in. When we got to them she was pretty messed up. He’s out five minutes and she lets him back in and gets that. How are you supposed to help people who won’t even help themselves?’
‘And you say I’m all heart. What did you make of Rawlins, the times you saw him?’
‘He always struck me as a bit pathetic. He looks like a little weasel, nothing but an addict who took out his frustrations on a woman with no self esteem who’d probably been abused as far back as she could remember. Maybe this is what happens when an unhinged bully festers away for a year instead of getting to lay into you on the spur of the moment.’
‘Somebody was sure pissed about something, whoever they are. Or just plain nuts. Did either of them have any history of drug dealing?’
‘Nope, and I never saw anything that would have made me think they were at it the times I was here before, but you could easily fit all that stuff into any drawer or cupboard in here. We were just sorting out domestics. I saw her record once, when we had to put together information for the DVU. She was once a street prostitute, earning to keep the pair of them fixed up but she hadn’t been collared for years. She obviously moved into dealing at some point. You think that maybe Rawlins didn’t do this, that its drug related – that someone could be sending a message with that killing and the syringes and everything?’
‘A drugs war? Just what we need right now with all the gang trouble on the streets.’
‘Maybe it’s all related,’ said Deacon. ‘But whatever it is, it won’t be your problem. This is a million miles from light duties, North.’
Deacon was right. He had to get moving. Get ahead. He’d been caged up too long and was in no hurry to go back to it.
‘What about the neighbour?’
‘A bit of a busybody. An old dear who lives on her own and has too much time
A Take That calendar was pinned to the back of the door. The current month was displayed beneath a glossy of Robbie. Two of the days had two times written in each, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There was a sequence of four crosses marked on consecutive days between these two days. He unhooked the calendar and leafed through. The same pattern went all the way back to January. Next month was blank. He took out his phone and dictated all he’d seen into an app. He was reciting information found in Denise Lumsden’s phone when the front door opened. PCW Deacon resembled a drowned rat.
‘Thanks a lot, North. If I catch cold out here -’
‘Relax, you can't catch cold just from being out in the rain. It's a virus. Chummy already has a virus so I had to get him to bugger off in case I caught it.’
‘You’re all heart. You rushed off before I could fill you in. I've been called out here a few times before, to this same flat. To domestics. The boyfriend used to get high or drunk on whatever he had gotten his hands on at the time and beat the crap out of her. Nothing remotely like this, though. I couldn’t even say for sure if that is her.’
Her own mum couldn’t have.
‘He was put away about a year back and this is the first time I've been called back since. The neighbour who called this in says that she is sure that she saw him legging it earlier. I guess he didn't get rehabilitated.’
‘What’s his name?’
‘Rawlins. Terry.’
‘What was the MO of the domestics?’
‘We’d get here, she’d refuse to press charges and give us a load of abuse. A recurring theme round here. They fight each other then turn on us when we arrive to help and if I’ve been here a few times its odds on other shifts have been called out here too. We complete the forms, send them to the DVU, and while they piss about making further assessments and compare notes with the council its business as usual out here. This one, he got put on remand about a year ago. We had to batter the door in that night. We could hear him shouting and her screaming and the blows raining in. When we got to them she was pretty messed up. He’s out five minutes and she lets him back in and gets that. How are you supposed to help people who won’t even help themselves?’
‘And you say I’m all heart. What did you make of Rawlins, the times you saw him?’
‘He always struck me as a bit pathetic. He looks like a little weasel, nothing but an addict who took out his frustrations on a woman with no self esteem who’d probably been abused as far back as she could remember. Maybe this is what happens when an unhinged bully festers away for a year instead of getting to lay into you on the spur of the moment.’
‘Somebody was sure pissed about something, whoever they are. Or just plain nuts. Did either of them have any history of drug dealing?’
‘Nope, and I never saw anything that would have made me think they were at it the times I was here before, but you could easily fit all that stuff into any drawer or cupboard in here. We were just sorting out domestics. I saw her record once, when we had to put together information for the DVU. She was once a street prostitute, earning to keep the pair of them fixed up but she hadn’t been collared for years. She obviously moved into dealing at some point. You think that maybe Rawlins didn’t do this, that its drug related – that someone could be sending a message with that killing and the syringes and everything?’
‘A drugs war? Just what we need right now with all the gang trouble on the streets.’
‘Maybe it’s all related,’ said Deacon. ‘But whatever it is, it won’t be your problem. This is a million miles from light duties, North.’
Deacon was right. He had to get moving. Get ahead. He’d been caged up too long and was in no hurry to go back to it.
‘What about the neighbour?’
‘A bit of a busybody. An old dear who lives on her own and has too much time
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