‘You don’t look so great yourself, sir.’
Brady sighed with a combination of exhaustion and defeat as Conrad pulled out from Thorntree Drive onto Earsdon Road. He needed to get his head down for a few hours and the battered couch in his office was starting to look inviting.
He closed his eyes just as his phone buzzed.
‘Yeah?’ he mumbled. ‘Amelia?’ Brady forced himself awake.
‘Have you got him?’
‘No,’ muttered Brady. ‘It seems he’s sleeping in someone else’s bed tonight. But we’ll get him when he returns home in the morning.’
‘Damn,’ cursed Jenkins.
‘My sentiments exactly,’ replied Brady.
‘I’m sorry, Jack. I feel really bad about this …’
‘About what?’ asked Brady.
‘When we interviewed Ellison. I didn’t see it …’
‘Don’t worry about it. You’re just not as cynical about the world as I am. Anyway, we had nothing on him then,’ Brady replied.
‘But if I had taken you more seriously rather than thinking it was just your male ego being threatened, then another girl’s life wouldn’t be at risk,’ admitted Jenkins.
Brady remained silent. He’d been thinking about nothing else. But to hear it verbalised made him feel sick.
‘Jack? Are you still there?’
‘Listen, Amelia, if anyone’s to blame it’s me. I left him in The Fat Ox chatting the girl up. If I’d only known …’ Brady said, trying to ignore the horrible images going through his head.
When he got back to his office Jenkins was waiting for him.
‘Here you go,’ she offered as she handed him a mug with a generous measure of malt. ‘You look like you need it.’
‘Thanks,’ he muttered, surprised but grateful for her company.
He drained his mug and then walked over to the couch.
Jenkins carried the bottle of Scotch over and joined him.
‘Refill?’
‘What the hell, it’s been a shit day,’ he relented, holding out his mug for her.
He watched as Jenkins then poured herself a liberal measure.
‘What kind of good time did Adamson show you then?’ Brady asked.
‘Don’t,’ replied Jenkins as she rested her head back against the couch.
Brady couldn’t help but look at her. She was striking; even at 3.50 am. He watched as she closed her almond-shaped, dark brown eyes, sighing wearily. He was trying to ignore the fact that he was starting to enjoy her company and more than he wanted to admit.
‘Remind me never to work with that man again!’ she said.
‘I tried to tell you,’ Brady stated.
‘Yeah, yeah … Don’t fool yourself. You just didn’t think I could handle myself in that stinking strip club. It had nothing to do with Adamson,’ pointed out Jenkins.
Brady didn’t reply. There was nothing he could say. Instead he watched her relaxing on his couch, in his office, drinking his Scotch. He wanted to ask why she was there, but knew if he did, she’d leave.
She opened her eyes and turned to him.
‘Thank you.’
‘What for?’ Brady asked.
‘For not being an arsehole like your colleague, DS Adamson,’ she answered.
‘Is that what you expect of me?’
‘From what I know of you, Jack, what else should I expect?’
She was right; most of the time he had been an arsehole, at least where she was concerned. As his psychologist he hadn’t given her a chance. He had been too scared that if she took him apart she would never be able to put him back together again.
‘I take it Adamson must have really pissed you off?’
‘You could say that. Well, technically, he didn’t piss me off, as you say, but he did offend Trina McGuire.’
‘What did he do to upset Shane’s mam then? From what I remember of Trina it’s normally the other way round,’ Brady replied.
‘Let’s just say Adamson was asking a bit too much from her.’
‘How so?’
‘He treated her like a piece of shit,’ Jenkins explained. ‘Thought because of what she did he owned her. We asked her about the whereabouts of her son Shane, but she had no clue. Genuinely had no clue, you could tell. But Adamson wasn’t having any of it. I don’t know who he thought he was, but it wasn’t acceptable.’
Brady took a drink. He knew he wasn’t going to like whatever it was that Jenkins was about to tell him.
‘After we’d finished questioning her about Shane’s whereabouts, Adamson said he wanted a private word with Trina and told me to go wait in the car. So, I left the office and headed back through the bar. But you know when you havea bad feeling that something isn’t right?’ she asked as she looked at Brady.
He nodded.
‘So, I went back to the office and opened the door which he’d closed behind me and there he was with Trina pinned against the wall, pants round his ankles, demanding that she suck him off or he’d start to make life difficult for her.’
Brady sighed. He wasn’t surprised by what Jenkins had just told him. He’d heard the rumours that Adamson liked to play dirty which was why Brady wanted nothing to do with him.
‘Adamson doesn’t realise who he’s dealing with when it comes to Trina McGuire. She’ll make sure he pays for that stunt. And believe me, Amelia, if you walked in a few minutes later, either Adamson would have been rolling around in agony on the floor after Trina had kneed him in the balls or if he had forced her head down on him, then he would now be missing a big part of his manhood.’
Jenkins looked at Brady quizzically.
‘I know Trina from old, and when a punter gets a bit too heavy, like Adamson, she’s been known to fight back. And when she fights, it’s dirty. One guy nearly lost half his dick by shoving it down her throat,’ Brady stated. ‘Trina has a shit life, but at least the sleazy bastards who go into the Hole know not to touch her, unlike that idiot Adamson. She’s a pretty little thing, and so she’s had to learn to handle herself.’
‘If you like that kind of thing, I suppose,’ Jenkins uncomfortably answered.
‘She’s not as hot as she used to be. The drugs and booze have had their effect. But in a shit place like the Hole, shestill turns heads. Like I said though, she has a reputation, so everyone knows they can look but they can’t touch. And until now, no one’s dared.’
Brady looked at Jenkins.
‘I wish you’d waited a couple more minutes, then Adamson would have got what he deserved.’
‘I’ll be sure to remember that the next time I think a woman’s in trouble,’ answered Jenkins stiffly.
Brady shook his head at Jenkins.
‘Trina isn’t like other women. She can’t afford to be,’ Brady stated. ‘So, what did Adamson do when you caught him with his trousers down?’ he asked.
‘What do you think? He went limp with embarrassment, pulled his trousers up and stormed out the office.’
‘Bet the drive back to the station was fun,’ Brady replied.
‘Not really, the arrogant son of a bitch completely blanked what had happened and started talking about bringing Trina McGuire in for withholding information.’
‘Yeah, that sounds like Adamson,’ Brady said, sighing. ‘What are you going to do? Report him?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ she quietly answered.
Brady nodded. There was an unspoken code of loyalty in the force. And if you were going to report a colleague for misconduct then you had to be absolutely certain that you were prepared to pay the price. Brady knew
