One day she might have to come to terms with Jimmy Bliss no longer being around, Chandler thought. But that wasn’t going to be today. Nor any day soon. It was only a week since the incident with Neil Watson, but already Bliss’s absence had created a hole in her life. There were times when she opened her mouth to speak to him, only to remember he was no longer there and why. It stung. Every single time. He had always claimed to others that she was his rock, yet the truth was she was the one finding herself cast adrift without his stabilising presence. Her world was filled with empty spaces where he ought to be; sometimes Chandler could swear she could see his shadow and feel his breath upon her skin.
‘Good to see you again, Pen,’ Bliss said, approaching her from the side.
‘You too,’ she replied, taking a step back to appraise him. ‘And kudos on the new whistle and flute. As for pairing blue with dark brown shoes and belt, I can only gaze upon you in awe and wonder.’
He laughed and said, ‘First of all, it’s just a “whistle”. You don’t use the whole phrase. Secondly, I’ll have you know I’m well known for my sartorial elegance.’
This time her look was quizzical. ‘No, you’re not. Who advised you?’
‘Nobody. This is all my own work.’
‘Who advised you?’
Bliss tutted and shook his head. ‘Molly. I take it she got it right?’
‘Spot on. So, how are you doing, Jimmy?’
‘Not so bad. Already going batshit crazy on fucking gardening leave, though.’
Chandler snorted. ‘You’ve had so much gardening leave during your career I bet you could give Alan Titchmarsh a run for his money.’
Laughter shook his whole frame. ‘Missing me yet?’ he asked.
‘No.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘To be honest with you, the squad room is a lot quieter without your nonsense, coughing and farting.’
‘Oi! I don’t fart. Never have, never will.’
‘Yeah, you and the Queen. You heard the latest on Neil Watson?’
‘I hope the fucker’s snuffed it.’
‘Not quite. But those whacks he got from Poppy Myler did some real damage. Word is he’s unlikely to survive. If he does, he may not even register it.’
‘Then we can all sleep a little easier.’
‘I suppose. How’s your noggin, by the way?’
When Bliss had gone over the balcony rail and fallen, he was not alone in being thankful that it was from the first floor. He’d landed on a hedge, but had bounced sideways onto the concrete pathway below. One night in hospital to monitor for signs of concussion was all it had cost him.
Other than his pride.
Those colleagues who witnessed his fall from grace wasted no time in reminding him of it, laughing readily as they described the look on his face as he skipped off the surface of the hedge like a flat stone on water. He still got the occasional headache, but each one reminded him how fortunate he was not to have landed directly on the path.
‘Yeah, no problem,’ he told her. ‘So I lost another few thousand brain cells. I’ve got plenty to spare.’
‘Bollocks have you! I can hear that single one you have left rattling around inside your empty head like a marble in a tin can.’
‘And yet I’m still a Mensa candidate compared to you. Look, Pen, I’d love to verbally abuse you and score points all day long, but before the ceremony starts I wanted to talk to you about Poppy. Are we going in to bat for her?’
‘Poor choice of words.’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘My statement attempts to steer it that way, Jimmy, but it’s hard to make an argument for self-defence given the time and distance between the blows he struck and her follow-up. But, before you do your nut in, we’re solid when it comes to the CPS. Every indication coming out of here and Hinchingbrooke is that she was still in fear for her life once he got the better of you.’
‘Did he fuck get the better of me.’
‘Well, he did force you off a first-floor balcony, Jimmy. And the way we hear it from witnesses is he did that only after beating several shades of shit out of you.’
‘Well, tell those dozy buggers they’re wrong. Has nobody ever heard of tactics? Does “rope-a-dope” mean nothing to you philistines? I had to lead him away from Poppy and her boy. The only way I could do that was to have him think he was getting the better of me.’
‘Of course. You keep telling yourself that.’
‘I’m serious. I told you this the other day. I bought time and put distance between us and them, giving them time to get away. Soon as I knew I’d done that, I landed a few slaps of my own.’
‘Just not the one that has him feeding from a tube, eh?’
He folded his arms. ‘Yeah. Well, good luck to her on that. Wish I’d seen it. Sadly, I was upside down on the floor having bounced off a fucking hedge at the time.’
‘Fortunately for us all, you landed on your head. Nothing there to damage.’
Bliss gave a resigned shrug. ‘I almost fucked up so badly, Pen. I got him so furious with me, which was my intention all along. The only trouble is, I had no idea about Poppy or her kid. He went to them that night intent on taking his anger out on two people who couldn’t fight back, two people we had no idea were part of his life.’
‘Yeah, and look where that got him. Still, I dread to think what might have happened if you hadn’t arrived in time.’
‘Like I just said… rope-a-dope. But I got lucky. If he’d damaged either of them, I’d never have been able to live with that.’
‘Maybe you’ll think twice about taking up a quest on your own in
