Liz Mistry - Broken Silence

Fliss? For a moment Nikki was confused then she caught herself. First Felicity, now Fliss? Really? Today was throwing up all sorts of surprises about DS Springer.

‘I left her a voicemail earlier, but haven’t heard back from her. Even accounting for the weather, she should’ve been home ages ago and she’s not answering her phone. It’s so not like her.’ She gripped Nikki’s hands in both of hers. ‘Please tell me she’s all right.’

Nikki swallowed, glanced at Archie and cursed inwardly, wishing she’d paid more attention to his practice attempts in the car. Archie nodded at her giving her permission to break the news. Nikki broke out in a sweat. Trying for her most sensitive tone, she removed her hands from the other woman’s and crouched beside her. ‘It seems that on the way home from the conference in Wakefield, DS …’ She cleared her throat. ‘I mean Felicity … Fliss saw something untoward in the van in front and followed it. She alerted the police by phoning 999 and we were able to ascertain her location using the What3words app.’ Nikki swallowed, wishing the other woman would stop staring at her like her life depended on her. ‘By the time we reached her, there had been a car crash and DS, I mean Felicity, was absent from the scene, as was the vehicle she was pursuing.’

Stevie held Nikki’s gaze for what felt like hours before responding. ‘But she gave you the reg number, didn’t she? You’ve traced the reg number and you’ll soon find the vehicle. They’ve not hurt her … tell me they’ve not hurt her.’

Archie moved behind them and Nikki prayed he would answer, but he remained silent. Up to me then, is it? ‘The thing is, Stevie. DS Sp … Felicity couldn’t give us the vehicle registration. She told the emergency services operator that it was covered in some way and unfortunately when we got to her car, there was evidence that Spri … I mean, Felicity was hurt.’

Tears began to roll down Stevie’s cheeks and with a sigh, Nikki stood up and relocated herself to the chair arm, putting her arms around the now crying woman. ‘We’re doing all we can to find her and the initial analysis indicates that the blood loss is non-fatal.’

‘Blood loss? Was she hurt in the crash?’

‘No … not in the crash.’ Nikki wished she didn’t have to say the words, but there was no other way. She had to be honest. Stevie had to be prepared. ‘We think she may have been shot.’

As Stevie collapsed in her arms, Nikki held her, looking over the other woman’s head to Archie, who sat motionless on the couch, hands trapped between his knees, an expression Nikki had never seen before on his face.

What the hell wasn’t Archie telling her?

The atmosphere in the incident room after Nikki and Archie had left to speak to Springer’s partner was calm, but still a heaviness lingered, as if warning Sajid that things were going to get worse – much worse. The other two officers who’d been working on their computers had disappeared. Whether they’d signed out or just gone for a break, Sajid wasn’t sure, but the quiet was a welcome change from the tension radiating from both his partner and his boss.

Flinging his pen across the table, Sajid stretched his arms up, trying, and failing, to release the knot at the bottom of his spine and ease the taut sensation in his shoulders. He was fed up with Nikki. It had been obvious that she was keeping something from him earlier at the crime scene and equally obvious that she and Archie had disagreed over something before they left, yet she just shook her head at him when he asked. With her lips tightly pinched, she put her socks and boots back on before heading out of the room with a curt. ‘Tell him I’ll wait for him at my car.’

Now, looking at the crime board, he was aware that he was prevaricating. It was time to go home. There was nothing else they could do now and anything that came in later would be caught by the night shift. Home meant Langley and he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to face him just yet. He sighed before logging off his computer and tidying up his desk. It was okay for Langley. He’d been brought up in a very different family to Sajid’s. Langley’s family couldn’t care less about his sexuality. They supported it even and that made him comfortable in his own skin. Saj was only too aware that he lived a sort of double life. One where he was always slightly conscious of where he was, whose company he was in and who knew about his private life. He was only truly relaxed when at home with Langley, at Nikki’s or on the job.

However, Langley was getting pissed off – no, that was too strong a word. Langley didn’t do pissed off, no, it was more exasperation, with being, in his words, ‘the hidden partner’. Saj couldn’t blame him really. If Langley were with someone other than him, he could be as ‘out’ as he wanted. The mere thought of Langley being with someone else made Sajid shudder. He couldn’t bear it if his boyfriend got so fed up with him that he dumped him. But what was the alternative? Come out to his parents and family? Yeah, he knew exactly how that would go down – lead balloons would be an understatement. The entire family would be horrified, the extended family and the community would be consulted and Saj would be evicted from the family … if not worse. It was the worse he was worried about. Although his parents were mild-mannered, there were members of his family from Birmingham who’d been part of the demonstrations against the No Outsiders education programme, outside the primary schools in their area. Mouthing off, using the Qur’an to justify their bigotry towards gay rights without even fully understanding what the school curriculum is about. He doubted they’d be receptive to his sexuality and the worst thing was, some of them were already angry that he’d become a copper. This would be the last straw.

Although, he was concerned about his own welfare, that wasn’t his priority. Saj was more than able to look after himself, but Langley was a different matter. Langley was a bloody doctor for God’s sake, not a fighter. Hell, Langley was so oblivious to his surroundings, unless of course it was the damn mortuary, that he wouldn’t even see them coming. Did Saj really want to expose the man he loved to that? The only options available to him were to either break up with Langley or confide all of his fears and convince his boyfriend to keep their relationship on the low down. After all, there wasn’t a huge distance between Bradford and Dewsbury. All he needed was some uncle or auntie spotting him with Langley and putting two and two together. He supposed they could move, but that was like giving in, giving up.

The message he needed to get over to Langley was that he wasn’t ashamed of their relationship or his own sexuality. That was the fear he saw lurking in Langley’s eyes all the time; that he was ashamed of them .

Grabbing his coat from the hook by the door, he left the office. If he was being one hundred per cent honest with himself, he’d admit that a lifetime of anti-gay rhetoric did cloud his happiness. If his parents could be as accepting as Langley’s were, things would be better. They’d like Langley. He was sure of that. What wasn’t to like – other than the fact that he wasn’t female, that is?

Deciding that he couldn’t put things off any longer, that he had to make some sort of attempt to talk to Langley, try to make him understand, he swung by the One Stop in Heaton and grabbed a bottle of wine. Langley had cooked, but not knowing when Saj would return home, he’d texted to let him know he’d eaten and that his food could be reheated when he got home. The thought of Langley’s Yorkshire puds and roast beef would normally have Saj salivating, but tonight his stomach felt fragile. What was wrong with him? Too much time spent with Nikki, that’s what it was. He’d absorbed her inability to confide, her inability to articulate her feelings to those she loved. He was normally the one who was more in touch with his feelings. It was what he was good at – talking to witnesses, making them feel at ease – so why the hell was this so difficult?