Page 49

“Yeah. Parenting is… Well, I can safely say that parenting is the hardest job in the fucking world.”

Blake chuckled. “You don’t exactly do things by half, do you? Marriage, kids, promotion, house move. All in, what, a year?”

“Oi, don’t forget dismantling an international sex trafficking ring.”

Blake patted the top of Oliver’s knee. “I can see why you’re running on empty.”

“I didn’t… Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that you’re going to hurt Pem, I just?—”

“I know,” Blake replied, waving the comment away. “I’m glad he’s got you and Lucas looking out for him, Ol.”

Oliver shook his head. “I should have been checking in more. I knew his mum was a fucking psycho, but Jesus.”

Blake snorted. “Did you really threaten to run her over?”

Oliver shrugged. “Eh, I just gave her some strong words of advice. She’s the one that rolled around in the middle of the road.”

“He wants to see her again. Said he wants to decide if he wants her in his life.”

Oliver grimaced. “I don’t know if that’s wise, Blake. I’ve seen the type of shit she pulls when she doesn’t get her own way. What if something happens and she hurts him?”

Blake let out a breath. “He’s asked me to go with him.”

Oliver looked momentarily taken aback. “Yeah? Wow, that’s…” Then his expression softened. “Do you care about him, Blake?”

Blake’s gaze dropped to his clasped hands. “Yes.”

“Does it run deeper than neighbourly concern?”

There was a pause. “It’s… not that simple.”

“Isn’t it?”

Blake shook his head. “We’ve both got issues, and I would never want to add to his worries. He’s only just learning to live on his own, and I?—”

“Everyone’s got issues.” Oliver cut him off. “Sometimes, the only thing we can do is be there. Shit, if Lucas tried to fix all my fucking problems he’d have to quit the police and become a full-time agony aunt. But seriously, does this run deeper than you being his neighbour?”

Blake’s jaw pulled tight as he bit the inside of his cheek. Staring down at the mug of green tea, he let the reality of the situation sink in.

“Yes.”

Oliver made a strange noise, somewhere between a hum and a squeal. When Blake looked over at him he had a hand clapped across his mouth and a wistful look in his eyes.

“You like him, don’t you? As in… like, like. ”

Blake growled, getting to his feet. “Are you twelve? Go and meddle in someone else’s love life.”

The briefing room fell silent as Oliver cleared his throat.

They were thirty detectives strong, but as Blake glanced around, he couldn’t help but think that they looked more like a university lecture theatre.

The national average age for new recruits was at an all-time low, and it showed, because their self-discipline was fucking shocking.

Only Lily had the good sense to have her pen poised over her notepad whilst they waited for Oliver’s PowerPoint presentation to load.

“DS White, Family Liaison Officer,” Oliver began.

It still felt strange that Oliver was a sergeant.

In the five years they’d known one another, Blake had been his mentor, partner and eventually supervisor, despite being similar in age.

Blake had gone for promotion as soon as possible, whereas Oliver had hung back and stewed in his own self-confidence issues for almost a decade.

Not that it mattered—they were on level footing now, except Oliver had a mate and kids, whereas Blake had… whatever his current situation was.

With a flourish, Oliver clicked to the first slide of the presentation, bringing up photographs of the victims.

“Felix Maginty, Zayne Stewart, Robert Green,” Oliver said.

“What do we know?” He didn’t give the others a chance to answer.

“We know that Maginty was an alpha, with an extended police record for domestic violence against various partners. None of said partners wanted to speak to me, however, from previous dealings with myself and DS Smith, we know he was a drug addict who gravitated towards solvents and prescription meds. His mother states he didn’t have a partner at the time of the murder, and had no known enemies other than those that orbited within his drug-taking circle. ”

Blake knew all this, but he still made detailed notes, hoping that it might prompt something new.

“Zayne Stewart,” Oliver continued. “Part of the insular Roma community. Settled in High Enfield but otherwise isolated himself from the locals. According to his parents—who really did not want to speak to me, by the way—Zayne got up, worked for the family business six days a week and went home. No mate as far as they were aware, never touched drugs and did not have his brothers’ penchant for breaking the law. ”

“That’s not to say that he didn’t get mixed up in it from time to time. Everyone knows the Stewarts are rough as fuck,” one of the others said. It caused a rumble of laughter to trickle around the room.

Oliver nodded. “True, and when I tried to speak with his brothers they told me to fuck off at the door.” He shrugged. “But what can you do?”

“What about Green?” the inspector said, and now that Blake was looking at him, he really did have a permanent wedgie face.

“Robert Green,” Oliver continued. “Solicitor. Family man. Husband, two children—Ava and Teddy—five-bed family home on the outskirts of West Newton. For all intents and purposes they were the ‘perfect’ family unit. However, there was one problem. Robert Green was a known adulterer. Couldn’t keep his knot in his trousers.

His wife’s words, not mine. He also liked to frequent the Nock and Ore. ”

“Jilted lover?” another detective said, leaning forward like he was watching an episode of Jeremy Kyle.

Oliver nodded. “Maybe.”

The same detective tipped forward in his chair, obnoxiously spreading his knees and tapping a pen on his notepad. Stanley Lloyd, alpha, and an absolutely fucking prat. “Are you going to find out, or what?”

Oliver flashed his canines, holding his gaze for a little longer than was comfortable. “That’s for you fuckers to figure out. I’ve got the domestic abuse department to run. No insult intended, boss,” he said, glancing towards the inspector.

Blake caught Stanley’s eye, showing his own fangs before tilting his head towards the door. Stanley paled and shuffled out of the room without another word.

“So what did Maginty, Stewart and Green have in common?” Oliver continued.

“As far as we know, they weren’t friends and lived vastly different lives.

However, they all frequented the Nock and Ore Pub.

Maginty used to collect his drugs in the alleyway at the back.

Green previously met different people for sex, and Stewart…

Well, we highly suspect that Stewart had a pregnant mate that he was trying to keep secret from his family. ”

“And they were all alphas,” Lily piped up.

“Exactly.” Oliver nodded, and Blake wondered if there was some hope for the young detective yet.

Oliver was about to continue when thundering footsteps echoed down the corridor. Everyone turned and watched as a very out of breath Wallace doubled over outside the glass partition. Blake stood, opening the door and bracing a hand on Wallace’s shoulder.

“Wall—”

“Maginty…” He cut Blake off, breathing hard. “Maginty’s just… Bloody hell I’m unfit… We’ve just had a hit on Maginty.”

Ushering him inside, Blake pulled up a seat and settled him in the corner of the now silent briefing room. When he’d finally caught his breath, he handed Blake a bundle of papers.

“In there. Maginty’s DNA. We’ve had a seminal hit for the Falkington gang rape. Full profile. He was one of Reuben Atkinson’s attackers.”