Blood Tears (44 page)

“
Senior Constable Tess Fuller here,” I yelled over my
shoulder, hoping one of them would hear me over the
clamour.

Noticing my uniform,
one of the grim-faced cops made a beeline for me. He kicked my gun
out of my reach.

“
ID
in back right pocket,” I told him.

He reached into my
pocket and pulled out my wallet. He examined my ID and grunted,
allowing me to pick up my gun.

“
You
took your bloody time about getting here,” I griped as I
did.

He grunted at me again.
I wondered if that was a prerequisite for being part of this
specialist unit, or whether it was some sort of code language
between them.

I nodded at Annabel and
the baby. “These two are rescues. I’m leaving the house and taking
them with me. Okay?”

A grunt with a
different cadence made me think he’d given me permission, but I was
wrong. He scooped up the three of us and ushered us to the back
door, sheltering us the whole way. I was rather disconcerted, not
used to being treated like a rescue or being protected in such a
paramilitary way.

A bright spotlight
blinded us as we exited the house. I could vaguely make out more
people grouped in the darkness of the back yard.

“
Get
them to safety, now,” the man yelled at someone.

Hands grabbed us and
hustled us to the front of the house, where the three of us huddled
behind a patrol car. With all the flashing lights, yelling, and
loud protesting from the group of people being frogmarched out of
the property, Jamie started to wail loudly.

“
Shh
,
shh
,” Annabel soothed, desperately trying
to pacify her distressed baby, a difficult task as she herself was
trembling and crying. I helped her to sit on the curb when she
almost collapsed in stress.

In the middle of the
chaos, I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, my heart sinking
when I saw the number.

“
Tessie Fuller, you stupid little bitch,” she growled. “Are
you all out now?”

“
Yes,
ma’am. All three of us are out, but I think I should take Annabel
and the baby back to the hospital for observation. They’re both
very upset and shaken.”

“
Maguire’s on his way. He’ll take her there. I’m organising a
counsellor for her.”

“
Does
that mean you want to see me afterwards, ma’am?” I asked with
dread.

“
No.
I don’t even want to set eyes on you right now, I’m so fucking
angry,” she snapped, and I could almost hear her hair sticking up
in clumps as she ran her hand through it. “You’ll go home with
Maguire. We can talk about it in the morning when I’m in a better
fucking mood.”

Fat chance of
that
, I thought gloomily, resigned to spending the night
preparing my butt for another good kicking. I only hoped Baz wasn’t
going to be recalled to deal with me.

I hung up and waited
for the Sarge to arrive.

He didn’t take long.
Slamming the door of the patrol car, he stormed over to where we
were. He didn’t greet me or say one word to me, his face set and
unapproachable. I guess I wasn’t his favourite person in the world
at the moment either.

He bundled the crying
mother and baby into the back seat of the patrol car, and apart
from that cacophony, we drove to the hospital in complete
silence.

We saw Annabel back to
the maternity ward, where the Sarge left me to do all the
explaining to the bewildered duty nurse. Fortunately they had a
spare bed and were able to readmit her. Before we left, I gave her
a quick hug.

“
Thank you for not telling Merrick about my phone. I think it
helped everyone track us down. That was really brave of
you.”

“
Really?” she asked, her face streaked with tears. “I was so
scared. I was so afraid he was going to hurt Jamie. Or do something
worse to her.”

“
It’s
over now, Annabel. We’re arranging for a counsellor to visit you
tonight, so you can talk about it. And I’m sure one of the nurses
will take Jamie to the nursery for the night so you can sleep, if
you want.”

She clutched her baby
tighter to her chest. “No! I’m never letting go of her again.”

“
Okay.” I stood and looked down at her. “I’ll check on you
soon. I might have to return here tomorrow . . .”
To get my arse
chewed off by a furious commanding officer
. “. . . so I might
see you in person. Otherwise, I’ll ring. Try to get some
sleep.”

“
Thank you for saving my baby, Officer Tess. And for saving me
from Merrick.”

“
That’s all right. It’s my job,” I said, sad again thinking
about the future this young pair would have. I hoped with all my
heart that she was able to provide a loving and stable future for
her little girl.

I trailed behind a
still fuming Sarge down the corridors to the exit. The stiff way he
carried his body, his uniform shirt stretched across his broad
shoulders, his fists clenched, didn’t give me any hope that it was
going to be a pleasant long drive home.

We drove for about
fifteen minutes, neither of us saying a word. Not being able to
stand the stony silence for another second, I said, “I’m
sorry.”

“
You’re
sorry
? Guess what? I’m sorry too – sorry that I
ever came back here.”

That hurt, but I
suppose I deserved it.

“
At
least Annabel and her baby are safe now. And Merrick’s been
arrested,” I offered in a conciliatory tone.

“
But
it might easily not have turned out so well. In fact, it might have
become an epic fuckup that got you killed.”

“
I
had a plan,” I lied, sounding a little defensive even to
myself.

“
Oh,
yeah?”

“
I
knew you’d miss me when I didn’t return to the station. I knew
you’d come looking for me, and when you found the patrol car near
the Kilroys’ house and saw the brown car, you’d know it had
something to do with Merrick. I knew you’d put two and two
together, and realise that he’d probably returned to look for his
things.”

“
Oh,
it sounded as though your so-called ‘plan’ relied on me rather a
lot to know everything.”

“
Not
completely,” I said in a small voice. “I hoped you’d remember that
you could track me through my phone.”

“
And
what precisely did you ‘plan’ to do when he took you to his house
at gunpoint to join an unknown number of other people? Did you
‘plan’ to use your weapons? Oh no, that’s right. You didn’t have
any.”

“
I
don’t know,” I said in a smaller voice.

“
Pardon? I didn’t hear you,” he snapped, though I knew quite
well he’d heard me loud and clear.

“
I
don’t know,” I snapped back. “All right, are you happy? I didn’t
know what I was going to do.”

“
It
wasn’t much of a plan then, was it? In fact, if you ask me, it was
a fucking stupid and reckless plan.”

“
It
seemed like the best thing to do at the time. He was holding the
baby hostage. He threatened to kill her. I didn’t think I had a
choice.”

“
You
always have a choice. The best thing to do at the time would have
been to call it in to your long-suffering sergeant. He could have
provided you with backup, and then you wouldn’t have gone into a
dangerous situation by yourself. Which, by the way, would have been
standard fucking operating procedures
.”

“
I
just wanted to make sure it was them before I called it in to
you.”

Suddenly, his anger
fled and he almost visibly deflated. “Tess, are we partners or
not?” I didn’t answer. He flicked a glance my way, unmistakable
dejection stamped all over his features. Misery swamped me for
upsetting him so much. “I came back here because I like working
with you. I thought we made a good team. I thought we had a good
relationship. I thought we understood each other.” He was quiet for
a moment. “Perhaps you’d just be happier working by yourself?”

Minutes ticked by as I
struggled to think of the right thing to say to him. In the end, I
decided on the simplest. “No.”

“
No
what?”

“
No,
I wouldn’t be happier working on my own.”

“
Then
please start remembering that you do have backup; that you do have
a partner.” His eyes cut my way again. “And one who cares about
your safety.”

I felt even lower.
Someone like me didn’t deserve to have a partner like him. I
probably deserved to be lumbered with Baz for the rest of my life.
It would only be justice.

“
I
wanted . . .” I started, but didn’t know how to finish. “Annabel
and Jamie. I feel responsible for them.”

“
Tess, you can’t save everyone,” he said, his voice
gentler.

My laugh was joyless.
“I can’t even save my own relationship.”

He was thoughtful for a
while. “Is that what it was all about? Because of Jake?”

“
I
don’t know,” I admitted, not wanting to meet his eyes. “I do know
that I didn’t think about him at all during the whole experience.
That was a good feeling.”

“
You
can’t deal with a breakup by risking your own life, Tessie,” and
his voice was so kind that I felt the prickle of tears in my
eyes.

Nope, you are
not
doing that
, I reprimanded myself, turning my head to the
side and blinking them back.

“
The
Super was spitting lava at me. She didn’t even want to kill me
tonight. She wants to save it for tomorrow. Probably so she can
spend the night relishing the thought of what she’s going to do to
me.”

“
I
hate to say it, but she did a good job at dragging the negotiations
out so there was time to organise the response team.”

“
She
was good. She really pissed off Merrick, but I started to believe
she really was going to leave me to my own fate.”

“
As
if she would. When he threatened to hurt you, it affected her. I
could tell it in her face.”

“
Oh.”
My guilt grew stronger hearing that. Somehow I’d managed to do the
right thing and wrong thing at the same time.

After a few more
kilometres, I dared to hold out the white flag. “I believe we did
work as a team today, Sarge, and I’m sorry if you think
differently. You tracked me down when I needed you. Twice – to the
hut and to the house.”

A ghost of a smile
touched his lips. “Well, that’s certainly one way of putting some
spin on it.”

When he pulled up
behind his little car that he’d left at the side of the road
earlier, he idled in the patrol car for a moment. “You’ve had quite
an adventure today, young lady. I recommend a good night’s sleep.
Don’t forget, Denny’s funeral is tomorrow afternoon.”

“
How
could I possibly forget that?” We sat for a moment in the darkness.
“You know, it’s been a while since I put any flowers on Nana
Fuller’s grave.”

“
Tess, don’t even think about it,” he warned. “You stay right
away from that cemetery tomorrow.” He checked. “Actually, it’s
already today. Go get some sleep.”

“
Okay.”

He stepped out of the
car and I scooted over to the driver’s seat.

“
Thanks, Sarge.”

He poked his head
through the window. “For anything in particular, or for being the
best partner you’ve ever had, and an all round great guy?”

I smiled at him. “Well,
for the Tim Tams naturally. But mostly for being the best partner
I’ve ever had, and an all round great guy.”

“
Goodnight, Tessie,” he said softly, his eyes unreadable in
the darkness.

He followed me to my
house, and I told myself it was because he wanted to see me home
safely, and not because he was concerned I’d hare off on a
high-speed chase the second he let me out of his sight. I watched
him drive away before trudging up the front stairs, my adrenaline
evaporated, deeply exhausted.

I allowed myself to
shed a few more tears on to my pillow for Jake, even though I vowed
I wouldn’t, before falling into a deep sleep.

Inevitably, I
dreamed.

I was back in the
abandoned hut in the middle of a siege again. But this time, it was
Jake who held the gun, his hostage a terrified Romi. But unlike the
awful events of today, Jake held the gun against his own head,
threatening to shoot.

“
Don’t do it, Jakey,” I begged, my hands up in the air as he’d
directed.

“
You
can’t stop me, baby doll. I’m holding all the cards in this
situation.”

“
Jakey.”

“
Keep
those hands up. I’m warning you.”

“
Why
are you doing this? Romi’s never done anything to you. She
shouldn’t have to witness this.”

He smiled, and it
wasn’t a happy one. “I’ve lost something very precious to me, baby
doll. And I need you to return it to me. You need to come with me.
You need to come to me.”

“
I
don’t know what you’re talking about, Jakey. But please, put the
gun down. You’re frightening Romi.”

“
I
don’t care about Romi. She’s not important to me. She’s just a
means to an end. It’s you I’m going to take with me. You’re going
to give me back what I lost.”

“
Hold
it! Put the weapon on the ground,” shouted the Sarge from the
doorway.