Miss No One by Mark Ayre (interesting books to read TXT) 📕

on here and save Isabella? Or do you phone the police? If you want to, I won't stop you, though I'll run. With or without you, I will do my duty."

Christine looked at Abbie. Turned to Ana. Looked into her tumbler and stared at the empty glass for a long time.

Then she looked back up.

"Cards on the table," she said. "Let's save that little girl."

Twenty-Six

Christine insisted on another drink, and this one she poured herself. Thankfully, she went for wine rather than vodka. She emptied a bottle and chucked it into a box in one of the kitchen cupboards. Abbie heard the clank as the new bottle fell on a mountain of others. She tried not to wonder how often that box needed emptying.

There was an unopened bottle in the fridge. Christine offered it around. Ana gratefully finished her vodka and excepted the wine, while Abbie asked for another water.

When they were settled, drinks in hand, Christine began laying her metaphorical cards on a metaphorical table.

It was simple enough. Someone unknown had tipped off the anti-corruption teams following suspicions that certain team members were taking bribes and, in return, protecting local criminals from examination and prosecution. Run of the mill stuff. An investigation was opened, but no one got very excited until irregularities were discovered in the behaviour and bank accounts of DCI Hammond.

"He was careful," said Christine. "Just not careful enough. It didn't take long to discover he was spending a lot of money in cash. Simultaneously, income streams were arriving in his bank account that were unlinked to his salary and bonuses. He was interviewed informally by a couple of anti-corruption agents, and his explanations held up to initial scrutiny. But flags were raised. The detectives agreed something wasn't right. It was decided further, and closer investigation was needed."

Enter Christine Lakes. Hammond was an intelligent man and savvy operator. Having been questioned by anti-corruption officers, it was decided he would be suspicious of undercover operations against him. What was the best way around this? Superior officers decided rather than giving an experienced detective a false identity, they would pluck a newly qualified detective from another department and parachute them into Hammond's team. There would be no need to give this detective a false identity, and her youth and inexperience would less likely incur Hammond's suspicion.

"And he never did seem suspicious," said Christine. "From the day I arrived, he was kind. Took me under his wing, ensured I felt part of the team. A charming, friendly, funny man, it was easy to see why everyone idolised him. Within about an hour, I came close to idolising him myself."

"That must have been difficult," said Abbie as Christine took a big gulp of wine. "Guess you hated yourself for a little while."

"If that's strong enough," said Christine. "I despised myself. I sat in my apartment and screamed and cried. I didn't want to be here. I loathed my boss back home and the anti-corruption guy who had sent me here. I told myself I'd find nothing, and that would show them."

Abbie smiled a sad smile. "But finding nothing turned out to be difficult?"

Christine nodded. The informant, who remained unnamed and unknown to Christine, had passed across plenty of information. One of the prime concerns was regarding a potential link between Hammond and local businessman Davesh, the car dealership owner.

"I told myself it wouldn't matter if Hammond was corrupt or not," said Christine. "He'd hide it so well; someone with my experience would never learn the truth. But once I knew about the possible Davesh link, it was easy. See, Hammond was careful about the things that might be checked by senior officers—the money coming into his account, the reports he filed, that kind of thing—but day to day, he barely bothered to hide it. Like I said, everyone idolised him. More than once, I flat out heard him quashing the beginnings of an investigation into Davesh's dealings, and people would go along with it. They never suspected anything untoward was going on."

Before long, Christine had what she believed to be enough evidence to convict Hammond and Davesh of various crimes and was ready to call it a day.

"They'd been friends for years. I got to thinking Hammond was corrupt, but not in a general sense. He was just keeping a mate out of prison. Beefing up his bank account was an added perk. I thought that was the extent of it."

Then something new came up.

"You know a little bit about the casino on the edge of town, Lucky Draw. One of those places everyone knows is run by crooks, but they're clever. No police investigation had ever managed to gather enough evidence to convict the owners or anyone else that mattered. There was always an open case, but no one expected it to be solved. There were plenty of suspicions that, just like with Hammond and Davesh, police officers were protecting the casino owners. But I just wanted to go home. Far as I was concerned, it didn't involve Hammond, so it didn't involve me."

Christine took another swig of wine. Her glass was almost empty, and it had been a big glass. Ana's drink was almost full.

"Then, one evening, someone comes to my door. A teller at the casino. She's only worked there a few weeks and promises she's not involved with any criminal activities. But she's seen something. Says she can't let it lie, even though she's afraid. I tell her she needs to come to the station and make a statement, though I'm not hopeful. The casino owners aren't going down over one statement from one of their employees, but what can we do? We have to try. Then she tells me this isn't about the owners. It's about DCI Hammond."

Abbie leaned back in her chair and let this sink in. Cogs were turning, wheels were whirring. There were plenty of moving pieces here, but as yet, Abbie didn't know if they were moving closer together, ready to slot