Locked In by Kerry Wilkinson Read Free Book Online

responsible for a decent lead, something that might get an expression that wasn’t just a scowl from an inspector or Chief Inspector if you were really lucky. If you got a “well done” or someone bought you a pint, you knew you’d had a really good day.
    Those months were the initiation ritual where you found out whether you actually wanted the job or not, or whether you were up to it. Not everyone was.
    After her introduction to the department, Jessica had been assigned to help out DI Harry Thomas just over two years ago. Despite his position, he was still eager to get out into the thick of the action. Desks weren’t for him and neither was the brown-nosing, which was why he hadn’t even looked for anything like a promotion. At first it was just a shadowing exercise set up by bosses looking to tick boxes and perhaps have a laugh among themselves. She was twenty nine then, emerging from five years of working in uniform and taking exams to qualify.
    Harry was two ranks above her and twenty years older. He was an old-fashioned detective with not much hair, a paunch belly and a north east accent – even though he hadn’t lived north of Manchester since he was a child. He also had a supposed attitude problem, certainly when it came to anyone in authority above him.
    It had most-likely been their DCI’s little joke at first – pair the new girl with the grumpy old guy who has sat at the same desk for a decade and see how much she wanted to be a detective then.
    In actual fact, their coupling turned into a firm friendship and mutual respect. She liked how he got results and was completely committed to getting bad guys off the streets. He liked... well, she wasn’t sure. It wasn’t the type of conversation they would ever have had, feelings and all that. It would have been like confiding in your dad but he had put up with her for long enough and, for Harry, that was as close as it ever got to giving someone his approval.
    ‘I know you and Harry were close but I didn’t really know the guy,’ DC Rowlands said. ‘He always seemed a bit grumpy and people always went on about leaving him be. I don’t think people really knew how to take it when he kind of took you under his wing.’
    Jessica nodded. ‘He was certainly grouchy but I think it was just his way. When you got past that he had a really dry sense of humour.’
    ‘Is that where you got all your dirty jokes from?’
    ‘Only the good ones,’ Jessica grinned. ‘The thing was he had contacts everywhere. This killing this morning, if I’m honest with you Dave, I don’t really know where to start. I’m just sat here hoping forensics strike lucky. Harry would have been out there talking to people he knew. I’d ask him how he had those contacts and he’d just shrug and say he had a pint with them fifteen years ago.’
    ‘Blimey, I was still at school then.’
    ‘Exactly. This one time I was out with him and there was a homeless bloke he bought cans of lager for. He’d just put them down next to him and give the guy a wink. I didn’t know why he’d done it but he just said, “You’ll see.” Then, two weeks later we went back to the same guy. He was in the same window wearing the same clothes and Harry went and sat next to him.’
    ‘What in his suit?’
    ‘Yeah, it was mad. I just kind of hung around on the other side of the path not knowing where to look. He gave the guy this brown envelope or something, had a quick word then walked off again. I asked him what was going on and it turned out this homeless guy had witnessed some incident a few nights previous. People don’t notice him because they think he’s asleep or passed out or whatever. Later on, Harry goes and arrests some other bloke and the case we’re working on is all sorted.’
    ‘That’s quality.’
    ‘I know. Things like that happened all the time but most people didn’t get to see him work.’
    ‘Has he told you what actually happened with... y’know?’
    ‘I’ve not spoken