Sisters 28

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CHAPTER 28
Siân was insistent that night.

“Just because one of them is called Evans it means nothing! How common is that name, especially round here?”

I pushed my empty plate away. “And how many pies has that bastard family got fingers in? No. I know you’re right, but it would be so, so nice to get another of the bastards nailed. That family should never have been allowed to breathe never mind breed”

She laughed, which broke the mood that had been building in me all day.

“Sometimes, Lainey, you come out with something that just cracks me up. That was a good one. Now, you off this weekend? Vicky’s coming over with the little one. Kev’s pulled a set of lates, so he can’t make it”

“Depends, cariad. If things take off here it might get a little hurried, aye? The attacks are getting steadily more serious. Somebody’s going to end up dead”

“How is he, Lainey?”

Whatever I had, my wife shared, good or bad. Good or bad.

“Omar. He’s the latest. He had a depressed fracture of the skull, plus lots of other nasties, big and little. They’ve had to repair, well, down there, and there were the burns. He’ll scar, no doubt. It’s his head, though. They’re keeping him under for now, see how his brain goes. That’s the shit I have to tell his parents, aye? That we might not be able to give them their son back, not as he was. I want this lot, Siân, I really do”

She reached across and took my hand, needing no words.

Diane was first in the next day, with a message from the Super.

“He’s authorised proper surveillance, ma’am, on that Evans guy. See where he goes to after work be a starter”

“Who’ve we got on him then?”

“How’d you know I’d already… You can be a right sod, Inspector!”

“Where’s he to, anyway?”

“Up in Llandaff. LIO’s got a little file on him and no, he isn’t related”

“To the LIO?”

“No, ma’am, to our favourite family, as I am sure you knew full well I meant”

I grinned. “Not daft, are you? Who’s been detailed to watch the shit?”

“We had a natter down the pub last night, the team did that is. I’m not wanted cause I is a gurl and it might get rough, so Blake and Alun stuck their hands up”

“Really? Little bit of sexism?”

I got a grin back. “Not really… Elaine. They said first of all that I was the best one for the hospital stuff, dealing with the rellies and so on. Best for the boy as well”

“Still…”

“No, not at all. The rest of the lads thought I might be a bit too enthusiastic if it came to a ruck, innit? They want him conscious and in possession of all body parts, though Blake did sort of drop hints about not being too careful with his teeth”

That attitude had to be wound back straight away. “When you see Blake, remind him that some of the wounds we’ve picked up are bite marks, and Evans is going to need his teeth for a match, aye?”

“Wilco, Elaine! Tea? Chris has already got the kettle going”

Things slowed down over the next week. Everything had seemed to blow up at once, and then we were dropped back into the classic hurry up and wait game. The boys rotated faces and cars as they watched Evans, even resulting in the farce of Alun and Diane needing to snog when our little predator walked right past their car. That incident kept the team laughing for three days, and I resolved, if the gossip was ever safe to release, to keep an eye on the PCSOs to see if any were too obviously out of sorts with Diane.

We were still awaiting a DNA match, but the good news was that the boffins had managed to get some from both in and on the rubber, as well as some from one of the fibre bundles from the hedge. It seemed the driver had torn more than his sleeve getting out of his van.

And Omar woke up. Chris had a bedside watch along with Blake that day, and the news was good.

“Ma’am, he’s talking and he’s coherent. They have some sort of shrink going through the questions, and he says the lad’s almost completely there”

“Almost completely?”

“Aye. He’s got what he calls retrograde amnesia, from around when he was hit, innit, and there’s---. Look, he might need pads for a while. Hasn’t got full continence back there, if you see what I mean”

Bastards. “When can we speak to him, Blake?”

“Doctor says two days but Omar, shit, he says do it now, do it right. He’s a fighter, ma’am”

“His parents?”

“Oh, Mam’s all quiet tears, but Dad, hell, he wants blood. He also wants to meet you”

“What for?”

“To shake your hand, I think. Seems as if his boy’s had a few kickings before and the local boys weren’t exactly the most active of investigators. Sees you as shaking the nick up and doing the right thing for a change”

After what one local nick had done to my sister, how else could I ever act? “Nice one, Blake. I’ll make my way over this afternoon. Tell me, do you think he’ll freak at a male Officer sitting in with me?”

My boy laughed happily. “Ma’am, he’s already trying to chat Chris up! I think we have a really strong one here! Oh, and I’ve done all the statement-taker stuff, so if you want I’ll witness for you”

“Thanks, butt. So good to have some decent news for a change. See you in a couple of hours, aye?”

“Will do, ma’am. Oh, and the lad says he’d kill for a pint, which, in his own words, would be better than being half-killed for one”

I rang the front desk after that. “Sarge Gould in?”

“Saw him head up to the greasy, ma’am”

“Ta. If I miss him, get him to hang on and give me a shout”

“Will do”

I found him sitting in a corner with a couple of the boys from his relief, getting outside a large bacon roll. He looked up as I slid into the seat across from him.

“Omar?”

There was dread in his voice, so I smiled. “Just woken up. He’s fine”

His shoulders dropped along with his head. “Shit, shit, shit. I was really worried, you know, have to tell my boy his mate’s, you know? Done too many of those, and it’s not the same with family, is it?”

“Sergeant…”

“Dai, ma’am, if you prefer”

“Dai. I just ask that you don’t let this one out just yet. Same with the rest of you, please. I’m on my way to interview him, and I don’t want anybody spooked”

Dai looked up. “Can you take him a message, ma’am? From Scott, aye? My nephew?”

“Oh?”

“Just tell him Scott says sorry, innit?”

Yet again I realised how much was going on beneath what I was actually able to see. I squeezed Dai’s forearm. “That’s not sexual harassment there, lad. Just to let you know I will pass it on. Tell Scott, by all means, and he’d be welcome at the hospital, aye? But ask him to keep schtum for now”

“Thanks, ma’am. Appreciated”

Omar was in a private room in the high-dependency unit, which was almost as hard to get into as our Custody Suite. I had a portable tape unit with me, which Blake took, and then Chris introduced me to the parents. Mr Mohammed had the long features and prominent cheekbones of his Somali heritage, which made me wince at what they might have done to his boy’s face.

“I am Fahmi, and this is my wife Dahabo”

She grinned at me from under a loose scarf. “Call me Debbie, girl. Everyone else does”

Her husband shone a smile at her, brilliant against his dark skin. “That is what I first saw in her, Inspector Powell. No shyness there at all, just a bright and generous soul. The opposite of those that met my son, yes? Can we talk together?”

A nurse found us a quiet spot, and Fahmi simply opened up. I got almost the full life story, and it was an epic. The arguments, the accusations, the revulsion, all of those things I had seen with Mam and Dad, and then the same process of acceptance and pride. It seems people are bigger than their prejudices, bigger than the tabloids give them credit for. I had to ask, of course.

“Does it not cause problems, you know, in the Community? Omar’s… orientation?”

Fahmi laughed, and again it was my Dad I heard. “A couple of people needed a talking to, but this isn’t the old country, is it? It’s not even the old Wales! Not fresh off the boat, me. Proper Tiger Bay family we are, me and Debby here and the boy. And that Scott, he’s a good lad. Such a pity they fell out”

“Ah. I have a message from him for Omar. Scott’s uncle is at the nick”

“Dai? Good bloke, him. Sound, he is. Been worried all to hell”

“Well, I’ve asked him to let Scott know, if that’s OK with you two, but I will ask that you keep quiet about this one for now. We have a number of lines of inquiry that we are following up, and we don’t want to scare anyone off before we catch them”

Debby touched my arm. “That other gay boy there, that Chris. He’s not police. Will he be safe?”

“Safe?”

She frowned slightly. “We are far from stupid, and we’ve all seen the films. He’s the bait, isn’t he?”

I raised both eyebrows. “You think I can answer that one?”

A far gentler smile. “No. But we will send our prayers for his safety. Now, go and see what our son can tell you, and catch these men in such a way that there are no mistakes, no loopholes, no get-out-of-jail cards. So that we do not need to consider how things are done in the old country, because we are no more than a simple, ordinary law-abiding Welsh couple who would never consider such a thing, innit?”

We shook hands and I went to meet their son.

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Comments

How horribly true...

Andrea Lena's picture

He’ll scar, no doubt. It’s his head, though. They’re keeping him under for now, see how his brain goes. That’s the shit I have to tell his parents, aye? That we might not be able to give them their son back, not as he was. I want this lot, Siân, I really do”

Here's hoping they get that lot sooner rather than later! Excellent story!

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

As Somebody Told Shirley Bassey

joannebarbarella's picture

Go back where you came from!
And she replied:-
"What? All the way to Tiger Bay?"

I do love your stories,

Joanne

Catching the 'b------s',

is always the hardest part. Thank god Omar's survived 'more or less' intact. Makes things that much easier.

Shit like the Evans abuser needs to be caught and I sincerely hope things work out 'right'!!

Another small step for gay-lib, another huge step for the scuffers.

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