CHAPTER 43
We were bright and early at the court the next day, which actually meant about nine thirty. We were down to the bare bones, just Elaine, the two of us and Alun, and wasted the morning on crosswords and an amble through the pedestrian area, avoiding the pub this time. The rest of the team were off with Sammy, something else going on, and Alun dropped a hint about picking someone up who may just have made the odd phone call to Pritchard.

At lunchtime, no verdict in sight, the two lads were gone. Lunch itself, a pasty and a cuppa, came and went, and then, finally, I got a text from the usher and we settled back into the public gallery as the jury returned.

“And have you elected a foreman?”

They had indeed, and as I looked at him I wondered what sort of process the jury went through to pick him, as he wasn’t exactly imposing. He was clear, though, and he was obviously neither stupid nor complacent, especially in the way he looked at the dock.

“And on the charge of rape, how do you find the accused?”

“Guilty, eleven to one”

Blake, all the others, had been right. Got you, you piece of shit.

The judge coughed., before launching into a speech so practised, smooth and utterly damning he had to have prepared it the night before. He had known, just as Blake had, that Evans was done, and whatever reports he had needed had been read, inwardly digested and accounted for, ready for the verdict.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your service in this matter. You are dismissed. Ashley Aaron Evans, stand. I have given considerable thought to the sentence appropriate in this case, and it will be fifteen years. Fifteen years in which you may consider the damage that you inflicted on the life of an innocent girl, who has shown remarkable fortitude in her recovery from your crime. She serves to counterpoint in her dedication to serving her community the sheer depth of depravity that has been demonstrated by you and your relatives and accomplices. Take him down”

That was the time, finally, when the bastard found some hatred for me, and thus time I had my glare ready to give back. Enjoy it, you arsehole, and I will be back soon to hand you some more. There are other girls waiting to remind you what they look like,

I half felt Elaine getting up, ready for the ritual of His Honour’s departure, but instead he looked straight at the two of us and smiled. as Evans was removed.

“Inspector Powell, DC Owens please approach the Bench”

What could he want? We worked our way through to the floor, and he signalled the usher.

“Norman, be so good as to show these good officers to my chambers. I will attend directly”

‘Norman’ opened a little hatch affair by the bench, up we went, through the Magic Judge door and into an office. The judge disappeared through another door before returning after a few minutes bereft of wig, robes and all that rigmarole, and the usher left us a tray of tea and quite posh biscuits. His Honour motioned us both to sit.
.
“Thank you, ladies. I apologise for keeping you here, but I am a curious old man and while I do my best to remain abreast of all events surrounding those I am called upon to try, I feel there is rather a larger picture here than I am yet aware of. This other young lady?”

Elaine looked at me, shrugged, and very softly said, “My sister, your honour”

“Ah. A transsexual if I recall correctly. I remember the newspaper reports. These police officers: they would be involved in the recent series of rapes of young men in the Cardiff area?”

I took her hand as she nodded.

“Absolutely, your honour. My team did a superb job, but I had to take a back seat when, well, one of the culprits was another member of the family, and, simply put, my sister had met him”

He was so relaxed it was hard to remember where we were, but the sense of focus that came from him was powerful. He was clearly aware of almost every little detail behind the case, and I wondered whether we could put in some sort of request, a block booking, for the trials to follow. Somehow, I felt that he would appreciate meeting Ashley Evans again.

“Ah. Rather compromising. Tell me, why was there only the one crime laid before Mr Evans senior’s jury? I would rather have expected a perverting the course to have accompanied it”

I couldn’t hide my grin, with the preceding thought still fresh.

“Oh, I can answer that one, your honour. We’re still awaiting HMRC’s trawl through his finances to come to a conclusion, but we rather felt that it would be nice to get the lovely man banged away while they took their time. My new boss has got someone on the perverting case already, or so I believe, but we also want to get the other two men tied into it. Get them for Lainey’s sister, too, get them nice and tight and stitched up and key thrown away. Er, your honour”

He laughed warmly. “So further enquiries are in progress? Excellent! Now, shall I be Mother? Milk?”

We left there half an hour or so later, Elaine almost in shock, and after another cuppa (and a quick call to the office with verdict and sentence) she was off back West.

Our separation was as quietly emotional as ever, her hug not just a formality. There was a real connection between us, and I didn’t see it ever failing. She simply looked me in the eyes for a while, smiling.

“Off to Sarah’s wedding soon, girl. This, this just makes it all that little better, that bit cleaner, aye?”

I nodded. “You’re not telling her, are you? About all this?”

She shook her head. “No. Not now. She has a bloody good man, and the past is the past. I’ll let them find their own feet for now. And right now, she’s happy, and that is what’s important. You do the same, you and Blake. He’s another very good man”

“Didn’t think you were into men, Lainey!”

“Just because I don’t fancy them doesn’t mean I hate them. Not all of them, anyway. The wife told me what state you were in, by the way”

“Sorry about that, Lainey”

“Don’t apologise, girl. You gave the case and the jury what was needed when it was needed. That’s what counts, that’s what screwed Evans and all the rest. Don’t ever lose that passion, Di. And you’ve met the missus now, so I think you can see why I am more than happy where I am”

I drew her back for another, final squeeze. “I can indeed. Say thanks for me”

“I will do. Stay in touch!”

And she was gone. I made my way back to the nick, where Sammy and the team were awaiting me, and the hugs continued.

Job done, and beautifully so.

Rhys seemed particularly happy to see me, and that was explained very quickly.

“We have been multitasking, Di! Not just the boys with your nurse, and Ellen with lover boy’s brother, isn’t it?”

I think I blushed, and he patted my arm. “Oh come on, it’s been obvious for ages. Not teasing, am I? He’s a good bloke, just got one fault”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“He’s bloody well straight, that’s what! Anyway, we have three names in the frame, and Ellen and Sean have a case ready to roll for the frauds, so all is ticking along nice and tidy”

“In the frame for what? Sod it. SAMMY!”

“Yeah, mate?”

“Could we have a team wash-up, catch-up sort of thing? I’ve got stuff to share, and I want to see what the others have got”

“Sounds good. Gather round, er, boys and girls”

Alun shouted out “Not your line, is it?” and happy laughter followed. At that moment, I couldn’t think of a better place to work.

Sammy ducked his head. “OK! Start with Blake and Alun”

Blake called out “All done and dusted. Ashley Evans, fifteen years”

There was a round of applause for that one, and he bowed.

“Ellen?”

“Er, right. Some of this is difficult to explain, but it involves VAT and the 714/715 scheme. In plain English, it seems Evans---Ashley Evans---has not just been suppressing his takings, lying about how much work he’s done, but also playing fast and loose with the Revenue’s scheme for accounting for self-employed subcontractors. Sean’s boys are on a feeding frensy on that one. Looks like big money”

“Good, good. What is it they say? Every little helps? Rob, Rhys, Candice?”

Blondie was grinning at me. “Ooh, happy-happy here! We need to sort calendars, people. Got three more scum, hangers-on and Evans relatives mixed, one in the call centre for 999s, two in Swansea and Cardiff control rooms. We will be looking to set up a synchronised nicking session at some point in the very near future, and to teach egg-sucking, all phones, computers, notebooks, laundry lists need to be secured. We believe we can tie in both senior Evans and that arsehole Pritchard for Perverting the Course, which means we should get the rest for Conspiracy”

“Nice one. Di? You’ve been out of the loop for a bit. Got anything nice?”

“Oh, yes indeed. I have four further victims of the gang, just for starters”

Sammy raised an eyebrow. “Starters? This from the outreach stuff? And just for starters?”

“Yup. Four young lads, Chris-alikes, twinks, yeah? Same thing as almost all the rest I’ve found: nobody wanted to come forward till they were sure the people who attacked them were going down properly”

“What else?”

I had been thinking hard, but it had to be brought up, offered as a thank you to one brave woman.

“Next one is historic sexual abuse. I have a victim, but she says the culprits are all dead. I’m not certain on that point, so I am taking it slowly”

“Best way, girl. Next?”

“Sensitive stuff again. You will all remember what happened to Inspector Powell’s sister Sarah. She gets married shortly, by the way”

I got the nods.

“Well, I have one transgender girl who left home after parental abuse. Well under age. She was picked up by someone we know and love, and if I say he had, and I quote, ‘a wonky eye’, and add ‘a bladder weakness’…”

I waited for the chorus of comments to die down.

“Yup. Joe Evans, trawling night clubs for trans girls, grooming, all that shit. Seems as if he didn’t want to stop at Sarah Powell. And, as they say, there’s more. It looks like two former colleagues we all love most sincerely may have been involved, and with my last item as well”

Once more I waited for silence.

“Girl of thirteen, trans once again. Out for a walk one night, parents away, so taking a chance, innit, in a skirt”

Candice was purring, and not with pleasure.

“Sorry to interrupt, girl, but let me guess. Big man in a car? Best way to get all the spoodge out? Doing a fifteen stretch as of today?”

I showed her my teeth. “Got it in one. There may be others”

She snarled back. “There will be once the news gets out. How the fuck has all this gone on so long?”

Sammy raised his voice to cut us both short.

“Well we have three arrests to prepare for that will help explain that. In the meantime, Bev Williams has made a very clear statement that affects everyone here, so go away and have a think, then come back tomorrow and just say ‘yes’, OK?”

Rob was the first to ask, and Sammy grinned happily.

“The team is not being disbanded after this extended investigation, but established as a permanent unit. Some of you need to think about taking your sergeant’s, as we will have extra bodies as we need them. The ‘yes’ is for you to tell Bev Williams that you want to stay on this team permanently, and while I know what you’ll all say, I will add that I want none of you leaving. So, call today a day, and offski. See you all tomorrow, and back to the grind. Well done for today, well done for the whole thing”

I slept in my little flat that night, for once relishing the solitude. I think Blake and my parents understood. I needed them all not long after.

I was in the Greasy, sorting out lunch before getting back into an info trawl around boys’ homes in the area, with a plate of calories and a cuppa on the table in front of me, when Barry slumped into the seat opposite.

“Got a moment, Di?”

He looked drawn, and my excuse for a spider sense was prodding me. Something was badly wrong.

“What’s up, mate? You do not look happy. Not Bryn?”

He shook his head, and I spotted deep pain in his eyes. This was definitely not going to be a happy chat.

“Di, I said I’d do you a favour, isn’t it? Over to Sussex, aye?”

My stomach lurched, Oh, fuck.

“Please tell me he’s not…”

He reached over the table for both my hands.

“No, love, he’s not been hurt. Not that way, not physically. Shit. No easy way to do this, I’ll just have to get it out in one. Just let me speak, aye? I should be good at this, knocked at enough doors after, like. He’s had a complete breakdown, been moved indoors, Custody”

“What happened?”

“Told you, shush. Close to home for me, this one. Girl got killed down to Crawley, beaten up by a gang of men, chased, all the way to a bridge, over the motorway. Chased off it, pushed, doesn’t matter. Busy road underneath, and, well, Adam was on scene. One too many, girl. We all have that place, and this one was so nasty, it did for him”

“Where is he? Is he back at work?””

“That’s the thing, Di. This was ages ago. How the fuck did we lose contact with one of our own, lose it so badly? Made the local news big style, just not here. Some local people got involved, stirred it up, got enough info for the local boys to convict the killers. Main one was someone called Woodruff”

“The killers?”

“No, woman who stirred the pot, got the investigation started. You’re shaking, love. Shit, here, use this”

I don’t know what the other people thought of me as I broke down in Barry’s arms, but I was past caring.