CHAPTER 49
We drove away as quietly as we could, and it was a few minutes of travel before I asked the obvious question.

“What about Deb?”

Paula laughed, but it was strained.

“Oh, she’ll be fine. They’ll take her back to the club. Proper bunkhouse and stuff there. One of them will see her home tomorrow. I think Rosie and her have a lot of catching up to do”

Paula looked out of the window for a while, before adding, in a much quieter voice, “The scene, the life, you know? Never leaves you. Never going to leave me, is it?”

She sat in silence for a few minutes more, then spoke up, in a bright, brittle tone.

“Beloved man of mine…”

“Aye?”

“Word to the wise, Diane. I may use that as a joke, but I am never joking when I say it, if you get my meaning. It’s the same thing from me to you, just without the sweaty bits. Man of mine, this afternoon has advanced almost beyond the yardarm. Could we please go somewhere and get pissed? Would you mind?”

“Got the car, love”

“Then drop us two off there, take Snowball here home to her garage, and grab a bus or a cab. I intend to make a few calls. Get on the phone, Diane!”

I put my hand over the seat back to squeeze her shoulder.

“Why, love?”

I realised she was crying then, hard, racking sobs.

“Why? Because we’ve just seen one of our best friends, one of the truest there can ever be, we have just watched her bury what I suspect was her one and only lover, and for fucking stupid reasons we can’t stand with her, nor can we drink with her, but we can damned well do it for ourselves!”

I dug out my mobile and started the calls.

It had to be the Smugglers, of course, the Eli not being quite the place for what we had in mind, and they knew (and appeared to like) us in the pink pub. Paul dropped us off and drove away to park his gleaming white car, as Paula and I walked in to find the bar rather quieter than usual. Early in the day, I supposed, but Marilyn was already behind the bar.

“Look what the fucking cat just dragged in! You! The skinny tart! We don’t want your sort in here!”

I started to bristle just before he added “Fucking best-selling authors! Come here for a snog, darling! No tongues; Marilyn does NOT swing that way…”

There was an almost audible click as his perception swung into action, and he slumped slightly as he walked out from behind the bar.

“Sorry, love. I’m an idiot Funeral today, wasn’t it?”

I nodded, and once again he smiled, but with a gentleness I had never before seen in him.

“Deb will have stayed, then. Are you expecting more people this evening?”

I held up my phone.

“Should be a few”

“OK. I’ll set one of the small rooms aside for you. Let me know anything else you need”

He went back to the bar, returning with two obviously double vodkas, a single whisky and a couple of bottles of fruit juice. He raised his glass to us both.

“Absent friends, grieving friends, healing friends. Deb”

We drank to that, and then he showed us to a smaller room with a hatch to the main bar, and in short order we were joined by Rhys, Jon, Ellen, Candice, Jazz… the list went on for a while, but eventually our own two men walked in, Paul looking slightly embarrassed. He came straight over to his other half, taking her in his arms for more than a moment before looking over his shoulder and smiling at me.

“I was cheeky, Di. The car’s at your place, not mine. Your Dad dropped the two of us off”

Blake loosened his own hug on me.

“They’re staying over for Rhod and the beast. They understand Dad’ll collect us whenever, aye? We doing a whip?”

More people…Several of Deb’s older charges, or at least three of them, and then Marilyn donated several bowls and plates of finger food to help soak up the alcohol, which was actually no surprise to me. This was a man who held tight to his loyalty, despite the well-cultivated abrasiveness of his public persona. Moments of merriment, interspersed by other periods of reflection, especially when someone mentioned Lexie, and at that her doctor appeared, Chris in tow, just as the alcohol was starting to bite me in the common-sense section of my brain. Blake and I stayed on for about another hour, but I was losing my need for company, at least in terms of large numbers. I just needed my family now, wrapped around me, that world of Class and violence left outside, scraped off my soul like mud off a boot. Other people were already drifting away in ones and twos, but Chris stopped me just as I was about to leave our little space.

“Got some news, Di”

“Oh? Don’t know if I can afford a new dress for a wedding!”

“No, not that, love. Elaine”

Oh for god’s sake! Couldn’t fate leave us alone for a while! He obviously read my expression, for he held up both hands to calm me.

“No, Di! Good news! Only good news!”

“And? I have a child and a cat to get home to”

“And an edible piece of beefcake, mmm”

“Husband. Straight. Mine. Get to the point”

He suddenly grinned, the first moment of unbridled joy I had seen that day.

“Brother-in-law, remember?”

I had a half-memory, fuddled by several vodkas and copious glasses of dry white.

“Oh! Doing the five-knuckle-shuffle for them, wasn’t he?”

“You are drunk, DC Sutton. And I rather doubt he was, as he has a wife to do it for him”

I found myself giggling at that vision, and then I realised the relevance.

“Shit, mate! Which one? Which one’s up the duff?”

His smile put the previous one to shame.

“Both of them, Di! Both well-advanced! Two fucking fat ladies! Well, not exactly fucking, they don’t swing that way, but you take my point”

I found my legs folding, but Blake was behind me, and grabbed a seat.

Out of death, life. Both of them. Shit…

The morning sun was bright even through our bedroom curtains, and Fritz was rumbling on the pillow beside my head as hubby came in with a tray of tea.

“You all right, love? Never seen you quite that pissed before”

“Sorry. How was Paula?”

“They are on the sofa bed. Mam and Dad are off home in a minute”

“Thanks. I wasn’t intending to get that bad, to be honest. Was just such a heavy day. So many ghosts”

He settled his weight on the edge of the bed and handed me a cup of tea.

“No matter. I think neither of us has ever needed to explain that sort of thing, have we. Was it Chris who knocked you down?”

“You what?”

“His news, or whatever it was. I couldn’t hear him over the chatter”

“Oh! Then you don’t know!”

“Know what?”

“Um, you know that Lainey and her other half are broody?”

“Bugger, aye! Their brother-in-law… Ah! Which one?”

“Both of them”

“They never do things by halves, those two. We need a date to plan for”

I sipped my tea, eyebrows raised in mute query, though I had a very good idea of what he meant. I still let him talk it through, though.

“Got good family, haven’t they, but all so far away. Not in miles, but those are shit roads, and they will need someone there to look after the transport and stuff… You already knew what I meant, didn’t you?”

“I married you, love, because I know you, inside and out. How could my man not want to look after our friends when we are needed? Re Paul and Paula up yet?”

“Aye. Paula’s spilling Stickle Bricks everywhere with Rhod”

“Well, my hangover isn’t THAT bad”

We got down to breakfast a little later. Well, not exactly a ‘little’ later. It did ease my hangover, though.

Once again, it was anti-climax at work. Lexie was soon in the office, though on the lightest of duties, a bandanna covering what was left of her hair, but the bruising was gone, and while she was clearly tiring easily, she had a smile for us all that sang of coming home. That was how it seemed to be for all of us, the team serving as a second family, or perhaps a first for some of us, and the period of calm allowed all the usual dynamics to play out. Candice was on form, Ellen and Rob quietly got on with their own arrangements, but the celebration as they moved in together was in the Eli Jenkins for a meal and a pint rather than the full-on debauch that the Smugglers would have delivered. It wasn’t boring, not in any way at all, but it was nice to be allowed a few months that didn’t involve helicopters, things that made loud bangs or, in particular, morgues and their contents. Rhod was about to start playschool, and I almost felt, for the first time since finding my feet in the Job, that I was taking money from my employers under false pretences.

That all changed, exactly on schedule, with a call from Chris to the office.

“DC D Sutton”

“Hiya, girl1 Thought you’d want to know: Siân’s up on blocks”

“Eh?”

“Waters have broken!”

“Shit, mate! Where is she?”

“Lainey’s got her to hospital, but she sounds hyper”

“No bloody wonder, mate. You going over?”

“Can’t just yet. Whole load of work stuff I can’t get out of. She’s not officially family, so I can’t play that card.”

“Then let me go, and we’ll sort. Thanks for letting us know”

He laughed.

“Might not be officially family, Diane Sutton, but that is exactly what we all are. Layers! Keep me up to speed”

“Eh?”

“Oh, bollocks. You and Big Boy will be on your way over in five, am I right?”

“Guilty!”

I hung up, and shouted to Blake.

“Siân’s about to drop, love”

He was all studied calm, but with a twinkle lurking in his eyes.

“Grab bags are in the boot ready, love”

“Sneaky bastard! Sammy?”

Our boss looked up with a much more obvious grin.

“He’s already arranged it, mate!”

“Sods that you are!”

Sammy’s happy grin softened, real warmth shining through.

“Just make sure our friends are looked after, Di. Quiet here; come back when everything’s squared away, OK?”

I closed down my computer and locked my files away, as Blake rang Mam, but I made bloody sure I gave him a serious tickle on the way down to the car. Grab bags in the boot, the cheeky bastard, and at that I loved him more than I could say. I had married him because I knew him, and I knew him because I had married him. Chicken and egg, but my man, my family. Elaine had that with her wife, and she would always be there for us as well, so what else could we do. Blake shoved one of our favourite CDs into the stereo, and as we drove west we were both singing along as happily as the idiots we must have resembled to random passing strangers.

It was the first time I had ever seen him driving in any way without utter focus, but he was still smooth, still safe, and we arrived in one piece at the Powell’s front door. Elaine’s car was there, along with another I didn’t recognise. Her Mam and Dad?

Out and up to the door, the bell surprisingly loud, and I giggled at memories of comments about Elaine’s hearing after so many years on a bike. She opened the door herself, waddling with her pregnancy, and I gave her a careful hug.

“Hiya Lainey. We heard, so we’re here to see if you need anything”

She was gaping like a landed fish, so I kept the smile turned on.

“Kettle on, love? We’re gasping, hint, hint”

I stepped forward, just as she moved to the side, and I headed for the living room as elaine called after me.

“Tea’s already made, should be enough for two more, but I’ve already got visitors”

Blake hugged her as I made my way into the house.

“Yeah, couldn’t miss the other car in the drive. Who’ve you got?”

I left them behind me, talking over my shoulder.

“Yeah, cuppa be great. Grapevine’s been working overtime, so we know about Siân. Got Mam on babysitting duty, isn’t it, so we’re free to do the same for you—oh fuck!”

I couldn’t help that last one, which burst from my mouth as I opened the living room door to see two people already on the settee. I found myself speechless, my mouth working much as Elaine’s had at our arrival. Two people, one small, skinny and male, one slightly larger. Dark-haired. Female. Oh shit and bollocks. My voice was that of someone much smaller when I finally got the words out.

“Hello, Annie”