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‘I’ve seen this,’ she said. It was Keats’s initial report citing suicide as the manner of death.
‘Look at it again. All of it.’
She leafed through the parts she’d read, but there were an additional two documents. The first was the request to reclassify the manner of death, the second was an email.
‘I sent that email to DCI Woodward not half an hour ago.’
She read it quickly. It was a request for a second opinion from a different investigating officer.
‘Did you wait for my return to send this?’
‘I can’t comment on the coincidence of the timeliness of my request, Inspector, but I can say that my quiet suspicions were heightened when my initial examination discovered the fusion of the knee, at which point I had no choice but to stop the procedure pending reclassification.’
‘Why wasn’t any of this discussed at the scene?’ she asked. Valuable time, not to mention forensic evidence, had been lost.
‘If you’ve met Burns, I don’t need to tell you that his motivations don’t appear to be based solely on crime-solving, and certain incidents are sexier than others. In addition, some cases take more investigation than accepting what’s right in front of you. Had he a seven-inch blade sticking out of him, I suspect we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
‘Is that your way of saying he’s both ambitious and lazy?’ Kim asked with a smile tugging at her lips.
‘Your hearing appears to have become impaired during your time away,’ he responded, remaining the consummate professional.
‘Well, he might show a bit more interest when Woody kicks his arse and throws it back at him.’
‘You’re not going to take it?’ Keats asked.
Kim shook her head, trying not to show how exhausted she was.Go slowly, Woody, the doctor and the psychologist had told her. ‘Burns needs to do his job – properly.’
He took the paperwork from her and then waved it about. ‘I need a signature for the reclassification request. I could have authorisation by tomorrow if—’
‘Pass it here,’ she said, taking the paperwork back and moving towards the desk. She took a pen and signed the last page, then handed the form back to him. ‘Woody can officially reassign the senior investigating officer tomorrow, but that’ll get your authorisation.’
He nodded his agreement as she headed out of his office.
She was almost at the door when he spoke. ‘Good to have you back, Inspector.’
She continued walking and didn’t answer. She wasn’t back yet. She wasn’t even close.
TWELVE
Stacey stared out of the bus window with a feeling of hopelessness that had grown worse throughout the day.
From the moment Burns had been installed in their office, the three of them had been forced to fight back their emotions. Being lumbered with the person partly responsible for the boss’s injuries was insensitive beyond belief on behalf of their superiors. Burns had refused to consider linking the search for Symes with his need for revenge on the boss. As a consequence, Symes had been able to watch the boss’s movements from down the street. The top brass had seen a DI-shaped hole and filled it with a DI going spare, caring nothing for the repercussions. Added to that was the fact he was a complete and utter knob.
They’d all travelled their own individual journey of acceptance in the knowledge that Burns was a seat warmer until the boss returned. Penn and Bryant had tried to work around being given poorly matched tasks. They’d come to terms with the man being a glory hunter and his slapdash approach to investigating anything that didn’t excite him. Stacey had also come to terms with all of these things but had been forced to swallow much more.
Her role had been revised to team administrator and general dogsbody. Every day she felt as though her brain was dying just a little bit more and her motivation was evaporating even quicker.
She’d tried to fight him, had tried to voice her own opinion over the months just as she had tried again today.
She had hated seeing Jamie’s name rubbed off the board before they’d even spoken to a family member or friend, or made any attempt to understand his reasons for taking his own life. In her mind, he was still hanging from that tree because they’d made no attempt to cut him down. And maybe Burns was right about Gabriel Denton. Perhaps he would just reappear with a bunch of flowers and an apology, but that didn’t quiet down the unease in her gut. She didn’t need her intuition to check statements and make tea.
Like a prisoner, she had been counting down the days until the boss’s return. When they’d been told a couple of months, she had taken the time frame as gospel and marked it on her calendar. That star that marked her return had become her beacon of hope and a target to aim for. Each day she’d got through was one day closer to the boss’s return and normality.
But that day had come and gone and it had not been what she’d thought it would be.
Maybe it had been unrealistic to expect her to come crashing in like a superhero and save them all. Putting right all the wrongs that had occurred in her absence was going to be a tall order, but the woman Stacey had seen today wasn’t even a shadow of the person she’d come to respect and admire above anyone else. It all but broke her heart to see this other person parading as her former boss. The passion, the drive, the determination, the sharp mind and dry wit appeared to have been left on the floor of the warehouse where Symes had beaten her nearly to death.
Just the thought of it brought the emotion to her throat. She couldn’t even imagine what the boss had gone through during her physical and psychological recovery; but now, for her own sanity, Stacey knew she had to accept that this chapter of her life was over and it was time to move on.
