POLICE REPORT
Case no: 78956012 Date: 25/02/2010
Reporting Officer: PC Tony Pollard Prepared by: Arresting officer
Incident: Grand theft auto
Details of Event:
At 2:15 p.m. on 25/02, PC Karla Sheehan and I were informed via dispatch of a stolen vehicle en route to our location. Once spotted, we proceeded to chase down the vehicle. When arriving in an area of heavy traffic, the suspect, one Liam Cross, age 20, fled, and both myself and PC Sheehan pursued him on foot until he was caught and apprehended.
Actions Taken:
Initial caution was given. The suspect was arrested and transported to Bethnal Green Police Station for processing, where he remained in custody for several hours before a family member posted bail. A date has been set for a preliminary hearing at the Central Criminal Court.
Summary:
Liam Cross, age 20, resident of Hackney, East London, was arrested for Grand Theft Auto on February 25th, 2010. Based on his crime, he will face a preliminary court hearing on April 17th, 2010.
I stared at the short but succinct report Tony had made when he first arrested Liam, biting my lip and dreading the impending day in court. There was nothing I could do now to change what happened, and I’d have to take to the stand and detail the events for the judge, most likely in front of Lee and all his family. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I didn’t have another choice. I couldn’t exactly call in sick.
It had been three weeks since I’d last seen Lee, and the investigation into the bank robbery had fallen flat. It’d been well-planned, and it was looking like Lee and his brothers were home free. For now. Whatever happened during Liam’s case could throw the family into yet more turmoil.
The bank job hadn’t been a victimless crime. The employees working that day and the customers present were surely dealing with all kinds of emotional trauma. Still, it was as victimless as you could get in this day and age. I mean, the bank’s money was insured. I tried to reassure myself of this, that at least they hadn’t hurt or killed anyone, but I still felt uneasy. And really, I wondered if it would even be possible for Lee to go straight. Would he go into work in the morning and feel bored? Would he miss the thrill?
Shouts sounded from the corridor leading to the locker rooms, and I stood to go and check out what the noise was about. When I rounded the corner, I found Tony and Steve in a standoff, DI Jennings with her arms crossed just a few feet away. She was eyeing Steve with nothing short of disdain as he argued with Tony.
“Nothing but a pair of bloody jobsworths, the both of you,” Steve fumed, and Jennings raised her hand to pat her mouth, emitting a yawn like she was bored with his theatrics.
“You’re been suspended indefinitely,” said Tony. “You need to go home and calm down, maybe take some time to reflect on all these stunts you’ve been pulling.”
“Please hand your badge and your weapons over to PC Pollard,” said Jennings. “You’re delaying my lunch, and I have a date with a tuna sandwich that’s far more interesting than anything you’ve got left to say.”
I almost laughed, but I reined it in. Tony held his hands out for Steve’s things, and Steve reluctantly handed everything over. When he turned to leave and saw me watching, he shoved me purposefully in the shoulder, muttering something like “nosy bitch” under his breath.
“Jesus, what happened with him?” I asked, looking to Tony.
“PC Pollard discovered him taking cash from the evidence room,” Jennings answered simply, before turning and, I’m assuming, going to have her date with that tuna sandwich. What she’d said didn’t surprise me. Tony and I shared a loaded glance, mine laced with thanks. We’d discussed Steve and his underhanded schemes a few times over the last few weeks during our shifts, both of us eager to catch him doing something on camera so we could have him suspended. It looked like Tony had been a busy bee.
“Have I ever told you how awesome you are?” I said, grinning.
Tony smiled and casually shrugged. “All the time. Can’t shut you up.”
I laughed and went to give his hand a squeeze before going back out and returning to my desk. When I arrived home that evening, I found Alexis had cooked roast chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. My stomach gurgled, reminding me I was hungry, as I went to change clothes and take a shower. The table was set by the time I came back out, and we both sat down to eat.
“Lee visited me today,” said Alexis, and I almost choked on the food I’d just swallowed.
“He did? What did he want?”
“To see how I’m doing,” she answered with no small amount of sarcasm. “I’m sure it was all just a front to check up on you.”
I stared at my plate. “Yeah, well, I don’t need checking up on.”
“Liam’s court date is this week, you know.”
“I’m well aware of that, Lexie.”
“You have to be there, don’t you?”
I glanced at her, wondering what she was getting at. “You know I do.”
She eyed me sympathetically and appeared torn over what to say. Dropping her fork onto the table, she rubbed at her belly.
“Is the baby kicking?”
She nodded her head. “Yeah, but it’s not that. Lee told me something, and I don’t want you walking in there with blinders on. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“Tell me, then.”
She inhaled a quick breath. “He’s having Liam’s solicitor broker a deal. If he gives up the name of the person he was working for, they’ll let him go free.”
“But then Lee….” I gasped, unable to finish my sentence.
“Will do time,” said Alexis, her brown eyes turning down at the ends sadly, our conversation falling into silence.
I barely slept that night, and the next day I seemed to have drawn the short straw, because everything that could possibly go wrong did. First off, a woman I arrested for shoplifting went crazy and attacked me at the station, resulting in me sporting an awful welt across one cheek. Secondly, the evidence I’d collected on a drug pusher from several weeks ago went missing, which meant he couldn’t be prosecuted. I was willing to bet it was a last “fuck you” from Steve. And thirdly, just to add icing on the cake of a supremely shitty day, my car broke down.
It was dark, and I was on my way home after my shift. When I called the AA, they said it’d be one to two hours before a tow truck arrived, so I was stuck on the hard shoulder of a busy motorway with no other option but to wait it out.
Only about thirty minutes had passed when there was a steady knock on my driver’s-side window. I thought with relief that the truck had gotten there early, but then glanced up to find Lee peering down at me through the glass.
Okay, so if my car breaking down was the icing on the cake, then Lee showing up was the magic sprinkles. I didn’t open the door, only rolled down my window for him.
“Need help?” he asked. Damn, he looked good, his hair casually tousled. I noticed his eyes drifting over me, checking me out in the same way I was him.
Shaking my head, I answered, “No, thanks, I’m good. The AA will be here soon.”
He didn’t look like he believed me. “How long you been waiting?”
“Thirty minutes,” I muttered, looking down at my phone.
Lee emitted a soft chuckle. “In that case, they’re not getting here any time in the next century. Let me take a look,” he urged me, holding up his hands and wriggling his fingers. “This is what I’m good at.”
“It’s fine. I’m happy to wait. I’m sure you have somewhere you need to be.”
I wanted him to leave, not only because of the feelings his nearness provoked, but also because I was two seconds away from confronting him over his bullshit plan to go to prison instead of Liam.
He levelled me with a challenging stare, not breathing a word, but instead of arguing, he just walked around to the front of the car and proceeded to open the hood.
Oh, no effing way.
Getting out, I stomped toward him, pushing his hands back and slamming it down. Trying to ignore the spark I felt when our fingers touched, I scowled at him with all my might. “I said I don’t need your help. Are you going deaf or something?”
Lee cocked his head, perplexed. “Why are you being so difficult?”
“I’m not being difficult. I’m just irritated by how you always think you know best,” I huffed. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I wasn’t angry at him for being heavy-handed — I was angry at him because he was going to sacrifice himself for his brother, and refusing to let him fix my car was the only way of expressing how I felt right then.
Lee held firm when I tried to stand my ground, and before I could react, he gripped me by the waist, lifted me, and threw me over his shoulder. I wriggled in his hold, but seconds later he’d opened my car door and shoved me in the back. I hadn’t even seen him swipe my keys, but by the time I tried to scramble forward, he’d locked all the doors.
My car was an old Nissan, so I could still open it from the inside. Lee saw me going for the lock and warned me, “If you get out, I’ll kiss you.”
He was such a little fucker.
I huffed a sigh and folded my arms, my annoyance written all over my face at his threat. Lee chuckled as he watched me, but then his expression sobered when he saw the welt on my face. His voice was muted since all the windows were closed, but I could just about hear him as he brought his fingers to his own cheek.
“What happened there?”
“A woman I arrested today did it. Absolute nutjob.”
Lee frowned in concern, placing his hands on his hips before turning away. He returned to the front of the car, and I sat and waited while he fiddled around with the engine. A few minutes later he reappeared, sliding into the back seat next to me.
“Your HT leads need replacing. You should call AA and cancel. I’ll hitch you up to the back of my car and drive you to the garage, replace them for you for free.”
“Is this you paying me back the favour you owe me?” I asked.
Lee eyed me and smiled. “Nah, this is me trying to be more like you, helping the needy and all that.”
I scoffed. “Sure.”
Lifting his hand, he ran his fingers over my hurt cheek. “This looks bad.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“I hope you gave as good as you got.”
“Oh, yeah, I kicked her arse right in the middle of the station while the other officers cheered me on.”
Lee pursed his lips, still smiling. “Don’t be a smart-arse.” Picking my phone up from my lap, he shoved it into my hand and said, “Call them. Otherwise, you’ll be sitting out here all night.”
Giving in, I called and cancelled the tow truck. When I hung up we were both silent, and his plan to switch places with Liam burned heavily on my heart. I was upset and angry at him, but I couldn’t let out everything I was feeling without coming across as hysterical. Still, I had to broach the subject. The court hearing was tomorrow. I needed to convince him to change his mind.
“Alexis told me what you’re going to do for Liam,” I said, my voice quiet.
Lee exhaled and stretched his legs out as much as he could in the small space. “I take it from the way you’re looking at me now that you don’t approve.”
“Please don’t do it, Lee,” I begged, unable to hold back my desperation. A tear fell down my cheek, and he reached out to wipe it away.
“Don’t cry,” he murmured tenderly. “I’ve been breaking the law for years. It’s only right that I finally serve my time.”
I turned into him, burying my face in his neck as I whispered, “But I don’t want you to go away.”
“It won’t be forever,” he replied, stroking my hair as his lips pressed against my temple.
“I don’t understand how you’re just accepting this. Before you said it was going to be fine. You said your solicitor could get Liam off, no problem.”
He sighed. “Yeah, well, when I stopped working for McGregor, I lost a lot of privileges. One of those included my legal representation. So now we don’t have William Dunning on our side, and we also don’t have a hope in hell’s chance of getting Liam’s charges dropped. I can’t let my baby brother go to prison for something I got him into in the first place, Karla. It has to be me. You understand that, right?”
I looked into his eyes and knew I couldn’t argue with him. If I ever had a sister, I’d do the exact same thing, no question. God, he’d been right all along. We were the same. Too stubborn and brave to know what was good for us, out on a mission to save everyone but ourselves.
“Yeah, I understand.”
Soaking him in, I tried to comprehend the fact that in just a few short weeks he could go to prison. I wasn’t going to see him for years, and that terrified me.
A surge of desperation clutched suddenly at my heart as I smashed my mouth to his, kissing him like my life depended on it. He was only twenty-five, so young and handsome and clever, and all his best years were going to be spent in a prison cell. The worst of it was that I knew he wouldn’t come out the same man. He’d lose the spark that always shone so brightly in his eyes, would no longer be the flirty, carefree guy I was once met on a chilly London morning.
Lee’s hands clutched my face, his tongue sinking deep into my mouth as a loud moan escaped me. My fingers slid beneath his shirt, tracing his hard abs. When he grabbed my thighs and pulled them around his waist, his erection was hard as steel against my core. It’d been so long since I’d gotten to touch him like this that my need was close to maddening.
Gasping, he broke our kiss, trailing his mouth down my neck and unbuttoning my blouse until my bra was exposed. He buried his face in my cleavage, a growl rumbling from deep in his chest, and the vibration made me tremble.
“Lee,” I breathed right before a car went sailing by out on the road.
The horn honked as I heard a man shout saucily out the window, “Oi oi!”
Lee and I fell into awkward laughter after that, and I drew away, buttoning my top back up. “Do you, uh, have anything in your car we could use as a tow?”
His hand met my lower back. “Stay with me tonight, Karla.”
I was helpless to refuse, and only nodded my head in response. Lee placed a quick kiss on my lips, then got out of the car and jogged to his, which was parked just a few yards behind mine. Minutes later, he had my car secured, and I climbed into his passenger seat. All throughout the journey he touched me, whether it was to tuck my hair behind my ear or to squeeze my knee, and every time he did, my stomach fluttered with anticipation.
He didn’t bother going to the garage, but instead drove straight to his place, saying he’d have one of the boys come fix my car in the morning. I knew that tomorrow everything would change, but for tonight I just wanted to live in the moment.
Lee tugged me inside his hallway and immediately pressed his mouth to mine, his hands everywhere as we tried to find our way upstairs without stopping what we were doing. I giggled when we both simultaneously tripped and fell halfway up.
“Hush,” Lee whispered, his lips finding mine again.
I loved how he kissed me; whether fast or slow, he always made it feel like it could be our last. I tried to push that thought aside when I realised how sad it made me. Somehow we managed to make it to his room, and proceeded to strip one another of all our clothing.
Completely naked, he laid me down on his bed, his handsome features serious in the dim light. “I hate everyone who gets to be near you when I’m not there. And I hate it because I love my brothers more than anything, but you’re the one I’ll miss the most.”
My heart ached at his proclamation, fear and sadness gripping me tight and not letting go. I placed my hands on his cheeks, my eyes flickering between his, struck speechless. Closing my eyes, I showed him with my body the things I couldn’t tell him in words.
Flipping us, I climbed on top of him, bracing myself above his length and sinking down until he filled me completely. When I began to ride him, I lost all thought, totally consumed by sensation. Lee gripped my waist and held my eyes, never looking away once.
If this was the last time, I was going to make it count.
Lee reached down and found my clit with his thumb, rubbing intense circles with his practiced hands. His cock felt amazing, and it was only as I began to climb toward orgasm that I realised we hadn’t used protection. He was inside me bare, but surprisingly, I didn’t panic. I felt closer to him than I’d ever had, and if there was a single doubt in my mind that I loved him, it fell by the wayside.
I’d never loved before. Now I loved too much. And in the morning, I’d lose him.
There was a sweet sort of tragedy to it all.
When I came, I closed my eyes, dropped to his chest, and sank my face into the crook of his neck, whether for comfort or to hide my tears, I couldn’t seem to tell.
“I’m sorry if I ever hurt you,” I whispered into the dark room.
Lee was quiet for a long time before he whispered back, “Hurting with you is better than a painless life without you.”
His words penetrated deep, and I held him tighter, wishing I didn’t have to let go.