27
Reflection
Carrie unlocked the front door to the salon and Tommy raced in ahead of her, straight out to the ‘play’ room set up in the rear. Quite a number of her staff had small children so Carrie had set up a large area in the back of the shop and hired a nanny. Mabel had been dropped at school on the way so Tommy happily played with toys alone before the other children arrived with their mothers.
As she set up for the day her mind wandered to Lucas and her concern grew. Over the years she’d hoped his guilt and sorrow would have faded somewhat and he would have moved on with his life, been happy. Instead he had thrown himself into work and bed hopping. Lucas would never reveal his nocturnal activities to her but she knew exactly what he got up to. She knew him much better than he suspected. All she wanted was for him to be happy and when he’d been with Maggie she’d seen shades of the old Lucas, the sweet, compassionate and considerate brother she thought had died with their parents.
It appeared the change had been as temporary as their relationship. When he’d arrived on Saturday to collect the children there appeared to be no life left in his soul at all. A cold, reserved man stood at her door. The only time he’d slightly let his guard down was with Mabel and Tommy and this was still only the shell of the man she knew him to be. She could barely remember when he’d been happy, been the true person he was and could be.
She sighed as she placed the drawer into the till before walking over to unload her brushes and scissors from the sterilizer and onto the tray. It would do no good to talk to him as he would dodge all her questions. It broke her heart to see him so lonely, closed off and living in solitude.
Then there was his work, a mistake from the beginning. Being exposed to the heinous crimes only made moving on with his life more difficult. His thirst for revenge had been his reasoning behind joining in the beginning but now it seemed it was all that kept him going each day. She wished he wasn’t so stubborn and would talk to her or let someone into his life. Hopefully he was still writing in his journal, this would at least give him an outlet.
Her staff began to arrive so she pushed thoughts of her brother to the back of her mind to retrieve later and then decide on a course of action. After each client came and went she contemplated calling him to invite him over for dinner, get him out of his dreary apartment but then her next client would arrive and time slipped away from her.
Lucas paced outside the station, smoking with a shaky hand. The habit he had kicked when becoming a detective had returned. The burn lessened the pain of regret living in his chest. He’d never had a chance to apologise to Sasha for his appalling behaviour. His ‘screw her and bolt’ treatment of her. All she had wanted was for him to like her, want her in return and he’d taken advantage of that and now she was dead. There was no making up for the hurt he had caused her.
Maggie would be waiting for him so they could begin the interrogation the perp but he needed to numb the pain a little first and get a hold of his temper. He lit another cigarette from the last and although hated the smell and after taste, he relished the physical discomfort and numbness overwhelming him. With haste he finished and threw the butt in the bin provided. His partner stood waiting outside the interview room, foot tapping. She glared at him as he approached.
“About time, where have you been?”
“Cooling off.”
“Are you smoking again?”
“Yeah what of it?”
“What’s going on with you?”
“I already told you I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, well, I hope you have your emotions in check. I need the cool, hard Detective Hudson in there with me.”
“You got it.”
Her expression was wary as she opened the door and he followed her in. Their brawny suspect perched on the edge of the chair. He lowered his gaze from his stare down of the wall above their heads to them before resuming his scrutiny of the wall. His eyes flickered back and forth as though studying the room but avoiding contact with them. His legs bounced up and down and his fingers beat a rapid beat on the table. Lucas knew the signs; Damien Stradbroke was as high as a kite. The speed surging through his veins had his whole body in permanent agitated motion.
Maggie took the chair opposite their suspect at the table and Lucas stood in the corner and watched, ready to take in each answer and assess his body language. It was always what they didn’t say that spoke volumes.
“Mr Stradbroke, could you please run through exactly what happened?” Maggie asked.
“I already told the other coppers.”
“I realise this, Mr Stradbroke but I would like to hear it from you.”
His eyes darted to Lucas and back to Maggie before staring at something only he could see on ceiling.
“Mr Stradbroke?” Maggie prompted.
“Rachel was pissing me off as usual. Naggin’ and moanin’ about something. We were fighting, nothing new. She went and got me gun and started pointin’ at me. Someone musta called the cops coz we heard em bangin’ on the door. Rachel told me she was gunna kill me and the cops starting bangin’ louder. She opened the door and just shot ‘er, that police woman. When I thought she was gunna shoot me too, I tried to grab it off her, ya know and it just went off and Rachel went down. The other copper came round the front and told me to drop the gun. I did an’ gave meself up.”
“Mr Stradbroke are you certain this is exactly what happened? Maggie asked.
He nodded and Lucas knew what the gun residue test had already told them, the victim, Rachel, did not shoot the weapon. The man sitting before them, showing all the usual signs of lying his ass off, had shot both Sasha and Rachel as he had residue on his hands. It appeared they weren’t going to get a confession too easily.
“We did a gun-shot residue test on your hands.”
“Yeah so? I said I shot ‘er by accident.”
“We didn’t find any on Rachel’s hands, Mr Stradbroke.”
“So?’
“So this means she couldn’t have shot Officer Taylor.”
“She did too. I was there. The test is wrong.”
Damien gave Maggie a menacing look before he stood up sending the chair reeling against the wall behind him. Lucas closed the distance before he could take a step towards Maggie and used all his weight to push the suspect against the wall.
Grabbing him by the throat with one hand, he used the other across his body to hold him firm. His anger sent his adrenalin into overdrive.
“Did. You. Shoot. Officer. Taylor?” Lucas asked.
“I can’t breathe.” Lucas loosened his grip slightly. “No I didn’t kill the bitch.”
“Wrong answer.”
“Lucas, let him go,” Maggie was standing beside him and held Damien’s handcuffed wrists firmly between her hands. “I’ve got his hands.”
Lucas let him go and took one step back. “Answer the question.”
“I want a lawyer.”
Maggie escorted the suspect back to the table and told him they would be back. They left Damien to cool off for a while, plenty of time to fetch his court appointed lawyer.
“Thanks for getting my back there,” Maggie said once outside the room. “But why the heavy hand?”
“He’s a cop killer.”
“She wasn’t just any cop was she?”
He didn’t want to answer. “It’s not what you think.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“I didn’t know her very well.”
“I’m guessing there was a way you knew her well enough.”
“Yeah, so? I’ve known many cops that way.”
“Then why are you taking it so badly, first her partner, now the suspect? Usually you are Mr Cool, not the hot head.” Her scrutinizing gaze was starting to annoy him. The last thing he wanted to do was explain himself.
“Look I don’t want to talk about it alright? She’s dead and it sucks but there’s nothing I can say that will change anything.”
To escape further questions, he turned and strode towards the exit. He needed another smoke and this simply pissed him off more.