Fatal shot, p.1
Fatal Shot, page 1
Fatal Shot
DS Leah West - Book Seventeen
Nic Roberts
Ari Thorne
Copyright © 2023 by
Nic Roberts & Ari Thorne
* * *
‘Fatal Shot’
* * *
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Some may be used for parody purposes.
Any resemblance to events, locales, business establishments, or actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Contents
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Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Book Eighteen
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Prologue
He walked through the streets feeling like he was invincible.
He knew that there were legions of people out there who would want to see him convicted, who’d built their entire case up over several months, speaking with witnesses, collecting evidence… only for one mislaying of evidence to get the case thrown out.
They’d told him that they would get him eventually. That he would slip up, and the moment he did, they’d be there waiting with a pair of handcuffs. But he told them not to hold their breath.
He walked down the street, thinking of the invincibility coursing through him. The whole experience had been transcending.
He’d learned an important lesson, and it was the kind of thing one only learned firsthand. To be able to kill someone and get away with it… it made one bullet-proof. A god.
He wondered if he could kill again. Probably not here. It would be reckless to kill again in Bedford. But maybe he could travel somewhere else. Maybe be a bit more conspicuous this time.
He found himself thinking about the moment he had killed her. The look in her eyes, the fear, silently begging for him to make the pain go away. There was something incredible about that. She’d looked up at him, knowing that he could make it stop. He could have saved her from drowning. But he didn’t. That was power.
The beauty was that technically, he hadn’t killed her. The water had done that. As with all of his victims. There had been one that burned to death in a fire, a blind man who’d stumbled towards an out-of-order lift, unaware he was stepping into a lengthy shaft, and a pensioner whose heart medication had been switched for sugar pills.
He’d always made sure that through all of these misadventures, his name had been left off the cause of death.
He walked through the town centre, looking for potential new victims, and feeling untouchable…
…suddenly, a bullet tore through his face.
It entered just over his left ear and exited through the right side of his jaw.
He stood there, looking dazed, unable to fully grasp what had happened.
And then, his body toppled to the ground, and the blackness swallowed him whole.
1
Detective Inspector Leah West had mixed feelings about coming back to work after the events of the last few months.
Superintendent Nora Wade had told her on several occasions how lucky she was to be coming back without any further repercussions. It was meant to be reassuring, but it only made her angry.
She’d given everything to her job. She’d sacrificed so much—friends, time, peace of mind. And she'd lost track of how many times she’d come close to being killed in the line of duty.
And how was she thanked for her efforts? Her entire life was coming under scrutiny all because Detective Sergeant Jeff Rowan hadn’t seen fit to tell everyone that he was working undercover to bring down crime boss Eddie Knightley. She’d faced scrutiny and professional ruin. She’d wondered how long it would be until she was banged up in a cell like some grubby criminal. And now, the police were expecting her to crawl back to work and be grateful that she hadn’t been nicked for something she hadn’t even done.
“Try and play nicely,” Detective Constable Sam Jones suggested as they walked through the steps. The pair had taken a short leave of absence to go on holiday together. Leah wanted to put as much distance between herself and the police as possible… and there’d even be talk about whether she’d return at all.
But Jonesy had, as ever, had talked her around. “Come on, Leah,” he’d exclaimed playfully. “You know that this work is in your blood. Can you honestly see yourself doing anything else?”
They both knew the answer to that question.
Leah wondered who was going to greet her first when she came into work. She’d been hoping to see Royce or Farah, but even Nora would have been a better alternative to the man standing before her.
“Hi, Leah,” Jeff offered sheepishly, standing in the main reception area.
“That’s DI West to you,” Leah replied icily, her fury palpable, and everyone present could tell she was moments away from throttling the life out of the DS.
“You’ve got some fucking nerve showing your face around here,” Jonesy spat, not sharing his partner’s need for restraint. “You’ll be lucky to find a single person who isn’t looking to use your head for target practice.”
“Look, I know I’m not the most popular person going forward,” the DS replied, holding up his hands as if in surrender. “But Eddie Knightley is still out there. And as far as I’m aware, my cover hasn’t been blown. So, I still have to finish this off.”
“You know,” Jonesy began, stepping in front of Leah as though she needed protecting. “I can understand you wanting to bring Knightley down, but why did you need to lie to us? Surely, we could have helped.”
“Because that was the price I had to pay to get in there,” Jeff responded, trying to hold his own. “Do you not think it would have looked suspicious to anyone? A copper suddenly decides to go bent and has nothing to show for it? I had to be seen to be doing things. Knightley wasn’t too worried about worming his way into Bedford.” He turned to Leah. “But he said that you were good, the one that he had to worry about. He figured that he’d never be able to make a move on the town if he didn’t get you out of the way first. And if Knightley had got even the slightest whiff of that, I’d be dead.”
“Oh, my heart bleeds,” Jonesy scoffed, unimpressed by the reasoning. “So, everyone else just ended up as collateral damage? Like Farah?”
Even Leah felt she needed to pull Jonesy back from this. That’s a low blow.
But it had the intended effect. Jeff looked away from the two, any moral superiority extinguished. “I’m not proud of myself for having done that,” he replied, his voice reduced to a mumble. “Farah was my protégé, and I don’t know if I’m ever going to earn her forgiveness… but I’m damn well going to try.”
“Well, I wouldn’t hold your breath,” Jonesy remarked, walking up to Jeff and squaring him in the face. “You’re going to have a hard time finding someone happy to see your mug around here.”
“People!” All three officers turned in the direction of Superintendent Wade. The fact that she’d left her office was never a good sign. “Perhaps we can talk in an area not typically populated by members of the public?”
She gestured to the stairway and the three made their way to her office feeling heavily chastised.
“Now, let’s start with the case of this headache,” Nora started once they were all standing in her office. “DI West, don’t be mistaken in thinking you’re the only one aggrieved by the mess DS Rowan has left us in. I’m still exercised by the fact that he didn’t mention any of this sooner.”
Jeff didn’t meet her gaze, something that silently pleased Leah.
“However, sometimes for operations such as this, anonymity is the first line of defence,” Nora started in a tone that left Leah worried the whole mess was going to be swept under the carpet.
“Ma’am, this is ridiculous,” she exclaimed, placing her hands on her superior’s desk. “His operation didn’t just put my career at stake, it interfered with several ongoing cases…”
“I’m well aware of the shit that we’ve had to shovel as a result of choices made by DS Rowan, DI West,” Wade fired back sharply in a tone that made it clear Leah was walking a very thin line. “But I am capable of seeing both sides of the argument, a skill that you are going to have to pick up if you ever plan on sitting in this chair one day.”
Leah was forced to bite her tongue at that one, but it didn’t escape her notice that the superintendent had suggested she might one day be considered as an occupant of t
“Now, I’ve spoken to DS Rowan’s gaffer about the operation that was in place,” Wade explained, ever the professional. “As far as they’re concerned, Knightley is still a threat.”
“How do we know that he’s still circling Bedford?” Jonesy asked, wondering if the elusive gangster had slipped through the net yet again.
“We don’t know,” Wade answered with a shrug. “All we can do is hope that DS Rowan’s operation is still underway. So, we need to maintain appearances.” She readied herself for the next part, looking directly at Leah, as if aware that what she was about to say could piss her off. “And that means that DS Rowan will retain his post in Bedford CID until I decide otherwise.”
“You can’t seriously expect us to work with this fucking turncoat!” Jonesy exclaimed in pure defiance.
“The way I see it,” the superintendent answered, taking the younger officer's attitude as an affront to her authority. “His presence here is much more necessary than yours. I’d happily do a switch around if circumstances allowed it, but I do need to ask a few questions of DS Rowan before we proceed any further.” Leah and Jonesy waited for her to dismiss them, but she paid them no mind. “Now, are there any other undercover officers on this operation alongside you?”
“No, I was the only plant,” Jeff replied confidently. “We talked about multiple officers but felt it would look too suggestive to Knightley.”
Jonesy opened his mouth to say something, but Wade cut him off. “Now,” she began, looking uncertain for the first time. “Given that Knightley seems to have a pedigree for bent coppers… I have to ask, has anyone else in my nick been bought at all?”
It was a loaded question, and Leah couldn’t help looking out into the office to see if somebody she’d trusted, perhaps a familiar face she’d worked a case with, had been plotting against her.
“No,” DS Rowan replied, although there was just enough hesitation to indicate he didn’t fully believe that. “I didn’t see or hear about anyone else. The only person Knightley could have gained his facts regarding DI West from is me.”
Even though it’d been long since established, the verbal reminder still felt like a bitter betrayal that left her wanting to throw herself at him.
“Okay,” Wade noted slowly, and it was clear she was considering the possibility of a mole in the office. “Well, for the moment, we will continue with life as normal. The moment Knightley gets in contact with you, I want you to get in touch with us. We’ll decide from there what we’re going to do.”
It was clear that no one in the office was happy with this, but they all knew better than to go against Superintendent Wade.
Despite her insistence, everyone seemed to be keeping DS Rowan at arm’s length, speaking tersely in measured tones, as if worried that something they told him could wind up in Knightley’s ears. Leah almost found herself feeling sorry for him—almost. But then she remembered the enquiry that had seen her entire career laid bare, every little mistake magnified.
The morning passed by almost completely without incident… until a single phone call broke the silence. “DI West?” she began, listening intently. “Oh, Christ,” she exclaimed, growing paler with each passing second. “Okay, thank you. We’ll get down there straight away.” She called Jonesy over. “There’s been a shooting in the town centre. At least one person has been killed.”
2
When the first shot rang out, there’d been some confusion. Casual shoppers checked themselves over to make sure they hadn’t been hit. Then, once the body had fallen, they began screaming and running for cover, darting for the shops, forcing their way through the front doors and willing to push others aside for a chance at survival. It was a case of every man for himself.
DI West arrived with a team of armed officers as well as uniforms.
She looked around the area, taking in the buildings. It was clear that the shooter had long since vanished from the scene, but they needed to identify a vantage point.
She found her attention drifting to the surrounding buildings, wondering if the shooter could have been hidden within the top floor of a building. It was safe to assume he hadn’t been among the crowd.
After a quick look around the area and speaking to some of the witnesses, she addressed the gathered officers. “Right, there are witnesses still waiting to be questioned,” she declared, looking to everyone else for a working hypothesis. Lead forensic investigator Priya Kapoor was already tidying up the crime scene and taking photographs of the body and the splatter pattern.
“Did anyone see who did it?” Jonesy asked hopefully, looking more guarded than usual, as though expecting to incur a bullet himself.
“No, but it looks like the bullet was fired from a long range,” Leah replied, certain that that was the only way the shooter could have got a hit in.
“So, are we thinking a sniper attack?” Jeff asked, wanting to contribute to the suggestions, but Leah was quick to shut him down.
“The public are jumpy enough without us lot making it worse, so I suggest we keep our theories to ourselves until we know more,” she snapped, trying not to find too much satisfaction in shutting down her colleague. “Now, Jonesy, you will form part of the search team and see the MIT exhibits officer. DS Rowan, you’ll be doing the crime scene log. I want details of everyone arriving and leaving.” She knew she was being petty, but assigning DS Rowan such a menial chore gave her ego a bit of a boost.
She wondered if she was going to have to get in touch with her friend, Clarissa Everett, who ran the Bedford Gazette and ask her to hold off on any wild theories until they knew more.
“So, what do we know about the victim?” she asked, looking down at the dead man on the ground and freezing. She recognised that face. How could she not? His mugshot had been passed around so many CID branches he was a common namesake.
“Yeah,” Jeff noted grimly, joining her at the side. “Malcolm Sparks.”
Malcolm Sparks had been linked to several ‘accidental’ deaths, a term that Leah had used loosely. At first, it looked like he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But as he kept showing up, it was clear that his involvement went far beyond ‘innocent bystander.’ She knew that during her temporary leave of absence, Superintendent Wade had been overseeing a case against him, working with other nicks… but the case had fallen through when it had been revealed that a key witness to the scene had been an undercover journalist. Afterwards, the case had been lost and Sparks had gone free even though it was all but guaranteed that he would kill again.
But clearly, someone had other ideas.
“Do we think this could be a revenge killing?” she asked, realising it was going to be harder to find someone that didn’t want Sparks dead.
“Excuse me, DI West?” An unfamiliar voice called out and Leah spun around to see a man in his mid-thirties with close-cropped brown hair and the markings of a recent tan, wearing an open collar. “I’m Detective Inspector Buxton from Murder Investigation. I’m dealing with the shooting.”
“Well, we’ll look at assisting you in any way we can,” she stated blandly, conscious of being micro-managed.
“We’ve had witness reports of an altercation between Sparks and the father of one of his alleged victims,” Buxton explained, looking over Sparks’ body with scorn. “Mr Sparks didn’t want to take action against Mr Colson, but he evidently suffered a very serious assault.”
“Well, if it were my daughter, I’d probably react the same way,” Leah replied, though she wished she could take it back in case it made her look less than neutral in the eyes of other officers.
