Page 90 of Her Last Breath

‘I will admit, ma’am, when you turned up, I wasn’t exactly thrilled.’

‘Really?’ Jane said in mock surprise. ‘You did such a good job of hiding it.’

The team laughed, but DS Johnson pressed on.

‘Today you proved, ma’am, why you are the best person for this job and why we are lucky to have you.’

There was mumbled assent from the team.

‘To DI Jane Hacker!’

Raising their glasses, they all toasted her health. She noticed that DC Berry was regaling a bunch of officers at the bar with stories, while DC Chan was at a separate table with a couple of the female analysts. Leaving them be, she slinked into an empty seat next to DS Johnson.

‘Thank you for your help today,’ she said quietly. ‘I know the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but we had each other’s back and that means something.’

‘I just wish we’d nailed the bastard, you know?’ Johnson replied. ‘The satisfaction of knowing he’d rot behind bars for the rest of his life.’

‘I know we won’t ever truly understand why he did it, but there are a lot of things that might also be true if you hadn’t come in to help. I was hanging on for dear life in there.’

‘Well, you stopped me getting my head caved in at the abattoir, so …’

‘Let’s call it even, shall we?’

‘Yes, sure,’ he said, clinking his glass against hers.

They drank in silence for a while.

‘I don’t think the old DI is coming back, you know,’ he said.

‘So I hear.’

‘Will you stay?’

‘Is that a request or a question?’

He smiled at her.

‘Now isn’t the right time to make these decisions,’ she said. ‘Make sure you get pissed tonight.’

‘We can get hammered together, ma’am. It’s not like either of us have anyone to get back to, right?’

He raised his glass, Jane clinking hers to it.

‘Single but married to our jobs,’ she said indulgently. ‘Anyway, I’d love to stay but needs must. I have my mother waiting.’

A shadow crossed his face as she spoke, making her wonder if he was thinking of his own traumatic childhood, the parents that hadn’t deserved him.

‘How is your mother?’

‘Dying,’ Jane said with honesty. The words hurt her to say but they were true and admitting it to someone else felt like a release, a preparation.

They drank in silence, Jane sighing as she read a text message that came through.

‘I better make a move,’ she said. ‘It’s from my mother’s carers, she’s asking for me.’

Jane drained her glass.

‘I left a tab behind the bar, make sure they use it.’