Blood Tears (45 page)

“
You
told him where we were,” Jake said to me, disappointment clouding
his face.

“
I
didn’t, Jakey,” I assured desperately, not wanting the situation to
escalate any further. “We just understand each other, that’s all.
We’re a team.”

“
What
the hell’s going on here?” demanded the Sarge, startled at the
tableau in front of him.

“
Back
off, Maguire,” Jake warned. “Tessie’s coming with me and there’s
nothing you can do about it.”

“
You’ve had your chance with her, Bycraft. It’s over. Let her
go.”

“
You
better back off, right now. I’m warning you.”

The Sarge looked at me
and looked back at Jake. Shaking his head, he said, “I hate doing
this, Tessie. I don’t want to have to leave again.”

“
No!”
I cried out.

Two shots rang out and
Jake dropped to the ground, my gun falling from his hand, blood
streaming from a couple of neat circles in his brain. Romi screamed
and screamed.

The Sarge turned to a
shocked me and said, “I’m sorry I had to do that, Tessie. But
you’re better off without him.”

Chapter
31

I thought about that
dream as I drove to work the next day. I suppose that it was
natural and normal, or as normal as I could ever be, to dream about
death so much lately, particularly with Denny’s funeral on
today.

Thinking about the
funeral and the possibility of setting eyes on Red Bycraft filled
me with apprehension. Even if I didn’t encounter him in person,
just the thought of his malevolent presence back in town agitated
me. I knew I was nervous though, because today I’d strapped on my
knife as well as affixing my utility belt when I dressed.

The first part of the
day passed peacefully enough, apart from a visit from Rick and
Rosie, both of them already smelling of alcohol, despite it only
being mid-morning. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with Bycrafts
today.

“
What
are you doing back in town?” I demanded of Rosie.

“
Got
bailed, didn’t I, bitch? Thought you could keep me away from my own
brother’s funeral.”

I shifted hostile eyes
from her to Rick. “Kissed and made up have you?”

“
Fuck
you,” said Rick.

“
If
you’ve only come in to swear at me, then piss off,” I said. “I’m
busy.”

“
We’re all so sad about Jakey dumping you,” smirked Rosie in a
snide, insincere tone, pulling a fake sorrowful face. “Fair near
broke Mum’s heart when she heard about it.”

“
Yeah, fair near broke her heart from laughing over it,”
sniggered Rick, never a master of subtlety.

“
Good. Hope she chokes and dies on her laughter,” I said
coldly. “Then you could have two funerals for the price of
one.”

Rick punched a fist
into an open palm a number of times in what I supposed he
considered a threatening gesture. “Don’t talk about Mum like that,
piglet. And don’t you dare disrespect Denny’s funeral.”

I laughed at him. “I’ll
talk about whatever I want, and if you don’t like that, you can go
screw yourself. Preferably with something spiky and poisonous.” I
hoped the Sarge wasn’t listening in on my conversation – he might
start thinking Fiona was having a bad influence on me.

Rick’s face reddened
with anger, and I could almost see the smoke issuing from his ears
as he struggled to think of a comeback.

“
Jakey was always too good for a stuck up cow like you. Took
him long enough to realise just what an ugly bitchface you are,”
said Rosie.

“
Suppose he should have known, hey? After all, he grew up
looking at you all those years,” I retorted.

“
Bitch.”

“
Your
command of vocabulary always impresses me,” I said with open
contempt.

“
Don’t you be thinking of coming to Denny’s funeral today,”
warned Rick.

I rolled my eyes
dramatically. “Yeah, okay, I got the memo. I’m not thick like some
people I know. But I might
have
to be there in an official
capacity if you bunch of savages don’t behave yourself. So consider
yourself warned.” I leaned over the counter to hiss, “And if that
unfortunate situation arises, and I sincerely hope it does, if any
of you try to stop the Sarge or me from undertaking our duties,
you’ll find yourself sitting in the Big Town watch house faster
than you can say ‘amen’. Now, as I suggested before, piss off and
piss off fast.”

Rosie laughed. “You
talk so tough, don’t you, piglet? But I bet you were crying your
little eyes out over our Jakey. Bet you’ve had a couple of soggy
pillows these last few days.”

“
I
wouldn’t spill a tear for any Bycraft,” I lied.

“
Bet
you’re now thinking about how you’re going to grow older and even
uglier and die all by yourself, because there isn’t another man in
this world who’d want to be with a crazy bitch like you. And you
know it.”

I stared at her
unblinkingly, thinking about where would be the most satisfying
place to pop her one with my gun. She leaned over the counter too,
so that we were almost nose-to-nose, her huge boobs resting on the
bench top. Her breath was rank, but I didn’t flinch or pull back.
She wasn’t psyching me out.

“
He
sure hasn’t wasted any time thinking about you, bitch. He’s fucking
Dorrie now,” she taunted.

“
Good
for him. So’s half the town. She’ll probably give him a disease.
Now, for the third and last time, and don’t tempt me into using
some persuasion to make you,” I warned, pulling out my OC spray.
“Piss. Off.”

“
Do
as Senior Constable Fuller directed,” said the Sarge sternly from
behind me. I didn’t turn around. I wasn’t sure how long he’d been
listening.

“
Just
popping in to offer our condolences to a good friend over her
recent relationship problems,” snarked Rosie.

“
I
strongly recommend you leave the station now,” the Sarge said, his
voice hard.

Rosie sneered; Rick
slavishly following suit. “We were just going anyway. Stinks like a
farmyard in here. Too much dog and pig around for my liking.”

“
Mine
too,” echoed Rick.

“
Have
a nice funeral. Hope it’s fun. Say hello to Red for me,” I said in
my sweetest voice, earning me a not-so-gentle jab in the back from
the Sarge.

When they’d left, he
turned on me. “Tess, that was low. I’m disappointed in you. No
matter how revolting a bunch they are, they have lost a family
member. And I’m sure I don’t need to remind you what he did for
you.”

“
They
started it,” I said with a stubborn lack of regret.

“
And
I’m ending it. Stop riling them, and stay away from them for the
rest of the day.”

He stared down at me,
his eyes intent. I was half-defiant and half-miserable at his
reprimand.

“
I
wasn’t trying to disrespect Denny. You know that, don’t you,
Sarge?”

“
Yes,
I know that.”

“
I
want
to go his funeral. It’s all of
them
stopping me
from going.”

“
And
the Super,” he reminded me dryly. “Don’t forget her.”

“
What
happens if they cause any trouble today? We’re going to have to
intervene. We just can’t stand by and let them wreak havoc on the
town.”

“
It’s
a funeral, Tessie. Surely even the Bycrafts can behave themselves
through that.”

The phone rang and the
Sarge raised an eyebrow. Taking the hint, I picked it up.

“
Senior Constable Tess Fuller.”

“
Tessie, it’s Abe.”

“
Hey,
there. What’s up?”

“
I
just thought I’d let you know that Rosie and Rick swung by the
bottle shop earlier today, practically the second it
opened.”

“
They
must have come by here afterwards because I could smell grog on
their breath.”

“
They
bought a
lot
of alcohol. And they were pretty abusive,
almost physically aggressive, to poor Deepak when he made a
light-hearted comment about the amount. He was really upset about
it.”

“
Aw,
poor kid.” Deepak was one of the town’s nice teenagers, on the
point of developing a sweet romance with Romi, if he could distract
her from her crush on the Sarge. “Thanks, Abe. I presume this means
they’re planning on some sort of wake after the
funeral.”

“
They’re not coming into the pub if they’re going to be drunk
and rowdy,” he said fiercely. “I’m going to kick their arses out
without a second thought. It’s times like this I wish I had a
bouncer. Or three.”

“
You
mightn’t have anything to worry about, Abe. It sounds more like
it’s going to be a home event if they’ve bought that much
booze.”

“
Unless they drink it all before the funeral. Or God forbid,
even during the funeral. Wouldn’t put it past them, the pack of
bastards.”

“
At
least when the four jailbirds turn up, they’ll have Corrective
Services officers with them.”

There was an awkward
silence. “Speaking of Corrective Services officers, I didn’t want
to intrude, Tessie, but I’m really sorry about you and Jake.”

“
Um,
yeah,” I mumbled, not wanting to talk about it, particularly with
the Sarge listening.

“
To
me, he’s finally showed his true colours. It just proves he’s like
the rest of them. You were always too good for him.”

“
Thanks, Abe,” I said sincerely.

“
Perhaps when we get through today, you could come over for
dinner. The girls would love to spend some time with you, and we
could . . . you know . . . talk about stuff. It’s been a long time
since we did that.”

“
That
would be really nice. Thank you.” I appreciated his offer – as one
of my oldest friends, I knew how much he cared about me.

“
I
had some news to tell you, but this probably isn’t a good time,
considering everything.”

“
Tell
me. Now’s as good a time as any, and it would drive me crazy not to
know.”

“
Jenny’s pregnant.”

“
Wow!” I said. “Congratulations, Abe. That’s such wonderful
news. The girls must be over the moon.”

I could hear the pride
in his voice. “They sure are. They want to have a little brother.
Probably to boss him around,” he laughed.

“
Do
you know if it will be a boy yet?”

“
Not
yet. In about another month we’ll be able to find out.”

“
Jenny will have to take time off work.”

“
No,
we’ve talked about it, and she’s decided to leave the force. I
don’t want her working as a cop when she had a baby. She’s going to
join me here. We’re going to run the pub together.”

“
That’s so exciting for you both.”

“
And
. . . we’re getting married,” he blurted.

“
Oh,
my God! Abe. How wonderful.” I was so happy for the both of them. I
couldn’t have been more thrilled that Abe had found love again in
his life after what had happened to his first wife.

“
Thanks, Tessie. I . . . um, I wasn’t sure if I should mention
it, because . . . you know . . .”

“
Abe,
I’m really delighted for both you and Jenny. I really am, and
thanks for telling me such great news. You deserve it.”

“
Thanks, Tessie.” He sighed. “Look, I better get back to work.
Let’s hope that today is a fizzer and not a stick of
dynamite.”

“
Let’s hope. See you, Abe.”

The Sarge raised a
quizzical eyebrow, so I filled him in on Abe’s news, leaving his
update about the Bycrafts’ alcohol spending spree until last.

“
I
don’t like the sound of this. We need extra boots on the ground,”
he said. “I’m ringing the Super.”

I groaned. “Do you have
to? Then she’ll remember that she hasn’t called me up there for my
bollocking about last night.”

“
She
won’t be ordering you to Big Town when she hears this.”

I had to be satisfied
with that, but sat on the edge of my chair as he spoke to her,
listening intently.

The conversation didn’t
seem to be going well from what I could hear of his half. Not that
he was actually given an even half to put his case, many of his
responses reduced to, “Yes, ma’am, but . . .” and “No, ma’am, but .
. .”

When the call ended, he
returned the phone to its cradle with a slam.

“
She
has no extra uniforms to spare.”

“
What
the hell? Did you tell her about all the alcohol they’ve
bought?”

“
You
heard what I told her. I told her everything.”

I put my head in my
hands. “Oh, man. I hope it’s going to be okay.”

“
She
did give us two concessions though.”

“
Two?
She’s going soft.”

“
The
first one is that she’s now not calling you up to Big Town today
for what she so charmingly referred to as the ‘motherfuckingest
motherfuckers of all arse hammerings’. But that was only because I
pointed out to her that would leave only one cop in
town.”

“
Thanks, Sarge. That’s a huge relief. One less thing to worry
about today, I guess. What’s the second concession?”