“Jack, what’s the story with this stabbing this morning?” Adam Okaro asked. He’d walked into his office that morning after a meeting at the Yard and had been greeted by a note about a stabbing on the Jasmin Allen Estate.

“We don’t know much as yet, we IDed the victim from his library card, we haven’t got any record of him but there seemed to be a lot of interest in him from the residents. All we know about the attacker is he’s a medium build IC3. Right now we are waiting to see if he survives or not.”

“So this could become a murder investigation. Who’s dealing with it?”

“Debbie McAllister,” Jack replied as they walked towards CID.

“Not DI Manson?” Adam asked wondering why such an important case wasn’t being watched over by an inspector.

“No he isn’t in this morning, he called in sick. I’m sure Debbie will handle it well, I’m just about to check on what she’s got so far.”

“Well make sure she does, if there is any racial element to this I want it handled correctly, I don’t want any backlash. Oh and Jack, make sure MIT are informed just in case.”

Jack wandered through to CID which was heaving as usual. Samantha and Rob were in Court. Everyone else was either on the phone or pressing on with paper work. They’d had a bit of a talking to from the DI about getting paperwork up to date so they didn’t dare rest up even when he wasn’t there. Debbie was on the phone so Jack wandered over to where Ken was working, and eating crisps which was pretty usual for him. “Do you know what’s wrong with the DCI?” He asked.

“Not sure Guv,” Ken replied through a mouthful of salt and vinegar, “Stomach bug or something, I think Gary took the call.”

“Guv have you got a minute?” Debbie asked getting off the phone. The two of them went into the DIs office and were joined by Gary Best who was helping on the case.

“What’s the situation?” He asked sitting down.

“He’s still alive at the moment but it’s not looking good. Uniform have finished the door to door and got nothing as expecting but apparently one of the residents, a Miss Finch was very cagey so I want to talk to her. They’ve started searching the area and helping the SOCO’s out. How do you want us to handle this?” Debbie asked seeming on top of thinks. Meadows was impressed that she hadn’t jumped in with both feet and was investigating the assault in a logical manner. He decided it would be sensible to give her a chance before getting MIT involved.

“Get uniform round to talk to his neighbours. You concentrate on the resident and see what you can get out of her but be discrete. I’ve got to inform MIT but I want to keep this investigation until we have to. Let me know the moment you hear anything from the hospital.” Debbie and Gary headed of to the Jasmin Allen Estate, the DCI went back to his office. For some reason he kept thinking about the DI not being in, something didn’t seem right to him but he couldn’t think why. He decided to call him at home but got no answer. He turned his attention back to the investigation and got on the phone to MIT. They said they would send an officer down to oversee the investigation in case they were needed but that they could keep running the preliminary investigation. He had a meeting that afternoon with his solicitor about getting custody of his son Josh, he was nervous as he wasn’t sure what his chances would be. He decided to go out to lunch to calm his nerves. The meeting didn’t last long and he was back in the office by half past two. He checked with Marilyn to see if the MIT officer had arrived, she passed on a message to him saying they would be late but would be there as soon as possible. He went up to his office and a little while later he got a phone call to say she had arrived. He walked along to CID and sent Gary down to meet her from reception.

“I got you message, so this is now a murder investigation. Did you get anything this morning?” He asked Debbie McAllister.

“Well we’ve definitely got something with Karen Finch, she admitted she knew the victim and was very upset when we told her he’d died. She got a phone call and then was very adamant we leave. She told me to go back later about 4 o’clock and she would talk then. Most of his neighbours were out at work so we’ll get uniform back round there later. We are making progress Guv, the last think I need is MIT breathing down my neck.”

“Surely I’m not that bad Debbie!”

****

DC Eva Sharpe walked in to the familiar CID office, it felt different from when she had last been there, she felt she had more of a meaning. She had to admit that she had been glad when Gary had told her the DI wasn’t in.

“Eva, you’re the officer on this case?” Debbie said spinning round at the sound of a familiar face.

“Certainly am. My boss thought it was about time I got to handle a case of my own and where better then back at Sun Hill. So what have we got?”

The DCI left the two women to it and headed back to his office. He tried phoning the DIs mobile and again got no answer. Something seemed odd to him but he had no idea why. He thought about what his solicitor had said. He’d known he’d have to fight for his son and his solicitor had only confirmed his thoughts. Fathers were not often favoured in custody cases and his domestic situation was hardly ideal which would count against him but he had brought up children before and his financial situation was good, he hoped that would boost his chances. Back in CID Eva and Debbie had headed out to speak to the witness. Gary had gone round to the victim’s neighbours to see what he could dig up. About five o’clock Debbie rang in to get a search warrant. They had tracked down a potential suspect from information they had received from Karen Finch and the neighbours. He lived on the Jasmin Allen estate. They also called for uniform back up to do a raid. It was all go for the next couple of hours. Evidence had to be processed and the interview was going to be a tough one. Eva and Debbie started with the suspect leaving Gary to finish the witness statements. It was nearly seven o’clock when they all returned to the CID office rather exhausted.

“A good days work, well done everyone,” the DCI said after they’d recapped the case.

“Yes and especially well done to Debbie,” Eva added, “You did some good work and it allowed us to crack the case quickly.”

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