Chapter 3
Chief Superintendent Landers sat in his office staring into space, he hadn't moved since returning from the morgue.
It felt as if the air had been sucked from his lungs and his heart had slipped to his stomach.
It was a call he'd expected for a long time, but it didn't make it any easier.
The door opened and he turned, his wife stood there, still in her dressing gown, holding a cup of tea,
"I brought you this.
As he took the offered cup neither could look the other in the face. Since he'd broken the news she hadn't spoke.
"Cheers love. I was just sat here¦.
"No, no.
She retreated, staring down at the floor, shaking her head.
As the door closed a tear ran down his cheek.
What could he have done, he'd tried his best, done all he could.
Drug addiction took lives, that was what it did.
Of course there were people to blame, and he knew them. He knew the whole story after Kelly had told him in the early stages of her addiction, when there might have been a chance. The Riverside may not have been his policing borough but he'd followed the goings on in the area with interest. He knew who was who.
The clock said he should start getting ready.
The press would want some sort of statement that he'd have to deliver.
Standing up he walked over to the oak framed mirror and stared at his reflection.
Of course when he spoke to the cameras his no nonsense mask would be on, it wouldn't be the broken man he saw before him now.
His little girl was gone, he smiled sadly, looking at the pictures in the corner display cabinet. There she was a child, the cheeky grin.
He remembered the pride as she progressed through school. The certificates, the trophies and then the teenage rebellion.
The teenage rebellion that had never ended, until now.
What had been so wrong with the life he'd tried to provide for her? She'd had everything, was happy, why had she needed drugs and most of all what kept her in that squalor and deprivation?
Feeling the anger rise in his chest he gritted his teeth, someone was going to pay for this misery.
Looking back at the mirror he saw the real him staring back, furrowed brow and straight mouthed.
Walking back to the desk he stared for a moment at the phone then made his decision. Picking up the handset he punched in a number.
After a few rings a voice came on the other end.
