Blind Alley by Danielle Ramsay Page B

popular threats when Brady pissed him off – which was often. But how Turner knew it was beyond him.
    ‘I may be getting old but some people don’t realise I still have my wits about me. I overheard Gates discussing your latest antics with O’Donnell earlier.’
    ‘Is O’Donnell still here?’ Brady asked, taken aback. He realised it must be serious for the Detective Chief Superintendent to have paid a visit to Whitley Bay police station.
    ‘No, you just missed him. Maybe it’s a good thing. He didn’t look best pleased when he left.’
    ‘Shit!’ Brady muttered. He didn’t like the idea that Conrad had got it in the neck because of him as much as he didn’t like the thought of Gates running him down to O’Donnell.
    He was aware that turning up at Rake Lane hospital and visiting a victim of a crime that he hadn’t been assigned to investigate was not such a good idea. Not to mention his unauthorised visit to the crime scene afterwards.
    ‘Thanks, Charlie. I owe you one,’ Brady said. He needed to get hold of Conrad before Gates realised he was back in the station. The last thing he wanted was to be hauled into Gates’s office without an update from Conrad of what had been reported against Brady – if anything.
    ‘You owe me more than one, bonny lad,’ corrected Turner.
    ‘Yeah . . . yeah,’ Brady replied, walking away.
    ‘You’ll miss me when I’m gone, Jack Brady!’
    ‘If you’re right, looks like I’ll be going long before you retire,’ Brady called back light-heartedly before taking the stairs.
    It was unfortunate timing. He ran straight into DCI Gates. He soon lost his jocular mood. The look on his boss’s face was enough to tell him he was not impressed with Brady’s attitude.
    ‘My office. Now!’ ordered Gates.
    ‘Sir?’ Brady asked. It was a precarious move, but before he went in front of Gates’s firing squad he wanted to know exactly what he was being shot for. He needed to be certain it was connected to DI Bentley’s case and not some other monumental ‘fuck up’ he had no idea about.
    Gates was roughly Brady’s height and build, but right now he was using the advantage of being three steps up to tower over Brady. He was an imposing man at the best of times. He might have been ten years older than Brady but he was physically fitter, and he knew it. Everything about Gates was regimented and controlled.
    ‘Don’t try and be clever with me, Jack. You know exactly what this is about. My office, and I mean now!’
    ‘Yes, sir,’ answered Brady, accepting that he was about to get bollocked.

Chapter Twelve
     
    ‘Sit,’ ordered Gates when Brady entered his office.
    Brady closed Gates’s door, then did exactly as instructed. Now was not the time to push Gates. Brady may have been a lot of things but he wasn’t an idiot.
    Gates kept his back to Brady as he stood looking out of his office window. Something he never did. The atypical behaviour told Brady he was in trouble. The question plaguing Brady was what kind of trouble? He kept his mouth shut and his head down while Gates collected himself.
    ‘Would you like to tell me what the fuck you’re playing at?’ Gates finally asked. He turned and looked at Brady. His eyes demanded an explanation.
    Brady tried to think of a believable answer. He knew that he was in deeper trouble than he first anticipated. Gates rarely cursed. Which meant that when he did, something or someone had seriously angered him.
    Gates sat down and waited. His intelligent eyes were filled with an unnerving coldness.
    ‘All right, since you don’t seem to understand my question, let me rephrase it for you. Why would you pay an unauthorised visit to one of DI Bentley’s victims?’
    Brady started to clear his throat but Gates silenced him.
    ‘Do you know DI Bentley?’ Gates asked, his voice as chilling and damning as his eyes. Again, he made it quite clear he did not expect an answer. ‘No?’
    ‘I can explain, sir,’ Brady began, but Gates’s