Judgement Call Read Online Free PDF Page B

him.
    By that time Henry was at the lights, which were on green, and his attention was pretty firmly fixed on the blubbering Sally Lee in the passenger seat alongside him, whose vision was blurred with her tears.
    A couple of minutes later, Henry drew up outside her house on the estate.
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ he said weakly.
    â€˜It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault,’ she said, her face buried in the palms of her hands. She dragged it out, stretching her tear-stained features and smudging her heavily applied mascara even more.
    â€˜Look,’ Henry began, feeling utterly useless.
    â€˜No,’ she cut in, stifling a body-wracking sob. ‘You can’t do anything, you can’t change anything, so don’t bother trying … it’s just how it is.’
    â€˜Doesn’t have to be,’ Henry insisted.
    â€˜Just forget it,’ she said hopelessly. ‘I’m just a nuisance, I know. I just feel so … fucking trapped.’
    â€˜Why don’t you leave him?’
    She snorted sarcastically. ‘You have no idea, do you?’
    â€˜Try me.’
    â€˜I’ve got a babbie, I’m on benefits, my mum hates me, so I can’t go there … I have literally nowhere to go.’
    â€˜Tell him to leave,’ Henry said, thinking it sounded reasonable.
    She looked at him in hysterical disbelief. ‘Ooh, that’s a good idea, I never thought of that.’
    â€˜OK,’ he relented, getting the message.
    â€˜You live in another world, mate. You come on duty and dip into my life and make judgements and interfere, but you haven’t got a clue in hell what it’s like. I’m fucking trapped,’ she said again. ‘I have no way out.’
    Henry closed his mouth and swallowed, his eyes playing over her realizing she was feisty, very intelligent in a feral way – and, as she said, trapped.
    â€˜And it doesn’t help that you think we’re second-, no, third-class citizens without any rights. So go on, bog off, go and catch your burglars and maybe me for shoplifting, cos you’ll do that, won’t you? And guess what, I’ll get hammered again and maybe I’ll call the cops and maybe I won’t. And he’ll rape me again … but let’s just hope he doesn’t kill me, eh? Then the shit would hit the fan, wouldn’t it? Eh?’ She sneered accusingly at the last syllable, opened the car door and without a backward glance stomped off towards her house.
    Henry watched her, feeling empty and ineffective. He knew he was an integral part of the vicious circle of violence in the home. Like the DI had said, it was just too much like hard work where the police were concerned because most of the complaints were subsequently withdrawn. Henry had to ask himself why that was, but he knew the answer – because the cops and the social services and the justice system had allowed it to get that way. Their stance had never been firm enough and victims rarely had the support they needed. He also understood it was way more complicated than that, but he knew one thing for certain. Although he didn’t have a lot of service in the cops – coming up to four years – he had already developed a strong sense of justice and had come to realize how unfairly and indifferently victims and witnesses were treated and not just in relation to domestic violence, it was across the board. He also knew he couldn’t change the world, but perhaps he could just chew away at his own little orbit of it.
    He jumped out of the car. ‘Sally,’ he shouted.
    She had reached her front door. She stopped, turned to watch him approach.
    â€˜That retraction statement I just took from you … I’m going to rip it up. I want to come and get a proper one from you.’
    â€˜Why, what are you going to do?’
    â€˜Uh … not completely certain, haven’t quite figured that one out yet.’
    She regarded