It was not the kind of job that Laura envisioned for herself, going undercover against another cop. But she believed in duty and at the time there seemed to be nothing worse than someone who would betray their colleagues.
Special Branch called to her home, two weeks before Sean was due to return after his accident. It was explained that there had been suspicions against Sean for some time, but these had been put on a back-burner when it looked unlikely that he would return to duty.
But those calculations had now changed. Laura, of course, asked why didn’t they just say that he was no longer fit for duty and that would be the end of it. But they explained that the optics would be terrible. The force had to be seen to be doing everything to help a fallen member. It was entirely possible that he was totally innocent and he deserved his chance.
They knew about their dalliance and that was why she was chosen; it would only be natural for her to approach him. Indeed, she had intended doing so anyway especially since he crashed his car after leaving her place. But she wasn’t sure she could do undercover, especially against a fellow Garda. The ranks hated rats almost as much as those who collaborated with the gangsters.
But then she thought about the reasons she joined the force: it was to do good for her country and bring justice where previously there had been none. Lofty goals but these were her motivations nonetheless. So, she accepted the assignment.
It was therefore with mixed feelings that she heard he had returned to work. It was now game-on. She waited a few days before making her first approach; she wanted to come across as being natural. In truth she had little to worry about; he had been sitting on his own during any breaks and seemed happy to have some company.
So, it happened that they started to meet up regularly. Before long they were joined by Garda Halpenny; that hadn’t been part of the plan but instead, it seemed to happen organically, although Laura was pretty sure that he fancying her had at least played some part.
After some time, she almost forgot about her assignment; they were just three good friends that happened to meet regularly. In fact, at times she felt guilty as if she was betraying them by her subterfuge, but she still had a job to do and hopefully, they would never find out anyway.
But then things began to change. She noticed that Sean seemed to be more stressed and agitated than he had been; Special Branch told her that there was definitely a leak and he was still a suspect. It seemed to happen after he made that pass at her.
There was no way that she could get involved with him; it would have compromised her assignment and even if it didn’t, she wasn’t sure how she would feel about it. Yes, they had sex previously but that was only a one-night thing and that was all. She also wasn’t sure if she could date any paraplegic; she enjoyed the rough, physical sex after-all. None of these were reasons she felt she could say to Sean so she told him that she saw him only as a friend. In truth, she had mixed feelings when she heard about his girlfriend though, which she hadn’t expected to happen.
But it could have been “The Ripper” that caused his changed demeanor. From the beginning, he seemed to lose himself in the investigation and would sometimes talk about the case for the whole break.
Laura thought that he was definitely on to something when he returned from England; she even relayed it to Special Branch but they stated it might just be a diversion. Cruelly, they even informed the Super that he was not to be trusted. But she knew that Sean wouldn’t be capable of doing that even if he was the mole; it mattered too much to him.
She knew that Sean hadn’t been invited to that meeting but they needed to hear what he had to say; it was just too important for them to ignore. So, she took the opportunity to rush him up to it and hoped with bated breath that things would work out.
It was with much relief that she heard that he had been listened to. But everything in their intertwined lives seemed to be up, then down. She was as disappointed as Sean when the pathologist could find no apparent link.
She was bothered though by Sean’s supposed medical appointment that morning. It seemed to come totally out of the blue and he wasn’t able to give much of an explanation. She knew when she was being fobbed off and this was definitely it. A few minutes after he had left, she darted into his office to see if she could find anything and there it was.
He had left his mobile phone behind, something that was important to him and that he would usually never forget. But it was something he would leave behind if he didn’t want to have his location tracked. This was the first time she was now felt very confident that she was being lied to.
It dawned on her that Sean may be a dirty cop after all. She had wanted to follow him, but irritatingly she was down to do surveillance in a different case within the hour. But she knew there would be a next time.
Mark's Writing Corner 