Foot Soldiers Read online

  “What does it matter how he died?” said Dean choking back a tear. “I still killed him.”

  ---

  Matilda looked on while Ned chatted to Monroe and Sommers in the narrow corridor outside the interview room. She tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but could only catch every second word.

  Monroe patted Ned on his shoulder and smiled. “Thanks for all your help on this, Constable Hope. We’ll take it from here.”

  “Again!” grumbled Sommers.

  Monroe and Sommers stepped back inside the interview room and closed the door. Ned babbled incoherently to himself and walked down the corridor to face a slightly peed off Matilda.

  “So, what,” she ranted, “Is that all we get - a pat on the back and a job well done?”

  “That’ll do for me,” he said, not really sure if he’d meant it, then added, “For now.”

  He turned away and walked silently down the corridor towards the main doors. Matilda watched him for a moment and then hurried to catch him up, shouting “What do you mean, FOR NOW?”

  10

  Ned stood silent and alone at the top of a steep ridge a stone’s throw away from his father’s farmhouse and surveyed the majestic hills that rolled out before his eyes. The sun bleached the clouds with a shock of orange as it slowly sank behind Hardian’s wall. The sweeping clouds had never failed to impress him. Although he’d done the right thing and helped solved the mystery of Liam Roberts, he couldn’t stop but feel a little sad. Sure, the Bruce inside his head was back in his dirty vest and he felt proud of himself for taking that first step out of that muddy field with Matilda, but that fine line between good and evil had become very blurry indeed. Harbridge was no place for Norris or Bronson, but maybe it was for him.

  ‘A new breed of hero?’ he thought. ‘Then again, Howard the Duck was shite!”

  Down at the farmhouse, Ralph and Matilda stepped outside and looked around for Ned. They clocked him stood at the top of the hill, humming the theme tune to Dempsey and Makepeace. Dixon scurried out the farm after Ralph and sniffed around his Bagpuss slippers.

  Matilda turned to him and waited to catch his eye before she spoke. “What I still don’t understand is why Dean didn’t delete the photo of him and Liam off his mobile?”

  Ralph watched Ned up on the hill. “Some things are hard to let go of.” He turned to face Matilda and smiled. “Thanks for doing all this for me, Matilda. Thanks for bringing him back.”

  “Hey,” she smiled. “After all you did for my dad when he was ill, I should be the one thanking you. This whole thing with Ned... it’s the least I could do. And,” she smirked, “It was fun!”

  Ralph nodded and started to walk up the ridge towards Ned. “Yeah,” he smiled. ”It ruddy well was.”

  She cracked a wicked grin, “The dynamic trio.”

  Ralph stepped up next to Ned and looked silently over the horizon. He, like his son, could never get over how magnificent the ancient wall that stretched out across the rolling hills truly was.

  “Look at it,” he sighed; “A world of history and mystery!”

  Ned fell silent. There were things on his mind. “Before... What you said about mum. Did you really mean it?”

  “I did.”

  Ned looked at him.

  Ralph kicked at the ground. “I also meant it when I said I was sorry. I was never there for you, Ned.”

  “But you’re here for me now?”

  He hooked his hand around Ned’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I am if you want me to be?”

  He patted his dad’s hand and smiled. He didn’t know whether to believe a word he said, but still. “It’s good to see you again, dad.” Then he frowned, unsure it actually was. “I think!”

  Ralph fought back a tear he could feel welling in his eye and rubbed Ned’s shoulder. “One step at a time, eh son?”

  “So,” interrupted Matilda, stepping up next to Ned and Ralph, “Detectives, eh?”

  Ned smirked and threw her the look she’d been giving him all the way through their little adventure together, “One step at a time, Constable Jones!”

  He looked again at Hadrian’s wall. “After all,” he said turning to his new partners-in-crime. “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”

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  Neil

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