Play@YSDC

”Are you ok, Sarah?” Kris asked as he approached, the Asp still held ready by his side. ”You’ve had an accident and I think you need medical assistance.”

The woman turns at Kris's voice and looks at him. Her face wrinkles into a snarl. 'You! It was you!.' She lunges towards him, one hand outstretched.

Kris flicked the Asp downwards and it deployed with a sharp, metallic rattle. ”You’ve had an accident and you need to sit down!” he said firmly.

What’s her state of mind? Shocked? Insane?

Psychology (35%) 1d100

Edit: Bang on the nose!

Also, if she tries to assault Kris, he will defend himself with the Asp. Just the shame it isn’t her husband…

Sarah Balfour's gaze is glassy, unfocused. There's blood running down her temple from what looks like a wound on her scalp. She looks angry but also confused, not shocked exactly, maybe concussed?

She lunges at him again and makes a swing for his face with her fingers. Kris lifts his ASP telescopic baton to defend himself but her nails rake across his cheek, deep and painful. He feels blood dripping down his face and pooling around his chin.

That's 3 damage I'm afraid. She got a crit. I took the liberty of rolling to see if Kris could get a crit Dodge - he didn't. Now Kris can act.

Fighting Brawl 35%: 1d100 1
Dodge: 1d100 33

Kris hissed in pain, the wounds stinging. ”Concussed or not, that’s enough!” he snapped.

He stepped back, taking a good look at her. ‘Remember your training,’ he told himself. He lowered the Asp, folding it behind his leg as he tried to talk her down.“Now for your own good, Sarah, please sit down and we’ll get you checked over. Ok?”

Let’s try Persuade (58%). I don’t think his Intimidate (18%) is going to cut it.

1d100

Edit: F*ck![/quote]

The woman sways on her feet unsteadily. A few onlookers are now standing at a distance, watching events unfold. One rough looking young guy shouts something largely inaudible, but definitely including the the phrase 'Hit him again.'

Blinking and shaking her head, Sarah Balfour stumbles forward.

Lucky for Kris that his Persuade is over 50% so he only Fumbles on a 100!

”Why not do something useful and ring for an ambulance,” Kris said firmly to the young man. ”She’s banged her head and isn’t herself.”

”Now Sarah, I want you to sit down. You’re not well.” He tried to step in sharply beside her, hook her leg to get her off balance and then lower her to the ground.

Unfortunately, Kris has precisely the wrong skills for this sort of thing, but here goes…

Fighting brawl (25%) 1d100

Edit: 8)

Projecting an air of confidence that he doesn't feel, Kris moves sharply in toward Sarah Balfour, placing himself well within her reach. He steps inside her leg and hooks it back, knocking the woman off balance and he grabs her as she begins to fall. Lowering her to the ground. She doesn't even fight back, just lies there blinking and looking confused.

From behind Kris there's a quiet cough, then he hears DS Bates, 'Skilfully done DC Sapru. Skilfully done.' She takes out a set of rigid handcuffs. 'Do you want to do the honours?'

Kris took the handcuffs and deftly put them on Sarah Balfour’s wrists, quickly squeezing them closed. ”It’s for your own good,” he said. ”We don’t want any more accidents, do we?”

He looked over to the gobby twat who was mouthing off earlier. ”Did you ring for a ambulance?” he called over to him.

The guy shrugs but almost simultaneously there's the sound of a siren and and ambulance comes around the roundabout. It pulls up beside Lucy's Nissan and a paramedic gets out.

Sarah Balfour is just kneeling there, dazed and confused.

'So what's happened here?' asks the paramedic.

”Vehicular accident,” replied Kris. ”Fortunately I was passing.” He briefly flashed his warrant card.

”I had to put the cuffs on her because she was getting violent.” He turned his head to show the scratches on his face. ”She seems a bit confused and may have banged her head…”

The paramedic nods at Kris's explanation and kneels down beside Sarah. He places a hand on her shoulder and talks gently to her. 'I'm just shining a light in your eyes...' He flashes a pentorch into each eye. 'Can you tell me what your name is?'

Mrs Balfour opens her mouth a few times, likes she's going to say something. Then closes it again. Giving her the appearance of some dopey goldfish. Eventually she's able to get out 'Uh, my name? My name is Sarah, Sarah Balfour. Can someone please call my husband.'

The paramedic looks back to catch Kris's eye. 'Sarah, you've been in a car accident. I'm going to have to take you to hospital to get checked out. The officer here...' he gesture back to Kris, 'He'll let your husband know what happened if you give him the contact details.'

Sarah stares at Kris, for a moment there's a flash of defiance on her face and she struggles against the cuffs. Then her expression collapses and she mumbles, 'He knows how to contact my husband.'

Lucy touches Kris's elbow and steps past him. 'We'll need your car keys Mrs Balfour...' The woman gestures back to the car with her head, 'They're still in there.'

'Thank you Mrs Balfour, we'll be in touch about the car. And the...well let's get you checked out in hospital first and we can talk about everything else later. Do we still need these cuffs Mrs Balfour or have you calmed down now?'

The usually composed and elegant woman kneeling on the ground, blooded and handcuffed, just nods. All the fight seemingly gone out of her.

Kris turned to Lucy. ”You’ve got the key, haven’t you?” he asked.

Lucy nods and tosses him the key.

Kris's phone rings. It's Jocelyn.

Kris unlocked the cuffs and carefully removed them from Sarah Balfour’s wrist. He watched her closely to see whether she tried anything again but once he was satisfied that she wasn’t going to kick off again, he stepped back to let the paramedics do their thing.

Feeling the vibration of the phone in his pocket, he pulled it out and answered the call. ”Jocelyn. How are you getting on?” he asked.

"Louise Latham was in the nail salon," says Jocelyn. "She got suspicious and thought I was a copper. After the salon closed, we followed her to a flat on a side road to the right of Blessington Road, but it wasn't hers. She was walking with definite purpose. The entrance she went in was for flats 17-24. She didn't see me, but she might have noticed Simon. After she went inside, what looked to be a black man looked out of the window of what I estimate is flat 21." She gives the exact street name where the flats are located. "This address wasn't for anyone on the list. Can you please look up who lives there, and anything the police know about them? How are things on your end?"

Kris glanced at the car crash and the recumbent form of Sarah Balfour. ”Just fab,” he replied dryly. ”Lucy ran Sarah Balfour off the road then she attacked me…” he said.

He pulled out his notebook and made a quick note of Jocelyn’s request. ”Anything else?” he asked.

"Good grief," says Jocelyn. "Why was Lucy even driving? She'd clearly been drinking. It seems both Balfours have problems controlling their temper. Are you both okay? And the car? We only need what we asked you for for now, but we'll let you know if we need anything more."

”We’re fine. And I’ve been asking myself why I let Lucy drive ever since we piled into Sarah Balfour’s car…” He ran his fingers through his hair.

”Look, I’d better go. I’ll ask control to run your suspect through the PNC and let you know.” Kris ended the call and rang through to control. ”Can you run a PNC check on a black IC3 male at 21 Blessington Road? If there’re any more persons of interest at that address, I need to know that too.”