Death in the Black Wood, Oliver Davies [short story to read TXT] 📗

pork steaks layered up in each large roll. She took an experimental bite and chewed appreciatively before swallowing. “Damn! That’s delicious.”

I just grinned, scenting victory.

“Just don’t expect me to keep bringing in extras for you if you do end up at Area HQ.” I didn’t need to elaborate. Much as I’d hate to lose Caitlin, it wouldn’t be fair to Walker to let her go just because she was the one who was willing to make the most of herself. “Because when it comes to it, I’m going to ask McKinnon to make the choice for me if he insists on moving people about.”

We ate in silence for the next few minutes, and I saw the moment where Caitlin finished thinking it through and decided to give in to the inevitable. There was no question that we’d remain friends, even if she was transferred, but it wouldn’t be the same. She loved working here, and she certainly didn’t want to leave my team. I don’t think her back-up plan of taking a civilian job instead was looking very attractive to her these days either. I pushed the button on my little coffee maker and carefully wiped the mustard off my face.

Espresso delivered, I lifted up my cup in a mock toast. “To lesser evils?” I suggested helpfully. “And better pay?”

“Manipulative bastard!” she swore softly, touching her mug to it, but she had a wry little smile on her face. “You know how much I’d miss food like this, now that you’ve gone and got me addicted to it… and I suppose the pay rise could shave a few years off the mortgage.”

“Mmm,” I agreed, knocking back half my espresso, “Sounds just awful! No wonder you’d rather not have to do it.”

Six

The rest of that Friday afternoon seemed to fly by. When Caitlin stuck her head in, at half-past five, to let me know she was heading home I was shocked to see how late it already was. By then, I’d made good progress with my searches and had compiled a considerable amount of data from the mornings after the first eight of our thefts. Well, the rest could wait. This wasn’t the kind of job I could get through in a tearing hurry and there was no pressing urgency there either. All the information that I wanted to access would still be available to me next week.

“If you give me a few minutes, I can drop you off at yours,” I offered.

“Thanks, Con, but I’ve got to nip over to Tesco’s first and pick up some shopping.”

“Even better. Buzz me when you’re at the checkout and I’ll come over and pick you up. You can stock up properly that way without needing to call a taxi to get everything home.”

“Really? You don’t mind hanging around for another half hour or so?”

“Not at all. I’ve got some bits and bats to finish up here, anyway.” I really didn’t, and another coffee would go down nicely too.

“Awesome! In that case, yes please and thank you. It’s freezing out there again and there’s a nasty east wind blowing.” After she’d gone, I loaded up my espresso maker with a fresh capsule before emailing the half-finished spreadsheet and the maps to myself. I could do a bit more work at home, from my laptop, if I felt like it. It wasn’t like there was much I could get on with in the garden over the weekend; nothing that would take up more than a couple of hours, anyway.

Sitting still for too long had stiffened me up a bit and my bladder was bursting, so I nipped out to deal with that while my coffee maker heated up. Only Collins was still in by then and he gave me a little nod before turning his attention back to his screen. On my way back I stopped by his desk to see how he was getting on with the mugging he was working on.

“Any luck?” I asked.

He shrugged noncommittally. “Too soon to tell, but yeah, maybe. Some footage from outside the nightclub showed our victim leaving and, a few minutes later, a trio who might be our culprits went past. The footage quality isn’t very good though. I’m going to try to clean up some stills to see if I can get a clear view of any of them.”

“Sounds good. It’s after six though Mike. Not had enough for the day yet?” He turned and looked up at me with a smile playing around the corners of his mouth and his bright blue eyes gleaming.

“I’m just hanging around waiting for Linda to come and pick me up. It’s a bit nippy for the bike just now. Don’t worry, Guv, I’m not turning into a workaholic.”

That flourishing little romance had surprised us all. Mike Collins had been quite the Casanova for most of my first two years here, before he’d met his current girlfriend during the Ramsay case the previous March. She must have made quite an impression on him because, after half a dozen dates, he’d somehow found himself happily ensnared in an exclusive little arrangement and by October they were living together. If Mike felt any regrets about his change in lifestyle, there certainly hadn’t been any sign of it yet and I was secretly rooting for the couple to make a real go of it. From a professional point of view, Linda’s influence on him could only be seen as a positive thing. Collins had certainly cut down on late nights out over the past few months and his on the job performance had improved accordingly.

Back in my office, coffee in hand, I went through my inbox, reading through the team’s updates on our open cases properly. I’d glanced at them all as they came in but there hadn’t been anything in need of an urgent reply in any of them. Once I’d checked to see that the relevant case files had all been updated accordingly, I fired off a few suggestions for