‘They weren’t even doing a bad job,’ Jock said, glancing over at the abandoned raft. ‘I reckon they’d have been second in the water and would have got across first.’ He lowered his voice. ‘There’s a fair bit more weight on the Cheshire team.’ He shrugged. ‘You should have trusted them to—’
‘I have total trust in my team,’ she snapped, putting an end to the jokey banter.
‘You trust them to do things your way. There’s a difference,’ he said as her team approached.
She scowled at him, and he sidled away.
‘Okay, guys, I’m sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut,’ she said, hearing the sound of a siren in the distance. Although a common sound back in the Black Country, it seemed out of place bouncing off the Welsh mountains.
‘We were almost there, guv,’ Bryant said, wiping his hands on his jeans.
The siren grew closer.
‘The knots were all sound,’ Penn added.
‘I just wanted you guys to be first in the water.’
Stacey shook her head. ‘Boss, we were…where on earth is that coming from?’ she asked, turning towards the road that ran alongside the lake.
Everyone else had turned to look as a squad car screeched into the car park.
‘A bit extreme, Jock. Disqualification wasn’t enough?’ she asked as the course leader moved to stand beside them.
She idly wondered who amongst the other teams had been up to no good.
‘It’s one of ours, guv,’ Bryant said as two police officers exited the vehicle.
‘What the hell?’ Kim asked as they both headed straight for her.
‘DI Stone, can you please come with us?’
She turned to her team. ‘Am I being punked, guys?’
Their expressions told her this had nothing to do with them.
The rest of the police teams had left the water and were watching with interest.
‘Jock?’
He shrugged and shook his head.
‘Marm, we really must insist that you—’
‘Insist all you like,’ she said, squaring up to them. ‘I’m not going anywhere until you explain what’s going on.’
‘We have instructions, marm, strict instructions from DCI Woodward to collect you and bring you back to—’
‘Where’s my bloody phone?’ she asked, turning to the others.
‘Back at base camp,’ Jock answered.
Damn it. She needed to call Woody to find out what the hell was going on.
‘Get him on the radio,’ she ordered the taller of the two males – the one who had done all the talking.
‘Marm, if you could just cooperate and get in the car…’
‘I’ve told you. I’m not…’ Her words trailed away as the talking officer took her elbow.