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She knew that some DIs checked the logs of other LPUs to see if other local policing units had anything juicier on their patch. Something bigger, sexier that they could find a way to insert themselves into. At best it was nicking your mate’s best toys and at worst it was ambulance chasing to get the next big case. After Burns’s recent mess-up he was going to have to catch himself a whopper to ingratiate himself back into the good graces of the influential brass.

Personally, she’d always been happy to eat off her own plate instead of taking food from anyone else’s, and the set of Penn’s expression said he agreed with her.

‘Right, chop, chop,’ Burns said, loosening his tie.

Stacey stood.

‘Oh, Wood, before you go, do you wanna put the—’

‘I think I’m gonna make some coffee,’ Bryant said, standing up.

The smile didn’t quite make it to Kim’s face, but trust good old Bryant.

She turned away from her team going about their business with only one question on her mind. A question that was going to need an answer.

Who the hell was Jamie Mills?

THREE

Bryant followed Stacey out the door with the kettle in his hand. DI Burns only drank herbal tea.

‘Wait up, Stace,’ he called. She paused and, for privacy, he nudged her into the small kitchen used by the dispatch team.

‘What?’ she asked, her eyes alight with rage.

‘I saw you slip it in there,’ he said, nodding down towards the notepad she was taking to the interview room.

‘I’m requesting a meeting as soon as I’m done with this interview.’

‘You know once you submit—’ Bryant stopped speaking as one of the controllers entered the room to take something from the fridge. He waited until she was gone before continuing. ‘Once you hand in your transfer request, it’s done. You can’t retract it without—’

‘I don’t want to retract it. I can’t work with him any more.’

‘Stace, just give it—’

‘Bryant, we had this conversation three weeks ago. It’s bad enough that we get lumbered with the gonk that almost got the boss killed but then he insists on treating me like a second- class citizen. You menfolk continue to do the policing and I’ll make you all coffee to keep your strength up.’

Bryant could hear the bitterness in her voice, and she wasn’t wrong.

For a man in his early thirties, Burns’s attitude towards women in the police force was archaic. Both Bryant and Penn had tried ignoring Burns’s instructions on the admin, which had made the man worse.

Bryant forced down the frustration that had been building for the last two months. Right now it seemed like his efforts had been for nothing.

Woody had privately given him the news of the guv’s replacement on the day of the mock funeral. As if he hadn’t been reeling enough from having to pretend to put her in the ground. Bryant had objected as strongly as he’d dared to a man who was his boss’s boss, to be told there was only one other choice due to the shortage of DIs. Bryant hadn’t needed any more explanation. If they didn’t take Burns, they’d all be reassigned in the guv’s absence to other CID teams, and a new team would be formed upon the guv’s return.

He’d kept that news to himself and had been as professional and courteous to the man as he could manage. The hands that wanted to pummel him into the middle of next week had stayed in his pockets just so the team remained intact.

‘Stace, just give it a bit more time. The boss is back.’

‘Is she?’ Stacey asked pointedly. ‘Did you see her face? Does she even recognise us?’

He couldn’t answer the question honestly. Yes, she was back at work physically, but he could only wonder when the rest of her would catch up.

‘For me, Stace, just a bit longer, eh?’ he pleaded.

She sighed heavily, trying to force the tension out of her jaw.

‘One day, Bryant. I’ll give it one more day and then I’m putting it in.’


Tags: Angela Marsons Suspense