Jean Innocent looked at the two officers stood loosely at attention in front of her desk. Inevitably, it was Inspector Lewis and Sergeant Hathaway who had upset the university authorities again.

'I've had a complaint from a Professor Andrews and a Professor Matheson. Apparently you failed to follow their procedure.'

'That's because their procedure would have required us to apply for an appointment to interview members of the college, allowing the suspects time to get their stories straight, Ma'am,' said Robbie Lewis.
'So instead you rode roughshod over centuries of tradition?'
'It was a murder investigation, Ma'am,' said James.
'Yes, quite right. I told them that their procedures didn't apply to the police and that if they tried to interfere in an investigation again, I'd have them arrested.'
Jean paused to enjoy their surprised expressions, smiling briefly, before continuing,
'No doubt they're whining to the Chief Constable as we speak but as far as I'm concerned being respectful does not include letting over-entitled idiots act as though they're above the law. Well done.'
'Thank you, Ma'am,' said Robbie.
James murmured his thanks too, blushing slightly at the unexpected compliment.
'How is the training coming along?' continued Jean.
Jean had tried to persuade James to stay but after several long discussions had reluctantly accepted his decision to resign and Robbie's decision to retire shortly afterwards. However, she had insisted that they spend their remaining time imparting as much knowledge as possible to the team's detective constables so John Hooper and Alex Grey were shadowing James and Robbie and studying for their sergeant's exams at the same time.
'They're coming along,' said Robbie, 'Hooper's upped his game but he's struggling with the book learning. Grey's getting there but he needs more experience.'
'That's easily remedied, Robbie. Why don't you stay another year?'
Robbie smiled at Jean, genuinely amused. She was convinced that he'd be bored out of his mind within six months of retiring and lost no opportunity to suggest that he delay it.
'Sorry, Ma'am, I'm happy with my current retirement date.'
'Hmm. So which of them should I promote?'
They spent twenty minutes discussing the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two men before Jean dismissed them, watching them leave her office with a wistful smile. They might cause her the most trouble but they were her favourite team; she was going to miss them both. And her clear up rate was probably going to go to hell when they left too.

Stuart felt his pulse racing as he saw the stamp on the letter, "HM Prisons Broadway". Hands shaking, he opened the letter and began to read. After he'd read what was written he put the letter carefully back in its envelope and put it with the others then began to pace, trying to figure out if he could do it. After a minute he went to his laptop and started two Google searches, one for "Lucy Smith" and one for "Jean Innocent police officer". His first search threw up several million hits and Stuart swore as he realised that Smith was too common a surname, he would have to find a way to narrow it down. His second search was much more successful, bringing up numerous pictures and articles. Sitting down, Stuart started reading.

Jean Innocent opened the letter and read it with a resigned sigh; it was the formal notification that the long, unpleasant process of becoming a divorced woman was now complete. She had never expected to be divorced even though police officers had a much higher divorce rate than average due to the long hours and the high levels of stress that came with the job. Somehow, she'd thought she'd be immune but here she was another divorced copper.
Forcing herself to look on the bright side, Jean reminded herself that at least now she didn't have to pretend any more. And she could date again, if she could even remember how and if she could find someone who wanted to date a female senior police officer. Jean opened her laptop, logged in, searched for internet dating sites and hesitantly clicked on one that claimed to be specifically for law enforcement professionals and those who wanted to date them. Five minutes later she was watching a video of 'Roger'. Roger wanted to be handcuffed to the bed. Cynically amused, Jean clicked on another video, raising her eyebrows as she heard 'Kevin' explaining that he wanted a policewoman to use her handcuffs and truncheon 'to make him behave'. The third, fourth and fifth videos she clicked on were more of the same and Jean made a mental note not to visit that site again. Jean had been in Vice for over two years during her time at the Met so she wasn't shocked by the things that people wanted and she wasn't averse to playing games but she wanted a partner not a submissive. Perhaps Laura knew some single men who might be interested. Picking up her phone she sent Laura Hobson a text,
*Know any decent single men? *
*A few. Age/colouring/height etc? *
*At least a few years older than Chris/Don't mind/Taller than me. *
*Hobbies? *
*Not fussed as long as they're around at weekends – just don't want someone who wants me to handcuff them to the bed and use my truncheon to perform an obscene act on them. *
*With your truncheon?! Sounds like a recipe for a trip to A&E. So no S&M then? :D;) *
*Definitely not! :D *
*It shouldn't be a problem. Let me see who's available and get back to you. *
Jean finished her text exchange with Laura then poured herself a glass of wine and took it out into the garden. Her garden, now. She had been awarded the house despite Simon's arguments and she could do what she wanted with it.
Thinking about what she wanted to do, Jean wandered through the house. When she came to the dining room, she grimaced; it was looking tatty and old-fashioned. Taking out her phone, she found the number she wanted and dialled,
'John Squires.'
'Hello, John. Jean Innocent here. I was wondering if you had time to do some decorating for me.'
Two minutes later, she hung up with a satisfied smile.

Stuart looked at the gravestone in disappointment; what they'd told him at the Post Office was true, she was dead. It was there in carefully incised letters,

"Lucy Joanne Smith
1968 – 2011
At Peace Now"

Still, there was one thing he could do. He checked to make sure that he was unobserved then took out the red spray paint from his backpack, shook it well, then wrote 'WHORE' in big letters across the tombstone almost obliterating the inscription.
Satisfied, Stuart made his way to Reading Coach Station and bought himself a single to Oxford.

John Squires looked thoughtfully at the walls of Jean Innocent's dining room, making sure that the undercoat was on evenly. Satisfied, he turned to his son and said,
'We'll put the first coat of gloss on the woodwork after lunch.'
Tom Squires nodded and said,
'It's warm today; we could sit outside to eat.'
They went back to the van, stripped off their overalls, got their lunches and sat on the wall in the front garden to enjoy the September sun. They shut the front door but left the windows at the rear open to dry the paint more quickly.
After they'd eaten, they put their overalls back on then got out the gloss paint and brushes and went back inside.

Jean Innocent put the file in her out tray with a satisfied smile, gathered up her belongings and left the station, delighted to be leaving before seven for once. She had some personnel files to look at but first she was going to make herself a salad and take it outside to eat it. It had been a quiet day and the offices were all empty, she was glad to see. It would have been such a shame to waste such a beautiful Friday evening. Smiling, she said goodbye to the desk sergeant and got into her car.