Author's usual notes and disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and solely own the ideas of my stories and the developments I've let them go through.
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Author's note and summary: To be on call is annoying. To be on call on days like this is worse. To be on special call on days like this could even be like hell. Or maybe not?
This is my New Year story. Enjoy...
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Midnight
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It was dark and cold in London but quite cosy inside with a few Christmas decorations still hanging and lying around and the faint smell of chocolate cake still hanging in the air from their dessert. After a nice special meal, except for the cake they had eaten it in the mess, DC Nkata now was watching TV, DC Harding chatted with his girlfriend via his mobile phone and DI Lynley and DS Havers were just returning from the coffee machine in the small adjoining kitchen.
They were on special call, something that only happened every now and then and sadly so in these days of lurking danger they had been asked to stand by at the office tonight by the Assistant Commissioner himself. It surely was his revenge for them staying away from his Christmas speech.
Barbara wondered why DI Lynley, the 8th Earl of Asherton, one of the AC's lot so to say, also had to be with them but in fact she was quite happy with it.
This way she could be with him on New Year's Eve.
She had a bottle of champagne in the fridge in the coffee kitchen waiting for the midnight hour. She knew they would have to join it with the other two Detectives. Not that she thought that something romantic would happen there, but she hoped to have some private moments in his office.
Tommy had gone to his office a lot in the last few hours but how could she know he was just checking if the champagne still was in its cooler bag and if the two glasses still were in the file cabinet labelled L. Of course it was all where it should be.
The DI had planned to finally approach his DS, his best friend for so many years and even more for him, and test the grounds if he could go further because recently he had realised that he actually had fallen in love with her. And according to what he read into her recent behaviour and the looks she was giving him when she thought to be unwatched there was a vague hope that she perhaps reciprocated his feelings.
The bottle and the glasses still were there now, so he closed the cabinet again and returned to the open plan office where he found Barbara standing behind Nkata sipping at her coffee and laughing about something on the screen.
She caught his stare and gave him the special smile he loved so much. For several moments they simply looked at each other. They did not even recognise that Nkata was trying to hide a grin that had nothing at all to do with anything on TV. A light blush crept across her face but before he could wonder Lynley's mobile rang. Barbara looked to the ground and swallowed.
"Bugger!" he angrily murmured reading the caller ID. It was the desk officer's number. "Lynley!? ... Yes. Where? ... What?! That's a thirty minutes drive! Even with sirens and blue lights!" Tommy looked at his watch and groaned. It was ten to eleven. "Yes. We'll be there as soon as possible!"
As soon as he disconnected the line his mobile rang again. Lafferty called to tell them where exactly they should come to. It was somewhere in the outer parts of London. "Really, they should have their own CID handling with this! We're the Met! We're here for- ... Yes, sorry. ... No, Lafferty, of course not. ... Yes. We'll be there in a bit."
With a grim expression on his face he ended the call.
By then Barbara had emptied her mug, Nkata had switched off the small TV and Harding even had put on his warm winter coat already.
...
"Mr Ross Nyland, his driving license says." Stuart greeted them holding up the little plastic card in an evidence bag.
"And a good evening to you, Dr Lafferty." Lynley answered. Lafferty only snorted an incoherent reply. He obviously was as happy to be here as they were.
"Heavy knock on wood." Pointing at the dead man's head the pathologist continued his explanations. There was a nasty wound on the back of it and a lot of blood soaked hair. "According to the body temperature I'd say he was unburdened from any future hangovers about three hours ago when everybody else was on their bloody way to a party." Lafferty added grumbling that there was not much blood around here.
On the crime scene they also learned from him that the poor man was not murdered there but surely somewhere else. His clothes, he was without a coat and only in cosy slippers so it surely was done somewhere inside, looked as if someone had dragged him here. There also were short traces that appeared to have come from his heels. The Detectives inspected the surrounding grounds with their torchlights when Winston called Barbara.
"Yes, Winnie? ... Which pub? ... Which co-op? ... A blinky what?! ... Yes. ... Yes, we'll be there in a bit." She turned to her boss. "Winston said there's a witness, or something like that. She seems to be related to Mr Nyland here. In the pub, or better in front of the pub next to the co-op next to the blinky takeaway shop."
Tommy groaned. A depressing suburbian takeaway with blinking lights and a crowded pub plus the neon-lit windows of a supermarket - how romantic this night turned was becoming almost unbearable.
...
Just around two corners down the street the witness stood outside of the pub because inside of it there was a roaring party going on. It was close to midnight. Nkata had gone inside, he quietly told his superiors, only had looked around once and quickly spotted a rather shocked looking woman. He had tried to make as little fuss as possible but when DI Lynley and DS Havers appeared and showed their warrant cards it was obvious for everyone else who stood there that the woman was not just chatting with a handsome young man but that it was the police interviewing her.
It obviously unnerved someone. Suddenly one of the group of tipsy young men next to them who had been having a fag with his buddies outside of the pub had taken two unobtrusive strides to the side and then quickly ran off. It only took the officers one second to react. Winston had the decency to bid his excuses to the young woman who was committed to the care of another female PC but Tommy and Barbara immediately were on the young man's heels without further explanations.
They followed him around the corner of the pub, then ran down a narrow back alley before they hurried across an empty four-lane road that seemed to divide this former village. On the other side they jumped over a wall that fortunately had a smooth surface and was not really high and there was grass behind it that was so soft that Lynley almost stumbled over and bumped into a Celtic cross.
"Blimey!" he cursed but hastened on.
They crossed a cemetary and jumped over several old graves. Then the man opened the heavy wooden door and ran into the small church. The lights inside went on.
"Why the hell is it open?" Barbara cursed and followed inside. She knew their backup team right behind them.
Tommy briefly stopped. "Nkata, you and Middles - round there. Harding, Stiller - other side. Check for doors!" Then he also entered the church. It was dimly lit. "Barbara?" Inwardly he cursed himself for suddenly having a light tremble in his voice. Since the moment she had run through the door he only had heard a few footsteps but then there was nothing else. His silly fantasies went through every possible scenario.
"Here, Sir!" Barbara stood there with one foot on the stairs to the clock tower of the church, her hand already on the handrail. Tommy felt tremendous relief. "He's run up here. We've got 'im!"
Quickly Tommy followed her up the winding steps. When he had reached the top landing a few moments after Barbara he saw her trying to catch her breath, bent over with her hands on her knees. There was no trace of the young man. Fortunately the otherwise dark and dusty bell room was lit by a single light bulb distributing a bit of brightness. The wind blew through cracks in the shutters and it was as cold as it was outside.
Panting Barbara was shaking her head.
"Where is he?" Tommy asked similarly out of breath.
"Gone." Barbara shrugged and looked around.
"There must be a secret door somewhere." Her boss also looked around. There was the big bell in its rack and the wooden handrailing of the stairs but obviously nothing else.
"Bollocks!" Barbara grunted. "This is a dead end... umm... clock tower..."
Despite the situation they were in it made them both chuckle.
"Look!" Tommy had seen a hole in the floor where a rope went through. He grinned. "The secret door."
It was big enough for a man. The rope was tied to a beam so the smaller bell above their heads had made no sound when the young man apparently had left the bell room into the bell ringing room underneath.
"Oh, bloody hell!" Barbara cursed and angrily kicked the wooden pillar next to her.
In that moment Lynley's mobile rang. "Yes, Winnie? ... Mhm." He turned to his Sergeant. "They have him, Barbara. ... Has confessed what? ... Dope? What- ... Aha. ... Okay, yes. We'll be there in a bit."
"What has he confessed?"
"To have stolen the dope."
"Dope?"
"That's what I asked Nkata. The young man said he just had picked a bag of dope from the dead man's bag. Come on, let's see if he's told the truth."
In the moment he had said it, the clock right next to them gave a loud clicking sound. Seconds before it the huge bell had begun to swing without them noticing it.
[dong] could be heard.
"Oh, we should leave-" Tommy suggested.
[DONG] the bell said.
"And rather quick!" Barbara already was on the stairs.
[DONG] And with this the bell started to ring in the New Year properly.
...
The Detectives quickly hurried down the stairs to avoid deafness which surely would have impended on them if they had stayed up there. Arriving downstairs in the nave they looked at each other quite out of breath. But both could not hold back a grin and finally started to laugh. They tried to catch their breath laughing and panting hard.
Eventually Tommy's expression became serious. "It's always like that, isn't it." he murmured. His eyes still were twinkling amused but his face was expressing a soft affection that did not at all fit to the moment.
Barbara gave him a quizzical look. "What?"
"This. It never will be any different I guess, no matter what we'll plan."
"What will we plan?"
Tommy shrugged and grinned apologising. "Well, after I've learned that we both are on call... Actually... umm... I have to admit I wasn't. I volunteered because..." He let his fingers run across the back of a service book. "You know I'm not exactly eager to be scrutinised by my mother on days like this... I... I prefer to be with you and that's even the case when it means to be on call with you. But although we were on call tonight I've planned tonight's midnight to be slightly different. I mean... It's New Year's Eve, isn't it? Well, in fact..."
He paused.
"Ah?" His little cryptic speech had made Barbara nervous. And in fact it already was New Year by now. And the champagne was in the fridge at the Met. And in his office. But the big bell above them in the little church rang proudly and still announced this New Year. She had to admit it was quite romantic even though they were investigating another murder and had just been chasing a criminal across a graveyard.
"I have a bottle of champagne in a cooling bag in my office." Tommy explained. "But I suppose we'll have to toast a bit unpunctual. Anyway, Happy New Year, Barbara."
Outside the walls of the church people were cheering and fireworks exploded and through the stained-glass windows it bathed the room in millions of twinkling colours. The two people inside looked around in astonishment until their eyes met again. He smiled. It was reassuring. Her smile trembled a bit. Her heart was racing. She did not know that his also was.
Tommy made a step forward. Barbara kept standing where she was. She looked up at him with wide open disbelieving but hopeful eyes. Without any further words her boss bent down and gave her a gentle kiss fully on the lips. It was only short but not at all accidentally. Nonetheless caught off-guard Barbara immediately responded to his brief contact and followed him slightly when his lips left hers again.
"Let's meet with Winston and get this done quickly." His voice was soft and tender, since he sensed he did not really need to test the grounds. It was a clear path that laid before him. "I have to tell you something important."
Tommy turned to leave the church.
"Something important?" Her shaky voice made him slow down.
"Mhm."
"Tommy?!" Barbara calling him by his given name made him raise his head. He heard her footsteps behind him.
He did not turn back though. He just looked to the side, halfway across his right shoulder. „Yes?"
"If it's important, then say it now."
Tommy finally stopped. He straightened his shoulders and turned towards her. He smiled again. He still smiled. A soft blush appeared on his face when he realised that he probably was the origin of the hesitant longing in Barbara's eyes. She already knew it, he thought. Nodding slightly he held out a hand to her which she took after she had made another step forward. Tommy threw all of the left cautiousness overboard.
Without dismissing her eyes he raised their hands and kissed her fingers softly.
"I love you, Barbara."
She did not reply immediately, and a bundle of mixed emotions was displayed on her face but when she finally opened her lips it was to berate him.
"Oh, really?!" she ranted. "Of all weird moments you really pick the most weird one to make an announcement like this?!" Tommy looked bewildered. "Not with champagne or in the rain under an umbrella or in the beautiful garden of your house. Not even in the pub between two pints of beer after work. No. We chase a criminal and you tell me you love me. Why now?"
"Because- mh!"
Barbara had not waited for his answer but simply stepped up to him and kissed his lips fiercely. Her arms around his neck pulled his face down on hers so that he could not escape or object.
He had no objections and the explanations why this here was in fact a truly romantic moment also could wait a little longer.
"Happy New Year, Tommy!" Barbara had tears in her eyes but her whole face was grinning wildly. "I thought you'd never- mh!"
This time Tommy silenced her with another kiss. With all the years long suppressed emotions suddenly surfacing it soon got a bit out of hand so when DC Nkata stepped into the church he found them in a deep and loving but rather indecent kiss.
"Oh." he said shocked. With mouth agape he stared at his superiors. "Oh..." he repeated. Grinning broadly he left them alone for five more minutes. It was time that he practised what he had learned from them. He could as well continue the interview on his own. When all was heard and time had come to take the young man to the station the Constable fought hard with himself but unfortunately there was no way he could have left Havers and Lynley here in the church.
Winston harrumphed loudly and waited a few seconds until the couple parted their lips. Barbara was deeply blushing and even on the DI's cheeks was a rosy touch. He did not let her out of his embrace though and so she nervously laughed towards Winston.
"A very Happy New Year to the both of you and I'm really sorry to interrupt but..." His thumb pointed in the direction of the church's door. His approving grin only was meant for Barbara. Slightly embarrassed she looked to the ground still radiating happiness.
"Come on, Sergeant!" Tommy said squeezing her shoulders one last time. "We have some work to do."
"Mhm." Barbara nodded. "And the faster we get this done, the sooner we can go home."
The naughty grin DS Havers displayed made DI Lynley blush deeply.
"Oh, blimey!" DC Nkata sighed with rolling eyes and turned to leave. "Pandora's box is open."
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A/N: Happy New Year! CU in 2018!
Tess