Gail Stephens was on her way to Midsomer County. She had just been transferred to the Causton Police Station there. She had asked for the transferring, just to avoid her boyfriend, her ex-boyfriend actually. Gail didn't want anything to do with him anymore, he was abusive, he only wanted her for the money because he couldn't get himself a job and when Gail told him that she was going to leave, he started stalking her. Of course she had tried to report him, but the evidence just wasn't there, at least not enough evidence. Gail didn't feel safe anymore, so the transferring to Midsomer seemed to be the best solution. As long as Gerald didn't know where she was, she would be safe from him.

After almost two hours driving, Gail finally arrived in Causton. It was only three o'clock pm, so she was perfectly in time for making her entrance in the Police Station. She had been told to report herself to DCI Tom Barnaby, she was going to work in his team as a WPC. Gail felt that she was lucky that the Inspector needed someone in his team to do the computer work, it was great to work for the CID and it would do her chances for promotion good. Gail entered the Station and she approached the officer who was sitting behind the desk.

'Good afternoon, I am looking for DCI Tom Barnaby,' Gail said.

'The DCI is not here at the moment, I'm afraid. Could I have your name to leave him a message, please, m 'am?' the Desk Sergeant asked politely.

'Gail Stephens, the DCI is expecting me,' Gail answered.

'May I ask what you wish to see him for?'

'I've just been transferred from Portsmouth, I'm WPC Stephens, the Inspector asked me for his team.'

'I see, well, I am afraid that the DCI is out at the moment, he is out for an interview with a suspect, but I shall look if I can find his Sergeant and otherwise a DC from his team,' the Desk Sergeant said and he disappeared through the door behind his desk. Gail waited for the man to come back and after almost ten minutes, he finally returned with someone.

'DC Smith for you,' the Desk Sergeant said.

'Please call me Caitlyn,' the young woman said smiling. She was around the same age, Gail estimated. 'Please follow me, I'll show you around here.'

Gail returned a smile and then she followed the DC through the door which led to a hall with lockers.

'This is just the hall, if you have anything with you that you want to put in a safe place, you can always use these lockers. Sometimes the uniformed officers, like you, use them for their clothes and then they change here,' Caitlyn said. Then she gestured to one of the doors almost on the end of the hall. The two of them went through the door and went up the stairs.

'So what's on the ground floor then?' Gail asked, seeing that they went up the stairs directly.

'Other departments, the technics are there for example, the traffics, your uniformed colleagues, etcetera. We are going upstairs, to the CID department. That's also the best office in my opinion,' Caitlyn smiled.

'Good job that I get to work here then,' Gail said. The two went through another hall and then Caitlyn opened one of the doors to a pretty big office.

'So this is DCI Barnaby's office, I work here too and you are going to work here as well. We are in the middle of a murder case right know, so the DCI and the DS are both out, God knows where they are, probably following leads. The people here are just doing the paper work,' Caitlyn said, gesturing towards the several DC's and PC's who were working behind their computers.

'I guess I'll have to wait for the Inspector then,' Gail sighed.

'Yes, but I do know what your desk is, so you can wait here and then I'll get you something to drink if you like?' Caitlyn offered.

'Oh, but I don't want to bother you any further…' Gail protested.

'Don't be silly, this is my break right now so I can get to know you a little bit better,' Caitlyn smiled. 'I am going to get some coffee? You?'

'Tea would be great, please,' Gail said and with that, Caitlyn vanished. It took her only five minutes to get the tea and the coffee. She put the two cups on the desk and then Caitlyn took a chair so that she could sit down next to Gail.

'So, what do you think of Causton so far?' she asked.

'I haven't seen it yet, the first thing I did was visiting the Station. I don't even have an apartment yet,' Gail answered.

'So where are you going to stay then?'

'I've booked a hotel for this week, after that I can enter my new apartment. I've already found something, but I couldn't enter earlier. So I don't really have anywhere else to go except for my knew work,' Gail said. She took a sip of the hot tea and when she burnt her tongue, she decided not to do that again. 'What is Tom Barnaby like? Is he a good boss?' she quickly asked, trying not to show that she was in pain because of the tea.

'He is, yes. He can be a little bit difficult now and then, but he really is a very competent policeman and he is often right. You shouldn't try to contradict him. More I don't know, I don't really talk to him that often, he is not a really open person.'

'And the rest of the team?'

'We can get along with each other very well. Sometimes we organize parties as well, for the whole station, so then there are a lot of people I don't know. There is a party in about two weeks by the way, maybe you want to come?' Caitlyn offered.

'I shall see, that depends on how much I am part of this station by then,' Gail said, not wanting to make promises that she could not keep for sure.

'Of course, where are you from, I mean, before you were transferred to Midsomer?' Caitlyn asked.

'Portsmouth, I was born there as well.'

'Then this must have been a difficult decision for you, leaving your hometown,' Caitlyn said.

'To be honest, it was not. I really wanted to leave that place. And of course, working for the CID is a great opportunity. I would like to apply for the rank of a DC later, when I have more experience here,' Gail said.

'Oh that's great! You should do that. Why did you want to leave Portsmouth, may I ask?' Caitlyn asked.

Now the tears appeared in Gail's eyes. Remembering her times with Gerald was not quite a happy thought, she wanted to forget about that. Of course she couldn't forget about it, but she did want to try.

'Oh, I am sorry… Is it a sensitive subject?' Caitlyn asked.

'Can't you see that?' Gail thought, but she decided not to snap at her, Caitlyn was only asking a question, it was not her fault that wanted to know a bit more about Gail. Gail was the new girl, after all. She decided to be friendly towards Caitlyn. 'No, it's okay that you ask.'

'Do you want to tell me about it?' Caitlyn asked emphatically.

Gail looked her in the eyes and decided to trust her. They could become friends, and besides, Gail could use some support. It was already hard enough to be in a county where she knew nobody.

'Well, there was this guy, his name was Gerald, and he was my boyfriend for some time. We had a nice time, until I found out that he only wanted me for the money. He didn't have a job himself, and I found out that he was also dating someone else while he was with me. When I confronted him with that, he became less friendly and he hit me. Several times. I tried to report this of course, but there was not enough evidence to charge him. That's why I decided to leave him, to go somewhere where he couldn't find me. I applied for this job, here in Midsomer, and I just really hope that he won't find me,' Gail said, with a slightly trembling voice.

'Oh my God, I didn't know it was that bad, I am sorry for asking, I shouldn't have…' Caitlyn said.

'No, no, it's not your fault, and I'm okay with it. I am just going to start a new life here,' Gail said with a weak smile.

'I'm sure that you can do that,' Caitlyn smiled. 'Oh, there he is!'

Two men entered the office, one of them was an older man with grey hair and wrinkles, but he had a friendly face. That must be DCI Barnaby. The other man was a lot younger, around Gail and Caitlyn's age, with dark hair and dark eyes and at first sight, he looked rather handsome. The younger man walked straight towards one of the DC's behind a desk and he started talking to him, probably discussing the case. The older man, Barnaby, noticed that there was a new face in his office and he approached the two of them.

'Hello, sir, this is WPC Gail Stephens, just transferred from Portsmouth,' Caitlyn introduced Gail.

'Ah, I was already expecting you. Welcome in Midsomer, Tom Barnaby,' the DCI greeted.

'Pleasure to meet you, sir,' Gail said and she shook his hand.

'Likewise, so I see that DC Smith already led you to your desk? I wasn't expecting you to start straight away, but of course you're welcome to stay and observe the office,' Barnaby said.

'Thank you, sir, but I do want to start if that's okay, I always like to have something to do,' Gail said.

'I could go through the files with her, sir?' Caitlyn offered, but Barnaby shook his head.

'No, I will ask Sergeant Jones to introduce you to the current case, he has a more overall picture of the case than you do at the moment. You can just finish your break and then you can continue on gathering information about the local bookstores,' Barnaby said.

'Yes, sir,' Caitlyn said, a little bit disappointed, but she stood up and went to her own desk after saying something to the young man who had entered the office together with Barnaby.

'Jones!' Barnaby called and the young man turned around and walked towards his boss and Gail.

'Sir?'

'This is WPC Gail Stephens, she is new here, she is here as our new computer expert. I want you to go through the files with her about our murder case and then give her something to do, like checking the bank accounts or something,' the DCI said.

'Yes, sir,' Jones said and then he turned towards Gail. 'DS Ben Jones, welcome,' he said and he offered her his hand.

'Thank you, nice to meet you, sir,' Gail said politely and she took his hand. His hand was softer than she had expected.

'Please call me Ben, all those formalities are not necessary, I think. I feel old when people call me by my surname or my rank,' Ben said.

Gail smiled and then she sat down in her chair. Ben took the chair where Caitlyn had been sitting just a few moments ago and he opened a map.

'So this is our current case, broadly speaking. It concerns two murders, probably one murderer…' Ben said and he started going through the suspects and their connections to the victims. Gail listened carefully while she was watching the DS at the same time. His voice was very pleasant to listen to, he had a cute Welsh accent.

When he was ready with getting through the files, Ben closed the map and now he looked at Gail. 'You can always ask me if there is anything, you really don't have to start working now if you don't want to…' he said.

'No, I would like to have something to do,' Gail said.

'Alright then, in that case, I would like you to go through the bank accounts of the victims, see if there are any suspicious expenses or incomes. If you could give me a report by tomorrow, that would be great.'

'Of course, I'll do my best,' Gail smiled and to her surprise, Ben returned the smile.

'I don't doubt that, I'm sure you'll be a good officer,' he said and with that, he returned to the DCI to talk with him.

'He is rather cute,' Gail thought by herself. 'Maybe I should consider asking him for going to have a drink together sometime. Or would that be too soon? He doesn't really know me after all…'

'What are you thinking of?' a voice interrupted Gail's thoughts. It was Caitlyn.

Gail suddenly woke up and she realized a little bit too late that she had been staring to the DS. Hopefully no one else had noticed that.

'Nothing important,' Gail answered.

'So… what's your first impression?' Caitlyn asked.

'It's nice, the DCI seems to be okay, though he didn't say very much. I like the Sergeant though, he was really friendly,' Gail said and she couldn't help blushing.

'I know, he is sweet. He is always like that,' Caitlyn smiled, but there was something in her eyes that changed. 'Well, I leave you to your work, good luck with it.'

'Thanks,' Gail said. She followed Caitlyn with her eyes, she was talking with Ben right now. Gail couldn't understand what they were saying anyway, so she started on her work.

When it was finally time for most of the officers in the CID to go home, Gail decided to go to her hotel as well. She turned off the lights of her desk and then she wanted to walk out of the door when she was stopped by Caitlyn.

'I was just wondering, would you like to go for a drink with me? Then I could show you a little bit of Causton, not that it is an exciting city,' she asked.

'Yeah, I'd love to, you just saved me from spending the evening alone in my hotel room,' Gail smiled. Secretly she rather wanted to have a drink with someone else, but she could do with a new friend in this new county.

'Great, take your coat and then we can go,' Caitlyn said.