"'ere Sarge!" came the voice from around the door, filtering through to his ears as Peter sat in his shared office studying next week's rotas that he had just about mastered with too much time and too little number of staff. "Your girlfriend's in the front askin' for you".
It took a few moments for the words to register in his brain that the young constable was talking to him particularly and Peter slowly raised his head from the paperwork in front of him. No, that headache was still ratta-tat-tatting away like a pickaxe in the side of his skull and his choice of occupation was doing him more harm than good. To top it all off, he really wasn't quite sure if he had heard right.
"Girlfriend?" he asked with an arched eyebrow, not particularly appreciating the reference and silently letting the much younger Constable know he was not at all impressed. Having a beat girlfriend might have been a running joke on this, if not all of the shifts, but some days it wore thin; particularly those when you were horribly missing your wife and nursing a crashing headache at the same time.
"Sorry Sir", the Constable replied admonished and embarrassed with the inappropriate familiarity even though he had known Peter for years. The officer stood under the lintel of the door, straight backed and arms rooted to his side suddenly remembering rank and how he really shouldn't talk to a more senior officer quite like that. "Sorry Sir" he repeated, raising his chin slightly to stand to attention. "There's a young lady asking to see you personally. She says her name is Mrs. Harbottle, she asked for you by your first name and said I had to find you as quickly as I could".
"Harbottle?" Peter asked as he stood up and straightened his tunic blinking quickly as the pain in his head, suddenly provoked by the harsh overhead light, refused to dull. Underneath it all though that name rang a bell.
"Yes Sir" the other replied, standing aside to let his Sergeant through as he walked past him into the corridor. "Don't know what she's been up to but she's a bit well dressed an' all her face painted to be around 'ere an' she looks awful nervous Sir; twitchy I'd say even. And she's got a suitcase with her Sir".
Peter stopped just before the roughly painted double doors that led into the station reception; the other officer only just avoiding crashing into his back as the light bulb in his aching head exploded into life. That's where he remembered the name from! Of course! "Thank you Constable. I'll deal with her" Peter replied quickly, dismissing the other officer with a brief nod as he pushed the doors open and they swung closed behind him.
She stood with her back to him, studying the not very level notice board that hung on the wall; filled with news of demolitions, road closures and the occasional leaflet that Nonnatus asked them to pin up. Peter cleared his throat to catch her attention and she spun around, blonde hair resting quickly at her shoulders.
"Oh!" the woman began, a wave of relief washing across her face at the sight of him. "One is so glad you are here!" With that she shot across the floor and threw her arms around his neck, enveloping him into a more than enthusiastic hug. "I was hoping the Sister was right and you were on duty! I am so glad! So very glad!"
Peter gently extricated himself, taking hold of her arms and placing them softly down by her sides. The last thing he needed was for anyone to see him embracing another woman quite like that and he could see the 'girlfriend' comment going from casual jokey observance to serious harm-inducing rumour in minutes. He could also see however, as the other officer quite rightly said, she was very anxious and her exaggerated greeting only served to compound that so.
"I am so sorry!" she exclaimed as he stood in front of her, hands flying to brush down his tunic thinking she had rumpled it. "I went to Nonnatus thinking I might see Chummy, but I've been so neglectful in my correspondence with her that I never knew she wasn't there anymore! The Sister…..Sister Juliette….?"
"Julienne" Peter corrected.
"Sister Julienne told me she'd gone to a Mother and Baby home and I'd have to get the bus up to somewhere called Woodford see her, but Sister kindly said you might be on duty and to come here instead. Sister Julienne said she thought very much that you were on days this week". The words were tumbling from her mouth and Peter was having trouble catching up. "So I came here. To try to find you instead" she concluded quietly. "To see if you were here...and you are".
"Mrs Harb…." Peter began, immediately interrupted.
"Isobel please. We know enough about each other for you to call me Isobel" she replied politely, ever so pleased she had found him, feeling her heart slowly calm but agitation still causing her to wring her hands in distress.
"Isobel" Peter responded, guiding her by the elbow to sit down on one of the rock hard station waiting chairs, wondering if she babbled and flailed her arms any much longer she might just lose her balance and fall down. He did notice her hands were shaking. "What I can do for you?"
It was a winter night and not one for anyone to be walking around the East End in; particularly a stranger to the neighbourhood like Isobel so he cut quickly to the chase.
She swallowed. "I came to see if I could….I would really like to go and visit Chummy and see Freddie but one has no idea which bus to get or even where this Lodge might be, it's getting dark outside and I didn't want to disturb the Sister too much as she looked so very busy". She had no intention of confessing that she had never been on an omnibus in her life and had no idea where to start with bus stops or fares let alone which one might take her to her final destination. That was why she needed help after the taxi had dropped her at Nonnatus' doors.
Peter glanced at the clock on the wall. "If you can wait until six, you could come back to the Lodge with me". He knew his wife hadn't had a letter from her friend in really quite the while and their once frequent correspondence seemed to have gone by the wayside for some months but for her to turn up just like this and in such a hurry to see Camilla?
"Would you?!" Isobel asked, grabbing hold of his hand; gripping harder than perhaps she intended but she ever so needed a port in this particular storm and Chummy might be the only one that would at least try to understand.
"It's a bit of a trek to be honest but with the car it doesn't take more than an hour or so" he replied. Peter was looking forward to going 'home' and after not seeing his wife or son for a week six o'clock on Friday couldn't come soon enough even with some company for the trip. "I wouldn't suggest waiting in here" he continued, suddenly thinking that she was far too well dressed to be hanging around a Poplar police station and he could hear the cursing from someone being bundled through the front door in mid-arrest. The delicate Isobel would soon be seeing the rough end of the place if she stayed very much longer. "The Inspectors in and the cells are nearly full". He thought quickly. "There is a café over the road with a blue awning, go over there and ask for Marian and tell her you are a friend of Sergeant Noakes' wife, that I sent you over and I'll come and get you at six".
She smiled at him and squeezed his hand; less vigorously this time. "I know why my friend married you now".
Peter returned her smile even hadn't though quite factored in a friend of his wife's arriving out of the blue on the doorstep of the station into his Friday night, but there was something up; he could see that and he really couldn't leave her here. "Make sure you ask her for a slice of coconut cake and I don't drink too much of the coffee".
Isobel laughed and nodded. "I will and I won't".
Peter led her out of the side door of the station, avoiding the prisoner on his way in and, having collected her suitcase handed it back to her, watching her totter in her entirely unsuitable high heels over the cobbles to the cafe.
He watched for a moment, wondering what led her here; although the suitcase and the blackening bruise he saw on her wrist as her sleeve rode up when she took his hand told him enough for now until he could get home and to Camilla.