Chapter 3
A week after the disastrous meeting with Tessa Nelson, Beth had firmly pushed the woman to the back of her mind. The case had been temporarily closed, but would remain that way if no more information came to light which could help them arrest the mugger. Beth hadn't heard anymore from Tessa, and she was glad. If there was one thing she didn't appreciate, it was people wasting her time when someone else needed it more.
Beth was sat in the canteen reading a magazine while she ate her lunch. The canteen was empty bar a few other uniformed officers and one member of CID. A certain DS Max Carter to be more precise. Every so often, he would glance quickly in her direction. She had looked up and caught him doing it, and as soon as he realised she had seen him, his eyes dropped back down to his food. A small smile appeared on Beth's face; she had been the one trying to get his attention for so long now that it was almost comical that he appeared to be doing the same thing. Will walked across the canteen and sat in front of Beth, blocking her view of Max.
"Will? Couldn't you have sat one seat over?" Beth said in an exasperated tone. Will looked confused until he turned round and saw Max sat there, then a cheeky grin appeared on his face,
"Are you stalking Max again? As a police officer, you should know that stalking is a very bad crime which can get you sent away for a long time." Will said faux seriously.
"Tell that to him, not me! He's the one disturbing my lunch by looking at me all the time! Here I am trying to eat my lunch in peace, reading my magazine, and I can feel him looking at me!" Beth explained.
"Yeah sure Beth, whatever!" Will said with a chuckle.
"It's true!" Beth whined.
"What's true?" Jess asked, as her and Sally slid their lunch trays onto the table. Jess took a seat next to Will, while Sally took the seat next to Beth.
"Beth reckons that Max is eyeing her up." Will said, rolling his eyes.
"Again?" Jess asked.
Beth gave a pointed look to Will, one that screamed I-told-you-so. "Yep, that's the second time in two days!"
"Wow, just wow Beth." Will said with a wink as he left the canteen.
Jess, Beth and Sally had all finished their lunch and were taking a slow stroll back to the patrol cars, ready to go and scout the local estates for troublemakers. Jess and Sally had just said goodbye to her when Millie came up to her, her trademark smile on her face.
"Alright Beth?" Millie asked, "Ready to go back out onto the mean streets of Sun Hill?"
Beth laughed and nodded her head, "If we have to I suppose."
"I'll just grab my jacket, and I'll meet you in the car?" Millie questioned.
"Sure, I'll wait." Beth said with a smile as Millie split off into the changing rooms.
"Beth!" a male voice shouted from down the corridor. Beth turned round, and for a split second she thought it had been Max calling her, but it was Nate. "There's a package for you in reception, Mel told me to tell you to go and get it."
"Cheers Nate." Beth said gratefully as she turned round and walked back the way she had just come. She pressed the buzzer to let her into the main reception area and waited for the man who was talking to Mel to go so she could get her package. Mel finally got rid of the man and smiled tiredly at Beth.
"Good timing." Mel said quietly, wary that the man was nearby.
"How's it feel being stuck on the desk while they find a new receptionist?" Beth asked with a small smile.
"Brilliant. This is what I signed up for." Mel said sarcastically. She rooted around in the cubby holes under the desk until she found what she was looking for. "Here you go, it came with the post." Mel handed the nondescript brown envelope to Beth. She frowned.
"Why would they send it here and not to my home?" she wondered aloud.
"Maybe they didn't know your home address?" Mel suggested.
"Yeah maybe. Thanks Mel." Beth said, still distracted by the envelope.
She buzzed herself back into the main station and walked slowly down to the female changing rooms. Luckily there was no-one in there, so she took a seat and slid her finger under the flap, giving herself a paper cut. She sighed and placed the tip of her finger in her mouth, wetting the cut. She wiped the blood off with a tissue and pulled out what was in the envelope. It was a card. But it wasn't her birthday or anything like that, so why would someone send her a card? She turned it over, and her eyes widened in shock and confusion. Someone had sent her a card with a bunch of lilies on the front, with the phrase "Deepest sympathies" written underneath. No-one Beth knew had died recently, so who the hell had sent it. She fumbled, trying to open it and read what had been written. In block capital letters, someone had simply written;
FOR BETH, MY SINCERE SYMPATHIES
That was it; nothing more nothing less. Beth hastily stuffed the card back into the envelope, opening her locker and stuffing it at the back. There was something not right going on here, and it was freaking her out, that was for sure.
As with the whole Tessa Nelson situation, Beth tried hard to put the card to the back of her mind, but it kept coming back to her at odd moments. That night she had gone home, had a luxurious bath with a glass of wine, and promptly gone to bed. But that night she was tossing and turning, dreaming of funerals, of hers and of the people she loved. It just wouldn't go away, and that's what worried her the most. Something about the card just didn't feel right; Beth's instincts were screaming at her, but what they were screaming she didn't know what.
The following day, Beth was working the late shift. She got to the station at five in the afternoon, and she would be working straight through until five in the morning. The team had been briefed; they were to concentrate on the local clubs in the area amidst the rumours of a sudden increase in drug dealing from the clubs. Beth was in a car with Millie, Leon and Will for the night, which made her a lot happier and allowed her to temporarily let the knot in her stomach release slightly. As they drove out the station, Beth glanced out her window, and then looked again. Something or someone had caught her eye. A flash of pale blonde hair, paired with dark, searching eyes. Beth groaned, convinced she was losing her mind.
"What's up?" Millie asked, turning to face Beth.
Beth paused, wondering if she should tell her friends, but decided against it. After all, it was just her being paranoid, "Er, I just remembered that I forgot to let the cat out the house before I left, that's all."
"I didn't know you had a cat?" Will said, confused.
Crap. "Erm, yeah, I'm cat sitting for my neighbour." Beth said, not convincing even herself for a minute. Millie looked as if she was going to push it, but thought better and just smiled at Beth instead.
Twelve hours. Twelve long, cold hours, spent driving round the estates and checking out the clubs. How many arrests had she made? One. One lousy arrest. How much action had she seen tonight? None. No one had attempted to beat on her when she tried to move them on, no one had thrown their drink at her, no one had even tried to spit at her. It should have been a good night for her, and normally she would see it as a good night, but that meant she didn't have to concentrate, and because she wasn't concentrating much simply because she didn't need to, her mind kept wandering back to the card she had received, and to Tessa Nelson. Her brain fired; were the two connected?
Walking back to her house, hands shoved deep into her pockets, hat pulled down over her ears, her long black hair flowing out behind her. She just wanted to get home. She wanted a cup of tea, her fleecy pyjamas, and her bed. As soon as Beth got out of the lights of the station and onto the dark street, she felt uneasy. Normally she was fine walking home in the dark, in fact she liked it. It gave her a chance to think over what had happened on the shift, gave her a chance to breathe, and gave her a chance to savour the sleeping city. But not tonight for some reason. It was like her brain was in overdrive ever since she had thought of the possibility of Tessa Nelson and the card she received being connected. The hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood up, and Beth stopped walking. She spun round quickly, but there was no-one behind her, only darkness. Beth hurried to the next streetlight and stood underneath it, fumbling in her bag. She finally heard the jangle of keys, and quickly arranged the keys so that they protruded out her knuckles, makeshift Wolverine claws. It made her feel a bit better that if anyone was following her and were to try anything, she could try and protect herself. Her house was two streets away, but one of the roads she had to walk down had awful street lighting which would often flicker or just completely go out. She took a deep breath, checked behind her once more, and started to walk.
She was home. Thank God. She hurried up the steps, stumbling in her haste. She placed her hand out to stop her head smacking the concrete step, and grazed her hand. She swore under her breath before picking herself up and taking her keys out from her knuckles and placing them in the lock. It took her two tries before the door opened because her hands were shaking so much. As soon as the door was open, she flitted in, slamming it behind her, locking it and pulling the deadbolt across. She turned all the lights on as she ran past them into the kitchen, shutting the blinds and locking the backdoor. Get a grip Beth she thought to herself as she turned the kitchen light off, satisfied that the house was pretty secure to things that go bump in the night. She walked slowly back into the living room, the knot in her stomach seeming to throb, her heart rate slowly returning to normal. She crept up to the living room window, peering out through the blinds. Again, that flash of pale blonde hair and intense brown eyes. But when Beth looked closer, it had disappeared.
Took a while, but here it is. Thanks as always to the lovely reviewers; you know who you are, but just in case you forgot, that would be Hollie, Jo, Krissie, Aileen, Em, WRobsessed and 133.
