Chapter Three

What happened to the empire? There's nothing in the bank

They gave away the empire, without a word of thanks

Oh, let's blame it on the yanks

"London" - Roger Hodgson


It so happened that Kid was elected to pick Lieutenant McCloud up from Heathrow that Saturday, and like Nan he was none too pleased with the assignment. Unlike Nan, however, he was an hour early, so that when Louise McCloud exited from customs, he would be standing there, ready and waiting. Exactly what he would be waiting for he didn't know exactly; he had no clue what Louise McCloud looked like. He imagined a woman with Nan's guarded gaze and Emma Shannon's imposing swagger, a woman with a purposeful stride and the same no-nonsense invulnerability both women displayed. Possibly attractive in the same way that Nan and Emma were: sharp, capable, independent, looking as if they'd box your ears as soon as look at you.

He wasn't prepared for the reality of Louise McCloud. He saw her the moment she stepped into view, the small woman with brown hair and dark eyes, so defenceless, so vulnerable. She was struggling under the three or four pieces of luggage she carried. Kid was just moving to help her when she suddenly looked at him and then at the sign in his hands. MCCLOUD was written in large red letters. Relief flooded her features. She made her way quickly and met Kid in the middle.

"I'm Lieutenant McCloud."

Kid's eyes widened in surprise. "How do you do, Lieutenant? I'm Inspector Kidwell."

"Please—call me Louise." Vulnerability was not evident in her confident voice.

"Andrew," he replied in introduction, "but everyone calls me Kid, so you may as well do." The smile that flashed over his lips was every bit as attractive as his blue eyes, Lou noted briefly.

"All right," she replied with a smile, "I will."

They stood and stared at each other for a long, drawn-out moment. It wasn't awkward; on the contrary, it was a look that seemed to acquaint them better, so that they were no longer two strangers in an airport. Then Kid seemed to suddenly come to his senses, shaking his head as if to ward off further thoughts. "I expect you're exhausted, Louise. Let me help you with those things and we'll get you to your hotel."

Lou allowed him to take the two heaviest pieces of luggage from her. "That sounds perfect," she said. "A quick shower and a change of clothes and I'll be ready to go."

"Oh, no, that won't be necessary. You're not expected at the nick until Monday."

"That's ridiculous. I'm ready to work now. That's why I'm here."

"Of course, but you've had a long flight. You could use the rest, surely? You look ready to drop."

"I'm tougher than I look." Lou shrugged. "A shower will make a world of difference. I can catch up on my sleep tonight. I may as well get my body used to the time change." She consulted her watch. "Eleven a.m. isn't usually when the English turn in for bed, is it?"

"Hardly." Kid grinned.

The expression on her face clearly said, 'Well, that settles it.' She held the door open for Kid to walk through. "Let's get a move on, then."

"Is it really best for you, do you think? I'm only concerned on your behalf, Lieutenant."

"That's very kind of you, Inspector, but I'm fine. Really." Lou's tone was firm and resolute. She was not to be trifled with.

"But…" Kid trailed off helplessly.

They had reached Kid's car and stopped. "Look, I appreciate your concern for my welfare, I really do. But I'm fine. I'm ready for work. I'm even looking forward to it. You'll just have to deal with it. Your boss will just have to deal with it. All right?"

There was no holding back the amusement Kid felt. His laughter echoed off the walls of the parking garage. "All right," he agreed as he unlocked the boot of the car. "You do drive a hard bargain, Lieutenant."

"Not so hard, really. Just let me make my own decisions, and you and I will get along just fine." Having said that, Lou did not wait for Kid, but began to hoist her luggage into the empty space. When she was finished, she opened the door and settled herself inside.

Kid's fingers rapped softly on the window. Reaching for the handle, Lou manoeuvred the window to whisper softly down into place. "Yes?"

He was grinning, an infectious, highly amused smirk that touched Lou's nerves just a bit. He cleared his throat. "Just thought I'd warn you—the turn indicator's a bit dodgy; you might have a bit of bother with it."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The turn indicator." Kid pointed. "It's a tad unreliable. Give it a good tug and you should be all right."

Lou followed the direction of his extended finger, and for the first time noted the steering wheel directly in front of her. She stared at it for a moment, uncomprehending. "The turn indicator?" she murmured to herself.

Kid's curly head ducked a little lower. They were eye to eye, and his were dancing, enjoying the little scenario unforgivably. "I reckon you shouldn't have too much trouble with London traffic at this hour, but would you like directions?"

Lou stared again at the steering wheel. It was there, on her side. The right side. The passenger side. She wondered bemusedly why that seemed wrong. Suddenly hours of 'Masterpiece Theatre' and BBC news registered with Lou. She glared at Kid. "Shut up and let me out of the car." For a moment her ears burned with mortification, and she couldn't look at him, hear him laughing, without wanting to deck him. He was much too damn smug about it.

After a minute though, she began to see the humour in it, and a slow smile worked its way over her lips. She leaned back against the car and crossed her arms over her wrinkled blouse. "All right, all right," she relented. "Pretty funny, I know."

Kid's laughter was fading, but not his grin. Obviously this was an anecdote he was going to remember and enjoy for a long, long time. "Your face… You were looking at that steering wheel like you were trying to work out what the hell it was doing there, and how you could get it back on its proper side."

"I was," Lou admitted, running her hands over her face and sighing deeply. "I promise I'm not an Ugly American. I don't know why it didn't register."

"Jet lag, Louise. It'll get you every time."

"This doesn't mean I'm changing my mind about going to the station! I still have every intention of reporting for work today."

Kid saluted her mockingly. "Aye-aye, Captain. Message received."


Within the first few hours of his introduction to the AMIT and Ladbroke Grove teams, Jimmy had figured out those he would be able to work with and those he would prefer not to. By the weekend, when Louise was expected, he had found his way into the circle of officers who passed his own personal inspection. McSwain, Dixon, Kidwell, Emerson, and Langley were good officers who had immediately accepted him as if he were one of their own. The first night they had dragged him to a nearby pub and plied him with pint after pint of cider. Their hearty laughter had added to the already noisy establishment. Jimmy felt he'd known these men forever, particularly Kid, who seemed, with his sharp eyes, to read Jimmy's mind.

On Friday, Emerson, along with O'Hara, Binchy, and Albarn, had been sent to the St John's Wood nick to assist the officers there. Jimmy was sorry to see Emerson go—he was a likeable guy whose Don Juan reputation had been a constant source of amusement for the team—but Jimmy wasn't sure he could say the same for the other AMIT officers. Albarn was friendly enough, but his arrogant self-assurance got grating after a short length of time; Binchy had seemed to take an immediate dislike to Jimmy for reasons he apparently found it best to keep to himself, and O'Hara was, in the words of the cheerful, sunny-faced Iain Langley, "a miserably moody bastard." The atmosphere lightened considerably after O'Hara had gone.

But there was still Nan Kenworthy.

Jimmy had tried—and he could say that honestly—not to argue with Nan Kenworthy, but somehow it couldn't be helped. Their first impressions had set the tone for their entire working relationship and it seemed she wasn't willing to let bygones be bygones. The woman absolutely refused to cut him any slack. She was brusque, even rude at times, and presumptuous and uncooperative and irritating as hell. Their bickering was already becoming stuff of legend.

The ironic thing was that she was universally admired by the AMIT guys. They praised her to the highest: her independence and professionalism, her sense of humour, her strength, her great legs, her abrasive wit. Every last one of them thought the world of her. Jimmy wouldn't have gone as far as to say any of them fancied her, but it was obvious she was thought of highly in every regard. They couldn't understand why Jimmy didn't agree, but then, in addition to the ever-growing collection of chips on her shoulder, it seemed that Anna Kenworthy was a loyal team-mate. To his amazement, they were as devoted to her as they were to Emma Shannon.

Emma Shannon was a different story altogether. In Jimmy's eyes, she and Nan couldn't have been more dissimilar. Though Emma was just as hard-nosed and level-headed as Nan, she clearly had a more approachable side, and the kindness in her eyes could not be hidden, not with the sternest gaze or the gruffest demand. By the end of the first day Jimmy would gladly have jumped off London Bridge if Emma Shannon had so commanded.

Saturday they were promised an early release; there were as yet no strong leads on the case that Ladbroke Grove had unofficially christened 'Operation Posh Murders,' and Emma knew her team was exhausted. Lou's plane was due in and Jimmy was eager to see her. It felt as if he'd been away for months instead of less than a week.

They had gathered in the incident room, Emma once more at the front of the room, the centre of attention. Another photo had been added to the board: that of Maurice Fitzhugh, Lord Harbury's butler of thirty-four years, the last body found. The snaps of Lady Harbury's jewellery were scattered on the table before Emma. Iain Langley stood at her side, looking over her shoulder, both of them peering at photos of the last crime scene as Emma sifted through them. The room was at a respectful hush.

"I don't know. Jesus, I just don't know. None of it makes any sense. Maybe I'm too thick to see it, but I just can't make out anything to go on." Emma's soft, melodious Leeds accent sounded heavy and slurred, the effects of sleep deprivation beginning to weigh on her. She looked up at Iain beside her. "What about you, Langley? You see anything?"

Iain shook his thick-haired blond head. "Nothing, guv, sorry," he answered forlornly.

Emma sighed and slouched into a chair, reaching to rub her aching neck with both hands. She closed her eyes and threw her head back. "This is the part I hate most," she confided to her assembled team. "This is the part they don't show on those naff, made-for-telly copper shows. All they show you is the exciting bit, where the copper gets a lead and then starts working it out from there. They don't show you the bits in between, do they? The bits where the officers sit round the nick with their heads in their hands, staring at a bunch of snaps of dead bodies and rich people's jewellery, not an effing clue to go on. They leave that out, don't they?"

"They'd have to, wouldn't they, guv?" Iain, the resident court jester, smiled. "It'd be dead boring, for starters, and it'd have to be a chuffing miniseries!"

Emma opened her eyes, breaking out into a grin. Relieved to see her in better spirits, everyone else grinned, too. "You're a nutter, Langley," Emma said affectionately. "A complete and total nutter."

"But you wouldn't have me any other way."

"No. Heaven help us, we wouldn't." Emma shook her head and rose from the chair. "All right, you lot, let's call it a day. We're just sitting here taking up space and wasting the precious remaining hours of our day. See you all back here tomorrow, unless you hear the merry ringing of your beepers, in which case it'll be much sooner."

"Looking forward to it!" Noah replied sarcastically as he began to log off his computer.

The room cleared of Ladbroke Grove officers within minutes, leaving only Emma and the remnants of AMIT. They all stared at each other.

"That was fast," Emma snorted.

"That lot aren't used to putting in these hours," commented Ike before bowing his head to rest it on the table. "Don't usually get a case of this magnitude out here round all these boring rich folks."

Noah nodded. "It's taking a lot out of them, poor sods."

"Not something I have to worry about with my lads, is it?" Emma said, with a wink in Nan's direction.

"It'd be nice, though, if we weren't separated." Nan said from her vantage point at the windowsill. "I like it much better when we're all working in the same nick, none of this spread about business."

"I don't like it, either, but there's not much I can do about it, other than shuttle all of us back and forth every day. That wouldn't work too well, would it? For one thing, you know how Albarn gets carsick."

Nan laughed. "Good point. But I didn't just mean them; I mean Hastings and Taylor and that lot. They're halfway across the world!"

Noah slipped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her briefly. "We'll be all right, Nan. Jimmy says his mates are some of the best. Once we get them here we'll be all sorted and good as new."

"I'd say we're halfway there, judging from the look of it." Everyone turned to see Iain standing with his nose pressed against the glass of the door. "Kid's headed this way and he's got a real looker with him. Jimmy mate, is this the famous Louise?"

Jimmy crossed the room in seconds flat, grinning from ear to ear. "Small girl with brown hair?"

Ike had joined Iain at the door. "Brown eyes you could drown in," he added.

By then Kid and Lou were walking through the door. Lou looked as fresh and bright-eyed as if she'd just stepped off the cover of a magazine. Her blue suit was smart yet feminine, her brown hair in a practical chignon that somehow managed to be quite elegant. Nan smoothed down her wrinkled trousers self-consciously and remained where she was.

Jimmy was the first to greet Lou, bending to lift her by the waist and swing her up into the air for a hug. When he had set her down, Lou patted his shoulder and grinned at him. "I must say, that was rather improper, Lieutenant."

"Improper, hell," Jimmy said dismissively. "I'm just glad you're here, Lou."

"No more than I am," interrupted Emma, holding out her hand to the new officer. "We've needed you. Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. I'm Emma Shannon."

"Pleased to meet you, Superintendent. Before I left, Teaspoon—Chief Hunter—briefed me on your background, and I know it's going to be a pleasure working with you."

Nan was impressed with Lou McCloud's manner, a manner which seemed to display both reverence and self-confidence. As Emma introduced the remaining officers, Nan watched the small young woman with the dark eyes as she shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. There was an air of quiet strength about her.

When she came to Nan, she smiled up at her. She was at least a foot shorter, if not a few inches more. Suddenly, in the face of Louise's small, dainty loveliness, Nan felt taller and ganglier than she ever had. It brought to mind her grade school years and all the taunts of 'Nana Long Legs.' But she smiled at Lou. "Pleasure to meet you."

Lou smiled back. Privately she was intrigued by the other woman and by the unreadable expression in her clear eyes. She thought a woman who looked like Nan probably had no business being on the police force when the fashion magazines of the world were in such desperate need of a new face. Then she reproached herself for the thought and for passing the same sort of judgement people so often passed on her: that as a woman, and because of the way she looked—Lou would forever curse her vertically-challenged ancestors—she wasn't cut out for the job. She smiled again at Nan and turned to see Kid at her side.

"Guv says they were just wrapping up for the day," he told her. "They're clearing out of here now. Would you like to be taken back to your hotel?"

"I can take her back," Jimmy spoke up. Nan watched him. There was a new tightness to his voice, an expression of discomfort.

"Actually, I'm not in the mood for rest. I'd like to see the sights. I'd like to see Westminster Abbey…is that tacky?"

Kid laughed. "Perfectly understandable. Would you like an escort?"

The others were leaving, talking amongst themselves. Only Jimmy and Nan were left, watching as Louise and Kid smiled and chatted and walked slowly out into the hall. Their easy camaraderie seemed surprisingly natural, though sudden, and there was an underlying note of something…something that didn't quite befit two relative strangers. Apparently Jimmy thought so too, judging from the thunderous look on his face.