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Nicer Duties

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"In Spain? Really? Is she? Or maybe Italy? Or gone forever?" Barbara asked out of the blue. They were on their way back to the cottage and she had processed the conversation from earlier. Now she voiced her observations that the antlers had been hanging there not entirely balanced. "And what about the axe? Or the fur on the opposite walls? It looked quite ruffled."

Lynley was just stopping and going in the traffic towards a roundabout. "You're not really thinking he had murdered her, are you?" he asked keeping his eyes on the road.

"In all objectivity it is possible." she slowly answered then fully looked at him. "Or were you about to say that a Detective Superintendent wouldn't be able to commit a crime?"

"Well..."

"Closing of ranks, huh? Gongs and titles..." Tommy still had his eyes on the street and could not see that she was only teasing him and so he frowned. Barbara was not impressed. "I thought we were beyond that..."

"Ah, bollocks, Barbara. You know I'm not-" Her chuckle made him stop talking and finally look at her but before he realised she laughed about him he saw the signs of a supermarket. "Oh, look, there's a superstore. We'll go grocery shopping. We still need something for our doggy here."

"That's changing the subject, Sir."

"Let's call Lafferty. Maybe he could say how old the dead woman was. It could rule Mrs Grover out. And you could ring Nkata to check on Grover's personal data."

Barbara nodded and typed a text into her mobile. "I'm only texting. Just in case. He had dated his girl again last night." she explained. "I would not want to interrupt anything."

"It's already Sunday afternoon!" Lynley chuckled.

He parked the car and dialled. "Lafferty? Hello. Could you already say how old the woman was? Stop laughing, thank you."

"I'd say she was between... hm... 45 to 55."

Lynley groaned. "Couldn't you be more precise?"

"Well, minimum 43, maximum 59."

"That's not funny, Lafferty."

"I know, Sir. The burnt heap of flesh wasn't funny either."

"Yes, sorry, I understand. Difficult to guess. And maybe you already know when she died?"

"Shortly before she was cremated. I've found no signs of decay but that was similarly difficult as my age-guess. I'd say not longer than 15 hours before the fire. Could be less, could be more. Sorry I can't tell it more precisely at the moment."

"You've done a great job, Stuart. I appreciate that. Will you please send your new time information to Logan? He's busy with the missing person reports. Thank you."

He disconnected and turned towards Barbara who had the head of a wild haired dog Lying on her shoulder. Tommy grinned. She looked cute and not at all disturbed in her thoughts. She was relaxed and he had not seen her face being so soft for quite some time now. Before he addressed her Tommy had to clear his throat. Inwardly he was angry with himself. Not quite two days gone and he already started to forget that they were here because of a murder. "Lafferty said the woman was not less than 43 and maximum 59 years old. Grover's wife must be... what do you think? In her late fifties?"

"Something like that." Barbara nodded and started to curl the dog's beard around her finger. DI Lynley had to look away or he would immediately start to let his hair grow from now on just so Barbara could bury her fingers in his beard. "Ah, bother! I would not want to call for SOCO to check if there was the victim's blood on the battle axe at Grover's lounge room wall." Barbara chewed on the inner side of her cheek.

"That would offend him deeply if he's innocent. Let's collect a few facts first about him and maybe all possibly related people and our colleagues. I really don't want to ask for a proof that his wife's in Spain. Maybe we can wipe that off the list differently."

"I could be the untrusting officer if it helps."

"I'd like to spare you that." He got out of the car. "Anyway, let's buy some dog food first."

They tied the dog's unusual leash to a ring in the wall and entered the store. Since it was Sunday there were not many customers and as if it was normal thing for them to go grocery shopping together Barbara and Tommy casually strolled through all the aisles deciding what they should eat today and the next week. At the moment it did not look as if they would solve this case soon so they had to be prepared for a few more days in the cottage. Slowly the trolley was filled with frozen pizza, eggs, flour, minced meat, milk, pasta, sauce, a few vegetables and some treats that would not appear on any expenses bill for the Met. A bottle of champagne also went into it.

"One should always have at least one bottle of this in the fridge." Tommy grinned in reply to Barbara's raised eyebrows, something that he usually did, and earned a pair of rolling eyes. She snickered nonetheless and added a bag of cheap crisps to it. The filet of lamb would not appear in the expenses file either. Only the green beans were nothing to hide as well as the frozen chips Barbara insisted on.

Then they reached the animal stuff aisle. They needed all the basics like a proper leash and a collar, a blanket for him to sleep on, a water and a food bowl, a few treats, a brush, and of course food. Not being familiar with caring for a dog this was nothing she was able to help with so while Tommy studied the ingredients list on the food packages Barbara walked around and discovered the toys. A rope end with knots would be nice, she thought, and something to throw. In the end she also had found a cuddly stuffed rabbit he could love to death. And something else that made her laugh.

Quietly she returned to Tommy who seemed still not completely convinced which food he should choose.

"Ah!" he cried out and jumped. From behind he suddenly had heard a strange grunting noise close to his ears. It was followed by Barbara bursting into a boisterous laugh. She even was unable to keep hold onto the ridiculous rosy rubber pig she had found among the toys. Seeing her laughing so carefree Tommy's angry face quickly turned into an amused but still unbelieving grin. He made a few grunting fake attacks towards Barbara but then watched the toy with a pensive expression.

"We'll definitely only give this as a treat and keep it hidden all the other times. It will freak us out when he suddenly plays with it in the middle of the night."

At the checkout counter they paid two bills again: the official one and the one Tommy would keep secret.

"We'll share that." Barbara offered.

"No. You're my guest." Tommy replied smiling. She only was able to inhale. A finger on her lips silenced every objection. Her voice would have failed her anyway, as nervous as the touch had made her. Confused she stared into his back while he paid. This way she could not see his own face blushing.

Fortunately she had not too much time to think about the incident. Coming from the store she saw the dog. He had observed the entrance and waited for them to return. By the sight of the two the dog got up and wagged his tail as if he originally had expected them to leave him behind forever. Barbara's heart made a funny leap. Every single curl of the dog's still slightly filthy fur seemed to shake in his joy.

"He looks so cute!" she sighed.

"Cute?" Tommy chuckled. "With all this frizzly hair of his?"

"Frizzles!" Barbara suddenly exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"Frizzles. His name is Frizzles."

"You're not serious, are you?"

"Well, you've named him." Barbara snickered. She had left the trolley for Tommy to take care of and reached the dog who almost jumped at her. She ruffled his head and he seemed to really enjoy it. He gave away little yelping sounds. "Well, how do you like it, Frizzles, hm? Yeeees, such a good boy you are!"

Tommy was delighted. In fact his heart dwelled and almost burst his chest seeing Barbara so cuddly with Frizzles. She should get herself a dog one day. He sighed. And Howenstow would be a good home for them. He swallowed and put his anger about his own stupid thoughts into pushing the trolley towards his car.

With his new collar, a blazing blue one that was a nice contrast to his light brown curls, Frizzles walked at Barbara's side with a proudly raised head. He also was carrying the soft rabbit between his jaws as if it was something precious that should not be hurt. He did not pull at the leash and he sat at the edge of the road when told. Although nobody seemed to miss him yet he must have had a wise teacher. Frizzles was surprisingly well trained.

After Barbara had pulled a few more little twigs from Frizzles hair he even did not look as stray as when they first had met. "He definitely was hers." DI Lynley loudly thought. "He adores you. I'd even say he avoids me. And he definitely wasn't in the woods alone for long."

"We should keep that fact in mind." Barbara nodded. "He could have been hers."

Back at the cottage in Wychwood Mallow they let the dog sniff his way through the ground floor on his own while they put away their groceries.

"Do you think they allow dogs in here?" Barbara asked.

"Well, I don't care." Tommy answered and laughed at the disbelieving expression Barbara gave him, who had appeared from behind the fridge door only to give him that look. "And actually I would not want to live anywhere where dogs are not allowed."

He gave her another bottle of milk to store away in the fridge. "Hm." she said. "How do we cope with our new family member?"

Before she had thought of her words she had said them and it made her blush when she realised their meanings.

"Well, Mum and Dad alternate going walkies, in the morning and in the evening. During the day he's with us anyway and in the night he sleeps in the corridor upstairs."

"Oh, poor Frizzles." Hearing Barbara saying his name and sensing they were talking about him Frizzles appeared in the kitchen and asked for attention. Tommy knelt down.

"No sofa, no bed, is that understood, young man?" he asked roughly cuddling the dog and carefully avoiding Frizzle's wet kisses.

Barbara bit her lip and turned away, otherwise she would have sighed loudly or ruffled through Tommy's mop of hair or maybe even both. Disguising her cravings with a harrumph she put some more order to the things in the already neatly filled fridge. When this case was over and they were back in London she definitely would need to consult a psychologist who would have the difficult task to hammer these inappropriate feelings back out of her silly brain.

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