Here we go: Chapter 7. I hope the time between updates hasn't been too long, I just find it difficult to get regular access to internet with all the stuff going on. I'll try to do more (as I keep reiterating to you). Hope people still want to read and enjoy. So here it comes…
Chapter 7 – Tell Me A Story
"Right this way Mrs Halpern." PC Mel Ryder replied in answer to the perplexed look on the woman's face. Mel led her through the doors of their reception until they reached the soft interview room. As the door opened they were greeted with the sight of Smithy and Jasmine sitting chatting, having retired there when they canteen became filled with officers on refs. The pair looked at ease with one another - a far cry from how Mel had imagined her senior officer would be with a hormonal, angsty teenager. She remembered how she'd behaved at that age i.e. out with her friends til late, eating chips and wandering her estate, and a lot of the time they would drink cheap cider. Either that or she hid up in her room. The thing was: everyone at the station imagined her to be the fun, bubbly member of the relief - which in all fairness she was - but that was now. Had they all bore witness to her antics as a teenager then they would have sworn that they were looking at a completely different person. It wasn't a time of her life that she was particularly fond of, but it had shaped who she was as a person now - which made her wonder just what kind of person Jasmine would become as a result of her situation now.
At their entrance to the room, Smithy and Jasmine stopped talking and turned around, Smithy standing up to remove himself from between Denise and her daughter. Denise just stood stock still, gazing sadly at her daughter who - in turn - got up and slowly walked towards her mum. Each one stood looking at the other before, eventually, Jasmine enveloped her mum in a hug, the pain and fear each one held now coupled and shared. It was a nice moment, and so Smithy stood back to stay out of their way. He found himself next to Mel and they smiled at each other.
"I'm glad you convinced Jasmine to see her mum Sir." The young female PC eventually said, breaking the slightly uncomfortable silence.
Smithy nodded his head. "So am I. With Rose having gone missing, and the husband not here yet, these two really ought to be together, supporting each other through this."
It was true. Mel had never been comfortable with the arrangement of keeping Jasmine from her mother, but as it was the girl's wishes there was really nothing she could do. So to see them reunited was important to her.
"Yeah." She nodded in agreement, before adding: "Sir?"
Smithy smiled at her.
"Yes PC Ryder?"
"Can I just say? I think you've been really good with Jasmine; getting her to open up and agree to see her mum. I mean, I know how unapproachable hormonal
teenage girls can be, because believe or not, I wasn't always this lovely and sweet." She grinned at this, causing her senior officer to smirk.
"Ah right. So once upon a time there was an angsty, fearsome Mel Ryder that we should all have been looking out for?"
"Hey! I may look cuddly and cute, but I could certainly put up a fight in my teen days!" She mock growled and the pair shared a laugh at this. "Nah seriously though Sir. That's pretty cool that you gained her trust. I imagine she wasn't so tame when you first found her."
Smithy scoffed, remembering his initial encounter with Jasmine.
"Yeah you could say that." He rubbed his chin. "She was, uh, well she wasn't too happy to see me anyway."
"I bet." She smiled. "Still, she's here now. I was going to head and get them both a drink from the canteen. Want one?"
Smithy smiled at the offer.
"Ooh, now you mention it I could murder a coffee."
She grinned. "Coming up Sir." Now addressing Mrs Halpern and Jasmine, she asked: "Um, Mrs Halpern?" The pair pulled apart and looked to Mel, standing await at the door. "Can I get you a coffee? Tea?"
Mrs Halpern looked to her daughter who replied: "Can I get a hot chocolate? I hate tea and coffee. Old ladies' drinks." She grinned, clearly meaning it in
jest.
Mel grinned.
"Sure." She turned to her a bemused Smithy. "Hear that granny?" She winked, laughing as he acted insulted.
"I'll have you know I am a perfectly able young man, in the prime years of his life." This made Mel laugh, all professionalism lost as the pair enjoyed a friendly dose of banter. "And anymore cheek from you and I'll have you cataloguing in the evidence room for the rest of the day."
But he winked, making sure that everyone knew he was only kidding. It was a rare occasion when Smithy found himself having to be stern with Mel. The pair enjoyed having a laugh with each other, but he also knew that she was possibly one of the finest officers he had in Uniform, and that when it was required she could be the epitome of a professional, textbook police officer. In saying that, he also knew her to go beyond the call of duty and go out of her way to help someone, so by all accounts she was a stellar asset to the team. That's why - although he made sure to never admit this - she was his favourite one in the relief.
"Can I get a tea please?" The voice of Mrs Halpern piped up.
Mel turned and smiled. "Sure."
"So to sum up..." Smithy spoke. "That'll be one hot chocolate, one tea and a coffee for this old dear." He indicated himself with his thumb. "Think you can handle that PC Ryder?"
She pretended to mull it over.
"Hot chocolate...tea...old dear...Yep I think I've got it."
She opened the door to the soft interview room and left, closing it gently behind her soft form. As she headed along the corridor to the stairs that would lead her to the canteen, her mind wandered back to Smithy. She remembered not that long ago, when Sergeant Stone had been suspended, and she'd came down hard on her Inspector; essentially blaming him for not saving Stone from the axe. She wasn't alone in this pre-judgement: pretty much everyone on the relief (especially Ben) had decided to hold Smithy responsible for the downfall of their Sarge. She remembered at the time that morale had been particularly low, with people even questioning Smithy's ability to lead the relief, and once she'd even caught him sitting in his office - after the shift - clutching a glass of what she assumed was whiskey, looking tired and haggard. Upon reflection she realised that none of what happened was his fault, but that their crucifixion of the Inspector had started him on a slow spiral into meltdown; it was just that at the time their belief was that someone had to be held to account for the loss of Stone. She remembered the incident where she became trapped under water, and Smithy had risked his own life to free her, not leaving until she was safe in his arms and he could be sure that she was alright. Even then, people like Leon and Ben still found ways to turn the situation around until it once more became Smithy's fault, and that was when Mel decided that enough was enough. They had spent too long blaming him for something that was so clearly out of his control, rather than questioning why Sergeant Stone had been suspended in the first place. This was her main argument when gathering the troops in the female changing room, urging them to end their persecution of Inspector Smith and instead focus on doing whatever they could to help get Stone back to the station. Thankfully people had seen things her way and soon enough life at Sun Hill had went back to normal: everyone working together and having each other's backs. At first she still felt that Smithy was beating himself up over what had happened, but eventually he began to get himself back to the strong, collected individual that she respected and cared about. He'd always been a mentor to her - ever since her first day - and when she thought about it, she cared more about what Smithy thought of her than she'd ever done with Stone. Sure, he was her superior officer and she wanted to believe that he had faith in her as a cop - it just meant more to her what Smithy thought.
She entered the canteen and approached the counter to buy the drinks for everyone, when suddenly her radio crackled into life.
"Sierra Oscar, any unit deal? Reports of a gang fight on the Bronte estate, with one or more suspects armed. Informant is a Mrs. Elspeth Fairhead, flat 11."
Mel hated when reports like that came through. They took a lot of manpower, and inevitably one or more of the assailants would get away. In the end it became a game of Call My Bluff, when they would battle to crack one of the arrested suspects and gain the names they needed to make further arrests, but seen as how people on the estates usually clammed up and refused to 'grass', this invariably became a fruitless endeavour.
"Sierra Oscar from Sierra Two-Five, show us dealing."
She heard the familiar tones of her friend and colleague Nate Roberts as he responded to the call. If she remembered rightly, he was on with Ben today, which meant that the little scumbags fighting on the estate wouldn't know what had hit them. The thought of her friends wading in and kicking ass made her grin to herself, and the strange look she received from the woman behind the counter as she handed over the money suggested that this grin had been noticed. She must have looked like a right maniac – grinning at news of a gang fight!
As she took the drinks on a tray from the woman and headed back out the doors – smiling at colleagues as she went past – she thought back to Jasmine, and how brave she was being considering what was going on. It was a horrific situation to find yourself in, and having dealt with many similar cases in the past, Mel hoped that this one had a happier ending than others.
End of Chapter 7. xx
