It was nearly another month before Tommy returned to work, and it was a month well spent. He'd found a woman who changed his life.
Nkata couldn't help but notice the spring in his step, he looked well for a man who'd had more that his fair share of tragedy.
"Morning boss."
"Morning Nkata. How are things?"
"Big brother installed cameras in the offices last week." He pointed to the smooth black sphere mounted to the ceiling just above his head. "Now I'm even afraid to pick my nose round here."
Tommy laughed and sat on the corner of Nkata's desk. It felt like a good place to catch up on what's happened since his absence…but Winston wouldn't let him.
"Don't get comfortable there. Hillier told me to send you in soon as I'd seen you."
"Blast! I wanted to ease back in, not get thrown in."
He slapped Nkata on the back as he slid off his desk. "I'll catch up with you later Winston."
"Yeah."
As he made his way to Hillier's office, he kept an eye out for Barbara. He didn't want to make his return awkward for her and he didn't want a repeat of their last meeting, especially not at work. It would be bad for them both.
He never saw her and he relaxed a little as he tapped on the chief superintendents door.
"Come!"
One thing hadn't changed in his absence. Hillier's door still squeaked. The sound gave him a chill down his spine every time he heard it.
"Sir." He acknowledged as he approached.
"Tommy, good to have you back with us. Have a seat." He waved towards the chairs in front of his desk with the gold pen he was holding and then went back filling out a form. "Won't be a moment."
Tommy's eyes wandered around the mostly sterile office while he waited. There were no family photos, no personal mementos, and looking back to the man's desk; no clutter. His eyes made it back to Hillier in time to see him sign the document he'd been working on. He used a slow precise hand and then ended with a flourish. Then he reached over and picked up a blotter and rolled it over his name. Tommy tried hard not to roll his eyes. Who blotted an ink pen? It was so pretentious.
Pen down, Hiller now focused on Tommy.
"So, everything sorted Tommy. You are back with us for good now"
"Yes sir."
"Good, that's good, because I need you. We're already short a DI since Havers transferred and we're starting to get a backlog."
Wait. What did he just say? He thought he must have misheard, especially as Hiller kept on talking.
"Nkata will be your DS. He'll bring you up to date on the current open cases and I'll siphon some of the load over to you tomorrow. DI Tucker had been a little overwhelmed this week and…."
"What did you say?" Tommy almost demanded as he leaned forward in earnest.
Hillier looked confused. "Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry sir, but Havers….what did you say about Havers?"
"She transferred to Brentford two weeks ago. I just assumed she told you."
He was stunned. "No…no she didn't."
"Well I couldn't keep her here Tommy; her closure rate while you were gone was nearly eighty five percent. Results like that get noticed and Brentwood needed a strong DI to replace DI Barlow who is retiring at the end of the month."
Tommy slumped back into his chair. "I see."
Hillier considered the question answered and continued on with his briefing. It was another twenty minutes before Tommy could flee to the safety of his own office.
He had wanted to give Barbara some space before they met again, but he had waited too long. Now there was thirty miles of space between them.