** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1
Puppy Love 26/?
"Come in and stop worrying it's still an hour before the party starts. Did you leave him a message to tell him you were coming here?" Jean asked opening the door as Laura got out of the taxi outside the house and she could see her friend was still hovering somewhere between furious and worried.
"Yeah I left yet another message on his phone, I sent an email to James's phone and I left a note stuck to the TV. Where the hell are they Jean and why are neither of them answering their phones?" Laura replied following her into the living room and taking the glass of wine Jean held out. "Thanks I need that. I've told everyone how we're together and how things have finally moved on now I'm going to turn up at the event on my own again. They're all going to think I was talking through my ass Jean and I'm just chasing after him like I have been for the last ten years Jean. I can't believe he's doing this to me. When I saw them at lunch time they were fill of the fact that for once they were going to have a case wrapped up this afternoon and have the weekend free what can have happened in between that you wouldn't know about?"
"I don't know Laura honestly if I did I'd tell you. I've called the custody sergeant and they brought Mullins in earlier this afternoon and he's been remanded to appear in front of Judge Wilkinson for an arraignment hearing on Monday morning." Jean sighed "Don't worry maybe they've got caught up tying up loose ends, it's 7:30 on a Friday night neither of them will want to be working much later they'll be home soon. You look fantastic by the way I love that dress."
"Thanks I got it in the little boutique in off the high. I thought Robbie would like it he always says I look great in blue."
"You do it's beautiful. Stop worrying he'll be back soon and it'll take him five minutes to get ready, you know what men are like, then he'll come pick you up and you'll have a great night. Won't they Archie?" Jean smiled swiping the puppy away as he went to jump onto Laura's lap. "Oh no you don't Auntie Laura does not need puppy hairs all over her dress does she? Seriously Laura relax, enjoy your wine and they'll be back in time I'm sure they will."
"Nothing! Not a single bar of signal and the Wi-Fi in this place is password protected, why the hell is a university library Wi-Fi password protected?" James growled as Robbie tried the door of the reading room in the basement of the Bodleian Library. "This isn't happening Jean will be going mad, she'll be sure something has happened to us if she can't get hold of either of us."
"At least when you explain the worst that will have happened is that dinner might be ruined we're supposed to be going out tonight it's really important to Laura if I don't show she'll never forgive me!" Robbie snapped back, rattling the handle again in a fruitless effort to get it to move. He couldn't believe this was happening their trip to the library was supposed to be a quick 20 minute detour after booking in their suspect, a loose end tied up by getting hold of the man's academic record. They'd been put in the room by an elderly clerk who had assured them they'd be right back with the relevant file. When they'd not seen the clerk almost half an hour later James had decided to go look for him only to find the door locked and the small sign by the door informing them that the reading rooms where all locked at 5pm when the archivist left for the night. Now it was over 2 hours alter and they had tried everything they could think of to get out all to no avail.
"Let me back in beside the lock." James sighed rooting around inside the drawers on the desk in the room for anything that might help pick the lock. Were it not for the fact that it was obvious Robbie was so uptight and worried about Laura he'd be finding the whole thing a lot more amusing. With the potential for disaster so high and the fact he was pretty sure Laura would have contacted jean with her panic about Robbie he knew he had to find a way for them to get out of there and do it quickly.
"What's the point in having a phone in here that isn't connected to anything?" Robbie muttered lifting the old fashioned white receiver off the phone and holding it to his ear again even though they'd already established it wasn't connected to anything. "James what are you doing now?"
"I have an idea, we're in the basement, some of the most valuable books the college owns are down here, there has to be some sort of security system. If we can work out how to set off the alarm there'll be two dozen people down here before you can say false alarm." James replied glancing around the room and finally seeing a small alarm sensor on the wall and glancing at Robbie.
"Just do it and hurry up." He replied, holding his breath and praying it worked or he had a feeling his relationship with Laura might be over before it really began.