Friday had to be better than the preceding days. At least that was Sam's view as she downed her morning coffee at her desk in CID.
'Samantha!'
Oh, spoke too soon. 'Yes, Guv?'
'Apparently Adrian had been abused by three men,' Manson said. 'None of whom were Tony Stamp.'
'Well I could have told you that.'
'It doesn't ease my suspicions about Stamp,' he added. 'I intend to make more enquiries.'
'I suppose that's your choice,' Sam said with more understanding than Manson seemed to expect. 'Was there something else you wanted, Guv?'
'No, Samantha.'
Ramani had just given Tony the good news, the assurance that Manson couldn't pin anything on him was overridden by the knowledge of what Adrian had been through. But the boy was safely with social services, no one was going to get to him there, Tony's ordeal hadn't been for nothing.
With a lighter heart he headed for the canteen.
'I'm not sure about this, Jim,' June whispered across the table.
'Why not?'
'It's a big step,' she answered before hastily adding; 'Not marrying you but telling everyone.'
Jim laughed. 'I know having this lot at the wedding's not appealing but I can't wait to see the look on Manson's face!'
'Now's your chance,' June said. 'Manson just walked in.'
Jim stood up. 'Can I have a moment please?'
The room fell silent, the faces looked questioningly at him. Some, Samantha included, seemed to guess the subject and smiled reassuringly.
'I'd just like to announce my engagement to June,' he said loudly.
The place erupted with applause- everyone except Manson was clapping. A few people approached with congratulations, one of whom was Tony, Jim instantly moved aside with him.
'It's about time you two stopped messing about,' Tony smiled.
'I heard about your problem with the DI,' Jim said seriously.
'Heard about your problem with the DI,' Tony countered.
'Yeah,' he laughed. 'We've been using Samantha Nixon as a bit of a go-between haven't we?'
'Probably,' Tony agreed. 'I guess she's got more reason than most to hate him.'
'Someone needs to teach him a lesson.'
'Sam's working on that,' admitted Tony. 'But keep it under your hat.'
Sam watched Jim and Tony whispering away in a corner, instinctively knowing they were talking about her. It wasn't such as a bad feeling as in the past when her personal life had been the hot topic of conversation around Sun Hill, this time she was doing something good and being recognised for it.
And now she wanted to do something else. She spotted Gina Gold over by the counter, staying well out of the celebrations, and made her way over.
'Sickening, isn't it?' Gina said.
'I think it's sweet.'
'Never had you down as a romantic,' Gina complained lightly.
'Believe me, I'm not,' Sam answered. 'But Jim and June make a good couple.'
'What do you want from me, Samantha?' Gina asked suspiciously.
'What makes you think I want something?'
'Call it intuition.'
'Well, as you mention it,' Sam said. 'Could you have a word in the right ear, see about an engagement party here on, say, Wednesday night?'
'Do I have to?'
'As a favour to me?'
'Alright, alright. Don't have to be there do I?'
Sam laughed as Gina moved off but then she was tapped on the back. With apprehension she twisted to find Andrea there.
'Andrea, hi.'
'Can I have a word?'
'Let's go somewhere a bit quieter.'
Tony watched Sam and Andrea leave with a little suspicion. Why would a DS be conversing with a PC, especially in a private manner? No, it had to be about Manson.
Speaking of Manson, he'd seen the flurry of movement between the two women and was heading after them.
Breaking into a trot he intercepted the DI. 'Excuse me, Sir?'
'Yeah, what is it?'
'Just a thank-you, Sir.'
'What?'
'For your help in the investigation into Adrian.'
A change seemed to zip over Manson as he leaned in with some menace. 'I don't trust you, Stamp. Maybe you didn't touch Adrian but I don't buy your innocence, soon no one else will.'
'I've just been speaking to a witness in a case the DI was dealing with before he came here,' Andrea explained within the privacy of the locker room. ' He's accused Manson of kicking off a gang war when he beat up another member. This guy saw the attack but the other guy didn't want to admit he'd been hit by a copper so he blamed someone from another gang. And apparently Danny Milson, the guy Manson beat up, is hell-bent on revenge, he might be willing to change his original statement.'
Sam took all this in slowly. 'How did you get this information?'
'As a journalist, police wouldn't stand a chance.'
'Alright, I need a few days to think this over, let the dust settle over Cooper's arrest before I do anything else.'
'A few days means the opportunity might be lost.'
'It's a chance I'll have to take.'
'But why?! We can get him today.'
She shook her head. 'That'll just let him know we've got something.'
'I thought you'd want to get this over.'
'I want to do it right.'
