Don't Read A Book By It's Cover
Part III
DISCLAIMER: 'The Bill' characters depicted in this story is copyrighted to Thames Television/Pearson Corp
"You know, you've left us right in it!" Tony complained. He was stuffing himself with a large plate of a fully cooked dinner. Kerry, Yvonne and Cameron were all sat at one end of the table, Tony and honey sat in the middle and Andrea sat at the opposite end.
"What do you mean?" Andrea asked innocently. She gripped the mug in both her hands and slowly sipped the hot tea, Honey had just finished hers but still she held the mug tightly, "Well, when your on shift we never seem to have interesting calls..."
"But so far all we had are domestics, car thefts and a small but scary mob of Kids running around the Larkmead Estate. We have tons of paperwork – and when we have done all that, the cycle starts again... My I love my job" Yvonne humoured herself, while Cameron and Kerry giggled.
"All units from Sierra Oscar, youths reported making a disturbance on the Larkmead Estate, can anyone deal?" Tony lifted his radio halfway to his chin, and pressed the talk button on the side. "Sierra Oscar from Sierra One, show us dealing over" He tapped Honey on the shoulder, "Come on we've got a shout" PC Harman rolled her eyes.
"No rest for the wicked eh?" Within seconds they had made their selves look respectable and departed from the canteen.
Kerry, Yvonne and Cameron still remained at the table, Andrea had a few minutes left till the DI wondered where she was. She decided to show CID a thing or two about intelligence gathering, "Yvonne, you said that you had to deal with a few car thefts, have you told CID about them yet?" Yvonne took a sip from her can of apple tango, and shook head.
"No... not yet, I was just heading up there now. Why?" Andrea took a chip from Kerry's plate. "Oi!" Kerry laughed
"Well I'm on that case, and to save you a trip up those stairs, you can tell me all about it instead." Yvonne wasn't one to argue with a deal that stopped her running up and down stairs to the detectives needs.
"OK, well get your pen and paper out... DC Dunbar"
Yvonne explained the car thefts to Andrea, Kerry and Cameron joined in when they had extra information, but after a few minutes they were given a call and were sent on their way.
"Right so let me get this. Earlier on you were called to a car theft and the tag on the road was at a different angle to the one you were called on at the beginning of the shift..." Yvonne nodded as she drank the last of her can.
"Yeah, Lance thought that they just sprayed it which every way they were standing, but I've handled four of these now and two of them were sprayed to the pavement, and one towards the road – and the latest one was pointing to the end of the street."
Andrea wrote the necessary details down, nodding her head now and then. Conscious of the time being spent – she wanted to impress the DI not be shouted at for being late!
"Has there been any witnesses?"
"No. To a surprise no-one sees anything." Yvonne stated sarcastically, she looked at her watch and grimaced, "Look at the time. I better be off now, or the sergeant won't be too happy, plus I gotta' find Lance." She stood up and carried her can to the nearby bin, "See you later." Andrea turned around from where she sat. "Hang on – how can you be certain that they didn't spray them from where they were standing?" Yvonne stopped in her tracks before she reached the doors. She turned around and walked over to Andrea.
"Don't tell Lance, but one of the Cars that were nicked belonged to a old man... a retired policeman. He said that when he had got there – to his driveway where his car was. There was a puddle of mud, apparently his front garden wasn't too good at draining the water, and the tag was pointing to the puddle. Or at least the direction it was in" Yvonne decided to sit down next to Andrea, "But the man said that to spray the tag they would have to stand in the puddle, and when they would have walked away from the puddle..."
"There would be tracks!"
"That's what he said. But there wasn't any, and even if they had dried the mud would still be in the driveway. So they must spray the tags in that direction for a different reason." Andrea didn't hesitate to write this down, she thought that if anyone was going to find the reason for the angles, it was going to be her!
"Why don't you want me to tell Lance?" Yvonne smirked and stood,
"Everything I've told you wasn't my original idea... It was the man's, I told Lance that it was mine and now he's really impressed. He listens to everything I say He thinks I'm a really good cop who does a lot of logical thinking... Great! Eh?" Yvonne laughed and walked out.
"And where have you been?" DS McAllister asked reading a piece of paper with her feet on the desk. Andrea sighed and walked closer,
"I was having my refs Sarge" Andrea said innocently. She headed towards the map, she stared at the pins for a few seconds, trying to see where they all point to, some sort of lock-up? Or maybe their hiding place? But they seemed to point to the railway sheds. The old, dangerous and disused railway sheds. "Sarge... Have a look at this."
Debbie dropped the paper from her face to the desk and glanced in Andrea's direction, "What now PC Dunbar?"
"Well you know what I said earlier... About the tags pointing in some sort of direction..." Debbie rolled her eyes and muttered to herself.
"How can I forget"
"Well, they seem to point to the railway sheds. Or at least in that area" Andrea showed the dastardly Detective the area in question by the movement of her hands. It reminded Debbie of the weather forecast.
"See, they point here, but get to far and these ones point back that way. So it must be somewhere in this area." Andrea drew imaginary circles with her index finger on the map, showing Debbie what she was getting at. DI Manson was sat in his office, again looking at the crime stats of that month, he glimpsed out of the window facing CID and saw Andrea talking to Debbie about the map. He decided to see what the latest was. As he walked out of the door he caught the last of the conversation.
"Hmm, there are a few large lock-ups there." Debbie walked over to the map to get a closer look. She sighed and began to walk back to her desk, seeing the DI she decided to show him that Andrea isn't the only good cop in the station. So she went into Sergeant mode.
"OK, well you liaise with uniform to see if there are any know gangs or groups that operate in that area, or if there are any lock-ups that have been rented out recently. And I'll bring the DI up to speed" Andrea knew what Debbie was playing at, no doubt she will tell the DI that it was her idea, But Andrea chose to ignore it and walked out of CID. Neil placed his hands in his pockets and looked at Debbie, when he had got her attention he nodded in Andrea's direction, "Anything I should know about?"
Debbie moved over to her desk and sat down, "Not yet Guv, just following up some leads" Neil stared at Debbie for a brief second and he too walked out of CID.
Andrea stood at the coffee machine in the corridor, as Neil walked down the stairs. His paced slowed when he saw her standing there, "PC Dunbar" A PC walked up the stairs passed him, Neil tried to show no emotion so he decided to nod to the walking officer, he then put his attention back on her. "So... How's the case going, I heard Debbie say that you may have a new lead about the location?" Andrea looked him straight in the eye. Intensely. "Yes Sir, me and DS McAllister have found a link between the tags, it seems that they may have been sprayed in a direction." Neil continued to study her complexion. He woke from his dreamed state and began to be professional again.
"Good, well keep me up to date" He looked down the corridor, as his eyes darted back to Andrea their gaze met. Longer than each of them had anticipated, he shortly smiled; Andrea noticed how his eyes glimmered in the surrounding lighting. They were both weakening.
"Andrea!" They returned back to the real world so quickly, they both nearly had jet lag. Neil saw the unwanted guest, it was Phil Hunter. He nodded at his DS,
"Phil" and made a hastily escape back up to CID. Andrea Smiled to herself, she had never felt this way about anyone before, well no-one other than Johnny Depp but she knew there was no chance she'll ever bag him. Phil moved closer, and noticed DI Manson's exit, "Guv'. Andrea - Debbie tells me that you have some more information... How did she seem about it?" Phil noticed that Andrea appeared confused. "Did she congratulate you or send you on some errand. She wasn't going to lie.
"She was fine, but yeah she sent me to check the data for known gangs." Phil grimaced and played along.
"Well, you know as soon as you get the information you can give it to me instead?" Phil obviously had turned his charm on; this was his medium set. "You can just give me a call, Debbie has been known to take the glory, and well..."
"Sarge?" Phil stopped and smiled his girl-magnet smile,
"Yes PC Dunbar" Andrea laughed
"How stupid do you think I am" Phil sighed, "Do you have some sort of bet, to who will crack it first?" Phil sighed again and sunk his hands on his hips.
"Yeah, so are you backing me?" Andrea had a charm setting too, she switched it on.
"Well only if you invite me to the CID drink tonight, I know you're having one" He smiled. Phil's ego could always get the better of him, he thought that Andrea had meant that she wanted to see him after work, when really it was his stern DI.
"Well, how can I say no to that eh? You bring me up to date before Debbie and I'll be sure to see you at six in the Canley Arms. Andrea agreed He patted her on the shoulder and ran up the stairs, two at a time.
It was five thirty Andrea had found some possible locations for the lock-ups and she was making her way up the stairs. As she came closer to CID she recognised some of the more than common sounds; phones ringing, printers printing and DI Manson – well shouting. Gary went on his one-man-missions and had again messed up a long-term investigation, Andrea carefully and quietly walked into CID, trying to make her way to Phil Hunter – who was getting some water from the cooler. She had entered so quietly that when Neil turned around he bumped into her, causing her to drop her paperwork and hit her elbow on the edge of the nearby whiteboard. She winced in pain as she examined her throbbing funny bone, "Sorry, PC Dunbar... I didn't see you. I'll help pick up your papers." And sure enough Neil Manson was, joined by Phil who desperately wanted the paperwork before Debbie,
"It's alright no harm done, just a mild stroke." Neil smirked as Andrea giggled. Both men stood. Phil took the few papers Neil had picked up, "There for me Guv"
Andrea tried to get a look at her becoming – deeply – red - elbow, but Neil had grabbed it first, "There doesn't seem to be any long term damage," He gave her back her arm,
"It's Okay really Guv'. It was an accident." Andrea glanced around the office to be sure that no-one was near enough to hear what she was about to say. She spoke in a low tone, "If you're going to a drink tonight with the rest of CID, DS Hunter invited me, so then you can buy me a drink as an apology..." Andrea focused on Neil once again "Can't you?" Neil could do nothing but smile. Is she coming on to me? He thought to himself. But once again Phil Hunter ruins Neil's chance to hit Andrea with a witty one liner!
"Andrea, do you wanna' explain what you've found?" Neil and Andrea looked at DS Hunter with loathe, Andrea once again smiled sweetly at Neil, and once again he turned to melting butter. Phil sat at his desk as Andrea drew closer, he held the file that she had dropped in his hands and placed it on his desk when she was inches away. She picked up the file and sat on the opposite desk, she could feel his laser eyes burning though her shirt, only she wished she had a mirror so she could send the unwanted gift back.