"Thanks for tonight, Sam. I admit, I'd have been sitting at home with a microwave meal for one stewing over Tessa if I hadn't come over." Jo stood in the hallway, thanking Sam quietly having left Abi dozing on the sofa where she had fallen asleep during Jo's foot-rub.
"You're always welcome, anytime you want to come over and any night you want to sleep here, the room's there ready and waiting for you." Sam ran her hand down Jo's arm, briefly capturing and squeezing her hand as she thanked her friend for showing her daughter such compassion.
"Abi's a good kid, I like her. I'll see you tomorrow then." The two women hugged briefly, feeling the embrace lengthen naturally.
"You don't have to go." As they finally separated, Sam voiced her concern about Jo returning to an empty house.
"Yes I do, if we have any hope of catching this guy, I have to act like one of his victims. Much as I'd love to stay here, that's not going to net us this scumbag." Jo said her goodbyes before walking out into the night waves of sadness and apprehension washing over her, a feeling of emptiness opening inside her as she left Sam's company. 'I'm not ready to be feeling anything for her. And besides, it's pointless, she's straight, not to mention her being my boss.' Jo repeated her reservations mentally, like a silent mantra trying to ignore the small voice snickering at her attempts to defy the rising tide of adoration she felt for Sam Nixon.
"Ah DC Masters I presume. So nice of you to take the time to join us." DI Tanner barely paused for breath as he berated Jo, who discreetly checked her watch, shaking her head slightly when she saw that she was still a few minutes early for her shift. "As I was saying, if there is no contact from the perpetrator by the end of tomorrow, surveillance on DC Masters' house is to be cut back. There's no money in the budget for you all to be sitting round drinking tea and waiting for something that in all likelihood isn't going to happen. I want solid evidence that we can take to court to convict this guy, whoever he is, I don't care if it's boring and not as glamorous as going undercover to lure him out into the open but it's work that needs doing. Any questions?" Without waiting for an answer, Tanner continued, "good, get cracking on solving some crimes then. DC Masters, my office, now." He strode past Jo who exchanged a look with Phil, rolling her eyes, before following her new superior.
"Guv?" Jo hovered by the desk, feeling a little like a schoolgirl in the headmaster's office with no clue what she was supposed to have done.
"I know you were handpicked by Adam Okaro to shake things up in CID but I wanted to get things clear from the outset. Just because you are teacher's pet with him does not give you special dispensation with me. If you want my respect, you're going to have to earn it and that little display this morning is not the right way to go about it. Drop the attitude, walk through that door before your shift actually starts and get me results. You'll get no leeway from me just because your girlfriend saw the error of her ways and left you. You're off the rapist case, we don't need so many working on it so you can leave it to DS Hunter and DS Nixon. I want all your paperwork in order by the end of the day." Jo's jaw dropped at her DI's words. It was not the first time she had encountered homophobia in her career but to hear it so blatantly from a superior astonished her. "Still here DC Masters? There are criminals to be caught, get out there and catch them." Without another word, Jo left the office, feeling her blood boil at the insinuation she enjoyed preferential treatment because of the circumstances of her arrival at Sun Hill. Storming through CID, Jo knocked on Jack Meadow's door, not prepared to take the DI's words lying down. Hearing Jack call for his visitor to enter, Jo strode into his office, closing the door firmly behind her. She faltered slightly as she saw Sam sitting in front of Jack's desk, both of them looking at her expectantly.
"Sir, if it's a bad time I can come back?"
"No time's a bad time Jo unless you'd rather not talk in front of Sam?" Jack had a suspicion from Jo's demeanour that she too had had a run in with their new DI, the very same reason Sam was seated at his desk so early in the morning.
"No Sir. How long is DI Tanner going to be with us? Because if he is staying long term, I won't be." Jo knew better than to make rash statements such as that but was still too sore from his comments to allow her rational brain control of her mouth.
"He certainly has a direct way about him doesn't he?" Jack avoided the question, hoping he could disarm the situation with a few quiet words in Tanner's ear. Having resented Jo initially, he had seen almost immediately what potential she held when Adam had drafted her into the team.
"You could say that. You could also say that he is rude, ignorant and homophobic." Jo paced up and down behind Sam's chair who had given up watching her, the motion making her queasy.
"What did he say to you?" Sam spun in her chair once again to face Jo, the thought of someone taking her to task because of her sexuality making her own hackles rise.
Jo offered them a potted version of her conversation with DI Tanner, Jack cringing inwardly as the words fell from her mouth. Sam's reaction was very similar to Jo's own had been, her jaw plunging and eyes opening so wide they threatened to engulf the rest of her face.
"He can't take you off the case! Jack, you have to do something. Jo is integral to this case, she and I have been working on it since the first victim came forward. If I'm going to have anyone working with me on this one, I want it to be her, she knows it inside out and can provide a subtlety and insight Phil Hunter's lacking."
"I agree that it's not wise to take Jo off the case and I'll have a word with DI Tanner about that…and about his statement regarding your girlfriend." Jack addressed both women, fearful that he might lose two essential cogs in a well oiled team if the DI didn't refrain from making any further comments. "Leave it with me both of you. In the meantime, keep digging around on this guy Somerton, I want to know everything there is to know about him."