Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC. I have borrowed the characters from the TV-Show and only own the ideas of my stories.
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Author's note and summary: Cleaning up scratched notes while having time and leisure for writing. So here's another story.
A case is wrapped, the weekend has arrived, Barbara has plans and her boss too. Not only ended Tommy's day with the prospect of doing her paperwork. Barbara's evening does not go as planned either.
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The Clown - Gotcha
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"See you on Monday, Barb!" Winston said to Barbara and turned to leave. "And have a lot of fun tonight!" He was grinning from ear to ear.
"Likewise, Winnie!" Barbara answered cheerily and after she had shared the grin with her colleague and Winston was gone, she shuffled some files together. She was in a similar hurry. It was Friday. Their case was wrapped, most of the paperwork was done, nobody would be on call for the weekend and she had an appointment this evening she looked forward to.
"Fun tonight?" DI Lynley asked full of curiosity.
Barbara looked up. She had not told him for a reason. "Yah, I have an appointment with Andrew." She grinned.
"Oh." From his tight-lipped, monosyllabic response and the narrowed eyes Barbara could tell that Lynley was not overly excited. Was there jealousy in his eyes? She could not believe it. But for some little devil inside it was what she had intended when she had kept today's evening activity to herself. And it was what she had hoped to see.
"It's his birthday." she explained and eyed him carefully. "And of course there will be a party."
"Aha." He only said. His eyes narrowed a bit more. It was clear - he definitely was jealous. So she probably had read the recent little signs in the right way. Barbara grinned wider. She would love to explore that topic later, maybe tomorrow. Or on Sunday. An idea popped up.
"Care to join me for Sunday lunch?" she boldly asked him.
"Yeah, yes, why not." Tommy cleared his throat. "Where?"
Barbara gave him the neatly folded files. "Ah, let's clarify the details later, Sir. I'm in a hurry. I don't want to miss the cab I've already called to pick me up at the kerb."
"A cab to the kerb? Here?"
"Well, it's faster that way. Traffic's awfully heavy at this time."
"Well, then..." he muttered. "Have fun, Barbara." He even managed a smile. It turned into a wider grin when she placed her hand on his upper arm and squeezed it gently. She looked happy and full of anticipation and it pleased him.
And she almost had lifted herself to give him a merciful peck on his cheek but unfortunately the cab should not be missed. She shook her head slightly and told herself that maybe this was inappropriate anyway. At least today.
"Don't work too long, Sir." Barbara said instead and winked. She grabbed a paper bag brimming over with a lot of twinkling and glittering stuff. "And once more thank you so much for the offer to help with the files. See you later!" She already stood in the doorway where she waved at him.
He could not be angry with her although Tommy had had a calm afternoon on his mind, when he had offered his help earlier. Just him and Barbara at the office, doing the rest of the paperwork and maybe later have a pint. Actually, he had planned to take her out for dinner afterwards. But this plan had vanished in mist now.
Sighing Tommy went to the coffee machine and before he returned to his own office he got himself the lukewarm remnants of what was in the pot.
With disinclination he tossed the files onto his desk, not caring that they landed there in all but nice order. To make work more enjoyable Tommy turned on the radio on the table next to the small settee. Low classical music filled the air. On his schedule there was nothing else but the files after Barbara involuntarily had thwarted his romantic plans, so he was in no hurry. Nobody and nothing waited for him. There would be enough time to have a look across the Thames for a moment.
And to be honest, maybe he could catch another glimpse of Barbara.
She actually stood down there. Right at the moment she was speaking into her mobile phone and walked a bit up and down at the kerb of Victoria Embankment. She was laughing loudly. He could not hear her of course, but the way she threw her head backwards and showed her laughing face to the sky looked heart-warming. Tommy watched her for several moments with so much tenderness warming him deep inside his belly and slowly he realised how deep the sting of jealousy actually hurt him.
He did not know of any Andrew. Barbara never had mentioned someone of that name. Tommy was curious who it could be and what he meant to her. But at least he would meet Barbara on Sunday. He could touch on that topic when they met. Casually of course. He would not want to appear nosy. Or jealous. Only when he would know who that Andrew was he would know how he could go on with what he himself had in mind. Tommy recently had discovered that he harboured deep affectionate feelings for Barbara. More than was appropriate for a DI and his Sergeant. More than was usual between friends. More than what could be called affectionate, to be honest. Maybe Sunday would be the day when he could explore those feelings further, together with Barbara.
Tommy grumbled. That thing with this Andrew had to be sorted out first.
He sighed again and watched all those vehicles down there. The traffic really was congested. All cars crawled slowly towards Horse Guards Avenue. Barbara had been right with not letting the cab pick her up at the other entrance, no matter where it would drive her.
When she had ended her call, she eagerly looked down the road if there was any cab finally coming. There was not. She kicked a stone, or whatever else there was in her way, and walked the other direction for a few steps.
"Impatient as always." Tommy muttered with a soft grin. Right in that moment she turned her back towards the street and looked up as if she had heard him. She seemed to see him standing at his window looking down to her because she waved up to him with a broad smile. Tommy answered toasting with his coffee mug and also waved.
"Have fun, Barbara." he whispered.
He could see that she wiggled her head and held up her arm with her watch to gesture him that the cab obviously was late. There still was no cab to be seen. Just a long line with cars and vans driving by.
One of those vans came to a halt right where she stood but Tommy did not recognise it at first. He watched Barbara shrugging her shoulders and communicating silently with him across the distance, when suddenly the back door of the van slid open, a red balloon slipped out of it, a heavily made-up person in a clown's costume also jumped out, lifted Barbara from the floor and pulled her inside almost with little effort. The door closed again and the van drove on in no time at all. It all happened in seconds.
The red balloon went up into the blue sky and flew away.
As chance would have it, traffic even went a bit faster in that moment.
Tommy spluttered his coffee. His heart stopped briefly before it started pounding against his chest in a furious beat. In an instant all of Tommy's blood went cold. Adrenalin flooded him. His face turned pale. His limbs felt heavy and numb. But being the detective he was, he made a quick step forward and closer to the window pane to get a better view of the number plate. It was hard to decipher. He only saw an L, an X and then probably 0 but the rest was covered by the car tailgating the van decidedly too close. At least Tommy was able to read more than just three letters from that number plate and the car was a weird light green. Tommy even recognised the brand.
He forced himself to not forget any detail and made a mental note to check on it as soon as possible.
It was not possible now. Without thinking Tommy dialled Barbara's number. The van was out of sight and Tommy stormed off from his office. After what seemed like thousands of rings her phone went to voice mail. "Barbara, when you hear this, please call me immediately." Tommy spoke on it with urgency, standing in front of the lift. Its display showed it was on the top floor. He pressed the button but did not wait for the lift to arrive.
Still without thinking Tommy flew down the stairs and out onto the street. On the pavement of Victoria Embankment he ran all the way towards the entry of Horse Guards Avenue but he did not spot the van. Breathing heavily he dialled Winston's mobile number.
Winston did not answer.
"Get your... Argh! Come back to the office, DC Nkata." DI Lynley snarled onto his Constable's voice mail recorder. "Someone's abducted Barbara. 'n' that's no joke."
With that he disconnected the line, went back to New Scotland Yard at a hurried pace and set the police machinery in motion.
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