This is dedicated to Gem6 and crazyamy005. Thank you for the reviews – they made my day!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Part Two!
Tess had now been working at Sun Hill for two weeks, and she had proved herself to be a popular member of the CID team already. The DCs had already decided that she was the best DS to work with.
"And her legs aren't bad either," quipped Mickey.
Duncan laughed,
"Not to mention that its much better to be sat in a car for three hours on an obbo with a cute bird, instead of a grumbling, farting old tosser."
At this remark the male DCs descended into fits of childish laughter, whilst Kerry and Liz looked on and rolled their eyes at each other.
However, there was no change in relations as far as John Boulton was concerned. They avoided each other whenever possible, and where their paths were forced to cross whilst working on a case, they would simply go through the mechanics of the investigations and tolerate each other as best they could.
Tess genuinely disliked John. She thought he was an arrogant pig, and as a strong character herself, she knew that he was somebody who would not allow her to take charge of any situation. John's feelings were entirely mutual…..
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Everyone had noticed the tension between the pair. Kerry and Liz discussed it as they watched the two sergeants vying for position as top dog on an armed robbery case. Kerry watched them carefully.
"You know, I think there is more to them two than meets the eye."
"What do you mean?"
"All this argy bargy, I reckon its just a cover for the fact that they have the hots for each other."
Liz raised her eyebrows at Kerry.
"Well good luck with that theory, because I really can't see it myself ,"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
DCI Jack Meadows had also noted the tension between John and his new recruit with displeasure. He didn't care what was causing the tension, he just wanted to put a stop to it straight away. He really did not want a feud between two officers to disrupt their work, or to affect the rest of the team.
He came to the conclusion that the most effective way of getting them to sort out their differences and learn to get on, was to push them together so that they had no choice but to confront the situation head-on. With this in mind he walked out of his office and asked John and Tess to investigate another string of armed robberies together, thereby ensuring that they would have to spend a great deal of time working alongside each other…….
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The string of armed robberies all appeared to be linked. The offender was clearly getting very confident, and John and Tess were regularly being informed of new robberies in local shops, post offices and petrol stations. This morning, John and Tess were visiting the scene of the latest incident in an off-licence. The sales assistant was very distressed and it was proving very slow work to get the information that they needed from her.
John was getting impatient and tried to continue with the questioning.
"So, what did the man say?"
The sales assistant struggled to speak between sobs.
"He, he told me he would shoot me if I didn't, if I didn't give him the money."
"Is that all?"
"No, he erm told me that if I didn't move quickly, he would follow me home after work and kill my family."
The young woman collapsed into harder sobs, which made her whole body shake. Tess was starting to feel that John was being way too harsh with this victim. She glared across at him in warning. He ignored her.
"Anything else?"
"I told him that we only kept one hundred pounds in the till, and that I don't have a key for the safe without the manager there."
"Keep going, we need to know every detail if we are going to have any chance of catching this bloke."
But the sales assistant was crying too hard to say anything else.
"Come on, we need all the..."
Tess finally snapped.
"John, a word please. Outside"
"Hang on…"
"No NOW!"
John reluctantly got up and followed Tess outside in a rage.
"For gods sake, what the hell are you playing at? I'm trying to get important details from the victim of a serious crime, and you are flashing me evil looks and interrupting me for a bloody word. What is your problem?"
"My problem," she hissed "Is that you need to learn when to show a bit of bloody compassion. That poor girl has had a terrible ordeal and she needs to be calmed down so that she can remember the incident clearly and give us the info that we need. It doesn't help when you are sat there barking questions at her, when she is that upset."
John was seriously enraged now.
"So what do you suggest then, Miss love and compassion? How the hell do you think you are going to solve this case without questioning the victim whilst the incident is fresh in her mind?"
"We have enough for now. We are going to take the CCTV tape, leave her to calm down and get her to come into the station this afternoon to give us a full statement and a photo fit of the suspect."
"We are going to question her now."
"Oh no we bloody aren't."
Tess turned around and went back inside the building to tell the victim to come into the station later. By the time that she got back outside, John had already got back into the car and had started running the engine. Tess sighed and got into the passenger seat. By the time they were on the road, they were arguing again.
"You know, you really are an arrogant little pig."
"And you are a stuck up cow!"
"Oh is that what you really think? Is that why you have been a complete tosser since I arrived?"
"Look, I don't like you. Get over it."
"Oh believe me, I really couldn't care less. I really don't like you either. I just think it wouldn't hurt for you to act a bit more professionally."
"Oh there is no problem with my professionalism, I just have a problem with you being so bloody high and mighty all the time."
"You are so immature, just grow up."
With that, they both stopped yelling at each other, and sat in silence with matching scowls on their faces.